In the last few days, I’ve gone from struggling my way through Elden Ring to mourning a youth that feels ever distant. And it’s all thanks to a forgotten username and a closed-down email account. That doesn’t sound very exciting, does it? Let’s go back a bit. The simple truth is this: Elden Ring reminds me a lot of my teenage years playing EverQuest. EverQuest was the World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy 14 of its day, the day in question being the early 2000s. Launched in the UK in 2000, I came across it fashionably late, mostly because I got talked into it by someone I had a crush on. Teenage decisions, eh?
EverQuest was a brutal introduction to the MMORPG genre, maps being the most obvious omission to make things so much harder. Starting out, I chose to be a Troll Shaman, because the aforementioned person was already one and could kit me out with a couple of precious pieces of equipment. This meant I started out in the village of Grobb — home of the trolls. Just outside the village was Innothule Swamp, a dark and dreary mire that was full of beats keen to kill you. In the seemingly very far distance were zone entrances to move between different areas. The biggest catch? Again: no maps. You had to figure the place out for yourself by learning the hard way.
I have a reasonable sense of direction but zones like the swamp felt like they were made to disorient me. There were few memorable locations within the swamp, making traversal complicated from the off. Some zones were more open and airier, but that often just meant you could see the imminent threats nearby more clearly. I remember one time seeing a huge Sand Giant coming my way and knowing that death was unavoidable. Lovely stuff.
