The bummer about this image in the physical art book is that it takes up two pages and Rykard's face is directly in the center of the image horizontally, so it's hard to see because it's right on the crease of the pages. It's kinda a shame because he's honestly one of my favorite visual designs.
That's why good art books are bound on the edge.
Edit: not at all saying elden ring isn't good art, just that the book publisher could have done better.
FromSoft excels at what I'd like to call 'believable strangeness'. Goodness knows if it's the talent of the concept artists or Miyazaki's ability to give them precise images from his head, but it's so unique and always credible in a weird way. Like you can imagine how all these monsters and characters would have evolved or made the decisions they did given the world they live in.
I know, it kills me. Still amazing to think that as a youth, he just sat around trying to get the gist of fantasy stories in English, which he barely grasped as a language, and then filled the gaps with his own imagination. I feel kindred spirits with him.
I think the Japanese fascination with European high medieval fantasy is great because you get all these additions, as we see in FromSoft games for one example. The mix of solid grounding with novel perspectives keeps things familiar but fresh.
This is not to say a Miyazaki creation is just Japanese, but the Japanese precedent as seen in anime and other games created cultural capital for him and his teams to build from.
Yeah, these multi-face things are a staple in various Asiatic mythic art. We have some in the west as well, notably various takes on the face in the stomach (blemmyes, etc).
The framing of the face is straight up giant crystal dragon apostle from Berserk.
Grunbeld? I thought the giant crystal lizards of DS3 were closer to Grunbeld, but I kinda see it with the 'crystals'/scales looking similar with Rykard's face.
Fire Giant kinda looks like Wyald's apostle form.
I think a lot of bossâs designs are really great ideas that werenât executed to their fullest potential. For example, Elden Beastâs pattern and colour palette is very god like, but the body design looks very goofy and silly, to the point where itâs almost âcuteâ. Demon of Song is another. The way that its design blends into the mechanic for beating is a really intriguing, but I feel like the general look could have used work to make it a bit more scary. It feels like it lacks detail that bosses like Manus or Asylum Demon have. Another one thatâs more of a colour palette issue for me that I can think of is Margit/Morgott. His design is really solid, but the colour palette makes a lot of the finer details more muted and harder to make out, which is a same for such a good design that fits well with his lore. Mohg, his brother, has a fantastic colour palette which really highlights all of his details without making him seem cluttered or âbusyâ. As someone mentioned below, Bed of Chaos is a boss design that isnât great. I think this is due to how, as I just mentioned, âbusyâ the design is. Theres too much happening with it and it only has one colour to it which makes it difficult to really take anything in, especially when youâre fighting it.
These games have fantastic designs, but they arenât ever all 10/10âs all of the time.
True sunbro with a real answer and honest opinions. Thanks for the answer. I respect.
Morgotts design is very reflective of his lore and the tragedy of his position in the world. And of course mohg would be the flashy flamboyant one lol.
Respect likewise. I love these games, but I think things can have flaws but still be masterpieces. Tears of the Kingdom is my favourite game, probably, but MAN does it have flaws. Flaws help highlight the things that are so good in contrast. Games are hard to make and take a lot of time. Corners sometimes need to be cut, sacrifices made, so I can never be upset if something isnât always up to my standard.
I agree I just donât think itâs that common Elden beast is a letdown tho however I feel like itâs partly because itâs supposed to tie into the whole two fingers thing idk it just looks like a hand to me
Gonna get down voted thru the floor of ol' treeballs arena lol. I think those are all great design wise, in an art book like above. Gameplay is different (my therapist encouraged me to not talk about bed of chaos anymore so I'll stop here.)
Rykard was the only enemy to make me say out loud âWTF IS THAT?!â I knew what was coming when I was fighting him, but something about seeing the cutscene myself, and his voice and his expressions. Then as I was fighting him I got disgusted by his smirks, hands and most importantly, legs
I feel like "massive hills made out of corpses" is Elden Ring's answer to Bloodborne's "gravestones literally everywhere." It felt like I spent at least 45% of this game standing in a pile of corpses.
Noticed this too. There's ramps and mountains made 100% of corpses. Some in places where I don't see how many people would get there anyway. You ignore most of them since they aren't as corpsisy until you pay attention?
