Fantasy Author Reacts - Elden Ring's Lore ► Explained!

VaatiVidya: • Elden Ring's Lore ► Ex...
Discord: / discord
Twitch: / ryanpeteslive
Gaming Channel: / @ryanpetesvods
Main Channel: / @ryanpetersonreacts
#FantasyAuthor #EldenRing #VaatiVidya #Reaction

[@RyanPetersonReacts]

If there's one thing I'm really good at, it's long ass tangents at the start of these videos, i do not apologize Links: Discord: discord.gg/r2WeevN3Ua Twitch: www.twitch.tv/ryanpeteslive Gaming Channel: kzbin.info/door/q93DC9Jrmz_tQY9jakgouA Main Channel: kzbin.info/door/A0d4wih_ecEWiLjy0Ws4Tg

[@Tompguyn]

Great work! Vaatividya does great stuff, but, especially with elden ring, I definitely think once you have a grasp on the story, it's good to branch to others. Tarnished archaeologist and SmoughTown are my favorites! Also, I totally recommend vaatividya's bloodborne video. It's my absolute favorite vid of my absolute favorite from software game

[@grawlix-man463]

I will say that while Elden Ring's style of storytelling may not be preferred by many, I think it is an essential part of what makes these games. When Miyazaki was younger he read English books he couldn't fully comprehend, and thus had to put things together and fill in the blanks from the pieces he could understand, that is the experience he wanted to impart to these games, making sure you never know exactly what is going on, but have just enough peices to put together something close to the truth.

[@gragalakaisel1477]

The story telling of the game is you play it and you uncover secrets and history of the world and the characters around you. Meanwhile, You, the player, the tarnished, your story is told by yourself. Whatever you do in the game, whatever adventure you experienced is your character's story. that's why you can choose which ending you'd want

[@calebgoodman3028]

Elden Ring very heavily references concepts from alchemy if you want more to go on. The Marika/Radagon thing made far more sense once I realized they're a reference to the Rebis. The alchemy stuff was also a major reason why I think Miquella will be important in the expansions, as he seems to be a reference to the gold; the state of mind not the metal, which is one of the goals of alchemy. Also I should point out that there are a couple errors in the video due to localization changes, mainly with the whole Great Tree thing.

[@godly_potatoe69xd19]

Haha you predicted it, since miquella messmer st Trina and Marika are going to be the center characters of the dlc I hope we get more context on how Marika even became the rebis and what miquella and st Trina’s intentions are.

[@guypie5479]

It is certainly personal preference and i can see why so many won't like how much work it is to get the lore and how many free spaces there are. I prefer it is more "realistic" to life in how much information you can learn about some of these characters and being that there is so much free interpretation it allows for so many unique ways to think of the story and then you can talk to other people or see a lore video and maybe find one small piece of dialogue you missed and how that changes you whole personal lore or maybe you can still disagree and try finding more lore for your side. Plus i love the gameplay and could souls games for days without getting bored although i also play harder and harder challenge runs of all the games.

[@SoI_Badguy]

If you want to skip the nearly 20 minute long tangent of him not liking the way fromsoft presents lore you arent missing anything by going to 17:18

[@nikoazure5235]

Of course a traditional author has the issues you do

[@ex-matter3192]

He's really only an author if he's published anything, so at most, he's a traditional *writer*

[@Jalmerk]

Players studying the game like it’s the lost texts of Alexandria is literally the point. The entire community is built around the community effort and making it more clear and accessible would undoubtedly take away from the experience

[@RadicalJellyman]

I mean I liked the cryptic nature of it; Personally I see the need to pull together the disparate bits of lore and story another aspect of the exploration gameplay, but I can understand how it can be frustrating when you just want to be able to digest wtf's going on. No shade at all, good analysis.

[@TheFifthBanana01]

Oh boy, open the floodgates

[@animeproblem1070]

The goal is the hard work the effort to find the truth and even then we know that we're 5000 years of history separated from the most important events in the cosmic scale of elden ring It's all about the community act of searching it more like archeology than anything else The menus are "clunky" because all that information is nessarcy because all the information provided by those menus tells you everything you need to know about everything the items and weapons do

[@yaibaone]

I mean this lore thing depends on perspective. There is the story that is told to you. Via trailers cutscenes and what necessary npcs like Melina tell you and you can finish the game and be satisfied with that. Then there's the community. I think this games are those that bring that feeling of discussion when we were kids. We have to talk with others to piece the stoey together. Thirds there's Environmental Story telling. When you encounter an enemy somewhere and then see them elsewhere you ask yourself, Why are you here? Like that lone Leyndel knight in Liurnia. It prompts your curiosity unless you're chasing achievements. These games are worth their money and are why people spend hundreds of hours in these game for gameplay but because you'll encounter something that might surprise you even after so long. Finding lore in menus is kinds straight forward just go to inventory right?

