Elden Ring

[Raging Capybara]

Just abort the little shit.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

You heard it here folks! having kids is a disability and possibly, A skill issue!

Im just shocked its not some 30 year old neckbeard making that claim, But a honest women. How about putting down the controller and look after your infinite child lady. I had no idea she was a mother but, congratulations?

Spoiler: pausing in game

Honestly, If you gonna play a game that cant be paused, Make sure you play that game when you know you dont have any plans. having kids kinda ruins the planning but maybe play something else that lets you pause for a minute.

Can you even make that argument against ER? At most you lose five minute game time with the exception being maybe the bonus dungeons which also tend to have safe points once you kill all the enemies and checkpoints.

 

[Gravityqueen4life]

Can you even make that argument against ER? At most you lose five minute game time with the exception being maybe the bonus dungeons which also tend to have safe points once you kill all the enemies and checkpoints.

When you in a boss fight for your life, Were a small mistake can cost you the fight and little Timmy is crying in the background, What do you choose?

I choose the game, Cause im a gamer! Fuck my child! If it dies, It dies, MESSMER THE IMPALER is going down!

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Elden Ring secrets video that does not contain a single thing that can be considered in any way a secret

 

[74164978231]

Elden Ring secrets video that does not contain a single thing that can be considered in any way a secret

Good god ER lore is atrocious.

"She shares over 90% face data with Tannith!"

Jfc.

 

[Imperial Citizen]

I’ve been fighting Consort Radahn the whole day and it’s punishing. Every hit does about 45% to 60% of my health and that’s just his first phase. Switching my build to arcane to deal some status effects.

 

[Shek$il]

I’ve been fighting Consort Radahn the whole day and it’s punishing. Every hit does about 45% to 60% of my health and that’s just his first phase. Switching my build to arcane to deal some status effects.

That's Epic-For-The-Win and worthy of All-My-Reddit-Gold-Good-Sir!!!

Bosses are good when they deal over half your health on one hit of a 17-hit string- and to have even one question about the playability places you at the same level of a filthy game journo during the DS1 era who couldn't figure out how to backstab. The skill level never actually rose to be retarded shut-in level, but has always been 100% consistent through Memeazaki's tenure.

Change your build. Change your character. Respec to play the game. Follow what FROM wants you to do. This is the epitome of Role-Playing! To do what the company deemed the correct way to play. Get that DEX up, you're going to need that dual Rivers Of Blood to play the game correctly as Katanas are... freaking epic.

 

[Incredible Mister]

I've heard people praise Shadow Keep and say its one of the best legacy dungeons Fromsoft has made, but i dont get it. Compared to ds1, ds3 and even the base game its disappointing. its got no enemy variety or challenge. its filled with, Bats, vulgar militia and shadow people who just stand around doing nothing. the only unique enemies are the fire guys who don't appear enough to be challenging. it was honestly a pretty big let down for me. i think people are just so tired of the open world shit that they relish any time spent not on a horse.

 

[Oilspill Battery]

it's the usual 'wait for the boss to sperg out with their 1 min long combo, hit the boss once, now wait for the boss to another 30-60 sec combo, oh and don't attack more than once otherwise the boss will punish you by taking 80% of your health with one or two hits'

I've seen tons of people make this criticism and I legitimately do not get it. This has been the souls formula since demon souls.

Complaining about this in a souls game is like walking in an ice cream shop and complaining that it doesn't cater to your lactose intolerance.

Like, what the fuck were you expecting walking in?

 

[Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus]

This has been the souls formula since demon souls.

What the hell game did you play? Not only do none of Demon's Souls bosses have anywhere near as long combos as ER bosses, most of them have shorter combos than the basic mobs in ER.

 

[HodgePodgeRogerDodger]

I've heard people praise Shadow Keep and say its one of the best legacy dungeons Fromsoft has made, but i dont get it. Compared to ds1, ds3 and even the base game its disappointing. its got no enemy variety or challenge. its filled with, Bats, vulgar militia and shadow people who just stand around doing nothing. the only unique enemies are the fire guys who don't appear enough to be challenging. it was honestly a pretty big let down for me. i think people are just so tired of the open world shit that they relish any time spent not on a horse.

I think a lot of people forgot that the Dark Souls/ Dark Souls really aren’t hard. Once you are aware of enemy placement and get the hang of parrying/ spacing then it’s pretty easy.

