Brutally Honest Elden Ring DLC Criticisms...

[@Ziostorm]

I still think the DLC is a 10/10, just a few nitpicks as someone who cares way too much about this game👤

[@infatuated9970]

Personally for me the dlc is still a 10/10 as well but that final cutscene had me pretty unsatisfied. I also wasn't very satisfied when I saw the new weapon types and how few new weapons there are. For example, there are only 3 backhand blades. Only a handful of throwing weapons.

[@KazaiTV]

There is no way it's a 10/10. Like over half of the monsters are re-used from the base game in a 40$ DLC on top of it being in a different realm. The items in the overworld are completely garbage and then we have the forge-dungeons without a boss in them. Areas which feel not finished at all or without much of a purpose. It's good but they should have let it cook for a little bit more. (Im also not a big fan of the final boss lore wise, it really leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I wish we would have fought Godwyn and given him a true death. That would have given the DLC a big purpose and ENDED Elden Ring wonderfully. Wasn't Miquella always trying that but then it's all about R....)

[@bachl1]

i agree with ur critisism, for me the dlc is a 7/10. I really dont understand what standards people have for giving it a 10

[@craiuirinel4103]

the DLC is very very good but its at most 9/10. The zones are too empty or too big, depending on how you want to view it. I think the DLC was rushed in some way, in comparison with the base game, the base game has better rewards for exploring. The map is hands down better when compared to the base game. I wish it was like 1/2 of it's size but with a higher density of items and more interconnectedness.

[@dice5709]

​@@KazaiTVThe Gaols too. Those were so boring. Also reusing Dragons and Deathrite birds who are just annoying to fight.

[@n8doggy733]

to add insult to injury with regards to the Cerulean Coast, they hid the red dancer fight in a bland masauleum instead of in the pretty blue fields like in the trailer

[@jakeryan2805]

lol I found that area, and fought the dragon, and assumed I was done its so empty. Where is the dancer fight located?

[@DatAsianGuy]

@@jakeryan2805 it's on a small island off the coast, west-side I believe. You can get there, by finding a cave that leads underground to the island, near the coast as well.

[@sebastianb.3978]

​@@jakeryan2805you missed like, three or four bosses there then

[@valentinvas6454]

The trailer also showed a different, more adult looking Miquella near the end. It almost feels like a whole different ending was cut from the final product or I don't know.

[@EldenLord.]

Yeah I am not sure why they changed it. Plus the cutscene with Miquella outside of Enir-Ilim where he points towards the Scadutree (seen in gameplay reveal trailer at the end) never happened aswell. I was wondering when this cutscene would finally play out and thought I missed something but we only saw him in the final boss battle. They also didnt use the actual gameplay trailer OST which I was looking forward too. Only a different version in Rellanas fight.

[@Helli__]

You don't need to craft throwing items anymore. You can throw cookbooks now 🤣

[@GravelordWrust]

Hahaha. Dishing out cookbooks like Gordon Ramsey at a charity event.

[@zensempai7371]

WHERES THE COOKBOOK SAUCE!!!

[@FTZPLTC]

Lol, just remembered one of Rusty's requests for new weapon types being to be able to hit people with books like the sorcerers in Raya Lucaria do.

[@clalam5241]

There should be a collasal book weapon

[@thecasualfly]

@@GravelordWrust I think it is a major hint that we should be crafting items and using them to help our battles.. but nah it's too much effort.. though when I find an item on ground as a glowing orb and it's a single leaf of material that feels kind of soulless.. it could of been 100x of that material.. oh well.

[@Kurai_69420]

I can't believe we went to a realm all about death and got NOTHING on the Gloam-Eyed Queen or the Godskins.

[@ornado4773]

This i entirely agree with.

[@CausalityUsurper]

It's pretty much confirmed because nothing else was added now that melina is, indeed, the empyrean of the first generation of Marika's kids who rebelled. A child with a vision of fire; either her black flame, the erdtree burning in either iteration, or you burning existence to a crisp as the lord of frenzied flame, as her fate.

[@jamaledwards8118]

​@@CausalityUsurperwhere did it revealed that melina is that?

[@tyler547]

@@jamaledwards8118we know she’s a daughter of Marika (messmer’s sister) and the flame of frenzy ending is the other clue most people latch onto.

[@armandaneshjoo]

Nanaya

[@PhantomCh]

I completely agree with the final boss criticism. To make matters even WORSE, I got super excited after following the npc questlines. I heard that Miquella took Mohg's body and was going to put Redahn's soul in it and imagined a SUPER BADASS chimera of the two. Getting to fight the body of mohg, the soul of redahn, and the power of Miquella in one fight would be like fighting all 3 of Queen Marika's offspring branches brought together in one massive badass final fight. Instead we just got a smaller parryable redahn that sparkles in phase 2. And no ending. SUPER shit for a final boss when the dlc had new original bosses like Bayle and Midra.

[@fernandofaria2872]

Im not convinced that is mohg's body (i mean, he just looks like Radahn), i think ansbach was just mistaken 🤔

[@macvadda2318]

@@fernandofaria2872he used the flesh of mogh

[@macvadda2318]

I mean its pretty cool, i like how they dont just dissapear after defeat, but a small young radahn is pretty cool tho, and ofc hes parriable😂 do you want everything to be a aoe attack😂

[@fernandofaria2872]

@@macvadda2318 Where does it say that, and why he just looks like Radahn then? Because Ansbach said Miquella will use "the body of Mohg", right? Or am i remembering wrong? 🤔

[@chilly456]

​​@@fernandofaria2872You can see some omen horns coming out of his gauntlets and boots, and he also has a bloodflame attack.

[@tatu9805]

3 criticisms: 1. Rellana does not have a cut scene 2. some areas are too dark 3. the finger ruins are dead empty spaces.

[@harkaranbrar2342]

theres way more than that

[@TheUnseenKrab]

Cookbooks, the lack of good rewards, lack of good loot from exploring. Makes the game extremely linear. not just in dlc base game too.

[@LeFouLutin]

Agree, but there's also a quest going with the finger ruins. But I do agree it's disappointing there's no secret dungeon or anything in these places

[@dumbname1961]

@@LeFouLutin when i first went there and had my spirit summon became available i was like "ohh shit a boss fight?" then i spent 30 minutes getting succ-ed by leeches with legs searching for the said "boss". The +1 talismans were nice tho.

[@bondrewd5935]

​@@dumbname1961well about that....Maybe you have Lost and important part of the dlc

[@tsukagesenpai1899]

I think my biggest problem is that there's no special interactions with the base game npcs There's no interaction with Rennala while wearing her sister's helmet that she made no interaction with Gideon or Goldmask about the realm of shadow no special cutscene for Malenia after the final dlc boss Nothing at all

[@midorayo1149]

i mean renalla is already brainded after radagon left her

[@iota-09]

Even Gideon doesn't say anything about you slaying miquella...

[@WispFigment]

This made me the most mad. Like we just couldn't get 1 person to talk to about events. You don't have to change the story or hire back all the VA's from the base game

[@spaghetticondo.m9116]

@@WispFigment pretty sure in other fromsoft dlcs we had some sort of tie ins as in dialogue so i thought it was odd we did not get a single thing out of this dlc

[@WispFigment]

@spaghetticondo.m9116 Yeah, the only thing I can think of why they couldn't do it is because they didn't want to rewrite certain elements of the main story and have npc's know about the shadow lands in story

[@Flora-of_The-Moon]

I was really hoping for Godwyn as well. When I first faced one of the death knights with Godwyn’s face in the background and learned that they were Godwyn’s bodyguards I was so excited to meet Godwyn eventually. For what other reason would Godwyn’s personal bodyguards be in the land of shadows if not to await the resurrection of their lord?

[@borinthe41st15]

The description of their axes state that they were the guards of Godwyn, but now are the protector of the prince of death's cadaver surrogate. A cadaver surrogate is another way of saying a corpse substitute, implying that Godwyn didn't die on the knight of the black knives, and it was someone else who became the prince of death.

[@StoopuLoopu123]

⁠@@borinthe41st15 The cadaver surrogate is just the Godwyn face thing that’s in the fog rift catacombs. There’s a death knight protecting it

[@Kriggleton]

@@borinthe41st15Miyazaki didnt have to do us like that 😭😭😭

[@gilgameshthetreasurehunter2750]

@@borinthe41st15 Aw come on, that just leaves room for something so much better.

[@TSpoon823]

​@@borinthe41st15 I think that is just the term for the faces we are seeing around the Land of Shadow and under Stormveil. His true corpse is below the Capital, but it's growing these "surrogates" through its root system around the Lands Between and even in the Shadow Realm. Maybe these corpse surrogates could also serve as potential vessels for his restored soul if that ever happens, and maybe that's what is implied and why they need to be guarded, just in case he ever does return.

[@mrself5824]

The biggest crime was making the finger area so damn huge only to have absolutely nothing in it apart from the talismans in the very centre. So much tike exploring for absolutely nothing

[@mrself5824]

@@fos8789 Atmosphere these nuts, no ones asking for a finger version of the Euphoria. Just a couple neat things to find, but a completely empty space is just a waste. It’s beautiful, it’s a shame when everyone knows theres nothing anywhere apart from the very centre they’ll stop exploring it

[@xRuiNga]

@@fos8789crazy. I think there def could’ve been more. Exploring everything for nothing makes an area feel empty. And even fighting the enemies is unnecessary since all you do is run to the horn thing and that’s it.

[@turtle3527]

@@fos8789there’s lore to suggest these areas are barren being they need death and decay to also create life but aren’t finding any of that. That said, they did not need to make these areas that freaking huge just to put nothing in them. They could have ran with the barren theme in a smaller scale

[@waiz0231]

​@@turtle3527it was just unfinished lol

[@AdoreYouInAshXI]

@@fos8789 There really isn't much atmosphere even. It's just an empty field with giant fingers. The entire area looks identical. And then when you find out there are not one, but TWO of them with absolutely zero value to the game pretty much... it's just such a weird design choice, and simply saying ItS aTmOsPhErE is such a cop out. On replays I will never even return to either of these areas unless I need the coffin remembrance.

[@heus_sueh]

It was a little disappointing that the lore of the godskins was not explored, it seems that the Gloam-Eyed Queen was written out of the story.

[@marhell94]

Apparently the Putrescent Knight used to be Knight of the Gloam Eyed Queen in the game files, therefore I think you are right and they just scrapped the whole storyline.

[@Zomboy123456789]

@@marhell94 Can you imagine that fight but instead of Ghostflame it's Black flame.

[@osets2117]

There's always Elden Ring 2

[@DrooledOn]

The dlc is Miquella’s story not GEQ or godskin. There were no Godskins or GEQ in the marketing. It was obvious, that wasn’t happening. GEQ is a nothing burger.

[@kkrystal822]

​@@DrooledOn how can u say that about the geq bruh do u even know how important melina is for the game/story?

[@chainclaw07]

One thing i noticed in dlc compared to main game - the areas were incredibly big with very few rewards for exploring, i never found things in the nook and crannies of the world...

[@highlightermarca-texto3281]

Not having a reward under every single waterfall except the one that had a talisman is criminal

[@xian1978]

I noticed that too, at first I was amazed by the size of the map and then there were a lot of areas that were a big open area with ONE thing and nothing else.

[@Godlysound]

Cerulean coast was SO disappointing after realising it was mostly empty, simply because i was so excited when it first comes into view and asks to be explored. Then you find out it houses a dragon, one path that circles around and MILES of blue grass between graces and the like two important locations. That being said it's still one of my favourite new areas just thanks to its unique visuals and is my go to play ground for testing out new weapons and spells or getting summoned.

[@Mushroomancer]

I feel like they focused on vibe rather than density. Like the abyssal woods, what a place. There’s not much there but first I was there I felt uneasy, it was almost scary. Would never want to care to doing again in a second play through, but the first time had an impact on me.

[@epruno3583]

​@@GodlysoundI agree but I saw an island I missed on the map in that region. Came back, found 2 bosses, a katana, a curved sword, paired curved swords and a new armor set. Now I like it a bit more.

