My only complain is that some areas seemed too underused for its massive size. Even though the Abyssal Woods is my fav area in all of ER but it looked kind of empty besides the Manse. I just feel there could have been one extra catacombs or something there. As I'm writing this: can you imagine going into a Catacombs inside that place? Holy f**k
I didn't mind Gaius too much. Of course, dodging that rush is IMPOSSIBLE, it can't be done intentionally, but after that I just glued myself to his side and it wasn't too bad. Radahn on the other hand is deliciously difficult. I've beaten him 5x now, four of those were via Reduvia spam and just the last time was with dual God Skin Peelers and it takes HOURS each time. I compare it to the ones before it though. The hardest bosses on Bloodborne and DS3 were on the DLC and they were FAR AND AWAY more difficult than the base game bosses for the most part. I would have been disappointed if they didn't have at least one truly ridiculously hard boss on SOTE and I was not disappointed at all.
Very good points! Yeah his hitbox is very much off on the charge lol Radahn is intentionally crazy, but I got a lot of ppl only using shield poke for him. I’ll try something different on my fourth run here soon.
@@AverageGamerMatt There's an aow called Raptors of the Mists. It literally lets you dodge anything. I use it for Radahn's big explosion so I can keep hitting him until the last second. Probably would work nice on Gaius' nasty rush.
Artorias, Crown of the Sunken/Ivory/Old Iron Kings, Ariandel, Ringed City, Old Hunters. Fromsoft has always made DLCs harder than the base games and its awesome.
Yep they have! Ringed city & old hunters is amazing. But I’m still seeing many people quit or leave before beating ER’s DLC, so I figured I’d address it.
@@AverageGamerMatt Is anything in the DLC as PTSD triggering as the God damn snow Reindeer from Ivory King Dark Souls 2 DLC? The absolute worst boss run back and terrible jank boss in the entire series!
@@AverageGamerMatt people today just want their hand held for everything. Nobody knows how to overcome a challenge anymore. I mean they give you all the tools you need in the game to defeat any boss including the final one. I will agree though that the final boss was maybe very slightly over the top in its 2nd and 3rd phase
One of my biggest gripes was the Map. Finding the abyssal woods map and the Ruah ruins map was damn near impossible to do on a blind run!!! And yeah, i’ve never struggled in a souls game like i have in the DLC. If you’re not like INSANELY good at the game, spirits are basically required
@@no_Body2121 I mean I did it solo & I’m average lol but yes I agree it’s very difficult. The map had a few weird design choices for sure, the abyssal woods is also very empty when you get there.
Spoiling the final fight and seeing the builds used to cheese the last boss confirmed that Elden Ring is the most jRPG of the souls games. Polar opposite of Sekrio. Skill matters, but your build and stats almost make or break fights. One character build could struggle heavily while another could literally face tank the entire DLC and be almost brain dead easy (looking at you Ironjar + Malenia rune builds)
While that’s true (spoiler warning was in this video), it leans to very specific builds. I only made this in response to people hanging up ER’s DLC after beating it once or not finishing it. Seems to be a trend.
@TheKingofRedLightning Still not as insane as 1 HP Bloodborne Chalice dungeons. But yeah, I can see how people would be turned off if their build gets crushed by Radahan like a Bulldozer driving over a watermelon.
I think most people want variety though, Sekiro is the DDR of Souls games and is just a simple memory game on learning attack patterns and there is not much leeway on playstyles, fun if you are into that, but boring as batshit if you are not.
Completely agree. I beat the base game 4 times with 4 different builds and played around with 4 others. I like fighting the fights again in different ways. Build variety is a strength of the game, but not in the dlc. In the dlc I was forced into a build and forced to go on a scadutree scavenger hunt. If I have to play a build I already played and find things I already found why would I want to replay? I don’t, and probably won’t.
I don’t blame you lol it’s a great dlc but it’s got issues for sure. If they did some boss balancing & new weapon buffs that would help its replay value.
