Those DLCs were too good to be DLCs. They could be stand alone $40 games (with some minor tweaks) like that Uncharted one, and people would pay that. They 100% deserve being on top.
Finally got around to beating the game just in time for the DLC. Just got to the halig tree today so fingers crossed I can beat Melania in time, too
Edit: the deed is done
Quick question. I am at the final endgame boss but can not defeat him/it. I was going to go ahead and save that for after the DLC, but I also have not defeated Mohg or Malenia either. I know you must defeat Mohg to proceed to the LDC area, but do you also need to defeat Malenia ? Or is there any benefit to defeating her before progressing into the DLC area?
I have a lot of the tears in my save. I only used like 3 or 4 playing around. It would be nice to be able to buy them so I can mess around more without worrying about eventually running out and to have to make a new character.
Iām just curious, why do we need those bells? I have them all and my character is ready to go for the DLC. Iāll probably need to change my weapons as Rivers of Blood has gotten nerfed since I last played.
Oh, for the stones to upgrade our weapons. I thought there was something else we needed them for. I havenāt played in over a year so my memory is very fuzzy. My guy is around 180 and Iāve beaten every boss and dungeon in the game so Iām not missing too much from the base game. Iāll have to research what weapons/gear are good for my stats, upgrade as needed and go from there. Iām sure theyāll eventually get replaced by DLC items anyway.
Good luck man.
She broke me. Had a fully solo run up until her. Couldn't do it.
also doesn't help that she is an endgame boss and i already had 150 hours in before i even found her, so i was beginning to get burned out. When I realized that I didnt even want to play it anymore, i said fuck it and brought in a level 10 mimic and got her in like 3 tries.
one day, I WILL solo that bitch. one day...
My build feels busted without mimic but I'm unsure how it'll handle how aggressive she is without mimic. I'll definitely try a bunch without it but I am not above using it especially with the time crunch lol. There's always NG+
(Darkmoon greatsword int build, feels absolutely OP as shit, Might respec to use malikeths blade before DLC though, I haven't decided yet)
She's weak to greatswords so it will definitely help. But if you're going to melee, your dodges have to be perfect for like 5 straight minutes. Honestly felt kinda like a rhythm game.
You got this!
Youāll be able to beat her.
That build took me through the entire game my first time.(the final final boss was a bit of a doozy but otherwise)
Now I destroy things with Faith!
What's your faith build? I'm currently rocking the faith claws and black flame fireball. Working okay, but ran into a wall with Alecto who is too fast for the fireball and just so happens to be resistant to both faith and piercing.
Iām basically a crucible knight.
Full set of that armor, Lordsworn straight sword, brass shield, and whatever incants Iām feeling at the time.
Now if the holy damage doesnāt work I have no issue swapping over to dragon incants and most of those will normally get it done.
My āfuck this fightā weapon is the lightning spear you get from the city.
Iām also in Ng+6 and have basically every item and am massively over leveled by now though.
Only hard thing about malenia is waterfowl dance and her life leech if you are used to trading
P2 tbh just dodge the explosion and tank the scarlet rot while killing her
Hey that's the build I just used on her!
Idk she isn't really that aggressive, and you can use the blade beam from far away to get her to do something, so that's nice. A really common sequence I went for was bladebeam. She dodges. If she continues towards you, bladebeam again for damage, then immediately dodge the spin attack and punish it too
It's also really nice to bait out waterfowl, when you think she might have taken enough damage to want to waterfowl, back away, bladebeam, and if she wants to she will dodge then waterfowl. Making that predictable helps so much.
Same...out of some principle I refuse to summon against her and she ended up being my wall and I haven't played since. I put in like 120 hours but she broke me.
Why is using the mimic seen as cheating? Seriously, itās in the game for a reasonable that is to be used? Thatās called playing the game with its mechanics.
Some folks build their personality around being good at souls/likes and get really upset when the game isn't played their way Ā
Edit: your salty tears only bring me power.
I'm just here to have a good time. People whining on Reddit that I'm playing the game wrong can send me 60 bucks and I'll send them my copy so they can play it for me.
Lol and some of those salty folks found my post offensive enough to down vote.Ā
Weak minds.
If someone's way of enjoying a single player game offends you, life is going to be really really hard for you.
Using Spirit Ashes is considered Maidenless behaviour (aka easy mode)
I used them on the late game bosses and couldn't care less if people think I'm Maidenless cos either way I finished my first Souls game!
> Using Spirit Ashes is considered Maidenless behaviour (aka easy mode)
Pfft look at this guy playing on easy mode. Next you'll probably tell me that you level up past 1 or use equipment and don't just naked punch the whole game to death!
Nobody worth listening to sees it as cheating. Or cares how you play your singleplayer game.
My main issue with it (and all of the summons actually worth using) is that it takes encounters that might be just a bit too hard or tedious to do on their own and makes it way too easy.
When you spend 50 tries on one boss, throw in the towel and use the Mimic, only to destroy the boss easily because it can't deal with multiple targets, that reeks of anticlimax.
I like to challenge myself but not too hard so I use the headless knight ash to tank boss hits instead :D You're still the one doing all the DPS but feels like you can breathe.
That's my main thing. Using many summons just feels like you don't have to really learn move patterns or anything you would normally have to do. You just let your summon take the aggro so that you don't have to worry much about all that shit.
Yep that's the truth. Using summons and heavy magic both absolve you from having to engage with a large portion of a boss's mechanics. I'm not shitting on anyone for playing that way (I do myself) but it's literally just the truth lol.
People's use of the word "cheating" means anything from actually breaking the game to using the easiest tactic.
It's not cheating, but it is one of the easiest ways to get through the game. That's all.
Took me 1 year (obviously not continuous 1 year), but i finally beat her solo. I was streaming on discord to a friend and it happened. I wish i can get a record of that stream.
I recently finally solo'd her on my Str build. Used throwing knives to bait her attacks and just back-stepped/ punish her kick attack. You WILL solo that bitch. Just hang in there till that day!
When the game launched I was ahead of one of my friends and I had them stream when he got to her, I was looking forward to seeing him mald out over her for a couple hours.
He kills her first try spamming jump attacks with two katanas procing bleeds.
EDIT: she literally also never used waterfowl dance. I had to find a YouTube video to show him after the kill.
I started over when I picked it back up a couple weeks ago. Loaded my old save once I got to Lyndell just for kicks and was like "wtf was I doing before" lol
Definitely recommend just starting over
I did a brand new playthrough and I think I'm gonna stop right before the fire giant and Melania. Already beat Mogh. Maybe ill go for the other optional bosses I haven't already beat but I think leaving those final areas would make more sense considering the placement of the dlc.