[@AreWeLearningYet77]

I treated the finger area like there must've been something really nasty in the center that wanted to kill me. All i knew was something was trying to snipe me. The absolute disappointment when i realized it was just basic finger creepers and lampreys and nothing else after 5 minutes of carefully inching my way there...

[@azuraamasu5668]

Same, i even got off torrent and started buffing myself non top only to find that random ass bell

[@Jezroth]

Yeah, the fact you can even summon spirit ashes in the centre of the first one made it feel like there was meant to be something there

[@eshxn4]

there is a finger ruins with a boss in it you just have to do ymirs quest line

[@Jezroth]

@@eshxn4 yeah but it’s not the south eastern one, I had the summon icon when I got near the centre but nothing was actually there

[@marclenraymagdaraog691]

Yeah that as fcking dumb. Ngl I wish they dropped a huge ass generic dragon instead with a bunch of fingers itching it's body.. and even if it just drops dragon heart I would have been satisfied.

[@jingchaoye]

they forcibly invented the vows between radahn and miquella, which was not implied in the base game lore.

[@ReneAensland]

This.

[@chopsandtoots]

If there had been any sense of foreshadowing at all. 1. The lore enthusiasts would have found it by now given they had two years and 2. I could buy a Radahn consort if so. Unironically this is some GoT season 8 level writing, because the only defense people have is that, well there wasn't anything to suggest that Miquella hadn't picked Radahn (which is not good writing and is not a proper execution of subverting expectations)

[@joshualouw9506]

@@chopsandtoots straight up, radahn just feels like a lazy retcon, shoehorned into the story due to his popularity as a character in the community, it feels so forced. ngl right now I feel really disappointed with the narrative direction of the dlc, felt like there were so many unresolved plot lines they could have delved into, so many directions it could have gone in, but this is what we were building toward all along... like really? Im not sure what happened but I refuse to believe this was the plan from the start.

[@chopsandtoots]

@@joshualouw9506 this was their weakest DLC for a few reasons, but mostly because the main storyline was so bad. The lore with Midra, Marika, and Placidusax was great though

[@joshualouw9506]

@chopsandtoots yeah I really did enjoy most of the other stuff a lot. It was fantastic, but the main plot was just so weird. I really felt like miquella was being built up as more of a nuanced character, with complex goals and motivations that would be logical and understandable. But now it seems as though he's simply been manipulating everyone all along, literally stealing their hearts and taking away their free will, under the guise of his false love and compassion. All in the quest for power I guess? Idk maybe I'm missing something important, or maybe my interpretation is completely off, but right now, I'm not happy where they went with these characters.

[@johntomaro7202]

It’s amazing how much space the finger ruins take up on the map. Add Scadutree view, abyssal woods, and hinterlands. A whole bunch of emptiness. The first half of the DLC is so much more dense and interesting. I think they had to rush it.

[@abelatomato680]

They cant use”we had to rush it” as an excuse they had 2 years for them to make it

[@Will-fg6hx]

@@abelatomato680 they can tho. u realize how long they were working on the main game right?

[@dynamicflashy]

They had two and a half years. They should’ve waited for another 6 months if needed.

[@Belowski69]

Excatly my thoughts

[@Blittsplitt5]

I mean, even the Gravesite Plain is very empty. Tons of dead ends and cliffs that lead to nothing.

[@salaciousSaucegames]

Radahn did not support the Golden Order that's the biggest misconception about Radahn since the base game. Radahn never abandoned the Carians. There is a Moon Altar in Redmane Castle suggesting he still follows the teachings of the moon, Jerren his right hand man, is still loyal to the Carians and even helps stop Sellen from overthrowing Rennala. There is an Abductor Virgin in Redmane Castle suggesting that Rykard gifted him with some Iron Virgins, and there is a portrait of Radahn in Rykard's Manor, why would Rykard do all this if Radahn is pro-Golden Order? Morgott who runs the Golden Order fought Radahn in the past and calls him one of the Traitors during his Boss cut scene. Iji Smithed all the weapons for the Redmane which means that Radahn prefers Carian weapons over Lyndell weapons. The only evidence that Radahn is pro-Golden Order is that he was a fan of Godfrey, but Godfrey was kicked out of the Golden Order and was forced to leave, yet Radahn still wears his Godfrey inspired Armor. Radahn is not pro-Golden Order, he just likes Godfrey and is still loyal to the Carians.

[@ruuwrl]

great point i aint even think about that

[@randomguy5093]

Wow that makes complete sense! Rykards manor is against the golden order so I always wondered why radahns portrait was on their wall, now I know why. Also what you said explains the image of margott fighting Radahn in the base games intro.

[@salaciousSaucegames]

@@randomguy5093 Yeah people forget that Morgot is the leader of the Golden Order and he fought against Radahn in the past, plus he names Radahn as one of the traitors during his boss fight intro. Also in Morgot's intro, Radahn's chair is right next to Rykard and Rani which means the Carian siblings are still allied.

[@ruuwrl]

@@salaciousSaucegames holy fuck lol I need to start putting 2 in 2 together more

[@brandonsmith6790]

Not to mention Iji makes the Redmenes Weapons too so Ranni must have had a decent relationship with her brother if not she would have sent the black knifes to assassinate him Besides Radahn’s idealizing Godfrey nothing really hints that Radahn followed the Golden Order

[@joelhodoborgas]

Final boss feels like i was playing elden ring randomizer.

[@Wamrage76]

It was the hardest boss in the game by far. Took me 3 hours to slay him. First phase was not so bad, but that second phase is pure bs.

[@Hayden-pg4og]

Fuckin hate the final boss both gameplay wise and story wise, it’s just bad

[@liszt646]

​@@Hayden-pg4ogHow is it bad lore-wise? Have you actually done the quests in the DLC or just thought it was a random cameo? Lol

[@Halberick]

it looks like a modded boss, doesn't it? it has Godfrey's dashes and earthquake's weapon art (but with Miquella's light all over the place because why not?) standard lion's claw animation pontiff's combo (because… why not?) Death Knight's cross slash attack, only it doesn't work here because of the length of his weapons a freaking T-pose supernova his model doesn't seem to have the proper lighting to match the arena and his clunky running animation… nice!

[@masque9446]

@@liszt646 it's complete dogshit lorewise because it retcons a TON of base game lore and adds a bunch of mcguffin level trash to shoehorn in Radahn, so Fromsoft could essentially reuse a base game boss in the DLC. Complete and utter garbage.

[@LawfulChaotic1]

Glad I’m not the only one who was incredibly disappointed about the final boss.

[@beelow84]

20 hours of exploring an empty map just to trigger an event that caused every npc to disappear on me. Can’t just start over. Kinda killed the vibe.

[@gabriellecollier8127]

I remember walking to all the corpses and saying aloud, "What the fuck. Everyone is dead!"

[@fernandofaria2872]

I absolutely hated this.

[@Kolket1389]

That’s your problem, you didn’t pay enough attention to. I managed to complete every questline

[@D3vilTube]

​@@Kolket1389good for you

[@Anchor-Supreme]

@@Kolket1389yeah no man, that’s just genuinely bad game design for something that lends itself to exploration. In the base game you could do most quests even after exploring the four main areas (Limgrave, Liurnia, Caelid, Altus) but in the DLC you can end every quest just by going to the wrong place.

[@jacobmeglich6699]

The missable quests upset me the most. Everyone says, even the Devs say “if a boss is too hard, explore and come back stronger” They don’t say “explore and lock yourself out of quest lines”

[@masque9446]

dude I went into the DLC all gung-ho talked to the NPCs trying not to mess up their questlines and stuff and I didn't go back and talk to them after the spell broke I just went in to shadow keep and beat the hippo...messed up like 75% of the questlines of course 🤦

[@Nadaters]

after I missed one by giving an item to an npc instead of going through the whole zone and then giving it, I looked up every npc quest after that

[@SecretMarsupial]

To be fair this is every Fromsoft soulsbourne game

[@okthisisepic9218]

@@masque9446the great rune breaking is how all the quests begin you didn’t fail anything are you mentally challenged?

[@ThatGuyOrby]

The only way you can fail an NPC questline in Shadow of the Erdtree is by either killing said NPC or advancing the whole way to the end where you burn the Sealing Tree to access the last area. If you fucked up an NPC questline it wasn't because you were "just exploring". The only thing that changes by exploring, namely reaching Shadow Keep, is a few of them move. That's it. That is the extent of what "just exploring" can do.

[@bilge677]

one of my criticisms of the cookbooks is how few new recipes they unlock. In the base game, there are cookbooks which unlock 3 and even sometimes 4 new recipes, but all the ones in the DLC unlock 1, maybe very few of them 2, as far as i can recall. This 'waters down' or dilutes the reward of getting a cookbook in my opinion.

[@iota-09]

See? THIS is a critique on cookbooks i can understand. Complaining about cookbooks just because they're cookbooks feels like ungabunga strength only players complaining about finding spells or bows, but complaining that you just don't get as much bang for your buck with a singular cookbook compared to bqse game? Yeah, that's true, and annoying, because it means higher chances of missing the cooler consumables(i found only the second of igon's cookbooks for example)

[@thomasdevlin5825]

I fully admit this one might just be a me problem, but some of the lore reveals felt extremely unsatisfying. The biggest one for me by far was the prince of death, when the dlc was first announced everybody saw the scadutree, assumed it was a giant deathroot and thought the DLC was going to be about Godwyn and Miquella. That was purely player speculation, but then the first trailer came out and there were these giant white viny trees that looked exactly like the thorns in Stormveil, and we all thought "Oh yeah, it's Godwyn!" And then when the DLC finally released I immediately found a cook book talking about Godwyn's golden knights traveling to the land of shadow, and I encountered a sorcerer using death magic and assumed that was a sign we would get more death sorceries (just checked and we actually did get three more death sorceries, but none of them have anything to do with Godwyn or the deathbirds like traditional death sorceries, so they don't really count), and then at the end of the catacomb I met one of his knights that converted to a follower of the prince of death, and I thought "Hell yeah, we're finally learning more about Godwyn!" And then I went through the entire DLC waiting for some kind of death related side quest akin to the St. Trina cave and found nothing, they were clearly trying to focus on that, why didn't they go into more detail? I mean the land of shadow is literally described in game as a place where all kinds of death wash up, it's why we fight ghostflame dragons, they could have doen so much more with that concept Another example is Marika's role in the story. We did get some lore on her, but the DLC was literally advertised as the place where Marika became a god, and the place where the erdtree was born, I assumed Marika's backstory was going to play a prominent role, but it's limited to just two extremely vague item descriptions. I remember picking up the incantation and the talisman and thinking, "Huh, I guess that's it" and leaving, it would have been really cool to find out what the hell Radagon is, or exactly how Marika became a god in the fist place, or maybe some lore about the Elden Beast and how Marika encountered it for the first time

[@donovanmiller9380]

I would have loved to see more Godwyn stuff as well, but I was pretty satisfied with Marikas backstory as it talks about how her people can physically meld easily with others. We see this in the pot people and Marika herself being one with radagon, and similarly with miquella and st Trina. We also see her motivations because her people were shoved into pots hoping for salvation, so she wanted to create actual salvation through godhood and get her revenge.

[@chopsandtoots]

You are absolutely not alone in this and it's a relief to see others feel similarly. The whole story felt really fumbled, either due to time constraints, or the fact they had 2 DLC's in the works. I feel like the base game was building with something towards Godwyn, either getting his soul to properly kill him, or what. Miquella's journey, knowing that he was just trying to ascend to godhood, made him much less interesting for me personally.

[@randomnobody9229]

I think that the main issue with the story in the DLC is that it came two years after the base game. At this point everyone has speculated so much and written so much fan fiction that they are mad that the ending did not pan out with the stories they had written for themselves. This is the biggest issue with the DLC, typically there was not this long of a wait so the speculation on the story was far from complete.

[@MrFRNTIK]

​@@chopsandtoots the dlc was advertised as a miquella story. Godwyn needs his own dlc

[@BUKUDI]

​@@MrFRNTIKmaybe they were just trolling & already have a 2nd dlc almost ready too

[@goodbye_autumn]

I know we can´t ascend but I just wanted to climb the stairs to the gate of divinity and have a look at the view.

