My first souls game was Elden Ring, and I never thought I would finish it 

5:50 > "There was actually a point when I considered giving up." > Shows Soldier of Godrick Understandable.

"The biggest fight I was having was with myself" real depression hours bois

Good job! 👏 I'm 47, never played games till 4 years ago. In my teenage years there were games like tetris and minesweeper - if you were lucky and had a computer at home. I stooped playing even that when I went to study. Four years ago I saw on YT some guy playing Cities Skylines and I liked it. Created Steam account and bought the game. After several months I wanted to try something else. Again saw some footage of gameplay and bought Dishonored, then Dishonored2. Then Dark souls. I didn't really know what kind of game it was. It just had cool name. Younger coworkers told me and said it was not a game for me. True. I stopped at the Capra demon. Couldn't beat him at all. I searched for help and found Cowboy and his walkthrough. Never knew I had to allocate points correctly. I beat the game with help of his walkthrough and then I beat it again on a different build. Then ER came and I was hoping that it will work on my old computer. It did. I beat it and then beat it again an bought myself Xbox for Christmas. Beat it 2 more times on Xbox and now I'm finishing Lies of P. Not bad for an old single lady with cats. 🤣

From Maidenless to becoming the Maiden!

Elden ring was my first souls game, and its still my favorite game. I'm on NG+9 and still loving it

The Crucible knights are kind of a gift for older Souls players, their moves are very easy to parry, and in the first titles parry was much easier. So for a good part of people, these enemies are more a treat than a challenge, they feel like the Silver/Black Knights with added timings (like the ground spikes you avoid by jumping and right after you parry).

You literally went from like the chillest, coziest games like Animal Crossing to arguably the most difficult video game genre out there. Like 0 - 100, holy crap. I've been gaming forever and even I am hesitant to try a Soulslike game. Good for you for preservering.

To go from avoiding fishing in Animal Crossing to Elden Ring is pretty wild! lol I'm glad RU-vid randomly recommended this video to me, cause this was pretty interesting! It's rare to see someone just starting videogames as an adult nowadays (and even more so to see someone going from not liking them to really liking them). And yeah, Elden Ring has some BS in it, that's ok! A lot of people have trouble with the crucible knights that you mentioned, for example. We've all been there, even those of us who have been playing videogames for decades (hell, even speedrunners die to crucible knights from time to time). Anyway, great to see you triumph!

"The real boss fight was convincing myself to keep trying." Well put! I know I'm late to the party but I'll add my voice to the chorus; thanks so much for making this video, really great perspective to hear. Gonna go check out your vods now for sure.

You are SO inspiring, like omg, I was so scared to try Elden Ring because I like story-driven games and to be taken by the hand with quests and marks on the map, so Elden Ring sounds more than intimidating but you as a former cozy gamer DID IT and you did it SO GOOD, wow, I'm just so impressed and I got a little teary eyed because you talking about not giving up touches me beyond video games, so thank you for this lovely video! I will give Elden Ring a chance now!

Wow. This is an amazing video. Major props to you for sticking it out even when it was tough. I have to admit I am too much of a coward for not trying Elden Ring myself, even though I have the game. That’s so awesome you broke through the mental barrier of “I’ll never be good enough to beat this boss.” This video made me tear up 😢 because if you could do it, maybe I can as well. And your makeup is on point, as the risk of being silly. Congratulations on beating the game and your own inner end boss. 💚💚💚💚

GOOD FOR YOU! I agree - beating those bosses is SO DAMN ADDICTIVE!

My first souls game was bloodborne and I never thought I’d love it so much the atmosphere is amazing. I was frustrated with certain bosses and died a million times but what these games teach you is to never give up. When you finally beat the boss it’s the greatest feeling. I haven’t finished Elden ring yet.

That was truly an amazing video and a motivation to never give up👍

Overcoming and adapting to get better yourself is what Souls is all about. Lots of people the "git gud" meme in the Souls community is toxic, but it isn't. What we really mean when we say that is the only way you can overcome the challenges these games offer is to focus on your own style of gameplay so you get good at it. There's no right or wrong way, just your way of "getting good" You gotta love to see shit like this. Awesome job dude!

