A recent Twitter thread breaking down specifically how odd something many already found strange about Rennala’s feet inElden Ringis making the rounds online. Indeed, while the game is 8 months old at this point, fans are still constantly discovering new things. Whether that’s throughdatamines about potentialElden RingDLCor lore breakdowns by community leaders, fans are still just involved in breaking down FromSoftware’s latest world as they were for all the major Soulsborne titles before it.
Rennala is one of the manybosses inElden Ring, as well as the mother of Ranni. Players will face her in the Academy of Raya Lucaria and visit her thereafter to reset their stats. Her role in the game is relatively minor, but the detail paid to her character model is not.
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Last month, someone realized that Rennala’s character model had several bones within her feet, specifically around her toes. The only rationale this could have, as pointed out by the original post, is to have Rennala be able to wiggle her toes. However, it’s not like anyElden Ringplayer is ever actually that close to her feet, nor is it something that works well for video game optimization as pointed out by game developer Delaney King. Character models need a bone structure that operates smoothly and soundly within a game, meaning a more precise bone structure is helpful for this.
The developer states that, even with barefooted characters, two bones in the feet are enough for a character model to be “optimized.” So, having so much here forRennala inElden Ringis not the best technical practice. The big question is why so many bones are connected to Rennala’s toes and feet, and there is no real reason. One FromSoftware fan did point out that it’s an ongoing gag thatElden Ringdirector Hidetaka Miyazaki has a foot fetish of sorts, but that’s probably not the reason.
It’s an interesting, if odd detail. A lot of games live or die by how much attention to detail is put into crafting the game’s world, andElden Ringis no exception even if it’s sometimes really out there. For example,soap inElden Ringcan only be found underground, implying everyone on the surface doesn’t have the best hygiene. This foot thing isn’t on the same level necessarily, but it is a headscratcher.
Elden Ringis available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
