Elden Ring Critique - FromSoft's Troubled Masterpiece

A comprehensive review and analysis of Elden Ring, the latest game by FromSoftware.
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This video talks about what Elden Ring gets right and wrong, mostly focused on key gameplay features like exploration and boss fights. For a game heralded as one of the greatest masterpieces of our time, it certainly doesn't live up to that expectation. It's a title that I'm equal parts amazed and disappointed by.
Chapters -
0:00 - Introduction
2:32 - Exploring The Lands Between
12:18 - Dungeon Design
18:06 - Reduced, Reused, Recycled Content
26:52 - We're In The Endgame Now (and it's rough)
33:35 - Evolution of Combat in Soulsborne Games
35:56 - Boss Fights: Elden Ring's Fatal Flaw
46:22 - Defensive Play & Spirit Ashes
50:39 - It's Not All Bad
54:26 - Conclusion
#EldenRing #EldenRingCritique #FromSoftware

[@VGMatthew]

This video honestly got a lot more attention than I was expecting - I know it's still not _that_ much, but it's more than I've ever had before, so I appreciate that. I've read all the comments and I'm very glad people seem to have enjoyed the video. Thanks everybody. My next project is in the works, it's going to be about Sekiro. It'll probably be longer than this since it's a commentary of the entire game. Hope to see you stick around for that one.

[@lunaazul1569]

I have to confess that when I was finishing your video I looked at your profile on youtube and I was absolutely surprised that you only had 248 subscribers. Your video is so well done, your voice sounds so professional and you talk about every aspect with so much knowledge. I was convinced it was probably one of those established channels with 100k+ followers or something like that. I'm sure that if you continue to produce content you can have it in the future.

[@jerrodshack7610]

This is a great video, I can't believe it doesn't have at least a couple ten k views

[@artemaniaco293]

regarding margit appearance at Altus: it's just an illusion, like stormveil margit. Doesn't need a healthbar since players should be much stronger when reaching that point in the game. I don't see any problem with that, since Margit is technically another illusion of Morgott.

[@lunaazul1569]

@@artemaniaco293 Copy and paste, that is the real problem, not the difficulty. Fromsoftware blatantly abuses reusing content.

[@artemaniaco293]

@@lunaazul1569 so no important enemy should appear more than once? in all fromsoft games early bosses have reappeared as normal enemies later on: flexile sentry, capra demon, shadows of yharnam, etc. In elden ring, at least, there's a lore explanation since Margit is an illusion created by Morgott and he even appears as Gostoc first in Altus.

[@Akron661]

Read a theory somewhere where they brought up the idea that the Elden beast was designed to be fought on Torrent but they for some reason never implemented it. This is what I believe now. So much of Elden beats problems would be solved by being able to summon Torrent. Wouldn't be a great boss anyway but much better

[@nathaeladalyah9681]

Elden Beast as the ending made me think of the Mana Beast in Secret of Mana. Both were final bosses with similar fight patterns who represented the embodiment of the fractured order which you turned against. In fact, although George Martin is credited as a writer, I feel like the Super Nintendo masterpiece had more in common with the plotline than Song of Fire and Ice. Both games have you fighting gods who represent aspects of rpg gameplay. Both give you new abilities once you defeat those gods which represent the power of those gods. Both have a kingdom which uses the golden order to control the world. Both have you facing off against a magical beast as a final boss with a long range light wave attack who represents the embodiment of the current system of magic. Both have a long list of bosses, some of which are repeats, 90% of which can be cheesed by a single Frost ability (yes, they even copied the cheese). Both have an open world system where you can travel to places completely out of way of the storyline. Secret of Mana just has less of all of that because it is 20+ years older.

[@SGalaxyify]

I think torrent could make that fight way more fun than being just a massive spectacle. I just fought it with bell and I spent the whole time catching up to it

[@warpath375__]

Elden beast is the lamest last boss I've ever faced in any game.

[@PeteOliva]

I actually TOTALLY see this being true. This is actually one of my most negative takes on this game, I feel like Elden Beast was a really lame final boss. I think the fight was cheap in the way he created distance from you, you spent more than half the fight just getting back to him. The ENTIRE time I was thinking that it felt like a dragon fight in that way, and that like when fighting dragons, a mount>close distance>dismount>attack>ride away pattern would have worked super well when fighting this boss, almost as if the dragons in the game were training you for this. But it's like they ran out of time or something (I know how it can get when time starts running out on a project) and suddenly forgot to implement it in that fight. Malenia, tweaked perhaps SLIGHTLY more forgiving, could have been reformatted to be a final boss. That was a fight I found much more rewarding and epic.

[@MrJay-be9wh]

The biggest problem with Elden Beast is how undodgeable Elden Stars is when you factor in late fight spam attacks which can get you when you can't see the screen fully and will stun lock you if you get caught with the elden stars. Ironically, Torrent makes that problem worse because while riding him, you can't roll dodge so you will just get hit by Elden Stars and stunlocked immediately and probably even have Torrent die on you which will kill your reaction time even more.

[@metroplexprime9901]

I feel like Radagon's fight takes on a much more sour note once you know that he's basically a boss rush. You aren't thinking about taking down a legend of the battlefield, you're more focused on preserving flasks because Elden beast is coming next. Instead of giving everything you have to take this boss down, you are trying to preserve health for the next boss. When you get hit, you mentally sigh with the knowledge that you are now down a flask for the damage sponge that comes after. All of this to say, the elden beast just ruins Radagon for me.

[@gorgit]

Never seen it that way. Good point!

[@adiadiadi333]

So it finally makes you take a boss seriously, and try as hard to fight him like a pro, how dare the game do this!

[@adiadiadi333]

@@scandalouspanda7489 with a perfect play, you only fight each boss once. If you beat radagon but had to spend all your resources on him, you haven't really won. Elden beast is a smart way to make radagon twice as difficult which you don't like. So this whole debate reduces to a skill issue, for which we all know the good old solution ... .. git gud

[@adiadiadi333]

@@scandalouspanda7489 there are no death runs indeed, some players love the challenge. There are no hit runs, even level 1 playthroughs people love. As per your logic of being too busy for 'pointless nonsense', you should then also avoid every other game.

[@SwaxMain4u]

​@@adiadiadi333your basically saying that taking damage when you fall into Nitos lair is a good thing. Get miyazakis dick out of your mouth for two seconds dude

[@lexif.8609]

The frustrating part about Malenia is that without that one move, i feel like she would be a really fun boss.

[@natediaz1863]

Waterfowl wouldn't even be that bad of a move if it had a longer wind up time so you can actually get away in time.

[@oyudie2745]

Its easy to dodge

[@bladechild2449]

Tbh it's not even that move. It's her inconsistent stagger ranges

[@lawless7859]

@@oyudie2745even easier to just block it.

[@juancevantes7741]

@@bladechild2449 you're both wrong, it's actually the life steal. At least waterfowl is iconic. The life steal just drags the fight on

[@CamiloFHSC]

All my issues with Elden Ring combat have been perfectly summarized by three phrases- VG Mathew: "Elden Ring has nothing like Sekiro style Deflects, it has the Dark Souls style parry; yet some enemies feel like they were trained by Ishin himself". Yahtzee Crawshaw: "Seems like a lot of the early bosses fall back on what my school yard chums used to very inappropriately call "spazzing the fuck out" and wail on you too fast to react or keep your guard up, like everyone's taken the Manus of the Abyss correspondence course". Joseph Anderson: "Bosses in Elden Ring will do anime acrobatics for a whole episode including chains that involve them taking off into the air, landing into an attack that explodes, and then taking off again into the air because they're still not done!".

[@Spink_Prime]

Can we add "Elden ring is essentially Dark Souls 2.5" to that list of perfect summarizing?

[@SamNayru]

@@Spink_Prime Dark Souls 2 bosses are wayyyyyyyyy slower than Elden Ring. Like, not even close. Even fights like Raime are childsplay compared to say Morgott

[@numbron803]

@@SamNayru Elden Ring IMO is a lot like DS2 when it comes to enemy crowds. Sometimes I get gangbanged by 5+ enemies and there's nothing I can do but take it.

[@Dr_Donald_Duck]

@@numbron803 but in DS2 you at least have basically infinite life crystals...so you could argue that trading hits is expected and accomodated within its design

[@Raidon484]

Yup, there's definitely some truth in there. Waterfowl particularly reminded me of that one special move in Sekiro

[@etem2006]

Something I noticed about the invisible Black Knife Assassins from playing the randomiser mod: When you fight them in the water, they become very fun and enjoyable opponents - because their movements are indicated by their splashing footfalls. So, you can block, dodge and space their attacks after learning how to read their movements. However, in the space you encounter them in the normal game, because of the environment, the only way to really fight them is swinging wildly and getting lucky, or using the sentry torch which just turns them into regular old Black Knife assassins and re-iterates your point on over reusing enemies in this region.

[@gentleman_muk]

They make foot prints in the snow, à la half breeed precila. But its not consistent enough for fighting them

[@12431265]

there's one that shows up in one of the cave dungeons that you fight in a room with a big pool of water and it's one of my favorite fights to do without the sentry torch because of the water denoting the assassin's location. Makes me wish they had really doubled down on that and made a consumable that puts dust in the area to help you notice their hidden attacks or something instead of the torch which doesn't really add much to the fights.

[@hoiyaeyunhoiyaeyun7401]

So as a game design pointer it would be better if they only showed up in shallow water, tall grass (haven't seen any in ER so far - haven't ridden the Dectus lift yet) or maybe an environment with falling snow or ash for their bodies to disturb...

[@ZeallustImmortal]

@@hoiyaeyunhoiyaeyun7401 They are literally in snow and leave footprints

[@gudthe2310]

@@ZeallustImmortal Their jumpiness makes fighting them based on snow footprints so difficult though.

[@orangenostril]

Personally I'd like to thank Elden Beast for giving me the opportunity to fight Radagon a hundred more times

[@okokokok1457]

…

[@sainterasmus4545]

Your criticism of the boss fights is so spot on, especially the point about them making it impossible for you to take the initiative and discouraging aggression. I have been told by others that I simply need to be more aggressive when fighting bosses to win. Telling someone to just be aggressive when fighting something like the waterfowl move, is like telling someone they can survive going through an industrial meat grinder as long as they just harden their muscles. A lot of players will discredit your criticism because they've adapted to fight the bosses and enemies in the very specific ways required to beat them. But I still think Elden Ring has lost a lot of what made previous games' boss fights so good, namely the ability to fight them your way.

[@sickrandy2946]

they don't discourage aggression. the point is to attack in between the chains. Malenia, Godfrey, Maliketh, Morgott & Radagon in particular become way less intimidating if you stay on their neck & smack them in between dodges. It's hard to get used to but once it clicks the bosses become a lot easier.

[@fefferryerr1818]

Maybe the game is punishing the melee only mindset. Imagine if someone's toolbox only had a hammer and used that for everything.

[@TheMentallord]

IMO, the issue with late game boss fights is that the bosses just deal too much damage. I'm ok with long enemy chains and having to figure out punish windows while the enemies are in the middle of their combo. But if I experiment and get hit vs any of the late game bosses, I'm dead. So I'm just not gonna even try and just play safe. If trying a risky punish cost me an estus flask, sure. But currently, it means running back and starting the fight all over.

[@fefferryerr1818]

@@TheMentallord Have you tried changing your armor to protect against the damage type they do? For example, against elden beast who deals holy damage (or other bosses who do too, like maliketh) with the right armor pieces (great hood, tree sentinel legs, apostle gloves) and a sacred great shield, he hardly does any damage to me. Also, there are talismans, mixed potion tears, incantations and crafted items that will raise your resistance towards their damage type tremendously.

