Even the two mightiest warriors, Malenia the Blade of Miquella and Radahn the Conqueror of the Stars fought to a draw, with a gravely injured Malenia infecting Radahn with a disease known as Scarlet Rot. They chose to go to war for the remaining shattered pieces of the Elden Ring, fighting for power. After the Shattering, Marika disappeared from The Lands Between, and her demigod children were left to fend for themselves. The rest of the story from the game’s intro cinematic is pretty straightforward.

This leads to the destruction of the Elden Ring, an incident known as the Shattering that’s seen and performed by a mysterious person in the game’s announcement trailer from 2019. “Queen Marika was driven to the brink,” says the story trailer, as a consequence of Godwyn’s death. Moreover, notice how there are no stars in the game’s opening area of Limgrave? It’s not just an artistic choice.

For example, if you fight a magic-wielding knight, it likely hails from the magic-wielding factions in “Elden Ring” - the Academy of Raya Lucaria and the Carian royal family.

Examine the world and its inhabitants - what they’re wearing, what they’re using: Certain enemy types in one area might look a bit different than they do in another region of the world.

Often story progression and character development will occur when you simply decide to continue a conversation with a non-playable character.

Exhaust all dialogue options: These games are classic role-playing games in that they practically require you to talk to everyone.

Why is that thing there? What use could someone in that environment have for it? Why does this region of the world have more enemies of this type than I’ve seen anywhere else? Why is this unique enemy found only at this location? Along with item descriptions, the locations of the items also provide important context clues.

Everyone and everything is there for a reason: It’s a safe bet that every enemy and item you find was placed at a certain location for a reason.

For example, the “telescope” item description explains how Carian astrology “withered on the vine” under the Golden Order, a faction in the world of “Elden Ring.” This tells us that the Greater Will, the natural law of the world which the Golden Order worked to uphold, and the study of astrology were at odds with each other. Your understanding of the story often will be rooted in what these items say. Every item in the game will have some information written in its description.

Read item descriptions: This is the ground rule for understanding these games.

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