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ELDEN RING: Shadow Of The Erdtree |OT| ⋆☽ Delve Into The Land Of Shadowy Embrace ✰ The Age Of Stars Is Almost Upon Us! ☾⋆
- Thread starter Agent_4Seven
- Start date
- |OT|
SonicVolcano
Member
Do you even like ER? I see nothing but spiteful comments coming from you
The Cockatrice
Member
I liked it enough to do all its achievements and play it 3 times, but the DLC, no, I didnt like anything about it. Base game was like a 7.5 out of 10 for me, but the DLC? a 5. It soured my mood so much that I dont think Ill ever touch the game ever again.
SonicVolcano
Member
Fair enough.
Meanwhile, I am wondering if Shadow will really be the only DLC for this game. I really hope From will surprise us one way or another.
I hope they are working on some next project. The DLC felt like it was done by some B team TBH, it doesn't reach the quality of the base game. It's just shallow in many areas:
- many empty spaces
- too many recipes as loot
- many legendary items ends up being crafting materials
- NPC questlines mostly forgetable and not engaging
- many bosses didn't get proper animations/introductions
- dissapointing finale and the outro we got
At least the world design and the vistas were great. Still it's very good souls game, but a step down after base.
Fake
Gold Member
I do agree about this DLC wasn't made by the same team behind the base game. It is extremely apparent. We just need to the honeymoon phase is over for people being more critical about the DLC state.
Again, coming from someone who gave 10/10 for the base game, even with flaws.
Again, coming from someone who gave 10/10 for the base game, even with flaws.
R6Rider
Gold Member
Even the intro to the DLC location was bad.
You teleport and are plopped right in and your character is just standing there. Very odd choice.
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Arsic
Loves his juicy stink trail scent
While I enjoy the dlc I too wouldn’t say it’s above a 8.5/10. The base game is definitely a 9.5.
There are things here that I feel elevates the formula here like a more condensed map with layers over the long sprawling nature of the base map.
I think a boss like Bayle is a top experience here thanks to Igons dialogue.
The visuals are nice, the dlc npcs, and some of the best music in the game is in the dlc.
If the final boss was better from a gameplay perspective, and better rewards when exploring, they would’ve nailed it.
Antwix
Member
I was expecting you to touch the arm and a magical coffin appears out of nowhere and you float majestically off into the distance. From seems to like magical coffins.
mansoor1980
Member
the music during the divine beast dancing lion boss fight is epic , best track out of dlc/base game i reckon
SonicVolcano
Member
You should check out Midra's OST. That is some epic shit.
mansoor1980
Member
yea thats great as well , game aint lacking epic music at all
Soodanim
Member
I haven't heard this theory yet. Isn't it heavily implied that Melina is Messmer's brother ?
The Cockatrice
Member
Malenia and Miquella are bro/sis to Messmer. Its a stupid lore and Im surprised the far right and a lot of gaffers here dont hate the game considering it has extremely heavy transgender influences: Marika being both a man and a woman, Miquella voice/body, of a woman but its a male and so many more.
Yeah I had a bad feeling off the get go because of how unceramonious it was.
Dude they gave a coffin cutscene over an hand cutscene in the dlc lol
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Soodanim
Member
There would likely be a couple different reasons behind any individual's reasoning, but to focus on the lore itself it has a frequently repeating theme of twos. Whether that's pairs of twins or two entities that share a soul or body the game goes about it in various ways, one of which is a man/woman split.
I suppose from the player perspective it's hardly a front and centre thing that can be perceived as existing to appease a certain crowd, which is why that sort of thing is seen as forced.
You could also say that the lack of elaboration affords the game some leeway. It's not like someone came out and said some nonsense like "Marika's suppressed transgender identity manifested itself in the form of Radagon", and I don't think anyone actually thinks that. Radagon just appeared and we piece together what we can which is that Radagon is Marika but also not which is why they're able to fuck but only make cursed babies because they're the same person on some level but haven't merged yet (until they merged).
Miquella is even more obscure, and the DLC isn't particularly illuminating when it comes to his androgynous self other than him discarding St Trina which is some sort of deformed blossoming sleep creature.
The whole game is just a mad mix of multiple personalities manifested, and who knows what GRRM was smoking.
Little Chicken
Member
Gaius down after... three tries. Greatshield Soldier Ashes+staff of loss+night comet 
What I take from it is Radagon was created the moment Marika became a god, Radagon was born of the traits she wanted to be discarded like her mortality, any masculinity and red hair. I think it was a similar process to how Miquella stripped himself of his entire flesh except instead of discarding pieces of herself she just had them enveloped into a whole person. In the conversation that Melina talks about Marika and Radagon discussing "you have yet to become me" in the bedchamber of lyndell I think that at some point they became one person again for some reason which is why we see what happens in the final boss area, I dont know why they became one again though.