I love how this was recommended to me now. I love seeing people new to the souls series fall for Elden Ring. Elden Ring was my first souls exprience and infact the first game I ever played, and man am I in love with it. I have since then done challenges in Elden Ring, and sometimes coming back and replaying Elden Ring casually really makes me feel so at peace in the world. The feeling of having conquered a task that seemed insurmountable at first suddenly feeling normal is not a feeling I can describe in a youtube comment. Loved seeing your take on Elden Ring. Stay strong skeleton!

Love this. It was my first real souls experience too. I had put down others in the past because I just felt too overwhelmed. It's also now become this insane comfort game for me.

Rennala was also the hardest boss for me 😭everyone's different glad you kept going !!!!

Hey there! The YT algorithm brought me here by mere coincidence which I'm thankful for. I wouldn't call myself a souls veteran or anything, but I have been playing this family of games for a while now and I "sweat" quite a bit at them because that's how I get my kicks, but I was always interested in knowing the perspective of someone who was completely new and their journey. This was really heart-warming and motivating to watch, and be sure I'll share this with all my "casual" friends and acquaintances that always tell me Elden Ring isn't for them. Kudos on your achievement!

What a great video! I hate that I can't make it to alot of streams but we love to see a passion for gaming blossom!

Literally goosebumps at that montage. Great job beating it. Coming out of your comfort zone can be one of the most filling experiences in one’s life.

Wow Laura!! This was such an impressive video! And kind of emotional? So proud of you and appreciative of you sharing this story/journey with us. (Also wow, I ADORE the outfit heheh)

It’s so crazy how when you first meet a boss and thought he was impossible because of how hard he is to hit or the damage he caused…then that feeling when you got closer and closer and finally did it is such an addicting feeling and that’s what makes you want to continue. I think everyone reached a point when they wanna give up even I took weeks break and came back and finally beat the boss. Do NOT fear it just keep pushing forward with new strategies.

Congrats on starting and finishing this game! Alleluia! I appreciate the pep talk about going again and again and again despite the number of times I've failed or missed something.

Just wanted to say that in a sea of gaming youtubers making rant filled videos with how much "modern gaming" has declined it's refreshing to see a video that talks about the joys of finding a new game that really just fills you with joy. I love the soulsborne/sekiro games and it's always such a great thing to watch someone else fall in love with and realize what makes games like Elden Ring so great. A great video full of positivity instead of jaded cynical monologues. Subscribed!

This is one of my fav videos I’ve seen in a while. So cool you conquered this game and learned so much about yourself. You’re awesome

This was great! Thank you for sharing your experience.

I love your build near the end, Black Knife Tiche is tough to keep alive but she is so great, and the Bloodhound's Fang is an amazing weapon. Thanks for sharing your journey!

You taking on Elden Ring from Animal Crossing is WILD! I've been a gamer my whole life (have PS1-2 when I was young and played it with my older brother all the time), and I even hesitate playing ER for YEARS because ppl were talking about how difficult it is. I don't like too much challenge. I want something that'd make me feel like a superhero, easy and low effort. But I decided to do it this year and man I was so grateful to do so! ER is one of the best game for me so far. Please try RDR2 tho, it's more chill and immersive. You'd love that!

This was a great video! Props for sticking with it, very impressive determination.

I’ve been saying this too, the real battle is in your head. These games are all about overcoming your own demons as well as the ones on the screen.

Not the audicity of cosplaying Melina while doing the frenzied flame ending hahaha

She used mimic tear... And that's totally fine. Besting the game isn't the goal, besting yourself is and she did.

My favorite thing abiut this series i watching stuff like this i love seeing all the unique and different struggles and seeing the different ways they figure out how to "gitgud"

You reminded me back when I first tried Hollow Knight. I'm not a good gamer, as well as my reaction time was totally poopy. I considered giving up multiple times during my playthrough, but i just love that adrenaline rush whenever I beat a boss or a hard platforming section. Now, I can't live without it, I love seeking harder and harder challenges. I still love relaxing games though, but that rush of adrenaline is awesome. Great video, I really love to see if you wanna try out something challenging in the future, it would be awesome.