You had occasional overleveled enemies in areas to push exploration elsewhere or reward a player who killed than with an item or access to a new area that would trivialize the lower level areas, but that was the fun. There was usually choke points or locked doors to punish players who just ran past everything.

Most of the DLC “legacy dungeons” were pretty straight forward. Belurat really has no paths. You have the path to the Lion and then going to the poison pool to fight the Tree Spirit. Usually mini bosses in the previous games blocked off portions of the level, opened up access to a short cut, or gave you an item.

Shit I want more gimmick bosses. 4 Kings was awesome due to having to gimp yourselves a bit with the Covenant of Artorias instead of a better ring. Even hard bosses were more just learning the pattern and with AI that punished you being a bitch.

 

[Romeo]

Just finished the DLC and honestly thought it was okay but was many times disappointing. Only offensive moment was me missing Thiollier's quest because there are no signs to go to Cerulean Coast before you burn the barrier tree.

A 6.5/10 for me (base game imo is 8/10); I had fun all around in the 40 hours I played, but I wouldn't play the DLC again unfortunately even though I would like to refight Bayle and Midra. To put into context of this review, Elden Ring is my first FromSoftware game.

If you're planning to buy the DLC, I would wait for a sale.

---

Player stats​

• Level 400+ (mainly strength, dex, and int, with a good amount on holy and a little on arcane) on NG+ - so very overleveled and can utilize multiple builds
• Mainly utilized colossal duo swords: Maliketh's Black Blade and Godslaying Greatsword
• Royal Carian Scepter for ranged attacks mostly against normal enemies
• Utilized Bloodhound Fang, Blasphemous Blade beforehand so they're my back-up weapons

---

Bosses and Enemies​

For comparison, Placidusax (S), Godfrey/Hourah Loux (A), Malenia (D-), Valiant Gargoyles (F)

Remembrance​

Rellana	Dancing Lion	Messmer	Romina	Putrescent Knight
C	D-	C+	B-	C
2 tries	2 tries	10-15 tries	~10 tries	~10 tries
My build bonks her Really did not understand fighting her because my NPC summon Leda and I were murdering her She was not able to use her double moon ability No lore build-up so this boss feels straight out of left field Honestly no feelings for this boss	Lag Simulator with all the lion's elements spammed around the arena Too much going on, did not understand what is happening Camera is not good NPC Summon Freyja and my build still beat his ass kinda easily, but it felt kinda random Mediocre lore build-up Copy-pasted in Rauh and can summon basilisks in his new death-blight elemental mode, really souring	Used Mimic Tear Okay readability with some dumb attacks that are difficult to dodge 2nd stage is mediocre, too many snake attacks that janks up the camera Good lore build-up I have okay feelings towards him, but wish he was toned down.	Used NPC summon Dryleaf Dane Attacks are readable and fun to learn from your mistakes, fair boss Scarlet rot AoE attacks are annoying, but okay to dodge No lore build-up so this boss feels very random and just shoved into the DLC One of the better bosses of the DLC imo but feels random	Went in solo Attacks are somewhat readable and kinda fun to learn from Despite this, some attacks just drain your stamina bar, which is annoying No lore build-up besides some putrescent slimes Mediocre boss, feels random
Gaius	Midra	Scadutree Avatar	Metyr	Radahn & Miquella
D	B+	C-	C	E
10-15 tries	10-15 tries	2 tries	2 tries	20-30 tries
Went in solo Bad hitboxes, so annoying to dodge his charge attack because the boar hits you anyway if you don't perfect that one timing His attacks and AoE is not fun to dodge No purpose to fight him on Torrent when Gaius' boar is faster than Torrent Also no lore build-up Have sour feelings towards this boss	Went in solo Attacks are easily readable and fun to learn your mistakes Good atmospheric build-up through his manor and Abyssal Woods, though no lore why he's in the DLC Frenzied Flame Madness AoE is still cancer though, but okay to dodge Really fun to stagger him with just three hits with the colossal duo "The depths of your foolishness!" Fair boss, I think best in the DLC	Went in solo My build stomps it due to utilizing fire Some attacks are readable, but his attacks are stamina draining, and no time to react to his spike attacks Annoying to hit 3rd stage felt kinda cool when it tried to use all of its power out of desperation Meh build-up, though it's expected that the Scadutree must have an avatar like all the other Erdtrees	Went in solo My build stomps it due to utilizing holy Attacks are easily readable, but AoE attacks can be annoying Pretty meh, and fighting her is part of a lame quest but has some good rewards	Fought with Mimic Tear and Ansbach 1st stage is decent: attacks are readable and okay to dodge 2nd stage is just cancer Lag simulator Holy anime attacks are not fun to dodge Feels like you're getting flashbanged a lot of times Reusing a boss, especially as great as Radahn, is very souring Switched from colossal swords to blasphemous blade to then bloodhound fang with Scarlet Rot Racked up on anti-holy talismans and heavy armor Bad lore build-up, with Radahn only being mentioned by Ansbach Bad ending, with a 6 second cutscene about something we already know

