Shadow of the Erdtree Review - A Poor Followup

[@JuliusKingsleyXIII]

I like how people assume that even the lowest, smallest level of criticism of this DLC is "bait". The brain rot is real.

[@dytn959]

Considering the title and thumbnail it is bait lol

[@Tychonious]

yeah lets use the new buzzword so i seem like im relevenant

[@timlwry]

​@@dytn959how exactly is it clickbait?

[@mightguy3118]

That applies to anything popular with hype nowadays. Whether it's a game, a movie, a TV show. If you give even the smallest amount of actual valid criticism they'll call it bait and act toxic ASF just because you personally don't like it 💀

[@mightguy3118]

​@@timlwryHe means bait as in the video creator just saying that to make people mad and attract attention

[@TheUnseenKrab]

My main problem is the lack of good loot from exploring.

[@brandonman1315]

U can’t be serious

[@EndersupremE]

It's 10x better than base game

[@hayabusa09]

What did you want?

[@juanmhdzg725]

​@@hayabusa09a fantasy traveler simulator, with cookbooks 😂 10x better and maybe just one real dungeon.... oh wait...

[@hayabusa09]

@@juanmhdzg725 Sorry this was directed at the original poster. I don't have a clue what you mean.

[@michaelwilcox8187]

So much damage done by enemies I just sent for a good shield, great shield talisman, high endurance and dagger talisman to just block and counter enemies to death. No point in risking rolling through delayed attacks with weird hit boxes

[@adventpsyop]

Yep, I did the same exact thing. And while I really didn't prefer playing as a shield tank for a couple of the bosses, it sure was more fun than fucking constantly hit trading lol

[@youcantbeatk7006]

So much for player expression and build variety.

[@oldensad5541]

Is is rude to give you advise? If you put a layer of very quite music or even abstract ambience under your voice, qnd do a little bit fade at the end of audio clips, you will get rid of this "popping" effect in the places you merge two voice clips together :)

[@ludognosis]

Thanks, I'll try it out. Audio quality is something I need to improve on.

[@arisumego]

@@ludognosis in general please do keep going with your reviews, your perspective is sorely needed, especially in regards to miyazaki fromsoft games where basically 99% of the fanbase just glazes them endlessly without acknowledging their clear problems

[@thedoomslayer5863]

​@@arisumegowe are getting more videos of people finally nutting up and admitting that not everything fromsoft craps out is 10/10 masterpieces. They can and very much do fail a lot just like many others and they can and do miss the mark with their games.

[@youcantbeatk7006]

@@thedoomslayer5863 Except for the upteenth-millionth "Dark Souls 2 is Actually BAD!" and "The Second Half of Dark Souls 1 is Actually BAD!" videos. Fromsoft fans literally seek out peer reviewed sources before they speak of criticisms.

[@thedoomslayer5863]

@@youcantbeatk7006 God I hate that thing they all do where they have to say before the video even starts "Elden Ring is a masterpiece and my favorite game of all time but-" like they have to suck it off first and call it the best thing to exist to appease the rabid dogs before they are allowed to even critique one thing about it. Like just say it isn't perfect, the fan boys ain't gonna do shit about it lol

[@stevemichael652]

I agree with you on everything else tho esp the scadutree fragment issue. I’ve been saying this since day 1. Is the boss too hard or do I need more shards ? Can’t really focus on beating the boss when you’re clouded with not even knowing if you’re intended to fight it at that particular time

[@TheQoogle]

You just try the boss , and if it feels to hard go explore a different direction and search for fragments. It's not that complicated.

[@stevemichael652]

@@TheQoogle oh gee golly I didn’t think of that! A lot of bosses seem to hard but the grey area now is not knowing how hard it’s supposed to be versus if I’m under leveled Previous games or even the base game when bosses kicked ur ass at least u knew what to do. In this game u just don’t know if ur banging ur head against the wall for no reason or not

[@mightguy3118]

​@@stevemichael652I see what you mean. malenia is a perfect example of this. Unless you're using broken weapons or have some op level 500 build she's gonna be extremely hard, not because you're under leveled but because she's meant to be that hard. By time you reach her you shouldn't even be under leveled anyway since you're in late game

[@nightwatchmen6353]

That's a You problem. Are you a child? Use you brain

[@WhySoSeriousSenpai]

Scadu thing is so stupid why would higher level player complain about the dlc being to easy you’re at a high level

[@kinggamereon653]

No, removing Torrent would not improve the experience in the open world. To begin with Torrent making the open world too safe is not simply an issue of Torrent, it's an issue of the world in general. The world is too large, too open and doesn't have enough enemies to make running past them not an effective tactic. You could easily do at least 90% of the pick up item and run parts of the game without Torrent just as effectively, albeit a little slower. Not only are the enemies slower than Torrent they also tend to be slowed than the player character and eventually lose aggro. Besides some elevators and ladders running past enemies indoors where Torrent is not summonable is also very effective and enables the player to avoid the enemies. This is not only the case in Elden Ring's own legacy dungeóns but also fromsoft's earlier games like dark souls 3. Only place where they somewhat succesfully make the player fight all the enemies is dark souls 2 and look what happened with that one. The running past enemies problem aside the world is just too big and would need to be scaled down severely to be at all engaging to explore without Torrent. Even with Torrent's travel speed you encounter large basically empty areas of the map you really wouldn't want to have to run. This is an issue with the open world, yes but removing Torrent would make it far worse. Also if you wanted to make the open world harder you really also should remove the get flasks back when killing an enemy group mechanic. It trivializes exploration far more imo. As for the enemies in the open world and the field bosses the player is "tricked" to fight. Personally I genocide pretty much all enemies I encounter on my first runthrough of the area anyways. It's nice to get some runes and it's nice to not have to think about the enemies when picking up items as they're all dead. The field bosses are also a good excuse to give the player a lot of runes at once. Alternatively they could buff rune drops for all enemies of the area to compensate but that would incentivize farming the enemies instead of killing them once or twice, beating the field boss and being done with it. Also yeah, Promised Consort Radahn is horribly balanced and the moveset in the second phase is generally overtuned. It took me 205 tries to beat him no blocking, no summons, just a good old anchor, dodgeroll and a dream and while I did kind of have fun the fight definitely made me want to jump off a bridge multiple times. However, I do not think this is a good representation of the dlc's main bosses in general. Fromsoft did fumble their final boss pretty bad here but fights like Bayle, Messmer, Rellana were all fun, learnable and not that difficult. Rellana for example took me 15 tries with the rusted anchor and no buffs other than physick, Messmer took 12 tries with the dragonslayer great katana and no buffs. Bayle took 84 but that was me fighting the boss at scadutree blessing lvl 4 and in the end I felt like I had mastered the fight. As a whole I found the dlc's fights to be mostly stepups from both dark souls 3 and elden ring's base game. Granted I might be a convenient audience as a relatively hard but learnable boss fight is what I play these games for. Sekiro is my favourite out of the bunch too so the faster bosses generally feel nice. But still, it would be interesting if you had expanded on the other bosses and not just used the obvious low hanging fruit of Promised Consort Radahn when critiquing the boss design instead of just saying they have flat arenas and feel too similar. Also flat arenas just generally are good, even in the promised consort fight the slight elevation differences instantly create jank with multiple attacks.

[@JCashBeatz]

he is a fool

[@NightxofxDarkrai]

I fully agree with all of this

[@KD-wc4rs]

I don’t understand the flat arena thing ds3 had only flat arena ?

[@mikeehrmantraut1899]

Imo, having Torrent in a Souls Series into an open world is the biggest mistake by FromSoft it doesn't fit to the genre at all

[@zawarudo8991]

Still feel like torrent is heavily underdeveloped as a mount. There is so much creative stuff ya could do with him but all he is reduced to is the open world cab. His own moves: like a dodge-step without I-frames used to quickly reposition, attacks like a headbutt, charge or hoove kick. Enemy mounts already showed us how diverse their movesets can be, so why are we stuck with running and jumps that get caught midair by every strike. Online functionality with mechanics to make mounted and on foot gameplay both viable. Horse-armor/customization, but then again, From couldn‘t even put proper customization of our own armor sets into the game.

[@doratheshade]

Ya know what's even sadder? What used to be a game about surviving a harsh world and learning how to keep trying is now a game about dick measuring and laughing at the noobs. You can even see it with how many videos there are of people reading the reviews, pretty much disregarding any criticism as "They are just bad". If this is the future of FS games and specially its community then I'm done with it. I'll keep with the soulslike like Lies of P. At least they know a thing or two about QoL features.

[@rangopistacho6928]

the from software community has always been toxic, a lot of gaming cultures are just toxic, if you shit on a game for having a toxic community then your just being rather unfair on the actual game itself, do whatever you want, its your game your choices, if you beat a boss with a shield thats fine its up to you!

[@christianbaker3564]

​@rangopistacho6928 It's because gaming attracts a bunch of chronically online weirdos. The issue with Fromsoft is they deflect legitimate criticism and say it's your fault if you arnet having this 10/10 religious experience. I don't think I've seen any community do that

[@zawarudo8991]

@@rangopistacho6928 the games community has also always been very wholesome, just recently there has been this tug of war between making the games too hard and making them too easy, thus the abomination that is Elden Rings Boss design, infinite stamina with no breaks after attack chains with the speed of Pontiff Sully as the bare minimum vs the easy way out: gimmick items that stunlock a boss, spirit ashes that can solo the game when upgraded, weapons and spells (moonveil/meteorite staff) that are available in the first minutes of gameplay and trivialize half the game, no lvl cap and no down-scaling on password summoned cooperators- the list goes on, really sours the experience seeing where Fromsoft is going. "I don‘t have to fight this boss or overcome it, I just sit at the back far away from em and throw homing rocks while my 24/7 available summon pokes their butt for massive damage, damn this game is so hard and fun!"

[@zawarudo8991]

@@christianbaker3564 feels like a massive influx of larpers who wanna be souls fans, worshipping miazaki in an efford to blend in. Mainstream at it‘s finest.

[@BUKUDI]

P is very good & a very solid first attempt. But didn't hold my attention. Deleted before finishing it out of boredom. Extremely repetitive & linear. After like 30-40 hours of the same thing over and over, you realize its a one trick pony. At least give us Dark Souls III level of explorability. The quality of life & refined world are superb tho, theres no denying that. Hopefully the studios expansion & or sequel give it a bit more depth & complexity

[@napolitan271]

10:00 Or do it like in that indie Soulslike game called Sekiro, where the level up items for attack and defense drop from minibosses. I think FromSoftware and Miyazaki know this game exists, right?

[@Idontevenknowman779]

They refused to take ANY of the good mechanics from that game and we know why. They wanted it to be hard for the sake of being hard

[@kinggamereon653]

@@napolitan271 sekiro is harder than SotE except the final boss anyways

[@skinnytimmy1]

Boss rush mode? Nah, we'll just put the same bosses in the open world. Pause button? Nah. Better parry system? Nah. Animation canceling for the player? Nah. The speed and aggression of the bosses? Yes

[@RipwolfLeumas]

@@Idontevenknowman779 There is a reason for that. Elden Ring and Sekiro were developed concurrently, so ER still had the Souls style jank, whereas Sekiro was built to be its own independent experience. The engine limitations and the rpg mechanics of ER means that its hard to port 1 to 1 Sekiro's mechanics, but the deflecting hardtear is an attempt to bring it over somewhat. This gives me faith that they have not abandoned Sekiro, in fact they are learning from it, and Miyazaki himself has stated that he has yet to make a game that fully realizes his ideal vision.

[@imustconsultwiththeeldergo5906]

@@kinggamereon653 sekiro is easiest fromsoftware game wtf

[@callsignfatbeard2637]

This game would be a nightmare without a map. Thank god you don’t call the shots.

[@MiguelAviles175]

Imagine trying to teleport to a place You need to go without your map lmao

[@JUSTICEFORPEANUT]

lot of people revealing themselves as eldenbabies with this one, go back and play souls and it'll make sense

[@shiroamakusa8075]

@@JUSTICEFORPEANUT The Dark Souls maps are much, MUCH smaller.

[@callsignfatbeard2637]

@@JUSTICEFORPEANUT not comparable. Those games don’t even approach a small fraction of how big Elden ring is. It needs a map, no question about it.

