Ashes of Ariandel Review (Dark Souls 3 DLC)

The script for this video has been posted if you'd like to read along, or want to review what I say afterwards:
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Dark Souls 3 Critique - • Dark Souls 3 Critique
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[@CedyTheMagnificent]

After playing Ringed City it really feels like Ashes was just a prelude level for it.

[@paynesyler6428]

Vaati mentioned it was likely planned to just be one big dlc

[@JSilv3r]

@@paynesyler6428 so does Joe in his Ringed City review

[@LamesAMA]

For Sister Friede's invisible attack, you can tell which direction she goes in by the snow she kicks up. I was never unable to find her.

[@JosephAndersonChannel]

What about when she moves again after going invisible? She doesn't create a second snow trail that I saw. Sometimes it seemed inconsistent even the first time though. Even if she moved behind you, the trail would look like she went sideways.

[@LamesAMA]

Joseph Anderson The second time I'm pretty sure there's no tell, but it takes her out of the "grab" attack.

[@highvoltage7559]

It still works the same. Just pay close attention to it and you should be able to see it just fine. Small kicks of snow mean she's going to a side, big kick means she's jumping behind you. Also her attacks are preset, only affected by you attacking her, so you can easily punish her when ever she does this. I once managed to make her just turn around and never attack during the first phase, since she cannot do anything until she does the attack or you hit her. It was quite amusing.

[@blandotsev1838]

Joseph Anderson in the first phase you can always find her; in her third, she always does 2 ice attacks, and then the massive dark attack. After each ice attack, she gives the same dodge tell that she does in phase 1 (if dodges right or left, you'll see a puft of ice to the left or right of her, if she jumps, youll see a big puft, then if you turn around youll see her footsteps). The strategy is to go to her after each ice attack, see the tell, find her charging he dark attack, and punish her.

[@JosephAndersonChannel]

So in phase 3 you're never meant to "catch" her while doing her ice attacks? I don't know how I feel about that. My knee jerk reaction is that it should be consistent with phase 1. Explains why she would always Matrix Dodge out of every attack when I found her though. In the first phase I think the problem is that when she moves after going invisible (two movements), there's no tell that I saw. In phase 3 you can follow her with each jump between ice attacks but it's still not something I'd call consistent. One direction in an arena that big could mean a lot of places. There's an example in the video that shows that. I guess that's just part of the fight since you can still dodge her big magic attack even if you don't find her. I thought the sound was meant to be a reliable indicator but I guess not. Hm. I'll have to think about the boss some more now.

[@dkkr7526]

I agree on the whole 'price' thing, a review should first state whether the game is worth my money, then it should state whether it's worth my time (in my opinion, the more precious of the 2)

[@banuner_]

There is always money to be earned. Time however is limited.

[@_bisclavret]

I really loved the rotten village area too! I love that, even though the area is a maze, it's still contained and open. You can look around, recall where you're trying to go, and then plot your course using only what you see. I rarely ever see levels laid out so well.

[@BlackEyedJester]

17:25 I don't mean to be "That Guy" but if you pay attention to the snow trail left behind just as she jumps/dashes you can pretty reliably tell which direction she went.

[@jakers141]

this was my favorite boss mechanic, and it's only so out of left field because dark souls so rarely flirts with the environment in such a detailed way :^(

[@kirei5583]

@sokyu no she is very fair, I see no issues personally.

[@kirei5583]

@sokyu no I actually used a dagger on my first run, and stunlocked her for a bit, greatsword is a good idea too.

[@arbiter-]

I can't decide on what I've heard you say more, "we'll talk more about that later" or "drop the lock on"

[@nafgnafg9016]

That comment at 14:20 about the long chains aged like wine in your eldin ring video

[@Robert399]

20:46 This is a major problem with multi-phase bosses in general in DS3. (Apart from the obvious: repetition devalues anything) it really screws with the learning process that's core to the experience of Souls games. Not only does it waste your time but the constant interruption interferes with learning. This is only acceptable if repeating the 1st phase _is_ also learning to beat the 2nd stage (like Fume Knight or Lothric). This is why I hate Friede's 3rd phase. On top of all the things you said, too many of her attacks are different from her 1st phase and, given how quickly she kills you, you only get to see something once or twice at 5 minute intervals. It's ridiculous having to learn under those circumstances.

[@RandomPerson-yq1qk]

Yeah, nameless king is the biggest offender here imo. King of the Storm phase is really easy after a couple of tries, it does not even drain much healing at all, but it always is a waste of time.

[@ablebodied175]

Just beat Friede at level 61 and +7 twinblades. The first 2 phases were fine, it's the crazy long combo and high damage in the third phase that hindered me. It's like "Ok, finally im here i can learn her combos" and then 2 combos later ur dead and you don't even know what happened.

[@TheBigLime111]

I just really didn't like how they essentially make you play bloodborne with dark souls mechanics in the Friede fight. Some of her dodges just feel like the game is saying "you get to hit her when the rng lets you" and i can't help but think the fight would have been much better if you weren't stuck with your goofy ass rolls. Otherwise, she is probably my favourite boss in the series despite my small gripes.

[@ablebodied175]

@@TheBigLime111 her 3rd phase could be a separate boss on her own. It changes up the fight so much. Maybe they should've made her fight a 2 parter with father and her. Then another fight with her suped up form later on.

[@daney1481]

​​@@ablebodied175 yeah someone on Reddit suggested this as well. Also with Nameless King they should just let you fight him immediately after killing King of the Storms. It makes more sense honestly since it seemed weird he just revives from the dead everytime until you killed NK.

[@LavosYT]

The blocking abilities the Champion has are actually because of his weapon which you can use the same way.

[@lanasrj]

the only thing I'll say is that people played it way overpowered. And it's not their fault, cuz From Soft apparently said it was for SL80 but I started a new profile after it was installed and reached the DLC at SL30. I had a great time and a great challenge for 8 hours before I beat it, and I hear a lot of people complaining who played it NG+ or SL120+

[@jaeyoo5188]

Exactly these games are as long or short as you want them to be, I see people complaining its too short but they played at SL120 and summoned for the whole DLC, any area in any DS game can be completed in minutes.

[@clickpwn]

yeah I saw him in the video killing wolves win 1 hit with a straight sword and I knew he was way overleveled for the DLC. Dark Souls does not have innate difficulty adjusting system but you should put the challenge by yourself if you want to fully enjoy the game. I recommend going through this DLC with SL70 with around +6 upgraded weapon and you wouldnt complain about its difficulty or the length.

[@lanasrj]

clickpwn well in this case I heard (from other gamers, I didn't look it up) that From Soft recommended SL 80 for the DLC. So I can't really blame any gamers who play AoA overpowered. Still, it makes sense to me that you'd tackle the DLC on a first run (not NG+) and around the level in which you encounter the portal for the DLC (in this case Cathedral of the Deep, which is the first third of DS3)

[@redkoolaid616]

7 years later it's still true. First playthrough, laughing at myself for how much I'm hating this experience, cos I know I'm over-leveled. I'll hang on for the Sister Friede fight cos it's the thing we all have to complain about re: this game.

[@OG_McLovin]

It was a fun little adventure but this is the first time I've felt disappointed by Soulsborne DLC. Too short, too few bosses, but I did like the lore. I'm hoping like everybody else that they're holding back for an epic second and final DLC.

[@brightsuperstition]

I didn't like the lore, because it added in even more questions instead of answering or bringing light to the mysteries presented by the main game of DaS3. I really hope the next DLC doesn't do the same thing of raising even more questions.

[@itzpayday1238]

Well, the ringed city was absolutely epic

[@justanotherblackwhitemicke7817]

In my opinion, Sekiro had the worst DLC, maybe this comment wont aged well

[@glctcthnkr8059]

Just another black & white mickey Mouse it doesn’t even have dlc

[@justanotherblackwhitemicke7817]

@@glctcthnkr8059 Thats why it is the worst

[@WritingOnGames]

Great video as always man. Didn't take me too long to beat the final boss (not quite sure how that happened honestly but it was fucking intense) but I can imagine having to go through all the phases again a bunch would be the fucking worst. My main problem was that when the final boss came around, I really felt like the DLC was starting to pick up some steam and then just, well, ended. I guess it goes out with a bang but so much leading up to it felt so limp that it was hard to view it as such. Also, I felt that I was finding these cool shortcuts and getting that feeling of relief knowing that I could easily get back to a certain bit, only to remember a second later that I could easily get back there anyway, because there are bonfires EVERYWHERE. It tries to do the Bloodborne thing with shortcuts but the DS2/3 thing with bonfires and it's clear the two don't mesh well. Did you notice that as well or am I just crazy here?