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The Cockatrice
Member
Theres a lot you can take from it if you dive deep into it, besides the androginy/trasngender aspects, it's also a disturbed incest type of story because kids born out of incest become ugly, hence Mohg and the others who were forced to live underground, but yeah, I didnt like it and I got quite invested in its lore.
I mean incest isnt good and it obviously takes from GRRM's other stuff and from old medieval king/queen stuff. It's an interesting twist though that the empyreans all come from the Godcest minus Ranni. Also Mohg isnt from incest, he just got screwed over by the Omen curse (or blessing according to the hornsent).
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Soodanim
Member
I know you're soured on it, but I think the DLC does add a quite interesting dimension to the story as a whole by making the horned ones a self-righteous "chosen" people that slaughtered her village with their torturous sacrificing ways. It adds motive behind the hate for the horned (for better or worse, depending on what you think it does for Marika.
BTW Mohg and Morgott are Godfrey's kids, so their "curse" isn't from semi-asexual god reproduction.
Speaking of incest, personally I don't quite buy the idea that Miquella wants to fuck Radahn. I get the impression that it's more of a boss & enforcer type situation. I was right about that with Mohg too, he wasn't trying to fuck despite what everyone said about the "Mohglester" for so long. It was about the goal he wanted to achieve, we just didn't know what that goal was until the DLC. And now we do, Miquella isn't trying to make incest god babies or he'd have chosen Malenia and fixed her Scarlet Rot through his ascention instead.
I know I'm saying this about a GRRM story, and that feels like pissing in the wind uphill.
Fake
Gold Member
Me both. Radahn totally destroyed the DLC for me.
Bartski
Gold Member
LMAO yeah I was kinda waiting for someone to point it out, somehow this plot isn't woke at all among local woke-snipers despite the whole thing being about Miquella, an androgyne voiced by Naomi McDonald, arranging his ascension to godhood via incest with his resurrected brother, using Mogh's corpse whom he seduced into gay romance. Don't get me started with Marika and Radagon
Northeastmonk
Gold Member
If you think about it. Gods do that kind of stuff. They don’t have to abide by the norm. I have put 200 hours and obtained the Platinum and this is like the only time I really thought about this.
Danjin44
The nicest person on this forum
This literally Shiva and his wife Pravati merging to one being...similar to Marika and Radegon
This not uncommon with gods in mythology.
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Soodanim
Member
I think it's interesting to note how quickly this thread stopped being constant front page material. I suppose that says something about the DLC.
But now that the dust has settled we're now getting the optimisation of boss fights, where people are over the "It's so hard" phase. Doesn't stop the last boss being spammy, of course.
Personally I just decided to go back to my first DLC character and finish off the remaining bosses. I had a really good time using a deflect/guard counter play style against Godfrey & Radagon, then did my first Torrent enabled fight against Elden Beast (nearly hitless without even trying). Died a few times against Godfrey, but only died once or twice against Radagon. Both really fun fights with the new tear, and of course Light Greatswords are great to take back into the base game. So much fun.
I've decided to do my new NG+ run as a Messmer cosplay, but having fun with it trying to be stylish doing things like using Messmer's Orb to counter ground attacks etc.
But now that the dust has settled we're now getting the optimisation of boss fights, where people are over the "It's so hard" phase. Doesn't stop the last boss being spammy, of course.
Personally I just decided to go back to my first DLC character and finish off the remaining bosses. I had a really good time using a deflect/guard counter play style against Godfrey & Radagon, then did my first Torrent enabled fight against Elden Beast (nearly hitless without even trying). Died a few times against Godfrey, but only died once or twice against Radagon. Both really fun fights with the new tear, and of course Light Greatswords are great to take back into the base game. So much fun.
I've decided to do my new NG+ run as a Messmer cosplay, but having fun with it trying to be stylish doing things like using Messmer's Orb to counter ground attacks etc.
The Cockatrice
Member
Not just on gaf. I have a friend who can't even finish it, not because it's hard, but because he's severely bored by it and he finished the base game 4 times or so. We both joked that the DLC feels like it was made by the second team, the Dark Souls 2 one who know the engine but lacked the "feel" of the base game. What's even funnier after talking about that, more posts online showed up comparing a lot of the areas and movesets of ER are exactly the same from DS2. Anyway, maybe one day ill go back to playing the game again with some dumb shit build like bows only.
Soodanim
Member
And you may well be right, I see where you're coming from. I still maintain that there's been some hyperbole from the internet, but there's no exaggeration when it comes to sheer indifference.
I don't regret paying my money as I have had a full game's worth of playtime from it and I have new toys to play with, but what I've noticed is that I've become less interested in actually playing the DLC. I just want new gear for the base game. My next DLC playthrough on NG+ (if I get that far) will primarily be getting what I didn't get from NPC quests as my first character is essentially my 100% collection save.
