Let's celebrate the countdown for the Tarnished Edition of Elden Ring with a storytime of some manga adaptations.Manga #1: Elden Ring: Distant Tales Between, is a collection of side stories about various Elden Ring characters like Patches, Rya, or Millicent. Generally comedic, it is an episodic series of stories without any real continuity between installments.Manga #2: Elden Ring: Road to the Erdtree, is a continuous comedy narrative about one Tarnished's misadventures on the way to becoming Elden Lord.Daily, starting between 1:00-2:00PM EST.Old thread:>>287465398
It is time for everyone's favorite Nurglewife.
>this armThe quest design for Millicent's storyline was actually demented.
>dex builds
HER
Pay close attention to Rya Sensei
>>287563661Rabu
>>287563792This mangaka loves Rya too.
What a handsome lady.
How chuuni
>>287563494I-is this /u/?
Millicent... had a hard life.
>>287564059>>287563694Yes, obviously.Millicent is also a slut. Double timing the Tarnished with Rya.
Those Finger Readers are the best vagueposters.
Milicent has probably the best quest in the gameMalenia still the most bullshit boss in the whole souls series havent played the DLC
>>287564321She definitely has the least intuitive quest in the game, imo. And the hardest to complete in order, intentionally. Even Goldmask's is easier to do.
>>287564321Malenia should have been redone to be faster and more aggressive in general, but Waterfowl Dance should have been nerfed.
What a princely girl.
Look at her go.
>>287564450>>287564515>>287564539Oujisama.....
>>287564486>You will never kiss Millicent's handMaliketh, give me Destined Death, I am ready
>>287564486Prpr pits
>>287564552Suffering builds character.
>>287564628>>287564656This is the gayest shit ever.
>>287563661SNEK!!!!
Off into the sunset.
CreditsLets be real here, everyone loves their Rotwife. Millicent is hard to not love. So here's the actual question, how close did you actually come to figuring out her questline without a guide? Which questline in Elden Ring did you find the easiest to follow and which was the hardest? Next time we finally catch up to the release schedule with this series.
>>287564719>until the day my journey reaches its endWhich actually means like 100 feet from her true destination.Goddamn why did Fromsoft cuck Millicent out of actually reaching Malenia? Hell, we should have been able to summon her for the Malenia fight, even.
>>287564321Only Waterfowl is bullshit. Everything else is actually pretty nice once you get the hang of it. But yeah, as soon as I see her jumping all of my neurons go into overdrive and I can see the YOU DIED message
>>287564850The issue is how overcentralizing it is. Especially in phase 1, Malenia's moveset is very simple in general, even more than Morgott's. They clearly built the entire fight around Waterfowl Dance which was a bad thing because it means that 90% of phase 1 is very easy but you're constantly looking out for the one overtuned nonsense move that can instakill you. Phase 2 is better because other attacks seem to replace Waterfowl Dance in her AI scripting more commonly, and she's faster and more aggressive in general, so the fight flows better.
>>287564803Ranni's quest felt more natural to follow than the actual game plot. The only hiccup being talking to the Doll enough.The Dung Eater scavenger hunt was pretty obscure, but also implied that the fucker certainly got around.Wonder if Miquella thought he could 'fix' the Dung Eater and invited him to the Haligtree that is how there are Seedbed Curses around. Turned out you can't fix a shit eating serial killer.
>>287563661I've never once found her in Altus.
>>287563423Someone help me. Who's the waifu here? Melicent? The Tarnished? Rya? The finger reader? The Godkin Apostle?
>>287565845>Godkin ApostleAll foreskin, no shaft.
>>287563843Oh no! Milicent put her Shamshir between Rya's legs! Are they going to have rot snake babies now?
>>287564105>Waifu thinking of waifuWaifuception
>>287564436>but Waterfowl Dance should have been nerfed.Or just done once or twice, rarely, as a fuck you.
>>287563423mini-Malenia
>>287564671Gayer than Miquella riding PMC?
>>287564671It's not gay as long the R1s don't touch.
>>287566070PCR I meant*
>>287565990Be the Tarnished that Millicent thinks you are.