[@user-ns4zm8qe9p]

@@sickrandy2946 “attack in between the chains” sounds very obvious until you consider these chains are like 15 attacks long and have multiple branches

[@mr.negative0]

For Loretta being in the Haligtree, (Keep in mind I'm for the most part clueless on the lore of the game) I feel it makes sense because of when Loretta appears in the manor, she is that light blue magic color and spirit transparent. So what I thought is, in the manor you are just fighting like a aspect of Loretta or even Loretta fighting you from the Haligtree, but not actually there. However the Loretta that you fight in the Haligtree is where the real Loretta has been all this time. EDIT: I also feel that the Tree Sentinels outside of Leyndell make sense, because Leyndell being the royal capital and the location of the base of the Erdtree, it makes sense that Tree Sentinels are to be sentries to the tree. However, I have no clue why the one in front of Maliketh exists :p

[@duartenoronha3172]

According to the lore, Loretta took it upon herself to guide the surviving Albinaurics towards the promise lande, aka Mikella’s Haligtree hence her being there

[@tacticallemon7518]

Personally, i don’t mind the field Margit I mean, i feel like Morgot’s placement kinda ruins it, but the idea that a once great foe worthy of cutscenes and a health-bar at the beginning of the game is hardly worth naming now It kinda feels like progression in a way elden ring feels like it’s missing that being, you never quite feel powerful But, i’m pretty sure From Soft intentionally designed it that way, so i don’t complain too much

[@iboildogsalive6535]

And in other news, bear shits in woods

[@Modie]

I don't think the problem is with you fighting Loretta again. The main problem is that it's the same fight. Compare that to Morgott where he has a lot more moves than Margit and therefore works better and I think one can see the difference. I think the only thing different in the second fight is that Loretta now shoots three arrows in one of her attacks instead of 1. Which doesn't even feel very different since they come out at the same time.

[@despair_ts1823]

The one in front of maliketh is a draconic one so maybe he's there because he wanted to be part of the dragons

[@mdavis27]

Malenia’s fight is genuinely so fun and engaging for 90% of it, and then the game decides it’s time for you to die and pushes the “waterfowl dance” button. I can consistently dodge the second and third flurries but the first flurry is entirely based on positioning whether you die, get half of your health drained, or get hit a couple times. I’ve NEVER no hit the entire move. It really shits on an otherwise amazing boss fight.

[@thedude8526]

It's a move that belongs in Sekiro with the deflect skill. Definitely not in this game.

[@gorgit]

​@@thedude8526 now I really want to fight malenia with sekiro based deflecting

[@rubbish_kat]

The fact that so much of the fight is so good just makes waterfowl all the more infuriating. The rest is difficult but it feels fantastic when you get in the flow of it, then BOOM, waterfowl comes in and invalidates it all. That plus lifesteal working even when you block both feel like a big FU to anyone that doesn't have the very specific build to deal with it. So close to being an incredible boss that I could see myself coming back to again and again in a boss rush mode but nope FromSpft just hates bosses actually being fun now I guess.

[@XxN00BxXgg3]

@@Gamfluent the whole point of the move it to truly test your skills, its genuinely so fun to dodge it once you know how the problem is how the first flurry is entirely dependant on your positioning, as if you're too close you cant dodge it if it was tweaked to be able to dodge the first flurry, it would be my most favourite "hard move to dodge" in elden ring

[@tacticallemon7518]

that and the lifesteal, and the repost cancel I can easily see Malenia being one of the better bosses in the game if she felt like a fair fight

[@dekkan_0771]

My only issue with the game is honestly how inconsistent the difficulty can be, I understand its a open world game and you’re the one that decides how difficult you want the game to be, if you want to explore and level up or just straight go for the demigods and complete the game. The problem is that there’re some cases where the game is either super easy of hard. For some reason, the endgame areas are incredibly tough to the point where having 50 vigor and a decent armor is not enough to survive more than 4 hits, sometimes even from regular mobs. There’s even some enemies in the game that are not even worth killing them because of how hard they are to kill like the rune bears and revenants for example, and the amount of runes you get seems a little unfair. I loved the game and personally I don’t have too much problems completing it, but is true that this is the first souls game that I feel I don’t understand how the bosses works. I killed malenia first try in one of my playthroughs, and then on my next one I died 27 times. I either got worse or just got extremely lucky since you know a lot of bosses are rng based.

[@VGMatthew]

Big agree - this is actually something I wanted to talk about, but I couldn't fit it in the video. I think a lot of inconsistency in difficulty can be attributed to the level curve, because it's kind of awkward. Getting to Level 30+ by just exploring Limgrave doesn't take that long and it can make the place a lot easier. But then it feels like you suddenly stop gaining runes. There's a weird dry spell between like, Level 30-50 where you level up so slowly. I'd pin this on what you said - rune gain against some mobs is pathetically low. You could beat two minibosses and barely enough runes to level up once. But you need those levels to comfortably venture into Liurnia and then Caelid. Liurnia felt pretty tame, but by time you enter Caelid it still feels like you're suddenly underleveled because everything there hits so hard or has so much health (those giant crows stick out in my memory). Then by time you reach the Mountaintops, there's such a huge spike in damage from everything that it feels like your level doesn't even matter anymore. The balancing is all over the place. It really goes to show how important balancing is even in single-player games.

[@osirisavra1301]

Malenia fight is pure RNG,if she decides to kill you it's over. I had zero progress in to her fight until i randomly killed her after 20 deaths. That's a terrible boss design, didn't feel earned at all.

[@user-ns4zm8qe9p]

@@osirisavra1301 yeah I got lucky and get posture breaking her to end the second phase before waterfowl killed me

[@laius6047]

In ds games and blood borne any mob respective to your level can kill you in 4 hits. That's nothing new.

[@iheartblock3792]

@@laius6047 bloodborne also makes you just as aggressive and heals you when you counterattack. Elden ring just kills you. You have the tools to respond in those games, you don’t in Sekiro.

[@Jbake44035]

I'm about 50hrs in on Elden Ring, and the one "complaint" I have, is that every single item/weapon that I pick up I'm unable to wield 😂

[@alifnaufalmaulana6156]

A year late but yeah. Some of the sorceries are hella cool to see and eye pleasing. Sadly you must have a gamer posture to get that 70 intelligence

[@anonisnoone6125]

​@@alifnaufalmaulana6156The stats for a lot of the spells r actually just bullshit. It's way too much for most people to get those stats in their first playthrough. Most people don't play ng+ anyway.

[@conchobar]

No action game with with coded input delay and AI input reading should ever be mentioned in the same paragraph as the word "Flawless"

[@Akd6869]

Why is input reading a flaw

[@the_seer_0421]

​​@@Akd6869because it can make fights borderline unfair as it feels like they telepathically know exactly what the player will do before even executing said action instead naturally responding to your actions.

[@Akd6869]

@@the_seer_0421 i think kts fine. It just adds an extra notch of difficulty to the game. To counter it, you have to heal when the boss is mid animation or after you run very far away from the boss. It also makes the game a tad bit more realistic as it'd look awkward if bosses just stood there while you chug estus. The idea is to not panic when you have low hp and dodge the boss's combo and then drink the estus when the boss is stuck in an animation

[@peytonmcgiven7610]

I can tell you struggled with the game but it seems to me that you tried to heal at the wrong time repeatedly lol. If you’re standing right in front of the boss and u try to heal then they’re going to punish u for it. Instead wait until u find an attack punish window and heal at that moment instead. It’s pretty elementary stuff as far as how this game was meant to be played. Input reads aren’t the problem. You’re playing in a way that makes it hard on yourself.

[@gigagogagagio]

​@@peytonmcgiven7610counterpoint: godskin duo fireball

[@maylunaberry5315]

I beat most of the end game bosses with ease. Especially Malenia, Fire Giant, and Elden Beast. How was it easy? Using mimic tear, rivers of blood, and a +25 uchikatana with bloodhound step. At the end of the day, it was less about gitting gud, and more about the willingness to play dirty. I didn't feel accomplished, but I did get a laugh out of it.

[@mikerzisu9508]

I did similar. Shit felt so unfair that I used a mimic and an op blood build and steamrolled them all

[@johnpaulguevara3977]

I agree. The Git Gud mechanic is not present here.

[@maylunaberry5315]

@@johnpaulguevara3977 It's more of a 'git smart' mechanic.

[@mrnoname315]

git gud in elden ring means timing that 2 frames of an opening to deal 1 hit in the middle of the boss' 20 hit combo.

[@mikerzisu9508]

@@mrnoname315 sounds like you failed to git gud

[@tailscashexplosion7196]

It's ok bro, just use one shot sorceries, player summons, spirit summons and that one item you definitely should have known where to find for this one specific boss. It's totally balanced and fun to watch your spirit summons play the game for you while you watch, I swear.

[@malikgordon1399]

Hell no that isn't fun

[@fuckyoutubehandles1]

@@malikgordon1399 We know

[@chopsandtoots]

@@malikgordon1399 sarcasm bro. Lol

[@natediaz1863]

It's crazy how the mimic tear is better than another actual player and even yourself. I feel like the stats should be swapped between mimic and the player.

[@Nylspider]

I love this comment so freaking much

[@Golden-ek2ku]

There is a merchant that sells a note telling about the sentry's torch existing, but it doesn't tell how to find it nor do they actually sell the sentry's torch. I think it would've been nice if at the beginning of leyndell where you meet Boc, he gives you the torch and tells you about it. If you didn't activate Boc this playthrough then you find it on the ground with a note where he would usually be.

[@casedcrusader]

This video summed up pretty much all of my feelings. I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt such fatigue at the last chunk of the game, and at the same spot, no less. The Mountaintops ironically started the decline for me. Also, how anyone solos some of the bosses, but especially Malenia, is beyond me. She felt like a raid boss, which is actually an intriguing concept for a FromSoftware game. Treating Radahn like one made him super fun!

[@MiracleClover]

I don't consider myself to be a good Souls player by any means but I managed to solo Malenia. Sadly, it revolves around mostly failing until you can finally figure out how to dodge her attacks. After that, it becomes a little easier and kind of fun but it's very much so a trial and error boss. Luckily she staggers well and is weak to frost and bleed so there are ways to kill her and make it feel fair

[@lolbuster01]

​@@MiracleClover I've beat her solo twice and I feel no need to do it again. It's beyond frustrating to try and take advantage of her stagger only for her to say "nope" and dodge out of it. If you're playing a faith build, like I was my first time, and rely mostly on casting, trying to hit her without getting hit or dodging your attack is so incredibly frustrating.

[@hellodumplings8564]

You’re just bad lmao. Raid boss my ass

[@Discombobulate453]

I beat her solo. Took me ages. I’m glad she’s optional because I have absolutely ZERO desire to fight her ever again 😂

[@griddycheese]

NIHIL her bro

[@epcarter6]

I appreciate these kinds of reviews so much more than the ones that just slurp the game and I absolutely love the game.

[@AzureTheAvian]

I really loved the game for my first 40 hours. But when I got to the end game, it felt like being told Santa isn’t real all over again. The more I simmer on this game, the more bitter I feel about it.

[@Rowan-ff7lk]

@@AzureTheAviancompletely agree, I loved my first playthrough, didn’t really enjoy the last third as much but thought it was okay. But the more I played the game to platinum it, the more I soured on the experience as a whole. The last third of the game was just so unbalanced that it’s really stopped me from replaying this game again and again.