[@shaunflinn1002]

Maybe Myazaki was mad cuz he had to nerf base game radahn. Hahaha

[@randomnobody9229]

He was quite literally never nerfed. There was a bug that effected his damage for a week. I promise that you cannot list the patch where he was nerfed, because it never happened.

[@Miki-hk6vy]

​@@randomnobody9229 yeah fixing a broken hitbox is not a nerf, it's a fix to something broken. He was never intended to have a bad hitbox so anyone saying nerf just got their opinion from someone on tiktok and is just spreading false info

[@shaunflinn1002]

Just a funny thought boys. Push those glasses back up your nose it's all good.

[@randomnobody9229]

​@@shaunflinn1002 so funny

[@sam-gp3ov]

@@shaunflinn1002got the whole crew laughing 🙄

[@GravelordWrust]

The lights in the final boss fight. I love the difficulty, but I am monocular post-brain tumour, and the light flashes render me blind for a short period of time due to light sensitivity. When you get inside that ringed light attack, and it flashes between you and the player character, it's f***ing blinding, and leaves a retinal image over my eye for the next 20 seconds. I'm playing in sunglasses. 😂😂

[@jamesbryant8133]

Bwahaha 😂 Jeez that sounds like it sucks 🫡

[@GravelordWrust]

Mate, it's shit, honestly. 😂😂

[@tinnasell4161]

It's always fascinating to learn how the body functions post-injury. On the bright side, you look badass in those glasses

[@GravelordWrust]

@@tinnasell4161 Haha. Thank you, my friend. Yeah, every flash leaves on of those residual blinding green dots, like if you look at the sun for too long. And then I get absolutely pasted. 😂😂

[@xezmakorewarriah]

fr I'm not even light sensitive but i think it's still too much

[@xportaleerx9287]

The devs were VERY forgiving to those who did not fully prepare their smithing stone bell bearings beforehand. 😂

[@Frostman411]

This was my thought when I was seeing a lot of smithing stone drops from Messmer's soldiers. They wanted us to be able to access the DLC as early as possible and still progress our weapons

[@bryanmack5410]

How can it have a 10/10 if you have complaints? Wouldn't that make it a 9/10 or even a 9.5/10?

[@SobeCrunkMonster]

then why would a 10 even exist on the scale if its impossible by your standards? think about it for a couple seconds. the concept of reviews while youre at it, another couple seconds further.

[@him5698]

Perfect imperfections

[@Verbmo]

@@him5698They’re far from perfect hahahaha. He is just being nicer in his rating because its fromsoft..

[@doomslayer8985]

Seems fromsofware games are completely inmune to valid criticism were fanboys have deluded themselves where a game with a lot of issues is still a 10/10

[@Verbmo]

@@doomslayer8985 in zios video of criticisms he had so many that weren’t just nitpicks. My thing is the base game is literally miles better than the DLC the lore, map, and bosses. Im lost at how people consider it a 10/10 it just doesn’t match the base game’s quality..

[@B_irch]

My problem with the final boss is definitely the design. In the original Radahn fight, you can tell that the boss is a product of it’s environment and belongs there, with the arrows in its back and effects of scarlet rot affecting both the look and move-set of the fight. But in the DLC fight Radahn’s appearance is not changed to reflect his environment or the changes that the lore said he undertook, and his animations seem unfinished and uninspired. Overall he seems extremely out of place like they just pasted an old Radahn asset into the arena

[@GripChief]

Exploration starts to feel pointless, when 90% of what i'm finding is smithing stones, gloveworts or a cookbook (yay more throwing pot recipes)

[@valentinvas6454]

The loot was often really disappointing. At least they could have given us much more Rune Arcs, or higher tear runes. Why would I need a hefty beast bone or some crossbow bolts at this point? Let alone a smithing stone 2 or 3. If I want more I'll just buy them with the thousands of runes that every little mob drops in the DLC.

[@PowPowPeng1]

Ruins of Rauh was one of the last areas i explored and i just couldn't be bothered to walk around those big corridors anymore.

[@sunlesssirris]

Cookbooks are the shizz, throwing items, farming items, greases, perfume concoctions, element buffing, arrows and that's just the surface of them. Don't dog on cookbooks cause they're damn useful.

[@letsgobrandon1906]

@@sunlesssirrisdid u play the dlc

[@dwhite-mann5399]

Have u seen all the crazy things you can get in the open world without fighting a boss lol ?

[@SpectraSkittle]

The Radahn reveal felt like a certified Super Shredder moment to me

[@AutekMor]

Ending of the main boss seemed abrupt too, no final words...just Miquella closing his arms further around shoulda-been-Godwyn's head. I enjoyed the Abyssal woods, Midra's Manse and Midra far more than I did final boss and his area. Couldn't even have a good look at the Divine Gate. Was personally bummed out until I went to the Abyssal woods.

[@the_articulated_artist]

Right? Like, it’s little things. But things that for some reason feel like an oversight. Like why can’t we hop up there and stand in the Divine Gate? Why couldn’t we get a little more than a quick memory cutscene after the fight? Like it honestly overall at times felt rushed and even unfinished

[@-Kagura_Bachi-]

and the ending cutsene was basicly nothing

[@AutekMor]

@@-Kagura_Bachi- ​ Exactly, we were already told this happen so didn't need to see it in video form :(.

[@-Kagura_Bachi-]

@@AutekMor fr it was literally just a rehash of what they told before nothing new like I fought radanh only just to get that didn’t feel rewarding at all

[@Ironfist_Alexander45]

And the fact that they just changed the sigil on radahn’s blades and called it a new weapon is just disappointing I mean sure the ash of war is unique but other than that it’s still disappointing

[@dariusybarra8281]

Hey so maybe to help with your disappointment in the final boss being radhan and not godwyn, I think originally miquella’s goal was simply to make the world a gentler place and so I tried to make his own erdtree, the haligtree, but after that failed to work he realized he needed to become a God, and I think that Godwyn was his first choice as consort considering his efforts to try to revive his soul with the eclipse and his gift to commemorate Godwin’s death. However since Godwyn’s soul was slain via the black knife and the rune of death, it was permanently slain, as this was the only way anyone could actually die as Marikas age prevented anyone from truly dying. So Miquella couldn’t revive Godwyns soul and he had to turn to his next best option, but Radhan doesn’t seem the type to be miquellas consort and definitely not willingly. He’s war driven and definitely supports the golden order. So Miquella had his sister travel across the lands between to kill radhan so that Miquella could revive his soul in a manner more maleable to his charming nature and to become his consort. Sorry if some of that made no sense but it’s how I interpret it after watching many lore videos and also being confused.

[@Midnitethorn]

This is sort of how my brain interpreted it as well. I don't love it, but it's what we got.

[@ronaldobaci3188]

Finally somebody with a brain

[@Zabuza6521]

It should have been Malenia, would have made more sense to me

[@VoiceNerd]

100% this

[@salva2387]

They could have done a much better job keeping the "Mogh was the victim" twist, having Miq try and use brainwashed Mogh as consort, but then we kill him ( Mogh exit Miq's body to actually defend the coccon and keep us from interfiering with his plan but we obv prevail), ruining Miq plan and "invading" his world. At the end of the DLC, instead of a reskinned bs Radhan fight ( which makes no sense whatsoever) we could have gotten a resurrected Godwyn ( whose soul was slain but the actual body was still alive) with Mogh's soul inside, Miq backup plan basically. it could have been much cooler looking and 'd have made sense.

[@kodemasterx]

Huge miss opportunity not using Godwin as the final boss, since the OG trailer I always thought he would be a boss of some kind but no, a 2.0 version of a boss that was sort of hated and had to be nerfed sadly.

[@BdrRm]

Radahn isn't nerfed though. They accidentally nerfed him in 1.03 but reversed it in 1.03.2 and kept the fixed hitboxes.

[@Sulkie]

The ONLY reason I felt slightly let down by the final boss was that I jokingly said to my friend it's going to be Miquella riding Radahn DS3 incest brother style and my friend going "no way you guessed that" basically spoiling me.

[@danniarias2403]

There was no indication at all in the base game that Radahn was gonna be in this dlc so I call b.s

[@Sulkie]

@@danniarias2403 In the dlc there's npc's and item descriptions talking about Miquella doing shit with Radahn's and Mohg's body/soul. You haven't been paying attention.

[@Krosstic]

@@danniarias2403Other than him and mogh being the only requirements to get into the dlc lmao, if you didn’t see it coming you’re just kinda stupid

[@ilikebread5887]

And also you havent been paying attention...😅😂 he said base game, not the dlc. In the base game there were more info about Miquella relationship with Godwyn than with Radahn, so its understandable that some people seemed surprised and disappointed that the last boss was Radahn.

[@ImNotFine44]

⁠@@ilikebread5887you havent been paying attention, he was playing the dlc whilst making the joke. This has nothing to do with base game. Sure, the end boss being that is shit but we are arguing whether it’s plausible he could have accidentally guessed that whilst playhing the dlc, not whether or not the end boss makes sense in the context of base game lore.

[@artorias6969]

The worst thing about Sekiro's DLC is that it doesn't exist.

[@aliceinwonderland4395]

Best game FromSoftware ever made and still undefeated in quality.

[@marclenraymagdaraog691]

The thing is Sekiro is very complete. Literally doesn't need anything. There's no mystery but it's a straightforward fairytale kind of story. It doesn't delve into Gods nor Eldlritch abominations. It's just a straight up short story about a dude.

[@Fanthomas1742]

a sequel would be nice but considering the success of elden ring its probably not happening

[@OS_Nines]

​@@marclenraymagdaraog691 The true ending gives a perfect sequel setup. People have theorized for a while that the Divine Dragon came from Korea due to it coming "from the west" and its sword being similar to an actual sword given as a gift to the Japanese from Korea. Might just be copium cause I really fuckin want a sequel.

[@ASilva-oj8ej]

@@marclenraymagdaraog691 I really, really wanted to fight the legendary Tomoe, though, the one whose skill even Isshin sincerely compliments.

[@GripChief]

The bosses were already brutal. I really don't think we needed the bosses to attack me instantly, as soon as i walk through the fog gate. It gives me barely any time to summon AND several npc's have to be summoned in the boss arena. Trying to summon Igon in Bayle's arena is painful lol

[@HerraHissi]

Godwyn would have made more sense than Radahn. Miquella rebelled against his mother and pursued godhood as an attempt to fix the shattering. Godwyn's death was the catalyst for all the events and his resurrection would have tied it all in nicely and given some closure.

[@Marikus_Eternal]

Godwyn was already resurrected by Fia as a Mending Rune. His story got closure.

[@alexgoncharov6430]

Why is everyone so afraid to acknowledge that this dlc is not perfect? In an open world game exploration is a huge factor, and when you have so much areas that offer you so little in terms exploration - that’s not 10 out 10 game. I’d give it a 8

[@snefansson]

The finger ruins were just hilariously disappointing for me. The expectation when I stumbled upon the first one without an area map or anything… just to later learn it was just an talisman I’ll never use…. Yaaaaaaay

[@Mr.Dee1117]

the red one is pretty good =D

[@TheBeautyOfSpacee]

@@Mr.Dee1117I’m saying I never take the crimson seed talisman off

[@valentinvas6454]

That and the Hinterlands. That area looked so cool and different but it didn't have anything interesting besides the Shaman Village. 2 tree sentinels, a fallingstar beast and tons of goats?? In fact it felt like the central areas received much more care and attention.

[@denberz711]

they failed so badly on those. The coast and the hidden grave were the same where they put art appeal over content. Boring emptiness with little reward for exploring. The main areas however were stacked with content and castles were everywhere which felt so awesome. Sad they didn't make some Cerulean castle or something worth my time

[@Ziostorm]

Crimson seed talisman saved my life in the end

[@nasimacdnanovic1196]

Old hunter still the best DLC fromsoft ever released with ringed city

[@jiririnagl302]

Exactly

[@D3vilTube]

Definitely. Don't get how this is a 10/10 compared to those dlc's but whatever floats their boats ig.

