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[Pancakes and Sausage]

Just finished the DLC, as someone who thinks the base game of Elden Ring may be the best video game ever made, Shadow of the Erdtree really let me down. Dont get me wrong its a great DLC and a great game if you dont compare it to the base game but typically From Software makes their DLC the best part of their games and I cant I say even close that I feel that way about anything in it.

The 2 biggest things that bothered me were the crazy amount of empty space in the DLC which really didnt reward exploration as hard and the fact that most rewards you did received mattered very little, every smithing stone, every cookbook, every material, every glovewort just meant so little and they were a majority of your rewards for taking the time to explore, even at the end of the base game some of these things begin to matter less but you can forgive it since you are in the latter half of the game and in theory you could use these limited resources on other weapons/summons you wanted to try but they give you the bell bearings, you dont anymore smithing stones or gloveworts.

When it comes to the cookbook/material stuff part of the reason that worked so well in the base game was because it was mostly an ignorable mechanic that rarely affected the game in a meaningful way, thats fine when there are few rewards toward that mechanic but when that mechanic becomes the majority of the little rewards for you exploring then you have a problem.
So rewards took a big hit. The skibbidy tree pickups were a nice thing to help you feel some sort of progression but they needed to add more, I could easily think of a couple easy to implement pickups similar to smithing stones or glove glovewarts that would allow players to receive interesting pickups but no sort of effort is found (hell at the very least make new smithing stone levels or something)..

In terms of empty area's Hinterland, finger ruins, most of cerulean cost and honestly alot of gravesite plains just felt barren, also there's alot of odd choices, like no stonesword key locations so player's can finally use some of those overcollected stone sword keys from the base game but they have an imbued sword key to reach an area that you can visit pretty early, idk just strange stuff. Also the lowering of catacombs, lack of night time bosses and having no bosses at the end of forge's was really disappointing too, I personally loved how many Red Life bar's would just pop up in the base game, it felt like there was danger/surprises around every corner, here theres not much.

Then there is the lack of legacy dungeons, there's really only 2 and the only strong one I feel is Shadow Keep but even then its pacing is super weird since they intend for the player to constantly enter and exit it making it not feel as meaningful of an area, the other Legacy Dungeon Belurat/Elis is split in half which also screws up the pacing making it feel not like much of a legacy dungeon since you do it at 2 separate instance's in the DLC. Every other area is too small to really be considered a legacy dungeon, hell the catacombs were more like legacy dungeon's than most things with how long they were, I think they got the wrong impression from the mainstream audience that kept complaining about how every catacomb was the same (when they absolutely werent) and instead of having several they would try to fit 2-3 into one, Id rather they spend that amount of time in more of the unique area's than the visuals of the catacomb's. As for new area's I do have 2 big praises, Ruins of Roah is easily the best new are, I think they did a great job of kind of blending the open environment with legacy dungeon type design, it really worked for me and secondly I think the Abyssal woods had the best atmosphere in the DLC, it was so well done, the only things keeping it from being my fav area in the DLC are the large amount of empty space (I have no clue why they didnt just put more of the survival horror gimmick in that empty space to make it even more tense, such a missed opportunity) and the spooky manor while super cool was too short (also screw the fake map space behind the manor).

One of the last big knocks for me was there just wasnt enough cool boss cutscenes, there are alot of cool bosses that really deserved more effort put into their presentation, saying it would be overbudget is bullshit, elden ring made bank there is no reason at least 4-5 more bosses couldnt have had an intro cutscene. Also speaking of cutscenes, miyazaki said the DLC would have its own ending and thats kinda bull, you just get a weird memory cutscene that feels out of place, after you beat the final boss it feels so strange not to have any sort of resolution or conclusion, its really bizarre and another mistep.

One final nitpick I have to say is picking Radaun for the final kinda lame given we have already fought him, the implications from the whole using Mohg's corpse bit made it seems like a fusion of sorts would happen like some weird Mohg/Radaun/Miquella hybrid or something crazy but no its just Radaun with some light spells \ ('.') /.

Anywho I had alot of fun but Elden Ring is the best game Ive played as an adult and From usually makes the DLC's for the best part so it failing to live up to the hype for how long we waited is frustrating even if I thought most of it was really good. Honestly I just wish it was like half the content and more tightly designed and we had gotten it a year ago or they spent another year of the development just polishing important stuff up like the rewards/cutscenes I mentioned. At this point I kinda hope its the last time they do Open world because maybe they really dont get what made elden ring so good, if ER 2 comes out Im not gonna lie, Ill be alot more skeptically cautious about my expectations, its probably for the best that they just move on.

My score for the DLC would be 9.5/10

Well thought out and presented.

Can’t argue against anything

 

[yet_another_alt]

Ah, cool, didn’t think they could make a boss I could hate more than Elden Beast. But here we are again in the DLC…Playing as a glintstone mage. Feels like I hit a brick wall here at the Promised consort Radahn fight. I’ve reached phase 2 but I don’t think I can do this without a complete respec. All I do is spamming dodge and can barely find a window big enough to do any spell, eventually I mess up and die.