[@JosephAndersonChannel]

I think some of the bonfires were too close together. And the conspiracy theorist in me wonders if they fluffed the numbers to make the area look more substantial. That shortcut in the house before the second forest area was totally superfluous too. What the hell was that locked door about?

[@Razhork]

It's for lore reasons. Remember that the painter girl is actually initially locked in the attic. We only get to her after killing Vilhelm and pulling the lever to open a secret staircase. It wouldn't make a lot of sense if the door was open because the painter would've been free to move wherever she pleases.

[@nasserharbi7839]

Writing on Games Hey man, I am a subscriber to your channel. Can you also make a video about this DLC. I really appreciate your opinion on games especially Dark Souls.

[@JosephAndersonChannel]

Yep but there's no jump from the balcony to the other side to open it, haha. It's two short falls right? No higher than the table she's on. If it's meant to keep her trapped then it shouldn't work.

[@Razhork]

Yeah, I think it's going to remain somewhat of an inconsistency in that sense. I think they wanted to have you naturally progress after finding her, so they made sure you're have a clear exit from the room. Otherwise they could've added a ladder outside of the Cathedral prior to fighting Vilhelm and had us climb it to the other side of the door or something akin to that.

[@Fishboi420]

For friede, you can backstab her when she heals, giving you I-frames.

[@joacimtorneus]

Hey I finally have something to actually contribute in a comment! I think this is the first time I've disagreed with you outright on something, even accounting for difference in perspectives and preferences, so that's interesting. The video was very well put together and expressed as usual but for the first time I don't feel you managed to give the content a fair evaluation even within your chosen perspective. I completely understand if you don't feel like responding to the massive upcoming tl;dr but I wanted to put it out there anyway. I want to be really clear that I think all your content including this video is really excellent and if I end up coming across as blunt or inappropriately harsh it's only because I don't have half your eloquence. Wanted to say that as well only because I know how conversations on the internet and not least in youtube comments can often come across, it's hard to judge tone and what kind of respect is actually being offered the other party. The main thing is the content. I really, really think you are just flat out wrong about the size of the level and have done the game and From a disservice by putting this assertion out there. I hope that doesn't come across too harshly but to me this is like both of us looking at a red wall and you saying it's blue. Saying that Artorias levels are double the amount of content of Ariandel's is just flat out inarguably wrong as far as I'm concerned. Two thirds is also missing the mark by a lot. I wasn't entirely clear on how you arrived at your conclusion but let's go through it briefly. Royal Wood is about equivalent to the snowfield. I feel like you might disagree here but then I'd really like to hear how you arrive at that disagreement. If you count the amount of enemies in each it's similar though I'd be willing to wager that Ashes is ahead, maybe by a large margin. The main path forward is pretty short in both but there's a decent chunk of optional parts to dig into with loot and more enemies. The physical space is probably in RW's favor but is more physical space to walk across with less to actually do a point in its corner when evaluating content? Oolacile Township is bigger than the Corvian Settlement but not by a huge amount. Chasm of the Abyss is smaller than the final part in the snowy forest so already Ariandel is ahead or on par. Then you have the chapel basement AND the climb and frozen lake with its basically-a-boss battle against 3 recycled enemies just like the Dual Sanctuary Guardians. Obviously the basement and climb are far more substantial than the 3 dogs on the way to Kalameet. I'm certain beyond the realm of doubt that you made some kind of mistake in your evaluation of the objective sizes and amount of enemies/stuff in these areas to arrive at the conclusion that Ariandel has half of it. Especially when you admit that Royal Wood is largely Darkroot reskinned and yet still count it as a full area, but later you give the brand new wolf enemy half a point on bosses just like Smelter Demon 2.0 while Ariandel's areas actually all being new doesn't count for anything. Bosses. You give Gravetender the same treatment as Blue Smelter. I honestly struggle to see how you found this to be fair. It feels to me like your dislike of the fight on a qualitative level affected your judgment. The giant wolf -is- a brand new enemy. You may not have liked him but he's still new. It's sort of the boss version of the Frozen Outskirts in that regard. Him showing up earlier in the level is just like Pursuer showing up in the Forest of Fallen Giants - it doesn't make it any less of a full new boss design. The game is doing something interesting by letting you interact with a later boss early, combining it with some regular enemies to provide more dynamic challenges as you progress. If you're going to say that the wolves showing up again soil the fight then you have to consider recycled skeletons and Velstadt in the Elana fight (and Elana herself use some already existing spells and is obviously quite similar to Nashandra). Like you said the content evaluation is not about quality - it's about quantity. I can't agree it's remotely justifiable to give the Gravetender boss half a point while doing the same for Smelter and Aavas. This isn't a fair evaluation of the work From actually put in to make new content. I agree that qualitatively, the boss can't touch the main 6 bosses in Crowns but quantitatively it should absolutely count as a full point in the chart. EDIT: or Smelter/Aavas get 0 points. There's also, and I don't want to harp on this point too much because I don't think it's very strong, the actual phases of the boss fight to consider. A boss like Aava has about 6 or so moves. The Friede fight probably contains well in excess of 20 and multiple different dynamics that it shifts through. It's a boss fight that I'm sure you'll agree nobody would've batted an eye at being counted as two if they were divided up through the DLC as 1+2 and later 3. Then suddenly the DLC would've had 3 bosses! But From opted to make it one gigantic fight instead in an attempt to do something fresh and interesting. And yet Smelter Demon and Aavas 2.0 + 3.0 put together somehow counts for the same amount overall. That's about all I want to say here because I do think this kind of reasoning can easily snowball down a slippery slope. But this much, at the very least, is fair to state. There's another point as well. Enemy designs. Your analysis of the DLC's combat direction was excellent and I agree with it. But it's kind of strange that you go through all this effort and then it apparently doesn't count for anything? I honestly don't understand this fixation on just strictly levels and bosses when the standard enemies are such a big chunk of the content. The enemies here are more varied than in previous DLCs, especially the Crowns packs where I would argue that the standard knights border on being interchangeable. Including variations they are quite literally more than twice the amount that Artorias added. I can't agree that it's fair to be so selective when undergoing what's meant to be an objective, quantative evaluation of content. Artorias runs away with it in bosses but Ariandel is well ahead in enemies. I fully acknowledge that most people value bosses far higher and I'd agree to the statement that they are objectively more important. But there's more nuance here than your levels & bosses chart had room for. One last point... I sympathize deeply with your disdain for From making us walk on narrow ledges but in my experience they have fixed the issue that used to exist in Dark Souls 1. I haven't noticed any bizarre slidey events taking place on the Great Hollowesque branches. I wasn't entirely clear on whether you had experienced them yourself or whether you didn't fully embrace the challenge because you were afraid the game would unfairly slide you off. If it's the latter I think you might be able to enjoy the thing more if you do engage with it, but if it's the former I'll have to admit that the issues might still exist and either I was lucky or you were unlucky. Overall I can't help but remember the statement you made in your DS3 critique. You were baffled at how easily and quickly you cleared the game and you initially thought it was content deprived to the extreme, but later realized it was all more substantial than you felt at first. Watching the early parts of this review I felt like I was hearing from you in that same pre-realization state on Ashes.

[@wonderguardstalker]

I don't like the new dlc but I love yer comment.

[@ahmz1404]

Joacim Torneus Spot on comment. And to add to the Greatwolf, it's a new boss but the same wolf encountered through the first area, if you fight it off successfully it enters the boss fight with less health and a bloodied face.

[@WFoong98]

Good one, also he did not mention of DLC weapons being unique for the most part and multiplayer. Which explains why he does not know that the Gravetender can block midair.

[@brightsuperstition]

"the giant wolf is a brand new enemy." LMFAO. It literally rehashes the same bite moves from the Pontiff Beast (which rehashed the same bite moves from Watchdog of the Old Lord) and also copied the same "imma run at you" and "sweeping ice breath" attacks from Vordt. "brand new" enemy? My ass!

[@brightsuperstition]

Also, LMFAOing at "the Friede fight probably contains well in excess of 20". Yeah, over half of which they ripped straight from gehrman, lady mariaand Priscilla. SUCH ORIGINALITY. MUCH INNOVASHUN.

[@Kleptomancer]

Dark Souls 3 was the first game in the series I've played and as a first timer I thought the Ashes was pretty good. I'm not as good at the game as a lot of other people so my playtime though the areas was probably longer than most but I still found it to be a very fun experience. Especially the tower with the vikings, the the 2nd forest area, and the final boss. For me, Ashes showcased a lot of the high points of the base game. It was more consistently good. Some of the areas in the base game were definitely a 10/10 for me, but it also had a lot of weaker 6/10 levels. I felt like Ashes held its quality throughout its play though. It's highs weren't as high as the the base game but its lows weren't low either. It was very consistently above average for me.

