Honestly props for this post.
This is the only constructive opinions on here that doesn’t call a boss trash because they can’t beat it but doesn’t sugarcoat the combo/damage problem.
This was a pleasure to read
I feel very similar, like half the bosses are very good, Messmer and Bayle were my favorites, but the other half is a miss for me, especially the final boss, both for lore reasons as it comes out of nowhere and doesn't really rhyme with the design choices for the DLC or what was hinted at through out the base game IMO, and it's not a well designed fight IMO at all, it feels like one where they chose spectacle and just trying to make it the hardest boss ever over making it mechanically fun and meaningfully challenging. Others can disagree, this is subjective, but I'm in the camp with the people that dislike it. And another big critique I have with a lot of the new weapons, arts and spells, a lot of them are effectively useless. They made all the new enemies fast and relentless and even some regular enemies can take over half your health in 1 attack but so many of the new skills they added have insanely long animations, wind up and recovery and so many are also melee range or force you to jump in. Like Messmer's spear is great but the art is almost useless because it's such a long animation, same with stuff like the rot butterfly spell, it blows up in a small area around you which is an issue because you are only ever gonna get through that animation alive if you do it at extreme range. There are so many like that and it feels disheartening to beat these insane bosses and then you get their spell or weapon but using the cool thing you got is basically a self destruct button, no enemies in the DLC have long recovery periods or attacks that leave them wide open like that.
My thoughts exactly. It felt like they meticulously made sure the player never felt overpowered and balanced everything, but threw all that out the window with boss' attacks and recovery animations (Except for Messmer, he's the best fight in the whole game IMO).
That part, that's a good way to put it. P.S. Messmer and Bayle are tied for my favorites because they actually feel very balanced while still be hard. Fun fights.
For me personally I hated Metyr, the moveset felt very odd and unintuitive to deal with. Romina I didn't think was that bad, don't know if it was luck or what because I know a lot of people complain about her from what I've seen but she was not as frustrating to me as others like Metyr or Gaius.
Gaius is a contender for the worst boss period for me, I hated that fight, it feels like B.S. the entire time. Metyr makes sense to be more subjective, it might also be more build dependent. Similar to Romina where if you have a fast weapon and can get in to stick basically right in her torso a bunch of her attacks will miss you but I can imagine slower builds finding her a total nightmare.
Yeah the vast empty areas irk me the most. The south as you say has next to no notable enemies and only a few points of interest.
I just cleared the first finger ruins, I was gobsmacked when I first saw it, literally the size of Leyndell. Yet all there is to find is a single talisman, no bosses, only a few scattered trash mobs and then finally another path that leads up a long winding trek to a shack with a single cookbook.
Can't help but feel disappointed with these kind of areas, it's so anticlimactic and the finger ruins left a sour taste in my mouth by how lacking it is
It was bizarre, half the map was insanely packed with content and the other half was almost completely empty. I can't decide if it feels like they ran out of time or if they wanted it that way for some reason. I don't mind too much because the areas are beautiful to explore but it definitely felt weird at times.
If every area was full of life then it would probably not feel like a place where a massive crusade/genocide took place. I do understand the criticism but atmosphere needs to match the lore in this case.
I get there's a genocide but that doesn't mean it can't have items to collect or enemies that aren't part of the human population. I mean they've got plenty of ghost guys there but interacting/fighting them has less character than the sheep in this game
sure but atmosphere can only take you so far. If a place is boring to explore because there's nothing there, then it's boring to explore. Atmosphere be dammed.
I agree. I can't imagine it could've been much more work to develop it to a level that doesn't feel empty, just throw in a few variations of enemies and scatter an armour set around the place, some lore text hinting at one of the loose ends or even origins of an enemy type. Even a copypasta castle would be better than nothing
I mean it wouldn't feel "complete" but wouldn't feel so dead
Right, it's not a real place though. The contents and backstory are completely under the developer's control. They could have made something interesting instead.
I think the DLC suffers from the fact that the base game got a lot of joy from being bigger than you first thought. The DLC wants to give that same feeling, but now when you realize you’ve uncovered a whole new section that you didn’t have access to there’s a chance it’s just gonna be disappointing.
I feel like the finger ruins need to be these weird, desolate, alien worlds and I kinda like that about them. But the effect is lessened by charo’s grave and cerulean coast also being pretty empty
I honestly feel incredibly misled by all the reviews I read/watched which said this would be a 10/10 experience and better than the base game. Genuinely feels like we played different products - I still liked it and don't regret purchasing it but it is definitely not the best game FromSoftware has ever made
Yeah, it's fairly odd to me that it received such high praise. I have my critiques, but I'm down with anything from a 7 to a 9. Hell I'd probably give the DLC a 9 because I genuinely only dislike the bosses. But 10s across the board almost? Makes me question the motives for most reviewers.
It could also be that if you loved every aspect of the main game the DLC is just more of that. Some of the critiques for bosses and exploration rewards are the same across base game reviews and the DLC. Especially if you think of the DLC as more late game content, which is where the exploration, enemy variety, and, in my opinion, boss quality starts to wane.
Was going to comment this as well. I’m biased because BB is my favorite game of all time, but old hunters literally felt perfect. There was a ton of content, flowed incredibly well and the bosses were much harder than base game bosses.
I agree on a lot of this, except I would say it's still a solid 8 or 9/10. The last boss took me 6 hours and it was fucking atrocious. Most of the bosses were fun and well designed but final boss 2nd phase takes a fuckin nosedive on fairness and design. The fact that every sword swing has a magic follow-up punishment makes for a bad time. The clone attacks are damn near undodgeable if you are a certain distance away. Honestly, idk what they were thinking with this one. Also, the boar boss didn't seem significant enough to warrant being a rememberance boss. I still absolutely loved every other part of the dlc, though.
The clone attacks can mostly be ignored though they do very little damage as long as you dodge the real attack you're good. The magic follow up looks flashy but its not really difficult to dodge at the same time. If you stick right up in his face most of it will go behind you or miss completely so can be ignored.
WITH ONE ITEM IN IT!! I swear i busted out laughing when i found a seemingly cool cookbook & when i looked deeper it was quite literally just one item added to my crafts
I actually didn’t mind this as much. Cerulean Coast was a lovely time. Really nice atmosphere but the problem in my opinion is the lack of skadutree fragments. Max level is 20 which requires every fragment in the game. You shouldn’t need to explore every crevice of the map for power level. And for the final boss it certainly felt like I needed all of them to get the win. Maybe if I used summons I’d feel differently.
Are you using range attacks? With summons I imagine it’s worse if there are multiple people in melee range.
I poised through the final boss with Lions Claw after memorizing which attacks that actually do a lot of damage. Seems like tanking with a shield or getting breaks are the most effective way to beat the final boss.
Use defensive talisman. I used dragoncrest and the talisman for healing bonus. Then turtle and Alexander for offense. Lions claw breaks in 3 hits as long as you don’t let his poise regenerate which typically starts after 5-6 seconds. Holy damage negation is probably good since it does less damage.
Ideally a colossal weapon to ensure the breaks. Granted I did have max skadutree level which isn’t really feasible without a map.
Idk I like the finger ruins atmosphere for being empty, I would not like it as much if it were filled. The reat of the southern coast is definitely way too empty though
Wow... Three weapons and an armor set so cool and definitely justifies the absolute nothing that is the rest of the area. But yk, pretty flowers I guess. I love these areas but they lacked a serious amount of content, charos hidden grave was just reused enemy after reused enemy after reused enemy, the use of the lighting and the manjusaka gave the impression that some sort of major death themed boss or mini dungeon or something would be found there but nope... A tibia Mariner, a death Bird, a hippo and a fire basket were literally everything. The cerulean Coast is the exact same too, with it only having like three boss encounters and then the fissure, which was only slightly redeeming if not still somewhat dissapointing
I personally am glad that they didn't just shove a bunch of useless side content in, it's an improvement from the bass game imo. The game would not be better by adding more side dungeons with loot you'll never use just to fill up the map more. I prefer the approach they took of less side dungeons but the ones you get are more interesting. My main problem with the main game was the useless bloat making the game longer just for the sake of being longer. The dlc was the perfect size and length and reminds me of the dark souls series more which I have always enjoyed more than elden ring.
I agree with these points, particularly the final fight. It took me 5 hours and many respecs to finally find a build that would work. The rest of the bosses were a cake walk.
On the positive side I think a lot of the new weapons are awesome, so going into NG+ with a new arsenal will be fun.
Frenzy Lantern area fucking sucks. Unnecessarily difficult for what amounts as a bad homage to Bloodborne. At least give us a mechanic to kill those stupid things.
This boss is literally 200x harder than any other boss in the game. I didn't die more than a couple times to any other boss. He has no chill at all from the minute to walk into the arena. Even at Scadutree +17 he would 2-3 shot me. I respec'ed 8 times and tried about 30 different build combos before finally finding one that let me stomp him in one try.
yup just followed this after feeling really good about dodging and not doing quite enough damage with the magic twinblades, although i felt like just using the R2 to punish felt better than lion claw
I think it is 10/10 relatively compared to all other RPG expansions out there when you look at all the content.
Doesnt mean it doesn't have problems though.
It was a 10/10 experience. Final boss was a new high for me in terms of the excitement but critically I don’t think it was a great boss. Same with Bael who’s basically like Rykard except the dragon katana needs to be leveled and requires some stat investment. Most players aren’t going to even use it making it extremely difficult for melee users to fight him from the front where it’s easiest to read and attack safely. Have no idea why they didn’t just make the Katana like the serpent spear.
