Alright, I’m gonna add some updated and spoiler thoughts that I omitted from this video in light of people catching up. Also, some of my own thoughts have evolved/changed as well as I’ve had more time to play and reflect. No, no one “changed my mind.” 1. “Favorite thing Fromsoft has made.” Hmm this one is tough, and as I acknowledged in the video, the honeymoon phase is a real thing. If I was to look at Elden Ring’s base game and DLC combined as a now singular product, it’s possible? Especially for a first playthrough at least. But it’s not an absolute, and my opinions/rankings of favorite Fromsoft games constantly shift. 2. Final boss. Yeah, it’s pretty extreme right now. I strongly suspect it will receive some sort of nerf. Now *I* enjoyed the challenge that came from this as it forced me to actually use all of my tools and reconsider my build, but I recognize most people don’t, and I was left with a feeling of “wow most people won’t be able to do this.” I didn’t touch on this in the video purely for spoiler reasons. 3. I played on NG, but I suspect NG+ and beyond might be unbalanced. I can’t confirm, it’s just a feeling. And if that’s the case, I hope it’s addressed. 4. Performance on PC. I thought it was mostly good for me? Aside from some occasional stuttering. The thing with performance is I often don’t touch on it unless it’s egregious for me because I can only speak for myself and not every possible rig out there. I have read about performance issues though and I think that’s a valid reason to be upset, I hope it’s addressed. 5. Overall difficulty on NG. I think it’s fine? It’s good? I legitimately think people are just ignoring the scadutree blessings too much. They boost your damage negation by a significant amount. Elden Ring is a game that wants you to engage with all of its systems. You can say you don’t find it fun, sure, but it is what it is, and myself and many others like it. 6. World design. I really do like it. However, I would’ve added the critique of wishing some areas were less barren. The abyssal woods comes to mind, among others (finger ruins, for example). Quite frankly, I hope Fromsoft moves away from open world after this game despite its success and despite my own personal enjoyment. That being said, I’d be interested in seeing them explore open worlds still if they can evolve it in a meaningful way. Elden Ring did something special, and I’m sure it could be iterated on. 7. Boss design. I’ve seen some people talk about how they don’t like the boss design and how many long combos bosses can have. That’s valid, but I will say there are more openings than you think to deal damage. However, this is another thing I’d be interested in seeing them evolve further. Sekiro really is kind of the perfect game despite being less ambitious than something like Elden Ring, and there’s a lot to evolve there still. 8. The Deflecting Hardtear. Oh my god, this thing really should just be a base game mechanic. It actually single handedly addressed my own issues with many bosses and colored my experience in a big way. I mention it in the video, but yeah, I would’ve stressed this further. 9. Enemy/boss re-use. I touch on this in the video, and you can see my thoughts in text at the end of that section, but yeah I’m still kinda mixed? It’s like, in a perfect world, I would’ve preferred a hair less of it, but also this DLC is so massive, and like I said, it’s mostly very thoughtful done still. 10. Subjectivity. Game reviews are game opinions reflecting someone’s subjective experience with a game. Already I’ve lost some of you. Oh well lmao. This subjectivity is exacerbated by the lens you play the game, namely the build you use and the tools you take advantage of. When discussing these games, we’re rarely gonna see eye to eye unless we actually had the same build. And even if we use the same build, our skill levels won’t be the same. That colors our experience even more. It’s just a mess to discuss and hard to arrive at one “truth” to the experience. You don’t find X fun? Cool, I did. Maybe our tastes differ, but maybe my build is more fun and our skill levels are wildly different. 11. Replayability. This is one of Elden Ring’s greatest weaknesses when compared to other Fromsoft titles. There’s a host of reasons for this, but yeah, it’s mostly a consequence of the world design. The DLC is no different. 12. I really wish discussions wouldn’t begin and end at combat and difficulty. There’s so much more to these games, and it just gets completely lost in the discourse to the point of leaving me jaded and no longer interested in engaging down the line. Anyway, as I said in the video, I hope you have fun with the DLC and connect with it like I did. That’s been my thing since day 1, especially when it comes to showcasing indies. I have a passion for these games that I really do like sharing. Take care, more videos soon.
for point 3, I am in NG+ and it seems mostly the same, people are way overreacting with the difficulty, as you say, scadutree blessings are your friend. Other than that I agree that the open world formula doesn't work 100% with soulslikes and will also hope they go back to normal levels on next title, and also agree completely on replayability, my biggest gripe with elden ring as a whole
I haven't finished the DLC yet but plan to play through a second time since I screwed up a quest line... But yeah, I could vibe with both the video and this particular comment. It's not a perfect DLC but I earnestly feel the level design, depth of the map, music, and new fights are better than previous DLCs in the Souls series. And if I expand beyond From Soft, at this price point, I'd argue we get a helluvalot more content than most game DLCs
I always liked your videos. And yes! People will always be idiots when it comes to opinions they don't like. Don't worry to much about it and keep up the good work!
dude that fight is so weird, I hated the first phase, since it was just basic attacks, nothing interesting. But when the second phase hit, man was I amazed by it, such a cool second phase
I just hope the armour actually looks better than a lot of the bass game sets. Half of them look trash, especially the helmets which get ruined by some stupid ornament attached to it.
As if there was any doubt 😛This DLC is the only thing I've truly pre-ordered (getting something 48 hrs before release to pre-load it, after watching reviews doesn't count): paid for it last year and it feels so good to just have it now 😌
@Meitti The problem with sleep is that it takes a bit to proc and enemies still attack before they do their 'sleepy time' animation and then it only takes one hit before they start getting back up.
@@nickoliekeyov746 Yeah but the Rune Bears are specifically designed to be weak against Sleep, its the only elemental ailment they're weak against, probably because bears hibernate so logical conclusion is bears are "sleepy".
@@MeittiI never even thought of that. 100+ hours in. And they somewhat hinted at this because a runebear is literally shown sleeping surrounded by Trina's lilys in mistwood ruins.
And dont forget in the last dlc vid he did he mentioned that there are plenty of ulcerated tree spirits in the dlc too. No shortage of rage inducers here lol
Fave thing Shadow of the Erdtree does with the map (that is different from the base game) is that it very often has you traversing from an open area to a somewhere that is underneath whatever you see when you open the map. I might not be explaining this very well, but it's like you find this huge cave, you check the map, and you're like underneath this huge are you've already visited, that itself, is underneath something you've yet to explore. It's kinda mind blowing.
the descent into Siofra was one of my favorite moments i've ever experienced in a video game, and hearing the DLC compared to that has me hyped, now, in a special, personal way
Agreed, I was like "wait, there's an entire other world UNDER the main world?!?!?!?!?" Also it's great when you stumble upon it way before you're ready for it and are like whoa, ok, come back here in about 25 levels.
Descent into Siofra and discovering Blackreach in Skyrim are the two most jaw dropping moments in gaming for me. Nothing else has ever quite reached the level of effect of those two moments for me
1:30 - WOW I did not expect that kind of environment from Elden Ring, it looks like you’re up in heaven or something, absolutely phenomenal artwork in this game, I can’t wait to experience this.
I hated it at first because there wasn't a single dungeon in upper rauh ruins but I figured the lower part below the bridges is the actual area and everything above with the greek looking ruins and the church is an open world dungeon that's very confusing. I also wish we got the pink bouncing balls as a spell instead of just an item hahah
Finding whole new areas only to be rewarded with like a smithing stone is definitely the worst part about the DLC. It really reduces the fun of exploration to like the most primal sense of curiosity.
Half the dlc is quite literally empty. I don't know wtf Miyazaki was cooking but this was not it. The dlc is great but there's so many glaring issues with loot, lore and now designs.
@@anonisnoone6125this. Spent 230 hours in the base game, played trough it twice. Didn't even spent more than 5 hours in that dlc before I got bored of exploring to find nothing at all except a few underwhelming bosses.
After having played the dlc for a while now, it really is impressive what they’ve done with such little space. The verticality of the shadow lands is so much more extreme than that of the lands between, which when done right like it is in shadow of the erdtree, makes it feel so much bigger than it actually is.
I honestly took your advice to heart and did what i don't usually do: minimized the window and just listened to your commentary. You did a great job describing things in very vague but understandable ways where i didn't felt like i was missing on some visual context... props for the extra work on that! i am sure that i will be thankful for doing that once i take my first steps into the DLC. :D
They look like reverse grip with the new throwable heavy, which is a really cool way of implementing a new feeling weapon using only existing tools (newly existing, since it's as of dlc, but still)
The only TRULY semi-empty areas are the finger ruins, everything else has a good amount of content, some less than others but not too little to complain about.