You don't need to respec, block or dodge. You just have to remember the game has lots of tools that you can use. Not mine but here's a video link, I can't put it inside a spoiler cause it breaks for some reason.

link

 

[Fess]

You don't need to respec, block or dodge. You just have to remember the game has lots of tools that you can use. Not mine but here's a video link, I can't put it inside a spoiler cause it breaks for some reason.

link

It always looks easy in youtube videos, was the same in the base game and after many playthroughs I still struggle at some bosses even when using those ”easy mode” gear and spells.

But I don’t have Rock Blaster used there so I can give it a try.

Spent last day searching for scadutree fragments, I guess that’s one way to not struggle as badly. I’m up at (13) now, when at 18 damage dealt goes up to x2 and damage on yourself 0.5.

 

[VideoGameEnjoyer]

It took me 2.5 solid nights of ass kickings but I finally beat that asshole tonight

I had finally taken out Malenia, Placidragon and EB, recently too. So at long last, my OG character has completed his journey. Onto NG+

 

[Fess]

Upside to struggling with the bastard at the end, when searching for scadutree fragments I found two new big areas I had missed.

 

[sloppyjoe_gamer]

The problem with the dancing lion is that his attack animations are confusing. Other than that he seems fine to me.




You guys are all smart playing on a simple new game. I'm played on NG+6 first time, his HP is like 3x worse. What you guys plays are like childs play in comparison.
Its like compare Bloodborne DLC on a new game versus my new game plus first timer. My new game plus was 7 when I face Ludwig first time, any of his attacks instantly kill me.

 

[Saber]

Upside to struggling with the bastard at the end, when searching for scadutree fragments I found two new big areas I had missed.

I think there was about 6 of those things missing in my game before the last boss, which was about 2 levels worth. Honestly it didn't make difference, I wonder if this was really like a placeboo effect or anything.

 

[SantaC]

Just finished the DLC, as someone who thinks the base game of Elden Ring may be the best video game ever made, Shadow of the Erdtree really let me down. Dont get me wrong its a great DLC and a great game if you dont compare it to the base game but typically From Software makes their DLC the best part of their games and I cant I say even close that I feel that way about anything in it.

The 2 biggest things that bothered me were the crazy amount of empty space in the DLC which really didnt reward exploration as hard and the fact that most rewards you did received mattered very little, every smithing stone, every cookbook, every material, every glovewort just meant so little and they were a majority of your rewards for taking the time to explore, even at the end of the base game some of these things begin to matter less but you can forgive it since you are in the latter half of the game and in theory you could use these limited resources on other weapons/summons you wanted to try but they give you the bell bearings, you dont anymore smithing stones or gloveworts.

When it comes to the cookbook/material stuff part of the reason that worked so well in the base game was because it was mostly an ignorable mechanic that rarely affected the game in a meaningful way, thats fine when there are few rewards toward that mechanic but when that mechanic becomes the majority of the little rewards for you exploring then you have a problem.
So rewards took a big hit. The skibbidy tree pickups were a nice thing to help you feel some sort of progression but they needed to add more, I could easily think of a couple easy to implement pickups similar to smithing stones or glove glovewarts that would allow players to receive interesting pickups but no sort of effort is found (hell at the very least make new smithing stone levels or something)..

In terms of empty area's Hinterland, finger ruins, most of cerulean cost and honestly alot of gravesite plains just felt barren, also there's alot of odd choices, like no stonesword key locations so player's can finally use some of those overcollected stone sword keys from the base game but they have an imbued sword key to reach an area that you can visit pretty early, idk just strange stuff. Also the lowering of catacombs, lack of night time bosses and having no bosses at the end of forge's was really disappointing too, I personally loved how many Red Life bar's would just pop up in the base game, it felt like there was danger/surprises around every corner, here theres not much.

Then there is the lack of legacy dungeons, there's really only 2 and the only strong one I feel is Shadow Keep but even then its pacing is super weird since they intend for the player to constantly enter and exit it making it not feel as meaningful of an area, the other Legacy Dungeon Belurat/Elis is split in half which also screws up the pacing making it feel not like much of a legacy dungeon since you do it at 2 separate instance's in the DLC. Every other area is too small to really be considered a legacy dungeon, hell the catacombs were more like legacy dungeon's than most things with how long they were, I think they got the wrong impression from the mainstream audience that kept complaining about how every catacomb was the same (when they absolutely werent) and instead of having several they would try to fit 2-3 into one, Id rather they spend that amount of time in more of the unique area's than the visuals of the catacomb's. As for new area's I do have 2 big praises, Ruins of Roah is easily the best new are, I think they did a great job of kind of blending the open environment with legacy dungeon type design, it really worked for me and secondly I think the Abyssal woods had the best atmosphere in the DLC, it was so well done, the only things keeping it from being my fav area in the DLC are the large amount of empty space (I have no clue why they didnt just put more of the survival horror gimmick in that empty space to make it even more tense, such a missed opportunity) and the spooky manor while super cool was too short (also screw the fake map space behind the manor).

One of the last big knocks for me was there just wasnt enough cool boss cutscenes, there are alot of cool bosses that really deserved more effort put into their presentation, saying it would be overbudget is bullshit, elden ring made bank there is no reason at least 4-5 more bosses couldnt have had an intro cutscene. Also speaking of cutscenes, miyazaki said the DLC would have its own ending and thats kinda bull, you just get a weird memory cutscene that feels out of place, after you beat the final boss it feels so strange not to have any sort of resolution or conclusion, its really bizarre and another mistep.

