Elden Ring's DLC Is Very Good - my review after 40 hours

[@IronPineapple]

Alright, I’m gonna add some updated and spoiler thoughts that I omitted from this video in light of people catching up. Also, some of my own thoughts have evolved/changed as well as I’ve had more time to play and reflect. No, no one “changed my mind.” 1. “Favorite thing Fromsoft has made.” Hmm this one is tough, and as I acknowledged in the video, the honeymoon phase is a real thing. If I was to look at Elden Ring’s base game and DLC combined as a now singular product, it’s possible? Especially for a first playthrough at least. But it’s not an absolute, and my opinions/rankings of favorite Fromsoft games constantly shift. 2. Final boss. Yeah, it’s pretty extreme right now. I strongly suspect it will receive some sort of nerf. Now *I* enjoyed the challenge that came from this as it forced me to actually use all of my tools and reconsider my build, but I recognize most people don’t, and I was left with a feeling of “wow most people won’t be able to do this.” I didn’t touch on this in the video purely for spoiler reasons. 3. I played on NG, but I suspect NG+ and beyond might be unbalanced. I can’t confirm, it’s just a feeling. And if that’s the case, I hope it’s addressed. 4. Performance on PC. I thought it was mostly good for me? Aside from some occasional stuttering. The thing with performance is I often don’t touch on it unless it’s egregious for me because I can only speak for myself and not every possible rig out there. I have read about performance issues though and I think that’s a valid reason to be upset, I hope it’s addressed. 5. Overall difficulty on NG. I think it’s fine? It’s good? I legitimately think people are just ignoring the scadutree blessings too much. They boost your damage negation by a significant amount. Elden Ring is a game that wants you to engage with all of its systems. You can say you don’t find it fun, sure, but it is what it is, and myself and many others like it. 6. World design. I really do like it. However, I would’ve added the critique of wishing some areas were less barren. The abyssal woods comes to mind, among others (finger ruins, for example). Quite frankly, I hope Fromsoft moves away from open world after this game despite its success and despite my own personal enjoyment. That being said, I’d be interested in seeing them explore open worlds still if they can evolve it in a meaningful way. Elden Ring did something special, and I’m sure it could be iterated on. 7. Boss design. I’ve seen some people talk about how they don’t like the boss design and how many long combos bosses can have. That’s valid, but I will say there are more openings than you think to deal damage. However, this is another thing I’d be interested in seeing them evolve further. Sekiro really is kind of the perfect game despite being less ambitious than something like Elden Ring, and there’s a lot to evolve there still. 8. The Deflecting Hardtear. Oh my god, this thing really should just be a base game mechanic. It actually single handedly addressed my own issues with many bosses and colored my experience in a big way. I mention it in the video, but yeah, I would’ve stressed this further. 9. Enemy/boss re-use. I touch on this in the video, and you can see my thoughts in text at the end of that section, but yeah I’m still kinda mixed? It’s like, in a perfect world, I would’ve preferred a hair less of it, but also this DLC is so massive, and like I said, it’s mostly very thoughtful done still. 10. Subjectivity. Game reviews are game opinions reflecting someone’s subjective experience with a game. Already I’ve lost some of you. Oh well lmao. This subjectivity is exacerbated by the lens you play the game, namely the build you use and the tools you take advantage of. When discussing these games, we’re rarely gonna see eye to eye unless we actually had the same build. And even if we use the same build, our skill levels won’t be the same. That colors our experience even more. It’s just a mess to discuss and hard to arrive at one “truth” to the experience. You don’t find X fun? Cool, I did. Maybe our tastes differ, but maybe my build is more fun and our skill levels are wildly different. 11. Replayability. This is one of Elden Ring’s greatest weaknesses when compared to other Fromsoft titles. There’s a host of reasons for this, but yeah, it’s mostly a consequence of the world design. The DLC is no different. 12. I really wish discussions wouldn’t begin and end at combat and difficulty. There’s so much more to these games, and it just gets completely lost in the discourse to the point of leaving me jaded and no longer interested in engaging down the line. Anyway, as I said in the video, I hope you have fun with the DLC and connect with it like I did. That’s been my thing since day 1, especially when it comes to showcasing indies. I have a passion for these games that I really do like sharing. Take care, more videos soon.

[@Kroft07]

Nothing but love for your content pine. Appreciate your constructive feedback and take on things, haters gonna hate bro. Don't lose hope skeleton.

[@francjirachi]

for point 3, I am in NG+ and it seems mostly the same, people are way overreacting with the difficulty, as you say, scadutree blessings are your friend. Other than that I agree that the open world formula doesn't work 100% with soulslikes and will also hope they go back to normal levels on next title, and also agree completely on replayability, my biggest gripe with elden ring as a whole

[@MrYuzugakari]

I haven't finished the DLC yet but plan to play through a second time since I screwed up a quest line... But yeah, I could vibe with both the video and this particular comment. It's not a perfect DLC but I earnestly feel the level design, depth of the map, music, and new fights are better than previous DLCs in the Souls series. And if I expand beyond From Soft, at this price point, I'd argue we get a helluvalot more content than most game DLCs

[@MrM1crowave]

I always liked your videos. And yes! People will always be idiots when it comes to opinions they don't like. Don't worry to much about it and keep up the good work!

[@gurra981]

people really are a bunch of assholes and cry babys when it comes to fromsoft games

[@indeimaus]

14:25 that is just fucking peak fromsoft comedy

[@ThePaoReturn]

I bet he felt so betrayed by that

[@Tory-JJ]

technically the fall didnt kill him. The kil box during the fall did. :D

[@nachtfalke07]

I was laughing good at this as well.... Also hi :P

[@peacefulanimal4477]

Deserved

[@SlapdashPrime]

Hey maus kek

[@razbuten]

your friend who only uses the greatsword does sound based tho...

[@IronPineapple]

it's him...

[@RhekshiEhki]

😂

[@g-rated3514]

Sounds great to me

[@Atomy111]

Double ultra greatsword or bust

[@cypher7688]

olha o home aí

[@bukkxke]

6:54 *Rellana, Twin Moon Knight power stancing fire and frost swords* Welcome back, Pontiff Sulyvahn

[@Yoshiezzz]

Lmao at least we could parry him

[@rikisalim6438]

Prime rennala: shoot beam Rellana: shoot two full moon

[@Hamisback]

She has elements of pontiff, dancer, and Ibis from Armored core 6 in her moveset.