>>287563661I said this before but I really like how obvious it is that the mangaka actually played the game.
>>287566306Apparently the other comedy ER manga is full of deep cuts, even went on hiatus so the mangaka could finish Shadow
>>287566572I'll have to check it out again because I bounced off because it felt like too much of a standard gag series with an Elden Ring skin. At least it gave Melina a personality.
>>287564603>>287564628I want to be Millicent's househusband.
>>287565956It is what Rykard would have wanted.
>>287541968I expected it to be Margit's Shackles
>>287564628I bet the Godskin in the village is actually a big surprise if you find it first. Unfortunately when I found it I had already managed to do the much more powerful one in the Caelid Tower, so it was a disappointment.
>>287568071Dragonbarrow scaling is a fuck.
>>287565011This. The boss is not Malenia, it's the Waterfowl Dance. I also dislike how the default way to avoid it when she does it in your face is gamey as fuck and consist of forcing her tracking to go crazy.
>>287564628Melina is off-page watching her son fight and is wondering why she's so nostalgic suddenly.
I only care about Miquella power bottoming his half brother Radahn.
>>287568428Miquella is 100% a top. Dude's got a knee knocker down there and Radahn's Lu Bussy is there for the taking.
>>287568502I don't know man. It would be a waste to not use that prime trap hole so I bet he does.
>>287564038kakkoii
>>287564839Fromsoft just cannot do satisfying questlines. Just give it up. It ain't happening. They haven't managed it once. To be exact, it's clear at this point that they don't even want to try, as they clearly think this is part of their brand. The most they can do is make sympathetic NPC, which is easy as fuck to do in their game as they only need to be glad to see you at some point in their questline and optionally be summonable in a tough fight or two. And because their game is so barren of comfort the player will naturally latch on and go to great length to complete their questlines in spite of the fight it objectively sucks and really only ever boil down to the character being saved and never interacting with you again or dying and the result is the same.They are essentially using the Bethesda method to NPC development where the community will just fill what they are lacking.
>>287563423What's with all the skipped chapters? Are you saving them for something?
>>287564688Astrologer is CUTE
>>287569194Yes. Chapter 7 and the untranslated chapter 11 are essentially end of volume omakes that don't tell a complete story but are linked to one another. They're shorter than the other individual chapters, so they're going to be posted together to make one fullsize dump.
>>287569301Ah, that makes sense. What about 4?
>>287569623The same. Omake
>>287568071As much as I tried to avoid spoilers, I'd heard people making a big deal about this "Godskin Apostle." I found the village one first and kinda stomped him. I mean, it took a few tries, but I didn't see what all the hype was about because I thought that was the only one.
>>287569214INT builds are the best builds.
>>287564628>every other tarnished depicted fighting is a badass>the mage needs to be rescuedlol
>>287569826She heard her princess approaching and "accidentally" tripped so she would need to be "rescued", the little vixen.
>>287569065It still works, too. You can pull up ArchiveOfOurOwn right now and find a several thousand word fanfic written for almost every NPC of note in the game. Those little tidbits of pleasure in the world of hostility get to people's little animal brains and trigger way disproportionate levels of affection.
>>287563661Best girl!
>>287569826I'd lose a hundred battles if my handsome knightly swordwife Millicent would come in and save me just once.
>>287569065Elden Ring is especially bad, and I'm convinced it's because the most of the quests are unfinished, along with much of the rest of the game. >they clearly think this is part of their brandThey know better, that's just an excuse it. They've had good quests and NPC interaction before. They just bit off more than they could chew with Elden Ring.>>287564839>Goddamn why did Fromsoft cuck Millicent out of actually reaching Malenia?The conclusion they originally had in mind for her stopped making sense at some point in development. Probably around when they decided to have Cocoon Miquella be kidnapped by Mohg.
>>287570411Elden Ring is basically DS3 tier in terms of being hacked and pasted together through a dozen rewrites. Just making the world and getting it to function had to have been unruly and required constant changes and modifications and the plot was basically left on the wayside and changed unevenly as necessary to reflect what the game was like at any moment. I remember when dataminers on /v/ and other places were extracting info from the network test and we got a bunch of dialog lines from Malenia talking about how we were her "dear Tarnished" and all the theories being made about that. Only for the actual release to contain none of it. NPC quests caught the brunt of this disorganization.
