Lore Reasons Why Elden Ring's DLC Is HARD

[@tristanneal9552]

FWIW, Marika's homeland wasn't abandoned, it was genocided. The hornsent killed everyone and chopped them up to be put into jars and made into saints. Marika's destruction of the Land of Shadow was retribution for this, an act of revenge.

[@dannye7612]

Wait you're telling me the jar factory inside Shadow Keep is a product of the Hornsent? Sources?

[@CreativeUsernameEh]

So Marika was a Goddess fueled by vengeance :( Honestly fck her why are we stuck with her?

[@stagenine4702]

@@dannye7612 oh idk maybe there's a jar factory under belurat named "belurat gaol" and "bonny gaol" is next to "bonny village" which is populated by hornsent? Or what about the Lamenter's gaol which a lamentor is the boss of said dungeon and it's a hornsent creature that torments the jar beings? If circumstantial evidence isn't enough, let's take a look at the tooth whip's description, it reads "Whip bestrewn with rotting, misshapen teeth. Filthy and seething with disease, the teeth are embedded in the whip and dose the victim with deadly poison upon each strike. As the wounds ripen they grow inflamed and ooze pus. The flesh of shamans was said to meld harmoniously with others." Marika hails from the shaman village (evidenced by the golden braid being found there and the description noting it as a lock of marika's hair) meaning her people is likely the shamans the tooth whip is mentioning. You also have two random tree sentinels both with marika's blessings posted right outside the shaman village and that's not supposed to be a coincidence.

[@DAsrada]

Essentially, it represents a persecuted religion growing more powerful - and turning into a supremacist religion. To the extent it itself persecuted those who persecuted them. The Christians were persecuted by the Roman Polytheists. Fast forward a few centuries, and any who believed in the old ways were burned, tortured and slain.

[@inferno1217]

@@dannye7612 thats not a jar factory, thats a triage.

[@JFry515]

A note for future videos, Scadu is the old English spelling of Shadow, it’s just pronounced “shadow-tree” Similar to Gaol being said as Jail

[@zaruuchshekel5806]

I finished the dlc on ng+9 it was a pain but like you said if you use every resource the game offers you can beat it

[@laronlatin5714]

I felt the same way, angry at the difficulty then I just powered through bosses which reminded me of the 1st play though.

[@oleesabb2642]

*the game is hard* Miyazaki: CUUUUUUURSE YOU CASUAAAALS!!! YOU WILL RUE THIS DAAYY BEHOLD: A TRUE GIT GUD DLC AND I, FROMSOFTWARE YOUR FEARS MADE FLESH

[@YungTigris]

I hope the next dlc doesnt have anything like scadutree fragments. I like exploring but I dont like scavenger hunts. My second run where i went and found as many fragments as i could before i fought a single enemy and it solidified it as my favorite dlc

[@BornFromEmbers]

Radahn being absolutely broken makes sense. He was the strongest of the demigods. The only reason we were able to kill him in the base game is bc he was falling apart due to scarlet rot. That being said, I am getting folded by him lmao. I have his 1st phase down. I can pretty much do it no hit, but his 2nd phase is brutal. The follow up light beams on his attacks makes him almost impossible to dodge. The light will cover him/masking his next attacks where you can’t really see what he’s doing. Not being able to clearly see him at all times is a death sentence. I’m only at lv14 Scadutree blessing, so I might go get the remaining 6 lvs.

[@enkidorado4187]

One of the biggest problems with this DLC actually comes down to the scadutree fragments, in that the first few that you get have so little impact that you underestimate the effect of the blessings and don't actually prioritize getting them. Then later on you'll naturally end up with 10 or so blessings and find that out of nowhere, you're doing 5 times as much damage. I seriously went from doing and average dps of 300 to 1550 after a single blessing, so clearly there's some kind of tiering system or the progression has a weird curve to it. If it were smoother it would probably have encouraged me to grab them way sooner. The result was things like me deciding that the weapons I actually enjoyed using were trash and respeccing my character around 12 times with very little result on how well I'd do. I was actually going to quit until my friend showed me how wild the curve actually is and I just went out to get more blessings.

[@triplenaruto1]

When heard rumors about the dlc possibly to do with miquella went and crushed morg 🤷‍♂️

[@DragonKnightDragonborn]

I can say for me who went through the lands, found much what i can find, as much use what items to defend the final boss even with the heavy lore aspact. The game doesn't care about logic at all even with all you're buffs, items, elements, so on it still will kick you in you're teeth and shove them down you're throat. You can change a build, find all the blessings, find every secret they give you and somehow the game still beats you down and tells you "Git Gud" ? No very bad game design. Even if someone like i said went through all the secrets and learn to adapt but some how the game can say "Fuck you with you're adapting" it pure bad game and needed retested. I can disagree since i know how the end goes and how much there should be a good or retest some of what was there. Mostly just called it a day when cheeser's play test the game and said "Yeah this is good". Even now shows how much Fromsoft poked the bear and now really getting ready to listen to the fans (even that still mix opinions). I did stand with some levels of "Git gud" but if you did everything i repeat everything over 50 hours for example of exploring it just shows Fromsoft didn't learn to test play and retest again. It is the peak yes but very bad footing at the beginning.

[@bobnoble6301]

My friend and I were just talking about this. We said that in base game you become the Elden Lord. In the DLC you’re ascending to God Status. Becoming a god isn’t supposed to be easy.

[@KenobiStark1]

Damn, I really like that perspective. I absolutely agree. I’m feeling pretty godly beating these bosses.

[@apolloisnotashirt]

Poetically beautiful.

[@apolloisnotashirt]

I like to think in the base game you are picking up the pieces of Marika's fractured Order and putting it all back your way. And in the DLC you are proving why you are the Elden Lord. I wish this DLC isnt the end of Elden Ring, would be down for one where we basically help Ranni Bolster the Moon's rule.

[@v0x712]

​@@apolloisnotashirtfor that ranni dlc I'd have to assume we do her ending

[@apolloisnotashirt]

@@v0x712 oh yeah right, my bad. Then that would mean for the sake of lore and gameplay consistency, any content that takes place in the future will still have to be an age of fractured. Maybe in the future of The Lands Between it would show Ranni's age actually being good for a while but still losing to a bunch of other factions and ages.

[@getonWexford]

Only complaint I have is that there’s no DLC trophies. Which is also a relief at the same time.

[@kfk4441]

I only wanted some for getting remembrances and finishing St Trina quest. Please no more 100% items, routes or multiple NG+...They turned my game into a chore.

[@ITBEurgava]

Then the world will know how many people actually finished enir-ilim.

[@dogfacedangel6291]

Throughout the entire story of elden ring we have heard how fearsome and blindingly powerful Miquella is. The same goes for Radhan he is literally the person who Melenia had to release a nuke of rot on and it didnt even kill him. I think given everything weve been told they should be difficult. Most of the demi gods we have fought have been twisted, run down or even mutilated by time and finally we are fighting one who is at their highest strength alongside another who was brought back at his highest strength.

[@apolloisnotashirt]

And yet we still have mixed reviews on Steam. How did they get to the DLC in the first place? If they're this weak minded, weak willed.

[@Xblack_Lung1899X]

Funnily enough, I was only able to defeat the final boss of the DLC by using heavy shield guarding and some talismans for gaurding and thrust weapons counter-guard attacks.

[@dekkisfoddaci]

@@apolloisnotashirtmixed reviews are more due to the bad performance than people crying actually

[@apolloisnotashirt]

@@dekkisfoddaci like fpsdrops? git gud pc lol

[@Swampboiii]

@@apolloisnotashirt people get fed up with a game doing every single bullshit thing it can do against you isn’t weak willed It’s called people have better things to do with their time Your viewpoint is so skewed

[@KenobiStark1]

Finding the one Messmer Soldier who’s completely broken about being abandoned in the Shadow Realm, that even made me sad haha.

[@nomore3115]

where is he?

[@vugetunks]

Where????

[@Diesalot-sc9qz]

@@nomore3115Castle Ensis

[@KenobiStark1]

@@vugetunks Castle Ensis, like right in the beginning after you fight that hippo. He’s a spirit kneeling on the floor saying something like “Marika, you wouldn’t banish your own blood” or something. Being left there must’ve felt awful.

[@eldensquall6158]

Generation Z are the worse when it comes to working hard to get through obstacles. The dlc is hard AF but gets easier if you roam around the world, just like base game. Sekiro is way worse and harder.

[@Slayton1978]

Been trying to piece together the whole consort thing. But I just can't shake the thought of what Alexander and little Jar Bairn really looked like. And the unsettling visage of Metyr.

