Shadow of the Erdtree Critique - Fromsoft's Worst DLC Yet 

Most of your points are extremely opinionated, and I do respect your opinion.. but man do I disagree with you on a spiritual level

It isn't my FAVORITE Fromsoft DLC, but i thoroughly enjoyed it. Even beat all the bosses 1v1, minus Bayle. Because, well, BAAAAYYYYYLLLLEEEEEEE!!!!!!

Tarnished: "Better heal myself with my estus after this wombocombo" Elden Ring Bosses: "Next you'll say "better heal myself with my estus after this wombocombo""

I love how his flasks arnt even maxed lol

Midra feels the most like an old school Souls boss

"I'd rather get in more damage than using that opening to heal" how is that even an argument bruh?

Putting low level upgrading material in a chest guarded by 3 mobs is just a crime

Crazy how he complained about finding items not related to his build. There are thousands of people using all sorts of different builds, not every item can fit every individual player's specific one.

To say that the only reward for beating Putrescent Knight is a cookbook is either intentionally misleading or hilariously wrong. It’s the only way to get to St. Trina & complete an important NPC quest

Every sight I saw in the DLC felt like an intrinsic reward.

Didnt he complain about the base game bosses then made a video retracting it?

"Re-skinned Death Knight" Brother, there are only two in the ENTIRE GAME, THERE IS NO RE-SKINNED DEATH KNIGHT

What do you mean reskinned dathknights? There are only 2 and they both have a unique weapon and moveset, if anything I find it more concerning that there are 4 (maybe more) erdtree spirits in the game.

I think there is a difference between an “over powered build” and doing 350 damage a swing.

I just realised that if you use the mimic the bosses become more aggressive towards the player but use any other summon and it's far less aggressive and easily distracted by the summons. I've tested this on 8 bosses over 10 times each and the difference is considerable. I've only noticed this on the dlc

Did anybody else fight gaius on Torent like this dude? I don’t know anybody who tried more than like 2x before realizing it’s better to be on foot…

The reason why Feeble didn’t like the DLC because he didn’t play it in SL1, we know these games are better in SL1.

Am I the only one that likes Rellana? I thought all her moves were pretty telegraphed and intuitive on how to dodge.

I...actually agree with you. I can't believe it came out this way, the only thing I really enjoyed was the story, area design, art music, and the end. Can't wait to see what the Elden Ring Covergeance guys do with it though if they continue the mod for it.

Two points from the video: Adding extra enemies to a boss or mini-boss is a LAME attempt to make things difficult. And getting grabbed by Consort Radahn. You can definitely feel that something was not right about those grabs.

Rellana's Twin Moons are actually entirely dodgeable by simply jumping. In 4h, didn't it occur to you?

We may not all agree on many things, but we can all agree that Messmer is one of the best designed boss fights, right?

the fights in modern fromsoft games want to be these big elaborate anime smack downs but the one main mechanic is just timing rolling on the ground like you're trying to tackle a purse snatcher

"Why is it always something, but not something incredible?" At first you thought this message is hilarious and the guy wrote this is really fucking funny. But after finished the game, man this message pointed out one of the biggest problem in the DLC in a very sad way

"you can find them by wandering around" you mean they make you explore? In an open world game? How dare they

How the fuck are talismans and new weapons not also extrinsic rewards? Just because you personally don’t want to use them doesn’t mean they don’t massively impact a potential build, a lot of the new dlc weapons are pretty strong and fun, and this is end game content, where it’s pretty likely you’ll have the bell bearings to upgrade weapons and larval tears to respec, it’s completely disingenuous to call those clear extrinsic rewards “worthless” because YOU personally don’t care about them

I 100% agree! Infact most of what you call reskins are NOT reskins... they are literally the same in everyway...

Can y’all at least agree those lion dancer warriors in the endgame are stupidly overtuned😂 those guys killed me more then Mesmer

For the first time ever, I don't agree with Feeble King's opinion about a souls game. And that's okay, it is what it is.

My brother and I would joke about the next item glowing in front of us being a flower or a cookbook.