>>287563568
>>287570936So this is the power and beauty of the great Scarlet Valkyrie's daughter.....
>>287570936
>>287567870So did I!>>287570666Yeah. It's easiest to see with the NPCs, but one thing that caught my eye just today is how Goal Cave isn't a dead end, which as gotten me to thinking that most or many caves, catacombs, and tunnels were meant to loop around, and connect to other places, but they gave up on that pretty early on.>Elden Ring is basically DS3 tier in terms of being hacked and pasted together through a dozen rewritesYou say that, Satan, but I'm tempted to think it was worse. At least with DS3 they presumably has some kind of basis to work from, and certain set boundaries, and presumably they knew from the outset that they wanted to give a good grand finale. With Elden Ring, they seem to have just tried to see what they could do. My hope is that despite the commercial success, the production was enough of a mess that they've finally learned their lesson in regards to scale. That seems to be the case so far.
>>287571604Inspired.
>>287570411>Elden Ring is especially bad, and I'm convinced it's because the most of the quests are unfinished, along with much of the rest of the gameReminds me of the barbarian chick and how her quest just randomly ends where it's VERY obvious that there was more to it, it was so blatant that From had to go and add a (non)ending to itIn my opinion it's because the game is so goddamn big, so goddamn empty and NPCs are almost always put in places completely out of the way AND constantly moving around that it becomes really fucking annoying to keep track and do their quests.
>Didn't even know this existed>apparently it has both my wives snek and millicentWhat the hell
>>287571404It sucks because they CAN do shit really well. Bloodborne and Sekiro are magnificent, their best works while AC6 is also fantastic. They have to scale back and forget the open world meme bring back the Metroidvania esque interconnected areas like Sekiro had.
>>287564803>Lets be real here, everyone loves their Rotwife. Millicent is hard to not love.>So here's the actual question, how close did you actually come to figuring out her questline without a guide?I'll be honest.I played completely blind untill I did pretty mich everything that is in the altus plateau, except for the subteranean shunning grounds and then stopped playing for whatever reason.Then years later a bit after the dlc came out I finished the game, but I used a guide to not miss anything.Though when I was first playing I had a friend beside me telling me when I was about to miss something.
>>287571604Kek.Best edit I have seen in a while
>>287563661>>287563694manga snek is too cuteshe's not that cute in game
Mohg is a shit boss and i dont know why people like him so much
>>287572109I preferred Elden Ring's sprawling setting to Bloodborne and Sekiro's map. I just hope that they have a big enough economic buffer to really take their time with whatever their next main single player RPG will be.
>>287571604I had to make an Elden Ring folder to save this.>>287572109>They have to scale back and forget the open world meme bring back the Metroidvania esque interconnected areas like Sekiro had.That, and their unique kind of multiplayer. I wish they would see that as a staple of their brand instead of obtuse bullshit. If ER only had DS2 style covenants and multiplayer, it would save the game for me. As is, it's much better as a setting for fan stuff like this. By the way, is Nightreign any good? I wrote it off at first, but unfairly, I think. I'm starting to consider it as something to tide me over until Duskbloods comes to Steam.I'd say the other thing they should see as a "brand staple" is NG+ as a part of the core experience of the game, which ties into what you said about keeping things tight like in Sekiro.
>>287572672>By the way, is Nightreign any good?No clue I Never actually "beat" Elden Ring. I mean I beat the Elden Beast but I just quit right at the finish line I was goddamn done with that bloated ass game but I still am interested in the lore and supplemental media
>>287572672Nightreign has the best combat Fromsoft has come up with.
>>287572100It is really quite fun, isn't it?
>>287572672Nightreign was a surprise for me, I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. The pacing switch took a while to get used to, though.
>>287572633I like his voice and boss theme. The fight itself is alright. That it forces you to not only use your windows to attack or heal, but rather navigate around the pools of shit he leaves around it also kinda refreshing.