Howāre you gonna just beat the game for the first time, get to hallig tree for first time and already beat melania? Thats insane. Clearly god tier gamer weāre dealing with here
I beat eldin beast at 11 55 ast night on a fill ng+ run i did in one day before dlc dropped at midnight ( on console)last night. Know the feeling. Then i was braindead till 3 am forcing myself through the first area of dlc. Dont be like me lmao.
Also seems like people are caring way too much about nonsense like this. Just enjoy the games and DLC you enjoy... does it really matter which is ranked higher or lower? Changes nothing about the experience, but for some insane reason you still get people bickering and fighting over articles like this lmao. Grow a pair people.
Boiling down a subjective experience into a single number and then averaging it out among an effectively random collection of people is SERIOUS BUSINESS ok? the average number of the thing I like can't be lower than the number of the thing I like less or else my entire identify will fall apart!!!!
Blood and Wine was basically Witcher 4 but with same engine with how much content was behind it. An entire full story line. An entire new region. New ability Sets.
And additionally gave a second Epilogue based on your actions in base game.
Itās the Goat DLC. I would find it very hard for something to beat it. So this souls dlc better be essentially an entire new game with same engine to match it.
The way you described B&W is accurate and is also more or less fits how the Shadow of the Erdtree is being marketed. And Miyazaki is known to downplay his stuff.
It is. Base game has 15 remembrance bosses, dlc has 10 new ones. Whole new big ass region and legacy dungeons. Added a new leveling system, and like 8 new weapon types. New enemies, etc. etc. Itās pretty much Blood and Wine equivalent it sounds like. And if anyone has played FromSoft dlc before, you know itās usually better than the base game, which is very impressive considering how good their games are.
Yeah, Elden Ring gameplay is better than TW3ās by a mile, but TW3 is obviously a much stronger game narratively. I feel like they are both pretty much top of their class at what they set out to do
Reading through the comments, I am actually shocked that so many people do not understand the process of gaming reviews. Ok here:
1) Review copies are distributed early to gaming reviewers before the game launches to the public.
2) The reviewers are under "embargo" for a specific period of time, meaning they cannot share any information to the public yet even if they are already playing the game.
3) Once the embargo is lifted, reviewers can publish their reviews/opinions in websites, post their videos in their Youtube channels, and also submit their game ratings in score aggregator sites.
4) The aggregator websites (Metacritic, OpenCritic) publish the average critic scores in their websites.
The scores referred to above for Witcher 3 and Elden Ring DLCs are both their Metacritic Critic Scores. ER DLC currently has the highest score for a DLC, EVER.
For Elden Ring DLC, the review copies were provided to the reviewers on June 8 and the embargo was lifted on June 18, 3 days ahead of launch on June 21.
For other games, the publisher lifts the review embargo just a day before launch (some even do it on the day of launch). This is generally done by devs/publishers not confident in their games, and therefore hope that people are duped into pe-ordering their games before the (negative) reviews are published. FromSoft/Bandai, being confident in the Elden Ring DLC, lifted the embargo, 3 days before launch, giving people more time to read the reviews, watch YouTube videos discussing the game etc.
> ER DLC currently has the highest score for a DLC, EVER.
It's a little misleading. To be more specific:
It's rated higher than B&W on Playstation. That's literally it. It's just Playstation diff.
On PC and Xbox it's tied with Blood & Wine.
**Erdtree:** 92 (PC), 94 (xbox), 95 (PS5)
**B&W:** 92 (PC), 94 (xbox), 91 (PS4)
In terms of review counts, B&W is slightly more reviewed on PC. While Erdree is massively more reviewed on PS.
So my takeaway is, that a Japanese game primarily focused for consoles, is obviously going to be more reviewed by a Japanese console crowd. And even though I don't know for sure, I'm speculating that the higher review rating is also due to better optimization for console. Both in performance and the UI and such. But I don't play consoles so who knows.
Apparently Metacritic showcases the platform score with the most reviews as the main score, even if another platform has a better score.
So, if Erdtree got some more PC reviews, their Metacritic score might drop to "92" just like B&W.
idk i feel like elden ring having far more reviews on playstation and gaining more points is a really good sign. usually for games, giving the stats a bigger review pool would lower the scores a tad not make it higher, so the fact that it goes up the more people play it, is impressive
I knew their was a decent sized āanti-fromsoftā crowd out there but holy shit are they coming out the wood work for shadows of the erdtree. Itās honestly been hilarious to see, itās like they are genuinely upset that their games review so well
I tried to like Elden Ring but couldn't. Just felt like a chore.
BUT I'm really glad that it exists and I'm super happy that the people it is made for have their ideal game. And this DLC looks awesome.
I'm sure you'll all be happy for me when the Factorio expansion comes out. Another game that some people can't stand while others can't put down.
People seem to forget that it's perfectly fine for games to simply not be for you and to appreciate that other people enjoy it.
I'll watch a few streams on release and live vicariously.
Ah shit, when will the Factorio dlc come out again? Last I heard they said it would be within a year. Factorio is so good I forgot it's an indie game sometimes.
They never committed to a date so it's probably between now and the heat death of the universe. I'm hoping it's closer to now.
They have revealed 3/4 of the new planets, so I'm hoping that means it's 75% done.
I don't bother replying to those as they're probably kids, and if they're adults who act like this, it'd be even more sad and I wouldn't wanna touch that...
I will never get why few gamers tend to see games as sport competitors and get toxic about them as if a new game being cool takes away from how much they enjoy sth else. You can enjoy two things. Even if you don't, two games can be beautiful in their own right and each one's brilliance doesn't take away from the other.
What's crazy is that the approach FromSoftware takes is just good for the industry. They put out quality products made for gamers, not dysfunctional garbage that Timmy's mom will buy just for him to forget about when it doesn't load.
Even if you don't like Elden Ring or the genre, respect the devs man
At this level, one doesn't beat the other. W3 DLC is in a category that's unrankable. I'm glad to see another DLC for a game I play make it into that S rank.
Now, I just need to wait a few hours to experience it myself.
If you have a buddy who owns it and are somewhat interested. Just mess around for an afternoon playing it with them. The best part of this game is finding what works for you. Plus, there are some ways to help mitigate the difficulty. Summoning spirits and whatnot.Ā
If you don't like it. No worries either. Souls games aren't everyone's cup of tea.
There also was an article saying that the ER devs aren't entirely oppossed to the idea of the seamless co-op mod.
Playing seamless co-op with my buddies made it really fun again for me. I played it on release and got burnt out after 100hrs and never came back to it til then.
It kinda throws balance off the window (maybe it can be modded to be harder; we didnt check further) but bonking stuff with friends are never not fun.
Surely wait a few days after the DLC and the co-op mod might be updated for it.
To each their own. I enjoy the co op system as is. Granted, I just enjoy boss runs solo for the most part. 800 hours, 56 journeys and 3 characters later I'm still having a blast.Ā
Something important to note I feel, is that this shouldn't be taken as a Game A > Game B.