One final nitpick I have to say is picking Radaun for the final kinda lame given we have already fought him, the implications from the whole using Mohg's corpse bit made it seems like a fusion of sorts would happen like some weird Mohg/Radaun/Miquella hybrid or something crazy but no its just Radaun with some light spells \ ('.') /.

Anywho I had alot of fun but Elden Ring is the best game Ive played as an adult and From usually makes the DLC's for the best part so it failing to live up to the hype for how long we waited is frustrating even if I thought most of it was really good. Honestly I just wish it was like half the content and more tightly designed and we had gotten it a year ago or they spent another year of the development just polishing important stuff up like the rewards/cutscenes I mentioned. At this point I kinda hope its the last time they do Open world because maybe they really dont get what made elden ring so good, if ER 2 comes out Im not gonna lie, Ill be alot more skeptically cautious about my expectations, its probably for the best that they just move on.

My score for the DLC would be 9.5/10

That score doesnt add up to your text.

I agree what you said and i give it an 8

 

[LavitzSlambert]

You write a dear diary and end up at 9.5/10 lmao.

I give it a 9 and my only beef is common:
Final boss could’ve been better from who you fight, the cut scene after, and how hard he hits

And the rewards in the dlc felt lackluster.

I'm with you in lockstep, same feelings and score here. Int builds really got jack shit the entire DLC.

 

[Saber]

I'm with you in lockstep, same feelings and score here. Int builds really got jack shit the entire DLC.

Unless you have a meatsack, its basically impossible to beat DLC with magic. The Gaius one is hillarius being immune to projectiles during his dashes.

 

[LavitzSlambert]

Unless you have a meatsack, its basically impossible to beat DLC with magic. The Gaius one is hilarous being immune to projectiles during his dashes.

Oh god don't remind me about that BS, it was my biggest rage of the DLC.

 

[Arsic]

Lord Arnis spent 12 hours with 0 scadu blessings, no summons, no buffs , etc on final boss. Just two balding stars and estus flasks. No success.

Man got farted on on repeat. Respect to him. I think I tried for 4 hours with my level 9 scadu Marika Hammer, went and got to level 14, failed again. Switched to blood fiend arm, and within 10 tries beat him.

 

[Fess]

I think there was about 6 of those things missing in my game before the last boss, which was about 2 levels worth. Honestly it didn't make difference, I wonder if this was really like a placeboo effect or anything.

It’s difficult to notice the changes by the end, it’s like 0.02 per level. But I do what I can to make things easier at this point.
Fextralife posted the math, at (18) the damage dealt gets a 2x boost and the damage received drops to 0.5. That’s my target for now, I’m up at 16, placebo or not 18 is what I’m going for.
I’m at the blue flower area now, don’t remember the name. Art direction is superb!

 

[Toytown Assassin]

Heh, last boss sure is easy with the prod, prod shield method. I didn't use the fingerprint shield, I used Moore's set and shield instead with Mogwyn's spear. Took just 3 attempts because of the sodding grab attack instadeath killing me when he was down to 5% on the 1st 2. Other than that, easy as hell. Only needed 3 flasks and he was done.

Wasn't a respect BTW. I replayed the entire game as a turtle so at least I earned it by suffering that.

 

[Fake]

Finally got the last weapon of the DLC. Dude those questlines are so fucking awful.

Sir Alb longbow is quite nice.

 

[Fess]

Unless you have a meatsack, its basically impossible to beat DLC with magic. The Gaius one is hilarous being immune to projectiles during his dashes.

Rock Sling works well for dodges and hits hard, cheap to use too. But it’s a slow spell so need to work up some distance.

 

[Saber]

Rock Sling works well for dodges and hits hard, cheap to use too. But it’s a slow spell so need to work up some distance.

That multiple finger spell, which is my favorite spell of the DLC, is also pretty good even when not charged(you lose damage though). Problem is that with hyper-aggressive hyper-mobile bosses its hard to hit or keep track of them. As I mentioned, Gaius is the ridiculous one for being absurdly aggressive(did you ever saw his attack animations? Don't even makes sense when you watch him) and yet gets to ignore projectiles during his dashes. I recommend using someone to tank or draw his attention before throwing magic at him because he will never gonna let you use spells.

 

[Northeastmonk]

Lord Arnis spent 12 hours with 0 scadu blessings, no summons, no buffs , etc on final boss. Just two balding stars and estus flasks. No success.

Man got farted on on repeat. Respect to him. I think I tried for 4 hours with my level 9 scadu Marika Hammer, went and got to level 14, failed again. Switched to blood fiend arm, and within 10 tries beat him.

You basically learned his move set then used a weapon that deals significant damage after 1-2 hits.

I wonder if those fingers call out to the player in someway. How do you come close to touching them, let alone letting them embrace you? I did this to get the trophy back then and I did it again to see how OP the shield is in the DLC.

 

[Fess]

That multiple finger spell, which is my favorite spell of the DLC, is also pretty good even when not charged(you lose damage though). Problem is that with hyper-aggressive hyper-mobile bosses its hard to hit or keep track of them. As I mentioned, Gaius is the ridiculous one for being absurdly aggressive(did you ever saw his attack animations? Don't even makes sense when you watch him) and yet gets to ignore projectiles during his dashes. I recommend using someone to tank or draw his attention before throwing magic at him because he will never gonna let you use spells.

