New players can quickly become overwhelmed by Elden Ring. But this is often not due to the freedom of choice in the open world or the difficulty. Instead, the game’s lore causes confusion. One player on Reddit therefore believes she is too stupid for Elden Ring.
What is the problem? Anyone who has ever played a Soulsborne from FromSoftware knows that the games are very vague in terms of narrative. The story is told in cryptic monologues from various NPCs, and in item descriptions.
If you really want to understand everything, you either have to delve deeply into the subject matter and come up with your own theories about the plot and the history of the world. Or you can just take a look (or two) at the respective wiki. Fans have compiled the concentrated knowledge of the community there. To this day, players are still discovering new details.
New players are not always aware of this problem, however. Especially if Elden Ring is their first Souls game. In such a case, the lore can leave you confused and make you feel really stupid. This is what happened to one player who turned to the Reddit community with her concerns.
The big DLC for Elden Ring will be released soon. Here you can see the trailer, which reveals more about the (presumably still) confusing story:
Elden Ring shows the DLC “Shadow of the Erdtree” in the story trailer
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The names of the characters alone are confusing
What does the player write? On Reddit, user medli20 summarizes her experience with Elden Ring as follows:
“I’m playing Elden Ring for the first time with my boyfriend and I think I’m too stupid for the game.”
She also posted a self-drawn cartoon. It shows two cartoon characters talking to an NPC from Elden Ring. The cryptic monologue leaves only one confused, and this is mainly due to the various names that players are confronted with in Elden Ring.
Godrick, Godfrey, Godwyn, Morgott, Mogh, Margit, Marika, Miquella, Malenia, Radagon, Radahn, Rykard, Ranni… is your head already spinning?
In the game, initial letters often indicate affiliation. Remembering all the names can be tricky, especially the first time you play through.
What does the community say? What you keep reading in the comments says in summary: It’s completely normal to be confused by the game’s lore. Most players also say that they didn’t understand much of the content on their first playthroughs.
User zaqqui writes: “I literally paid no attention to the story on my first playthrough of the game. The world building without a set plot captivated me so much that I played for 400 hours.”
“On the first playthrough of any FromSoft game, everything that attacks me dies. After that, if I’m interested enough, I learn the story and look up how to complete the quests for the second playthrough. Don’t worry, the games are intentionally vague,” writes user Thespac3c0w.
Many others feel the same way. You don’t have to understand the story of Elden Ring to enjoy the game.
Anyone who has the patience to read up on it will be rewarded with an extensive lore. YouTube channels from VaatiVidya can also help with this. For years he has been providing FromSoftware fans with detailed explanatory videos on the lore of the games. You can also find a summary of the story of Elden Ring on MeinMMO.