I think the most important thing is that the DLC doesnt feel fun anymore with many empty areas, the healing that cant be done unless u try 5 times and combos which are designed to hit you after you roll beacuse there´s a 2nd fast attack after something you rolled.

the dlc just highlights the biggest problem with open world games in that the bigger the world the less interesting the exploration will be due to the fact you can only have so many cool collectables and upgrades, botw and totk reak of this issue with p much all the collectables being entirely disposable, and the only reason elden ring isnt like that is because you level up, but if the game had a different leveling system the exploration would be just as boring, the fact is the only reason you find exploring fun is because of the reward you get at the end and if the reward sucks it isnt worth it

To be honest after giving it a few days I think most of the bosses (minus the final boss) and actually very good, they're just harder than the main game ones. You can learn them, and it feels rewarding when you do, moreso with these because of how complex they are.

So if you don't want weapons because you're not switching your build, you don't want to tree fragments, you don't want cookbooks, you don't want Spirit ashes, and you're getting runes while looking for all of this... WHAT DO YOU WANT

I think most Fromsoft fans will determinedly look past and ignore any sort of criticism of the game. I really enjoyed the DLC, but can't look past its frustrating exploration philosophy. I thought the linear dungeons this time around were leagues above the ones in the main game, and legacy dungeons, especially Shadow Keep, were phenomenal. It is the design of these non open world aspects that make me hope that Fromsoft returns to their world design philosophy that made Dark Souls 1 feel so special. The open world in the dlc really just feels like a manual loading screen. I think most people will defend boss difficulty because the game is 'supposed' to be difficult, while simultaneously ignoring the emphasis on fairness that Fromsoft always prioritised.

they should have placed a blacksmith in the DLC where you could upgrade your weapon to +35 , and somber equal to that.

tip: if you get hit, don’t immediately heal, dodge the bosses next attack and then heal when you normally would’ve attacked. hope this helps

Strongly disagree, but I respect your opinion.

Reggie Fils-Amie once said: "If its not fun why bother?" and this encapsulates my entire feeling about half of base Elden ring and most of SotET.

Man, it's just so hilarious to watch all these people that hated Sekiro for its "not fair" difficulty now praise it. I think I know where it's going...

inb4 "in defense of shadow of the erdtree boss design" in 6 months

6 months and counting till the complete u turn video 💀

Came here after spending 2 hours looking for the shadow tree to burn with messers flame after beating him, only to realize it was literally impossible to get there in the rauh ruins (my least favored place in the game) without getting the rauh ruins map fragment. I had to look it up to get the map fragment, i never would have found it otherwise. The verticality of rauh ruins had me eventually get to the top of the map where th sniper is but the only boss encountered the entire time was one reskinned divine beast. It’s crazy man. Really bored and disappointed

Joseph Anderson made another review guys

Feeble King cycle: This is the WORST fromsoftware DLC (1 year later) Shadow of the Erdtree is a misunderstood masterpiece

In Elden Ring you are supposed to use attack windows to heal instead of healing at neutral.

Great review. I agree will all your points in this video. I am grateful that there are still some reviewers on this platform who actually review the games. Don't let negative opinions discourage you.

I mostly agree with this video. However i do disagree about the Putrescent Knight encounter. A good boss encounter’s reward should be the boss encounter itself. Regardless, you get a good side quest that gives a lot of context to the main story. That’s fine. Another point i’d like to add is that there are so many new weapons and mist importantly, ones with unique movesets. This is something I’ve been missing in the base game and they definitely delivered here. This was probably my most favorite part of the DLC. Rellana is a good boss. Her AOE is telegraphed and predictable, and (to me) it’s abundantly clear you can jump over the shockwaves. However I agree about the roll catch magic projectiles. That kinda blows but i still had fun nonetheless. Actually, while we’re on that topic, why does ever single boss need to have a massive AOE explosion that covers the arena??? It’s so overused and some are incredibly annoying to predict as they “charge” up like I’m supposed to count with them. Either that or you flat out have to run away.. so boring. I agree about the scadutree fragment system. I think it may have sounded good in concept but in execution finding them is a pain. Not only that, they’re not in excess and there’s no real way to tell where they are unlike the upgrade materials in the base game. I feel like the memory system like in sekiro is way better and is better applied here considering that bosses are usually at the end of these massive areas anyway. It would make subsequent playthroughs much MUCH better and just leave the exploration stuff for cool and interesting weapons/spells should people want to go looking for them. I disagree with your point on Shadow Keep connecting other places being good in the DLC. In fact, I feel that due to the open world nature of the game, bottlenecking entrances to large area through a specific hidden wall behind a waterfall down an obscure ladder in a dungeon is not the way to go. I do agree with your suggestion as well though because you’d basically be describing Ashina Castle and I fw that. The final boss is stupid. It’s just… not good. Despite all the snobby reddit video essayist attitude stuff i think I agree with a lot of the points in this video and summed up a lot of my own feelings with the DLC. I disagree with some of the points you make but I share your sentiment. Overall I still enjoyed the DLC, I’d even call it good - but it’s not the Fromsoftware standard of good I was expecting and for that I am very disappointed.

