Introduction
Many Elden Ring players bought the game excitedly, influenced by the amazing graphics, interesting characters, and the promise of a good time – which all disappeared when they got one shot by the Grafted Scion. Of course, many of them probably kept going, realizing that the death was forced, thinking that the rest of the game couldn’t be that hard. Then they stumbled across the Tree Sentinel right outside of Limgrave, and I’m sure all Elden Ring players know what comes next – the end of the journey for many. However, thankfully, not everyone quits, and those who don’t come to realize just how immersive the game is, with endless exploration, countless builds, and unique bosses. Elden Ring is more than just a game; it’s an entire course of its own. Players who follow through and beat the entire game learn patience, adaptability, and curiosity, on top of earning themselves insane bragging rights.
Patience / Perseverance
As previously established, Elden Ring can be incredibly unforgiving, especially for those who don’t fully understand what they’re getting themselves into. Surviving with the game specifically designed to give you difficulties at every turn takes immense patience and perseverance. The first time I played the game, I was able to reach Margit, who certainly put my foolish ambitions to rest. I could not beat him, no matter what I tried, and I ended up quitting myself. Months later, I saw my Elden Ring disc sitting in my drawer and decided to give it another shot. I got back to Margit, and I was forced to remember that same struggle I went through those months ago – but this time, I didn’t give up. I kept trying, pouring in attempts and hours on my couch, gradually improving as I went. Then the attempt finally came, and Margit’s health bar finally turned entirely dark and faded away. That feeling of satisfaction was unmatched, but more importantly, it changed my view on failure. I didn’t beat Margit because I suddenly got lucky and fluked it; I simply stopped viewing death as a failure, rather as an opportunity to try again. In real life, software developers don’t often fix a bug right off the bat – it takes them many iterations and demands a lot of patience. Elden Ring teaches players that being stuck isn’t an indication to quit. In fact, it’s an essential part of the process to success.
Adaptability / Pattern Recognition
Although patience is a requirement, patience alone doesn’t always end in the result you’re looking for. If you fail, going back in with the same strategy may not always work; what if the strategy itself is flawed, rather than your execution? In this way, Elden Ring hammers in the value of adaptability and pattern recognition. Imagine if, while I was fighting Margit, I ran in and did the same thing every time. I would just die, over and over and over again, no matter how patient I was. Therefore, each time I went in, I had to learn something new. That learning could be anything from where I was lacking, boss attacks, attack timings, or when to punish; but it had to be something if I ever wanted to move on. The first time I fought Margit, I had no idea what he did. As such, I died quickly for a while. As I tried again and again, though, more of his attacks became ingrained in my brain and my hands. I learned to punish his big slam attacks rather than running in fear for my life, and I learned to be wary of his golden knife so I wouldn’t lose half my health trying to get a light attack in. Whether it’s fighting Margit or learning how to successfully dodge Malenia’s Waterfowl Dance, pattern recognition turns an impossible barrier into another chunk of runes. This same learning process applies perfectly to software development and training machine learning models. In each iteration, the developer/model will approach the problem slightly differently, perhaps utilizing an additional library to condense part of a program or adjusting weights to make a more accurate prediction.
Curiosity / Exploration
I’ll preface this section by saying, no one is perfect. Even if you know a boss’s patterns and you give it countless attempts, there are times when it’s too difficult – at least, with your current perspective. Sometimes, a solution isn’t necessarily wrong, just out of reach. It’s at these times when curiosity and exploration are especially key. On my first playthrough, it took me a while, but I eventually got all the way up to the Fire Giant using the Bloodhound’s Fang as my main weapon. I continued the same strategy I’d been using throughout, which was to keep trying and learning the boss’s abilities. I was getting better, but it was slow, and I wasn’t reaching considerable milestones on the towering behemoth. Eventually, I had spent so much time unsuccessfully without even getting close to winning that I completely gave up. However, I didn’t give up on ever beating the boss – I only gave up on beating it right then. There were still many parts of the map I could explore. As I wandered around, searching for anything that could help me pass my greatest hurdle so far – and I certainly found it. I found bosses I never would have known about otherwise – Radahn, Rykard, Mohg – which supplied me with what seemed like an endless amount of runes at the time. On the way, I found golden seeds and sacred tears to immensely upgrade my flasks. By the end of that side quest, I was a massive amount of levels higher than when I started, and had upgraded my weapon, armor, talismans, and flasks. The difference was that of night and day, and my new gear allowed me to use my prior learnings to easily take down the Fire Giant which had seemed so impossible beforehand. Similarly, in software engineering, not all problems will be solved by your first approach. Sometimes, it requires stepping back from a problem to read documentation, trying a new architecture, or researching alternate approaches.
Conclusion
Beating Elden Ring isn’t just about having lightning-fast reflexes or being a professional gamer. It’s about mastering patience, having the ability to learn, and being curious throughout your journey. Hopefully, reading this blog inspired some of you to try Elden Ring or to come back to it. I promise you, the mindset you’ll build in the Lands Between is something you’ll carry with you throughout your life – whether that be in other games or while you’re building another project.
I always loved this game, just due to the challenge it brings.