An Actual Review of Elden Ring

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I’m never talking about one of their games again. You can’t make me.
Patreon: / shammy
Twitch: / shammyyt
Credits Music is “The Drunk” by Kiltro
Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/27CC3...
Bandcamp: kiltromusic.bandcamp.com/
Website: kiltromusic.com/
Artwork in the credits by
Wuggy: / wuggynaut
Anton Oxenuk: / aoxenuk
Narndraws: / narndraws
Sabro: / sabroart
Mike Danilov: / mikedanilovart
Audio mixing/mastering by Senn: / senn_twt
#EldenRingReview #EldenRing #AnActualReview

[@shammytv]

Hi, if you're watching this when it came out I'm hanging out on Twitch for a bit twitch.tv/shammyyt/ As always thank you to Kiltro for letting me use their music in the outro, please support them Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/27CC3... Bandcamp: kiltromusic.bandcamp.com/ Website: kiltromusic.com/ If you wanna support my videos I've got a Patreon: patreon.com/shammy peace

[@imangry1]

I think the videos broken man

[@JJJPPP6096]

:O a shammy video. I have yet to watch it, but you've already made my day. thx in advance

[@hengame4206]

video not working :(

[@SanraiDalris]

Sadly, broken. Try but hole.

[@theragingjamaican1113]

OK this is creepy because I little just finished watching the surge two review and then this gets posted awesome

[@wimmer3324]

He has returned to bless us with his annual upload. It might not be much but at least he has kept a consistent schedule for the last 3 years

[@popatsot1]

I'm still waiting on the Outer Worlds video he said he was working on. 🙃

[@robertoschaumburg5719]

@@popatsot1 I want to see another review of No Man's Sky.

[@popatsot1]

@@robertoschaumburg5719 🤣

[@Thenormal880]

yup

[@catthewondahokulea6515]

People should start a game of figuring out when Shammy is going to release his video's. Shammy is going to release a small video to address things about his channel. The next thing will will be a video where the video game is simple and fast to play so a review can be cranked out in a certain amount of time. I Enjoy your content but Shammy's video's releases are on the same level of "Pitch Drop experiment" [look it up is makes sense].

[@Garethaxz]

"I can't sit here and pretend I have a solution to horses" is probably one of my all-time favorite, accidentally-historical quotes.

[@yairhadar6523]

Of course it is! Horses aren't even real.

[@granthamlin8126]

@@yairhadar6523 Not even Sobek can convince me they are.

[@lemonlordminecraft]

@@granthamlin8126 SELL THE HOUSES TO WHO, SOBEK?

[@dialaskisel5929]

I have a solution to horses: Cars

[@Garethaxz]

@@dialaskisel5929 But the joke is so good tho. Horses are -speaking in terms of combat practicality- AWFUL; you have to tend to them, take care of their feet, you can't overburden or stress them, you have to carry food and extra water for them. From a military perspective they have a high chance of bolting or crushing their partners, don't offer much in the way of direct combat assistance, have no real loyalty or allegiance, are extremely expensive, make actual combat very awkward and clumsy for their rider, are easy to deal with once cornered, and frequently have to be put down over minor injuries. BUT, if everyone else is using them, it puts you at a HUGE disadvantage not to because of their mobility and the ability to flank, scout, and outmaneuver without actually having to *meaningfully* engage. It's kind of a hilarious paradox, using something awful because the alternative leaves you at a disadvantage. Lindybeige has a whole rant about it that's absolutely worth watching lol.

[@creature9683]

The most wild part of elden ring for me was my friend telling me to get the hell out of Caelid and stop fighting Radahn since my first reaction to the name Margit was "who?"

[@klink4313]

i thought you could only fight him after getting to the plateau area

[@IdToaster]

@@klink4313 You CAN trigger the Festival without visiting Altus, but the only way I know of do to that is to start up Ranni's quest, in which case how the heck did they make it all the way to the north end of Liurnia without even noticing the front (or back) entrance to Stormveil?

[@klink4313]

@@IdToaster damn i didn’t even know you could get to the lake without entering stormveil

[@IdToaster]

@@klink4313 Yeah there's a side path around the castle, off that broken bridge by that one finger reader. Try going straight north from the Stormhill Shack grace, under the big Divine Tower bridge.

[@isumkitchens5329]

I did the exact same thing. When I made it to the stormveil entrance I kept getting ballistaed so I assumed there was a back path and took the bridge next to the finger reader. There wasn't, and it led me along the path of grace to another item or boss I needed to vanquish and I had no clue, so my first file is stuck in a way over leveled area with no clue what to do. I remade another character last night with things like this in mind, and I've managed to find 2 trapped chests that have helped me expand my map and I'm once again in awe and excited to see what is in store. I'm gonna kill Margit soon too, especially since last night all I did was explore a bunch of ruins in caelid and stuff lol

[@robbie3879]

The game reviewer animal persona to trans vore aficionado shitposter pipeline has shot out another one fellas

[@siggimatti1129]

?is there something i missed

[@Dragonslayer-be5ts]

@@siggimatti1129 OH BOY DID YOU

[@siggimatti1129]

@@Dragonslayer-be5ts what is it DDX

[@errorstringexpectedgotnil]

@@siggimatti1129 Shortly after this released, Shammy announced she's trans on Twitter. And started retweeting vore art. So that's funny.

[@rational_skeptic98]

@@siggimatti1129 Shammy dropped the mask and went full degenerate

[@fraser8532]

THE GOAT REMEMBERED HIS PASSWORD LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOO

[@2ScoopsPlz]

Owl*

[@BK557SC]

Owl?

[@fraser8532]

@@2ScoopsPlz AN OWL WHO HAPPENS TO BE THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME! LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[@2ScoopsPlz]

@@fraser8532 LEZ GOOOOOOO

[@robertnogva]

Fuck that got a giggle outa me

[@oogbooga1614]

"The mechanics are stripped down" read as "I limited myself heavily by barring the tools available to me because I wanted to be Guts" ~Edit: I love your videos.

[@Lazypackmule]

Because the opposing argument is "The mechanics are bogged down by fake variety adding nothing but sucking the fun out of everything"

[@CheshirSG]

Yeah, because pressing one button to summon NPC helpers, then pressing another button to cast a fucking SUN with auto aim and only then actually fighting the enemy is much more fun and mechanically complex, apparently. But in all seriousness, why didn't From just give you viable and interesting ways to regen FP and made spellcasting a core part of the game available to all classes, if they wanted it so much to matter? Yeah, and some actually interesting spells would be nice as well, because it's the fifth game already, where the only choice spellcasters have is "What color of projectile would you like to cast from your magic stick?" If you want to see spellcasting done in a more interesting manner, I suggest you check out ds3 Convergence mod, it does a lot with limited tools and sometimes even makes you feel like you're discovering the game once again, it's rather enjoyable.