Yeah fast enemies is tricky with a mage, I got lucky on the boar and beat him fast, never studied animations, but no shame I always use a spirit ash when possible.

Anyway. Progress, I always reach second phase now on Promised Consort Radahn, but I last at most 20 seconds on phase 2. So many attacks seems impossible to avoid. Definitely more difficult than Elden Beast. It’s the combo of speed, physical and magic that makes it so problematic for me. I can dodge a lot but not everything. I read that boss health goes up when using a summon but I die almost instantly when I have no distractions. Still using the mimic, is it better to switch to something else? Is anything sturdy enough to last the whole fight?

 

[Soodanim]

I'm going to have to come back and read everyone's ending opinions after I've seen it for myself.

Ahead of taking on what I assume is the final boss again where Miquella actually showed up to ride big man top form Radahn like Serosh and fulfil his Godfrey fantasy, and I was obliterated somewhere between the nuclear bombs that went off every few seconds: last night I decided to take my new gear back into vanilla land and fight Malenia.

Malenia is a boss that that I've traditionally not enjoyed a massive amount, but I learned a bit more about the Sekiro tear.

After realising I'd dismissed the best item in the entire DLC, I committed to fighting her by heavily relying on deflects and guard counters.

I also went a bit crazy with it and decided to go for the Power Within tear and Rakshasa set for more of a risk/reward. And reward is right. When it goes your way Malenia gets bullied. Between Milady's guard counters, fast combos, blood procs and ripostes, the first phase can go very quickly without any damage. Admittedly it got late and I brought out my mimic for phase 2, but I wanted to go to bed.

It might be because I wear Isshin-tinted glasses, but I it was one of the best boss experiences in my entire 1100 hours of ER. As seeing Malenia modded into Sekiro proved and now this reiterates: Malenia was made for Sekiro's gameplay.

I also did okay deflecting WFD. I didn't do it perfectly, but well enough to survive and use the final hit to hit back with a powered up guard counter.

I will do an entire run solely with that tear. NG+whatever I'm on is going to be an interesting one. I wish the tear lasted more than 5 minutes, although I get why it doesn't. This thing is stupidly good/fun and this whole experience was training for the last boss.

 

[Fess]

I learned a bit more about the Sekiro tear.

After realising I'd dismissed the best item in the entire DLC, I committed to fighting her by heavily relying on deflects and guard counters.

I also went a bit crazy with it and decided to go for the Power Within tear and Rakshasa set for more of a risk/reward. And reward is right. When it goes your way Malenia gets bullied. Between Milady's guard counters, fast combos, blood procs and ripostes, the first phase can go very quickly without any damage. Admittedly it got late and I brought out my mimic for phase 2, but I wanted to go to bed.

It might be because I wear Isshin-tinted glasses, but I it was one of the best boss experiences in my entire 1100 hours of ER. As seeing Malenia modded into Sekiro proved and now this reiterates: Malenia was made for Sekiro's gameplay.

I also did okay deflecting WFD. I didn't do it perfectly, but well enough to survive and use the final hit to hit back with a powered up guard counter.

I will do an entire run solely with that tear. NG+whatever I'm on is going to be an interesting one. I wish the tear lasted more than 5 minutes, although I get why it doesn't. This thing is stupidly good/fun and this whole experience was training for the last boss.

Interesting! Where do you find that Sekiro tear?

 

[Soodanim]

Interesting! Where do you find that Sekiro tear?

IIRC from the very first Furnace Golem in that first field. If you want some tips fighting them:

Spoiler: Furnace Golem

The combat is actually incredible simple.
You want to get between/behind the legs so that it doesn't do the front attacks and sticks to the stomps, which you can jump to avoid. If it starts to flame up it's going to do a big AOE so get on your horse, sprint away, then double jump over the fire away.

The quickest way to deal damage is to get the knockdown. I like to switch to a hammer with wild swings and put on talismans to take advantage of the many multiple hits.

You get plenty of time to get the critical, and the last golem I fought I switched to a weapon with Royal Knight's Resolve and did over 100k damage.

 

[Fess]

IIRC from the very first Furnace Golem in that first field. If you want some tips fighting them:

Spoiler: Furnace Golem

The combat is actually incredible simple.
You want to get between/behind the legs so that it doesn't do the front attacks and sticks to the stomps, which you can jump to avoid. If it starts to flame up it's going to do a big AOE so get on your horse, sprint away, then double jump over the fire away.

The quickest way to deal damage is to get the knockdown. I like to switch to a hammer with wild swings and put on talismans to take advantage of the many multiple hits.

You get plenty of time to get the critical, and the last golem I fought I switched to a weapon with Royal Knight's Resolve and did over 100k damage.

Oh. Never even been close to take down one of those. I just run run run! But I’ll give it a try

First attempt hah! Adula’s Moonblade

 

[Soodanim]

Oh. Never even been close to take down one of those. I just run run run! But I’ll give it a try

First attempt hah! Adula’s Moonblade

I remember the first time I hit one and saw how much health it did. I ran away too! I assumed it was best to come back later, then one day just went for it and realised it's not too bad.