[@fredslipknot9]

Truly

[@jaripekka2812]

dude that fight is so weird, I hated the first phase, since it was just basic attacks, nothing interesting. But when the second phase hit, man was I amazed by it, such a cool second phase

[@ratmeat5854]

NEW ARMOR AND WEAPONS LOOKIN SOOOOO GOOD

[@anonisnoone6125]

I just hope the armour actually looks better than a lot of the bass game sets. Half of them look trash, especially the helmets which get ruined by some stupid ornament attached to it.

[@flackenstien]

That bear cloak is pure fashion.

[@Szef2]

fashion souls is back baby

[@doubleu5056]

96 poise on Armor of Solitude without Bull Goat!!

[@xPASANOVA]

I never wear a helmet in over 500 hrs ,only the Bandit bandana 😅

[@TrollingJar]

Insane verticality!? You know what that means? Gravity deaths. Lots of gravity deaths. 💀

[@filiplass7442]

Prod's shaking in his boots rn lmao

[@JOJO-kh9ck]

Yeah...Platforming was already one of the hardest bosses I have fought in the main game... Especially getting that wall shield lol..

[@isaacperry8266]

You can just wlak around and theres hundreds off blood pools near every cliff

[@darkdraco02]

Maybe there's a silver cat ring with no fall height limit ?

[@gamesyes9352]

Try jumping

[@bloodstix6]

I can already feel the amount of "Try Finger, But Hole" Messages on that statue

[@derbart1191]

DOG

[@JASON--VOORHEES]

It's as tasteless as it is soulless.

[@Kingkimpi83]

Aint that jacksepticeye's title on one of his elden ring playthrough

[@JayBigDadyCy]

Don't give up, skeleton

[@Raptorman0205]

Don't you dare!!!

[@augustbirkebo332]

the descent into Siofra was one of my favorite moments i've ever experienced in a video game, and hearing the DLC compared to that has me hyped, now, in a special, personal way

[@mattm7798]

Agreed, I was like "wait, there's an entire other world UNDER the main world?!?!?!?!?" Also it's great when you stumble upon it way before you're ready for it and are like whoa, ok, come back here in about 25 levels.

[@Pnic1193]

Descent into Siofra and discovering Blackreach in Skyrim are the two most jaw dropping moments in gaming for me. Nothing else has ever quite reached the level of effect of those two moments for me

[@justApigeon.]

Bro I thought my game bugged because of how long the elevator was. Magical.

[@mattm7798]

@@justApigeon. LOL I know what you mean.

[@vezolf4313]

Thata poor statement

[@Zebula77]

Fave thing Shadow of the Erdtree does with the map (that is different from the base game) is that it very often has you traversing from an open area to a somewhere that is underneath whatever you see when you open the map. I might not be explaining this very well, but it's like you find this huge cave, you check the map, and you're like underneath this huge are you've already visited, that itself, is underneath something you've yet to explore. It's kinda mind blowing.

[@DarkVoidRanker]

10:45 Miyazaki bringing back the feet

[@Sydney-rf2om]

lmao

[@wanderingmako]

Got me all excited Statues don't count

[@Thedarkbrazuk]

someone gotta show that to malenia, she's never known it

[@theobell2002]

*sniffa*

[@darthrap456]

Based

[@spacecowboy5486]

9:22 Oh... That's a rune bear... Oh no...

[@Meitti]

Use Sleep, problem solved. Unless the new bears have a different weakness.

[@nickoliekeyov746]

@Meitti The problem with sleep is that it takes a bit to proc and enemies still attack before they do their 'sleepy time' animation and then it only takes one hit before they start getting back up.

[@Meitti]

@@nickoliekeyov746 Yeah but the Rune Bears are specifically designed to be weak against Sleep, its the only elemental ailment they're weak against, probably because bears hibernate so logical conclusion is bears are "sleepy".

[@beepboop8446]

​@@MeittiI never even thought of that. 100+ hours in. And they somewhat hinted at this because a runebear is literally shown sleeping surrounded by Trina's lilys in mistwood ruins.

[@jammo7370]

And dont forget in the last dlc vid he did he mentioned that there are plenty of ulcerated tree spirits in the dlc too. No shortage of rage inducers here lol

[@martjnmao6808]

Finding whole new areas only to be rewarded with like a smithing stone is definitely the worst part about the DLC. It really reduces the fun of exploration to like the most primal sense of curiosity.

[@sonicfraisheya4028]

true, on the contrary tho, im using a hell of a lot weapons i didn't use before.

[@fernandofaria2872]

Nothing tops the reward you get for completing the Fort of Reprimand: a cookbook that lets you craft the most useless item in the game. LMAO.

[@anonisnoone6125]

Half the dlc is quite literally empty. I don't know wtf Miyazaki was cooking but this was not it. The dlc is great but there's so many glaring issues with loot, lore and now designs.

[@jiaxingwang3976]

6:55 holy that triple combo!😲

[@phunweng962]

Those boss look soooo fucking badass

[@jziah1302]

My opinion, that move shouldn't have been spoiled 😂

[@TheAMersOFFICIAL]

10:45 Miyazaki is a madman for this one

[@nuh-uhbro765]

He’s really outdone himself this time 😂

[@loli_fucker2561]

"Your dlc is not good if your caulk is not hard" - Hidetaka Miyazaki (probably)

[@mattymclaughlin5900]

Brother 😂

[@achmadtitofauzan3809]

4:35 pontiff sulyvahn cosplay here i come

[@Theholyhamsandwich]

HELL YEA

[@d2solo]

holy fucking shit that looks so cool, thanks for pointing it out

[@alt3r844]

7:45 you gotta appreciate the audacity to preform a hurricanrana off of a cliff, that was a true warrior right there

[@PilotGuava]

After having played the dlc for a while now, it really is impressive what they’ve done with such little space. The verticality of the shadow lands is so much more extreme than that of the lands between, which when done right like it is in shadow of the erdtree, makes it feel so much bigger than it actually is.

[@Auloss]

4:57 a literal mjolnnir

[@clarentknight]

ER gave us Mjolnir First than GOW

[@ishiggidiggi]

10:44 has me ROLLING LMAO of COURSE there's a giant woman statue with feet bound up like that. Miyazaki you aren't being subtle anymore.