After being excited for dlc for so long(watching all ur videos leading up till the dlc for months) i was absolutely hyped and was having a blast until i hit rellana. I took a break and my friend spoiled the final boss for me by accident (he was nonstop grinding) i continued playing despite this but now im away and cant play ER for 2 months and the spoilers keep coming😢. I gave up and moved to other games sadly but might come back in the future.
I’ll say this with the note that I have had to play very slowly due to having a family of four and not much time to play, one of my proudest video game moments was beating slave knight gael after summoning someone who died instantly. He took multiple days for me to beat. I had to play smart and attack at the right moments. I have not felt that this dlc is over my ability. I summon mimic or other people to help me for the first times I beat these bosses and it has been enjoyable. Im not the best at games but I see the bar Fromsoft has raised and I look to achieve it. I haven’t beat half the bosses in the dlc yet but look forward to it. I am at the point in the main game where I just reached the mountain tops of the giants so I can’t rely on great artifacts yet which causes me to play with dlc weapons that I feel are fun and able to beat some bosses with. Keep up the great content man! I feel like the prep for the dlc has ruined some people’s initial play through but that’s just me 🤘
@@AverageGamerMatt I completely agree. A handful of dlc weapons that are better or balanced with the main game would be nice. A final weapon from the final boss that is better than blasphemous blade would have been awesome. We just need some more balancing. Either way man I appreciate the awesome videos! You have grown to be one of my favorite elden ring content creators
i agree 100%. As a pretty mid souls player the reason i loved the base game was because i could still learn bosses without having to use broken builds. but the dlc bosses just feel like too much for me. my two favorite bosses, Midra and Bayle, are locked behind two pretty huge optional areas. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, these areas felt just a little bit bland. Their designs are absolutely phenomenal, but it just feels like there's not much else to do in them than run to the boss. Still a 10/10
I though the DLC was pretty good on my 1st play through, the bosses were just a reminder that it is a souls game and not another basic RPG, The map was unique and beautiful, the only problem was replayability and having to venture far for 1 boss fight, also the last boss fight was kinda disappointing and weird, Radahn should of been where Needle Knight Leda was and we could have fought something new
I agree with most of your takes but I thought that that radahn was definitely beatable even as an average player. I beat it by using impaling thrust on a cold Milady and defense talismans. I’d suggest trying it to anyone struggling with the final boss that doesn’t wanna use summons or a shield poke build.
I got close to finishing DLC with a NG3 build, but the grind grew tedious, so I packed up the new weapons and started a base game NG4 just to have some fun. Currently sitting on a NG2 in the DLC, but the base game keeps dragging me back and I finally beat the game on NG7 and have started an NG8.
One more thought…. FromSoft Please rework the spell casting system !! How many times do I need to recast golden vow while trying to cast Discus of light haha 😂
I love the DLC, and yeah i have to agree about the weapons just not being that great compared to the base game. Perfume bottles were wayyy too overpowered but i don't think think they should've been nerfed as bad as they were. The kung fu weapons are extremely fun to use too but they just don't compare to alot of the main game weapons like you were saying. The scadutree fragments were a great addition, just wish they could've added 10 more so you don't have to look up a guide to find the last two, just like how golden seeds were implemented in the base game. The last criticism would be the amount out items to pick up that are a smithing stone 2 or something else underwhelming (don't get me started on the cookbooks). But overall I love pretty much everything else about the DLC including a few new favorite bosses. Midra, Messmer, Bayle and Gaius. I know alot of people hated Gaius but for some reason i find that boss super fun besides the charge attack. The difficulty is pretty damn good though. I think the people that say it's too hard need to get more scadutree fragments and explore more.
Fair points! Yeah Gaius’ hitbox I can’t stand lol agreed on the smithing stones, you could go through a whole dungeon just to get 1 & some random items.
I still have trouble with melania to this day but I beat messemer in under 20 tries. I think what parts are difficult just depends on the person and I’m aware I spelled their names wrong.