[@TheHi-NoteFunClub-BeatsByMike]

Though the "standard" use of consort implies a husband or wife, the other, general relationship consort defines is "companion". I've been thinking Marika gave up her companion husband, Godfrey, and absorbed that "relationship" into herself via Radagon. So instead of two beings, separate, the sum of their union also created/brought into being something greater, a third thing, a part of but also separate from their individual components - not a duality, but a trinity, with the Golden Order playing the part of the "holy spirit"... i.e. the Golden Order being the ACTUAL new God/worshipped religion in the world - she went all in on the, uh, selfish route to accentuate her genocidal approach and said "the Lands Between may need me to have a consort, but I don't feel that need... I, and I ALONE. AM. GOD... and since my ex decided to marry my greatest enemy, Imma just make him me... Consort problem solved... couldn't be me, Marika, making the Lands Between's problems that much worse... After all, by my greatest will's reckoning, I. Am. God." Something like that... something like that...

[@BJWFenix]

yeah if theres one thing this dlc ruined for me (in a good way) was all the joy and cuteness revolving around the jars. I mean they seem happy sometimes ...right?

[@Diesalot-sc9qz]

Right before a mace slams on them and smashes them to bits (Yes, I am going for the Frenzied Flame Ending)

[@joshburke6747]

As far as the consort goes I was expecting Godwyn not radahn but then again was he really radahn because mohgs body was taken and radahn is using his blood fire technique

[@TheHi-NoteFunClub-BeatsByMike]

@@joshburke6747 With all the need for several separate deaths/types of death for these characters, talk of moving souls between bodies, and the like, I'm starting to believe all these gods and demi gods are just aspects of the same singular will, with the "story" being the unfolding creative fantasy that will is defining in its own mind... I mean thoughts... I mean soul... I mean via the language of computer code in its digital body... Uh, I mean I forgot what I meant. 🙂

[@innocuousalias6632]

Didn't sekiro get a lot of early hate for it's difficulty as well?

[@mosthated8848]

Yep, they released a stealth update that made it slightly easier bc my torrent copy is harder than my Steam copy no cap.

[@JorgeM270]

@@mosthated8848 This happens with every Fromsoftware game. They get slightly easier with each patch.

[@geordiejones5618]

It happened with every previous FromSoftware DLC too. Eventually those who don't really want a challenge get weeded out. SOTE does everything I love about the base game, and it mostly does it better. The tomb bosses don't need to be unlocked with a hidden switch, the caves and catacombs are massive and very creative, the mini dungeons and legacy dungeons continue to amaze, the map is dense and extra crazy vertical with more interconnectivity, the bosses continue to look amazing and give you a real challenge, and the lore goes just as hard as the bosses. Most fun I've had with an expansion since I realized that all the New Vegas DLCs thread together. I thought The Old Hunters was their best DLC but my god this one has been beyond my best expectations. I feel like I paid $100 for double the value of content. Those who buy the base and DLC at $80 are getting it at a steal.

[@Kyron-qh3sn]

imo its harder than this dlc i got it like 2 years ago and still havent beat guardian ape lol

[@emorydaniel9084]

The base game Elden Ring got that same hate. Happens almost every time with a FromSoft release

[@tonydelia9998]

You've gotta admit though, they need to fix Commander Gaius's Hitboxes.

[@daniellink8727]

@@tonydelia9998 Yeah some of his hitbox's are jank especially his charge it's nearly impossible to dodge sometimes

[@tonydelia9998]

@daniellink8727 the Boar Attack when he does the swipe is also jank.

[@blu-rae864]

@@daniellink8727the charge can be dealt with using deflecting hardtear

[@pstamn0]

Just finished all of the dlc and this is for sure true. That was the only boss I felt like there was a technical issue.

[@tonydelia9998]

@@pstamn0 that one move Messmer does when he summons the Snakes and they go crazy, the end of that attack is jank because I get hit by nothing and still take damage. I love the Messmer fight besides that it's probably the best in the game.

[@cursdrr]

0:43 "Scooter Ankle" 😂😂

[@Wyrdist]

I’m stealing that

[@deltastudio9726]

I’ve definitely felt that in my youth…

[@2009samiy]

youtube mary and jesus in the quran and mohmmad in the bible and the Torah and the scientific miracles of the quran and mohmmad in hindu scripture … according the bible that you have (Matthew 4:1) Jesus was tempted (James 1:13) God doesn't get tempted (John 1:29) Jesus was seen (1 John 4:12) No man has ever seen God (Acts 2:22) Jesus was and is a man, sent by God (Numbers 23:19, Hosea11:9) God is not a man (Hebrews 5:8-9) Jesus had to grow and learn (Isaiah 40:28) God doesn't ever need to learn (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) Jesus dies (1 Timothy 1:17) God doesn't die (Hebrews 5:7) Jesus needed salvation (Luke 1:37) God doesn't need salvation (John 4:6) Jesus grew weary (Isaiah 40:28) God Doesn't grow weary (Mark 4:38) Jesus slept (Psalm 121:2-4) God doesn't sleep (John 5:19) Jesus isn't all powerful (Isaiah 45:5-7) God is all powerful (Mark 13:32) Jesus isn't all knowing (Isaiah 46:9) God is all knowing ...................

[@danielrobinson7872]

It's a distinct pain that only scooter riders have felt.

[@kishinasura1989]

A pain worse then death 😅

[@onilink134]

I did take my time. I had a lot of fun with nearly every aspect of the DLC. The views are breathtaking, the fights are exhilarating, the lore is captivating, I had a blast the whole time. Right up until the end. By that point, I was at +18 Scadutree blessings. For context, I was playing my favorite build, which was a Carian-inspired spellsword. It carried me through the DLC pretty handily with frostbite, Darkmoon Greatsword and Rellana's twin blades when I unlocked them. I was on a roll. Which the final boss crashed to a halt. Phase 1 wasn't the problem. In fact, if Miquella hadn't shown up the whole fight, Radahn might have ended up being my favorite fight in all FromSoft history. Parrying his triple swings for the first time gave me an unparalleled thrill, as I'm usually garbage at parries. Phase 1 still killed me a bunch of times, but they were enjoyable deaths, because I knew where my mistake had been and how to correct it. Phase 2 didn't click for me in the same way. The holy pillar being the size of a football field, the room-wide AoEs, that one move they do when close to death... It seemed tailor-made to counter my build, and that frustrated me to no end. I did end up beating them, so I know it's not impossible. It's HOW I beat them that bothers me. I gave up my favorite playstyle in favor of a turtle tank with a greatshield and a bleed spear. It made me feel like I had no other recourse but to cheese them. They were being unfair to me, so I had to be unfair back. That's what bothers me. I'd never felt that way about a boss before. Not with Midir, not with Malenia, not with Orphan of Kos. Although, and I must specify this: this is the ONLY PART of the DLC I feel could use an adjustment. I beat nearly everything else with my spellblade and had a blast doing it. Except with the hippo, fuck that hippo.

[@onilink134]

@eW91dHViZSBpcyBjZW5zb3JzaGlw you're absolutely allowed to dislike it. I don't think they missed the mark, necessarily, they just implemented a mechanic from another game to stop people steamrolling the DLC in 15 minutes. The way I see it, most people who are complaining about the blessing system are trying to beat a 40$ DLC in 10$ or less, just bumrushing the main bosses and ignoring everything else. I personally like the system, as it helped me focus on taking my time and exploring instead of getting stuck on a frustrating boss. Every time I died 3 or more times in a row to a boss, I took a break and went to do some side stuff and get stronger. To me it helped it feel more like a natural progression, but I understand how it could come across as a little forced to some. It's only Radahn's phase 2 that kinda put a damper on the experience for me.

[@shring727]

I agree, second phase of the final boss is really horseshit, i had to summon someone with that same turtle build and watch him not getting a single hit the entire fight lol

[@THEJustinOfAllTime]

You absolutely do not need to go out of your way to make a turtle build. With the proper talismans and buffs you can still have a fun build! I had a powerstanced greatsword faith build that I used for the entire game where, with golden vow+flame grant me strength and the +3 physical defense and +3 pearldrake talisman, I achieved over 90% damage resistance and 1800 damage per sword with the +20 scadutree buff. No shield, no bleed or frostbite, two giant slow as hell swords, and totally doable because my build was well planned. If you, like me, aren't good enough to avoid their attack, ensure that yiu can't feel it when it connects and boom fight is made ezpz.

[@onilink134]

@@THEJustinOfAllTime It's less that I wasn't good enough to avoid their attacks, and more that the zillion flashy beams and particles kept me from seeing the next windup. That was the cause of 9/10 of my deaths before I decided to turtle up with Moore's shield and a Bleed Cross Naginata and give them the death by a thousand pokes. I don't know about you, but my idea of a difficult but fair boss fight does not involve developing a resistance to flashbangs so I can see what the hell he's coming at me with next. The one time I won was pure luck and instinct, where I dodged his lightspeed meteor by the skin of my ass and finished poking him to victory. The point is that beating a boss should not REQUIRE building 90% damage reduction to tank one swing. Phase 1 was a much better fight and way more enjoyable, and Miquella ruined it by showing up.