[@LordOfChaos.x]

my only one goal in the dlc is to look under that skirt

[@angramainyu9220]

5:28 Chakrams are a confirmed weapon we can use. Awesome

[@Sir_Danks-A-Lot]

They look like reverse grip with the new throwable heavy, which is a really cool way of implementing a new feeling weapon using only existing tools (newly existing, since it's as of dlc, but still)

[@acetrigger1337]

I honestly took your advice to heart and did what i don't usually do: minimized the window and just listened to your commentary. You did a great job describing things in very vague but understandable ways where i didn't felt like i was missing on some visual context... props for the extra work on that! i am sure that i will be thankful for doing that once i take my first steps into the DLC. :D

[@kuzzinkru7804]

11:42 the will of the godskin duo lives on 💀

[@plumella]

Some of the areas were sooooo empty it’s frustrating

[@Cheeselord22x]

The only TRULY semi-empty areas are the finger ruins, everything else has a good amount of content, some less than others but not too little to complain about.

[@argentum909]

4:44 I KNEW IT! Ordovis, Siluria, now Devonia! Just waiting on Cambria now.

[@beastren]

incredible observation!!!!

[@somepersonontheinterne]

Personally, I’d prefer it to be ‘Cambrias’ so it isn’t just as simple as removing the ‘n’ from ‘Cambrian’

[@argentum909]

@somepersonontheinterne Devonian:Devonia Silurian:Siluria They literally did just that twice

[@somepersonontheinterne]

@@argentum909 oh I know, I just wanted to do something different like how ‘Ordovis’ is derived from ‘Ordovician’

[@_oracle]

Someone mind explaining? Sorry I didn't get the reference

[@evriesman5430]

11:58 DA FUCK, THEY ADDED A NEW DOG TYPE !!!!🤯🤯🤯 IT'S AN ELDER DOG !!!

[@Lemonadessss]

How bad would you say the spoilers are on this video?

[@theholyknight9490]

​@@LemonadessssHonestly its not to bad but i ended up looking away a soon as i saw a boss bar since i dont want any of the bosses spoiled at all

[@borinthe41st15]

ELDEN DOG!!!!!!!!!!

[@gigabit6226]

ELDEN DOG?!?!!

[@FrostRare]

*EDIT: comments below proof that the Souls community are not a bunch of elitist trolls like everyone criticized us as* First time I played Elden Ring, it rescued me from one of the darkest periods of my life. I couldn’t leave my room during the day due to family conflict, (dangerous individual in the house) so I slept during the day and woke up at night. I had barely any money. I worked remotely. But my room was basically a closet. I’m on 4 different psych meds, so my mental illness was exacerbated by this isolation and circadian disruption. My cat died. I had never played a souls game. I heard hype about elden ring and thought I’d try it out. I only play RTS games and have little experience in any other genre. Elden Ring allowed me to get lost in another reality. It was my life. Every waking moment. But the lessons Elden Ring taught me about adversity, persistence, appreciation for the little things in life, appreciation of beauty, appreciation for magic, and investment in an epic story, it all truly brought me back to life. I did end up in the hospital eventually, but Elden Ring nevertheless is most of what I remember from this time. It was a gaming experience that transcended fun and entertainment. Also, memories about eating a turtle neck and helping people defeat the fire giant hundreds of times are memories I’ll always treasure. Seeing messages of people pointing down into a ravine, saving me from death also gave me a sense of connection to others that I didn’t have (also finger but hole was the first message I saw which was an excellent welcome) Calling on someone to help me and then seeing them one shot a boss only to salute me and disappear, moments of joy I’ll never forget.

[@AdamWutke]

I hope the world within you is better now than it was. May the good in your life overwhelm all that isn't.

[@FrostRare]

@@AdamWutke I really appreciate that man. Things are much much better now. I live with my girlfriend and am stable. Life is full. I appreciate your words. As life fills up things unnecessary are shedding. I hope the same to you. Those words only come from someone who’s also lived it themselves. Take care.

[@joncassidy2280]

May your ailments be healed tarnished.

[@buffpeteydinky7748]

Amazing story honestly. Glad you were able to overcome the hardships and hopefully you’ll have many more great years ahead

[@ShoRadioTV]

Go easy on the dlc then haaha jkjk hope that dark times Over man

[@annarenfold438]

The perfumer and martial art weapons look extremely fun to use. This is how all DLC expansions on any game should look like

[@gdzjr4322]

14:26 Is this Dark Souls 1? We are so back😭

[@MilkmanYeti]

Final boss took double the deaths of the entire dlc prior. I'll never do that without bleed or summons again

[@_antonio_4915]

I am going to cherish every moment, boss, weapon, areas, and just everything this dlc has to offer

[@MythicMagus]

Yeah....I remember entering the Seofra River the first time. Easily one of my favorite memories of Elden Ring. It's such classic Fromsoft to take something mundane like an elevator and use it like that.

[@megamace2]

Good thing I got a new controller for the exploration. Stick drift made any and all navigation a challenge bigger than the Fire Giant's asscheeks

[@junglecack]

Thank God you answered the level question. My character is 169 and I've been googling for weeks if that's too high for the dlc. Well now I know, thanks Pineapple.

[@shredss]

I'm level 220 on NG+ 3 and I'm still worried going into the dlc lol

[@xPASANOVA]

I will stay lvl 150 for many hours because i like it to help people in the early stages , only for that reason i have a char that is lvl 15 for 60 hrs😅

[@asdergold1]

Only the tryhards will go 150 or below. The ones with massive fragile egos. 170 to 200 is best to enjoy it. If you're going NG+, go ~200.

[@heretic0014]

You Got Gud. You are NOT mediocre. Revel.

[@lukkkasz323]

The way I solve my overlevel is by playing with weapons that scale with INT, the melee damage is a bit lower, but I have spells to fallback on once I get to an annoying area making the difficulty more normalized.

[@SUBsystemHawgCranker]

this game somehow takes me back to my childhood playing Ocarina of Time.. I feel the same sense of wonder and awe playing elden ring that I did as a small child. I love it.

[@zackgilliland6465]

The prism stone not breaking at the end, only for you to still die when you landed was tragic. I’m just going to believe that was an intended troll.