[@DaddySaddo]

@@nasimacdnanovic1196 Agreed, SOTE is not consistent enough to keep up with them.

[@ThisIsMyYouTubeAccount1]

​@@D3vilTubepeople want to glaze fromsoft

[@acolddarkgentlebruh8205]

And I'll never get to play it until it's successfully emulated, probably, not buying an underpowered system to play it in 30 frames either

[@ThisLiteralFP]

Imagine yourself 7 years ago playing the Ringed City DLC, at the final boss arena, with the world reduced to ash. You’re so excited to see who the final boss of the Dark Souls trilogy is, so you walk out to the wasteland, just to see prime Artorias with Gwyndolin on his back. No matter how good the fight is, I would feel the same way that I did with Radahn.

[@alexrc7333]

I can't stop thinking about it now. Damn!

[@apuffin9545]

​@@spirosgiatietciit is literally a perfect analogy lol. If anything artortias is generous, it's more like if the final boss of ds3 was prime Ornstein

[@masque9446]

@@apuffin9545 hahahaha so true

[@sekiro_the_one-armed_wolf]

⁠@@apuffin9545oh but soul of cinder is fucking fire right? Plin plin plon yeah?

[@rodrickstark8516]

@@spirosgiatietci braindead FS purists thinking Miyazaki cannot make mistakes. This DLC ending was a mistake, you people need to stop glazing everything. The DLC was fine, the ending was not

[@MatthewCJoy]

>Massive issues with the DLC >10/10 Nah that's wild, this DLC is so scuffed

[@HopefulNihilist]

That's why I always say reviews have ZERO objective value... Quite literally none.

[@iurigrang]

There are usually two ways of reviewing media in general. One can think that every piece of media starts with 10 points, and loses them as they make mistakes, or one can think they start with 0 points and earn their points through their achievements. I think both are highly problematic when viewed on their own. The first one gives 10/10s to techniquely proficient media that takes no risks, and the last one treats greatness in important aspects as carte blanche for every mistake they can make. No game can be a 10/10, in my view, if the overwhelming reactions to the final boss is confusion. It doesn't really matter if there is, after all, an explanation for it, confusion is not intrigue, it's not surprise, these are fine. It's just hype killing and unengaging.

[@iurigrang]

This should be as clear as how taking no risks, riding on pre established formulae, and making little to no mistakes, isn't 10/10 worthy either

[@woahthatscrazy19]

fanboys rule the world now brother

[@liszt646]

Hack I wouldn't give 10/10 to The Old Hunters even tbough it is my favorite dlc lol. People are too extreme with rankings, it's either 10/10 masterpiece or 0/10 trash

[@Sanji_Vinsmoke_69]

Completely agree with the criticisms here. I went to fextralife to see what awesome new thrusting shields there were to collect only to be in disbelief when I found out there was only 2. I was met with even more disbelief when I found out that there were only 2-3 weapons for each new weapon category.. I thought that the site probably hasn't been updated the full list yet and that there are still more to be added as the DLC is rather new so I looked online only to confirm my disappointment. Regarding the empty areas: At first when I read the reviewers saying there are too many open empty spaces I immediately thought that they're just being nitpicking and that empty areas such as they grass fields of the starting area and places like limgrave are fine. not every area needs to be jam packed. However as I played more of the DLC I understand what they actually meant. I first saw the first finger ruin area when I was at the dragon communion place, looking down at it it looked so effing awesome and I could not wait to see what was down there... only to be extremely disappointed to find out there was practically nothing and no boss. Same with the seond finger ruin and what was even more disappointing was the completely almost empty area you can access after you beat commander gaius. Another complain I have is the lack of cutscenes for bosses.. Bosses like Commander Gaius, Putrescent Knight, erdtree avatar, metryr, and the scarlet rot bud boss all felt slightly underwhelming. After reading the remembrance description of Metyr I thought that a being of such significance to the lore should've gotten a cinematic treatment but the boss fight was pretty easy, nothing amazing and was generally underwhelming. One other thing I found annoying was there there were some incantations/powers from enemies that we don't get access to such as the aspect of crucible frog mouth/tongue from a black knight enemy and the aspect of crucible centaur thing from Devonia. I thought we would've got those but we didn.t

[@GTrain1984]

When I saw the final boss all I could think was "Somehow, Palaptine (Radahn) returned..." I was so disappointed and confused. Also I was so exited when I first discovered the finger ruins. I was like, man I can't wait to see what's in here and what kind of amazing boss ahead.... yeah

[@bringforthtruth]

Finish the questline and you'll have your boss

[@chopsandtoots]

You're like the 4th person I've spoken to who thought the exact same thing I did. Because of frothing Radahn/FS fanboys people are really reluctant to complain about Radahn being the final boss but as a lore slut idgaf, it's a terrible boss.

[@jackalx2154]

The final boss was like season 8 of Game of Thrones.

[@dontmindme9323]

lol I was telling people this on the Reddit page and I was getting downvoted 😂😂😂

[@jackalx2154]

@@dontmindme9323 Well, it sure subverted my expectations. 😂

[@AJ-eh5kn]

Support that 👏

[@EldenLord.]

GoT S8 was a writing disaster and horrible from start to finish. This ending in the DLC however makes sense and has been planned since pre Elden Ring base game release. Its not two dumbasses writing the story this time like in GoT S8. I am sad so many people dont understand that Godwyn would be the actual GoT S8 story of Elden Ring. Luckily GRRM and From Softwares team were smart and didnt bring Godwyn back which would have literally ruined the entire point of his death and the fact that his soul specifically is destroyed. Plus Miquella already tried to bring him back anyway in castle Sol, how do so many people miss this? Calling something bad writing is always easy if you dont wanna admit failing to understand the story to begin with.

[@christopheryanez]

@@EldenLord.Godwyn would not have been like S8’s ending lmao. That’s just delusional…fans were expecting Godwyn to show up and do something and instead we unexpectedly received a coughed up Super Saiyan Frankenstein Radahn fight. GoT fans were not expecting the ending of S8 to unfold the way it did, as far as I’m concerned they had entirely different expectations…sounds familiar doesn’t it?

[@Alex-mn1fb]

All of Zios criticism is spot on. I liked the DLC, the visuals, the diffculty, the gameplay, it was all top notch. But the writing seems kinda rushed. I dont know, theres almost this feel like they had much more planned ( more with St. Trina, the Gloam eyed Queen, Godwyn, more about Marikas past...), and then they had to cut corners due to time constraints in order to meet the 2 years deadline. There are so many unused locations that feel like they should be somewhat signifant (Sacdutree altar at the top of the map). The repurposing of the Putrid Knight from Gloameyed queen to St Trina themed also points to this. Also Messmers story feel so disjointed and shoe-horned in when compared to the main game. He just doesnt seem to fit in clearly, and it seems that he was envisiond as a chaarcter only after the main games release, as big bad posterby they needed for the DLC. It all feels kinda anticlimactic, there is just this feel that there could have been so much more. And Radahn feels like last minute change, and a bit of fanservice, since he is so popular with the fans, and Myazaki stated Radahn is his fave character, so they might have felt it was a win-win. I dont HATE it, it still works, but it just feels like dud at the end.

[@CoffeeBrainzz]

6:20 THANKKKK YOUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!! I FEEL THE EXACT SAME WAY!!!!! it rubs me so oddly because EVERYTHING IN THE ENTIRE GAME points to Godwyn, even the DLC has 3 of Godwyns Deathknights and lore in the dlc. All of the omen,and living death references like the ghost flame dragons possibly... I mean its all Godwyn! And then at the last second the bait and switched the lore to be Radahn.... Just feels so weird!

[@CoffeeBrainzz]

Also in Castle Sol. We KNOW it was Godwyn he was trying to restore because of the Legendary Armament Half Eclipse Shotel! It literally mentions The Prince Of Death in its item decription. And you can pick it up at the final Alter before fighting the boss in the castle. As well as all of the wandering headless knights half eclipse armor for the prince of death

[@sekiro_the_one-armed_wolf]

The omen have nothing to do with godwyn. The ghost flame also has nothing to do with godwyn. What are you talking about?

[@CoffeeBrainzz]

@@sekiro_the_one-armed_wolf well I mention omen because he was Godfrey’s Son, along with Mohg and Margitt. And I feel like the Hornsent are kind of a distant ancestors to the omen possibly? So I thought maybe there was a coorelation there. And I mention ghost flame because the skeletons are all ‘Those Who Live In Death’ which is Fias whole quest! Those who live in death use Ghostflame, so yes it kind of does involve Godwyn a bit. But then it also has the DeathKnights in the DLC which is also a reference to Godwyn and Those Who Live In Death. So there ya go buddy 😉

[@rodrickstark8516]

This 100%. Yet people mention "wELL, HiS sOul iS gOnE".... bruh... it'a a fantasy world where dragons, ghosts, spirits, living dolls and a bunch of shit exist. You can't tell me that the eclipse ritual to fix/return a soul is absurd with all the magic and bs the lore has. Hell, even something like bringing Godwyn but it isn't really Godwyn, like an amalgamatiomln of souls with Miquellas powers or something...

[@Lewcifer0]

⁠@@rodrickstark8516dude, THANK YOU. Miquella was obviously trying to restore the soul of Godwyn with the eclipse, meaning it’s something that was at least believed to be possible. People are tripping. Restoring his soul would’ve also had no effect on his fish body or age of duskborn ending in the base game, as his physical body took on a life of its own. It’s no longer Godwyn. Miquella restoring Godwyn’s soul and putting it in Mohg’s body would’ve made more sense imo.

[@popkhorne5372]

They teased us with some potential torrent lore with Miquella, never seen it in the actual dlc. Like why the hell is it Melina who gives it to us if it was Miquella's ? And Ranni seemed positive about torrent's former master...

[@pandosham]

Not getting a sleep perfume is a sin Also the godwyn thing also makes too much sense for them not to have done that. The only godwyn references are in the catacombs and it feels like such a missed opportunity

[@DuncanClair]

The Radahn reveal was disappointing, anticlimactic and contrived. Godwyn would have been much more narratively compelling and satisfying. Now before you come in with the “bUt hiS sOuL iS dEaD!” This DLC just demonstrated that death is essentially arbitrary, be it soul or physical form (especially since we literally got Radahn’s soul when we beat him the first time). Miquella engaging in the ritual to sacrifice parts of himself in order to restore his brother Godwyn’s soul would have made his descent into becoming a monster much more tragic and compelling. Any argument for why and how Radahn was able to come back could be applied to Godwyn, and make just as much sense too.

[@lexiferenczy9695]

With Godwyn it's a special case, because his soul being destroyed is linked to Rannis body being destroyed and thus setting her soul free from the fingers. But I also think that they could at least have done something compelling with Godwyn, everything would have been better than Radahn, he just doesn't fit at all and it's so boring to see him again when you expect something truly fresh as a final boss.

[@sparxskywriter2589]

Freyja, Malenia's whisper, and the aesthetic parallel to Radagon and Marika make me confident Radahn was always the one that was planned. Godwyn might have been deliberately set up as a red Herring

[@BerserkerGuts_]

Nahhh, Godwyn would've been shit.

[@jeremiahkalmus3561]

@@lexiferenczy9695 Not to mention that it ruins Radahn's character from the base game. He had a legacy and his story was so epic. Fighting the player off and potentially many other NPC's while near death and holding back the fricking stars. Legendary. He was an epic character that met a tragic fate and the player puts him out of his misery and sets his soul to rest giving him a proper send off. That should have been the end of it. Now fromSoft and Miquella screw him over more by bringing him back as Miquella's consort? I don't like it. Godwyn was well liked and compassionate just like Miquella claims Radahn was in game. Plus Godwyn's compassion and befriending of the dragons was a big show of character that would potentially align Godwyn and Miquella in terms of ideals. I think Godwyn would have been more satisfying. Only issue I can see with Godwyn being Miquella's consort is that he was the symbolic death of the golden lineage and the decline of the golden order. Unless they found a way to change Godwyn's view of the golden order so that he would oppose it, it might be a tough sell for Godwyn to be Miquella's consort. I think out of compassion it would be cool to see Miquella bring Godwyn back to give him a proper death but maybe lean on the player character to help him kill Godwyn after restoring his soul? This could then lead to choosing Miquella's age of compassion as an alternate ending? Just a thought for how the DLC could have ended that makes me feel more closure than what we got.