 

[Saber]

Yeah fast enemies is tricky with a mage, I got lucky on the boar and beat him fast, never studied animations, but no shame I always use a spirit ash when possible.

Anyway. Progress, I always reach second phase now on Promised Consort Radahn, but I last at most 20 seconds on phase 2. So many attacks seems impossible to avoid. Definitely more difficult than Elden Beast. It’s the combo of speed, physical and magic that makes it so problematic for me. I can dodge a lot but not everything. I read that boss health goes up when using a summon but I die almost instantly when I have no distractions. Still using the mimic, is it better to switch to something else? Is anything sturdy enough to last the whole fight?

I think the boss health doesn't go up with summons, but with players or npc assists. I suggest you to continue to use mimic.
Also if you can use heavy shields to defend his attacks on both phases, use mix to help reduce the damage burden on phase 2(the one to reduce significant damage and other to heal back on attacks). Dodge what you can and when you can't, raise your shield and don't forget to pick one with good guard boost and use guard boost charm. Mimic will also use heavy shield and will do fine as long he defend his attacks. Let mimic draw his attention and use drain poise skills on him in conjuction with frostbite. You can use blood attacks if you so prefer.
Another tatic is to drain his health with scarlet rot. 2 pot throwing is enought to him to be scarlet roted, just remember that some of his moves makes the pot pass through him.

 

[Soodanim]

Speaking of pots, has anyone been using big pots? I haven't, outside of the times when they're necessary. But I assume one should be enough to proc status on most enemies/bosses

 

[Saber]

Speaking of pots, has anyone been using big pots? I haven't, outside of the times when they're necessary. But I assume one should be enough to proc status on most enemies/bosses

The big one with scarlet rot its garanted to scarlet rot certain targets. But its rather slow and certain enemies will not let you throw them unless you use something to drawn their attention. Also the resources for making them are rare and very limited.

 

[Orbital2060]

Speaking of pots, has anyone been using big pots? I haven't, outside of the times when they're necessary. But I assume one should be enough to proc status on most enemies/bosses

A hefty rot pot works on Consort Radahn 1st phase, easy way to speed things up there.

If youre using a mimic, you can just equip them and they will use them. So you dont have to keep making them.

 

[Fake]

Ansbach longbow is super fun. The questline was totally trash, but was worthy after all.

I recommend picking up this bow.

 

[Fess]

Finally!!! Phew

Spoiler: Final boss mage setup details

Mage setup:

Right hand: Carian Regal Scepter+10, high sorcery scaling.
Left hand: Carian Knight’s Shield, the shield in my possession with the highest holy damage negation that I could equip

Talismans:
1. Golden Braid, holy damage neg
2. Green Turle, fast stamina recovery
3. Dragoncrest Greatshield, phys dam neg
4. Pearldrake Talisman +3, non-phys dam neg

Wondrous Physick:
1. Opaline Bubbletear, negates damage.
2. Crimson Bubbletear, restore HP near death.

Spells:
Glintstone Comet, Ranni’s Dark Moon, Adula’s Moonblade.

Scadutree Blessing 16
Spirit Ash Blessing 9

Godrick’s Great Rune

Mimic tear ashes

No npc summon.

Flask allocation:
9 HP, 4 FP
Sounds wrong for a mage but I found out I always died from no HP flasks so I just kept increasing HP until I ended up with no FP and then went back one step.

Snow Witch Hat, frost boost
And whatever Armor, Gauntlet, Greaves I could equip and still stay at med. load. Used parts of Lionel’s set to get the highest defense.

Oh and boiled crab.

And lots of luck!!!

I’ve been using Glintstone Icecrag far too long because I saw it in a video, but the range was too short, too many missed shots. Switched to Comet and that was it. Only tactical shots, no spamming, and dodge dodge dodge. I had 3 attempts in a row with boss health down to about 10%, frustratinggg! But that’s when I knew I could do it. One more time!… Bam! Done!

Bullshit end boss. Fantastic DLC besides that! Now I want to replay and see what it’s like with melee and my favorite Bloodhound’s Fang.

 

[Forth]

Took down with final fight with a summons who tanked the entire fight and allowed me to hit it with blasphemous blade takers flame and 80 faith.
Honestly, it was over after about five minutes.
But I tried NG+ and just arrived at Morgott Omen King ready to go into consecrated fields and I quit, the game definitely loses a lot of the magic when you know where everything is and you're only searching for any items that are vital to your build.
Although that first play through is probably my favourite game ever.

 

[Orbital2060]

Ansbach longbow is super fun. The questline was totally trash, but was worthy after all.

I recommend picking up this bow.

I missed out on that. I could summon him for Radahn, and pick up his belongings even though I didnt. Think I skipped a part in the keep.

 

[Soodanim]

I'm not mad, but I honestly don't know what you're supposed to do in that second phase. If I wasn't mashing L1 through the spam I would be in even worse trouble. I can't even get in hits while my mimic is taking hits because every combo throws out damage every which way. Honestly, the only damage that gets done is rot thanks to mimic's infinite pockets.

I just can't find openings.
I found the openings. After all of the thinking of ideas and whatnot it came back down to good old fashioned Milady with bleed infusion. Those guard counters were the key to victory.

