The Adventures of Peaches, Part Fourteen

[rynling]

I haven't written about Elden Ring lately, but damn have I been playing it. First I complained about the sort of incel shut-ins who are obsessed with Dark Souls, and now I have become one myself. That's a joke, of course, but I'm developing a borderline unhealthy relationship with this game.

Elden Ring is still difficult, and I'm still probably never going to beat it, but I've learned that it's okay to file certain minibosses away in a "deal with later" folder and come back when I'm overleveled. For some reason, I thought Level 100 was the max, and that Peaches would have to be careful about how he managed his resources. Apparently, however, you can keep going until Level 713, which is when all your stats max out. So, if you're well and truly committed to a long haul, you can brute-force your way through the game.

Not that Peaches is brute-forcing anything. Peaches is a master at using Spirit Ashes to summon NPCs who draw enemy aggro away from him while he shoots arrows and throws firebombs. He's getting better at magic, but progress is slow. Mostly I'm concentrating on getting him to a point where he doesn't die all the time.

I should probably write about this later in more detail, but Peaches has:

- Splashed around in the underground areas
- Made his way through Caria Manor
- Ascended to the Altus Plateau
- Had a lot of fun in Volcano Manor
- Delved deep into Caelid

If you defeat the boss of Caelid, Starscourge Radahn, he apparently summons a meteor that somehow gives you access to another underground area called Nokron, the Eternal City. Radahn is an optional boss, but the underground areas in Elden Ring are gorgeous, and Nokron sounds cool as shit. My primary goal at the moment is to get strong enough for Radahn not to one-shot kill me within the first fifteen seconds of the battle.

I'm therefore going to need to spend some time level grinding. If anyone has any good recommendations for nonfiction podcasts, I could definitely use them.

Comments

[lassarina]

I'm not very far into it, but a friend recommended The History of Byzantium to me, and I've really enjoyed the bits I've listened to. It does draw heavily on The History of Rome (and acknowledges that), so it might be worth brushing up on late Roman Empire before hopping into Byzantium, but it's well-organized and the host speaks very clearly and at a pace that works for me.

[rynling]

Oh my god that sounds so cool. Thank you!

And I'd actually never heard of The History of Rome before you mentioned it, so I'm definitely going to try that too. Seriously, thank you!

[lassarina]

I hope they work well for you! I struggle with audio-only content in general (unless I'm walking or knitting), but I've enjoyed these.