[@limpkola]

Yeah, I do like this take more than any of the others. Is it fun? Yes. Is it hard? Yes, and it should. But is it fair? No, and that’s my only problem with it. My only other experience with a Fromsoft DLC was Bloodborne, and even though it might just be nostalgia, the Orphan was a lot more fair and more cathartic than Miquella.

[@EtheonStarWanderer]

Absolutely agree, plus lore wise Marika wasn't unjustified to do what she did to the hornsent and their civilization, they aren't good guys, they pretty much used the Numen, the shamans that were spirited away to that place, to torture them and experiment with them and turn them into jars, that is messed up, no wonder she wanted revenge. And it is Marika all along the one that is guiding us towards Miquella, we see the guiding of grace guiding us, and Leda knows it by the end, that we weren't invited here by Miquella, we were brought here by Marika, and not technically the Greater Will, because now we now, thanks to Ymirs questline, that the Greter Will actually abandoned the lands a long time ago, it left Metyr alone here, and so the fingers guided Marika, but it is not the Golden Order. There are obviously a lot of questions to be answered, but in the shadow lands we don't have as much guidence as in the lands between. Also I think the final boss is not unfair, but I do think that it is a bit of luck sometimes, because there are 1 or 2 chain of attacks that you can barely see anything, so you cannot learn how to dodge them correctly while facing the boss, so you just hope to try and dodge as much as you can and then heal afterwards, I think visually it should be tone down a little bit, because it is very rare for me to receive an attack and being unable to know what happened after multiple times receiving it, it reminded me to some bosses in Wo Long.

[@ll-ll5gt]

if you think about it,there are no good guys in the lands of shadow. -The hornsent hunted the numen and destroyed marika's life. -Marika took revenge by manipulating his own son,Messmer,and eventually abbandoning him. -Messmer follow her orders because he wanted recognition from his parent,yet he also mass murdered an entir population because of it -Miquella wanted to create a better world,yet used and manipulated Mohg,Malenia,Radahn for it and allowed caelid's destruction

[@EtheonStarWanderer]

@@ll-ll5gt oh absolutely, they honestly all suck and deserved the death that comes from us. The question is, will we be good lords? I doubt it It is absolutely a constant cycle that is not broken, maybe its only broken through Ranni or Goldmask, but probably not.

[@colorpg152]

the greater will is not the golden order, the golden order is marika's order and the greater will is just order in general, why do i have to repeat this a thousand times

[@EtheonStarWanderer]

@@colorpg152 you are correct sir! I just confuse some names sometimes, in my head it was the greater will what I was talking about, so I edited the comment, it happens the same when I mention Godrick and Godfrey, i used always the other's name T-T

[@colorpg152]

@@EtheonStarWanderer thanks it just triggers me because people have been scapegoating the greater will for so long even though he has been out of power for so long, probably before marika even took over

[@mauriceussery804]

Scadutree fragments.......will help the bad players from getting destroyed. Challenging not not overly difficult.

[@StoicPrince1674]

Imagine buying a game that’s renowned for its difficulty and then complaining about its difficulty. SMH.

[@TheT0nedude]

The base game was NOT renowned for its difficulty but in its open world and take it at your own pace approach that the dlc does not have.

[@Kyron-qh3sn]

@@TheT0nedude the base game was hard u could just make it easy with builds the same applies to the dlc but u also need scadutree freagments

[@Potato_Tomato-od2lz]

@@TheT0nedudedude you very much can explore you are ENCOURAGED to explore with the shadow blessing mechanic

[@Uncreatedd]

@@TheT0nedude wdym ”the dlc dosent” ? its literally the exact same thing. Explore to get stronger and there is plenty of variety how and when you decide to approach bosses

[@nakiangoderich3014]

@@TheT0nedude 🤡 buddy, ever heard of scadu fragments? 30% of them are hidden around the map, and let’s not forget you can skip the dancing lion and rellana completely, allowing you to upgrade and come back later.

[@ianchandler3282]

Having beat the DLC and all the bosses, there were a few bosses where I can kinda understand the frustration. I wasnt happy that I had to adapt but in some cases it made sense (Dont bring lightning to a boss covered head to toe in lightning sort of thing) While in others it just, felt like I needed to blitz down the boss because some of the attack patterns felt next to impossible to not get hit on. Overall I enjoyed the DLC, but there were fights who I just found frustrating if visually amazing... just wish I had more time to admire then before getting stomped into the dirt

[@Dragonsworn864]

That flowers lady took me some time, and I gave up going solo

[@sneaky5141]

if it wasnt fromsoft you wouldnt be so kind. people admitted dark souls 2s faults and now ER isdoing the same thing but more and worse and people are lapping it up

[@JayAllenification]

Never played a souls game prior to Elden Ring. I avoided them until I heard Elden Ring was an open world. I leveled up, worked out a few builds and beat it. I approached the DLC the same way and have beat all the bosses up to Messmer. The only boss that was broken was Commander Giaus I would dodge and he would still hit me. Literally needed luck to beat him

[@TravisSgyatt]

Good on you man. I agree giaus was a chore. And until you had a good bit of st-fragments, bayle was pretty rough too. Good luck with radahn man. It took me 50 tries maybe more. But once you do beat him and have his moves down, everything else in the game becomes slow in comparison

[@JayAllenification]

@@TravisSgyatt I hear he’s the hardest FromSoftware boss ever. If I beat him, I might have enough courage to finally try Sekiro!

[@lordcraigdragneel136]

@@JayAllenification which attack did you think was broken , if i may ask ?

[@Unhinged_cult]

Man you should give the others a try they are really good too Personally dark soul 3 and 2 are my favorites and ds1 is unique

[@Kyron-qh3sn]

there are ways to dodge it its just difficult

[@onemanjam_music]

Golden braid was a game changer

[@kiddtrunks6043]

Absolutely insane on elden beast

[@sneaky5141]

i can even live 2 hits of physicall from the fucker either way

[@Corazon-6]

This DLC i have no words to describe how much he is perfect

[@issi529]

Very good but not perfect at all.

[@TheStraightestWhitest]

@@issi529 About as close as it gets. Nothing is perfect, but if I had to start listing complaints, it'd take me a while, and the only one I'd come up with would probably be that I'd personally like juuuust a bit more downtime on boss aggression or smaller gap closers on their attacks so we can heal/buff mid-fight a bit better.

[@CreativeUsernameEh]

@@TheStraightestWhitestnah. Lots of weak incantations, underwhelming weapons, not many new ones (one new scythe!) explorating little nooks and crannies has nothing there when it would in the base game, loot is pointless crafting materials (who ever crafts?? We don’t care!) and the story, oh man the story is so obviously a retcon and not their original draft. And personally I despise the verticality map design. Very few caves too. It is “more Elden Ring” that’s all. Saying it is perfect… Elden Ring was a great game so there being more isn’t a bad thing The difficulty isn’t too bad, but I explored a lot and had a +10 Dung Eater and fought with 15 Scadu and 6 Spirit Ashes.

[@kishinasura1989]

Here brother take this axe we got some big fire boys to chop down daddy wants those new flask tears 😂

[@gofish2365]

Great stuff Jake. ER is my first souls like and first open world game. It was a challenge for me and truly thought about quitting multiple times. But I stuck with it and love it. I'm sure this will be true of the DLC. I'm only about 10 hours in and I'm looking forward to the next 60/70. I'm super excited to see your lore videos on the DLC. Thank you.

[@Nathan_Coley]

As someone who's first Souls game is also Elden Ring (though not my first open world game) I agree with this take. I'm still in the base game and likely won't get to Shadow of The Erdtree for a few months yet I enjoy the challenge of the base game and I'm sure I'll enjoy the DLC nay expansion when I get to it. It's the hardest game I've ever played and if SOTE is harder still I'm here for it.

[@Huntxrd]

aye same here. i loved it so much i basically went into NG+ and NG+2 without hesitation, and its probably why ive been getting my ass kicked. but honestly i like it, i felt the base game got super easy once you caught on. this is a whole different game and im here for it

[@gofish2365]

@user-ks8dk2gp9l well excuse the shit out me. Great community there! Thanks for the correction.

