When asked in a January 2022 interview how long it will take the average player to beat Elden Ring, producer Yasuhiro Kitao guessed that most would see the credits roll at around the 30-hour mark. That turned out to be a massive miscalculation, as many gamers report requiring up to fifty hours to make it through a single playthrough, and plenty are still wrapping up their first forays into The Lands Between nearly two months after the game launched. With that in mind, a Reddit clip from u/ChoppaVII highlights a hilarious end-game boss fight fail that may exemplify the struggles some gamers are enduring in Elden Ring's finale.
After braving the dangers of Crumbling Farum Azula, players come across Maliketh, a protector of Marika, who may also be Elden Ring's Beast Clergyman Garranq. He’s part of a gauntlet of five bosses—six if the Draconic Tree Sentinel in Farum Azula is to be counted—bookending the game, and, though he’s not nearly as difficult as other FromSoftware bosses, such as Sword Saint Isshin or Orphan of Kos, he can definitely be difficult to put down.
Unfortunately, u/ChoppaVII never got a chance to land so much as a single hit. After traversing the mist, the player immediately summoned the Mimic Tear, which is a savvy move, as the Mimic Tear Ashes are perhaps the best summon in Elden Ring. However, two ill-advised dodge rolls sent them careening to their death in a hilarious stroke of bad luck, ending the fight before it could even begin.
Precarious ledges and fatal falls have always been a part of the soulsborne experience, but, while annoying, hazards in boss rooms can be downright infuriating. A very similar fate befell one unfortunate TikTok user who accidentally backed off of a ledge just seconds before delivering the final blow against Margit, the Fell Omen, a heartbreaking end to one of Elden Ring's tougher boss fights. Additionally, one streamer endured an arguably more aggravating accident, inadvertently jumping off of a cliff in Caelid after downing a dragon.
Soulsborne veterans may recall a similar situation that could be set up in Dark Souls 2. The Dragonrider, one of the first bosses in the game, could easily be tricked into stepping off of the tiny platform on which he is meant to be fought. Perhaps u/ChoppaVII ought to return to the 2014 Dark Souls installment for a bit of cathartic revenge. The major difference between these two fights, however, is that Dragonrider is one of the easiest bosses in the Dark Souls franchise, while Maliketh is made of much sterner stuff.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Source: HowLongToBeat