[@kregman6928]

@@Rowan-ff7lk I have 200 hours and I recently played through the game with my friend using the coop mod. and in my playthroughs I never really noticed the ending of the game much because you know, the journey and all that. but the ending of this game, is so completely and utterly underwhelming. it is literally asscheeks. you get this cool fight with radagon [important lore on that can be missed which makes the ending even more lackluster] and then you get this absolute out of left field space monster WHICH HAS N0 PLACE IN THE GAME. and then once that is over you get this absolutely terrible minute and a half dialogue from the narrator and that is it. there is nothing there. the ending was so terrible. and I only noticed it now. noone ever talks about it.

[@lovethepandainyou]

@@kregman6928 I just started playing the game and I would say I was pretty underwhelmed by the beginning. A powerpoint presensation with no cutscene, stiff transitions and a kinda janky in-game death where I got hit by the first boss, screen cut to black before I see my body fall to the ground, then after an awkward loading pause, I am waking up out of nowhere on a random path. Yes, I am nitpicking, but it feels so rushed, like they didn't really care for it and just wanted you to see the open-world vista. I have felt such amazement or interest from the intros of DS1, DS2 and Bloodborne (along other soulslike games). This had the opposite effect.

[@yungtux8770]

@@kregman6928that’s all souls game endings. They’re all extremely short and are never the focal point of the story. It’s the journey, and the ending is just there. It’s always been this way with these games.

[@Shyguymask]

I'm so glad I completely missed the Margit rematch in Altus and got caught off-guard when Morgott showed his true identity at the end of Leyndell.

[@ShinMajin]

I didn't know he could show up in Altus...and I derped around a *lot* before finding my way through the capital!

[@simsdas4]

I completely missed him there to, i had no idea he even appeared there.

[@equious8413]

A lack of direction is one thing, but this game is riddled with events and unique dialogues that will be entirely missed by 99% of people. Like.. there's dialogue that adds context to killing Millicent if you go to Gowry after fighting the tree spirit and before fighting her sisters? So the only way anyone sees that is to fast travel out of the zone your in, talk to a guy, and fast travel back to continue the story. It's absurd. Their approach to story telling and progression lends itself to convolution more than anything. Most people won't see most things, not because they don't want to, but because you've hidden half of it behind a spider web of bullshit no sane person can keep straight.

[@twocanplay7976]

Agree. I don't see how anyone can legit 100% the game with every single quest line without a guide of some sort. A simple quest log with progress markers or something like that would have really helped, especially for someone like me who put the game down for a year and a half bc of frustrations with the Draconic Tree Sentinel. Had no idea wtf was going on after picking it up again

[@tlozmeowcatz7991]

@@twocanplay7976 Same, I wasn't really stuck in my case but just bored by the open world repetition and had 0 clue what was going on coming back after months. Overall didn't care for the story but that certainly didn't help. I still ended up beating it but don't really have a desire to ever replay it.

[@Blandy8521]

With Elden Beast I feel like it should've been an optional boss locked behind getting all the great runes. It would've been a cool reward for killing all the rune holders given that at the moment there's no reason to collect all of them

[@dustrose8101]

That it's the end boss for EVERY ending doesn't make sense either. The Greater Will wants a new Elden Lord to restore its hold on the Lands Between since Marika broke the Elden Ring. Why the hell would it challenge you? Maybe to test if you're worthy? But even then, it would make more sense if something like Ranni's ending triggered the Elden Beast fight. It + the Greater Will actually has reason to fight you now because you're threatening its hold with the Age of Stars.

[@anonisnoone6125]

This is pretty much what I thought. Radagon should've been the final boss with a 2nd phase (That he completely deserved) and Elden Beast should've been a secret boss that could have it's own ending.

[@creeperYT9824]

reminds me of hollow knight lol

[@reign1594]

​@@dustrose8101 It challenged you because you enter the erdtree without permission.

[@KekkonenInJapan]

Really good critique, mirroring many of my own thoughts. The end part really was barren, and the overly difficult enemies felt like padding.

[@Axxxel_in_Harlem]

Cower before Maliketh, the Black Blade.

[@KekkonenInJapan]

@@Axxxel_in_Harlem indeed

[@sasaki999pro]

Nothing like getting one shot by 80% of Fire Giants off screen attacks. Hmmm, yes balans. :v)

[@RamGuy459]

I love Elden Ring, just like I love pretty much every of From Software's recent games. But I wholeheartedly agree that something happens towards the end. I feel like the game is 33% longer than it shoud have been. I tried to 100% the game, like I do with most games I play and there is just this feeling of repetition when you do Catacomb nr.30, Cave nr.25, etc. Especially considering how so many of them is rather lacking in reward. There are catacombs, caves and whatnot with mini-bosses that are competeing for being some of the most difficult bosses in the game and the amount of runes you get by killing them doesn't make much sense considering their difficulty. And in most of the cases you never get any meaningful loot that will boost your build. When all catacombs starts to feel same-y, all caves starts to feel sam-y etc and they all start to features variations of mini-bosses and mobs you've encountered several times over already, or a two-combo versions of mini-boss and mobs you have fighted one-on-one before it starts to get long in the tooth. Not to mention how many teams you'll encounter Death Birds, Night Riders etc. I still love the game, they did the open-world aspect extremely well. But the quality of each boss fight and the quality of the combat itself and how the entire difficulty curve has been tuned is perhaps the worst it has ever been. I suppose this is a direct result of this game not only being extreme in how big and open the world is, but also because of the extreme amount of build variaty this game offers. The sheer amount of weapons, armour sets, ashes of war, spirit ashes and whatnot this game has it all and then some. From Software just turned everything up to eleven. The only problem is that turning everything up to eleven doesn't mean the game will be better because of it. Personally i find the game to drown me with too much loot, too many items and it's making me loose track of it all. And From Software is obviously going to balance their game around the idea of most players won't discover everything within this obtuse, yet massively and amazing open world. So they'll have to scale the difficulty acordingly. If you are thorough you end up overpowered down the line as in every other From Software game besides Sekiro. Elden Ring is no expection. But the problem is that the game gets in a very awkward spot towards the end. Once you get past Morgott the difficulty squeues in such a way that many players, or at least this is how I felt is put into this strange spot where you are so overpowered that you simply can't use spirit ashes unless you just want the game to become a complete cakewalk. I didn't use spirit ashes as single time, I didn't pay them any attention up until I got past Morgott. But from that point forward the difficulty makes this jump where everything you encounter from that point forward is going to feel extremely hard and unfair pushing you towards using spirit ashes. And I have no problem with this being the case, spirit ashes are in the game after all so I suppose From Software expect us to use them. But the sad truth is that it really does not. Once you toss in a decent spirit ash into a boss fight it's no longer a fight. You will just have your summon keep aggro while you unweil everything you've got into the back of the boss. It becomes a complete cakewalk and you won't even see most of the mechanics and attack that each boss has. I felt put into this awful spot of having to chose to talke the bosses 1-on-1 but having to deal with very frustrating mechanics, or use spirit ashes and loose all sense of accomplishment and achievement out of the encounters. I have played through the end-game twich, once using spirit ashes and once without using them (besides Melania, I'm just not able to defeat her without using spirit ashes) and I still prefer the annoying suffering of not using spirit ashes, but thats just because using spirit ashes makes it so easy that I don't feel like I'm getting anything out of beating a boss at that point. I still love the game, all the great parts of the game outshine the bad parts for me. But it's frustrating knowing how good From Software are when it comes to boss design to see how these bosses ended up. Sekiro is still my favourite games because how finetuned, polished and perfected the entire experience is. Sekiro is the complete opposite of Elden Ring. From Software scaled back most parts of their design to bring the most well crafted game they have ever made and I loved it. I do also love Elden Ring, but it fails in pretty much every aspect Sekiro perfected. My list of best to worst would have to be: #1: Sekiro #2: Bloodborne #3: Dark Souls 3 #4: Elden Ring #5: Dark Souls 1 #6: Demons Souls (but in 2022 it feels better to replay Demons Souls compared to Dark Souls 1 because of the true to form remake.) #7: Dark Souls 2 (This is such a huge shame. This game has so many interesting and great ideas and concepts, many that returns in Elden Ring. But movement in Dark Souls 2 is just subpar and when I hate moving around in the game it takes so much out of the experience for me. It feels like your character is floating around hovering slighty above the ground.)

[@Natethegreat87-pi1ds]

@@RamGuy459 I agree with everything you are saying, well the ranking I would have put things differently but that’s just personal preference. I definitely feel like the bosses toward the end of the game pressured you into using summons which like you said takes every bit of personality out of the encounters in the bosses mechanics. I don’t feel like they give you ample opportunity to dish out damage after every single chain. Not to mention how overpowered sorceries and incantations are. Which is even more incentive to just stick to summoning and dealing damage whenever it’s safe to do so. I feel like elden ring is one of those games you play once and you never touch again, at least for me. When I tried to go back and play it in new game with zero summons it just got boring. The over used repeats of enemies and bosses made me end up stopping right after morgotts fight at the eardtree which is really where the game sort of spindles off anyway. This of course is in direct contrast to dark souls 3 which I have multiple play throughs in. My ranking of the games is as follows: 1. Sekiro (I absolutely adore this game. It is definitely my top 5 favorite game of all time and my favorite soulsborne game. Not only for the amazing level, boss, music, and combat mechanics/design. But the fact that they completely turned the gameplay of normal souls games on its head and did it in such a way that it is just so amazing. My favorite boss is the sword saint) 2. Dark souls 3 (by far my favorite adaptation of the souls experience. I feel like it is just open worldish enough where it feels huge but keeps to that old rustic small level design with important shorcuts and rewarding item discovery, I love it. Not to mention the boss design with being some of the best in the series with Gael, Midir, Pontiff, Abyss watchers. I can keep going they are all so amazing. The roster in that game is by far my favorite out of the games for sure). 3. Elden ring (this game is amazing, for such a risk they took they definitely succeeded and making a titanic splash and added something from every game up until this point. That is cool and all but I feel like throwing all of this together will add some drawbacks. Like mentioned previously with subsequent play throughs it becomes boring and stale but for the initial first play through I easily put over 100 hours into the game and didn’t even realize it. But now going back it seems that even 30 minutes just seems boring to me. That is why it isn’t as good as ds3 in my opinion. Also the bosses are just overall worse. Still an amazing game and definitely worth playing through at least once). 4. Dark souls 1 (although dark souls 3 was my first souls experience the first game definitely captures that magic like no other game does. With the level design that is unmatched in some of the most recent installments it still has some shining aspects to it that makes it here imo. I like how this game makes you feel when you play it, this is by far my favorite souls game as far as story is concerned. You or anybody else wouldn’t be wrong in putting it lower due to hardware stuff but I just had an overall great time playing this icon of a game for the first time after ds3. It gave it more of a rustic vibe I feel. 5. Demons souls (oh boy where do I even start, this is one of the reasons I got a ps5 and honesty it is just so good on the ps5. The level design is lackluster compared to ds1 but it was their first installment but the way it looks and runs on the newer engine is just stellar. I will never forget playing through that game with my buddies). 6. Blood borne (here is where it gets controversial and many of you are going to disagree. I don’t like this game, I agree that it does have some upsides to it like the lovecraftian design. I just can’t click with this game. The gameplay is too fast paced and the input delay as well as punishment for dodging early or late doesn’t seem fair. I’m also not a big fan of how the blood vials are consumables, I get that you can buy them but I always found myself where I wouldn’t have enough money to buy them and I wouldn’t have enough to survive. Also the npc questlines are a nightmare if you aren’t looking up a guide. The frame rate is also not great going straight from demons souls so it didn’t help that either with that comparison of the buttery smoothness of the remake. The only reason I actually did end up beating it was the soul exploit dungeon where it made getting blood vials and bullets easier). 7. Dark souls 2 ( you’ve all heard of why this is so terrible from somebody else so I’d rather not repeat it 😂).