[@simonkisielewski3327]

OUR GOAT MIYAZAKI DELIVERED AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@mattm7798]

Since 2008 this studio has not released a bad game, or even a mediocre game, all good to amazing, with Dark Souls 2 being the consensus low light, even that was a good game. FROMSOFT is IMO, the best developer on planet earth right now and shows no signs of slowing down.

[@reign1594]

​@@mattm7798I still think that they should move on from this genre. They've proved their capability in this field.

[@mattm7798]

@@reign1594 Hard to say. They did release Armored Core 6 which while being a long established series, leans much more on the action side. What genre would you like to see them tackle?

[@exeterd9]

@@reign1594bro has never heard of armored core

[@sangeetheman]

​@@reign1594Bringing games out isnt about proving skills. Not at all.

[@Arcane_Archer]

4:59 That throwing hammer with the mjolnir head tho...

[@tylerkarnes2947]

Perhaps a hot take, but one of the issues I have with the way modern fromsoft games are designed is that so many bosses are hard to read their move set, because so much of their move set relies on flailing or filling the screen with particles/objects. Maybe I’m going in just underleveled or something but I never felt like a death to the lion boss was a only due to user error. And that is just a problem with “power creep” due to fromsoft wanting to challenge a community that learn this genre so thoroughly. I’m still playing, and I love the world building, but the fights are kinda getting a bit much.

[@rsxar]

Yeah the boss fights are just not it... I love ER, but this has been such a massive disappointment for me. Considering putting it down and not playing it again at this point

[@Delmworks]

I do agree, but TBH the lion is a lot easier to track a few others (BAYLE). He doesn’t fill the screen with particles until halfway through the fight, and Their attacks hit a huge area but they’re also hugely inaccurate

[@jyotshak]

I mean I can see where you are coming from but as a fan of all of their souls likes and sekiro, I do not mind the difficulty spike. I would get my ass beat in all dark souls games but once I finished one of them, all of them followed until sekiro. Which again I gave up at the genichiro fight at Ashina castle top but came back some time later and felt it much easier, I died more to genichiro at ashina castle than to genichiro and/sword saint isshin. Same with blood borne, I was struggling but managed to get past almost all of the main game but gave up at Ludwig and came back after a month and honestly found orphan of kos also significantly easier and died much less than half of the deaths to Ludwig. In shadow of the Erdtree also it was the same, I died the most to putrescent knight followed second most to midra even though everyone on reddit claimed these two are among the easiest fights of the dlc. With PC Radahn I died once and I said nope I can’t do this fair and square with just a weapon and dodging so instead I respecced to be able to use a heavy spear and the fingerprint shield, added the talismans that reduce holy damage, and one for physical damage, one for reducing non physical damage even more when blocking and fourth talisman the one which reduces all non physical damage. Took the physick with gradual hp regen and damage negation. After that it took two attempts to beat Radahn after the respec and changing build. I beat him in 3 tries total. I know it was hard and yet I accepted that I can’t beat him without using everything at my disposal and then it was easy, the easiest boss fight of the dlc. The point I am making with all these examples is that difficulty in these games is subjective and we as players who play all the games do evolve as well. Fume knight was considered a very hard boss when ds2 came out. But I played ds2 after ds1, ds3, sekiro, and Elden ring (base game) and as fromsoft had trained me with so much faster enemies that fume knight felt so easy. I could beat him hitless. I am sure if I played ds2 when it came out I would have struggled a lot. So yeah they need to keep making the games harder in a fair way but it should not be due to stupid things like camera not being able to track divine beast or not being able to see what radahn is going for behind the blinding light effects everywhere.

[@shuckhuckle]

I won't pay 70$ for Star Wars Outlaws, But I'll gladly pay $250 dollars for funny Elden Ring statue.

[@JazzyVibes217]

Star Wars Outlaw ain't worth the investment. But that statue is gonna look clean on the stand!!!

[@Sir-Pleiades]

Gotta get that 19" inch of Messmer the Empaler

[@RafaelR-yy6qj]

​@@Sir-PleiadesI see, i comprehend.

[@theobell2002]

"ubisoft bad fromsoft good!!!"

[@framedrop-_420.]

@@theobell2002 simple and accurate

[@IdToaster]

5:26 BOAT MAN IS BACK

[@mcblaggart8565]

When using a Scadutree fragment you are required to shout "SCADU!" Like some old sitcom character shouting their catchphrase.

[@Boss_Fight_Index_muki]

Making the "mini sequel" to Elden Ring as a big, and relatively expensive, DLC is a pretty good idea. The devs can reuse the same engine as is, while concentrating on just making new content. Also, who's ready for 18 inches of Messmer?//

[@Meitti]

They essentially made a traditional Expansion for the game. Those used to be much bigger than DLCs.

[@Chris-sm2uj]

how many times are you going to copy paste this?

[@MelficeN7]

Gotta farm that karma

[@docilecatfish1370]

bro, why are you copy pasting this comment on EVERY review video?

[@NikushimiZERO]

Personally, and maybe it's because I first played in NG+, but the Scadutree Blessing is a mixed bag for me. I like the idea, and I did see it working, but also...not? I mean, maybe it's just me, but many bosses and some enemies could easily two shot me, and in some cases, one shot you. By end game, I had the full 20 Scadutree Blessing, and the final boss was still able to do half my health in a single hit, sometimes the entire thing. If that is after all the reduction, I can't even imagine how it's like without the blessings. Makes me not want to play the DLC a second time with another character because I know it's practically mandatory to find all the fragments. Feels very tedious. That aside, I really did enjoy the DLC despite my complaints about the insane aggression and damage of the bosses.

[@alenor210]

The fact that they added reverse-grip swords already sold me on the game, just like the twinblades did for the base game. I've already lived my horror fantasy Darth Maul dream, now I get to be horror fantasy Ahsoka Tano.

[@onuryasa2763]

i can already see the messages at 10:46

[@PuraCaseus]

Behold, dog.