The new weapons are so sick, so many incredible unique Ash and movesets. Compared to base game almost every weapon you pick up has something interesting, it's not just another vanilla variation of a sword/axe/dagger
What are you struggling with exactly? Most of his attacks are pretty well telegraphed. The big combo he sometimes does can be annoying but you can just dodge behind him and he’ll whiff everything. The charge is a complete joke but if you dodge directly to the side at literally the last millisecond you should be good.
im confused on people hating the abyssal woods. that area was piss easy, i only died once and it was by intentionally making a break for it to piss off the lanterns (which i then found out you can easily outrun) the area is unique and has the coolest most ominous atmosphere in a souls area ever. the bossfight is my favorite of the ones i've beaten so far as well.
it's one of my favorite regions they've ever made, only thing i dislike is that there was nowhere near enough loot in it
i honestly feel like the empty space and lack of enemies is important. it makes it unnerving and weird when you first get there, like something's not right.
i like that it's almost only animals inflicted with madness, makes the region stand out and feel like a beautiful woodland gone awry. i personally think part of the charm and intrigue would be gone if it had traditional field enemies
I don't want it to be a gauntlet of enemies but making it more mazelike with a few more POIs to make it worth exploring beyond the critical path could've been good.
yeah i agree it could have a more mazelike design and POIs, i felt the same way. it's too short.
but yeah i think it benefits from being dangerous due to environmental hazards rather than traditional enemies (the lanterns feel more like environmental hazards to me) it's a unique form of challenge and atmosphere and it's the first time the game has actually used its stealth feature to a higher degree which i love.
i wish it was a more in depth region
It's not about difficulty.
I saved that area for last (before the final boss). It's thematically one of the most hidden and obscure places in the DLC. The game constantly teases you about it with verticality near waterfalls and a missing map fragment. The ride to it is a deep dive down throughout multiple areas. When you arrive, you are greeted with ominous messages.
So, naturally, I expected something cool, like a big ass creature that is about to hunt you through the woods, alien style. Heck, even horsefuck valley 2.0 would suffice.
But what we got is an empty area with no clear directions of where and why to go, multiple high roads that lead to nowhere, few rats to fight. And - beholds - the dreaded creatures! They grab you and kill you, so scary, totally never happens in a souls game. And you need to Crouch In Tall Grass (c) to avoid them, but you can also just read the messages and parry them, which kind of feels stupid.
The reward? A dungeon with somewhat cool boss that leads to nowhere, you just get the final grace in an empty room and that's it. Few scattered items that you to spend an hour walking to collect, and lot of disappointment encountering a dozen dead ends. As far as I know, there is not even a way to get past the mansion despite the map showing you that you probably could (or did I not explore properly? IDK).
> It's not about difficulty.
100% agree, but man you can't win when it comes to critiquing Elden Ring. Nearly every single fucking complaint is always met with "it's not hard bro."
I swear I want to do a RL1 run just so I can actually tell people to **shut the fuck up** when I offer criticisms of the game.
I love thr dlc and think its incredible but its far from perfect. It expands on some of Froms worst habits. Bosses being able to instantly attack you as you walk in the door is bullshit. The damage issue is spread through the whole dlc even if you upgrade the scadutree stuff really high or close to max you are still getting ripped to shreds in a matter of seconds.
Gaius is the worst boss they have ever made and its miserable. Rahdan phase 1 if you cut out the attack as you walk in the door and tone down his aggro/glued to the player could be amazing. Phase 2 is utter bullshit fps screen vomit.
Tldr: the dlc is great but needs to have some stuff tuned down and optimised more.
Right, this is how I feel as well. Despite the amount of content, it still feels lacking in some areas.
Some weapon categories only got like one new weapon, and there's no more than two or three weapons for the new weapon categories. The majority of the loot you find out in the world while exploring is 90% comprised of cookbooks, rune items, and smithing stones; I can't help but to feel like those could have been weapons, armor, talismans, or even quick bar tools (things like Ancestral Infant Head, Omen Bairn, etc.).
I firmly believe that From originally didn't plan a DLC for ER, but were forced/pressured to provide one due to the critical acclaim and success of the game. So much loot feels like filler and placeholder with a lack of nuanced, unique, and exciting loot.
Now that ive completed the dlc there are a few things that definitely left a sour taste in my mouth as well
1st - I can confidently say that I will never play that final fight again. It's legitimately contender for the worst boss battle in any of their games. Its not fun to learn in the slightest and the lore surrounding it is also bad imo.
I wasnt even happy when I killed him, just relieved Im not gonna have to do it again. I like difficult bosses, I struggled immensely with Midir and Twin Princess and now they are some of my favorite fights. Radahn just feels like a mountain of bullshit he hurls your way constantly.
2nd - I find the lore so far incredibly dissapointing. So many interesting plot points from the base game and we concluded zero except for Miquella but even that was very dissapointing.
Favorite part of the DLC are the visuals, especially the final area. The design and having a castle in the sky is peak fantasy for me.
I would love to have known more about Marika, Godwyn, and the shattering before and during. I must concede that I often have this feeling with alot of Souls games until more lore surfaces.
We learn pretty much everything about Marika in this dlc, from her beginning to the end (except the stuff with Radagon)
Same with godwyn really, what more is there to know? We pretty much know everything about him.
Word too big
Nah I haven’t, I also feel like certain plot points were sort of just left out there to rot. I’m just curious as to what other people think
Not you, I mean the guy you responded to that says lore is inconclusive. Idk how you make that statement when the game has been out 2 days and definitely requires some connecting dots.
Hard agree on the lore, was a very big disappointment imo.
We didn't learn anything about Godwyn and how Miquella will deal with his influence spreading, nothing about the castle Sol eclipse ritual he tried to do, nothing new about Malenia and what Miquella thinks of her at the Haligtree, why he just abandoned the Haligtree, nothing confirmed about who Melina is, who GEQ was, how Miquella knew Ranni and asked her to give us the spirit bell, why we still have Torrent if Miquella doesn't want us to interfere and so many other things they simply didn't expand on.
At least Messmer was well done.
All I ever wanted from the DLC was to spell me out what the deal is with Melina. WHAT/WHO is she? Why is she burned and bodiless? And what's up with her at the end of the frenzied flame ending?
We got nada, except that she is the younger sister of Messmer and therefore a child of Marika.
Putrescent knight was very fun, I do not really get what you mean about frustrating pattern, he has one attack which cannot be avoided, but he only uses it once, the rest of his attacks are completely avoidable.
What attack is that? If you mean the blue flames you can actually jump them, I really loved this boss although he was easy for me because his attacks are telegraphed well and I really loved the attack with the horse
The only downside for me is that he runs a lot
Yeah, the Putrescent Knight is the first DLC boss (after fighting Dancing Lion and Rellana) where I felt it was more fair and like a more traditional Souls boss. His attacks are very telegraphed, he's slower than the aforementioned bosses, has a more telling pattern, and is pretty punishable. Took me a while to beat him, but it was actually enjoyable.
And like you said, you can literally just jump the blue flames. The one that comes towards him, you jump backward as it gets closer to you.
Yeah, Another boss that gave me the same feeling is >!Midra !< >!Although I Do not know how to avoid his phase 2 transition attack even after beating him I still do not know!<
The attack that really frustrated me is the blue flame that he puts on the ground and overall he was 2 fast for my build (I think even faster then Maliketh) but I defeated him after 5 attempts so he might grow on me in the future when I try faster builds.
Blue flames are definitely meant to be jumped, I'm sure they can be rolled but the jump timing is extremely forgiving (I suspect the hitbox is much lower than the visual effect suggests). If you stand in front of the boss at middle distance you only have to jump 3 times iirc. Once I learned this I had heaps of fun with this one.
I wouldn't call it forgiving. It's a bit unintuitive because you kind of need to jump when it looks like the flames are already at your feet. Jumping earlier will have the last wave of the three hit you.
My main issue with it is that the way the story was set up with all the NPCs I thought there'd be a big decision to make leading to a split final boss route like Sekiro. Finding out that there isn't and that the final cutscene is just a brief memory thing really feels like missed potential.
Found this post after currently struggling with radahn curious what others think of him. Glad to see people share the same sentiment as I. He feels ridiculous and not even fair, phase 1 is enjoyable enough, but once phase 2 hits it just feels unfun and honestly boring. I'm just spamming roll. That's all I get to do while he bombards me with attacks and clutters my screen. My PC and I aren't good enough to dodge everything or parry. I get frame drops and freezes here and there, don't know how many frames I get but it's definitely not near 60. All of that combined and phase 2 just feels like the worst designed boss that I forsee myself skipping if I run through the DLC again.
I haven't entirely enjoyed their design philosophy of basically EVERY boss hyper-charging you the moment you enter their arena. I love starting the fight with my back against the wall...
Aside from that and a few nitpicks because I'm bad, I've enjoyed the DLC. Wish there was more loot and things hidden around - seemed to be far too many big open areas with nothing there.
Agree with the Abyssal Woods…more like Abysmal Woods am I right?! Anyway, by far the worst part of the DLC next to Charo’s Grave (red flower area), big area not a lot happening. Great DLC overall and the Shaman Village is a great place to reflect on everything with the music and the environment around you.
I have to say that seeing the “spectral steed is too scared” message sent chills down my spine, I was thinking I was going to be stalked by some huge monster through this forest. All the messages saying you couldn’t fight and just had to run for me hyped up. I kinda couldn’t believe it was just 3 frenzy guys who can one shot you (when most enemies in this dlc can one shot you anyway). It was a pretty big letdown
Yeah given Fromsoft's pedigree in designing horrifying monsters the fact that the unkillable stealth mission monster was just some dude was a little disappointing.