[@cooperemmerton2692]

I got the Deluxe Edition And all the DLC for like 20 bucks I was just happy I got a great deal and you are right even though I knew it was DLC I think I had a much better time with it than I would’ve if I paid for it separately

[@highvoltage7559]

Actually Laurence has 3 phases, or rather 2 forms of which the first has 2 phases. The first phase is the final phase of the normal Cleric Beast + the new fire trail and AoE effects, which makes the dodge timings a whole lot more precise. The second phase adds new attacks, all of which involve falling over in some form, which can be seen as sort of foreshadowing for the second form. And the third phase, the second form is the one where he gets cut in half and he loses all of his follow up attacks.

[@frusci.t]

High Voltage Yea, he has very different mechanics

[@brightsuperstition]

Please. Stop with the bullshit. The "second phase" you define is barely a phase at all. And the final phase when he loses his legs is nothing unique, since it literally recycles the exact same moves from the legless zombies in the sewers of Yharnam and the swampy area of Forbidden Woods. They have the same "crawl at you one hand at a time" move and the same "vomit" move. Lawrence is a garbage boss.

[@highvoltage7559]

brightsuperstition They're still phases, whether you like them or not. Knowing the difference between phase 1 and 2 is quite crucial when you're fighting the boss on higher New Game cycles. In a lot of action games like these, like Kingdom Hearts and Metal Gear Rising, the only difference between a phase is couple of new moves and slightly changed boss AI. The difference isn't always a big one.

[@Kapita_Lismus]

It's the weapon of the gravetender that causes the block while attacking. The player can do it too with the same weapon. It's part of the moveset. Also I think you give levels in the artorias of the abyss dlc too much credit. They are really uninteresting and easy/short which makes the whole dlc pretty short. 3 dogs in a tiny valley leading up to Kalameet is pretty silly. I basically used the same amount of time in the AotA dlc as in the dark souls 3 dlc. Either way I guess a few of things are based on your soul level and new game level when you first go into the dlcs.

[@tehCostHD]

Kaiser Willy artorias of the abyss is actually smaller than ashes... it just has more boss fights.

[@greybayles7955]

@@tehCostHD Honestly, Id rather have a good 10 minute Dark Souls boss fight than another 45 minutes of the standard exploration.

[@tehCostHD]

Grey Bayles damn 3 years later but yeah can’t say I disagree... I do wish ashes had one more good boss fight but oh well ringed city sure made up for it

[@k.-flynn]

@@greybayles7955 actually I really like dark souls' exploration, I'd take the 45 minutes please. Also considering that ds3 does have a problem of spam dodging on boss fights, would you flip the coin on whether it's a good spam boss or a boring one?

[@kabeltelevizio]

Unfortunately, I heavily disagree with the first part of the video. I don't understand the fixation on bosses in game like this, when fodder enemies and regular NPCs are a far bigger chunk of content. I died two times against the Gravetender boss, but died countless times against some random NPC claw monster, in the Settlement. I am confident, that fighting against the bosses was probably less than 1% of the playtime (for me). While I agree, that a boss, is the most well designed and most tested NPC of a level, I don't think fixating on them and quantifying DLC content, by counting them is in any way useful. I don't think DS could be measured like this.

[@mooganify]

I think Friede certainly took me longer than 1% of my time haha. Maybe my own fault for being naked with just the starting weapon but yknow

[@PatFagan]

Your videos are so good to the point where seeing one of your videos come out is more exciting than a new game coming out.

[@andrewcleary9952]

Finally, some criticism of Friede. I thought the first phase was fun. I thought the second phase was great. I despised the third phase. Don't put a high damage phase after an endurance test. Please fromsoft. Dark souls is sold on being hard but fair, and huge AOEs on super long combos on super long healthbars break that promise.

[@Jaximous]

I thought it was fine, Friede needed something to be harder than the other DS3 bosses and it never felt unfair

[@Zaouik]

You new around here huh? Dark Souls doesn't sell itself on anything. Dark Souls is whatever you interpret it to be. Many would disagree and say that game isn't fair at all and they aren't wrong for saying so, it's an opinion. As a Dark Souls veteran(Played and Beat ALL games in the series at max NG+ cycle) I can tell you that Friede's 3rd Phase was not all that difficult. All of her moves are ridiculously telegraphed and easy to dodge as long as you are paying attention.

[@jeremydukes4228]

that was the best fight in the series, possibly tied with slave knight Gael. it was done super well and was epic af. it was super fulfilling to beat and gave you that "oh thank god, I did it" feeling. i loved it

[@madcrusader123]

After an endurance test? 2nd phase is an endurance test? Father Ariandel is so squishy and exploitable you can stick to his ass and just outdamage the heal.

[@edwinortiz1262]

she is honestly pretty easy imo

[@westbrick690]

When Friede goes invisible she will let off a puff of smoke to show you which direction she is heading in, and another one to show you when she had landed. When I beat her I wasn’t even using audio cues, I was just looking for the impact visuals

[@NanoPuddles]

Hey Joseph, I would just like to say, your videos are excellent and it is obvious that you put alot of time into your videos. I was just wondering if we could get a dishonored 1 or 2 critique/review. The games are rich with lore and exploration techniques even if the levels are set in a linear fashion. I think you would like the series very much.

[@clancyoshannessy9623]

if you watch the snow that sister friede kicks up when she turns invisible and leaps away, you can tell which direction she went.

[@raafeyalikhan4400]

Tbf sister friede makes the dlc worth it for her fight alone lmao she's probs the best boss in ds3 atleast imo

[@thebuddah1253]

1 anime fight is not worth 15 bucks bruh. Souls fanboys just don't play many action games i guess.

[@raafeyalikhan4400]

@@thebuddah1253 Nah bro played alot and this fight alone is better than alot of them. The level is still rly good just nto souls standard good which is still above any shitty action game youve played.

[@thebuddah1253]

​@@raafeyalikhan4400pressing roll at the right time. Yah a great boss. So much variance.

[@jm0112]

​​@@thebuddah1253 Damn it must be really difficult being so bad at a game that you have to hate on people for liking it lmao. I was naive once too now I've beaten every thing from demon souls to elden ring. You'll mature don't worry

[@thebuddah1253]

@@jm0112 I assure you I'm better at these games than you. Play a game that's actually hard like ninja gaiden. Pressing roll at the right time isn't skill.

[@Valdyr_Hrafn]

tbh ashes of ariendel barely feels like a DLC. it sorta feels like a archdragon peak

[@Bloodyshinta1]

back stab freide when she heals, the invul will deal with father's attempts to cover her.

[@qkilld]

The reason the Champion's Gravetender can block during certain attacks is because the weapon he uses has that ability. It's a pretty interesting weapon to use in PvP.

[@angelsantiago7712]

When it comes to lore basically all that is interesting is that Friede is Yuria's sister and she ran away into the painting. Ya spooky Londor stuff that's not set in Londor itself...

[@kstelakis]

all this time I though the thumbnail was a dog with a bird head where the 2 ears were the eyes and the mouth was the beak

[@slightlytwistedagain]

Do you know that the big wolf you encounter in the top area is actually the boss? If you kill the boss before those two encounters it won't appear in those locations. I suppose some people don't like a boss being used this way as it can spoil the impact when you face it in it's arena but for me I don't mind it. Once I figured out it was the boss I thought it was charming with it's semi original idea (Duke's Dear Freja did it first, though that only happens in NG+).

[@jengaaaaa]

I didn't have large groups of enemies because I lured them out one at a time. Patience is a thing.

[@WildHart_z]

Okay. You make the same mistake a lot of people make. Yes, I guess in terms of literal size, the game has “less” than any single DS2 DLC pack. Yet, is it more fun? I find myself returning to this DLC than any DLC in any of the other games in the series. So despite it being smaller, I’ve played it more, spent more time in it and feel more satisfied with it.

[@Jbswe]

Because it’s a good change from the mid levels of ds3 of course it’s going to be fun to play compared to 90% of the areas in that game

[@Exigentable]

always pleased to see you in my subscription feed! you never disappoint.

[@havelthejock3761]

I'll give it a pass since this is from a long time ago, but there is a clear misunderstanding here with how the friede fight works. When she dashes away, you use the cloud of snow she makes from the jump to tell where she's going. And when she goes invisible in the third phase, you need to stay back for her to do her ice attacks, and then attack her when she charges up the final attack.

[@tailesque]

While I do appreciate a lot of the analysis Joe does for these videos, he definitely does get into a mode of... frustration, maybe? Where he'll call out something as "unfair" or badly designed when it's a bit of a stretch, and he simply just never fully understood the intent of the situation or how to handle it. Of course, from that angle, he'd likely blame the game for not communicating it crystal clear rather than evaluate his own reasons for misunderstanding.