Great and Legendary Enemies​

Golden Hippo	Senessax	Bayle
D-	E	B-
5-10 tries	2 tries	1 try (also died on my last hit on him)
Went in solo Camera is having an aneurysm Attacks are very annoying, very weird hitboxes from his attacks so they're very annoying to dodge AoE attacks of his 2nd stage are okay to dodge No lore build-up to why this creature even exists	Went in solo AoE lightning attacks are very annoying Fought mostly on Torrent due to this You can't target cam his legs which is much more annoying if you're fighting dragon enemies Pretty boring to fight and right before Bayle Kinda makes sense that he exists since he is a remnant of the civil war between Placidusax and Bayle	"CURSE YOU BAYLE" - NPC Summon Igor makes this fight fun Camera is having another aneurysm Too many things going on, so I just fought on and dodge and healed randomly not understanding his attacks Replayed it as a finger summon to my friend, feels much more better to understand what is happening Good build-up to his arena and his lore is decent enough Fair-ish boss, and he and Igor makes this DLC memorable

Enemies​

Enemy variety in the DLC is not good. The new enemies are okay to good, but there are tons of reskinned and base game enemies. (C-)

For comparison: Crucible Knights (S~A)

• Curseblade Assassins were okay to fight against, a bit too crazy and aggressive, but it's fun to see myself panic getting ambushed by them (B+)
• Fire Knights, Horned Warriors of all types, and Bird Warriors were also okay, maybe some were too aggressive, but they're okay to fight; weaker version of Crucible Knights, which are peak enemies (B)
• New Catacombs Imps and Forge Golems are interesting enemies to fight against, and there is some fun in dodging them. (B-)
• Aged Untouchables (Winter Lanterns from Bloodborne) are okay to fuel the horror atmosphere of Abyssal Woods and make good parry practice, but they're more of a that's it? enemy for all the tension that was given in the area. (B-)
• Inquisitors, Fiends, Jar Innards people, Manserpents, Gravebirds, Ghosts, Flymen, Scorpion-spiders are pretty meh, but I guess they are pretty unique. But there is just so many of them in the Land of Shadow that they get boring quick to fight. (C)
• Furnace golems are not fun to play against, because hitting them is such a slog. His attacks are good to learn, but the ones with the fire jar gimmicks are not fun due to it spamming the golem's multi-fireball attack. (C-)
• Shocked at the reskinned enemies and how many base game enemies are in the expansion, faction knights, soldiers, rats, prawn people, iron virgins, fingercreepers, etc. (D-)

---

Map​

The map is really well crafted with its verticality, but the big issue is the map is barren compared to the base game, with many dead ends that lead to no special item. The Finger Ruins are the biggest offenders because it's such a big map with very little stuff, so exploring it feels like a waste of time. (C-)

Areas​

I don't think it's right to compare regions like Limgrave or Liurnia to these individual regions because it makes more sense to compare the former to the Land of Shadow, which these individual regions form to.