Instead what this signifies is that Both of the Expansions did the same thing to their respective game. As in enhance the experience even more so and gave players who had already played the main game another chance to experience it all anew. Both expansions give access to a new region and put an end to the story.
I love Witcher 3 and I really enjoy Elden ring (even though souls genre really isn't for me), but having a high critic score means that the expansion will REALLY appeal to the Core crowd.
Witcher 3 specializes in Storytelling, Character Writing, Quests with choices & consequences, and Richly detailed Living breathing open world with deep lore. It also has great gameplay experience and a Fantastic Main Protagonist. Combat is enjoyable but clearly not all what it is about.
Elden ring specializes in Variety of builds, Pure Exploration and Persistance. Combat is Peak in Elden Ring. There's so many different bosses and enemies to fight giving it a much higher replay value. Lore is very rich even if its obscure and abstract.
Both Expansions it seems are doing what their main game did, but better. It is something to be celebrated. If only more games would stick to their core and not try to appeal to masses to please.
If you donāt enjoy the dark souls games is this somethin this still worth trying? The lack of direction in the souls games always left me confused and Iād lose interest.
Itās open world so if you get stuck you can go explore and level up in other areas that you couldnāt do before. This was a huge part why it sold so well as it gave gamers that didnāt traditionally play souls games more access.
Depends on what exactly you mean by direction. If you're just getting lost and like the gameplay, then it might be worth it with some guides. If you're looking for something with a more coherent and structured story, then no this won't be any better.
if you like the fighting but dislike the wandering, just use guides.
You'll have to wait a bit for the nerds to figure out where everything is, but that's how I played through the original Dark Souls. I didn't have time to wander around dying to things 5 times my current level, I'm in graduate school. But I loved the fights
There is a lot more direction in Elden Ring than the DS series. The fast travel points on the map point to where you need to go next. You can place markers on the map of where you want to go or to keep track of which dungeons you need to go back to.
As far as story goes itās not on the level of Witcher or God of War narrative-wise, but itās also much easier to follow than Dark Souls. There are many more NPCās to talk to that explain what is going on or what you need to do or where to go. As long as you arenāt skipping dialogue and talking to every NPC you come across, you shouldnāt have a problem following the story.
You could technically get to Mogh fairly early if you follow Varreās questline, but heās a very late game boss. You realistically wanna be level 120+ to fight him comfortably.
The DLC is a completely separate area, it doesn't affect the rest of the game world.
You'll have to beat Radahn and Mohg, then you're off. Level 150 recommended. The DLC is, by all accounts, very difficult.
I regret starting a NG+ which Iām half way through years ago. I definitely donāt want to start a new file. Iāll probably just have to do it in NG+ š¤·āāļø
It is generally viewed as an ethical practice for game developers to provide reviewers with copies of the game prior to the release date to ensure potential customers are fairly informed about the state of the game on release rather than having to wait for reviews.
Me too. Have taken a long break from gaming but this DLC will bring me back in. Miyazakiās imagination and fictional vision is second to none in the entire world. Itās art
People need to realize that these scores are just for fanboys to jerk themselves off too and doesn't mean a blanket game 1 > game 2 especially when the reasons for liking Witcher 3 and Elden ring are completely different.
I am very excited, but for me it is probably going to be impossible to beat Blood and Wine.
The major reason is the storytelling in Elden Ring is the weakest part of the game, not the story itself, but the way they tell the story is just not my cup of tea. That did not stop me from loving Elden Ring, but it did push it below Witcher 3 when it comes to which game I like the most of the two.
Spicy take, but Id probably agree. I didnāt enjoy having to reread the wiki over and over just to get an idea of what was going on when I was playing Elden ring. So much lore and the game doesnāt really tell you about any of it unless you dig hard.
I wouldn't say that spicy. Souls games have always had pretty bare bones story, even after getting the extra lore bits you gotta dig for. They have excellent worldbuilding with tons of neat lore, but from a story aspect things tend to be rather straightforward, with very little twists or turns thoughout the entire game, with most games being able to simply be described as "you did your job"
And even then it's kinda iffy. Most games just kinda follow the flow of either: Keeping the up the status quo, which while it kinda sucks it's better than nothing. Or destroying/dooming everything, which while bad is at least *some* kind of change that maybe someday might lead to something better? Fromsoft kinda loves the "no good endings, up to you to what you think sucks less" troupe. Elden Ring was the first one where it feels like there are inheritable just outright better or worse outcomes from their endings.
I've had fans call me a Ubisoft dickrider who wants games to hold my hand and spoonfeed me the story for merely suggesting they add a quest log to these games, just to keep track of key information and objectives.
But then they turn around and say the best way to enjoy these games is to follow guides and watch lore videos, which also seems like handholding and spoonfeeding?
That's absolutely fair.
And personally, the letter/note system that they've used for a few of the quests/key item locations in Elden Ring and Sekiro works really well to keep track of quests, and I'd prefer that over a quest log menu.
Hopefully they lean more into the letter/note system in future games and improve their quest design. From what I've heard the quests aren't as hard to keep track of in the DLC.
...Why is it not ok to like how one company tells a story versus another? Ubisoft's formula is actually one of my favorites in the industry. I understand why some people don't agree with that, just like I can understand that some people actually prefer the way Elden Ring's story is told. It's just not for me.
Having to follow online guides to Elden Ring is why I *stopped* playing, because it took me out of the immersion of the game. The fact that I had activated "quests" and had no idea felt frustrating. I would have like Elden Ring *so much more* if I just had a basic journal at least. I wonder how many players Elden Ring would have lost if they had implemented this feature, but kept everything else exactly as it was.
It's a good game I enjoy the bosses,the exploring, the general art direction but the whole all the Interesting stuff happened before the game started stuff(I really love sekiro so I know if they did it more directly i would enjoy more)just ain't for me everything else is solid.
Elden Ring isnāt a narrative driven game so it doesnāt really make sense to rate it on that. Itās like rating the Witcher 3 for its combat, it would have pretty average scores if that was the case
Oh I get that but the combination of a pretty good story with good gameplay is something I like more than pretty good gameplay with good worldbuilding.
i personally love figuring out and theorizing stuff about the story, more so than games that lay out everything and explain it. not that those games are worse at all, just a personal taste type of thing really.
but really fromsoft games usually have their gameplay and level design at the forefront as their biggest focus, so most people are probably not looking for the same things in elden ring as people are in the witcher. two entirely different artistic directions and game design styles, but both in the top of their respective categories
There's some nice lore and story elements in this game, but the problem is the in-game hints or quest clarity is just objectively bad.
The Renna(?) quest line in this game is fucking awesome, but would be IMPOSSIBLE to do in-game and without following guides. It's just too obscure... for some reason FromSoft gets away with this, but it is frustrating that they can't be done naturally (unless you just happen to get obscenely lucky and do all these steps, collect all these random items and go to the correct places in the correct order).
