How Elden Ring Balances Darkness with Beauty

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One of the details I really liked when I first played was going to the ruins were the bear is sleeping in the mistwood and noticing that he's sleeping next to a bunch Trina's Lilies, which are crafting materials used to make sleep-inducing consumables. It was just one of hundreds of really neat discoveries that I made during my playthrough.

The line “flowers bloom on the battlefield” is a genius way to describe the lands between. This video helped me understand Elden ring in an entirely new way, fantastic work.

"Flowers bloom even on battlefields." This is literally one of the most beautiful, and most accurate, summaries of the Souls games that I've ever heard.

Imagine how satisfying it would be for a From Soft environment or level designer to find this video and see their work so beautifully captured

Absolutely gorgeous script & video, you're by far my favorite video-game-camerawoman/director-of-photography!

Elden Ring has blended the dark fantasy established in Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, the high fantasy integrated in Dark Souls II, and the cosmic horror unveiled in Bloodborne. It's both a culmination of everything From Software has become, and a wholly unique experience.

The art history section is my new favorite portion of any of your videos. Some of those pieces of art straight up look like Elden Ring concept art, 250 years ahead of their time. Amazing work on this video!!

Tremendous video through and through, definitely one of your best. The aspect ratio and the carefully crafted shots of the world made for a delightful watch. All the Elden Ring videos across YT lately have been a blast but I really appreciated how this one took the time to highlight how welcoming the world is at times. Well done and thanks for letting me be a part of it!

What I find most interesting about the “you’re beautiful” pate in Boc’s quest; He attributes the voice to his mother. And if you think back to where you find the pate, it’s in Hermit village - overrun by Demi-humans. Boc is presumably the Demi-human child of the queen we fight before Azur, and possibly fathered by one of the flint stone sorcerers. As he’s far more intelligent and fashionable than 99% of other Demi-humans.

I just taught a course on Romanticism and how it has influenced contemporary media even in places they may not expect - thank you for this! :)

Honestly, the fact you included ‘Boc The Seamster’ was pretty awesome. He’s a character I love personally but he has some MAJOR BAGgage. Big ALERT!

What a gorgeous, delightful video. Your unique approach to games never fails to impress. My favourite bit has to be where you mention that despite not using it much, the crafting system made you engage with and think about the environment. I've heard others discuss how the crafting is not very good and could have been omitted, then you come along and prove them wrong. :)

Once I learned about the player, let me solo her, I looked up his masterful battle with arguably Elden Ring's hardest boss. I was awestruck at how beautiful the boss fight was and how colorful it was. This video coming out a day after has cemented in me that I MUST play this game when I get the chance. Thank you.

The worst part about Elden Ring is when you finish the first playthrough. It's very hard to get that same feeling again, or more like it's difficult to get the same intensity as when you first experienced it. Such a great game. Also, amazing video, I'm glad I found this channel.

Everytime I'm riding with Torrent and enjoying the views , I feel like I am in those illuminated manuscripts from the middle ages. Combined with high towers, dragons, knights, evil sorcerers and npcs to be saved, it feels like a storybook fairytale that we get to experience.

I'm dying, this is incredible. Your La Jetee use of stillness is so underrated. Love how you use it to capture the indifference of the world. Elden Ring can be so fast-paced, and so your controlled editing creates this wonderful little whiplash. And, of course, the art knowledge is yes. Please teach us about Gothic Revival. Super delightful, thanks sm for having me 😌

Thank you. Today I was felling "hollow", but after this video, I am inspired to seek beauty in the (not nearly as unforgiving) real world. If nothing else, you can feel pride in making someone's day.

this put how i’ve felt about this game into words so beautifully, and i love that you pointed out the wolf beside that dead noble! my heart ached when i saw that, when i aggro’d the wolf i just ran back to the grace, no way i’m killing that good boy.

Elden Ring is what I would consider a true piece of art, literally there's no other game that I've played where I truly stopped dead in my tracks just to appreciate and enjoy the vistas, all the time I went into a location no matter the weather or time of day I would just be in awe on how beautiful everything is. Your video is the perfect analysis on what made the world of Elden Ring more memorable than any other medieval dark fantasy game that came before it, the art style consistency and direction applied into every little detail from architecture, landscape, flora, fauna, characters, enemies and even clutter, and to me the most important one is the sense of scale of the world including the structures and the size of the buildings constructions which probably took inspiration from ancient Greece to Nabataean civilizations.