It's nice to see yet another From Software game go down in history for being an incredibly high quality game. They just don't miss. (I will not debate DS2 with anyone)
On the note of the enemies that did end up getting reused from the base game, I'm reminded of when I went to highschool across town from the neighborhood I grew up in, but ended up seeing a couple of kids who had been in my elementary school and having this newfound and unexpected fondness for them.
Yeah....I remember entering the Seofra River the first time. Easily one of my favorite memories of Elden Ring. It's such classic Fromsoft to take something mundane like an elevator and use it like that.
Since 2008 this studio has not released a bad game, or even a mediocre game, all good to amazing, with Dark Souls 2 being the consensus low light, even that was a good game. FROMSOFT is IMO, the best developer on planet earth right now and shows no signs of slowing down.
@@reign1594 Hard to say. They did release Armored Core 6 which while being a long established series, leans much more on the action side. What genre would you like to see them tackle?
*EDIT: comments below proof that the Souls community are not a bunch of elitist trolls like everyone criticized us as* First time I played Elden Ring, it rescued me from one of the darkest periods of my life. I couldn’t leave my room during the day due to family conflict, (dangerous individual in the house) so I slept during the day and woke up at night. I had barely any money. I worked remotely. But my room was basically a closet. I’m on 4 different psych meds, so my mental illness was exacerbated by this isolation and circadian disruption. My cat died. I had never played a souls game. I heard hype about elden ring and thought I’d try it out. I only play RTS games and have little experience in any other genre. Elden Ring allowed me to get lost in another reality. It was my life. Every waking moment. But the lessons Elden Ring taught me about adversity, persistence, appreciation for the little things in life, appreciation of beauty, appreciation for magic, and investment in an epic story, it all truly brought me back to life. I did end up in the hospital eventually, but Elden Ring nevertheless is most of what I remember from this time. It was a gaming experience that transcended fun and entertainment. Also, memories about eating a turtle neck and helping people defeat the fire giant hundreds of times are memories I’ll always treasure. Seeing messages of people pointing down into a ravine, saving me from death also gave me a sense of connection to others that I didn’t have (also finger but hole was the first message I saw which was an excellent welcome) Calling on someone to help me and then seeing them one shot a boss only to salute me and disappear, moments of joy I’ll never forget.
@@AdamWutke I really appreciate that man. Things are much much better now. I live with my girlfriend and am stable. Life is full. I appreciate your words. As life fills up things unnecessary are shedding. I hope the same to you. Those words only come from someone who’s also lived it themselves. Take care.
this game somehow takes me back to my childhood playing Ocarina of Time.. I feel the same sense of wonder and awe playing elden ring that I did as a small child. I love it.
Thank God you answered the level question. My character is 169 and I've been googling for weeks if that's too high for the dlc. Well now I know, thanks Pineapple.
I will stay lvl 150 for many hours because i like it to help people in the early stages , only for that reason i have a char that is lvl 15 for 60 hrs😅
The way I solve my overlevel is by playing with weapons that scale with INT, the melee damage is a bit lower, but I have spells to fallback on once I get to an annoying area making the difficulty more normalized.
Perhaps a hot take, but one of the issues I have with the way modern fromsoft games are designed is that so many bosses are hard to read their move set, because so much of their move set relies on flailing or filling the screen with particles/objects. Maybe I’m going in just underleveled or something but I never felt like a death to the lion boss was a only due to user error. And that is just a problem with “power creep” due to fromsoft wanting to challenge a community that learn this genre so thoroughly. I’m still playing, and I love the world building, but the fights are kinda getting a bit much.
Yeah the boss fights are just not it... I love ER, but this has been such a massive disappointment for me. Considering putting it down and not playing it again at this point
I do agree, but TBH the lion is a lot easier to track a few others (BAYLE). He doesn’t fill the screen with particles until halfway through the fight, and Their attacks hit a huge area but they’re also hugely inaccurate
I mean I can see where you are coming from but as a fan of all of their souls likes and sekiro, I do not mind the difficulty spike. I would get my ass beat in all dark souls games but once I finished one of them, all of them followed until sekiro. Which again I gave up at the genichiro fight at Ashina castle top but came back some time later and felt it much easier, I died more to genichiro at ashina castle than to genichiro and/sword saint isshin. Same with blood borne, I was struggling but managed to get past almost all of the main game but gave up at Ludwig and came back after a month and honestly found orphan of kos also significantly easier and died much less than half of the deaths to Ludwig. In shadow of the Erdtree also it was the same, I died the most to putrescent knight followed second most to midra even though everyone on reddit claimed these two are among the easiest fights of the dlc. With PC Radahn I died once and I said nope I can’t do this fair and square with just a weapon and dodging so instead I respecced to be able to use a heavy spear and the fingerprint shield, added the talismans that reduce holy damage, and one for physical damage, one for reducing non physical damage even more when blocking and fourth talisman the one which reduces all non physical damage. Took the physick with gradual hp regen and damage negation. After that it took two attempts to beat Radahn after the respec and changing build. I beat him in 3 tries total. I know it was hard and yet I accepted that I can’t beat him without using everything at my disposal and then it was easy, the easiest boss fight of the dlc. The point I am making with all these examples is that difficulty in these games is subjective and we as players who play all the games do evolve as well. Fume knight was considered a very hard boss when ds2 came out. But I played ds2 after ds1, ds3, sekiro, and Elden ring (base game) and as fromsoft had trained me with so much faster enemies that fume knight felt so easy. I could beat him hitless. I am sure if I played ds2 when it came out I would have struggled a lot. So yeah they need to keep making the games harder in a fair way but it should not be due to stupid things like camera not being able to track divine beast or not being able to see what radahn is going for behind the blinding light effects everywhere.
Your positivity is contagious, I can't wait to get my hands on the DLC. If anything, I feel a bit bad that you had to play through the game and condense your thoughts before the embargo lifted. As a huge Sekiro fan, the parrying tear is the feature I am looking forward the most lol Thanks for your work king
Personally, and maybe it's because I first played in NG+, but the Scadutree Blessing is a mixed bag for me. I like the idea, and I did see it working, but also...not? I mean, maybe it's just me, but many bosses and some enemies could easily two shot me, and in some cases, one shot you. By end game, I had the full 20 Scadutree Blessing, and the final boss was still able to do half my health in a single hit, sometimes the entire thing. If that is after all the reduction, I can't even imagine how it's like without the blessings. Makes me not want to play the DLC a second time with another character because I know it's practically mandatory to find all the fragments. Feels very tedious. That aside, I really did enjoy the DLC despite my complaints about the insane aggression and damage of the bosses.
The fact that they added reverse-grip swords already sold me on the game, just like the twinblades did for the base game. I've already lived my horror fantasy Darth Maul dream, now I get to be horror fantasy Ahsoka Tano.
Making the "mini sequel" to Elden Ring as a big, and relatively expensive, DLC is a pretty good idea. The devs can reuse the same engine as is, while concentrating on just making new content. Also, who's ready for 18 inches of Messmer?//
First 40 seconds is what I wanted. I try to go into all media-shows, movies, games-as blind as I can, but I had to know your thoughts. I feel bad just knowing that martial arts are, essentials, a new weapon…but, also, that shall be how I play.
God, I'm so hyped for this. Only 3 days left ! Thank you for making an (almost) spoiler free review btw, means a lot (yeah, I didn't watch it, just listened to it. Still work though !).
tbh my main gripe with the DLC is boss presentation. Some of them are great! In particular, I love the buildup that the messmer and midra fights have, with their names coming up repeatedly in their respective dungeons as an antagonistic force. It's like in the base game, you know who godrick and rennala are way before you fight them, their names carry a lot of weight to them. But other DLC bosses, like rellana or romina, just kind of appear out of nowhere despite being mandatory encounters. You get almost no context as to who these people are, what they've done, and why you're fighting them. It makes for an overall less impactful encounter, which sucks because the bosses themselves are really good! But when you have no idea who the person you're fighting is or why it matters, I think it definitely takes away from the experience
I did a dumb and started playing another crabs treasure the other day, its so good, but now cause time is scarce for me, I'm gonna have to choose which one to play for now :0 damn first world souls problems...
Ok, I watch your videos. And I about broke my neck looking back at my screen seeing your comment here. Hope your doing good Sir Sic! See you in the lands between!
Well, I don't know a ton about modding, but it probably won't be too hard for modders to just take the effect of this flask and either tie it to a talisman that you can wear all the time, or just hard-code it into the game so that it is possible to do at all times and no matter what you are using.
