Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree - Blind Let's Play Part 29: Scorpion River Catacombs 

I like your style.

That is really astute and I need to go wider that more often!

Ohh, yeah! Smart!

Need to add, came for the commentary, stayed for the awesome silliness!

There are a handful of illusory walls in Elden Ring that are "obvious" and appreciated. But most are just "Why would I have tried this?"

Some of them are obvious but very small percentage. Would prefer all being smartly distinguishable

Ayyyy!

Bassilisks in general freak me out

I've loved them since the Dark Souls 1 days :)

@@BlueLizardJello 🤣now you are straight up flexing here🤣

@@Manan_Agrawal056 it helps that I've always loved reptiles and basilisks are actual lizards! They just look nothing like these.

@@BlueLizardJello I figured that would have been the case given your channel name😅 and your shorts video about loving us even more if we were worms🤣🤣

I will literally never stop talking about mechanics that I find unfun. Why am I not allowed to have my opinion when you have yours? This is a surprisingly brash take from you. 1) You're making an assumption on how the game is meant to be played. Sure, being part of the community IS a part of these games. However, someone has to find it (illusory wall, invisible walkways, solution to a puzzle, etc.) initially. And if it is found by dumb luck, chance, trial and error, there's nothing clevee about it. Sure, the information will spread like wildfire, but is that good game design? I don't think so. When a solution makes you think and challenges the player, that is good game design! 2) Why is it such a problem that I take issue with +1, +2 talismans? They're boring. Especially when they are the culmination of a quest line or intense exploration. There's zero originality. Yes, they are objectively better than the base version, but so what? It doesn't feel like a reward to me. I would rather an upgrade system or just having the base versions and that's it. The DLC added some really unique talismans that we have never seen before! But these +1, +2s are again, boring. I'm sharing an opinion, one that I have given a lot of thought too and an opinion that talks about my personal preference for how games function. And these opinions will come out in my commentary because they are on my mind and because I critique the things Iove.

@@BlueLizardJello Most firstly, of course you are allowed to have your opinion as of course i can have mine. But I think you are wrong, so I tell you so. I did not want to sound brash, maybe i could have spent some more thought on the words I use. about illusory walls: You assume that there always has to be a clever design/idea/system in place to find them. I think blind luck is just as valid way of finding them. I'm pretty sure there were some even designed to be found while fighting NPCs placed close to them. Is communal effort of finding them good game design? Hmm. I'm not sure about that. My point was that it was "intentional design". I don't think the thought process ended with "lets just throw some random illusory walls everywhere". I'm pretty sure, that they made them hard or even impossible to find for one individual, and relying on there being thousands and thousands of players playing the game and finding them. (btw the same goes for any part of the game. Fights, finding secrets, bosses. get summon help, read messages, see ghosts die, etc) I personally think that counts at least as clever design. possibly even good. about 2) medallions +42 I find it annoying (me, personally, feeling, not objective in any way) that you keep complaining about the +1's. The core of the differing opinions here seems to be that these things "don't feel like a reward" to you . And I guess I just can't understand that. Even you are happy to find some more powerful +3 version of a medallion that you use. some of the medallions are quite a bit better and "objectively" a reasonably powerful reward. Of course some are for a build or playstyle that you just don't use, so those definitely don't feel like a reward, i get that. But isn't that the "fault" of the specific item? And not the of the whole "finding +1, +2... versions" ? If you really would prefer a weapon-like upgrade system for the medallions, I cannot imagine you would be more happy finding the "make medallion more powerful item" in the chest of the dungeon. And they way they did it, they have the option of matching the theme or challenge (dungeon/exploration/combat/etc) to the reward. I still think you are wrong :D and i won't promise that I will stop complaining, but I will make an effort to do it more politely