[@jakubjankovec]

I like how mentions that the corvian knights look like they don't belong 'cause they look like bloodborne enemies when that is how the painting works. It pulls in all the stuff that doesn't belong.

[@ahmz1404]

1.5 levels? Wow, that's crazy! The first snowy area + the millwood knights is 1 area (governed by 1 bonfire) which is way bigger than the reskinned darkroot garden, the 2nd area is the corvian town (governed by 1 bonfire) and the 3rd area is the mountain area and inside the chapel (again, governed by 1 bonfire). The .5 is the depths, that's 3.5 levels. The bosses, again, 1.5? The optional fight has a giant wolf and an npc with a new weapon, that's 1 complete new fight (whether you enjoyed it or not), and the mandatory boss has 3 phases, 2 phases of which are very different, I would even count that as 2 bosses, but 1 just for technicality, so it should be a total of at least 2 bosses. Furthermore I replayed all the DLCs this week (having completed them multiple times, meaning I know where I"m going, got all the items, and didn't die more than a couple of times) and my findings on length are as follows: AotA = 50m, Crown1 = 1h40m, Crown2 = 2h, Crown3= 2h20, BB = 2.5h, and AoA = 2h. So the length is on the average side and not short at all. Whether you liked the bosses or the throwbacks or not is just your opinion which is fine, but saying the other DLCs had so much more content is highly incorrect.

[@JosephAndersonChannel]

> 1.5 levels? Wow, that's crazy! The first snowy area + the millwood knights is 1 area (governed by 1 bonfire) which is way bigger than the reskinned darkroot garden, It really isn't. I don't see how you could possibly think that. Using bonfires as a metric might be what's confusing you. The size of areas tied to a bonfire can vary wildly. > the 2nd area is the corvian town (governed by 1 bonfire) See again, the town is really small but it looks like you're going by bonfire = level. > and the 3rd area is the mountain area and inside the chapel (again, governed by 1 bonfire). The .5 is the depths, that's 3.5 levels. Same thing here. If you're going to count small areas and routes linking between them like that as valid for comparison then you're opening up a lot more of them to be added for the earlier DLC packs. > The bosses, again, 1.5? The optional fight has a giant wolf and an npc with a new weapon, that's 1 complete new fight (whether you enjoyed it or not), and the mandatory boss has 3 phases, 2 phases of which are very different, I would even count that as 2 bosses, but 1 just for technicality, so it should be a total of at least 2 bosses. The wolf is not unique, as you know from playing the DLC. It and the NPC are recycled like the other bosses I pointed out in the video. However, this is near irrelevant if you want to open the can of worms that is phases = boss fights. Many of the other DLC bosses have different phases. Going that route would make the comparison of Ashes to the others even less favorable. > Furthermore I replayed all the DLCs this week (having completed them multiple times, meaning I know where I"m going, got all the items, and didn't die more than a couple of times) and my findings on length are as follows: AotA = 50m, Crown1 = 1h40m, Crown2 = 2h, Crown3= 2h20, BB = 2.5h, and AoA = 2h. So the length is on the average side and not short at all. I beat Ashes in under three hours on my *first* time through so I think you might be a bit slow. It's cool like I said in the video it is harder to properly measure. The kicker here is that, even if you're right, it's at most 2 levels and 2 bosses for $15, which is still grossly outmatched by the previous content.

[@ahmz1404]

I wasn't going by bonfire, but added it as an extra guide. I honestly can't believe you can count AotA areas as 3 but AoA only as 1.5. Have you played AotA lately? The garden is tiny AND a reskin, the township is a medium size and the abyss, again, is tiny. If I was slow as you suggest, then was 50m for AotA also slow? That would make it even smaller, or perhaps I did it "incorrectly" (though I grabbed every time and killed every boss)? I highly recommend you play that DLC again, and the rest. And don't forget, you get better with each game you play, so if AotA happened to take you a very long time the first time, it won't now, because you're a much better Souls player than when you first started. Many people are going off skewed memories and this analysis further enforces a wrong viewpoint on the length and size of the areas of the DLC compared to previous entries.

[@JosephAndersonChannel]

I went through most of it for some of the footage I used in the video. I don't understand how you're saying the things you're saying if you just replayed it. I agree the abyss is the smallest area of the three but to call it tiny, and then go on to say the minuscule parts of Ashes are substantial, isn't something I can follow. It would make perfect sense you'd be faster at the DLC you're presumably more familiar with, compared to the one that's barely a month old. Btw, speedrun pace for the AotA DLC, using multiple glitches and skipping almost all of the content and killing every boss in seconds, still clocks in around 12-14 minutes or so. So you killing everything the normal way, getting all the items, while dying a couple of times, in 50 minutes without those glitches is really impressive. You should consider speedrunning.

[@jaeyoo5188]

I think hes' trying to position himself as a pro-consumer game reviewer, to these guys content per dollar is king, it matters little the quality of content, only the total amount (which he was wrong about anyway). Alot of the new channels position themselves this way to appeal to modern audience who values these things more. People don't want to feel 'ripped off' and I guess this type of reviews really appeal to that demographic.

[@jaeyoo5188]

Ashes is bigger than Artorias, and way bigger than any DS2 DLC which were tiny in comparison. You're correct here. Anybody that plays these 2 back to back would realize this.

[@nucoweiwers]

I'm so happy that i finally played ds3, finally unlocking these videos lol. Hi again Joe!

[@TheMoi]

Honestly I gotta disagree with almost the entire Souls community. Ashes isn't shorter than the other DLCs. I take my time to explore everything, not just on the 1st playthrough but on every playthrough. After completing every DLCs in the series multiple times, Ashes is as long as every DLC that came before it with the exception of The Old Hunters. All of them take 3 to 4 hours to fully explore and beat the bosses. People have these nostalgia googles, ESPICIALLY with Artorias of the Abyss. Royal Woods is a pretty small area. The village is also small. The Abyss is tiny. All these zones take about 30 minutes to fully explore. 30 mins is also the same amount of time I'd say areas in Ashes take to explore but there are like 5 of them. So yeah there might be less boss fights but overall, I strongly disagree with people saying Ashes is too short. People also used to say the DS2 dlcs were short when most of them missed like 33% of the content on their first run. The DS2 DLCs are packed with optionnal, hidden rooms and items, it takes at least 3 hours to fully explore just like the other dlcs. Old Hunters is a good 4 hours in my opinion, maybe even 5 if you count the amount of time you will die on some of the bosses. Anyway I just wanted to say Ashes' lenght is okay, maybe disappointing on the number of bosses but that's it.

[@mooganify]

l think the variety is what psychology gets to people. 1 big area will seem smaller to people than 3 smaller ones because it feels like you're getting more and going to more places. Ashes does feel smaller to me personally just because it feels like l get through it fast, even when exploring. Friede, however, probably made it longer than any DLC because of how l handled her. Not to mention the bosses, 1 actual boss and an optional throwaway challenge. l still look back on Ringed City taking me a while not just because of the two areas but because they felt bigger.

[@KerrangR]

AoA on DS3 was a godsent for those who want to make a reliable dex build without cheating; the rapier and talon wielding enemies are the ones with the highest (uncomon) chance to drop sharp gems out of all enemies that drop them and YOU CANNOT BUY THEM. You forgot to quantify that on your chart

[@holymolythejabroni9040]

Sister Friede is probably my favorite fight in the entire series. It can be a slog, and very unforgiving the longer you progress. But everything about the fight is just so damn cool. Friede’s moveset, her music. It’s so beautiful. The clashing visuals alone - ice and fire in the second phase, light and dark magic in the third - make it quite memorable. Oh, and the way Friede enters the fight is so fucking badass it gives me chills every time I watch it. She’s this thin, frail nun for the entire DLC, and then boom. SCYTHE. Even her line of dialogue is badass: “Fret not, father. Tis only the flame quivering at misguided ash.” Implying she has been laying the smack down on lost ashen ones for centuries.

[@kirei5583]

I 100% agree, maybe Gael is cooler in some peoples eyes. I find her 100% fair and such a badass fight, and the lore behind the 3 sisters is cool too.

[@justins4814]

I'm super late and this has probably already been said, but a characteristic of the Valor heart weapon is that it can block while attacking, so your assessment makes perfect sense. Great video.

[@dantegoat8568]

why are all your critiques just comparisons?

