"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.

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

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

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.

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.

11:24- "Men will literally confront the stars and seal fate before seeing a therapist" - That hit hard.

I really wish there was more seeds and revered ashes than you need for the final upgrade level. ER did that with golden seeds, so why didn't it do the same for the new upgrades? Looking for those last few was a massive headache, and with the levels capped, the final boss is still harder than the rest of the DLC combined.

Whoopsies!

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

dudes with the barbed wire are fun to block, it looks cool

Hahaha the stock photo of the hippo got me good

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

Good video dude! I also liked it but appreciate why people didn't and think it is a good conversation

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.

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.

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

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

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)

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.

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...

It works if they tell you it doesn't is because they couldn't steam roll through the dlc with spell spam

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

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.

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".

It's a good system in my opinion, it encourages exploration, without it people would have just blown through the dlc

I don't mind it my only issue I have is Fromsoftware doing nerfs and changing what was envisioned

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.

Truths were told here today, my fellow Tarnished ones.

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.

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

Too bad they aren’t as plentiful as golden seeds

Shadow of the Erdtree is magical ❤

i didn't use guides and got to blessing level 18, i think the system is great

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

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 personally don’t mind the system to much

No.