[@jerq887]

ehhh, idk about a "nightmare" i've been pretty capable remembering my surroundings and where everything is in Dark Souls 3, all i needed was a single picture of the bonfire to help me remember, the only time i had trouble remembering where to go was Bloodborne, as that game didnt even provide you with a picture, just the name of the area If this game did the same, with a list of graces and a picture provided next to it, i'd be fine

[@doomslayer8985]

Issues with the DLC 1. Enemies are overtuned to the point they are playing sekiro while we are stuck with Demon Souls gameplay with small QoL over the last years but with less significant improvements (Bloodborne, Sekiro and Lies of P do a much better job than this) 2. Cheese and OP Builds are heavily incentivized because the majority of the bosses are now build checks where a person with unoptimized build will struggle so hard they will hard swap for meta builds which is terrible game design for a mostly PvE singleplayer game making the fights very unsatisfying. 3. Exploration is unrewarding enough, the fact they had to add a crucial item such as the scadutree fragments to "encourage" exploration damages the replay value because collecting the same material for almost 50 times is lazy game design by artificially gatekeeping the players from naturally progressing at their own pace to make the world a huge scadutree checklist (base game handled this matter much better with the crimson tears/sacred tears scarsed around the map but placed very specifically on early/mid/late game areas which makes it natural as players progress through the game) 4. Rewards are terrible (useless cookbooks, tons of smithing stones that are useless because everyone has at least 3 weapons maxed out and tons of resources spared cause they explored the base game map) where replay value is just a collection checklist (scadutree fragments and very specific armours/weapons/ashes, and thats bad cause it really means the majority of things you will find on the open world will be either useless or extremely niche making it bloated. 5. A lot of copy pasted mobs makes the encounters less special and boring real fast, genuinely fromsoft wanted to bloat the game as much as possible because the quantity over quality approach on an expensive market of 60/70usd games will make players feel they the most of their money back the bigger and longer the game is but bloated. My biggest theory is fromsoft realized how going through a niche market (Linear Hard Games) to a wider demographic with open world concept (Longer and Easier) massively makes more profit than all their older games. By dumbing down the games as a whole sacrificing certain aspects of the souls genre makes more money than anything else they produced in the past, which leads me to think they will keep making games of this kind with the direction of this DLC. Hopefully im wrong because i truly wish we had a souls game with Sekiro+Bloodborne combat together it would be perfect (oh wait we have one, its called Lies of P). Ironic how Lies of P was made by a small studio which adresses most issues with Elden Ring. My overall conclusion is the DLC shows how incredibly stagnated the series has become specially with this title (previous games such as Dark Souls are completely fine as they are) but making games such as Bloodborne and sekiro that were developed way before ER have much better combat system and replayability. This is what they thought "Lets make the DLC as big as possible (don't matter how bloated it is) because most people nowadays value videogames over their length rather than the quality itself". The DLC genuinely feels like a one and done experience (if you think about it the dlc has a lot of requirements and on consoles (the market they target the most) you cant duplicate savefiles before the dlc so you have to make your own way to the dlc again for almost 30hrs (because Mohg is unlocked at lategame) and most people recommend to be level 120-150 which again are lategame stats, it all makes sense on that way (how can you make something replayable when the main requirements to get in there are almost finishing the game itself). It's interesting how Zelda TOTK and Elden Ring DLC suffer from nearly the same issues and both franchises started as linear games but became widespread and more popular once they took the open world approach.

[@shiroamakusa8075]

Go back to Ubisoft slop, loser.

[@rosskaske6357]

@@shiroamakusa8075 Braindead fromslop fanboy can't read

[@valentinvas6454]

I mostly agree with your points except the first and second one. Besides Radahn, I don't think any of the bosses are build checks if you have a decent scadutree blessing level. I did 2 playthroughs, one with a str/faith build and another one with dex/int and a bit of arcane and I killed bosses with all kinds of weapons. I see your point about enemies and bosses being much faster while we still have DS3 speed but in Elden Ring we have more powerful tools anyway. Several armor pieces give special effects and talismans are also more powerful than rings IMO and we also have the physics and aromatics to buff us even further. Some of the ashes of wars are also crazy powerful. But I agree that our character will need to get more nimble and agile in future games.

[@jackalx2154]

I hope Fromsoftware makes smaller, more focused and tightly designed games in the future like Sekiro, Bloodborne and the Dark Souls series. A lot of the problems in ER and SotE stem from it's size. The visuals and level design are amazing but the open world is empty and the repetitive, reused enemies and bosses is just terrible. I honestly feel ER and SotE would be so much better if they were about half the size or just branching paths of small areas and Legacy Dungeons. I don't feel the size and expanse of the game is worth the diminished quality and lack of polish.

[@laughingman9574]

So, Souls games were not reusing anything? DS1 and DS2 are THE WORST at it. And I love From games since DeS launch. Taking scale in mind, those 2 games reused WAY more than ER did. So, give good example of not doing it. EVERY Souls game does it, EVERY game does it. The difference is, ER base game has about 150 unique enemies, so give me an example of someone doing it better.

[@jackalx2154]

@@laughingman9574 I'm obviously not saying that games should have no reuse at all. Obviously I don't expect every enemy I come across in a game to be completely unique. That's just asinine and deliberately taking my argument in bad faith. Obviously enemy and boss reuse is expected, but it can still be done poorly, excessively and just for the sake of filling space, which is bad game design. I am equally as critical of Fromsofts previous games and don't condone the terrible and poor reuse of enemies and bosses in those games or any other game either. Ideally every area should have a unique suite of enemies that fill it with tasteful reuse of enemies from previous areas where appropriate. A game should not be larger than the content it can offer, otherwise the content will feel repetitive or spread thin. Again, the terrible reuse of enemies and bosses in ER and SotE isn't because Fromsoftware are bad at making games. These issues stem from the games being too big for the content they can offer. ER and SotE aren't the biggest games, but if Fromsoftware struggles to properly develop games of this size then I would rather they make smaller games of a manageable size for them or split their larger projects up into multiple DLC's or expansions. If ER and SotE were smaller, or made up of multiple DLC's or expansions, then these issues would not exist. It's important to point out poor game design decisions so that they are recognised and not repeated.

[@raiden3013]

instead of small games. i would prefer they keep games large like elden ring but take extra development time to jam pact them with stuff and or make what they have mor quality. like the dlc may be bad with how open and empty it is but the what they do have like the caves and catacombs were some quality experiences that the base game lacked.

[@rogalcorn734]

​@@raiden3013"Take extra development time.... ". While I understand where you're coming from, ER already took 6 yrs to make, and SOTE took 2. We are entering an age where games are taking more and more time to develop. And that's if they plan to release in a complete and playable state. I personally wouldn't be opposed to them making a large, quality game. But If they make another massive game, that's more dense and fleshed out, it would release in a decade.

[@L-or3vr]

​@@rogalcorn734shadow of the erdtree probably took even more years since the concepts / history were already a thing during the base game development

[@tribacioustee2846]

I feel catharsis over how well you expressed these points. I've loved FromSoft ever since the days of Demon's Souls, and I loved Demon's Souls not just because of its action and aesthetics, but for its unbound creativity. Ironic how the games are now too big to fail, for Demon's Souls took as many chances as it did because it believed failure was certain - so they just made games they liked. There are only two fights in this expansion that I felt captured the spirit of the old From - "Jori, Elder Inquisitor" and "the Lamenter". The Lamenter is in a flat arena, but his gimmick forces you to be creative - if your build was defensive and patient like mine, it will die instantly and be overwhelmed. So without any respeccing or changing gear, I changed my style with the tools I had on hand, and recklessly attacked without concern for defence. I took hits but I managed my resources well and I won. Jori, Elder Inquisitor does not test your reflexes but your resourcefulness. He teleports away so you can't cling to him. Him and his summoned backup can threaten you with many projectiles, so you should use the trees and gravestones as cover while you wait them out or get in close. You need to prioritise targets, and you are rewarded for having options that can control multiple enemies at once (but you do not strictly need them). Are either of these bosses 'hard'? Not insufferably, I imagine many prepared veterans beat them first try. But they are different from the norm of their game. They are not just another "Memorise the patterns, wait out the attack and do a quick counterhit". They are not "Hide behind a greatshield and poke them with a rapier or spear". You can play them this way, but they're far from the only way. And that felt great. I need more bosses like that, bosses that play to From's strengths as action RPG devs, and don't just feel like a poor man's character-action game

[@jobbersupreme8720]

Jori is one of the worst boss fights in the entire games and it "capturing the spirit of the old From games" or whatever bullshit you try to spew won't change that

[@tribacioustee2846]

@@jobbersupreme8720 I'd like to hear your argument

[@jobbersupreme8720]

@@tribacioustee2846 Extremely annoying spell spamming boss that combined with his constant summon spam and teleporting makes for an honestly poorly designed boss that is nowhere near in quality to combat encounters in that same DLC like Messmer or Midra

[@tribacioustee2846]

@@jobbersupreme8720 They give you terrain as cover against most of his spells, and he is staggerable when you are close. If he's doing spells up close, that's a blunder and you can backstab him. His teleporting is fair because getting in close on him is so overwhelmingly in your favour as is. I'm sorry he wasn't Rollspam McCombolots, but I think you completely failed to understand my point.

[@jobbersupreme8720]

@@tribacioustee2846 He barely staggers when hitting him and the backstabs are the only safe way to get damage on him. The gravestones can block his projectiles yes but that doesn't matter when he still spams them when you're trying to get close and specially the annoying ground spiral that along with his summons is a pain in the ass (Not to mention that his teleport also does damage) I do understand your point that you prefer Demon's Souls styled gimmick bosses but i completely disagree with that point since said gimmick bosses tend to be mostly poorly designed and unremarkable with a few exceptions

[@ShivaX51]

You nailed it. I've tried to explain to people my issues with the DLC and to some extent Elden Ring. And the Scadutree Blessings are just terrible. I started playing the DLC with a 2nd character that had finished the base game and my God does hunting Fragments suck. So many map areas are just near empty zones you have to traverse for the sake of traversing them. It's to where you just pull up a wiki and go "is there anything here worth bothering with?" And the answer is almost always "no". Except there will almost always be a Fragment or two there, so you're going there anyway.

[@stevemichael652]

Fighting enemies in the open world is a very low priority point of the game which is why you have the option to bypass them. Theres really no reason or incentive to fight them other than boredom, rune farming or testing weapons.

[@skinnytimmy1]

All they drop is crafting items and useless gear. If you could craft permanent items, they would actually be worth it.

[@O0dZ-x5e]

Okay but you’re saying this as it’s not a flaw when it absolutely is. The OW in base game was empty but fine enough it could be disregarded…the DLC is fckin EMPTY. Just empty open fields. We got duped period, FS fanboys suckin this shit dry doesn’t make it a good game. It’s been like 3 years now…and the game is NOT aging well at all and FS die hards just gonna have to deal. The series will die if they don’t actually improve, and FS diehards can’t save it.

[@laughingman9574]

@@skinnytimmy1 They don't drop weapons or armor? Are weapons and armor not worth it?

[@jafetgabino1691]

@@O0dZ-x5eit’s a great open world 😆all the mini bosses to find and all the beautiful environments that hold secrets I wish you saw the world like I did

[@danielegalizzi8562]

So you think that skipping 90% of the game by running past all enemies is the intended way?

[@MrJabbothehut]

90% of the problems this game has results from it being open world. I hope FS never make another open world game as it completely breaks the design philosophy that they have learnt and evolved over the last 15 years. Torrent is there because the game is open world. The bosses are severly overtuned because you have the ability to go and overlevel yourself and have access to a million tools that trivialises them. People who don't get this and defend every aspect of this game are the reason why franchises bite the dust.

[@thomaskopv2366]

You're absolutely right about torrent. Before ER even came out, and we heard that there was gonna be horseback combat I got well excited about how they're gonna implement it for bosses. But it's honestly crap. It's not unique in any good way and is basically always the most boring way to fight a boss.

[@valentinvas6454]

I disagree. Open worlds can be amazing, they just need to tone down the scale and make it tighter, denser and also do something about enemy scaling and make exploration more rewarding. I easily killed, Rennala, Radahn and Morgott first try because I cleared out pretty much everything in their areas before facing them. All in all I think they need to perfect the open world formula instead of completely abandoning it. I mean ER is their first open world and it's still better than 90% of other open worlds. I have faith in them that 1-2 more games and they can improve a lot with this approach as well. Despite the faults it was still a tremendous feeling to be able to go all those places in the distance. Remember when you saw all thouse buildings in the Ringed City, Lothric or Anor Londo but you could only visit like a third of them? Yeah I don't want go back to those times.

[@NationalEligraphic]

I am so glad you guys aren’t the ones they listen and hopefully never listen to. These takes you Elden ring haters have would kill this game 🙏😭 keep your takes bro we don’t want em.

[@thatmemeguy2520]

these days u cant have an opinion on fromsoft games becuase of how many new people elden ring braught in.And they will just glaze the game to death and as someone who has played multiple souls/soulslike.Even i can say elden ring is not the best due to how many lasting flaws the game will have... -later runs become a horseback simulator -90% of the bosses ar not fun to fight and feel like filler and u dont get satisfaction out of it and u just think OMG thank god thats over -to get to dlc u have to pretty much go through the entire map again wich is tedious and obnoxious -torrent being painfully slow on a big map -alot of bosses being reskined Dont get me wrong i enjoyed the game but i dont see myself playing it in the future if more dlc doesnt get announced.And if it doesnt its probably back to dark souls 3,bloodborne and nioh 2

[@joaoluizkfsantos8392]

New players glaze ER about as much as the old ones glaze BB. Some things never change, the future generations will continue glazing their new products while the old timers complain

[@thatmemeguy2520]

@@joaoluizkfsantos8392 not really most people say about BB is that its MID without dlc.And the chalice dungeons suck and i think people only really like it because of its combat and setting and personally myself its not the best game but its damn close and NG+ in bloodborne is actuelly hard

[@alexinivai08]

If you dont have fun with the boss fights youre playing the wrong game Im afraid.