[@darkshadow19]

Hi! Great video and bringing in some good points. I do have to disagree about the area size though, there is a lot more time needed to traverse the whole AoA DLC than Artorias DLC in my opinion. While the first sub-area before "the fall" is pretty small, the second after it is pretty decent. Third being the town is also quite complex, i guess similarly like Oolacile, while the fourth and fifth are on the smaller side. But like you mentioned in the pinned comment, it's difficult to really measure it properly. Concerning the Sister Friede fight: There are people who quickly finish this fight with proper builds (seen a variety of comments online), but once I have came up to it with a Whips Only character, all its flaws came gushing out. Like you mentioned, the indication where she "vanishes" is not well telegraphed, but additionally you sometimes CANNOT interrupt her grab attack. Also, i've had quite a few occurences where she GRABBED me from up close (not able to dodge it). Had to really get used to it, but the fighting still seems reliant only on luck some of the time, not your "lack of foresight" or "lack of keeping track of enemies". Phase two i think is a great combination in general, but the third is rough from the start. Compare it to The Nameless King phase two, whose i really adore. NK has a good mix of allowing you to dodge and allowing a breather when you can see it, ramping it up as the fight progresses, while BFF just keeps on being aggressive right from the start and hits way harder than any other boss. It's okay to be punished by your mistakes, but forcing you to "not make mistakes" in order to win is a bit far fetched in my opinion. I may be sulking a bit at SF fight, because i decided to take her up with a less than ideal weapon, but i think the flaws really stand out when you perform fights with less than ideal equipment and conditions. Just like you mentioned in Hollow Knight that upgrading your nail messes up the balance a bit, here if you don't have a fully upgraded equipment it makes the fight almost impossible, but still having it shows how disadvantaged you are compared to other bosses. Not to mention, in order to get to that 3rd phase, there is a lot of fighting along the way, so you lose way more time than you really should.

[@DecoyBlackMage]

Now I generally agree a lot with the content creator here, but I feel like he was quite unfair at certain points. One point that was completely neglected and not even mentioned which I honestly find quite weird considering it was a major part of the overall content for this expansion, was the pvp arena system, which is a pretty large addition with multiple types of fights possible for the player, yes this addition is purely online and it was possibly ignored for that reason alone, but I feel it was extremely unfair to not even mention it. Second point I had an issue with, is more a nitpick then anything else has to do with the Friede fight phase 2 with Ariandel, a complaint about the boss was the healing section where Ariandel would sometimes shoot out a large amount of fire towards the player if you attack her while she heals, there was a another option that could be performed here, ignore Friede healing and focus attention on Ariandel instead, it is fully possible to outdamage the entire heal. The fight also has a npc only summon for it, which makes the boss fight trivial, but I still see the boss fight as quite good. While I can agree with the majority as well the price of the DLC, I do feel one part of the content was completely ignored.

[@chickmcjr]

*shrug* I wouldn't say it's "unfair" he didn't mention something he potentially hasn't experienced or has no reason to (maybe he doesn't like PvP?). If people are even slightly interested in DS3 PvP they knew about this ages ago and have already gotten it. I feel like this is more for people who are interested solely in the SP portion of things and the video makes that pretty clear. As for you second point, I never knew that! That is super cool. Dang man, every time you think you know everything about these dang games something new always pops up.

[@DecoyBlackMage]

chickmcjr He is doing critique on the content of the dlc though, leaving out a major part of it is why I think it is unfair. Even if it is content he does not play, it is still content for the game and the dlc on a whole. For the record, I overall agree with what he says and I would gladly recommend his videos to others because they are well made and he makes some very good comments. Oh and you can actually make Friede a lot easier especially her long combos with one tiny addition to your characters kit, a high stability shield (( a kite shield as an example )). Dark Souls has always encouraged players to change equipment and weapons depending on what they are facing, they have been doing this since Kings Field 1, but people overall are used to picking one path and one setup so they easily end up in situations where their kit may be more a handicap then a benefit.

[@dik4316]

Having to try and outdamage the heal is a compromise, not a solution as such.

[@zefie6040]

The arena's far worse than the one in 2, which wasn't DLC at all.

[@brightsuperstition]

@Zefie: I know, right? So many idiots here defending the new DLC arena, yet all I have to do is pop into DamnNoHtml's channel or some other PvP channel and see just how poorly designed and cancerous the new arena is.

[@anonymous01201]

Her phase 3 is literally just any ER boss

[@Deox425]

quality content always joseph!

[@SevenmcSeven]

agreed

[@bananablue3058]

If you can't hear Friede's move steps when she is invisible, then your headset mustn't be "that" good......

[@Metalgearfox2000]

Lol, your Review is longer than the dlc.

[@megasoniczxx]

Two things: 1. The champion gravetender can block attacks at weird moments because the weapon he's using that you get from him immediately after beating him (the valorheart) has active block frames on some of the attacks that you can do with it while two-handing so in this case the game didn't cheat, its just how the new weapon functions (though it could've been communicated better that he got those block frames since not many other weapons in this game have them). 2. Friede's invisibility is probably her biggest weakness in the fight and I actually don't think its too hard to find her, the third phase's usage of it was probably to make it so that you couldn't cheese her as easily as the first phase (two consecutive charged R2's from my Greatsword would put her down close to 50% with ease) and the attacks that she does are arguably not as dangerous as far as dodging them is concerned compared to the first phase. Everything else I agree with you on though, especially the bloodborne feeling that some of the enemies give.

[@spanishinquisition5032]

Can't wait for your Witcher 3 analysis

[@BlazeStorm]

Me too :')

[@MrBatesHD]

Came across your channel 3 days ago and in 3 days I've watched ALL your videos, not sure why I'm so hooked but what ever you're doing is working, thank you for making these! (I have never played ANY of the games you've covered and yet I'm completely consumed by your videos. Thank you!

[@dilsency6101]

How is Ariandel attacking you when Friede is healing unfair? You need to keep an eye on what he is doing before you charge in, you can even bait his attack in a different direction before you go after Friede. There is nothing "random" about it, it's telegraphed.

[@tehCostHD]

dilsency plus you can backstab her for i frames....

[@plugshirt1684]

tehCostHD I would rather die than backstab a boss

[@CancerCleric]

This is a really cool series of video you have. Gets me excited for all the games again.

[@LordSkullkid]

Good work. You deserve way more subscribers

[@Synchro-tq1mo]

For me the ashes of ariandel as a dlc is superior to artorias of the abyss

[@craigcochrane2284]

Re: Long Enemy Combo's to Challenge Players. I'm not sure where else Fromsoft can really go in terms of challenging players. Player skill in these sorts of games has gotten to the point that to put them under pressure you need either long combo's; multiple opponents or some other hazard in the arena. I'd be interested to hear any thoughts on the matter. Hypothetically you could design a "Frustration Mechanic" into the enemy's A.I. so that the better the player is doing against the boss, the more frantic and wild the boss becomes.

[@Pakanahymni]

I don't watch these videos to learn about the games in question, I watch them for insight into how different people experience games and how they analyze them.

[@BusyWaiting]

Saying that the DLC is only 1.5 bosses isn't really fair. Even if you don't like the Gravetender fight it's definitely is a unique boss designed for the DLC. Placing the same worth on that fight as a reskinned smelter demon doesn't seem right, especially when the other boss is so in depth. You could argue it's more like 2.5 bosses because of the 3 phase fight but it's definitely at least 2. Also it's worth mentioning that From Soft likely doesn't have any control over the pricing the of DLC. That's something that the publisher(Bandi Namco) would decide.

[@brightsuperstition]

The gravetender is a fucking NPC. They didn't even bother giving him unique armor. They gave us a guy with no pants, Chain Armor and a Dark Mask. And the greatwolf is just a mixture of the moves that includes the bites of the Pontiff Beast and the running attacks and ice breath of Vordt. If anything, Joseph Anderson is being REALLY generous with the Gravetender/Greatwolf boss here. I wouldn't even give it a 1.5. I'd give it a 1.2 or a 1.1. It's one of the worst bosses in the series. It's even worse because it's a DLC boss.

[@BusyWaiting]

Thats not how video games work, they can't just take 'moves' from completely different enemies with different animation rigging and apply it to something else. Even if they are similar 'types' of moves they were clearly made for the greatwolf from scratch. The greatwolf has a unique moveset, and NPC also has a unique moveset, which is a hell of a lot more than the Dark Souls 2 DLC bosses have. The Dark Souls 2 ".5" bosses consist of: A boss from the base game but blue. A room with 3 NPCs, they have no unique movesets. One is a new boss but you just fight them twice. Even if you don't like the fight the way he is ranking them is completely unequal. There's no reason that the gravetender and greatwolf fight should count as half a boss, it's totally new content.

[@JosephAndersonChannel]

I would agree with you if the wolf wasn't thrown at you as a regular enemy twice earlier in the DLC. It felt like a normal fight. And then it's not changed enough for a boss later. Imagine if the two Ogres in the starting area of Dark Souls 2 were given a health boost and an arena to fight in later on, with boss health bars. And maybe one extra move. Would that count as a whole boss to you? If so, then we'll have to agree to disagree. If we do follow that then we should probably bump up the Crown DLCs up to 3 bossesl, which I heavily disagree with doing. Same for Cleric Beast 2.0 in Old Hunters. Wanting to count different phases as separate fights isn't something you want to do if you're trying to argue that Ashes has a lot of content. Other bosses in the DLC have phase changes as well. Some of them are just as significant than Phase 1 and 3 of Friede.