[@JuliusKingsleyXIII]

I think its disengenius to speak as if nothing has changed sbout the series from Denons Souls to now. It clearly has. The series has always been challenging yes, but it was not originally designed to he srbitrarily difficult or to require a high level of mechanical skill. Compare hmthe boss fights in Demons Souls to Elden Ring and the difference is night and day. Obviously things evolve over time, but the bosses have dvolved exponentially faster and greater than the player has. They have virtually no recovery at all, infinite pose/hyper armor, infinite stamina and superhuman agility plus deal massive damage. The player can finally jump, thats about it. The level of mechanical skill required has reached a peak level and its partially just because of the difference in ability between the player and the enemies. Meanwhile, the "built in difficulty slider" has never been worse. Spirit Summons range from "beating the boss for you" to "doing nothing at all" if what I hear about the final boss of the DLC is true. So you don't even really have the choice to modulate the challenge to your own skill level anymore. Meanwhile, the cult of From will Sekiro deflect any and all criticsm with "git gud" even if someone already has -- like myself -- beaten the game with no summons or spirit ashes. But I havent done it at level 1 so maybe I havent even really beaten the game.

[@Hoonter101]

Good take

[@slart1bartfast587]

Well, first off, i don't think people primary complain about it being "too hard", they complain about it being fundamentaly broken when it comes to boss fights. The hard but fair principle just doesn't hold anymore if the enemy boss input read, has insane tracking, does 10 hit wombo combos, aoe spams all over the place, has gap closers, teleports and you are rolling around like a moron 90% of the time, all while trying to manage a completely broken camera. It's the same issues people had already with the ER late game bosses like Malenia, Maliketh or Elden Beast, just cranked up to 15 in the DLC. Secondly, the mixed reviews are a really really bad sign and should tell FS something. Because the access to the DLC is being gatekept behind quite a bit of achievement in the base game. So the people rating have played and largely lauded the base game. It's not casuls with 10 hours in Souls games that are complaining it's too hard. It's people with 100+ hours (or even more) who are complaining that the game just doesn't feel fair. That beating a boss doesn't feel like an achievement but rather a relief of a chore. Not good. People who were following Reddit or KZbin essays and similar media about the basegame already realized that a lot of people were shouting it from the rooftops: these boss designs are unfun, feel unfair and leave you with a sour taste in your mouth. But FS didn't listen and doubled down hard on it. Hence the reviews.

[@derekfrost7751]

i loved the dlc and i used my summons every time and the hound dash for the final boss (its much more comfortable than dodging with his speed), dont let weirdos in internet to shame you for using the tools that the game give you to have fun

[@slart1bartfast587]

@@derekfrost7751 That's part of the problem for me. For instance I tried Messmer without mimic tear like 30 times. I only got to the second phase once and was instadeleted. Then I used Mimic tear and beat him 2nd try completely trivializing the fight. I am having fun, mostly. I just wish they wouldn't put so much focus on making the bosses unfairly "hard" (which you then can completely offset with for instance mimic tear) but rather make them challenging and fun. Just compare it to Sekiro - Sword Saint Isshin, Owl, Lady Butterfly, Guardian Ape, Corrupted Monk, etc. - are all hard and challenging, but it's tons of fun to figure them out and work towards beating them. But Messmer? Radahn? Rellana? Half the time I don't even know what's happening on my screen because of the AOE, the relentless dashing/teleporting around and the insane flow chart like 7 hit wombo combos. Maybe I am just bad. I have no problem getting smashed into a pulp by a boss, but when I feel that I learned nothing from it for the next encounter...well, that's just bad.

[@BaldorfBreakdowns]

Weird, only boss I'd even consider calling broken is Commander Giaus and the Golden Hippo (which has been patched). Every other boss has been fine. Can you give a single example of input reading? I haven't noticed any. If you're "rolling around like a moron" you aren't playing properly. The camera is in your control. You choose when it locks on or off. Also, how come the camera is manageable for me? Yes, this DLC is ER cranked up. What did you expect? Mixed reviews are a bunch of different problems. It's not everyone saying one thing. Apparently a significant amount of the reviews are Chinese complaining about anti-cheat or something. It's not too hard. And Mohg and Radahn hardly gatekeep the DLC. If you can't beat them, you're going to get destroyed by the regular mobs. If you have 100+ hours and think this is too hard, you need to get better or use more of the tools available to you. Beating bosses felt good to a lot of people too. Why are we ignoring the positive reviews? If you find the bosses unfun and unfair, stop playing. The game is not for you. Lots of us find it fun and fair. Please stop trying to take our fun away. You can play other games.

[@ADAM1991ah]

I have never understood that toxic part of the community that are against spirit summons, it is a part of the game right?

[@sanguineregis5354]

I kind of get it, as in the base game a fully upgraded mimic tear used to trivialize alot of fights, but it hasnt been that way in a looooong time now

[@BaldorfBreakdowns]

@@sanguineregis5354 It trivializes a lot of the fights for you. Not for everyone. Some people need all the tools they can get. Not everyone can solo the bosses.

[@sanguineregis5354]

@@BaldorfBreakdowns No im referring to the day 1 mimic tear that would literally solo half the bosses in this game for you. Damn thing was busted back then, but it got nerfed substantially and has been a strong but not broken tool since. Unless you summon it in arena pvp in which case Fuck You.

[@hansennoah1]

Honestly its kind of fromsofts way of putting an easy mode in their game. I used it for my first 10 bosses and then after a while i felt bad and felt a lack of accomplishment that i was 1/2 trying everything so i just stopped using it by choice. Unless a boss is bullshit which i havent encountered any yet.

[@darkwraith9548]

All bosses are fair and difficult. Messmer might be one of my favorites in ER now. All of them feel good to defeat and are fair. Except the final boss. That's literal unenjoyable trash. The second phase is literally Bed of Chaos level.

[@agtjake]

I personally like the last boss. Didn't at first, but once I took the time to learn everything about the movement patterns, I'm already close to a no-hit run. Someone has already done it actually!

[@9xkysR]

cope

[@sir_gort]

I feel the same. However, parrying REALLY helps. This is like a Lady Maria situation imo where parry makes the fight much more bearable whereas without it is a freight train of nope.

[@darkscoutergamer6168]

The last boss had me fighting for my life haha but in the end I enjoyed how crazy and cool it was,definitely at times feels too much I will agree 🤣💀 but overall I didn’t hate him compared to others like the avatar or gaius

[@diegomittelstaedt5877]

That second phase is total garbage

[@zath6425]

Yeah I'm sorry the final boss is incredibly unfair. Even at 20 Scad levels with a fully optimized build, mimic tear, the 'lore item', and a tailored strategy, this boss is unfair. Why? Visual clutter. In phase two it's legit impossible to see anything he's doing, and your frames are being shredded on top of this.

[@numaruldoi3031]

bosses being hard aint the problem, being unfun is. the combos are unrelentless and unending. the gaps between em so small that u flat-out cant even use most of the weapon skills, ashes of war, incantations or spells. all u can do is dodge to no end and do a small poke from time to time...

[@chuanhu6266]

totally agree, but bad review should not be a surprise. I geniuly believe that most people who play the elden ring are not traditional souls players. They come to play the game because of hype and the base game is much easier. so this is understandable.

[@cynreiusacari3163]

@chuanhu6266 I watch more lore videos than play the games. I bought the game and dlc together last week of May so I could see the lore for myself before checking out the videos. It’s surprisingly accessible and it isn’t difficult to level the blessings through exploration. With that said, I stopped at Malenia’s boss room and haven’t defeated the fire giant yet to get a clearer picture to make my decision. I’ve made it through a few bosses and I am working on Messmer and exploring.

[@jfknvd726]

I'm a tradional souls player since the original demons souls, the dlc was fun till radhan and it would have made me give it a bad review

[@artiscool6873]

@@jfknvd726 bad review cause of a single boss, cringe

[@Based_investor]

​@@jfknvd726embarrassing

[@chuanhu6266]

​@@jfknvd726 I can relate, some of the boss fights especially the boss's move set, is just too difficult to read and respond. The learning curve for some boss fights is too steep to be fun anymore. If you design a game the difficulty level between boss fights should be progressive and feel a sense of accomplishment. But not for this dlc.

[@Bstreisand1]

Bro I’m sorry, you’ve been through the DLC FOUR TIMES?

[@RabbiRegan]

This is a great take on this, I like the idea of our "Levels" to be rune based aka Erdtree based vs Scadutree based.

[@enman009]

This is the same thing that happened to Monster Hunter World, DS3 and Bloodborne: new harder bosses appear and they're impossible broken until someone (you, the player) learns how to consistently fight and win. Hitboxes for *some* attacks may need a bit of tweaking, but so far these bosses are excellent. And yeah, that discovery of Marika's place, it's probably one of the most rewarding experiences I've had in any videogame, period.

