When amazing collides with cheap - SHADOW OF THE ERDTREE DLC Minimal Spoiler Review 

One mistake in the review. New perfect block tear helps with every style, not just the shield. Forgot to mention that. Doesn't change the sentiment as it narrows viable tears but my mistake for overlooking it.

Awesome review, appreciate the balanced approach and the willingness to share a firm opinion that doesn't follow the general trends to a T. I don't exactly agree with some of the points raised, but this doesn't make the review less valid. Overall glad you enjoyed the DLC enough to give it an 8, that is already an above-solid result imo.

I disagree with summons being a bad idea. I think they provide a more organic way to adjust the difficultly level of the game. Its a way more interesting option than just having a difficultly setting like most other games. If you want the hardcore high difficulty challenge then dont use them and 'get gud' but if you need a bit of help then they are there as an option. The beauty of these games and a huge part of why they are so popular is because of the variety of ways you can play.

Before I watch this I want to thank you for calming down and coming around 😂

What's so good about the openworld in which we must stare to a running horse-goat for many hours just to find something to play with? Vast empty distances is the real thing that drags this game down. Much more than boss design.

Fairly reviewed. Well done on completing the DLC , you tarnished bastard. 🎉

What's so good with vast empty spaces which you need to ride horse-goat for minutes just to find something interesting...

i loved bosses in this dlc with exception of last one. and yes, i was using a shield. either great or medium. souls games always easier with a shield when playing blind. do not see it as a problem. i was still mostly dodging through attacks. if i dodge to late i block and i also blocked big flashy explosions. also if you are not using op greatshields you still need to do stamina management. it was fun.

Great review! I enjoyed listening to it and you did a great job! I knew you were gonna rate it 8/10 I had it predicted haha!

I respect your take, but disagree that summons are a mistake. The lore you get from collecting them is one of my favorite storytelling and world building mechanics. The VO for a certain dragon hunter is awesome and I appreciated his implementation. And I genuinely enjoy choosing different summons for different jobs the same way in which I swap out weapons, talismans and spells. Elden Ring is designed to use every tool in the toolbox, and the DLC reinforces this. You can decide not to use magic, summons, etc but you are essentially playing a self-imposed challenge run at that point. Which is fine! Go for it! But to then complain that the game isn’t tailored for that very narrow play style seems short sighted to me. Personally I think Miyazaki saw all of the disdain that “hardcore” players have regarding magic, summons and exploration and then designed the DLC specifically to put those players to the test. Same thing for shields. I disagree that they’re too strong. Without investment in endurance, vigor and damage mitigation/block boosting talismans, defensive/blocking flask, buff spells, etc, your shield isn’t going to be effective. If you want to run a dodge build, then why not use summons as a distraction to provide breathing room and openings? If you choose not to, that’s fine, but we’re back to it effectively being a challenge run. Currently I’m running 3 defensive talismans and a single offensive talisman on every build, not just shields, at least until I get enough skibbity fragments to offset the damage reduction. And I will unapologetically use summons or any advantage I can get to defeat the DLC. To me, it’s been incredibly fun! I think the difficulty is fine considering that you have to beat two hard base game bosses to even gain entry. Fragments are brilliant because they reward you for exploring instead of just boss rushing. And now, instead of pages of individual patch notes they can just make a quick adjustment to the scaling of fragments. Unless you’re speed running or refuse to engage with the mechanic, it seems like smart design. I’m not going to say anyone’s opinion is wrong. Reviews are subjective. But I’d be cautious about saying aspects of the design are objectively bad when they may be working 100% as intended.

Agree completely with your negative points I felt the game forces you to play a cheapskate style for example when I got to fire giant was extremely hard with melee build spent two hours trying to kill him then changed to basic magic build and killed him first try I stopped playing after that because it took the enjoyment out of the game for me

8/10? @rpgdivision you are very generous. I wonder if your critical eye has softened. It's a shame that the gameplay and boss mechanics have undermined the excellent work of the artists and modelers. Overall, I'd give it a solid 6.5/10 because games are supposed to be fun. 7.5 for the fanboys. In general, the soulsborne meta is tired now and FromSoft has not innovated on their mechanics.

Great review but i disagree with the score. The staple of these games are the bossfights and when you feel "thank god it's finally over" after every encounter (which i agree) then nor the lore neither the look of the open world can save the DLC. 6-7/10

👊

I still hate the open world design. Too much nothing sprinkled with few items of importance, which means you have to explore every nook and cranny. 99% of the time you may only count on getting some crafting materials. The problem is that this 1% that's left is usually very important, so you can't just skip this tedium. Messmer was the only boss I enjoyed, but I enjoyed it enough to get rid of all my OP gear and break out my 25+ longsword and fight him legit with no spells, items or arts. All other bosses were not fun, so I cheesed every last one of them for cheap wins. I liked the characters and their stories though. I don't like ER and this DLC has not changed my mind.

I give it a 2/10 same boring copy-pasted shit as the base game.