[@rainbowkrampus]

I think you're just being a bit prideful and too obstinate to recognize that you made a mistake. It's ok, we all made that mistake. Think about Miquella's story. He puts all this effort into reviving Godwyn but fails. Upon giving up on him, this is what the Golden Epitaph is, literally a farewell to one who is gone forever, Miquella recognized that the only way to enact his true goal was to achieve godhood. But then recall St. Trina. Part of Miquella knew that this was going to be bad for him. Part of him was so determined against becoming a god that it asks us to kill him rather than let him succumb to that fate. Revival via becoming a god was the absolute last resort for Miquella and he still had to cast off major parts of himself in order to achieve it. Which tells us that the efforts to bring Godwyn back were not simply a heartfelt gesture. They were an experiment. An effort to avoid taking the worst route possible to achieve his ultimate goal of making Radahn his consort. Like, you say contrived, but the evidence is staring you in the face. All of the Godwyn stuff is just a record of Miquella's failures. An abandoned experiment left to rot at the roots of the Erdtree. Was it clearly signposted that Radahn was his true goal? Probably not. But not being given information doesn't mean that it was arrived at post hoc. It just means that we hyperfixated on Godwyn and that was a mistake. It would be best to just own it and move on.

[@KhazuAMV]

On weapon type. If only From Software thought of those weapon type in the base game. This would be phenomenal. For example imagine if hand of malenia was light greatsword. It would match the stance Malenia uses with this weapon and would be more accurate in a way she is using the weapon. Probably more weapons could be changed like that. We could have gotten Serosh claws etc

[@feelmycharizard2819]

Omg serosh claws bro i forgot about the first consort this would be wild 😢

[@glibglob8755]

It’s called new game plus. Boom, now they’re in the base game. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@BusinessSkrub]

​@@glibglob8755lol right, people just love to cry. "Too many smithing stones!" "Also the new weapons suck/I don't like their fighting style, so I'm not using those crafting materials and experimenting enough like I should be". With all the stones I've found, I've experimented with enough new weapons and stuff that I still need to buy copious amounts of smithing stones from the crones to keep upgrading stuff.....

[@feelmycharizard2819]

@@glibglob8755 bro there are no serosh claws in the base game or dlc Read the first comment again !😂

[@azeria1]

​@@glibglob8755wow I can't believe new game plus changed the he hand of malenia into a light greatsword amazing

[@sebastianholden4759]

I don’t think you are nit-picking. DLC lore was a let down. They teased Godwyn throughout the entire main game yet he gets no follow up in the DLC. Instead of getting my 1000th rune arc, now I get a smithing stone that I can buy infinitely. 😢

[@icecreamvendor8245]

Guarantee you they're gonna milk ER as much as they can by releasing more DLC on the entire Death side of the lore

[@dmacg5520]

@@icecreamvendor8245they said there only doing 1 dlc?

[@icecreamvendor8245]

@@dmacg5520 That's surprising

[@Randlelikesdogs]

⁠@@icecreamvendor8245yeah I feel like it still needs 1 more it doesn’t even need to be a full open world

[@dmacg5520]

@@icecreamvendor8245 eh not really mizayki said he thinks he can do better then Elden ring so wouldn’t be surprising that he wants to make his next game

[@jpteknoman]

I have several complaints about the boss design. The biggest is that for most bosses, you need to evade a 5-6 attack combo and you get just enough time for a single light attack before the next combo begins. Out of all the main bosses so far, the only one that felt fair was Mesmer. The others had cheap roll catching mechanics, added an extra attack at the end of their combo when you tried to use the attack window, or wonky hitboxes that made some of their attacks impossible to evade unless you use Vow of the Indomitable.

[@sekiro_the_one-armed_wolf]

People are already sl1 no hitting these bosses dude, quit saying that shit is impossible to evade when it’s just blatantly untrue.

[@D3vilTube]

​@@sekiro_the_one-armed_wolfgood for them. Quit acting like that's just the majority of the playerbase

[@JanVerny]

@@sekiro_the_one-armed_wolf Impossible is certainly quite a stretch, Probably there always is a way even with a heavy roll. But remember at first people thought Waterfowl was impossible to dodge completely. It took a while before people started uploading videos of dodging it perfectly without bloodhound step or using light equip load. Biggest problem with dodging the new bosses is imho the sheer speed with which they act and the precision required. The patterns are sometimes dead simple, but roll a few ms too early or too late and it certainly doesn't feel like you deserved to be punished this heavily for it. And then the lengthy combos fulll of AoE, which just drain any fun from the fights, I need to replay the old DS games I guess, but I don't think I ever felt so bored waiting for a boss to finish his trivial AoE attack, that is pathetically easy to run away from, yet completely prevents my build from dealing any damage to him.

[@phillidaadamus4349]

​@@sekiro_the_one-armed_wolfThat doesn't make the bosses well designed. When most of the attacks are bullshit combos that are deliberatelly designed to decieve your eyes because weapons change weight mid combo, gravity randomly doesn't apply to an enemy or the hold their attack an absurdly long time and then swing them in a way in which the body mechanichs don't make sense on an intuitive level and the fight just becomes unfun. Not impossible but unfun. There were elements of trial and error in the previous games but after a time if you had good reflexes you could read most attacks coming your way even if you didn't know the movesets. There were delayed attacks but it was litterally just idk pontif holding his swords above his head for a bit longer. Now it's some bullshit, like some dude jumps up in the air then his body instead of falling down like something that actually exists in the phisical world, stays up in the air for a full second and then, blitzes you mid air with some spinny bullshit goofy ass looking combo attack. Literally every attack becomes a matter of trial and error because the visual language of the animations is inconsistent and garbage now. It's like when you're learning a language and when at a specific rule of conjugation, you learn the rules, but there are some words that count as exceptions with unique ways of spelling them. With fromsoft if you learned the rules it's simple press the dodge button when the attack is done attack however you like. Now it's mostly only the exceptions with every attack requiring specific timing and positioning, and each and every attack is unique and requires a large amount of time and commitment to learn, especially because it all depends on the specific boss, since there are no consistent tells between bosses that the game teaches you to look out for. When push comes to shove I think in a mechanical way Sekiro is Fromsoft's peak, but they took all the wromg lessong from it's combatworked. Many people say that Elden Ring bosses are Sekiro bossesnsimpls because they are fast and aggressive, but nah, Sekiro bosses are way superior in the way their animations are designed. You can actually read them if you're reflexes are fast enough, even if you don't know their movesets.

[@ornsteinthedragonslayer2092]

@@sekiro_the_one-armed_wolfhahaha sure buddy they’re also breaking the mechanics of the game down to the frame. That doesn’t make it good?

[@KsnypsAdventures]

There is really no reason for the final boss to be Radahn of all demigods. The reasoning behind it is that miquella valued Radahn for his strength, but that statement either throws the base game lore out of the window, or makes the DLC lore absolutely not coherent with the base game. There was a whole war because miquella needed to get rid of Radahn. It being godwyn would have been so much better. And actually hype worthy. Even the lore reason for Radahn doesn’t exclude godwyn, since miquella can apparently shape anyone’s body to resemble what he wants

[@levan3534]

There also was a huge issue for me with the quest design. I missed some interactions with Moore, Thiollier and Ansbach just because I supposedly got "close" to the shadow keep. Like what the fuck kind of trigger is that? I didn't even enter the main gate I was exploring a completely different area and I just entered some random forest when suddenly Miquella's rune broke and my npcs moved/disappeared. That is by far the worst progress trigger for quests that I have seen from Fromsoft. It is also worth mentioning that Radahn's second phase needs some work, the visibility is absolute shit and it's super annoying. I also agree big time with you about Godwyn being much more logical of a choice (on top of everything I think he is the only child of Marika we have not encountered) as well as about the emptiness of the finger ruins. Another nitpick from me is Romina, that boss is like one of the latest bosses of the dlc and it has no right being this pathetic.

[@spreaknessi]

I hate that radahns the final boss. Just seems like fanservice. Especially considering all the lore that was thrown away for this rugpull.

[@spreaknessi]

malenia was low key character assassinated now that shes pretty much just a pawn sent to kill radahn instead of a desperate sister looking for the most important person in her life and getting tragically close before inevitably failing and being brought back to the haligtree.

[@spreaknessi]

Also the fact that this ending kinda undermines my fav parts of the base games lore (miquella & malenia bond, the festival, the southward march, godwyn) also just really, really sucks

[@CreativeUsernameEh]

@@spreaknessiagreed. It’s so bad it even ruins Millicent’s questline. The rdahn retcon is just not worth it.

[@Rusty_Spy]

[Final Boss Spoilers] On top of the lore coming out of nowhere, this version of Radahn is way less varied in his moveset compared to the base game version. This supposed prime version of him only has like 3 gravity magic attacks that are all easy to dodge and easy less impressive compared to the brain rotted version we fight earlier. No cragblade, no gravity wave, less impressive psycho crusher, and less impressive rock sling. Really feels like they simplified his phase 1 moveset so they can just add a bunch of light aoes to all his attacks to raise the difficulty.

[@enol1466]

It's so fuckijg artificial in that second phase lmao. Like sorry I don't feel compelled to doba fair 1v1 with a boss who's magic spamming me to death

[@sploogeimpulse]

this whole dlc felt like a call back to every previous souls game. deflection physic tear -> sekiro. Romina -> dukes dear freyja and qualag combination. putrecent knight -> orphan of cos but with the midir entrance. those madness lanterns -> bloodborne. i know im not trippin right??

[@clayton4349]

One of my biggest complaints about this dlc is the lack of Godskin and GEQ contents. The closest there is would be Putrescent Knight (favorite boss btw) having the name “GEQ Knight” in the file.

[@mythrol]

I absolutely believe Radahn was a last minute replacement because they couldn’t get the Godwyn fight sorted out before the launch date.

[@CDB12345]

It´s absolutely this. There´s aspects in this DLC that shows really explicitly that they were on a rush and had to replace somethings and leave others out

[@Criisp]

This might be the dumbest head cannon I have ever heard in my life

[@absolutelyunepic3072]

They finished the dlc long before lainch date because bandai forced them to release in the next fiscal year. Thus they had plenty of time to do what they wanted to if they infact did

[@randomnobody9229]

I think that the main issue with the story in the DLC is that it came two years after the base game. At this point everyone has speculated so much and written so much fan fiction that they are mad that the ending did not pan out with the stories they had written for themselves. This is the biggest issue with the DLC, typically there was not this long of a wait so the speculation on the story was far from complete.

[@griffithdidnothingwrong4788]

Why would you even believe the Godwyn fight was a possibility? He was hit by destined death, there's no coming back from that. Atleast understand the lore before you start chatting shit

[@innovation_s6079]

imo the worst disappointment was everything surrounding St Trina and sleep. Cut content she helped the merchants keep off the frenzy flame, we have frenzy flame in the dlc we could've absolutely had some ties to it just something more to do with St Trina. Miquella cut her off but it seems the devs/writers did too

[@ReneAensland]

This is a missed opportunity. She gave them the Song of Despair to ward off the Frenzy.

[@cmoney163]

The dropped the ball on a lot of stuff, idk how anyone can call this dlc a 10/10 lol unless they’re gonna try and milk it and release another dlc or two.

[@kendrickcoloncruz7252]

My biggest complaint about the dlc is that we did not get anything about the gloam-eyed queen nor even any new incantations/weapons asociated with her. She was a big character in the lore of elden ring's base game and not seeing anything about her in the dlc made me a little upset

[@yominashi2379]

wdym she just velka 2.0 and flan the flame god 2.0 lmao she not that big

[@kendrickcoloncruz7252]

@@yominashi2379 she literally fought a war against Marika and Maliketh with an army of godskin apostles/nobles, that alone says enough

[@donovan4222]

I understand this but there’s so much content that it’s hard to complain…we got tons of backstory on Marika, the crucible/Hornsent and the omens, Mesmer, the dragons, St. Trina, pre erdtree civilizations…etc. the jar lore was some of the craziest I’ve seen in a FS game.