Learning by trial and error is how every souls game has been. I really dont understand that point.

What is it you are looking for? Thats where im confused. I played through the entire base game and DLC with the same weapons and summons no change apart from due to exploring I found a talisman that worked with my build. I knew I would do this before the dlc come out, so in your eyes I then had 0 incentive to explore anything? But I never felt that way, playing through the dlc I wanted to see everything in this world that I loved so much, I knew that every item I found would bring me closer to understanding the lore and I wanted to make connections within my own head cannon. The last dlc for me that felt this good was “assault on dragons keep” for boarderlands 2 and I felt the same with that, Im happy to have a world I love so much expanded on in every way. What is it that you wanted to see?

Will you do a response to comments like you did the sekiro critique?

As someone who said SotE is a strong 7/10 and very fairly explained all of my points and criticisms but then had to go live in a bunker for fear of the "leave alone the multimillion dollar company" types of fromsoft fans, thank god for this video existing. Have we all forgotten that a 5/10 is average and so anything above that is... above average? So many people sit there and have valid reasons to dislike the DLC and talk about them only to immediately qualify their stance with "but but but its um its still a 10/10 perfect game! i swear! please dont hurt me" like dude, something aint right if thats the state of criticism in this genre lmao

If fromsoft gives a slightly easier mini boss then “that shit was too easy not rewarding at all” and if they give a hard one then “the game is too hard for no reason” makes perfect sense

27:19 JUST JUMP. It’s one of the easiest moves to dodge in the game ffs

as long as there are more content to complete in this game I am happy with it

i've never been so confused in my life!!, i have so much complains about the base game boss designs, but in the dlc i just killed messmer so maybe the game will surprise me later but rn i feel like the bosses are way better than most main ones in the base game, they don't have too much delayed attacks, waaaay more openings, i can't recall that they had a single follow up after they finish a combo unlike the base game where if you dodged their 9 hit combo and tried to punish them they'll follow up with an unreactable move, but in the dlc that's not the case, sure they don't let you heal easily, but not being cheesy like the base game is a fair trade for me, so far if i had to rate the bosses for fairness i'd give them a 9/10, and for the base game they are very hit and miss but the average is 6.5/10 imo the biggest problem is that normal enemies either kill you in 2 hits, or being an absolute joke with no inbetween which is so goddamn annoying

I respect you having this opinion, but I think the exact opposite of the DLC. 1. The exploration has many rewards. The new weapons(I think there is around 100, with 8 new categories),the new talismans(i think 30+) and new armor sets are great, and the cookbooks, while really abundant, aren't that big of a problem to say "exploration isn't rewarding". And there is a good questline's spot after Putrescent Knight, which you ignored in the video. 2. The legacy dungeons aren't nearly as bad as you said they are. Yes, some of them are short, and simple, but they are not bad. One thing I saw a few times, and I agree with, is shortcuts would be better than a bunch of graces, but it is like a nitpick rather than a big problem. 3. The healing problem you have could be a good critique with the points you brought up, but it isn't. You said if you don't need to heal, the combat loop is a tight dance. It still is, but, just like in the BASE GAME, if you want to heal, you need to forfeit a punish window for it. 4. I slightly agree with you on Radahn. His 1st phase is awesome, but the 2nd is a bit too much. But your problem with "difficulty for difficulty's sake" is mostly wrong. They are difficult, but maybe everyone forgot how Fromsoft games are supposed to be hard, and with the complains of the base game being "too easy", they made those concepts harder, and they succeeded. I need to clarify that this is only my opinion. Also, I beat the DLC on NG, with a bit overfarmed character, and no summons. And in the end, I love the DLC, some people don't(like you). We can go oon our merry ways without ragebait.