[@100PROcentCw]

Incredibly well thought out and articulated video. I often watch long videos like this in segments, but you hooked me enough to watch it all in one go! You seem like a very genuine creator, I hope to see you grow :)

[@VGMatthew]

That means a lot, thanks for the support :]

[@JustDaZack]

Around the midpoint you accurately describe my experience. I quit after around 100 hrs, after just having fought a much weaker version of Mogh, one of the very, very few unique bosses or so I thought that I did just previously. All after having frustratingly struggled against to many repeated and uninspired delayed attacks from others. Oh and also having given up, looking up my current progression in the game to only realize that I've somehow missed most of Rannis and others triggers by having walked passed certain bonfires or doing things in different orders. Elden Rings highs are very high and invite you to explore and indulge in its world, but the actual mechanics to support this is somehow much weaker than its predecessors.

[@wymanrtaylor]

I quit as well. First Souls game I haven’t beaten. Just wasn’t enjoying it

[@user-gm1iw6rs6l]

I think missing things in such a huge open world is only natural, only way to prevent this would be to have the game shove them in your face which would ruin a lot of the fun imo, and that is what NG+ is for anyway. And to be fair, I think complaining that you only got 100 hours of such a special experience isnt very valid, the devs would have to slave away for extra years to add much more. Sure boss and enemy reuse is annoying but what is the alternative? I think the fact that they have to reuse anything at all is a testament to how absurdly massive the game is, because it's enemy and boss variety is absolutely incredible compared to pretty much any other game in existence.

[@sujimayne]

The questlines are awful. Having to go to a very specific place or rest at a very specific bonfire to progress is idiotic in its own right, but on top of that you can permanently fail a questline just by getting to a certain area.

[@paulm2518]

I've said it before - you've said it here. After finishing this game I was genuinely relieved rather than felt any sense of achievement. The only time I picked this back up was with a mod that adjusted the difficulty to make the game enjoyable. In it's current state, it mostly serves to frustrate and annoy and that, is not why I play games.

[@synical69]

I agree with basically every point you made, especially with the boss design. for my first playthrough, i was so confused why I was getting my shit stomped for so long. and i realised, it was simply because of how much this game wants to be a culmination of other fromsoft games, but stayed restricted to the gameplay of dark souls 3. This is the only game in this series (outside of dark souls 1 and 2) that genuinely make me frustrated, with how much shit just doesn't belong in the this game format. I just wish more people accepted that, instead of ridiculing people who criticize it.

[@brandonwadlington8552]

Excellent criticisms of the bosses. I felt exactly the same way about many of them and I am surprised that they tend to be so praised (especially Maliketh, Mohg and Malenia). I have only played through the game once and I want to do it again for the sake of the legacy dungeons but the thought of repeating some of these fights turns me off.

[@jooot_6850]

@@BBQcheese wish the anti-nihil physick was dropped by Varre, makes much more sense for him to drop it than whoever else does (i try not to look these things up)

[@LuxEternis]

I get the praise for Maliketh & Mogh. But not at all for Malenia. Maliketh still has some fairness as he has some extremely low HP for the state of the game you're in. 10.6k for him is imo a bit low, but for his lvl of aggression and damage, it makes him a glass cannon, which I like personally. Comparing this to Malenia's 33.2k, while she is equally as aggressive, if not more, has healing (and rot in phase 2) and hits harder with a majority of her atks is stupid. As for mogh, his attacks are far more readable than most. He does spray bloodfire often, but it's totally manageable, requires much more positioning for his fight in specific. It sucks that elden ring doesn't teach you that well, but he definitely has a large emphasis on positioning. With stuff like his countdown, lance downstrike, etc... I could get 1-2 colossal GS hits in. He definitely felt fair and I loved it 😅

[@Luxuriouswhite]

Mountaintops was only place in entire game where I felt like the game overstayed its welcome. But when I got to mohgs palace and haligtree afterwards I was like wait theres more... never mind this is insane! And immediately got sucked back into the content. Despite the repeated enemies

[@nolongerinbetween3913]

Amazing review. Balanced and better than the first reviews we got at the launch from the journalists that reviewed the game. Sometimes you come across a game where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, where its individual components might be flawed but they work so well together that they create something memorable. With Elden Ring I felt the opposite. There's so much greatness and awe in its individual parts but as a whole it falls short. It's still a great game but the flaws mar the overall experience in a way that prevents me from loving it in the same way I love Sekiro, Bloodborne or DS3.

[@orlando5789]

Exactly. Couldn't have put it better.

[@lahunica2726]

I disagree, overhaul it easily surpasses Ds3 and Sekiro, Bloodborne and ds1 are the only ones that can be compared to Elden Ring.

[@sbef]

Well said. I honestly am trying to get over the Elden Ring burnout to go finish Dark Souls 3. ER was better than anything that came before, yet Dark Souls is my favourite game series of them, and I'd rather replay those than Elden Ring.

[@TimelessSnake]

Do you think angry joe exaggerated his review by giving it a 10/10 or was it valid?

[@nolongerinbetween3913]

@@TimelessSnake People who are new to souls games tend to like it more and be less critical than souls veterans. They have nothing to compare it with. I have Bloodborne, Sekiro, Darks Souls, Demons Souls. So I can see its strengths and I can see its shortcomings. So, he is not wrong in the sense it was a 10/10 to him, but he is wrong in the sense that the game is not, in an objective way, a 10/10. Some of its parts are indeed 10/10 but as a whole, Sekiro and Bloodborne are way better games.

[@yakdeculture9761]

I think Elden Ring can be considered a masterpiece, but I do agree with all of your points here. The bosses in particular are a sour point for me, in that while they are very well designed and have lots of atmosphere, fighting them gives you less of a rewarding experience and more of a 'Thank God it's over with, I don't want to go through that again' feeling. There's no sense of mastery when you learn their moves, because they can be so random and unpredictable with them.

[@buckyhurdle4776]

How many times have you beaten the game?

[@mikekenny1698]

100% every boss was so tiring with new added bullshit after every single one I was just so grateful it was over, I loved exploring the open world but my god the bosses really tarnish the experience, I have two play through and no desire to play again, I’ve been playing demons souls and my god it’s so good, it’s pretty balanced and some bosses were so fun I’m looking forward to my second play through and the atmosphere is so good in DeS, Elden Ring lacks that dark souls atmosphere, perhaps because it’s open world, Academy was really cool but way too small, extremely linear, it’s like after storm veil they just kinda gave up

[@r.w.9631]

Honestly it's a good game in a series of a masterpieces. I do like elden ring and am happy with its success but I wouldn't rank it ahead of bloodborne, DS1 , or sekiro. Let's be honest though elden ring only gets this much clout because it's open world which is a design direction and not reflective of quality.

[@buckyhurdle4776]

@@r.w.9631 If you seriously think DS1 is better from anything other than a narrative perspective, you're smoking crack

[@mia3033]

@@buckyhurdle4776 i totally understand what he meant. Its the whole experience. Def a flawed game but for a genre defining title its still amazing for its time. Its one of those games idk how to explain and i love it while acknowledging the flaws.

[@christianlowman2698]

When I first heard about Elden Ring I was really hoping that for this game FromSoft wouldn't do the whole dead world thing like in Dark Souls but actually have some areas that were full of life and just normal npc's living their life and a more up front story as opposed to relying on item descriptions for most of the lore. But regardless of all that I still absolutely love the game and loved how amazing my first playthrough felt.

[@teenageboyhormonalrage]

This one for sure feels like it has the most vibrant world, and the story doesn’t feel like it takes place too long after the shattering

[@jacobnorris8256]

@@teenageboyhormonalrage I mean, as much as it's better than DS and bloodborne, the world is still completely fucked. Deathrot, scarlet rot, demi humans, ruins everywhere, everything Godrick does, Leyndell is largely in ruins, etc etc. It's certainly a much more vibrant looking world due to being much more colorfor and unsaturated, but lore wise it's still a shithole.

[@SuperOmegaBerserker]

It felt like a waste of a "open" world when there is no cities or large amounts of NPC. Like every dead person is re alive where is the necropolis? You thing the eternal cities would be full of something other than fat blue antler people, And they said we could do more with enemies than just attack. That was a poor lie about the stealth mechanic that gave us alot more hope than it should have. Idk why the fuck they even made this. It's just big and worse dark souls. It isn't even open world its really really bad linearity like you can't go to another area unless u get multiple item keys, now if it was linear but open like DS no issue. But being able to go to caelid and shit right away is so stupid. Atleast in DS1 you go the wrong way the skeletons arnt fucking 97 billion HP and 1 shot every time you hit them like and pin wheel is killable. You think u can kill that general in the swamp of aeonia if you go there right away. No fucking chance.

[@SuperOmegaBerserker]

@@teenageboyhormonalrage compare it to BoTW. Vibrant my ass.

[@SuperOmegaBerserker]

@@teenageboyhormonalrage the day from soft stops making every single instant of their game a man vs world fighting game is the minute they attain perfection. But now the are done with the DS stuff. Yay armored core. Booty hole stuff

[@melchristensen8282]

You outlined really well why I couldn't connect with this game, despite everyone telling me it was 'The Best Thing Ever' tm. The boss fight section and the level of recycled content were something I found especially relevant. I got fed up with same same dungeon in the end as well. Despite playing the game through to the end, I don't think I will go back for a replay, which... is possibly a sign. When I love a game, I'll always replay it a couple of times. I can't see this happening with ER.

[@michaelwilcox8187]

Lyndel should have been the final area. The Godfrey phantom could have been the real one. Beat him the Morgott and get into the tree to fight Melania. The entire mountain of giants was unnecessary. Slightly smaller map to focus on more diverse enemies instead of recycled ones.

[@VGMatthew]

Y'know upon reflection, Ghost Godfrey is a really strange encounter. He's not that hard and he's completely overshadowed by the Morgott fight that comes basically right after. That fight lacks any sort of punch. If the game were shrunk down, I think what you suggested here would be the best way to do it.

[@A.Useless.Goddess]

thank you!! ive been saying margott shouldve been either the final boss or the lead up to radagon. elden ring was a good 9/10 9.5/10 at the capital and dropped afterwards. the game has the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. very very good game in most areas but some of these bosses are just cheap as hell for the sake of being hard. like we all know elden ring wouldve been a different game if it was released 10 yrs ago (disregarding hardware of course) because we are better at the games now so they have to get cheeky in order to maintain difficulty.

[@RektorNation]

Cut mountain of giants, consecrated snowfield and some of the copy paste dungeons and it would be 100x better. Even with these cuts, the game would still have more content than any fromsoft game before it but with less repeat bosses/enemies.

[@pyatig]

I said the same thing in ER Facebook group a month ago

[@shrouls]

Sure I guess but farum azula should remain as the area after leyndell and ephael as the secret one with some new enemy types

[@travisoutlaw9511]

Part of the reason Elden Ring videos are doing so well is because we all miss the experience we had the first time we played it. So we watch these videos and listen to others discuss the game we fell in love with. I've read others comment similar things, so this isn't really my idea lol PS. Great critique video bro

[@sinaolaei]

I always appreciate when people talk about the bad parts of a big game with a huge fan base.