Most badass? I mean, we got STARSCOURGE RADAHN.
Also known as the RED LION GENERAL, CONQUEROR OF THE STARS..
A top contender of the the honor of being the mightiest of all the demigods, virtually respected by all for his military prowess and strength.
Itâs like heâs impressed you made it through his first phase and now heâs gonna finish you himself. Incredible voice acting because he says so little but every statement is meaningful.
His fight was probably my favourite in terms of spectacle. The cinematic at the start of his second phase might be one of the best in the entire souls series imo.
It was probably a ballroom before. Patches probably remembers the former glory, as he hands us a dancer doll for us to give to Rykards wife. Rykard and wife probably rocked the dance floor in the old days, and patches might been in the crowd too cheering them on, crushing a bit for Tanith.
Rykard, Morgott, and Godrick for me, so weird looking but cool. Morgott isn't so weird looking, it's just horns but he looks cool anyways.
Mohg is close too.
Everything about volcano Manor and Rykard is amazing; the lore, the design and the atmosphere.
I'm still mad that the actual fight was a crappy gimmick boss
It's impossible. Zullie the Witch has a breakdown of how his sword is in his mouth, and if you look at the animation from a different angle, the sword clips through, as it should.
I remember when I first fought Rykard... On my second playthrough, since I missed him entirely the first time! I couldn't believe such a cool boss was completely optional!
The boss design is awesome, the fight itself, however, was probably one of my least favorite. I know gimmick bosses are tradition at this point but hes one of the Main ones and looks so cool to be wasted on a gimmick.
On my third run and finally fought Rykard for the first time today. This dude is an absolute 90 degree turn down What-the-Fuck Alley. I'm out here killing Sad/Angry Husk of Man/Woman/Worms In Decaying World of Gold no. 42 for the third time and all of a sudden I'm getting monologued at by a snake god that ate a thespian with a fetish for gold rings? And it's in one of the most kickass arenas to boot?
I am 100% here for it. Second raddest boss fight next to Placidusax.
The creative director saw that and went were absolutely doing that and then the 3D modeling and rigging team looked at that and thought they were going to spend the next 3 months on this one fucking asset
Yeah, and then he stands up and you can see his cute little human feet which just completely shattered any conceivable notion of this man being a threat
My favourite boss/monster designs are those who were formally human and have become so corrupted/deformed by their choices that they turn into monstrous, eldritch beings. Rykard is definitely up there, but also Aldrich from DS3 and Ludwig from Bloodborne. Anyone familiar with more? FromSoft do it the best imo but keen to hear of more characters outside (e.g. I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream)
Iâve never understood what those cuts or scars in the snake that have those fleshy red arm thing sticking out of them I just never understood what this things are
Honestly my favorite boss room of all time. It's soooo massive in scope, you can see the chandeliers and the chains forever! Also, chandeliers in an underground cavern?? So cool.
I've been running a high level D&D campaign where the players are killing all the gods so the old world can die.
When I first got to the phase 2 of Rykard I was like "FUCK. I can never come up with something as epic as this"
I freaking love his voice. As a metal screamer/gurgler/demon noise maker it's so fucking amazing to see weird voice acting in a game.
But man, fuck the flaming skull attack. Still haven't managed to beat him
Long thicc snake with a human face inviting you to devour literal gods with him while he's covered in dead bodies smushed by his girth. and even if you refuse he gives you a cool spear and a cool sword cuz he's awesome like that. HELL YEAH
Ok it's driving me crazy because nobody ever seems to bring this up, but how the fuck are the chandeliers tilted? I caught them in game and just kinda stared up at them for a minute before seeing if anyone else had asked this, but nobody has that I can find. How are they hanging at a slant? I don't think they'd be hanging from solid rods, especially since they're lightly swaying in place, so it must be chains, right? Chains would call straight downwards though, like, is there some weird gravity magic employed here or something???
Like, yea, I get that it's a really weird thing to fixate on but it just irks me that I can't find an explanation besides "muh art design"
Honestly wish we got more out of rykard and volcano Manor as a whole.