[@LeEnnyFace]

Very well put. I was hoping the DLC would make up for mistakes in the base game, but it sometimes just intensifies them. Most maps are TERRIBLY shallow and the smithing stone loot is borderline offensive. So many cheap ambushes that it might have more than all Dark Souls combined. I was looking forward to FS' future up to this DLC, now I'm just hesitant. It's a bit sad, but as you said, there was a pattern leading up to this.

[@6e756c6c]

To add to the boss design thing: I hink any move that requires a boss become invunrable for several seconds is bad design. I also found using anything other than a blood infused twinblade made the boss fights tedious, so more bad design. My biggest impression from the DLC? Tedium. I have no incentive to replay it.

[@abnerradu3426]

" I dont like something, ITS BAD DESIGN" Genius.God people are stupid 🤦‍♂️

[@thearchitectwarrior5409]

Keep on cooking, my guy. While I have some disagreements, you've echoed many of my own issues with Elden Ring and the DLC, especially on map design, fast travel, and boss design. I hope FromSoft (or at least other Souls-likes) take some cues from your critiques.

[@lewis18051]

What issues do you have with map design and fast travel? I’m interested cos it’s not a criticism I’ve heard before

[@thearchitectwarrior5409]

@@lewis18051 Dark Souls 1 was my first Souls-like, so I have a fondness for a lack of fast travel and mystery in world traversal. I agree with Merlin that Elden Ring's map gives too much information to the player. I also dislike fast travel because I think I promotes empty world design that's not interesting to explore, and fast travel itself feels boring to use as it skips what could be interesting gameplay moments in the first place. I don't think fast travel should be removed completely, but I do think there should be less fast travel points than how many there are in Elden Ring and the DLC. Edit: I also like worlds that can be fully traversed without using fast travel, and the DLC has several areas that are one way trips on foot. You have to use fast travel to leave multiple areas and that's just not interesting to me. Totally a personal opinion, though.

[@swan-cloud]

based doom bow pfp

[@JUSTICEFORPEANUT]

​@@lewis18051good interconnected map with a few save points makes travel feel meaningful by making going into unknown areas tense. If you know you can't just warp back to safety everything has more weight. So those shortcuts back to firelink feel really mind blowing when you discover them

[@laughingman9574]

@@thearchitectwarrior5409 Every Souls game has areas that you must fast travel from.

[@dorrianbrooks9408]

Honestly, as a new player, the Fromsoft community's mindset towards Elden Ring is honestly a turn off. I've only ever played and finished Elden Ring, so I'm clearly a newb, but you're not allowed to have any critiques regardless of if you're new or not. The default response is always "get good" no matter how bullshit a boss is. And the constant discourse over what's the "true" way to play and what makes a boss kill honest and blah blah blah is so tiresome and annoying. I have my complaints, but I still did enjoy Elden Ring for the most part, so I plan on trying older games(Dark Souls especially), but the Fromsoft community has definitely solidified itself as one of those fandoms that you're better off not interacting with and should just enjoy the material instead.

[@bloodycrow10]

You will love Bloodborne man

[@adventpsyop]

@@bloodycrow10 name checks out. Also seconded. Bloodborne is goated.

[@dorrianbrooks9408]

@@bloodycrow10 I actually tried Bloodborne back when I was like 18(Im gonna be 24 in a few weeks), and I never really gave it the time it deserved like I did Elden Ring. The most I did was Father Gascoigne who beat my ass, then dipped at Cleric Beast. I've had my mind set on trying the Dark Souls games, but I've also had a tiny part of me thinking of going back to play it, especially since I really like the Eldritch horror aspects of the game(and I actually have it on my PS4, versus the others I dont have yet).

[@youcantbeatk7006]

@@dorrianbrooks9408 Why say "back when I was like 18(Im gonna be 24 in a few weeks)," when you could've just said "like 5-6 years ago?"

[@michaelwilcox8187]

@bloodycrow10 bloodborne was my first, and it's the absolute best. Awesome pvp.

[@Ravielsk]

I feel the real issue here is that the open world design is simply incompatible with the souls formula. An open world is mainly about getting to interact with the world and its inhabitants, to learn about them and to immerse yourself in the setting. Normally the world would be used to get space for quests and NPCs. The reward for exploring would be a cool little village with a sidequest or a interesting story beat. But that fundamentally goes against the basic idea of the Souls formula where the world is supposed to be dead or dying with the player just sort not even really saving it. You cannot really have little villages and story beats when the game is barely allowed to have any NPCs or story(real story, not obscure one sentence references on items you may or may not find). As a result the game designers are sort of pushed into hyper focusing on combat in a game that never had that much of a complex combat system to begin with. Thus we get Scadutree fragments and overtuned bosses as there is very little that can be done with this combat system besides inflating and deflating numbers.

[@lexiferenczy9695]

But Elden Ring ist not Dark Souls and the world isn't even supposed to be that dead according to the lore implications but still ended up that way, because Fromsoft seems so stuck in their Dark Souls mindset. The undead Curse doesn't even exist in Elden Ring yet there we have everyone being a zombie again. I honestly don't understand why they couldn't have some more NPCs and Villages like in other open world games. Nothing too crazy, but maybe something? Anything? Because they have everything they need: A character creator, animations that can be shared by all NPCs etc. The only real cost would have been to pay a bit more to voice actors. But no, everything has to be dead AGAIN and the only NPCs we meet end up dying a bit later anyways...

[@Apophes]

​@@lexiferenczy9695Elden ring is Dark souls. Just look at evolution from ds1 to ds3, then add ER to it and anyone woud say, that ER Is ds4 or open world dark souls. And its funny since we have example of REAL fromsoftware New IP, such as bloodborne and sekiro. Comoares to them, elden ring is barely a New IP and more like next evolution of dark souls, but without good combat Improvements

[@lexiferenczy9695]

​@@Apophes Yes, it ended up being very much like Dark Souls. But that's what I am criticising, because it's still meant to be a new IP since it isn't called Dark Souls and also has different themes (even though they borrowed very much) and I don't see why they couldn't just take the great combat and make everything else new. But they couldn't even let go of this whole "undead are walking" theme and so it's more similar to Dark Souls than it would have needed to be. Imo an open world without quite a bit of NPCs doesn't really make sense and it doesn't portray much level of scale when most people are dead or just missing, they should've leant a bit more toward story and less on combat.

[@Apophes]

@@lexiferenczy9695 they could have use combat mechanixa form bb, sekiro combat and ulgrade mechanics, with them. You can add even 50x combo, 300k hp boss. It still wouldnt be terrible since you acually fighting and dont waiting for your turn.

[@joesheridan9451]

Said it perfectly dude

[@tokyobassist]

You said Shadow of the Erdtree felt like a bad parody of FROM tropes but that already happened in Dark Souls 2/3 and Elden Ring base game. Dark Souls 2 ran with the trope of the series being only about difficulty. Dark Souls 3 literally ran out of ideas and even made the game's themes a meta narrative around it and cashing in on nostalgia wiping it's hands of most of DS2 and being a direct sequel to 1. Elden Ring...I don't know how many Ulcerated Tree Spirits and generic catacombs needed to spammed to see that FROM fell into the same tropes as other open worlds games. Great video. It really makes me laugh to see how many people got mad at me when I called this Dark Souls 4, 5 and 6 when it turned out to be exactly that including series tradition of having a trash ass end game. I like Elden Ring enough to have played 2 playthroughs but it's no DS1 or Bloodborne (lack of jumping be damned). Lies of P has so far been the only thing taking their formula and pushed it in new directions while having pretty high difficulty without it resorting to cheese.

[@heideknight7782]

The open world in Elden Ring completely lacks the genius level designs of Demon's Souls and the Dark Souls series. Here the progression was mainly tied to defeating a boss to get access to a new area and with this perhaps also getting access to new upgrade material or better weapons. So defeating a boss was not just for obtaining more Souls, but it was crucial to make progress in the game. All the Dark Souls games had only few optional bosses. In Elden Ring and the Shadow DLC, on the other hand, almost all bosses in the open world are optional. And also all bosses in the side dungeons and catacombs are optional as well. They tried to give the player some sense of progression with the Scadutree fragment collectibles, yet, in reality they are nothing but checklist items that force one to scan all parts of the map (which would be useless otherwise, because most of the other loot in the DLC is usless for your current build, particularly smithing stones and all that). Fromsoft failed to combine the open world in Elden Ring with a meaningful and rewarding progression path which motivates a player to do long horse riding segements to reach all parts on the map. In more common RPGs like Skyrim or the Witcher the progression is tied to a quest system and usually the main quest automatically sends you to all different parts of the map. In Dark Souls a structure like this wasn't required, because of the very few optional areas and content mentioned. But in a game with a huge (sandbox like) open world like Elden Ring I feel like something like a quest guide or similar would have made the gameplay significantly better.

[@space-slime]

I was so disappointed to see so many recycled bosses in the DLC... How did they think anyone wanted to refight those shit dragons fights again? Or those seed beasts or whatever they're called. I ended up running past 80% of the open world bosses... just no interest there at all.

[@joshualouw9506]

Yeah Id prefer nothing honestly

[@anonymousperson8903]

Ghostflame dragons are quite different to the base game dragons, I enjoyed fighting them. Jagged peak drakes are also slightly different, but I enjoyed them less.

[@based-ys9um]

​@@anonymousperson8903😂😂you people are actually insane.

[@anonymousperson8903]

@@based-ys9um How?

[@based-ys9um]

@@anonymousperson8903 if another company did that you would absolutely say they copy and pasted. Which they absolutely did.

[@saturn580]

I lost count of how many times I discovered a new area, was blown away by the amazing visuals, then immediately crushed to discover it was populated by the same copy/pasted enemies and base-game field bosses I'd faced in every other area. Even the legacy dungeons which boast the best level design are almost entirely populated by regular enemies from the open world areas, so they all feel generic and tedious to explore. Shadow of the Erdtree is by far FromSoft's most disappointing DLC.

[@adventpsyop]

This is absolutely the best video critique I've seen on this game. I think you brought up many points that aren't being discussed as much as the boss designs but which are equally as detrimental to Elden Ring's drop in quality from their other titles. I feel crazy that I find the game to be overall a mess when even the most critical essays start with, "I really love this game but..." There are moments that are really fun. And there is a staggering amount to appreciate from an artistic design perspective. But overall, I just kept seeing the seams and the cracks and just wanted it to be over with the first time I played it.

[@EmeralBookwise]

Scadutree fragments are less comparable to rune level, and more comparable to smithing stones, which in the base game are very much something players have to explore the world to acquire and depending on how far a player is in the game different tiers of smithing stone will be in limited supply, restricting how many different weapons can be fully upgraded. If anything, the Scadutree fragments are a better implementation of weapon progression because it applies becuase you no longer have to upgrade each different weapon you might want to use or just experiment with individually. This sense of progression continuing on from where the base game left off is something no previous FromSoft game has been able to replicate. They were always just new end game zones with a flat difficulty curve, but that was more or less okay for those more linear games. Scrapping the blessing system and just scaling everything the same, wouldn't really work for Elden Ring anymore. Without a system for progression there would be no more ability to when finding one particular challenge to difficult, to instead go off and explore in a different direction so that the player can come back stronger. Overall, Shadow of the Erdtree has been like getting to play the base game for the first time all over again. Really, whether or not someone enjoys the DLC is going to be very much dependent ant on how much they enjoyed the base game in the first place, and that's how it should be. DLC's aren't the place to "fix" things, that's what sequels are for. DLCs are for people that already enjoy the base game and want more of it. The simple fact of the matter is that despite its shared DNA, Elden Ring isn't Dark Souls. It's Elden Ring, and an open world games just functions differently in ways that can't be directly corelated to games with more restrictive world design. That doesn't make one genre better than the other, just different. If the only thing a person likes about Elden Ring is the legacy dungeons because of how those portions of the game are most like Dark Souls, that doesn't mean the rest of Elden Ring is bloated or uninspired, it just means that person has different preferences in the type of gameplay they are looking for. ... Also, saying that the two Great Red Bears are just reskinned runebears is massively underrepresenting just how much their move sets have been expanded.

[@thomaskopv2366]

I see your point about torrent, but i dont think i wouldve even finished the DLC if you had to run everywhere. Especially in areas like the finger ruins or cerulean coast where there is essentially nothing for long stretches.

[@paullogan5627]

Yeah you can infer his meaning from his take : that the open world would have to be smaller and re-designed such that skipping all open world encounters isn’t as easy as it is now with torrent

[@hadesgaming353]

THANK YOU for saying these games have only gotten more and more conventional as time has gone on! That's one of the main reasons why DS1 is one of my favorite games of all time and I can't ever enjoy games like Bloodborne and DS3 anywhere near as much as other people do. As time has gone on I feel that a lot of what I love about DS1 has been sanded away to create games with more and more mass appeal. I'm not trying to say that games having mass appeal inherently makes them worse, but rather that in chasing mass appeal you often end up leaving behind a lot of the flavor and vibe that i love so much about games like DS1.