>>287571604Marvellous
>>287572633He's cool
>>287572633He's generally the easiest of the late game Elden Ring bosses, and his Nihil move is cool for rewarding exploration with your ability to find a sacred tear to negate it.
>>287572100It is honestly better than I expected. Rya was adorable, Alexander was fun, Patches was the right type of scumbag, Millicent was dashing. Even the squirrel one got me good.
>>287569301>untranslated chapter 11the fuckI thought this manga was getting official translations
>>287568071Mine just jumped from the cliff.I was underleveled too. It ended up being a good boost to me.
>>287573484>He's generally the easiest of the late game Elden Ring bossesI'd argue he's the fairest even with heavy HP drain. After that he's got nothing but straightforward moves with the blood pools as his only bit of fuckery
>>287564803From the moment I met Millicent, I was pretty sure she was going to turn out to be an amnesiac Malenia. It would've fit nicely into the running theme of almost all the major gods/demi gods actually have dual identities and secret personas.I'm not sure if that would've been better or worse than what she got, if nothing else about her and Malenia's "questlines" were changed.
>>287568071It's still kind of a surprise, in that you're now keyed into the annoyance of the boss and perhaps a "happy surprise" that it's easier. It's also interesting because it's so unexpected for it to just show up like that from around a corner.Of course, they will run that into the ground when they make you fight him at least one more time to finish the game, and more if you Four Kings the duo fight in Farum Azula and fight the Spirit Caller version in the cave.
>>287572672>NightreignIf you've got friends to play it with, it's very good. If not, it's pretty good, though a lot of people bounced off of it because runs get really samey. I suggest approaching it as a showcase of things From is experimenting with (and expect to see those things more fleshed out in later games) rather than a "full" game.
>>287574853That probably was a thought at some point in development, given how Malenia and you were meant to have some kind of rapport at a certain point in development. Who knows. That entire thing is so weird.
>>287574853We can be pretty sure that was meant to be the case from Melania's cut dialog. Although, rather than being amnesic, I would say Milicent is a separate entity that has the potential to become Melania: She's from Melania, she can return to her. In a similar vein, I've still convinced the Tarnished was meant to be Miquella's alter ego. Aside from the whole thing with Torrent, there's also the Psysick, which is only used by (you) and Haligtree knights, and the Spirit Bell which Ranni was entrusted to give to us by Miquella. So, I reckon Millicent was meant to mirror the Tarnished's in that way.>>287564803I got as far as giving her the needle before I gave up. I'm disappointed you can't take her on as a maiden. I'm sure that you were meant to, her quest just makes so much more sense that way. Same with Irina. I bet there were others that were meant to be maidens, but with them I can see the seams, so to speak.
>>287576169There was undoubtedly a circular repotion present as a theme in Elden Ring. Milenia and Millicient were one.There was a crazy theory on reddit lol Rodericka was meant to be Marika's narrative twin
>>287576169I do think the maidens were going to be a larger concept in Elden Ring early on. There's a cut NPC with a decent amount of retained dialog, who appears to be Bernahl's maiden. She had a very tragic story of repeatedly burning herself alive in whatever fire she could find as a way of trying to torch the Erdtree but failing at it either because she didn't have the power to be proper kindling or because she wasn't using the right fire. Vyke was also going to be a larger tutorial guide type NPC, so there is potential that his maiden was going to have more to her too. We got some of it left over, but unfortunately Melina is an unreasonably underutilized character in the released game, so the real concept of a maiden in the world didn't get the deep dive it deserved.Bloodborne handled it better with its investigation of the Doll and her reflections in the various Cainhurst bloodletting women.
>>287576310>We got some of it left over, but unfortunately Melina is an unreasonably underutilized character in the released gameWill never not be salty about this. She's the reason I even bought the damn game.I get the feeling Miyazaki is just too stuck on his minimalism
>>287576383>>287576310From Soft is an action game company before they are an rpg companyWriting plots, quests and characters is something they keep very light in all of their games.They tried to pump it up for elden ring, but it was also their first open world, so it's all very experimental. They need to fix how their fucking quests work, for example.If you bought the game for a specific character and expected more than 3 lines of dialogue and an item description, I don't know what to tell you.