@@warcoder I'd be fine with it being a talisman but me personally, if it was hard coded into the game i would nope the fuck out. Generally that means the whole game is built around it, and i cannot for the life of me parry.
I agree with most of this but I have to say the Scadutree fragment system took more away from the DLC than it added. I went from feeling like it was nearly impossible for the first quarter of the DLC to feeling like the Last 3rd of it was so easy that they let me ruin my own fun by exploring too much and underestimating the Scadutree powerups. they should 100% let you pick which ever option you want that is lower than your maximum level obtained. Spent a few hours on The lion and Rellana and got 1 shotted by the yellow horned knights and the big cleaver wielding shadow-men, then all of a sudden I 2nd tried Midra and started 1-2 shotting enemies that used to take 7-8 hits. I also went in at level 115 and came out at level 220-something trivializing the main game to a high degree. I don't recommend finishing the DLC and the base game for the first time on the same character, but all in all I didn't regret my purchase, but no 10/10 from me. It has some 10/10 aspects like that feeling like you're playing a painting, but also some less than ideal balancing and performance issues along with a lot of stuff feeling rushed, like the quests fx. they really needed a DLC version of Gideon Ofnir that that could fill in exposition or discuss your findings instead what they delivered with Sir Ansbach and Leda. The loot was also comically bad at times like smithing stones tier 6 and below and common crafting materials as a reward after going off the beaten path and the scadutree blessings feeling like you're nerfing the enemies instead of progressing your character like the levelling system feels like.
Gotten through a good 60% of it now and they did do it. They made something dlc worthy. There's a little controversy over some ds2 esk enemy placment. Some intresting scaling decisions. Big one that seems to be floating around is damage balancing and idk what base game feels like my first runs been on ng+4 and stuff is tanky and does alot of damage. But its ng+4 ive had the option to grind for dropped weapons collect every aow, incant, buff, crafting ingredient 4 times. I personally like that none of the bosses have gone the water fowl route, they attack fast and in changing rythem, but every attack is dodgable without a 20 pace exactly figure 8. The dlc gameplay brings out the best feelings from fighting mohg, morgott, godskin noble, radagon. Really good precise timing. Theres a few bosses you think wont be fair but you give it three tries and get the most spectacular memorable fights ever. All while your changing your build every 3mins because every weapon is truly cooler then the last.
I've given Radahn 4 hours split between 2, 2 hour Combat Sessions. I've beaten every other Boss and reached him in a day. No, it's jank I don't want to hear a pretend story like his 25 second combo chains and wide splashing AoE is a reasonable expectation to overcome.
@@quarantinezone2844He's a pain in the ass but it's only because his 4-5 hit combos have so much timing variation. His health isn't to high in ng4 anything above i see over tweaking, his health isn't anything insanely high. He's hard fromsoft didn't make a crowd pleasing boss for the final boss of the game they will ever add and that will ever be. Making a traditional hard boss was not the review friendly move because of how big the player base is for the game. They went to the roots designed a fair dope AF boss and will probably say "cry me a river" heres some scaled back damage that's it. He has two flaws his nuts are too high to hit with star fists genuinely hit in-between his legs and mis a hitbox. And the first attack time kills your ability to get summons off early. so no splitting agro means you need to get good at the first 20 seconds. Otherwise he's fine, damn 4 hours I signed up for more then that. Pontiff was a 3 hour endeavour back in the day, dancer was 7, malenia was about 12 for me, nameless took me 5, ornstein smoug was probably 5, gael wasn't any easier then this... Neither was demon prince of freda. People flew through the dlc in a few days got to him realized they were gonna need to keep trying because he's the final hurdle and cried a river. It ain't a fairy tale story just dodge poke dodge.
@@dh9232 For me he had 60K Hp, regardless it's not like it matters anymore since I cut him down while fat rolling and blocking. He still needs adjustments imo with his overly aggressive behavior and attack effects clogging up the screen when he spams them. Additionally he has the same issue with a few attacks like with Messmer and the Elden Beast where his attacks overlap. Pontiff was 1 try fodder. The Dancer I endeavored through as a rookie souls player that got lost before I even made it to the next map, Melania I beat in 2 tries. But Bosses usually last me less than an hour. Also Gael and Frieda were far easier lol. Frieda can get staggered into oblivion and Gael has very well telegraphed attacks.
I'm finally close to beating the DLC, I am loving it to bits, I've been exploring to the point where I think I've almost defeated every single DLC remembrance boss already, I need to find multiple mausoleums to get all the boss weapons and spells I have yet to get x3
the only thing I was worried about was the justifying the price of the DLC (to myself), but hearing that a first playthrough took 40 hours makes me less worried and mine will probably take even longer. in comparison my first playthrough of the main game was around 125 hours, so for a complete playthrough of the game the DLC would be at least a quarter of the content.
This will be my first time playing a Fromsoft game. Any recommendations for a newcoming? Should I avoid dlc content until I play through the orginal game for the first time?
The DLC is only accessible late game anyway, at least for a new player, since you have to defeat a difficult boss that is typically fought near the end of the game
I mean you have to progress pretty far in the base game to unlock the DLC and my advice is to never give up and also don't jump down a cliff for treasure
This review single handedly way overhyped me for the dlc. I’ve certainly come around to enjoy it, but my entire first playthrough was spent wondering how you reached the conclusions you did.
I finnished the DLC and I'm already wanting more. I'm hoping there will be at least one more final DLC for elden ring, a ringed city kind of final DLC.
I'm not done the DLC yet, but it did make me explore first and fight later. When ER dropped, I just bashed my head against forward progression until it stopped fighting back while all my friends explored the Lands Between. I could do this because amongst this friend group I have the most hours in FromSoft games, and therefore the highest skill amongst the four of us. It also meant I completed the base game on my first playthrough in ~20 hours due to a lack of greater exploration. I tried to do this in SotE and got my ass firmly handed to me on a golden platter several times over. Blackgaol Knight alone was responsible for most of my boss deaths until I reached Messmer. It made me realise that the scadutree blessings were not something I could just casually come across but that I needed to find. Let me explain my context: I'm rocking 60 vig, 40 end, 30 mind, and 80 str with a +10 Ruins Greatsword, Shard of Alexander, Erdtree Talisman +2, and Greatshield Talisman. That alone was not enough damage to make Blackgaol Knight flinch, let alone some of the bigger, badder bosses. I did the only sensible thing: adapt. I explored, powered up, stumbled into a bunch of remembrance bosses, then finally returned. Even Messmer made me adapt. I swapped out armours, used the new better Fire Talisman, and even used my physick for utility other than healing. I love this. Most fun I've had with a FromSoft game since my #1 fave Bloodborne.
Skyrim was my absolute favorite game of all time before Elden Ring came out. No game ever captured the magic of playing Skyrim for the first time and the amazing discoveries on subsequent playthroughs you could even after dumping 1000 hours into it, not to mention it's spectacular DLC's that followed it's release. Skyrim is my game of the decade for the 2010's, and while I would say that Dark Souls 3 was my second favorite game for sure, it wasn't actually super close to Skyrim. Elden Ring was the first game to really recapture the magic that playing Skyrim had and exceeded it in a lot of ways. Combine that with an improved version of the gameplay that was a main reason for what made Dark Souls 3 my second favorite game and it was just a given that Elden Ring would become my new absolute favorite and easily my pick for game of this current decade so far (honorable mention Baldur's Gate 3 though, that game is wonderful too). Seeing what I've seen from the DLC is almost unbelievable. The idea that FromSoft could actually recapture lightning in a bottle again is insane to me, but it really looks like they've done it somehow. Never thought I'd be excited for a DLC like it was the launch of a brand new game, but here we are. Cannot wait to get into it and relive the magic of beginning Elden Ring once again.
@@ghostsamongus3370 I do love both of those games, they're both easily two of the best games I've ever played, but neither of them ever elicited the same feelings that I had playing Elden Ring or Skyrim. They had their moments for sure though, but yeah not the quite as good to me. But hey, to each their own.
One of the journalists who went to play test two weeks ago said there was some sort of named Death Knight summon so I’m assuming they becomes an spirit ash. As for the armor it better be in the game or imma cry😭😭
I think it makes sense that some enimies are reused I'm sure they have been changed a bit too but it's the world of elden ring the exist there so it makes sense I'm really excited can't wait
The one thing I wished I wouldve realized early is that you can seemingly explore EVERYTHING before fighting ANY remembrance boss at all (except the very last legacy dungeon). It's insane how much you can power up by exploring.
one of the earliest mix ups i was impressed by was them just switching up the tempo on some regular dragon attacks, like their stomps, bites, breath attacks and wing sweeps.
