I do have one big qualm with DLC: you don't need to finish main game to play this, which is a bummer as it doesn't take different endings of Main Game into consideration. You won't meet any of the old crew in DLC. Ranni, Melina (if you decided to go through Frenzied Flame ending or getting rid of it), Nepheli Loux, etc. But you're probably right: this DLC feels rushed. That's why there are so many areas just empty. Still have high hopes for a sequel to ER at some point.

Silicate harvester was like the second easiest one to get apart from without a paddle. Yes you have to get it intentionally but the people in drg are. The most friendly, most helpfull people on this earth. I went in the drg discord server, hopped into a lobby and we just started playing together for a few hours and looking out for silicate harvesters while dicking around in voicecoms. It took 2 games. No time at all.

The issue with inconsistent poise has been a thing since Melania, she does the exact same thing and it’s just as awful there. Nothing better than getting a chance to hit only for bosses to ignore it and counter with yet another combo string (where each hit takes 30% > 50% of your hp) completely randomly… It’s just greattt… Not.

El mejor personaje de esté Nier es un libro. Dios, lo adoró.

I know I'm late here, I just got the dlc a few weeks ago and while I like elden Ring it's not this god game that everyone says. I like fromsoft I've played all 3 dark souls, sekiro, bloodborne, demon souls, and armored core along with their dlc. There are many issues with all of them, but elden Ring is whole beast it's self, many enemies and bosses are too aggressive at times, other games aggressive enemies had down time and felt fair like they had there own stamina to manage. But since spirit ashes exists there balance around them and the fact that it feels like enemies read input for healing makes me questioning why I have healing at all. Ashes of war are the same way mixed with poise beings ignored and them taking 3 to 5 business days to go off. Hit boxes have always a bit wtf but it's stupid in this game and all the AOE gets old. The average player isn't fast enough to deal with most of this and the wait 3 minutes to hit 1 time isn't fun. I've beaten the base game without summoning a few times but it's not a pleasant experience for me not like it was in the old games it just feels like bs most of the time. I love this game, I really do but it could have been so much better. Being two shot at endgame with 50 to 60 vigor is not good balancing reaching the hard cap should provide survivability but now it's almost mandatory. Having 80 in my main attack stat with a fully updated weapon should deal more damage. The other games felt more balanced and fair and I deal more damage with less stat investment in those games then here. I'm used to fromsofts bs and it is fair for the most part, but this game feels artificial in difficulty and it's sad. On a different note it is still fun and there are some really great fights and once you do get gud it feels better to stomp them, there are really cool weapons and spells, amazing music probably the best in the industry in my opinion. The lore is great to if you can put it together and all and all it is a good game once you get past it's flaws. Also I think we go to the dlc to protect our claim as elden lord.

Yeah, the Radahn fight is straight artificial difficulty. I haven't played in a while and I left off at Bayle. When I do beat Radahn, I'm never fighting him again. I was someone who became obsessed with Malenia's fight and I mastered that. I'm not doing it again with this. This fight is ass. I just want it over with.

i really wish fromsoft will reuse the sekiro mechanic for their next game, and i hear nightreign will have it!

The problem with these FromSoft games is that they're expecting you to buy a physical/digital guide book. They're intentionally making them like this... Also Shadow of the Erdtree has a lot of issues, aside from randomly being much too difficult. Bosses being copy/pasted all over the place and low level smithing stones being a couple of the issues. There is no logical reason as to why low level smithing stones should be in the dlc area, unless they just wanna give you free stones for no reason... considering you already have smithing stones at your shops by the time you should even be going into the dlc. The Scadutree mechanic is dumb and shouldn't have been introduced in my opinion. Then there's the problem with the vast majority of weapons just being useless unless you play a certain way (jump attack; roll attack), I'm looking at you Bayle, the dragon I couldn't fuckin hit with my claws unless I scratched your ankles or tail, because your head was always too far from my reach. And then there's pre-nerf sugar daddy Radahn, who even after nerfs still has hitboxes that make no sense and are out of this world bad for any sort of game design, just to make him tedious and "hard".

The base game should’ve just been one giant legacy dungeon. The legacy dungeons are the best part of the game, the game should not have been open world, the soul formula does not work with an open world.

"It was good but at the same time not good...I liked it but I didn't really enjoyed it because it wasn't as good as it should, but it was brilliant nevertheless"..... "got my bum kicked"

25:25 This clip here isn’t exactly a good case against the game’s difficulty. You simply panicked and tried to get out of range of Radahn’s assault. And the game taught you a lesson. Same as every other Souls game.

"I killed a lootbug, and im not so proud of it."