[@talalogy]

Try tongue

[@orionizaqt]

Skyrim was my absolute favorite game of all time before Elden Ring came out. No game ever captured the magic of playing Skyrim for the first time and the amazing discoveries on subsequent playthroughs you could even after dumping 1000 hours into it, not to mention it's spectacular DLC's that followed it's release. Skyrim is my game of the decade for the 2010's, and while I would say that Dark Souls 3 was my second favorite game for sure, it wasn't actually super close to Skyrim. Elden Ring was the first game to really recapture the magic that playing Skyrim had and exceeded it in a lot of ways. Combine that with an improved version of the gameplay that was a main reason for what made Dark Souls 3 my second favorite game and it was just a given that Elden Ring would become my new absolute favorite and easily my pick for game of this current decade so far (honorable mention Baldur's Gate 3 though, that game is wonderful too). Seeing what I've seen from the DLC is almost unbelievable. The idea that FromSoft could actually recapture lightning in a bottle again is insane to me, but it really looks like they've done it somehow. Never thought I'd be excited for a DLC like it was the launch of a brand new game, but here we are. Cannot wait to get into it and relive the magic of beginning Elden Ring once again.

[@justinhicks6816]

completely agree!

[@ghostsamongus3370]

I still think the witcher 3 and rdr2 are levels above.

[@orionizaqt]

@@ghostsamongus3370 I do love both of those games, they're both easily two of the best games I've ever played, but neither of them ever elicited the same feelings that I had playing Elden Ring or Skyrim. They had their moments for sure though, but yeah not the quite as good to me. But hey, to each their own.

[@GuyLovesAnOnion]

@@orionizaqt Skyrim will always be top dog for me, the feeling I get in that world, the music just hits deep. IT’s nastolgic

[@NunyaBisnis1993]

Definetly going for either a Light Greatsword or Great Katana build. I can't WAIT to get my hands on the dlc.

[@Vladek24]

Mate, I'm just waiting to get myself with kicks and quarterstaff/twinblades

[@Vladek24]

This just made me more anxious for Friday coming early

[@mononuk]

I loved the dlc except the final boss. Fuck that fight.

[@Katzekaze]

7:17 MY NAME IS GYOUBU MASATAKA ONIWA

[@geraltofrivia7448]

We need an armor showcase!!!!

[@valentinoesparza2399]

The fact that you can throw weapons now giving you ranged option that don’t force you to stat into int or faith is really nice

[@deimoskaischylos]

First 40 seconds is what I wanted. I try to go into all media-shows, movies, games-as blind as I can, but I had to know your thoughts. I feel bad just knowing that martial arts are, essentials, a new weapon…but, also, that shall be how I play.

[@Tiparium_NMF]

I love the idea of a perfect blocking mechanic but the fact that they put it behind a flask tear is just frustrating. I want to use that whenever.

[@warcoder]

There's should be a Talisman with the same effect. I don't care if it has some horrible drawbacks, I want to parry everything in the game.

[@platinumdragon3007]

Well, I don't know a ton about modding, but it probably won't be too hard for modders to just take the effect of this flask and either tie it to a talisman that you can wear all the time, or just hard-code it into the game so that it is possible to do at all times and no matter what you are using.

[@ariannadravis3934]

​@@warcoder I'd be fine with it being a talisman but me personally, if it was hard coded into the game i would nope the fuck out. Generally that means the whole game is built around it, and i cannot for the life of me parry.

[@corruptedpoison1]

The worst part of the DLC is the stuttering issue that got worse on PC, Fromsoft had 2 years to work on the PC port and it's still not really acceptable for 2024.

[@lettuceprime4922]

it seems like it's on almost every system. i hear about people on ps5 having the same issue. my poor poor _poor_ ps4 is barely holding on man. the dancing lion bossfight is almost unplayable

[@SleeplessSpecter]

@@lettuceprime4922I’m playing on PS5 and I’m on the last boss. Zero performance issues the entire time. You are playing on a 10 year old console ffs 🤦‍♂️

[@jordanmcminn998]

Even the base game on PS5 has a lot of frame drops. The performance is absolutely not perfect​@@SleeplessSpecter

[@Justin_Inux]

The DLC took so long people started being afraid of what FromSoft was cooking AND OH BOI DID THEY COOK

[@ctg4818]

They took a year or two off for Armor Core 6 for some reason lol

[@camboyrdee]

I am so happy to hear this is harder than base game. RL1 runs about to go CRAZY

[@radagonsoreseal3457]

I can’t wait to see someone do the no blessing no hit challenge in the DLC lol You know it’s coming

[@xPASANOVA]

​@@radagonsoreseal3457GinoMachino will do it 100% 😅

[@flamingocontent7311]

I'm also happy for New speedruns contant

[@Scriffer]

Yeah I already have an invasion twink ready to enter the dlc. 🕶

[@lalouwu6371]

I havent watched any of the enemies or the hp they have, how hard would it be for someone who likes to do 0+ runs(me)

[@foster5819]

This review single handedly way overhyped me for the dlc. I’ve certainly come around to enjoy it, but my entire first playthrough was spent wondering how you reached the conclusions you did.

[@juusolatva]

the only thing I was worried about was the justifying the price of the DLC (to myself), but hearing that a first playthrough took 40 hours makes me less worried and mine will probably take even longer. in comparison my first playthrough of the main game was around 125 hours, so for a complete playthrough of the game the DLC would be at least a quarter of the content.

[@lukesorensen5309]

don’t forget the base game had 15 main bosses. the dlc has at least 10

[@AlexGamingAlexGaming02]

@@lukesorensen530910 main boss😳 ?!?

[@Puddspanker]

11

[@SirSicCrusader]

I did a dumb and started playing another crabs treasure the other day, its so good, but now cause time is scarce for me, I'm gonna have to choose which one to play for now :0 damn first world souls problems...

[@XCloud123]

Ok, I watch your videos. And I about broke my neck looking back at my screen seeing your comment here. Hope your doing good Sir Sic! See you in the lands between!

[@supremecai5857]

Continue it, that game was way better than any fromsoft can come close to lmao just shorter. You can get to the trash later

[@subotopic]

@@supremecai5857crazy bait

[@rupturedtides4831]

Nah bro is trying too hard​@@subotopic

[@Skylite420]

@@supremecai5857 Bait used to be believable

[@blackout0119]

« I wished the DLC would’ve been a little bit harder » Me looking at his half screen health bar: 🤨

[@fernandofaria2872]

"choke me harder, daddy miyazaki"

[@erickraudi8661]

I'm amazed you managed to walk to the edge of the cliff on Torrent so many times, ended up so close to falling, but didn't. I would have fell 9 out of 10 times

[@holykonchu7250]

9/10 will fall again

[@greatheightsu]

Thank you Mr. Pineapple. I was already fully on board with this DLC but your glowing review pushed me over the moon. Can't wait.

