Is the Shadow of the Erdtree Blessing System Good? (No Spoilers)
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- Опубликовано: 14 июл 2024
- The Elden Ring DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, implements a new progression system in the form of the Shadow Realm Blessing. What is the purpose of this new system? How do Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ash work? How does this system interact with Elden Ring as a whole? In this video I discuss these questions and more.
00:00 Blessing System Overview
02:22 Design Intent
04:38 Criticisms
10:37 This One's On The House
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System is OK and it did encourage me to seek out the blessings.
I would have explored every inch anyway so for me the more frustrating thing with this DLC was the lack of varied rewards for exploration.
If I wasn't finding blessings I was largely finding smithing stones...
Yeah I feel this, I'm not sure what they could have swapped in for more minor loot that would be actually be useful, but endless smithing stone s and gloveworts felt pretty unsatisfying
Yeah maybe some golden seeds and sacred tears could have been put in for future play throughs so you don’t have to go through the whole base game.
I agree. If crafting / using crafting items didn't require me to go into menus so much the cookbooks might have been more exciting. Using the items has also always been clunky. Also, where are my sacred hefty pots for those who live in death?
I think maybe 3 or so redundant scadutree fragments would have been good.
One thing: I would have preferred 1 drake. 1 ghost flame drake. On a my third replay now and I'm viewing these dudes as a chore rather than a boss to be excited for. Jagged Peak looks cool but I think there could have been more done to that area then have a drake, two drakes, a dragon, and then a small walk and some spirit springs.
As someone who actually likes the crafting: I just wish I was rewarded with more of the NEW stuff.
Most of the things I found exploring seemed to be base game crafting material, instead of the objectively better new stuff.
Seriously, in the FINAL legacy dungeon I fought my way to an item down a side path just to be rewarded with frigging Thin Beast Bones. I've been able to purchase those infinitely since Limgrave.
I wish there were scadutree smithing stones tbh
Good video dude! I also liked it but appreciate why people didn't and think it is a good conversation
I get the sense that people consider using fragments akin to using the mimic tear when it’s really more like using runes. Using the fragments isn’t easy mode. It’s more like not using them is similar to a level 1 run. You get 2 tapped and don’t do damage.
I didn’t expect them to work as well as they did. I got my butt handed to me the first couple hours until I found a couple…and they helped slowly get me to a place where Messmer’s basic soldiers no longer caved my face in.
Yeah the balance is spot on imo
@@albeon81 Agreed! I am not that good at the game, decent...perhaps, but I'd be happy to be rated as a "B-" Elden Ring player.
I struggled with some bosses, helped a lot of people do them, did some with summons, some without, and beat my head against the brick wall until I wasn't smiling anymore.
Its a good game, and we are fortunate that there are so many ways to curve it into what you want it to be. So many options for making it easier, harder, or just different.
i didn't use guides and got to blessing level 18, i think the system is great
I enjoyed the DLC immensely. The challenge and exploration felt like experiencing ER for the first time again. My issue is that there are exactly enough Scadutree fragments to upgrade to the max level. If you miss one or two, good luck finding which ones. Fromsoft already had a solution to this problem with the Golden Seeds/Flasks. There should be more than 50 Fragments available in the Lands of Shadow.
This is only true for the seeds, so this argument holds half the weight you think it does. There is exactly the amount of Sacred Tears in the world you need to fully upgrade your flask.
people just need to get rid of the stupid FOMO mindset, the last few blessing upgrades doesn't do much at all, especially with the new patch
They should also be a boss drop to make the collection process a bit more fun
Good point 👍
@Ghorda9 It not FOMO, it's literally in the last patch notes.
"The attack and damage negation granted by the final level of Blessing enhancements has been slightly increased"
Every one of these upgrades does matter, the last one more so.
Started the dlc at new game plus 7 is hella fun. The triumph I felt beating Rellana with only lvl 2 blessing is more satisfying than beating Malenia that could not even hit me anymore
It makes sense both mechanically and lore wise, it's generally a great way to ensure most players get the same experience regardless of their character level, there is literally no way to account for both low level (70-150) players and high levels players (150-300 and above) without using something like dynamic scaling (as in enemies just match the level of the player), but that would have had a lot of downsides (like having no sense of progression), so the Scadutree Fragments upgrade system is a much better alternative.
Scadu fragments/revered ash allow you get stronger without altering your main stats. It's incredibly convenient for those wanting stay at a particular SL while incentives exploration, and allows the player to adjust their power to there liking. You don't need to level up the blessings if you do not want to.