People kept busting one off over the open world being so good in elden ring, which yes the art direction is thats it. I thought just maybe the dlc will improve on the open world but instead it was 10x worse

29:13 Ok see this is where I have to disagree. You only see opportunistic openings because you’re focused on hitting the boss once his back is turned. I used my mimic tear in an effort to see how I might dodge his attacks instead. Sure, I’m not the one dodging the hits, but I can visualize the timing needed to dodge them (not the direction unfortunately, which is a bit bs imo lol) I still agree that his boss fight was bs but I recommend using summons and learning what their moves are at the same time

I think it’s unfair to criticize a game for being not fun when you are deliberately playing in a way that the game is not intended. You said it yourself, you had the most fun when you summoned mimic, because summoning and using a strong weapon or weapon art is the intended way to play the game. Sekiro and Elden Ring is a different game. For Sekiro, gameplay obviously comes first. For Elden Ring, it’s clearly exploration first, then gameplay. You are suppose to find a broken weapon/spirit and destroy the bosses with it.

some ppl need to understand YOU DON’T HAVE TO PLAY A GAME TO DEATH ITS OK TO PUT IT DOWN AFTER A WHILE Drg isn’t meant to be a grinding game where you have to spend hundreds of hours perfecting a skill (unless you’re playing nodded) and with the cosmetics and overclocks already being tedious af for new players this is a NON ISSUE

Erdtree was absolutely the worst time I’ve had with a FromSoft game since maybe Nexus or Ninebreaker, and I’ve played pretty much everything besides Déraciné. I just think the environmental design itself is so obtuse and a total downgrade. The very moment you step out into the new world fundamentally contradicts the most important aspect of good open world design: accessible points of interest on the horizon to create a sense of wonder. There’s none of that in Erdtree, just the inaccessible tree, the empty ruin ahead, and the castle on the horizon that I don’t even remember existing.

Another greybeard here, I have gotten all of the achievements as well my next goal is all of the cosmetics

Point 👇

Thank you for explaining to me all of the stuff that was flying meters above my head while I was playing the game

I did it like yesterday. 460 hours in. It's... A freaking... Absolute... Damn... Pain. The last achievement was Legendary team.

what even was going on with this scene? confused as to why the shadowlord was suddenly over there, why weiss had to do what he did, and what exactly happened to him. it felt very out of nowhere

I feel like an achievement like the all gold promo is the type of achievement not meant to be grinded, but meant to be gotten as you play the game normally, and just shows how much youve played and enjoy the game, not necessarily meant to be grinded

Lack of connectivity to the base game, lack of additional dialogues with Malenia about Miquella, lack of extra dialogues with Gideon about Miquella and Metyr.. lack of anything that really could make it an amazing lore extension. Instead of that we've got cool boss fights, empty areas that look cool, but that's about it. Terrible npc quests made in a way to force you to look at the guides. Mid ass dlc with some decent moments and cool fights with exception of Radahn. Who cares that i've beat him? 2nd phase frame killer and long ass Miquella hair surely help me learn all his patterns while he is turned his back at me in a middle of the swing with that ass camera. Empty win is not a win at all. We've got nothing except boring ass cutscene at the end. Guess really cool bosses with soul peaked with Gael.

9:34 nobody talking about how many fucking minerals he has?💀

Comments full of nothing but bitching.

Idk man i found it fun.

I subscribed because your DLC review is the only honest one I’ve seen. Radahn was a horrible cheapskate boss that the devs cheated to make difficult, and the DLC had some improvements but the bosses were NOT one of them… except Bayle & the dragons + Messmer, those were peak.

This has probably been said quite a few times now, but I personally think that our motivation in the DLC was not our own, but rather that of the Erdtree and the "Greater Will". You see the guidance of grace in the DLC, and from Miquella's light we learn that there was a single individual who has refused Miquella's kind embrace. And since that person is us, I believe we were being guided by Miquella the entire time, and since Miquella was out of reach for us in the base game, we decided to look for him, only to find that we were STILL being guided by grace even in a foreign area, in which there is no Erdtree anymore, only it's shadow.

Only thing I have an issue with is THE STORY!!! They never gave us an option to even have our ending follow up into the DLC. Like wtf….

I disagree on the level design. Its TOO complicated without some guide. Areas on other sides of the map connect to places you would never guess. Its cool for a surprise factor, but I reached the final boss without seeing half the map. And I took my time trying to avoid the main paths. My DLC playtime doubled once I looked up a guide how to reach entire areas because I missed a path behind one of the 100 rocks scattered in a field while 5 flying monsters was chasing me that aren't worth fighting for the 10th time. Guess I should git gud

Lol is my opinion valid? I kinda hate everything about the dlc aside from the kungfu. Mannn that palm blast is hilarious and doesn't get old haha.

The dlc is good but two things that burned me up is getting caught in corners and the camera goes nuts and the enemy s are ridiculous. They can smash you in the ground and continue to damage you but not the reverse. They lie on the ground for seems like 5 seconds sometimes and cannot be damaged. I think this is bs and it takes away the feeling of reward for being able to knock difficult enemies on their butts. Lots of other things but these are the top things that made me want to quit playing.

Dudes only complaints are “I have to play the game a lot for this achievement” like yeah dude, if you don’t want to play the game a lot, don’t.