I did notice this as I was nearing the end of the DLC. The game reeeeeeeeally wanted you to change your play style to something like a Shield Poke, or Ultimate Kamehameha. I was able to power through and just learn the final fight, which was great fun. IDK, too hard? Meh, not as binary as that. The builds DO get funneled a bit more though
Ive played through the game 3 times now, i've more or less had to go to shield poke in each play-through. Sad, still fun but the over-tuned bosses forced me there. Get gud you say? I have 2500 hours in Elden Ring, Im not going to get any better.
0 replayability, as u said around 10 viable weapons and most others are trash, exploration and loot sucks compared to base game, content is decent but still lacking since we waited 2 years only to get underwhelming weapons, too much empty area and for areas that are actually not empty the loot is mostly useless (crafting books and smithing stones...), this is not a 10 out of 10 game at all as this dlc just feels disapointing for the most part. Im a huge fan of the base game but this dlc is really not to the same level. So sad to see people keep jerking off about the difficulty as it is the least concerning flaws of this dlc for me, look like its only purpose is to overshadowing all the others issue i mentioned above. I would even go further and say that sadly the difficulty is the only content we really received here.
Yeah they messed up the new weapons for sure. Replay value is an issue. The only difference for me is it’s a 10/10 because it has better quality than most other single player games. It’s still got some amazing bosses, dungeons & locations.
I’m seriously enjoying the journey of the DLC and still on my first playthrough. Owning a business etc just doesn’t allow for marathon playthroughs. However, the fact that I can’t wait to get on and do my next planned run says alot about Elden Ring and the DLC it’s just excellent! Yep 10/10. This build will goto NG+ and will be starting a completely new one when time permits. Like any great game there will be highs and lows but the DLC is good value for what you get in the package.
The DLC is not harder than anything you would have to deal with in the base game save for the final boss. People who complain about the difficulty got carried by meta builds in the base game and never learned how to properly fight anything legit. When the game throws something that their build can't deal with quickly, they fall apart because they never developed the skills they should already have.
@@AverageGamerMatt The final boss is indeed too much and commander pig man is primarily just hitbox issues. From can easily fix both by making phase 2 of the final boss easier to see and fix the hitbox problems of commander pig man. For everything else? None of them are harder than the bosses you've already fought. I was actually disappointed when I fought Rellana because of all the hype people gave her on release. Then I discovered that you can duel her pretty consistently and has so many roll windows. She wasn't Malenia 2.0 in the slightest. Ulcerated taught you how to deal with Dancing Lion. Placidusax taught you how to deal with Bayle. Maliketh taught you how to deal with Messmer. Etc.
@@1wayroad935 A wonderful place with flying cars, space ships that can travel at light speed, and never hearing about my cars extended warranty anymore from spam callers?
Here's my thoughts on the points in this video, love to hear other peoples thoughts: 1. Replay value I agree that there's little replay value, but not because it has very little weapons to play with but because it's a journey and a half to play through the dlc again without going through the base game again or powering through ng+. I've gotten my time to around 5-6 hours to get to mohg (without varre's questline and not being incredibly underleveled) and honestly it has become a chore to want to do a "this" or "that" playthrough in the dlc (I am now resorting to doing a full complete playthrough of the game, and having a backup to reload going forward). I personally feel like most weapons are good, but that may be because the appeal to me is finding new weapons and making them work with my current build or with a respec, so the idea of something being 'op' or 'viable' doesn't matter unless it's absolutely bad (which are like 1 or 2 weapons for me in the dlc excluding gimmick weapons/bows). I also feel like what this dlc does well with its weapons is implement items that compliment builds going into ng+ and doing a full 2nd playthrough with your new goodies (e.x death knight armor/spells complimenting a dragon cult build) or create entirely new playstyles with the thrusting shields for example (i know people use the shield poke for it, but I have found a lot of fun in its abilitiy to black while doing a r1 or charged r2) I also think a major thing people are forgetting is the crafting system. there are greases that give a pretty good boost to elemental damage and every boss has something they are weaker to (except radahn's 2nd phase iirc). These are a HUGE help to any quality builds AND you no longer need a faith requirment for golden vow of all things since it comes in the form of a