[@michaelbowman6684]

It's "stripped down" because the game doesn't really give you any new tools beyond jump attacks and crouch pokes to deal with the massively expanded-upon enemy movesets. The bog standard options in the game are dated in comparison to games like Bloodbourne and Sekiro. I'm playing a DS3 character fighting Bloodborne bosses + a couple bonus Sekiro bosses. The only area that really feels like it's innovating with every subsequent game is magic, which also just so happens to be the most broken part of every game. It's broken in Demon's Souls, DS1, _and_ DS2. Even though it's far less potent in Bloodbourne than the other games, it's still arguable that Arcane is the best build because of stuff like elemental weaknesses of enemies, and cold abyssal gems. And in DS3, magic is by far the most balanced in comparison to all the other games. Yes, you can still delete bosses fairly easily, but magic isn't all that amazing in PvP, with only a select few spells actually being good, and you can just as easily make a build without magic that functions well in PvP. My main point is this: Only in Elden Ring does Pure Melee feel like Hard Mode. Every other game seems to have been balanced around the idea that Pure Melee was the standard player experience, while Elden Ring wasn't. It's balanced around the idea that the player would use Spirit Ashes. It doesn't help that Magic in Elden Ring is Demon's Souls Magic levels of broken.

[@symbioticspiderman4]

@@michaelbowman6684 if your not not using all the the game gives you yes that would make pure stangth/dex/faith/magic/arcane "hard mode". But if you use everything the game gives you not so hard. Beside Melania harder with a spirit helping cuz it gives her more hp to steal

[@meathir4921]

@@CheshirSG I feel like you’ve done a disservice to Pyromancy which functions vastly differently to Sorcery/Miracles.

[@owenf7757]

You are the only content creator that I will intentionally wait to watch until I am 100% sure I have the appropriate time to ingest every glorious second uninterrupted. And thank you for introducing me to Kiltro and Jake Bardin and Finn through your outro music.

[@shammytv]

Jake has a new song out now if you haven't heard it! open.spotify.com/track/7E3gvkRgBkjsGQr2N4bjIq?si=f2143e07d5d44862

[@Androgymess]

@@shammytv I remember you used Atlas in your outro some years ago now and I've been following them ever since

[@JadeBlades098]

This was my first introduction to Kiltro too, and now I am ADDICTED to them!!!

[@russianspy2499]

@@Androgymess probably mom freindly review of outlast

[@dragonwife5367]

time to ingest ....

[@Morden97]

With all of its flaws analyzed and considered, Elden Ring is still the greatest shit in years and I absolutely love it. Yes it's too big, yes it has some annoying ass bosses, yes it's unbalanced. It absolutely rocks anyway

[@zeehero7280]

no fromsoft game has ever been balanced. people have been breaking dark souls since demon souls came out.

[@maksudshtrudel1089]

I feel like I am the only person who thinks the game was just barely fine, like I do not hate it, but I still feel like I wasted my money and time

[@Morden97]

@@maksudshtrudel1089 definitely not the only one, but the majority doesn't seem to share your opinion... it is what it is

[@the4given196]

@@zeehero7280 i think he means that the bosses are unbalanced. even the hardest bosses of older fromsoft titles are a cakewalk in comparison to malenia. hell shed be a hard boss with sekiros mechanics.

[@flamingmanure]

@@the4given196 not really no. Thr bosses are balanced far better and more fun than the braindead bosses of bb and ds1, where strafe buttpoking works for 90% of the games ,but ds3 and sekiro have better tighter bosses. Bb and and ds1 are laughably balanced. Also malenia has slower windups than most sekiro fodder enemies. We would eat malenia alive in sekiro.

[@steampunklemon1508]

I cannot describe how refreshing it is to see someone actually discuss the themes of the story rather than just regurgitating the lore as though it has any meaning on its own. The analysis of Morgott in particular was fantastic. It goes to show that you don’t even need to be a lore expert to understand what the story is actually saying.

[@regularshowman3208]

Honestly yeah. A huge problem I have with people diving into lore for Souls titles, or even a lot of recent online indie horror, is that they just state the literal events of the story. They don't actually try to figure out what any of it is trying to say, or even says incidentally by virtue of just being a story someone is telling. I feel like an insane person whenever someone analyzes one of these stories and just leaves it at that. If you're explaining a work of art, just not talking about the themes means you aren't really fully explaining this work of art.

[@LorisTheUntethered]

Exactly this. Battered my head against the brick wall of trying to discuss the themes of Bloodborne with people for years.

[@nicolasstegmayer6142]

@@regularshowman3208 you might want to check TBskyen's channel, he has a series of videos playing soulsborne games and analyizing the bosses and themes and what not. He is still uploading the elden ring videos, but, dark souls 1, 2 and bloodborne entire playthrough are right there to fill the gap while he uploads more elden ring

[@DrnMontemayor]

@@LorisTheUntethered Take a peek at Sinclair Lore, Sophie, one of the co-hosts, used to be JSF one of the main people who brought BB lore up from the community's initial disdain and inability to grasp along Redgrave, Aegon, and a few others. They have both literal and deep dive ins in their co Honey Bat just released a great video on BB as well.

[@randomfox12245]

If I have to watch one more VaatiVidia video where he just mindlessly regurgitates the "Nito unleashed a miasma of disease!!!" i swear to god How this man has forged himself a career out of just dryly repeating the opening narration of these games and reading off item descriptions from a wiki speaks poorly not of him, but of the drones who follow him.

[@dragonwithamonocle]

11:20 Did Shammy just tell us he played through the game and never realized how to use the pouch? "Can't scroll backwards through, or, bafflingly, hold down a button to open a quick-select menu" tells me he never figured out he could use the pouch.... which has a button you can hold down... to open a quick-select menu...

[@granthamlin8126]

A lot of people didn't, from what I've seen.

[@Lexsed]

I think he was referring to a a bigger menu, as that one only gives you a selection of 4.

[@sirpuffball6366]

And if we're being realistic, you're always going to have torrent in the quick select pouch so it's only 3 slots

[@granthamlin8126]

@@sirpuffball6366 True. I do know a couple of people who didn't put the whistle in the pouch, surprisingly.

[@tabula_rosa]

I tried to use it but you just cant use that in the middle of a boss fight, it interferes with your movement & rolling

[@VinyDMD]

The fact that the outro's detail has changed is so incredible, there's so much talent being put into the ending of a video!

[@skulliam]

20:21 it was right in front of us the whole time.

[@ThePsychoRenegade]

The concept of a talisman that powers you down to the intended level is actually a genius idea.

[@darknaio60]

Gives me real Agape Ring vibes. I could see them figuring something out like this, maybe base it off of stake's of Marika, and have each stake have a set level range that operates similar to how downscaling when being summoned works. You throw the talisman on and it downscales you to the settings based on the stake of Marika you are closest to. For dungeons and such just have it set once you go through the entrance and be set throughout the whole thing. I think that would actually be one of the potentially easiest things for them to add, since the feature technically exists already, this is just another way of triggering it.

[@kimyonasqd8690]

There was a ring that makes you take double damage in ds3

[@darknaio60]

@@kimyonasqd8690 That is true, but I'm not sure if that'd work as it did in DS1/2 in ER, given how much dmg things already do, plus that's more of a straight up 'extra challenge mode' rather than 'scaling the player' like ThePsychoRenegade was suggesting.

[@Drakon_Minaka]

Agreed. The rings that make you take more damage are one thing, but actually bringing my power down to the level for that area is great because it makes the area a challenge again.

[@trickster20644]

Not exactly scaling, but Daedicar's Woe and Shabriri's Woe talismans double damage taken and attracts aggro respectively, so that's something.