 

[digdug2]

Just finished the DLC, as someone who thinks the base game of Elden Ring may be the best video game ever made, Shadow of the Erdtree really let me down. Dont get me wrong its a great DLC and a great game if you dont compare it to the base game but typically From Software makes their DLC the best part of their games and I cant I say even close that I feel that way about anything in it.

The 2 biggest things that bothered me were the crazy amount of empty space in the DLC which really didnt reward exploration as hard and the fact that most rewards you did received mattered very little, every smithing stone, every cookbook, every material, every glovewort just meant so little and they were a majority of your rewards for taking the time to explore, even at the end of the base game some of these things begin to matter less but you can forgive it since you are in the latter half of the game and in theory you could use these limited resources on other weapons/summons you wanted to try but they give you the bell bearings, you dont anymore smithing stones or gloveworts.

When it comes to the cookbook/material stuff part of the reason that worked so well in the base game was because it was mostly an ignorable mechanic that rarely affected the game in a meaningful way, thats fine when there are few rewards toward that mechanic but when that mechanic becomes the majority of the little rewards for you exploring then you have a problem.
So rewards took a big hit. The skibbidy tree pickups were a nice thing to help you feel some sort of progression but they needed to add more, I could easily think of a couple easy to implement pickups similar to smithing stones or glove glovewarts that would allow players to receive interesting pickups but no sort of effort is found (hell at the very least make new smithing stone levels or something)..

In terms of empty area's Hinterland, finger ruins, most of cerulean cost and honestly alot of gravesite plains just felt barren, also there's alot of odd choices, like no stonesword key locations so player's can finally use some of those overcollected stone sword keys from the base game but they have an imbued sword key to reach an area that you can visit pretty early, idk just strange stuff. Also the lowering of catacombs, lack of night time bosses and having no bosses at the end of forge's was really disappointing too, I personally loved how many Red Life bar's would just pop up in the base game, it felt like there was danger/surprises around every corner, here theres not much.

Then there is the lack of legacy dungeons, there's really only 2 and the only strong one I feel is Shadow Keep but even then its pacing is super weird since they intend for the player to constantly enter and exit it making it not feel as meaningful of an area, the other Legacy Dungeon Belurat/Elis is split in half which also screws up the pacing making it feel not like much of a legacy dungeon since you do it at 2 separate instance's in the DLC. Every other area is too small to really be considered a legacy dungeon, hell the catacombs were more like legacy dungeon's than most things with how long they were, I think they got the wrong impression from the mainstream audience that kept complaining about how every catacomb was the same (when they absolutely werent) and instead of having several they would try to fit 2-3 into one, Id rather they spend that amount of time in more of the unique area's than the visuals of the catacomb's. As for new area's I do have 2 big praises, Ruins of Roah is easily the best new are, I think they did a great job of kind of blending the open environment with legacy dungeon type design, it really worked for me and secondly I think the Abyssal woods had the best atmosphere in the DLC, it was so well done, the only things keeping it from being my fav area in the DLC are the large amount of empty space (I have no clue why they didnt just put more of the survival horror gimmick in that empty space to make it even more tense, such a missed opportunity) and the spooky manor while super cool was too short (also screw the fake map space behind the manor).

One of the last big knocks for me was there just wasnt enough cool boss cutscenes, there are alot of cool bosses that really deserved more effort put into their presentation, saying it would be overbudget is bullshit, elden ring made bank there is no reason at least 4-5 more bosses couldnt have had an intro cutscene. Also speaking of cutscenes, miyazaki said the DLC would have its own ending and thats kinda bull, you just get a weird memory cutscene that feels out of place, after you beat the final boss it feels so strange not to have any sort of resolution or conclusion, its really bizarre and another mistep.

One final nitpick I have to say is picking Radaun for the final kinda lame given we have already fought him, the implications from the whole using Mohg's corpse bit made it seems like a fusion of sorts would happen like some weird Mohg/Radaun/Miquella hybrid or something crazy but no its just Radaun with some light spells \ ('.') /.

Anywho I had alot of fun but Elden Ring is the best game Ive played as an adult and From usually makes the DLC's for the best part so it failing to live up to the hype for how long we waited is frustrating even if I thought most of it was really good. Honestly I just wish it was like half the content and more tightly designed and we had gotten it a year ago or they spent another year of the development just polishing important stuff up like the rewards/cutscenes I mentioned. At this point I kinda hope its the last time they do Open world because maybe they really dont get what made elden ring so good, if ER 2 comes out Im not gonna lie, Ill be alot more skeptically cautious about my expectations, its probably for the best that they just move on.

My score for the DLC would be 9.5/10

Dude, I am disappointed by the utterly open spaces with nothing interesting in them. I just finished the Scadu View area and went onto the Finger Ruins of Dheo and they were both so incredibly desolate. Sure there were some bears, some Tree Sentinels, and a fuck ton of lizards with the cheesiest of homing magic. The bosses in the DLC are also incredibly cheesy. They have so much health and their move sets are all sort of bullshit. I absolutely love Elden Ring, but this isn't nearly as fun for me as the base game was. It's still way better than most of the stuff out there, but it's not great in terms of being a From Soft product. 7/10 for me.