[@joacimtorneus]

Look at it this way then. Let's look at what the actual new, unique content actually is here. For Ivory King they made one enemy design. Just one. They then copy and pasted it twice with one extra move on one of them (Zallen's healing buff). You give this 1.5 points for new, unique content. For Ariandel they made one new enemy design. They then used that enemy design three times throughout, once with an extra move. I think I just described the same situation from a "what new content is there?" standpoint. But you gave this 0.5 points. Not even a full point, even though the Greatwolf itself is as new a design as Aava is. It's less challenging mainly due to lower health and damage but it's still equally new. Can you really not agree that something is wrong with that? That scoring just can't be fair. The situation is similar. It's one new, unique enemy design used thrice. The wolf coming out to hunt you early in the level is like how Pursuer comes out to attack you in the Forest level in DS2. Nobody calls the Pursuer 0.5 of a boss as far as I'm aware. It's technically optional in the same way, too. I think this is all an issue of context and difficulty obfuscating the quantitative facts. The wolf is both relatively easy and its "copies" are placed before the boss fight itself which all comes together to make it feels less like a "proper" boss. Things got even worse because with your build and your ability you were able to burst down the NPC quickly, so the designed duo dynamic (the NPC will start using soul arrow and he gets a magic buff on his sword if it drags on) never happened. I can sympathize with this sentiment. It makes me understand why some people feel it's unworthy of the boss status. I'll also agree From should have balanced it differently. A major health and damage buff on greatwolf once it's alone. Speeding up when going redeyes mode. Ensuring Gravetender always survives for phase 2 with scripted dodges or something. But when it's a question of judging the amount of new content on an objective and quantitative level it is still just as much a new boss design as Aava is, especially when you consider the combination dynamics which are similar to how the Elana fight uses already existing enemies in a new context. The real difference is balancing, not amount of content. Sorry for plastering even more paragraphs on this page. I'm just really interested in this discussion because the reception of Ariandel has both fascinated and confused me.

[@JosephAndersonChannel]

I can understand where you're coming from, Joacim. The key differences for me is that the wolf feels like a regular enemy in those first two fights, whereas The Pursuer is clearly a boss. And Avaa quite literally is a boss. It isn't quite clear cut but that's where I draw the line, supported heavily by two facts: 1) It's another wolf/dog thing. Third in the series. 2) There are other wolves in the DLC. The giant one is not significantly different enough for me to see it as unique content. Ultimately, even if you were right--and I'm sorry but I still disagree, but I see why you think the way that you do--2 bosses is still really poor value for money when the DLC is $15 and comes up short against all of the other packs. You could even bump the levels up to 2 as well, and it would still be a poor comparison.

[@Novacanoo]

I think you really nailed the delivery here. Clearly enunciated without sounding tired (possibly entirely because you weren't tired this time :P). I find myself with the opposite problem. Even after attempts to pick up the pace in the last couple videos, I still find I perhaps talk too slowly and hang on too many points, not letting the really important ones stand out.

[@eban.]

You're certainly right on 1.5 bosses, but I just finished Artorias again and in terms of area size it is absolutely smaller than Ashes (and I mean in terms of content density, not just vastness) -Chasm of the Abyss is absolutely tiny, Royal Wood is just an empty Darkroot Garden with only two enemy types. Oolacile Township is the only decently sized area, and even that is comparable in size to just the town/cathedral part in Ashes. You're absolutely right about Artorias having better boss value, though.

[@Synchro-tq1mo]

I would argue that the sister boss fight is better than any boss individually in the artorias's dlc , but there is 4 of them lol

[@michaelschwartz8730]

Luckily, things got better with the next DLC. An awful lot better...almost like the two DLCs were never meant to be split in the first place

[@AlejandroAztec]

Spot on review. One issue, though: Are you sure Painted World is only about 50% the size of any of the Crown levels? Because they all feel comparable in size to me. You describe Shulva's ruins and the pyramid interior and the cave floor area as separate levels, but not the segments of the Painted World, which seems unfair to me because each of those individual zones aren't terribly long. Artorias of the Abyss is also pretty short (the chasm "level" can be fully explored in ten minutes), but it gets a pass because there was no precedent set and it made up for it with some top tier bosses. Ashes was certainly a disappointing DLC in regards to its value-for-content but it's more because it released in a similar timeframe that gave us an expansion two or three times larger (Old Hunters) and because by this time in Dark Souls 2's life we had three expansions of comparable size. I think that's the real issue. Also, the price point is a flawed argument because AAA development is much more expensive for 8th gen games than it was for 7th gen games. People want shinier games, they have to pay the price for it.

[@Giftasaurus1]

I really enjoyed this video and how you took price into account. It can be so easy to blindly buy into a series you love, giving these DLCs a value check and critiquing them is the only way a big company would ever have a reason to give a reasonable price. As long as people are going to blindly pay, that loyalty dictates the price. Great video overall, I really enjoyed it!

[@KeithBallardA]

As someone who had a great time with the DLC, it feels strange to hear it referred to as blatant disrespect towards Souls fans. Trying to compare things numerically also felt misguided. It's already shaky ground to spend such a long time trying to quantify things for a value judgement, but it just gets extra questionable once you are also arbitrarily deciding what is and isn't worth a full point. I know play times aren't super reliable, but even duration estimates feel like they would have been more indicative of total content rather than trying to count how many times the terrain changes.

[@Graysett]

You might like this poll about how long it took most people: www.strawpoll.me/11508444/r

[@chickmcjr]

It's how he chose to do it. Your opinion about his review system doesn't matter and is pointless. Your paragraph on this and not, you know, the rest of the video that lists a bunch of what he saw as negatives with potential fixes, is pretty telling about your lack of anything meaningful to add to the discussion.

[@budspudsy436]

He said it was either that or it was just cut content from the base game.

[@JosephAndersonChannel]

I don't think reducing my comparison to "how many times the terrain changes" is fair. But I do understand it is hard to pin down exactly how much content is in the DLC. Consider that playtimes, while initially a better source of hard numbers, doesn't account for player skill or a desire to explore every area. It would need to be a big survey with the same people playing all of the DLC in the same way. And even then, skill can be inconsistent. Some people struggle on different bosses and enemies. So I went with a summary of each DLC, and put a number on what I thought felt right for "one level". The half points are consistent in terms of rules, but even if you swing them to a full point either way, the content in Ashes is still so lacking in comparison that it's still a functional demonstration that it's overpriced.

[@KeithBallardA]

"Your paragraph on this and not, you know, the rest of the video that lists a bunch of what he saw as negatives with potential fixes, is pretty telling about your lack of anything meaningful to add to the discussion." There is no requirement for comments to themselves be a comprehensive review of the entire video they respond to.

[@samfivedot]

I've... never had a problem with Friede's healing spells? I found the best strategy was to just ignore her completely and keep attacking Ariandel. If you hit him enough he'll stagger, and the riposte will do so much damage that you'll usually kill him outright. He dies before the heal can even go off. But I'm an ultra greatsword user so maybe it's less effective with other weapons?

[@glaedth]

I just want to throw in my 2 cents. From what I noticed the game is mostly focused on positioning because you can avoid so many of the long combos be just side stepping it and you dont need to roll through all of it and this applies to a lot of the other enemies and bosses.

[@lamshabalondas7242]

just realized that From actually implemented something similar to Joe's point at 21:45 with sekiro's Death system, and how you can replenish charges by depleting a bosses phase

[@CreamyMcG33]

The player vs player arena was also a big part of this DLC which kind of makes up for the lack of content in this one. I suppose it doesn't make up for it if a person playing it mostly only plays without any interest in the pvp though. It should also be noted that a player arena was added in the dlc pack for the first Dark Souls and Artorias of the Abyss already had so much content so the Arena in Dark Souls 3 shouldn't really be an excuse for not having as much content this time around.

[@DarthVaizard]

The NPC boss that blocks during a lunge is using Valorheart. Valorheart allows you to block during certain attacks, including the one you showed. They also added a PvP arena in this DLC as well, and I know that doesn't make up for a lack of content (especially since there's only one map currently and less than optimal game balance and rule set), but it's something worth mentioning because it does lessen the sense that they gave the fans the short end of the stick.

[@blandotsev1838]

I cant remember the last time i clicked on a vid so quick

[@SevenmcSeven]

same

[@El-Duderino-His-Dudeness]

The final in boss in this shattered my will to beat it. I've solo'd every boss in this game and won't beat a boss otherwise. I beat the two phases of Friede on my first try, I was down to one flask and full health by the time that third phase kicked in and surprised me, and I promptly lost. It's just too time and room for error to go through that second phase. I'll probably try it again when the next DLC comes out, but right now I'm just too put off.