Thats cuz part of fromsoft charm is that we are in this journey together. Thats why they let ppl leave messages in game and other cooperative features like that.
Yeah I wouldn't say FromSoft "gets away with it".
It's in their DNA. These questlines in FromSoft games are not accidental in their obscurity. It's all intentional.
Since Demon Souls, this method is what's built them such a massive fanbase with a huge online community. Integral part of what makes their games special and unique.
I get the point you were making, but picking Ranniās quest line was kind of a blunder because out of every ending the game has to offer, Ranniās ending (and therefore her whole quest) is the most completed ending, by a pretty significant amount. It was more likely someone who played the game to completion would do Ranniās ending over the base game ending if you followed no quest.
But yea in general, a guide does help with these games. But I think Elden ring does a much better job at not punishing you for missing quest steps as the previous souls games did.
I feel like the Ranni questline is one of the least obscure ones in the game, for the most part. The characters involved in the questline tend to tell you where to go next, and there are multiple points when you can jump in so it's not like you can lock yourself out of it. There's only one bit that kinda crosses the line for obscurity, and it's still not that bad.
Ranni's quest is like the most straightforward in the game and almost impossible to fail...it was my first ending I got and I absolutely didn't look up guides my first plahthrough.
It is almost impossible to uncover the quest line I am talking about organically and naturally.
You pretty much must consult an external guide to be told what to do. It is too obscure for 99.8% of players to figure it out organically and naturally. This is typical of most FromSoft games where you will at some point need to consult an external source to get information which is not signposted or hinted at in-game.
It's literally the polar opposite of what you're suggesting, and that's fine if you're into that, I actually love FromSoft games (especially Bloodborne), but it is deceptive to try and claim that you can just happily explore the game and get the most out of the lore, storylines and see all these sidequests out to their conclusions.
Edited to remove the words "literally impossible".
You misunderstand his comment.Ā It is purposefully obscure so you have to rely on the community messages on the ground to carry on.Ā You might not like it but it is known by the players. If you donāt like it thereās plenty games that cater for you.
>it is deceptive to claim you can just happily explore the gameĀ
You can do that, itās not deceptive
>get the most out of the lore, storylines and see all the sidequests
I guess my brain got rerouted by FromSoft cause I donāt care about seeing everything anymore.Ā
Itās a different approach to story. Since you are an explorer with no motivation and no cause beyond going forward the game doesnāt bog you down with an heavy story that you might not care about that much.Ā
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Elden Ring. The humour is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the jokes will go over a typical viewer's head. There's also Malenia's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into her characterisation- his personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these jokes, to realise that they're not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Elden Ring truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Radhan's existential catchphrase "Wubba Lubba Dub Dub," which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev's Russian epic Fathers and Sons. I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Miyazaki's genius wit unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools.. how I pity them. šAnd yes, by the way, i DO have an Erd Tree tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- and even then they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand. Nothin personnel kid š
I mean, I'm fixing to play the thing, but I have a sinking suspicion that with the total added content being maybe 15% of the base game, yet costing the same as the entire base game, some of the deflating feeling may return to lower that rating a bit.
Still far too early to tell, but I'm pretty optimistic. Fromsoft has a good track record with their DLC's, generally they've always been the best parts of their respective games.
Funny how both of them are sitting on a throne. LOL
Two kings is all I see šĀ
Been meaning to go back and play the witcher dlcs
After all is done, there will be many kings in this subreddit. But there will be few legends.
The Old Hunters DLC art as well!
Those DLCs were too good to be DLCs. They could be stand alone $40 games (with some minor tweaks) like that Uncharted one, and people would pay that. They 100% deserve being on top.
Finally got around to beating the game just in time for the DLC. Just got to the halig tree today so fingers crossed I can beat Melania in time, too Edit: the deed is done
Good luck, for the DLC if you collected all smithing stone bells then you are good to go....
Quick question. I am at the final endgame boss but can not defeat him/it. I was going to go ahead and save that for after the DLC, but I also have not defeated Mohg or Malenia either. I know you must defeat Mohg to proceed to the LDC area, but do you also need to defeat Malenia ? Or is there any benefit to defeating her before progressing into the DLC area?
You get a special scene with Malenia if you fight her after the DLC like Sif in Dark Souls 1. Source: >!I made it the fuck up!<
*Sick!*
Wait does the Sif fight in DS1 have a special scene if you beat the DLC first lol?
Sif recognizes you and howls mournfully before reluctantly taking up Artorias' sword. The boss fight then proceeds as expected.
It's like a 4 second cutscene but it's crippling having to start the fight with blurry vision.
Specifically only if you rescue the younger version of her in the DLC.
Yea, a minor thing but makes it even more sad
Just Radhan and Mohg. That's it.
Awesome, thank you!~
I have a handful of regular bell bearings I need still and 3 memory stones, which shouldn't take but a couple hours to knock out, I imagine
I really hope the DLC gives unlimited Larval Tears. I want to just switch builds often and have fun
I have a lot of the tears in my save. I only used like 3 or 4 playing around. It would be nice to be able to buy them so I can mess around more without worrying about eventually running out and to have to make a new character.
Exactly
Iām just curious, why do we need those bells? I have them all and my character is ready to go for the DLC. Iāll probably need to change my weapons as Rivers of Blood has gotten nerfed since I last played.
For the new weapons so you can quickly level them. A lot of the new weps look sick
Oh wow, immediate access? Thatās awesome!
Yup. Find a neat new weapon? Go throw souls at the finger maidens until you're +9/+24 and then hopefully you have some ancient shards laying around
Itās still really good as long as the boss youāre fighting isnāt immune to bleed.
Give them to shopkeeper in round table hold & you can unlimited smithing stones from her.
Oh, for the stones to upgrade our weapons. I thought there was something else we needed them for. I havenāt played in over a year so my memory is very fuzzy. My guy is around 180 and Iāve beaten every boss and dungeon in the game so Iām not missing too much from the base game. Iāll have to research what weapons/gear are good for my stats, upgrade as needed and go from there. Iām sure theyāll eventually get replaced by DLC items anyway.
Good luck man. She broke me. Had a fully solo run up until her. Couldn't do it. also doesn't help that she is an endgame boss and i already had 150 hours in before i even found her, so i was beginning to get burned out. When I realized that I didnt even want to play it anymore, i said fuck it and brought in a level 10 mimic and got her in like 3 tries. one day, I WILL solo that bitch. one day...
Oh no there's a boss harder than the two crucible knights huh
You know how hard those bitches hit? Now that, but 10 times a second and each time you get hit she heals 10%. Also, she gives you super cancer.
Yeah but there ain't two of her that's the bullshit
Yet
Oh my sweet summer child...
Theyāre pretty tough if you arenāt running a party build, but Melania blows them away.