As someone who also beat DS3 at lvl 1 I am shocked you didn't enjoy learning the boss fights. The bosses were fantastic and difficult but also super fun to learn for me. Bayle > Midir. I know that you no hit run Midir in DS3. Bayle is a harder version that is more complex and more badass in everyway. That one roar move is the only thing that feels a little cheap in the fight, but spam rolling the lightning after and getting hit with the follow up slam is just you panic rolling mindlessly. You can just roll out of the downed animation after the roar and then just run from the lightning, then dodge roll the slam, and then punish his head. I expected a better critique from someone who beat DS3 at lvl 1.

Your thoughts on the open world thing is so accurate even in the main game. After your first playthrough its just a boss run and ingore everything else and only grab the few items that are worth grabbing. Giant waste of time.

"these are all useless because I don't personally use them"

Bro panic rolls on every boss attack and complains when he gets roll caught

Exploration is not all about what items you find, lots of the elden ring magic in exploring doesn't come from "oh i got this smithing stone" or "oh a new weapon" , it comes from seeing something in the distance and wondering how to get there to see what is there. Prime example of this was me entering Shadow Lands for the first time and seeing that giant Greek looking temple on the left side, it got my interest, only for me to get to it 35 hours later and to feel happy that i manged to get to it, yeah i got a new fight with dancing lion and a new spell but that feeling in unmatched because there is nothing pointing me there besides my own interest in the world, i don't have to go there, yet i choose to because im curious, its why i think Elden Ring's open world is perfect. It tries to interest you with its freedom and beauty and leads you to interesting places. Just as a fact that they hide abyssal woods and midra's manse and this entire secret remembarance boss behind a random dungeon that is very hidden makes finding that place so much more interesting, more than anything the older games could have done. I never got that feeling in Dark Souls, maybe when i found Ariamis for the first time but Elden Ring is that whole concept turned into a whole game and its why i think open world works so well for Fromsoft. So if you are reading this, you can probably guess that i completly disagree with your point on exploration. I don't think any game comes even close to this game's exploration, not even fromsoft's other work. You talked about Legacy Dungeons and i disagree with this point as well, not a single one is bad. They are all really fun places with their own unique atmospheres and interesting encounters. Finding the old lady in belurat just to realize she was the one that summoned the lion dancer was a very interesting discovery for me and it was something very unique. Castle Ensis is the best "Fort" type level in the whole game, its the longest and has the most interesting encounters and serves as a great early point for players, now i wouldn't say its fromsoft's best or anything but its far from being boring, let alone bad. Enir is quite liniar in its main path but its filled with secrets, finding Euporia on my first playthrough was really cool, it also helped that it suited my build. I will say that the underground area could have been longer but i think it serves its purpose and is quite fun(Maybe im biased since i love Putriescent Knight so much). When it comes to your boss critiques, i feel like im having a deja vu with people like you. Complaining again about not understanding the game at its core, and as much as i hate the "skill issue" buzzword of fromsoft fans, its 100% true here. I am no challenge runner, im a pretty average player and a slow learner but i always try to do something new when fighting bosses, i feel like people like you just keep doing the same thing while expecting different results. Prime example of this was you thinking that Bayle has no openings in the 2nd phase and as soon as you learned that you can dodge to the right and get a free punish every time, your world suddenly changed and your eyes were opened. This is the case with a lot of bosses, you can't just press L1 and let your problems go away, you have to think and get better at each fight and its what we wanted, people cried that elden ring was too easy, people wanted a challenge and they got it. Its how its always been with fromsoft DLCs, they are always the hardest part of each game. Now let me get to some of your more specific boss complaints, lets start radahn, i agree that there is too much visual clutter when fighting him and i agree that his "scissor" attack is too fast, esp in 2nd phase it can be too punishing but besides those 2 things i don't really have an issue with him(i only fought him twice on 2 different characters so my opinions may change), but i like his gimmick of having to fight him in his face so the light doesn't clip you, i think its a good gimmick that rewards you for playing agressive, its something that ER wants from you, posture mechanic is in the game for a reason. You also mentioned Rellana and how she never stops attacking but this is the thing, just because the boss is swinging doesn't mean you can never hit them, elden ring is designed around you attacking bosses during their attacks(Jumping, straffing, hitting before the delayed attack comes out), this all makes the combat feel more alive and fact paced, you don't need deflect or rally to make this work, you just have to play the game and realize that you shouldn't be waiting for the boss to stop, they will never stop and neither should you. You should always look for an opening(depening on your weapon, but this doesn't matter because you can get heavy R2s on every single boss in the game with the slowest weapon in the game). Also you talked about healing and this is a frankly quite stupid complaint, healing speed is completly fine. You just have to learn when to heal and stop chugging in front of the boss, people think this is DS3 where the bosses will just stand there and watch you heal, nope. There is a reason why there are so many delayed and slow attacks in between all those quick attacks and combos, its your room for healing/punishing a boss with a heavy attack and this is great, because unlike DS3 bosses ER bosses actually feel like they are fighting you, instead of letting you hit them after each dodge, its why people invest so much more time into mastering ER bosses, they are just a lot more satisfying and better designed. Also your difficulty complaint you breifly touched on, these games were never hard, neither is Elden Ring, they are all about knowledge and using that knowledge to get through a challenge(whether that is a gimmick or learning patterns), they have always been about patience and Elden Ring is no different. Fromsoft wants to challenge you and make you go through those challenges, because once you learn the boss and beat it, that feeling will be gone forever because now you've "gotten gud". Last thing i would want for fromsoft is to make another uninspired game like DS3 and just become stale, thankfully Elden Ring isn't that and it actually tries a lot of new stuff(for better or worse) and im glad it does because its going to be a remembered game for all the stuff it did good and all the stuff it failed at. I think that is what a masterpiece of game design is, something that stays with people and they keep talking about it. Dark Souls 3 and Sekiro for that matter are nothing like that, they are just good games and that is about it, they were forgotten faster than any other fromsoft game. I can get to other boss points you made but this comment is already too long, my browser is bugging out. Anyways that is pretty much it, you didn't really go into lore much(btw its amazing, esp all the NPCs and all the frenzied lore), but i doubt you did much research or put much effort. TL;DR: I Disagree