[@godly_potatoe69xd19]

I get what you’re saying but the versatility of missable content and how you have to experience and really learn about the world is just unmatched idk it’s really enjoyable if you think about the lore in the same way as you would about gameplay, where the lore is something even ppl in the world don’t know and it’s part of the mystery and grandeur of the world itself.

[@31olegna]

Was waiting for this 😂

[@Oracle_Orhyn]

It’s an interesting perspective from an author. Usually I’d trash on people for this opinion, but considering you work in literature writing I think I can see where you come from. Personally, I think the style of storytelling shown here (as well as their previous games) is revolutionary, or at the very least: Different and unique enough to differentiate it from the ‘traditional’ storytelling approach in a way that doesn’t feel condescending towards the player/reader… because the stories aren’t actually hidden, you just have to find it. I think, as said before, revolutionary for videogames in 2024 for a game to serve the player’s need in gameplay, without compromising a compelling narrative absent of the player’s needs. Often times, you’ll have games that will have 5-8 hours of pure cutscenes, and dialogue sequences that limit the player’s movements, at that point it’s just a movie. This game’s narrative will give as much to you as you will give to it. Theres a reason why it was nominated for Best Narrative at the Game Awards.. and there’s a reason why the Nebula Awards (“recognises the best works of science fiction or fantasy published…. awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association”) awarded Elden Ring for ‘Best Game Writing’ in 2023 (Miyazaki’s 1st nomination and 1st win; and George RR Martin’s 14th nomination and 3rd win), because people actually like the stories. It’s not just a unique approach to storytelling, but it’s also just an all-round unique concept in and of itself. The world built by Fantasy juggernauts like Hidetaka Miyazaki & George RR Martin were able to provide a very unique Videogame story experience for the players.

[@kyu-qx1ew]

bro you should title your video elden ring hater reacts to elden rings lore , i think it would get much more views due to how the algorithm works

[@ghostface490]

The whole point of these games is to give you a challenging gaming experience and lots of lore that isn't directly spoon feed to you. If you're playing these games for the lore then that's the wrong reason to play soulslike and souls-born games, unless you're a lore hunter that will go to great lengths to uncover lore within the game. If the lore is directly spoon feed to you then there's no reason to even play the game, it's a video game (aka an interactive medium) not a book or a movie where the story and characters can't be influenced by you. I know, god forbid you have to actually interact with the environment and talk to random NPCs multiple times to uncover lore. I don't know what else to tell you other than don't play soulslike or souls-borne games if you're not willing to put forth a effort to search for lore and meaning within these games. Edit: And you know what's funny? Gideon Ofnir, The All Knowing is a NPC that gives you a bunch of lore about Elden Ring, all you have to do is listen to him speak. He's literally a lore master and lore keeper, if you don't understand a thing about the lore then that tells me you didn't even put forth the bare minimum to find it. Lol. 😂

[@Gaara4tails]

So you don't want to put in any work whatsoever is what your saying

[@SaintBrokenDay316]

Yo agreed

[@MadeOfMilk]

Baby wants the story spoon fed to him ... When he said he wouldn't see a character for 20 hours, I was like that's your fault! I did Sellen's quest and I saw her all the time, and I loved her because she was nice to me and proud of me as her student ... Rip

[@MistaBaze]

That’s what it sounds like 😂

[@talldrinkofmarmalade7281]

I think its reasonable to have gripes about cryptic storytelling in an open world game. Its so gameplay focused, having the lore being primarily dispensed to you via item descriptions or several dialogue prompts deep in what could be any NPC (which I especially hated) seems counter intuitive

[@justyouraverage_machine9578]

I’m right? Imagine bitching for 16+ minutes cuz you’re lazy and *checks notes* …isn’t being given generic story telling?

