How Elden Ring Changed My Life
Can you believe that we live in a time when a man in his 30s with a full-time 9-5 job is advocating for gaming?!
It’s a crazy idea, and yet here we are.
Not only do I have a job but I’m also studying at night for a certification in economics and business science so that I can pursue a BCOM degree down the road.
Clearly, I don’t have a lot of free time on my hands and yet I still game.
I know that a lot of people feel like gaming is a waste of time and to be quite honest, at one point, so did I.
In an age of instant gratification, constant distractions, and brain rot from Instagram reels, TikTok videos and YouTube shorts, the last thing anyone ought to do is indulge in hobbies that can be detrimental to their mental health.
Ironically, gaming can be an instrument for growth and creativity.
Modern-day gaming offers challenges that inspire commitment, strategising, resilience, and deep focus.
These attributes are essential for ambitious individuals with meaningful goals or objectives.
Enter Elden Ring.
The hype around Elden Ring was incredible. For someone who had recently purchased a PS5 and entered the gaming scene, I was taken aback by the sheer volume of hype reverberating across my YouTube feed for this game.
I hadn’t heard of a Souls game or FromSoftware before this, but I bought into the hype.
Touted as the greatest game ever made, I had to give it a try! I owed it to myself to finally be a part of gaming history even as a consumer.
I slid the disc into my PS5, jumped onto my bed, wrapped my hands around the smooth DualSense controller flashing at me, and waited for the installation to complete.
Before long, I fired up the beast and began my very first playthrough of Elden Ring.
What lay ahead was a journey that challenged and engaged me in ways I will try my best to describe. It consumed my every thought. Every day, my only goal was for the clock to strike 5 pm so that I could rush to my PS5 and re-enter the beautifully immersive world of Elden Ring.
Chapter 1: Exploring The Unknown
I was a fish out of water, flapping around, gasping for air, and desperately searching for guidance. In many ways, Elden Ring resembles the human experience.
We’re born into a vast world with little direction or understanding of why we’re here, where we’re headed, or how to be.
Curiosity and intrigue motivate us to explore this beautiful world, but not without fear, uncertainty, and missteps.
In our lives, we have loved ones and parents to hold our hands and guide us until we are strong and knowledgeable enough to navigate the world.
Some of us do not have this good fortune, and that is more like what the journey of Elden Ring offers.
No helping hand, no direction and no idea of what danger is around the corner.
Through failure, we learn.
Only those who are willing to endure anguish, repetition, and difficulty may reach higher levels of existence.
Entering Limgrave was nothing short of breathtaking. You’re met with the sight of lush greenery, vast mountains, and a sky lit by a golden tree.
It’s breathtaking but enormous.
You start exploring, hoping to encounter simple foes and resources that will help you overcome any battle without too much suffering.
Suddenly, a large being on a horse appears before you. Okay, fine. I can do this. Oh, he has a name. Tree Sentinel. Weird, but let’s do this.
I march forward, roll and immediately strike with my axe. I hit my target and feel awesome. The health bar of my opponent takes a small but noticeable hit. I’m filled with excitement and ready to strike again.
Just as I’m about to take another shot, the Tree Sentinel takes a swipe at me, and I fail to dodge. Oh my God. Half my health is drained. I start to heal, and at a poorly timed moment, I take another hit, only to be killed immediately.
Absolutely crazy.
I go back immediately, and this time, I don’t even land a single hit before I’m defeated.
The next hour or two was like Groundhog Day. Death after death after death after death. I felt hopeless.
This game is punishing!
For the first time, I had to admit defeat and avoid this enemy. I’m not used to this. Not even a little. I was totally under the impression that I could defeat this boss with effort, but I was wrong.
I had to explore and find ways to gain strength. It’s scary to keep exploring after being wrecked like this. To be fair, there’s a tutorial boss, but he’s a special guy that shouldn’t be clustered with any of the other foes in this game.
If you step out of your comfort zone and dare to explore the world within Elden Ring, it will take you on a journey unlike anything you’ve ever experienced before. Your character will be transformed in ways that are unimaginable at the start of the game.
Lesson 1 – While persistence is admirable, some obstacles can only be overcome by stepping back and focusing on improving your skills, resources, and strategy. More importantly, when you are unable to find a direction in life, step out of your comfort zone and explore new paths. Through exploration and some courage, you might just find a path that offers excellence as a reward.
Chapter 2 – Acquiring & Managing Resources
Unless you’ve invested 100s or 1000s of hours into Elden Ring, you simply cannot finish the game with base-level statistics.
I would be lying if I said that I haven’t watched speedrunners do deathless runs through Elden Ring, but even they need to acquire enough resources to complete their character build.
That’s the nature of this game, and it’s very much reminiscent of real life.
As much as it remains true that happiness isn’t a result of wealth, it does make life far more enjoyable than the average earner.
As I progressed through Elden Ring, it became abundantly clear to me that I had to acquire as many runes (currency for stat improvement) as I could to progress.
This meant venturing to new locations, battling hordes of enemies, and most importantly, strategically using my resources to level up in a useful manner.