[@KNGDDDE]

Dude you guys are coping so fxcking hard. This dlc is cheap af like ds1 and 2, THATS WHAT PPL DONT ENJOY. The issue is that everything is tuned to kill you. Dungeons full of ganks, hidden enemies and cheap shots everywhere, constant perched range enemies. How many projectile have retxrd tracking? ALL OF THEM! 💀😂😂 Tf are you ppl smoking, this shxt is 30% and 70% realizing the boss of this area I just mopped is 5 scadu fragments higher than the dungeon... Leading most ppl taking on ridiculous challenge just to not feel like they wasted they're time pushing thru these long, CHEAP, TAXING aas stretches of endurance where the boss fog requires a stake of Marika. Also, only boss victories transport u back, meaning that if u do get effed by scadu level ur aas is MANUALLY booting back to the open world... Hard? FOH bro this shxt is straight up aggravating. And I'm getting the fxcking frags lol, my 1st 18hrs was defined by how shxt you are until frag level +10.

[@Tokyoprism]

The problem is that there isn’t increase in reward to match the increase in difficulty. So many of the bosses I finished & walked away feeling empty because they drop nothing interesting. I’m like 30 hours into the dlc & I’m so underwhelmed by the amount of new cosmetics I’ve found. Wish they’d cut out a little of the time spent designing empty landmass & spent more of that making armors. Also, the lack of alterations for armors is a big let down. Oath-seeker would’ve been perfect with a cape, & raksasha would’ve been perfect without the skirt

[@CreativeUsernameEh]

I agree. But hey atleast when we can get Mesmers Helmet we can alter it to remove his toupee off it, unlike Godfrey and Malenias hats. It’s a shame they focused so much on really irritating vertical world design with no rewarding loot (other than Scadutree and Ashes upgrades) instead of fashion and lore.

[@Kotoy1]

ledas armor is oathseekers with a cape

[@BaldorfBreakdowns]

Well that's just a massive you problem. I thought the vast majority of rewards were cool and fun to try out. Also, they made tons of new armor, what are you on about? What cosmetics?

[@ninvusoogoar6098]

the reason people are complaining is very simple and im shocked there are dumb people who cant understand the basic complaints. why are all the souls like games not made by fromsoft either trash or just not close enough to being good? well souls like games are a balance between 4 things - challenge - difficulty - fairness - animations/mobility just screwing up ONE of the above can throw the entire experience out of wack. the DLC is not very difficult, it is challenging, but its screws up the fairness aspect. the aggro of enemies, certain arenas being really bad for the camera, little to no breathing room for attacking unless you use certain weapons (slower weapons and pure casters will have it rough in this DLC) and oppressive attack patterns... the DLC in many areas is very over tuned and we will be seeing some nerfs and re balancing patches in the future like with every single fromsoft DLC... because MANY of the new spells and items are either trash or are bugged to high hell. the fairness is whats out of balance with everything else. i have beat the DLC 3 times (base game, NG+ and NG+ 2 and almost done with NG+3) i beat the dlc as a pure dragon communion build (not recommended if you want to keep your hair lol)... another issue is the and lets be perfectly honest here, the GIMMICK shard system is really stupid and injects artificial difficulty/unfairness into the DLC for many. and before people stupidly mention "they need to git gud and adapt bro!" well elden ring actively punishes you for adapting and changing builds... how so? well larval tears are a limited resource, the DLC adds SOME but as far as i can tell the DLC does not offer a unlimited supply.... meaning you only get what? 19 respects in the base game and maybe half that with the DLC? (correct me if im wrong and they added a bell baring for larval tears!) so trying to test new weapons in this DLC is just not viable in a single play through and many MANY play styles in base elden ring are not viable in the DLC even with max DLC shard upgrades. and not only is it a gimmick its also a cheap way to pad out the time spent in the DLC and feels horrible for many people used to base game elden ring. for people having trouble, do not let these low IQ, knuckle dragging, drooling morons shame you for using summons and golden sign summons for the DLC bosses, you would be surprised how many of them either cant win, or have cheated to win, or so over leveled that they are in the lvl 300's. take advantage of everything the game offers you and dont be shamed into anything. if you are really struggling and ran out of larval tears, i suggest using the merchants mod on the nexus website and use it purely to get 600 larval tears so you can respect as much as you want (ignore the DLC items, or dont) so you can respect endlessly to find a build perfect for you!

[@a_angry_bunny]

This guy beat the dlc four times before I beat Mesmer.

[@myztiklee]

and then no hit Messmer, just to add some salt in that wound for you fren 😏😂

[@a_angry_bunny]

@zenny_ox Technically, I haven't actually fought Mesmer myself. But I've been summoned there as I activated the summoning statue there and skipped away to less brooding pastures.

[@blackmoon2128]

Honestly, I refuse to call it "hard", because it makes the fanboys a little riled up. A lot of it isn't hard at all, just badly design and anonying, and can still be trivialized if you cheese enough. Bad hitboxes, bosses that keep running away or not letting you hit, it isn't hard, it's just boring. The thing is, while some of the bosses are the best they ever did, like Mesmer, some are by far the worse, and some are just outright mediocre. For instance, amazing how they allowed torrent to be used against the elden beast, but have another boss just like him with the same problems in putrescent knight. It can be easy and trivialized for sure, but it's just boring to fight him, constantly running away, constantly having to chase him, and sometimes you just don't hit him even though you clearly did because reasons. That last boss was clearly rushed and badly made, lorewise and gameplay wise. A lot of the bad reviews are completely justified pointing this out, just like performance issues and so forth. Amazing how this is one of the only companies whose products can't be criticized because fanboys will rush to justify anything about it. And in this regard, the mixed reviews are totally deserved, because for every "bad review" that is just someone bitching that's hard because they didn't collect enough fragments, there are 10 fanboys blindly praising it so they cancel each other out. The reviews justifiably praising or criticizing it are balanced, because the game clearly has good points, but also clearly has a lot of issues. Fortunately, a lot of those issues can be solved with patches (bad hitboxes or behaviours for instance), others, like the attrocious lore they made and character assassination to boot, cannot.

[@Markadown]

Great video, man. I can't wait to see what drops when all of you piece together the lore because as much as I've grabbed, explored, and read, I am still dum-dum lol

[@rohansensei5708]

I think why even some Fromsoft fans like me don't like what's going on Elden Ring is because Fromsoft games were evolving into amazing duel fights and was focused on the ''difficult but fair'' fights and this peaked in Sekiro. Meanwhile Elden Ring focues so much on the openworld that they make this insufferable bosses that to make people force to explore the world and prepare some op build and summons to slap the f*ck out the bosses. Back in Dark Souls 3 you were supposed to just upgrade your weapon and you were usually good to go with some investments but you weren't able to demolish bosses with it. Now that they give you the ability to totally destroy the bosses they make the bosses hyperaggressive, kill you in 2-3 hits with all they unnecessarily flashy and camera-f*cking animations that blinds you. Elden Ring's exploration is, I think, even better than Zelda now but boss quality is so below than Ds3 and Sekiro. Last boss (I think everyone know who but not gonna spoile anyways) is the second worst boss in Fromsoft history (first phase is fine but oh the second phase...) and only second to Bed of Chaos. Even the people no damaged it admits it was total bs.

[@Nolimitsbestfriend]

finally a good video about the mixed reviews on steam thank u AgtJake

[@vol8247]

I dont know about other people, but i love the dlc. It's an open world, so of course, ur going to need to explore to get stronger. Similarly, i like a lot of the new bosses, except giant bosses since the camera always becomes annoying to deal with. The biggest thing i hate is the visual clutter of some bosses, like the final boss, second phase, and bayle. But im sure that is just the game being 3 days old, and I'll come to like the bosses as i continue to play.

[@No_Relation_666]

I do think it should be possible to either summon marika or ranni in the final fight,

[@joshuairwin3385]

“Committing scooter ankle” is now my favorite thing ever

[@FenixTheHelmetGuy747]

The bosses being “unfair” like undodgable attacks made me change my build to tank that, and honestly it’s was probably the most fun I’ve ever had in a souls-like. Trying out new builds until something works, it was fun, it was like playing a whole new game My only 2 complains are the bug and performance, and this might be a nitpick, but I think that all dlc weapons should drop already as level 9/25, it’s annoying to farm runes and level up every single one of ‘em to try out

[@BaldorfBreakdowns]

That's when I get excited by a boss. I can't beat it with my build I've been fine tuning? Either I gotta buckle down and get better or I need to start experimenting and find stronger stuff. Which is a win/win, since it means I get to play the game more!

[@joshuagunthner1838]

I get the sentiment and agree... but my guy you beat it 4 times since friday? Maybe your assessment is a bit off from your average player lol. This is like Tiger woods explaining how to hit hit a ball 500 yards... "first hit it 500 yards, then make sure to not hit it more than 500 yards"... The bosses for me are fine, especially for how little time I have in it vs the base game so I wasn't expecting to own. But as whiny of some of the reviews are, some of you are acting like there isnt a challenge at all... I find neither opinion useful or helpful in any way.