Gravesite Plain	Scadu Altus	Rauh Ruins
B	B	B+
A good introductory map that looks intimidating, and gives you the choice to explore different areas.	Looks the same as Gravesite, and harkons you back to the Altus Plataeu. Not too amazing or too pretty, but the exploration is really rewarding and is also a bit linear, so you don't feel overwhelmed with having to go everywhere.	Extremely pretty with a nice labyrinthine network that keeps you exploring. Really fun to play and jump in, and a lot of areas that challenge you to keep exploring. Wish there were more unique enemies besides the bird warrior, which is a letdown.
Rauh Base	Cerulean Coast	Charo's Hidden Grave
C-	C-	C-
Pretty standard, with some golems brought over from the base game and such. Not really amazing, and it reminds me of being in the base of Mt. Geimir.	For something as beautiful as this region, there aren't a lot of new enemies as you are stuck with demi-humans, fingercreepers, etc. Disappointing.	You fight more gravebirds, a Tibia that spawns Revenants, a Deathbird, and a hippo. It gets tiring quick, seeing it's just Cerulean Coast but it's red.
Jagged Peak	Abyssal Woods	Scaduview
C-	C-	D-
Literally nothing except two dragon enemies, Senessax, Bayle, and a bunch of electric slugs. For an area that covers a 5th of the entire map, yet the only playable section is linear, which can imo be a good thing since it's short and sweet to be replayable. The environment getting more violent though carries this biome so hard.	You would think by taking away Torrent and having you to walk through this haunting map thinking something mad is lurking nearby would make you unnerved, and you'll be right, on your first playthrough. Once you kill all the Untouchables, the map becomes a slog, because you are forced to walk everywhere in a place where it's just rats since you can't use Torrent. Also, barely any stuff to collect and a bunch of useless dead-ends. Not a good map for replays.	More Tree Sentinel enemies taken away from the base game. Pretty, but it does not cover the barren-ness and the fact there is nothing new in this area.
Finger Ruins Rhia and Dheo
E
Very disappointing regions. Covers such a significant portion of the map yet there is very little to do with just manserpents and fingercreepers everything and barely any stuff to collect.

Legacy Dungeons​

For comparison, Stormveil Castle (S), Raya Lucaria Academy & Volcano Manor (S~A)

Belurat	Shadow Keep	Stone Coffin Fissures
B-	B	C-
Really beautiful and I like the music. It has a couple paths to go around and explore to reach the Lion boss and the gaol. Enemy variety is okay to be introduced to the newer enemies, and the flypeople, horned warriors, ghosts, and scorpion-spiders.	It's a bit linear in an okay way, and there are also paths to go to different areas such as Scaduview, the Scadutree Avatar boss, or the Innard Jar Hospital that leads to Rauh. Church district had a nice gimmick. Enemy variety is not great, with just more ghosts and reskinned militiamen from the base game, so the area's only unique enemy fire knights have a lot to carry.	Really beautiful but an ultra-linear dungeon. The ball stack enemy attacks are okayish, but nothing else is interesting since it's just fiends and slimes.
Enir-Ilim
B
A bit linear but also pretty, and there is some deviating paths to receive some important items, like the one where you had to jump a lot. Enemy variety is still not good, as there are more inquisitor and gravebird enemies that are spammed in the open world of the DLC. Lion horned warrior was okay.

Mini-Dungeons​

I think this is the one thing that FromSoftware listened to the feedback from people very disappointed in many of the copy-and-pasted mini dungeons in the base game, so they worked hard on making them, especially the catacombs, fun and unique.

• New Cave (Rivermouth): (C-) Feels like one of those copy-and-pasted caves from the base game, just a bunch of wolves and an area spammed with fiends to use your Relic Sword Waves of Gold with
• New Catacombs: (A) honestly a massive improvement from the base game counterparts, each catacomb has a nice gimmick and are large to the point that they are labrynithine: massive cannon imp, to death-blight eye paths, etc. Makes each playthrough unique. Also, at least the boss ain't a watchdog.
• New Gaols: (B-) looks really cool and also very labrynithine, but enemy variety is just ghosts, warriors jars, and jar innard people. Maybe the gaols are a bit same-y.
• New Forges: (B) I like the gimmick where you have to reach the altar to get certain stuff to win the mini-dungeon and not fight the boss. Really cool to explore, maybe a bit same-y, but the new forge golem enemies are nice to fight.
• Nameless Mausoleums: (C) Basically the new evergaols of the DLC, I have no emotion towards them except to get equipment from a bunch of cool looking characters that could have been made into NPCs but didn't

---

Quests and NPCs​

If there is one thing that made me MATI in this game, it's me missing Thiollier's quest entirely because I straight up through Cerulean Coast was a late game area and Enir Ilim is a mid-game area. I wish that the main quest makes you explore the other areas of the map before you enter Rauth and then burn the tree barrier after defeating Romina. NPCs are really unmotivated and boring except Ansbach and Igon.

