9 Pointless Details In Elden Ring That'll Blow Your Mind
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00:00Elden Ring and its ever-deepening lore, mechanics and expansive world is pretty assuredly dominating
00:06the lives of a lot of gamers right now. Whether you're a FromSoftware devotee who's played every
00:10Soulsborne game end-to-end or a newbie to the studio's brutal offerings, it's undeniable
00:16how rich each title is. 2022 RPG Elden Ring is absolutely no exception. It's packed to the brim
00:23with granular combat considerations, dense RPG mechanics and lore tidbits that are extremely
00:29important to the overall narrative. For this list though, we're putting the spotlight on the
00:34mechanics, story elements and features that Elden Ring could definitely have done without. But the
00:39fact that FromSoftware decided to include them anyway is exactly what we love about them.
00:44Just how pointless you find each of these entries will depend on what you like out of your RPGs,
00:49but it's worth mentioning that each one is still cool in its own unique way regardless.
00:53I'm Jess from WarCulture and here are 9 pointless details in Elden Ring that'll blow your mind.
01:00Accurate instrument playing for merchant songs. One of the few characters in Elden Ring who is
01:05not actively trying to kill you are the merchants. And while his haunting song played upon his string
01:11instrument is stunning in and of itself, there's a little more going on here. Attentive players
01:16discovered that the NPC's hand movements line up perfectly with the melody being played. A violin
01:22player weighed in to confirm that the shifting and vibrato animations are impressively replicated.
01:28Why FromSoftware would go to the effort of implementing this when it is arguably a pointless
01:33detail is anybody's guess, but I think we can all agree, we love they decided to do it anyway.
01:38Number 8. It won't let you fall. That title probably has you feeling a little suspicious
01:43since I'm sure if you're playing Elden Ring, you've fallen off many things many times to
01:48many deaths. While that's true, there is one circumstance where the game won't let you fall
01:52to your death. While traditionally attacking with your weapon, you've probably noticed that
01:56your character tends to step forward to execute a swing. In noticing that animation, you'd be
02:02forgiven for being pretty hesitant about attacking anything close to a ledge. Funnily enough though,
02:07despite the game's apparent delight in killing you off 100 ways from Sunday, it won't let you
02:13tumble off a cliff to your death just for attacking too close to a ledge. You'll still be able to jump
02:18off intentionally or unintentionally, but a much appreciated invisible wall will pop up if you're
02:24just trying to hack at something hanging out near an edge. That said, if you aren't at an edge where
02:29the drop would be fatal, you can and will still fall to the landing below. This probably isn't a
02:34tip you want or need in your arsenal since it just is the way the game is programmed, so it's kind of
02:39pointless but definitely cool nonetheless. Number 7. Starscourge Radan's powers and his steed,
02:45Lennard. General Radan, now Starscourge, is a very large boss who rides a very tiny horse.
02:52Well, the horse's probably regular size, but given that Radan is enormous, it begs the question
02:57of how he manages to stay atop his comparatively little steed. Of course, the studio could have
03:02gotten away with just making this another incredible grand enemy design without a lot
03:06of explanation as to what is exactly happening and getting into the whys and hows, but we know from
03:12software and we know they love the whys and hows. If you're a read-every-item description type,
03:18you might already be across this one, but it's the description for the remembrance of the
03:22Starscourge consumable that sheds a little more light on the matter. It reads,
03:27The Red Lion General wielded gravitational powers which he learned in Celia during his
03:32younger days. All so he would never have to abandon his beloved but scrawny steed.
03:37The Red Lion of course being Radan and his beloved scrawny steed is Lennard.
03:42If you're wondering how we know the horse's name, that's because one clever player dug
03:46through the NPC AI scripts for the reference names and uncovered one for Radan that read,
03:52Radan and Lennard. In essence, this formidable boss is using gravity magic so he doesn't squash
03:57his tiny little steed underneath him, so hopefully he's not too uncomfortable under there.
04:02Number six, the backstory of the crappiest summon. If you've spent any time at all battling in the
04:07harsh and unforgiving world of Elden Ring, you've probably come to appreciate the usefulness of
04:12summons. That said, much like all the gear you'll come across, not all summons are made equal.
04:18There's one such example which might have you giving up on the idea of summons altogether,
04:22but there's a pretty good reason as to why. The Noble Sorcerer is one of the spirit ashes
04:27you can come across and call upon when needed, but this guy really isn't much use.
04:31Despite the promising name, summoning this guy immediately feels like a waste of time
04:36because he'll basically rock up, stand around, maybe fire off a spell and get killed.