[@BaldorfBreakdowns]

Yeah, but you wouldn't take a Tiger Woods and then complain it's too hard. Unless your brain is smooth.

[@kirksentz5485]

I love the dlc my only gripe is the enormous areas of emptiness. Cerulean coast, Abyssal woods, the finger monument’s. I think it was a missed opportunity.

[@KNGDDDE]

I like how they use a mesmer drop to point u in the right direction. I definitely didn't run around 5 hrs trying to figure out where to go or nothing. Now I gotta find the old ruah ruins... I always get lost in these fxcking games man and this map alone puts that shxt on steroids.

[@Ministern-]

How about we dont berate the people who have been suffering trying to learn the complex and aggressive moveset of the boss and instead accept that this creature is a tad bit on the hardest boss made side, my only complaint is that he kills the framerate whenever a mirage attack is used...

[@BaldorfBreakdowns]

The framerates are pretty much my only real complaint :(

[@lost_moss_head8393]

I must have a major skill issue.. I explored the whole map and have almost all scadutree fragments. I’ve also killed all the bosses but I’m stuck on radahn

[@BaldorfBreakdowns]

I'm nearly there with you. 19/20, but stuck on Radahn. Dude's kicking my ass! But overcoming the challenge is the best part!

[@broen6914]

I love this dlc. Not even done yet, but it is such an amazing and beautiful experience, might even call it better than the base game. Just defeated Bayle in 2 tries.

[@thetriplea9928]

I agree with you in sense that exploration is part of the game, however even putting +40hours, you WILL miss some fragments. If the fragments worked like golden seed in main game, where there are more than you actually need, it'll work greatly. Some of the fragment placements are outride ridiculous , for such item that is critical to progression.

[@themockingdragon135]

I have to say that's probably the most significant adjustment I would make. You can be sure that there will be fragments and revered ashes at golden crosses or the corpse statues, but not even close to all of them. The vast majority of golden seeds were at the small trees, and you never found sacred tears anywhere besides churches. And like you say, you really do need almost all fragments and ashes or else you and your spirits will be ground into paste in the DLC. So for them to be harder to find makes the whole point of exploring to find them much harder. I'd suggest either making these items a tad easier to find or just reducing the amount that are needed to be fully blessed, because if you have to look up a guide to find all of a critical item then frankly that's not good design.

[@DreadGB]

That talisman is every bit worth it, you saved me from going insane, thanks a ton!

[@kiyotakaayanokoji2791]

Do you play on NG+7? My first run was NG+7 with a night comet build, cleared every boss EXCEPT Radhan... I literally had to swap to a great shield / spear cheese build to defeat him... every youtube I've watched were people clearing him on normal game though... NG+7 is completely different though, not even comparable I'd say

[@DataDrain02]

Hm... so, would that build be fine in NG? I'm using that same build. Occasionally swapping to a Twin Wings of Astel build. I frankly don't want to completely respec my character to beat the final boss....

[@Ntwolf1220]

@@DataDrain02you will be fine on NG with any build you are good with.

[@StopTheTapes]

Somewhat true make sure your at least scadutree level 18 too. I tried at 15, couldn’t beat him then went to find more fragments. Ended up beating him finally at 18 and it helped a lot and kept me from re speccing with my current build.

[@wonderingjibril1210]

I think it's just people preferences of playing honestly. Some people like the hard content and they're going to adapt and get over dying again and again. But some people don't like that some people like to have maximal skill and damage and basically enjoy seeing that power boost. And I think the game knows that with the way we can boost our power at different areas. But you can't be mad at people for writing out how they feel. When I first entered the DLC zone I made it to the end of the field that you first started right before the road before being murked by an enemy that came out of the ground. I wasn't angry because I expected something like that and he got me just when I was about to kill him. This made me go into the DLC a bit differently playing more cautious and also looking around to make sure I was spotting the enemy and this is coming from someone who rarely locks onto an enemy. But it made me change my playing style and I think that goes to say that the DLC is truly different with the way some of the enemies are and that's a big skill jump. So I'm not saying that I find the DLC bad I accidentally enjoying it quite a lot. But I can understand why people are complaining. If this is your first souls game it makes a lot more sense as well. The main game was a lot more for giving in certain areas, This DLC made it so you have to engage in the map You have to explore You're going to have fear a lot of fear because it's a real chance you're going to get murked. And it's been exciting for me I'm exploring the map trying not to get kicked off alleges and also trying not to be creeped out by some of the enemies that come out of the shadows very quickly. So yeah it makes sense unfortunately, hopefully in a week or so everybody will adjust to the level of difficulty.

[@PaxBisonica89]

People acting like steam ratings is some holy grail will never not be funny

[@SGT_Squid_Dog]

A lot of bad reviews are from Simplified Chinese players who can't play the game because of the Easy Anti-Cheat. Because 32% of the Chinese reviews are positive, I suppose that means that most of those people were using cheats.

[@misulikesduxz2268]

Beating the dlc 4 times already is crazy love the video

[@bloodheal7]

My thoughts also, I’ve managed to squeeze 30 hours in around my work schedule and just beat midra. 4 complete playthroughs is bonkers

[@NightDocs]

Old Hunters was objectively harder you’re all insane

[@LethalEagleSW]

I’m still on my first playthrough of Elden Ring, for a while I had quit at the draconic tree sentinel, I have since then(in the past few weeks) progressed all the way to maliketh and I’m determined to beat the game then buy the dlc! Love the Vids Man🗣️🔥! Elden Ring is Such a Beautiful Game🤌

[@BaldorfBreakdowns]

Good luck!

[@LethalEagleSW]

@@BaldorfBreakdowns I barely beat radabeast today😊

[@BaldorfBreakdowns]

@@LethalEagleSW Hell yeah! Hang on to your butt in the DLC, shits no joke!

[@Soviet628]

I’m not gonna lie, even after knowing what I do, seeing how when you kill Radahn and Miquella, Miquella kinda hugs radahns head like their seeking comfort in their final moments or something and how Miquella if they grab you just convinces you to join them instead of just killing you, and how the emote is called ‘Let us go, together’ I may have cried for a few minutes when I killed them.

[@hmminterestinginterestingi3023]

I feel a lot of the criticism outside of the difficulty stems from the final boss (BIG SPOILERS): I feel as though people who don’t care about the lore (valid by the way) feel as though Radahn is a cheap asspull, poorly made, rushed, or reliant on spectacle. Sure there may be some small part of something in there that’s true, but this is the way GRRM wrote Radahn, Mohg, and Miquella. From my understanding, the Radahn we fight is basically still a freshly revived corpse being puppeteer’d by Miquella to serve as her consort. Some people say that he has stiff animations and bad move sets, I haven’t fought him enough to really confirm the second point but the first point is just not true, it’s objectively well made and if you have a problem with it it’s your opinion, not fact. To the point about it being reliant on spectacle, of course the fight is going to be a crazy spectacle, it’s the end of the only DLC for Elden ring and essentially the final note of the Elden Ring franchise (as far as we know). I’m sure there’s bias with what I’m saying becuase I’m very happy with everything. I love the base game, the DLC, and this work as a whole. I’ll be playing it plenty until the day I die.

[@thesis_gaia7960]

Im surprised that ppl came to the DLC expecting it to be ez, like, its FromSoft, yall didn't learn?

[@LockeTheAuthentic]

The difficulty complaints seem to be around the difficulty being contrived. Elden Lord candidate needs to collect mcguffins because \this/ is the rough neighbourhood Maybe we're not worthy of the throne. Maybe we've been lame all along.

[@Based_investor]

If it was contrived then we won't see players beat it as a solo wretch with a banana (which I guarantee we will). People are just mad their level 700 character on ng +7 is getting annihilated without the scadutree fragments. Souls dlcs are always the hardest part. Going in on ng+ or higher their 1st time is just incredibly idiotic.

[@LockeTheAuthentic]

​@@Based_investor You misunderstand the meaning of contrived here. I'm not saying its hard because its hard, its hard because you need new currency to purchase new currency thing. It's busy work. Its disconnected and unnecessary. Its bothersome. But worst of all its narratively dissonant. All the work before has proven to be worthless because /reasons\. I sure am glad we have new currency to make number bigger though. Maybe they could have just kept the normal challenge without the gimmicks? It could have saved them some development time and lose nothing of value.

