It's pretty much the same as Kalameet from DS1, an optional boss that was there for completion mostly. Midir feels a little more integral than that though, because you unlock a covenant for killing him.
First time playing through the Ringed City, I fucking hated Midir and Gael, because they had so much health for no god damn reason. After spending some time observing their movesets a little bit, I started to like them more, especially Gael. But they all have so much god damn health. The Demons Boss fight can go on for so long, because you have to completely deplete 3 fairly large enemy health pools. I thought that part of the difficulty added in the Ringed City really sucked.
mike42192 Exactly, one of my gripes with the Ringed City is that bosses have way too much defense/HP (especially on high NG cycles). Still, I played both DLCs on NG+3 and I didn't have trouble with Midir nor Gael...but Friede? I hated her.
That's understandable, but the difference between the main game boss fights, like the Crystal Sage or the Abyss Watchers and Friede and Gael is ridiculous. But to be fair, the DLC for Dark Souls 1 was the same way.
Can we just take a sec and appreciate that Joseph took the time to play fashion souls, dress his character as Rocky, give him a Rocky training montage complete with punching meat and climbing stairs just for visual reference?
@@somedude653 Blueberry? The boss isn't bad in a vacuum. Honestly, Smelter Demon was one of the better bosses IMHO, so mechanically it's not too bad. The problem is that the run-up is probably the worst in the series what with getting sniped by greatbows from enemies completely out of reach of melee characters while the astrologers slow you down and you're rushed by groups of aggressive knights and wizard assassins for, what, 5 or 6 corridors? Then you cross the fog wall and are greeted by a palette swapped version of a main game boss in paid DLC. It's an incredibly BS moment in an otherwise solid DLC.
@@anagoth9 All of the side areas in the Three Crowns DLC were intended as multiplayer areas; IMO, the real issue was not that they existed, but rather that they looked like part of the regular levels, and that you could go through on your own. You can tell that they're all multiplayer levels because all of them give you NPCs to summon at the start of the level, and also all of them have the same gravestone-like structures that feature at the starting shrine area of each DLC level. AFAIK, the intention was that you could put down your summon sign at the beginning of the DLC and thus get summoned into those multiplayer areas even if you didn't have the DLC. I personally think they should have gone one step further and simply made those multiplayer area accessible from the starting zone and allowed even players who didn't have the DLC to access them. They could have served as decent teasers for the DLC that might have induced players who didn't buy them to purchase if they liked the multiplayer level. As a multiplayer level, the Smelter Demon path is actually pretty good, though you absolutely need multiplayer for it to be anything other that awful. In each area there's a path with a gate, a lever, and enemies that attack after you pull the lever. You're intended to have your allies go in front of the gate, then you pull the lever to let them through, and then beat the enemies. Then your allies can help ambush enemies from the upper path. It's actually a really good idea for a level, I just don't think it's well implemented. The other problem is that it only works in actual multiplayer since the NPC phantoms aren't smart enough to interact with the level as intended. Overall, as someone who doesn't much like multiplayer in the Souls games, I think the multiplayer areas are all a waste of development time that could have been put towards making more good levels. Nevertheless, a lot of people really liked DS2 multiplayer, and I don't think it was inherently a bad choice to cater part of each DLC towards them. I just don't like it personally, and it seems like most people never got the memo that those areas were intended for multiplayer, so they came across a lot worse than the developers intended.
Nothing really but its a nice little gift wrapped in a bow tie : You get to face the boss again without the butterflys in a new arena and you get its Armour.
Ora Saikatsu that’s called Dragonslayer set, Ornstein’s from DaS. The one they mean is the Dragonslayer’s IRON armor which belongs to the dragonslayer armor from base game DaS 3
You did miss the the point of the large headless monsters. At 14:30 when they're first introduced, the monster jumps down from the top of the stairs. It shows the player that there is a staircase you can run up to do a plunging attack. If the player does just that, a unique animation will play and you will do thousands of damage. Everywhere these monsters are located, there is a vertical component of the map. You are intended to lure the monsters to certain areas, so you can do a plunging attack for a one shot kill.
You don't really need to be good to beat all 6, you just need to have a little patience and implement what the series has taught you since the beginning: lure enemies away from the pack and kill them one by one. I honestly didn't even consider using a plunging attack until I had already gotten a rhythm for doing what I described above.
I think the player needed to be introduced to the monster by being given a change to do a drop attack to begin with before the monster aggros. Not the other way around.