[@paullogan5627]

I just wish from soft had the balls again to take away fast travel from the player . And to have unique punishing mechanics like curse that made it so that you face a huge obstacle in the middle of your journey. Dark souls felt like an adventure where you can get lost and even stuck (like in blighttown with broken weapons). That sense of despair has never again been reached in a fromsoft game

[@solomani5959]

For the fragments I think it would be better if they were boss fight related.

[@joaoluizkfsantos8392]

That would just make them more tedious to acquire in subsequent runs. At least it's just a quick 30 min detour to grab them all after you know their locations, tying to stuff like dungeon bosses would be a mistake.

[@myke687]

No issues with DLC bosses, but the loot in exploration isn't rewarding

[@ReaverZiel]

Great analysis dude, I've always felt weird about elden ring, been a fan of fromsoft games and soullikes in general ever since dark souls 1 but for whatever reason i just couldn't get the praise everyone was giving to elden ring, there was something off with the game for me since the beginning and seeing everyone loving it so much and claiming it's the best fromsoft game ever in the history of forever made me feel like I was crazy or something, I just couldn't put into words all my problems with the game but you just did it for me in the most amazing way possible, you really deserve way more recognition. Keep up the good work

[@HollowKnight21]

Yep. YOu can always play other games now. FromSoft doesn't need to pander to "huhuhuhuhuhu please go back to dark souls" crowd when Elden Ring and its DLC are by the far the most commercially successful and critically acclaim things that I have done.

[@Idontevenknowman779]

@@HollowKnight21ER pretty mid tho ngl. You know Miyazaki himself doesn’t even get the appeal for ER lol? He didn’t even think it would be popular. In truth it just came out at the right time and open world dark souls just sounded kinda cool so people checked it out.

[@ReaverZiel]

@@HollowKnight21 being mainstream and successful don't always mean the game is good. Personally I believe dark souls 1 and sekiro are the best fromsoft games (never played bloodborne because I'm a PC gamer). And pander is a curious choice of word considering elden ring is the exception in fromsoft catalog, all the other games are niche so if anything fromsoft is "pandering" to a more casual audience with ER

[@HollowKnight21]

@@ReaverZiel "Casual audience" yet is the vets crying about overtuned bosses and unfair movesets.

[@gv2212]

​@@HollowKnight21Yeah because the casual audiences just search the most op build use mimic and skip the boss.

[@bepkororoti8019]

Sorry, nothing personal, but for me, disabling Torrent in the dlc is the worst take I must've heard about Elden Ring in a long while. I dont understand how the open world would be better without a mount. If you want to fight everything nobody's stopping you. Almost everybody seems to hate that you can't ever summon him in the Abyssal Woods. I didn't mind the first time through but I question the decision to deny using torrent even after getting rid of the aged ones.

[@paullogan5627]

He meant the world would have to be re-designed around the fact that torrent can’t be summoned. Not just to remove him and leave the game as is. It would be very tedious. Issue is that now most encounters in the open world can just be skipped removing any and all tension

[@bepkororoti8019]

@@paullogan5627 I don't see how you could achieve that, every boss run in older souls games works basically the same and people hate hate the long ones with annoying enemies they can't run by. I'd be furious if exploration meant I had to fight every mosquito on the way, especially when it's not the first time you come through a region. Although I like horsing around and looking into every crevice and behind every rock I'm open to the idea but I don't see how it could work.

[@paullogan5627]

@@bepkororoti8019 ideally every boss would have a shortcut to the grace point so that run backs aren’t very tedious. The world would be smaller with less open space and more focus on big levels like shadow keep and storm veil castle connecting to each other in interesting ways. It’s a pretty big ask but for me I loved dark souls 1 world design and nothing since (except a bit of bloodborne) came close to that again. I realize I am asking for a different game but that’s what I liked.

[@mmoodenz]

05:20 on Torrent being afraid of the frenzied flame, there is an item „Surging Flame of Frenzy“ explaining how it melts spirits, regardless of them being eternal. You can literally experience this when approaching the „Eye of Sauron“ by the Frenzied Flame Village, as your madness builds up, Torrent gradually loses HP.

[@israelperez-wn8ib]

The DLC is still Elden Ring, so while yes they improved the map design, weapons exc. people are acting like it’s a full on sequel and as such should have been remarkably different and improved… it’s still Elden Ring, it’s staying true to its base game, while giving us this gigantic expansion to explore…

[@joaoluizkfsantos8392]

For real, the best review IMO is just saying "this is more elden ring, if you didn't like it before, you won't like it now"

[@voidy6836]

it’s pretty much an occurrence for every fromsoft release now, people drop some “niche” take like “guys this thing you like is actually objectively not good because I said so” and then they provide critiques that stand true for not only the base game but for the large majority of fromsoft’s works in general, and so they just come off as elitists trying to drop some hot and nuanced take that proves from has undergone some colossal change in design philosophy that irreversibly damages the genre only to inevitably switch up after a few months/years have passed. The funniest part is that if anyone questions their reasoning they immediately strawman the people critiquing them into people who just absently mindedly glaze fromsoft games and thus try to refute any and all counter-arguments to their points with that. the dlc isn’t perfect by any means ofc, and neither was the base game, but as with every fromsoft release in the past 10 years people are gonna drop things like this that blow it unbelievably out of proportion either for attention, bias, or whatever other reason they have

[@Lambo-ux3uh]

i really expected to just not like this video bc i enjoyed the dlc myself but this is honestly really well made and thought out so I respect calling out the flaws and overall was a good video i love it

[@josephcoffey2175]

As much as I love elden Ring, I'll admit it does have a balancing issue. Most bosses really only had a couple of ways to win. The player doesn't have the capability to keep up with the burst attacks of the bosses. I've been going for cheese kills at this point, I feel the dance is just too much for one misstep, and you're dead, but again I love this game and is still my favorite at this time, but yes it can be a better game with proper balance, that's the evolution process of gaming I suppose.

[@Sephirothkingdom782]

I agree, but I feel like there were 3 exceptions to this in the dlc. Midra, bayle, and messmer all felt like traditional souls fights and they were great.

[@JellySlays]

Im waiting to play the dlc on a different build but i think my overall criticism that bugs me the most is fashion and aesthetic and viability. Purple is my favorite color. We got a purple sword that glows deep purple. Sounds cool, but i already know it's not anywhere near viable as a normal weapon in the game. On top of it, no purple armor. This games excels in like only 4ish colors. Gold, Silver grayscales, red and maybe blue. Lacks greens, lacks purples, orange, pinks as primary colors for armor. Too many weapons have designs that can't be matched through armor and it's crazy to me. Armor in the base game was already hard to mix match and i think the dlc fixes that but it also failed to provide variety in colors. I feel like for every boss or enemy that doesn't have armor drops like romina, should have at least armor designed in their image/influence or theme. Idk

[@zawarudo8991]

Fromsoft is loosing it‘s way, the good don‘t outweigh the ever piling bad. Reminder that chainsaw glitch is still in the game, among a plethera of others.

[@obadiahplainman8897]

No torrent and no map? That would take so long to finish…

[@paullogan5627]

Spot on man . Everything about Elden ring scares me about the future of fromsoftware .

[@HollowKnight21]

Elden Ring is by far their best selling, most critically acclaimed game. The DLC is by far their best selling, most critically acclaimed DLC. Doomsayers can just return to their ever beloved roll simulator DS3 or their 30fps, farm your regen items while fighting mid-bosses Bloodborne. Or you can drop out of the fandom and play, I don't know, Starfield.

[@Idontevenknowman779]

@@HollowKnight21wtf lol. Like you new fromsoft fans are literally insane. Bloodborne would eat you tf with your mimic tear summoning ahh 😂😂

[@JCashBeatz]

@@HollowKnight21 bloodbore is goated but u are right about everything else.

[@paullogan5627]

@@HollowKnight21 more popular = better is a child’s way of thinking. Going open world only added a small bit to the fromsoft formula but came at the cost of so many other aspects that it hardly justifies its own inclusion.

[@Stanzbey69]

@@Idontevenknowman779 i’m not a new fan, but he’s right. He put it very badly, but he’s right. Souls vets are way more insufferable

[@Rottingwood]

Interesting and well thought out review! I definitely disagree with some of the stuff here but this is a good, concise video. I'm coming here from your SoTE review so I might copy and paste this review into that video since this comment is essentially commenting on ER as a whole, but either way I figured I'd put my thoughts out there. This'll be sectioned into three parts, what this video made me realize, what I already agreed with, and what I disagree with. I'll just mark this with a simple (1) (2) and (3) for anyone who wants to read one specific part, I'll also mark parts that are more specific to the SoTE review in (DLC) brackets too, although I haven't gotten to the DLC myself so feel free to just disregard everything I say because honestly I would probably do the same. This will also probably be split up into multiple comments so if this ends abruptly just check the replies. (1) I know this sounds dumb but I genuinely didn't even think of the fact that even though the game doesn't give you an explicit waypoint for stuff like churches or evergaols. You can still see it clearly on the map so it has the same effect. It's extra dumb because I found myself looking for those exact markings on a map for whenever I wanted to find them and yet the idea that they were just functionally the same, pretty stupid of me but also pretty funny thinking about it. I never really though about how artifical when and when you can't summon Torrent is, I just accepted it as "well that's how the game wants it to be so ok" but you're right it doesn't make sense in the context of the world or the situation. Also the summoning signs telegraphing when a boss was gonna show up was something I kinda clocked into in the base game but didn't fully analyze until now, again, stupid of me, but kinda funny. (2) The re-usage of bosses has always been something that annoyed me, I don't mind when it comes to stuff like the Tree sentinals, Erdtree Avatars, or the dragons because with the Tree sentinels it makes sense and the dragon, while being a much more egregious example, usually have some small distinction to make themselves different (even if ideally the distinctions should be much larger) but I can't excuse the game just slapping boss health bars onto random enemies and acting like it's a new boss without any tweaks or changes, this is more egregious with the Erdtree avatars because I feel like the avatars should have had different abilities depending on which minor erdtree they were defending, they do this with the Caelid one but that's the only one as far as I'm aware, like why not have the one by Raya Lucaria incorperate some Glintstone magic into it's moveset? maybe give it a staff instead of a hammer? (DLC) I actually noticed that the red rune bear you show in the DLC footage seems to have new attacks and things going for it so despite you citing it as a negative, I actually would consider that a fairly well done reuse of an asset, even if I would have preferred it to be more distinct, same with the GhostFlame dragon you showed which seemed to have a handful of new things to go along with it, basically I don't have a huge problem with reuse of assets aslong as the assets are different enough to stand out, and the red rune bear and Ghost dragon seemed to do that while regular enemies and to an extent, regular dragons and Erdtree avatars don't. I think the only (semi) regular enemy I think this actually works with is the Crucible knights, as they already feel like minibosses in and of themselves and aren't overused and enjoyable to fight. Also in terms of major Bosses like Astel or godfrey that's just straight up BS. And genuinely bad design, they should have just made it so there's a way to refight bosses you've already fought in an arena or a practise sort of way, like, think of some way to "relive your greatest fights" or something like that, I think some mods do that but it's baffling that they didn't do that in base game. There's actually a mod that I've been playing and enjoying alot so far called "Convergance" which actually enhances this issue in an attempt to fix it, instead of fighting regular Erdtree avatars, they just put a random enemy there and call it a boss, those weird cockroach thing's in Caelid, one's a boss now, a Grafted Scion? While actually excusable as the Scion was already a miniboss, it's a boss now. A random Erdtree gaurd? He's a boss now! It's definitely strange because otherwise Convergance has been great so far, just an odd choice to me. They also attempted to add more variety to field boss encounters but so far the only one I've found is a crystal crab boss who just shoots glintstone projectiles instead of water, maybe he did more but that's the only attack he used before I killed him, very dissapointing since it's quite a cool concept. This isn't me slagging on Convergance btw, the new spells and weapons you can play with in that mod are amazing and make it worth it imo. The lack of consequences in ER is also something that has bugged me, it just makes the character and by extension, the world, feel static in a way. I wish there were more diverging paths. More actual consequences, having bell bearings would be fine if the game didn't try so hard to push the illusion of consequences onto you, Convergance just makes the bell bearings something that each merchant gives you which helps this issue. But it shouldn't be in the base game. Characters should react to you doing bad or good things, give you items, treat you differently, have lasting impressions and impact, the characters aren't bad by any means, far from it, I just wish we got to see more of them rather than the static portraits we see throughout the game. I wish the catacombs and ruins were more unique. they serve their purpose and they're alright and kinda fun overall but god are they bland, and the only thing you really think when finding them is "Okay, where's the boss and loot." and I could do just fine without ever seeing another one of those imps. Like I still kill all the enemies in and around them and there are some kinda unique bosses like those shadow monsters and those erdtree statues, but they could have been so much more. Convergance actually does try and fix this by tweaking most catacombs to feel more unique by including different enemies and altering textures and layouts, so one point for Convergance. (DLC) Oh my god the Scadutree fragments are worse than I thought, I admit I initally thought that it was a nice system that made sure players of every skill level had a challenge, and also encouraged exploration, but that was under the assumption that they would be locked behind actually important areas or bosses, not just scattered around the place, and the fact they don't even have a unique glow for when they haven't been picked up yet, my god. And now that I think about it it's kind of counter-intuitive since as you mentioned, you can gauge and catch up with an area because of the runes dropped by enemies, so even if you are underlevelled, you can still get a chance to grow, the fragments don't do that, GOOD THING CONVERGANCE REMOVES THEM ENTIRELY BABYYYYYY ANOTHER POINT FOR CONVERGANCE YEAH LET'S GO, MODDERS FIXING A GAME FOR THE DEVELOPERS WE'VE REALLY REACHED BETHESDA LEVELS LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Crafting wasn't needed What, you want more? I'll give as much explanation on this opinion on par with the amount of relevance crafting had. No seriously this isn't even a build thing. (Cont)

[@Rottingwood]

(3) Let's start with the bosses themselves, the ones that aren't just regular enemies with a health bar, but stuff like the Gargoyles, (most of) the Evergaols, you get what I'm going for. You mentioned that the only difference between each boss is " a samey slog, only differnent by how annoying each of them are" but I don't see it that way, I find learning each bosses moveset and patters, finding the ideal places to dodge and jump in so I can get an extra hit, and the overall experience of the bosses unique and interesting enough to keep me engaged, you mention in the DLC review that since every player is the same due to respec (which I disagree with but more on that later) that every boss is the same, but I disagree even with the examples you were showing while talking about it, that big shadowflame boss with all the fire, forcing you to space yourself out, is nowhere near the same as Morgott or Astel, granted this could be me taking a phrase far too literally when you meant something else but you get what I mean, I don't think all the bosses are great obviously, but there aren't any of these unique bosses that I haven't outright not enjoyed. One thing I do agree on is the arena thing, more arena variety would be nice. I do agree that there should be more attacks that require you to jump, the crucible knights ground stomp and most ground slamds should fall under this category but they just dont...Until Fromsoft decides they do for some reason, like yeah I'm glad jumping actually makes a difference but come on, give the circle button a break. The point i'm about to make is incredibly subjective but I don't mind Torrent, I'll mainly touch on the fighting enemies part of your argument. I find the combat enjoyable so I don't bother riding past enemies with torrent as a first solution, plus you need the runes to level up and get stronger so to me running past the enemies has always felt counter-productive unless you're just trying to get to a specific spot or just don't enjoy the combat as much as I do, which is fine, there have been plenty of instances where I've ran past enemies but I've always made sure to kill them atleast once so I get an understanding of how they work since again, I find that enjoyable. So when you asked "Who fights the rune bears? Nobody, not me! not you!" Me. I am the one singular person who fights that bear. This puffed up Paddington has nothing on me and my large variety of magical purple rocks. Despite your grievances with the map and exploration, I don't mind it as much. I agree that finding stuff on your own is more rewarding, and a reason as to why the Souls games became so popular, I think it makes sense for ER to have a map although I wish it either had everything laid out or nothing at all (yet another point to convergance for laying it all out at the start) I do agree it's not breaking convention by any means, but I kind of understand what people mean when they say that, I think what people mean is that, unlike most open worlds, think of Ubisoft, each open world area is so distinct and pretty that they don't feel like they have to use a map whatsoever, as there are plenty of landmarks to go off of. This is fine, I do think the world of ER is decently crafted for the most part, but just because the demand to use the map isn't as high in other open world games doesn't mean that the map or exploration system in and of itself is innovating, it's not, it's just more enjoyable to explore. For this reason I also don't mind Torrent that much but that's just due to how I play, it doesn't make the way you played invalid just like how it doesn't make the way I played invalid. It also makes the catacombs less egregious because I'm doing it half for the loot and half because I genuinely enjoy the exploration and combat. Also I'd argue the sacred tears and golden seeds are fine because like you said, you don't need all of them and they're much less crucial and only dictate how much health you recover, not everything like the Scadutree fragments, plus they're actually quite clear and distinct in placement so they don't take you for a ride or anything like that, I think it's the right level of encouraging exploration without making it tedious or monotonous. The open world itself is far from filler if you ask me, I do agree there should be more variety and bigger outpost and catacombs, but the world itself is beautiful and fun to explore to me. I'm mixed on Spirit ashes but I lean more on liking them, but their main problem is definitely how buggy they make bosses, if the bosses reacted more uniquely to there being multiple targets then it would be alot better but I totally see why you think they hinder more than help. I think there should be direct drawbacks to using them rather just damaging you a bit, and I don't think they should be able to be upgraded to the same level as weapons, but I think they don't incentivize you to disengage with the game as much as you say, because unless you're running something like maxed out mimic tear (Which I agree is busted) Spirit ashes, atleast to my understanding, won't last for long, so by going into attack while the ashes are effective, you take the attention off of them and onto you, allowing them to stay alive longer, thus dealing more damage, think of it like playing with a friend, so depending on how you play it they could make you engage or disengage. Not particularly strong reasoning or justification I know, but you see where I'm coming from surely. I think respeccing is fine. If a player is doing it purely to go for a meta build then yeah I can see the issue but I think the vast majority of players do it simply just to try different build or strats, atleast that's what I do it for. I admit this is by far my weakest defense because I do entirely understand where you're coming from and do agree with you for the most part, but it ultimately doesn't make each boss "the same boss" or make every character "the same character" to me, I see it like pizza, yeah some people are gonna indulge in it too much, but for the vast majority of people, they're just gonna use it like a regular meal or a reward of sorts, so I think it's fine personally but honestly I can totally see my argument here getting dismantled, I just don't think it's as big of an issue like you say it is. I've never abided by meta builds so that could be the reason why it doesn't affect me so much but that's a me thing only. There is a fair argument of if the meta is so vastly good compared to everything else then there's no reason to use everything else, and while I agree, I feel it's more fun to do your own thing. That's a player made thing though, not something the game enforces or balances, so I do wish there was more in-game things from stopping you from using the meta build or atleast making the build less viable. Ashes of war, again I see where you're coming from but inevitably when you make systems like this, some are gonna be bound to be better than others, doesn't make the others invalid, I don't think it leads to less variety like you said, since some ashes are gonna be better or just straight up more fun or interesting to use on other builds, but some should probably be nerfed Overall, pretty good review! I still enjoy ER alot despite this (although I am playing with a mod right now so that may say more than this entire text catacomb LMAO) but it's not perfect or a masterpiece, no game is a masterpiece, nothing can be perfect, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy it. Elden ring does have glaring flaws, but I still love the game despite that. There's nothing wrong with liking a flawed product or piece of media, you literally wouldn't be able to enjoy any piece of media if that were the case, to any fromsoft defender or fanboy reading this, when people state things or opinions in a negative or positive review like this, they aren't saying it like it's fact, they are simply giving their perspective and opinion. Just because they say things you disagree with does not make the game, or your experience, invalid, and similarly, it does not make their experience invalid. I don't think someone relying on the gun in BloodBorne is a good way to get the most out of the games combat, but that doesn't mean their experience with the game was any less valid than my experience of going full throttle into the combat with saws and axes and sparingly using the gun. They are not trying to sway you one way or the other, they are simply giving their opinion. If you enjoyed the games exploration, bosses, combat, dungeons, dragons, whatever, good for you, they aren't telling you not to enjoy what you enjoyed, they are simply telling you what they thought about the game and the parts you enjoyed. Telling people to "git gud" is not meaningful discussion, attacking people for not liking something you do or liking something that you don't is not meaningful discussion, my advice? just talk. express what you like about the game in a non hostile way, engage with their points and express why you feel differently. One thing you'll learn quickly is that there's alot more nuance when it comes to discussions like this, so please, just have a conversation. If you think a point is outright wrong or deceitful, then point it out, but otherwise, just talk. that's all you gotta do, don't tie your self worth to games either, that's lame (and gay) Until next time.

[@barofsoap6048]

Very good video.... i was surprised to find out you have almost no subscribers....quality stuff :)

[@WandaRora-v1y]

If you play offline mode, theres too much place thats way too hidden. Wdym im supposed to roll to a hidden wall that doesnt look like the usual hidden wall? And its not like the unlocked area is negligible

[@suuujuuus]

Especially the difficulty topic. I feel like with all the new people getting into these games, the false selling point of their key feature being absurd diffculty is pushed in even further - resulting in elitism, lack of empathy & understanding for people that struggle. Dark Souls never touched me because of the difficulty. Yeah, the rough and hostile world is one of its features for me, however the selling point is a learning curve, not regarding single enemies, but the whole game. That it didnt give you an op tool with which you now can defeat previously tough enemies (as it does in ER), but it made you the tool itself. The map also defeats much of the underlying mystery for me. I really liked Ds2 world, because it was so absurd, so seemingly impossible but still there. And every Ds game carried that kind of mystery for me.

[@ThaPugster]

Sure the abyss is super cool, BUT THERES NOTHING FUCKING THERE ITS JUST A FORCED TEN MINUTE RUN TO MIDRA

[@RavenGamingOverLord]

It could be worse

[@ThaPugster]

@@RavenGamingOverLordno it couldn’t

[@AnimeGIFfy]

it could be a long corridor with bright white walls, during which, the game brightness would be set to max and you couldnt change it, and you couldnt leave the area until you ran in a straight line for 2 hours. and if at any moment you stopped running, it would reset you back to the start of the corridor.

[@Mr-Hakim]

That area could have been smaller, or Midra‘s manor being much larger, or something.

[@THELOATHSOME_DUNGKILLER]

​@@RavenGamingOverLordBloodborne created a better environment in only 1/5 of what that area covers

[@evilfungas]

It improved on basically everything from the base game except progression, which is hard to balance for post-game content.

[@joesheridan9451]

How?? Overall boss qaulity worse, legacy dungeons worse, lore worse, art direction and beauty of the world worse, world even emptier and more boring… Final boss was a shitshow. Base game was overall much better experience

[@mattmakermusic]

I comepletely agree with almost all of the points you brought up. Back when I started ER, I was really excited, but that hype quickly dissipated as I realized just how stale the game felt. I had gotten my hopes up for the DLC but, alas, despite delivering what I think is the best boss encounter in the whole game (Messmer the Impaler), overall I was left unsatisfied by the expansion. In my opinion, FROM should stop trying to continously evolve what was the core gameplay loop in DeS. SOTE, and in general elden ring, feels like it wants to evolve into something else, into a more action based game, but it can't because the player is still stuck playing with the same core loop they had in 2011 while the rest of the game is out here playing Sekiro. Even if they want to keep making souls-likes, just changing what the core gameplay loop is based on (and they have done it, just look at BB or Sekiro, as much as it pains me to call it a souls-like) would do wonders for their future games. Mostly because it also wouldn't trick players into thinking that they can still play with the same understanding of the game that they had with DeS.

[@sasaki999pro]

Oh WOW! I thought I recognized your voice, your OG Elden Ring critique was the only one I actually respected, it didnt feel like the complaints of a salty entitled scrub, or a sweaty Fromsoft brand fanboy, but someone who had a keen eye for the overlooked little details that foretell the downfall of this subgenre. I just want to say, you absolutely nailed it, Fromsoft games have become ALL spectacle and no substance. While I did enjoy the DLC to an extent, as it does stand above the quality of the *current* industry standard, I don't think that warrants turning a blind eye to the blatant drop in quality from previous games and the almost completely homogenized and uninspired gameplay formula. I never felt my eyes be more molested by total screen pollution in one of these games before this DLC, the overly embellished particle effects and jerky camera movements litter EVERY action that every boss takes. Making the boss movesets more "cinematic" which becomes jarringly disproportionate to the players list of viable actions, yes we have flashy moves of our own, but the amount of commitment time these moves require while having little to no survivability beyond the occassional I-Frame or Hyper Armor properties(of which will quickly get overtaxed by the bosses breakneck aggressive attack pacing) means we wind up incentivized into doing the same safe repetitive action again and again and again. This contradicts the attempts at making fights more of a spectacle because these "immersive and dynamic" boss move sets are put into immediate contrast with the transparently artificial video game character that they're pitted against. This ironically makes bosses LESS cinematic than previous titles because of the ludonarrative dissonance, where as before Souls games actually had quite abit of narrative and gameplay harmony. (Sorry for the text wall, I just want to say thanks for being 100% genuine with your review)

[@gingeroverseer9302]

Hundred percent this. I solod Malenia and thought I'd put so many points into faith I'll use some of my offensive incantations. Nope. I quickly learned to just.. lock in. And also to cheese her healing punishment by using great heal instead of flask because the ai doesn't input read healing incantations. Did I find a clever solution or did I accidentally break Fromsoftwares punishment design? I'm sick of these fights no longer feeling fun.

