GamesAction RpgFrom Skyrim to Elden Ring and even Final Fantasy 7 – my favorite RPG magic spell has never once let me downWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesAction RpgFrom Skyrim to Elden Ring and even Final Fantasy 7 – my favorite RPG magic spell has never once let me downWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: FromSoftware)
I’m back in the twisted, blood-stained throes ofElden Ring. Truth be told, I’ve never really left but with news that its Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is officially landing in June, and the fact that you need to have reached Mogwyn Palace and have defeated Mohg Lord of Blood in order to access it, I’ve returned with work to do.
In my almost-400 hours roving the Lands Between from pillar to post, I’ve finished the main storyline a few times at this point. But before theElden Ring DLCwas officially unveiled, the character I’d intended on pushing into the game’s first slice of added content had only just entered New Game Plus (a warrior mage-faith build with a penchant for dragon incantations, in case you were wondering), meaning I had Renala, Godfrey, Morgott, and a trip to the Mountaintops Of The Giants, and then the Consecrated Snowfield all ahead of me in order to actually reach the house of Mohg. I’d then need to take him on and, of course, defeat him.
All of which I managed to rattle through in one sitting. And I couldn’t have done so without… me.
Me, myself and I
(Image credit: Bethesda)
THIS GUY(Image credit: FromSoftware; GamesRadar)After almost 400 hours with Elden Ring, I’ve found the action RPG’s hardest enemy – an innocuous, random teleporting knight who you might have missed entirely
THIS GUY
(Image credit: FromSoftware; GamesRadar)After almost 400 hours with Elden Ring, I’ve found the action RPG’s hardest enemy – an innocuous, random teleporting knight who you might have missed entirely
(Image credit: FromSoftware; GamesRadar)
After almost 400 hours with Elden Ring, I’ve found the action RPG’s hardest enemy – an innocuous, random teleporting knight who you might have missed entirely
Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring are essentially companions that can be called to aid you in combat, often mimicking the Lands Between’s fallen enemies. From Lhutel the Headless to Black Knife Tiche and Redmane Knight Ogha, I’ve flitted between my favorites at any given time. Since picking up the Mimic Tear Ashes, however – deep within the Night’s Sacred Ground in the bowels of Nokron, Eternal City – I haven’t looked back, calling on my relentless twin at every opportunity; almost always sending them in first while I analyze the battlefield and watch my pal take a hiding.
This tactic is something I love in action RPGs, and role-playing games in general. After Suikoden, the original Final Fantasy 7 was my favorite role-player in my formative years, and, like most people in the west, was also my introduction to Square’s enduring series. The likes of Suikoden boasted an impressive suite of magic options, but FF7 was the first game I’d ever played that employed summons. Being able to call on Ifrit, Shiva, Hades and more to do my bidding in battle blew my mind, and the discovery of Mime in the latter stages of the game (which let you cast the same summon multiple times) made me feel like an absolute god. Combining this with HP Absorb, Counter (Mastered), W-Summon and the Knights of the Round materia, and… well, I’m sure you get the picture.
(Image credit: 2K Games)
“And as my sorcery skills grew throughout the Dragonborn’s quest in The Elder Scrolls 5, so too did my desire to draught in inter-dimensional daedra to fight on my behalf”
“And as my sorcery skills grew throughout the Dragonborn’s quest in The Elder Scrolls 5, so too did my desire to draught in inter-dimensional daedra to fight on my behalf”
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Away from the action RPG space, I’ve long leapt at the chance to summon creatures to help me out in trying times. Among my favorite examples of this, in fact, is in BioShock 2 where an upgraded Hypnotize Plasmid trait can help you make friends with Splicer enemies and the hulking, dive suit-wearing Little Sister protectors, Big Daddies. There really is nothing like charging up a few Hypnotize Plasmids and taking down gangs of adversaries with your own bad-guys-gone-good army. Of course, you’ll want to stay stocked up on EVE so as to avoid being caught on the back foot when the spells wear off – but a quick rinse and repeat starts the whole process over again.
And so, here I am, counting down the weeks and days until the arrival of Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, having reached where I needed to be in one night, having set myself three months to do so. Part of this is down to the fact my warrior-mage-dragon-lover is level 154 with 60 Vigor, 60 Intelligence, 35 Mind and 35 Faith under the hood – but the main reason I’ve blasted through this instance of Elden Ring New Game Plus is down to my doppelganger, my backup, my summon, my go-to RPG magic spell. Myhero.
Summon the most fearsome friends in thebest RPGson the market right now
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1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
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3Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action”
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5Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands”
5
Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands”