The Elden Ring difficulty discourse is missing the point | Friends Per Second Ep #48

[@SkillUp]

Head to factormeals.com/fps50 and use code FPS50 to get an exclusive 50% off your first Factor box, plus 20% off your next month! Thanks to Factor for supporting FPS. -- Head to manscaped.com and use code FRIENDS to get an exclusive 20% off + free shipping! Thanks to Manscaped for supporting FPS.

[@Noodles1771]

For years the souls ‘git gud,’ chuds have taken pride in the lack of hand holding via any modern difficulty settings/options. Well the normies have tried a From Soft game and they don’t like not having control over the difficulty for the entertainment product they paid for - tough sh*t for all the fanboys. They need to: Stfu-and-take-the-beating.

[@Synchro789]

This episode’s volume mixing was Q U I E T!!!!!!!

[@Riskit4theBiskit]

If it wasn’t called Assassins Creed, you wouldn’t be as down on it. The problem with AC is they needed to boot a new IP with that series and continue the old AC. Would have been much smarter, 2 very good IP’s as opposed to splitting a player base.

[@TickledPicklesYo]

Lucy asking an American and an Australian if they dressed as historical British Tudor era characters in school 😂

[@salmark9080]

Was dying

[@sapphic_sleeper]

i love her so much lol

[@HavokGod]

lucy is adorable i love these guys all together haha

[@nicknevco215]

Huh

[@lordsysop]

Fuck lol. This whole time I just listen to the podcast in the background. Thought it was alanah peirce. Where is this girl from?

[@RobbieB2606]

Massive shout out to the hotel bedroom ironing board. An inanimate object, and still not the worst co-host this podcast has had…

[@alenezi989a3]

Hmmmm, you're pointing at something, what is it?

[@Ryattt81]

​@@alenezi989a3probably talking about Jirard.

[@jorgeporras9262]

It's more of a guest, isn't it? In which case it's still not the worst guest they've had, since they had Andy Robinson during an ego trip once.

[@crome2sniper]

"Oh my god It's Jake Baldino!" Is probably the most relatable reaction

[@mi11zee]

Big Jake Baldino fan over here!!!

[@JamesFuston]

I don't care how scadutree is supposed to be pronounced, those upgrade tokens will forever be scadoots to me.

[@BirdMoose]

Scadoosh fragments. (Pronounced in your best Jack Black voice)

[@TheAnaz41745]

It's basically pronounced the same as "Shadow", just written differently in old English

[@thelaughingrouge]

​@@BirdMoose This is my canon now and I shan't hear otherwise!

[@666slateran666]

23 skadus

[@martiano13bros]

I agree I prefer scaduuus​@666slateran666

[@njsteere]

Your “Skill Up mentions Outer Wilds” timestamp for episode 48 is: 1:49:23 ✅

[@ajwaddanwarr3409]

"Mimic tear become my blade ones more" was the most relatable joke from the Elden Ring segment lol

[@diontes1480]

I sigh as I ring the bell on myself

[@kwoni3337]

*once

[@LüksSosyalizm]

Guys, please apply just a little compression to your audio across the episode. The dynamic range when people are either talking quietly or off mic vs talking regularly is way too big. Example @56:10 onwards I have to turn up my speakers to hear some parts and then get blown away when someone says something excitedly and I haven't turned to volume back down. It's a really easy thing to do in the edit and would make a massive difference to the overall perceived loudness level too as you'll bring down the loudest bits, bring up the quieter bits and then shift everything up with a bit of gain into the space that was previously occupied by only the loudest parts of the podcast.

[@oldmatttv]

You tried the KZbin's own "limiter", the stable volume?

[@carloscantu4249]

Couldn’t hear anything on Spotify and had to move here, please figure out audio

[@LüksSosyalizm]

@@oldmatttv I've not. Is it just limiting or compression gain and limiting? Ideally the source would be better and not rely on KZbin

[@oldmatttv]

@@LüksSosyalizm So, from the settings options here on the playback, if you have the option available just turn on stable volume and test it out. It might help, but also it might not be available to everyone. It does bring the floor up and the ceiling down from what I can hear. The audio still would be better fixed in the edit but it does help at least.

[@paulmcintyre6857]

Shut up nerd

[@Muck-da]

Everytime I see Scadutree I just think “Blue Scadu we can too!” Now I’m just imagining Blue with a giant buster sword

[@mitchellsaltzman1559]

DUDE! Me too! I'm so glad it's not just me.

[@AC-hj9tv]

Oh hell yea

[@BS-gk2cb]

I think you’re right that the DLC doesn’t introduce new problems but I do believe it compounds to the ones that already existed in Elden Ring. One of the biggest problems I’ve had with Elden Ring (and Souls in general) is that they seem to be prioritizing player options over sensible boss design. And don’t get me wrong, I love player options. But I only love them when they don’t come at the expense of other things such as boss design. The souls games used to be challenging, but fair. Now they’re unfair and expect you to bring a bigger gun to the fight to compensate.

[@rokktober-personal]

I’m with you Lucy, Wallace & Gromit was the best Nobody knows how terrifying that penguin is until you watch the movie 😭

[@fourierbird]

I definitely had nightmares about that penguin in The Wrong Trousers 😮

[@Nikkska]

There’s a new Wallace & Gromit movie coming out about the penguin!!! I saw a teaser trailer recently

[@TMV420]

the penguin chase scene in Wallace and Gromit is commonly cited as one of the best examples of how to create an essential action sequence visually. it's flawless!

[@gzzuss]

I feel like Lucy should get a second opinion 😂😂😂 because 20/20 vision is when see the letters without problems in the test

[@melf_hunter]

Isn't that what she did tho?

[@DanKaschel]

That's not quite true, and also you don't know how her test went...

[@Ryattt81]

As a person who makes glasses for a living, if you correct to 20/20 there is no need for glasses, though I will say that optometrists do make mistakes. "Doctor remakes" are pretty common.

[@BooRadley742]

You actually get a gun after defeating Scadu the Hedgehog

[@sneezingmango]

🤣

[@casthedemon]

Blue Scadu.

[@disky01]

No one in the history of time has ever said "Mr. Bean is tight"

[@FluxCrush]

I love when Lucy says the most wildly funny sh*t 😂

[@SimonCoutellier-Savard]

Dishonored is one game in which I feel you make your own difficulty by chosing whether you want to play stealthy or not.

[@MrKubahades]

or even playing full stealth no powers, because that is also possible. I gave up on lvl 3 because its not that fun, but definitely hard

[@Exel3nce]

but also not really that good how it was executed

[@imo098765]

@@MrKubahades its very fun, feels like a proper stealth game

[@wuurlii]

@@Exel3nceit was executed phenomenally for the time it came out regarding the state of stealth games at the time.