[@Deboo-oz2rb]

EveryOne Else: this DLC is very hard 🤡 Iron Pineapple: I wish it was harder 🗿

[@leithaziz2716]

The Scatter-tree fragments sound simillar to the progression system Sekiro uses to boost attack and health (by beating bosses and collecting prayer-beads). I'm very happy about that, since I hope that means they'll have a clearer way of balancing progression and stats appropriatly.

[@ok-ge1f]

correction: its scadu-tree

[@Trestero]

5:02 My jaw just dropped, and i think I'm in love.

[@ChaZcaTriX]

That perfect block flask... 2H guard counter colossal build was among the most fun I've played, and it's now even better!

[@Abigail_Nikolaev]

I finnished the DLC and I'm already wanting more. I'm hoping there will be at least one more final DLC for elden ring, a ringed city kind of final DLC.

[@Zayd-bg1pt]

10:46 classic Miyazaki…

[@FlyByNate]

I'm not done the DLC yet, but it did make me explore first and fight later. When ER dropped, I just bashed my head against forward progression until it stopped fighting back while all my friends explored the Lands Between. I could do this because amongst this friend group I have the most hours in FromSoft games, and therefore the highest skill amongst the four of us. It also meant I completed the base game on my first playthrough in ~20 hours due to a lack of greater exploration. I tried to do this in SotE and got my ass firmly handed to me on a golden platter several times over. Blackgaol Knight alone was responsible for most of my boss deaths until I reached Messmer. It made me realise that the scadutree blessings were not something I could just casually come across but that I needed to find. Let me explain my context: I'm rocking 60 vig, 40 end, 30 mind, and 80 str with a +10 Ruins Greatsword, Shard of Alexander, Erdtree Talisman +2, and Greatshield Talisman. That alone was not enough damage to make Blackgaol Knight flinch, let alone some of the bigger, badder bosses. I did the only sensible thing: adapt. I explored, powered up, stumbled into a bunch of remembrance bosses, then finally returned. Even Messmer made me adapt. I swapped out armours, used the new better Fire Talisman, and even used my physick for utility other than healing. I love this. Most fun I've had with a FromSoft game since my #1 fave Bloodborne.

[@Alienoiable]

God, I'm so hyped for this. Only 3 days left ! Thank you for making an (almost) spoiler free review btw, means a lot (yeah, I didn't watch it, just listened to it. Still work though !).

[@jonathanhansen2651]

I agree with most of this but I have to say the Scadutree fragment system took more away from the DLC than it added. I went from feeling like it was nearly impossible for the first quarter of the DLC to feeling like the Last 3rd of it was so easy that they let me ruin my own fun by exploring too much and underestimating the Scadutree powerups. they should 100% let you pick which ever option you want that is lower than your maximum level obtained. Spent a few hours on The lion and Rellana and got 1 shotted by the yellow horned knights and the big cleaver wielding shadow-men, then all of a sudden I 2nd tried Midra and started 1-2 shotting enemies that used to take 7-8 hits. I also went in at level 115 and came out at level 220-something trivializing the main game to a high degree. I don't recommend finishing the DLC and the base game for the first time on the same character, but all in all I didn't regret my purchase, but no 10/10 from me. It has some 10/10 aspects like that feeling like you're playing a painting, but also some less than ideal balancing and performance issues along with a lot of stuff feeling rushed, like the quests fx. they really needed a DLC version of Gideon Ofnir that that could fill in exposition or discuss your findings instead what they delivered with Sir Ansbach and Leda. The loot was also comically bad at times like smithing stones tier 6 and below and common crafting materials as a reward after going off the beaten path and the scadutree blessings feeling like you're nerfing the enemies instead of progressing your character like the levelling system feels like.

[@joshlarry8284]

The dlc made me do things I'd usually never do, such as parrying during the final boss.

[@Brendangotgudgaming]

I think it makes sense that some enimies are reused I'm sure they have been changed a bit too but it's the world of elden ring the exist there so it makes sense I'm really excited can't wait

[@imtoohigh9523]

I played around 30 hours. Got to all regions of the map but 1 and just could not figure it out how to get there. Gave up and just went doing other regions. Find a dungeon. Beat the dungeon boss expecting a teleporter to the beginning of the cave. Door opens to the area I’ve been trying to get to and my jaw drops. Absolutely incredible DLC to and already incredible game. 10/10 for me!

[@dh9232]

Gotten through a good 60% of it now and they did do it. They made something dlc worthy. There's a little controversy over some ds2 esk enemy placment. Some intresting scaling decisions. Big one that seems to be floating around is damage balancing and idk what base game feels like my first runs been on ng+4 and stuff is tanky and does alot of damage. But its ng+4 ive had the option to grind for dropped weapons collect every aow, incant, buff, crafting ingredient 4 times. I personally like that none of the bosses have gone the water fowl route, they attack fast and in changing rythem, but every attack is dodgable without a 20 pace exactly figure 8. The dlc gameplay brings out the best feelings from fighting mohg, morgott, godskin noble, radagon. Really good precise timing. Theres a few bosses you think wont be fair but you give it three tries and get the most spectacular memorable fights ever. All while your changing your build every 3mins because every weapon is truly cooler then the last.

[@quarantinezone2844]

I've given Radahn 4 hours split between 2, 2 hour Combat Sessions. I've beaten every other Boss and reached him in a day. No, it's jank I don't want to hear a pretend story like his 25 second combo chains and wide splashing AoE is a reasonable expectation to overcome.

[@dh9232]

​@@quarantinezone2844He's a pain in the ass but it's only because his 4-5 hit combos have so much timing variation. His health isn't to high in ng4 anything above i see over tweaking, his health isn't anything insanely high. He's hard fromsoft didn't make a crowd pleasing boss for the final boss of the game they will ever add and that will ever be. Making a traditional hard boss was not the review friendly move because of how big the player base is for the game. They went to the roots designed a fair dope AF boss and will probably say "cry me a river" heres some scaled back damage that's it. He has two flaws his nuts are too high to hit with star fists genuinely hit in-between his legs and mis a hitbox. And the first attack time kills your ability to get summons off early. so no splitting agro means you need to get good at the first 20 seconds. Otherwise he's fine, damn 4 hours I signed up for more then that. Pontiff was a 3 hour endeavour back in the day, dancer was 7, malenia was about 12 for me, nameless took me 5, ornstein smoug was probably 5, gael wasn't any easier then this... Neither was demon prince of freda. People flew through the dlc in a few days got to him realized they were gonna need to keep trying because he's the final hurdle and cried a river. It ain't a fairy tale story just dodge poke dodge.