Gael is meant to end out a playthrough. Gael leaves you the messages, and leaves scraps of his cloak near hard to find locations that are required to progress.Knowing Gael's lore greatly improves the fight.Gael is meant to be a friend, and dueling him is meant to give off a similar feeling to the Gherman fight.
No. The Ringed City is the final piece of Dark Souls content ever as confirmed by Miyazaki himself, or at least until someone wants to do something with it.
20:05 "cryptic npcs that tell you about the bosses you'll be fighting" their not talking about bosses silly, fear not the dark my friend, and let the feast begin.
That's not exactly why, with UGS class weapons you can just spam the R2 stabbing attack that will literally stagger ANY enemy it hits. Then keep charged R2ing until they die, and the stamina regen will actually break even.
I used Yhorms Great Machete so the Ronged Knights were easy for me. Just hit them and stunlock, or heavy attack and pancake them to the ground comically. The dual greatsword ones need heavy attacks though to interrupt their attacks.
6:31 FromSoftware said in an interview before Ringed city was released that they were figuring out where to put the DLC entrance for people who did not buy Ashes of Ariandel and they ended up placing it in the Kiln of the First flame. To me this seems to suggest that Ashes of Ariandel was meant to be done first since the beginning.
I completely disagree with you in the order thing, both the dlc order and the dragon. I am 100% sure painted world is suposed to go first, youre suposed to meet gael when he has not been consumed by his quest, you travel to the end of time to stop him and retroactively are able to save the painted world by gathering the blood. Similar to killing the soul of cinder/gwyn adn having the choice to relight the flame you get the choice to go back to the past and give the blood to the painter, it is a meaningless menu in terms of mechanics and doesnt really give you a big cutscene or anything but it is a meaningful choice your character can make, sort of like finishing the poem that is the lore. That said I agree with you that 2 DLC packs were not the plan from the start I believe both DLCS were 1 originally but they were still in this order, where you kill Friede way before Gael.
I think he was pulling hard there, trying to justify his own twisted logic, made him seem a more than a little conceited, which was something I've been picking out in his other videos.
@@niteowl2397 Gael is the one who starts the painted world? He is clearly the most important character in both the DLCs. Just because he isn't some flashy black flame engulfed twin scythe wielding badass doesn't make him any less important just because y'all edge lords say so. Gael has been there through it all and outlived gods. He symbolizes the history of the souls trilogy.
If you play The Ringed City before the Ashes of Ariandel, you see a world that's doomed to die, then you prevent another world from suffering the same fate. In this context, you're trying to prevent Ariandel from suffering the same fate of the Ringed City.
@@davidhong1934 In AoA don’t you bring upon the death of the painted world since after father ariandel resurrected Friede, he caused flame to spread throughout the entire painting, thus letting it burn away.
@Steven Murphy Strong disagree. I think shields in DS 1 and 2 are okay to use but less fun, still good that they are there for different playstyles. Shields in ds3 are useless though, I agree with that. Though I think that's not a good thing. NK is one of the only bosses that require you to not spam roll, true. Which is why it is always at the top of all "most difficult" lists. Because it actually does take some learning.
Ashes is definately meant to go first, at the end of it is where you're sort of given your mission to find out about Gael's quest for the dark soul. Then you go through it and give the painter the pigment. There's even a bonfire in friede's boss room that takes you to the dreg heap.
The good thing is, the devs thought about every way you can enter the DLCs: if you go to the Ashes after Usurpation of the Flame ending of the base game, Friede and her henchman call you "The Lord of Hollows", referencing your more complicated route; if you go to the Dreg Keep before Ashes, instead of seeing Gael in the Chapel, you only see the piece of the painting on the altar, as Joseph mentioned. Of course, the most obvious path is [any point of the main campaign from Lothric Castle on] -> Ashes -> Ringed City, but I wouldn't say any other path ruins the experience, it just feels different... and Uncle Gael might not appear to help you with Friede. :(
With the lore implications and the general difficulty, I think you're supposed to do Ashes first. Let's break it down. First off, all through the Dreg Heap, Gael is helping you. He left tatters of his cloak, and later he left messages for you. Because you were originally supposed to follow just his cloak, that means you HAVE to have known who Gael was before going into the dreg heap, if you want to have any idea what's going on. Furthermore, Gael helps you in the first boss fight, and also helps you against Friede. It fits his story more that he would want to see Friede killed first before hunting down the dark soul, as he needs his lady to be able to paint first, before he can even think about getting the pigment. While yes, Friede is a 3 phase boss fight with 3 health bars and radically different battles, Gael has enough health to be 3 health bars. And each phase is extremely different, and broken up exactly at 1/3 intervals on his health bar.