[@JamesSmith-nz4xs]

I loved playing every dishonored game and dlc with no powers, no gear upgrades, without being spotted, and without killing anyone, all simultaneously and while on max difficulty

[@Orson_Welp]

"But I've been calling it the 'Skadoosh Tree' for 6 whole days, and that's just too big a committment for me to walk away from"

[@AC-hj9tv]

😂😂

[@Alex-VaahEye23]

Man when it turns into a Ferrari the 2nd time pmo

[@BasJack]

The game is cheaply difficult, moves too fast in long sequences and damage waaaaaay too high (even with all scadurtree blessing) it makes it long and tedious to learn a boss because you don't really learn combos when you die at the first hit

[@austin0_bandit05]

"Just use mimic tear bro". So now my options are a super easy boss fight or a super hard boss fight. Thats not a choice at all.

[@bryanzavala7841]

​@@austin0_bandit05The final boss definitely isn't easy, even with Mimic Tear

[@socaldayve6684]

OK, you talked me into it. I just bought Disco Elysium and Outer Wilds on deep Steam sale. I'll probably never play them. But they're in my library now. 😁

[@Reldonator]

You should 100% play Outer Wilds!

[@trentkuzman5528]

Watching Lucy casually drinking her moonshine from the mason jar. Impressive she can remain so steady throughout the podcast.

[@marccreation1052]

It' s actually GBH.

[@sorenkair]

​@@marccreation1052 wazzat

[@sepiroth426]

Man seeing Mitch takes me back, watching him from game front do dark souls and dragons dogma playthroughs.

[@ArtofBrentMinehan]

I think a lot of people conflate pretty vistas with interesting world design. They are related but not fully encompass what it means to make a good to explore world. Shadow of the Erdtree's world could be vastly better, it suffers from bloat and padding. I think much of the map should have been culled entirely for the sake of quality. There is too much empty space bringing down the sense of exploration and uniqueness and much of the way that you move throughout the world is nonsensical. So much of it would have been solved by making it a quarter of the size really. I really enjoyed the expansion but the final boss was the last straw, I think the difficulty was fine except for that, I cannot get past phase 2 of the final boss, it is honestly so poorely designed it brings the overall experience down quite a bit. I did not struggle with any of the other bosses like this despite having minor niggles with them. I think the direction of anime movesets is also counter to the strengths of the gameplay established with the Souls games Elden Ring continues. They need to focus on more puzzle like bosses and less extreme reflex bosses or change the combat to me more like Sekiro in future games because they are straying from the strength of what makes Elden Ring good.

[@Fio8os]

Lucy getting left hanging on Feathers McGraw made me die a little inside. BTW Wallace and Gromit coming to Walkabout MiniGolf soon.

[@DannyJoe08]

God podcasts are insufferable as hell.

[@lennhsu]

The only problem I have with the DLC is the second phase of the Final Boss. Everything else is pretty ok for me and I enjoyed my time, that is, until the second phase of the Final Boss. There is no way that the boss is not overtuned and it will absolutely be nerfed in coming patch.

[@darksol2519]

Yeah, that first phase was fun, then phase 2 hits and you get met with one of the most overtuned bosses in any soulsbourne game from Fromsoft to date.

[@bondbarrybonds5774]

@@darksol2519I can’t even find an opening during the second phase, i’m just rolling until I die 😂 and then I see some people have already killed him without getting hit!!! It’s ridiculous

[@cactuss33ds]

dude. coupled with the near instant triple slash that comes out, i don't think one move has killed me so consistently in any souls game to date.

[@IWantToStayAtYourHouse]

@@bondbarrybonds5774 use faster weapons

[@gabrielpetri7737]

@@cactuss33ds THAT is what’s actually overtuned. I figured out how to deal with everything else except that move.

[@matthewfairchild3846]

Did Lucy just tell us its a "grindset"? Lmfao 🤣

[@scabby.knees99]

I searched up the upcoming "Lucy games" and all but one were already on my wishlist 😅

[@ajwaddanwarr3409]

Shout out to Mitchell, IGN has been receiving its fair share of criticism for poor journalistic practices the last few years but all the stuff he makes rocks! His coverage of DLC has been pretty good!

[@NinesIng]

Was watching him since GAMEFRONT days. He definitely stands out from the rest of IGN staff for me

[@WdawgSmith]

It’s a hard job to do People like to shit on it But it’s not easy to give a game a rating for something that is so subjective. You add that premise to the internet and you have a really stressful job to do. Almost everyone is going to disagree with you Some because they are trolls and some because they just value different things in video games.

[@maskoblackfyre]

Yup. The guy is legit. I never expected to hear "Well you just need to git gud" from an IGN reviewer but that's what he basically said at one point😄

[@Echo__plex]

Mitchell is awesome. He's one of the good ones for sure.

[@TheWOLF1201]

Shillup just loses points everytime he talks. Not into horror. Never seen the thing. Thinks the ending could have been more? Bruh....that ending is so creepy tf you mean. Idk why most Gamers on KZbin have terrible taste in Movies but yet have a good sense of gaming. Jake...the first omen was terrible.

[@Zastrutzki]

Ralph proceeds to take out his lenses to discard the Clark Kent disguise.

[@RobbieB2606]

😂😂

[@caimansaurus5564]

Ralph talks 2x more during the guest segment than the guest does. Seriously man, this is just turning into the skillup podcast Edit: and let me be clear, I really appreciate Ralph's takes, he's insightful and knowledgable. But when he talks so much (and often talks over others) the dynamic is just not good

[@spectre-8]

I wonder if AI can transcribe and do word counts for each speaker and provide a count. It’s his channel so whatever, but I feel he does disproportionately speak

[@Inflorescensse]

I am having quite a bit of difficulty on the consort of Radahn. His Gay superpowers keep overwhelming me.

[@oggelicious2716]

Turtle build my man - heavy armor, blood and rot rapier with an greatshield with high holy damage resistance. Just hold L1 and R1 the entire fight - easy mode

[@Inflorescensse]

@@oggelicious2716 oh man. I just can’t. I’m dodge and slash throughout. I cannot abandon now!

[@PouyadGaming]

There are def sloppy decisions made, but again I keep saying this, since people will beat the buggy boss too and call it normal, it becomes the matter of 'you just gotta git gud' I just got to the hippopotamus, the camera is in its intestines, I could tell he has IBS... that's a design issue not a skill issue... I beat these bosses with frame drops and freezes and die because of frame drops and freezes, doesnt make it a NOT ISSUE just cuz I beat it at the end

[@Hackcam]

The amount of difference Scadutree fragments makes is INSANE. I'm currently +13 on them and i have 70% damage resist. SEVENTY.

[@zoron1]

That's odd. I'm at +15 and at 67%

[@Hackcam]

@@zoron1 I also have some talismans on that give me more (this is a reminder to go get dragoncrest great shield talisman)

[@lukatosic09]

​@@zoron1it depends on your armor as well

[@hexthehardcorecasual]

This is on top of your normal stats. Remove all your gear to see what the fragments do by themselves.