You hit all the points I was struggling with. The main thing was, as I was getting better, my confidence was growing and as a result ; my enjoyment of the game. The same cycle happens for all Souls games. I just beat Bloodbourne and Demon's Souls. I'm undecided which one I should do next: either DS1-3, or Sekiro, or Lies of P. Decisions decisions.

I actually struggled on Rennalla my first playthrough as well. Idk why because I had played all the other souls games up to that point. She has been a breeze ever since but that first playthrough she kicked my ass

Heartwarming! I love these sorts of videos.

Ive seen many experiencing souls games for the 1st time and I understand the push you hace to make or perseverance you have to make to get to the part where you start to enjoy the game. To see this from the perspective of someone that has barely experienced gaming is nothing short of impressive. I came from a baclground of hacknslash games and demons souls was something I dropped out of. I didnt pick it back up until bloodborne and had to restart the game 3 times before I could get into it. Hacknslash games envouraged me to spam the attack button, so I had to unlearn that bad habbit and I also slowly learnt enemy tells overtime because of this series. Im glad you enjoyed yourself, I would highly recommend the other games, including giving Ds3 another go.

im pretty sure, ur eldenring adventure was the hardest! praise the sun, u did it! \o/ even without the ours of gaming, ure a souls veteran now!

Elden Ring changed my perspective as well in a lot of the same ways. My buddy who I was buying a gaming laptop from gave me a 60 dollar discount if I would just play Elden Ring. After these two years, that realization that challenge in a game can be super satisfying became a little clearer; it's a more immediate gratification than most things in life. You might have to struggle for days learning and improving, like you did with Renalla, but that's still a really understandable period of time, and seeing your efforts bear fruit in a few days is a huge dopamine button for people. Often achievements in life take so long we don't appreciate them by the time we have them because its such a long process of getting it.

This is so wholesome. Bless you for trying and sticking with it.

Thank you for making this 🧡 This was so so fun to watch!

Well done

Videos like this always warm my heart, there is so much beauty in From Software games, ER made great job of being still punishing in a fair way, yet a bit more accessible thanks to the open world nature. I hope that one day you'll return to DS trilogy and this time start properly with the first one - the flawed masterpiece.

As an aside, your should try out Elden Ring Reforged if you play on PC. It's an overhaul mod that changes many things about the game, and that might interest you if you're looking for variation in a second run, but mostly the newer versions completely change the tutorial "Cave of Knowledge" and the "end boss" of this new tutorial area is a sort of Crucible Knight gauntlet mini-boss that straight up forces you to learn how to deal with every single one of their moves in order to proceed. It's an extremely well done little mini-boss fight and it totally changed the way I approach Crucible Knight fights in vanilla Elden Ring. Essentially the mod taught me how to fight them. A+.

Just found your channel. Love these stories. I was into gaming when younger but then stopped when i got married and had kids. Then elden ring came out. I looked at it and knew it was for me. I built a pc just to play it and it has become my favorite game ever by a long margin. I since have played and beat all the fromsoft games. Some multiple times. My reccomendation would be for you to play the others. They are not elden ring but are all amazing and special. Subscribed!

Awesome vid, felt the same way ER was my first Fromsoft game as well. I recommend bloodbourne next🎉. I bet youll feel the same way starting out, and when you beat it.

10:02 are we just going to not mention the perfection? You intercepted Radagon with the weapon art backflip for the kill! That is like a movie it is so perfect wtf.The effort in this video testimonial got me subbed! Love the costume, the outside shots, and the sincerity. Very wholesome watch :)

This was my first souls game too .. and damn u r soo right bout all the thoughts which goes through mind ..... Hard as f but rewarding as f... Too good a game .... Simply too good .....

Great video and appreciate the deeper meaning you found in persistence, resilience, and conquering your inner "bosses"..