I don't like this level of verticality you mentioned. It is too extreme to the point that i am actually lost in the game. Most of the time i don't know where i am or how i got somewhere, and when I die and i have to go back to my corpse, it is just a headache. I feel like you are too biased and positive about that point.
Oh he is biased but verticality isnt actually a thing i would criticize the game for. Reciclying enemies now that is bad. Also what the hell are those shadow enemies. Laziest stuff ever.
brother the game gives you a map, a compass pointing directly to your death point (that also shows up on the map), and the ability to place 5 giant glowing spears of light as waypoints. its complex but if you cant remember how to get to where you died youre straying way too far between checkpoints.
@@penn__ I am still going through the game but mainly i was thinking of that green forest area with tunnels everywhere. Having waypoints is meaningless, when you are traversing a maze. But again the map is way too complex design level. Main game was fine, this is too extreme. Also the compass f**king disappears if you are in combat. I still don't even remember how I got to that green area. In main base i remember every single detail or entrance to different areas. Also i would like to add that the verticality in the main game was very well done, it is like it starts from the beach and you slowly climb to the mountain, in a linear way. The DLC is chaos, some area are really high, some areas are really low at the same time.
Should I enter the dlc before beating certain bosses or finishing certain questlines because the dlc adds different endings to certain questlines or should I just do everything ?
The worst part of the DLC is the stuttering issue that got worse on PC, Fromsoft had 2 years to work on the PC port and it's still not really acceptable for 2024.
it seems like it's on almost every system. i hear about people on ps5 having the same issue. my poor poor _poor_ ps4 is barely holding on man. the dancing lion bossfight is almost unplayable
@@lettuceprime4922I’m playing on PS5 and I’m on the last boss. Zero performance issues the entire time. You are playing on a 10 year old console ffs 🤦♂️
The Scatter-tree fragments sound simillar to the progression system Sekiro uses to boost attack and health (by beating bosses and collecting prayer-beads). I'm very happy about that, since I hope that means they'll have a clearer way of balancing progression and stats appropriatly.
I haven't watched the video, and won't until I finish the DLC. But the amount of HP bosses have, as well as the new levelling system is pretty offputting. Finished the DLC, I still think the Scadutree Fragment decision was a mistake. Definitely not looking forward to playing the DLC on my 7 other characters just for having to gather another 50 or so of them for every char, I wish I could disable it.
Just finished it. Was enjoying it until final boss. First time I have used spirit ashes since my first playthrough of the base game. Apparently I could have also shield-poked it to death for an easy kill but that is even less engaging. I wanted to learn the fight.
Alright, I’m gonna add some updated and spoiler thoughts that I omitted from this video in light of people catching up. Also, some of my own thoughts have evolved/changed as well as I’ve had more time to play and reflect. No, no one “changed my mind.”
1. “Favorite thing Fromsoft has made.” Hmm this one is tough, and as I acknowledged in the video, the honeymoon phase is a real thing. If I was to look at Elden Ring’s base game and DLC combined as a now singular product, it’s possible? Especially for a first playthrough at least. But it’s not an absolute, and my opinions/rankings of favorite Fromsoft games constantly shift.
2. Final boss. Yeah, it’s pretty extreme right now. I strongly suspect it will receive some sort of nerf. Now *I* enjoyed the challenge that came from this as it forced me to actually use all of my tools and reconsider my build, but I recognize most people don’t, and I was left with a feeling of “wow most people won’t be able to do this.” I didn’t touch on this in the video purely for spoiler reasons.
3. I played on NG, but I suspect NG+ and beyond might be unbalanced. I can’t confirm, it’s just a feeling. And if that’s the case, I hope it’s addressed.
4. Performance on PC. I thought it was mostly good for me? Aside from some occasional stuttering. The thing with performance is I often don’t touch on it unless it’s egregious for me because I can only speak for myself and not every possible rig out there. I have read about performance issues though and I think that’s a valid reason to be upset, I hope it’s addressed.
5. Overall difficulty on NG. I think it’s fine? It’s good? I legitimately think people are just ignoring the scadutree blessings too much. They boost your damage negation by a significant amount. Elden Ring is a game that wants you to engage with all of its systems. You can say you don’t find it fun, sure, but it is what it is, and myself and many others like it.
6. World design. I really do like it. However, I would’ve added the critique of wishing some areas were less barren. The abyssal woods comes to mind, among others (finger ruins, for example). Quite frankly, I hope Fromsoft moves away from open world after this game despite its success and despite my own personal enjoyment. That being said, I’d be interested in seeing them explore open worlds still if they can evolve it in a meaningful way. Elden Ring did something special, and I’m sure it could be iterated on.
7. Boss design. I’ve seen some people talk about how they don’t like the boss design and how many long combos bosses can have. That’s valid, but I will say there are more openings than you think to deal damage. However, this is another thing I’d be interested in seeing them evolve further. Sekiro really is kind of the perfect game despite being less ambitious than something like Elden Ring, and there’s a lot to evolve there still.
8. The Deflecting Hardtear. Oh my god, this thing really should just be a base game mechanic. It actually single handedly addressed my own issues with many bosses and colored my experience in a big way. I mention it in the video, but yeah, I would’ve stressed this further.
9. Enemy/boss re-use. I touch on this in the video, and you can see my thoughts in text at the end of that section, but yeah I’m still kinda mixed? It’s like, in a perfect world, I would’ve preferred a hair less of it, but also this DLC is so massive, and like I said, it’s mostly very thoughtful done still.
10. Subjectivity. Game reviews are game opinions reflecting someone’s subjective experience with a game. Already I’ve lost some of you. Oh well lmao. This subjectivity is exacerbated by the lens you play the game, namely the build you use and the tools you take advantage of. When discussing these games, we’re rarely gonna see eye to eye unless we actually had the same build. And even if we use the same build, our skill levels won’t be the same. That colors our experience even more. It’s just a mess to discuss and hard to arrive at one “truth” to the experience. You don’t find X fun? Cool, I did. Maybe our tastes differ, but maybe my build is more fun and our skill levels are wildly different.
11. Replayability. This is one of Elden Ring’s greatest weaknesses when compared to other Fromsoft titles. There’s a host of reasons for this, but yeah, it’s mostly a consequence of the world design. The DLC is no different.
12. I really wish discussions wouldn’t begin and end at combat and difficulty. There’s so much more to these games, and it just gets completely lost in the discourse to the point of leaving me jaded and no longer interested in engaging down the line.
Anyway, as I said in the video, I hope you have fun with the DLC and connect with it like I did. That’s been my thing since day 1, especially when it comes to showcasing indies. I have a passion for these games that I really do like sharing. Take care, more videos soon.
Nothing but love for your content pine. Appreciate your constructive feedback and take on things, haters gonna hate bro.
Don't lose hope skeleton.
for point 3, I am in NG+ and it seems mostly the same, people are way overreacting with the difficulty, as you say, scadutree blessings are your friend.
Other than that I agree that the open world formula doesn't work 100% with soulslikes and will also hope they go back to normal levels on next title, and also agree completely on replayability, my biggest gripe with elden ring as a whole
I haven't finished the DLC yet but plan to play through a second time since I screwed up a quest line...
But yeah, I could vibe with both the video and this particular comment. It's not a perfect DLC but I earnestly feel the level design, depth of the map, music, and new fights are better than previous DLCs in the Souls series. And if I expand beyond From Soft, at this price point, I'd argue we get a helluvalot more content than most game DLCs
I always liked your videos. And yes! People will always be idiots when it comes to opinions they don't like. Don't worry to much about it and keep up the good work!
people really are a bunch of assholes and cry babys when it comes to fromsoft games
your friend who only uses the greatsword does sound based tho...
it's him...
😂
Sounds great to me
Double ultra greatsword or bust
olha o home aí
Insane verticality!? You know what that means?
Gravity deaths. Lots of gravity deaths. 💀
Prod's shaking in his boots rn lmao
Yeah...Platforming was already one of the hardest bosses I have fought in the main game... Especially getting that wall shield lol..
You can just wlak around and theres hundreds off blood pools near every cliff
Maybe there's a silver cat ring with no fall height limit ?
Try jumping
6:54 *Rellana, Twin Moon Knight power stancing fire and frost swords*
Welcome back, Pontiff Sulyvahn
Lmao at least we could parry him
Prime rennala: shoot beam
Rellana: shoot two full moon
She has elements of pontiff, dancer, and Ibis from Armored core 6 in her moveset.