[@Invisibleguy-kn7bd]

I think that for quite a few bosses, ER has just tried to make them harder than previous games to compensate for players being more experienced. The problem there is that the way they've made some of these bosses more difficult is poorly done. It's become a lot more about learning the boss' attack patterns and how to dodge them, rather than having a more reactive play style where you can react to the boss' movements. Beast Clergymen/Maliketh is a great example of this, because you absolutely can learn the boss to the point of consistently getting in damage while avoiding getting hit. The issue is that to do this, you basically have to memorise the specific combos to know when he'll suddenly do his quick swipes at you and when he's actually safe to hit. In the case of Maliketh, a big part is learning which direction to dodge or move to with his combos so that you can be in a position to punish. For example, when he jumps into the air, throws out the three projectiles, then comes down with a big spinning slash, you actually want to dodge in the same direction he's moving so you end up next to him when the combo ends and you can get a hit in. It's absolutely not intuitive to figure it out, it mostly takes trial and error

[@ZohlanTV]

In my opinion, the way forward for FromSoftware is a focus on singleplayer. Sekiro style. I'm talking combat system, level design & story. I can see how it would get repetitive faster than multiplayer but what singleplayer game doesn't

[@gediminasmorkys3589]

Totally agree. Especially about combat system and fight design. Elden Ring has so many tools, but all of them get invalidated in various cases when enemies can decide to not play by the same rules.

[@ZohlanTV]

@@gediminasmorkys3589 *cough* malenia

[@gediminasmorkys3589]

@@ZohlanTV at least she is parryable 🙂

[@SimonPiano42]

Not really sure what you want to say, all their soulslike games are singleplayer, with minor multiplayer components (PvP, coop, messages), including Elden Ring.

[@xWillWaltx]

@@SimonPiano42 I was abt to respond saying the same thing lol

[@kylerlewark]

Not gonna lie I love Elden Ring but I still had more fun playing DS3 and Bloodborne. It's good but it's not my top From game

[@tiller2473]

Loved Elden Ring too, but it’s towards the bottom as far as Souls games go

[@ranges787]

Sekiro is goat

[@loganberkheimer1857]

"Prioritizing quantity over quality" is the perfect way to describe this game, you nailed every problem I have with this game

[@brianclingenpeel5123]

Very nicely done video. I'm a bit behind most and am just finishing my 1st playthrough. You hit the nail on the head when it comes to bosses and their difficulty. Your entire video was full of the same praise/critique that have come to my mind playing the game. Just far more eloquently said and presented to anything I could come close to lol. Great video my guy

[@Finn-xw4vn]

I agree with most of your criticism. However, I think that the summons in Castle Sol and the assassins in Ordina are intended to get the player to think laterally. For the summons, you can use the Bewitching branch and players are rewarded for using the sentry's torch to beat the level (or brute force it by running around). I don't think it excuses the frustration or lack of tuning to make it work more smoothly, but it's more likely than you made it out to be imo.

[@formless_dev]

I doubt even 5% of players would think to use the bewitching branch organically, AKA without looking it up. Thankfully it's a pretty easy fix, they could just remove the knights entirely and buff Niall. Even with the torch, Ordina still isn't very fun to play. I just ran through the area and skipped most of the enemies like he did. That's something that I did a lot in the mountaintops and I'm clearly not alone.

[@12431265]

@@formless_dev Actually something that came up for me was that if you use the sentry's torch before entering the phantom version of the town you can see the phantoms of the black knifes walking around and then map out their pathing and stealth mission your way to the roof tops where you can attempt to kill the archer ladies. it was very satisfying to notice that for me and turned a terrible section into something new and enjoyable.

[@jonstein4606]

​@@formless_devthe Soulsborne games have always been full of things that most players would never, ever think of organically (if you found out how to access the Artorias of the Abyss DLC organically, no you didn't you liar 😂)

[@akurei123]

Thanks for articulating what i couldnt put into words. I just kinda accepted summons being an integral part of the game. I still miss the time where you could dodge and punish no matter how heavy your weapon was. Learning fights like Unnamed King was so much fun. Even Midir is a much much better dragon fight than any of the dragons ingame. I loved the point you made about sekiro-style deflecting. This way, dealing with these endless boss combos would be so much more fun. Again, thanks for highlighting the game's problems.

[@RamGuy459]

Nothing wrong with accepting the use of summons. In the end-game it feels like the game is pretty much telling us that we are stupid if not using them. It's just such a huge shame how the balancing in the game goes straight out the window as soon as you start using summons, especially towards the end as your character is being so powerful that when using summons the game feels next to broken by how easy all bosses expect Melania becomes. And even Malenia when using the correct summon is also becoming rather easy. It feels like something happend here, those designing the boss encounters and the AI for the bosses didn't talk with the people that developed spirit ashes. At least thats how it mostly feels as the bosses get tunnel vision only focusing on your summon while you just unload all you've got in the back of the boss missing most of the mechanics of the entire fight as it feels more like you are helping out your summon, not the other way around.

[@PatrickFromsoftware]

True bro

[@StanleyG23]

Leyndell is excellent as a legacy dungeon. However, I would disagree that it's as confusing as you say it is to navigate. You can easily skip almost the entirety of Leyndell by going down the houses with the Imps on them on the right in the beginning section where you first find the Oracle Envoys and then get to the Avenue Balcony Site of Grace pretty quickly. You know the drill afterwards.

[@tle90]

Absolutely amazing breakdown Matty. Thank you for such an in-depth and engaging critique, I think anyone who's played Elden Ring can find something in there that they relate to and agree with, as well as new talking points to consider.

[@NathanStathan]

Your section on oridna Liturgical town was honestly just spot on. I totally agree with every point. Not to mention the arrow guys can not only shoot arrows around corners but literally shoot through walls, and have a fuck ton of health and kill you in like two rounds of arrows with almost no cool-down. The ONLY redeeming factor for me is that whenever you light a one of the lamps it stays lit. Other than that, this section can die in a fire. Legit the only part of the game I raged at. That aside, this video was a great watch, I really enjoy all of your points and valid criticisms. Video deserves more views. Earned your a sub. Keep up the great work man 👍🏾

[@jesterhead360]

Just buy the torch from the hermit shack in leyndyll. Trust

[@mikerzisu9508]

@@jesterhead360 the torch doesn't help with the bs archers

[@jesterhead360]

@@mikerzisu9508 Dodge? Or maybe jar cannon them? Games got a million solid range options and shields also exist 😂

[@mikerzisu9508]

@@jesterhead360 they are still a pain, especially when you are trying to traverse ladders and rooftops. And they do way to much damage

[@mac1bc]

A shield is a must at that part of the game

[@shakeweller]

I was also unsatisfied with some of the bosses design, because it really feels like there's a lot of just turtling required. Combos are so long that it turns into a waiting game. That plus the short windows between them heavily favor fast weapons and builds in favor of slow or heavy ones because on some bosses even r1 with them might get you killed. I respected away from my greatsword halfway through because it became a chore to defeat many bosses. In PvP these things work great, but in PvE you're punished for using these builds. On top you have what I call MMO raid boss mechanics that you literally have to sit out and wait until they're done like Elden Beast running away, malenia Combos or bosses disengaging so you have to chase them. You have to just wait them out. Mogh a nihil attack is also dumb because if you don't use a specific flask you take unavoidable damage. Elden Beasts star attack requires bloodhound step to avoid damage. All of that defeats the design philosophy older souls games had.

[@pyatig]

I blame the ash summons mechanic for that

[@watertommyz]

But needing special items like that just shows they really wanted you to explore and be rewarded for that.

[@mikerzisu9508]

@@pyatig I think they designed some of the bosses with the intention of using ash summons. They really worked hard to add ashes as a major mechanic to use.

[@charlylmaoo5953]

These issues of moments where you just have to let the boss do whatever highlights once again why I love Sekiro. Nearly every single attack from any boss or enemy in Sekiro is both dangerous for you and dangerous for the boss (as the more you can deflect the bosses attacks, the more posture damage the boss will take)

[@kennyhouser3467]

I have noticed a common theme in the Souls community and the use of "respect" and "respected." That is not the correct usage of the term... The term is RE-SPEC. It is an abbreviation for RE-SPECIALIZE. You can use the term re-spec'd colloquially with RPG gamers because they know what you mean. It has nothing to do with respect.

[@kevinm7927]

It feels like in every way Elden Ring tries to forcibly surpass Dark Souls 3. But outside of the world design it feels like they fell flat.

[@sbef]

This was a great, in-depth and coherent critique of this game, I really like your style. Subbed!

[@Neverwas]

Man. This video is a MASTERPIECE. I'm eager for more content from you. You are analytical, rational, you rant when you have to but you always take facts and examples into account. You take into account the development process and the previous titles which in a way could've influenced the creative process. This review is enlightening. The best I've seen so far for Elden Ring. Keep it up, new fan here.

[@princezuko1588]

True A lot of KZbinrs just go on rants about important things or minor details

[@dyinginfashion2558]

Sekiro is the best game they have ever made. Nothing in that game feels out of place. It’s spectacular

[@nolongerinbetween3913]

Hear, hear!

[@Tripp38485]

Agreed.

[@Nazylexx]

Best part of Sekiro is that no matter what you can control boss fights from start to finish. Deflect system was implemented masterfully and I return couple times a year to beat most of bosses and my muscle memory for those fights is still in good shape. Recently I did Isshin while receiving only 3 hits from hit, my personal record ;-)) In ER many bosses just do what they want and you can just dance with them and try to win

[@kennyofatoboiyo7447]

Except it's kinda a one and done. There is no build variety and not enough interesting stuff to get you to come back and do it again. It's definitely my favorite from game combat wise but overall and still think Bloodborne is their best work, closely followed by Elden Ring then Sekiro.

[@TheKillaShow]

@@kennyofatoboiyo7447 Nothing wrong with a nice tight experience. And plenty people played it multiple times. There a multiple ways to accomplish the same task in Sekiro. But you are right, there arent 15 different versions of a longsword with the same move sets like other from games.

[@alturius4]

I'd like to summarize Elden Ring in 2 words: To much To much landmass, to much repeated content/bosses and to much combo bullshit

[@coalblack666]

I admit when I checked this out I was fully prepared to write off your opinions and click away, but you articulated your perspective so clearly, and maintained such an even-handed position throughout that I ended up watching the whole thing, and agree with you quite a bit. I may have found more enjoyment out of the endgame than you, but you’ve opened my eyes to valid criticism that previously I would have chalked up to subjective bias. Well done, great video! I look forward to what else you have.

[@connormccarthy2745]

Good video so far man! Just wanted to mention, the envoys and Loretta being at the Haligtree are incredibly significant when it comes to the lore. They both feel like blatant reuse at first, but the lack of enemies you've never seen before in the Haligtree is kind of the point. It's a refuge for the misbegotten, and the envoys are there because they're mysterious being who seem to show up whenever a new lordship or theological event is imminent (or something to that effect), and the Haligtree absolutely would've been an epicenter of that activity as it was in its prime. Loretta's lore I can't remember as well, so I'm not going to quote it here (my bad), but she's definitely well justified as well.

[@VGMatthew]

Hmm interesting, yeah I'm not that caught up on the lore haha. With how much care they put into the world, there probably is a lore explanation for everything which is good, but it still kinda bugs me. I dunno if adding to the story is worth sacrificing the gameplay experience, but at least there is still some thought put into it. (and thank you for watching!)