[@Idontevenknowman779]

For real though. Bloodborne combat sequences and bosses felt like legit Skirmishes and wars of attrition where you and the boss are LITERALLY beating each other up going blow for blow. Sekiro is the crazy rythm game with all this flair that feels like a legitimate sword fight. And Dark Souls 3 is the “Souls Dance” perfected. Everything is sight readable. Flow is there. Dodge and hit dodge and hit, run if there is a need for it

[@sasaki999pro]

@@Idontevenknowman779 Yeah you know, I think after reading your comment I understand the main issue with Elden Ring. Elden Ring has an _Identity Problem._ (Which might ironically be the most thematically harmonious element the game has) Every feature and mechanic seems to exist in contradiction with itself. It wants you to have Breath of the Wild caliber freedom, but it also wants to have arbitrary progression blocks and restrictions. It wants you to have a challenge, but simultaneously allows you to one shot nearly any boss in a single attack. It wants you to experiment with all your tools, but punishes you by making them inconsistently finite and situational. It wants to have modern quality of life features, yet gates them behind draconic souls brand obfuscation. It wants to have multiplayer balance while maintaining a single player power fantasy It wants to have spectacle rich fights but punishes the player for indulging in the flashiest abilities. It wants you to piece together the story, but also makes half hearted attempts at pointing you towards key details that provide important context required to understand the narrative. It wants to portray its characters in a more personal and meaningful manner, but actively denies them any interactions with other NPC's that might compliment or challenge their perspective. It wants to be a melting pot of previous souls mechanics (Bloodborne Rally, Sekiro Posture, Dark Souls Multiplayer) but neglects the nuances that made those features such core elements of their respective titles (No Posture meter, no covenants, and no Great Runes in NG+) It wants you to treat torrent like an extension of yourself, but provides absolutely zero means of actually upgrading him. (beyond the DLC which is also barely a half measure) It wanted to have a massive jaw dropping open world valleys, and yet proceeded to populate it with common junk and generic enemy encounters. Elden Ring is a fine example of why "Bigger" is not always better, and that Fromsoft should stick to a more focused and streamlined design document for their projects going forward.

[@Idontevenknowman779]

@@sasaki999pro AGREED. You should make a KZbin video about this. very well put

[@asnor7588]

I agree with a lot of stuff said here but at least some of the field bosses have important variations in moveset. The recyle is still a problem but I've felt it less in sote.

[@Lambo-ux3uh]

i actually see and agree with a lot you say and i personally really enjoyed the dlc and found it fun, the only thing i would really argue is the build switching thing I dont think it is harmful to the game to be able to switch builds and this be some kind of excuse for bad boss design as these bosses are all managable I played the base game and the dlc for the first time recently and havent rebirth at rennala a single time mostly focusing on faith and holy damage some fights have been harder than others and radahn took way longer than any other boss so yes it is hard but i think anyone who cares enough to put in the time to learn a fight better will eventually overcome it and if they choose that they dont want to and switch to a cheese build then so be it i guess as long as the player is satisfied and had fun

[@Untitled_No.13]

I have a weird feeling abt this game, sometimes Idk if the intention is to make it hard or just deliberate time waste/design issue. Compared to Thymesia/Lies of P, boss also attack nonstop, needs to parry constantly, and it does damage back/break their weapon, it’s clearly a way to engage with boss/makes combat aggressive. Elden Ring needs to constantly dodge/block/run away & it does nothing to the boss, what’s the point besides time waste? I can see there are designs just for the sake of difficulty, like Ghostrunner’s first boss & last level/Control’s expedition Tier 2&3, needs to precisely control movement/finish before time runs out, it's meant to be hard. Elden Ring is like, sometimes need to watch a guide on how to dodge an atk, then it works out, not even sure if it’s meant to be hard or just design that lacks visual clarity 👀Also, I've heard bad camera in Elden Ring is a "skill issue" cuz you are not supposed to lock on large enemies, is that true? LOL, that's so weird. I lock on to everything. 😄

[@DUNGSI27]

Your criticism of Elden Rings open world makes no sense to me. An open world this vast without a map & a horse? For an open world as vast as Elden Ring that would be the most tedious thing ever. It seems you just want to throw away the open world & just have one big dungeon instead, like in the Souls games.

[@based-ys9um]

That would be awesome. Hopefully from don't continue in this direction

[@CombinE54]

That would be my dream patch for this game. Remove the open world with a classic metroidvania map... a man can dream.

[@coasteraddict10]

You should try playing the game without the horse, it's really not that bad

[@Thisisthegreatestatofalltime]

@@CombinE54That’s not a patch that’s just a different game at that point

[@ennayanne]

​@@CombinE54I'm hoping someone would make this mod eventually but it's so unlikely

[@SkyRunner21]

Every souls born and souls like game has innovative ideas and mechanics in one way or another... Our holy grail will be a game that combines everything in a very natural and well designed way.

[@truebacon133]

The reason scadutree fragments are a thing was to solve the overlevlled character problem when it came to DLCs. However they should've added more to spread them out and allow players to miss some but still get max like golden seeds. Its a hard problem to find a solution to and tbh I think it was a decent attempt.

[@Greywander87]

A lot of good points. Even from the beginning, I've always felt like exploration in Elden Ring is a chore, and I don't feel that way about other open world games like Skyrim or Dragon's Dogma. I also don't care for the direction that the combat has gone; I miss the slower paced combat of Dark Souls 1 and 2, although they certainly had their flaws. Personally, I'm worried that From is starting to stagnate. It may require some other company coming in with a fresh perspective and a desire to innovate in order for us to get the next great Souls game.

[@addictiontransfer3731]

It makes me sad that we went from sekiro, a combat system so innovative, complex, and engaging that it was revolutionary, to ER, which is just Darksouls with less thought and detail added to the fine tuned details and mechanics.

[@JuliusKingsleyXIII]

I disagree with a few things you said, like not having a map or respecs, but overall this was a great duology of videos. You hit basically all of the nails right on the head for why I can't love Elden Ring and can't be part of the fanbase turned cult. From and the fans have lost the plot with these games. It was never about difficulty, and this insane pursuit of even greater challenge and more difficult bosses who are now playing an entirely different game than the PC has driven the formula to the brink. I don't think this formula can be stretched any further, and any attempts to do so will fail. Whatever From does next needs to be a complete reinvention, because I will not be buying Elden Ring 2.

[@GoodIntentions1116]

>it was never about difficulty uh, lol?

[@austinmc12]

“ It was never about difficulty” Then right after says “insane pursuit of a greater challenge an more DIFFICULT bosses” bro jus say u got cooked an move on ur rambling

[@nightwatchmen6353]

Fanbase turn cult? So anyone that likes elden ring is part of a cult? Are you having a stroke?

[@nightwatchmen6353]

Ummm it was always about difficulty. It's just that from software's ds and er have become a mainstream

[@DerDoodler]

Just after DS1 Myiazaki stated that he wants his games to be seen as "satisfying rather than difficult". And even to this day he only means to convey accomplishment and tying the player to his world through difficulty. Difficulty just came along with it and there were times where Miyazaki said that things "were unreasonable" and had his team tone it down. Of course I would not expect the average illiterate ER cultist to be capable of opening a search engine, take 5 mins to look up these statements and understand what Miyazaki even wants to achieve with his games.

[@brentontariocanada7935]

In the last 4 years I've played eldein ring , lies of p, hogwarts legacy, armor core 6, sekiro, god of war , jedi survivor, witcher 3 to name a few. Elden ring is my favorite game ! I also enjoyed the DLC/ Expansion. My favorite combat is sekiro then followed up by lies of p. Good video and I agree with a good amount of your points.

[@brentontariocanada7935]

Freakin auto correct strikes again.

[@TheOxydium]

Thanks for presenting your opinion in a clear way. I'm sad you didn't connect with the experience like I did. I feel like a lot of people really do not vibe with what the open world added to the Souls formula. I find that it really elevates the rest of the traditional gameplay like the legacy dungeons. Having time to chill on your horse, exploring the map, going to several points of interest and then escalate the tension progressively when you find a dungeon and a road to a boss. This contrast between the two, makes both stronger in my opinion. But for a lot of people, this is a waste of time like you pointed at. I've seen countless players run past all the enemies and open world to go get their teeth kicked in by the boss and blame it on bad design (witch are not perfect, but still some awe inspiring battles). My experience while exploring fully was very rewarding. The world is such a beauty and Fromsoft has the strongest art direction in the industry. Figuring out the map lay out and how to reach certain zone is a real brain tease and it's something you almost never see in open worlds game applied like that. You find countless point of interest giving you loot and the levelling scadu tree. While doing this method, I never felt that I had to go back and find more because I was too weak when I reach one of the challenging bosses. And for other play through it only takes a few minutes to gather some and game design decision shouldn't lean too hard on catering to the repeated play through if it takes away from the first one witch should always be the priority. But once again, that importance can really vary from player to player so I understand that it can tarnished your opinion on the game. The one point in your video were I feel there is a bit of a contradiction, is about build diversity and how to approach the very difficult encounters in the game. You say that the Boss design doesn't encourage creativity or experimentation. And also that you can only use the meta build to defeat them. But you forget how those meta build are created : through creativity and experimentation. If most people will just look and copy the solution online, doesn't mean you have to do it too. It's like a puzzle. It's your choice if you want to solve it or look the solution. And solving it, will bring you joy and satisfaction while not so much if you just copy the solution from someone else. And if the solutions were the same as the base game, witch as been trivialised after being out for two years, that wouldn't really be a challenge. On my last point, I would say that keep your hopes up for Fromsoft future. Elden Ring was Elden Ring. It was huge and grandiose. It leaned more on the spectacle and an overpower fantasy. It had its own identity like the other franchise that made all of them special. Now that page has been closed and we probably gonna start fresh with a new project that will also have its own identity. It is bound to be different while keeping a lot of the ideas we cherished over the years. DarkSouls, Sekiro, Bloodborne and now EldenRing, everyone has a different favourite. They have different strengths and flaws but they all come from the same place of passion and respect for the player. Let's keep encouraging them to experiment and push the boundaries for a brighter future in gaming. Peace

[@ludognosis]

Thanks for the response. To your first point about the open world - I do partially agree. The more relaxed open world segments can help the pacing between the more tense dungeons. There were times when I was able to sit back and enjoy that part of the game, especially when finding a hidden path or figuring out how to get somewhere for the first time. However, I think that the game fails to fully utilize this potential; instead of allowing empty space and slower pacing between dungeons, there is always some "content", which is often low in quality, for example repeated field bosses or enemies which interrupt the flow of this more laid back exploration. Miyazaki has cited Shadow of the Colossus as an inspiration, I wish that this had shined through more in Elden Ring. As for the bosses, I can see your point, but for me, respeccing and completely changing builds during a playthrough is totally unimmersive, so that style of design just isn't for me. I'm glad you were able to enjoy it though.

[@TheOxydium]

@@ludognosis I'm curious but what was your opinion of the open world area of the base game? Did you already had this sense of wasted potential and having low quality of content? The caves, mines and ruins felt more focused and polished in the DLC. Even the field bosses usually had an added twist to them. But if you didn't find those enjoyable in the base game, them playing "the greatest hits" might have been annoying. When i'm talking about theory crafting, I'm talking mostly different weapons, ashes of war, spells, buffs, talismans and physics without having the break character. I feel like each build path and archetypes should have enough options and tools to beat every challenge of the game. Do you really think some of the design make some of them unplayable and obsolete? If so, I would agree that it is bad design. What build did you do for your play through? I will play the game with several archetype myself and see if some people have been left behind. And it's really a shame if that's true. Thanks for taking the time to respond

[@Idontevenknowman779]

See Elden Ring is perfect for you because you enjoy exploration for the sake of exploration. I think I’m at a point in my life where I need to feel like I’m progressing in the game or I feel like I’m just wandering through an Art gallery. Which is really cool but when there’s nothing interesting to find for my character, it’s just not all that compelling to me. Glad you enjoyed your experience

[@ludognosis]

I felt the base game was even worse for the open world, the DLC does leave more open space which is why many people find it even more "empty", which I wouldn't have minded except that I still felt the need to look everywhere for Scadutree Fragments. I did think SotE's map design was an improvement overall, which I touched on in the video, but I probably should have gone into more detail. At the same time, the reused enemies feel worse in DLC areas because we have already seen them many times before. The easiest example of missed potential in the base game is the area before Fire Giant. It could have been a somber few minutes of just riding on Torrent, seeing the remains of the giants, wondering about what had happened. Instead, it's filled with Trolls and Fingers, and the music keeps switching between the background ambience (which fits perfectly) and the combat theme. It might seem small, but it ruined the moment for me. For builds, I don't want to speak to definitively, because I haven't played with that many weapons. I started with a pure Int build with DMGS, then switched to a Faith build using Fire Knight's Greatsword. I didn't have too much trouble until Radahn, but the difference in difficulty once I switched to using a greatshield was massive. It completely trivializes the fight, and I imagine it would be the same for the other bosses as well. I like shields being usable again, but it really did turn a very difficult fight into a pushover. As other people have pointed out, the vast majority of spells and ashes of war are just not usable against bosses, you will get knocked out of the animation. Everything feels viable, even easy, in normal dungeon crawling, but against bosses, greatshields seem very, very good. Again, I might be wrong, but that was my experience.

