You will NEVER forget Godefroy, i'll make sure of that

"Sekiro 2 or Bloodborn 2" as a question is the same as "which of your children shall I execute?"

Sekiro replay ability comes from the fun of playing the game

My favorite video of yours, was the analysis of the frenzied flame and taking the philosophy of the brothers karamazov and just taking an excerpt from it to display why it applies. It was definitely not what I expect from a youtube video, let alone a game analysis video. Doing so truly made me understand and appreciate the ending above all others. Hell, it even made me read some russian lit and explore why it connected with me and a ton more. Is this the place to randomly say, hey man props for what you did in that video? Maybe not, but at the same time as soon as I saw that video I was hoping you might go on to have videos posted because 'goal x here was accomplished'. So yeah, congrats on the success, it's deserved.

Ratatoskr is a pretty cool guy. eH scurries up and down Yggradisl and doesn't afraid of anything.

Honestly, Holy isn't even bad in Elden Ring, there's a lot of bosses and enemies that are weak to it, it's just that the endgame gauntlet of bosses are all resistant to it except Mohg and Fire Giant. We already know that several major bosses in Shadow of the Erdtree are fire aligned, which means fire will be less useful and holy will be more useful. Holy is one of the best designed and fleshed out damage types other than Magic. It has easily the most support and weapons you can run for it. It has loads of variation in how you might want to run it. But it's held back by the fact that once you hit Leyndell, there's a whole 2 major bosses that aren't resistant to it. Golden Order Greatsword is easily one of the coolest and theoretically strongest weapons in the game, but no one uses it because you use it on Mohg and then throw it in the trash because it'll do fuck all against everything else.

7:08 Catatoskr spotted 😳

"i dont apologize, and I'm not sorry" holy shit what a king, you're great lmao

Congrats, man! Huge milestone! I love your videos, and I doubly appreciate you as a bastion from spoilers until Shadow of the Erdtree.

Last time I was this quick my wife left me

Thank you brother! I’ve enjoyed your podcast interviews and your lore dives. The more I think about I can’t find a flaw in your content when it comes to what I enjoy. Please keep it going and congrats on 150k!!!

i love you ratatoskr

I really appreciate your content every drop. Thank you

Great video man, I wish you’d do more of these honestly.

Congratulations on the milestone!

Congrats on the 150 ksubs u deserve it , I was here since Elden launch and I loved those videos. I loved how general yet engaging they were

congrats on 150k!🎉

Congratulations on 150K dude. Awesome stuff!

The Chaos Flame video was excellent. Would love to see more like that.

Congrats on 150k ! Can't wait for more ER vids before/after DLC

28:00 Agreed, but it is kind of funny to hear you say that over footage of Helldivers 2. I love that game, and just the baseline of how it handles movement and shooting carries the whole experience for me, but I have never for a second felt emotionally invested in what's happening in the galactic war narrative, and there are few games that have gone further out of their way to actively avoid having characters - that you could care about, or even just in general (There are like 3 named ones, and they are all mildly annoying at best).

your Frenzy vidéo is my favorite of yours its perfect got me subbed ! this QnA was a cool listen thanks rata

9:00 I gotta agree with him. That was an extremely insightful video and very well done, also you made it around the time I was going through a nihilistic thought loop and it kinda broke me out of it so thanks I guess😂

Congrats on 150k man, you're a cool dude

Congratulations on 150k! Btw, the frenzied flame video was the first one I watched on your channel, and it's what made me a fan. It seems that is the case for more than a few folks. While there are numerous lore theorists out there, there are few philosophers.

Oh hey congratz on the 150k milestone! Your channel and perspective are quite unique and I'm glad you're getting recognition. Always nice to hear your outlier opinions and speculations :) Also I agree - your "everything rots" video speculating what Miazaki was trying to say with the DLC was one of my favorites as well. I would really like to hear Miazaki addresses your theory

Checking out that dark souls video now !

Congrats Rata! Well deserved. Looking forward to another 150k more of good content.