[@urazz7739]

Yeah, that's the big thing, Scadutree fragments are pretty much required to do well. I like exploring around the map so getting a good scadutree blessing level wasn't an issue but I know some people that don't like doing that and that's a big detractor for them in this expansion.

[@maxslender4668]

I love the cassowary talk, I did a school project on them once and I still love them to this day. Saying that they are an "emu but way angrier" is an understatement. They will F you up, like really bad. They will use their claws to rip out your intestines, all while making dinosaur noises. They are probably the closest things to living dinosaurs on earth today alongside crocodiles and alligators.

[@TMV420]

check out the pūteketeke!

[@mrseryous8122]

The Elden Ring debate is difficult for me to join in to. I had 400 hours in the base game, played through the main story / bosses more than 15 times at least. So I really want to claim I have an informed opinion on this topic, but I am playing through the DLC with a lvl 200 char on NG+2, so my experience is way different to that of most people. For a decent chunk of bosses I am glad by their artstyle and presentation, but not their gameplay implementation. Most of them still suffer from issues that I felt present in the base game. Camera is the most frustrating to me. Dragons (which there are a lot of) still have horrendous camera tracking. A decent amount of the important bosses have high volume lighting that basically flashes your screen through some combos. With my NG+2 I often felt I understood the bosses attacks already and was able to dodge and parry their attacks fairly reliable, but the larger HP pool because of the NG combined with these camera issues or "flashscreens" (bad term, I basically mean visual effects blocking my perspective on the upcoming attacks) caused some bosses to be plain exhausting. I just felt I got the bosses nailed down at some point and had to keep fighting inconsistent camera and visuals. But other than that, I am extremely pleased with the addition. I don't mind the "difficulty for the sake of difficulty" claims. They might have a point, but in the end I actually enjoy the more aggressive combat flow with longer combos and shorter openings. I do believe fromsoft can't up that difficulty endlessly and at some point I will dislike it as well, but I can't claim this DLC brought me to that point yet. I will just say that this DLC very much could be a GOTY by itself, even without the base game.

[@glowerworm]

The bosses are supremely difficult and demand you learn their dance moves and perfectly dance with them to be rewarded with a good few hits. I definitely think you're intended to just try at them a few times before moving on and doing other content, then trying them a few more times, etc. Basically, pace the game for yourself. After I found messmer I only beat him 15 hours later, but that was 15 hours of exploring the entirety of the map and killing other bosses. It's basically a Dark Souls 2 DLC optional boss format. Brutally hard and in some ways kinda unfair, but you're meant to take breaks with the rest of the game and come back to the boss repeatedly. With Elden Ring, the more you rush, the worse the game.

[@RizoftheDead]

The Thing is my favorite movie of all time, glad to know Ralph finally caught up on it.

[@lordsysop]

I heard the workers who move to the south pole watch this movie as a tradition

[@WdawgSmith]

Yes!!! Ralph is Superman He can speed up video game developers so it doesn’t take 6 years to make a decent video game 7 years for a good one and 10 years for a classic And maybe end poverty and hunger afterwards

[@comfybaguette]

I disagree with SkillUp on the Shadow of the Erdtree map design being underwhelming. I found the map design to be extremely well designed and very unique (compared to other open world games). I haven't played a game with a map quite like this, the verticality plays with your perception of how big or small an area ends up being. Surprisingly, I haven't seen many people online talking about this, it really is excellent level design.

[@countryc0unt]

i mean it has at least 2 areas that are literally empty except the one quest location you have to go to for the same questline. That is just space for spaces sake, and a lot of shadow of the erdtree is like that, just not that egregious.

[@comfybaguette]

@@countryc0unt I’m talking about just map design and layout. I’m not speaking to the content that’s spread across the map. You are correct, there are several areas that feel like it’s missing content.

[@tommaddi]

yeah super weird criticism, regardless of whether or not you think certain areas should have more content the design of the world & the act of exploring it is so impressive. it's probably the peak of FromSofts world design in my opinion.

[@suloea]

@@tommaddi there are people just want to pick a point to whine and stick with it instead of enjoying the good stuffs that is being offered. sad reality

[@dadoomknight]

During the discussion about iterating on the same ideas with sequels and how much progress is necessary for a good sequel, I couldn’t stop thinking about monster hunter. They have taken the same idea and just improved it with each game, some elements changing some staying the same, while retaining the soul of the franchise for 20 years at this point. It’s honestly remarkable and proof that a sequel doesn’t need to always do something insanely wild or out of left field to be meaningful and worthwhile sequel.

[@kayneg9941]

That's true big in most cases Devs get sick of making the same game, monster hunter series is not a common thing

[@whit3devil]

tho MH imo still sadly has its problems, the amount of content on release at times fails to even meet the benchmarks set by older games like MHFU or 4u. the update model of mhw and mhr saw these games release with less bosses than in previous games, which were then passed as free updates over a year of a patch cycle which is... wack. we also havent seen a new weapon type since like 2014 or something like that while before that almost every game added new types. they also tried many big gimmicks thorough the years so its not like they didnt experiment. underwater combat, weapons like switch axe, hunter arts, mounting, wirebugs....

[@deyonterogers6732]

​@whit3devil tbf you're comparing the expanded version of freedom 2 and 4 to base world and rise which isn't really a fair comparison. we're just in a time where we're getting both the base monster hunter and the expanded version worldwide, something japan exclusively got since the beginning

[@saltymr.potatohead4897]

Complaining about the difficulty level when you're not using items to help make it easier is the same thing as complaining about Dooms nightmare mode being too hard. You're making the game more difficult by choice.

[@seifenspender]

I was about to check how bad my vision deficiency got. So I looked across the room only to notice "holy shit everything is sharp!" Then I realized I wear my glasses. Yeah no shit

[@andrewramirez9727]

BRO doing what the completionist couldnt hahaha - can you give us proof of where the money went

[@slt328]

“Scadutree” I believe is technically pronounced shuh-doo-tree. It is indeed from older dialects, and I feel it’s to represent that the shadow lands are older, and so the “present” time in elden ring they pronounce and spell it “shadow”, where people native to the “older” shadow lands might’ve actually pronounced it “shuh-doo”

[@luca-draws]

46:00 I think the amount of difficulty regulation actually SUCKS BALLS because you're always changing difficulty JUST by playing, and for people who want to just "play the difficulty the game was designed with" have to keep juggling stuff and wonder if they have it too easy or too hard. I think it's actually awful for more hardcore gamers or anyone who's looking for a balanced but fair challenge.