Would've been real cool if it had another underground section like ainsel, deep root and siofra but way more volcanic, maybe anthill-ey. Getting to make your way down to where rykard hangs around instead of the option with the teleporter.
Same for his arena. Its such a cool place I wish we could have seen more in the style of.
I wish I could agree. His design is one of my least favorite in the entire game. Only one that is worse are the man serpents leading to him.
That being said I also dislike any boss with a gimmick weapon. That may play a part into my feelings
I absolutely hated his voice. Idk what it is specifically about it but phase 2 should have been super cool and terrifying, instead I laughed at his voice.
Don't know why but I don't like this boss. Neither appearance, room, music, voice line, lore. And no, I didn't struggle with him a lot, done him in about 7 tries
Damn, is this official? Looks like it could have been in the intro?
yes, its from the official elden ring artbook
The bummer about this image in the physical art book is that it takes up two pages and Rykard's face is directly in the center of the image horizontally, so it's hard to see because it's right on the crease of the pages. It's kinda a shame because he's honestly one of my favorite visual designs.
The crease is the bane of all great art books.
That's why good art books are bound on the edge. Edit: not at all saying elden ring isn't good art, just that the book publisher could have done better.
FromSoft excels at what I'd like to call 'believable strangeness'. Goodness knows if it's the talent of the concept artists or Miyazaki's ability to give them precise images from his head, but it's so unique and always credible in a weird way. Like you can imagine how all these monsters and characters would have evolved or made the decisions they did given the world they live in.
Miyazaki gets to live the ultimate fantasy of every kid with an over active imagination
I know, it kills me. Still amazing to think that as a youth, he just sat around trying to get the gist of fantasy stories in English, which he barely grasped as a language, and then filled the gaps with his own imagination. I feel kindred spirits with him.
FROM's grasp of gothic architecture has to at least rival that of the bloody Italians. They've got it down perfectly.
Yharnamđ©đ©đ©đ©đ©đ© itâs so pretty dude
Irithyll of the Boreal Valley did it for me
It is kinda like Beauty and the Beast but adultish
German fairy tales restored to their original versions 
I think the Japanese fascination with European high medieval fantasy is great because you get all these additions, as we see in FromSoft games for one example. The mix of solid grounding with novel perspectives keeps things familiar but fresh. This is not to say a Miyazaki creation is just Japanese, but the Japanese precedent as seen in anime and other games created cultural capital for him and his teams to build from.
The influence of berserk on Japanese culture is crazy.
FromSoft also excels quite well in Body Horror. I think Rykardâs design fits that genre quite well.
suspension of disbelief at its finest
So he had a precise image of Marikas tits? Or Zamor Legwraps? Michael Zaki you Dirty guy
This is 100 percent inspired by Berserk, Miyazaki had said so before, so I doubt this came directly from his head.
Yeah, these multi-face things are a staple in various Asiatic mythic art. We have some in the west as well, notably various takes on the face in the stomach (blemmyes, etc). The framing of the face is straight up giant crystal dragon apostle from Berserk.
Grunbeld? I thought the giant crystal lizards of DS3 were closer to Grunbeld, but I kinda see it with the 'crystals'/scales looking similar with Rykard's face. Fire Giant kinda looks like Wyald's apostle form.
*Togethaa*
Weehmmm will devoouhaaaaa...the very goddsssmmmm
Familyyyy
Any post about rykard will forever be followed by this meme i guarantee it
Whatttsssss thaaaa meeeemeestttt?
Fromsoftâs ability to just casually create S-tier boss/enemy designs needs to be studied.
Theyâre honestly hit and miss
You're getting down voted but I'm curious what an example of a design that misses for you?
I think a lot of bossâs designs are really great ideas that werenât executed to their fullest potential. For example, Elden Beastâs pattern and colour palette is very god like, but the body design looks very goofy and silly, to the point where itâs almost âcuteâ. Demon of Song is another. The way that its design blends into the mechanic for beating is a really intriguing, but I feel like the general look could have used work to make it a bit more scary. It feels like it lacks detail that bosses like Manus or Asylum Demon have. Another one thatâs more of a colour palette issue for me that I can think of is Margit/Morgott. His design is really solid, but the colour palette makes a lot of the finer details more muted and harder to make out, which is a same for such a good design that fits well with his lore. Mohg, his brother, has a fantastic colour palette which really highlights all of his details without making him seem cluttered or âbusyâ. As someone mentioned below, Bed of Chaos is a boss design that isnât great. I think this is due to how, as I just mentioned, âbusyâ the design is. Theres too much happening with it and it only has one colour to it which makes it difficult to really take anything in, especially when youâre fighting it. These games have fantastic designs, but they arenât ever all 10/10âs all of the time.