 

[Fake]

I missed out on that. I could summon him for Radahn, and pick up his belongings even though I didnt. Think I skipped a part in the keep.

The problem with this quest is that is easily skipped for some reason.

You need to make step by step without missing the itens.

 

[Fess]

It's still way better than most of the stuff out there

That sentence sums it up good for me. And they really could’ve, and should’ve, released it as a stand-alone release. Feels like a sequel. I spent 40 hours on the DLC alone, and added bout 50 levels to my character. Missed the Hornsent Grandam npc questline, otherwise I think I did it all.

 

[Northeastmonk]

They sure gave us a lot of cookbooks. I don’t think I ever spent time crafting.

 

[Touch fuzZy. get BizZay]

I found all but one scadutree fragment.

Looked up 3 guides detailing where they all are (video and picture format) and checked everywhere multiple times, I have absolutely no clue which one I'm missing. It's.... infuriating.

 

[Arsic]

Running through base game again on new character with the blood dagger Radivu or whatever. Been super easy. That weapon has to be top 5 in the game.

Killed every major boss so far without issues.

Mohg is a wall at my current level so I’m exploring more areas. Killed Morgot in the capital and now will go to the land of giants. I’ll do everything here and unlock the haligtree.

Should get me juiced up to kill Jim so then I can go into the dlc to pick up the backhand blades. Think I’ll main those with a blood build.

 

[Soodanim]

That sentence sums it up good for me. And they really could’ve, and should’ve, released it as a stand-alone release. Feels like a sequel. I spent 40 hours on the DLC alone, and added bout 50 levels to my character. Missed the Hornsent Grandam npc questline, otherwise I think I did it all.

I'd be upset about not having all the new stuff in the base game if it was separate! There's lots of new toys to play with and even down to the way they made the tears perfectly fit the grid tells me this is the finished product (bad balancing patches).

I've only just finished the DLC and I'm already thinking of the potential when it comes to other characters I've got.

I've got a Godrick weapons character that will benefit massively from the oil tear when I'm doing the Bear Witness uppercut and the recent patch that buffed Godrick's axe.

There's all of the storm stuff that got new gear to buff it, which makes me want to put together a build again

Dragon Cult/lightning got new gear

Bows finally got more buffs to make them more viable, I've wanted that forever

Int builds didn't get much, but what they got looks fun. The max casting speed talisman should make for some fun min-maxing glass cannon fights, and I'm eager to try the new spells on old and new bosses

And to be perfectly honest, I want a build throwing doing the hammer throw at as many bosses as possible until I get bored, because that is ridiculous.

I just had a look at the new skills on the wiki and there's a few things I missed, but some looks like it's just a matter of going back to dead NPCs.

 

[Fess]

I'd be upset about not having all the new stuff in the base game if it was separate! There's lots of new toys to play with and even down to the way they made the tears perfectly fit the grid tells me this is the finished product (bad balancing patches).

I've only just finished the DLC and I'm already thinking of the potential when it comes to other characters I've got.

I've got a Godrick weapons character that will benefit massively from the oil tear when I'm doing the Bear Witness uppercut and the recent patch that buffed Godrick's axe.

There's all of the storm stuff that got new gear to buff it, which makes me want to put together a build again

Dragon Cult/lightning got new gear

Bows finally got more buffs to make them more viable, I've wanted that forever

Int builds didn't get much, but what they got looks fun. The max casting speed talisman should make for some fun min-maxing glass cannon fights, and I'm eager to try the new spells on old and new bosses

And to be perfectly honest, I want a build throwing doing the hammer throw at as many bosses as possible until I get bored, because that is ridiculous.

I just had a look at the new skills on the wiki and there's a few things I missed, but some looks like it's just a matter of going back to dead NPCs.

You’re right could be fun going into NG+ with some new things. But I meant the DLC in itself is as big as they can get. It’s like a game on it’s own. I’ll have Shadow of the Erdtree on my GOTY list and I don’t care if it’s somehow wrong, I think it holds up to anything out right now.
I also thought the exploration I first complained at got better when searching for scadutree fragments.

Spoiler: Don’t look! Exploration spoiler

One in particular where I noticed loot on the outside of a tower and started dropping, walking, jumping on the walls outside the tower to reach it, then it just kept going, finally did a long running jump down to a window on another tower. Was so rewarding! The ghosts carrying fragments in pots was bs though.

 

[tommib]

Dude, I am disappointed by the utterly open spaces with nothing interesting in them. I just finished the Scadu View area and went onto the Finger Ruins of Dheo and they were both so incredibly desolate. Sure there were some bears, some Tree Sentinels, and a fuck ton of lizards with the cheesiest of homing magic. The bosses in the DLC are also incredibly cheesy. They have so much health and their move sets are all sort of bullshit. I absolutely love Elden Ring, but this isn't nearly as fun for me as the base game was. It's still way better than most of the stuff out there, but it's not great in terms of being a From Soft product. 7/10 for me.

From needs to tone down these ridiculous boss fights before they turn into a parody of themselves. There’s no sense of atmosphere or build up to major bosses anymore. They give you no room for anything else except engaging with either turtling or endless dodge rolls. Bring back the puzzle aspect of your bosses, From.

Tone the fuck down. Remember Maiden Aestrea, From.

