Elden Ring: Incredibly Frustrating Fun

I have recently beaten Elden ring after 81ish hours, 27 of them spent farming for masses of Runes, which, for those who do not know, are Elden Ring's XP and currency. With Runes you can buy things and level up your character, but they are lost on death, and despite me spending 27 hours farming, they did not help me in any boss fights-a classic case of Game Journalist's Skill Issue. All that did help was some cheese and overpowered random players on the r/EldenRing Discord. The only time perhaps when someone I summoned wasn't able to defeat the boss in seconds, was when I wanted a fair fight for the Godskin Duo-also once nicknamed "The Foreskin Duo" for being very annoying.

After this boss, I had to fight the good sir Beast Clergyman, who I later realised was this crazy wolf god dude. He was put down. After doing the same to me roughly 13 times.

Sorry Buddy.

Before this, I fought the dreaded Fire Giant, who I cheesed. It only took me a day: google Fire Giant Latenna Cheese if you're having trouble.

Quite annoying.

After all of these bosses I fought a terror trio in quick succession, but I don't want to talk about that. What I do want to talk about is the fact that I spent 7 hours doing a questline for a blue four armed Waifu and all I got was a special ending.

Said Waifu is above.

Now, said Waifu is Ranni the Witch, though she will introduce herself to you as Renna. Admittedly, you get three armour sets out of serving her, so not completely pointless. At the end of my playthrough, I decided to do her ending and marry the Waifu, although I didn't realize I married her until I googled what Consort meant.

There are 6 endings to Elden Ring, and I intend to get them all through NG+, which, for those who don't know, is when you restart a game's story but you keep your items and skills while the enemies get harder. Also, on another note, I would like to congratulate those who beat the game without summoning other players. Skilful you are. I personally believe the summoning system is the only thing keeping Elden Ring from being so hard it's not fun for the vast majority of players. That and cheese.

Elden Ring is widely considered to have the hardest bosses among Souls and Souls-likes made by Fromsoftware, and possibly in any game. The reason Elden Ring is so hard is often contributed to one thing : Stats. In Elden Ring, especially towards the latter part of the game, stats are very hard to manage. If you put too many points into Vigor then you'll have more health, but this also means that since you didn't put as many points into other stats, you'll have a difficult time dodging and should ideally spend your life as a Tank, and if you put too many points into Stamina you'll most likely have to become a Dodgemaster 3000. there is a careful balance you can achieve between these stats, or (those who know know) F1 F3!

In conclusion, Elden Ring is a masterpiece filled with lovely little eldritch horrors. 10/10, will replay 5 more times. It is frustrating, horrifying, and adorable as displayed in the image below.

Alexander, Great Warrior Jar.