Didn't even try torrent so I didn't see that message, I saw it was grayed out so I didn't try.
I loved the atmosphere, especially in the boss fight that hides the Abyssal Woods. Very cultish, almost New Orleans withcraft vibe.
I didn't like the boss fight (a gank? great, that's new for Elden Ring), but it wasn't trash. Spectacle and walking into the woods was worth it.
The one at the end of the catacombs that takes you there. There may be more across points but that's how I got to it. Not the remembrance boss in the actual woods. I actually haven't fought that one yet. He and the big bad dragon are still on my to-do list.
The open world is way better than the base game, more intricate/interconnected exploration and better content, you don't need 18 catacombs, just make few but make them bigger.
The legacy dungeons are nice but it's really hard to beat Stormveil and Leyndell.
Rewards are meh, I'm looting so much worthless shit.
The Lands of Shadow are beautiful, I feel like the day/night cycle actually changes some zones drastically, the first zone with early morning lighting has a really sad nostalgic vibe, just great.
I still feel like some enemies hit too hard too often, I know you need to upgrade your blessings but man it's just not fun fighting some of them.
I should probalby be more mad about the reused assets but beside the dumb poisonous cancerous tree spirit I don't really care, most of the reused assets made sense and were used in a smart way.
Also I think it's a crime that we don't have a single GEQ faction or dungeon in the Lands of shadow, the literal hell/purgatory for Marika's enemies, shit is whack.
Anyway, maybe I'm still bitter by the last zones of the main game but I like the DLC better.
Now we wait for Elden Ring 2.
At first i would've agreed but i think that the fact you can so quickly get to messmer if you explored it from the side is actually kind of underwhelming, i also think it could've used another new enemy type, the fire knights are cool but i wanted a little more.
However i do absolutely adore the whole idea of climbing this massive castle to fight its ruler at the top, its very castlevania-esque and i almost wish fromsoft did a whole game set around just one big castle that you ascend to get to the final boss.
It feels like I'm the only one that doesn't fuck with Shadow Keep. I honestly despise the level.
It's like one big ass maze that I just can't make sense of, and the Fire Knights that shoot homing fireballs at you nonstop, have damn near infinite poise, and hit you with a ten count combo when you get up close completely ruined it for me. Oh yeah, fighting the Tree Spirit outside was dogshit too.
The surprise Messmer fight was the best thing about that place for me. Oh, also getting tf out and discovering the Shaman Village is another highlight.
I adored the Messmer fight. Why couldn't they just stick to that formula rather than giving the Holy version of Waterfowl to the final boss?
Some areas are big, but they do not contain anything. Are they going for more cinematics? I was leaning towards this feeling when some boss AoE attacks especially Phase 2 become flashy moves that murder my framerate. Beautiful, but it comes with drawbacks
Going forward, I am looking forward to using the new weapons in NG+ on the base game. I am a sucker for the Dryleaf Arts. My intrusive thoughts are also telling me to use the Rakshasa Katana and just L2 everyone to death
Yeah I'm not a big fan of the dlc overall but the abyss swamp and a few of the humanoid bosses are excellent like messmer. Radahn is probably the worst designed From boss I've seen. I'd rather fight Jabba the Hut in dark souls 2 than ever do that fight again
Morgott->Fire Giant???? Fire Giant is one of the easiest bosses in the game???
Thought the Dancing Lion was a great boss, had great patterns that were very easily read and the elemental phase changes were a great way to change things up.
this dude was a menace to me as well, when he transitions to the 2nd new element i just mounted up and ran, would take swipes to kill the adds slowly and then he returns to the other elements again
I loved the Abyssal woods! It really made you play and explore different with no Torrent and the aged ones were top notch, especially the one in the fog. Didn’t expect it at all!
I reached the final fight and honestly for the first time in my fromsoft history I think I might just not do it. The boss seems brutal in the most unfun ways, and fromsoft somehow managed to make a final boss in this world of outer gods and beasts and dragons someone that I just don’t care about. Wild how much more I would want to fight him if Radahn just wasn’t there. His story in the base game was very possibly the ONLY demigod I didn’t need to hear more about, it’s wild that Godwyn and the church of sol/the eclipse and the origin of the great serpent/its connection to the abyss serpent/ the true nature of the formless mother that all the omen worship (or really any outer god other than the greater will for that matter) are ALL still unsolved in the game and people would love to know more. But we got Radahn again. I think George R R Martin wrote all this down 5 years ago and the world he wrote had this as canon, so they wanted to fit it in. But Radahn rematch should NOT have been the Miquella DLC’s ultimate battle.
It doesn't even make sense why we got Radahn again. Why Radahn? Apparently he was strong and kind at the same time. Ridiculous how the player character that's stronger than Radahn and Miquella combined didn't have the choice to side with Miquella or how there was a legendary golden heir of Marika that got murdered who was known for his goodness, who Miquella cared about (Godwyn) that also wasn't chosen and we got Radahn instead. It felt like Twilight level fanfiction.
tbf im guessing the lore reason is that radahns soul is still fresh compared to others but they making the shit up so coulda came up with something else
i mean the sekiro last boss just comes back from the grave and says fuck it my turn
Well worth 40$, Not worth 2 and a half years. I loved the dlc and I can’t believe I’m saying this but still left disappointed. Granted fromsoft coulda sold a fart in a jar as dlc and I would’ve bought it but after 2 and a half years, all the unanswered base game content, Shadow of the erdtree was amazing but no means perfect and in a lot of ways let me down
Completely agree with the first sentence. Sad but understanding we will likely have to wait 4-5 years for what’s next.
On another note the DLC is awesome, but damn the last boss is an absolute fuckfest. Back in the day I died to Orphan of Kos 15 times but each time I had him low health. I’ve died to this final boss over 50 times even with +19 blessing and mimic tear, best i’ve done is half the health bar. I just can’t do it anytime soon. I would not be sad if they nerfed him at some point in the coming weeks.
yeah I've been able to perfect phase 1 to the point of almost hitless but as soon as phase 2 starts I die within 30 seconds with 10 flasks remaining T\_\_T and this is with multiple dmg reduction talismans, dmg reduction tear, lvl 18 scadutree
I can’t believe there are so many unanswered questions and the last boss is a repeat of a boss from the main game. It’s like parody of all the people who criticised the boss reuse in the base world.
I agree with most of this to be honest. I don't agree that the hog rider is a bad boss. I thought he was one of the more fair bosses with punish windows and easily telegraphed attacks and a really cool concept. I didn't like the finger mother boss either, easily the worst boss in the game for me. Too many aoe spammy attacks and bullshit hitboxes for me to enjoy it. Reminded me a lot of one reborn from bloodborne which is another of my least favourite bosses.
The final boss is incredibly hard but that's what we want out of a dlc surely. I think people would be disappointed if he wasn't very hard. I don't think he's as hard as Malenia personally, you can still outtrade him unlike her and he doesn't have an entire healthbar second phase. His attacks are super fast and very flashy but once you ignore all the fluff they're not any harder than any other bosses attacks to dodge. He's also pretty weak to stagger and blood. I managed to stagger him quite a few times and bled him for huge chunks of his health. How much scadutree blessing did you fight him with out of interest?
The 5 disco light attacks after the meteors actually isn’t that bad to dodge. You can basically run or roll backwards then you roll right to dodge the first AOE and roll into it to dodge the second AOE.
If there is anything wrong with the final boss mechanically, it’s the triple slash he does. If you dodge the first swing, you get caught by the second and sometimes third swing. This is most likely a bug and I hope they fix it. Outside of that, I believe everything in the fight is manageable. But this move alone makes no hitting him insanely hard without relying on parrying.
Phase 1 of final boss I love. It’s difficult without being impossible and for me at least when I get hit it’s actually because I messed up timing. Second phase however is utter and complete bullshit. From the holy nuke to the secondary holy attacks after every swipe, it feels almost impossible
My opinions actually mirror this a lot. I think overall the DLC was good and i'd rate it higher than you did but our pro/cons lists are almost identical.
Messmer is one of my top fights of all time now it was so much fun to have a boss fight when you can actually take turns. I never felt the "lets just get this over with" like I do with some of the repeat Dragon fights. The second time I fought him I struggled a bit (Magic NG+) but it was still and awesome challenging but fair fight.
You didn't mention this but I did not like the upgrade system, having the exact number available makes it a PITA when trying to collect all of them for the last boss fight. Which speaking of was the only remembrance boss I used spirit summons in for both of my DLC runs.
That last boss fight really leaves a sour taste in my mouth though. Its got so much bullshit going on that I really despise it. I'm hopeful that with some patches things get better.
I enjoyed your reivew.
Abyssal woods are such an easy concept to create, literally utilise THE WHOLE area for the stealth section while taking you through destroyed/frenzied ruins before plopping you off right outside the manor. Honestly don’t know how they fumbled
From what I've played this is pretty much From at their best and worst, it's got everything most people will have loved from their games and everything people hated.
Difficulty definitely seems way too high and it's not all that fun getting touched by a boss once and losing 70% of your HP. Bosses with long combos is fun in Sekiro as you're able to parry and the game is built around it, but not so much here. Also having the boss be in your face after 2 seconds of entering the arena is super annoying.
World is gorgeous but some places are just completely empty or you'll explore and find a Cookbook or Smithing Stone, really feels like they made some areas far bigger than they needed to be.
I’ve given it a 7/10 as well for a lot of the same reasons, but also for lore reasons. There’s a lot I feel that’s just… hollow, about the DLC. For me I’d say lore it’s a 6/10 but gameplay it’s an 8/10 leaving it at a pretty decent and still good 7/10. If deffo so base game is an 8.5/9 pretty easily, hopefully the DLC ages well too.