Thanks for answering my question! I failed to clarify, but was actually curious about your thoughts on playing a preset characters vs the freedom of playing as a blank-slate character that you can design and create your own background for. However I liked the question that you answered better, as I have not played Sekiro and did not consider the gameplay/replayablity component

8:49 that was my favourite video you ever did, idk how popular it was compared to your usual content but it's stuck with me for months and i think you should absolutely do stuff like that again

LMAO Ratatoskr following this random guy's comments all the way to Twitter and Reddit.

Congrats on 150k.

That last one was a bit surprising. I do like good stories but gameplay will always be the most important factor for me. I've never really met anyone with your perspective on that.

1:40 This! This is why I will die on the hill that the Staff of Loss actually has NO glintstone as opposed to an invisble one. There is precedent that sorcery is not completely beholden to glintstone, for example the Red Wolf, Radahn, Alabaster/Onyx lords, and even players with the appropriate ashes of war on weapons without glintsones. This also connects the aberrant sorcery staff that straight up turns blood into glintstone (creatures are magic) back to how glintstone is made of stars which are birthed of graven masses made of _humans_ (humans are magic). Ancestral use of animal spirits ties into this, and I would propose that all animals are just inherently magic. I guess it all really ties back into how everything has it's origins in the cosmos. I blieve there's also a case to be made for the human-like features of the Astels just comes from some inherent human schematic in the cosmos, which would also kind of explain why even the fingers are appearently so human-like, as well as the Elden Beasts hands. Oh uh, sorry for the rant. I'm just kind of excited how all of this kind of fits together.

Rata likes the vulgar militiamen lore because he sees kinship with them as a fellow manlet.

You might be my favourite creator on this platform

I know everything. I don’t need this video. My wife left me

Please do book readings. Your voice is velvet and the stuff you read out is very interesting

Your answer to the last question -- the one about Narrative being the most important factor in a game -- reminded me why your feelings on games always end up allying with my own regardless if I agree with all of the opinions that brought your to the conclusion. Thanks for being you

Congrats!

Your answer for the second question, so smart dude

thank for good video rat man

Lol Rata you’re brutally honest and it’s appreciated. The issue with ER item descriptions is that almost all of the important ones about the past use “it is said” and thats probably because that is how GRRM writes the mythos of his worlds. I’m not sure thats going to change in the expansion (for better or worse depending on how much you value the importance of having a concrete objectively provable “canon”).

My favorite armor is the carian knight too, looks amazing 😊

daily nice comment here, great video! Keep up the great content :D

Your dark souls lore videos are definitely my favourite. I feel like miyazaki struck the right balance in what to reveal and what not to reveal with the dark souls games. We could try to interpretate what the games themes were and what miyazaki was trying to say about humanity. In elden ring we just discuss the timeline and what/how actual events happened, which i personally find to be pretty boring.

your Demons Souls remake vid is my favorite vid of yours.

Based on the last thing you said, I'm surprised you like Monster Hunter so much! Nevertheless, this was a wonderful insight into how you run your channel and the philosophies you carry with you in your critical analysis of art. You offer a grounded view of the gaming industry that I find really refreshing. I remember when I first watched your content, you seemed so overly cynical and pessimistic about everything, but I came to appreciate that view. I like examining what makes the things I love great just as much as what makes the things I love imperfect. Excited for what discussion Shadow of the Erdtree brings us!

Author Brandon Sanderson actually got one of those sword boxes from fromsoft, I don’t know if that means something like co-operation between them but you could read mistborn or some of his other books and it still be connected to your usual topics at least loosely. He’s my fav author and the idea of him working with my fav devs makes me very happy

good vid. and congrats

The moment Gatling turret destroyed your mech was just amazing

Wow this is so epic

Gameplay is always king

Im doing a second playthrough of elden ring now. I try not to look up too much about builds and just walkthroughs in general. Ive seen one or 2 but its hard to avoid. This is one of the best games ive ever played.

His FF picks are straight fire. Great work ratatoskr. Final fantasy hasn't been final fantasy since squaresoft became square-enix

Thank you

I have a question! I have had diarrhea every day for nine years.