 

[Fess]

From needs to tone down these ridiculous boss fights before they turn into a parody of themselves. There’s no sense of atmosphere or build up to major bosses anymore. They give you no room for anything else except engaging with either turtling or endless dodge rolls. Bring back the puzzle aspect of your bosses, From.

Tone the fuck down. Remember Maiden Aestrea, From.

I think the build up can be great but the payoff is often a bit of a letdown.

Spoiler: Look after completion

Like the Bayle dragon fight. The build up with huge downed skeleton and the path going there and that whole area and npcs and all made me think it would be a historically huge boss fight. Then that scrawny thing arrived? Biggest meh ever.

And the payoff after Promised Consort Radahn at the end was a major letdown too. I was like - That’s it??

 

[Soodanim]

You’re right could be fun going into NG+ with some new things. But I meant the DLC in itself is as big as they can get. It’s like a game on it’s own. I’ll have Shadow of the Erdtree on my GOTY list and I don’t care if it’s somehow wrong, I think it holds up to anything out right now.

Spoiler

I also thought the exploration I first complained at got better when searching for scadutree fragments. One in particular where I noticed loot on the outside of a tower and started dropping, walking, jumping on the walls outside the tower to reach it, then it just kept going, finally did a long running jump down to a window on another tower. Was so rewarding! The ghosts carrying fragments in pots was bs though.

I think of it as a proper old-school style expansion pack. A huge game-like addition rather than just some added content. I remembered back to Miyazaki saying the map was about the size of Limgrave and laughed, because that's not even true if you completely ignore the verticality of the map. It's insane.

I know exactly what part you mean! I did that too, it was great. Didn't expect that at all.

I've had a lot more Scadutree fragments than the horse ones. It's something like lv 17 vs 9 - quite a difference.

 

[Clear]

I just think FROM really need to take a long hard look at what Team Ninja have been doing from the start to extend and enhance replayability over multiple playthroughs.

With ER and SOTE it seems to me they've pushed their existing strengths to the limit, but they still haven't fully addressed their weaknesses:

1. Itemization should evolve over multiple playthroughs along with the difficulty.
2. Relax re-speccing so its less burdensome and add some actual UI tools to aid build management.
3. Improve inventory/storage sorting and filtering to accommodate the expanded range of weapons and items.

I'm not saying they need to change their approach in a drastic fashion, just to address the fact that in NG+ and beyond the RPG part of the game becomes increasingly superfluous. Basically when character growth is limited to alternate questline payoffs and increased grind for diminishing stat returns the less appealing these cycles become. Doubly so as it makes so much of the side-content (you may have missed first time) pointless because the rewards have become redundant. Who cares about dungeons when the crafting items found within can be bought cheaply from an NPC?

 

[Fess]

I think of it as a proper old-school style expansion pack. A huge game-like addition rather than just some added content. I remembered back to Miyazaki saying the map was about the size of Limgrave and laughed, because that's not even true if you completely ignore the verticality of the map. It's insane.

I know exactly what part you mean! I did that too, it was great. Didn't expect that at all.

I've had a lot more Scadutree fragments than the horse ones. It's something like lv 17 vs 9 - quite a difference.

I did a spoiler edit on that. People need to experience that for themselves

 

[Soodanim]

I just think FROM really need to take a long hard look at what Team Ninja have been doing from the start to extend and enhance replayability over multiple playthroughs.

With ER and SOTE it seems to me they've pushed their existing strengths to the limit, but they still haven't fully addressed their weaknesses:

1. Itemization should evolve over multiple playthroughs along with the difficulty.
2. Relax re-speccing so its less burdensome and add some actual UI tools to aid build management.
3. Improve inventory/storage sorting and filtering to accommodate the expanded range of weapons and items.

I'm not saying they need to change their approach in a drastic fashion, just to address the fact that in NG+ and beyond the RPG part of the game becomes increasingly superfluous. Basically when character growth is limited to alternate questline payoffs and increased grind for diminishing stat returns the less appealing these cycles become. Doubly so as it makes so much of the side-content (you may have missed first time) pointless because the rewards have become redundant. Who cares about dungeons when the crafting items found within can be bought cheaply from an NPC?

I still maintain that despite my dislike for DS2, they threw the baby out with the bath water. Bonfire Ascetics were a great idea and could have been great in ER.

 

[Saber]

I found all but one scadutree fragment.

Looked up 3 guides detailing where they all are (video and picture format) and checked everywhere multiple times, I have absolutely no clue which one I'm missing. It's.... infuriating.

Remember, sometimes its the one you though you get it. Redo all the caper, even the ones you think you already get. It happened to me.

 

[winjer]

I still maintain that despite my dislike for DS2, they threw the baby out with the bath water. Bonfire Ascetics were a great idea and could have been great in ER.

Yes, it was a good idea. Not only it was a good way to face off against our favourite bosses with some extra challenge, it was also a good way to get upgraded gear without having to replay the whole game.

Also, the music in that game was so good.

 

[Fake]

I found all but one scadutree fragment.

Looked up 3 guides detailing where they all are (video and picture format) and checked everywhere multiple times, I have absolutely no clue which one I'm missing. It's.... infuriating.

Probably one shadow dude holding a jar. Its always this motherfucker.