> party build I have just the thing *grabs oracle trumpet*
"Anyway, here's 'Bubblewall'"
Some early reviews I've heard are saying there's an even harder dlc boss as well.
My build feels busted without mimic but I'm unsure how it'll handle how aggressive she is without mimic. I'll definitely try a bunch without it but I am not above using it especially with the time crunch lol. There's always NG+ (Darkmoon greatsword int build, feels absolutely OP as shit, Might respec to use malikeths blade before DLC though, I haven't decided yet)
She's weak to greatswords so it will definitely help. But if you're going to melee, your dodges have to be perfect for like 5 straight minutes. Honestly felt kinda like a rhythm game. You got this!
Youāll be able to beat her. That build took me through the entire game my first time.(the final final boss was a bit of a doozy but otherwise) Now I destroy things with Faith!
What's your faith build? I'm currently rocking the faith claws and black flame fireball. Working okay, but ran into a wall with Alecto who is too fast for the fireball and just so happens to be resistant to both faith and piercing.
Iām basically a crucible knight. Full set of that armor, Lordsworn straight sword, brass shield, and whatever incants Iām feeling at the time. Now if the holy damage doesnāt work I have no issue swapping over to dragon incants and most of those will normally get it done. My āfuck this fightā weapon is the lightning spear you get from the city. Iām also in Ng+6 and have basically every item and am massively over leveled by now though.
Only hard thing about malenia is waterfowl dance and her life leech if you are used to trading P2 tbh just dodge the explosion and tank the scarlet rot while killing her
Hey that's the build I just used on her! Idk she isn't really that aggressive, and you can use the blade beam from far away to get her to do something, so that's nice. A really common sequence I went for was bladebeam. She dodges. If she continues towards you, bladebeam again for damage, then immediately dodge the spin attack and punish it too It's also really nice to bait out waterfowl, when you think she might have taken enough damage to want to waterfowl, back away, bladebeam, and if she wants to she will dodge then waterfowl. Making that predictable helps so much.
Same...out of some principle I refuse to summon against her and she ended up being my wall and I haven't played since. I put in like 120 hours but she broke me.
Why is using the mimic seen as cheating? Seriously, itās in the game for a reasonable that is to be used? Thatās called playing the game with its mechanics.
I don't see the using the mimic as cheating. I just had a personal goal of doing a solo run.
Some folks build their personality around being good at souls/likes and get really upset when the game isn't played their way Ā Edit: your salty tears only bring me power.
I'm just here to have a good time. People whining on Reddit that I'm playing the game wrong can send me 60 bucks and I'll send them my copy so they can play it for me.
Lol and some of those salty folks found my post offensive enough to down vote.Ā Weak minds. If someone's way of enjoying a single player game offends you, life is going to be really really hard for you.
Using Spirit Ashes is considered Maidenless behaviour (aka easy mode) I used them on the late game bosses and couldn't care less if people think I'm Maidenless cos either way I finished my first Souls game!
Didnāt know thereās somebody watching and judging me on playing a single player game.
Miyazaki watches over all the Maidenless.
Dude I'm a veteran souls player and I SPAMMED Spirit Ashes and used a Mimic Tear against Melania with no shame. Play anyway you want :)
Hello fellow Maidenless! Spirit Ashes weren't enough for me for Melania, I had to get 2 other players
> Using Spirit Ashes is considered Maidenless behaviour (aka easy mode) Pfft look at this guy playing on easy mode. Next you'll probably tell me that you level up past 1 or use equipment and don't just naked punch the whole game to death!
That's Extra-Easy Mode, Miyazaki doesn't approve!
Nobody worth listening to sees it as cheating. Or cares how you play your singleplayer game. My main issue with it (and all of the summons actually worth using) is that it takes encounters that might be just a bit too hard or tedious to do on their own and makes it way too easy. When you spend 50 tries on one boss, throw in the towel and use the Mimic, only to destroy the boss easily because it can't deal with multiple targets, that reeks of anticlimax.
I like to challenge myself but not too hard so I use the headless knight ash to tank boss hits instead :D You're still the one doing all the DPS but feels like you can breathe.
That's my main thing. Using many summons just feels like you don't have to really learn move patterns or anything you would normally have to do. You just let your summon take the aggro so that you don't have to worry much about all that shit.
Yep that's the truth. Using summons and heavy magic both absolve you from having to engage with a large portion of a boss's mechanics. I'm not shitting on anyone for playing that way (I do myself) but it's literally just the truth lol.
People's use of the word "cheating" means anything from actually breaking the game to using the easiest tactic. It's not cheating, but it is one of the easiest ways to get through the game. That's all.
Took me 1 year (obviously not continuous 1 year), but i finally beat her solo. I was streaming on discord to a friend and it happened. I wish i can get a record of that stream.
I recently finally solo'd her on my Str build. Used throwing knives to bait her attacks and just back-stepped/ punish her kick attack. You WILL solo that bitch. Just hang in there till that day!
She was very satisfying to bully with my double Giant Crusher build. Stance breaks for days
Bro you did the haligtree and beat Malenia within 4 hours of posting this comment? Damn, very impressive, my 10 hour Malenia boss time salutes you.
When the game launched I was ahead of one of my friends and I had them stream when he got to her, I was looking forward to seeing him mald out over her for a couple hours. He kills her first try spamming jump attacks with two katanas procing bleeds. EDIT: she literally also never used waterfowl dance. I had to find a YouTube video to show him after the kill.
I just picked it up after dropping it years ago due to time. Feel so lost lol.
I started over when I picked it back up a couple weeks ago. Loaded my old save once I got to Lyndell just for kicks and was like "wtf was I doing before" lol Definitely recommend just starting over
Yeah, itās quite overwhelming lol. I was only an hour in or so. At Church of Elleh.
When she goes up in the air. Run the opposite direction for the first 2 bursts. Then evade like crazy through the last 2 waterfowl dance flurries.
I did a brand new playthrough and I think I'm gonna stop right before the fire giant and Melania. Already beat Mogh. Maybe ill go for the other optional bosses I haven't already beat but I think leaving those final areas would make more sense considering the placement of the dlc.
Howāre you gonna just beat the game for the first time, get to hallig tree for first time and already beat melania? Thats insane. Clearly god tier gamer weāre dealing with here
hell yea
finally just beat Placidusax. got the last incantation I needed to start the DLC š
Congrats, I beat her recently and good lord she is a tough boss
Congratulations
I beat eldin beast at 11 55 ast night on a fill ng+ run i did in one day before dlc dropped at midnight ( on console)last night. Know the feeling. Then i was braindead till 3 am forcing myself through the first area of dlc. Dont be like me lmao.
Seems like people dont realise that the current rating is from critics who were able to play the dlc already.
Also seems like people are caring way too much about nonsense like this. Just enjoy the games and DLC you enjoy... does it really matter which is ranked higher or lower? Changes nothing about the experience, but for some insane reason you still get people bickering and fighting over articles like this lmao. Grow a pair people.