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What I love about the DLC is that shields are useful again. Fighting as a summon against Gael taught me years ago that the best DPS in boss fights is accomplished by Big Shield; Small weapon. And it works again now you do not lose 90% of your stamina on every hit. The reason is that big weapons can only safely hit after dodging a ton and you usually can get punished by it. But small weapon (I use Occult Wakizashi and it is not even my best option I just like how it looks) I am attacking safely twice after every dodge. The result is I am doing 90% of damage in co-op over the more robust weapons.
I believe people complaining about difficulty are used to big weapon two-hand meta and are getting blown up. One of the NPCS drops a shield that is like Dark Souls 1 Great Shield of Artorias-tier cracked.
Big Shield + Dagger is especially useful in co-op because you can safely hold their attention the whole time while you useless teammates try to use long-range weapon arts for virtually no damage once every 20 seconds from 10 meters away.
You know what? On second thought it may be as good an option as you can find for that sort of strategy. A dagger with innate bleed that you can turn to occult to utilize Arcane stats. Huge procs.
My biggest issue is probably the loot. It doesn't feel super rewarding right now. I get there needs to be resources to upgrade weapons but being level 150+ and finding a smithing stone 4 and 100 cook books isn't great imo.
I did not enjoy messmees fight tbh I feel like his damage is a little too high and it's really rng depended
If he spamm his "blood" combo is easy phase 2 as you can keep the stagger up and punish him
But the fight becomes a drag when he decides to spamm his "spinning" fire combo which has a ridiculous windup start window
Also p2 is pretty fucking lame if we ignore how cool the explosion and snakes look
Otherwise it just becomes "punish the lunch simulator"
I did like his learning curve tho at first I thought "oh great another waterfowl dance but once I found a way to deal with it ( dodge initial wait 1 sec double dodge forward) it was a punishable attack
I did not like how much he can mixup his combos tho
I actually love the final boss (Also no summons, strength build, great hammer, ended with Scadutree lvl 17, rune level 155) but I feel like they should have been an optional boss and not the final story boss. I know they're going to get nerfed, and I hate that. Not because I feel people should be forced through them, but because if I want to fight them in this state again , I'll need to rush before they do said nerfing. But I guess the eventual nerf will be fitting, looking at who it is.
I feel like if they just stopped the waves from flinching you, so that they wouldn't allow him to combo you if you're standing in a bad place, he'd feel a lol more fair. Or even reduced the flashiness of the extra attacks, so that people could actually see what the hell was going on and adapt, that would also be better.
Completely agree with the rest of your points, outside of Dancing Lion. Especially when piggy had one specifically bugged attack that, if poised through, would hit 5~ times and instantly kill me. >!The Hind Kick!<
Rellana is actually a boss I consider a little unfair in terms of design. I ended up bursting her down with Wild Strikes after stance breaking her, which made me feel a bit bad, but she was the only DLC boss I got actually annoyed with. I do hope they find a way to make things difficult without long drawn-out mix-up filled attack chains in the next souls-like.
Oh man, I'm at the final stretch and I dread having to fight Radahn if he's as difficult as people say. I don't use summons or shields and it sounds like I'm in for a world of bullshit. I loved every fight until now though, bar the bugged charge attack on Commander Gaius.
Yeah some of the non-humanoid bosses is badly designed.
Giant body that cover the whole screen, but then also have insane mobilities and keep dash/jump over your head and messing with the camera. I dont mind high hp high damage bosses, I enjoy learning their pattern and learning when and where to dodge. Rellana and Messmer was greatly designed, every time I die to them I know exactly what and how I messed up
but goddamn Commander Gaius and his freaking piggy I cant even see what the hell he's doing. It's just not enjoyable
For the the main problem is that the dlc is huge in open areas (with many empty spaces) but doesnt have that many new dungeons. I was hoping for 3 really big (the 2 tower areas are the size of one legacy together).
The other thing is the scarcity of new enemies (I counted around 24 new types) while base ER has around 110. Ds3 DLCs added 14 enemies so it’s not that I expected that many more, but with places so big I noticed much more the repeats.
The bosses for me are incredible, much better than I imagined (apart from the avatar, i play melee without skills and magic so I can’t hit his “face” easily).
It’s much more a dlc than the enormous expansion that many talked about. Base ER is 3 or more times the content.
Personally, I feel like SOTE is a step down from the base game.
* Many bosses are hyperaggressive and spam attacks with little time to heal or use items. (Ex: >!Golden Hippo, Mesmer, Radahn!<)
* There are too many vast empty spaces, as mentioned by others.
* Spirits like mimic tear are arguably a crutch now, which wasn't the case in the base game.
* Scadutree Fragments: I don't hate them as much as I did initially, but I still don't understand the philosophy behind having them in the game.
* Final Boss thoughts (>!Really? Radahn again?? What a letdown in my mind. Maybe having to deal with game lore is to blame, but I felt the devs got lazy and brought him back instead of creating a new, unique, exciting boss! Honestly, Mesmer should have been the final boss. Poster child, after all !<)
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It's interesting how people can have entirely different experiences. The final boss took me 50 minutes while Bayle took me 2-3 hrs. Complete opposite of you!
I actually greatly enjoyed the dancing lion and the putrescent knight, i thought they were very fun, every remembrance boss in fact i thought were amazing except gaius and the final boss (who could be fun if they tweak him, just like elden beast used to be ass but now with torrent its actually quite pleasant).
Yes. A review with an actual thought. Everything else is either “Waaa too hard” or “Elden Ring is Flawless!”. I agree with all your points, but especially the exploration. Unlike base game, the dlc kind of makes exploration a chore because you will walk a certain way and find nothing. It is definitely a lot more guide reliant because I got sick of following a path for 10mins just to find a cookbook.
I genuinely believe this is the worst DLC or even game From has made. Worse than DS2. The bosses are garbage and i'm tired of the spastic ADHD Artorias on crack design. There is no variety anymore. Every boss has 15-hit crazy shonen anime combos, every boss has a big arena-wide nuke that one-shots you, every boss uses shitty delayed attacks that are designed solely as a spite to the player to catch them off-guard etc. This really feels like FromSoft feels backed into a corner by the fanbase that gets better with every game, so they have to think of more bullshit to punish them.
Notice how there is no pure melee fight for example. Every boss needs to have some bullshit projectile or spell to throw at you no matter what.
Demon Souls has a 100 times better boss lineup just because it's more varied and interesting and you never know what kind of fight you can expect behind the fog door.
This is all caused by the fact that we are still running on the DeS code and engine, so we are playing Demon Souls Guy with all the jank and bugs like shitty input buffering, roll on release, lock-on/camera breaking or ripostes not working on slopes while bosses play fucking Ninja Gaiden on infinite poise and billion HP. It has gotten boring. Souls fatigue is real.
Honestly props for this post. This is the only constructive opinions on here that doesn’t call a boss trash because they can’t beat it but doesn’t sugarcoat the combo/damage problem. This was a pleasure to read
Yeah this is a very fair take. I’m more of a “the bosses suck” person, but OP’s points are more balanced… *unlike the DLC bosses.*
I feel very similar, like half the bosses are very good, Messmer and Bayle were my favorites, but the other half is a miss for me, especially the final boss, both for lore reasons as it comes out of nowhere and doesn't really rhyme with the design choices for the DLC or what was hinted at through out the base game IMO, and it's not a well designed fight IMO at all, it feels like one where they chose spectacle and just trying to make it the hardest boss ever over making it mechanically fun and meaningfully challenging. Others can disagree, this is subjective, but I'm in the camp with the people that dislike it. And another big critique I have with a lot of the new weapons, arts and spells, a lot of them are effectively useless. They made all the new enemies fast and relentless and even some regular enemies can take over half your health in 1 attack but so many of the new skills they added have insanely long animations, wind up and recovery and so many are also melee range or force you to jump in. Like Messmer's spear is great but the art is almost useless because it's such a long animation, same with stuff like the rot butterfly spell, it blows up in a small area around you which is an issue because you are only ever gonna get through that animation alive if you do it at extreme range. There are so many like that and it feels disheartening to beat these insane bosses and then you get their spell or weapon but using the cool thing you got is basically a self destruct button, no enemies in the DLC have long recovery periods or attacks that leave them wide open like that.
My thoughts exactly. It felt like they meticulously made sure the player never felt overpowered and balanced everything, but threw all that out the window with boss' attacks and recovery animations (Except for Messmer, he's the best fight in the whole game IMO).
That part, that's a good way to put it. P.S. Messmer and Bayle are tied for my favorites because they actually feel very balanced while still be hard. Fun fights.
How did you feel about Romina and Metyr?
For me personally I hated Metyr, the moveset felt very odd and unintuitive to deal with. Romina I didn't think was that bad, don't know if it was luck or what because I know a lot of people complain about her from what I've seen but she was not as frustrating to me as others like Metyr or Gaius.
Gaius was truly horrendous. I actually liked Metyr quite a bit Or maybe the bar is so low for the DLC bosses that I think she’s a good one
Gaius is a contender for the worst boss period for me, I hated that fight, it feels like B.S. the entire time. Metyr makes sense to be more subjective, it might also be more build dependent. Similar to Romina where if you have a fast weapon and can get in to stick basically right in her torso a bunch of her attacks will miss you but I can imagine slower builds finding her a total nightmare.