[@WhoisDxo]

@@donovan4222ik but Melina and the gloam eyed queen were big parts of the base game lore

[@wastefox9100]

I feel the same about Radahn.

[@Justin9700]

I really feel like it was originally going to be Godwyn and for some reason they changed their minds. Maybe the fact that it would affect the base game somehow, which they seemed intent on the DLC not doing. Or maybe they saw how much people loved Radahn and decided to put him in as fan service. Or they just wanted to throw a curveball since everyone thought it was going to be Godwyn. I don’t know. I find it disappointing, though. Not enough to come close to ruining the amazing DLC, but it’s kind of a bummer ending.

[@tiredguy2753]

Agreed. Idk it almost feels like either an intern came up with the Radhan-mquilla connection or it was a “first draft” and from software just went “eh go with it “

[@Ironfist_Alexander45]

Well radahn’s base game remembrance said he was the promised consort of miquella so it was pretty obvious that we’d see something about that in the dlc

[@Lewcifer0]

@@Justin9700they 100% put him as the final boss because of all the annoying ass “Chadahn” fanboys who have been gushing over the guy since the first story trailer came out. SMH. Just amounted to fan service. Was it a cool ass fight? Yeah. But it made no damn sense.

[@Lewcifer0]

@@TheEldenKnowledge lol what are you, 12? Calling people “little” makes you sound insecure af bro 😂 stop being mad not everyone liked the ending. Clown ass.

[@Icegaze039]

-Why are perfume bottles so boring when you have elements like sleep, fire blood, magma...? - Why make a sheet for great Katanas just for it to clip through everything ? -Juste put a cape option on all armor sets ffs. -While the castles are a blast to explore, open field areas feel so empty... -With how few special armor pieces there are, did you really have to make 3 of them based on fire knights?

[@deadworld953]

-Many of the new enemies are derp-easy with a heavy(ier) weapon but are nearly impossible to beat with a light weapon. I can take a fireknight to ~15% in a second with several fast bleed-building strikes that proc bleed, and it will just keep swinging, stunlock me and kill me. But I can pull out the blood-trident and just mash R1 with my eyes closed and succeed.

[@dakotatrue12]

⁠@@deadworld953yeah. I tried using Rellanas swords but I just couldn’t. The dps is good, but every single enemy just poises through the attacks. The only viable weapons in the dlc are weapons that either have high enough dps to kill enemies before they swing, or weapons that do enough dmg to stop enemies from poising through attacks (any great/colossal weapon type).

[@uncleulysses2328]

While I can agree they are boring perfume bottles are broken asf lol. You can make some of those bottles 2 shot bosses with the right talismans and physic mix. I hate cheese but it felt awesome running up on that stupid ass sunflower and spraying bro with an axe cologne flamethrower

[@uncleulysses2328]

@@deadworld953facts. I ran great katana all game, loved it but the entire time I used it I couldn’t get over how it had abysmal stagger and basic enemies would sometimes still poise straight through my attacks. Like how can they make a new heavy slow ass sword that requires actual intention behind your swings yet the thing has dogshit stagger and barely any poise damage. It was fun as hell using it but it feels stupid using a weapon thats description literally says it rewards aggression yet is better if you play a slower more reactive play style. Switched from guts greatsword cause I wanted a slightly faster weapon just to realize I have better luck sticking with my colossal sword. Don’t get me wrong great katanas are awesome but they don’t feel heavy enough for how long and deliberate every swing is. And power stancing them is just a waste of time

[@Knoloaify]

@@deadworld953 Skill issue. I beat fire knights with light weapons. Mashing R1 to proc bleed as fast as possible is exactly why you are getting destroyed by fire knights.

[@Masterofcandy4]

It’s so good to see a critique that isn’t just kissing Fromsoftware’s ass mentioning the open world aspects with literally nothing in them. I feel like they should have just scrapped most of these areas and focused on a more linear progression path with a denser more focused environment to explore similar to past games. That was one of my biggest hopes for the DLC, and it was a huge let down in that aspect. Not to mention that they didn’t bother adding any new covenants or rewards for them or the six player limit.

[@glowie5811]

I would have preferred they went all in on legacy dungeons. Make them as big and elaborate as possible, with minor open world elements surrounding them.

[@erikcarl2384]

well i think most of his critique isnt fair and based on lore he is missing... however the empty zones are absolutely a let down though, it shouldnt be like their past games though elden ring is its own open world format.

[@icecreamvendor8245]

@@glowie5811 The way they approached the Shadow Keep was so good with how many areas were connected to it. I wish they followed this design more throughout the entire map instead of just dumping empty environment after empty environment onto us.

[@r3gret2079]

But he was kinda wrong too tho. There IS a boss in the finger ruins.

[@icecreamvendor8245]

And Rauh into Belurat + Enir-Ilim

[@ArlauxWitchdog]

DLC is 7/10, it is not a 10/10, it is not perfect, it is not impeccable, there are plenty of issues with the DLC from a lore or from a gameplay standpoint. It also suffers drastically from not having any ties to the base game when this game specifically should have more tie ins to the base experience, it is so separate that it almost feels disjointed. There is obviously plenty of cut content, we know that from the trailers, and what was cut seems to have impacted to final product in a negative way. A lot of story threads are not touched on, which is interesting consider this is probably the most in your face game they've ever made in terms of the lore, its much easier to understand the lore because plenty of people directly talk to you about it in game. The disjointed nature of the DLC also is something that can be felt within itself. What we got as a product is good, its very good even, but it is not amongst their better DLCs and probably is more middle of the pack. It has a lot of content, though a lot of feels extremely shallow with how much of the landmass is actually just empty or near empty. The amount of copied enemies is also a problem, there are a lot of dragons, there are a lot of hippos, and there are 2 divine lion dancers. The amount of copied things is not fun and was a major criticism of the base game that I feel people are overlooking in the DLC despite it being the most expensive DLC they have released and despite it being worked on for so long. Because of the amount of copying and the emptiness of some areas the exploration can, at times, feel dull and ultimately pointless. This is also impacted negatively by scadutree fragments which have gotten better with the recent update but still make me just want to download Honest Merchant so I can skip running and grabbing everything, which is also one of the biggest negatives of the base game in terms of replay value. The problem is made worse with how scadutree fragments aren't in any specific place, they're a fairly necessary upgrade material that is just places around the map whereas golden seeds and sacred tears are in specific locations or from specific enemies and you can see where they are very clearly from a distance. Despite having taken as long as it did to make, it oddly feels rushed and some of the bosses, enemies, and areas needed some extra polish (and so too does performance). I think people glaze games too much and overinflate review scores. Everything gets at least an 8/10 or a 9/10, and I find that disastrous for any sense of what is actually awful, bad, average, good, very good, perfect. If every game a group makes is default 10/10 then nobody has any space to really give a good impression on if things are actually problems or not, If a game is 10/10 it then implies all issue are just nitpicks when there are extremely valid criticisms of the DLC. We should be more critical of the things we buy with our money, especially creative works. As far as a personal opinion that I don't think is something to malign the game for, we should've been able to get a new ending. I think for 40 dollars we should expect some tie ins with the base game and a new ending that allows for more player choice and freedom, I understand that wasn't what the company was going for, but I think it would've helped the DLC.

[@yominashi2379]

They literally say it have no tie in with base game what are you smokin and told you no new ending non of their DLC have new ending

[@ArlauxWitchdog]

@@yominashi2379 I know they said that? I think it’s a bad decision that harms the final product, that was my entire point. I even said so. READ the last sentence in my comment, it already addresses what you said. People can say whatever they wish, if it is a bad decision then it is still a bad decision even if they said they were going to do it. Their intention was not to do the thing I think would’ve made for a better product, I am still capable of criticizing what I think is a bad decision though even if their intention was to make what I see as a bad decision.

[@drcox012]

Bro entirely disagreeing with the final boss lore isn't a nitpick. Its a legit concern. One that I share wholeheartedly. You literally cannot convince Radahn was meant to be the final boss. Everything we knew and know about the lore suggests Miquella didn't give a single dainty, glowing poop about Radahn in anyway whatsoever. Its so clearly a fan service retcon its insulting our intelligence for people to suggest otherwise. They even could've kept Radahn! That's the worst part. It could've been an attempt to get Godwyn's soul back in Radahn's body. They could've kept the sympathetic Mohg storyline as well. What I'm pretty sure happened is so many people bitched about Melly (rightly so btw) that FromSoft was literally like "fine you want a prime Radahn to see whose stronger? Here!" (Fun fact Malenia is still clearly stronger -- 20ish years of game design and From bosses still can't seem to avoid aoe effects). This DLC is amazing. Period. But the lore has been UTTERLY destroyed with the Ymir quest line. And the ending is blantant fan service bullcrap. We all deserved to see "Godwyn, Prince of Death" on that screen. And loud complaining people who couldn't shut up for two years ruined it. Edit: btw gonna throw you a sub because you may legit be the only ER content creator willing to talk about how bad the lore was decimated and how poor of a choice the final boss was. Everyone from Vaati to no names is gargling Miyazaki's bolus's.

[@CreativeUsernameEh]

I honestly don’t blame the lore channels for gargling any boluses. Because if they admit that the patchwork inconsistent lore that is obviously hampered by IRL time constraints and things like fanservice trumping integrity… their entire LIFE falls apart. They depend on people believing the lore matters and it’s all planned and perfect if we just think about it hard enough.

[@saint1809]

I know Miyazaki stated that they don't plan on making a second DLC but there are so many things unresolved the nature of Melina and/or the gloam eyed queen, Miquella and Torrent's relation, Ranni's secret mentor, Miquella and Malenia's shadowbound beasts, and even in the DLC we haven't got to see through the divine gate and there is this useless spot on the map which is the scadutree chalice well, if we don't get a second DLC then I guess somethings will remain a mystery forever

[@haggus71]

I think it's pretty much suggested that Melina is Messmer's sister; and the gloam-eyed queen is like St Trina: a split of her. That side comes at the end; and if we burn the world with the flame of frenzy, the gloam eyed queen comes after us.

[@artyy3742]

you forgot the most important thing no fucking deathblight weaponry

[@sebastianb.3978]

@@saint1809 When has a From DlC ever answered all the questions of the main game? That's not something Miyazaki is ever going to do because of the way he wants people to ingest his stories.

[@sebastianmoscoso9404]

We also will never get to go to the helphen, eochaid, the badlands, the land of reeds, and etc. Plenty of characters mentioned that we will never fight as bosses like tibia or rosus usher of death, not to mentioned avatars of outer gods like the mother of blood/blood star, the twin bird, and more i cant remember

[@jacoblahaie8231]

miyazaki always leaves lore off to interpretation and no answers, so its not surprising but i feel like there's a lot of missed potential in the dlc but its still my favourite fromsoft dlc ever

[@bos_outsider]

Instead of Radahn last boss shoulded be combination Godwyn's body and Miquella's soul.

[@tulpaart8462]

This would explain way better why Miquella gave up his flesh. In the DLC he sort of just. Does it but it's unclear why. And how did he get Radahn's soul anyway? Godwyn's body with Miquella's soul would've made sense

[@heatheraldazabal358]

Absolutely not

[@mitchryan257]

Everything concerning Miquella is a retcon in the DLC. We know from cut content that Miquella was part of the base game, there was even an “Age of Abundance” ending for Miquella. After hearing about the cut content, I knew they were saving Miquella for the DLC, and they turned him into Griffith, which I was also starting to suspect that they would do. Still though, I expected the revival of Godwyn, not Radahn, for all the reasons that you stated. Might had been more epic too. Hell, in an interview, Miyazaki iirc said that what Mohg has is Miquella’s cadaver and his soul was somewhere else, but in the DLC Miquella discards his pieces of himself to become a god, so what did Mohg have? Why did Miquella abandon the Haligtree that he was growing and everyone there, for who knows how long? I had my own theory that Mohg was trying to use Miquella’s empyrean corpse as a vessel for the Formless Mother in order to become her “Elden” Lord and rule his new dynasty. In the opening cinematic, Mohg is carrying a very normal looking Miquella, but when we fight him “Miquella” is a giant monstrosity. No, something was wrong there.