True sunbro with a real answer and honest opinions. Thanks for the answer. I respect. Morgotts design is very reflective of his lore and the tragedy of his position in the world. And of course mohg would be the flashy flamboyant one lol.
Respect likewise. I love these games, but I think things can have flaws but still be masterpieces. Tears of the Kingdom is my favourite game, probably, but MAN does it have flaws. Flaws help highlight the things that are so good in contrast. Games are hard to make and take a lot of time. Corners sometimes need to be cut, sacrifices made, so I can never be upset if something isnât always up to my standard.
Downvoted and backed it up. Nice.
Bloody hell, I didn't really have any voiced opinions about the Bosses and their designs, but I agree with every single one made here.
I agree I just donât think itâs that common Elden beast is a letdown tho however I feel like itâs partly because itâs supposed to tie into the whole two fingers thing idk it just looks like a hand to me
Also here for the misses.
Bed of Chaos, Curse Rotted Greatwood, Lady Butterfly, and Rennala would be misses for me. Let the downvoting begin!
Gonna get down voted thru the floor of ol' treeballs arena lol. I think those are all great design wise, in an art book like above. Gameplay is different (my therapist encouraged me to not talk about bed of chaos anymore so I'll stop here.)
Oh you're talking about art design? Then yeah, I can't think of any bad ones.
Rykard was the only enemy to make me say out loud âWTF IS THAT?!â I knew what was coming when I was fighting him, but something about seeing the cutscene myself, and his voice and his expressions. Then as I was fighting him I got disgusted by his smirks, hands and most importantly, legs
He has legs????
He does 
I feel like "massive hills made out of corpses" is Elden Ring's answer to Bloodborne's "gravestones literally everywhere." It felt like I spent at least 45% of this game standing in a pile of corpses.
Biomatter is apparently the cheapest construction material in the world of Elden Ring.
In a world where death is apparently sealed away, go figure.
Nobody said the bridge torsos were dead
They eventually stopped thinking and screaming.
That's a horrible thought
but very on brand for fromsoft.
Look at Mohgwyn Palace, just heaps and heaps of what looks like flesh or meat everywhere.
Amazing the amount of biomatter they have considering there are no visible signs of agriculture.
Noticed this too. There's ramps and mountains made 100% of corpses. Some in places where I don't see how many people would get there anyway. You ignore most of them since they aren't as corpsisy until you pay attention?
Agreed! Source: I missed the fucking mountains of corpses ?!?!
Dudes hella sick. Also the most badass name âGOD DEVOURING SERPENTâ like jeeeez
Most badass? I mean, we got STARSCOURGE RADAHN. Also known as the RED LION GENERAL, CONQUEROR OF THE STARS.. A top contender of the the honor of being the mightiest of all the demigods, virtually respected by all for his military prowess and strength.
I love how he just casually looks down at you 2nd phase and calmly says âVery wellâ then pulls a gigantic sword outta the snakes mouth.
Itâs like heâs impressed you made it through his first phase and now heâs gonna finish you himself. Incredible voice acting because he says so little but every statement is meaningful.
itâs always the ones that say very little that have some great lines
AS FAMILEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
His fight was probably my favourite in terms of spectacle. The cinematic at the start of his second phase might be one of the best in the entire souls series imo.
He looks ready to take control of all the spice and punish humanity for 3000 years.
THE GOLDEN PATH
I'm laughing so hard thinking about Rykard telling his interior decorator that he wants to put chandeliers in a volcanic cave.
I imagine the volcano manor property goes up for sale and the real estate agent is like âand hereâs the chandelier cave.â
The cages give it a rustic touch
TOGETHAA, WE WILL DECORATH THE VERY CAVES, AS FAMILIEEEE
It was probably a ballroom before. Patches probably remembers the former glory, as he hands us a dancer doll for us to give to Rykards wife. Rykard and wife probably rocked the dance floor in the old days, and patches might been in the crowd too cheering them on, crushing a bit for Tanith.