Friede is only ever harder because phase 2 is a gank and some people(Especially me) might have trouble with that. Gael is the harder duel boss and Midir is even harder than that.
I think, the idea of headless guys is that you don't necessarily kill them in staight fight, but try to plundge attack them, since it have unique animation and require only one hit to kill. In the Ring City itself I just ran to bridge and dropped on them whenever possible, found it more enjoyable, instead of fighting them head to head
It depends if you are going for a strength or a dex build, or quality build, or if you are on NG+ etc. With a high damage strength build you do, but with a dex weapon it usually a little bit of health left, just enough that you need an extra hit.
@@mooseot Riding it twice is faster than using the lever and then only riding it down - if you end up killing Midir, you have lost less than thirty extra seconds
@@Wuuff Nah it was a final farewell from the character that's been in every soulsborne game, and it's the only time when you get to be his genuine friend. Fuck Solaire and Siegward. Lapp is my main guy now.
There's a neat shortcut to kill the 1st angel in earthen peek, just head towards the hut on the cliff edge and drop around it to the right on to a branch. The Harald knights can be killed quickly with a plunge attack, they usually give you access to do that for each knight.
Gael is one of my favorite bosses in the soulsborne series because it feels fun dodging all his moves and he reminds me of orphan of kos (which is also one of my favorites).
Whilst I agree that different skill levels is an inherent issue for Halfllight, this is the reason that in order to unlock the covenant you must defeat Midir. In my opinion this is why Midir had such a large health pool. You must prove that you can consistently dodge attacks for a prolonged period of time before you can earn the right to become a dark souls boss. You have to show you have the mettle to take that role.
@just dont Boy why did you spam this everywhere? Having high resistance and having high HP are indistinguishable to the average Joe, they both mean that they take a lot of hits to kill. I'm a Midir apologist myself, but saying that they're not the same thing is... well it "just isn't true."
As much as i like the DS franchise, i really hope it actually is the end of the series(or at least a major break from it), we need something fresh from From Software, i also hope it will not end up as a Playstation exclusive :/
I feel like the idea of the Harald Knights in the street part of the Ringed City is to force you to look for the sidepaths that lead to items. At the end of the sidepath with the spear Ringed Knight and all those ambushing curse pygmies, you get a drop that circumvents all those Harald Knights and get straight into the swamp, but also an NPC Preacher who talks to you before you drop. The other sidepath leads to the Alva invader and Zullie's gear.
Both Swamps were the biggest disappointments. I thought Ringed City will be a vine, overgrown forgotten City/Castle you can explore. Sadly, only in the beginning that was the case. The Rest was swamp and a little Dungeon.
Ringed City was maybe the most original part of Dark Souls 3, and it literally had 2 swamps in it. This is confirmation that the series had a good run, it needs to be over now.
@@thomasmaddox8688 wow you really shitting on the 2nd best dlc from has ever done. also irythyll was a city you could explore why would they do the same thing again. opinions i guess but idk why ds3 gets soo much hate. its a fantastic game.
@@Oknahidwin "irythyll was a city you could explore" I wouldn't call running in a linear path to a bonfire and then running again to the boss exploring. Irythyll is one of the worst cases of wasted potential in this game. ever play dark souls 1? compare the first area in that game to irythyll. also are you kidding with this ? "why would they do the same thing again" yeah being able to explore a massive interconnected city is a good thing but why would fromsoft ever do that again lol
28:20 Midir does not have a "gigantic health bar". I see this parroted all the time when Midir is discussed and it just isn't true. On NG he has a total of 15,860HP, compared to Gael's 14,985HP. That's a difference of only 875HP. Not a big deal. The real issue here, and why so many people fervently believe that Midir is tanky as all hell, is that he has more immunities and resistances and he's so mobile. Most of his fight is about positioning, so you spend the majority of your time running around or waiting for him to do something, meaning you aren't dealing damage which means the fight takes longer that it would with any other boss simply by virtue of him having the zoomies.
Yeah, I had a really hard time doing an INT build and learning he resists almost everything that scales off of INT except for a mist spell that can hurt you.
So you are telling me that he doesnt have more HP to take down, but that the immunitys give him more hits to take him down making his HP longer than avarage HP? As in Longer HP than normal? The argument in no shape or form is wrong and putting your 200iq glasses on and snorting on your technicalities doesnt change that. But Midir is nothing short of a joke, Tanky HP no difficulity.
