He found the one single poison swamp! I'm sure glad there is no other poison swamps in this game, especially not something like a lake of it! That would be absurd!

So I’m just going to note the elden ring uses three different boss slaining text lines. “Enemy slain”, “Great enemy slain”, and “Legend slain”. I have found that “Enemy” bosses are typically unremarkable except for there placement, while “great enemy” and “legend” bosses tend to have a lot more going on both in battle and in lore. Might be a useful metric to pick which bosses to cover.

"... (Melina) has a destiny and... we have wedded ourselves to it." I'm not crying, YOU'RE crying!

I love how Skyen's first reaction to being teleported to a high level aria unexpectedly is to start laughing

28:50 the “beast blood” item and the immediate cut to Bloodborne’s theme sent me! 😂 I just finished watching your BB series yesterday so this was perfect.

Immediately into the transporter trap, before you even found Melina. Incredible.

Given the 'sporadic' nature of encounters in elden ring, episodes on minor bosses might not be a bad idea. Also Torrent is a strong contender for best horse.

Can’t wait for the finale of this series, premiering sometime in 2041. Seriously this game is long; this ones gonna be a wild ride.

I love the sheer energy in the intro in the moment the Dung Eater is announced It has so much energy, so much will in saying THE LOATHSOME DUNG EATER that no other tarnished received

Really think going over the designs of minor bosses might not be a bad thing. Many of them, despite how disconnected to the lore many of them may be, are still really cool and interesting.

And so what could very well be a 3 year series begins!

I love how you initially said we're never gonna see his face then spent an ungodly amount of time running around naked because you chose the ultimate freedom for build that takes the most grind. Between Elden Ring and your Nuzlocke you just love to grind

engagement for the engagement god the connection between limbs and trees is so obvious im disappointed in myself for not noticing it earlier. a continuing trend in this series! excited to be humbled many more times in the future

Would very much like some less boss centric and more world design inferences and breakdowns like this. Given Elden Ring is so extremely vast, the Boss Design only method won't really work because it'll lack overall cohesion (a lot of bosses can be fought in any order). Fantastic video, will watch again tonight when it's time for bed.

I'm about to start a D&D session right now so I can't watch this yet but lemme just say MY GOD. THAT INTRO. Absolutely perfect.

god, everything I see about elden ring convinces me to play it more and more, but I'm not able. fantastic video as always!

Here to give some Engagement and also say that you are literally one of my most regularly watched content creators. Whether it's the Nuzlocke or Dark Souls, Bloodborne, or Elden Ring. I may not have much interest in League of Legends, but I even watch some of those because I just enjoy your content that much.

You know, that's the first time I've seen Melina's tattoo with such clarity... And all I can say is: DAMN! That's so obvious what it _is_ yet still the deeper meaning stays obscure!

I don't have the most in-depth knowledge of Norse Mythology, so I'm glad it's such a heavy feature in this game. I think I'll learn a lot about it from watching these vids. I really like the idea of Melina reflecting an Odin figure, it would be a neat subversion of expectations for an Odin-type to present as particularly non-descript in their appearance. I'm excited to get to some of the big bosses but also the mini-bosses that add so much flavour to the world of The Lands Between. I think one of the most interesting things I've found in this early part of the game is that the entirety of the world is called "The Lands Between." This seems to hint at a very liminal nature to the environment and to the journey of the player character. The world appears to be caught in transition, stuck in the middle of the changing of eras signified by the shattering of the Elden Ring. This stagnation is codified in those who possess the shards of the Ring and hide themselves away, clinging to the vestiges of the old world (which is just slightly similar to Dark Souls). Tarnished, then, are the agents of change; it is in your hands, as the player, to decide the direction in which the Lands Between will exit this transitional space and become whatever they might become. It's very fun to think about, and I'm really looking forward to your own continued analyses. Excellent video!

Just the first episode and you already have so many interesting observations! Yggdrasil was an obvious one but i can't believe it hadn't occurred to me that Godwyn had paralells to Balder, and the Shattering to Ragnarök. This series is going to be a long one and i'm here for every step of the journey.

I've been putting off finding your main channel for a while, just watching the shorts, but I'm glad I finally did I love your energy so much

I really like Melina in this game. I won't go into specifics, but I feel like she subverts my dislike for how the "leveling ladies" tend to just hang out in the hub and not really contribute much to the plot. This isn't really the case for Melina, which helps me grow attached to her as the game goes on beyond the surface level stuff.

My girlfriend and I just got through our 160 hour blind run, where we scrubbed the map clean for stuff.. im so excited to see your take on everything! You really nail down the undertones of these games and the symbolism for everything. Big hype

This is a great first episode. It was so good to see all great editing and comedic timing and analysis again. I really really do love these Boss Design series. Thank you for making these. And with hearing how you're going to do this differently, it's time for me to watch the let's play on 2B Skyen.