Trust me when I tell you that Elden Ring has an insane number of weapons to choose from. The problem is that you need certain resources to level up these weapons to their maximum abilities.
If you’re smart and well-planned, you can use limited resources to create a strong enough build to conquer the game.
If you’re committed and focused, you can spend a large amount of time farming resources so that you can upgrade as many weapons or stats as you wish, so that the gameplay is versatile for you.
The sweet spot is somewhere between the two options, which is what I chose to do.
Upon reflection, I realised that there’s another option, and that is to quit the game. Believe it or not, millions of people quit the game before reaching the roundtable, which is very early on in the game.
I was fortunate enough to look at other people’s builds to utilise my limited resources strategically and, most importantly, successfully.
Lesson 2: You can succeed beyond most expectations if you can utilise the resources at your disposal with careful planning and execution. Additionally, it is easy to separate yourself from most quitters if you are willing to learn from others who have succeeded and to grind despite frequent failure.
Chapter 3 – Working Hard
Elden Ring is hard. I don’t care what others might say; it’s incredibly difficult if you haven’t played a Souls game before.
The makers do not hold your hand, nor do they make things convenient for the player.
If anything, nothing about Elden Ring is a compromise. You either adapt and overcome or you quit. That’s it. This is why the phrase “Git Gud” is so popular within the gaming community, because it represents the entire Souls genre in a nutshell.
To “Git Gud”, you are expected to learn, practice, grind, and grow. Failure is nothing more than an expectation. Some might argue that it’s part of the experience. You fail over and over again until you do everything in your power to succeed.
I don’t want to belittle myself, but I feel like I’ve been average in many important areas of life. From academics to my physical shape, I’ve just been fine and I have been able to live a normal life without much effort.
But being average isn’t anything special. If anything, being average makes you feel like everyone else. What happens when everyone else isn’t living a good and meaningful life? What if everyone else squanders their opportunity to be excellent at something?
Those questions bugged me for many years until I started to develop a work ethic.
Work ethic, in my opinion, is a mindset.
This mindset is built around persistence, effort, and self-respect. I achieved some cool goals over a few years when my work ethic was at the forefront of my being, but over time, I allowed comfort, brain rot from social media, and isolation to affect my mindset.
I fell right back into mediocrity, but this time, depression was at the bottom of the pit.
Elden Ring was instrumental in how I climbed out of this pit because it reminded me of the one thing that made the largest impact on my life.
It reminded me of having a work ethic.
Since completing Elden Ring, I’ve obviously gone on to complete many of the other FromSoft games because I understand what it means to work hard at something despite failure and resistance.
Everything within the world of Elden Ring hates you, bar a few NPCs. Yet, you overcome all obstacles by working hard.
Lesson 3: You can overcome your own shortcomings and challenges in life through hard work. It’s the one thing in this world that you have complete control over. Those who are willing to be persistent, resilient, and committed have the greatest chance of overcoming all obstacles and achieving excellence.
Chapter 4 – Chasing Excellence
When I finally conquered the Elden Beast, it felt like I had conquered myself. Something in me changed that day because I struggled to learn the patterns of Radagon and then the Elden Beast.
Many players who completed the game before the last patch know that the Elden Beast is this huge mythical creature that can move across the ethereal arena, forcing you to chase after it on foot.
They have, of course, allowed players to use Torrent during this battle now but we had to chase after the Elden Beast on foot and it was tedious.
I reflected on the journey that preceded my victory, and the standout lesson to me pertained to excellence.
I’ve always been enthralled by the Japanese culture, and one of the standout features of their culture appears to be their drive for perfection.
I know there’s some controversy around this idea and how Japanese people are driven to depression and loneliness due to excessive work and effort.
But can we take a moment to admire the desire for excellence within the culture?
I think Miyazaki, intentionally or unintentionally, created an experience that reflects the Japanese standard for excellence.
Precision, practice, persistence, reflection, research, pressure, and production all seem to lead one towards excellence at something.
That has bled into my everyday life.
When I work, I make an effort to go the extra mile, even with the simplest of things. My emails are meticulous, free of errors and carefully structured.
When I dress up, my clothes are ironed, well-fitted, and carefully selected considering colour and size.
When studying, I take the time to read with comprehension. My notes are cohesive and helpful. I spend extra time being focused and free from distractions.
I’ve never lived this way, but it has shifted the results I’ve achieved. Most importantly, it has changed the way I see myself.
The crazy part about this story is that a game like Elden Ring leads to personal growth. It goes against every self-help idea or guru out there, but that is the effect it had on me.
Lesson 4: Excellence is achieved through hard work, consistency, practice, reflection and a positive attitude. It starts with an attitude change and mindset shift, but once you believe that you deserve to pursue excellence, everything changes. Being challenged isn’t a reason to give up or avoid trying when you are pursuing excellence. If anything, the challenge is the ignition.
To conclude this very lengthy essay, I would just like to say how amazing the gaming community can be. Sure, there are some crazy characters like in every other online community, but it’s actually a really fun space to be in.
If you can find a way to use games as a catalyst for positive change in your life, consider trying one of FromSoftware’s many offerings.