[@Sazen7]

If you're having issues with Shadow of the Erdtree, check out Leviathan's most recent video about Elden Ring mechanics. Jump more, lock-on camera less, use ALL THE BUFFS YOU CAN FIND. Incants, Livers, Boluses, Talismans. I feel like SoTE was made with these mechanics in mind, moreso than the base game

[@todaysdesperadohatesavocad7109]

I agree completely. I just saw a fella in another video comment "Well a lot of players couldn't even beat Radahn without using the rot buildup cheese and craftables". Like, dude. Utilizing a bosses weaknesses and some items couldnt be furthur from a "cheese". It isnt even on the level of an Ash summon (which are also viable and aren't limited to the mimic tear). It's just an actual mechanic that SHOULD be used by a savvy player unless youre specifically attempting a challenge run. Some players really do handicap themselves and then get angry when they're unable to perform at that level and proceed to blame the game.

[@eatcrab9565]

Dang, still none of them played Nine Sols

[@devincoleman4105]

I feel like all this difficulty talk is missing the real issue with the DLC. It’s a big, expansive, beautiful space to explore, with frick all to find. So many times I found myself saying “why is this here, there’s nothing to find”. When you do, it’s never worth it usually, just some common crafting materials.

[@SolarBlademaster]

That was my only major non-technical gripe with the dlc as well. Everything else I enjoyed for the most part, but the areas outside of the 2nd major legacy dungeon (which did feel very well planned out and designed, one of my favorite "levels" in a souls game ever now) felt underbaked, like the dev time to make the areas "open world" was more than they expected and as such had less time to actually fill in the areas with stuff.

[@ClipperFanW]

The problem with Elden Ring is that there's no reward for exploration unlike Tears of the Kingdom where you'll use the items you pick up. Fromsoft really butchered the open world of this game sadly.

[@omarhelmy8394]

That's an issue with even the main game, exploring rarely ever feels worth it

[@17thknight]

​@@ClipperFanW lmao no. TotK is the most empty, boring, lifeless open world in gaming where nothing you find matters at all.

[@laterreality7311]

@@ClipperFanWa shame people think this way feel sorry for y’all tbh

[@spacemagic1484]

It’s funny how garbage Ralph’s commentary has become in the last year or so. Really used to like him but he’s such an obvious Sony Pony that it pisses me off when he tries to act like he’s above being a console warrior. Utterly pathetic.

[@hakuhyo174]

Difficulty isn’t the issue. The issue is that some bosses are overly aggressive to the point that you have to dodge like 30s before landing hits in. And some boss (like p2 of last boss) spams AoE with visual effects to the point that you can’t see what’s happening. I think SotE is fantastic like 8 or 9/10 but fanboys shouldn’t deflect legit criticisms by just saying “git gud.”

[@lilbook2529]

I love Jake being the viewers insert

[@hexthehardcorecasual]

32:46 The reason why we simply have Scadutree fragments is because while From is great at environment, bosses, baddies, lore, etc, they are not good at itemization. There's many low hanging fruit they could have done to make the players run around and collect any number of things. (And any of this stuff, and more, could apply to the base game as well.) For example, they can add "refined smithing stones" which add "refinement" levels to weapons, gaining an extra 25 levels but only bumping damage up by 10% in total or something. Maybe also weapon categories gain special properties such as projectiles do more weak point damage, strength weapons do more poise damage, dex weapons have longer combos, daggers crit harder, or whatever. Talismans could be upgraded or combined. For example, we have Arrow Sting talisman (10% arrow damage), Arrow Reach talisman (longer arrow flight), and a new one which increases arrow weak spot damage. None of these are used outside of memes, but if all 3 of these were combined, it could be effective. Then there's armor. Armor is a criminally under utilized resource in From games. We don't upgrade it and there's very little passive stats on it. Passive effects like stat boosts, damage type boosts, or other trade-offs should be common place. They've got a massive lore library to pick from, so it should be a no-brainer. For example, Godrick Lordsword Soldier set could net you +1 strength on gloves, +1 dex on boots, +2 vigor on chest, +1 int on helmet. When you have the whole set, you gain +1 vigor and +1 strength too. And maybe Redmane Knights could net you strength, fire damage, and yadda yadda. And there's a special Redmane knight that grants +10% greatbow damage because of a few of them did cool greatbow stuff. Etc. Anyway, still an awesome game though!

[@BobbyBopkins]

Fashion > stats

[@hexthehardcorecasual]

@@BobbyBopkins You can still do fashion with my suggestions.

[@BobbyBopkins]

@@hexthehardcorecasual I like your suggestions. I also like putting on what looks good, stats be damned.

[@GameQuestUK]

I got 100% in base game and beat all the bosses that you can't use a summon for, but a boss I'm able to summon for I'll use it as I find it fun to do that, back in older games you needed to summon an npc for some quest lines. I don't get the stubbornness of some people. If you want to play without using those things, great. But don't complain it's too hard when the game has those tools available.

[@monkeeee]

My stone club will slay the gods

[@bird6708]

Words carved in the obelisk

[@VoidEternal]

Erdtree is good. But it would've been better if the Player Character was allowed to be as useful and competent as the rest of the world they exist in. Erdtree's bosses would fit right in with Sekiro or Bloodborne, but not Dark Souls. Elden Ring is primarily a Dark Souls game before it's anything else. People aren't getting fucked up just because their "scadu level is too low". Scadu level is just a number boost. Numbers can be used to trivialize any encounter. We're not lacking in numbers, or ways to make our numbers bigger. We're lacking in mechanics, and the ability to keep pace with the boss. Elden Ring's design seems to based more off of FromSoft HOPING that all the bullshit they put in the game carries you, but doesn't put any effort into Player Character progression beyond that. It makes it less an RPG, and more of a Hoarder's simulator, where you just collect all the cool shit the world has to offer (which is less cool when YOU use it), and throw it all at the bosses because their combat mechanics are still of Dark Souls, old, tired, and overly reliant on dodge-roll's i-frames. They CAN do better. They just chose not to for this game.

[@alexporto5669]

The discourse about Elden Ring in general is pretty ridiculous, honestly. In a lot of people's minds, difficult automatically means good game design. Any type of criticism of Elden Ring is met with the standard "git gud" response, as if the game is perfect. I do think it's a good game, but the difficulty does feel off, and a lot of the bosses are just not as well-designed as Sekiro's, for example. I didn't play the DLC yet, but seeing more people talk about this does worry me, since it looks like FromSoftware is going to lean on this type of game design more and more.

[@ThanhLe-ti8nx]

Fromsoft has reached the state of immunity to criticism at this point, and I think it put themselves in a bad position, where they have to make the game difficult to please the fanboy. Even if the difficulty is not fun or it's just bad boss design, the fanboy will always defend them with "it's possible" and "skill issue".

[@fghfdgfdg6022]

Elden rings got a better boss line up than sekiro imo.