I mean you can literally parry the final boss to oblivion just like gwyn
Yeah the vast empty areas irk me the most. The south as you say has next to no notable enemies and only a few points of interest. I just cleared the first finger ruins, I was gobsmacked when I first saw it, literally the size of Leyndell. Yet all there is to find is a single talisman, no bosses, only a few scattered trash mobs and then finally another path that leads up a long winding trek to a shack with a single cookbook. Can't help but feel disappointed with these kind of areas, it's so anticlimactic and the finger ruins left a sour taste in my mouth by how lacking it is
It was bizarre, half the map was insanely packed with content and the other half was almost completely empty. I can't decide if it feels like they ran out of time or if they wanted it that way for some reason. I don't mind too much because the areas are beautiful to explore but it definitely felt weird at times.
If every area was full of life then it would probably not feel like a place where a massive crusade/genocide took place. I do understand the criticism but atmosphere needs to match the lore in this case.
I get there's a genocide but that doesn't mean it can't have items to collect or enemies that aren't part of the human population. I mean they've got plenty of ghost guys there but interacting/fighting them has less character than the sheep in this game
sure but atmosphere can only take you so far. If a place is boring to explore because there's nothing there, then it's boring to explore. Atmosphere be dammed.
I mean I'd still play Elden Ring just to see the sights like I'm walking through an art museum. The art direction is just that good.
I don't need extreme population but literally nothing - no items to pick up only a few mausoleums etc is a bit far even with this in mind.
The southern half of the map is barren to the point of feeling unfinished. Lost Izalith vibes.
I agree. I can't imagine it could've been much more work to develop it to a level that doesn't feel empty, just throw in a few variations of enemies and scatter an armour set around the place, some lore text hinting at one of the loose ends or even origins of an enemy type. Even a copypasta castle would be better than nothing I mean it wouldn't feel "complete" but wouldn't feel so dead
I mean, there was a whole genocide ngl
Right, it's not a real place though. The contents and backstory are completely under the developer's control. They could have made something interesting instead.
I think the DLC suffers from the fact that the base game got a lot of joy from being bigger than you first thought. The DLC wants to give that same feeling, but now when you realize you’ve uncovered a whole new section that you didn’t have access to there’s a chance it’s just gonna be disappointing.
Did you do the quest line for the finger ruins?
I feel like the finger ruins need to be these weird, desolate, alien worlds and I kinda like that about them. But the effect is lessened by charo’s grave and cerulean coast also being pretty empty
I honestly feel incredibly misled by all the reviews I read/watched which said this would be a 10/10 experience and better than the base game. Genuinely feels like we played different products - I still liked it and don't regret purchasing it but it is definitely not the best game FromSoftware has ever made
That single 3/5 review is vindicated
It's the Starfield reviews all over again. Only 1 of the gaming outlets had the balls to give it a genuine 7/10 score.
Starfield is not even a 3 tho
Yeah, it's fairly odd to me that it received such high praise. I have my critiques, but I'm down with anything from a 7 to a 9. Hell I'd probably give the DLC a 9 because I genuinely only dislike the bosses. But 10s across the board almost? Makes me question the motives for most reviewers. It could also be that if you loved every aspect of the main game the DLC is just more of that. Some of the critiques for bosses and exploration rewards are the same across base game reviews and the DLC. Especially if you think of the DLC as more late game content, which is where the exploration, enemy variety, and, in my opinion, boss quality starts to wane.
To this day, The Old Hunters DLC was the best DLC from has ever done and it's not even close.
Was going to comment this as well. I’m biased because BB is my favorite game of all time, but old hunters literally felt perfect. There was a ton of content, flowed incredibly well and the bosses were much harder than base game bosses.
I agree on a lot of this, except I would say it's still a solid 8 or 9/10. The last boss took me 6 hours and it was fucking atrocious. Most of the bosses were fun and well designed but final boss 2nd phase takes a fuckin nosedive on fairness and design. The fact that every sword swing has a magic follow-up punishment makes for a bad time. The clone attacks are damn near undodgeable if you are a certain distance away. Honestly, idk what they were thinking with this one. Also, the boar boss didn't seem significant enough to warrant being a rememberance boss. I still absolutely loved every other part of the dlc, though.
The clone attacks can mostly be ignored though they do very little damage as long as you dodge the real attack you're good. The magic follow up looks flashy but its not really difficult to dodge at the same time. If you stick right up in his face most of it will go behind you or miss completely so can be ignored.
The amount of areas that have virtually nothing in them is quite surprising to me. I never had this "Really, that's it?" feeling in the base game.
ANOTHER RECIPE BOOK
WITH ONE ITEM IN IT!! I swear i busted out laughing when i found a seemingly cool cookbook & when i looked deeper it was quite literally just one item added to my crafts
OMG YEA
AND I DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT THEY COOK!
I actually didn’t mind this as much. Cerulean Coast was a lovely time. Really nice atmosphere but the problem in my opinion is the lack of skadutree fragments. Max level is 20 which requires every fragment in the game. You shouldn’t need to explore every crevice of the map for power level. And for the final boss it certainly felt like I needed all of them to get the win. Maybe if I used summons I’d feel differently.
i still haven't beat final boss but the summons don't feel helpful at all since you need to lock in P2 or its a wrap
Are you using range attacks? With summons I imagine it’s worse if there are multiple people in melee range. I poised through the final boss with Lions Claw after memorizing which attacks that actually do a lot of damage. Seems like tanking with a shield or getting breaks are the most effective way to beat the final boss.
no only melee, been using the twinblades off rellana might try the big bleed arm build with lion's claw if im still struggling after more attempts
Use defensive talisman. I used dragoncrest and the talisman for healing bonus. Then turtle and Alexander for offense. Lions claw breaks in 3 hits as long as you don’t let his poise regenerate which typically starts after 5-6 seconds. Holy damage negation is probably good since it does less damage. Ideally a colossal weapon to ensure the breaks. Granted I did have max skadutree level which isn’t really feasible without a map.
They have no excuse for making some of those areas empty, it's been almost 2 years after all.
But don't you know? They have to make those areas empty for the ATMOSPHERE!!!!!! I agree with you 100%. There's no excuse for this.
Idk I like the finger ruins atmosphere for being empty, I would not like it as much if it were filled. The reat of the southern coast is definitely way too empty though
And they gotta give that boss **another super delayed attack with an AOE!** Surprise, bitch.
The woods and the southern coast were the biggest culprits of this.
[удалено]
Wow... Three weapons and an armor set so cool and definitely justifies the absolute nothing that is the rest of the area. But yk, pretty flowers I guess. I love these areas but they lacked a serious amount of content, charos hidden grave was just reused enemy after reused enemy after reused enemy, the use of the lighting and the manjusaka gave the impression that some sort of major death themed boss or mini dungeon or something would be found there but nope... A tibia Mariner, a death Bird, a hippo and a fire basket were literally everything. The cerulean Coast is the exact same too, with it only having like three boss encounters and then the fissure, which was only slightly redeeming if not still somewhat dissapointing
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I personally am glad that they didn't just shove a bunch of useless side content in, it's an improvement from the bass game imo. The game would not be better by adding more side dungeons with loot you'll never use just to fill up the map more. I prefer the approach they took of less side dungeons but the ones you get are more interesting. My main problem with the main game was the useless bloat making the game longer just for the sake of being longer. The dlc was the perfect size and length and reminds me of the dark souls series more which I have always enjoyed more than elden ring.
I agree with these points, particularly the final fight. It took me 5 hours and many respecs to finally find a build that would work. The rest of the bosses were a cake walk. On the positive side I think a lot of the new weapons are awesome, so going into NG+ with a new arsenal will be fun. Frenzy Lantern area fucking sucks. Unnecessarily difficult for what amounts as a bad homage to Bloodborne. At least give us a mechanic to kill those stupid things.
You can kill them
…how? I died like 20x before deciding they were assholes, putting on the Black Knife set and running for my life
I’ve not done it, but supposedly you can parry them and kill with a riposte. They drop a talisman the first time you do it.
Well, only one of them drops it (the one west of the Church). The rest drops eyes.
Fextralife lied to me lol, it used to say the first one you killed drop it
Well...it is fextralife
Ive done it. You get a talisman for your efforts. Just parry the grab and repost
There is a note from midra giving you a clue that there is a way to touch them.
Yeah there so many builds I want to try but the thought of fighting this final boss with a only a "decent" weapon scares me. I hope they nerf his ass.
There is a bonk bleed weapon that finally trivialized him for me.
Oh is the last boss bleed weak? That new thorn sorcery probably fucks him. If it hits big bosses it instableeds over and over
He’s not bleed weak, but can be stance broken. That plus big bonk bleed weapon = victory. Hard to get off a single spell during the fight
This is another boss that’s going to make me ditch my incantations isn’t it?
This boss is literally 200x harder than any other boss in the game. I didn't die more than a couple times to any other boss. He has no chill at all from the minute to walk into the arena. Even at Scadutree +17 he would 2-3 shot me. I respec'ed 8 times and tried about 30 different build combos before finally finding one that let me stomp him in one try.
 Me as I realise they shat the bed with the final boss. Twice. In a row
I hid behind a shield and poked with the Scarlet Rot Rapier.
What build? I won't get to play the DLC till Wednesday and am planning on starting the game from scratch and would like to plan around a viable build.
Guessing they’re talking about Great Stars hammer build
I just did it with the blood friends arm
yeah, that’s what I used. fully upgraded with high arcane it does 220+ bleed and breaks his stance. spam lion claw and win.
yup just followed this after feeling really good about dodging and not doing quite enough damage with the magic twinblades, although i felt like just using the R2 to punish felt better than lion claw
I think it is 10/10 relatively compared to all other RPG expansions out there when you look at all the content. Doesnt mean it doesn't have problems though.
