Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Bonfireside Chat: A Dark Souls and Elden Ring Podcast

This week we speak with Jeremy Greer, of Days of Future Cast and many other shows, about his experiences with the Shadow of the Erdtree. We also read your responses to Castle Ensis and Scadu Altus!

Reposted in remembrance of our good friend Jeremy Greer.

f5axtjj6

Gary Butterfield, Kole Ross, and Jeremy Greer talk about Lothric Castle.

Reposted in remembrance of our good friend Jeremy Greer.

Jeremy Greer joins us to talk about the remainder of Immortal: Unchained, as we storm Apex Citadel, face a completely unforeseen betrayal, and finally transcend reality itself.

Reposted in remembrance of our good friend Jeremy Greer.

This very special episode takes a break from Dark Souls 3 to count down Gary and Jeremy Greer's bottom ten Soulsborne areas! This episode is brought to you by Gary's lovely Kickstarter backers who made Souls of Darkness a reality. Stay tuned for more specials!

Reposted in remembrance of our good friend Jeremy Greer.

Gary Butterfield, Kole Ross, and Jeremy Greer talk about the early Chalice Dungeons. 

This episode covers the basics, the Pthumerian Labyrinth, the Central Pthumerian Labyrinth, the Hintertomb, and the Lower Hintertomb.

Reposted in remembrance of our good friend Jeremy Greer.

Gary Butterfield, Kole Ross, and Jeremy Greer talk about Drangleic Castle, including the Shrine of Winter and the King's Passage.

Reposted in remembrance of our good friend Jeremy Greer.

Gary Butterfield, Kole Ross, and Jeremy Greer talk about World 3-1 of Demon's Souls.

Reposted in remembrance of our good friend Jeremy Greer.

Gary Butterfield, Kole Ross, and Jeremy Greer reconvene to take a more in-depth look at PVP in Dark Souls.

Reposted in remembrance of our good friend Jeremy Greer.

Gary Butterfield, Kole Ross, and Jeremy Greer talk about the basics of PVP in Dark Souls.

Reposted in remembrance of our good friend Jeremy Greer.

This week is the final episode of Bonfireside Chat until we start covering Nightreign, but we think it’s a good one! We interview the AV Club’s Will Hughes to talk about how he felt about Shadow of the Erdtree, and then we read your responses to the DLC’s endgame.

This week, we conclude the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC by talking about the divine tower of the Hornsent, Enir-Ilim, where the final showdowns of the game take place. First, Miquella’s followers have kind of a Civil War thing going on, and then we learn the truth about what Miquella was really after…

This week we go tour the many parking garages of the Ancient Ruins of Rauh, a beautiful area that we wish had more narrative and gameplay interest. It’s a pileup of a number of civilizations, all searching for the truth of the Crucible, but ultimately overwritten by the Scarlet Rot and its saint, Romina.

This episode, we head up the Jagged Peak in order to do the last of the optional content in Shadow of the Erdtree. We’ve heard tell of a tyrant atop of the volcano, Bayle the Dread, a draconic betrayer so hated by Placidusax that the practice of Dragon Communion was created to bring him down.

This week’s Roundtable Roundtable features an interview with Phobia, a YouTuber who documents glitches in games in an accessible and entertaining way. We talk about his process and how looking for glitches changes the way he plays FromSoft games. Then we read your responses to the northeastern part of the map and the Abyssal Woods.

Though the Abyssal Woods and Midra’s Manse aren’t huge areas gameplay-wise, we adore their lore and story so much that we had to camp out for some extra time. So this episode concludes our discussion of Midra’s Manse, including the boss fight, and a long talk about what Midra and Nanaya’s deals were.

Though the Abyssal Woods and Midra’s Manse aren’t huge areas gameplay-wise, we adore their lore and story so much that we had to camp out for some extra time. So this episode concludes our discussion of Midra’s Manse, and a long talk about what Midra and Nanaya’s deals were. Next episode we hit the big man himself and talk about the rules of Frenzy in The Lands Between.

This week we find the very hidden entrance to a very hidden path to a very hidden area. Shadow Keep hides a way to reach the Recluse’s River, which is the warpath that the hornsent inquisition took to bring great force to bear on Midra in the Abyssal Woods. Along the way we will complete our final two mini-dungeons and descend further than ought to be possible, as we approach the coolest area in the game.