Truly
dude that fight is so weird, I hated the first phase, since it was just basic attacks, nothing interesting. But when the second phase hit, man was I amazed by it, such a cool second phase
14:25 that is just fucking peak fromsoft comedy
I bet he felt so betrayed by that
technically the fall didnt kill him. The kil box during the fall did.
:D
I was laughing good at this as well....
Also hi :P
Deserved
Hey maus kek
NEW ARMOR AND WEAPONS LOOKIN SOOOOO GOOD
I just hope the armour actually looks better than a lot of the bass game sets. Half of them look trash, especially the helmets which get ruined by some stupid ornament attached to it.
That bear cloak is pure fashion.
fashion souls is back baby
96 poise on Armor of Solitude without Bull Goat!!
I never wear a helmet in over 500 hrs ,only the Bandit bandana 😅
I can already feel the amount of "Try Finger, But Hole" Messages on that statue
DOG
It's as tasteless as it is soulless.
Aint that jacksepticeye's title on one of his elden ring playthrough
Don't give up, skeleton
Don't you dare!!!
10:46 now this is the time to be a fromsoft fan
oh my god imagine the MESSAGES
feet have been an integral part of the experience... glad they stay true to their roots.
Finger in hole
I was just gawking at Ledo's Greathammer being back...
Miyazaki isn't even tying to hide it anymore
4:57 The visual of just chucking a Not-Kirkhammer at some random mooks is pure comedy.
I'm gonna infuse it with lightning and call myself Thor
Ripped straight out of Kirby Super-Star. Glorious! :D
you say that like it looks anything like the kirkhammer
“Game good.” What I needed to hear, stopping the video there to avoid spoilers, thanks Mr Pineapple 😊
dawg, you missed the part where he said "game very good"!
As if there was any doubt 😛This DLC is the only thing I've truly pre-ordered (getting something 48 hrs before release to pre-load it, after watching reviews doesn't count): paid for it last year and it feels so good to just have it now 😌
9:22 Oh... That's a rune bear... Oh no...
Use Sleep, problem solved. Unless the new bears have a different weakness.
@Meitti
The problem with sleep is that it takes a bit to proc and enemies still attack before they do their 'sleepy time' animation and then it only takes one hit before they start getting back up.
@@nickoliekeyov746 Yeah but the Rune Bears are specifically designed to be weak against Sleep, its the only elemental ailment they're weak against, probably because bears hibernate so logical conclusion is bears are "sleepy".
@@MeittiI never even thought of that. 100+ hours in. And they somewhat hinted at this because a runebear is literally shown sleeping surrounded by Trina's lilys in mistwood ruins.
And dont forget in the last dlc vid he did he mentioned that there are plenty of ulcerated tree spirits in the dlc too. No shortage of rage inducers here lol
Fave thing Shadow of the Erdtree does with the map (that is different from the base game) is that it very often has you traversing from an open area to a somewhere that is underneath whatever you see when you open the map. I might not be explaining this very well, but it's like you find this huge cave, you check the map, and you're like underneath this huge are you've already visited, that itself, is underneath something you've yet to explore. It's kinda mind blowing.
the descent into Siofra was one of my favorite moments i've ever experienced in a video game, and hearing the DLC compared to that has me hyped, now, in a special, personal way
Agreed, I was like "wait, there's an entire other world UNDER the main world?!?!?!?!?" Also it's great when you stumble upon it way before you're ready for it and are like whoa, ok, come back here in about 25 levels.
Descent into Siofra and discovering Blackreach in Skyrim are the two most jaw dropping moments in gaming for me. Nothing else has ever quite reached the level of effect of those two moments for me
Bro I thought my game bugged because of how long the elevator was. Magical.
@@justApigeon. LOL I know what you mean.
Thata poor statement
7:45 you gotta appreciate the audacity to preform a hurricanrana off of a cliff, that was a true warrior right there
1:30 - WOW I did not expect that kind of environment from Elden Ring, it looks like you’re up in heaven or something, absolutely phenomenal artwork in this game, I can’t wait to experience this.
Fk you I was just listening to the video then I read the comments and clicked on your stamp now I’m like a fish that’s been giving koolaid
i loved this zone so much, it reminds me of zelda idk why
I hated it at first because there wasn't a single dungeon in upper rauh ruins but I figured the lower part below the bridges is the actual area and everything above with the greek looking ruins and the church is an open world dungeon that's very confusing. I also wish we got the pink bouncing balls as a spell instead of just an item hahah
6:55 holy that triple combo!😲
Those boss look soooo fucking badass
My opinion, that move shouldn't have been spoiled 😂
10:45 Miyazaki bringing back the feet
lmao
Got me all excited
Statues don't count
someone gotta show that to malenia, she's never known it
*sniffa*
Based
Finding whole new areas only to be rewarded with like a smithing stone is definitely the worst part about the DLC. It really reduces the fun of exploration to like the most primal sense of curiosity.
true, on the contrary tho, im using a hell of a lot weapons i didn't use before.
Nothing tops the reward you get for completing the Fort of Reprimand: a cookbook that lets you craft the most useless item in the game. LMAO.
Half the dlc is quite literally empty. I don't know wtf Miyazaki was cooking but this was not it. The dlc is great but there's so many glaring issues with loot, lore and now designs.
@@anonisnoone6125this. Spent 230 hours in the base game, played trough it twice. Didn't even spent more than 5 hours in that dlc before I got bored of exploring to find nothing at all except a few underwhelming bosses.
10:45 Miyazaki is a madman for this one
He’s really outdone himself this time 😂
"Your dlc is not good if your caulk is not hard" - Hidetaka Miyazaki (probably)
Brother 😂
4:35 pontiff sulyvahn cosplay here i come
HELL YEA
holy fucking shit that looks so cool, thanks for pointing it out
After having played the dlc for a while now, it really is impressive what they’ve done with such little space. The verticality of the shadow lands is so much more extreme than that of the lands between, which when done right like it is in shadow of the erdtree, makes it feel so much bigger than it actually is.
4:57 a literal mjolnnir
ER gave us Mjolnir First than GOW
10:44 has me ROLLING LMAO of COURSE there's a giant woman statue with feet bound up like that. Miyazaki you aren't being subtle anymore.
my only one goal in the dlc is to look under that skirt
I honestly took your advice to heart and did what i don't usually do: minimized the window and just listened to your commentary.
You did a great job describing things in very vague but understandable ways where i didn't felt like i was missing on some visual context... props for the extra work on that!
i am sure that i will be thankful for doing that once i take my first steps into the DLC. :D
5:28 Chakrams are a confirmed weapon we can use. Awesome
They look like reverse grip with the new throwable heavy, which is a really cool way of implementing a new feeling weapon using only existing tools (newly existing, since it's as of dlc, but still)
11:42 the will of the godskin duo lives on 💀
Some of the areas were sooooo empty it’s frustrating
The only TRULY semi-empty areas are the finger ruins, everything else has a good amount of content, some less than others but not too little to complain about.
It's nice to see yet another From Software game go down in history for being an incredibly high quality game. They just don't miss. (I will not debate DS2 with anyone)
I loved DS2 😭
DS2 was mid for a ds title but still peak as a game
Ds2 was fantastic
U shouldn't have mentioned d2 specifically. Now so many people r gonna bitch about it.
its the best dark souls
The perfumer and martial art weapons look extremely fun to use. This is how all DLC expansions on any game should look like
Good thing I got a new controller for the exploration. Stick drift made any and all navigation a challenge bigger than the Fire Giant's asscheeks
I am going to cherish every moment, boss, weapon, areas, and just everything this dlc has to offer
Youre the first and only Creator ive bought merch from because i love your content so much. Great video man!
On the note of the enemies that did end up getting reused from the base game, I'm reminded of when I went to highschool across town from the neighborhood I grew up in, but ended up seeing a couple of kids who had been in my elementary school and having this newfound and unexpected fondness for them.
Yeah....I remember entering the Seofra River the first time. Easily one of my favorite memories of Elden Ring. It's such classic Fromsoft to take something mundane like an elevator and use it like that.
OUR GOAT MIYAZAKI DELIVERED AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Since 2008 this studio has not released a bad game, or even a mediocre game, all good to amazing, with Dark Souls 2 being the consensus low light, even that was a good game. FROMSOFT is IMO, the best developer on planet earth right now and shows no signs of slowing down.
@@mattm7798I still think that they should move on from this genre. They've proved their capability in this field.
@@reign1594 Hard to say. They did release Armored Core 6 which while being a long established series, leans much more on the action side. What genre would you like to see them tackle?
@@reign1594bro has never heard of armored core
@@reign1594Bringing games out isnt about proving skills. Not at all.