Oh yeah the crucible knights were the bane of my existence, especially the dungeon where you fight a normal one and a special one togheter. I bashed my head against the wall that was the first one in a gaol and had to leave multiple times and try later.

woooh Melina cosplay looks good :D suits you :3 I think the good thing about Elden Ring is, everyone died multiple times, so no shame whatsoever on that part xD

Your excitement / distraction after malenia and subsequent scarlet rot death is so goddamn funnny to me

May chaos take the world.

Well done to you! Getting through Elden Ring first time as a melee character is inspiring. I really love animal crossing as well. Elden ring often scares the crap out of me but it is an epic game.

Killer job! For an Animal Crossing meets Souls game experience, check out Don’t Starve/Don’t Starve Together. Another punishing game that can be very rewarding.

This is the sort of FromSoft content I love to see :)

Yeah the crucible knights are crazy. But i found out way later watching a other person easily beat them. just have patience and dodge a lot. Then give them the 1 hit before you roll again ;D. I still die to them sometimes but nowhere to where i first thought they are almost unbeatable.

Go ahead and brush that dust off your shoulder tarnished

Hey, keep at it. You are doing great. Challenges sometimes bring out the best in you. And I really like your outfit with that eye design.

My first souls game was Dark Souls and I had this funny relationship with it where I would give up thinking I'd never play the game again, then I would just have it playing in my head for a few hours and I'd wind up coming up with some new strategy and thinking, "Well, I have to at least try that now." I would give up multiple times in a single day only to come back. Then it clicked and I started making tons of progress every time I played. Good times.

This video made me so fucking emotional. Elden ring was my first souls game too, and it ruined other games for me as well. At first I didn't like it. I had my brother come over and help me get into the game. He got me the gravity staff and showed me the way to Margit. I learned so much about myself through my struggles with this game and you summed it up so well . I cried at the end watching you beat the bosses because I felt the exact same way. Each victory was monumental for me.

Yo huge respect for the perseverance, to play elden ring as your first overtly challenging game and then beat malenia is insanely impressive.

This video is amazing! I'm really glad not only that you gave the game a chance, but also that the game allowed you to challenge yourself. And don't worry about Rennala being a hard boss for you while everyone else was saying she was easy. It happens to everyone, that there's a boss that's really hard for some but it's really easy for others. I mean, you defeated Malenia, considered the hardest boss in the game that less than 40% of the players have been able to defeat. Also, I saw that you reached the Frenzied Flame at the bottom of Leyndell; I've seen experienced players having a really bad time trying to reach that place. I've finished every Souls game (except Demon's Souls), and I didn't have the patience to reach that place. Just let me tell you that you are amazing!

Congratulations on making your way through the entire game! Its always been one of the most unfortunate things to me that these games have ended up with the reputation of "just being hard" when there is an absolute plethora of expertly crafted details and story throughout the entirety of the game, overcoming those initial walls of understanding and then using those lessons for the rest of the game is honestly more than alot of people can say and for a newcomer to the series its even more impressive

Amazing Journey!

You GOT GUD in every sense of the phrase. Well played Elden Lord Foxy Frog. Well played

Whatever you do, don't go back and try souls 1. If you don't ragequit so fast you regret spending your money, you will discover a stubborn addicted side of yourself that wont quit until you experience all the rage to beat it.

Now for a multiple new characters with different builds!

Very nice! Always makes me glad to see newer souls players picking up a From Software game and keeping at it until they understand what makes them so great 🌟🌠

I always love hearing about the experiences of new gamers. It’s so interesting! And CONGRATS ON BEATING ELDEN RING! Even for seasoned gamers, it’s quite the challenge! Don’t stress about struggling with Renala. Everybody struggles with different bosses in these games. She gave me a ton of trouble too. That run back to the boss door was really annoying, which definitely didn’t help. I’m curious! What are some of your favorite games that you’ve played so far?

Amazing, well done! That really is quite magnificent that you stuck with it and found beauty within this gargantuanly challenging game ❤️ Now try Dark Souls hehehhehehehe!!