[@connormccarthy2745]

@@VGMatthew oh, for sure. It's still a valid criticism for sure, it needs to work mechanically as well. Even just some slight variance in look or moves would've gone a long way

[@reeltwig2929]

Lore as a justification to recycle enemies 😴

[@diegov1206]

Lore is another thing this game does very poorly. It's not just obscure, but it has just flagrant plot holes all over the place -Loretta, in theory, is an albinauric (???) and led the Albinaurics (which there is none) to the Haligtree as a safe heaven from them... ummm what?

[@connormccarthy2745]

@@diegov1206 that's kind of the point bud, these games have always had holes and contradictions. I genuinely don't know what the fuck you're talking about

[@kamenh404]

Hopefully you get the views you deserve for this video well thought out points and kept it interesting the whole time. Keep up the great content

[@VGMatthew]

Even if just a few people got something out of it, that's good enough for me haha. Appreciate the kind words :)

[@Yogroxx93]

Reading the comments made me realise that people here enjoyed Elden Ring so much that they have chosen to forget what the previous games did right and instead justify Elden Ring's bullshit with the classical "It's always been that way actually".

[@Annoying_Killah]

You summed up perfectly how I feel about the game! Not to mention how amazing this video is itself. You deverse so much more subscribers my man.

[@ShadowProject01]

You have some very reasonable criticisms and it’s refreshing to see. Great vid!👍🏿 On Summonings: maybe they should let you summon for a set time like how Rennala does. They are summoned..do a few damaging moves then fade away. You can summon a few times during battles but they don’t stay out the entire fight.

[@kloakovalimonada]

I finished the game and I really fail to see many if indeed ANY of the looping, shortcut-y level design that made Soulsborne games what they are. I can recall just one consequential shortcut in Leyndell. Other than that, the ubiquitous sites of grace and also the stakes of Marika simply remove the need for these, which is a shame. Also there indeed is a lot of dead space - that's what you get when you have a horse as a primary means of movement. Repetition is completely self-inflicted. Nobody forced FS to have 50 dungeons and areas this huge.

[@VGMatthew]

Off the top of my head, the rooftop parts of Stormveil can bring you all the way back to the entrance to where you can open the main gate yourself. Farum Azula has quite a few alternative routes and maze-like sections that funnel you through the level in different ways. Things like that, I found it pretty consistently impressive. Stakes of Marika affecting level design is interesting to think about - I generally like them eliminating boss runbacks, though it probably does diminish the value of having things like shortcuts.

[@MrBobonmynuts]

There are still some good shortcuts but it's nothing like dk1, most of them involve some parkour like the godskin duo skip may not be intended but it works, and honestly the stakes of Marika were a nice add to me, after suffering running back to the bed of Chaos on dk1 which wasn't hard just a long boring run and after I get through the challenge of reaching or finding the boss I don't find much fun in having to waste time speedruning back over and over especially on a tougher boss just feels like salt to a wound

[@53176]

I quit the game about 85% of the way in. I loved the game, but the ending areas don't press my buttons.

[@BevanWard]

My issue is that elden ring can be easy with all the summons and special things you mentioned here, however for those that love a 1v1 mono a mono fight to the death, there are very few great fights. some that I liked was Margit, Godrick, Radahn & Hoarah Loux. Radagon would also be fun if it was just him and he had twice the health instead

[@aleksahrnjak4311]

Unbalanced enemies and bullshit difficulty spikes is what had made me rage more than anything. I don't care for recycled bosses and empty regions, it was a moment of calm after the storm for me. UNBALANCED ENEMIES is what blew me over the top. This time around you can't just git gud and learn. It feels like playing the lottery more than half of the time. I'm not going to play again, unless I find a way to cheat my way around on some inhumane level. Compared to the Dark Souls this shit was stressful...

[@topshelfbullys7889]

Everything you said is funny because I thought the game was easy. It’s literally the easiest Souls game they’ve ever made & I’ve Platinum every game!

[@yoda8569]

Unbalanced bro u dumb really dumb The player it self is unbalanced the enemies are made to be actual enemies if u don't know how to play don't play it go play ur hold hand games

[@jme1mm]

@@topshelfbullys7889 Did your build happen to be an arcane bleed build?

[@topshelfbullys7889]

@@jme1mm Nope. I’m strength build in every game!

[@blimp..]

​ @Topshelf Bully’s I don' t think it's easy but its not for the wrong reasons. I don't have the patience for stuff like random red clouds of scarlet rot appearing from nowhere to kill you in 4 seconds. It isn't intuitive. It does not feel very much like combat at all but very much like an MMORPG. Very "computer-ish" on and off switch. It's sad because the melee combat feels visceral and very good. There is way too much caster bullshit and anime movesets in the game though.

[@Dimumouto]

There's a couple points you didn't bring up that I've heard others talk about; the unavoidable/nigh unreadable damage some bosses do. Take Mohg, Lord of Blood for example. His Latin chanting thing that damages you 3 times and heals him is *unavoidable*. Yes, there's a physick crystal you can find to heavily negate the damage, but one, you have to FIND it in Altus Plateau in a church from an invading NPC. If you never even get near that church, you won't get the invader and won't get the crystal. Hell, the invader is also connected to a quest, so its likely the invader wouldn't spawn WITHOUT the quest steps being done until a recent patch, since I maxed my flask in my first run (therefor getting the Sacred Tear there) and never got invaded. Two, even if the crystal heavily lowers the damage you take, it is STILL *unavoidable damage* that STILL heals Mohg. Yes, you can DPS him down before that happens, but then you don't need the crystal to begin with, and to even get that much damage out would require specific setups or outrageous stats. Two nigh unreadable attacks are Godricks whirlwind startup and the Godskin Nobles frontal belly explosion. If you're in neutral with Godrick, the whirlwind startup comes out in roughly 20 frames. At 60 FPS, that's a third of a second. And with how lackluster the optimization of the game was on launch on all platforms, that number could be lower, giving you *less* time to react. Unless you roll away on seeing any part of his axe move, you're likely to take damage from the whirlwind startup. Godskin Nobles frontal belly explosion is even faster. Joseph Anderson (another KZbinr who put out an ER review, watch it too) shows footage of him rolling through the startup of the explosion, only for the hitbox to still be lingering after the roll was finished and he STILL took damage. A nigh unreadable attack that can still hit you unless you specifically dodge away? And I'm unsure if you CAN dodge backwards away and avoid the damage. THEN there's the fact that not all bosses play by the rules set by the game. Margit/Morgott have infinite stamina, multiple bosses read your inputs, Malenia straight up cheats (Swagapagos Turtle has 2 videos showcasing she can actually *block* in the middle *of her own attacks*, can get out of light hitstun before you can recover, and some attacks have hyperarmor on frame 1, meaning she can go into her kick attack out of a light stun before you can react or if she's in heavy hitstun, can go into Waterfowl before you can do anything), and half the bosses can jump across the entire arena to engage or disengage while you gotta run away or towards them. That's not even getting into the waste of gameplay that is Elden Beast. ER is a great game. But it's not perfect, like many people try to claim it is. And the only reason people are criticizing it much more than previous titles is BECAUSE they enjoy it. I just think FROM stretched themselves too thin. If they scaled the world down a bit and innovated on the combat system instead of it straight up being Dark Souls 3, Chapter 2, it probably would have had a longer honeymoon phase.

[@VGMatthew]

Yeah. straight-up unavoidable damage is something I thought about mentioning, but I think other critics (namely Joseph Anderson) have done a good job highlighting why it's so frustrating so I left it out. I really don't like it either though. I could accept it on Mohg as a neat gimmick if a) the rest of the fight was actually fun and b) if there were more non-gimmicky, enjoyable boss fights that don't rely on the same bloated tactics over and over. There's several bosses like this that could be considered gimmicky (Mohg, Rykard, Rennala, Niall, _maybe_ even Radahn, though he's not so bad anymore) which makes the "interesting boss" count even lower than it already is. Godskin Noble sucks. Elden Stars sucks. Godrick's whirlwind sucks too, but it sucks a little bit less, at least? I dunno. I feel a lot with what you said. Haven't seen that Malenia cheating video but will check it out.

[@romilrh]

It's honestly kinda hilarious how similar this video is to Joseph Anderson's Elden Ring critique. Everything, from the issues you bring up, to the way you wrote the script, to the way you talk, to the way you present your arguments, to even the video's TITLE is uncanny

[@BruceWayne-fj9bm]

Great minds think alike.

[@somberlain87]

Seeing this video now after seein Joseph's on release and rewatching it recently, yeah, this is a carbon copy in parts right down to the delivery. Released one month apart, really makes you wonder... I actually just heard a part that made me look if somebody had brought it up.

[@user-nt8dy4xw9r]

Your analysis is so on point. Glad to find such a quality channel :)

[@Crybotenabled]

Thank you for making this. I've just recently beat the game on my 1st playthrough at 225 hrs in and I couldn't figure out why when I started the game I fell in love with it every 5 min but by the time I was finished I absolutely loathed the game. After giving it some thought I think you nailed a lot of nails on the head. I found the last 3rd of the game just absolutely obnoxious. A ton of recycled content but the enemies are just way harder. By harder I mean the take a ton more damage and dish out a ton of damage. That just comes off as cheap and lazy, especially when the rest of the game is so refreshing and original. They also resorted to a lot of their old trolling tactics which gets old after 200+ hours. I think ultimately the recycled content and the obnoxious difficulty/trolling just killed it for me. That doesn't mean I don't love the first 2/3rd of the game.

[@9outof10]

Interesting. I'm enjoying ER and I'm probably getting on for 2/3 complete...but I've always had a nagging doubt over whether I would finish it. Lots of videos suggesting the endgame emphasises all the bits I don't like so much.

[@C-G585]

I think this is well said. Im at 400 hours and once you plat the the game and find almost everything its crazy how short the game becomes. I think the amount they recycled within the game was a bit much also. Im hoping they are collecting data and listening to the community in hopes in the future it becomes an even more polished game with decent changes and an epic dlc. thinking about how baren mountain tops are i think it could have been a good spot to start the game. enough exploration but not enough to stay and once you got out the rest of the game would seem even more thrilling in that order.

[@JrKengu]

@@9outof10 not going to lie, with all the negative things i heard about the dissapointing end game/ending, im actually kind of relieved i stopped after beating the first main boss (godrick). While I think the game itself is beautiful and all, I got extremely bored, extremely fast, of the mostly empty open world (yes i know this is an issue with this genre in general) and even in the first section of the game you can see just how much copy pasted shit there is (dungeons, enemies). I dont know what it is, for all the great soundtrack, and some of the most memorable bosses, this game also just has so many things that are completely boring and forgetabble, this is a feeling i never had with any of the past souls games. Sure, none of the other souls games are perfect either, but they all managed to stay unique in ways throughout the playthrough, and i never felt like i didnt want to finish the games (except DS2).

[@9outof10]

@@JrKengu interesting. I do like open world games, and the emptiness doesn't bother me, because emptiness can be quite powerful if you use it properly. What I don't like about the ER world is...it never feels like a real world. Red Dead 2 or Witcher 3 or even GTA5 feel like real places that I'm visiting to play in. ER just feels like a big arena of things trying to kill me. I know that's a choice and they're different types of game but for me personally it's not as good.

[@macrussell78]

After beating the game a 2nd time I 100% agree that later in the game it turns into a chore to play with a really shitty pay off at the end. Almost as if the game is spiteful towards the player.