I really enjoyed the non spoiler profile on this video!! Thanks! I’m buying this now
4:44 I KNEW IT! Ordovis, Siluria, now Devonia! Just waiting on Cambria now.
incredible observation!!!!
Personally, I’d prefer it to be ‘Cambrias’ so it isn’t just as simple as removing the ‘n’ from ‘Cambrian’
@somepersonontheinterne Devonian:Devonia
Silurian:Siluria
They literally did just that twice
@@argentum909 oh I know, I just wanted to do something different like how ‘Ordovis’ is derived from ‘Ordovician’
Someone mind explaining? Sorry I didn't get the reference
ulcerated tree spirit in a poison swam. thank you miyazaki, i love you to :D
*EDIT: comments below proof that the Souls community are not a bunch of elitist trolls like everyone criticized us as*
First time I played Elden Ring, it rescued me from one of the darkest periods of my life. I couldn’t leave my room during the day due to family conflict, (dangerous individual in the house) so I slept during the day and woke up at night. I had barely any money. I worked remotely. But my room was basically a closet. I’m on 4 different psych meds, so my mental illness was exacerbated by this isolation and circadian disruption. My cat died.
I had never played a souls game. I heard hype about elden ring and thought I’d try it out. I only play RTS games and have little experience in any other genre. Elden Ring allowed me to get lost in another reality.
It was my life. Every waking moment. But the lessons Elden Ring taught me about adversity, persistence, appreciation for the little things in life, appreciation of beauty, appreciation for magic, and investment in an epic story, it all truly brought me back to life.
I did end up in the hospital eventually, but Elden Ring nevertheless is most of what I remember from this time. It was a gaming experience that transcended fun and entertainment. Also, memories about eating a turtle neck and helping people defeat the fire giant hundreds of times are memories I’ll always treasure. Seeing messages of people pointing down into a ravine, saving me from death also gave me a sense of connection to others that I didn’t have (also finger but hole was the first message I saw which was an excellent welcome) Calling on someone to help me and then seeing them one shot a boss only to salute me and disappear, moments of joy I’ll never forget.
I hope the world within you is better now than it was. May the good in your life overwhelm all that isn't.
@@AdamWutke I really appreciate that man. Things are much much better now. I live with my girlfriend and am stable. Life is full.
I appreciate your words. As life fills up things unnecessary are shedding.
I hope the same to you. Those words only come from someone who’s also lived it themselves. Take care.
May your ailments be healed tarnished.
Amazing story honestly. Glad you were able to overcome the hardships and hopefully you’ll have many more great years ahead
Go easy on the dlc then haaha jkjk hope that dark times
Over man
this game somehow takes me back to my childhood playing Ocarina of Time.. I feel the same sense of wonder and awe playing elden ring that I did as a small child. I love it.
Definetly going for either a Light Greatsword or Great Katana build. I can't WAIT to get my hands on the dlc.
Mate, I'm just waiting to get myself with kicks and quarterstaff/twinblades
This just made me more anxious for Friday coming early
The prism stone not breaking at the end, only for you to still die when you landed was tragic. I’m just going to believe that was an intended troll.
Thank God you answered the level question. My character is 169 and I've been googling for weeks if that's too high for the dlc. Well now I know, thanks Pineapple.
I'm level 220 on NG+ 3 and I'm still worried going into the dlc lol
I will stay lvl 150 for many hours because i like it to help people in the early stages , only for that reason i have a char that is lvl 15 for 60 hrs😅
Only the tryhards will go 150 or below.
The ones with massive fragile egos.
170 to 200 is best to enjoy it.
If you're going NG+, go ~200.
You Got Gud. You are NOT mediocre. Revel.
The way I solve my overlevel is by playing with weapons that scale with INT, the melee damage is a bit lower, but I have spells to fallback on once I get to an annoying area making the difficulty more normalized.
4:59 That throwing hammer with the mjolnir head tho...
Perhaps a hot take, but one of the issues I have with the way modern fromsoft games are designed is that so many bosses are hard to read their move set, because so much of their move set relies on flailing or filling the screen with particles/objects. Maybe I’m going in just underleveled or something but I never felt like a death to the lion boss was a only due to user error. And that is just a problem with “power creep” due to fromsoft wanting to challenge a community that learn this genre so thoroughly.
I’m still playing, and I love the world building, but the fights are kinda getting a bit much.
Yeah the boss fights are just not it... I love ER, but this has been such a massive disappointment for me. Considering putting it down and not playing it again at this point
I do agree, but TBH the lion is a lot easier to track a few others (BAYLE).
He doesn’t fill the screen with particles until halfway through the fight, and Their attacks hit a huge area but they’re also hugely inaccurate
I mean I can see where you are coming from but as a fan of all of their souls likes and sekiro, I do not mind the difficulty spike. I would get my ass beat in all dark souls games but once I finished one of them, all of them followed until sekiro. Which again I gave up at the genichiro fight at Ashina castle top but came back some time later and felt it much easier, I died more to genichiro at ashina castle than to genichiro and/sword saint isshin. Same with blood borne, I was struggling but managed to get past almost all of the main game but gave up at Ludwig and came back after a month and honestly found orphan of kos also significantly easier and died much less than half of the deaths to Ludwig.
In shadow of the Erdtree also it was the same, I died the most to putrescent knight followed second most to midra even though everyone on reddit claimed these two are among the easiest fights of the dlc. With PC Radahn I died once and I said nope I can’t do this fair and square with just a weapon and dodging so instead I respecced to be able to use a heavy spear and the fingerprint shield, added the talismans that reduce holy damage, and one for physical damage, one for reducing non physical damage even more when blocking and fourth talisman the one which reduces all non physical damage. Took the physick with gradual hp regen and damage negation. After that it took two attempts to beat Radahn after the respec and changing build. I beat him in 3 tries total. I know it was hard and yet I accepted that I can’t beat him without using everything at my disposal and then it was easy, the easiest boss fight of the dlc.
The point I am making with all these examples is that difficulty in these games is subjective and we as players who play all the games do evolve as well.
Fume knight was considered a very hard boss when ds2 came out. But I played ds2 after ds1, ds3, sekiro, and Elden ring (base game) and as fromsoft had trained me with so much faster enemies that fume knight felt so easy. I could beat him hitless. I am sure if I played ds2 when it came out I would have struggled a lot.
So yeah they need to keep making the games harder in a fair way but it should not be due to stupid things like camera not being able to track divine beast or not being able to see what radahn is going for behind the blinding light effects everywhere.
Your positivity is contagious, I can't wait to get my hands on the DLC. If anything, I feel a bit bad that you had to play through the game and condense your thoughts before the embargo lifted.
As a huge Sekiro fan, the parrying tear is the feature I am looking forward the most lol
Thanks for your work king
11:58 DA FUCK, THEY ADDED A NEW DOG TYPE !!!!🤯🤯🤯 IT'S AN ELDER DOG !!!
How bad would you say the spoilers are on this video?
@@LemonadessssHonestly its not to bad but i ended up looking away a soon as i saw a boss bar since i dont want any of the bosses spoiled at all
ELDEN DOG!!!!!!!!!!
ELDEN DOG?!?!!
The fact that you can throw weapons now giving you ranged option that don’t force you to stat into int or faith is really nice
I won't pay 70$ for Star Wars Outlaws, But I'll gladly pay $250 dollars for funny Elden Ring statue.
Star Wars Outlaw ain't worth the investment. But that statue is gonna look clean on the stand!!!
Gotta get that 19" inch of Messmer the Empaler
@@Sir-PleiadesI see, i comprehend.
"ubisoft bad fromsoft good!!!"
@@theobell2002 simple and accurate
i can already see the messages at 10:46
Behold, dog.
Try tongue
Personally, and maybe it's because I first played in NG+, but the Scadutree Blessing is a mixed bag for me. I like the idea, and I did see it working, but also...not? I mean, maybe it's just me, but many bosses and some enemies could easily two shot me, and in some cases, one shot you. By end game, I had the full 20 Scadutree Blessing, and the final boss was still able to do half my health in a single hit, sometimes the entire thing.
If that is after all the reduction, I can't even imagine how it's like without the blessings. Makes me not want to play the DLC a second time with another character because I know it's practically mandatory to find all the fragments. Feels very tedious.
That aside, I really did enjoy the DLC despite my complaints about the insane aggression and damage of the bosses.
We need an armor showcase!!!!
The fact that they added reverse-grip swords already sold me on the game, just like the twinblades did for the base game. I've already lived my horror fantasy Darth Maul dream, now I get to be horror fantasy Ahsoka Tano.