I am a big fan of Fromsoft and Soulslike and Soulsborne. I love the games, but man... i do share every single aspect of your essay. I simply do not have the time to learn 20 hours a boss to beat him. In the past, it was about learning the boss and beat him somehow. Now you must learn every pattern to survive. But the most frustrated mechanic is, that my character progression from the maingame is mostly useless.

Thank goodness. I thought I was the only person who felt this way about the DLC. I will say that i wouldn't call the bosses too hard cause some are great, but most are mid or poorly designed.

15:35 bro used Bayle as a complaint about the game. After seeing this. Hes rage baiting

i personally felt the opposite. I liked the DLC much more than the basegame. The bosses felt way less over the top/spectacle like ER and felt much morelike DS3 bosses for me. (Which was my #1 complaint). I also don't understand your negativity towards exploration. You talk about all these bad rewards yet you don't mention all the cool new weapons, including a bunch of new weapon types? I personally prefer Dark Souls worlds over Elden Ring's open world game, but i felt like SoTE hit a good sweet spot of both for me. Though i know that's subjective. With how negative you were i honestly am not sure if you even like Elden Ring. And i say this as someone who vastly prefers DS1 and 3 to Elden Ring.

Rellana: - Uses Full plate armor - Fights on a arena with a puddle of water - It also can rain because there is no ceilling - Uses a FIRE SWORD This guy - Uses a fire slashing sword against her. Truly it's the game's fault he is doing 0 damage

What weapon is he using, not the Godkiller greatsword, but the other one?