[@MappyTheSquire]

You are one of a numbered few creators/critics I follow where I make time to actually sit down and watch it through a few times to really digest and think about what's being said and where you're coming from, out of necessity as well as entertainment value. The scripts you write and perspective you add is dense in a refreshing, thought-provoking way that makes me consider not just how I engage with and process the media I enjoy, but opens my mind to other kinds of media and seek out stories and perspectives that force me to consider them, rather than reaching for the millionth MMO I can turn my brain off to. Intentional or not, I get borderline existential after any review you put out because the way you present the things you critique rings of a genuine respect and appreciation for the content and its medium, woven in between biting sarcasm and references/jabs that fly several meters over my head. You are the furthest possible thing from the millions of review dudes I throw on as background noise while doing the dishes. If nothing else, I hope you know how much I appreciate your work and how worth it the wait is every single time. Thank you.

[@shammytv]

Thank you so much, this is such a kind thing to say

[@FestorFreak]

Ah, the annual birb return. Wonderful. Always love these longer reviews

[@leonst.7471]

Congrats on coming out joy.

[@MrNicnac700]

I'd be curious as to how much DNA R R Martin left in the final draft. While this is thoroughly a miyazaki game, including the continuing theme of struggling against the impossible to prove the power of human determination (if the slabs of iron didn't make that Berserk analogy complete already), there is a lot of a Song of Fire and Ice throughout, from the dynamics of royalty, the importance of bloodlines and the corruption within, and shattering the shackles that bind us for altruistic and petty reasons. The biggest bit that seems to have survived multiple boss runs against the release date mostly intact and un-bowed that Martin and Miyazaki share in sensibility is that the world can turn to crap and ash, and higher powers can conspire to take it all down with them just to get that 10th hole punch on the free sub loyalty card, but anyone can stand up to that, should stand up to that, and not go gently into that infinite night

[@loled123]

A great deal. But what he wrote seem to be a novel on The Shattering™, where a Gaelic/Arturian myth about a extreme civil war, while all the layers of society has to cope with it. You essentially see pieces of the lore whenever wider society is mentioned in any shape or form, which doesn't exist in Dark Souls type lore. I assume the Grafting and everything operating on tree logic is Miyazaki, including things like the rot god. But the space parasitism and pragmatism around religion that the grafting and fire vs non fire builds on, that would be GRRM.

[@shammytv]

Damn, this is an excellent comment

[@Helmic]

While I'm an anarchist and that tends to bias me towards picking out anti-hierarchal themes in any media I like as though I have to justify enjoying things ideologically, it seems I wasn't alone in picking up the themes of many of the From games. Some highly centralized power fucks up, good intentions or not, and the world goes to absolute shit while those in power throw everyone else under the bus in order to maintain it, presenting any other alternative as the literal end of the world and the only "good" solution being to maintain the status quo. Spoilers ahead, obviously. Elden Ring seems to be more explicit in its presentation as power itself being the source of the world's problems, or that I at least have started seeing that sort of thing more over time as I started to hate cops more. But what I really love is the smaller stories on this theme - the extremely uncomfortable demihumans are clearly being exploited by Haight and the world sees them as, well, *demi* human and undeserving of knowledge, where the act of teaching them magic is taboo. And then we get Boc who is anxious as shit, unable to _be_ what this extremely fucked up world wants him to be and then internalizing that bigotry. Like Morgott, he's a pickme; constantly apologetic for _existing,_ he has to beg you to save you a pittance of souls to sew your armor for you because he can't think of any way to have value except by serving the first human he finds. And it gets so extreme that he decides to make himself a human so as to stop offending your eyes, the man's inferiority complex is so all-consuming. And you have to wonder, what kind of world would make someone like Boc feel the way he does? The solution ends up trying to find the only other demihuman Boc seems to think positively of reassuring him that he is beautiful (and by the act of choosing sharing her words outside of any prompting, you approve of her message) so that he doesn't go and literally die trying to mask as a human. But even then, he still calls you master (christ the monkey thing is super uncomfortable) or lord, no matter how you feel about it, because he still ultimately sees himself as _lesser._ And this all resolves very conveniently before you meet Morgott, so that by that time you've had an opportunity to really emotionally connect with the people this world has marginalized and sort of understand why Morgott is choosing to die for this system that fucking hates him. Or, yet more spoilers, the Frenzied Flame ending. You're given breadcrumbs and clues to find the secret catacombs where the Frenzied Flame is... while walking through the remains of people buried alive as an act of genocide, the same merchants who are so cordial to you in the open world. You piece together the motivation for their genocide as a rival for the Golden Order, and you're emotionally put in a situation that you're INFURIATED at how ghastly the supposed just rulers of the world really are that you've got some reason to ignore what whatsherfacehardlysawheranyways has to say to try to stop you. It doesn't end well either because the Frenzied Flame is an even bigger dickhole, but it's juxtaposition to a heinous scene where all you can hear are you foosteps through their bones and some long undead merchants still playing the same song, uninterested in fighting you; nihilistic rage is an understandable response, this entire world has to burn down. All the endings in some way seem to be responses to understanding the Golden Order sucks ass. There's reformism, there's championing a specific discriminated group (the undead, the Omen, the merchants), there's just opportunistically or ignorantly taking power for yourself because lol elden lord sounds dope, and then there's Ranni's ending where the gods finally _fuck off forever_ and people are left with some sort of actual control over their own lives. Leo Tolstoy's _The Kingdom of God is Within You_ has some interesting ideas about heresy that I think apply to Elden Ring as well, since the Lands Between do kinda resemble tsarist Russia insofar that it's a shitty autocracy using a state religion to maintain its power. The Golden Order is _shockingly_ violent to its religious rivals, using the idea of heresy as a means of cementing control; Turtle Pope serves as a contrast that is critical of the role heresy has played in the world, he's not interested in power but helping people and so he has no use for accusing others of heresy, dude isn't even interested in defending himself if you attack him he just genuinely wants to help. Iunno I really like a lot of what the game tries to convey. The Boc storyline struck home 'cause like holy fuck people _really_ don't like autistic kids and I grew up with a ton of internalized ableism, and seeing others seeing the same themes I saw makes it feel less like I"m just stretching.

[@halifaxsteppenwulf7980]

Basically Martin's contribution was that he did the world building before the game, then Miyazaki and co went and progressed time to brake it all so there would *be* a story. I think you're spot on though that both GRRM and Miyazaki share an extreme skepticism of power and definitely of romanticizing feudal/autocratic systems of power and the need for everyone to resist them or be ground down into gibbering, mindless husks.

[@jackalobowaitthisnameistaken]

Some of the sidequests were really testing my patience. I straight up wouldn't have known what to do for Nepheli's questline without a guide. "You grab a bird from a specific portal in an area she doesn't even vaguely reference. Oh, and there's no hints that she would want this bird in the first place."

[@davidhong1934]

"Find the Albinauric woman. She hides in a cave to the west of the Laskyar Ruins, which jut from the mist-shrouded lake of Liurnia. She knows the location of the medalion's counterpart, I'm sure." _--Gideon Ofnir, the ALL KNOWING_

[@MrMetalforever5]

@@davidhong1934 If anything, that’s the exception that proves the rule.

[@user-zh9ck9we9i]

Also, you have to meet her at night by the village's underside; how tf was I supposed to know that? Not helped by the fact that the time of day gets reset every time you die(which made fighting knights cavalry fucking atrocious).

[@larrytotter5790]

I managed to find and give her the bird on my own (classic "didn't know I even had that" moment), but to this day, and even after completing the quest, I cannot tell you what requirements have to be met in order to crown her lord of Stormveil. Or where the f*ck Rya moves after you give her the egg-thing.