The hands of the cosmos have many fingers, and all of their movements tell a story. But what that story means is up for interpretation. And this week we venture to the Cathedral of Manus Metyr and meet a very strange man named Count Ymir, who claims to have knowledge of the true nature of the Greater Will, the Two Fingers, and the origins of Marika’s divinity. Is he trustworthy? Who knows!? Let’s go blow whistles for him.

This week we complete the last of Shadow Keep, exploring the rear of the Specimen Storehouse before killing Messmer’s best bud Commander Gaius, and stumbling across the location where Marika’s whole story began.

You’d never guess it, but there’s still more Shadow Keep left to explore. Approaching from the Bonny Village side gets you into the flooded Church District, an area that calls New Londo to mind. But what lies beneath the water is stranger and more mysterious than the Darkwraiths.

This week we head on down to Bonny Village, which doesn’t seem so bonny to us. Instead, it was the beating heart of the hornsent’s jar-making operation. This is where the shamans, Marika’s people, were butchered and put into jars in order to make them into “saints”. Eventually they wish they didn’t do that.

This week we are joined by Sophie Pilbeam of the Sinclair Lore YouTube Channel. We talk about the world and narrative design of Shadow of the Erdtree, and how well it meshes with the base game. Afterwards, we read your responses about the Cerulean Coast and Shadow Keep areas of the game.

This week’s episode concludes the Specimen Storehouse, and concerns itself mostly with the fight against Messmer and an exploration of what his whole deal was. What led to his genocide of the Hornsent, and how exactly did Marika screw him over?

After clearing Shadow Keep proper, we find ourselves in a tower dedicated to the study and preservation of living beings touched by the Crucible. This is… unexpected in the home of someone leading a genocide against the Hornsent. But as we climb, we learn more about Messmer, and also discover the horrifying truth of Miquella’s plans.

For this entire season we’ve been walking in the wake of Messmer’s works, a fiery genocide of the Hornsent people. But now it’s time to visit the home of Messmer himself and breach the Shadow Keep which looms large over landscape. We talk about the level’s intricate design, and advance some quests related to Needle Knight Leda and her treachery about treachery.

Charo’s Hidden Grave is a region that is true to its name, resting above, but out of reach from, the Cerulean Coast. But once you get up there, you learn a little bit more about this cosmology’s relationship with death, and find a dirty little secret that the Hornsent tried to hide away from themselves.

AREAS COVERED:

We can't believe their cheek! Miquella threw something away which he should not have, and we’re going deep into the Stone Coffin Fissure to find it. So dress appropriately for wading through hip-deep putrescence, and let your least secure friend know where you’re headed, and come with!

Wow, now THIS is blue.

Having broken a Great Rune somewhere in the Shadow Realm, we now head south toward the Cerulean Coast, a beautiful region littered with gigantic stone coffin ships. But the path leading there is anything but obvious.

This week we speak with Jeremy Greer, of Days of Future Cast and many other shows, about his experiences with the Shadow of the Erdtree. We also read your responses to Castle Ensis and Scadu Altus!

This week we head deep into the Scorpion River valley to explore the base of the Rauh Ruins, a.k.a. that one very hidden map marker. No, not that one. The other one. We end up hitting our final forge dungeon, and exploring a catacomb with a very goofy and deadly threat.

This week we turn our attention to Scadu Altus, the region north of Castle Ensis which Messmer’s armies call their home. This region is less populated with notable landmarks than its non-shadow counterpart, but we end up finding something pretty important in the grisly fort where the Crusade executed those who failed it.

A Sword of Fire. And Ice.

This week we tackle a Legacy-ish Dungeon, Castle Ensis. Don’t get us wrong, the boss fight here is very good… but the level design and lore here are both threadbare. They can’t all be winners, but the good news is that every other dungeon is better than this one.

Before we attack Castle Ensis, there’s more ground we need to cover on the far side of the Great Ellac Bridge. This week’s episode introduces a brand new kind of mini dungeon, the Ruined Forge, full of big goofy golems with obvious weak points on their butts. We also meet sleepy, insecure Thiollier before ascending the Suppressing Tower and speculating about what exactly is going on with that thing.