Hog rider is NOT meant to be fought on horseback imo. I figured him out in about 7-8 deaths & it became a very fun dance, with me smiling like, "Come on, hit me, fight back"

"Outside of Shadow Realm Blessings, a few new talismans, and if you decide to build-switch to a new weapon, all extrinsic rewards in the DLC are worthless." I'm sorry, but what else is there? What other extrinsic rewards are you expecting? The total list of options are, runes to level up or buy things (you already said you can't level anymore past your softcaps), talismans and other gear, of which I'm including armor pieces, spirit ashes, which you said you refuse to use, and weapons (almost 100 new ones added in the DLC with several occupying brand new categories). What other extrinsic categories are there? I guess there are craftable items and cookbooks, but you admitted you don't craft and you find cookbooks worthless and disappointing. I agree with your criticism of the emptiness of the southern and North Eastern map regions. I was disappointed with how sparse these regions were too. Belurat has bad enemy variety but Midras Manse has good variety? Belurat has 5 enemy types (6 if you include the invader). Manse has 4 (5 if you count the fat version of the skinny librarian enemy as a different variant). One of the Manse enemy variants is the dreaded "rat reskin" from the overworld. Both Belurat and Manse have the same vertical scaling design to mark progression through the dungeon with Belurat even adding two optional sewer and poison swamp portions that Manse has no form of. All this to say its perfectly fine and good to not like the DLC. It has strengths and weaknesses, no question. I just don't know if these opinions are based in anything more than your feeling towards isolated portions of the DLC's identity. To that point, I think your criticisms are perfectly fine to call this, "your least favorite Miyazaki DLC," but not objective enough to be called "The Worst Miyazaki DLC."

Im glad someone said that about the exploration. It feels like the worst areas of base Elden Ring mixed into one DLC. When Miyazaki said the dlc was the size of Limegrave, he really meant its got the content of Linegrave stretched amongst a bigger area

I also agree that the exploration could have been improved. Enemy variety was a bit lacking, The cookbooks could have been condensed, more scadu fragments could have been added so that they would be more like golden seeds and you could hit max without needing all of them. I also believe that 100+ new weapons is kind of disingenuous as most of the weapons are the same classification and have similar movesets to weapons we already had. Only 21 completely new weapons and only 17 if you want to count the perfume bottles as all the same. On top of that many AoW's, new weapons, and movesets just generally dont feel like they perform too well (i.e., not enough hyperarmor, or animations take too long, etc.) That being said the minor dungeons (forges/catacombs/etc) were probably better handcrafted than most if not all of the base game ones. The legacy dungeons were also more consistent in quality than the base game, due to the interconnected nature in multiple spots of belurat and enir elim theyre able to function as one and shadow keep stands very strongly as a level. All of the others are minor legacy dungeons though and happen to be stronger than all of the base game minor legacy dungeons. Ultimately only the large open world areas really needed a size reduction or content additions. Also, on the putrescent point, since when have optional bosses ever been about finding a reward, did i go out of my way to fight rykard so that i could get a reward? no. Did i fight placidusax or malenia for a reward? No. This applies to tons of bosses in this franchise, theres no reward for kalameet, midir, or laurence. Obviously if you didnt like the fight thats a different story but more often than not the optional boss is the reward itself.

My man didn't play ashes of ariandel. The only good thing about this dlc was sister friede fight and feet.

Bayles scream attack is designed to make you panic. If you get hit by the initial scream roll once and just walk in one direction, no need for panic rolling

Sekiro boss fights are peak because it's very easy to learn the boss fights. You knew exactly what mistakes you made the instant you screwed up. In Elden Ring, you don't know what the 'solution' is until you try dodging every different direction at different slight timings for each attack. It's painful to learn bosses through trial and error without a 'safe' way to observe and study the boss. In Sekiro, you study the moveset and timing through blocking instead of well-timed parries. In Elden Ring, there's too many variables to learn the moveset even when you summon/use a shield. It can be done but I'll always find Sekiro more enjoyable in the end.

Have you ever played the Nioh games? They show the posture bars much like Sekiro and just having that information really does make a world of difference to engagement and decision making.