The minor panic at "Beast Blood" being added to your inventory was hilarious, I don't know why but it made me cackle

You counted death #7 twice on the Git Gud counter: first at 39:04 against the boss pair, then again at 40:05 in the wolf cave. So if you want to correct the starting number for episode 2: there are 9 deaths in total in this first episode, not 8! (I sent the above message to you on Twitter, but I'm posting it here as well for the sake of the Engagement Metrics!)

Looove the new intro music! I'm curious to find out what the rest of this series will be like

The editing is top notch as always. The tracking stream of "no", the single frame Loss joke.

Excellent start. I will admit to laughing heartily when I realised which chest you were opening. That one got me too.

when I heard you going into the transporter trap I was like "OH NO" because I knew exactly what pain you were in for

Skyens exuberant laughter at getting trapped in the Sellia tunnel, before getting armour or even Torrent, is so wholesome and relatable 😂 Peak Souls moment. I remember getting caught in that trap, by the time I finally got out the tunnel and saw Caelid I thought I had emerged into a different game. A horror game. "......am I in Hell now?!"

In my first and current playthrough of Elden Ring I went with wretch and I did the exact thing as Skyen (30:16), went to the ruins without any armor and go sent to the tunnel, seeing the swamp. I was in a constant state of "mom, please pick me up I'm scared" until I was able to teleport back to Limgrave.

A proper intro to a delicious new journey That's was a great episode, indeed, feel's good to start a new adventure Good job, Skyen, you did it, congratulations

Gotta say, wonderfully edited! Can't wait for more entries in this series! Edit: just watched it through and I'm even more hyped !!!

I was crying out at my monitor as you were walking up to that transporter chest. I fell for the exact same thing last night

Boy am I sure #engaged with this #Eldenring design video, can't get more #engaged and algorithm friendly than this, it sure can't no sir

The toughest boss... not falling in love with the 'Maiden in Black' of the game. :P

37:32 I didn't knew this comic before this moment. nice easter egg btw.

I couldn't watch this on the premiere, but I loved your Bloodborne Boss Design series, so I'm excited about watching more of your content!

The intro is sooo damn good I can't overstate it

i know i’m very late to this series as i’m just starting it right now, but i have to say i love it already. i love how you analyze the opening sequence in such a captivating, beautiful way, only to throw in a fallout reference at 47:10 that made me almost wake up my family from laughing 😂 it’s this mixture of analysis and humor that makes this so enjoyable to watch and i have to say thank you in advance for the hours of content i get to enjoy now. thanks skyen ❤

What a grand opening to Boss Designs, I can see this leading into up beat episodes, quiet episodes, short episodes, or massive episodes. A wonderful theme for a wonderful new series. We'll see you there Skyen!

This man cannot sweat, this man cannot sleep

This is one of those series, that I will look forward to seeing in my feed or on KZfaq at all for a long, long while. Thank you in advance for the great service, and content that this will bring.

Reupload time!

I feel like this series is going to be a lot for this game.. there’s so soooo much. Good luck 🤞🏽 and may the grace guide you

Oh, I had completely forgotten about branch grafting. That ties the visual elements real neatly together.

Obligatory "no guys it's not a spoiler" comment. Though you'll find that out pretty quick if you watch the video

28:52 Beautiful touch with the BB music

I love the boss design series! I've watched all through dark souls 1, 2, and blood borne. While I did not initially watch this series, because I saw that only three episodes were done on it half a year ago. Now that I see that you're posting again I'm incredibly excited to see where you mind goes and your reading on this game!

Always nice to come back to the boss designs series. I hope it will continue for a long time to come.

God this is the context I was hoping for when I came here. but now that we have a basis for the lore and a firm reminder of the intro. it everything makes so much more sense

The absolute triumph in your voice when you said the title! I can tell I'm gonna love this.

I've watched all the streams already so skipped to the analysis, great stuff so far! Also, that might be my favorite intro in this series yet. Enjoy the engagement!

I did nooot see the connection between the grafting of limbs in the game and grafting trees irl. But it makes so much sense. Damn. I really like this from a worldbuilding perspective. And spotting this is super clever. Or maybe I was dense about it. Either way. Very impressive video.

I have been playing elden ring non stop since it came out. I’m on my second playthrougb already, and I am already planning my third. I am SO happy that skyen is making this series

I've been waiting for this. I really hope this series picks up big time. These analyses are so insightful and unique in perspective

I want to watch these series sooo bad, because I loved the bloodborne one, but I also reaaaaally want to play this game blind, and cant afford it rn. Nonetheless, gl Skyen, hope this performs well :)

That just might be the best trap chest reaction I've ever seen.

helping one of my favorite KZfaqrs after a bad upload, while simultaneously working on my fantasy world's magic system.