Like you, I found the system achieved its goal. SotE captured the feelings of venturing through the Lands Between. If anything, an item that allowed me to reset scadu/ash blessings would be nice.
I've had no trouble with this new system, which surprised me because I was rather nervous about it at first. But I'm also the kind of player who explores like crazy and enjoys respec'ing to get that extra edge on enemy types. When I hop onto my other save files to do the dlc with them, I'll probably just follow a guide to make sure I have enough Fragments, but they're really not hard to find anyway.
DLC is great. They need to add another 10 scadooshtree blessings, not for leveling but so that u can still hit max level even if you miss some.
Hahaha the stock photo of the hippo got me good
I honestly think it should've just been another xp bar really. Shadow runes granting increased blessings. Like additional stat to scale up but only with shadow runes giving you the incentive to explore via rune drops and battle. Like one for offense and one for defense.
Truths were told here today, my fellow Tarnished ones.
It's a good system in my opinion, it encourages exploration, without it people would have just blown through the dlc
i wouldnt say it encourages it so much as it forces you to explore or git rly gud at bosses
@@qAnon118 I've been gitting gud since armored core 1 on ps1 lol
@@qAnon118 I mean, that's basically the exact same as the options in the base game. So I fail to see the problem. Shadow's of the Edtree is more Elden Ring, extending the same gameplay loop onto a whole new map.
So true. I love the dlc. Love the level system.
The system worked but a different progression system that helped further define out builds would of been much better. Maybe unlocking ring slots or something just for shadow realm. Would of been a lot more work but I would of liked something like that instead of just straight damage and damage reduction.
I'm highly curious how much buff the enemies get in ng+ compared to base ng, because carrying over the blessing and looking at base game ng+ would def have me worried about most of the difficulty in the DLC since you will just roll over half of it because of how much it helps
The Scadutree Blessing system feels like an experiment. It's like they're dipping their toes into new territory, game mechanics-wise. As such, it feels a bit unpolished; it doesn't exactly FEEL GOOD to spend the blessings to improve damage and negation.
I hope they keep experimenting, though. I'd like to see another version of this system in a future Soulsborne game, assuming they want to make another one (Maybe not necessarily Elden Ring 2.) In my opinion, maybe the blessings shouldn't have just been lying around the map, but instead you received one for each boss you kill. And also make it a one-to-one ratio: One boss kill equals one Scadutree Blessing Level. As it stands, needing 50 in total to equal a level of 20 makes me want to hoard a whole bunch of blessings to use them all at once.
And while I'm daydreaming... why not increase the percentage of Runes/Souls/Whatevers you gain per enemy kill? It'd be nice to get more and more of those sweet sweet points.
just get rid of the FOMO mindset, you don't need all the blessing upgrades. most of the power difference comes from just the first ten and the last few does hardly anything
It's okay I just wish it also drops from bosses because I have no reason to do caves or minor dungeons other than to get certain items
Would have liked it more if it had given them out after killing Remembrance bosses and also only finding them at crosses and churches in the open world. Also, there should be a bit more than needed throughout the DLC by about 5 or so.
My opinion is that their intent should have been better communicated in interviews and marketing material. I was expecting the fragments to make some difference, but not THIS much.
Now that I finished the DLC it's clear that From wanted us to feel like a level 1 character again, but as you said, this is completely without precedent in their other DLCs, so this point should have received much more focus.
At the end of the day I think the system is ok, though some of the bosses and even some mobs (like those f****** lion warriors) feel like they should do 10~20% less damage. But that is a balance issue which plagued the based game and is a somewhat different discussion.
It was just strange that they were inconsistently marked as "special loot pickups". The pot enemies drop them on the ground, and if you die, thats it- its gone forever. There are several of these enemies surrounded by more dangerous ones- and its a bigger issue that you need ALL of them to get to the max level.
You don't need to get to max level. The soft-cap is at Scadutree blessing 12 and anything above that gives you increasingly diminishing returns.
@shiroamakusa8075 i mean, number still go up though? Diminishing returns doesn't mean no returns, and they also buffed the final level to be better than before. Either way, the fact the pots have to be looted and aren't auto-looted like scarabs is the real problem. They don't respawn with the enemy.
Actually if you kill a special pot enemy and die before picking up the special pot enemy will respawn and drop it again the next time you kill it. I know this because I killed the special pot enemy at Moorh Ruins and then before grabbing it fell to my death lol.
@LoreHunter interesting, because i'm missing 1 and i'm pretty sure its the pot guy in Rauh ruins. Still don't understand why they aren't auto-looted.
My 1st Miyazaki title was Demon’s Souls. I remember beating it for the first time and thinking “that was the best game I’ve ever played and I will never play it again or any other title by that developer”. It was just too stressful. I played it again a few weeks later and haven’t stopped since but I do think the new players FromSoft picked up with ER weren’t psychologically prepared for being weak again. If I think back on Demon’s Souls, if it had a dlc and it did this I would be whining for sure. For everyone else, it’s absolutely perfect. 10/10 for me. I think that even the haters will come to love it over time. We’ll see.
Does your shadow realm blessing carry over when you start a new journey or would you need to collect them again
I just think its understates how important they actually are. Some people just dont explore as much, and thats okay. But this dlc punishes you way more for that than the base game, and results in a mass of scadutree level 8s fighting the final boss. I thorughly exploded and was level 18 by the end, and honestly found it easier than the mountaintops with how much damage you could take and deal.
Too bad they aren’t as plentiful as golden seeds
Yeah I think having like 5 extra hidden in places would have been nice. I missed one of the first ones you can get and it took me looking up a video and watching it multiple times to find it.
I pretty mixed when it comes to the system, bosses should have dropped them too and there should have been an excess of them like there is an excess of golden seeds in the base game just so you don't have to explore because some are some really obtuse spots to get to. Plus, and this is my opinion it should have taken it too account that you can get to mohg with one or two shard bearers dead, but it seems to want you to have a max weapon and at least RL 90. Also, what are there any fragments at the base of the scaudtree, like the one spot you would expect them to be and there are none around.
Im glad they experimented with something like this. Though i felt that it was inferior to Sekiros system. My majn qualm is the fact that there arent many bosses that drop these things, and they're found for the most part. In souls you level up and sekiro you get memories from bosses. Progression is inherently tied to the satisfaction of beating bosses a lot of the time. Which i found lacking in the dlc because bosses almost never dropped anything that felt significant for character progression, with the exceptions of golden hippopotamus and commander gaius, hog rider. Getting a measly single level up after a lot of attemps on Dancing Lion was kind of painful. Rellana feels a little pointless to beat if you find the scadu altus spirit spring. I think at least 1 seed from bosses would balance the progression a little bit. I just wish there was more balance between finding upgrades and earning them through bosses. I havent finished the dlc yet so maybe will wait to see. But so far, all im missing is dragon mountain/Ruah Rot area, and whatever is after messmer, so i think jve seen enough of the game to criticise this.
You can literally beat a single boss (Rellana) and have access to most of the fragments. Hell, prior to Rellana you can get at least 4 levels, which makes her far too easy. The original game didn't drop anything worthwhile from most bosses either except for their remembrances and by end game you'd be getting similar runes for a single level aside from the final 3 or so bosses....
@LacSlyer Rellana can be routed though. What I'm saying is that the satisfaction of beating bosses isn't tied to the scadutree progression, aside from Gaius and Golden Hippo. Again I haven't beaten the dlc yet so maybe I'll have to see. But shadowkeep is the only place that felt like bosses blocked places where more scadus are available.
@@Red-nl4lk And what I'm saying is you want satisfaction from beating bosses that's different from even the base game. If you don't have motivation to beat bosses in the DLC then why do you in the base game when they provide the same rewards in the end game?
@LacSlyer @LacSlyer I'm not saying I don't have motivation, I do. I greatly enjoyed beating Rellana even though I didn't need to. She's now one of my favorites in the game. What I'm trying to tell you is the difficulty of the dungeon bosses and the exploration of the open world feels a little lopsided. I think I would have liked lets say maybe 15 scadu levels found in the open world and 5 levels in the dungeons and story bosses. That way you still feel a little bit of progression from not just the open world exploration itself. Secondly I don't agree with the last sentence at all. Dlc bosses don't reward with character progression anywhere near as much as base game bosses. When you beat base story bosses, that's a significant opportunity to level up. The dlc bosses however, whatever level ups you get almost doesn't matter, thanks to the separate scadu scaling. Maybe some people found boss spells, weapons, and armor that they got use out of. And that's great for them, but that doesn't account for the whole player base. For instance when I finally beat dancing lion, I got 90k runes. Which equated to a measly single level up at the level I was at when beating it. All the more, I'm not complaining or saying I dislike this system. I'm merely giving a suggestion if they ever use this system again.
@@Red-nl4lk you're missing the point of the fragments, they're there to help people who need it. so that they have the option to get more and come back when they're stronger, it's the same philosophy as the base game.
Does the DLC scale up the damage and health for enemies also with NG+?
I think the system is fine, but would be improved if there were more of them beyond the level 20 cap and they could be converted into runes if not used for leveling or something like that. That way it doesn't become necessary to look up a guide to find the last handful fragments you may have missed by the end game if you want to get to max level. I guess with the way they scale the early fragment levels are more significant than the later ones, but I think it is still an imperfection with the system, even if minor.
Does anyone know if the fragments themselves carry over to NG+? I've managed to get to Shadowkeep without using an upgrade (beefed up Torrent but not myself) snd I assume that I'll collect them all but not use them all. Just wanna know if its a use it or lose it situation, especially if its gonna make NG+ Shadowrealm extra hard scaling wise if I can avoid upgrading at all.
1 thing that would have made this system better in my opinion would be to have all the bosses drop at least 1 fragmente (Maybe increasing the amount of fragment required), it would make complating minor dungeons more rewarding.
This is exactly how Sekiro did it, and it would have been a good idea for the Elden Ring DLC as well. I don't think the number of fragments required needed to be increased either -- having a surplus of materials similar to Golden Seeds means that players can achieve the intended number of fragments in a region and also reach the maximum more easily without necessarily having to scour around to the extent required in the DLC.
Except if you actually explore and literally only beat Rellana you'll have more than enough fragments for at least level 10. Level 10 plus Mimic, plus an end game build got me through most bosses in one or two tries easily.
except the minor dungeons are already rewarding, you often get new gear and talismans or occasionally a new area.
My biggest issue with the system is my rp experience lol. I am the lord of frenzied flame or the new elden lord whatever ending you just completed you have killed gods and the strongest of the strong before you get to the dlc. Then you get there and anyone can 2 shot you. My rp is killed by the thought of malenia getting shit on by a group of mobs. Very satisfying getting the blessing up and re acquiring power is a lot of fun though at the same time
Man even with lv20 scarutree frags, and lv 187 still get 3 tap if not full combo stand still. Hell even with 60vit still feel like a pillow been destroy.
Is is great. Idk i feel like just regurlar system is fine usually i prefer challenge from learning boss animation and combat dance, than rather a dmg multiplier system.
if they did less damage you could just heal your way through the entire fight like with DS1 and not come out any smarter.
I'm not very good at the game but still made it fairly easily to the final boss...because I know I need to engage with all the mechanics and the game rewards you for doing so. I'll watch the challenge runners do the hard part for the next two years.
Personally I think it works great you can basically tailor your difficulty to whatever you want and if you don't you can find a guide that I'll get show you where every single one is which will take You to nearly every place in the map making you ready to explore whatever you want
I like the system. Time will tell if I still think this in a year or so. I thought Sekiro was perfect (still maybe my fav game), but I now think of a couple things they could’ve improved in it, such as how the spirit emblems are replenished.
The idea is decent but the execution was pretty clumsy. Being scaled for post-game means the dlc has way less options for character progression, and the Scadutree fragments aren’t engaging enough to cover that gap.
Is that really a problem ? Post game scaling make it easier for people to use any type of weapon they find since they can max out three stats (dex, str and faith/int/arcane). On my build level 150 I could use any weapon that scale with str/dex/int and faith without seeing a massive damage difference despite lot having invested as much on faith and int than in str/dex.
Scadutree fragments are equivalent to golden seed, they’re a nice reward for exploration but not supposed to be the sole purpose of exploration, the best rewards are weapons, armors and talismans you find everywhere in the DLC
you get new talismans and physique tears, you don't need any more character progression because you already built it in base game.
@@Ghorda9 which means the sense of progression is way more flat, and the dlc is way less rewarding for exploration than the base game. Thanks for supporting my point.
And the rune drop from bosses is too low even on ng+, it should be double the base game
@Scowleasy Quite the opposite, you couldn't be more wrong.
I dont have too much issue with the system except for the beginning. You are more or less guided toward the dancing lion right out the gate. The problem with this is that the dancing lion is clearly designed to be fought after youve leveled the blessings a bit. If you follow where you are guided you will be very unprepared for the dancing lion leading to alot of peoples issues with difficulty. This was the only real time this was an issue though
the dancing lion is perfectly fine with just two blessing upgrades pre-patch and after the patch you just need one now.
I don't mind the fragments being used to encourage exploration and I like the system as is... but I do think more people would like it better if they kept the Miquella cross fragments and allocated the rest to boss battles rather than making it a scavenger hunt
Turns out, you keep your fragments going into NG+ so you don't have to find them over and over again. So I think it's a pretty good system.
You said it yourself in the beginning of the video, to which I vehemently agree with. The Scadutree fragments encourage exploration AND are the progression system. It's two-fold. It's simple. Notice the Scadutree is in a constant state of decay; disintegrating on screen in real time. Those fragments are strewn about pieces of the deteriorating tree. It's genius. The entire expansion hinges on this concept.
'But I just want to boss rush.' You're playing an expansive open world game.
For all intents and purposes, we were essentially gifted Elden Ring 2 for a base price of $40 USD.
People can be idiots.
There are two potential criticisms you missed.
1) The DLC as a whole is scant on loot. Part of the fun of core Elden Ring is finding armor and weapons that not only make you more powerful, but have context within the world. Scadu Fragments have a singular, boring context to the world and is used as rewards for objectives that in the base game would reward you with something much more interesting.
2) Normally in base game the best way to increase your overall stats is to raise your level, but unlike other action RPGs, and even other fromsoft games, theres no baseline boost to damage negation. This means you have to decide to put stats into Vigor and Endurance regardless of your build. The detriment is that those two become dump stats, but the positive is that it forces the player to be more prudent in choosing what to upgrade, and it makes levels and Runes as a whole more valuable. This means even when the loot you find isnt valuable, the runes always are. But since they balanced the DLC to be for completed, they needed to add the Scadu Fragments both to simulate progression AND provide a consistent reward. But they are not as free, farmable, and omnipresent as Runes, and they do not reinforce the players build. Infact the only loot in the DLC overall that provides that give and take are the new talismans.
I also keep finding this sentiment that the game WANTS you to feel free to respect, but Larval Tears and Ancient Smithing stones are still limited. When coupled with a system that just increased your damage multiplicatively... Its not that it feels cheap to use fragments, its just that its not as interesting.
Larval Tears are limited... but you can get 18 in the base game alone. Now, if you used a lot of those with your first character I understand, but how many do you truly need?
Its the only reason we didnt steam roll the dlc in 4 hours
Im probably average at this game. Still haven't beat malenia solo and a no hit run is out of the question
And i wouldve steam rolled this dlc in a day with my mimic so im glad they encouraged finding them
I beat game at scadu 15. I only looked for map fragments an never sought level blessings. I think it was pretty casual in layout tbh
I think the scadutree blessings are fine but need to b marked on map or put in less out of the way places in the base game the power was straight forward you lose you go farm runes you level up you try again but in the dlc the power is hard to find so if you need to get stronger you gotta Google or beat your head against the wall of enemies stopping you and killing them wont make you stronger whats behind them will its a good system implemented in a bad way exspecialy since over 60% of the base game players only kill bosses they dont explore and now the game is making them actually need to explore the map i get y they dont like being forced to play a new way
Nah you're just not exploring enough. The vast majority of the fragments are in the first two and a halfish zones. You can easily get to Blessing level 10 just after beating Rellana.
@LacSlyer i finished the dlc a few times now it wasn't hard but thats because im 1 of the people that collect everything i wasn't talking about myself i was saying i understand y the game has so many negative reviews because thats not how the majority of people play this game the exploration people are the minority most people just want to boss rush and for them i understand the dislike of the new system
« Over 60% of the base game players don’t explore » Where did you get that ?
@@ni9274 honestly don't no iv seen that number on a few different places and streams saying between 50% and 75% probably don't care about the lore or world while playing they will just get that part from RUclips after they finish the game its been that way for like all the souls games i say 60% to average it because there is no real number but there is a reason build and lore video's do so well because most people find a build online go to the exact spots they need to make the build work and leave the rest of the game untouched just gotta look at all the negative reviews over the first weak or so of the dlc and c what they were all saying most of it was its to hard or complaining about fragments some wer about performance but not allot then they buffed the fragments and explained them better and bam reviews all changed
@@shallowgrave3394 the bad reviews are from asians complaining about easy anti cheat because there was a bug not letting them play for some reason.
Really disappointed they patched it. I started a new character just before the DLC dropped to revisit and play through the base game again to prepare for the DLC, haven't gotten into the DLC yet, but I'm almost there, so it's a major bummer to hear I'm not going to get the same experience as people did at launch.
Yes it is
I didn't mind it, and I understand people's frustration with it but consider that the DLC took 2 years to drop, everyone by that point is fully stacked so it's a necessary evil to maintain the challenge and still encourage exploration
dudes with the barbed wire are fun to block, it looks cool
Mechanically it’s fine and it works as intended, motivating exploration and providing progression. This was an inevitable and obvious choice, and couldn’t have been handled much better. However, ultimately it’s just not an interesting reward to find. It’s purely functional, there’s no new lore description, no new mechanics, it’s just a number boost. So the sense of discovery is blunted - this compounds with the fact that the game is too big for how much new loot was added, and the intrinsic issue with providing meaningful rewards for endgame builds. There was just no way to recapture the feeling of a brand new journey though, and I think they did a great job.
2 words: korok seeds
It's not exactly a perfect system, but it is perfectly serviceable. Knowing fromsoft, they will probably try to iterate on this idea and have something better figured out the next time they release an expansion like this one
i like how the system works, so i only have two issues with it, clarity and rarity. there could be a bit more explanation on where exactly youll find fragments, and there being exactly enough in the world to cap out and no more can make it a bit frustrating as the number left to find gets lower
my problem with the system is that if you want to help players, they are out there on the last boss with only two freaking fragments, dying in one hit and still trying, its super annoying
I dont even summon players anymore
They keep dying in one hit.
Look with all due respect, if it has been causing so many problems for so many people, isn't there just the slight possibility that the system could have been implemented a LITTLE better?
I say this as someone who found all but 3 fragments. And even then because i just couldn't find that last piece of map and was frustrated enough to just give up.
I wouldn't mind seeing them iterate on this system in the future and seeing how they can tighten it up.
I’m mixed on the system. I’m one of those players that doesn’t care about exploration as much. And by the time I got to Scadu Altus felt overwhelmed by the choices to explore. I looked up some guides and videos to help collect more fragments but I wouldn’t say it was enjoyable. I still like the dlc however just I guess not a big fan of the blessing system.
To be honest you're already asking for a lot of money on top, and then you instantiate a system that depends on you exploring the map, to whatever extent the fragments require in order to actually play the DLC. It's an amicable attempt but it needs refinement
Bro I just refuse to call a scavenger hunt a level up mechanic. If they added more of the things I'd be more ok with it.
The DLC is amazing in every aspect. BUT the difficult is kinda overtuned for several bosses and enemies. A lot of bosses skills are with an incorrect hitbox, hitting in a larger area or giving more hits than it was "intended".
Also, there are more input reading than the base game and several enemies and bosses are punishing really hard with some ultra combos, one after another.
I'm not complaining. it was my choice to not pump my scadurtree fragments to max lvl (I stopped at LVL15) and also not use any summons in the fights. Still, some enemies need some tweaks to feel a little more "fair".
Don’t forget about some of the loot from exploring being completely useless for endgame content (bones and low level smithing stones)
@@christopherlyndsay8611 I agree. there's simply too much recipes and low level smithing stones everywhere. I saw a video from the yt Zion, he mentioned it. they could have added more weapons from the new types, instead of so many cookbooks.
@@christopherlyndsay8611 That's so you can easily upgrade weapons/ashes you acquire in the DLC without having to farm...
@@LacSlyer you don’t have to farm to buy a smithing stone 2 from a bell bearing. Literally just kill one normal enemy from the dlc and you’re done
You mean the ash of war of bosses weapons ? The hitbox of a boss attack won’t be the same as the hitbox used in the ash of war of a rememberance weapon.
If you’re talking about the actual bosses hitboxes then no they’re fine in general, the commander gaius charge is intended to hit twice since you get rolled over by a giant pig, you need to dodge on the right and to delay to be sure to avoid the two hitboxes (front and back of the pig)
There aren’t more input reads in the DLC, it work the same as the base game, some enemy will attack you when you heal so you need to be careful and find the right time to heal.
Combos are a consistent evolution of souls combat, they’re not unfair or overtuned since you can dodge them
They honestly dont feel like they matter worth a damn. Everyone is crying about them, but i have 16 and the dlc can still 2 or 3 shot me easy. Its not like having them increases your real stats.
Idk after playing through the base game 3 times and exploring all over, I just find the exploring in the dlc to be boring. It’s tiring at this point. I’d rather just do the boss fights, but if I’m only doing barely any chip damage and the only way to increase chance of success in the boss fights is to explore to get the upgrades, then I’m just going to drop the game.
The boring feeling comes from copy paste dungeons/catacombs and field bosses. I saw that tree sentinel is a field boss yet again in the dlc. Really? Come on.
I personally don’t mind the system to much
"Mitigates the downsides to a degree.." At least confirms that it does, in fact, have downsides. So.. Its a novel idea. And I honestly think, an entire game could work with this system, but a "dlc"? Eh.
I definitely thought it was a downside to an otherwise fantastic DLC. It's an RPG not an action game, so 'just getting stronger' via an item is both unsatisfying and messes up the rpg elements. I get strong not by fighting or gaining 'experience' but by looking around in the grass or whatever. It also has the opposite effect than they intended imo, because I can't explore the open world at my leisure I have to do it in a certain order, which is as much of the open world (the much weaker parts of the game imo) as possible and skipping the coolest parts (legacy dungeons).
I beat the divine beast on 0 fragments because I didn't want to turn on 'easy mode' but it's not really easy mode at all. It's anti-BS mode.
How does it mess up the RPG elements ? When you arrive in end game you already have your build set up, the scadutree fragment doesn’t reduce the influence of your stats on damage it just increase the final AR of your weapon, if you have a int build the scadutree fragment won’t be enough to do good damage with str weapons.
You also got strong by « looking around in the grass » in Elden Ring with items like golden seed or weapons.
You literally don’t have to do that, the legacy dungeons are not balanced around you having all the scadutree fragments in the open-world, the first legacy dungeons is balanced around the number of fragments you can find in gravesite plain, the shadow keep is balanced around the number of fragments you find in scadu…
It encourage you to explore part of the open world that comes before the legacy dungeons, but often you have access to section that are beyond just this legacy dungeon.
You could beat the divine beast only using the fragments found on the crosses and inside the legacy dungeons, it’s not balanced around you getting every single fragments from the open world
@@ni9274 I was stuck on Divine Beast (my first real boss encounter in the dlc) for far longer than the final boss. In fact, the entire last half of the dlc was much easier, smoother, and more enjoyable overall. They patched the framgents to be more effective early on so it might not be as big of a problem, I dunno, but either way it's still a bad system.
It's not leveling up or even anything to do with an rpg. It's not a new weapon, it's not new stats you can make an informed decision with, it's just 'are stronger now' more akin to action game progression. In fact, attempting to overcome the dlc AT ALL with the rpg elements will get you nowhere whatsoever because of stat caps. All weapons do *roughly* the same amount of damage so a new weapon isn't going to help. The only thing that will actually help you is the scrotumtree fragments.... and that sucks.
As far as base game items like seeds and tears it's not nearly as vital as 'get one shot' > 'not get one shot'. It makes *sense* to find new potions and upgrade your items in terms of an rpg. Not only that there are more than you even need to max out your flask.. most players are going to have it maxed without trying too hard.
And most importantly it wasn't an enjoyable mechanic to engage with. Being told you can't go there, not because your character isn't strong enough, or built well enough, nor because you're not good enough at the game, but simply because you didn't do it in the order they wanted.
@@coreyrachar9694 the sole purpose of them is to encourage exploration and give you some sense of progression, that's it. it doesn't need to "alter" your build or give you options
@@Ghorda9 I was going to scour every inch of this dlc anyway I don't need them tying my ability to fight even literal trash mobs to a silly item to do it.
It would IF: there was ANY incentive to make me want explore the world.
At the beginning of the DLC it was all great, but once you play a couple of hours into it you realize that except a few new weapon with unique/new movesets and some SoulsFashion, there is literally ZERO power gain. Not even a new XP farm. Which just kills any motivation I had to go explore. I am not a pvp player, I don't need to have three dozen weird situational ashes/spells/incants that are basically only useful against players under limited cirucmstances.
The idea was good. But all in all, with the way it turns out I think the system failed - not because it in itself is bad, but because the DLC is literally bad in terms of player power/progression.
I was able to beat the final boss with just 12 dlc lvls, with pre fire giant weapons (+18) and gear. The scadaeu tree fragments are a really good way to encourage exploration, and for more later on runs I’m excited to optimize my collection of the blessings.
Without this system the dlc’s difficulty would most likely be underwhelming due to mindlessly going from one boss to the next with little challenge due to the sheer variety of options the player has at leveling the playing field in ER.
I don't like that the fragments are basically a way to choose if you want an easy mode or hard mode like how many fragments would I want to get if I wanted to have a hard but balanced experience? I don't want to collect so many that the dlc becomes easy but I don't also want to be suffering by not collecting enough and there isn't any way to gauge that
You can collect as much as you want it will never make the DLC easy
There is an easy way to gauge that it’s to not go explore part of the map that are clearly meant to be explored later, for example don’t go explore the dragon area and the flower area before at least killing Mesmer
@@ni9274 not according to some they say that not even having max scardu blessings made the DLC much easier especially after fromsoft caved and nerfed the DLC I don't want that I don't want to get through the DLC in a few days or a week I want to spend as much time there as I did in elden ring ~700 hours I know thats probably not possible but im hoping I stepped foot in the dlc on one character already and didn't get far and I made a new char and getting close to the dlc again
@@HalcyonEX The nerf didn’t change much, and these people likely used the op build.