> Doesn’t interact with half of the games mechanics > Many rewards are for mechanics that he ignores > Says those rewards are bad because he doesn’t interact with them Massive skill issue ngl

I saw the title and said to myself “imma hear him out before I say anything” and after hearing you out…bruh lol I can accept that maybe the dlc didn’t meet your expectations but to say that SoTE isn’t objectively good and worse than ds2 dlc is kinda wild Also I’m sorry but these bosses are not that bad…like yeah they are tough but I’ve played through the dlc 3 times with different types of melee only builds with no summons and I still can’t find this “bs” that everyone is talking about

This is what happens when you try to criticize a popular game. People downvote you to hell. This is why I don't waste my time in forums, chats, and conversations for popular games. The fanbases are always filled with "yes men" whose whole identity is based on the IP. There are IPs that I like, but I can point out and accept flaws in those IPs without issues.

Areas such as Cerulean Coast, Abyssal Woods, and the Finger Ruins appear underdeveloped, and the reuse of bosses such as the Golden Hippo feels repetitious and unimaginative. The final boss battle is likewise underwhelming, particularly the reuse of Radhan rather than a more fitting conclusion involving Miquella and Godwyn's mindless body. The release of new talismans and weaponry appears to be disappointing, with many of them just upgrading existing items rather than bringing new and interesting gameplay components. Comparing this to "Lies of P," an independent game that appears to succeed at designing distinctive and fascinating boss weapons, reveals a squandered opportunity for the larger firm. It raises issues regarding why a smaller game can evolve more effectively in some respects than a larger, more established studio like FromSoftware. Unless FromSoftware intends to include NPC towns and locations with extensive sidequests and narratives in their next game, they should stick to the classic linear architecture. Shadow of Erdtree : 8/10

Bayle wouldnt be so bad if i wasnt fighting the camera simultaneously

Would you rather do this dlc again or go through frigid outskirts?

I just heard “The mother of fingers is a difficult boss” oh hell no

The only thing I “dont like” is the new “leveling” system I love the normal leveling system much more I hate trying to gather all the different fragments

Dude's saying they should've put 10 cave in one location but he's bored from 1

Players with no item variety seeing new items; "These items are useless! I already have 80 levels in strength, I'm not going to level 15 faith for an armament that does less damage than this greathammer."

You did not just say trial and error is a flaw. 💀💀💀

21:44 couldn't have summed up the FromSoft fans any better

The only problem I have w the dlc is that a lot of areas feel too empty. The exploration, enemy design, boss fights, lore, and items are all 10/10 but a lot of times areas feel naked

you made some decent points but radahns grab is probably one of elden rings easiest attacks to dodge that’s just on you being terrible with that attack

I absolutely agree with you on this, you mentioned some things that I haven't thought about it. I find the game a bit boring too, especially exploration, like you said not enough rewards, and to me one of the complains is the map, the map is too chaotic, while the Elden Ring Map, it starts from the beach and slowly increases in elevation towards the mountain in a linear/open world way. Not the DLC, too much elevation and too much of a maze of how to get to certain areas. 23:50 I agree with you adding mobs in the middle of the fight with a boss. For god sake just NO. I beat all the bosses in this game except for that Dragon boss (Open World) that has soldiers trying to kill it. One of the most annoying unfun experience i had, to the point that i am no longer interested in killing it. Most bosses are somewhat fine, some are not that aggressive and are typical Elden Ring bosses but Commander Gaius is a piss of shit as well as the golden hippo and last boss 2nd phase. I also hate those fragments, to the point i just pulled up a guide telling me where to go for each 1 of them which basically kinda spoiled some areas, one of the worst decisions ever. They could have just used Runes, start again from level 1 in this place. Like a paragon system like Diablo. 27:20: The moon thing is easy to dodge so i disagree with that part, probably easy to learn that you can jump over it. I personally pulled a mimic on the last boss. No way i would have spend 10h to learn this piss of shit, i could go though to the second phase , but then i would just die, mainly on his meteor pull and slam and aoe attacks. On the other hand Elden Beast was just such a relaxing boss to fight for a final boss. When i finished this boss i was simply thankful it was done and that i wouldn't have to open this DLC ever. Story was boring to me too, personally i was on the Godwyn wagon, that he grew into that tree absorbing the Erdtree and we and miquella are supposed to kill/save godwyn somehow, but wasn't the case, still i don't even know what the story is behind that second Erdtree. Was that just a backup story for Godwyn ? Also the From Software community probably one of the worst communities I've seen so far. Asmongold received so much shit for changing his build to a shield build. This is like some sort of religious community only focusing on how you play and why you shit for playing this way.