tool now. What I love about this dlc is that it makes you use everything at your disposal and you can definitely trudge along, exploring very little for scautree fragments, weapons with alternate damage source, etc or you can explore and find things that have their use in some way or another 2. Too difficult? I think it's definitely difficult before getting a level 5 or so scadutree blessing level. Things HURT but they definitely become manageable after a while. I think there are many people who are relying on base game builds because there is SOOOO much information out there for it with build guides and everything and while those things can definitely carry over, a lot of the new weapons have some really decent ashes of war and talismans that compliment them (such as rellanas cameo opening up quite a bit of build variety, people are just unsure what works with it or if its even all that good). People relying on shield poke/faith: I think this has always been the "cheesy" way to play the game, its not new and has only soared in popularity because of radahn videos out there showing that you can easily beat him with it, and there's definitely nothing wrong with using them. Most enemies and bosses are new, and I think people are using this as a learning method but once it clicks I feel like people will start relying less and less on them. Take melania for example, once considered the hardest boss, almost everyone used tiche and a bonk build at the very beginning, but as time went on and information got out there as to how to dodge waterfowl, we saw less and less of that. I think the best way I can describe this dlc, is that every enemy feels like a black knight, but die more and learn more and eventually they become just another enemy lol. or every boss is a malenia, hard at first, but with some patience (and maybe some googling) it becomes more managable like most bosses. for anyone curious, I beat radahn at level 165 with a strength/faith (something like 65str/30faith) and using the death knight longhaft axe and beat him a 2nd time with freyjas greatsword. Most of my failed atempts were from trying to be really flashy with avoiding his hits with the death knight skill lol 3. The DLC Boss fored many people into certain playstyle The above points 4. Bayle point I agree that there ABSOLUTELY should be a lock on for the body. I also agree with a point that another person has said in another video: Bayle is essentially a gimmick fight in disguise. While I don't think it forces you to use pest threads, it definitely leans on you to use the dragon katana, but touching on a point made earlier, there is dragon communion grease to help with that and if your weapons can't be buffed there are those dragon spears that you can use if you think you're doing too little. So again, I absolutely feel like it's a gimmick fight in disguise, but there are tools at your disposal to help with that, I think people just overlook these things since they weren't very prevelant in the base game. As with most bosses, there will always be an easier method (malenia with tiche/bonk, any boss with a shield, any giant boss with ancient dragon lightining, etc) and I think bayles is pest threads. 5. Phase 2 Radahn: I really don't think this fight only has one viable build, I just think people are still learning the fight and dodge methods. I ABSOLUTELY agree though that it asks too much from a player which is why people might steer into one of those builds. There is hardly any room to learn and say "i died because of this" Did I dodge too early? Did I dodge too late? Am I supposed to dodge in a certain way? etc. And not to mention the visual clutter that makes it hard to see his next attacks. I feel like this fight has players mostly rely on internal timings instead of the usual visual/audio/count cue due to the high visual clutter (funnily enough, the easiest attack for me to dodge is his meteor into hologram attack since it's always avoiding the final hit, moving to the side, waiting a tiny bit then dodging and funnily enough this is one of the only moves that you're not up close to him to be blinded). My ideas on how to improve this fight? perhaps change the beam model to a more translucent or transparent color, perhaps even making it a ground aoe much like Midra's flame path attack that he does, it just doesnt work with the camera being behind you and being flashbanged every attack, especially with its design favoring a aggressive bait and hit playstyle. I think with beating him twice, it has only made me want to beat him more, I can't remember the last time I felt so much adrenaline over a challenge, which I think definitely sucks the fun out a bit, but in turn places a whole other feeling of accomplishment when you do beat him (definitely a double-edged sword, I've seen people talk about how they just felt unsatsfied with beating him with shield/poke, and to that I say google and learn his fight, it truly becomes very exhilarating)
I am literal trash and tried variety of weapons etc and managed without using cheese dashed builds like bleed etc. I really am considerably below average. It just isn't too hard, its tuned about right, even better since the latest patch.