[@apolloisnotashirt]

You don't have to fully complete a quest or hell even do the quest to enjoy the game. I understand the annoyance with how cryptic the story telling is but thats part of the journey, its part of your journey. You could have saved this character but you didnt because you didnt know. You could've helped Ranni and married her but you didnt because you didnt know what to do next. Its a mix of circumstance and player choice, you chose not to search for this npc and this npc went somewhere pretty hidden. Conclusion? you dont get to do their questline. And you learn about it afterwards, and guess what? You replay the game again. For the lore of the game FromSoft usually just hides crucial parts of the lore, most of it is accessible through dialogue, item description, imagery, hell even architecture. If you just put in the work and look closely, and after you gather enough information, you get to string them together to make a narrative. The exploration, speculation, data mining, all of it is part of why a lot of us find this way of storytelling fun. If you want it to be read to you in a bedtime story, expect to be disappointed. This is like if mommy ripped up the pages of the children's book then scattered them all across the house, some pages maybe even burned. Go look for it. Don't wanna? Then go to sleep. Oh yeah just in case, I wasnt hating, you're free to have an opinion on the game's storytelling. I'm just clarifying how it usually goes and why people enjoy it.

[@Satori227]

Ohhh👏, Elden is amazing. I'm sad you don't like it as much, i feel like Elden Ring is more open world unlike any other games because of how impermanent some things are. I for one like how spread out it is. But i can see how it can be mundane. You played it though and now going into the story. Vaatividya is great for watching these lore videos.

[@shadowkingxeno]

I wish you the best but this reaction made me 😔🤦🏻‍♂️

[@ex-matter3192]

Same lmao Bad take after bad take

[@davisiotta489]

Yes!

[@alexandremattos6182]

Agree to disagree about fromsoft way of storytelling. I can see how it's not for everyone, and can be quite the nightmare for people with completist mindset, who want to see everything the game has in one playtrhogh. If you think about the game, about 5 bosses are mandatorry, about 90% of the game is "optional" stuff. Having so many details one can miss makes every player to experience the game a bit differently, and makes people play again to see what they missed the first time. The most straightforward game they have storywise is Sekiro, and even that has some major details that most people will miss, not for a piece of dialog lost, or a item not found, but even for some cutscene details.

[@ukiahduran6793]

NANI?!?! NO LIKE GAM?!?! ZA WARUDO TIME TO DIE! AAAHHH Yeah in reality I know what you mean, some peeps just want to be told more lore. I personally wanted to be a detective when I was young, so to me finding the lore feels like a big mystery for me to unravel and I like that chase for the truth!

[@frozengoat5834]

I'm confused how you're talking about how dark souls tells the story and you're opinion about how that works better, but you've never played it?

[@rossallison1835]

There is a lot that confuses me about this video.. Homie claims to be a fantasy author but provides no credentials or prior works.. very sus.. An actual author would have a very firm understanding of the difference between lore and story which he clearly doesn’t. This is such a basic narrative concept there is no shot he is an actual author. I truly believe he is outright lying or at the very least wildly embellishing when calling himself an author. In the end, I think he has some valid criticisms of the game, quests being difficult to follow without a guide and the complaints about the usability of the UI. Outside of literally those two statements this is nothing but mindless nonsense, just a boy whining, ego stroking, and ultimately lying.

[@ex-matter3192]

@@rossallison1835 The dude is a walking fake, he even calls himself a "historian" when he only has a degree in history. Dude spouts bs and turns into a soy boy when someone calls him out.

[@davisiotta489]

Please see more of these videos

[@user-ol5lj9wb1u]

Real PTSD :) :)

[@d3villord036]

Not everyone will like that game its understandable Im glad you are finding interest in the games lore the lore itself is very interest and rich looking forward to more videos

[@tejastakalkar7924]

I agree that questlines are problematic, and more story should be told via dialogs than item description to make us feel like an adventurer rather than archeologist.

[@apolloisnotashirt]

Honestly I like this idea, one of my few gripes about Elden Ring is how unfull the world feels, there's not enough friendly villages or npcs. The whole world is crumbling and aged. But I would love to see a Skyrim style FromSoft game. Skyrim despite its repetitive radiant quests actually feels like a living world, for the most part atleast.

[@ex-matter3192]

@@apolloisnotashirt Bro's out here hoping for a souls game that isn't pure horror and depressing.

[@ex-matter3192]

Accept you kinda are an archeologist; in all the fromsoft games, you enter in at point where the world has long past been thrown to darkness. You are finding the remnants, discovering who the people of the world are and what they used to be. You are discovering what the world used to be like before you're arrival into it. The beauty of the way the story is told is that it allows you to piece together what was and what happened leading up to the world's decent into darkness. It's also not like some npcs give you some lore every now and then, mostly via their storylines. If everything was spoon fed through dialogs like pretty much every other game, it would take away that feeling of discovery. YOU get to put the pieces in place, rather than have some characters hand it to you.

