Elden Ringlike all the games created by FROM Software, can be quite twisted when it comes to providing important information to the player. Let’s say, for example, that you just discovered a strange icon with an arrow under your health, magic and stamina bars.… I’ll explain that icon to you with a question:Have you hugged any stranger lately?
When you reach a certain point in the game (it happens for sure when you kill the first boss in the story: Margit the fallen prophet, but in some cases it can happen to you sooner) you will be invited to the fortress of the round table. It is an area with many interesting points such as merchants and a gunsmith to improve your armor. The most interesting character in that area is a woman named Fia, whom we already know from the trailer as the deathbed mate.
At first Fia doesn’t seem to be of much use. She offers to hug you, a warm gesture quite rare in games like Souls. Doing so grants you an item called Baldachin’s Blessing that increases your posture at the cost of some magical energy. The scene seems to go no further, but even hugs have a cost.
Do you remember the conversation with Fia where she tells you that she will share some of your stamina in exchange for her hug? For it is not an empty piece of dialogue. Her embrace literally reduces your maximum hit points by 5%, a glitch that is reflected by the red arrow icon mentioned above. Not that it’s much, but you’ll probably miss that 5% in the next boss fight when he enters his second phase of breaking your back.
Fortunately, recovering that lost 5% is as simple as using Baldachin’s blessing that he just gave you and it’s on. your inventory. Is that kind of sexually transmitted disease Fia some more sinister clue in the campaign of Elden Ring? It’s hard to tell. Over a decade of From Software gaming experience tells me that absolutely no characters can be trusted in those games. Using a nice offer of affection as part of a dark plot twistn certainly seems worthy Elden Ring.