My main issue with the DLC are the unnecessarily complicated zone maps. Even on my second play through I am still confused about which way to go to reach a certain area. I didn't mind the harder boss fights except for Radhan second phase. It felt way too difficult and confusing. Another thing I didn't like was the mandatory jump puzzle. On console I have to press 3 buttons to do a sprint run jump and unfortunately I only have 2 hands.
I struggled on the general until I swapped strats. I managed to kill the General by using a lance and just charging into him. Stunned him twice, then he died.
Additionally it took me 10 hours to beat Malenia. Then only 6 for Consort. I was struggling with consort until I started parrying him then it kind of became brain dead.
I’d agree although the commander hitbox & final boss could have adjustments. Either way, seeing a lot of people leave before beating it or not replaying it like the base game. So I figured I’d address some of the community feedback.
I've completed the DLC 3 times now, twice on base game and once on NG+1 (I have completed the base game multiple times on +7 difficulty). The DLC is definitely much more difficult than the base game late areas, but I actually think thats due to the normal enemies being overtuned. Things like the revenant enemies do more damage than bosses it feels especially in NG+. I also feel like there are waaaaay too many grab attacks from normal enemies. I agree with the comments on last boss P2 being overtuned. I had to use a mimic on it in NG+ (after not using any apart from that) as I didnt have the patience to try and play perfectly. I did say after completing the DLC the first time that I didnt want to ever play it through again... but then I did...
I think they intentionally made things as hard as they are. But I can say I started a new character in base game to get into the dlc fresh instead of level 250. And the enemies in the base game feel Soo much easier on new game vs new game+ dlc lol But I think the difficulty was intentional for players who aren't challenged by base game anymore. Since they won't add any more content, it makes sense to me.
I really wanted to use all the new weapons and ashes, but also switched back to BB. It is just no fun to enter a boss arena with 2300 HP and only defensive talismen and get one shot after 1 second. Even if you want to use summons you hardly can. I just finished NG+7, but it was no fun at the end....btw, i was rushing through the base game lately, and tried all the new stuff there. Thx for your honest review
BTW... if you want to see how real build variety looks like, have a look at Remnant 2. Although the latest DLC there really also lead players into 2 meta builds. However, there is still room to vary classes and waepons in such a great details, it is pure fun.
What i love about the dlc is that you can't just jump in with a super op weapon and dominate like you can in the base game (bb is the only one i can think of) even with the bb it's still a learning curve, the messmar fight is absolutely brilliant i loved learning his moves etc
I've beat the DLC several times with different builds. The only boss I re-spec'd for every time was the final boss. Every time I swapped to great shield + Antspur. I look at it as a gimmick fight like Rykard. Sure, you "can" beat Rykard without the Serpent Hunter, but it's a pain to do so. Same logic for Radhan Prime for me. There's a lot of cool gear in the DLC, but like you said, like 90% just doesn't compare to the base game. The new armor fashion is cool, and I've found some new weapons that work well with my builds, but some stuff just feels like "not as good as what I already have, so why bother?" That said, Elden Ring is still my favorite game. The most fun I've been having so far is seeing how the new weapons do in the base game.
Great stuff Matt. I’ve been a little bummed by how unrefined the DLC is. Not just what you’ve laid out, but basic world exploration stuff, like on one hand telling you to play non-linear and go find scadutree fragments, and then making it ridiculously easy to break questlines because you explored non-linear. It sucks that for my first playthrough I had to choose between avoiding guides and ruining questlines. It’s way more egregious than in the base game.
So I'm a fucking nutball who what's to do a playthrough for each weapon and spell type. That totaled to 50 playthroughs with the help of some cosplay or gimmick builds. After 6 playthroughs of the DLC(only beat consort twice rn) I will say that if you could beat Malinia with it, you can beat the DLC with as far as weapon choice and build choice goes. And on the topic of NG+7. Only like 3 or 4 setups are strong at NG+7 in the base game so will also have a small list. Jumping bleed, BB, Shield poke are some of the only builds with that high of a power level. With BB being the most popular as it needs no setup to be strong. I don't mind that Radahn is the final boss. The base game mad it VERY clear Godwin is not coming back. Mending rune of the death prince and the ghost at the end of castle sol spell it out pretty well. Plus I always wanted to fight a prime Radahn and now I have my wish. The final boss is hard to learn but so was Malenia, and fighting her is fun now.