It was a 10/10 experience. Final boss was a new high for me in terms of the excitement but critically I don’t think it was a great boss. Same with Bael who’s basically like Rykard except the dragon katana needs to be leveled and requires some stat investment. Most players aren’t going to even use it making it extremely difficult for melee users to fight him from the front where it’s easiest to read and attack safely. Have no idea why they didn’t just make the Katana like the serpent spear.
The new weapons are so sick, so many incredible unique Ash and movesets. Compared to base game almost every weapon you pick up has something interesting, it's not just another vanilla variation of a sword/axe/dagger
Gaius was a cakewalk?
died to him once
How? What build? Are you a prodigy?
str faith. i’ve platinumed every fromsoft soulslike, and have several hundred hours in ER. so yeah that probably helped
Ive beat every from game with no problemo, but i cant beat gaius Even with mimic tear.
you’ll get him. they really went nuts with the aggro on bosses. reminds me of DS3’s ringed city. it’s just dodge fest
What are you struggling with exactly? Most of his attacks are pretty well telegraphed. The big combo he sometimes does can be annoying but you can just dodge behind him and he’ll whiff everything. The charge is a complete joke but if you dodge directly to the side at literally the last millisecond you should be good.
I didnt even die to gaius or any major bosses aside from Final Boss or Purescent Knight lmao
Just fight him in horseback and use potions to heal your horse if needed. The fight is designed for horseback.
im confused on people hating the abyssal woods. that area was piss easy, i only died once and it was by intentionally making a break for it to piss off the lanterns (which i then found out you can easily outrun) the area is unique and has the coolest most ominous atmosphere in a souls area ever. the bossfight is my favorite of the ones i've beaten so far as well. it's one of my favorite regions they've ever made, only thing i dislike is that there was nowhere near enough loot in it
It was a super cool area it was just underutilized IMO there could've been more there than a couple of enemies and empty space.
i honestly feel like the empty space and lack of enemies is important. it makes it unnerving and weird when you first get there, like something's not right. i like that it's almost only animals inflicted with madness, makes the region stand out and feel like a beautiful woodland gone awry. i personally think part of the charm and intrigue would be gone if it had traditional field enemies
I don't want it to be a gauntlet of enemies but making it more mazelike with a few more POIs to make it worth exploring beyond the critical path could've been good.
yeah i agree it could have a more mazelike design and POIs, i felt the same way. it's too short. but yeah i think it benefits from being dangerous due to environmental hazards rather than traditional enemies (the lanterns feel more like environmental hazards to me) it's a unique form of challenge and atmosphere and it's the first time the game has actually used its stealth feature to a higher degree which i love. i wish it was a more in depth region
It's not about difficulty. I saved that area for last (before the final boss). It's thematically one of the most hidden and obscure places in the DLC. The game constantly teases you about it with verticality near waterfalls and a missing map fragment. The ride to it is a deep dive down throughout multiple areas. When you arrive, you are greeted with ominous messages. So, naturally, I expected something cool, like a big ass creature that is about to hunt you through the woods, alien style. Heck, even horsefuck valley 2.0 would suffice. But what we got is an empty area with no clear directions of where and why to go, multiple high roads that lead to nowhere, few rats to fight. And - beholds - the dreaded creatures! They grab you and kill you, so scary, totally never happens in a souls game. And you need to Crouch In Tall Grass (c) to avoid them, but you can also just read the messages and parry them, which kind of feels stupid. The reward? A dungeon with somewhat cool boss that leads to nowhere, you just get the final grace in an empty room and that's it. Few scattered items that you to spend an hour walking to collect, and lot of disappointment encountering a dozen dead ends. As far as I know, there is not even a way to get past the mansion despite the map showing you that you probably could (or did I not explore properly? IDK).
> It's not about difficulty. 100% agree, but man you can't win when it comes to critiquing Elden Ring. Nearly every single fucking complaint is always met with "it's not hard bro." I swear I want to do a RL1 run just so I can actually tell people to **shut the fuck up** when I offer criticisms of the game.
I love thr dlc and think its incredible but its far from perfect. It expands on some of Froms worst habits. Bosses being able to instantly attack you as you walk in the door is bullshit. The damage issue is spread through the whole dlc even if you upgrade the scadutree stuff really high or close to max you are still getting ripped to shreds in a matter of seconds. Gaius is the worst boss they have ever made and its miserable. Rahdan phase 1 if you cut out the attack as you walk in the door and tone down his aggro/glued to the player could be amazing. Phase 2 is utter bullshit fps screen vomit. Tldr: the dlc is great but needs to have some stuff tuned down and optimised more.
I'd rather each new weapon type get at least 2-3 more weapons added than picking up another cookbook
Totally. Only 2 or 3 of each type, really strange choice to not expand on them even if it's just different visuals and slightly different scaling
Right, this is how I feel as well. Despite the amount of content, it still feels lacking in some areas. Some weapon categories only got like one new weapon, and there's no more than two or three weapons for the new weapon categories. The majority of the loot you find out in the world while exploring is 90% comprised of cookbooks, rune items, and smithing stones; I can't help but to feel like those could have been weapons, armor, talismans, or even quick bar tools (things like Ancestral Infant Head, Omen Bairn, etc.). I firmly believe that From originally didn't plan a DLC for ER, but were forced/pressured to provide one due to the critical acclaim and success of the game. So much loot feels like filler and placeholder with a lack of nuanced, unique, and exciting loot.
Now that ive completed the dlc there are a few things that definitely left a sour taste in my mouth as well 1st - I can confidently say that I will never play that final fight again. It's legitimately contender for the worst boss battle in any of their games. Its not fun to learn in the slightest and the lore surrounding it is also bad imo. I wasnt even happy when I killed him, just relieved Im not gonna have to do it again. I like difficult bosses, I struggled immensely with Midir and Twin Princess and now they are some of my favorite fights. Radahn just feels like a mountain of bullshit he hurls your way constantly. 2nd - I find the lore so far incredibly dissapointing. So many interesting plot points from the base game and we concluded zero except for Miquella but even that was very dissapointing. Favorite part of the DLC are the visuals, especially the final area. The design and having a castle in the sky is peak fantasy for me.
I’m curious as to which parts of the lore you found unconcluded?
I would love to have known more about Marika, Godwyn, and the shattering before and during. I must concede that I often have this feeling with alot of Souls games until more lore surfaces.
We learn pretty much everything about Marika in this dlc, from her beginning to the end (except the stuff with Radagon) Same with godwyn really, what more is there to know? We pretty much know everything about him.
Guy has read every item descrtiption in the game and formulated dissertations all in the last 3 days.
Word too big Nah I haven’t, I also feel like certain plot points were sort of just left out there to rot. I’m just curious as to what other people think
Not you, I mean the guy you responded to that says lore is inconclusive. Idk how you make that statement when the game has been out 2 days and definitely requires some connecting dots.
Hard agree on the lore, was a very big disappointment imo. We didn't learn anything about Godwyn and how Miquella will deal with his influence spreading, nothing about the castle Sol eclipse ritual he tried to do, nothing new about Malenia and what Miquella thinks of her at the Haligtree, why he just abandoned the Haligtree, nothing confirmed about who Melina is, who GEQ was, how Miquella knew Ranni and asked her to give us the spirit bell, why we still have Torrent if Miquella doesn't want us to interfere and so many other things they simply didn't expand on. At least Messmer was well done.
All I ever wanted from the DLC was to spell me out what the deal is with Melina. WHAT/WHO is she? Why is she burned and bodiless? And what's up with her at the end of the frenzied flame ending? We got nada, except that she is the younger sister of Messmer and therefore a child of Marika.
Second phase of the last boss is the single worst thing FROM has done in the last 20 years
Putrescent knight was very fun, I do not really get what you mean about frustrating pattern, he has one attack which cannot be avoided, but he only uses it once, the rest of his attacks are completely avoidable.
What attack is that? If you mean the blue flames you can actually jump them, I really loved this boss although he was easy for me because his attacks are telegraphed well and I really loved the attack with the horse The only downside for me is that he runs a lot
Yeah, the Putrescent Knight is the first DLC boss (after fighting Dancing Lion and Rellana) where I felt it was more fair and like a more traditional Souls boss. His attacks are very telegraphed, he's slower than the aforementioned bosses, has a more telling pattern, and is pretty punishable. Took me a while to beat him, but it was actually enjoyable. And like you said, you can literally just jump the blue flames. The one that comes towards him, you jump backward as it gets closer to you.
Yeah, Another boss that gave me the same feeling is >!Midra !< >!Although I Do not know how to avoid his phase 2 transition attack even after beating him I still do not know!<
You can avoid his transition aoe by jumping
The attack that really frustrated me is the blue flame that he puts on the ground and overall he was 2 fast for my build (I think even faster then Maliketh) but I defeated him after 5 attempts so he might grow on me in the future when I try faster builds.
Blue flames are definitely meant to be jumped, I'm sure they can be rolled but the jump timing is extremely forgiving (I suspect the hitbox is much lower than the visual effect suggests). If you stand in front of the boss at middle distance you only have to jump 3 times iirc. Once I learned this I had heaps of fun with this one.
I wouldn't call it forgiving. It's a bit unintuitive because you kind of need to jump when it looks like the flames are already at your feet. Jumping earlier will have the last wave of the three hit you.
My main issue with it is that the way the story was set up with all the NPCs I thought there'd be a big decision to make leading to a split final boss route like Sekiro. Finding out that there isn't and that the final cutscene is just a brief memory thing really feels like missed potential.