^NutcasE^ He is tanky but his HP is reasonable because he is a fucking gigantic dragon, or did you expect killing a dragon in just a few hits? And also the other problem is that most players fight him by hitting the legs and tail when actually the best way to fight him is hitting his head, which takes double the damage. He is a great boss and the best dragon boss of the series for sure.
Haven't watched it yet. Just wanted to say hi, and thanks for posting a new video so quickly after your previous one. Edit: Just watched it. Funny and insightful as always.
PugsnotDrugs000 When an arrow hits his charecter, the content creator edited in the word, "rekt." Pretty obvious representation of the classic Keyensian definition of humor as laid out in his 1875 book, nerd.
Ben Schaal Whenever the content creator's charecter got hit with an arrow, he edited the word, "rekt," into the video. I think that's funny, don't you?
yeah, i was scratching my head over this one too. Or he could have just killed them with throwing knives. Or is that not "allowed" as melee character. :D Don't know, maybe some people don't enjoy coming prepared to most situations they assume to have to face or so..
Lam Shabalondas To my knowledge there is no clump for curses but there is the cursebite ring which reduces curse buildup. Even as a melee character I never had that issue thanks to the ring. As for the keep swamp I just strolled through and dealt with the poison. It isn't too bad if you don't get whopped by the enemies and a few items in the swamp help reduce the buildup as well. (that mask and a few clumps)
Curse doesn't have a clump, it has purging stones which can unfortunately only be used when hollow. Even when you are hollow, you can only use one per death though. Kind of a design flaw in my opinion.
@@TarvynSero He says he doesn't like using consumables, but yeah, that point is really weak. It's like me complaining that my cupboard is way too small because I refuse to open the doors and just put everything on top of it.
I actually love the Gael fight as an ending. It feels really climactic and desperate, the fight itself is one of the most challenging in the game and it literally happens at the end of the world as you fight over the blood for which the series is named. While I think you could definitely see Friede as a harder fight, it would feel weird from a lore perspective and wouldn't be as fitting an end to the series. Also, you can enter the door while the elevator is going down and I like the runback to midir bc there aren't any enemies to deplete your much-needed estus
4 years later: I have played DS1 and DS3 (in that order) and for me Dark Eater Midir somehow overshadowed all other bosses with the awe i felt and an epic knight on dragon feeling. If classic fantasy video games could be boiled down to one bossfight, it would be this.
i actually loved getting through ringed city and realising a huge amount of what you can see from all areas is another area. that realisation that the church of the spear catherdral was always in the skyline, some parts where you can see virtually all the areas.... imo it was one of the better level designs in all of ds3, even better than spending some time looking around in anor londo and seeing all of ithiryl laid out below you. hey i'd always want more streets to explore but i think From nailed the background look combined with areas you actually go to in this one. great review as always, after a couple of hard months im looking forward to sending you some patreon cash as i think i've seen every single video of yours now! don't worry about being too negative - the discussion of flaws is often the really interesting part of critique. thanks for all your videos so far and looking forward to whatever you upload next
When I fought Gael I figured out my weapon staggered on the 3rd hit every time, so I used that knowledge to cancel the 5 hit rapid thing in the first half, and to help in the second half. I’m not sure if this was intentional. Did anybody else use the stagger thing.
About the cursing enemies. The game encourages you to use bombs and other consumables throughout the game so they are not that bad. Could have been done better though.
Kaiser Willy Exactly! Is this guy dumb or does he just refuse to adapt to the situation. I thought it was pretty obvious that consumables were meant to be used and, considering that they scale with your stats, they're the most viable they've ever been in Souls.
I know what are you saying but I like that Dark Souls is in rest. They ended on high note and Sekiro is least souls game of all Souls likes. Dark Souls has done it's job.
@@goldenhorse4823 I wasnt giving any opinion about souls game, I was just making a joke. But I would love to have more dark souls game like dark souls 1 or 3. But I would rather if games are not rushed like dark souls 3 was
I managed to get the Dark Souls3 season pass for $20 due to a PSN coupon so I played the two DLCs back to back. $20 for the whole thing or $10 for each DLC felt fair to me. Ashes didn't feel low on content to me since I was able to play Ringed City right after. Though I do think $15 for it individually is a rip off. Especially if then you had to wait months for TRC
I just wrote a 1,074 character comment and then realized it was all an irrelevant complaint about this game. Gotta throw that shit in the garbage bin because all I want you to know, Joseph, is that your content is always great. You're very insightful and I appreciate your views even if they're different from mine. I love watching your videos about games I'll never even play because you divide a very clear line for me in knowing when a game is "good" and when I had a "good experience" and I want to thank you for being such a positive influence on people like me. Great moves. Keep it up!