[@omegaxtrigun]

Well that's the point. You don't know. You just have to explore and figure it out. That's what gives a certain satisfaction to things like that. Or look it up if you don't want to do it yourself. Not to mention that this specific part of that quest is probably one of if not the most vague things in the game. Most quest parts have some sort of hint in some way.

[@MK-bj8pd]

“The true avenue to being well and truly loathsome is to be exceptionally close to amazing.” I don’t know why, but I just love this line

[@Dappis]

The next video will be wild for the non twitterites 💀

[@ambmamb8370]

the superior form of human that is

[@2fingacriminal]

@@ambmamb8370 based

[@Dappis]

@@turkish8969 I think she's doing just fine.

[@turkish8969]

@@Dappis kool, when the mentall illness you people helped HIM get takes over, you wont be saying that over his suicide discord post

[@eattherich5409]

om nom nom?

[@MrMiarne]

33:36 The complaints are most likely that she heals when landing hits on *your shield*, making it incredibly annoying and likely unviable to use block in her fight at all, because she doesn't seem to regenerate any less from doing 0 actual damage to you.

[@tincano-beans2114]

This argument falls on deaf ears as anyone confused about the difficulty complaints is using dual bleed/cold katanas and a fedora...

[@Citation007]

@@tincano-beans2114 Hey that fedora has great stats. It makes your foes bleed from their eyes. Even better if you pair it with the vape of the nameless gentleman.

[@pizzaparker7418]

This. Once I learned that her sword could literally make health from nothing, I lost all motivation to fight her.

[@itermercator114]

@@tincano-beans2114 Exactly, I spent the entire game on a thrusting sword build (rapier), the game was absolutely brutal and was borderline impossible (especially for duos) due to the bosses high HP and damage while you chip at their health. I did Radagon/EB with a morning star which made it a magnitude easier (dex vs str argument), but with Melania even that was impossible. Ended up biting the bullet with Rivers of Blood and holy fuck it killed her in an instant. No wonder people get confused, the meme builds are stupidly OP and trivialise everything. It's the same shit as people who proudly claim DS was easy only to find out they were castors. I've just accepted if someone online says they didn't find a boss hard, it's most likely because they're using a meme/easy-mode build.

[@ofgreyhairwaifu4089]

@@itermercator114 ...but you can just make a 100% phys def greatshield, pump stamina, dex and str(to the point of 1handing that shield) and just turtle her with a bleed rapier/bleed spear. Tho shields are still bad in that they aren't a part of the overall combat, 90% of enemies have no way of dealing with them and the remaining 10% either use chip damage that hardly matters or grabs that aren't a shield-only problem. Rapiers are ok and moonveil and RoB need to be treated as accessibility options.

[@faxmachine1162]

"I dont use fast or meta weapons because I like men" is not the coming out I was expecting, but very relatable and welcomed.

[@Wyrmshield]

Shammy is a gay icon

[@TheTundraTerror]

@@Wyrmshield Not sure I want someone so toxic that they got kicked off of a podcast despite having years to fix their issues to be an icon.

[@VampireQueen375]

@@TheTundraTerror There is actually a difference between being kicked off and everyone agreeing that it would be best if he left.

[@smilph]

@@VampireQueen375 wait what even happened?

[@SmoothTurtle840]

@@TheTundraTerror That is kinda crazy when you consider that the channel it’s on is literally his old secondary one.

[@ekkkkkknoes]

This was really, really good I also love how you can hear the voice training already

[@tincano-beans2114]

Not really voice training. That's meds.

[@lowkey6134]

@@tincano-beans2114 estrogen doesn't alter your voice

[@JimmyMcG33]

Your take on Let Me Solo Her was incredible. The most exciting meta-thing about Elden Ring for me is the way it privileges those memorable experiences over replayability or fairness. A game release hasn't been an event the way Elden Ring was in a long time, and discovering the game alongside so many people felt like From/Miyazaki finally achieving what they've wanted to do for so long with the Souls games.

[@laughingtraitor1969]

Ah Malenia, the boss that convinced me that a curved greatsword as long as I am tall wasn't the answer and showed me the light. I needed TWO curved greatswords as long as I was tall and a night dress because actual armor was too heavy.

[@_Sage967_]

why wear armor when i could just reduce the number of times i need to hit to win

[@Cyborg_Lenin]

The Blade of Miquella one? I keep forgetting

[@ofgreyhairwaifu4089]

@@Cyborg_Lenin I think he means the one that never knew defeat?

[@tyrannosaur219]

When the world needed him most, he… was a couple months late to the punch, but he returned nonetheless! Jokes aside, it’s always good to hear from you, my sardonic strigiforme.

[@alessandrobaggi6129]

Your pfp reminds me of things i want to forget... 😬😅😉

[@aggravatingsalad5528]

wow the foreshadowing was really here all along. congrats.

[@thelunchlord4530]

Wut?

[@Vanessa_exe]

@@thelunchlord4530 Shammy (now Joy) came out as trans recently. there is a handful of things that make a bit more sense, eg: when she says "i have to tug bunches out of my leggings" at 5:30 there is also a lot of things along the lines of "working through some stuff" such as at 30:18 and the body type rant

[@salvatration3704]

i thought you were just sick recording this but congrats sister welcome to the syndicate

[@artisan2906]

ANOTHER ONE ENTERS THE FOLD

[@michaelbowman6684]

I'm gonna make a prediction that his general thoughts are something along the line of "it's amazing 90% of the time, the other 10% makes me question if the other 90% was really worth it."

[@garedbi]

Good ass prediction, though it's more about open world design making the game worse when the more linear design of the older games worked better for exploration and such

[@AspiringDevil]

@@garedbi I'm generally in agreement with that. I think I would have liked it better if each area was just locked off until that boss was defeated.

[@WakkaMadeInYevon]

Elden Ring would pretty much be my 'perfect game' if you fuse together the copy/paste bosses into one or two iterations of themselves, seal off a hefty chunk of the catacombs and caves, and ignore the fact that Malenia Blade of Miquella Who Has Never Known Defeat is clearly a Sekiro boss. The fact that so much of Elden Ring is just so good only makes that smallest bit that completely isn't all the more painful. Also running a Faith build on my first playthrough only to be rewarded with *Elden Stars* should qualify as a form of sadomasochism.

[@liamzakhaev]

@Estrogen Fury I consider elden ring to be like demon's souls, a feeble first step.

[@TheDoc_K]

@@liamzakhaev That means their next works are gonna hit even harder.

[@snibetisnab211]

"An open-world Surge-like" @Shammy, i love you platonically.

[@glenngriffon8032]

I just caught that when I reloaded the video to watch again. Nice touch.

[@LikableSeeweed]

I love this video, but her voice sounds a bit off, I wonder if their twitter has something to say about that...

[@garchompenthusiast]

This is the best fucking way to ever come out ever like this is. art.

[@jakemerchant950]

w8 wat

[@turkish8969]

freak

[@garchompenthusiast]

@@turkish8969 you fucking got that right hun

[@turkish8969]

@@garchompenthusiast yeah, and your parents are gonna use your real name when they bury you, hun

[@Bugattiboy912]

"Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely." This is why Ranni's ending is the best ending.

[@russian_knight]

It does, and that corruption is fucking awesome, which is why the flame of frenzy ending is the best ending

[@wubwubdododo5656]

Power doesn't corrupt, it reveals.