[@patataeve]

Yes, thank you! Exactly. Even if you give lots of very contrived reasons, the alternatives just make way more sense. It would have been so awesome to have Godwyn instead of Radahn, and even more rewarding to have the option of an Age of Abundance or an Age of Compassion ending.

[@ThomasDSin]

Just imagine walking into that final arena, a large form materializes, and you see that long golden hair, and you realize…”It’s Godwyn…it’s finally Godwyn…” OR, it’s his abomination form, and you still have that realization, then in the second phase when Miquella comes down to aid him, his body transforms back into that radiant, golden demigod. Radahn was cool, but just a little confusing, anticlimactic, and contrived.

[@pontiffsulyvahn3898]

man, imagine a boss that was an amalgamation of residual deathblight stuff, bloodflame, and omen horns all twisting one very saintly-looking person's body into a monster.

[@berserk4souls]

But he’s dead. His body is mutilated and his soul is long gone. I understand disappointment because you assumed there was a chance to see him but Shadow of Erdtree just further confirms he is long dead and even has death roots growing in the Shadow realm with Death Knights to guard them.

[@masque9446]

LOVE your choice of words sir! Confusing, anticlimactic, and contrived just about sums it up perfectly! Cheers!

[@purehollow]

The fight itself feels like it was made at the last minutes because of how broken it is and the animations don't feel as fine tuned as the other bosses

[@alreadyd1d]

​@@berserk4soulsit doesn't really matter. Like, at all. Radahn was also dead, yet writers managed to bring him back through something we had no idea was possible. They could've done the very same with Godwyn, like using Radahn's soul (closest guy in terms of personality to him), and Mohg's body, as well as Miquella's new godly powers, to create a "new" Godwyn. Not some resurrection, but the creation of the ideal image of him Miquella has invisioned to be his consort.

[@jiririnagl302]

Rewards from exploration sucks big time in this dlc.Also it dosent make sense be 10/10 with so many critique points.

[@Jbswe]

Rewards in ds3 DLC’s were not very good either.. half the things you got were upgrade titinite slabs, there’s way more unique things to find in this then the ds3 DLC’s no doubt

[@angel17891]

​@Jbswe ds3 both dlc's take like 10-15 hours to finish maybe less, elden ring's dlc is 40+ hours full of empty space, which one wastes your time more while exploring you tell me.

[@Jbswe]

@@angel17891 bruh seriously saying they take 15 hours to complete? Ashes should not take more then 2-3 hours to explore everything and then the boss. Ringed city is like 6-8 hours max depending on how long bosses take you and half of ringed city is a swamp with nothing to get besides a ring, a npc fight and the other swamp has a dragon slayer armour then some paths to the bosses with like one optional path to go too. I only played it twice years ago and can remember the whole dlc in my head there’s not that much too it I did love it first time but replaying ringed city its pretty short, cool fights but shadow of erdtree has way more fun and interesting exploration imo it clears (in my opinion)

[@Jbswe]

@@angel17891 it’s hilarious when people talk about empty space when you think about how much empty space is in those DLC’s man so much space in ashes of just enemy’s in snow and ringed city is like 3 hours worth of exploration if you don’t waste your time exploring the swamp that doesn’t have shit to see or do.. just think about it for a second it has good bosses but what else? It’s cool doing leap of faith on the ash in ringed city it looks nice but what else exactly is so amazing about it besides tying up the lore nicely. Ashes was also 15 usd on release almost half the price of this dlc 😂 people were saying “just buy it for the boss” in 2016 ashes at 15 usd it a joke. Ds3 has great boss fights but the areas are so sleepy to go through 1/3 of the game is legitimately swamps.. not wasting your time at all though right

[@roveldo3436]

​@@Jbswe So you agree that neither Dark souls 3 and Elden ring is near 10/10?

[@EldenLord.]

I think Godwyn was beyond saving cause his soul is literally gone and his body cant be recovered aswell. I believe Miquella tried it in castle Sol to somehow get Godwyns soul back but it didnt work. So he worked out a plan with Radahn and involved Malenia in it aswell. I am not sure how Radahns side of the vow looked like though and how his thoughts were. The fact that Malenia was sent to kill Radahn in the shattering hints towards that Radahn didnt want any of that. Malenia thought she killed Radahn with the first rot bloom whispering in Radahns ear that he will be Miquellas promised consort but Radahn "survived" and we unintentionally finished Malenias job later.

[@glowie5811]

It's very much implied that the vow was mutual. I don't think that final cutscene makes much sense if it wasn't. I think Radahn imposed the condition that he needed to be defeated in battle first. It makes a lot of sense that the demigod who idolized Godfrey and his conquests would first need to be conquered in order to follow someone else's lead.

[@lilboigreasy]

@@glowie5811 he was probably bewitched

[@Zomboy123456789]

That's why I thought it was necessary to kill Radahn to enter the DLC, since the Eclipse plan that Miquella devised to restore Godwyn didn't work because Radahn halted the stars. Young Radahn fight absolutely should've been somewhere in the DLC but I think Godwyn would've fit waaaay better for final boss.

[@glowie5811]

@@Zomboy123456789 I disagree

[@DrooledOn]

@@lilboigreasy If radahn was bewitched why would Melania need to kill him? Miquella can literally change memories with his charm. If Radahn was charmed that also means Miquella met Radahn AFTER the shattering. We know Miquella was in the cocoon sleeping at this point. This doesn’t make sense, Miquella is huge as you see with his cocoon. In the memory he is a small version of himself you see after he abandoned the great rune. How would Miquella send Melania do do anything? He was sleeping in a Cocoon.

[@dielectrictruth1040]

Dlc was a let down, so many rehash bosses like the dancing lion and hippo. I was Surprised we didnt have morgott show up again

[@Jbswe]

You right one other dancing lion in a optional area that most players won’t even find = so many rehash and the hippos drop the best rewards in rhe dlc

[@luxr5013]

I am coming to terms with it being Radahn more and more by focusing on the Epitaph saying he wanted Godwyn to die a true death. Nothing more. So we do not see Miquella necessarily wanting to have Godwyn as a consort but just that he is at peace. Without knowing a ton of the lore on this part - I do think part of it can be that his soul cannot be restored like Radahn's due to the nature of the Black Knives and the use of the rune of death when killing him

[@Zomboy123456789]

If Godwyn died a true death he could take his soul and place it in a body.

[@RecordedMercury]

But he literally denied Radhan a true death so what the fuck are you blabbling about?

[@rclaws3230]

Elden Ring is a socio-political polemic, what you're seeing is Miquella as the embodiment of an ideology giving up on Godwyn as the embodiment of another ideology to embrace and use Radahn as the embodiment of yet another ideology. It's all political allegory. Every character is a pure avatar of a philosophical concept. Miyazaki is lecturing the entire western hemisphere.

[@maskedmenreiki]

@@RecordedMercury I would argue otherwise yeah? Radahn surviving the Scarlet Aeonia wasn't intended. Miquella was banking on Malenia killing Radahn and sending his soul to the realm of shadow. It was the plan from the beginning.

[@Pie_Smacker]

If Miquella actually cared about "true deaths" he wouldn't have rotted Radahn and then stole his soul so he could have a puppet consort. Miquella being the villain was expected, his brainwashing powers and reliance on charms are proof of it, but that kind of hypocrisy never stuck. If he never actually cared about True Deaths being granted then he wouldn't have such a connection to Godwyn and would have undoubtedly made use of Godwyn's undeath to his advantage

[@Guava11534]

You know as much as I love Radahn for being as cool as he is I do think fighting Godwyn would have been a million times better since we only have stories of his strength we can’t actually go and fight him. Still I think Miquella choosing Radahn as his consort is just further proof that Miquella isn’t as great as he tries to make himself out to be. He wants a world of kindness and peace and yet he mind-controlled a warlord to be his king. It seems to me Miquella wants mind control the world and force people to view him as a god and to be good to each other and those he can’t mind control to simply wipe away with the power of Radahn.

[@ggwp638BC]

People expecting Godwyn aren't used to how FromSoft does DLC. I was even surprised they had Radahn in it, I was genuinely expecting the final boss to be some random creature introduced in the DLC.

[@CreativeUsernameEh]

It makes no sense that Miq wants a gentle world and then brings back warmonger Radan. Instead of Godwyn who brought peace and befriended former enemies. Dlc was so disappointing.

[@BlackKnight6400]

Isn’t the whole point of the dlc that mqiuella hasn’t to go against his values and abandon everything (even his love and compassion) in order to achieve godhood so he can then make the world a better place. It’s really one of the more tragic stories in Elden ring. In order to achieve his dream of a kinder world he must do things that go against that very belief. Every one is acting like miquella is super evil some are even acting like he’s the most evil yet he literally created a safe haven for those that the golden order discriminated against. He was just willing to do anything to achieve godhood so he can replace the corrupt golden order. Then the player goes after him and stop him on behalf the golden order. Leda says that you were the one being guided there all along, and that was to stop miquella crating his new order so the golden order could stay powerful. The order known for genocide and shunning those deemed graceless.

[@apuffin9545]

​@@ggwp638BCyeah and that would've been way better than fighting radahn again. Idk why people are acting like disgusting animated corpse of godwyn wouldve been the fanservice option lol, radahn is easily the fan favourite

[@caspar9662]

Marika forgive my blasphemy, but the DLC was a grace-devoid slog [plucks out eye]

[@keisir8984]

If someone asked me how I felt about the DLC in the first 10-15 hours, I would say its the best DLC i have ever played, but by the time I got to the ancient ruins of rahn, a combination of performance issues, lackluster exploration rewards and emptier areas, balance issues with some of the new weapons and spells, and a fear of having the story spoiled made me just rush to the final boss. After having beaten the DLC i can honestly say while i still think its great, probably second for me behind the old hunters, I dont ever see myself ever completing the dlc again, especially the final boss. I will probably come back just to give ol mesmer a visit and do some of the side dungeons for the loot, but then Im dipping outta there. And this is coming from a guy who still completes every area in the base game even after like 8 playthroughs.

[@ReneAensland]

Boom! Nicely said.

[@gurnoorsekhon6402]

This DLC is the DEFINITION of an Afterthought. There's pretty much zero mention in the base game of anyone involved here except Miquella and Radahn. Carians have a whole ass princess here and no mention of her existence or her going to shadowlands.

[@CoffeeBrainzz]

Story trailer teased a lot of story info that we never got and it was UNBELIEVABLY disappointing..... The lack of any of the Marika and Divine Gate stuff, the creature she pulled the gold from, nothing!!!!! Nothing about Melina or Flown Eye Queen, nothing added to the Godskins, there was just so much lore beats that were missing.... And apparently there was zero relevance to the sap flowing down to that arc tower... We didn't even go there lol. The sunflower boss was really cool tho

[@alexrc7333]

I agree pal, the sunflower boss batlle was fun and I would've liked to fight more of those avatars. I have the hope we get to do something with the Scadutree vessel in a future patch but maybe it is just a lordvessel reference.

[@pancakke08]

The arc tower is after the boss Commander Gaius so we do actually go there. And Im not defending the lack of Melina but she is mentioned is the description of Messmer’s Kindling

[@CoffeeBrainzz]

@@pancakke08 I get what you’re sayin, but to be honest the tiniest of note hinting at messmers little sister bugs me even more! 😅 like they were aware enough to put it there but it’s absolutely nowhere else. Could have had more, maybe a brief hint of how she became burned and bodiless? Maybe it was Messmers own doing to escape the shadow realm? Anything would have been nice

[@itsoup455]

thinking about it now, it would make so much sense if miquella’s plan had been as follows; enter realm of shadow to find godwyn’s soul, or what remained of it. divest himself of his flesh to combine it with mohg in order to make a new body for godwyn, which we then fight as final boss. imagine the boss having attacks mixing holy damage with blood flame AND deathblight/ghost flame.