@@NiksSofa I really, really like this comment and I want to break it down. You articulate your points in a way that are not only easier for me to understand, but have caused me to rethink some of my own opinions! I do personally believe that clever game design or smart game design is all about the intention. I think we agree on that. You believe that the community sharing information is enough of an intention for something to be good game design (and if I misrepresent any of your points, feel free to let me know!). I just don't think that's enough. I welcome obscure and challenging puzzles/solutions/etc. and there are *many* things in the From Software games that I only know about because of community involvement and information sharing. However, if I don't have an "aha!" moment finding out what the solution was, I am left feeling ultimately tricked by the developer. There are players out there whacking literally every. single. wall to see if it's an illusory and while they find it fun, I don't find it reward. But you mentioned something that I think is brilliant! Sometimes, they will use the environment to cause a player to accidentally hit an illusory wall (e.g. placing a stationary enemy close enough so that the player will almost certainly engage with it). That is *brilliant* design! Similar to using a basic piece of loot on an ledge to prompt the player over and have them see that they can drop down to a new area. This is clever. This is engaging. A wall that is identical in every way to the other 187 walls in the catacomb with no reason to hit it other than just to hit it and see if it disappears is tiresome. Yes, the community can then leave notes directing another player to it, but I still don't find it rewarding without a satisfying solution in the first place. For the talismans, I just don't see myself budging on this issue. And I honestly can't remember a time when I was excited to see a +1 or +2 version of a talisman that I was using. I obviously equip them; this isn't some strange principled stance I'm taking. But allow me to clarify just a little bit: if the upgraded version is loot found within a cave or a special enemy loot drop or just found on a corpse while adventuring, I can overlook that. I find it boring (even if its one I will end up using), but that's just me. However, I cannot stand when From Software uses them strictly as plot devices at the end of a story beat. Just in this DLC alone, they have done it several times. The Crimson and Cerulean Seed +1 Talismans after blowing the finger horn in the Finger Ruins of Rhia and Dheo mention the two-fingers in direct connection with the Erdtree. That's your reward from traveling through two fairly large areas that are atmospherically awesome and otherwise empty. They had an opportunity to do something big and unique and interesting and instead I can heal slightly better. I was similarly let down when the giant shiny held by the Statue of Lord Gwyn in the Ringed City DLC of Dark Souls 3 turned out to be an improved Chloranthy Ring. These 3 examples make sense for how they are written and are objectively better than their lesser counterparts and yet I see it all as wasted potential. For the upgrading, I'm not a developer and I don't know what it looks like. You're right. If I found a legendary crafting material that improves my talisman in a chest at the end of a long dungeon, I'd be similarly disappointed as I would be just getting an upgraded talisman. But maybe they aren't upgraded through direct upgrade pathways. Maybe there are quests or challenges. Maybe they can be ascended in NG+. Maybe the base version is enough and we work with what we have for our builds. I don't know. My last point of yours I want to challenge is this: "Of course some are for a build or playstyle that you just don't use, so those definitely don't feel like a reward, i get that." I disagree with your assessment of me completely. My annoyance at these talismans as rewards has nothing to do with whether or not I will use them. If it is better than what I'm using right now, it's going on right now (perhaps begrudgingly). If this was the source of my discontentment, then I would groan when I got a spirit ash that I don't plan on using. Or a legendary weapon that I'll never have the status for. But I love finding those. My inventory is full of items that I was thrilled to get and felt like genuine rewards that will never see the light of day on my character! That's it for now. I appreciate the response and it really helped me think more about my opinions, especially in regards to the community involvement and "intention" behind game design. For now, keep complaining! You'll keep me on my toes :)

@@BlueLizardJello Illusory walls: "However, if I don't have an "aha!" moment finding out what the solution was, I am left feeling ultimately tricked by the developer." "A wall that is identical in every way to the other 187 walls in the catacomb with no reason to hit it other than just to hit it and see if it disappears is tiresome. " Remeber the "Pendant" starting item in Dark Souls 1? The one where Myazaki himself hinted in an interview that it had some hidden use? Yeah, it does nothing at all :D I think it is important to remember that the master and commander of all of Fromsoft Soulslikes is a dirty little trickster who loves to see his players stumped :) And besides, your situation is different to "normal" players. Your youtube-series does not allow you to play online, so even if you wanted to, this community path is not an option for you. If it's any consolation, you can be sure that Myazaki is watching you play and giggling all the time you pass one of the 187 similar looking walls. :D Medalions: "However, I cannot stand when From Software uses them strictly as plot devices at the end of a story beat. " "My annoyance at these talismans as rewards has nothing to do with whether or not I will use them." Ahhh! This is what you mean with "does not feel rewarding"! I get it now! It's not rewarding because it is just a "number-goes-up" item, and not a part of story, which is what you actually feel rewarded by! Now this all makes much more sense to me. I understood your annoyance at the +1 items too litteraly as "the problem is that they are the same but +2 etc." But you actually dislike that you get a Medallion at all (of a version you allready have)! Alright. Sorry for making you write all this text until i understood what you mean. But it was not wasted, i get it now :)

I want to be the one to figure out the secrets, not just get tipped off by the community. I like clever and subtle indicators to check certain places. I saw plenty of people not notice the clues for illusory walls in the base game, like the (in retrospect) glaringly empty bookcases in Raya Lucaria...or, more subtly, the picture of Renalla on the wall near one of those empty bookcases in which she is literally pointing in the direction of the secret passage, which is pretty funny if you think about it. Even with the clues, many of these secrets are not so easy or obvious to find. Just past the two mages on the staircase as we enter the Church of the Cuckoo, there is a secret room in the right corner inside. There is no clue it is there except that if we look at our environment as we pass through (including looking down into that very room from above on the roofs later) we can see there is a big room there and might work at getting into it. But, with no reason at all to anticipate there is something beyond a point, it's not mentally satisfying to just randomly happen upon one, though I do like the mechanic of being likely to hit a wall in combat to find it, like by Iji, but that archway there is also all but screaming that there should be a doorway there. Nearby, the illusory floor where the Royal Revenant boss fight awaits, is very difficult to find unless you have noted that every named ruin on the map so far has had a basement you should expect to find, and pay close attention to the environment to see the rectangular doorway shaped lining of bricks on the floor around it. That one is kind of annoying, but the game has given us at least two clues for expecting/finding it. The hardest secret wall to find gives us multiple clues, but it's still so hard to find, and that's the Sellia Hideaway cave. We can get a note from a merchant telling us there is a hidden cave past a graveyard beyond Sellia. Sellen tells us Lusat is probably hiding out somewhere around Sellia. When we get to the graveyard above Sellia, if we follow it stringing along all the way up past the church, we see one giant tombstone taller than the others, and in front of the tombstone is a battlemage just standing there doing or protecting...what? The secret cave is directly behind that tombstone and sorcerer. That's four clues all pointing us to the exact location ultimately, but I think it is still one of the most missed secrets in the base game. It's rewarding when you find it because you put the pieces together and noticed the environmental clues that something unusual is going on in this spot. How rewarding would it be if the only way to find that cave was to randomly roll against a random portion of a cliff base out in the vast open world for no particular reason?