• Leda is paranoid
• Freyja is just there for some reason
• Moore has a speech impediment and is on depressants
• Thiollier is on depressants
• Ymir is just straight up sus
• Jolan is also just there

Hornsent feels okay motivation-wise, but Ansbach and Igon are great NPCs, with the former correcting Mohg's rape accusations and the latter having great voice acting.

The DLC brought back the quest design from the base game so you still need a guide to play some of the more choice-based ones.

• Ymir's quest is bad motivational-wise and you do not understand his intentions on what he wants except go to this finger ruin and blow finger horn, go to that finger ruin and blow finger horn, etc. It's very obvious to me that he is using me and wants me to get eaten by Metyr, for reasons. Quest does not require a guide, but it's unmotivating to play. (D)
• I missed Thiollier's quest (making me MATI) and I wish there was a sign for me to go to Cerulean Coast before I burned down the barrier tree, so this quest requires a guide. I heard you have to apparently die by drinking St. Trina's nectar multiple times before you hear something to then talk to Thiollier to then invade you. (-)
• The main storyline quest is mediocre because we're supposed to kill the big bad Messmer and that's it, but it feels that FromSoftware is directionless with this quest once Messmer is beaten so they just lead the graces to Rauh to burn the tree down as directed by the Greater Will and call it a day. NPCs are just there for the quest. Interactions with Moore, Ansbach, Freyja, and participating in the invasion only determines the NPC fight before Radahn and Miquella, which was kinda fun. Storyline ending is not good with Miquella wanting Radahn to be his consort for, reasons, instead of fixing the Order himself. FromSoftware's writing decisions ruined Radahn's arc. (D-)
• Igon's quest was good. Direct, no guide needed. Good voice acting. Would replay again and spam Igon summon on Bayle again. (B)

I am starting to notice that Elden Ring's plot and writing is built on top of J.J. Abrams' mystery box plot device, where the story invents mysteries to make itself compelling for people so that they make up theories. The only big issue, as seen from this DLC, is that when you built up this mystery to be something greater, but nothing to show for it once it's revealed, your plot and storyline just tears itself down.

 

[WootieWot]

I've seen tons of people make this criticism and I legitimately do not get it. This has been the souls formula since demon souls.

Complaining about this in a souls game is like walking in an ice cream shop and complaining that it doesn't cater to your lactose intolerance.

Like, what the fuck were you expecting walking in?

When was the last time you played Demon souls and Dark Souls 1? Because this is not at all true. There's vast differences in the bosses between ER and those games.

 

[WootieWot]

Good god ER lore is atrocious.

"She shares over 90% face data with Tannith!"

Jfc.

Vaati the Plagarist. Can't stand the guy.

 

[Lizard Machine Bugs]

Sidestep and rally would work really well in Elden Ring.

Eldenring really wants the player to stance break and stagger like in Sekiro so something like Rally on a Riposte/Backstab, might work, although if that was added I think reducing flask charges to 10 would probably be needed to reduce the player's healing.
Of course then you still have the problem of power stancing colossal weapons doing insane poise damage super fast, but even in the game's current state power stancing colossals needs to be nerfed.
Giving lighter weapons slightly more riposte damage would be good, and more of the parry ashes of war need to be viable since currently there's only a competition between Golden Vow and Carian Retaliation.
Since Carian Retaliation is meant to be an offensive parry I think making it's frame data worse in exchange for providing a small amount of poise damage per projectile would be a good option as it would allow you to more effectively punish enemies like Godskins and other spell casters who like abusing ranged punish options, of course Carian Retaliation should also probably be taught by Rogier once he moves to Roundtable hold since Pidia is very easily missable.
Thop's barrier in turn would be given Carian Retaliation's current frame data, making it the safer newbie option but not as rewarding.
In line with that change Golden Vow should probably be made slightly worse and given the projectile parry of Storm Wall, as it's a safe option for dealing with melee, but can't deflect spells.
For Storm Wall, I'd give it slightly better frame data, and also have it do chip poise damage, it would sill be the hardest to use of the advanced parries as it would only have slightly better frame data, but it would also make it the melle equivalent of Carian Retaliation, but as melee characters are already doing more stance damage it should still have worse frame data than the changed Carian Retaliation as then it would be too easy to parry then poise break.