04:41The item description for it reads, Spirit of a nobleman who once asked to be given a place at
04:47Raya Lucaria to learn glintstone sorceries. His talents were insufficient to be worthy of donning
04:52the stone crown, however, and he's only capable of using the most rudimentary sorcery. So essentially
04:58this dude failed at learning magic and now you can summon him to watch him continue to be bad at it
05:04in the ghostly flesh. The lore is easily missable and pointless, but it's a cute humorous addition
05:09that's a fun inclusion for attentive players. Number five, a slight adjustment for certain
05:14armor types. There are a substantial amount of untraditional armor sets and pieces in Elden Ring,
05:19plenty with designs that while admittedly impractical, do look super freaking cool.
05:24One example is the twinned armor which features a silver bust encrusted into the breastplate.
05:30It depicts two entwined twins of gold and silver respectively and it looks awesome and incredibly
05:36cumbersome. Interestingly this clearly occurred to From Software as they adjusted the character
05:41model to account for the armor. You'll notice that when the armor is equipped your character
05:45holds their weapon higher than normal to account for the protrusion. It's a welcome detail but not
05:51one that would have upset players were they to not address it, particularly since the same can't be
05:56said for the multiple armor sets that do clip into one another. I'm looking at you permanently
06:01skewered pumpkin head. Number four, footprints in the sand. As mentioned you have loads of different
06:06options when it comes to what gear you want to equip and how each piece complements your chosen
06:10play style. While the intricacies of these choices aren't pointless at all, what could be considered
06:15pointless is what happens when you wander across the sand. This one was uncovered by Soulsborne
06:21super sleuth and Twitch streamer Lance McDonald and while it may be very minute it's pretty damn
06:26charming. Basically if you walk across a sandy beach with shoes on you'll leave shoe prints but
06:31if you take your shoes off you'll leave little footprints complete with those little dots for
06:35your toes. It's a lovely little detail that much like the rest of the entries on this list
06:39showcases the developer's attention to detail even down to the most mundane aspects. Number three,
06:45the overworld is always rendered. This one is pointless because it doesn't actually affect the
06:50way that you're going to play the game at all but I think you'll find it pretty mind-blowing anyway.
06:54This little detail was also uncovered by Lance McDonald who revealed that Elden Ring always
06:59loads in a very low detail copy of the entire overworld at all times no matter where you are.
07:05This is because the weather progression and timekeeping through the day-night cycle is
07:09handled by ensuring consistency across the entire map so there must be some version of the overworld
07:15rendered at all times. Though none of the actual geometry of the game is rendered in and this
07:20system uses as little RAM as possible it's still more than you might expect. Number two, getting
07:26custody of the dog. One of the bosses you have to fight in Raya Lucaria Academy is called the
07:31Red Wolf of Radagon. Now this is interesting because Radagon is the ex-husband of Ranala,
07:37the master of Raya Lucaria. If all those R names are getting confusing already then I apologize for
07:43this next bit. Basically before the shattering of the Elden Ring, Radagon was a warrior of the
07:48Golden Order who fell in love with the woman he was supposed to be fighting, the full moon queen
07:53Ranala. They had three kids called Rani, Raikit and Radan. Yes that Radan, the one with the little
07:59horse. Radagon abandoned her after the shattering of the Elden Ring however and things went sideways.
08:05Awful as that may be, the fact that his dog appears as a boss in her castle suggests they
08:11must have got a dog while they were together and she kept it. It's a tiny pointless detail and one
08:16you might not even notice since there's a good chance you don't know who Radagon is when you
08:20meet his dog but it's pretty darn cool all the same. Number one, you can take a bath. Okay look
08:26this entry is as close as we're getting to an actual tip so it might seem a little less pointless
08:31but we are talking about soaping yourself down in a grand gothic fantasy RPG so I'm gonna allow it.
08:37You might already know that if you go rolling around in poison you'll get coated in the stuff
08:41which is usually not good news for your health bar. Poison is a huge pain in Elden Ring so knowing how
08:47to deal with it quickly before it takes you out is very important and it turns out the answer lies
08:53in one of the most mundane items in your inventory, a bar of soap. Elden Ring may offer up a world of
08:59fantasy adventures, horrifying creatures and gorgeous yet threatening biomes but even here
09:04taking a bath is never a bad thing. Using the soap duly gets you all cleaned up and dramatically
09:10reduces and reverses your poison buildup unless you run out of soap in which you may want to take
09:15advantage of one other silly detail in the game and that's standing on breakable objects to give
09:20yourself a breather. That gives you a window to wind that poison meter back down so you can live
09:25another day or another minute, this is Elden Ring after all. That's the end of our list but do let
09:29me know down in that comment section if you can think of any other pointless details in Elden Ring
09:34that blew your mind. As always I've been Jess from WhatCulture, thank you so much for hanging out
09:39with me. If you like you can come say hi to me on my Twitter account where I'm at JessMcDonald
09:44but make sure you stay tuned to us here for plenty more gaming goodness.