>>287576433Sekiro is a story driven game with tons of dialog and personality given to its characters.
>>287576453It's a much more linear game.With elden ring they were trying a ton of new stuff, so they just used the quest system they have been using since dark souls 1
>>287576383>I get the feeling Miyazaki is just too stuck on his minimalismRather, I think they just ran out of time.
>>287576433Come on, they literally introduce Melina to you as your personal maiden who follows you around and sits with you whenever you rest. And she's not presented as a mindless entity, she has opinions. I wasn't expecting her to have a new comment at every grace, but it just feels like there's huge gaps in what he comments on.Like, you can do Ranni's whole questline and Melina has nothing to say about it. Nothing to say about the Haligtree, or Miquella's remains in Moghwyn. If you go through the trouble of saving her by taking on the frenzy flame and then purging it with the needle, she doesn't even come back for a "I still won't forgive you" comment or something. I guess she must just be sitting around in a cave, forever seething that you became Elden Lord without sacrificing her.
>>287576433>>287576453But the kicker os THERE was a ton of dialogue and plot heavy elements, as was being discussed. But I'm more willing to believe that it's as you said, it being their first open world game, there were probably a million new difficulties, so all the cut content may not have been due to narrative sensabilities but rather technical limitations. And I forgot about it, but Deracine is just straight up a Miyazaki novel in VR form. Complete with loli Lady Maria and everything. I guess I'll just have to make do with that for the time being.
Since From are good at iterating, I'm hopeful that the next big game will take cues from Nightreign where the quests are still quite cryptic, but have clear progression and endings, as well as foolproof "go here" markers. I also believe they will put in a skill tree system of some kind to give your character unique moves like the Nightreign characters, like better dodges or guarding.
>>287576711>foolproof "go here" markersI think i'll skip on Nightreign after all.
>>287576711I'd be happy if they dropped the 'class system' (actually just stat spreads that stop mattering after the first couple hours) of Demons Souls->Elden Ring, and keep using the hero system that Nightreign brought in.
>>287576790You are allowed to skip quest markers if you give the player proper directions, not cryptic ass retarded dialogue about zanzibartAnd having a quest log or diary wouldn't hurt either
>>287576790The quests are a very minor thing, and given the nature of the gameplay cycle and the length of each run, it's not unreasonable to have those. But I see where you're coming from, it feels patronizing to the players.
>>287576790It makes sense in context. Nightreign relies a lot on pathing and pacing, so you need to know in advance where you have to go so you can incorporate it in your route.
>>287576813ER not having a quest log when there's no way in hell I'm going to remember stuff 10 hours later is annoying. Especially when some NPCs can straight up be murked by you doing things in a slightly different order than they want.
>>287576891And it's easy to fuck up the order when you're encouraged to run around and explore. Whoops, you went up to Altus too early, get fucked retard.And the game is way too long to shrug it off a replayability even when you know what you're doing.
>>287574942>they will run that into the groundAnother fucking cancerous part of Elden. The constant repeating of bosses, especially the really annoying ones in absolutely dogshit configurations. Anyone remember the dual Tree Spirits in the Haligtree
>>287576603>I think they just ran out of timeHow much you wanna bet it was GRRM taking his sweet fucking time writing that lore
>>287577200I don't think that fat fuck did anything other than introduce some of the more esoteric Western cultural references. Maybe how the demigods are all kinda patterned on European mythology (although Dark Souls did that already). The plot and stuff is all Miyazaki.
>>287577200Nah, George without the decades of baggage of GoT is a actually a pretty decent worker. All he did was create the backtories and the world, the actual narrative was Miyazaki and Co. If anything it was probably them choking, considering they were changing plot points all the way up to release.
>>287577200We don't even know what parts of the game come from fattie
>>287577282I'm too sleepy but I'm sure all the implications of rape and incest were probably at least suggested by him.The whole Ranni and Sulivus attempted not-rape was probably a collaborative effort. Miyazaki with the doll fetish and Martin with the rape.
