Elden Ring: The Road to the Erdtree: Volume 1

Product Information

Aseo, a poor, Tarnished wretch, finds himself cast out into Limgrave—naked, penniless, hopeless, and maidenless. His only hope in his harsh, unforgiving new home is a mysterious woman named Melina,” the official description reads. If you would like an Elden Ring adaptation to be faithful to the game's tone (serious), you might be disappointed as I am. However if you like how something very serious can be turned into light-hearted banter, you'll probably like it a lot, especially if you played the game yourself.

Margit spares the main character because he pities him that he has no armor or clothes, and is using pathetic wolf mimic to fight him. But this manga plays on that, with a hopeless and clueless hero struggling to get to grips with the dark fantasy world. It opens with Aseo showing Malenia his butt to prove the repeated stab wounds he's received. That should sum up the humour of this adaptation.

Nikiichi Tobita is responsible for the artwork, known for creating the manga A Cursed Sword's Daily Life. I expected and would have liked it to be an actual canon and serious manga, but it's not the end of the world. With little but a loincloth between Aseo and certain death, he strikes out for the first stop on his quest: Stormveil Castle. Will he make it there, or will his journey end before it even begins?" The art is 100% faithful to the game (below is an actual picture I took ingame, versus the first pannel).

There are references to the __items__ the NPCs actually give you ingame (i.e. Margit giving you the pouch for expanding your talisman slots or the crafting kit and cookbook you get from the first merchant) and it also explains what it does. There's like an embedded __tutorial__. On February 28, 2023, an expansion called Shadow of the Erdtree was announced to be in development. I say that because many might come to think that it's some fan-made nonsense, because the tone of the manga will probably take most Elden Ring fans by surprise. You basically follow the __real quest of Ranni__ and the references that are made along the way are very accurate. It takes you by surprise a bit. They even left in the funny/weird way of how Blaidd is initially summoned (when you need to snap your fingers when you hear howling) and also the fact that Ranni shows up at night only The fact that they made the main character a __player__, I don't know if it plays in favor of or against the manga. They break the 4th wall and make it clear that the tarnished main character is a player like us. He doesn't know why he's here and wants to "level up", etc., yet there's no indication that it's a game. I don't know how to feel about it, maybe it'll tie well with the game, but I'm sure it'll make people feel more immersed in some sense because it reflect actual player thoughts during the game.In terms of gameplay, Elden Ring is a vast evolution of the Soulsborne formula, adding features such as mounted combat and transversal, Item Crafting, a dedicated summoning system, a vast open-world to explore and fight through (which now includes massive, dynamic "field bosses" to clash with in the open expanses), and a more overt, but still grounded and cryptic Dark Fantasy storyline penned with input by George R. R. Martin. It also features many returning gameplay features from past FromSoftware games, though mostly with unique spins; some examples include a modified version of Weapon Arts (now called "Ashes of War") returning from Dark Souls III and the expansive vertical level design, platforming, and stealth mechanics of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, adapted to a more free-form open world. And as always, the brutal difficulty, dynamic bosses, and frequent deaths which define the Souls-like RPG continue to be in play here. The manga comes courtesy of Kadokawa - FromSoftware's parent company and a huge publisher of manga. The Elden Ring manga is created by Kadokawa Corporation, a Japanese media conglomerate and the parent company of FromSoftware. Kadokawa runs a slew of manga and anime distribution services and production studios. How to read Elden Ring: Road to the Erdtree