I think one reason for the DLC's lack of interest is the difficulty scaling. It's something that affected the bass game to a lesser extent and is a consequence of being open world, and having the DLC be end game placed and scaled has swapped out enjoyment for frustration. People don't want to be 2-shot by bosses, especially after a break from the game. The Souls gameplay loop has you die a lot, but as part of a progression. This doesn't feel natural.
Reflecting on this DLC should be interesting at From's offices.
They also didn't give us boss rush like Sekiro and that's a huge missed opportunity.
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It was fine, but one of the weakest FROM expansions IMO. Before it came out I had the opinion ER was better than DS3. After Shadow of the Erdtree, DS3 is back on top.
Vyse
Gold Member
So you would suggest D3 next for me? Played Demon Souls back in the day, but never really got into these types of games. Guess I got gud in my old age.
I would consider it an absolute must if you liked Demons Souls.
Soodanim
Member
Part of me wants to say 1 before 3 because 3 is full of callbacks to 1, but the lore in DS is secondary anyway so I wouldn't worry too much.
I still love 1 though, so if you're planning to then do it before 3.
As you dabbled in DeS, I would advise that DS1 felt like a direct response to DeS in that it did away with some of the more obscure/annoying aspects so you could get on with playing
Soodanim
Member
It really does. I love the new equipment and spells (even if perfume bottles need an extreme buff), but I don't want to play through the DLC content. It wasn't even a conscious decision, I just found myself taking new gear into the base game where it's a lot more fun. It feels more like a challenge gauntlet where the scaling is high and the content amount is lower.
I've dropped the game for now, but if I pick it up again I'm using cheat engine to give a new character the gear I want.
Bojji
Member
There are moments in dlc that are just terrible to play, for example Rauh ruins, everything looks the same and area is massive and empty. Same is true for many optional areas, lot of copy-paste stuff and nothing worth of exploration.
I think some areas were made with Ai or some other random generator.
Compared to that many base game levels are amazing, almost dark souls quality in many castles and other important areas.
There is not much good stuff like that in SotE sadly...
mansoor1980
Member
been playing dark souls 3 , very bloodborne like atmosphere , i like it
winjer
Gold Member
Yes, it's very good. In some aspects, better than Elden Ring.
My only gripe with it is the level Farron Keep. I hate that level so much.
Bojji
Member
I was talking about great locations from base game before... Miquella's Haligtree, completely optional yet one of the best locations in entire series!
I thought magic was a bit overpowered during my first playthrough in 2022 but fuck me, bleed is on another level. Most bosses are weak to it and it just eats their healthbars, Malenia didn't stand a chance.
Some love for Melina:
I thought magic was a bit overpowered during my first playthrough in 2022 but fuck me, bleed is on another level. Most bosses are weak to it and it just eats their healthbars, Malenia didn't stand a chance.
Some love for Melina:
Arsic
Loves his juicy stink trail scent
It has a few too many samey dungeons, but it has some of the best bosses and both DLCs are peak.
Dancer
Brothers
Final boss of base game,dlc 1, dlc 2
The final boss of dlc 2 in particular is chefs kiss. Elden Ring deserved a final boss like that.
Yep I’m doing the same. I saw it once and that was all I needed, base game is infinitely superior.
TheDuskwalker
Member
sloppyjoe_gamer
Gold Member
Yall weren't kidding about the final boss being some total bullshit......especially phase 2, but it's done!
Interesting to me that....
Interesting to me that....
They troll you with that big staircase only to not let you get up there. Also, what was up with that totally non existent ending? You got that shitty little memory scene and that's it lol, not even the credits. It's like the devs were at the point and didn't know how to do an ending and just said fuck it, give them a little scene and then nothing.
R6Rider
Gold Member
I had the same thoughts. I had to check online to make sure my game wasn't bugged.Yall weren't kidding about the final boss being some total bullshit......especially phase 2, but it's done!
Interesting to me that....
They troll you with that big staircase only to not let you get up there. Also, what was up with that totally non existent ending? You got that shitty little memory scene and that's it lol, not even the credits. It's like the devs were at the point and didn't know how to do an ending and just said fuck it, give them a little scene and then nothing.
"That's it?"
Lame.
The_hunter
Member
I also would have liked some sort of conclusion.Yall weren't kidding about the final boss being some total bullshit......especially phase 2, but it's done!
Interesting to me that....
They troll you with that big staircase only to not let you get up there. Also, what was up with that totally non existent ending? You got that shitty little memory scene and that's it lol, not even the credits. It's like the devs were at the point and didn't know how to do an ending and just said fuck it, give them a little scene and then nothing.
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