Edit: Also add Carian Slicer and Piercer as AoW and give them poise damage as well, spell blade builds are kind of awkward since they're splitting focus between spells which don't care for poise damage and melee weapons which want to stagger, parry, and riposte.

 

[AntiSchwuletteAktion]

The DLC certainly has issues (i.e. later areas in the DLC like the frenzy swamp and finger ruins being way too empty) but overall I had a fantastic time playing it. There are some fights like Bayle and Midra which are all-timers in terms of presentation and fun in my eyes. The best part by far was exploring the map and being continually surprised by how big the DLC area is and how much it has tucked away in hidden corners. A lot of people aren't happy without the game giving them directions, but to me being rewarded for exploring and putting the pieces together without and hand-holding is S Tier.

The new weapons, spells, and items are overall great additions, and I think that as the most busted setups are tuned down a little bit the games balance and build diversity will be in the best place any souls game has ever been.

Some NPC quests were fantastic, but the stages are too skippable. Even for a souls game. I'm sure many of us had to Google wtf happened to Thiolliere after finishing the DLC.

Also yes the final boss is a ball-buster but I actually found him to be pretty fair once you understand how his attacks work. After that the worst part is the unnecessary holy damage light pillars which just block your view of what's happening. I did not like that they resurrected Radahn over Godwyn, but ultimately it's just a difference in lore flavor.

All in all as a follow-up to Elden Ring it's an 8/10, but if I look at it independently as kind of it's own game, I've got to give it a 9/10. It's imperfect but it's big, content-rich, fun, beautiful, a lot of good things that are sorely missing from almost any other AAA release.

 

[Coldgrip]

Thinking about it further, Midra could and should of had his own dlc. I don't mean stretch the Abyssal Woods into one big map, I mean a kingdom overtaken and scourged by the Yellow Flame.

 

[WootieWot]

Thinking about it further, Midra could and should of had his own dlc. I don't mean stretch the Abyssal Woods into one big map, I mean a kingdom overtaken and scourged by the Yellow Flame.

I would take that any day over a DLC focused on Queerly Miquella.

 

[Lizard Machine Bugs]

Change your build. Change your character. Respec to play the game. Follow what FROM wants you to do. This is the epitome of Role-Playing! To do what the company deemed the correct way to play. Get that DEX up, you're going to need that dual Rivers Of Blood to play the game correctly as Katanas are... freaking epic.

Pardon me but, While I agree that the final fight should have been easier and that it feels bullshit with all the aoe spam and that not a lot of builds are viable for it, I don't get DEX whining.
Sure DEX has annoying options in PvP, but pure Strength, Vigor, and Endurance while not leveling anything else has always been one of the best ways to play any Souls game.
Defenses scale of off strength, Endurance gives you the equipment load for the best weapon type(colossal), and Vigor is more health. Even in Darksouls one of DEX's biggest strengths is that since enemies have such simple movesets and were so bad at punishing, you didn't need to tank shit when you could dodge roll or go naked and use one of the busted shields.
Heck all the easiest methods to deal with Radhan, before and after the recent patch, involve strength builds.
Not to mention that heavier weapons classes inflict more stagger damage and can stance break most bosses in three hits, providing windows for flask use and more attacks.
Literally the only reason colossals aren't even better than they already are is that if you stagger an enemy while they have hyper armor they regain all of their stagger, which is a fault of so many bosses being given bullshit hyper armor for their anime moves and not the weapons themselves.
I have a hard time believing you even looked at youtube guides since most of them tell you to go for strength builds and the only people who aren't are the people who go fully naked styling on bossess with dual katanas due to how insanely skilled they are at the game, even though that's just a worse option.

 

[Scarthew]

I played through again in preparation for the dlc I got the frenzied flame ending.
Buddy of mine took the flame as well but didn’t get Melina’s vow to kill him:

Turns out if you go down to the frenzied flame but don’t take it, then continue till Melina sacrifices herself. After that take the frenzied flame and you don’t have a promise by Melina to kill you.

yea theres 2 variants of the ending depending on when the 3 fingers brands you.