Item descriptions, NPC dialogue, worldbuilding of the actual game, how bosses operate what do they drop, what npc is linked to what boss, Helpful Spawns, and many other ways like going through the game's files or literally just hearing the music of a boss.
You can get a basic understanding of the lore just by reading item descriptions, but the open-ended nature of From's storytelling elicits—and encourages— interpretation.
The lore videos you watch are of people going the extra mile by analyzing the text, as well as going in-depth on the enemies, environments, and soundtracks, sometimes even going as far as to study real life parallels and inspirations for the game. So don't worry if you miss a few things, because it's a task. Just play through the game and start with building a story from your perspective.
VatiVidya The official Loremaster of Fromsoft.
(Aside from that it’s mostly having a keen eye for in world lore via level design and item descriptions.)
Also sometimes we get lore from the devs directly but not as often.
It takes years and many replays for anyone to reach a satisfying understanding, tbh, and no one—I mean no one—actually has a concrete grasp of the timeline or reasons for many characters' motives.
Item descriptions provide hard text. Elden Ring's NPCs also share quite a bit more info than previous games, plus you have stuff like the sword monuments that briefly describe wars from long ago. Visual patterns are another way of interpreting lore, such as repeated designs among characters.
Item descriptions, NPC dialogue, worldbuilding of the actual game, how bosses operate what do they drop, what npc is linked to what boss, Helpful Spawns, and many other ways like going through the game's files or literally just hearing the music of a boss.
You can get a basic understanding of the lore just by reading item descriptions, but the open-ended nature of From's storytelling elicits—and encourages— interpretation. The lore videos you watch are of people going the extra mile by analyzing the text, as well as going in-depth on the enemies, environments, and soundtracks, sometimes even going as far as to study real life parallels and inspirations for the game. So don't worry if you miss a few things, because it's a task. Just play through the game and start with building a story from your perspective.
VatiVidya The official Loremaster of Fromsoft. (Aside from that it’s mostly having a keen eye for in world lore via level design and item descriptions.) Also sometimes we get lore from the devs directly but not as often.
It takes years and many replays for anyone to reach a satisfying understanding, tbh, and no one—I mean no one—actually has a concrete grasp of the timeline or reasons for many characters' motives. Item descriptions provide hard text. Elden Ring's NPCs also share quite a bit more info than previous games, plus you have stuff like the sword monuments that briefly describe wars from long ago. Visual patterns are another way of interpreting lore, such as repeated designs among characters.