These videos are honestly something so speical, and there's no other video that i see posted like yours that gets me as excited to watch some new content. Thanks for the amazing video as always, and I absolutely loved the little "rekt" that you included when you got shot by the exploding arrow. Keep up the great work Joe.
For Midir you don't have to ride the elevator down and then up again. Roll through the door while the elevators going down. You're mad about a 30 second run? There's way longer runs to a fog wall in the series.
His biggest complaint is that there's no enemies ahead, and he is forced to wait for all of this. Other areas might have a longer run to the fog wall, but at least there are enemies there to compensate for the wasted time (new londo for example).
basicallyimblind _ some people do, and even if you do not, the enemies presence still challenges you to run a good path or time dodges, so you don't get caught. Run ups without enemies are just boring and needless
I agree with a lot of the video, though I don't feel like Ariandel was supposed to come after The Ringed City. From a lore standpoint I think Gael really feels like the end of the series, since you're pretty much some of the very last people left, fighting on the ashes of the world. Can't get much more final than that.
I loved the bits of lore revealed in this dlc. It finally expands on the Pigmys, if humans are evil just by nature and the relationship between humans and Gwyn (Darksign). I also liked that Gael serves as a counterpart to Gwyn. Lore wise, this ending provides closure to the story, with humans finally being able to live in peace because of the painting.
Joseph keep on making awesome, insightful, and interesting reviews and analysis. Ive seen all of your videos at least once, so I need more. Keep up the good work.
You have a weird infatuation with fighting multiple enemies in this series. And about the last part... dude, Anor Londo was the exact same deal. Multiple buildings and streets you never got to explore as they were just set dressing to make the place appear like a big sprawling city. Games do that a lot. It was pretty clear that the Ringed City was meant to immitate the good ol' Anor Londo level in the original Dark Souls (and more) and one of the ways it did was by putting a massive part of the city out of reach to make it appear large. Oolacile was the same. Undead burg was the same. Hell, Lost Izalith was the same too. It's a classic Dark Souls level, with all the good and the bad (overwhelmingly more good though). The Ringed City was just long enough. I don't know how much I would've liked it if I had an extra helping of the same tileset. And did you seriously miss the fact that you could 1shot the fat bastards with plunging attacks? That's one of the most beautiful things about the streets level of Ringed City, giving you so many opportunities to do that is going back to the staple Dark Souls design philosophy of levels as puzzles more than successive fights. I missed that about the game, and absolutely loved that they came back to it here.
In his defense he makes a similar criticism of Anor Londo in his DaS 1 critique videos (part 3 I think?). He says Anor Londo was a huge waste of potential, in that not a lot of Anor Londo is used interestingly or can be really explored.
It doesn’t matter if Anor Londo was the same as the Ringed City or any other Soulsborne level. Saying the Ringed City is wasted potential and that there’s not much to explore (what is shown versus what is actually there) is valid criticism.
you DO go thru a lot of Anor Londo tho. I think most people forget, because they bonfire thru to the hub, but there's a bit winding path to get from where the demons drop you before you get to the hub, with giant sentinels to fight the whole way
The only souls game that does a city justice would have to be Bloodborne, Every time I see a beautiful city like that in a game and you only get to explore like two streets and a house I get sad. Irithyll was pretty good in DS3 and Lothric at least a lil bit better than Ringed city. Don't know too much about Anor Londo on DS1 though...
I think I miss the point of your reviews. I do enjoy them, but more than half the time is spent just describing the things you do in the game (how the levels are designed and enemies etc.), and its like your opinions are just thrown in to the mix every once and a while. I don't really need an explanation for whats in the game, I've already played it. I want to hear your opinions, because there are long chunks where you just describe the game instead of giving insight about it. Its weird, because at the start of your videos, you mention "don't watch if you haven't played" and then describe everything for the people who HAVE already played. Like, I already know how the boss fights work, and what the levels look like. I just want to know some insight you might have for us.
I know this is old, but here are my thoughts. First, he knows that not everyone who watches has played. He gives a spoiler warning for those who might care, but I know I have watched plenty of his videos for games I haven't played, (and have also stopped a few a couple of minutes in because what came before the spoiler warning was convincing enough that I wanted to experience it myself.) and I'm sure I'm not alone in that. The walk through style is helpful for those viewers. Second, and I think probably the biggest reason, Joseph I think cares a lot about supporting his arguments with facts, and to get that, he needs to provide the raw source material to show he isn't just talking out of his ass. The best and easiest way to do is to be showing concrete examples of what you are talking about. Third, it is probably a helpful way to structure his thoughts in a more general sense, and making sure he doesn't miss saying something that he wants to make note of.