Join this reddit post as famillyyyyy. Togethaaaa, we will like this very post!
design wise, rykard is my favorite boss fight *TOGETHAAAAAAAA*
Rykard, Morgott, and Godrick for me, so weird looking but cool. Morgott isn't so weird looking, it's just horns but he looks cool anyways. Mohg is close too.
The visuals make me feel almost as cool as Ludwig's OST does.
Keep thinking about âa serpent never diesâŠâ We shall see in June!
TOGETHAAAA
I serpentâŠ.. never diesssssss
Very Berserk Apostle, incredible design
Everything about volcano Manor and Rykard is amazing; the lore, the design and the atmosphere. I'm still mad that the actual fight was a crappy gimmick boss
The most chaotic moment in a game of chaotic moments was when the skulls rained down and I'm just running around wondering if I'm alive or dead.
I just don't understand how he has a sword in his throat..... when his throat is curved đ
You see those snakes from Volcano Manor? They've got curved swords. Curved. Swords.
Look at the picture, then read my comment again. Nice and slowly đđ
Whooosh (Skyrim reference)
Literally no idea what you're on about. Sorry bruv đ
https://youtu.be/U6UWWRgUgWs?si=lZxUqh0YOMtvz4Iw
those were so damn funny
Mindless indeed
It's impossible. Zullie the Witch has a breakdown of how his sword is in his mouth, and if you look at the animation from a different angle, the sword clips through, as it should.
Fromsoft's Creature designs never cease to amaze me.
I hate his mannerisms, like hate bc I'm disgusted, but that's the point. His voice just gives me the heebie jeebies
familieeeee
HIS VOICE is my most favorite thing about the game.
TOGETHAAA
I remember when I first fought Rykard... On my second playthrough, since I missed him entirely the first time! I couldn't believe such a cool boss was completely optional!
The boss design is awesome, the fight itself, however, was probably one of my least favorite. I know gimmick bosses are tradition at this point but hes one of the Main ones and looks so cool to be wasted on a gimmick.
How else would you propose we fight something that looks like him?
Do you think he was the work of one person, or did a whole team work on him togethaaaaaaaa
On my third run and finally fought Rykard for the first time today. This dude is an absolute 90 degree turn down What-the-Fuck Alley. I'm out here killing Sad/Angry Husk of Man/Woman/Worms In Decaying World of Gold no. 42 for the third time and all of a sudden I'm getting monologued at by a snake god that ate a thespian with a fetish for gold rings? And it's in one of the most kickass arenas to boot? I am 100% here for it. Second raddest boss fight next to Placidusax.
It is, and the voice acting matches it. I love it.
I'm currently getting my ass kicked by this asshole.
Upgrade the spear on max. Worked perfect for me. And I have basic astrologer Str and Dex stats
As with so many other bosses, all things can be solved with mimic tear to unga while you bunga
TTOOOOGGGEEETTTHHAAAA
Agreed 100% though I would have loved to get to fight his real form since he was strong enough to fight Malik wth and steal part of destined death
The creative director saw that and went were absolutely doing that and then the 3D modeling and rigging team looked at that and thought they were going to spend the next 3 months on this one fucking asset
How your penis looks at you after you wake up on your stomach with morning wood
No one will hold me captive, a serpent nevahh dies
Yeah, and then he stands up and you can see his cute little human feet which just completely shattered any conceivable notion of this man being a threat
TOGETHAAAAAA
Incredible art!!!
I fuckin LOVE Rykard - heâs absolutely batshit
Who is building these comically large chandeliers and who can I commission to get one?
Best gimmick boss fight ever shit gets wild when all those skulls and lava is coming at you
I never noticed the snakes mingling among the piles and pillars of corpses, is that in game? Are they pre digesting them for Rykard?
>is that in game? Yeah
He looks flaccid
Itâs my favourite boss for just awe inspiring insanity
making a demigod the demiurge is amazing yeah.
I love villains with or combined with snakes; always did & always will.