Thanks for making this as spoiler free / friendly as possible while still delivering great thoughts.
14:26 Is this Dark Souls 1? We are so back😭
Making the "mini sequel" to Elden Ring as a big, and relatively expensive, DLC is a pretty good idea. The devs can reuse the same engine as is, while concentrating on just making new content.
Also, who's ready for 18 inches of Messmer?//
They essentially made a traditional Expansion for the game. Those used to be much bigger than DLCs.
how many times are you going to copy paste this?
Gotta farm that karma
bro, why are you copy pasting this comment on EVERY review video?
That perfect block flask...
2H guard counter colossal build was among the most fun I've played, and it's now even better!
When using a Scadutree fragment you are required to shout "SCADU!" Like some old sitcom character shouting their catchphrase.
Thank you Mr. Pineapple.
I was already fully on board with this DLC but your glowing review pushed me over the moon. Can't wait.
I hope you do challenge runs for the DLC! It’s what got me hooked on your channel to begin with!!
First 40 seconds is what I wanted. I try to go into all media-shows, movies, games-as blind as I can, but I had to know your thoughts. I feel bad just knowing that martial arts are, essentials, a new weapon…but, also, that shall be how I play.
10:45 of course Miyazaki, of course 😆
The deflecting tear made it possible for me to beat the final boss. I don't think I could have done it without that miracle Physick.
The only review I’ve been waiting for.
God, I'm so hyped for this. Only 3 days left !
Thank you for making an (almost) spoiler free review btw, means a lot (yeah, I didn't watch it, just listened to it. Still work though !).
tbh my main gripe with the DLC is boss presentation. Some of them are great! In particular, I love the buildup that the messmer and midra fights have, with their names coming up repeatedly in their respective dungeons as an antagonistic force. It's like in the base game, you know who godrick and rennala are way before you fight them, their names carry a lot of weight to them.
But other DLC bosses, like rellana or romina, just kind of appear out of nowhere despite being mandatory encounters. You get almost no context as to who these people are, what they've done, and why you're fighting them. It makes for an overall less impactful encounter, which sucks because the bosses themselves are really good! But when you have no idea who the person you're fighting is or why it matters, I think it definitely takes away from the experience
Rellana aint mandatory just saying. Though i get what u mean
I did a dumb and started playing another crabs treasure the other day, its so good, but now cause time is scarce for me, I'm gonna have to choose which one to play for now :0 damn first world souls problems...
Ok, I watch your videos. And I about broke my neck looking back at my screen seeing your comment here. Hope your doing good Sir Sic! See you in the lands between!
Continue it, that game was way better than any fromsoft can come close to lmao just shorter. You can get to the trash later
@@supremecai5857crazy bait
Nah bro is trying too hard@@subotopic
@@supremecai5857 Bait used to be believable
I love the idea of a perfect blocking mechanic but the fact that they put it behind a flask tear is just frustrating. I want to use that whenever.
There's should be a Talisman with the same effect. I don't care if it has some horrible drawbacks, I want to parry everything in the game.
Well, I don't know a ton about modding, but it probably won't be too hard for modders to just take the effect of this flask and either tie it to a talisman that you can wear all the time, or just hard-code it into the game so that it is possible to do at all times and no matter what you are using.
@@warcoder I'd be fine with it being a talisman but me personally, if it was hard coded into the game i would nope the fuck out. Generally that means the whole game is built around it, and i cannot for the life of me parry.
I agree with most of this but I have to say the Scadutree fragment system took more away from the DLC than it added. I went from feeling like it was nearly impossible for the first quarter of the DLC to feeling like the Last 3rd of it was so easy that they let me ruin my own fun by exploring too much and underestimating the Scadutree powerups. they should 100% let you pick which ever option you want that is lower than your maximum level obtained. Spent a few hours on The lion and Rellana and got 1 shotted by the yellow horned knights and the big cleaver wielding shadow-men, then all of a sudden I 2nd tried Midra and started 1-2 shotting enemies that used to take 7-8 hits. I also went in at level 115 and came out at level 220-something trivializing the main game to a high degree. I don't recommend finishing the DLC and the base game for the first time on the same character, but all in all I didn't regret my purchase, but no 10/10 from me. It has some 10/10 aspects like that feeling like you're playing a painting, but also some less than ideal balancing and performance issues along with a lot of stuff feeling rushed, like the quests fx. they really needed a DLC version of Gideon Ofnir that that could fill in exposition or discuss your findings instead what they delivered with Sir Ansbach and Leda. The loot was also comically bad at times like smithing stones tier 6 and below and common crafting materials as a reward after going off the beaten path and the scadutree blessings feeling like you're nerfing the enemies instead of progressing your character like the levelling system feels like.
I really wanna know when you say you beat it in 40 hours. Did you try to do absolutely everything or was it rushed or it was in between?
5:26 BOAT MAN IS BACK
Gotten through a good 60% of it now and they did do it. They made something dlc worthy. There's a little controversy over some ds2 esk enemy placment. Some intresting scaling decisions. Big one that seems to be floating around is damage balancing and idk what base game feels like my first runs been on ng+4 and stuff is tanky and does alot of damage. But its ng+4 ive had the option to grind for dropped weapons collect every aow, incant, buff, crafting ingredient 4 times. I personally like that none of the bosses have gone the water fowl route, they attack fast and in changing rythem, but every attack is dodgable without a 20 pace exactly figure 8. The dlc gameplay brings out the best feelings from fighting mohg, morgott, godskin noble, radagon. Really good precise timing. Theres a few bosses you think wont be fair but you give it three tries and get the most spectacular memorable fights ever. All while your changing your build every 3mins because every weapon is truly cooler then the last.
I've given Radahn 4 hours split between 2, 2 hour Combat Sessions. I've beaten every other Boss and reached him in a day. No, it's jank I don't want to hear a pretend story like his 25 second combo chains and wide splashing AoE is a reasonable expectation to overcome.
@@quarantinezone2844He's a pain in the ass but it's only because his 4-5 hit combos have so much timing variation. His health isn't to high in ng4 anything above i see over tweaking, his health isn't anything insanely high. He's hard fromsoft didn't make a crowd pleasing boss for the final boss of the game they will ever add and that will ever be. Making a traditional hard boss was not the review friendly move because of how big the player base is for the game. They went to the roots designed a fair dope AF boss and will probably say "cry me a river" heres some scaled back damage that's it. He has two flaws his nuts are too high to hit with star fists genuinely hit in-between his legs and mis a hitbox. And the first attack time kills your ability to get summons off early. so no splitting agro means you need to get good at the first 20 seconds. Otherwise he's fine, damn 4 hours I signed up for more then that. Pontiff was a 3 hour endeavour back in the day, dancer was 7, malenia was about 12 for me, nameless took me 5, ornstein smoug was probably 5, gael wasn't any easier then this... Neither was demon prince of freda. People flew through the dlc in a few days got to him realized they were gonna need to keep trying because he's the final hurdle and cried a river. It ain't a fairy tale story just dodge poke dodge.
@@dh9232 For me he had 60K Hp, regardless it's not like it matters anymore since I cut him down while fat rolling and blocking.
He still needs adjustments imo with his overly aggressive behavior and attack effects clogging up the screen when he spams them. Additionally he has the same issue with a few attacks like with Messmer and the Elden Beast where his attacks overlap.
Pontiff was 1 try fodder. The Dancer I endeavored through as a rookie souls player that got lost before I even made it to the next map, Melania I beat in 2 tries. But Bosses usually last me less than an hour. Also Gael and Frieda were far easier lol. Frieda can get staggered into oblivion and Gael has very well telegraphed attacks.
@@quarantinezone2844 🤷seems like you got good GG main character
@@dh9232 I wouldn't say good, feels like I just leaned on Gear and Stats in this instance. Wins a win I suppose, good luck.🫡
Perfume bottles look absolutely cracked af
5:02 My jaw just dropped, and i think I'm in love.
I'm finally close to beating the DLC, I am loving it to bits, I've been exploring to the point where I think I've almost defeated every single DLC remembrance boss already, I need to find multiple mausoleums to get all the boss weapons and spells I have yet to get x3
the only thing I was worried about was the justifying the price of the DLC (to myself), but hearing that a first playthrough took 40 hours makes me less worried and mine will probably take even longer. in comparison my first playthrough of the main game was around 125 hours, so for a complete playthrough of the game the DLC would be at least a quarter of the content.
don’t forget the base game had 15 main bosses. the dlc has at least 10
@@lukesorensen530910 main boss😳 ?!?