[@pseudophori6541]

@@wubwubdododo5656the science suggests that power literally impairs humans’ empathy. it’s bad for people, even good people.

[@TotalNigelFargothDeath]

@@pseudophori6541 source?

[@_NutcasE_]

@@TotalNigelFargothDeath The source is that I made it the fuck up.

[@pockystyx4087]

I can tell you; as a battlemage, Radagon is super fun. The fact that you have to pick and choose when you can melee or cast magic, or have him yoink that shit out of the air; only to throw it back at you, is amazing. But of coarse; its ruined by having to fight the Elden Beast right after lol

[@Yal_Rathol]

radagon is an interesting case in that he's a better fight and more interesting if you cut the battle in two. i would have no problem with the elden beast if i could just skip the radagon battle after dying to the beast.

[@littlesnowflakepunk855]

goddamn i was kinda iffy on immediately subscribing to this channel and then you slapped Kiltro down as your outro music, thus proving instantly that you have good taste

[@aarcade6676]

it's amazing how this video has so much foreshadowing for shammys coming out

[@slowburgundyy574]

wait where

[@SS4KirinBolt]

yes where?

[@skunkape1085]

hmmmm i wonder why shammy was wearing the deathbed dress??

[@MajorminorGaming]

Shammy has been publicly bi for like four years; check out the podcast he used to be on, Please Stop Talking. It's way more evident there, such as the story he told about him being hit on at a gay bar.

[@skunkape1085]

@@MajorminorGaming her*

[@elizabethagudelo7179]

18:00 I love how every time someone brings up quests markers or excessive map icons or just sidequesting in general as an issue in modern open world games the solution is always morrowind

[@afrovarangian]

@@scarlet_phonavis6734 Go off sis

[@SirusDiarota]

The issue is that it's not as simple as "copy morrowind". Morrowind just happens to be the more "famous" use of this style of presenting quest journals. The other TES games, Fallout 3 and beyond have similar journal entries, but the "vague directions" part is omitted because of the heat seeking quest marker. I feel point and click games, or larger CRPGS also have a similar idea again built around the ui more than just the main character doodling in a book. Least we forget, Daggerfall had this in a game where stuff was randomly generated alongside a fast travel system that you had control over how fast or noticeable you were on top of using other travel services such as boats. End of the day, it's a solution that has many subjective elements to handle. How much is too much? How much would a player value having to remember certain details vs how irritating would it be to literally be carried to the exact spot the quest wanted you to take, or outlining betrayal or alternative paths.

[@danieladamczyk4024]

@@afrovarangian Give him rest, he never played Gothic.

[@TheHalogen131]

@@danieladamczyk4024 It was my exact same thought. I haven't played Morrowind, but Gothic 1 and 2 has a very good and easy to use journal, which is just right for me.

[@knifedude4195]

Real queen shit

[@localstarlyfan9406]

The malenia criticism was on point. Waterfowl blade is terrible, especially if you are trying to get a few hits in and you see her levitate and she minces you like a clove of garlic, and even IF you do survive, the amount she healed back will definitely outweigh the damage you dealt. The healing is fair especially since her attacks are well telegraphed and easy to dodge and punish, but it isn't with waterfowl. Low hanging fruit I know, but holy shit.

[@ZarbtheBard]

I generally don't mind boss reuse within reason, but imo the most egregious boss reuse was the evergaol on Altus Plateau with Godefroy. Just reusing a shardbearer boss like that is. Super lame. Also you probably won't know this if you've never used magic against him but Radagon will sometimes just harmlessly brush away your spells. It looks really cool and really makes you feel like you're fighting something out of your league.

[@smergthedargon8974]

Yeah, that Godefroy fight was... atrocious. I think FromSoft could really learn a lessen on how much using a different model and tweaking a few moves would've made a boss feel distinct.

[@larrytotter5790]

As far as I know, Godefroy isn't technically reused, but a scrapped earlier version of Godrick they threw in there because they still had him. Still not a good fight but slightly different.

[@doctorhealsgood5456]

Godefroy was a mistake

[@bradleyhandsonjoehallschro5419]

They could have at least removed all the little arms on his back so it's at least a slightly different model

[@ItsReallyJCole]

I also really didn’t like the Falling star beast fights after the one in the mountain that felt like such a discovery, same with the Death rite Bird

[@Killersean900]

What a blessed day. Shammy has given us our yearly game review. Now I must only wait for another year before my next dose. Truly, the most reliable upload schedule.

[@maroonstarsface]

It takes immense skill to take a year to produce a video on a game that came out 6 months ago. Must be owl wizardry

[@RushGarcia]

Always good to see the great and mighty owl.

[@87392v]

"Since I'm not much of a [take your pick]..." *Includes "man" onscreen as an example* Nice foreshadowing 😄 subtle

[@lyinarbaeldeth2456]

I love a new upload from Shammy, but I am deeply confused by some of his critiques of the combat. "Stripped-down" - from what? What's missing here that was in DS3? "No combos" - did any Dark Souls game have *combos?* "Parry is just one button" - wasn't it always? One button, time it right or eat the attack?

[@happy_bracket]

Well, he's probably comparing it to other games where there are swords and "pressing buttons to do damage", like DMC, rather than previous From Software games.

[@MisterZimbabwe]

Go play Nioh 2 and you'll understand his comparison. I cannot go back to Elden Ring or any souls game now that I have supped the ambrosia that is Nioh 2s take on souls combat. Team Ninja understands souls combat better than the people who invented souls combat do.

[@1KBestK]

I think it's meant to be a joke comparing it to the surge, like how he calls runes scrap.

[@ImGonnaFudgeThatFish]

It's funny because elden ring plays outright better than ds3, the ashes of war system is much better than dark souls 3 version

[@Dliciousization]

@@happy_bracket If he's comparing it to that then the complaints about waterfowl dance become even stranger. Vergil, at least on higher difficulties, is *way* more complex to dodge and parry than Malenia is.

[@biggyblunts5788]

Man, I genuinely can't express how excited I've been for a new shammy video. I love the podcasts but these videos just scratch my brain in the perfect way. Thanks for putting so much effort into your work. Edit: I've now been made aware.. I'm sad to hear about the podcast, but hopefully everyone involved is better off for it in the end.

[@elgnarfowo2678]

Where can you watch the podcast from shammy?

[@stromboliboi7967]

Yikes

[@niborex133]

about the podcasts....

[@TheTGOAC]

Listen, I'm gonna need you to sit down for this...

[@biggyblunts5788]

@@elgnarfowo2678 "Please Stop Talking" is the name of the podcast, they also do a DnD podcast called folk and dagger.

[@urmomgayest]

loved the vore ma'am

[@evanmiller7700]

*sorts by new comments post twitter*

[@eighteen-naked-cowboys]

jarvis filter all comments made in the past month

[@ryukrocks8843]

even with being this "late" to talking about the game he still maneged to be original and talk about things that havent been super overdone. he even maneged to bring some things under a new light in my opinion like the unfairness of the game. i also like the way he summorized "let me solo her"

[@Okil_Atlas]

Melania is legit an unfair boss, there's a video out about her boss data and animations, that show that she can cancel her own staggers into any action she decides. She is the only boss that can do this in the whole series, and directly counters what the game has taught combat wise about going back and forth against a boss. While I don't Ike Melania for many reasons, the only reason I say she's unfair is because of that.

