I think Consecrated Snowfield and Haligtree areas were originally envisioned as DLC content but FromSoftware at some point near the end of development decided to incorporate it into the base game to make this game extra massive. I think Malenia being BS hard is fine since she's basically a DLC final boss and optional; she's to Elden Ring what Orphan of Kos is to Bloodborne. I think Maliketh is appropriately hard since he's the final hurdle for you to pass before you can proceed to Elden Beast. I really enjoyed the mini-dungeons. I think the team was super clever with how they played with their toolbox. I actually wish they had more of these sprinkled throughout each region (Liurnia and Mountaintop of the Giants feel like they needed 1/3 more locations). I agree that they need to figure out what to do with shields since they're not a component of any suggested build.
I'm glad you're finally reviewing this game because I've always wanted to know what you thought about it. You've touched on it briefly in previous videos but it was never this deep. Also, I don't think this game is hard because you're older. At 26, this game is just that hard. It's like the entire thing was designed around summons/multiplayer so trying to fight bosses alone like you would in DS1 is like playing the game on nightmare mode. Elden Ring bosses were clearly never designed to focus all their stamina on a single player
In Nial i killed the faster one then kiting Nial and the shield ghost around. It was very effective. Gotta develop strategies to deal with new challenges.
Just finished your video and I couldn't agree more with your opinion on the game. When I first started playing and was loving it, I was envisaging my next playthrough and the next. At the end I was exhausted with it and glad for it to be done. Loved the idea of having to fight an explosion, that fight is ridiculous. Also found it hilarious when you bemoaned "getting cancer" with the rot.
Reflex deterioration outside competitive twitch shooters won't be noticeable until you're like 50 man, and even then the video games played through life might prop them up. Or maybe we'll all shuffle off to caster classes and lean on prep over reflexes. I agree with many parts of this video. I bounced off elden ring hard the first time and only now have found my stride with my archer. The game really puts the player in charge of their enjoyment.
To (maybe) give an answer to one of your questions, there are stories in Native American folklore that involve giant centipedes "born from the blood of the primordial monsters who once ruled the earth." They are often associated with the Underworld due to they preference for hidden places. They were also seen as a symbol of Death in some Celtic folklore.
The part about legacy dungeons is so real lol. The repetitive catacombs that only served to Pokemonize the game were such a waste of resources that could have been used to make just one more "legacy" dungeon. I sincerely hope the DLC will do away with summons/catacombs and the anime ninjutsu meta required to survive Malenia's waterfowl bs. It just made the game infuriating to play and took away build creativity
I felt the same as you about the difficulty. I am also a similar age to you and questioned my age being part of the issue. I was desperate to just get the game over by the end. I would suggest switching to a duelsense btw, I am assuming you are using an xbox pad which is ridiculously loud and genuinely the clicking from it drowned you out at times. Edit I see you are actually using a DS4. Maybe the mic just needs better positioned. On the environmental story telling, I like it but would like a compromise of both the spoon fed storytelling and the typical souls style.
The boss encounters seem like they were balanced with spirit ashes in mind, I think thats why they give them to you so early on, pretty sure you can even choose them as a starting gift. Large movesets that can be chained into combos, almost every boss has some form of AoE and attacks that cover huge distances. They are easily the most annoying modern Fromsoft bosses to fight solo imo. The input reading is so blatant and annoying on the Godskins and Draconic Tree sentinel, as soon as it reads you pressed the flask button they immediately que up a fireball. Almost all the previous gank bosses felt like they were designed together with clear strengths and weaknesses, O&S, Throne watcher defender, Demons or Friede and papa. Most of the ER gank fights feel so lazy like they stuck two bosses into one arena and made one slightly more passive.