[@joaoluizkfsantos8392]

Very well said, the open world is a feature to some, and for this group (me included) most complaints about it will fall on deaf ears. There's some frankly stupid players out there that can't seem to understand the concept of taste, and call everything an objective flaw when it's just a personal preference. Preach

[@ryanator7935]

Onze really thought he was Virgil with those attacks 🫤

[@wyle2614]

Respec has consequences, but Elden Ring needs it. Imagine gathering all the crap (seeds, bell bearings, whetstones, etc.) for every new build, lmao. Edit: Changing build is fun too, it's not only a tool to counter certain bosses.

[@crestfallenhussar895]

Idk I was pretty excited to fight the ghost flame dragons. Also, Deathbirds are great bosses!

[@crestfallenhussar895]

I was joking about the deathbrid and dragons thing but when you told me about the mini-bosses reskinned thing it freaking destroyed me bruh. You are so right they played us like fools...

[@sinistrous9169]

I’m ngl as a fanboy for Elden ring you have very solid points

[@CreamTheEverythingFixer]

Paused the vid. Sorry, I am going to jump on your Torrent rant here, without Torrent the DLC would be way too big and grace distance too far. Not to mention the replaybility of the DLC would be shafted, once you collect the Fragments, Spirit Ashes and special items, on a second run of the DLC you would have to slowly traverse every area, with no tangible reward. It would not feel more rewarding. The reward of special items is once, the reward of exploration is once. Without Torrent 90% of the DLC playtime would traversing the large barren map, fighting the same 7 enemies. There's a reason why most people on NG+ and New Characters just blast past most of the open world in the base game, because it not that good.

[@LyllianaofMirrah]

haha, gonna do no torrent run LMFAO

[@dyroth]

As much as I like the scadutree fragments and have defended them from people who just say it's bad, you had the best and most agreeable take on them. It no longer is an RPG upgrade with these fragments without any choice of how it affects us, which was totally missing and felt flat.

[@Blade-hf9po]

If you disable Torrent in open space, then you also should disable enemies respawn in open space. It's the entire reason Torrent is useful to me, so I can zip past areas of enemies I've already cleared before.

[@ludwig2952]

Great video, really well thought out

[@TrunkJunky]

How would running past open world enemies on foot be considered better than running past them on horseback?

[@RomanSpinella]

I totally disagree with the torrent take, and Im a person that hates horses in games (elden ring, TW3, RDR, etc)....but traveling by foot in this game is incredible tedious because there is so many dead ends and is so empty that it would make it unbearable. If the map was smaller, sure, but not in this one. I 100% agree with the fragments take, its super annoying and makes the exploration a task instead of an adventure. I dont know why it cant be solved with something like "shadow runs": you gain levels by killing enemies in the expansion. Im not as negative as you with the expansion, buy i see your point: boring exploration, bosses with a meta to beat them, builds that are way more effective than others, etc

[@creeperYT9824]

with scadutree blessing system i was able to enter dlc at lv 70 without even entering altus, and completed it easily

[@Idontevenknowman779]

He’s back

[@SomeDudesPlay]

I 100% agree with the Scadu fragments. It's ENTIRELY artificial, and no one wants to admit it. Which is what the From fans have always said was why they like Souls games, 'Tough but fair.' like OG Mega Man or Ghosts 'n Goblins. "Oh, boss too tough? I know you have his moveset down mostly, but you still die to two hits due to silly mistakes we all make? Oh well, go get a McGuffin and now it's okay, you don't die and your skills will carry you now!" I mean, even RL1 challenge runs through SoTE use Skibidibop upgrades. Seems kind of stupid that a challenge run in where you don't upgrade your power...You upgrade your power. Artificial. Even challenge runners are admitting it's unfun and tedious. Which is cool, just admit that the game can't challenge you within the confines of it's own rules anymore. And people will say it's so the DLC doesn't get smoked and rolled over as easy. SO. FUCKING. WHAT? This was NEVER an issue in DS1, DS2, BB, DS3, but now it is? Why? So Miyazaki doesn't get his fee fees hurt? So me rolling into the Ringed City at level 500 and stomping the bosses makes the community mad? Why? They should laugh and say I overleveled and IGNORE MY STUPID WRONG OPINION. Also they say 'It let's me feel progression on my 100% base game complete character!', my brother in christ, just start over with a new character to experience the DLC at the intended level, like I fucking did with every Souls game so far. Why would I ever roll into DLC with a God-Tier character, and demand the game try and challenge me? I specifically powered myself up to be this way. If I want to collect useless shit all over again like in Limgrave I'd start over, and get that progression feeling again. Not expect it from an end game story DLC.

[@EndersupremE]

The whole game is artificial, it didn't grow on a tree It's what they found out to give a sense of progression and reward for players exploring, same as base game ER. Maybe it's not perfect, but it works great, you get the feel of getting stronger and stronger as you progress

[@skinnytimmy1]

​@EndersupremE it's still dumb that things you find in the open world make you more powerful than beating a boss.

[@EndersupremE]

@@skinnytimmy1 I think they didn't want to gatekeep this progression. In base ER you explore to get powerful to defeat a boss, it would be against that idea. But yeah they should have increased the amount of available scadooshes and made some bosses drop them

[@Focus716]

It’s “artificial”???? In what way? Is the whole game not artificial? The fragments are great because it actually allows you to make the game easier or harder depending on your preference. You can level your character and have low fragments, or keep a lower level for PvP and get all the fragments and easily beat all the bosses. I don’t see the issue. There are plenty of other games out there with complex skill trees and bars you gotta fill up for progress. Go play a Ubisoft title or some shit 😂 no need to ruin our games

[@boshwa20]

​@@Focus716 Tree fragments are a ubisoft collectathon

[@ymalklk]

That’s the whole point ! To learn the attack patterns .

[@imustconsultwiththeeldergo5906]

what is point of learning enemy attack pattern if it's RNG?

[@adventpsyop]

@@imustconsultwiththeeldergo5906 Bigno. It's no wonder the run I beat Malenia in she used Waterfowl once. Same with Radhan mostly spamming his jump attacks on the run I beat him in.

[@joaoluizkfsantos8392]

​@@adventpsyopexcept you could have learned to dodge all that instead and be able to do the fights consistently. I know not everyone actually likes to learn bosses, dying 50+ times to slowly engrave every move timing in the brain, but the game gives so many tools to just bypass this learning step that it shouldn't be an issue for those ppl either.

[@Apophes]

​@@joaoluizkfsantos8392game don have any tools. Maybe you thing that ER is in th same leaves als nioh or lies of p, but unfortunately FS forgot they have 2 titles tha acually have tools, that can justify bosses with shitton of combos and 100k hp. But no we have basicly ds4

[@joaoluizkfsantos8392]

@@Apophes learn to type guy, it's painful to read your gibberish. Tools I was referring to (that can let you bypass fights you don't like/can't bother to learn mechanics): - great shields (can bypass the need to dodge, and just let you chill while watching the boss jump around) - spirit ashes (draw agro, making it easier to heal and watch what the boss is doing) - overpowered weapons/1-shot builds (bypass mechanics through shear damage or hit trading) - summoned players (let them solo) Probably a few more that I can't remember rn

[@thomasfaverty6788]

Beat the expansion using only 3 incantations. Most bosses downed first try. No covenants, no improvements for online play, boring open world, new incantations weren't that great except the new Knight lightning spear, but the ancient dragons lightning is still better for most bosses. All more reasons why Elden Ring is my least favorite in the Soulsborne franchise and I've been playing them since 2009 Demons Souls release. Sad to see the downfall but it was bound to happen.

[@henryzweihander8282]

The most breakout hit they've ever had and it's their "downfall". Most devs would pray for a "downfall" of in excess of 30 million sales between the base game and DLC.

[@bluedotdinosaur]

One thing I can agree with is the scadu blessing is a poor concept. It's an understandable mistake by the designers. With how open Elden Ring is, it's difficult to control when and with what character build a player will begin the Land of Shadow. I think it would have worked out better if enemies and bosses in the shadow realm were tuned to be on par with the later end game areas in the main world. But they could have had one new specific damage type (a thematic shadow damage) that hit hard, and could be mitigated by finding blessings around the shadow realm. I don't agree that the open world is bad for the FromSoft formula, and I do consider Elden Ring's world design one of the very best of its kind. There is a lot of genius to how its open world is laid out and it is very technical in how it must be navigated and explored. It is understandable if fans of their games simply don't want a large world - it's a matter of preference. The expansion however does indeed have a problem with content - the world map and its concepts are fantastic. But there IS a lack of enemy variety and significance. Consider the main world map. There are quite a few cleverly laid out enemy camps and placements that make exploration more tense and dangerous than it appears at first given the speed and agility of Torrent. (Caelid: *exists* ) The Land of Shadow however is too sedate. The generic Hornsent shades are very thematic and cool to see milling around, but they're no replacement for the open world enemy types and scenarios in the main game map. Mesmer's soldiers are good and offer many interesting scenarios. But they're not everywhere, leaving much of the map under-used for conflict navigation. And of course we have the Finger Ruins, arguably the strangest in any FromSoft game for enemy placement and balance. They do truly feel unfinished, like placeholder maps.

[@nestroit5010]

basically all boss fights are the same now due to the hyper agressive, spammy behaviour combined with tracking, input reading etc. - poor design choices. you got all the flashy new weapons and ashes of war and yet almost none are viable because you have zero hyperarmor for most. all of that makes the combat repeptitve and boring

[@anonymousperson8903]

How is Midra similar to Rellana, and how is she simliar to Commander Gaius, and how is he similiar to Messmer, and how is he similar to Scadutree Avatar, and how is it similar to Bayle?

[@Stanzbey69]

@@anonymousperson8903you expected an elden ring hater to be intelligent and have valid arguments. That’s ur first mistake.

[@adventpsyop]

​@@anonymousperson8903 Oh that's easy. They all have the same basic design. Delayed attacks, AoEs, unrelenting combos, ranged attacks, high speed with unlimited endurance. Maybe it's not as good to say the bosses themselves are the same, but the way you play them are all pretty much the same, which is just tiresome. DS3 has arguably the best overall boss quality of their games. One of the hardest bosses (Nameless King) had a strong gameplay identity because he was the only boss that had a wealth of delayed attacks. Pontiff had his clone. Friede had her invisibility (among other things). Abyss Watchers had...each other. Dancer was *the one* known for her long string of combos with perfectly tuned timings...a lot of these bosses had their own idenitites. The biggest delineations between ER bosses are their individual moves and aesthetics. You can put Rellana on a boar, or make her a dragon, or have summonable snakes. But at the end of the day, they all have the same core elements. Although...I will give Bayle credit, but only if you summon the dude because hearing "CURSE YOU BAAAYLE" at the start of each try got me so pumped and did make that fight extremely memorable lol.

[@anonymousperson8903]

@@adventpsyop "They all have the same basic design. Delayed attacks, AoEs, unrelenting combos, ranged attacks, high speed with unlimited endurance. " Except this isn't true. Have you fought Scadutree Avatar, Midra or Romina? These are very old-school bosses with lots of well-defined short combos with ample punish windows after them...The mini-bosses in the DLC like the Death Knights or the Red Bears are also old-school DS3 like bosses.

[@Thisisthegreatestatofalltime]

@@adventpsyopEvery ds3 boss is also pretty similar but that’s more of an issue with rolling being the best choice for more than like 90% of attacks. Also r2s in ds3 feel so awful and most magic that isn’t basic isn’t good in that game either, slower actions were a bit more viable though.

[@jerq887]

Regarding Torrent, all they had to do was make all the areas, villages, castles, caves, settlements disable torrent most castles and caves do this, but villages and settlements dont, there are a lot of sections where enemy placement was well thought out, to the point where it was designed to be a challenge to get through, on purpose Getting to the gate before Raya Lucaria, the random leyndell and liurnia knight settlements, hell even the random lookout towers that had a chest at the top, even they had themed enemies guarding them, and all threat made completely null because of torrent The Convergence Mod actually tackles this issue quite a bit, a lot of areas progression is made into an old school Dark Souls experience, with you having to go through _every corner of the area in order to get to the end_ And Castle Morne was given a completely new and unique maze-like "Gate Town" area that you had to complete and survive through, in order for you to get inside the actual castle In vanilla you just ride torrent straight through the front door

[@darymanzueta8875]

Yeah, that’d be pretty tedious and I don’t see why he wouldn’t help you find Miquella. On top of that did you forget that there’s a golem guarding Castle Mourne.

[@HardHatDagu]

great video! i really disliked the quest design. Alot of them have way too many steps and the fact you can progress so far you lock yourself out of any quests was a big issue for me. I didnt like feeling like i should google things to get through the game.