[@knutbart4475]

I think this video represents to some extent how a critique should be done, and other people who makes critiques should watch this. Using examples and actually argue for an opinion comes a long way, but this video also has some thorough analysis. Good job, and an awesome video! Please make more, and consider the rest of the soulsborne games.

[@gudthe2310]

The snowy area has a dungeon where you fight the Godskin bosses sequentially, so they occur even more often than you already showed! The area might be stretched and barren, but that makes sense given the remoteness. Covering distances with torrent in sometimes poor visibility to stumble on a huge (demi-)boss wasn't bad. The banished knights are indeed OP, but that a boss with commander in its name uses summons gives it identity.

[@JimMilton-ej6zi]

The easiest way to adjust the open world to difficulty is to either cut sections out until you're able to reach a certain threshold, then design the enemies from that threshold up, or make the world get stronger depending on what you do in it. In elden ring it felt like they wanted to do the first option but failed really badly at it, it was like the world was designed in a grid, and each developer got to design their grid based on loosely defined terms, but it was like they never communicated with each other on how to naturally scale those grids to best match the players level. This grid way is fine in linear games because you can guess "ok this player will be level 15 using this weapon at x level, so we can design our enemies to deal that much more damage" but in an open world game that sucks.

[@storminmormn6283]

The end game truly makes you want to end playing. The game was so good before the snowy mountain. Coop gameplay would have fixed the issue a bit, but the bosses and enemies do FAR to much damage.

[@thedudeofnothing7378]

i swear. The second I hit the Godskin Duo, I just wanted to be done with the game

[@johnny-mt7ws]

@@thedudeofnothing7378 same bought the game on launch day, played for over 100hrs but when i got to haligtree and farum azula i just didn't have it in me anymore. haven't played since late march

[@macrussell78]

@@thedudeofnothing7378 the gargoyles and Melania made me want to uninstall.

[@giggle1179]

Just wanna say I really enjoyed this video, even if I ultimately disagree with a few points regarding some of the negative stuff in this game. I'm surprised you don't have more subscribers with this kind of quality of writing, so I'm definitely subbing and watching your other videos as well. Great video, hope more people see it!

[@VGMatthew]

Thank you! Honestly, my other stuff probably isn't up to the same standard as this video since I barely knew what I was doing for those, haha. But I appreciate the support all the same.

[@michaelmcqueeferton6911]

I mirror this sentiment.

[@davestationuk7374]

Using spirit ashes should have had a start tutorial area , i never even used them until 3/4 of the game through because they were always greyed out when i tried to use them

[@NeonGrillz]

Astel also appears in some dungeons and underground areas, you can fight him (or a version) about 4 times before doing the Astel fight.

[@tob564]

I have only encountered two Astels (Ranni's questline and the mine in the snowfields), where are the other ones? The one in the mines retroactively kinda ruined the first encounter for me. There's just something special in unique bosses. Maybe it's just a me-problem, but that's how I feel nonetheless. Other From's games do not have the problem of over 90% of bosses being recycled.

[@clintwaki6936]

@@tob564 There's an astel in the leyndell ant dungeon, he throws rocks at you from above.

[@tob564]

@@clintwaki6936 Oh yes, I think there's at least two of those. I always thought they looked smaller and different than the bosses but I might be wrong, though. Also I'm not too well versed in the lore of ER so I don't know how said creatures work anyway.

[@gg2fan]

The difference in quality between Limgrave and Mountaintops is just astounding. I absolutely adore Limgrave. It's perfection incarnate. It's the perfect size, packing IMMENSE variety in a small zone, perfect bosses (Ok, I have serious issues with Margit but he's still fun), absolutely wonderful atmosphere, and Stormveil is absolutely fucking unreal. I can barely think of a single thing I actually like about the Mountaintops. Consecrated Snowfield is really pretty. That's it.

[@vangoghsseveredear]

Agreed. The game up until Stormveil Castle I was wowed. Godrick made me SO excited for what I was about to play. I got more and more disappointed following that. The capital was a "wow!" moment, and then back to being disappointing. I haven't done a second playthrough yet- largely because having to grind back out through the open world is way more daunting than working my way through the crafted worlds of theSouls games. Maybe it gets better on subsequent playthroughs, but I doubt it. FS really struggles with their end games. I hope the next game isn't open world.

[@Multifidi20]

I'm on NG+3 and found a lot of what you're saying to be so true. By NG+3 I felt I should be OP but I'm not. I still get my ass kicked and just becomes not fun anymore. I feel if I've beaten a game multiple times I should have the chance to be OP, but the way leveling up works in this game prevents that from happening. Grinding for 3 million runes to get 1 level...fuck that.

[@Musti101]

Not for me

[@WALTAH2000]

in fromsoft games ng+ has always been harder than NG

[@lewis18051]

This is my first Soulslike game and I’m actively trying to make it last as long as possible, which is why I’m 200 hours in and I’ve only got 3 great runes, done most of the first 3 early areas and just started Altus Plateau

[@midgetydeath]

Enemy input reading, ruined poise system, enemies too far apart so you have to ride around to get to them and quickly becomes tedious and boring, Bloodborne-like enemies and bosses while you’re limited to mostly Dark Souls mobility (Bloodborne Dash mod helps, and is super awesome in Dark Souls 3), and some other things. It all kinda comes together to be annoying.

[@yanderenejoyer]

I missed Margit's seccond fight, and rushed through the icy mountains because I found th fire giant really fast. Then, I did Ranni's quest, and you don't need to visit Haligtree or Volcano Mannor to finish that. Sooooooo... yeah. I'm replaying at least once. But that was surprisingly a great progression. Avoided most of the bad

[@mikerzisu9508]

Pretty sure morgott is mandatory boss....

[@yanderenejoyer]

@@mikerzisu9508 Margitt. Not Morgott. I'm talking about the one that spawns outside the capital.

[@jdrakefrederick]

Same, but I still felt like the end game areas are overtuned. After the capital it's just... not fun.

[@mikerzisu9508]

@@jdrakefrederick overturned?

[@jdrakefrederick]

@@mikerzisu9508 sorry, overtuned. Typo on my part.

[@SGalaxyify]

I disagree with a few points about reused content and the “third morgott” fight but this video was crazy good and makes plenty of extremely good and valid points

[@scallahan1294]

Also the fact that misbegotten is there is meant to show it’s a late game area where bosses are just mobs, like the banished knights, but I do wish they tied it to the world more like how the beastmen make sense being in azula

[@ashleigh2600]

You brought it up but to anyone reading after the assassins in the snowfield torch area can be made visible by using a torch you can purchase from a travelling merchant who sits in altus just north west of the entrance to leyndall (on top of a hill beside a shack I think?) there is also a note sold by a merchant which tells you you can see these invisible enemies with a specific flame. This torch also works for any other black knife assassins in the game but those ones in snowfield are the only ones i found required it to make life easier. (Item name is Sentry's Torch)

[@RyanDMcDonnell]

Fantastic video. The first time I went through the game I played with summons since I figured the game would be balanced around that. Summons broke a good deal of the boss fights for me. With Mimic Tear (after both nerfs) I beat Malenia in two tries, which felt like a hollow victory. I'm going through the game a second time as a spellsword with no summons and it feels more rewarding, since I have both close and long range options to solve some of the issues with the boss fights (i.e. short opening windows). But some of them still suffer quite a bit. There's too many bosses that do a ten hit combo, jump a football field away, and for a pure melee build you'll have to run that distance, be out of stamina, just to get one-shot up close. It's frustrating because I feel like nearly all of these bosses are really close to being incredible that just need tweaks to make them work. This game feels more balanced around magic than summons to me. I'm glad they introduced summons since they do feel like a great difficulty slider for people. And for my first playthrough it was nice to roll through the game without hitting too many walls so I could take it all in. I haven't gotten back to Malenia with my spellsword build so hopefully that doesn't make me want to die when I get there haha.

[@VGMatthew]

"It's frustrating because I feel like nearly all of these bosses are really close to being incredible that just need tweaks to make them work" - agreed, this is a big part of why they were so disappointing. Many of them _can_ be fixed without having to rework the entire fight, a lot of it just comes down to adjusting attack timings or toning down damage a bit or whatever. Still hoping to see that happen.

[@kennyhouser3467]

I found that my 1st play through naturally gravitating into a "Drake Knight" build did most of that initially. I knew before mid game that summons were going to trivialize the bosses so I chose to stop using them and I had both bleed melee and dragon breath options for the tweakiness of some of the bosses. When they hopped away, it was their doom 9/10. A full fp bar of dragon breath and they were either dead or nearly dead. I didn't really have the complaints others did with bosses and found most of them rather easy. I do share the complaints of over leveled and reused trash mobs and later dungeons being unnecessarily overtuned though. By the last few zones I was loathing the trudging through with ridiculously strong trash to get to where I needed to go. Which I ended up discovering was the weakness of the build. It was a certified boss melter but heavily dependent on fp and using breaths to kill Haligtree foot soldiers was both wasteful and excessive which made me lean into bleed more, which I found cheesy and unfulfilling. Especially when my Ele's Poleblade(chosen to cheese less i.e. RoB) started lacking in firepower. I, like you, have chosen a magic/melee form of a Carian Knight roleplay as my 2nd playthrough and find it more fulfilling to be honest. Although I haven't hit the Haligtree, Azula, and Snowfield yet either, so that may all change soon.

[@RyanDMcDonnell]

@@kennyhouser3467 I just finished Farum Azula and Moghwyn Palace with my spellsword and it's still going great. The Moonlight Greatsword has been a fun weapon to use after Ranni's quest. That with the Jellyfish shield is a fun mix. It helps to avoid too much FP usage, too, since you just need to "charge up" the sword and then you can use it as a mix up for some long-range with the sword and still handle if enemies close in. That and frost spells have been fun. Helps balance out the general slowness of the character, since it's a bit of a fragile build, too, so either I melt the boss or it melts me haha

[@kennyhouser3467]

@@RyanDMcDonnell In the couple of runs through the game I have found most builds are either exceptional at killing bosses but mediocre at clearing trash or exceptional at clearing trash and mediocre at killing bosses. I'm sure a build/s exists that can do both but I haven't found it. I try really hard to not lean on the cheesy stuff everyone knows about though. I guess it's my own way of artificially pumping up the difficulty. I'm actually surprised more people don't use dex/fth lightning. Coupled with Bolt of Granssax is one of the strongest builds I've played on the PvE side. I may have to give your build a try just for variety sake. Sounds pretty interesting.

[@RyanDMcDonnell]

@@VGMatthew After seeing LupineOs' response to Joseph Anderson I actually went back and tried to do every boss melee only with no shield and a big, slow weapon (the great club). While there's still a lot of issues with the bosses, I was able to do a full playthrough, skip very minimal content so I wasn't just running from boss to boss, and take down every major boss in the game. It took me about 40 hours. It really made me change my mind about a lot of the bosses, for what it's worth. I found a lot of ways to fit attacks in the middle of boss' attack strings and learn to dodge moves that felt impossible before. I uploaded all of the footage if you're curious. I still get hit a lot since I'm not a pro gamer, but it was actually the most fun I had with Elden Ring.

[@silverwings9276]

Waterflow dance needs to either go or be changed significantly: It's very bad when your boss can instantly wreck the player with one move, it just feels unfair in the end. I found the best way to deal with it, independently of the build, it's to just throw the frozen pot when she's charging: you need to be ready but can get used to it. But then, on her 2nd form, it's even harder to distinguish what she's charging, and I'm not sure the pot even works anymore, It's just pure tedium, the boss itself is not even that strong it just has a massive OP attack, feels like an actual oversight more than a deliberate design choice, baffling.