I rarely comment on RU-vid videos, but this video captured my feelings exactly. The DLC felt very empty. I was hoping to find a new weapon to play through the DLC with, but was disappointed when my base game weapon was way better at killing enemies than all the RGB Twirly Whirly weapons from the DLC. Don't get me wrong there we're some parts that I really enjoyed and would still rate it rather high, but I felt lost for the entirety of the game. I felt like I was exploring, but not going anywhere or achieving anything. Your "Story is Stale" section is short, but summarizes it so well. One thing that got me more than anything, was the story in comparison with the base game. The base game had you making choices and they would have an effect on the rest of the game or NPCs. It felt like my actions had consequences I had a purpose in the world I was traveling through. The DLC on the other hand, made me feel like I was just a passenger along for the ride, maybe that was intentional with Miquella's charm or something. Having the player feel like they have no say. Why am I here? How can I affect anything in the world? Oh, Oops ALL the NPCs are dead. The game made it feel like we'll have a choice by the end, but truth is you can't change anything. I am left to imagine what the consequences would be if Miquella were left to succeed. The bosses just felt like things you would stumble across, and they had no significance in the world, at least most of them. The base game left me with a lot of unanswered questions, and none of them have been answered.

Top 3 dlc for sure, we got exactly what we want from a dlc, 50+++++++ hours of content, and the hardest bosses you can ask for

I love the bosses man, their design is so interesting and they're genuinely really really fun to fight, the music is also mostly great. I like being rewarded by a new weapon cuz i try everything out, it's sooo fun !

I'm glad that since the hype for ER has died down a bit, more people are now noticing how bad the open world is designed. Some people are still cultishly dismiss criticism, but ER and, by extension to a worse extent, SotE have huge problems in terms of game-design for an open world. It's honestly a deep discussion to get into, but let's look at the map fragments for example. ER got praised for not having "ubisoft" towers, but why are those towers a thing to begin with? Towers reach up high, so they are easy to spot from a distance. If you're trying to explore you're likely going to look for a high vantage point, which towers are. BotW also made each tower a unique challenge, which you then get rewarded for completing with map information. BotW also took this a bit further by not having the towers reveal Points of Interest, and then having the PoIs glow, so they were easy to spot by looking around from your high vantage point. To keep it simple I'll not go into how movement options play into this. What did ER replace this gameplay with? A map icon and a button press. and then the map has PoIs drawn in, which is litterally the same as having map icons. Why would this be a good idea? BotW improved the feature and ER just threw it out and got praised for some reason...

Gotta say I agree with pretty much everything in the video. I’m a casual player and play Elden Ring mainly to get immersed in the beautiful environments and learn about all the cool lore. I think your points about the exploration system were spot on. I wish you talked more about the two bosses I absolutely hated, Bayle and Radahn. They both have particle effects and magic spam so over the top it seems absolutely impossible to learn any of their dodge timings, they constantly run away, and their health bars are so massive I can’t even tell if I’m hitting them half the time because their health barley moves! I have to disagree with you on the abyssal woods however, hands down my favorite area to explore because of the fantastic atmosphere. Great video feeble!

Not worse than ashes of ariendel man even if you dislike it ashes had two bosses and one area

Ok Jesus 7k views to 1.4k comments- talk about engagement bait.

The reason bosses are so OP and give little healing time is because at the start of Elden Ring’s release, people complained that it felt too easy

A lot of the commenters here harp on singled out sentences that annoyed them (that they mostly misunderstood anyway) but fail to see the bigger picture in the way that the design of these games shifted from being challenging to serve the narrative to being hard because git gut meme. This dlc is literally ds2 all over again. More importantly, fromsoft games SHOULD be criticized. That's how you grow and thats how you improve. I love souls more than anything but being a genuine fan does not revolve around glazing the creators but instead caring enough to speak up when something goes wrong