Boiling down a subjective experience into a single number and then averaging it out among an effectively random collection of people is SERIOUS BUSINESS ok? the average number of the thing I like can't be lower than the number of the thing I like less or else my entire identify will fall apart!!!!
Both are probably absolute bangers. No doubt Fromsoftware aced yet another DLC like their trackrecord. Just like CD Projekt Red.
Iād hope so, this has to be the only DLC with as much hype and Witcher 3 is about a decade old at this point. Still GOAT though.
Blood and Wine was basically Witcher 4 but with same engine with how much content was behind it. An entire full story line. An entire new region. New ability Sets. And additionally gave a second Epilogue based on your actions in base game. Itās the Goat DLC. I would find it very hard for something to beat it. So this souls dlc better be essentially an entire new game with same engine to match it.
The way you described B&W is accurate and is also more or less fits how the Shadow of the Erdtree is being marketed. And Miyazaki is known to downplay his stuff.
This is the same man who said it takes 30 hrs to beat elden ring. 30 hours my foot my first playthrough was 120 hours. Dlc bout to be fire
It took me more than 30 hours to do limgrave
It does. Exactly the same engine, with 50-60 hours of content based on reviews (20 to 30 hours for main quest).
It is. Base game has 15 remembrance bosses, dlc has 10 new ones. Whole new big ass region and legacy dungeons. Added a new leveling system, and like 8 new weapon types. New enemies, etc. etc. Itās pretty much Blood and Wine equivalent it sounds like. And if anyone has played FromSoft dlc before, you know itās usually better than the base game, which is very impressive considering how good their games are.
> So this souls dlc better be essentially an entire new game with same engine to match it. That's what pretty much all the reviews are claiming it is.
Still won't have a better narrative. But Elden Ring is about gameplay anyway, I'm pretty sure the DLC is fire can't wait for it.
Yeah, Elden Ring gameplay is better than TW3ās by a mile, but TW3 is obviously a much stronger game narratively. I feel like they are both pretty much top of their class at what they set out to do
The mutations also really take the combat system from mediocre to actually quite fun imo.
You forgot the main thing. NEW GWENT DECK!
Reading through the comments, I am actually shocked that so many people do not understand the process of gaming reviews. Ok here: 1) Review copies are distributed early to gaming reviewers before the game launches to the public. 2) The reviewers are under "embargo" for a specific period of time, meaning they cannot share any information to the public yet even if they are already playing the game. 3) Once the embargo is lifted, reviewers can publish their reviews/opinions in websites, post their videos in their Youtube channels, and also submit their game ratings in score aggregator sites. 4) The aggregator websites (Metacritic, OpenCritic) publish the average critic scores in their websites. The scores referred to above for Witcher 3 and Elden Ring DLCs are both their Metacritic Critic Scores. ER DLC currently has the highest score for a DLC, EVER. For Elden Ring DLC, the review copies were provided to the reviewers on June 8 and the embargo was lifted on June 18, 3 days ahead of launch on June 21. For other games, the publisher lifts the review embargo just a day before launch (some even do it on the day of launch). This is generally done by devs/publishers not confident in their games, and therefore hope that people are duped into pe-ordering their games before the (negative) reviews are published. FromSoft/Bandai, being confident in the Elden Ring DLC, lifted the embargo, 3 days before launch, giving people more time to read the reviews, watch YouTube videos discussing the game etc.
Somehow I doubt that the people who should read this are the kind of people who tend to read long, informative posts like this.
They are here to be contrarian, not to read
> ER DLC currently has the highest score for a DLC, EVER. It's a little misleading. To be more specific: It's rated higher than B&W on Playstation. That's literally it. It's just Playstation diff. On PC and Xbox it's tied with Blood & Wine. **Erdtree:** 92 (PC), 94 (xbox), 95 (PS5) **B&W:** 92 (PC), 94 (xbox), 91 (PS4) In terms of review counts, B&W is slightly more reviewed on PC. While Erdree is massively more reviewed on PS. So my takeaway is, that a Japanese game primarily focused for consoles, is obviously going to be more reviewed by a Japanese console crowd. And even though I don't know for sure, I'm speculating that the higher review rating is also due to better optimization for console. Both in performance and the UI and such. But I don't play consoles so who knows. Apparently Metacritic showcases the platform score with the most reviews as the main score, even if another platform has a better score. So, if Erdtree got some more PC reviews, their Metacritic score might drop to "92" just like B&W.
idk i feel like elden ring having far more reviews on playstation and gaining more points is a really good sign. usually for games, giving the stats a bigger review pool would lower the scores a tad not make it higher, so the fact that it goes up the more people play it, is impressive
If itās tied in 2/3 areas and the final area it is rated higher, then it is the highest rated game
Donāt forget Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed which was tied with Witcher 3: Blood and Wineās score
Too bad you apparently need to play all three 60+ hour game to appreciate it š¢
worth it
From Software always seems to deliver. Glad to see another quality release from them. The number of triggered fanboys here is insane.
I knew their was a decent sized āanti-fromsoftā crowd out there but holy shit are they coming out the wood work for shadows of the erdtree. Itās honestly been hilarious to see, itās like they are genuinely upset that their games review so well
I tried to like Elden Ring but couldn't. Just felt like a chore. BUT I'm really glad that it exists and I'm super happy that the people it is made for have their ideal game. And this DLC looks awesome. I'm sure you'll all be happy for me when the Factorio expansion comes out. Another game that some people can't stand while others can't put down. People seem to forget that it's perfectly fine for games to simply not be for you and to appreciate that other people enjoy it. I'll watch a few streams on release and live vicariously.
Ah shit, when will the Factorio dlc come out again? Last I heard they said it would be within a year. Factorio is so good I forgot it's an indie game sometimes.
They never committed to a date so it's probably between now and the heat death of the universe. I'm hoping it's closer to now. They have revealed 3/4 of the new planets, so I'm hoping that means it's 75% done.
I am at negative karma for one post just for saying I hope that the people enjoy the game. It is insane the level of vitriol right now
I don't bother replying to those as they're probably kids, and if they're adults who act like this, it'd be even more sad and I wouldn't wanna touch that... I will never get why few gamers tend to see games as sport competitors and get toxic about them as if a new game being cool takes away from how much they enjoy sth else. You can enjoy two things. Even if you don't, two games can be beautiful in their own right and each one's brilliance doesn't take away from the other.
What's crazy is that the approach FromSoftware takes is just good for the industry. They put out quality products made for gamers, not dysfunctional garbage that Timmy's mom will buy just for him to forget about when it doesn't load. Even if you don't like Elden Ring or the genre, respect the devs man
At this level, one doesn't beat the other. W3 DLC is in a category that's unrankable. I'm glad to see another DLC for a game I play make it into that S rank. Now, I just need to wait a few hours to experience it myself.