[@VenomSapphire]

at 16:45 you complained about the Gravetender being able to block while attacking. Did you even complete the fight? He drops that weapon. The whole gimmick of Valorheart is that it blocks during attacks.

[@JosephAndersonChannel]

I didn't use the weapon. I don't try every weapon I pick up. I don't think most people do? Maybe I'm the odd one there. It wasn't really criticism that he can block like that just an observation. It breaks established rules but isn't necessarily a bad thing when the bonfire is so close.

[@VenomSapphire]

Gotcha it just sounded like an uneducated criticism and I was disappointed because I like how well you articulate and back up your reviews for the most part

[@JosephAndersonChannel]

No it's good. Thank you for telling me. I think it's a shame they put cool weapons like that at the end when you've pretty much done everything already. I know you can NG+ but that isn't quite the same as doing a fresh run, leveling up with a weapon. I guess it's a balancing act between having rewards and adding PvP options. Plus end game bosses have their own soul weapons, but usually they're variations on existing types. Not really creative ones like that. I found a few more that I also had no interest in trying since I was already set in my build and killed every boss.

[@VenomSapphire]

yeah that's kinda a problem with souls games in general I think. Especially Dark Souls

[@comradet0m]

All his attack animations which also block incoming attacks show his shield raised as he attacks. It doesn't break established rules any more than someone poking with a spear or rapier from behind a shield does.

[@ky1at]

the invisible part of friedes first phase isnt random at all, you can tell based on the snow where she goes. the invisible part in phase 3 is bs though, its nearly impossible to hit her while she dashes away

[@budspudsy436]

I can't believe Epicnamebro said, and I quote: "Dks3 DLC is probably the best content From has made". It just defies reason

[@Repparansho]

Bud Spudsy sounds like sellout 😂

[@joacimtorneus]

That sounds to me like someone who truly loves Souls very deeply acknowledging that the QUALITY of Ashes is very, very high - which is different than the quantity of it (let alone quantity per dollar).

[@budspudsy436]

Joacim Torneus My point was that, as far as quality goes, it is not the best content From has made. As in, out of *all* the content they have made, this was far from the best in quality. It's just a completely unreasonable statement.

[@joacimtorneus]

I don't agree. I think it's a very reasonable statement, especially if you're fond of the lore and atmosphere of these games and not just the mechanical side of things. If you don't care about that stuff I can see how this is less likely to be a smash hit for you but me and many others really liked the somber tone of finality that From set with the dialogue and story on top of some very solid mechanical challenges and a gorgeous setting.

[@budspudsy436]

Joacim Torneus The problem for me is that this DLC is completely standalone. As far as I know Its story has no bearing on the story of the base game, and as such I felt completely detached from it. There was just no reason for me to care about this snowy nightmare world and its cursed inhabitants.

[@papachanka658]

I never knew you and caption were buds, you guys are my favorite KZbinrs

[@T3DNR3D]

Very much agree. People dismissing the lack of content in AoA are delusional. It's a very real problem with the DLC, and without a doubt the single biggest valid criticism. What's there is great and in places, very good (and it's very enjoyable), but there's so little of it. Also on the Gravetender idea - that's a facet of the weapon that you yourself can use - it's unique in that it has block frames on certain moves. The giant wolf also doesn't have unique attacks to the boss fight - it does the Ice Breath attack elsewhere if you attack it enough without killing it outright. Still, very good critique.

[@brightsuperstition]

Agreed. Here's a typical AOA apologist: "B-B-But it has a PvP arena! That TOTALLY makes up for the complete lack of PvE content! R-R-Right?"

[@zura8879]

Compared to AoTA, AoA only really lacks in bosses. Does AoTA also lack in content then?

[@T3DNR3D]

Snappy Zura Did you watch the video? The idea of diverse areas, weapons, spells, level/game design, thematic changes... All absent from AoA.

[@archangel9363]

Can't wait to watch your review of the Ringed City

[@nasserharbi7839]

I loved all your Souls series videos and this one too. However I think it would have been more fair if you talked about the new PVP feature since it is a part of this DLC

[@CrystalMooGamingChannel]

You can break her combo... use a shield. The game gave you alternative to fight. If you can block her slash, her stamina drop and you can attack her easily right after her second slash.

[@Raziel537]

Are you working on a Ringed City DLC video?

[@joebob327]

Always a nice surprise to see you upload. Keep up the stellar work!

[@jacket2038]

Eh, this video was alright. Some of your points were a little strange and a few were just wrong. I'd disagree about you on the amount of areas in the DLC. I'd argue each of the 5 sub areas is more like a half of a proper area, so 2.5 areas isn't that bad in my opinion. Similarly I'd say the gravetender counts for half a boss but Friede counts for 2, so again 2.5 isn't that bed. You made a mention about the grab attack of the human flies being given priority and I'm a little surprised you didn't know that's how grab attacks have worked across all these games. An uninterruptible, slow windup into a fast attack which locks you in place when you get it. That being said I did feel it was a little too quick. Another thing, the gravetender can block during his attacks because that is his weapon's special attribute, block frames during an attack. It's a really neat concept. I agree that Friede is a very entertaining boss and is easily my favorite because it is specifically designed to give veteran's a challenge to defeat. It remains hard no mater how many times you play it. Funnily enough I also fell for the bait by switching to my soul boosting items (mimic head, mendicant staff, CSS ring, and shield of want) before getting absolutely destroyed by Friede while I frantically switched them off. One last thing, you failed to talk about the arena which greatly improves upon the multiplayer experience by making it just simply faster and you also neglected to mention the weapons. All of the DLC weapons have unique weapon arts and while some are just lame (millwood axe, earth shaker) others like the follower's saber, Friede's scythe, Valorheart, and the follower's javelin make the game much more interesting.

[@Anth0ny9297]

He's talking about the length of the fight rather than the number of foes I guess.

[@Umcarasemvideo]

Well he always complained about the grab attacks in the series.

[@JosephAndersonChannel]

Hey thanks for the comment. You disagreed without insulting me. I appreciate that. > I'd argue each of the 5 sub areas is more like a half of a proper area, so 2.5 areas isn't that bad in my opinion. Similarly I'd say the gravetender counts for half a boss but Friede counts for 2, so again 2.5 isn't that bed. I strongly disagree that the cathedral and frozen river before Gravetender are large enough to be .5 levels. And the other three aren't big enough on their own to be considered a whole 1 on their own. I could be convinced that the areas should add up to 2 instead of 1.5, but I'd have to spend a lot of time studying all of the DLC to see if the others should be increased as well. Old Hunters is gigantic compared to Ashes. If Ashes is 2, then maybe that should 4. It's really hard to measure. I also disagree that Friede should count as 2 because of the phase changes. Other DLC bosses have phase changes that are just as significant. It would make the comparison even less favorable to some of the others. > You made a mention about the grab attack of the human flies being given priority and I'm a little surprised you didn't know that's how grab attacks have worked across all these games. An uninterruptible, slow windup into a fast attack which locks you in place when you get it. That being said I did feel it was a little too quick. Yep, and my criticism of it has been consistent through all of the old games too. I brought it up in my Bloodborne video at least twice if I remember right. > One last thing, you failed to talk about the arena which greatly improves upon the multiplayer experience by making it just simply faster and you also neglected to mention the weapons. All of the DLC weapons have unique weapon arts and while some are just lame (millwood axe, earth shaker) others like the follower's saber, Friede's scythe, Valorheart, and the follower's javelin make the game much more interesting. This is balanced out because I didn't bring them up for the other DLC either. No mention of the PvP stuff or the weapons--which is an especially big feature of Old Hunters.

[@jacket2038]

Joseph Anderson Wow, I'm surprised this comment got noticed. I still enjoyed the video and I'm glad you made it. I can see what you mean by there only being 2 full areas when added together. This DLC was exceptionally short for me, but I think the PvP makes it worthwhile. It also seems unfair to ignore the weapons and multiplayer in these DLC's but I see why you aren't interested in starting that now. Also I wrote about your thoughts on grab attacks because I thought you didn't understand them for some reason. I kind of agree that they are often a little bullshit-y. If the hitboxes on them were more consistent I'd appreciate the extra diversity in enemy attacks more but as it stands I find that they often kill pacing during boss fights by completely stripping the player of control excluding the early escape button mashing.

[@ShikiRen]

Friedes jump also causes snow to spray in the direction she dodges in, and when she lands you can see a puff of snow aswell.

