I love hearing your thoughts on the DLC in real time, and seeing how you tackle the bosses! I'm excited every time I see a new vid come out! FASTER! P.S. I love open world games, and the DLC is fine for me. Would I like more secrets and rewards for every nook and cranny, but while it's not as densely packed as the main game, it's still decent. Could be better, but also more focused around points of interest, for what it's worth.
the main difference is that the DLC is more layered while the main game is just streched out more. This means that the DLC is way more difficult to navigate than the main game. this difference is the greatest on subsequent playthroughs because after finding everything once the main game is pretty straight forward while the DLC is as diffcult on exploration as the first time even on ng+ with the whole map. This might not be the kind of reward you mean, but in the DLC finding a new area feels itself like an achievement with the area itself as a reward. In the maingame I would only say that for the consecrated snowfield, the haligtree, some underground areas and kinda Altus Plateau (provided you didn't look it up but that goes for all of them, also there are like 3 ways to get there). In the DLC I didn't find the abyssal woods, stone coffin fisure, shaman village, Enir Illim (got lost in Raugh), and even the jagged peak despite getting to the big altar and the way to the jagged peak starts right next to it, so I had to look all that up. If that's a good or bad thing is arguable but it was most certaintly challenging. once again maybe those are not the kind of secrets and rewards you mean though
On my first playthrough I thought the best boss in the DLC was Messmer. I now believe it is Bayle. He is the only boss in the DLC other than Radahn who remains a serious challenge on repeat playthroughs. He is also my pick for the boss with the best visual spectacle in all of Elden Ring
Feels like a lot of pushback against getting new enemies to fight and narrative implications through lore items and vistas that do a ton of environmental storytelling is a result of games settling on predatory loot boxes for the better part of a decade. Most people aren’t really aware of how subjecting yourself to that kind of gambling really messes you up; you see, if I didn’t win any stuff, did you get your money’s worth for the fictional pixels at all?
Right? It's like they see gameplay as a time investment rather than something meant to be intrinsically enjoyed just for the pleasure of the gameplay. Everything comes down to economics; they "invest" time and want quantifiable rewards that ensure they can more easily beat the game quicker, so that the time they invested into dungeons and exploration pays off. It's a really bizarre and damaging way to look at games.
really? I always felt like midir was so straight forward unless you are trying to hitless it of course. Took about 10-15 attempts the first time i faced him...but he was never a problem on later playthroughs. But then there are so many more options in elden ring. So that kinda dilutes the difficulty discussion .
Imagine Igon writing his cookbooks while shouting at the top of his lungs. The dragons of jagged peak are becoming quite concerned with him and contact Bayle, but he has the attitude of a teacher when a child tells them they are being bullied: "Have you tried walking away? Maybe he'll stop when you leave him alone" but while a teacher says that out of a lack of interest Bayle is just as scarred as the others even if he doesn't show it
