9 Pointless Details In Elden Ring That'll Blow Your Mind
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00:00 Elden Ring and its ever-deepening lore, mechanics and expansive world is pretty assuredly dominating
00:06 the lives of a lot of gamers right now. Whether you're a FromSoftware devotee who's played every
00:10 Soulsborne game end-to-end or a newbie to the studio's brutal offerings, it's undeniable how
00:16 rich each title is. 2022 RPG Elden Ring is absolutely no exception. It's packed to the
00:23 brim with granular combat considerations, dense RPG mechanics and lore tidbits that are extremely
00:29 important to the overall narrative. For this list though, we're putting the spotlight on the
00:34 mechanics, story elements and features that Elden Ring could definitely have done without. But the
00:39 fact that FromSoftware decided to include them anyway is exactly what we love about them.
00:44 Just how pointless you find each of these entries will depend on what you like out of your RPGs,
00:49 but it's worth mentioning that each one is still cool in its own unique way regardless.
00:53 I'm Jess from WarCulture and here are 9 pointless details in Elden Ring that'll blow your mind.
00:59 Number 9 - Accurate instrument playing for merchant songs
01:03 One of the few characters in Elden Ring who is not actively trying to kill you are the merchants.
01:08 And while his haunting song played upon his string instrument is stunning in and of itself,
01:13 there's a little more going on here. Attentive players discovered that the NPC's hand movements
01:18 line up perfectly with the melody being played. A violin player weighed in to confirm that the
01:23 shifting and vibrato animations are impressively replicated. Why FromSoftware would go to the
01:29 effort of implementing this when it is arguably a pointless detail is anybody's guess, but I think
01:35 we can all agree we love they decided to do it anyway. Number 8 - It won't let you fall
01:40 That title probably has you feeling a little suspicious since I'm sure if you're playing
01:44 Elden Ring, you've fallen off many things many times to many deaths. While that's true,
01:49 there is one circumstance where the game won't let you fall to your death. While traditionally
01:54 attacking with your weapon, you've probably noticed that your character tends to step
01:58 forward to execute a swing. In noticing that animation, you'd be forgiven for being pretty
02:03 hesitant about attacking anything close to a ledge. Funnily enough, though, despite the game's
02:08 apparent delight in killing you off 100 ways from Sunday, it won't let you tumble off a cliff to
02:14 your death just for attacking too close to a ledge. You'll still be able to jump off intentionally or
02:19 unintentionally, but a much appreciated invisible wall will pop up if you're just trying to hack at
02:25 something hanging out near an edge. That said, if you aren't at an edge where the drop would be
02:30 fatal, you can and will still fall to the landing below. This probably isn't a tip you want or need
02:35 in your arsenal since it just is the way the game is programmed, so it's kind of pointless,
02:40 but definitely cool nonetheless. Number 7 - Starscourge Radan's powers and his steed,
02:45 Leonard General Radan, now Starscourge, is a very large boss who rides a very tiny horse.
02:52 Well, the horse is probably regular size, but given that Radan is enormous,
02:56 it begs the question of how he manages to stay atop his comparatively little steed.
03:01 Of course, the studio could have gotten away with just making this another incredible
03:05 grand enemy design without a lot of explanation as to what is exactly happening and getting into
03:10 the whys and hows, but we know from software and we know they love the whys and hows.
03:15 If you're a read-every-item description type, you might already be across this one,
03:20 but it's the description for the remembrance of the Starscourge consumable that sheds a
03:24 little more light on the matter. It reads, "The Red Lion General wielded gravitational powers
03:30 which he learned in Celia during his younger days. Also, he would never have to abandon his
03:35 beloved but scrawny steed." The Red Lion, of course, being Radan, and his beloved scrawny
03:40 steed is Leonard. If you're wondering how we know the horse's name, that's because one clever player
03:46 dug through the NPC AI scripts for the reference names and uncovered one for Radan that read,
03:52 "Radan and Leonard." In essence, this formidable boss is using gravity magic so he doesn't squash
03:57 his tiny little steed underneath him, so hopefully he's not too uncomfortable under there.
04:02 Number six, the backstory of the crappiest summon. If you've spent any time at all battling in the
04:07 harsh and unforgiving world of Elden Ring, you've probably come to appreciate the usefulness of
04:12 summons. That said, much like all the gear you'll come across, not all summons are made equal.
04:18 There's one such example which might have you giving up on the idea of summons altogether,
04:22 but there's a pretty good reason as to why. The Noble Sorcerer is one of the spirit ashes you can
04:27 come across and call upon when needed, but this guy really isn't much use. Despite the promising
04:32 name, summoning this guy immediately feels like a waste of time because he'll basically rock up,
04:38 stand around, maybe fire off a spell, and get killed. The item description for it reads,
04:43 "Spirit of a nobleman who once asked to be given a place at Ryalucaria to learn glintstone
04:49 sorceries. His talents were insufficient to be worthy of donning the stone crown, however,
04:54 and he's only capable of using the most rudimentary sorcery." So essentially this dude failed at
05:00 learning magic and now you can summon him to watch him continue to be bad at it in the ghostly flesh.