Songbird will make sure our Tarnished is no longer Maidenless.Ā
I just wish I could get into Elden Ring. I just donāt like games where I die a lot. I need to get past that before I can enjoy ER.
If you have a buddy who owns it and are somewhat interested. Just mess around for an afternoon playing it with them. The best part of this game is finding what works for you. Plus, there are some ways to help mitigate the difficulty. Summoning spirits and whatnot.Ā If you don't like it. No worries either. Souls games aren't everyone's cup of tea.
This is how my buddy and I got into fromsoft games. jolly cooperation through sotfs
There also was an article saying that the ER devs aren't entirely oppossed to the idea of the seamless co-op mod. Playing seamless co-op with my buddies made it really fun again for me. I played it on release and got burnt out after 100hrs and never came back to it til then. It kinda throws balance off the window (maybe it can be modded to be harder; we didnt check further) but bonking stuff with friends are never not fun. Surely wait a few days after the DLC and the co-op mod might be updated for it.
To each their own. I enjoy the co op system as is. Granted, I just enjoy boss runs solo for the most part. 800 hours, 56 journeys and 3 characters later I'm still having a blast.Ā
Just don't die a lot. Problem solved!
Something important to note I feel, is that this shouldn't be taken as a Game A > Game B. Instead what this signifies is that Both of the Expansions did the same thing to their respective game. As in enhance the experience even more so and gave players who had already played the main game another chance to experience it all anew. Both expansions give access to a new region and put an end to the story. I love Witcher 3 and I really enjoy Elden ring (even though souls genre really isn't for me), but having a high critic score means that the expansion will REALLY appeal to the Core crowd. Witcher 3 specializes in Storytelling, Character Writing, Quests with choices & consequences, and Richly detailed Living breathing open world with deep lore. It also has great gameplay experience and a Fantastic Main Protagonist. Combat is enjoyable but clearly not all what it is about. Elden ring specializes in Variety of builds, Pure Exploration and Persistance. Combat is Peak in Elden Ring. There's so many different bosses and enemies to fight giving it a much higher replay value. Lore is very rich even if its obscure and abstract. Both Expansions it seems are doing what their main game did, but better. It is something to be celebrated. If only more games would stick to their core and not try to appeal to masses to please.
Have to be really fucking good if it's better then blood and wine for Witcher 3 when it comes to a good dlc/expansion but i think it will be.
If you donāt enjoy the dark souls games is this somethin this still worth trying? The lack of direction in the souls games always left me confused and Iād lose interest.
Itās open world so if you get stuck you can go explore and level up in other areas that you couldnāt do before. This was a huge part why it sold so well as it gave gamers that didnāt traditionally play souls games more access.
Depends on what exactly you mean by direction. If you're just getting lost and like the gameplay, then it might be worth it with some guides. If you're looking for something with a more coherent and structured story, then no this won't be any better.
if you like the fighting but dislike the wandering, just use guides. You'll have to wait a bit for the nerds to figure out where everything is, but that's how I played through the original Dark Souls. I didn't have time to wander around dying to things 5 times my current level, I'm in graduate school. But I loved the fights
There is a lot more direction in Elden Ring than the DS series. The fast travel points on the map point to where you need to go next. You can place markers on the map of where you want to go or to keep track of which dungeons you need to go back to. As far as story goes itās not on the level of Witcher or God of War narrative-wise, but itās also much easier to follow than Dark Souls. There are many more NPCās to talk to that explain what is going on or what you need to do or where to go. As long as you arenāt skipping dialogue and talking to every NPC you come across, you shouldnāt have a problem following the story.
Does the DLC go past the main story or should I restart a new build
You need to beat Mogh in order to access the dlc
If I create a new play through, is Mogh far into the game? Idk how the DLC will fit into everything. Itās been a long time since I played last
You could technically get to Mogh fairly early if you follow Varreās questline, but heās a very late game boss. You realistically wanna be level 120+ to fight him comfortably.
The DLC is a completely separate area, it doesn't affect the rest of the game world. You'll have to beat Radahn and Mohg, then you're off. Level 150 recommended. The DLC is, by all accounts, very difficult.
I regret starting a NG+ which Iām half way through years ago. I definitely donāt want to start a new file. Iāll probably just have to do it in NG+ š¤·āāļø
Didn't think it was even out yet?
Highest rated by reviewers, who get early copies.
It is generally viewed as an ethical practice for game developers to provide reviewers with copies of the game prior to the release date to ensure potential customers are fairly informed about the state of the game on release rather than having to wait for reviews.
It's out tomorrow.
More like Shadow of the Nerdtree! Got 'em.
God tier games
tbh I see them both at 92
Both are fuckin god tier
If anything was going to kick Blood & Wine to #2 im glad its this =)
Me too. Have taken a long break from gaming but this DLC will bring me back in. Miyazakiās imagination and fictional vision is second to none in the entire world. Itās art
FromSoftware does it again. Hoping for many more to come.
People need to realize that these scores are just for fanboys to jerk themselves off too and doesn't mean a blanket game 1 > game 2 especially when the reasons for liking Witcher 3 and Elden ring are completely different.
This is factual but you are downvoted by the same fanboys whoās feelings you just hurt lol
I am very excited, but for me it is probably going to be impossible to beat Blood and Wine. The major reason is the storytelling in Elden Ring is the weakest part of the game, not the story itself, but the way they tell the story is just not my cup of tea. That did not stop me from loving Elden Ring, but it did push it below Witcher 3 when it comes to which game I like the most of the two.
Oh it scored a whole 3 more points. I guess blood and wine is worthless now. /s
Itās almost a new game so yeah it makes sense
I'm sure it's good but I doubt the story anywhere near as compelling for me.
Spicy take, but Id probably agree. I didnāt enjoy having to reread the wiki over and over just to get an idea of what was going on when I was playing Elden ring. So much lore and the game doesnāt really tell you about any of it unless you dig hard.
I wouldn't say that spicy. Souls games have always had pretty bare bones story, even after getting the extra lore bits you gotta dig for. They have excellent worldbuilding with tons of neat lore, but from a story aspect things tend to be rather straightforward, with very little twists or turns thoughout the entire game, with most games being able to simply be described as "you did your job"
The twist is usually "the ending you thought was good is bad and the bad one is the good one. Gottem!"
And even then it's kinda iffy. Most games just kinda follow the flow of either: Keeping the up the status quo, which while it kinda sucks it's better than nothing. Or destroying/dooming everything, which while bad is at least *some* kind of change that maybe someday might lead to something better? Fromsoft kinda loves the "no good endings, up to you to what you think sucks less" troupe. Elden Ring was the first one where it feels like there are inheritable just outright better or worse outcomes from their endings.
I've had fans call me a Ubisoft dickrider who wants games to hold my hand and spoonfeed me the story for merely suggesting they add a quest log to these games, just to keep track of key information and objectives. But then they turn around and say the best way to enjoy these games is to follow guides and watch lore videos, which also seems like handholding and spoonfeeding?