>>287577354Two true visionaries....
>>287577354That, and the incest.But yeah, everything about Seluvis has GRRM's stink all of it. Not just the weird pervert stuff, but the way everyone fucking hates him. Same with some of the other characters. Fromsoft has rarely gone for either such despicable characters but also having OTHER characters shit talk them so much. The hate sink-ness of them stands out to me.
>>287577282There are some things that feel really obvious, like the other anon mentioned. I've always assumed the feudal structure of the Golden Order is his work as well.
>>287577282The names of the Gods/Demi-Gods is sort of an obvious ones.
>>287577354>>287577385>>287577422A little to the side, but it still shocks me when Gherman just straight up suggests you use the Doll to please yourself. There was a lot to unpack there. But Miyazaki's perversion feels more restrained and in service to the narrative whereas Martin's...well, you guys already know.
>>287577282Miquella's homo incestus relationship with his consort lMarikadagon transexualismThe Caca Consumer
>>287577572Bloodborne is all about the juicy horror. Blood, puss, guts, and cum, in this case. The whole thing with the Doll is that investigation about what it means to be a Level Up Girl. A living Doll for players to use for pleasure. Links up with the whore (literally used for pleasure), the Vileblood Queen (willing to debase herself sexually for power), Maria (the target of Gherman's obsession and intentionally made to be a waifubait character), and Yharnam herself (a breeding tool for the gods). Big narrative in the game between those connected women.
>>287563494Huh, female Tarnished this time
>>287563843I like how I can recognize every one of these locations
>>287577282Almost certainly all the backstory up to the Shattering
Why is everyone on Nightreign underage? Is it the stupid fortnite circle that called them here?
>>287577998Nah, that changed a bunch too.In one version Radahn killed the Giants, not Godfrey, and Horoah Loux was Goldmask's name.The Hornsent definitely weren't preplanned, and Marika was intended to be a Nox defector (game data refers to them as being of Marika's lineage specifically, and v1.0 descriptions refer to the Nox as having the ethnicity of 'Empyrean') but that was changed.The whole game world was in constant flux during development.
>>287578058The audience of any fast paced multiplayer game under 5 years old is going to trend young.
>>287564070Cute autistic
>>287564290Millicent side boob
>>287568071Same hereI searched the whole Caelid before I decide to start Altus Plateau, and it was a big let down when ovarall of it being easier than Caelid
>>287564803Thanks OPNow I just hope she survives in the gag manga. Even fucking Rykard survived, there's no way she'll die in it.
>>287578306I don't think anyone is allowed to get hurt in that unless they have to for plot reasons, like Radahn.
>>287578306To be fair Rykard survived in the game too
>>287563387Do you have chapters 75-80 for the Erdtree? I put it on hold and cannot find it anywhere.
>>287563568Unalloyed gold is heavy as fuck. That thing might be 100kg+
>>287564803>Which questline in Elden Ring did you find the easiest to followRanni by far. It's a truly massive outlier from standard From quests. It has an immortal NPC who points you in her direction, you can miss half every step before getting the Fingerslayer blade without breaking anything, there are multiple ways to find out how to get to Nokron and Ranni gives you clear instructions. There's a reason more people cleared her ending than cleared the default ending.
>>287579390That is just a case of the official TLs being super slow.
>>287581201Official TL are already at part 2 of chapter 81.
>>287581497>>287581201Yeah I missed it and they got removed on the website (75-80).
>>287581661I tried trawling through the Archive.org archive for the Bookwalker page but no dice on that.
>>287582236*comic walker
>>287582236Yeah I tried that as well, but failed. And it seems no one saved that, not even in the desuarchive here.
>>287579390>>287581497>>287581661I kept waiting and waiting for a new batch of rips to come out before the storytime, and eventually just gave up on it happening any time soon. Not a high priority for rippers, I guess.
Pencil it into your calendars, kiddies.
>>287572633>Mohg is a shit bossAbsolutely garbage taste
>>287582783It's not that, it's that what you can find around are to my knowledge the volume scans.
>>287583090Even for those we're behind a few volumes, is what I was complaining about.