[@pHixiq]

Every single thing you said is 100% Valid and is shared criticism. But that also is the reason why this dlc *100% IS NOT* a 10/10. Trust me I have more accolades than most when it comes to souls games and I love them to death. But my enjoyment of their games doesn’t make me blind to all the issues that are constant with them. Most of it has to do with them never having any real competition. I was hoping for LotF to take off hard to finally put some fire under FromSoft because they do a lot of things BETTER than FromSoft. So the DLC in my opinion definitely was more of a 8/10 than a 10/10. I would even go as far to say it objectively isn’t a 10/10 dlc

[@dontmindme9323]

The whole DLC doesn’t even really connect to the main game it feels like what if story, like no one in the base game acknowledges the things you’ve done in the dlc at all, like dude this dlc is a honest 7/10 for me personally. There a lot I like and whole lot I don’t like. Bloodborne dev team handled the dlc business way better.

[@yinlo5876]

Yeah wish it was more connected to the base game like you said , and of course more Godwyn and Melina 🤣 Maybe introduce us to someone like Gael in the basegame then guide us? Also there are many significant locations with nothing to do , like the Scadutree chalice , would've been cool if there's a hidden quest to unfold 😂

[@dontmindme9323]

@@yinlo5876 yea a lot of answers was giving to things I didn’t care about, and things I did care about was barely mentioned or not mentioned at all. It really turned me off the game to be honest, I tried booting up my character and I just didn’t have the drive to play…..idk man I had no idea it would effect me this way lol I probably play next week or so

[@donovan4222]

The DLC is separate but it’s kind of written assuming you completed the base game…also the DLC does a lot for Marika’s character and the omen/Hornsent backstory, and does a lot of good things with Miquella even if Radahn isn’t great. Also, pretty much all of the NPCs are great like Ansbach, Igon, Leda, Thiollier etc…Mesmer is a very good new character and his presence is felt throughout almost every area. Lots of good dragon lore and world building for pre erdtree times.

[@dontmindme9323]

@@donovan4222 yes I agree I love the dlc lore and characters, I just wish it felt more connected to the main game.

[@donovan4222]

@@dontmindme9323 Yeah I agree. I think they made a conscious decision to separate it from the main game because it would be kind of hard to integrate any choices you make back into the base game that’s already completed, so they kind of wrote the story with that in mind.

[@zafirmunozmurillo1495]

Godwyn being Miquella’s consort would’ve 100% made more sense than Radahn, there’s literally a statue in the Haligtree that shows Miquella hugging Godwyn while he shields him, and the item description you mentioned also hints that there was a pre-established relationship between the two of them, not to mention Godwyn and Miquella were half-brothers while Miquella and Radahn are literal brothers so Godwyn as his consort would’ve at least been slightly less weird. I really wish the final boss of the DLC would’ve been Godwyn Prince of Death, if you’re gonna bring a character back from the dead make it someone we haven’t actually fought before.

[@donovan4222]

They are both half brothers. Miquella is Godwyns half brother through Marika and Radahns half brother through Radagon

[@zafirmunozmurillo1495]

@@donovan4222 oh yeah my bad but the point still stands

[@griffithdidnothingwrong4788]

​@@zafirmunozmurillo1495no it doesn't, Godwyn can't come back due to destined death. Him coming back would be completely opposite to the entire lore explained throughout the base game

[@sanguineregis5354]

​@@griffithdidnothingwrong4788 counterpoint: Only his soul is dead, his body is very much alive and very much a problem.

[@zafirmunozmurillo1495]

@@griffithdidnothingwrong4788 the entire quest of Fia is about bringing him back so the devs could’ve just used that to justify his revival had they wanted to use him for the dlc

[@randomnobody9229]

I think that the main issue with the story in the DLC is that it came two years after the base game. At this point everyone has speculated so much and written so much fan fiction that they are mad that the ending did not pan out with the stories they had written for themselves. This is the biggest issue with the DLC, typically there was not this long of a wait so the speculation on the story was far from complete.

[@MrNamenamenamename]

It would have made sense for miquella to retrieve moghs soul from the erdtree and put it in godwynns body and we fight a cursed blood deathroot final boss that was being charmed by miquella. Godwynn would even have the dragon incants.

[@Sci-Fi_Freak_YT]

I personally gave the DLC a 7.5/10 for a multitude of reasons but my biggest ones being not utilizing the open world areas as well (for loot) and most bosses feeling very similar to each other. It’s a great experience but I still prefer The Old Hunters DLC personally.

[@michaelbeasley9401]

seems like they went for an "Oh, wow!" moment and instead got an "Oh, why?" moment with Radahn.

[@judethompson2071]

100% a missed opportunity to not have godwyn revived as a boss as we have never faced godwyn so it would be fresh and more exciting

[@RyanWilson-qy7kb]

In an alternate universe godwyn was the main boss, and Ra-fail and his Habsburg fanfic remained Habsburg fanfic.

[@silentghost112]

Why do people keep saying this? It’s not possible due to his soul being killed. His body is rotting and sprouting deathroot throughout the lands between 😂

[@DG-nv4pf]

Is it sad the second to last boss was more entertaining than the final one

[@alexrc7333]

You mean the big bout of the once charmed?

[@Mythic916]

I just finished my first run. I loved it. 10/10. But I felt like there was some missed opportunities, and I wanted to see some more lore characters. mainly a GODWINN THE RESSURECTED boss fight

[@Jimmy-vv6tn]

Unfortunately it can never be Godwyn since his soul his gone

[@bobertastic6541]

RESSURECT WHAT?

[@BusinessSkrub]

Godwyn, as the above commenter said, can never be a boss. His soul IS the new Rune of Death that Fia births. He no longer exists beyond that singular godly object. He's been in our pocket since we obtained it

[@coraline2770]

Do we even know if he was trying to resurrect Godwin at all or was all that really for Radhan until he figured out it needed to be in the shadow realm

[@mingQWERTY]

Adding on to the lore reasons on why Godwyn can't be a boss, a Godwyn boss will probably be a mess due to him being a Prince of Death. I doubt anybody wants deathblight to be everywhere in the arena

[@daniel-swimmin]

yes it seems empty with little rewards and the lore made me super uninterested because left the base game so vague and they easly could have put some info about a lot of events with some scrolls insted of the stupid smithing stones, i watched hours of lore and theories now i couldn't give a sh1t plus now i can hardly play a second time as it is too open too big too much running around

[@manganiaco]

I want to add... Haligtree feels out of place now. How does this monumental undertaking play in if Miquella already knew he had to reach godhood? and knew godhood requires a consort? If Mohg carved Miquella out of the tree, he had to have been charmed before Miquella entered it. And if Miquella charmed Mohg before that, it means he had already set his schemes into motion. Whether he knew or not if the Haligtree was going to fully develop, it still wouldn't play a part in his Godhood plan, he would have to abandon it to join his consort.

[@Tokyoprism]

This is the first time in a fromsoft game that I felt I was wasting my time at certain parts. After about 10-20 minutes of running around the overly-massive finger ruins of dheo, I actually set my controller down & put my face in my hands. Maybe I was just over excited for the dlc, maybe I thought they’d improve upon this from the base game. But finger ruins really felt like I’d been trolled. The cliffside lead up to the chapel with 80 or so wolves had me sighing with boredom. Don’t even get me started on the abyssal woods. Taking away torrent, yet not scaling the area down to on-foot traversal is infuriating. I get they wanted it to be harder, but there’s so many enemies in the open world that I’m just running through them all wondering what was the point. & then yes, the absolute lack of weapons & armor was heartbreaking. I’m still using the ronin armor because there just isn’t any armor in the dlc to top it for me. So many bosses in the open world don’t drop anything worthwhile. To top it all off, the open world is complex, I’m still trying to figure out how to get to certain areas. So when traversal is so much tricker than the base game, it’s baffling that the rewards aren’t greater. Finally, I fully agree on the lore aspect. It seems like its only purpose is to make sense of Malenia & radahns battle, as if they wrote the battle first & then tried to write an explanation for it after the fact, or like it was one of the first pieces of lore written & they didn’t realize how much less sense it makes after adding all the rest of the lore. & the fact it’s literally radahns body when they’re trying to say it’s mohgs is just sadly funny. I just wish the ending had brought all the plotlines together more cohesively, would’ve been more satisfying.

[@Verbmo]

Yeah agree with everything you said.. I don’t understand how this DLC can be considered a 10/10 when it is severely unfinished and disappointing in the lore aspect.

[@masque9446]

Agreed man...finding my way around the map was TOUGH!

[@ericsimmons4868]

@@masque9446 Still frustrated with some of it here. And having to unlock spiritsprings was a bad move IMO.

[@filipgerhat904]

I know that feel man, i had the same 100% agree…i was expecting way more from dlc.

[@ReneAensland]

I agree with everything you stated. At some point I told myself...okay, enough exploring for 4 hours to find more Smithing Stones, I'm going to continue the main story. I seriously need a meme with Midras carrying the entire DLC on his back.

[@Mr_Sunday_Gary]

I didn’t care for the last boss being who it was BUT I believe it does make sense from a lore perspective and I don’t think it was random. I just personally wanted something different.

[@aayushdasgupta9754]

So for the Radahn Godwyn thing, my head cannon is that Destined Death destroyed Godwyn's soul beyond saving. And the Scarlet Rot did not free Radahn's soul. We did, when we killed Radahn. Since we did carve the rune of death into Radahn like was done on Ranni and Godwyn, Radahn's soul lived on. Its not very satisfying, and the buildup could have been better, but its not too bad. The only thing I am disappointed by lore wise is Senessax. Why is an Ancient Dragon just basking on Jagged Peak. Arent they supposed to Hunt Bayle? And its so easily fixed, and will fix a worse area. Imagine this: Senessax, makes it to the summit of the mountain after being hit by the constant Flame Lightning Barrage, is weakened, but still challenged Bayle in the name of the Dragonlord, but ofc loses. He flies away injured and crashes into the Abyssal Woods to the north west. There festering in his despair he gets frenzy. His lighning is pure lightning damage, but does feenzy build up now. Would be a cool frenzy or Ancient Dragon incantation. It will also add some weight to the Abyssal woods which can sometimes feel extremely empty.

[@madengineerkyouma]

My theory about Senessax is that they're just keeping an eye on Bayle for the Dragon Priestess Florissax

[@sekiro_the_one-armed_wolf]

Wait what are you talking about with carving the rune on radahn? When does that happen? Where is that stated?

[@aayushdasgupta9754]

@@sekiro_the_one-armed_wolf I said it doesn't happen my man.

[@user51204]

the biggest issue for me was the map layout. the base game map was so natural to explore, you could reach all the major locations easily but still naturally. For this dlc, i more than once resorted to google to see how i enter an area, just because i didnt feel like exploring the same area for 3 hours to find a hole in the wall that takes you underground across the map into a new area.

[@JPMgeo]

Yeah when I found out final boss was Radahn I thought it was a joke. Huge missed opportunity and was hoping for someone even entirely new.

[@TinfoiledTarnished]

The rewards for exploration are definitely one of my main disappointments in this game. Fighting my way through a mob just to get to an item that ended up being a smithing stone or glovewort made me legitimately angry a few times. Especially since I'm doing the dlc on NG+3, though that's my fault for doing so.

[@Hoodrich_Wario]

I think they really dropped the ball with Saint Trina, The Mother Finger, and Radahn round 2 being the last boss. I personally think both DS3 DLCs were way better and same with the Old Hunter DLC for Bloodborne all those stories were way more interesting and coherent. It’s always nice to get more of whatever FromSoft is cooking, but the lore here felt more reductive than expansive and the storyline here was as boring and simple as DS2.

[@TheSnoozeFox]

It defeitnely feels like its just a bunch of areas that didn't make it into the main game they just threw together for the DLC, I swear the whole castle for the Divine Beast was part of Lyndell at some point