[@quarantinezone2844]

@@dh9232 For me he had 60K Hp, regardless it's not like it matters anymore since I cut him down while fat rolling and blocking. He still needs adjustments imo with his overly aggressive behavior and attack effects clogging up the screen when he spams them. Additionally he has the same issue with a few attacks like with Messmer and the Elden Beast where his attacks overlap. Pontiff was 1 try fodder. The Dancer I endeavored through as a rookie souls player that got lost before I even made it to the next map, Melania I beat in 2 tries. But Bosses usually last me less than an hour. Also Gael and Frieda were far easier lol. Frieda can get staggered into oblivion and Gael has very well telegraphed attacks.

[@dh9232]

@@quarantinezone2844 🤷seems like you got good GG main character

[@quarantinezone2844]

@@dh9232 I wouldn't say good, feels like I just leaned on Gear and Stats in this instance. Wins a win I suppose, good luck.🫡

[@bastet113]

Perfume bottles look absolutely cracked af

[@Did_No_Wrong]

And people were skeptical at the 40 dollar price, I called it. This DLC was gonna be their magnum opus

[@teero121]

man i thought you could trust this guy. while the dlc wasnt bad by any means it also wasnt the magnum opus that he is making it out to be here. "surpasses the base game", "playing this dlc is like getting the chance to re-experience this moment (siofra river reveal) again and again" are ridiculous things to say for a dlc with a map that albeit very pretty has also a lot of empty space and lackluster rewards in it. pure honeymoon phase yapping.

[@HonsHon]

Thank you. You are willing to look at it realistically without saying it is the worst thing in the world or insulting the devs.

[@PandaPlayzPokemon]

I hope you do challenge runs for the DLC! It’s what got me hooked on your channel to begin with!!

[@hexthehardcorecasual]

"Fromsoft surpasses my expectations. ...this DLC might be my favorite thing Fromsoft has ever created." That's all I needed to hear. I mean, I didn't even really need to hear that, but having heard that, I think it best to simply not view more.

[@zomgpie2]

I uh…definitely think some people were jumping the gun on the quality of this dlc. Seems like it has a lot of issues, the bosses are just recycled or retreads of fights they already did, and the scattree blessing is just artificially making it harder, which is boring and definitely would be criticized heavily in other games. And the zones are just big…and mostly empty, but hey i guess it looks pretty to soy jack over I guess (shrug)

[@ianwilliams2632]

The prettiness wears thin fast. I like the initial atmosphere and Belurat, but after that it falls down fast. Empty, bizarre plot, boring NPCs. Then the reuse of dragons and many other enemies, and stuff that comes out of the blue to contradict the story of the base game. It seems like a mess.

[@moagerdome3991]

@@ianwilliams2632 I'd agree that some story plot (especially at the end) are confusing because we had almost no clue toward before the dlc I've not catch any contradiction however so i'm quite curious where they are. I feel the problem with some of the zone is that they were big to build an atmosphere. It worked for the finger ruins and shaman village in my opinion but not the abyssal woods Cerulean cost (including the part with red flower) and rauhs ruin are definitlty to empty and i can't see this being for atmosphere reason I really like the scadutree system because it make it so your level is pretty much irrelevent from 150 onward, it also let you ajust the difficulty to what you find most enjoyable and with the way they work collecting all of them is far from neccesary (being at least lv15 for the final boss is a good idea though) i can get behind the feeling that they should be dropped by strong ennemies of bosses like prayer beads in sekiro in addition to the exploration.

[@josetomascamposrobledano4618]

Iron Pinnaple is like the Cod content creator of souls. Every thing is peak when it’s new. It’s day 1 of the DLC and I killed every boss now. This man said Main game was 80 hours to reach Radagon, reached him in 20. Now they are saying it’s 20ish for Miquella, was 5.

[@penn__]

do you legit not interact with any of the side content?? are you just sprinting through grabbing items? im like ten hours in and i just beat relanna. you complain as if theres nothing in the game to do besides hardlining rememberance bosses.

[@josetomascamposrobledano4618]

@@penn__ I always play guideless and that’s simply the path I found myself in. In fact, because of that I actually killed all the enemies in the open world/dungeons. Which is to say, now that I know the layout, if I want to run the DLC I should be able to do it in 2 hours or less. Not to mention if I do want to “slow down and not kill bosses” I now also know the locations of many Sekiro-level ups, so building characters for the DLC is now even easier in the future. And in truth, saying this makes me happy. It streamlines the DLC to the rest of the series. Knowing the DLC can be completed in 1 sitting is great news when we take into account that some of us will do it 10+ times because of secondary characters. Thanks for reading fellow Souls-players. May your journey in the realm of Shadow end in a swift and decisive victory!

Bro speed runs the game and then complains I can't.

[@eglewether5523]

Not gonna lie 15 ulcerated snakes and 58 dragons was definitely not needed ...

[@AbyssalPlague]

4:50 Was that a pot flail??? If it is, I joked about them making one a while back ago! That's awesome!

[@sergeysmyshlyaev9716]

Boomhammer is back. My true mentor, my guiding boomlight.

[@badgermcwaffles4834]

discovery a new area, finding a new item, seeing a new enemy, esc was the best part for me. I'm not really here for boss fights. I'm here for the world.

[@neverconsidered2193]

Many of the bosses felt unpolished, at least playing on the xbox. Messmer was fantastic though.

[@meqdadfn]

Only Rellana and Messmer (not his phase 2) were the good bosses. Everything else was a pain. Spirit ashes ruined Elden Ring and the dlc.

[@neverconsidered2193]

​@@meqdadfn I actually thought Bayle was really cool as well, but summons/spirit ashes are basically a requirement for most bosses now. Unless you want to sink many hours on a single boss fight

[@raymondcaswell5622]

I got as far as "This DLC might be the best thing Fromsoft has ever created" then promptly turned it off. Ugh, you're killing me dude! I watched your ER review and know you love FS so I respect your opinion. That's it for me, just a few more days. **cries**

[@ethanfortson8594]

Started yet another new play though yesterday, can’t wait to replay the dlc many times!