[@EpicWolf355]

I completely agree. The lack of build diversity in Sekiro allowed FromSoft to create their most fine tuned gameplay and in my opinion some of the best bosses they've ever made. It's still my favorite of all their games. Contrast that to Elden Ring where you have to balance between players using katanas, duel wielding greatswords, fist weapons, casters, etc. It's just an impossible task. I honestly think it wouldn't be as big of a deal if the respec method in Souls games weren't awful. In a game like Elden ring that encourages multiple builds why is there a limit to how many larval tears exist? Would have loved for them to just introduce a method that lets you respec by paying runes or atleast let me farm them from some end game enemy.

[@ThanhLe-ti8nx]

@@EpicWolf355 another issue with Elden Ring is Fromsoft being so stingy with the upgrade material, there's over 300 weapon but the smithing stone from exploration only is only sufficient to upgrade 3-4 weapons at most. Smithing stone bell exist, but by the time you can buy smithing stone[3] your best weapon already require smithing stone[5] And you can already imagine how grindy it is even if you only upgrade 1 weapon per type

[@yufang97]

Dunno if this is the place to say it, but the Spotify version is impossibly quiet

[@yiraw]

Beat the DLC and all bosses, think I'd probably call it a 7/8. It just isn't as good as the main game and overall ignoring the actual difficulty, a lot of them don't feel as special. Midra and Messner were stand outs, but the final boss was actually kind of lame (talking from a final boss choice standpoint, not difficulty). End is also super abrupt. A lot of the bosses don't feel as tightly designed (Midra and Bayle feel fair but still challenging), Gaius may be among their worst designed bosses ever. It didn't have that same spark the main game had and the complete disconnect of everything from the main game felt kinda lame, was hoping there would at least be a little more said. I do think its probably their strongest batch of NPCs yet, the fellowship was great. Did i enjoy the DLC, yes, but I feel like they need to step back and aim more for making the bosses fun and a spectacle instead of the difficulty and bullshit being the main point of discussion, there can be a balance.

[@edaes1]

Lucy james would you marry me

[@slanderpop8771]

I really feel like an expansion or dlc shouldn’t be a goty contender. A sequel is fine but I just can’t get past it, even how great it is.

[@RC93725]

Same.. i just think theres this thing in the gaming world where when something is widely popular as hell in unison among gamers, the exaggeration of how good it is starts.

[@carltoncarter5765]

The reason DLC shouldnt be Goty is simple. It's giving a game that already had its chance on release, a second chance, while against contenders on their first chance. Its not fair, period. If you allow this, then you should also allow live service to be Goty for having a really good season.....but that would obviously be dumb.

[@Zoombeanie132]

I get what you're saying, but nothing I've played compares to Shadow of the Erdtree this year. It feels like a sequel. I think it does enough to be considered separate from the base game. Its just so damn good.

[@TMV420]

​@Zoombeanie132 then they should have released it as a standalone entry. Just because it's really good doesn't mean it should be considered as a GOTY while being DLC. Just because a short film is good doesn't mean it can win an Oscar for best feature film.

[@whocansay2215]

‘Scadu’ is the Old English spelling of the word ‘shade’ (pronounced something like “shah-doo”) Definitely not Gaelic, dearest SkillUp. I can see that Blaidd’s name was clearly traumatic 😔

[@matthewdaniel7490]

Big love to Jake. He was a bit more absent in this podcast and I empathise with his burn out as really kills the buzz to game!

[@sammybowker7823]

I feel like the environment and level design is exactly where they stepped it up compared to the base game. It's so dense and vertical, you can't just walk towards something to get to it. Just my two cents.

[@LordRabbit06]

Sony just cut 250 jobs. I’m done. I hope everyone sell their PS5. Skill up usually is against layoffs. Bet these 250 ppl won’t make the news or his channel

[@spectre-8]

And they’re still making record profits I’m sure. Sick of the greed.

[@Redroomjjgfd]

I'm not a huge fan of the skibidi branches, but what a damn good DLC. I wouldn't call the shadow tree fragments an elegant solution btw, its an extremely simple solution, maybe a clean solution, but not elegant.

[@YourOneStopShop]

It definitely works and is a great way to encourage further exploration and not just grind.

[@Tacti_cat]

​@@YourOneStopShopWho the hell is lacking the desire for exploration in a Fromsoftware game? Let's face the facts, the branches are a bandaid fix to the difficulty they wanted to have for this DLC. It's the reason why they have no effect on the base game. It's a power up that only works for the DLC.

[@oldmatttv]

Ah... The Thing. That film gave me nightmares for such a long time ahah.

[@emilymitchell6823]

Shoutout to Quelaag!

[@amolbhatia1449]

From Soft have reached stupid levels of popularity now - much like Rockstar where people find it very hard to accept and acknowledge their failings.

[@oggelicious2716]

You are not allowed to even slightly critique From's games

[@streven1331]

Lucy's fallow school story was absolutely fascinating

[@prince_warhero]

@skill up make sure to donate that money and not end up like completionist 🤣🤣

[@polski8bit]

What SkillUp said with the damage output of bosses even with a decent Scadutree level, is my problem exactly. It's not the aggression of these bossses alone, it's their aggression and damage COMBINED, that I have an issue with. I've already beaten the DLC, before the buff to the early Scadutree levels as well, but sometimes it just wasn't as fun to get three shot, when I was still learning the boss' moveset. And when they have such long combos and are this aggressive, it makes learning them much harder and more frustrating than it needs to be, because I don't even get an opportunity to SEE the entire combo and moveset before dying. So I retry half of the combo, only to die to the latter half I don't know yet, because I'm getting like 3 shot. It's not the worst thing in the world, but I've found it way more tedious than the base game. I can't agree that base Elden Ring was very close in terms of damage and boss aggression - it wasn't. It was much more manageable, the balance of hard hitting and slower bosses against faster but less powerful was much better imo. Even Maliketh, which is one of the most agile, mobile and hard-hitting bosses, has actually very generous openings.

[@truedps8]

What likely happened was you explored a lot more in the base game. If you tackle the base game bosses while being undergeared you will also be taking WAY more damage. I've been exploring every inch of the DLC, and the only boss I had even a bit of difficulty with is the Dancing Lion. In fact I remember very similar complaints from some people for the base game when it released, due to them rushing through things. Pretty much every single boss in the entire game will one shot you if you are not geared to take them on.

[@ruanvictorcabraldelima4752]

I was being 2 shoted as well, but that was for me at least, due to to not engaging with any mechanic with the game. For example, I never used a defensive talisman in my life, or used the mixed drink (I forgot the name) other than to heal half my health, and to get that bubble that protects one attack, so yeah my fault entirely, after using the talisman, the drink, and using the crab thing that dimishes the physical damage, I was getting resonal damage, and made my playtroigh wayyy better, except for the final boss, that one is bullshit.