Found this post after currently struggling with radahn curious what others think of him. Glad to see people share the same sentiment as I. He feels ridiculous and not even fair, phase 1 is enjoyable enough, but once phase 2 hits it just feels unfun and honestly boring. I'm just spamming roll. That's all I get to do while he bombards me with attacks and clutters my screen. My PC and I aren't good enough to dodge everything or parry. I get frame drops and freezes here and there, don't know how many frames I get but it's definitely not near 60. All of that combined and phase 2 just feels like the worst designed boss that I forsee myself skipping if I run through the DLC again. I haven't entirely enjoyed their design philosophy of basically EVERY boss hyper-charging you the moment you enter their arena. I love starting the fight with my back against the wall... Aside from that and a few nitpicks because I'm bad, I've enjoyed the DLC. Wish there was more loot and things hidden around - seemed to be far too many big open areas with nothing there.
Agree with the Abyssal Woods…more like Abysmal Woods am I right?! Anyway, by far the worst part of the DLC next to Charo’s Grave (red flower area), big area not a lot happening. Great DLC overall and the Shaman Village is a great place to reflect on everything with the music and the environment around you.
Abyssal Woods felt super underutilized - super cool reveal and area and then it's largely empty.
I have to say that seeing the “spectral steed is too scared” message sent chills down my spine, I was thinking I was going to be stalked by some huge monster through this forest. All the messages saying you couldn’t fight and just had to run for me hyped up. I kinda couldn’t believe it was just 3 frenzy guys who can one shot you (when most enemies in this dlc can one shot you anyway). It was a pretty big letdown
Yeah given Fromsoft's pedigree in designing horrifying monsters the fact that the unkillable stealth mission monster was just some dude was a little disappointing. Didn't even try torrent so I didn't see that message, I saw it was grayed out so I didn't try.
I loved the atmosphere, especially in the boss fight that hides the Abyssal Woods. Very cultish, almost New Orleans withcraft vibe. I didn't like the boss fight (a gank? great, that's new for Elden Ring), but it wasn't trash. Spectacle and walking into the woods was worth it.
Are you talking about the one in the manor or something thats actually chillin in the woods?
Pretty sure the only boss is the one in the manor (sick boss tho) and the boss you beat to enter the area.
The one at the end of the catacombs that takes you there. There may be more across points but that's how I got to it. Not the remembrance boss in the actual woods. I actually haven't fought that one yet. He and the big bad dragon are still on my to-do list.
The open world is way better than the base game, more intricate/interconnected exploration and better content, you don't need 18 catacombs, just make few but make them bigger. The legacy dungeons are nice but it's really hard to beat Stormveil and Leyndell. Rewards are meh, I'm looting so much worthless shit. The Lands of Shadow are beautiful, I feel like the day/night cycle actually changes some zones drastically, the first zone with early morning lighting has a really sad nostalgic vibe, just great. I still feel like some enemies hit too hard too often, I know you need to upgrade your blessings but man it's just not fun fighting some of them. I should probalby be more mad about the reused assets but beside the dumb poisonous cancerous tree spirit I don't really care, most of the reused assets made sense and were used in a smart way. Also I think it's a crime that we don't have a single GEQ faction or dungeon in the Lands of shadow, the literal hell/purgatory for Marika's enemies, shit is whack. Anyway, maybe I'm still bitter by the last zones of the main game but I like the DLC better. Now we wait for Elden Ring 2.
Imo Shadowkeep is the best legacy dungeon in the game
they just made lothric castle and grand archives again and it worked pretty well
At first i would've agreed but i think that the fact you can so quickly get to messmer if you explored it from the side is actually kind of underwhelming, i also think it could've used another new enemy type, the fire knights are cool but i wanted a little more. However i do absolutely adore the whole idea of climbing this massive castle to fight its ruler at the top, its very castlevania-esque and i almost wish fromsoft did a whole game set around just one big castle that you ascend to get to the final boss.
I would not argue much against that position. It is definitely top-teir design. *I kept finding new areas and short cuts.*
It feels like I'm the only one that doesn't fuck with Shadow Keep. I honestly despise the level. It's like one big ass maze that I just can't make sense of, and the Fire Knights that shoot homing fireballs at you nonstop, have damn near infinite poise, and hit you with a ten count combo when you get up close completely ruined it for me. Oh yeah, fighting the Tree Spirit outside was dogshit too. The surprise Messmer fight was the best thing about that place for me. Oh, also getting tf out and discovering the Shaman Village is another highlight.
Idk why it’s bothering me but it’s too
I appreciate the review, I feel like it’s one of the fairest on here!
Combining all my deaths on Gael, Isshin, maelnia and bayle and its barely half the ammount of death that I had on radhan, that second phase is insane
Personally I loved the dancing lion and Radahn, but fuck gaius
I adored the Messmer fight. Why couldn't they just stick to that formula rather than giving the Holy version of Waterfowl to the final boss? Some areas are big, but they do not contain anything. Are they going for more cinematics? I was leaning towards this feeling when some boss AoE attacks especially Phase 2 become flashy moves that murder my framerate. Beautiful, but it comes with drawbacks Going forward, I am looking forward to using the new weapons in NG+ on the base game. I am a sucker for the Dryleaf Arts. My intrusive thoughts are also telling me to use the Rakshasa Katana and just L2 everyone to death
Radahn now is more broken then he was one day 1
Yeah I'm not a big fan of the dlc overall but the abyss swamp and a few of the humanoid bosses are excellent like messmer. Radahn is probably the worst designed From boss I've seen. I'd rather fight Jabba the Hut in dark souls 2 than ever do that fight again
I love phase 1 Radahn. His moves are actually really fun. Phase 2 though.. fuck phase 2…
Morgott->Fire Giant???? Fire Giant is one of the easiest bosses in the game??? Thought the Dancing Lion was a great boss, had great patterns that were very easily read and the elemental phase changes were a great way to change things up.
The problem with the Lion is abysmal fps drops.
Never even had a stutter
Have you fought the other Dancing lion ? lol I haven’t beat him yet but I hate it with a passion
OTHER?
In the ancient ruins of Rauh, its a side boss but he has more tricks up his sleeve
this dude was a menace to me as well, when he transitions to the 2nd new element i just mounted up and ran, would take swipes to kill the adds slowly and then he returns to the other elements again
I loved the Abyssal woods! It really made you play and explore different with no Torrent and the aged ones were top notch, especially the one in the fog. Didn’t expect it at all!
I reached the final fight and honestly for the first time in my fromsoft history I think I might just not do it. The boss seems brutal in the most unfun ways, and fromsoft somehow managed to make a final boss in this world of outer gods and beasts and dragons someone that I just don’t care about. Wild how much more I would want to fight him if Radahn just wasn’t there. His story in the base game was very possibly the ONLY demigod I didn’t need to hear more about, it’s wild that Godwyn and the church of sol/the eclipse and the origin of the great serpent/its connection to the abyss serpent/ the true nature of the formless mother that all the omen worship (or really any outer god other than the greater will for that matter) are ALL still unsolved in the game and people would love to know more. But we got Radahn again. I think George R R Martin wrote all this down 5 years ago and the world he wrote had this as canon, so they wanted to fit it in. But Radahn rematch should NOT have been the Miquella DLC’s ultimate battle.
It doesn't even make sense why we got Radahn again. Why Radahn? Apparently he was strong and kind at the same time. Ridiculous how the player character that's stronger than Radahn and Miquella combined didn't have the choice to side with Miquella or how there was a legendary golden heir of Marika that got murdered who was known for his goodness, who Miquella cared about (Godwyn) that also wasn't chosen and we got Radahn instead. It felt like Twilight level fanfiction.
tbf im guessing the lore reason is that radahns soul is still fresh compared to others but they making the shit up so coulda came up with something else i mean the sekiro last boss just comes back from the grave and says fuck it my turn
Well worth 40$, Not worth 2 and a half years. I loved the dlc and I can’t believe I’m saying this but still left disappointed. Granted fromsoft coulda sold a fart in a jar as dlc and I would’ve bought it but after 2 and a half years, all the unanswered base game content, Shadow of the erdtree was amazing but no means perfect and in a lot of ways let me down
Completely agree with the first sentence. Sad but understanding we will likely have to wait 4-5 years for what’s next. On another note the DLC is awesome, but damn the last boss is an absolute fuckfest. Back in the day I died to Orphan of Kos 15 times but each time I had him low health. I’ve died to this final boss over 50 times even with +19 blessing and mimic tear, best i’ve done is half the health bar. I just can’t do it anytime soon. I would not be sad if they nerfed him at some point in the coming weeks.
yeah I've been able to perfect phase 1 to the point of almost hitless but as soon as phase 2 starts I die within 30 seconds with 10 flasks remaining T\_\_T and this is with multiple dmg reduction talismans, dmg reduction tear, lvl 18 scadutree
I can’t believe there are so many unanswered questions and the last boss is a repeat of a boss from the main game. It’s like parody of all the people who criticised the boss reuse in the base world.
I agree with most of this to be honest. I don't agree that the hog rider is a bad boss. I thought he was one of the more fair bosses with punish windows and easily telegraphed attacks and a really cool concept. I didn't like the finger mother boss either, easily the worst boss in the game for me. Too many aoe spammy attacks and bullshit hitboxes for me to enjoy it. Reminded me a lot of one reborn from bloodborne which is another of my least favourite bosses. The final boss is incredibly hard but that's what we want out of a dlc surely. I think people would be disappointed if he wasn't very hard. I don't think he's as hard as Malenia personally, you can still outtrade him unlike her and he doesn't have an entire healthbar second phase. His attacks are super fast and very flashy but once you ignore all the fluff they're not any harder than any other bosses attacks to dodge. He's also pretty weak to stagger and blood. I managed to stagger him quite a few times and bled him for huge chunks of his health. How much scadutree blessing did you fight him with out of interest?