Wow for a new gamer to jump into a Fromsoft game is quite the leap. Souls games can definitely be a wall even if you have substantial gaming experience and knowledge. I'm glad you got past your walls and was able to enjoy the full experience.

Love watching so0meone falling for fromsoft games and realising the point is that the biggest obstacle to life is yourself and that you can overcome the obstacles before you and that it feels great remember don't go hollow.

The crucible knights were hard for me in the beginning as well. Then I learnt how to parry them, and it’s the most satisfying feeling to riposte them.

You even cosplayed for rhe video. So cool!

Nice going. The crucible knights are fairly tough and I also found other games not measuring up the elden ring as well.

7:45 Thats the whole point of souls game. Dark souls one know it best, with the concept of 'hollow'

Omg I love you and the cosplay! :)))

as someone once said... "it always seems impossible. until it's done." this was a stellar video.

I found with games growing up that when i would struggle with a certain part, i would on my first try defeat or beat the levels after having slept. I found out through research that when you sleep your brain learns. So doing it iver and over and over eventually you hit a wall. So i lesrned not to try it too many times and just wait for the next day after i slept. And i found that worked. Your brain will work out your flaws and strategy and adjust. Since attempting to do so in real time, your brain is strained and exhausted and or not thinking clearly due to anger. I never had to do this with any eldensoulsbourne game as i 98% of the time defeat the bosses within 3 attempts if not the first attempt. But there were a handful over all the games that i struggled with. Most way at the ends of the games. BUT, i consider my self a top tier gamet. And have been playing since way back when Atari was a thing. And got my first own nes system for christmas one yesr i believe in the late 80's. So i have seen it and had every system since not named xbox 🤢🤮🤣 (since they always had the inferior game catalog and worse controllers imo, on top of more console issues)

Truly hope she can enjoy Dark Souls 3 after but it does make sense, a much darker game

Awesome video. Subbed

I avoided Souls games for years. Then I decided to play Dark Souls 3. After I beat it I went and finished all the other Souls games, including SEKIRO and Bloodborne. By the time Elden Ring came I was ready and I really enjoyed it. I think it's my favorite game all time. I'm telling you this because the player I was before Dark Souls 3 and the PERSON I am now after all those games is way different. The player you were before ERing and the PERSON you are now......Im so happy for you.

Good job. This must been so hard for one that haven't any hardcore gaming experience. Now you should play Final Fantasy 7 Remake for the only game with better battle system than the Souls games.

such an amazing video

Awesome video, and dope cosplay as well

I envy you I wish I go back in time and experience Dark Souls again for the first time it truly is out of body moment

Dying 60 times to the tutorial boss in DS3 is CRAZY xD sounds like you got good, i suggest trying DS3 again

the problem when you face the enemies and boss is not only in your skill but also how you can manage your fear, fear with the boss and fear to died again and again

Elden Ring was the most beautiful pain I have ever felt. Also, the Bloodfang is a great weapon for someone’s first play through, good choice 👍🏻

my first souls game was Dark Souls 3 and let me tell you I sucked hard :D I died like 80 times on one of the bosses it's kind of embarrassing. I then actually dropped the game on another boss but returned 2 years later and replayed the game from the start. I liked how you said that Elden Ring became your happy place, I feel the same, sometimes I just return to the game and ride on Torrent listening to the ambience 😊

Well it doesnt surprise me, the open world and other elements make it a very casual friendly experience compared to the more linear approaches of the previous games.

Congratulation!!!!

I hope seeing you in the DLC.

i cant wait for the dlc the trailer might come out this month on the 25th

This is how it goes.. I call it learning the dance 🕺🏾 I’m stuck on Pontiff in DS3 as we speak 😭

I feel like this describes most people experience with these games to one degree or another. This sounds exactly like my gf’s experience for sure.

Understood the entire vibe. Honestly there were times that I didn’t think I could do it then you watch something to figure out a W and then you do it. Although Rennala is made the easiest boss simply by summoning doggos. Each one attacking does stagger damage interrupting her spells and then you just simply…end the domain expansion.