EP 15 | Elden Ring: Lore, Loss, & Difficulty as a Tool for Storytelling (with Jack & Sherveen)

Marina sits down with games journalist Jack Alex Roberts and game dev Sherveen Uduwana to talk about our Tarnished journeys in the Lands Between. We talk about our love of Elden Ring’s lore, narrative design, music, how we got into the Soulsborne genre, what builds we played, our favourite moments in the game, how difficulty is used as a lever for intentional storytelling, and much more. Grab a coffee, and let’s dive into the Lands Between.  * * * * * * *  TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Introduction (03:10) Meeting our guests (08:06) Story summary (16:45) Our Tarnished and the builds we played (26:15) Elden Ring’s narrative design, open world, and experience (38:50) How we felt exploring the environments in the Lands Between (45:46) Favourite narrative themes   (54:05) “Marika is Radagon” (1:03:45) Music chat  (1:11:48) Community questions (1:42:41) Final thoughts & symbolism (1:48:08) Outro * * * * * * *  THANK YOU’S: VaatiVidya: https://www.youtube.com/@VaatiVidya  V-Limit: https://www.youtube.com/@VLimit11  Anyone who’s contributed and annotated the Elden Ring Fandom site: https://eldenring.fandom.com/wiki/Elden_Ring_Wiki  * * * * * * *  SOCIALS: Quest Markers: ⁠https://linktr.ee/questmarkers⁠  Sherveen: https://twitter.com/SUduwana Midautumn Game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1582380/Midautumn/  Jack Alex Roberts: https://twitter.com/jackalexroberts  Marina Ryan: ⁠https://linktr.ee/marinaryan⁠