Boyd Monson said it perfectly. He dosent really care for the length of the video, so that’s not a problem. Jordan is very specific in what he talks about and brings up and is a lot less general when he is talking about a mechanic etc. He dosent say “I don’t like BLANK: here is my reason.” He says “I don’t like in this area, where when this enemy attacks, BLANK happens.” If he did not give large context in these huge reviews and critiques where he picks apart every element of the said DLC or game, it would feel like he is rambling and is spurting out random things he did not care for
29:00 in all fairness, you don't have to ride the lift down and then back up again every time. just run face first into the wall with the hole in it while going down :P
This confirms that you dislike runbacks to bosses that offer no difficulty, so I'm curious why you didn't bring them up in your Dark Souls 1 critique. Towards the beginning of DS1 there are hilariously bad runbacks, including the one to the Taurus Demon and the one to the Bell Gargoyles. They have enemies in those runbacks, but after a few rounds you will have memorized a very consistent path through them all, and it becomes brainless. This is one of Dark Souls 1's biggest weaknesses for me, and I just find it strange that it doesn't get brought up when people praise the first half of the game. It's a major, major hindrance on that first half.
He does bring up in his later Dark Souls critique videos. On OnS Atorias etc. I don't know why he doesn't mention it from the early bosses. However I'd argue Dark Souls 3 should be held more accountable as it had an additional 2 games to improve on. Ds1 had one game and no one really played Demon Souls as their first souls game. So really Ds1 had half a game to improve on.
@Light You won't, if you're a souls veteran. But if that is your first exposure to Souls? Hell yeah you're gonna die, and that increases the chance of people dropping the game.
@Light You absolutely will if you don't know about the crazy i-frames you get from rolling, which new players don't. And the Bell Gargoyles are a major road block for many people. They are one of the most difficult bosses to do a no-hit naked Melee run on because they don't have a pattern you can memorize like with Midir. Go try beating them without magic, summons, or overpowered weapons/armor. Use light armor and a normal sword.
I don’t agree; because the point IS to learn that perfect path to preserve as much healing as possible for the boss. Saying that “it became too easy because I learnt a perfect path” is a bit backwards; your goal is to beat everything including the boss as one big challenge in the limited Estus you have, so developing mastery over the level before the boss is what makes it fun.
Gael and Midir are the only bosses in the game that I can fight again and again for hours without getting bored. Especially Gael, his soundtrack is the best in the series in my opinion.
Books and games? Woah, this is true passion! Did he mention what books will read? Main saga or also "side stories" like Sword of Destiny or The Last Wish?
Buckle up! If he´s planning to replay Witcher 3 in order to get a full view on the game, he wont release a video for another yea, where he will eventually come out with 3 parts, each consisting of 2h xD
You've got some really great stuff, especially you're Fallout video and look forward to see more but there's one thing I think you're wrong about, Ashes is intended to be played first, not TRC. Gael is meant to be interacted with before you start TRC though of course I can't say that for a fact(Story-wise there's really not alot of things that can be stated as a fact other than it's foundation but even that can be twisted to a certain extent) but it really seems like they intended for you to meet Gael, learn of his mission, follow in his footsteps - that way when he fails, like he already expected to, you can finish what he started.
Joseph Anderson, keep up the amazing work you do. I've never enjoyed videos as long as yours. Your Uncharted/LoU video took 3:20h and it felt like a normal length video. Cheers!
Gael Fight for me was absolutely awesome. It does to me, exactly what you talked about in your "Little Nightmares" Review, when a game just clicks with you and you feel it? That fight did a similar thing for me right from the start, and I love it everytime I play it, its just a shame that you have to go through the whole game to play it once :(
Glad you decided to dig into the DLC's for this game even though you had no real obligation to do so and could have spent this time on other things. I value your opinion and have since day 1 when I suggested you work on your delivery, and oh my god how things have improved dude, you truly found your voice! Proud of ya.
Firstly I wanna say thanks for making these videos, they're great to watch and what inspired me to pick up these games in the first place. Regarding your final point... I had a similar feeling at the end, but not because we got to see so little of the Ringed City (though I initially thought they'd allow for more exploration as well when I first saw the vista). I was disappointed because in my opinion, they failed to deliver on the whole, "end of the world" bit where you fight Gael. When the egg crumbles and you're met with the decayed, sandy world, I immediately went, "Oh wow, I see why everyone liked this DLC more, they're gonna have you play backwards through the city in this decayed wasteland!" and then I stepped out, fought Gael, and it was over. I think personally that would've been a nice way of extending your exploration of parts of the city without overextending far beyond what would normally be included in DLC. Also yeah, Spear of the Church is bad; I didn't realize until seeing your video that the fight was PVP at all, I just thought that fight had weirdly spotty hit-detection and never really questioned it further.