[@ruffethereal1904]

She knows no defeat because she cheats.

[@vibesmagma8451]

She used to be way harder, this is a tone down version of her than what was intended. Indicated to the ver 1 that’s can only be found on some consoles

[@tincano-beans2114]

@@vibesmagma8451 she's not really that much better now. Fought her on her first iteration and on the latest patch. Still rng on which of her moves she uses and how often that dictates the fun had.

[@kevinoneil5120]

Totally agree with you on the quests. I'm fine with its current structure but I feel like a journal or quest log, *just* to keep track of quest dialogue, would slip it into the "difficult but fair" category that Souls combat is known for.

[@paledrake]

Fun fact, there was a quest log in the beta...then they removed it in the full release!

[@adultsuede4384]

This is probably my favorite review of this game. Actually disecting the themes and meanings of the lore rather than just strictly repeating it all, as well as talking about how the shortcomings of the game interface with it made for a really good watch. Extremely worth the wait.

[@flufffluffer3517]

Start of the game: Holy shit this is awesome there is so much to explore! Middle of the game: Damn there is so much to explore still, well, this is still fun End of the game: How the hell is there still so much to explore, let it end

[@0xlamon]

I felt your "End of the game" by the time I've reached the capital. And when that lady burned and I was teleported to ANOTHER fucking location, I just quited.

[@sand_sand7304]

I would suggest quitting at mid game and watching your preferred ending

[@hhsdhhsss1522]

It was the opposite for me I ran out of places to explore by the time I got to the royal capital

[@hhsdhhsss1522]

@@Chris-vs6ll You mean the dungeons I thought about it and I don’t mind the fact that they recycled most of them creating 85 unique and challenging bosses for areas most players wouldn’t see would have been impossible. “I like bosses where I can do enough damage to win” what is even the point of playing the game then the enjoyment of boss fights in souls games comes from learning them.

[@hhsdhhsss1522]

@@Chris-vs6ll There are no dungeon bosses that inhibit progression all the bosses you have to fight to beat the game are unique. Also the distinction you are trying to make between the word memorise and learn doesn’t make any sense. Do you know what the definition of memorise is? Can you please clarify how learning a boss fight is somehow different form memorising a boss fight I don’t see a meaningful difference.

[@CthulhusBFF2]

JOY ❤

[@reed560]

Damn, I wish I could voice anything I've ever thought as cleanly as this because there were so many points I resonated with but struggle to explain sufficiently to where the average Elden Ring fan doesn't just assume I think the game sucks. There are core pieces of this game that I don't think are good, I don't think the game is bad.

[@ReptilianR06]

The fact that you can have sponsors for making a video a year is impressive, I must say.

[@christpierre]

Bots for these brands auto email KZbinrs above a x number of subs and pay per video

[@TrueLawbringer]

Our yearly owl upload, let’s go, I hope you are well bird man, please remain safe and happy

[@dekkan_0771]

29:30 this annoys me so much every time I fight Placidusax, not only the boss itself is a marathon where 70% of the fight you run, but he also has a shit ton of health and on top of that you have to go down a elevator, run pass some enemies, go down some rocks which you have to be careful because you can died from the fall, watch a cutscene and still run towards de boss to activate. I actually liked the boss but is really hard to love it when you have to spend 2 min every time you die to start it and on top of that the amount of time it takes to kill it. In Dark souls 3 with Midir you take a a similar path, but the fight was more fun gameplay wise that I didn’t bother.

[@herolumierelumanite1608]

I hate how long it takes for you to upload, but at the same time it's a treat when you do. It kinda feels like when someone genuinely congratulations me for doing something instead of a half-hearted "congrats" I get whenever I put effort into anything

[@Brainflayer]

And when the world needed him most, he returned.

[@you1027]

I went for the 'ending' that would flex on everything the game had been, as a sort of backlash to the emotional trauma it inflicted along the way with its consistently compelling offing of every single character you'd grown to give a shit about, and as a sort of tribute to what a work of art it had been. I did all of the npcs' quests, got all of the secret hidden legendary weapons, did shit entirely out of the 'intended' order and hard-moded through its most sadistic sections, uncovered and connected every scrap of background and passively-told lore, took Frenzied Flame to spare Melina's ungrateful ass from martyrdom, flexed on Malania in full sewer-spelunker drip and 'feeding' her as much as possible, after cheesing on Millicent's ordeal with Astel Meteor, cleansed that shit off through that dragonlord what's-his-face in Farum Azula, so I could have Stormveil Regent Nepheli confront her estranged father instead of that asshole Shabriri. Having thoroughly disrespected every single boss (main and optional) in personally-tailored ways, I denied the Ranni summoning rune for the end, and, wearing the Goldmask mask, Omen armor, Ranni greatsword in one hand, Inseperable sword in the other, and having 'saved' [deprived] Melina of her life's purpose, T-posed on all of the game's trials, tribulations, and attempts at sewing doubt, with the Goldmask Perfect Order ending. And every single step along that madlad path was magical. I wish such an engrossing and enriching experience upon everyone. Glory be. And I wasn't even a Souls fan to start with. Edit: character was modeled after GigaChad, and named 'You'

[@lelagrangeeffectphysics4120]

Holy fucking shit, to piss on the game, to disrepect the order of things with extreme contempt and choosing the choice to grab this dainty ass world and burning it for shits and giggles for the sin of thinking itself better than you... is based

[@TheHalogen131]

It sounds like either you need some serious help, or we need to learn and get help from you. It's honestly hard to decide.

[@goeckedude]

Unfathomably based

[@OneBiasedOpinion]

You made art from art. From is pleased.

[@Prpdod]

Congrats on coming out as a vore enthusiast, Joy!

[@turkish8969]

what the hell is wrong with you people?

[@Drako9823]

@Turkish Lots of things.

[@heirtothethrone2133]

Hi Shammy, Sincerely I love watching your reviews. They are always well thought out and I find that your humour and critique reveal new game design perspectives. I appreciate your commentary. Thank you for making what you do. It’s awesome and I am excited for your next video. What you do is awesome. Until the next :)

[@pocokmezei3236]

"All great art are born from culture that are suffering or ones that should be" im not crazy. Ive been playing around with the same idea and im so glad that someone else sees this too

[@TheTGOAC]

suffering builds character, character builds triumph, triumph creates art, and art portrays the story of it all.

[@N.Narwhal]

Adjectives are wrong I think. Great art come from men who contain the spirit. Mozart for example.

[@Drekromancer]

@@TheTGOAC well said.

[@ZelphTheWebmancer]

@@TheTGOAC I would argue that suffering doesn't build character, but character helps to survive suffering.

[@liamab182]

I mean name me a culture that doesn't fit this vague criteria?

[@goodguybrady]

Finally, The King Has Returned.

[@Ladikn]

"The combat is really stripped down and basic." "I went out of my way to not use 90% of the mechanics." Uhh....

[@DT-267K]

You actually chose marriage with the nebulous puppet-waifu over helping the Ever-Brilliant Goldmask and his insights that lead into finding so perfect and true a balance with reality that he finds a way to actually fix its biggest flaw in one fell swoop and do away with all the evils that plague it, the land, and the peoples within?! **Dies of Cringe**

[@tibik.8407]

I mean, do you really want a group of religious nutjobs to rule the land after what happened? Or giving the world a chance to fend after themselfs, wtithouth the intervention of lovecraftian horrors?