Real glad I caught this on the premiere despite the audio glitch. Great first entry into the series!

Don’t usually watch vids as they’re uploaded I prefer to blast through playlists but here for the engagement after the reupload, keep doing what you’re doing man 🤘🏻

Engagement! The premiere was fantastic. Sorry the initial audio got wrecked. Excited for the future of this series!!!

Your commentary and analyses are always interesting. I look foward to the rest of another great serie. And the new intro music is perfect!

Sorry to hear that the video didn't upload correctly, here's my sacrifice of engagement to the KZfaq gods.

Okay...hilarious random ad interaction. We go from getting the "Flask of Crimson Tears" to "Dry Mouth?" Asking the ad.

I just binged through your Dark souls 1 and bloodborne playthroughs, and am in the middle of the Dark souls 2 playthrough. I'm sad I couldn't participate in the bloodborne many meanings video because it is my favorite game ever, but since I am here for your Elden Ring playthrough I'm excited to share my ideas for theme with everyone who is a fan of these series. I'll try to give my input throughout the game on each video/ I've beaten the game, but will never spoil anything that isn't covered in these videos yet. There are going to be so many things to talk about throughout the series so I'm very excited to discuss many things in the future. So I will go ahead and post my early thoughts now. Thoughts on ending discussion: I'd love to have a conversation about the topics of trees and limbs that was brought up here, but feel that any meaningful thoughts I have are tied to spoilers, so we will have to wait and see on that. For now I'll say I never considered that the tree and limbs being connected, so I'll have to think about it more. On the topic of Melina however, I do have something to say. We hear of many unique tarnished, yet the Tarnished she chooses to make an accord with is us, the one with no renown. Since we are the MC of the story, this makes sense to us, like obviously supporting us will eventually be the right choice, but as of this point in the story there should be no reason for her to think that. Therefore, I early on was suspicious of her motives and abilities. Either she knew I was destined to be Elden Lord (or at least get close to becoming it), or she planned some kind of betrayal. Certainly she is the least trustworthy maiden in any souls game, though also the most immediately recognizable as being important to the narrative. To me it was clear she would have a continuous impact on the story, doubled by the fact that she technically is always with you, unlike other maidens who simply wait for your return. This is her journey just as much as it is yours. Personal Opinions: There has been a shift in my mind on the focus of the story compared to dark souls. Where the dark souls opening was also setting up the mythos, it told us much more explicitly who the major gods were and why they mattered. In this game we know there are demigods but only learn a few names, and that they fought each other and a few disappeared or died. The names we do learn are the names of Tarnished. Furthermore the name of our player's kind, the Tarnished. This point is emphasized by the fact that the narrator is quiet during the god section but is much more energized when talking about the Tarnished. Such an interesting name compared to hollow. To be tarnished implies there was something to tarnish, you were great at some time. This is compounded by the idea that grace was lost, literal guiding light with holy purpose was once a common thing for our kind. All of these factors told me at least that this story likely will have a focus on us being more important than the gods themselves. While being a video game means it will be an uphill battle, there is a different feeling than dark souls. In dark souls it was like "You will die, die, and die, and just maybe you will get to kill the local demon. You aren't great until you prove it." This game however implies that your greatness is something that was natural, that your skill and power did exist at a time and it would be natural to claim again as grace is returning for you. This will be a story of your glory, power, and godliness. In the end, unlike dark souls being the game of setting up the world's mythos of how their gods came to power and how they lost it, this game is the story of your rise to power, to become Elden Lord. Few more bonus notes supporting my theme idea. Your character appears at the end of the opening, implying you are part of this mythos. Also the open world gives you the power to shape your own destiny. Melina says it is your kind to seek the Elden Ring despite breaking the Golden Order. The roundtable hold and maidens existing to empower Tarnished. Point being, this game repeatedly tells you that being Tarnished means that their is a inherent glory to be reclaimed, and there are methods that can be used unique to the Tarnished.