[@CreativeUsernameEh]

Unfortunately there’s no option to yield the way to miquella So gl collect those fragments and become Elden Lord (literally just sitting on a chair, mute, with no audience) worst ending From a gameplay perspective I get it though, it normalizez difficultty so that the DLC isn’t either impossible unless you grind runes or too easy if you’re level 713. The fragments determining power means you have to start over somewhat: pretend you’re low level cautiously exploring a new world.

[@BaldorfBreakdowns]

@@LockeTheAuthentic "Wah, wah, I don't want to engage with new mechanics! Why can't my character just be strong enough! I don't want to actually play the game! Waaaah!"* Fixed your comment for ya.

[@ToadimusPrime]

It's not difficult as much as it's bullshit. A lot of enemies, and some bosses, have what appears to be bullshit attacks attack patterns. I don't mind a boss being difficult but fair (like Godfrey)...but goddamn Radahn is just plain unfair. And a lot of regular enemies just have seemingly infinite chain attacks and if one hits you, you're dead. Not to mention that most of the time, due to so many effects going on, you literally can't even see some attacks coming. So I'd say it's more bullshit than difficult.

[@bbjuice7837]

The main issue is i just don't feel strong enough. I've done my best to scour the lands as thoroughly as I can for weapons, incantations, spells, consumables, anything, but i still get annihilated pretty fast by most of the bosses. Realistically it's probably a skill issue but most of the bosses i try I manage to get to around a third of their health before dying so idk what i'm doing wrong, exactly. Perhaps i just need to practice and try until I win. But throwing yourself at a boss for hours just isn't that fun after a while.

[@CreativeUsernameEh]

My advice is… shields! They’re pretty great. And you will feel very badass blocking a boss onslaught and then retaliating instead of somersaulting constantly like you’re a one of those lightning sheep!

[@derekfrost7751]

i strongly suggest that in the final battle dont summon npcs, only you spirit ash, i wasted two hours fighting a behemot with over 100000 hp because the summons increase the health and the npc didnt do that much damage

[@Fullmetal_pharmacist]

Why rate it badly because of the bosses? I don't get it. The game isn't just about the bosses. The exploration, lore and world are just so amazing. It's honestly overwhelming the amount of content in the dlc

[@farmsalot1233]

Every criticism is valid, even if I disagree. You're not upgrading by beating enemies; you're doing it by exploring. Elden Ring didn't need to force you to explore as it was already part of the game. They should have just let you use runes to upgrade. Alot of souls games dlc are at the end of these games. This isnt unique by making it in the center or after beating a few bosses People arent refusing to explore they love exploring they dont want that type of upgrade gimmick

[@nakiangoderich3014]

You can still upgrade, your stats still matter, 60 vigor and 70 can make the difference between a one shot or not. And ever heard of Golden Seeds? You won’t last long in the base game without enough flask upgrades, this is the same thing but as scadu fragments 😂

[@BaldorfBreakdowns]

So if I critsize it for not being a turned based RPG it's valid?

[@CoffeeBrainzz]

I’m sad the story trailer set up questions we NEVER even touched upon in the slightest!!!! Nothing about the castle where the dew drips. NOTHING with Marika becoming a god at the Divine Gate, we didn’t even get the story trailer cutscene in the game! We also did see that scene where we saw a golden figure who we thought was an adult Miquella unveiling the shadow tree, like WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT!!!!! Where was the story/painting with Midras and Marika? What was the betrayal she made and to who??? The only thing I was able to pull together was that MESSMER is possibly the child of Marika and Frenzied Lord Midras!! And Melina is Messmers sister. So the smoldering butterflies DO represent Melina and the Black Pyre butterflies are for Messmer.

[@reasonablechristianity]

Dismissing a criticism as subjective doesn't do what you think it does, as you yourself said fun is a purely subjective metric as such all that which you talked about the overcoming of challenges, the rewarding etc. etc. are subjective as well. So while you are praising the DLC for those things, some not enjoy them as you do, so they see it in a negative light. There is no role in which objectivity plays a part in this outside the game's existence and that's fine, people are allowed to like what they like and not like what they don't and voice their opinions on the matter.

[@BaldorfBreakdowns]

So who should From listen to? The people not having fun and saying it's too hard instead of articulating real arguments? Or the people having fun engaging with the challenge?

[@reasonablechristianity]

​@@BaldorfBreakdowns I wouldn't know anything about that, what they should do, well they know that best. I was simply pointing out that nothing was refuted in the video, nor was anything shown to be objectively true. People are allowed to review the game, whether that is positive or negative would depend on whether they enjoyed it or not. It is all subjective and that is fine.

[@cjsayers3346]

Ive gotten a fair way into the Dlc and I still think the new blessing system is bad. Or at least badly implemented. I walked into the Dlc and was immediately kicked in the dick by multiple, singular enemies right off the bat. Which IS a change from at least the Dlc packs for ds3. I get the asylum demon argument but it's fucking redundant to put in "intro dick kickers" like this when the DLC requires you to play about halfway through in order to access it. Tldr; the new blessing system should've been zoned out into tiers of increasing difficulty. As is, the system feels bad, it feels like an artificial inflation in difficulty. Like fromsoft had to create a problem to then "solve it" with this new blessing system.

[@Pedro-jy6ev]

My problem isn't the bosses, the bosses 2 shooting you or 3 shooting you can be annoying but hey it's a boss... but regular mobs 2 shooting you? Sometimes 1 shooting you is absolutely ridiculous

[@BaldorfBreakdowns]

Collect Scadutree Fragments and put on higher defense armor and/or talismans.

[@jondebeer6863]

Like always, it's different people saying different things. The DLC has a lot of artificial difficulty, more than ever before, but is otherwise a marvelous piece of art. That's going to devide the consumer base. It reminds me of games like the binding of Isaac. It started great, but with every dlc, the game got longer, and the bosses were less fun and more tedious. Some like it, some don't. Reviews are dominated by what the game offers in the first few hours. The base game had a mild learning curve, and the first few bosses were relatively easy. The DLC gives you a miniboss that can oneshot you, and the first boss is one of those 300 combo attacks at light speed guys. The story people who aren't really fans will write about these scenarios will be very different.

[@daniellockwood7061]

When people say the game is "Too Hard" and give it a bad review they aren't giving it a bad review because of how hard it is. "It's too hard" in reality translates to "this isn't fun". I don't think the DLC is too hard, it's a video game and all of the bosses are beatable in a reasonable amount of time. But i do think there is an argument that certain bosses are not fun.

[@remasterzoofrombo152]

Which ones

[@blazetanuki_4567]

@@remasterzoofrombo152 Commander Gaius, Consort Radahn, and the Golden Hippopotamus

[@jfknvd726]

@remasterzoofrombo152 Radhan, he is the one true problem in this dlc. Every other boss is doable with a lot of different builds and strats you just have to learn but radian is just bleed. I haven't seen anyone who didn't abuse a heavy bleed weapon to kill him. Don't know how a int spell caster will kill him, at least faith has blade of death, black flames and scarlet aeonia to do max health dame but int ain't got shit

[@iiiiiiiiiilililli]

@@jfknvd726 dark moon greatsword

[@jfknvd726]

@@iiiiiiiiiilililli literally what about it? Frost is not a good enough status on its own

[@ericjensen7580]

I disagree that it is harder than the base game. Working in the last boss now. The dragon took me 30 tries. Messmer took me 20. Most of the rest took 10ish tries. A few took fewer than 5. Melania took me 100+ tries and Radagon took me 50 my first playthrough (solo). Horah Loux took me 15ish i think. These bosses seem easier now, but we've had 2 years of learning about their moves and digging into different builds.

[@proctorritter5176]

Radahn’s second phase feels like Gael’s final phase if the amount of bullshit he threw at you was multiplied by 6 and the amount of fun you experience during the fight was divided by 9

[@sparxskywriter2589]

No the amount of fun YOU experienced was divided. Don't you speak for me or anybody else

[@xeox4280]

No​@@sparxskywriter2589

[@BaldorfBreakdowns]

Gael's third phase is frikking awesome. Git gud.

[@tibz7634]

Ofcourse, here come the nerds with made up stories to give the game a pass on why its unfair as fuck.

[@Thial1000]

6:20 So if people were to actually die their souls would end up in the Land of Shadow? So Godwyns soul after he died but not his body could have ended up there and Miquella could have used Mohgs body to give Godwyn a new vessel to live in right? I really wanted him to be the final boss so bad I am so confused we got a guy that Miquella send someone to assassinate as a final boss instead, especially since were already used to his moveset by now. Some spirit dude in Castle Sol literally says: “Lord miquella, forgive me. The sun has not been swallowed. Our prayers are lacking Your comrade remains soulless… I will never set my eyes upon it now… Your diving Haligtree.” I with all of my lore knowledge which includes that of the DLC I thought that implied Miquella sent Malenia to defeat Radahn so that the stars can be come unlocked and an eclipse can finally happen so that Godwyn could be revived, then his new vessel could be Mohgs body instead of his old one. I'm pretty sure Radahn had a soul this whole time but just under the influence of a lot of Scarlet Rot, his appearance came right out of left field. I wouldn't say I was robbed, just disappointed at something so many people speculated on and wanted to see for the longest time.