[@ThroughLidlessEye]

I can't possibly agree with your quantifying of the Ariandel "levels". I think you are grossly overestimating the size of Artorias of the Abyss; it felt longer because the bosses gated each section. Without those barriers, the individual segments of the DLC take much less time to complete, and feel smaller as a result. I think Ariandel is easily the same size. Admittedly I may be biased; I got the DLC for basically free by selling items on the Steam market.

[@Bound2theGround]

Towards the end of the video there is a note about From returning to dark souls 1 concepts and wondering what the purpose is. With Ariandel, it's clear that this painted world is suffering in a very similar way to the outside world of Dark Souls 3. Where in the base game's world, there is decay due to the fire being drawn on for much longer than it ever shouldve been, in Ariandel, the painting is rotting due to fire not being allowed to spread. There is a cycle within painted worlds much like there is a cycle of light/dark outside it, and the halting of this cycle is a big parallel. So From used the DS1 concept of painted worlds as a way to depict what's happening in the main world of DS3 in a different way.

[@OpticalOctave]

Hey, I just want to say keep creating great content. Where do you get your ideas for what games to review? Great vid.

[@robindabank9616]

I never had a problem with fride healing on phase 2 at least for me I was able to out dps the heal by attacking father so the healing was at most a negligible amount recovered, the real draw for attacking father there is the riposte state which can really make a difference

[@AnnNightNoxana]

Me: "Phew, so I've finally beaten Sister Friede, time to listen to Joe talk abou--" Joe: "...AND BLOODBORNE" Me: NONONONONONO I'M OUTIE

[@canniballollocaust9174]

I'm not sure if it exculpates or inculpates the DS3 DLC, but a key column missing from your comparison is: number of new enemy types added by the DLC. If one DLC adds 4 new enemy types and 4 bosses, and the other adds 10 new enemy types and 2 bosses, then assuming those enemies are sufficiently distinct from one another (like we're not counting sword hollows and spear hollows separately), I would say the second has more content. I'm pretty sure animating a hollow swinging a sword and animating Gundyr swinging his halberd are about the same amount of work. Maybe one player would prefer less enemy variety and more bosses, so for him it's bad design, but it's not literally less value/content for money. On this metric, Ariandel compares favorably to Artorias. Assuming we're not counting the nth dog reskin or the humanity ghosts (LOL), Artorias has 5 new enemy types, none of which have significant variations. If you count the variations of the crows with substantially different looks and movesets (i.e. regular crow, crawling crow, toxic crow, rapier crow knight, claw crow knight), and don't count any of the wolves or Sir Vilhelm, Ariandel has 9, although admittedly you could call it less if you think some of the crow variants aren't distinct enough. Even so, it feels like Ariandel is more in the neighborhood of 80% of the content of Artorias than 50%. So then it should be $12, not $10. And then maybe we throw in another $1 or so for better graphics, and then somebody says fuck it, let's just round it up and it's not that unreasonable of a price.

[@Jbswe]

Ashes is like a 1.5 hour level with a mini boss and then main boss at the end which could take a while depending on skill . Good luck Doing all of artorious content dlc in 2 hours although it isn’t that big but first time it feels way more substantial. Going into ashes during playthrough just felt like another big ds3 level

[@bubble0bill]

Please do the new dlc review

[@ubivatel4207]

Am I the only one who sees a bird-like monster with two huge black eyes in the thumbnail instead of a wolf? Like, by default it always takes me a moment to unsee it whenever the video gets recommended.

[@XxMeatShakexX]

"Best wolves in videogames" People need to play some Sang-Froid, it's free on steam.

[@ahawkone8850]

I appreciate your thoughts on this. It's interesting to go back and view it in a retrospective sense. For me when it comes to judging worth, you have to take into account what type of new content is being offered and how much you actually want that content. To someone who was unsure of this one and had not yet played the Ringed City, I would ask them if they want more Dark Souls 3 and if they are interested in one of the best zones the game has to offer? If the answer to that is yes, then they should get this. If the answer to that is that DS3 wasn't the greatest thing, it's cool but not as good as "insert favorite game here", then I would recommend that they proceed with caution. It is short and it for sure recycles content, but it also does things, both large and small, that have never been done in the series before and it does them exceptionally well. For me that is the bar for a good DLC, is it fun, does it pay homage to what makes the base game good while at the same time pushing it in new directions? I think this DLC succeeded in that.

[@youngwolf6896]

5:04 you obviously haven't fought Laurence if you disregard him as a brand new fight. He's arguably the hardest boss in Bloodborne.

[@shrouls]

Dude, he's not brand new. His first phase is cleric beast but with fire and does more damage.

[@AcidQuilmeleon]

Your price comparison is a prime reason to pay the $24.99 for the season pass to all DLCs. Saves in the long run. This is true for many games. As for this DLC. I got a lot of callback to DS1 and BLoodborne in the enemy palcement and Freide fight reminded me of Gerhman without the ability to parry her. The bonfires were to close together. I have read other comments before writing my comment here. I beleive a few were positioned for quick warping after the fact for fast exloration. Then again, I was on NG+6 when I entered the DLC, so my sense of difficulty is a bit different than those on NG, so I kinda ran through the DLC, and explored after the threat of nonstop invasions, which were a problem, was gone making the close nit bonfires necessary to survive the hoards of enemies that oculd nearly one shot me in most cases. I do enjoy your videos, its nice to see constructive criticisms of games for once.

[@chocolateanimegirl9910]

At least the Gravetender has got a great soundtrack.

[@kirei5583]

Gravetender was such an... odd boss lmao

[@jaydork739]

Great video Joseph. I dug through the top comments and didn't see too much on this point that was not in the video. Based on the channel, multiplayer is not much your thing, or at least not the idea of reviewing it, but I do think it would have been good to mention that after beating the gravetender, the champion ashes allow you to access a dedicated PvP arena which many dedicated fans have been asking for since the first game. PC even has mods now to allow soul level 134 character builds for the PvP experience, up to 10 separate characters and builds. Having 150+ hours into the game, I only had two or 3 characters up at the PvP level of around 130, whereas the rest of my saves were low level builds for replay value. Whether you wanted to review that portion or not is entirely up to you but I think the PvP was important enough to at least mention as being a part of the DLC, perhaps even justifying the $5 additional cost of this DLC chunk (though I do agree it does feel like it was stripped from the base game) Lastly, I would be interested on your input about the value of the game w/ the multiplayer portion, and how that may balance out against the second DLC release, which would ( I hope ) be the same price, but have a longer single player experience similar to the previous games DLC. Looking forward to whatever you do next!

[@MegaGamer456]

Basically not worth 15$. Id say 10$

[@absolutely6298]

I don't really regret paying $15 for the whole DLC, the arena alone has provided me with hours of fun. I didn't really like that my only options before were to invade somebody who was minding their own business, be summoned into an "honorable duel" or take part in a fight club (which I wasn't very fond of, I would have killed the host for giggles.) Even better now that the idiots who did nothing but run away for the whole match until it timed out are kind of lower in numbers than when the DLC first came out. Also I feel like a lot of the things this guy is complaining about in his review are all non-issues. I personally never once got grabbed by the flies that inflict bleed because I actually pay attention to NPC movement but also I had zero issue with the 3 part boss battle, I beat it on my second try alone. I was mildly over-leveled when I went to the painted world so I got through it pretty quickly but even that content I'd be $10 for easy, add the arena to that (which I would have paid another full $10 for honestly) and there's your $15 value. Jo also mentions that this content could have easily been a chopped up part of the base game that they intended to sell as DLC. I strongly disagree, I feel like the DLC had a lot of thought put into it before it was released. Devs have often started development on DLC far before base games are released (you'd be daft to believe otherwise) so yeah, maybe some of the assets were already there unused, but the DLC introduced a few things we're not used to as players of DS3. When I first entered the painted world, I cautiously moved forward into the open space expecting to be hit by some kind of huge beast or to be overwhelmed by enemies in every direction, not particularly strong enemies but an overwhelming number of weak, dumb enemies that in large numbers could be dangerous. Instead I took a flying spear to the face. I was hit with some torch fire, all the while another enemy was rushing me with his shield. What was this? Three types of enemies with different attacks, working in unison with a strategy, to take me down. They did take me down, they succeeded because I had no idea it was coming. I had to learn something new in order to efficiently dispatch and survive these enemies. That's clearly something that was a complete non issue pre-DLC. I never had to think about what strategy the NPCs were going to use in unison. What I was used to was "Okay all the dumb enemies are going to come whack at me all at once. I'll just dodge them and lay the smackdown." I only hope that in the future DLC I'll be pleasently surprised again by how much thought is put into the experience of playing through it.

[@ferry1226]

eh make that 5 and then maybe.

[@MegaGamer456]

EdgarAllen Poetato i think that the multiplayer shouldve at least come with the game already. Just not worth the 15$ i beat it in less then 12 hours