I have just finished this DLC finally (I was experiencing souls fatigue and hadn't played in quite some time, but I wanted to play it on NG rather than on NG+ cycles with existing characters). I thought it was ok - stellar bosses but lord did I hate some of the areas. My build was light; I was using the sellsword twinblades my class had started with and a small leather shield for parrying; and I massively struggled with the enemies. Any fight against multiple ring knights meant death pretty much, since unlike in your video footage I could never spam them to stagger but I would always get staggered when my character was so much as tickled - despite wearing medium armor. For me it all comes back to FROM's decision to remove poise. I had taken up a large chunk of my carry weight wearing decent armor that didn't protect me from anything. Fighting multiples here never felt fun because of this. I would get stunlocked by the ganks of murkmen (one tiny area had 3 summoners, a miracle casting knight and what felt like a hundred of these guys and I had to hide in a corridor and bait the knight to do it after dying several times). The angels were fine IMO - I'm a completionist so I found all their effigies to kill, and I liked that these didn't respawn so I could loot the area afterwards. I didn't mind the swamp but I didn't like that it was much easier and more efficient to just run through and collect rather than take the time to kill everything, as every nick of damage I took seemed to drop a full estus charge worth of health even from the weaker enemies - again despite 40 vigor, ring of favor (+3 even when I found it), and medium armor. And the game relishes in throwing 4-5 enemies at you at once. Without a heavy, staggering weapon with sweeping attacks this regularly felt like bullshit. Demon prince was ok and I killed him on my first attempt. First phase was great - they did exactly what you said, one would melee attack while the other telegraphed ranged attacks and it felt fair. However I burned a lot of estus on phase 2 because unlike your experience, my prince spammed the chaos orb meteor shower shite over and over and it became hard to get opportunities to attack without taking massive damage. Midir was a little frustrating because my puny swords couldn't reach his head a lot of the time. I died probably 8-10 times learning the first phase, a couple more thanks to crazy lazor in the 2nd, and then got the kill which was immensely satisfying. I didn't lock on at all after seeing that the camera was going to be bad and it wasn't an issue. I did not bother going for body hits because of the pathetic damage my swords did and his enourmous health bar, but it felt ok given that he is a massive dragon. 1 shot kills with the laser on my huge health pool felt a little bullshit though. I actually fought him first; FROM has conditioned me to look for jumpoff points on elevators and there was a message in front of the illusionary wall. I feel like the run to his boss room helped me though - sometimes a bit of a break is good to cool off after the adrenaline and stress of a long attempt that failed. The fucking half light whatever pvp bullshit was the worst. I didn't realise what it was or I would have done it offline. Australian internet does not go well with PVP in this game, and though I did it on the first try, I spent the entire fight dodging the painting guardian knives and homing soulmass while the invader R1 spammed over and over. He wasn't a very good player, which is the only reason I won, because his swings would connect with me from across the room. Lag is why I don't engage in any of the online content; it is not fun on any level. I managed to pull off a surprise parry on him which he wasn't expecting but I had to hit parry before he'd even swung (I just guessed he would since he was sprint attacking over and over again). Just got the kill with no estus left. Never again. Gael on the other hand was fantastic, a tough callback that I likened, like you, to Artorias and Orphan of Kos. Fantastic fight, took me a few attempts but nothing too crazy to get frustrated (unlike Blackflame Friede who kicked my ass every time I made it to her). I'm glad they didn't give him never ending combos like her. He felt fair and it was a good fight. Sorry for the long post but I wanted to share my experience. I don't mind fights with multiples necessarily and I have never complained about DS2 or manually aiming the camera to crowd control. But dealing this much damage per hit is unmanageable with smaller weapons and often feels extremely unfair. I don't think players should have to change their loadout for a certain area. To me, Souls games have always been about finding a weapon you like then making it work. My twinblades often felt excessive against some bosses that I could just wail on, but then whenever I was fighting anything with a shield (lothric knights, cathedral knights, ringed knights) I couldn't do anything. I had to practice parrying against lothric knights and the black knight with the ultra greatsword for a couple of hours to parry so I had any tool to use at all. Even worse if there were more than one of them. No kick, no stagger, no poise of my own. Not fun. I'm glad to have done it to say that I've completed all the soulsborne content but I don't think I want to do it again; the levels are tedious and frustrating. I will gladly play a bossrush mode if it's ever introduced though (I know there's a mod for PC but I have PS4 and I'm not buying this game again).