[@ama9385-w2g]

You aren't equipping the right damage negation talismans, physik tears or armour to match the boss you are fighting then

[@umarthdc]

As someone who is playing the base game at the same time as the dlc, the base game is super easy. Whenever I warp to it I feel I am resting. Also dlc rewards min maxing in regards to defense. Do it.

[@whenallelsfails21]

​@@truedps8fuck off man. The dlc doesn't give you gear to balance things, it gives you scadutree blessings which just make the game blatantly easier. Saying you need to explore every inch of the dlc for the bosses to not be a complete pain in the ass is the problem. Rellana is a nonsense simulator and makes melania seem sane. Even let me solo her used summons and magic against her bc she was so bullshit.

[@Alufear]

There are a lot of things to love about Soulsborne games, from their gorgeously rendered worlds to thrilling combat. Difficulty is just one part of them, and honestly, it's my least favorite part.

[@overlordchemm3705]

I've got mixed feelings on the difficulty/balancing stuff and am willing to admit that, on my end, its a skill issue for the most part. The only thing I can say in confidence is that I don't think the dancing lion is mechanically well designed. The way its cloaked and its size make it extremely hard to read. Bosses with misleading tells and delayed attacks is one thing, and it can be fun, but when the thing is flipping towards me and taking up all my screen so I can no longer see my character and by extension when I need to be dodging its delayed attacks it feels frustrating and cheap. Environmentally though the DLC is gorgeous and had my jaw drop several times. Walking out onto the gravesite plain and seeing one of those massive fire monsters walking around in the distance was awesome. Easy 10/10 in the visual department.

[@Exel3nce]

nothing about is skill bases. well yes, but the main problem is that all bosses are just overtuned

[@elipetrou9308]

Yea the lion was fucking annoying. But of the four remembrance bosses I’ve fought so far he was the only one which pissed me off. Mesmer in particular was amazing, and felt really fair. Rellana was a little much but I’m really impressed overall

[@spectre-8]

@2:12 is Jake making a game or is that part of his joke.. ?

[@intolerablescamp1436]

I’m super conflicted about the difficulty scaling of this expansion. Overall I think Shadow of the Erdtree is very good, but I definitely have some criticisms. In my mind, a big part of what makes open world game design interesting is that the cool stuff (gear, spells, general upgrades, quests etc) is entirely missable - it means that the world itself shapes the way you play. Shadow of the Erdtree (Elden Ring in general, honestly) definitely follows this philosophy, and so all players have played through the game very differently to each other. I think that’s awesome! But in my opinion, this system falls apart when the missable items are also REQUIRED to progress through the DLC, and unfortunately Scadutree fragments are entirely missable and absolutely essential items; the difference between fighting Relanna at +2 versus at even +6 is crazy. Scadutree fragments as an upgrade system is very clearly influenced by the upgrade system in Sekiro, whereby prayerbeads and memories are exchanged for flat increases to vitality and attack power, respectively. This is a system that works in Sekiro because the game is linear by design, meaning you will always be at the appropriate level for a boss when you arrive there. The problem with transferring this system over to an open-world game like Elden Ring is that it means that, if a player didn’t crawl through every corner of the map available to them to get all the Scadutree fragments, they’re going to be far weaker than they should be. And this sucks, because again, what makes exploration cool in these games is that it’s optional! If you don’t want to go through a certain zone, you shouldn’t have to. And honestly Scadutree fragments being mandatory, missable items would be totally fine if there was a surplus of them on the map (I.e. you didn’t need to find every single fragment available throughout the whole expansion to reach max level). In fact, in the base game they already had this figured out - there are more golden seeds and sacred tears available than you actually need to max out your flasks. That system worked great, because again, it didn’t punish you for not exploring (or punishing you for exploring the wrong way). In a recent patch, they adjusted the scaling on the fragments, making all levels below +10 stronger, and levels above +10 a bit weaker. I think this is a good change, but it still doesn’t address the core issue imo. I know balancing this expansion must’ve been so difficult given the amount of variables a player can interface with in this game, but I wish the fragment system was handled a bit better.

[@intolerablescamp1436]

My other complain (though a far more subjective one) is that the balancing for spirit ashes feels a bit off for the DLC bosses. The problem I’m encountering is that using spirit ashes trivialises these bosses too much, but not using them makes the bosses faaaar too punishing. The new combos that these DLC bosses put out are crazy difficult to deal with by yourself, and there’s almost no time for reprieve between them. So, obviously, the game is nudging you towards using spirit summons to distract the opponent. But if you do that, the boss becomes so easy to continuously stagger and run away from. For me personally, it means that bosses don’t alway feel very satisfying to beat. I remember in the base game when I finally beat Malenia it felt incredible. When I beat the final boss of this expansion I was just relieved to be done with it.

[@urazz7739]

I liked the map design of the expansion personally. What I didn't like was that the Scadutree blessings pretty much forced you to explore around. I explore around anyways and enjoy it, but I don't like the feeling that we are forced to do so.

[@darthvallez]

For the "combine 2 games to make a new game" question. I want an X-men team game in the style of Hades, with different characters having different abilities and play styles, and gorgeous hand drawn portraits and environments. I want it now.

[@marccreation1052]

The very old X-Men Legends and Ultimate Alliance games kind of fit that bill.

[@conaldeugenepeterson2147]

This is such a great idea

[@UppersDownersAllarounders]

I just want an X- Men game. Maybe with X-Men '97

[@insomniaddictesp]

I think people, because game devs have all tried to copy or merge dark souls concepts into their own games, have possibly burnt people out, so when this comes out and is punishing, the average player that enjoys this stuff felt like it was suddenly unenjoyable.

[@bernieblack8819]

My issue is the flamderization of the bosses. In the chase for difficulty they now all have these long combos, miniscule attack windows, attacks that track you, unrealistic animations that turn on a dime and chase you from across the room, and kill you in 2 to 3 hits. It's not that it's hard, it's tedious. Enemies aren't playing by the same rules anymore. They have infinite stamina, spacing no longer matters, positioning doesn't make a difference, and since everyone can only get in 1 to 2 attacks at a time everyone justs going to pick the hardest hitting weapon. Fromsoft has lost its tough but fair magic that brought people in so they can keep the mantle of having the hardest games.

[@createprince2093]

this was my feeling in the base game as well. Joseph Anderson’s review summed it up well for me, but I’m happy for everyone that’s enjoying it

[@megatron4466]

elden ring is just horrible at teaching players to be aggressive, they just throw weapons and spells and stuff at you and makes you think that getting as much damage in as possible is the best way to fight. If you get right in the boss' face and memorize their attack patterns from that distance there are so many little openings that are so satisfying to seize. All these players are saying "git gud" but the game neither shows you how to actually get good nor motivates you to.