AREAS COVERED:

The Great Ellac Bridge crosses a dividing line in the Gravesite Plain, a large canyon that stands between the ground we’ve already covered and Castle Ensis. The far side is fortified and narrow, but has many mysteries to explore before we head into the castle itself. This week we tackle castle-front encampment before heading north into a misty valley to delve into the Fog Rift Catacombs, where Godwyn and his forces are working toward mysterious ends.

This week, for the first Roundtable Roundtable of the DLC season, we invited the excellent YouTube video essayist Noah Caldwell-Gervais to join us to talk about Elden Ring, the Shadows of the Erdtree DLC, and his travelogue approach to analyzing games. Then we read your responses to the Gravesite Plain region and the Belurat, Tower Settlement legacy dungeon.

This week's episode takes us into the highest reaches of Belurat, to fight the Divine Beast Dancing Lion and learn the sad tale of Hornsent Grandam. She just wants to make you some awful soup, as long as you catfish her enough.

It's time to tackle our first Legacy Dungeon of the DLC, the sieged settlement beneath that impossible, shadowy tower. Belurat's lower quarters are choked with the shades of its defenders, still attempting to hold the line. And there's at least one crusader still here, the annoyingly devout Messmer follower Fire Knight Queelign.

This week's episode has us cleaning up the last remnants of the Gravesite Plain, or at least the portions on the near side of the Great Bridge. We delve into our first Gaol mini-dungeon and learn a horrifying secret about the living jars, before venturing into the western mountains to meet the Formless Mother's most devoted followers outside of the Mohgwyn Dynasty.

AREAS COVERED:

Our coverage of the Gravesite Plain continues as we venture between its southernmost tip and its northernmost reaches. The path along this road introduces us to the elite Black Knights of Messmer's forces, our first meeting with Miquella's followers, and a village overtaken by a curse that makes people into bugs. Also, your ol' pal Wolverine might make an appearance. Bub.

AREAS COVERED:

We need as many graves as you have. No wait, that's too many. The Gravesite Plain more than lives up to its name, being the entry point for a land that draws in all forms of death. Some of the most recent deaths, however, are the victims of Messmer the Impaler's bloody and fiery crusade. This week we talk about the DLC's first hours, including the Scorched Ruins and their attendant Furnace Golem.

AREAS COVERED:

It's time to begin the new season of Bonfireside Chat proper! This week is a primer on what's new and different in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. We talk about the new leveling system, some minor new or changed mechanics, and wrap up with a lore primer on the big movers and shakers you need to remember before heading into the Shadow Realm. It's good to be back.

It's been a week since Elden Ring's expasion, Shadow of the Erdtree, released to everyone. We've been hard at work finishing the game and planning out the next season of Bonfireside Chat, and we wanted to take this opportunity to give you our impressions after we both finished our first playthrough. It's good! We have a lot to talk about.

This episode doesn't contain story spoilers, but please take caution if you're extremely sensitive to knowing anything about these games before you play them. We can't talk about the game without talking about the game.

Additionally, this episode is free for everyone! Please consider backing our Patreon so you can get not only the upcoming Shadow of the Erdtree episodes, but a huge backlog of our other work. If you already back us, please spread this around to anyone you know who might be interested!

We will have news about when the season will debut soon. Thank you so much for your support!

This morning saw the release of the first trailer for the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC expansion for Elden Ring, and we think it looks pretty neat. So we recorded a little reaction episode and are making it available for everyone to share in the excitement.

In this episode we also discuss our tentative plans for covering the DLC. Since it's releasing on June 21, 2024 and we need to play it before we can structure the season, don't expect in-depth coverage until sometime in July. We will likely put up a first impressions episode shortly after release to tide you over, though.

Bonfireside Chat will return for what appears to be a lengthy season, based on all of the stuff shown in the trailer. The format of the show will likely remain unchanged, and Real Lich Hours will continue its normal release schedule as well.

We're excited to have you along for the ride. Now let's go touch that arm!

Time to replace all the boss music with Sparks' "This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us".

You think you're broken, Tarnished? Well... just wait until you see Elden Ring speed running...

A heh heh heh....

The videos referenced in this episode:
- Any% Glitchless
- Tool Assisted Speedruns
- All Remembrances Run 

Winky blinky.

Come with us to a mythical land where code does not die.

The tale of a game slowly figuring itself out.

Chill, elden beats to slay gods to.

This is mostly the songs you can't sing along to.