[@roccaraso1771]

man, malenia will always remain in my memory, i just remember i was fighting it while in discord with 2 friends of mine that already beated her, i proceeded to nearly get her first try but died second phase because i got greedy to inflict the last hit, then proceeded to need 50 more tries to kill her xD my best memory is when she did the whirlwind blade in phase one and somehow i dont even know how, i doged it by literally getting as close as humanly possible, the reaction of my friends seeing me dodge it first try is a priceless memory to me xD

[@henrydyess9863]

Thank you Shammy for introducing me to Kiltro. I have their entire discography on my playlist now.

[@porkt3887]

I recommend trying casting, faith builds are probably my favorite in the game, mostly cuz catch flame and giant flame take thee are so insanely fun, but it does add another layer to combat in a really fun way. casting builds can make things trivial if you want but in this game so can strength, picking strength because it's "honest" doesn't really work in this game like in the previous souls games, so much stuff like flame of redmanes or unsheathe or royal knights resolve is just as capable of melting bosses, and things like lions claw, giant hunt, and colossal swords in general have a huge advantage with how much poise damage they do, you can easily interrupt things like cleanrot knights. its up to you to make things as hard as you want, for better or worse, so I think you might benefit from treating faith and int the same (although with int it is admittedly pretty easy to melt most things). also it's funny to do things like combo storm stomp into placidusax ruin, or parry into placidusax

[@jakestavinsky3480]

i loved my Pure faith blade character. pump a shitton of faith, get a twinblade or pair of claws, cast bloodflame blade or the lightning buff depending on area or spew MADNESS beams at my discretion

[@wavedash101]

The way an open world game makes up for the “additional work required” is basically the huge, greater player base these sorts of games attract. If you can execute.

[@Alex-qd7pb]

Whenever The Owl deems us worthy to receive his semiannual upload, I am immediately humbled and reminded not only of how limited my vocabulary is, but also how slowly my brain processes information. Thanks, Shammy.

[@dharding3162]

I love this comment section

[@gusp8672]

I like that your participation in the story is some what optional, in the sense that you will become a passive agent just killing things if you dont make an effort to understand the world and your place in it. The fact that a lot of people go with the flow and dont carve their own path forward or dont try to understand the consequences of their actions is the point that the souls games and elden ring make. In ds1 the ending that most people get (linking the fire) is literally an act in service of the dynasty that ruined the world, that you pursue cause you blindly listen to oscar and frampt and the other npc's; if you become a passive agent you will just be a tool to some elses end goals. Its similar in elden ring, especially with all the different factions and what they wish to make of the world they inhabit, you can easily just blindly follow one and charge forward without thought, but if you do that you will still be picking a side unconciously (and probably one that doesnt have your in game characters best interests at heart). Thats how I have always understood it at least.

[@nickstewart1202]

I think that's an excellent fucking point. The vanilla ending is literally you becoming Lord and nothing else changes at all. And I love that the first demigod most people meet is Godrick the "Golden" of the "Golden Lineage" but he is this grotesque monster.

[@Modie]

Tbh, when I fist played the game, I was trying to understand what was going on, but was still lost on the ending. The problem is, like Shammy says, that the dialogue is written in a way that it's already hard to understand what is being said and then you add the problem that the next part of the important dialogue comes hours later (in-game, so probably days in real time) after you were focused on beating a boss for a long time. I mean, in order to even get the idea for the alternate ending, you have to go out of your way to kill an NPC in New Londo who didn't do anything to you. I don't feel that really supports the theory that this is what the story intends to tell.

[@natanl1567]

came back just to say go off queen, love you

[@luc1d305]

For anyone wondering, she came out on Twitter tonight

[@WeTheEast]

@Babbie she*

[@carterjwilkerson]

Shammy is the literal embodiment of quality over quantity, every video is a banger.

[@science_bear]

He’d be faster if he didn’t waste time harassing punk duck

[@Echo1608.]

WE HAVE BEEN BLESSED! GLORIOUS! Loved your discussion on the unforgiving part of the world leading to a sense of community and bringing everyone together. Really like that feeling.

[@renownerd.276]

Shammy is always something t look forward to each year! Also loved the ending animation.

[@mr.potato7075]

“Clint Eastwood using a ghost to fight a no clipping monkey.” *JJBA Part 3 intensifies.

[@Aodyri]

Mandalore, once a month and never wrong. Shammy, once a year and he sometimes evidences his condition that cause multiple brain aneurysms resulting in the annihilation of his capacity for logic until he slumbers once more. God, I love both. To the point I use Civvie and Grimbeard to substitute.

[@pixelwhisper1999]

Shammy? Alive, AND Posting? Lets goooooo Awesome to see you back! Hope you've been alright! Edit: AND Trans?! Hype as fuck

[@Ramsey276one]

69 likes confirmed D

[@cyd_hunter99]

It's nice to hear someone talk about experiences over strict design, drags me back to some kind of awareness. Feels like discussion around game design is a spiral I myself got swept up in, and I just got aggressively gut-checked out of the water.

[@knucklesdark4056]

Happy to see you back, Avery! I also hope to see you together with Mandy on another crazy adventure game.

[@geekylesbian7440]

I can't believe within a week of each other, both Max0r and Shammy have continued to fulfill the part of my brain that loves long videos that make me laugh unintentionally Edit: not trying to stir drama, I'm just showing my appreciation for these two creators

[@tortoiseoflegends4466]

The only issue I have with Malenia's healing is thats she also gets a full heal when you block the attack. Combine that with shielding being the most consistent way to live through waterfowl dance and it just feels like you get punished for correctly reading the boss.

[@doggo9567]

Bloodhound step

[@LoafyGoblin]

I didn't even know this as not once in my 217 hours have I equipped a shield

[@tibik.8407]

@@doggo9567 me and what mana?

[@MrJonathanTeatime]

Exactly. That move was the point where I embraced the bullshit and made a buffed out meta bleed/mimic build. If the game is goind to be unfair, I'm going to break it right back.

[@ketrub]

@@MrJonathanTeatime then mimic got nerfed

[@alfonshedstrom9859]

35:49 Finally someone put this category of game into words

[@Jameston]

Another on point critique, couldn't have put any of this any better myself. Topped off with a kickass outro, I am blown away! Superb work all around

[@niktwazny8618]

Disagree about Mohg, I found him a fun and pretty fair fight, with the only bullshit being the Nihil attack, that's still not that bad, because at the very least it's not attached to rng like the Waterfowl. Blood sprayes are easy to avoid by staying close, flying away wasn't as common for me and I guess I was lucky with positioning, cause I didn't get stuck as often on terrain. I love the rhythm of his fight, with staying close giving you plenty of punish opportunities, which are pretty rare in a lot of boss fights, especially Morgott, where I needed to bait the spear attack to safely punish him. Overall though, fantastic video with lots of interesting points made, also "The Drunk" is a banger.

[@corumsorensen7822]

Odd. I found Mohg EXCEPTIONALLY infuriating with his horrifyingly long sweeps, long range, and the blood spray coating the arena threatening to bleed me. Malenia felt alot nicer to fight than Mohg did tbh.