[@loganberkheimer1857]

A guy named Amir. On YT has a really cool video showing off what the move used to look like and I really wish they kept the original, I'd highly recommend checking it out. "Waterfowl Danc used to look a bit different"

[@jackpowrie3]

Throwing an ice pot at her on the startup of the move knocks her out of it completely.

[@loganberkheimer1857]

@XCITERO The first 2 times, yeah. Then she builds up too much resistance

[@silverwings9276]

@@jackpowrie3 Not after transformation

[@jackpowrie3]

@@loganberkheimer1857 The move is avoidable, just needs a lot of practice.

[@aether3885]

Surprised that you didn't mention Godefroy or the Ulcerated Tree Spirits... Those are up there with Astel Stars of Darkness as the worst examples of boss re-use in the game. Godefroy is to Godrick as Astel 2 is to Astel 1; it cheapens the original encounter retroactively by copy pasting it for no apparent reason with barely anything more than a change of name, randomly available to stumble into in the open world later on (at least Astel 2 has a unique attack). And the tree spirits are a prime example of how an originally cool boss encounter gets made into a slog by excessive re-use in bad context. Some of the arenas you have to fight tree spirits in seem like they're designed as just a "fuck you" to the player, like the ones that ambush you in the lake of rot and the haligtree

[@quatro_quatro]

Took me two days to watch this but it was well worth it! Being new to the whole franchise, the reusing of bosses wasn't all that bad. It doesn't really make sense in terms of story and sometimes looks funky, like the dogs at the Mountaintop of the Giants, but it allowed me to learn the mechanics of the (mini-)bosses and apply what I've learned later on. Other than that, one of my main issues with this game is the range of enemies vs. your range. I find it very very hard to figure out which attacks can hit me at what distance. And it's sometimes even harder for me to figure out how much reach my attacks have. It seems that playing it safe and from a distance, via sorcery, seems to be the preferred way to beat this game. Enemy attacks seem to vary in distance, depending on where you are placed at the time of the attack. Your attacks however, have a fixed range to them. That makes it seem unfair sometimes. The Foreskin Duos are a great example here. Some attacks need way too much time to load up, especially in boss fight's where you basically can't take a moment from panic rolling. That makes perfecting your build obsolete when you base everything around a certain power attack but can't use because of the time it takes to load up and the relentless attack combos of your enemy. I did put in close to 200hrs now though, which is very very much for me, so the game can't be that bad.

[@skelettman]

Agree with pretty much everything. The reason I replayed Dark Souls 3 so much was because of the amazing boss fights. They felt fair and satisfying to master, you got the "dance" feeling when fighting them. This is barely present in Elden Ring. It really hit me how much I disliked the bosses when I went back and finished the DLC on my SL1 character in DS3 AND I ENJOYED IT. I really hope the DLC bosses are better. I have no interest in playing past the capital since I don't look forward to any boss after Morgott. Fire Giant: Feels like hitting a brick wall that is constantly moving. Maliketh: Jumps around too much, lowers your max HP and drains your HP over time. Godfrey: AOE spam in phase 1, constant attacks in phase 2. Radagon: Fast as fuck, shoots lightning so fast that it's almost unreactable, even more AOE spam. Elden Beast: 50% running, 40% trying to see what the fuck is happening, 10% fighting. Mohg: Throws shit everywhere. Malenia: Waterfowl. Some of these bosses have really easy fixes. Make Maliketh stay on the ground a bit more. Make Godfrey spam less AOE attacks. Make it so you can summon Torrent for Elden Beast. Make it so Mohg only throws shit from certain attacks instead of all of them. Just remove waterfowl to fix Malenia. Makes me really worried about the future of the series.

[@moombz]

Wow man git gud, I laugh every time I see some ‘souls vet’ whine about difficulty 🤣 Fire giant: almost all attacks are roll dodged (can torrent to avoid rollie pollie), hit leg, p2 kite fireballs to a tree, hit back. Maliketh: for real there’s giant polls all over the room you can LOS and avoid most attacks Godfrey: I can’t even offer a strat here because this shit was soo easy, don’t get near him p2 when he does those daggers from the sky I guess Raddagon: time your rolls through the ground smash, never roll backwards but always to one of her sides or you will get hit. Elden beast: never take you eyes off here when it’s ground level. Jump the rings, run in circles for the sky machine gun, kite the orb and doge through it, roll the gold waves (4). Win.

[@Greathero332]

@@moombz ok but none of the stuff you said here has anything to do with the issues originally adressed

[@Neirean]

@@moombz You legit didn't address any of the comment. Over 90% of their criticisms weren't regarding dealing with moves at all, but how annoying boss movement (Elden Beast esp), boss evasion, boss input reading, boss HP maximums, boss overusage of a particular mind-numbing gameplay element like AoE, are as mechanics. Compared to all of From's other games, the 'SPAM' (the crucial element of their comment that you completely failed to read) of such moves is the entire issue, because playing the fight with the strategies you yourself outlined might be the correct way of dealing with these issues, which all of us likely too learned in fighting them without summons - or at least I did in my 4 full playthroughs - is BORING GAMEPLAY. It's just facts. Git gud at reading before speaking, fool.

[@macrussell78]

@@moombz You literally encompass everything wrong with the souls community reacting to any form of criticism no matter how valid or blatant with "lul git gud."

[@Jose_Ruiz932]

@@moombz *someone dislikes the boss because it’s just an HP tank that you have to chase down* This guy: “you can roll through his attacks!”

[@MattSpoon07]

Yep, of all the critiques I've watched so far, I agree with yours the most. The end game needs to be balanced for fun, not for frustration.

[@troiaofficial2818]

Not saying you're wrong, but sadly that defeats the purpose for from. The game has pretty much become the "hard game" people have in their minds when they think of what dark souls must be like; it's based around either complete mastery or excellent planning and performance. With a game like monster hunter this used to work great, because it was based around ganking and coop. Now the solo player just CANNOT play normally, you must play like a damn exploit genie

[@buckyhurdle4776]

@@troiaofficial2818 This is just plainly not true

[@jaikthesnake6285]

I am one of the few who actually found out to use the sentry torch before getting to the invisible guys. I think one of the shopkeeps sells you a note that says to do it but I can't remember which merchant sells it

[@conniptions1533]

As much as people like to rag on Ubisoft, they weren’t always like that. Far cry had the obscured map thing way before Elden ring so I don’t get why people make out Elden ring pioneered open world mechanics lmao

[@Burning_Marshmallow]

With Malenias ability to heal herself every time she hits someone, I found myself thinking that summons were actively making her more difficult for me as she could just use waterfaul dance (forgot gow to spell it) and just gain like 5 thousand health effertlessly. So I just used the spells that could hit her from far away and she wouldn't dodge from. This allowed to beat her in like 20 attempts.

[@VGMatthew]

I found that they did make it harder, unless you had enough damage to burst her down that it didn't matter. Rivers of Blood was pretty good for that.

[@ahmedwassime9697]

Nah man use the knight who throws the purple arrow he wil make her fall to the ground every time he hit her and ur job is just keep attacking her and make her easy to hit for ur smmon

[@ahmedwassime9697]

I summoned him first try and before i kill her i decided to die to not ruin the experience after a lot of tryes 1 v 1 i just summoned him again and decided that this fight is not fair not worth it

[@5oda775]

Ah man, you summed up exactly what it is about the bosses that I didn't like. They really overdid a lot of the combos and short recovery times that a large number of bosses have. Playing through with a strength build on my first run (and trying not to use summons) was a chore sometimes because of this. It turned a lot of bosses into "wait for the one opportunity you have to do a jump attack without getting punished". Additionally, I thought in previous games they did a better of job of differentiating higher damage attacks by giving them more of a windup or tell, and now a lot of the bosses whip out a move with little warning that takes off a big chunk of your health. That's not the game being difficult in a fun way.

[@equious8413]

It's a game where the optimal way to play is to run past the vast majority of enemies you encounter... That's what I hate.

[@blueboi12jj]

"You'll sneak in one hit after having to avoid six and still risk taking damage or missing your attack if the boss reacts to quickly". I Thought it was just me not being good at the game but I felt this overwhelming loom of hopelessness even after defeating some of the bosses because I barely getting by. Makes me think of how the hell will I beat this game with the current intelligence/faith build I have, knowing all my attacks take time to cast and knowing if i want big damage ill need to charge them. It seriously makes me want to start over and just run a melee build on my first run and then NG+ this current build. The game is soo good, the vast landscapes and environments still leave me in awe, sometimes just taking a break to look at the horizon, but the slowly thinking about all the areas that i go to that have bosses I cant get past to progress or get better spells. I do feel a bit better knowing that even a skilled vet of the From Software games has the same take as I do, and not feeling bad about it just being some personal skill issue. Because Ive gotten far, skipped a few story bosses and leveled up significantly more than I probably should have given that Ive yet to beat Radahn. I appreciate this candid take at the game knowing you're speaking from an admiration for the game. It gets old hearing people say just "get gud" or "play the certain build" when I should have the choice in how I play

[@DarkCheex]

I remember being just absolutely blown away in the first 50-60 hours like you said but the game really does fall off at the later stages. I was super disappointed when i made it to the mountaintop of giants. You just don’t expect it to be as stale as it is after going through the beginning of the game. Same with Mt. Gelmir. They feel like just plain old dark souls areas, when other areas feel like something that doesn’t even compare.

[@brodawgHD2020]

I liked the second non-boss Margit fight, because it subtly tells you that you didn't kill him before, he surprises you out of nowhere, the terrain is different and you're also most likely way stronger than when you first fought him. It was satisfying for me after struggling with him a bit so see him in the open world and just wreck him on sight. Obviously there are lore implications too since we meet the real one soon after.

[@gusonian8637]

Wonderful video, you’re extremely underrated! Excited to see where you go next, Bloodborne critique perhaps? 👀

[@TechReflex]

Totally didn't think that is watch this 1 hour video completely, excellently made! 👍🏻

[@blackrat1228]

The only counter I will place towards the margit fights is that the second one in the outskirts reveals that the margit we fought in stormveil was just a possessed commoner or shade or whatever. First play through a player likely won't notice that margit pops up on the pedestal in a golden flourish. In the outskirts you visibly see the commoner first who then turns into margit in the same golden flourish, informing the player you never actually defeated the fell omen. When you finally face margott he struts down the stairs with no flourish, letting you know this is actually him.

[@Neirean]

Yet if his were true, a commoner would fall out of the gold mist when we slay the first Margit, as it does when slaying the outskirts copy. Seems that we fight a light-formed spectre, as opposed to a possssed citizen

[@Corrupted]

Elden Ring is the most disappointing 9/10 game I've played, it's amazing but I just "can't" love it the same way I love their other titles

[@patrickwren7303]

I got lucky with the Morgott twist as I completely missed him when he's a "normal enemy" outside of the capital. With that, I genuinely was so excited for a rematch with him given the context but was very surprised to see him before that point as some phantom.

[@hooliganjohnny3510]

Dude, I really enjoy your videos. I wanted to tell you, I'm not sure if it's just me but, there are so many ads on your videos. I don't think it's your fault or anything but it is super frustrating. Like every 3 or 4 minutes at most. It's so odd. Anyways I'm subbed and I love your stuff. Just thought I'd tell you.