I appreciate your acknowledgement of what some people call "hear say" in the lore (especially in the item descriptions), just because it is not given as a first hand point of fact, and thus somehow doesn't get to be considered despite the fact that it was included in the narrative being provided by the game. In real life, rumors should be given a lot less weight because anyone can lie at any time for any reason, but everything written into a story was put in the story for a reason. There was authorial intent and reason for it. Its made to, at minimum, make you least consider it as a possibility. This is especially true for things that are giving you insights into "hidden knowledge" or "secrets" in the story that hint at what has been obscured. In my opinion, the lore on the black knifes assassin armor is a good example of this, despite being one that is set up specifically with the language of it being a rumor. The idea that the black knife assassins were numen women with close ties to Marika wouldn't have been included in the game if they didn't want you to at least consider her it, and thus her possible involvement in the KoTBK, to be true especially since it is giving a lenses into the narrative, a glimpse behind the curtain, at what was going on in a age BEFORE the time we are currently playing through, at the times before the shattering. The present narrative of the game is so far removed from the events there is of course much that has been lost to any present characters. It is essentially, post apocalyptic. Any info presented that actually telling of the time of those key events is likely to be stated with "it is said" or what have you, because very few people are left with the information because it was lost to time. This is the most cohesive way of telling the players that very important information, giving 'clues' in the narrative, while also adhering to the immersion of being a character who is interacting with the world so far removed from those events. Of course, I also agree with you about it not being 100% conclusive as objective fact because by their nature such lore bits are not stated as such. But unless their is direct contradictory evidence, the statements are meant to mean something, despite the way they are presented stylistically in the narrative. The authors are leading you somewhere by including those bits of information, so just dismissing it or pretending it isn't there or refusing to give it any weight has always seemed so silly to me, but I've seen it time and again. People are of course welcome to interpret the game however they like, but when folks refuse to engage with all the content because it complicates their understanding of the narrative too much and they shut down all discussion despite sharing the idea with the supposed purpose of discussing it, it gets old fast. Thanks for the awesome videos!

Ooooo. Interesting

10:45 I think your answer to this question (is miquella going to be a boss) could be supported by the fact that in elden rings story tralier, the ending of it uses melenias ost, so it would be very thematic for miquellas boss music to be used at the end of a story or gameplay tralier for the dlc.

That painting depicting Morgott fighting Radahn is pretty ridiculous though.There are a handful of inconsistencies in the character design compared to how we see him later in the intro sequence, like the headpiece looking more like a mask and without its tusks. Also there being no sign of Leonard or his Starscourge greatswords being present on top of the fact that he appears to be human-sized in that painting. Is it Radahn at a different stage of life? Why is there no other in-game evidence of the Redmanes challenging Leyndell besides that one image?

I can’t wait to create a lion dancer build

10:38 I've had this thought in my head for a while ever since the DLC trailer dropped, but I think we're going to be given a choice to either join Miquella and fight Messmer, or join Messmer and fight Miquella, kinda like how we choose to either join or fight Millicent.

congratssss rata

How ironic how you answered the last question while playing Helldivers 2 in the background. For me, the #1 aspect of any game is challenge. I just cannot play a game that doens't challenge me.

I also like a few rounds of Elden Divers before I take a nap. Followed by some time with Hell Ring.

For the last question I definitely think that your answer applies to Nihon Falcom games lmao I love me some Kiseki (aka Trails) and I love me some Ys, but I'm generally there for the story not the gameplay lol

They are adding the sekiro parry on shadow of the erdtree its a wonderos physic that allows every weapon to sekiro parry

4:20 Love how the turret immediately obliterated that Mech. The pure disbelief and disappointment I would feel in that moment hahah.

Does the DLC have any story or main content tie-ins? For example finishing a quest a certain way, being at a certain main story progression point, specific NPCs being alive or dead, etc?

Holy damage is incredibly useful in game if you are not overly fixated on the final stretch of bosses and shardbearers, and the places where it's useful it is arguably overpowered.

In the main story, sir Gideon names Miquella with every other Demi god that we end up fighting. So why name him with those Demi Gods if we aren’t meant to fight him?

Thanks

Honestly, a big problem with the lore is due to things that are lost in translation, which is a bit sad, but translation is a tough as hell job (I would know, I've translated a few games myself). So even from a starting point, some of what we have is already biased away from the intention Miyazaki had. There's also the question of cultural differences and how it can shape outlooks or even core concepts. It's all in all a pretty interesting question, the only issue is that it doesn't have an actual answer.