I felt like the story was obvious. Yeah theres a bunch of subplots but the only reason youd go into the shadow lands is to claim miquella's great rune. Everything else is towards that end. If you learn that miquella discarded his great rune by finding it broken in the hands of the scadutree avatar, well youve already beaten messmer which means the guidance of grace is back and telling you to kill miquella to prove yourself as a lord, and you probably know that miquella is trying to become a god via ansbach, so hes a threat to your claim to power as elden lord anyways. Theres no point where you know the great rune was discarded and dont have a reason to kill miquella, even if that reason is "greater will told me so"

It's so depressing for me that this community and the studio is ruining it for themselves. Since eons I am saying those games need difficulty settings. Simple as that. Because yes, skill differences are reality. Disabilities are reality, too, for many people. Time and Energy management, too. Yet here I am, forced to use mechanics I don't want to use, because I would love to experience a Dual, but can't. Get told just use a summon, get gud, skill issue. YES, my skill will be my skill with my 37 years. My disability will not get better either. YES! What IF it's a "skill issue". Try to make a Skyrim mod like I do, try to knit, learn a language. Do you have equally talent and skills for all of this? Should I give you sock needles and some yarn and tell you, figure it out alone. And when you can't make your own wool sock, laugh in your face, mock you and tell you, get gud. Instead of being a reasonable fan community since eons you guys are against difficulty settings. The most BASIC mechanic to ensure that everybody can have the same experience, regardless of where they are. The most BASIC mechanic to ensure you can have balance. But here we are, with a broken cam system, broken balance system, broken Bosses, recycled Bosses and Locations. Glitches and performance issues, particles that tank FPS, on a game depending on i-frames and accuracy. Where the game runs fine on max setting the whole time, but not when you REALLY need it. Not that it helps to go on LOW SETTINGS! Where Elite Enemies and their locations are so badly designed that instead of being a joy to fight, with sword or pot, they make you wanna turn of the game you have spend over 800h on. And that's sad. It's the studio itself but as well the community. We have nowadays an actual trend of games that remove a BASIC mechanic, difficulty settings. And it's mind boggling. Because in the end - you as a studio should want your vision to be experienced by the people that buy your game and spend their precious time and energy on it. What do you as a player, or the studio have from gatekeeping and exclusivity. What exactly? Because I don't understand it.

Got a lot of mf in the comments complimenting Malenia. Just goes to show how the FromSoft cycle is alive and well. Excited for 12 months from now when we all look back and say "why can't we just go back to a great boss like Radahn."

criminally underrated video, i could not think of presenting the issues with this game better than you did, i hope Fromsoft actually watches this video instead of watching Vati's speculation on vague lore info and laugh at it while sipping a coffee

In the Radahn fight, he gives you ample opportunity to heal. The problem is that it's at the cost of an attack opening. He is aggressive enough that the only down time you get to heal is at the very end of his combos.

You had me dying laughing when you called the skibidi fragments a different name every time.

Not gonna lie I vastly prefer the delivery of this line in the original version. Honestly I don't know why they didn't reuse the audio from the original it is the same exact dialog read by the same actor or at least in the English version it is.

I like a book more than my classmate?

Totaly agree i hope they find back challanges are cool but only if its not frustration to a point you over come them with a build you dont like not every one is a pro i subed and liked 👍

The only ones i wont complete are silver and gold promotions for all, i absolutely hate playing scout lol

Only problem with the dlc is that so many areas that seem to vast and big contain 1 or 2 items and that’s it.

460h for me on PS5

DLC was a bjg "meh" for me

"Just some overclocks" you mean, unlocks that can completely change how a weapon works and also acomidatw different builds to massivly increase build variety. Just those small things? Im assuming that bc you were grinding for full gold and wanted maximum exp, which is phyco behaviour honestly ngl, that you just ran meta vuild and didnt experient with funns that much, and didnt see just how much overclocks effect the game. Either that or you were deliberately lying to paint the game in a bad light, bc some overclovks can completely change how you use a weapon

Lmao this comment section is hilarious!! Cry babies making excuses for why they're getting their ass kicked 😅

This was my first FS game and a lot of your critique matches mine. First: I get the hype, elden ring and the DLC are special. They're unique both with the gameplay and the level of craft that went into them. But I started ER right after beating Ghost of Tsushima and I gotta say I was a little disappointed with the combat mechanics in ER. A lot of the fighting seems to revolve around memorizing very specific attack patterns of bosses, and fromsoft's scaling of difficulty seems to be simply adding longer move combos, narrowing the window you have to attack. Big battles then felt less like a fighting game and more like guitar hero. My favorite fights were against enemies like the crucible knights and the nameless mausoleum NPCs-- These felt more like actual 'fights' where there was back and forth, I didn't feel like I was fighting a giant Simon Says machine. I think having combat so centered around the s of the roll mechanic kinda gimps the design. Would love to see them lean into and expand the parry mechanic, and give you built-in quickstep or something. Just more options that raise the risk/reward factor of combat and let you interrupt, create your own attack openings (instead of dodging for 10 sec so you can land a slash during a recovery animation), or other tools to make the boss react to the player more often. I hear good things about Sekiro, I might try that next.