I will say as someone older I only found certain fights unfair in this game. Melania is one, mostly due to her healing. As usual magic is OP as hell in a souls game so if you just want to beat it that's an option. Another thing that makes the game more difficult is weapon/damage types. Some enemies just outright laugh if you're not hitting them with slam vs piercing damage. I actually enjoy the setup for the bosses and find them to be more interesting than just decrepit or dying souls bosses. Melania and Rhadan are messed up but retain their power despite losing their faculties. I also think this game NAILS dragon fights. Each dragon has their own power and moveset, and are not the same in terms of stats
These guys at the beginning are very hard if you're not using parry. Also, use ashes of war. I've posed a challange to myself not to use them, and now fighting Maliketh and Mohg Blood guy is making me tear my hair out. ;)
I wanted to watch your entire video before making any comments. Some things I agree with some I disagree with (also some advice): I rate ER near the top of From games in the Soulsbourne series. Bloodborne is #1 which I consider a masterpiece, and Sekiro is at the bottom, because it's not an RPG but an action/rhythm game (it's also the hardest out of all the games due to this). I suspect you would not like Sekiro. The way you describe the things you dislike about ER I think applies even more to Sekiro. That is the only game where I felt fighting a boss was a chore (Genichiro took me 8 hours to beat, who knows how many attempts). I am 51 so I don’t think your callouts are age-related. I also play these games similar to you - pure tank/warrior build so STR/VIG. This automatically makes the game harder (just like magic makes it easier). My first blind run was much harder than my second (I power stanced two ultra greatswords). On my second run, I had essentially perfected a tank build and I hardly ever dodge-rolled in fights, I just traded blows. I used the executioner's axe 2-handed most of the playthrough because it ate up poise very quickly. I even did this with Melania depending on hyper armor to get me through. A few observations as I think you are making the game harder than it should be on yourself: 40 is not the max for VIG/STR. For a STR build you go 40, 60 then 80 for each (depending on how high level you get). I finished both runs around 160-170. So, you are playing a warrior build but you don’t seem to be focusing on it. Ditto on armour and talismans, if you want to trade blows you need to get your poise and armour rating as high as possible with mid-rolls. The game is BALANCED around summons. You are just purposely making it harder for yourself without them. If you want a challenge, play without summons, but you should not be complaining about the game being hard when you don’t use summons. There is no reason to fight Niall and Godskin Duo without summons (unless you are doing a challenge run). This goes back to my comment that you are not using all the tools at your disposal. The weirdness in the difficulty spike you observe is because it’s an open world, and unlike Dark Souls the designers can’t really know what level you will hit these areas. They just guess with the assumption that if it's too hard for you, go get more levels (this is an RPG). I disagree leveling is irrelevant in this game. Fighting Malania (for example) at levels 50, 90, or 150 makes a huge difference. You rarely used buffs and only seemed to use a flask. Before a boss fight, I buff as much as humanly possible. All the incremental boosts matter. You never used ranged attacks. Why are you not using a great bow? That can help break up fights and pick-off enemies well before you have to deal with them. For example, I used a great bow to pickoff all the creatures around the tree avatar before fighting her solo in Leyndall (the one outside the bonfire). You are not using all the tools at your disposal to win. Now I do agree with you the bosses are way more aggressive in this game. And I am not a fan of delayed attacks or fake-outs. This worked beautifully with the Dancer (the first place From really did this) and it thematically made sense. Not every boss should be delayed and/or super aggressive. I also think the world is too big hence they repeated bosses. I would have preferred a smaller world with fewer reused bosses (though some did make sense to reuse like the tree avatars and Nights Cavalry. These did not bother me). Centipedes are a symbol of death and corruption in Japanese culture I believe. They feature heavily in Sekiro and are akin to the animating force of undead. Agree the tempo is too fast in terms of storytelling. It just keeps escalating. But let's see how the DLC handles things, it may be where we hit a high, and then drop. I also think the lack of decay in ER makes sense, as we are living in a world that has just finished a massive civil war. It's more akin to Europe after WW1 or WW2 than a world experiencing the heat death of the universe. But agree that bosses like Gwyn are great thematically, and there are not really any bosses like him in ER. Farum Azula was a prison for those who blasphemed the golden order. Maliketh is not the god of death. He is Marika’s “dog”. He guards destined death. I actually think this is the easiest of the FROM games because you can easily out level enemies if stuck, plus summons and so on. YMMV. Happy to share my tank build if that suits your play style.
What I'd liked to have seen plot wise was them tying this back to the man-made "God" from the original Eternal Ring. For me that was a bit of a missed opportunity.