[@patrickripleyiii134]

The issue is that a lot of bosses have tons of openings, but for faster weapons, and they are in the middle of combos. You do not get to run away from elden ring bosses, if you want to heal you have to give up a damage window. It's a bit much in the end, especially for bosses with lingering effects

[@bernieblack8819]

@@patrickripleyiii134 I would argue they have less openings than they've ever had. Instead of having bosses that play fair you have bosses who will surprise you at the end of their combo with an extra attack to punish players being aggressive, who track you so you can't get behind them, and delay their attacks so you can't set the pace. Sure you might be able to give one light attack in during a combo and after but I would hardly call that aggressive. My experience for majority of the bosses in this DLC of just been Dodge, block or parry seven times in a row and then poke and then repeat ad nauseam.

[@omegaxtrigun]

@@megatron4466No duh the game doesnt “show you”. You’re supposed to learn by doing.

[@domoslaf]

OK is Lucy not capable of seeing if she does indeed need glasses or not? I mean that's like a super basic bar to clear. Do I see ok without them? OK I guess I don't need them, done. Why did you need a doctor for that? How much did you pay for someone to tell you that your eyesight is good? I mean sure, if you feel like your eyesight is bad you do need a doctor to actually measure it and write you a proper presctiption so that it helps. But if you don't have any problems seeing? WHY?

[@Ebenezer563]

She already had a professional tell her that she did need them

[@domoslaf]

@@Ebenezer563 OK, *for what*?

[@FlamingWhippet]

My biggest gripes so far with the DLC are some of the bosses, Gaius and Erdtree Avatar suck, but also I'm not seeing a lot of new spells and equipment for INT builds. Feel like faith has been the favored stat so far.

[@endub6551]

I think if they just fix Gaius' charge attack he will be a solid boss. Nothing special but another nice addition to the mounted bosses

[@countryc0unt]

i think there are like closee to double the amount of incants compared to sorceries in the DLC, so yeah INT builds where definitely an afterthought even melee INT builds.

[@masonguyman3074]

My only difficulty gripe is Final Boss Person. I have beaten every FROM game multiple times, never had a complaint about the difficulty and boss design. Always felt completely fair and like if I made a mistake it was my fault. Nameless King, Kalameet, Alonne, Burnt Ivory King, Midir, etc. But with Malenia and Final Boss Person, I feel like there is just no way to stop from getting deleted that isn't just getting lucky. The bosses are very difficult to read, and have attacks that feel unfair even to me. I can't imagine how someone whose first souls game is Elden Ring fares. Malenia can use waterfowl dance 5 times a fight or 0, and she has attacks that come out in like 14 frames that instantly give her infinite stagger resist. Similar situation with Final Boss Person, there are certain attacks that are just too unforgiving to be fun. The biggest problem is the readability, I think. It feels inconsistent, and I always find myself thinking "What could I have possibly done to survive that situation?" And the answer I come up with is "Get better luck" because I can't think of what to do to improve.

[@Ebenezer563]

Watch some RL1 videos if you're struggling to learn the movesets.

[@frea2191]

I love soullike games and loved the Elden Ring basegame, but the issues i had with the basegame wasnt the difficulty, its was mostly anoyences regarding balance of the weapons and characterbuilds. Often you just cant use certain build to do certain bosses and that is just flatout bad bossdesign and the dlc only enchanced this problem. It has nothing to do with skill if the only viable option to kill a boss is using this one build/weapon/strategy 20 times in a row and trying aynthing else makes it nearly impossible by default, no matter how good you are... I wanted to play a certain build and i flatout just couldnt at two bosses and it anoyed me so much that i did something that ive never done in any other soulslike game before, i installed a addon to nerf boss-dmg by 20% so i could use the build i wanted...

[@G00berella]

I'm glad Jirard was nowhere near the fundraiser.

[@TMV420]

low hanging fruit

[@ChiralWolf]

To me, difficulty is the wrong way of phrasing what most people are experiencing. It's the language that Froms' games are discussed around traditionally so it gets applied here but you're absolutely right that the game isn't difficult persay, there myriad options to mitigate difficulty. What SotE is to me is frustrating. Combos getting slightly longer, windows to attack getting lightly shorter, and bosses poise getting ticked up just a little bit makes for a MORE frustrating experience than the base game even if these elements also existed there and there are tools to reduce the overall difficulty. From that point it doesn't take much more of the game having actual faults; like commander Gaius' hit box or the framerate issues during the dragon dancers, to turn the frustration into just a bad experience. I'm looking forward to finishing the rest of the DLC but those moments stop SotE from being anywhere near a 10/10 experience for me. The technical problems coupled with the overall more frustrating gameplay of many bosses push it down.

[@JustGimmicks]

Total skill issue. I'm at the final boss, and besides him, the rest is not much more difficult than the base game, a little bit especially with a certain dragon boss, but nothing crazy.

[@mellar5864]

@@JustGimmicks Are you actually that stupid or are you just pretending?

[@anonisnoone6125]

​@JustGimmicks Yh ur just bullshitting. U say this but I bet u used Mimic Tear as well to help u.

[@whenallelsfails21]

​@@JustGimmicks Not everyone else gets off to having someone step on their testicles with stilettos.

[@AxolotlOnCoffee]

I think the point about poise seems to be overlooked a lot, but might be the biggest factor when it comes to this. Just take a look at Malenia, easily the hardest boss of the base game, but one of the only (if not the only?) main boss that can be hit-stunned. And she was *still* the hardest. Allowing you to interrupt certain attacks not only rewards the player for learning which moves can be interrupted and which ones can not, but also gives a lot more meaning to your choice of weapon, with small weapons allowing you to slip through the cracks and larger weapons and attacks setting you up for a follow-up attack or at the very least, a little breathing room.

[@DeathDrager]

CURSE YOUUUUUUU BAYLLEEEEEE

[@TMV420]

the penguin chase scene in Wallace and Gromit is commonly cited as one of the best examples of how to create an essential action sequence visually. it's flawless!

[@zapzya]

I mean, sure there are options to break the game, but I also feel like most weapons should be able to stand on their own without summons. If half of the bosses are reducing a weapon's moveset to a single light attack/ jump attack, I don't think it's really accommodating that weapon. There's a pretty big difference between hammering a boss with a meaty charged heavy attack, and spamming jump attacks like a grasshopper. It's just pretty saddening not being able to see all the cool movesets, and dampens the fantasy of that weapon. I get that there will always be some weapons left in the dust, like the whip in dark souls 1. It just feels like a lot of weapons were left behind this time.