[@0x6e95]

@@corumsorensen7822 It's funny how we all have completely different experiences on these things. I thought Mohg was exceptionally done except for his NIHIL attack (cool as it is, execution could've been better) but Malenia was absolute cancer to fight because of Waterfowl. That and her sometimes animation cancelling? Like excuse me? I thought most of Mohg's moveset was fine. His delayed attacks are actual delayed attacks and not some bullshit holding the weapon in the air for 5 seconds before coming down at mach speed. His phase 2 blood AoEs can be annoying but I didn't find them too difficult to manage because of the large arena. I think the key to fighting Mohg is staying as close to him as possible. I can see how he'd be annoying at long range. Overall Mohg is a 9/10 fight for me. Malenia is just a fundamentally broken boss fight in my eyes.

[@AdamemeFF]

Glad to see you back, Avery. I was very sad to hear about your previous behaviour, but seeing how well you handled and responded to it then, and now seeing your return here - it gives me hope that you've been making good, healthy changes in your life and working on yourself. Please stay safe and well, and know that these videos bring much joy to many of us. It's wonderful to have you back and doing what you love.

[@llolinlaik]

Previous behaviour?

[@rocketGimbal]

What previous behavior? What happened?

[@tastysauce2294]

@@rocketGimbal TLDR he was a bad friend and got kicked off the podcast he created by his friends, who no longer consider him a friend, and is now in therapy. He talked about it a bit on twitter and claims responsibility for his actions (though we dont know much about that). Hes trying to improve.

[@AdamemeFF]

This was a good while back, about four months ago. I won't go into heavy detail as Avery and all involved have since moved on and quite rightfully so, but essentially, Avery had some very serious personal behavioural issues towards his friendship group that let to a non-amicable split. It's an intensely personal situation and there's bound to be deeper details there that we don't know about, but it's not really our right to try to dig deeper into it. Avery's been getting help and focusing on being better since then, with apparently good progress. I'm personally seeing this video coming out as a promising sign that he's focusing on being better and moving on with his life.

[@The_Viktor_Reznov]

Damn, you're talking like his mother or something

[@WASTEOIDx]

"Rolls off the tounge like they were a few feet down in there"

[@vthesnail]

One of my favourite types of jokes in video essays/reviews/analyses/schitzoposts are visual gags, however they are commonly made as an afterthought, rarely ever being directly integrated in the point the script is actively trying to make. Shammy is one of the very few people who manage to do that and actually make it laugh-out-loud funny. This is why the constellation of mohg is one of the best constructed jokes I've seen in a very long time that actually feels like it deserves a laugh and didn't get it because it's absurd or strange or a reference to something. This is all without even acknowledging the transitions between the video's sections and how they even had A FUCKING THEME of suppressing systems that ties to the game as well. Extremely tight scrips for a thing as low-profile as a random video about a current game makes you really appreciate how much time and writing talent Shammy puts into each video even if it isn't immediately noticeable because most people expect outstanding editing and/or runtime for videos that take so much time and effort to make.

[@HaloMillennium]

One thing I'll comment on legitimately is the fact of the repeating bosses. I agree that it's a negative how often some bosses are reused, absolutely, but I do understand the benefits. Not just to pad out the content, but it also allows players to fight a boss again if they wanted to have a round 2 against them without needing to make a new character or something. Downside is obvious, because you might struggle and be relieved once you kill them the first time, only to fight them again later on and get annoyed that they're back. But I see it as an upside, so you can hone your knowledge and skills on the repeat boss later on; as well as if you liked a particular boss and thought "man I wanna fight them again" and you can do so but in another location. It's a hit or miss, but given how large the game is, I can understand the need for them to reuse so many things.

[@petermaginnis9411]

I think sekiro did this best by just letting you fight the boss again though. Considering how important and fun boss fights are in these games, I think adding a boss selection menu either after you beat each boss or even after you beat the game would be great and wouldn’t remove anything from the experience

[@eddieddieeddie]

i like repeating bossfights personally, there's absolutely no reason for army factions to have only just their foot soldiers and knights and only have only one Big Guy for each type since the golden order IS a dominant force, and most of the bosses that are repeated are directly under the golden order (burial dogs, erdtree knights, erdtree avatars, nights cavalry) and others where they are obviously a large force (godskin boys under the gloam eyed queen, deathbirds under the twinbirds envoy to whatever outer god), if a world is to be big and have armies for several factions it'd stand to reason that there will be folks similar to one another as sort of an "elite force" rather than just having one Guy to uphold the influence of whatever they swear fealty to in a given area, none of them are underdogs nor leaders they are all servants first and foremost and strength in numbers is something they would want for dominance in the land between

[@talion4033]

No idea why they didn’t just give us an Elden Ring version of Dark Souls 2’s “Bonfire Ascetic”. It respawned bosses in that area but at the cost of making that particular area +1 playthrough in difficulty. It was such a good idea and it’s a shame they never reused it yet kept the “Seed of a Tree of Giants” of all items

[@Xboxkokoko]

I agree, having a Journal or something to remind myself where to go for sidequests would be better, but I like the game far more so I'm willing to look through a walkthrough (mostly just as a point to go, not finding out what happens in the quest) I like what they did with the sites of grace where they pointed you where to go for the main quest, if only they could make a diagetic way of telling you where to go for those sidequests, like what they do with the Assassination sidequests for Volcano Manor

[@UndereNeko]

"Since i'm not much of a, take your pick" *'man' is in the list* She was telling us all along omg, how could I be so blind

[@dusparr]

I would like to point out that the horse actually has the most Iframes of anything: 30+ on dismount, jump dismount, mount, and on 10 on land from double jump

[@nikxneon6615]

Oh look, a serious and heavy handed critique of open world games by one of the greatest game commentators of this decade. Always good to see Shammy.

[@RedUnit10]

Normally when I listen to youtube videos I can feel braincells dying, but with Shammy videos, I can feel my body forcefully injecting stem cells into my brain to regrow the shriveled neurons. Thank you.

[@MrFatPlummer]

This is my first time watching a video of his, and I definitely had to re-listen to a part or two just to put all the words together in my brain. The sentence, "...something is empirically fair if in a work manifested clandestine does not itself manifest an instance in which it is not a metaphysical certitude that shit will be bogus" (especially when spoken without any obvious commas or inflection) definitely took me a minute to parse. That being said, after finishing the video, I am doubly glad that I've spent most of my life learning as many big words as possible lmao.

[@tibik.8407]

@@MrFatPlummer Got some Stanley Parable vibes from this comment. Scary.

[@darknaio60]

Super glad to see you putting videos out again! Was legitimately concerned that you were dead or something for a while there.

[@PressRToZeus]

one of the reviews that i'm genuinely sad ended. i could have kept listening to you talk about the game for another hour. also thank you for letting me vicariously live through the Ranni quest line ending since i made it to the godskin duo after somehow managing to find every other instance of fighting them prior and going "i actually am going to go insane, i'm not doing this anymore" and quitting the game for likely ever.

[@andrewan1225]

"I dont use faster weapons because I like MEN" oh that was great, what a great line!

[@steel1896]

Can you explain? Is Shammy gay, or is he saying that faster weapons is weaker looking? Genuinely confused, been scrolling through the comments to find an answer

[@enjoyyourself3129]

@@steel1896 the faster weapons like katanas are hyper meta and tend to make the game unbearably easy (bleed builds or rot etc) idk his sexuality but it’s probably a joke cuz slower big weapons tend to be more fun due to timing positioning and satisfaction of landing the big hits which i agree with the faster katana like weapons feel just too easy

[@RauschenPauli]

HOT DAMN. is it already christmas? so glad to see an upload from you. your videos are some of the best reviews.