11
This will be my first time playing a Fromsoft game. Any recommendations for a newcoming? Should I avoid dlc content until I play through the orginal game for the first time?
Yes the dlc is going to be more difficult than the base game
Play as natural until you feel you are leveled appropriately. The boss guarding the entrance to the dlc is typically tackled after level 100
The DLC is only accessible late game anyway, at least for a new player, since you have to defeat a difficult boss that is typically fought near the end of the game
I mean you have to progress pretty far in the base game to unlock the DLC
and my advice is to never give up and also don't jump down a cliff for treasure
u need to kill too strong bosses fist to even get to the dlc so just progress normal
Those opening shots of those locations are absolutely breathtaking. My god
Only problem with the dlc is that it seems too empty. Seems they forgot to place 90percent of the chests
This review single handedly way overhyped me for the dlc. I’ve certainly come around to enjoy it, but my entire first playthrough was spent wondering how you reached the conclusions you did.
The dlc made me do things I'd usually never do, such as parrying during the final boss.
I finnished the DLC and I'm already wanting more. I'm hoping there will be at least one more final DLC for elden ring, a ringed city kind of final DLC.
I am so happy to hear this is harder than base game. RL1 runs about to go CRAZY
I can’t wait to see someone do the no blessing no hit challenge in the DLC lol
You know it’s coming
@@radagonsoreseal3457GinoMachino will do it 100% 😅
I'm also happy for New speedruns contant
Yeah I already have an invasion twink ready to enter the dlc. 🕶
I havent watched any of the enemies or the hp they have, how hard would it be for someone who likes to do 0+ runs(me)
I'm not done the DLC yet, but it did make me explore first and fight later. When ER dropped, I just bashed my head against forward progression until it stopped fighting back while all my friends explored the Lands Between. I could do this because amongst this friend group I have the most hours in FromSoft games, and therefore the highest skill amongst the four of us. It also meant I completed the base game on my first playthrough in ~20 hours due to a lack of greater exploration.
I tried to do this in SotE and got my ass firmly handed to me on a golden platter several times over. Blackgaol Knight alone was responsible for most of my boss deaths until I reached Messmer. It made me realise that the scadutree blessings were not something I could just casually come across but that I needed to find.
Let me explain my context: I'm rocking 60 vig, 40 end, 30 mind, and 80 str with a +10 Ruins Greatsword, Shard of Alexander, Erdtree Talisman +2, and Greatshield Talisman. That alone was not enough damage to make Blackgaol Knight flinch, let alone some of the bigger, badder bosses. I did the only sensible thing: adapt. I explored, powered up, stumbled into a bunch of remembrance bosses, then finally returned. Even Messmer made me adapt. I swapped out armours, used the new better Fire Talisman, and even used my physick for utility other than healing.
I love this. Most fun I've had with a FromSoft game since my #1 fave Bloodborne.
Skyrim was my absolute favorite game of all time before Elden Ring came out. No game ever captured the magic of playing Skyrim for the first time and the amazing discoveries on subsequent playthroughs you could even after dumping 1000 hours into it, not to mention it's spectacular DLC's that followed it's release. Skyrim is my game of the decade for the 2010's, and while I would say that Dark Souls 3 was my second favorite game for sure, it wasn't actually super close to Skyrim. Elden Ring was the first game to really recapture the magic that playing Skyrim had and exceeded it in a lot of ways. Combine that with an improved version of the gameplay that was a main reason for what made Dark Souls 3 my second favorite game and it was just a given that Elden Ring would become my new absolute favorite and easily my pick for game of this current decade so far (honorable mention Baldur's Gate 3 though, that game is wonderful too). Seeing what I've seen from the DLC is almost unbelievable. The idea that FromSoft could actually recapture lightning in a bottle again is insane to me, but it really looks like they've done it somehow. Never thought I'd be excited for a DLC like it was the launch of a brand new game, but here we are. Cannot wait to get into it and relive the magic of beginning Elden Ring once again.
completely agree!
I still think the witcher 3 and rdr2 are levels above.
@@ghostsamongus3370 I do love both of those games, they're both easily two of the best games I've ever played, but neither of them ever elicited the same feelings that I had playing Elden Ring or Skyrim. They had their moments for sure though, but yeah not the quite as good to me. But hey, to each their own.
@@orionizaqt Skyrim will always be top dog for me, the feeling I get in that world, the music just hits deep.
IT’s nastolgic
7:17 MY NAME IS GYOUBU MASATAKA ONIWA
forget everything else. that armor set you're wearing at around 1:10 is sick as hell!
Is that death knight ashes and armor obtainable?
i hope both 😅
One of the journalists who went to play test two weeks ago said there was some sort of named Death Knight summon so I’m assuming they becomes an spirit ash. As for the armor it better be in the game or imma cry😭😭
I think it makes sense that some enimies are reused I'm sure they have been changed a bit too but it's the world of elden ring the exist there so it makes sense I'm really excited can't wait
The one thing I wished I wouldve realized early is that you can seemingly explore EVERYTHING before fighting ANY remembrance boss at all (except the very last legacy dungeon). It's insane how much you can power up by exploring.
4:50 Was that a pot flail??? If it is, I joked about them making one a while back ago! That's awesome!
Boomhammer is back.
My true mentor, my guiding boomlight.
Started yet another new play though yesterday, can’t wait to replay the dlc many times!
I have all ten of my playthroughs armed and ready... each with a different level and build, and ALL items from the main game.
one of the earliest mix ups i was impressed by was them just switching up the tempo on some regular dragon attacks, like their stomps, bites, breath attacks and wing sweeps.
I don't like this level of verticality you mentioned. It is too extreme to the point that i am actually lost in the game. Most of the time i don't know where i am or how i got somewhere, and when I die and i have to go back to my corpse, it is just a headache. I feel like you are too biased and positive about that point.
Oh he is biased but verticality isnt actually a thing i would criticize the game for. Reciclying enemies now that is bad. Also what the hell are those shadow enemies. Laziest stuff ever.
brother the game gives you a map, a compass pointing directly to your death point (that also shows up on the map), and the ability to place 5 giant glowing spears of light as waypoints. its complex but if you cant remember how to get to where you died youre straying way too far between checkpoints.
@@penn__ I am still going through the game but mainly i was thinking of that green forest area with tunnels everywhere. Having waypoints is meaningless, when you are traversing a maze. But again the map is way too complex design level. Main game was fine, this is too extreme. Also the compass f**king disappears if you are in combat.
I still don't even remember how I got to that green area. In main base i remember every single detail or entrance to different areas.
Also i would like to add that the verticality in the main game was very well done, it is like it starts from the beach and you slowly climb to the mountain, in a linear way. The DLC is chaos, some area are really high, some areas are really low at the same time.
He is biased, he gets stuff early
Should I enter the dlc before beating certain bosses or finishing certain questlines because the dlc adds different endings to certain questlines or should I just do everything ?
Speaking of endings and questlines, I guess nobody knows, we'll have to see it for ourselves in a few hours~
Everything in the DLC storywise is completely self contained
@@Soulessblur yeah I already finished it a while ago . Thx tho
That Renalla fight. Man that looks badass.
The worst part of the DLC is the stuttering issue that got worse on PC, Fromsoft had 2 years to work on the PC port and it's still not really acceptable for 2024.
it seems like it's on almost every system. i hear about people on ps5 having the same issue.
my poor poor _poor_ ps4 is barely holding on man. the dancing lion bossfight is almost unplayable
@@lettuceprime4922I’m playing on PS5 and I’m on the last boss. Zero performance issues the entire time. You are playing on a 10 year old console ffs 🤦♂️
Even the base game on PS5 has a lot of frame drops. The performance is absolutely not perfect@@SleeplessSpecter
The Scatter-tree fragments sound simillar to the progression system Sekiro uses to boost attack and health (by beating bosses and collecting prayer-beads). I'm very happy about that, since I hope that means they'll have a clearer way of balancing progression and stats appropriatly.
correction: its scadu-tree
I haven't watched the video, and won't until I finish the DLC. But the amount of HP bosses have, as well as the new levelling system is pretty offputting.
Finished the DLC, I still think the Scadutree Fragment decision was a mistake. Definitely not looking forward to playing the DLC on my 7 other characters just for having to gather another 50 or so of them for every char, I wish I could disable it.
Well he also said it’s his favorite piece of art Fromsoft has ever created lol
Just finished it. Was enjoying it until final boss. First time I have used spirit ashes since my first playthrough of the base game. Apparently I could have also shield-poked it to death for an easy kill but that is even less engaging. I wanted to learn the fight.