[@williamhaas8171]

Fromsoft boss battles have kind of turned into a nuclear arms race between you and the boss

[@TheBlueGoldenHawk]

FYI the audio podcast of this episode at least on Spotify if really quiet and hard to hear

[@MattEffectGames]

I’ll be honest childhood trauma of the tudor is a fundamental part of English education, I had completely forgot we had to dress in tights and the full outfit in the rolls. Like I’d blocked it out my memory

[@Dan016]

I think Lucy's no glasses phase has started her villain arc unintentionally 😂😅

[@mandrews6282]

For the Scadutree Blessings, I think it works for several reasons. Players can be coming in at a wide array of levels. Especially since you can access the dlc before you even finish the main game. It gives an opt in approach that isn’t simply just level grinding for hours for lower level players, and players can both choose to opt in or out, and choose how many Blessings they take to customize their own difficulty through exploration rather than having something like an Easy, Normal, and Hard mode. Also, it allows an easy marker for removing that power level when you go back to the base game so it doesn’t ruin your main game (you don’t keep the blessings when you leave the dlc). All in all I’m not sure any other system would accomplish all these points but this one. And it works surprisingly well. ER has always been great at providing tools and options for players of a wide skill variety and this one is no different.

[@whenallelsfails21]

It doesn't work at all. Lamest way to deal with arbitrary difficulty. "Go out and explore our world bc of you don't the bosses will be a complete pain in the ass, and oh yeah you can't have any of these upgrades you spent hours looking for after your done here sowwy" also it's just a static increase to damage output and defense, no unique way to deal with that. Just "find item, game get easier" it's lame as hell.

[@juantsu2000]

I heavily disagree. I do think that a separate leveling system was necessary, but Scadutree blessings don’t work precisely because they detract from the core gameplay which revolves around combat. The great thing the base game did was that if you had trouble with an area or a boss you could go anywhere else, fight easier bosses and you would eventually level up enough to return to the boss that gave you trouble. It was a natural progression and I never felt forced to grind or explore for the sake of exploring. Scadutree Blessings should, in theory, incentivize exploration but in reality they devalue most optional content because why would I bother to go through a mini-dungeon when I know the reward is going to be a piece of equipment I will probably never use? The base game had this “issue” too, but it was mitigated by the fact that even if you got something you don’t want, going through a dungeon and killing a boss still gave you some form of progress by giving you runes you could use to level up. Now we get pretty much nothing. It would be a different story if these things could always be received by killing any boss but even then, it would have made killing normal enemies just as pointless as it is now. I personally think the new system should’ve been simply: “Get these upgrades by spending X amount of runes”.

[@TheAnaz41745]

Yeah, as someone who has high level character the Scadutree Blessing system really helps rebalance the game for me, and since I'm at NG+ I'm used to things hitting hard, and the blessing does show its effects with just a bit of natural progression Also, one thing I like with the blessing buff, is that it allows us to use the riskier items or buffs that has demerits like increase damage taken, but due to the blessing buff the effect of those demerits are less with some like the Scorpion talisman becoming really minimal in the DLC and makes it a risk free buff.

[@Exel3nce]

it is good for the base game , yes, caues it was always the issue of being overleveled going back to the main game. but those fragments are such terrible design. killing is not important, enemies are not important. you are just running throught the world looking for shiny things. and if you cant fcking find them, you are screwed cause they are a must. just fcking balance the game instead of this crap

[@catalan8241]

The world is too big and too empty to encourage exploration for most players. It's like looking for needles in a haystack. Which in turn leads to people not having enough blessings and making the game too hard. They have to cut the unnecessary size of most areas down if they want to make the blessings system work.

[@AfterLiveAnalysis]

Hey Stu - pro tip, use the DeNoise tool when people have outrageous hum in the background of their mic. Keep up the hard work.

[@BB-pb3hv]

Shillup looks like galvanized steel

[@sneaky5141]

fr why is bro so chisseled 🤧

[@william383]

true

[@titularhero]

​@sneaky5141 ? He doesn't look unfit at all but he's not chiseled... Jake looks more chiseled. Regardless they all look fine. Lovely peeps

[@sneaky5141]

@@titularhero someone has a crush on jaaaaake 🥰🥰🥺

[@titularhero]

@@sneaky5141 don't have to attracted to someone to judge their appearance

[@TheLovescream]

I love Jake. Hes so wholesome :3

[@erickr199]

I think summoning is a great adition to the game, that allows for a more versatile experience, the problem I have is that it feels like Fromsoftware can keep getting away with makeing each time more imposiblle bosses, with infinite stamina, very long combos, hard to read animations because you can summon, and if you choose not to, then thats on you, thats your problem. I think the game would be better for everyone if it could better accomodate both types of players, those that like summoning and those that do not. DS3, Bloodborne and Sekiro dont have spirit ashes the same way Elden Ring does, but they dont need to because they have more resonable while still challenging boss encounters.

[@Exel3nce]

because all past games have this weird thing called fairness. both player and enemy play the same game while elden ring bosses are in dmc6 and we are stuck in ds2

[@karjar5742]

With the exception of final boss part 2, I do think the dlc has been great at designing bosses that feel fair when fought 1v1 in melee. Malenia and Maliketh are a lot more tedious to fight for me than any boss in the dlc, with the obvious esception

[@rebirthofgodrics907]

It really seems like people get lost in the action part of the game and forget it's an rpg at its core for example: when I fought lion dancer as a strength build it tok like 20 hits between heavy attacks and jump attacks meanwhile my faith build kill in six just coating your weapon can make a big difference. Raise endurance and start guard countering you'll be breaking poise so much. Bring some pots knives perfumes heck one of the perfumes give you the bubble that makes damage almost none. Add some faith get flame grant me strenght and golden vow. Get a heavy shield build and be immortal. The greatness of rpg is knowledge and creativity rewards you exploitation of game mechanics make the game fun. Heck lock off from time to time and you'll evade stuff with more ease

[@Dehrild]

58:42 I had the same experience with the Shadow Keep Church District, where they tease you with the creepy movements of giant creatures in the deep waters beneath you. I was like "OOOOOOOH spooky, I wonder what's going to jump out and mess me up!" Then (SPOILER) you lower the water and find a couple of completely recycled tree worms with 0 new mechanics. K... lame. Of all the creatures to pick from they could've really chosen better than the most re-used boss from any FromSoftware title. I was tired of those before finishing the base game, and I'd already fought TWO tree worms before reaching the keep. I was so disappointed that it's only after I finished the ENTIRE Shadow Keep (all levels, bosses and floors included) that I stopped waiting for those big water creatures to show up and accepted that the shitty tree worms WERE those water creatures...

[@endub6551]

Regarding the deflecting hardtear, I really think this should've been a core mechanic built into the game from the start. It allows you to engage with bosses more during their combos and feels so satisfying and fluid. And since you don't need a shield to do it, most builds would be able to engage with it.

[@mr.b89]

Yeah it should've been an expansion on the guard counter mechanic

[@CptHolt]

This is the first time I got to comment so early... I love this trio so much. Especially Jake he's just so likable.