[@Safetyman99]

I have all ten of my playthroughs armed and ready... each with a different level and build, and ALL items from the main game.

[@GoatJesus]

There is SO MUCH enemy reusage from the base game. I think you super undersold how much reskinning and animation nabbing there is. It feels like maybe 30% of the enemies are truly new.

[@HonsHon]

How could he see that when he has everry developers nuts on his chin at the same time?

[@ADreamingTraveler]

Those opening shots of those locations are absolutely breathtaking. My god

[@HiroThatDude]

I really wanna know when you say you beat it in 40 hours. Did you try to do absolutely everything or was it rushed or it was in between?

[@micholitzia5726]

Only problem with the dlc is that it seems too empty. Seems they forgot to place 90percent of the chests

[@Necro718]

New gear looks AMAZING. This DLC is gonna fucking slap. 50 hours of content? MY GUY, THAT'S A WHOLE ASS GAME WTF?!? Elden Ring DLC gonna take GOTY even though it's DLC. This is wild. I'm so in love and do not want to wait two more days holy shit.

[@frozenred3491]

My only gripe about the dlc is that I'll see that a cool enemy dropped an item and I'm like oh hey he dropped an armor piece, and then BAM! Smithing Stone [3]. For a DLC with a recommended level of 150, they have so many low level upgrade materials.

[@Gorczy]

The devs probably did this to encourage you trying new weapons out. It'd suck to drop a cool new weapon for you to want to try, only for it to be low level since you have no smithing stones. I know most can be bought with bell bearings if you were thorough with exploration in the base game, but you've also gotta try and help people without those.

[@jtr4256]

I haven't watched the video, and won't until I finish the DLC. But the amount of HP bosses have, as well as the new levelling system is pretty offputting. Finished the DLC, I still think the Scadutree Fragment decision was a mistake. Definitely not looking forward to playing the DLC on my 7 other characters just for having to gather another 50 or so of them for every char, I wish I could disable it.

[@andrewramirez3998]

Well he also said it’s his favorite piece of art Fromsoft has ever created lol

[@AlanLare]

I'm finally close to beating the DLC, I am loving it to bits, I've been exploring to the point where I think I've almost defeated every single DLC remembrance boss already, I need to find multiple mausoleums to get all the boss weapons and spells I have yet to get x3

[@shaneosullivan3358]

Cant belive people are still saying siofra river wrong

[@shaneosullivan3358]

As a native speaker of the language, it's pronounced sheeufra

[@xevro5862]

The DLC is literally more of the same. Except, my only two gripes are that it's 30% ''empty/barren'' without anything. Utilizing already known enemies far too frequent, compared to new ones. And the biggest gripe that lore-wise, literally nothing is explained, teased nor even mentioned when there's all this ''secretive'' build-up in the background of the vanilla game regarding Gloam Eyed Queen. Nothing delved into regarding the betrayal of Godwyn, how Marika played a role into that night. Nothing really about Messmer either? Also the moment you fight him is so random, as with a lot of other bosses. They're just .. there? Like no proper build-up or interaction of some sort.

[@ahassani]

I agree. Messmer felt way too early to fight, especially considering he's one of the vital characters of the DLC. If you go by story progression he's the 4th boss you beat, which feels extremely anticlimactic if you haven't beaten more bosses around the map.

[@givemeahandleplz]

I agree with you. This felt very wierd to the point that I spoiled my self the whole thing mid way and stopped playing it :(

[@sNNNNNable]

@@ahassani You can access almost the entire map without fighting him. I think I did like 20+ hrs of other stuff/bosses before getting to him

[@NEETmoreAnime]

The one thing I wished I wouldve realized early is that you can seemingly explore EVERYTHING before fighting ANY remembrance boss at all (except the very last legacy dungeon). It's insane how much you can power up by exploring.

[@kregman6928]

I think I was alright with the use of enemies from the base game in almost all circumstances, until I came across all 6 ulcerated treespirits and the 5th ghostflame dragon. huge issue for me. the rest was all fine because most of them at least made sense. the dragons absolutely did not and the tree spirirts ABSOLUTELY did not.

[@krissy989]

The ghostflame dragons make perfect sense tho?

[@kregman6928]

@@krissy989 ghostflame anything would have made sense. the issue is that they just reused more dragons that noone liked anyways because all of them are the exact same besides the ancient dragons who are still pretty much the same anyways. it could have been ghostflame bears or ghostflame trees or ghostflame sentinels and they all would have made sense. the problem is the dragon part. not a good look when so much reuse already happened in the base game.

[@krissy989]

@@kregman6928 Maybe, but the ghostflame dragons not only aren't required at all to beat the game, but mechanically and storywise they fit into the DLC just fine. Plus the updated behavior makes them pretty interactive to hunt down. Also... Reuse has been a thing since god damn *King's Field*. It's just a smart way to repurpose assets and lighten the workload. Hell, more than half of the enemies in the Dark Souls trilogy are reused!

[@kregman6928]

@@krissy989 how they affect they story is irrelevant to the point. it doersnt matter if its optional or required. they still exist. the updated behaviour is non existent. its the literal exact same dragon you kill in limgrave which is the excat same dragon you kill in hilltop which is the exact same dragon you fight in rannis questline. reuse is acceptable within the same realm. anor londo existing in the souls games is perfectly fine because it is all the same place. elden ring using enemies from sekiro, enemies from souls games and everything else from previous games is not as acceptable. it is time saving sure but it is also a negative if you are actually honest about criticizing the game. base elden ring had a huge issue of you fight the same enemy in every single zone and every dungeon was just another cat statue, on top of the 12 ulceratred tree spirits and the 8 dragons that are the exact same fight. it was bad. you would expect a much smaller experience to be curated for that experience but they just reused nearly everything. so it is dissapointing that fromsoft ignored the negative criticism from the base game and just released the same thing with the same exact issues. it didnt feel good at all coming back after a year and seeing the exact same things I was seeing before I left. and the final boss. that reuse was insanity. that is the most egregious form of reuse they have done.

[@krissy989]

@@kregman6928 ... Not gonna lie dude, sounds like you just need to play a different game 😂