[@thewhitespectre]

Nope you are right. We were robbed, it would've made Infinite more sense for Godwyn to be the final boss, he's the first ever dead demigod in history so why wouldn't it make sense for him to be the last boss in a realm where all the dead go? Not to mention Miquella's character did a massive 360. He went from going all out to help Malenia and Godwyn, to all of a sudden only caring about becoming a god and glazing Radahn? Bro doesn't even mention either of his siblings, he *only* cares about Radahn in the entire dlc, and now it turns out Mohg was innocent this whole time? 🤨 This honestly felt rushed and put together last minute. Like they focused 95% on the gameplay and 5% on the lore. This in turn ruins the game because lore in a fromsoft game is very important, the base game was beautifully written and tbh, considering what we were given, they should've left it alone...

[@JayWhipp1e]

@@thewhitespectre youre just upset your head canon isnt correct, and youre making accusation after accusation about things you know nothing about and cant possibly prove. Im so glad real artists dont listen to the brain dead knuckle dragging opinions of their "fans". If they did, they'd have never gotten to where they were in the first place.

[@sebastianb.3978]

​@@thewhitespectreYou meant to say 180. If he did a 360 he'd end up at the same exact point as before xD

[@sootythunder3111]

I get the feeling that was possibly Miquella orginal goal to revive Godwyn however if I am to hazard a guess the rune of death that the black knives used disrupted this process, not just killing Godwyn but utterly destroying his soul, leading Miquella to use the next best thing and that was radhans soul

[@thewhitespectre]

@@JayWhipp1e Just because you decide to glaze everything Miyazaki and Fromsoft comes up with even if it doesn't make sense or ruined the original lore doesn't mean I have to. I bet I would come up with a much better ending than whatever you would intend for the dlc. Don't call me brain dead

[@Katahnz]

I love the DLC. Elden ring base is my favorite game of all time, and the dlc makes it way better. That being said, I wish it wasn’t AS hard as it is. I get their reasoning. I get WHY it’s hard. But I’m not a pro gamer. Im not 100% perfectly coordinated, and I don’t have infinite amounts of time to play. Hard is fine, but I would like a little lighter of a time.

[@NanaelSoloer]

The only thing that bothered me was the lack of lore, something deeply disappointing. As usual, lore ended up like a swiss cheese, with so many gaps you can barely make anything out of it.

[@Nolimitsbestfriend]

i think i only saw a painting in midras mansion XDXD

[@agtjake]

I thought there was a lot of new lore! Not much answered the questions I had beforehand, but once I accepted that and looked into what we did get, the lore is amazing imo!

[@npc6254]

We got a fair amount of stuff explained. We have a pretty good idea what the crucible is now; it’s either the scadutree itself or the divine gate. We know Marika was from the land of shadow. We know Melina is Messmer’s sister. A lot of stuff is a bit jumbled, I won’t deny it. The Radahn consort thing literally makes zero sense. It seems like FromSoftware originally intended for Godwyn to be the final boss but they changed it because of Radahn’s popularity. Miquella even says a line like “and now my brother’s soul is returned.” We know Godwin’s soul was killed.

[@Nolimitsbestfriend]

@@agtjake its so graceful for iam ungraceful

[@NanaelSoloer]

@baraovermelho3956 I am not saying there isn't lore, there definitively is, some of it is very good. But let us be honest, it is a fragment of the lore players deserved. How little we knew about miquella is how little we still know about other major characters, which deserved their lore to be completed. Now, all we have are theories, and I don't see another DLC coming for Elden Ring.

[@TheExFatal]

I could care less about the """"""lore"""""" reasons for the difficulty because in practice I'm forced to play Mario 64 where I collect a bunch of meaningless equivalents of Stars that artificially buff me when I have just enough. Sorry, that's just stupid.

[@stellaaria5929]

"skill issues" "bumrush" "beeline the boss"

[@punishedtrump8773]

Hard disagree when it comes to leaving bad reviews over difficulty. Shadow is harder than anything fromsoft has put out and making people go out of their way to explore is not for everybody. Some just want to go straight for all the story bosses. Feels like things are harder artificially just because of the whole "souls games being hard" meme/stigma that miyazaki had to keep upping the ante.

[@theredknight9314]

The consequences of going mainstream. A bunch of tourist scrubs salty that they have to play the game.

[@sir_gort]

FOR REAL! The same problem affecting more and more game communities over the past several years, changing those games, dumbing them down, etc. Fuckin tourists! Specific example would be Overwatch. It was once something special, now just feels like COD, especially when all of the effort is in monetization. Game removed what made it special (6v6), and now other team arena games (Marvel comes to mind) are offering similar things but with 6v6. Soon enough, the abomination that is OW2 shall bleed out and be left to rot. Sorry for the long rant. Just tired of things I once cared about being dumbed down (once again, due to fuckin tourists).

[@RickV-q5j]

Bruh. It never seems to dawn on me how dumb people can really be until times like these. Complaining about exploring in areas in a mother fucking open world game where you have to find shit. Then they can understand the trial and errors of fighting monsters. You gonna have to learn, or yes, you will suck ass. Like you not gonna just sit there and get hit by the same move the 100 time. You like eventually going have to just suck it up and dodge. Dodge and be good at it, bruh. Timing is everything.

[@JLDP666]

The difficulty is artificial, chief. I'm conquering and persevering too but that doesn't mean it isn't incredibly jarring to step in the Shadow Realm, get a few skibbidi fragments and some dumb nobody mob takes a third of my healthbar because MUH SOULS GAME HARD!!!!

[@krissis00]

I agree but still there are a lot of bosses that need to be fixed (gaius I'm looking at you) and some of them might actually seem unfair. Not because someone hasn't explored and upgraded the blessing but rather cause even while doing that, some bosses require you to go hitless or have luck. I've seen people being oneshoted with like 10000 vigor while the last time that same attack only took a third of their health. Yet it is true they should change their playstyle sometimes and venture into what the dlc new weapons and mechanics has to offer instead of trying to bonk every boss to death and complain because they can't beat it using the same playstyle they always use, of course is going to be harder that way.

[@rokumaygo7134]

People are saying difficulty is the problem….its FROMSOFTWARE! There known for this tiny series called dark souls where the difficulty is the selling point. This is that BS…Elden Ring is the easiest and friendliest game from Fromsoftware and now it’s gets a little harder and everyone cries and moans. Miss me with that crap.

[@aidanmaldonado9917]

I will say, my biggest disappointment may be Radhan himself . I was genuinely hoping godwyn would be some sort of “resurrected consort” because of stuff like the golden epitaph. The Radhan focus by miquella seems a little out of left field given what we had previously known.

[@lomarr332]

is dodge and poke really the new meta?

[@Keiuran]

I've looked through the reviews, and it seemed to me a majority of them were complaints about performance. There were some criticizing the gameplay and boss behavior/difficulty but those weren't the ones with most support from others.

[@mauromingo2904]

The review bombing is clear a coordinated campaign by people who never played and cared about the game. And are jealous of the success. I have criticism and that is that multiplayer is busted I wished they would add 6 players pvp

[@trustee8503]

This might anger a lot of people but just because the game has a high review rating doesn’t mean it’s a good game for you. Souls games is not for everyone and that’s perfectly okay, and I think a lot of people play souls games just people other people say it’s good and not because they actually like it

[@Sm0key_Rates]

Let’s be real the hardest part of Elden ring is just being a shitty MC. Literally if you had the same agility. As in seikiro or wolong there would be no issue. It just seems like now in the DLC you’ve gotten a little bit slower as well.

[@alquimista4596]

The only lore channel i have ever watched is VaatiVydia, but most times i have to wait for so long for him to release a video so i can discuss with people about the lore (yeah i know quality takes time), so i started to look for other channels and i am glad i found yours, very well done content man.

[@Jarlmatthew]

I beat all the bosses without summons and I will still say consort Radhan is bullshit. The combos on their own are fine, but the massive lag spike from all the shit going on on the screen combined with the clusterfuck of blinding ass light is not fun.

[@jasonclunis6040]

The bosses in the DLC are not hard but annoying. Because of the never ending Attacks.😂😂😂gave me time i will get it last boss is the one😂

[@robertpayne6781]

My issue with the final boss isn't the difficulty. It is the constant holy damage randomly raining down around you. It is cheap and unnecessary and degracts from an otherwise fantastic boss.