[@ennayanne]

most of the gated of regions of the map are just annoying to find. hidden parts in souls games are rewarding to find. there's nothing rewarding about running around clifftops looking for the one way down or looking for some random cave at the base of the cliffs is such a dull experience I have no idea how people can call the map exploration for this game good

[@TheQoogle]

Idk why you really expected they would not just make more Elden Ring considering how well received Elden Ring is.

[@gingeroverseer9302]

But why was it well received? If the game is hard then the only criticism can be skill issue there cannot be a discussion about actual design or mechanics. There is so much content and 15 years of history behind this series an honest conversation about enemy design cannot ever be had. And the open world was praised for its freedom of exploration but if the game DID have instructions and a HUD.... the game would be more shallow than a Ubisoft game. Go here hit this boss or castle or camp. Open a chest with....a smithing stone. That's the dlc for sure. The base game deserved game of the year for all it did well but the DLC expands on the good and mostly the BAD and gets 10/10? Nah. That gets a Hell no from me. I'm gonna beat Bayle then I'm gonna dip from the dlc I'm not interested in this anymore

[@Stanzbey69]

@@gingeroverseer9302 maybe because the game was good. Every single critique is a bunch of nitpicks blown out of proportion, joseph anderson style. Worst part of it is that there’s actually an audience for that low effort content.

[@WhySoSeriousSenpai]

Good my ass this covid trash was only well received because everyone was bored at home with nothing to play

[@Idontevenknowman779]

@@Stanzbey69To be honest man, go play Bloodborne or Sekiro. Then come back and tell me if you think Elden Ring’s design philosophy is good and not ridiculously balanced

[@Stanzbey69]

@@Idontevenknowman779 8 playthroughs on bloodborne and 5 on sekiro :). I know what i’m talking about, unlike you. There’s no doubt sekiro is their most balanced game. Bloodborne is even more unbalanced than elden ring so i have no idea what you’re talking about. It’s literally faceroll or be facerolled in that game. Still love it though.

[@Andi187187]

Maybe not clickbait, but not correct either. It's not a poor followup. I really enjoy playing it.

[@arisumego]

it's his opinion, it's not up to you to decide whether it's correct or not lmfao. fromdrones are really losing it

[@dashawnscruggs473]

@@arisumego”from drones” yeah whatever bro😭touch grass

[@henryzweihander8282]

Interesting seeing a rather different take on criticism of SotE. Specifically regarding the open world concept. I can't see the long traversals being palatable on repeat playthroughs especially without him as not every enemy is worth fighting. Scadutree fragments I partially disagree on as they are just multipliers. Yes, they lack decision making, but that's fine as they still proportionally enhance your existing rune level decisions. They won't make someone with no int a better sorcerer or make someone with no arc bleed things more. You mention their peers as well. To that I'm not sure there's a good solution as making them like levels ruins the gating process. The idea they could be done away with is an interesting one however. For those less enthralled by the explorative aspects I'm sure it would provide some relief from the demands of the current implementation. The item color coding is a great point though.

[@darkspiro6467]

People expect the people at fromsoft to make a massive open world game have a unique enemy around every corner or say it should be more like there older titles without realizing the amount of work it takes to design ever single part of the world this is a limit to the amount of resources and creativity one can have this dlc is fun the bosses are pretty cool this dlc has actively made me a better player by getting me use to finding openings where I can get hits in each boss has their weakness to exploit the game gives you tons of tools spells and weapons to use in the end what you are looking for is another dark souls not elden ring

[@Idontevenknowman779]

Witcher 3 did it better. End of story

[@darkspiro6467]

@Idontevenknowman779 never played Witcher 3 but I hear more about its story rather than its gameplay so I'm not interested

[@sora3354]

elden ring is dark souls though. is elden ring your first souls game?

[@Apophes]

Get your head out of your ass. People expected fs to understand that if you incappable at making enough bosses for open world, then dont do it. Its not our fault ER have problem with copy paste or regular ENEMIES turned into bosses without any Improvements

[@shiroamakusa8075]

@@Idontevenknowman779 Witcher 3's combat is absolute floaty, weightless cancer.

[@scarvello]

The dlc was a letdown to me

[@anthonyhawthorne3450]

It was pretty grim and dull

[@imustconsultwiththeeldergo5906]

16:37 criticizes game for lot of reused shit from main game then proceeds to praise same old level design that he already played countless times in demon's souls/ darks souls 1,2,3/ bloodborne years ago. so do you want new shit or old shit? make your mind please!

[@juanrodriguez26]

Shadow of the Erdtree is pathetic. Not only the bosses feels lazy and fight like one of those poorly made modded bosses. Fromsoft put zero effort in this dlc. The soundtrack, story, lore, weapons, ending, final boss, narrative, the writing of the characters, designs, recycled bosses, reused ds3 assets and movesets like Relanna and Bayle with Midir and Sulyvahn movesets, etc. Everything feels so "I don't feel like trying hard and doing my job" (even if they coocked this joke for 2 years lmao) Fromsoft and Miyazaki did everything wrong with this dlc....

[@jeffosara2206]

While I agree with you on a number of things, I feel like some of the problems you listed are just part of the open world genre and are fine. Torrent is necessary since open world generally need a faster mode of travel on foot than walking and I cannot imagine how much worse exploration would be without him. You also do not have to fight everything. Running past enemies has been a part of Soulsborne games from the beginning and Torrent is just the latest iteration of it. Also respecing your character is not a problem. It is so that both beginners and experienced players can try different builds or correct mistakes in level distribution without making a new character. If a boss is requires a specific build, it is because of the choices of the developer and not the mechanic. Overall I enjoy it more when people are willing to criticize Fromsoft game than blindly praise it because they feel like they refuse to fix problems because they don’t have to. The don’t have to fix the camera for bigger bosses. They don’t have to make NPC feel like actual players by having them do anything but blindly attacking when they can just give them infinite stamina and FP and an amount of health only available to hackers. They don’t have to do anything in New Game + besides make numbers bigger. I enjoy the Soulsborne series but they are not perfect and more people should at the very least acknowledge that.

[@GranttheGreat_BOTTOM_TEXT]

The game doesn’t “trick” you into fighting mini bosses. You fight them for the runes and the item drops, because if it has a health bar it always has a special drop, whether it be extra runes, or equipment. It has nothing to do with if it has any normal enemy counterparts. 😐

[@MarkerMurker]

14:00 I was interested in seeing what they did with the bears since they were new. Also seeing what they would drop. 14:41 This is something I think you're kind of overblowing because "Enemy Defeated" is clearly different from "Great Enemy Defeated" or "Demigod Felled". You say things like the dragons and bears are elevated to boss status because of the health bar, but the game itself labels them as enemies. They're not misleading us. There are categories to this. About reused bosses and enemies in general, well... If I enjoyed it the first time, I know it's an enjoyable fight and so I'll do it again. If I didn't enjoy it, I figure out why not and see if I can understand what was intended. 21:36 The more builds are possible, the shallower the combat has to be. I get what you're saying, but the issue is player balance. Not sure what you mean about every boss being the same boss. Like... Being fast and combo-heavy doesn't make them all the same. Midra and Rellana are far from the same experience. I do think it's a shame that they focus more on pushing the bosses than making oppressive areas as roadblocks. Like DS1 and 2. Especially 2. That was such a good experience

[@StuffAndAlsoThings]

You’re pretty spot on here especially about the map. Finding map fragments in the base game was so lame because nothing was stopping you from heading to them the second you entered the area. In the DLC you have to work towards finding the right path towards them and it makes uncovering the map so much more rewarding

[@darymanzueta8875]

Yeah, I found them pretty easily just like the base game.

[@rangopistacho6928]

I love elden ring and I understand that it has major issues, this dlc clearly has them, the only issue i Have with the dlc is that of the final boss, a long ass endurance fight can be fun, bayle and midir are good examples of this: lots of hp, high damage but slow telegraphed movesets that are easy to learn while giving plenty of openings and having a weakspot to increase damage encouraging you to take some risk reward stuff that is actually rewarding the final boss on the other hand suffers the issue of being an endurance fight with too much dmg and hp while also being overly agressive and fast, if they simply reduced their health and damage down a fair amount it would be a much more balanced fight overall because you wouldnt be punished for it, everything else that the dlc is alright, messmer is fair and gives you plenty of good openings, rellenna while being agressive isnt too tanky and offers ample chances, Bayle is perfect and is a step up from midir, an absolute tank but has well telegraphed moves along with a really interesting movese, Midra is just fucking perfection even with madness buildup, putrescence is a weird boss but its nice to have a boss that actually is weak to holy for once, divine dancing beast lion only suffers camera issues apart from that its pretty much wonderful too, the sunflower was strange but great with its movesets and its gimmic was fun, metyr was alright probably the least interesting in terms of movset but lore its some of the most shocking stuff AND DONT YOU DISS MY DEMI HUMAN BOI MASTER YODA HIS MOVESET IS 100% ORIGINAL but moving to my point, there isnt really anything wrong with the dlcs difficulty, its clear that consort radahn is just the peak of their difficulty, and they know now not to enter that kind of bullshit territory in the future, elden ring feels more akin to an experiment because miazaki plans on making one last game using all the experience he had gained from elden ring and past games, hopefully he will one day create a new unique experience because i can agree I wouldnt want to just play another game with the exact dark souls mechanics

[@SoulPotato007]

I watched your whole video. Although I play and platinum almost every souls like game and can agree that some Fromsoftware and non Fromsoftware games are better than Elden ring (Bloodborne and DS3 or Lies of P), I disagree with your general complaint of Elden ring dlc regarding exploration. Elden ring is an open world game and even the main game incentivises exploration. I don’t know why you would think that dlc would be different.

[@neilsaura-sacatropez9372]

Im so excited seeing that first giant furnace thing i immediately tried to fight him lost 12m runes and after i beat him i got 9k runes im so livid at that time lmao didnt even give any good items just one crafting material

[@raiden3013]

i mean the furance golems also drop some good wonderous physics items too. definitely worth beating for that. 12 mil runes not so base. with the trusty sacred relic sword and palace aproach ledge haha.

[@joesheridan9451]

I mean I hate that thing too but he gives you the Sekiro tear, one of the only good things about this DLC

[@jahkiel7766]

very good video

[@jimmyrustles358]

The base game was incredibly disappointing to me so I chose to skip the DLC. Watching this review makes me glad I did. Same old shit from base game is back..

[@RampidWarthogStudios]

Womp womp

[@Tychonious]

name checks out

[@mightguy3118]

I mean it's a dlc no shit it's gonna be more of the same game 😭 it's not a sequel. Even if it was if you don't like Eldin ring you naturally wouldn't pay attention to the sequel

[@Stanzbey69]

The review is low effort and poorly thougjt out. But good job on not being able to think for yourself!

[@WhySoSeriousSenpai]

Whaat you mean you didn’t like the giant empty open world the snoozefest waste of time dungeons, the hundreds of dragon scattered around the game and reused bosses?

[@lcoyle1998]

I could not disagree more about the map design. The idea that there are areas only flowing into eachother if you go down the most random holes in the wall is stupid and pointlessly unclear. Especially when 99% of those exact same scenarios lead to either nothing at all or pointless upgrade materials or cookbooks...

[@AaryonTeragon]

I see it from the experience of me literally 100% every surrounding area, blind, and missing a map because I didn't go to a completely optional tunnel. This could have happened twice, but I refused to keep progressing until I found the other map. If you can legit complete 2 MAIN areas before finding the map, in an OPTIONAL zone, the map loses all of its value. It made it easier to find 2 secrets, that were indeed useless materials, and that was about it. Edit: yes, it could have happened twice, which means you can go blind for almost 50% of the dlc, if you don't visit optional areas. That's just bad design.

[@MediaDroid960]

If I’m being honest, I enjoyed this DLC quite a lot. I found the bosses to be fun, the weapons and armor you can get are cool, the fact that the DLC encourages you to explore in order to get stronger is perfectly fine (it’s an open world game after all), I can even forgive the scadutree fragment system, which while a bit annoying, it does encourage exploration. Pretty much everything changed for me with the final boss. I feel like they designed it primarily for souls pros who can perfectly dodge the boss’s attacks and can punish and dodge with godlike timing. However for a more casual souls player such as myself who’s just trying to play the game, it is absolutely miserable both to fight and to learn. O don’t know what fromsoft will do with their next souls game, but I sure hope they go back to how they made bosses in Dark Souls 3, I don’t want another boss like the SOTE final boss ever again

[@shreder75]

There's well hidden that leads to the joy of discovery, then there's so well hidden that you need to go on a wiki constantly just to access a lot of areas. I found the exploration in the dlc to be a frustrating chore. As far at the abyssal woods, very cool looking area and a good idea to feature a stealth playstyle, but, like the finger areas, devoid of much of anything.

[@soyborne.bornmadeandundone1342]

The red big bears have story significance! They are big red scary bears and people are afraid of them....... That's it lol