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Listen "EP 15 | Elden Ring: Lore, Loss, & Difficulty as a Tool for Storytelling (with Jack & Sherveen)"
Episode Synopsis
Marina sits down with games journalist Jack Alex Roberts and game dev Sherveen Uduwana to talk about our Tarnished journeys in the Lands Between.
We talk about our love of Elden Ring’s lore, narrative design, music, how we got into the Soulsborne genre, what builds we played, our favourite moments in the game, how difficulty is used as a lever for intentional storytelling, and much more.
Grab a coffee, and let’s dive into the Lands Between.
* * * * * * *
TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00) Introduction
(03:10) Meeting our guests
(08:06) Story summary
(16:45) Our Tarnished and the builds we played
(26:15) Elden Ring’s narrative design, open world, and experience
(38:50) How we felt exploring the environments in the Lands Between
(45:46) Favourite narrative themes
(54:05) “Marika is Radagon”
(1:03:45) Music chat
(1:11:48) Community questions
(1:42:41) Final thoughts & symbolism
(1:48:08) Outro
* * * * * * *
THANK YOU’S:
VaatiVidya: https://www.youtube.com/@VaatiVidya
V-Limit: https://www.youtube.com/@VLimit11
Anyone who’s contributed and annotated the Elden Ring Fandom site: https://eldenring.fandom.com/wiki/Elden_Ring_Wiki
* * * * * * *
SOCIALS:
Quest Markers: https://linktr.ee/questmarkers
Sherveen: https://twitter.com/SUduwana
Midautumn Game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1582380/Midautumn/
Jack Alex Roberts: https://twitter.com/jackalexroberts
Marina Ryan: https://linktr.ee/marinaryan
We talk about our love of Elden Ring’s lore, narrative design, music, how we got into the Soulsborne genre, what builds we played, our favourite moments in the game, how difficulty is used as a lever for intentional storytelling, and much more.
Grab a coffee, and let’s dive into the Lands Between.
* * * * * * *
TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00) Introduction
(03:10) Meeting our guests
(08:06) Story summary
(16:45) Our Tarnished and the builds we played
(26:15) Elden Ring’s narrative design, open world, and experience
(38:50) How we felt exploring the environments in the Lands Between
(45:46) Favourite narrative themes
(54:05) “Marika is Radagon”
(1:03:45) Music chat
(1:11:48) Community questions
(1:42:41) Final thoughts & symbolism
(1:48:08) Outro
* * * * * * *
THANK YOU’S:
VaatiVidya: https://www.youtube.com/@VaatiVidya
V-Limit: https://www.youtube.com/@VLimit11
Anyone who’s contributed and annotated the Elden Ring Fandom site: https://eldenring.fandom.com/wiki/Elden_Ring_Wiki
* * * * * * *
SOCIALS:
Quest Markers: https://linktr.ee/questmarkers
Sherveen: https://twitter.com/SUduwana
Midautumn Game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1582380/Midautumn/
Jack Alex Roberts: https://twitter.com/jackalexroberts
Marina Ryan: https://linktr.ee/marinaryan
More episodes of the podcast Quest Markers
EP 37 | From Resident Evil to Star Wars: How Cody Matthew Johnson approaches music making
13/12/2025
EP 35 | How do indie horror games get made?
23/10/2025
EP 34 | How do indie studios get funded?
27/09/2025
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