@@whatisbestinlife8112 but that doesn't make much sense, since either way you'd still have to sit through the elevator moving 1 1/2 times. If you did it like Joe did for "convenience", you'd press on the elevator, go down, then activate it again and wait for half the elevator for the entrance, to get it to the top floor for "convenience" later. If you do it the other way, you'd just pull the lever and wait for it to surface, ride the elevator for the entrance, you're still riding the elevator for 1 1/2 times. It's dumb oversights like this that really make me question Joes ability as a game critic.
@@Red-nl4lk lol. You're an ignorant jackass. Even if he did it your way it would save him literally no time but it feels better, personally I hate waiting for the elevator, so having the elevator waiting for you, even if it's not actually faster, feels much better. But you're right, it would be the same, so what is your point? And where's the oversight?
Around 22 min you start talking about what was my major criticism throughout DS3. Basically, a large portion of the game is just about pressing R1/RB at the correct time, and then mashing it until the big nasty is dead. I still really enjoyed DS3, but miss the desperate give and take battles that were all over the place in BB and DS1. Glad to see someone bring it up, and I thoroughly enjoy all of your critiques. Keep up the great work!
All the souls games no matter what you do, you will be using the r1 button a lot. The R2 is just too useless for PVE to really matter. (mainly due to the slow speed and lack of any real returns)
Ik this video is old, but the criticism that Midir doesn't make it obvious enough that you should attack his head doesn't make any sense to me. It's his only lock on point & you can figure out just by hitting his head once then hitting his leg once that it does way more damage. How else do you want this communicated? The game obviously isn't going to give a death screen tip that just says "dragons are weak to blows to the head." I really don't know how else they can communicate it through gameplay more than they already did
I was a little surprised there was no mention of the Miniboss Dragonslayer Armour, but I'm looking forward to a new year's worth of Joseph Anderson reviews
Jake Islavić it is not that bs compared to having to do that inure run filled with enemies that hit you and In some places can kill you. Nothing is worse than frigid outskirts where the run is outright harder than the boss. A straight path to midir is generous compared to some runs
Definetely agree with the last part. always feels like a big fuck you when game devs put you in a "massive world" without actually being able to go anywhere.
I don't get people trying to attack Midir's legs, you are supposed to be on his head and locking the camera to there ( not the in-game lock-on), then you will have no camera problems. And don't roll forward when he tries to slash/smash you with his claws, roll backwards because he will expose his head for you to get some free hits.
I think that your recommendation for the ringed city to have been the direction the base game went with would have been pretty cool, especially from a lore stand point. Let's say that you play as a forlorn soul from the painting, one that has just hollowed and forgotten their past. Outside, Lothric has refused to link the fire, and waits in his bed chamber for the fire to fade. Your job is help the painter paint a new world, an eternal world painted from the dark soul of man, where humanity can flee the age of dark. Gael has already ventured out in search of it, but never returned. He left clues for you, already knowing that by the time he makes the dark soul of man whole again, it will have dried up, and will need his blood. You venture out of the painting to find yourself in the dreg heap, with all the civilisations that have ever existed grinding to dust around you. That can be the tutorial, just like the Asylum. Then, you reach the ringed city, the first city of man, walled off from the world by Gwyn, left to exist for as long as Fillianore's slumber lasts. There, some wacky shenanigans occur, maybe even involving you venturing back into the painting and dealing with father Ariandel and Freide, along with perhaps Sulyvahn, until you find yourself face to face with Fillianore herself back in the ringed city. From there you have two choices, either leave her to her slumber, and embrace the rot, or awaken her, much to the dismay of Midir and Shira. If you chose to awaken her, then you get sent forward in time. The protection that Fillianore's slumber gave has worn off and the ringed city has joined every other civilisation in grinding to dust. The world is nearly complete ash, and Gael is waiting, along with Shira and Midir (or maybe they could be fought earlier idk). You fight Gael, find the pigment, then go back in time somehow (eh?) to when the Fillianore had just awoken, and travel back to the painting, give the pigment to Aria, burn the old painting step into the new, eternal painting painted from the dark soul of man.
I Just have to say. I Really love yor content and reviews. You are in my eyes very professional. And you are the first person i really am hoping to se in my sub box when ever i open youtube.