I had the exact same experience with Sekiro. While I was playing it, I consistently thought to myself this is my favorite FromSoftware game. Now, every time I try to replay it I get bored and fall off in a few hours.

All hail the Rat King

I'm really surprised you can do full time KZfaq with 150k subs, that's awesome

I have a Holy Strengthen build so I hope you're right

Can you link your video mentioned in Question 1?

I feel like st Trina is more likely to fight than miquella but I honestly don’t know how miquella’s storyline would go without him failing in his goals because otherwise, logically he should have an affect on the lands between once he is done but it seems he won’t.

Did you notice any frame data changes or moveset changes for some weapons like powerstance spears in the LA event?

can you make a video about what might be Fromsoftware's next game? Would love to hear your thoughts

Darn I didn't get to ask my question. I was going to ask if you're excited for the elden ring dlc. Been wanting to know the answer for a long time.

On that last question I would have been a bit undecided, but I'd probably say gameplay instead. I often find myself caring for the story when others don't, and I'm willing to tolerate uninspired gameplay as long as the story is captivating. However, when the gameplay is truly bad then even the story can't save it. On the other hand, if I have really exciting gameplay, I can just forget about the story, as long as it's not forced down my throat in some way.

How do you feel about the socioeconomic climate in The Lands Between?

I have similar reading taste love classicals, word of advice just get the audiobook for H.G. Wells "the invisible man", its a very dry read 😅

150k subs? Clearly people aren't hitting the dislike and unsubscribe buttons hard enough

Tears was definitely a disappointment. I agree, not a bad game by anymeans in terms of design and quality. It was just boring and nothing in it was worth the price tag

What did you do for work before youtube? You're obviously very smart and talented at writing in a way that appeals to engineer types like myself. You're very direct and matter of fact, so much so that I wonder if you're also of German ancestry.

The phalanx ash of war has you wave the sword over your head like a wand, right? I wonder if the colossal sword with the GBPh has you just wave the giant blade over your head like the trolls themselves do.

I wish you put a link to the Dark Souls video you referenced in your first answer. Small thing haha!

Perfect answer regarding BB and Sekiro. They don't strictly have to be sequels, but it would be a real shame if FS never iterated on the mechanics they introduced in those games.

Maybe a stupid question but will they have new ancient dragon somber smithing stones in the dlc to find to fully max a weapon and also larval tears to re spec? Ik they probably wont but I’ve used most of the available ones in the past changing my build and hope you can get more in the dlc otherwise it won’t be too easy to get weapons and experiment

I believe the worlds all feel loosely connected because all of his work is iterative.

brother did not beat the thumbnail allegations 😭

Rata have my kids

Few things that were interesting to me. First, I think Bloodborne is so perfect, it doesn’t need anything more. Sequel is unecessary. Remake is unecessary too, I’d like the DS1 type of Remaster tho. Second, I actually think Sekiro is the most replayable game. Because the gameplay loop is so simple, and you basically don’t need items to collect, or farm levels. You just go and kill stuff, rush bosses. The gameplay itself is so fun that you don’t care about anything else. But dor DS and Elden Ring espeically, I go into those games exploring every nook and crany of those games, every item, every area… So on subsequent playthroughs, instead of just fighting bosses, you have to go to areas and collect, resources etc… Whereas Sekiro, you just go. Probably every few months, I sit down and replay Sekiro in a day.

Who’s got any idea of poise values for Solitude Armor - black knight with crossbow

Hey Rata, have you ever played anything in the Nier series? 28:25 made me think of that

I think the most plausible thing is for FS to make new IPs with similar mechanics to bloodborne and Sekiro I think they did it twice over already - demon souls, dark souls and elden ring all play extremely similarly, and they are new IPs. You said yourself Mizaki was sick of Dark souls, but there he was making a much bigger darksouls-esque game, in terms of gameplay and aesthetics of course I personally wouldn't like bloodborne 2 or Sekiro 2. And I'd really like new IPs with their mechanics. And I'm 90% sure we'll see one of those, if not both. You can quote me on that :)