05:05 The lore is easily missable and pointless, but it's a cute humorous addition that's a fun
05:10 inclusion for attentive players. Number five, a slight adjustment for certain armor types.
05:15 There are a substantial amount of untraditional armor sets and pieces in Elden Ring, plenty with
05:20 designs that while admittedly impractical, do look super freaking cool. One example is the
05:25 twinned armor which features a silver bust encrusted into the breastplate. It depicts two
05:31 entwined twins of gold and silver respectively and it looks awesome and incredibly cumbersome.
05:37 Interestingly, this clearly occurred to From Software as they adjusted the character model
05:41 to account for the armor. You'll notice that when the armor is equipped, your character holds their
05:46 weapon higher than normal to account for the protrusion. It's a welcome detail, but not one
05:51 that would have upset players were they to not address it, particularly since the same can't be
05:56 said for the multiple armor sets that do clip into one another. I'm looking at you, permanently
06:01 skewered pumpkin head. Number four, footprints in the sand. As mentioned, you have loads of
06:05 different options when it comes to what gear you want to equip and how each piece complements your
06:10 chosen play style. While the intricacies of these choices aren't pointless at all, what could be
06:15 considered pointless is what happens when you wander across the sand. This one was uncovered
06:20 by Soulsborne super sleuth and Twitch streamer Lance McDonald and while it may be very minute,
06:25 it's pretty damn charming. Basically, if you walk across a sandy beach with shoes on, you'll leave
06:30 shoe prints, but if you take your shoes off, you'll leave little footprints complete with those
06:34 little dots for your toes. It's a lovely little detail that, much like the rest of the entries on
06:39 this list, showcases the developer's attention to detail, even down to the most mundane aspects.
06:45 Number three, the overworld is always rendered. This one is pointless because it doesn't actually
06:50 affect the way that you're going to play the game at all, but I think you'll find it pretty
06:53 mind-blowing anyway. This little detail was also uncovered by Lance McDonald, who revealed that
06:58 Elden Ring always loads in a very low detail copy of the entire overworld at all times,
07:04 no matter where you are. This is because the weather progression and timekeeping through the
07:08 day/night cycle is handled by ensuring consistency across the entire map, so there must be some
07:14 version of the overworld rendered at all times. Though none of the actual geometry of the game
07:19 is rendered in, and this system uses as little RAM as possible, it's still more than you might
07:24 expect. Number two, get in custody of the dog. One of the bosses you have to fight in Raya Lucaria
07:29 Academy is called the Red Wolf of Radagon. Now, this is interesting because Radagon is the ex-
07:35 husband of Ranala, the master of Raya Lucaria. If all those R names are getting confusing already,
07:41 then I apologize for this next bit. Basically, before the shattering of the Elden Ring,
07:46 Radagon was a warrior of the Golden Order who fell in love with the woman he was supposed to
07:51 be fighting, the full moon queen Ranala. They had three kids called Rani, Raikit, and Radan. Yes,
07:58 that Radan, the one with the little horse. Radagon abandoned her after the shattering of the Elden
08:03 Ring, however, and things went sideways. Awful as that may be, the fact that his dog appears as a
08:09 boss in her castle suggests they must have got a dog while they were together, and she kept it.
08:14 It's a tiny, pointless detail, and one you might not even notice, since there's a good chance you
08:18 don't know who Radagon is when you meet his dog, but it's pretty darn cool all the same.
08:23 Number one, you can take a bath. Okay, look, this entry is as close as we're getting to an actual
08:29 tip, so it might seem a little less pointless, but we are talking about soaping yourself down
08:34 in a grand, gothic fantasy RPG, so I'm gonna allow it. You might already know that if you
08:38 go rolling around in poison, you'll get coated in the stuff, which is usually not good news for
08:43 your health bar. Poison is a huge pain in Elden Ring, so knowing how to deal with it quickly
08:48 before it takes you out is very important. And it turns out the answer lies in one of the most
08:53 mundane items in your inventory, a bar of soap. Elden Ring may offer up a world of fantasy
08:59 adventures, horrifying creatures, and gorgeous yet threatening biomes, but even here, taking a
09:05 bath is never a bad thing. Using the soap duly gets you all cleaned up and dramatically reduces
09:10 and reverses your poison buildup, unless you run out of soap, in which you may want to take
09:15 advantage of one other silly detail in the game, and that's standing on breakable objects to give
09:20 yourself a breather. That gives you a window to wind that poison meter back down so you can live
09:25 another day. Or another minute. This is Elden Ring after all. That's the end of our list,
09:29 but do let me know down in that comment section if you can think of any other pointless details
09:33 in Elden Ring that blew your mind. As always, I've been Jess from WhatCulture, thank you so
09:38 much for hanging out with me. If you like, you can come say hi to me on my Twitter account,
09:42 where I'm @JessMcDonald, but make sure you stay tuned to us here for plenty more gaming goodness.