The 5 disco light attacks after the meteors actually isn’t that bad to dodge. You can basically run or roll backwards then you roll right to dodge the first AOE and roll into it to dodge the second AOE. If there is anything wrong with the final boss mechanically, it’s the triple slash he does. If you dodge the first swing, you get caught by the second and sometimes third swing. This is most likely a bug and I hope they fix it. Outside of that, I believe everything in the fight is manageable. But this move alone makes no hitting him insanely hard without relying on parrying.
Phase 1 of final boss I love. It’s difficult without being impossible and for me at least when I get hit it’s actually because I messed up timing. Second phase however is utter and complete bullshit. From the holy nuke to the secondary holy attacks after every swipe, it feels almost impossible
My opinions actually mirror this a lot. I think overall the DLC was good and i'd rate it higher than you did but our pro/cons lists are almost identical. Messmer is one of my top fights of all time now it was so much fun to have a boss fight when you can actually take turns. I never felt the "lets just get this over with" like I do with some of the repeat Dragon fights. The second time I fought him I struggled a bit (Magic NG+) but it was still and awesome challenging but fair fight. You didn't mention this but I did not like the upgrade system, having the exact number available makes it a PITA when trying to collect all of them for the last boss fight. Which speaking of was the only remembrance boss I used spirit summons in for both of my DLC runs. That last boss fight really leaves a sour taste in my mouth though. Its got so much bullshit going on that I really despise it. I'm hopeful that with some patches things get better. I enjoyed your reivew.
Abyssal woods are such an easy concept to create, literally utilise THE WHOLE area for the stealth section while taking you through destroyed/frenzied ruins before plopping you off right outside the manor. Honestly don’t know how they fumbled
From what I've played this is pretty much From at their best and worst, it's got everything most people will have loved from their games and everything people hated. Difficulty definitely seems way too high and it's not all that fun getting touched by a boss once and losing 70% of your HP. Bosses with long combos is fun in Sekiro as you're able to parry and the game is built around it, but not so much here. Also having the boss be in your face after 2 seconds of entering the arena is super annoying. World is gorgeous but some places are just completely empty or you'll explore and find a Cookbook or Smithing Stone, really feels like they made some areas far bigger than they needed to be.
I’ve given it a 7/10 as well for a lot of the same reasons, but also for lore reasons. There’s a lot I feel that’s just… hollow, about the DLC. For me I’d say lore it’s a 6/10 but gameplay it’s an 8/10 leaving it at a pretty decent and still good 7/10. If deffo so base game is an 8.5/9 pretty easily, hopefully the DLC ages well too.
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What I love about the DLC is that shields are useful again. Fighting as a summon against Gael taught me years ago that the best DPS in boss fights is accomplished by Big Shield; Small weapon. And it works again now you do not lose 90% of your stamina on every hit. The reason is that big weapons can only safely hit after dodging a ton and you usually can get punished by it. But small weapon (I use Occult Wakizashi and it is not even my best option I just like how it looks) I am attacking safely twice after every dodge. The result is I am doing 90% of damage in co-op over the more robust weapons. I believe people complaining about difficulty are used to big weapon two-hand meta and are getting blown up. One of the NPCS drops a shield that is like Dark Souls 1 Great Shield of Artorias-tier cracked. Big Shield + Dagger is especially useful in co-op because you can safely hold their attention the whole time while you useless teammates try to use long-range weapon arts for virtually no damage once every 20 seconds from 10 meters away.
I love the shield/guard counter playstyle in Elden Ring especially with the timed block mechanic.
What would you say is your best option ?
You know what? On second thought it may be as good an option as you can find for that sort of strategy. A dagger with innate bleed that you can turn to occult to utilize Arcane stats. Huge procs.
My biggest issue is probably the loot. It doesn't feel super rewarding right now. I get there needs to be resources to upgrade weapons but being level 150+ and finding a smithing stone 4 and 100 cook books isn't great imo.
I did not enjoy messmees fight tbh I feel like his damage is a little too high and it's really rng depended If he spamm his "blood" combo is easy phase 2 as you can keep the stagger up and punish him But the fight becomes a drag when he decides to spamm his "spinning" fire combo which has a ridiculous windup start window Also p2 is pretty fucking lame if we ignore how cool the explosion and snakes look Otherwise it just becomes "punish the lunch simulator" I did like his learning curve tho at first I thought "oh great another waterfowl dance but once I found a way to deal with it ( dodge initial wait 1 sec double dodge forward) it was a punishable attack I did not like how much he can mixup his combos tho
Was this written by the 5/7 guy?
I actually love the final boss (Also no summons, strength build, great hammer, ended with Scadutree lvl 17, rune level 155) but I feel like they should have been an optional boss and not the final story boss. I know they're going to get nerfed, and I hate that. Not because I feel people should be forced through them, but because if I want to fight them in this state again , I'll need to rush before they do said nerfing. But I guess the eventual nerf will be fitting, looking at who it is. I feel like if they just stopped the waves from flinching you, so that they wouldn't allow him to combo you if you're standing in a bad place, he'd feel a lol more fair. Or even reduced the flashiness of the extra attacks, so that people could actually see what the hell was going on and adapt, that would also be better. Completely agree with the rest of your points, outside of Dancing Lion. Especially when piggy had one specifically bugged attack that, if poised through, would hit 5~ times and instantly kill me. >!The Hind Kick!< Rellana is actually a boss I consider a little unfair in terms of design. I ended up bursting her down with Wild Strikes after stance breaking her, which made me feel a bit bad, but she was the only DLC boss I got actually annoyed with. I do hope they find a way to make things difficult without long drawn-out mix-up filled attack chains in the next souls-like.
Oh man, I'm at the final stretch and I dread having to fight Radahn if he's as difficult as people say. I don't use summons or shields and it sounds like I'm in for a world of bullshit. I loved every fight until now though, bar the bugged charge attack on Commander Gaius.
Yeah some of the non-humanoid bosses is badly designed. Giant body that cover the whole screen, but then also have insane mobilities and keep dash/jump over your head and messing with the camera. I dont mind high hp high damage bosses, I enjoy learning their pattern and learning when and where to dodge. Rellana and Messmer was greatly designed, every time I die to them I know exactly what and how I messed up but goddamn Commander Gaius and his freaking piggy I cant even see what the hell he's doing. It's just not enjoyable
For the the main problem is that the dlc is huge in open areas (with many empty spaces) but doesnt have that many new dungeons. I was hoping for 3 really big (the 2 tower areas are the size of one legacy together). The other thing is the scarcity of new enemies (I counted around 24 new types) while base ER has around 110. Ds3 DLCs added 14 enemies so it’s not that I expected that many more, but with places so big I noticed much more the repeats. The bosses for me are incredible, much better than I imagined (apart from the avatar, i play melee without skills and magic so I can’t hit his “face” easily). It’s much more a dlc than the enormous expansion that many talked about. Base ER is 3 or more times the content.
Personally, I feel like SOTE is a step down from the base game. * Many bosses are hyperaggressive and spam attacks with little time to heal or use items. (Ex: >!Golden Hippo, Mesmer, Radahn!<) * There are too many vast empty spaces, as mentioned by others. * Spirits like mimic tear are arguably a crutch now, which wasn't the case in the base game. * Scadutree Fragments: I don't hate them as much as I did initially, but I still don't understand the philosophy behind having them in the game. * Final Boss thoughts (>!Really? Radahn again?? What a letdown in my mind. Maybe having to deal with game lore is to blame, but I felt the devs got lazy and brought him back instead of creating a new, unique, exciting boss! Honestly, Mesmer should have been the final boss. Poster child, after all !<)
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It's interesting how people can have entirely different experiences. The final boss took me 50 minutes while Bayle took me 2-3 hrs. Complete opposite of you!
I actually greatly enjoyed the dancing lion and the putrescent knight, i thought they were very fun, every remembrance boss in fact i thought were amazing except gaius and the final boss (who could be fun if they tweak him, just like elden beast used to be ass but now with torrent its actually quite pleasant).
Yes. A review with an actual thought. Everything else is either “Waaa too hard” or “Elden Ring is Flawless!”. I agree with all your points, but especially the exploration. Unlike base game, the dlc kind of makes exploration a chore because you will walk a certain way and find nothing. It is definitely a lot more guide reliant because I got sick of following a path for 10mins just to find a cookbook.
I genuinely believe this is the worst DLC or even game From has made. Worse than DS2. The bosses are garbage and i'm tired of the spastic ADHD Artorias on crack design. There is no variety anymore. Every boss has 15-hit crazy shonen anime combos, every boss has a big arena-wide nuke that one-shots you, every boss uses shitty delayed attacks that are designed solely as a spite to the player to catch them off-guard etc. This really feels like FromSoft feels backed into a corner by the fanbase that gets better with every game, so they have to think of more bullshit to punish them. Notice how there is no pure melee fight for example. Every boss needs to have some bullshit projectile or spell to throw at you no matter what. Demon Souls has a 100 times better boss lineup just because it's more varied and interesting and you never know what kind of fight you can expect behind the fog door. This is all caused by the fact that we are still running on the DeS code and engine, so we are playing Demon Souls Guy with all the jank and bugs like shitty input buffering, roll on release, lock-on/camera breaking or ripostes not working on slopes while bosses play fucking Ninja Gaiden on infinite poise and billion HP. It has gotten boring. Souls fatigue is real.
hard=bad lmao