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[nenjin]

There's been a lot of stuff coming out about Elden Ring now that the game is in the hands of journalists for previews. I've sorted stopped my intake of Elden Ring facts. I'm pretty thoroughly spoiled on the first region and stuff and decided I didn't want to know anymore going into release.

A week or so ago the Elden Ring Steam store page got updated with the min and max specs, and people were kind of shocked by how high the min specs seemed to be. They took those specs down and reposted them today.

And they remain largely unchanged.

Min:

-i5 Intel CPU or comparable
-GTX 1060
-12 Gigs of RAM
-Windows 10
-60 gigs of HDD space.
-DX 12.

That's MIN spec. My 1070 just barely meets min so I expect I'll probably have to run the game at mid settings or lower.

Nobody that I followed during the network test expressed any real performance lag or hiccups, but it's hard to know what kind of rigs they're playing on. I'll be able to run the game, perhaps comfortably, but I wouldn't be surprised if the specs come as an unpleasant surprise to some. From Soft games have never exactly been at the bleeding edge of tech and neither is Elden Ring. But it's beefier in requirements than I think anyone was expecting.

It's just 10 long days until full release. I'm playing pretty much anything to distract me from thinking about it, but the wait is almost over.

[Egan_BW]

Nobody that I followed during the network test expressed any real performance lag or hiccups, but it's hard to know what kind of rigs they're playing on.

Actually it should be pretty easy to know, since the test was on console only. :p

[nenjin]

Ah. I didn't try to sign up for it so I wasn't aware. Or just plain forgot.

[Frumple]

Huh. Did they fix that major security problem with the online features?

[nenjin]

Yep. They claim. It's fixed for all From Soft Dark Souls games, but DS 1, 2 and 3 won't get the update and get online re-enabled until after Elden Ring's launch.

[None]

I'm giving it 24 hours after launch to see if there's massive issues or not. I'm excited for s'more Souls, but not enough to feed into all the problems associated with pre-orders, y'know?

[nenjin]

Under most circumstances I'd agree. But From Soft has my trust and I've been waiting for this forever. So I made an exception for them.

I also am planning (friends insistence withstanding) to do my first playthrough completely solo anyways. I imagine most of the issues will be with MP.

[nenjin]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvuWn6KsGik

If you're interested in getting the basic framework of the lore in your head prior to playing, Vaati Vidya has posted a summary of the lore as he understands it. I wouldn't blame anyone for wanting to piece it together by themselves...but honestly I'm not terribly clever and would miss 50% of stuff even looking for it. So I appreciate, this time around with a From Soft game, actually having an idea wtf the universe is about before I go in.

It reads very much like a melding of something GRRM and Miyazaki would make. At the "roof" of the story, you have the Elden Ring and its power. It defines how the universe works. It is made up of various "runes" i.e. rules or laws. Various factions spring up around the Elden Ring, with different opinions on it. A giant ass tree grows in the world drawing power from the Elden Ring. This part feels very Miyazaki in its big unifying ideas about world state and reality.

But then the Rune of Death is stolen and the Elden Ring eventually shatters, and all the factions begin squabbling and fighting over the many runes scattered around. The ones that win become demi-gods, and foster a family of demi-gods. They continue to battle for the power of the Elden Ring but none can claim total victory. Eventually, one of them is exiled and denied the power of the Elden Ring. That demi-god is the ancestor of the Tarnished, those denied the grace and power of the Elden Ring. And now you've been called back by the universe essentially to put things back together, beat up your debauched distant relatives caught in their decaying stalemates and reclaim your grace.

That whole part sounds very much like GRRM, the warring between factions, big traumatic events that move things forward, murderous family ties, stolen birthrights, vengeance etc....

I'm starting to get the vibe for the game and story and so far I'm liking it.

[MCreeper]

It defines how the universe works. It is made up of various "runes" i.e. rules or laws. Various factions spring up around the Elden Ring, with different opinions on it.

Kinda curious about that one, but don't want to watch the video for fear of spoiling myself too much. Probably i read too much into the phrase, but it reminded me of Sunless Skies. In it there is a revolutionary society who view stars, who created and uphold most of universe's laws, as most terrible of tyrants and wish for an end of them all along with end of all laws. Nothing so radical there, i suppose?

[Egan_BW]

That seems like it'd be a valid comparison from what I've gleaned. Much talk of "commanding the stars".