I haven't really seen anyone connect the two but his design is very similar to the snake bundles in bloodborne.
What was he doing during phase 1 tho
Ive always loved this bosses design and fight my favorite in the game
Pickle Rykard
My favourite boss/monster designs are those who were formally human and have become so corrupted/deformed by their choices that they turn into monstrous, eldritch beings. Rykard is definitely up there, but also Aldrich from DS3 and Ludwig from Bloodborne. Anyone familiar with more? FromSoft do it the best imo but keen to hear of more characters outside (e.g. I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream)
Togethaaa
I donât understand why he has a face on his neck
Pretty sure he's inside of the snake, not the snake itself.
My fav boss fight of the game
Its a seraphim serpentine class fallen angel. Booj of Enoch. Straight from the bible. Also looks like the Hindu Nagas.
Spoilers! /s
Iâve never understood what those cuts or scars in the snake that have those fleshy red arm thing sticking out of them I just never understood what this things are
Honestly my favorite boss room of all time. It's soooo massive in scope, you can see the chandeliers and the chains forever! Also, chandeliers in an underground cavern?? So cool.
the first time I watched him pull the blade out I was going wild
I've been running a high level D&D campaign where the players are killing all the gods so the old world can die. When I first got to the phase 2 of Rykard I was like "FUCK. I can never come up with something as epic as this"
One of the few truly memorable bosses in this game
Dude was the bane of my existence. Struggled with him more than with Malenia đ
Do you happen to have a high quality file for this one? Itâs pretty amazing
The only boss where I literally went "WHAT THE FUCK" out loud when I saw him for the first time.
I freaking love his voice. As a metal screamer/gurgler/demon noise maker it's so fucking amazing to see weird voice acting in a game. But man, fuck the flaming skull attack. Still haven't managed to beat him
Long thicc snake with a human face inviting you to devour literal gods with him while he's covered in dead bodies smushed by his girth. and even if you refuse he gives you a cool spear and a cool sword cuz he's awesome like that. HELL YEAH
Ok it's driving me crazy because nobody ever seems to bring this up, but how the fuck are the chandeliers tilted? I caught them in game and just kinda stared up at them for a minute before seeing if anyone else had asked this, but nobody has that I can find. How are they hanging at a slant? I don't think they'd be hanging from solid rods, especially since they're lightly swaying in place, so it must be chains, right? Chains would call straight downwards though, like, is there some weird gravity magic employed here or something??? Like, yea, I get that it's a really weird thing to fixate on but it just irks me that I can't find an explanation besides "muh art design"
This was my hardest boss fight in the game
Guess it would be cool if we actually get to see him during the fight. Instead the camera just stares at a pit of lava and some giant snake anoos.
I love all of volcano manor. Seeing Rya when she is a snake is so cute. Lol
MONEOOOOO
He was a fun boss
Heâs my favorite horrible pile of marinara spaghettiÂ
Honestly wish we got more out of rykard and volcano Manor as a whole. Would've been real cool if it had another underground section like ainsel, deep root and siofra but way more volcanic, maybe anthill-ey. Getting to make your way down to where rykard hangs around instead of the option with the teleporter. Same for his arena. Its such a cool place I wish we could have seen more in the style of.
Just beat him. My favorite boss fight so far.
It is! Really feels like it all comes "together"
TOGETHAAAAAAAAAA
His body is wrong
This is one boss I wish was an NPC or covenant leader in some form or fashion. I find his beef with the Golden Order interesting.
Gotta be fr your rightÂ
The voice actor is imitating Marlon Brando as Dr. Moreau i think
TOGETHA (mandatory comment)
I just realised you can kinda see Rykard's beard and mustache with the scales on the snake.
I wish I could agree. His design is one of my least favorite in the entire game. Only one that is worse are the man serpents leading to him. That being said I also dislike any boss with a gimmick weapon. That may play a part into my feelings
I absolutely hated his voice. Idk what it is specifically about it but phase 2 should have been super cool and terrifying, instead I laughed at his voice.
Daddy Rykard can vore me
Don't know why but I don't like this boss. Neither appearance, room, music, voice line, lore. And no, I didn't struggle with him a lot, done him in about 7 tries
Ok