[@apolloisnotashirt]

@@ex-matter3192 Exactly, I am huffing and puffing that copium. Now that I think about it, maybe I'd be satisfied if they added more npcs like Gostoc? Y'know small npcs that have no relevancy to the mains story but instead are there for the extra depth. Kale's questline being removed is still such a massive loss. But understandably so, it'd justify The Frenzied Flame ending a lot more with the emotion he exudes. Another would probably be covenants, I feel disappointed with the Bloody Fingers, Recusants, and Finger Hunters. I feel like it would tie us down into the world more. If we were to physically align ourselves with a group rather than just being nomadic Tarnished. But thats just me.

[@tejastakalkar7924]

@@ex-matter3192 that is so stupid lol.we are not alone in this world. There are other npc's digging around. There is literally an all knowing guy and you can't ask him stuff? It is like you are trying to eat dinner using leg instead of hand, and congratulating yourself that I am not spoon fed. You have some weird stuff going on their.

[@Omega77232]

did you go on for so long for your bad takes on the game next time better to keep it on yourself

[@ex-matter3192]

Facts, dude isn't even an author cuz he hasn't actually published anything, he isn't a historian either since he really only has a college certificate in history. Dude is a complete loser

[@thecotrikps]

Wow as a newbie fantasy readear(cosmere,WoT and asoiaf) and listening that you are an author automaticly made me wanted to support your chanel

[@ColdRoland]

Oh boy...You drew the worst comparison you could draw. Dark Souls is about as linear as Elden Ring is, you're right about that. That doesn't mean anything, though. But Dark Souls is also as non-linear as you, the player, can make it. No other Dark Souls game can claim that. I could have a maxed out weapon before even facing the Taurus Demon. That's a path through that game. It's much harder, sure, but it's not unavailable. Dark Souls is anything but linear. In fact, that is what most fans praise about it in comparison to it's direct sequels. I really don't think you have any understanding about these games. Or how their writing is in service to experiencing said game. It's not the other way around. Dark Souls or Elden Ring are not stories, being told. You are there, well after the fact, and you try to piece together what happened. Or you don't, if you're not interested. The ways stories are made in games differ from the ways stories are made in books or movies. I bet you, one of your books, would be a totally different thing, if it were a movie. I think you're an expert in the wrong medium, to be making sweeping statements about quality.

[@ex-matter3192]

@@ColdRoland The guy in total is just a kid with an overinflated ego. "Fantasy author", "historian" are all bs titles he gives himself to make it seem like he has any semblance of and idea what he's talking about.

[@justyouraverage_machine9578]

Oh boy, I sure do love having to skip around 16 mins of whining from someone who needs to be spoon-fed lore because they’re incapable of putting in the effort 😑

[@edoardobrocca7985]

So, as a Sabaku fan, great italin youtuber, i'm gonna correct some vaty claim. 1) the great Will Is not a deity among deities. He's God, the superior God Who created the world. There was no Life prior the great Will. 2) the erdtree Is not a parasite of the crucible. The crucible Is the original version of erdtree and eldenring, and It was Red, but when Marika took the rune of death, It became Gold and was called the erdtree.3) half of the church talks are radagon, not Marika. Radagon has a completely different personality from Marika. It's curious, a scientist and a sorcerer. And Is treated like a dog by Marika. 4) there was God before Marika, but we know nothing of her, except her elden lord, the 5 head dragon.

[@cursesin]

these aren't corrections, they're just your interpretations

[@edoardobrocca7985]

@@cursesin these are the interpretation that comes from using well translated descriptions

[@DT_958]

Everyone is hating but I think a lot of your rant is validated I personally love the lord of elden ring, but without watching videos I would never get 5% of it. I’m personally fine with that but if you’re not I can see why you don’t like kt

[@panamakira]

You got a lot of hate in these comments from Dark Souls/Elden Ring stans that cannot take any criticisms about these games. I personally loved Elden Ring but I can definitely understand why it doesn't click with some people. I also agree the quest design is very frustrating. I had to use guides in some of them because I kept forgetting the locations of some characters. It was so bad that FromSoft had to patch icons for important NPCs because people got frustrated trying to find characters in an open world so big like this one. While I personally loved the game, I wouldn't go as far as completely disregard your opinions like some people in these comments are. It's ok to criticize things we love or wish things to improve. The Elden Ring lore is deep and interesting but also extremely loose with its interpretations. Half of the people had to go to youtube and understand what is going on in the story anyway to now act like they knew exactly what was happening from the beginning 😅

[@RavenL1337]

If you wanna people to not skip almost HALF OF THE GOD DAMN VIDEO do the react and whine less about an medium we don’t care you don’t like, this video is about YOU WATCHING THE LORE! not YOU whining that you DON’T LIKE another story telling medium!