[nenjin]

It defines how the universe works. It is made up of various "runes" i.e. rules or laws. Various factions spring up around the Elden Ring, with different opinions on it.

Kinda curious about that one, but don't want to watch the video for fear of spoiling myself too much. Probably i read too much into the phrase, but it reminded me of Sunless Skies. In it there is a revolutionary society who view stars, who created and uphold most of universe's laws, as most terrible of tyrants and wish for an end of them all along with end of all laws. Nothing so radical there, i suppose?

Sorceries in Elden Ring are about commanding celestial, primordial powers. Starlight, gravity, stuff like that. It's unclear if the stars draw their power from the Elden Ring, or the Elden Ring draws its power from them. Faith magic seems to be based on drawing directly from the Elden Ring, and keeping with certain commandments. Which is why Faith magic is opposed to and committed to destroying the undead, because they're in violation of the "natural order." Likewise Sorcery bills itself as a commitment to study and certain laws, and maybe rather than being beholden to the Elden Ring and ridged laws, controlling them or subverting them instead. That's purely speculation on my part, but there's several "magical" factions and blood magic of some sort, so I think it's a safe assumption.

And yeah. Sorta like how in SS the lack of the sun in the 'Neath interrupts the normal cycle of life and death, the theft of the Rune of Death interrupted the cycle of life and death for the world in Elden Ring. It's the narrative justification for dying and rising again, the presence of undead....just like Dark Souls had its own narrative justification for the same.

I think it's also been made clear by now that the multiple ending are related to what you ultimately decide to do with the power of the Elden Ring. Just like in Dark Souls where you had a choice of maintaining the status quo, ending it or something else, I think Elden Ring will have similar choices to make and factions and view points that support them. Where the "factions" in Dark Souls were some what muted and in the background of most decision making in the story, in Elden Ring I suspect they're going to take a more central role in guiding you and explaining things to you. They're doing more to hype up characters in this world than in any other previous Soulsbourne game I think.

[Egan_BW]

What I find interesting is that the astrologers/sorcerers were more powerful in the age before the Eld Tree, but lost power due to the existence of the Elden Ring and the Golden Order. That'd lead me to believe that the stars are the ultimate source of all power, and the Elden Ring just stole it.

[nenjin]

I think the Elden Ring represents the Divine Order. If the power of the Elden Ring can make you a demi-god, it stands to reason the Elden Ring is sort of like a god. But of the unknowable variety, that is more concept than persona. The stars and the cosmos are separate and distinct from it, and why I think the Sorcerers seem somewhat opposed to the Elden Ring: they don't necessarily need it to command power. It could be true that the Elden Ring takes from the stars....or that they got weaker after the Elden Ring shattered due to some interaction between it and the stars. I dunno, if there's a big bad evil I would expect it to come from the stars. When From Soft starts looking up, you tend to end up with tentacles.

[Egan_BW]

The Great Ones are from the cosmos, or from the sea which is equivalent. :p
But the Great Ones also aren't really evil, just very different from humans.

Usually the sorry state of the world in miyazaki games isn't due to the machinations of some villain, but it's just how things are and have to be. Though in ER there is the implication that the Elden Ring was shattered, and the rune of death stolen by someone (or something, ooooooohhhhhh eldenring) so perhaps some mortal set that off.

[nenjin]

They've announced the Global release schedule.

For US PC players, the good news is you get it during daylight hours on the 24th. If you're on console, you get it when your regional timezone rolls over to midnight.

    PT: February 24th, 3pm (PC), 9pm (console)
    CT: February 24th, 5pm (PC), 11pm (console)
    ET: February 24th, 6pm (PC), February 25th, midnight (console)
    COT: February 24th, 6pm (PC), February 25th, midnight (console)
    BRT: February 24th, 9pm (PC), February 25th, midnight (console)
    GMT: February 24th, 11pm (PC), February 25th, midnight (console)
    CET: February 25th, midnight (PC and console)
    SAST: February 25th, midnight (console), 1am (PC)
    EET: February 25th, midnight (console), 1am (PC)
    AST: February 25th, midnight (console), 2am (PC)
    MSK: February 25th, midnight (console), 2am (PC)
    GST: February 25th, midnight (console), 3am (PC)
    KST: February 25th, midnight (console), 8am (PC)
    JST: February 25th, midnight (console), 8am (PC)
    AEDT: February 25th, midnight (console), 10am (PC)
    NZDT: February 25th, midnight (console), 12pm (PC)

Preload should just be a day or two away.

The time is nigh!