47:15 Patrolling Limgrave almost makes you wish for a- Anyways, I wanted to add that this reminds me of a video from Matthew Colville about D&D. He points out that every game takes place in some form of post-apocalypse. All the spells were penned by civilizations long dead, all the legendary magic items belonged to heroes whose war has probably been forgotten. While it is welcome and easy to run a setting where all of the spells and items are contemporary, historically they have always been retreived from tombs and catacombs and alternate layers of existence. Much of the fantasy was wielding, for example, Excaliber after Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table have long left the world. I find that Lord of the Rings, being the inspiration for much of modern fantasy, is also rife with apoclypses. The One Ring is from an ancient civilization that only some Elves were alive to see. Smaug and the Balrog rained two separate doomsdays on the Dwarves. Even the ending, spoilers by the way, can be seen as an apocalypse of many kinds (depending on whether youre talking movie canon or book canon) but either way, the "status quo" of the world is broken. I love how Fantasy directly tackles how the slow press of time causes fine details of living to get lost, but major events and artifacts are held on in remembrance. It's also been a thing in every Soulsborne game ever, you're an undead called to treck through the wreckage of an unfamiliar civilization, and must utilize its tools and strange magicks to overcome greater obstacles. Each game tackles the concept differently, and I'm excited to see how it plays out in Elden Ring.

"...we have awedded ourselves to seeing it through with her." A very interesting choice of words. For not just reasons that some who have finished probably know what I might mean, but also the idea of the ring. This one is definitely going to be a big playthrough. Best to pace yourself.

With the amount of ladders in this game I can’t wait for snake eater compilation now

WITH the music, the intro is really good. Excited for the rest of the series! uhh engagement.

1. Of course I’ll come back and watch this and do the stuff for you. 2. This series will be just as loved as any of the other souls born because your analysis and design discussions are amazing.

Loved the new theme, and I loved this new episode! This series seems a lot fun and while I can't play the game, I kmow i will enjoy it through your gameplay and your analisis, as I loved the other Soulsborne Boss designs. Thank you for the good work!

He read Beast blood and I could hear his heart sink 😂😂 those Bloodborne Flashbacks hit hard

I really hope you continue this series.

I love the new intro, I think changing it up for each Game is a good idea. Gives each Series it's own flare.

I love this series, and I adore this game! Basically experiencing it for the 4th time by watching this, and it makes it just a bit different in all the right ways. Love the content Skyen keep it up! Wish I had the time to watch the whole unedited (and importantly uncensored) series but alas.. priorities lol. Maybe someday when I am old and grey :P Happy to have you as my companion for this one, keep up the great work!

I’m here for the engagement. And the video about a game I will never play but it’s a TB video so I’m here for it.

I have 800+ hours in this game this is gonna be a wild ride!

So sorry about the glitch! I am so excited to watch this series. I've been playing the game like crazy so i don't spoil myself watching your videos!!

15:35 Good job Skyen, you got me.

This series is gonna take 20 years, even going 1 boss per month, there is 248 bosses

Just some random tips: -small golden trees will always have a Golden Seed to loot, while churches have Sacred Tears. If you want to focus on upgrading your flasks, these are good to look out for while exploring -There are in fact illusion walls! Can be opened by rolling/hitting them -Skeletons can be permanently killed by hitting the blue light that comes out of them when you've killed them the first time. Makes catacombs much more bearable :,D -Overall, the NPC questlines seem to be more forgiving than previous Souls Games, but there are some that are basically impossible to start without looking them up (one of the most important NPCs is literally disguised as a jar in a corner of a swamp...) Luckily the character pages on the wiki aren't too spoilery so you can use them as guides -you can respec your character later so don't worry too much about builds!

I don't usually watch the boss designs videos but I wasn't gonna say no to that face. Awesome video Skyen. :)

I barely made it through the intro and OMG! Some of these clips got me so excited!

I've already watched the uncut version in 2bskyen. Am I gonna watch this again? Yeah! I really love your talking while I play elden ring.

Wow, simply incredible! I really enjoyed that part where I int- uhhh... acted, with the video! 10/10

I could never play a game like this so I live vicariously through you. Thank you TB

hey skyen, thanks for your videos. I'm a Brazilian who plays tabletop RPGs and because of the dark souls vibe I decided to make a more dark fantasy campaign. you do a great job describing soulsborn and know Elden ring boss design. thanks for your videos they helped a lot to create this world.

Happy to finally see the first episode of the Elden Ring Boss Designs.

finished Limgrave area. I can watch Skyen's playthrough now before venturing to Liurnia :)

The intro was great!

Finally! Have been itching to watch your takes on these guys for a while now but had to wait until finishing the game! Grabs popcorn :)

Engagement for the engagement god! And I have been waiting for this series for ages! It's awesome

Loved the new intro music. It's new, but also familiar, and i think its perfect for this game; this is still a souls game, but different.

While I will miss Kevin MacLeod's track for the intro, the new one suits the series as well! Major props to the creator!

31:47 I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard you laugh!

52:02 the Finger Maidens have the power to do *WHAT*

I've never really played any souls game, but your videos are always top quality, so I'm leaving my grain of sand here, cause I love your work

A lil bump for the algorithm. I don't plan on really playing the game and the story seems bigger than I'd possibly comprehend, so I look forward to this series! Will also take a peek at the unedited video/s too