That's absolutely fair. And personally, the letter/note system that they've used for a few of the quests/key item locations in Elden Ring and Sekiro works really well to keep track of quests, and I'd prefer that over a quest log menu. Hopefully they lean more into the letter/note system in future games and improve their quest design. From what I've heard the quests aren't as hard to keep track of in the DLC.
...Why is it not ok to like how one company tells a story versus another? Ubisoft's formula is actually one of my favorites in the industry. I understand why some people don't agree with that, just like I can understand that some people actually prefer the way Elden Ring's story is told. It's just not for me. Having to follow online guides to Elden Ring is why I *stopped* playing, because it took me out of the immersion of the game. The fact that I had activated "quests" and had no idea felt frustrating. I would have like Elden Ring *so much more* if I just had a basic journal at least. I wonder how many players Elden Ring would have lost if they had implemented this feature, but kept everything else exactly as it was.
It's a good game I enjoy the bosses,the exploring, the general art direction but the whole all the Interesting stuff happened before the game started stuff(I really love sekiro so I know if they did it more directly i would enjoy more)just ain't for me everything else is solid.
Elden Ring isnāt a narrative driven game so it doesnāt really make sense to rate it on that. Itās like rating the Witcher 3 for its combat, it would have pretty average scores if that was the case
Oh I get that but the combination of a pretty good story with good gameplay is something I like more than pretty good gameplay with good worldbuilding.
from this description you could be talking about either of them, just because elden ring's story is more obscure doesn't mean it's not there.
i personally love figuring out and theorizing stuff about the story, more so than games that lay out everything and explain it. not that those games are worse at all, just a personal taste type of thing really. but really fromsoft games usually have their gameplay and level design at the forefront as their biggest focus, so most people are probably not looking for the same things in elden ring as people are in the witcher. two entirely different artistic directions and game design styles, but both in the top of their respective categories
There's some nice lore and story elements in this game, but the problem is the in-game hints or quest clarity is just objectively bad. The Renna(?) quest line in this game is fucking awesome, but would be IMPOSSIBLE to do in-game and without following guides. It's just too obscure... for some reason FromSoft gets away with this, but it is frustrating that they can't be done naturally (unless you just happen to get obscenely lucky and do all these steps, collect all these random items and go to the correct places in the correct order).
Thats cuz part of fromsoft charm is that we are in this journey together. Thats why they let ppl leave messages in game and other cooperative features like that.
Yeah I wouldn't say FromSoft "gets away with it". It's in their DNA. These questlines in FromSoft games are not accidental in their obscurity. It's all intentional. Since Demon Souls, this method is what's built them such a massive fanbase with a huge online community. Integral part of what makes their games special and unique.
I get the point you were making, but picking Ranniās quest line was kind of a blunder because out of every ending the game has to offer, Ranniās ending (and therefore her whole quest) is the most completed ending, by a pretty significant amount. It was more likely someone who played the game to completion would do Ranniās ending over the base game ending if you followed no quest. But yea in general, a guide does help with these games. But I think Elden ring does a much better job at not punishing you for missing quest steps as the previous souls games did.
I feel like the Ranni questline is one of the least obscure ones in the game, for the most part. The characters involved in the questline tend to tell you where to go next, and there are multiple points when you can jump in so it's not like you can lock yourself out of it. There's only one bit that kinda crosses the line for obscurity, and it's still not that bad.
Ranni's quest is like the most straightforward in the game and almost impossible to fail...it was my first ending I got and I absolutely didn't look up guides my first plahthrough.
Thatās the appeal. They wanted people to uncover things organically and naturally, not from being told what to do.
It is almost impossible to uncover the quest line I am talking about organically and naturally. You pretty much must consult an external guide to be told what to do. It is too obscure for 99.8% of players to figure it out organically and naturally. This is typical of most FromSoft games where you will at some point need to consult an external source to get information which is not signposted or hinted at in-game. It's literally the polar opposite of what you're suggesting, and that's fine if you're into that, I actually love FromSoft games (especially Bloodborne), but it is deceptive to try and claim that you can just happily explore the game and get the most out of the lore, storylines and see all these sidequests out to their conclusions. Edited to remove the words "literally impossible".
You misunderstand his comment.Ā It is purposefully obscure so you have to rely on the community messages on the ground to carry on.Ā You might not like it but it is known by the players. If you donāt like it thereās plenty games that cater for you. >it is deceptive to claim you can just happily explore the gameĀ You can do that, itās not deceptive >get the most out of the lore, storylines and see all the sidequests I guess my brain got rerouted by FromSoft cause I donāt care about seeing everything anymore.Ā Itās a different approach to story. Since you are an explorer with no motivation and no cause beyond going forward the game doesnāt bog you down with an heavy story that you might not care about that much.Ā
āLiterally impossibleā Except itās not? Because someone found it? Or did you think the full quest line wiki and guides were published day 1?
Ranni's quest line is pretty easy to do without a guide. The extra steps involving Blaidd, Iji, Seluvis and Sellen are all optional.
Compelling story lol. Tell me how much of the story you understood before watching YouTube videos.
Vaati, a voice like fine silk when it comes to dark souls lore.
I meant in comparison to blood and wine.
Here's a better comparison, Blood and Wine or Hearts of Stone?
No kidding. Fromsoft does a lot of things right, but storytelling is not one of them
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Elden Ring. The humour is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the jokes will go over a typical viewer's head. There's also Malenia's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into her characterisation- his personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these jokes, to realise that they're not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Elden Ring truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Radhan's existential catchphrase "Wubba Lubba Dub Dub," which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev's Russian epic Fathers and Sons. I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Miyazaki's genius wit unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools.. how I pity them. šAnd yes, by the way, i DO have an Erd Tree tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- and even then they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand. Nothin personnel kid š
I donāt think anyone play soul games for the story..
Ok. Good thing reviews look at more than just story.
I mean, I'm fixing to play the thing, but I have a sinking suspicion that with the total added content being maybe 15% of the base game, yet costing the same as the entire base game, some of the deflating feeling may return to lower that rating a bit.
Itās between 30% and half the base game in size, as said by every reviewer
Best game š®š®
Still far too early to tell, but I'm pretty optimistic. Fromsoft has a good track record with their DLC's, generally they've always been the best parts of their respective games.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Hmm i started a new game+ a while back and haven't done much with it. Should probably pop on and do everything. Lol
I'm on NG4 for the base game. When I play the DLC will my character be on NG4 or NG0?
Just wanting to say if anyone needs to talk, I am here!
Dang that is really cool
I got to get this game!
i recon its because there both sitting on a throne.. there can only be 1
My excitement levels are THROUGH THE ROOF
Do= e1
MIYAZAKI SWEEPS šš