And the change they’ve made only apply to first half of the game, second half remain completely unchanged.
I'm completely okay with it. It filters out fake fans. If you don't like exploration don't play this game because it's a key element.
I don't complain about Fortnite's building or other core mechanics that I don't like either. I simply don't play it.
No, it's not good
Edit: The scavenger hunt for power is frustrating. Let me grind out souls
you may like the initial powerlessness ... you may like being poor in an abusive household before becoming a millionaire
... I ... do not 💀💀💀
While i dont mind the system, i found it absolutely stupid that you get so many AFTER gaius. Why from soft, why lol
I dont like the system for 2 important reasons
Reason 1: It kills replayability for me and many others for reason 2.
Reason 2: the exploration in this dlc was a big letdown and had the opposite problem of base game having too many dungeons, and etc. This dlc simply doesnt have much to offer in my opinion for exploring. Yeah there are optional areas but those places feel empty as well.
I ended with 19 but i still disliked it, it's like a choose your game setting option but in game, after 14 I felt that except bosses I played on medium and from 18 on easy, and then final boss happened and all my exploration was for nothing, my mage range build was useless in second phase, you either had to parry or have a shield, I had none so I had to respec, and that wasn't enough so I also used huge shield with blood weapon and the final boss dies with 3/13 health flasks USED, what a joke. Overall with this system I wasn't sure if the boss was hard cause:
A) Boss counters my build
B) My resistances are bad
C) My buff is too low and I have to go explore
D) I have to change my amulets
E) Boss has a hidden mechanic (like Rykard)
I still thoroughly enjoy the Scadutree system, they've done it in sekiro and did it well, but when the consolation prize for exploring is a non-ancient dragon smithing stone proceeding a "dung ahead" message, it's quite the anticlimax.
A few extra final tier upgrades and new weapons would go a long way. (I low key wanted a billhook added to the game as a infusable great spear)
Its Not a good system and is even worse when you consider doing the dlc again
Shadow of the Erdtree is magical ❤
Only just started the video but felt moved to comment: THANK YOU for pronouncing it "shadu" instead of "skadu" like every other damn youtube guy I've seen talk about this DLC does
The system was good but it could have been better implemented.
1) since the game relies so heavily on them they needed to stand out more. Many places where the fragments are is kind of hidden away. Like the pot guys whobare hard to tell apart from normal shadow people.
2) that system should allow you to apply more to your health, stamina, focus, and/or weapons and/or flasks to improve them just a bit to give you the feeling like you can upgrade your equipment further.
Edit: i played the game on my new game character. It felt a lot harder to get through than the game on new game.
I’m an MD and this is a great example of my greatest frustration with humanity
And look, I would never say this to a patient but let’s be honest you can “lead a horse to water but you can’t force it to drink” as in I can tell you how to look after yourself and give yourself the greatest opportunities for maximising your health and mitigating health risks but I can’t force you to … live even remotely well
And I will always have to manage your ailments that result from your poor decisions 😂
And before I get cancelled: this is *somewhat* tongue in cheek
I they’re a good idea, but could’ve been better in execution. Tying some of them to random weak enemies was a bad decision imo, especially when to get max blessings you are required to have every single one. That said I killed the final boss on blessing level 16, so it’s not crucial
It works if they tell you it doesn't is because they couldn't steam roll through the dlc with spell spam
System is great. Crybabies hate the actual game.
Exploring the incredible environment is a key aspect of the experience.
I don't mind it my only issue I have is Fromsoftware doing nerfs and changing what was envisioned
Its a bad system if you know where they all are, on my second play i used a guide to find them, I was blessing level 12 before fighting any boss and the dlc is so easy
Nobody's making you use them though. That's kinda of the beauty of it, is you can balance the game to your liking and make it as difficult as you choose.
No it’s not good, kinda like the dlc itself. It’s empty, lackluster, too many reused enemies and bosses, things are too far apart for no reason other than “big map” there’s almost nothing to find from exploring other than some dumbass cookbooks I couldn’t care less for. There’s maybe 2 bosses I enjoyed in the dlcs entirety, bayle and Midra everything else was hot garbage 🗑️
No.
It’s good in the first playthrough of the DLC but the subsequent times it’s annoying trying to find all of them again.