It’s true it is very hard. That said, I think more of the issue is from “over leveling” of player characters. What I mean is, it was obviously difficult to make a game equally balanced for a level 150 character and a leveling 400 character. The scadutree system was a great solution if you really take a look at it. I think most probably didn’t utilize scadutree’s like they were supposed to, prompting FromSoft to buff them very early. As for weapons, again, balancing these weapons for characters of all levels was another challenge. They chose to go conservative so that they could buff later and on (atleast that is what it appears). I am definitely excited to keep playing and figuring out new ways to beat Radahn lol. That probably makes me crazy
@@halspurlock7490 haha yeah Radahn is tough, and the balancing with fragments deff impacted playing at RL 150. At least they did an update though that made the early ones buff you more.
Some of the new incant spells are purely “oh looks cool” shit dps even when stacked with buffs, some new weapons are cool but others meh The bosses fights were great apart from the fps issues at release. I enjoyed it a lot done 3 runs back to back with different NG+ and up characters, but I just don’t have that feeling to play it as much as I did the base game. Favorite dlc from Fromsoft tho.
@@AverageGamerMatt yea man I’ve done so many back to back journeys on base game testing stuff all the time for fun simply, with DLC after 3 journeys I put it down, (nothing to do with difficulty for me personally)
I literally skipped Radahn in the dlc because the reward really wasn’t interesting enough to keep fighting him. I’m not a good player but I’m not a terrible player either. I do my research, build well, and learn the movesets but this one was just not fun. Malenia was a blast for me so it was disappointing here. My 2nd character I might try depending on what all happens in the next patch update.
I’m hearing this often. Unfortunately they missed the mark on Radahn’s phase 2. It also lags on PC too, even with a good setup to add on to difficulty lol
Well I started the dlc while I was in ng +3. It was rough and I was at 280. Until I got all the tree shards, revised my build into int faith and started using the twin blades
I tend to agree with almost everything you've said. I've beaten the base game 15 times with a different build each time. I don't have much of an interest in playing through the DLC again for any other reason than to get a second of certain weapons and stock piling some consumables. They've missed the mark with vast majority of the weapons in the DLC, as you said. I've used them all and maybe a dozen are good while the rest are bad. There's no middle ground there.. The story and characters feel lifeless and are down right confusing to me. Replay ability (is that one word or two? 😂) shouldn't effect a games score/rating but considering the base game still feels endless to me after 1200 hours (and many others, I bet), the DLC just doesn't. There's not enough going on to drag me back. The fun has been had. The DLC is great but i think maybe the base game spoiled us into expecting more from the DLC. I don't know. It's an odd one. Base game is 9/10 DLC is 8/10 Excellent video, mate 👏🏻😊
I wish, for replay value that they would add a random loot generator. Like every new game cycle, the loot would be in different places. Not that you could potentially get multiple of the same items and none of others. But like the bell bearings may be in a different place and shiny loot otems swapped around with others. This xould be a thing you can turn on or off. So it you want to do a playthrough normaly to get certain things you can. But if you turn random loot on, then tou will have to search for stuff
@@AverageGamerMatt not knowing what boss will be on the other side of the fog gate when you cross would be the closest thing to playing again for the first time
Hey man off topic for this but what would you suggest be my build for the base game. I'm like level 126 like 65 percent done and I have a quality build using the bloodhound fang but I'm tired of using this. so what do you think?
Over I found the DLC really lackluster compared to the base game that has a lot of things I love. Not to mention needing to go on a collection quest to gather all the scadu fragments is not fun at all for me. Only thing I found particularly cool is were some of the NPCs. Ansbach, Thiolier, and Igon were 10/10. Overall after all the time we waited, I expected better. Had they dropped this like a few months after the game came out or even last year maybe I would’ve been fine with it but after 2 and a half years it was kind of a let down. Heck they even cut the Miquella scene from the end of the trailer we got just a few monthd ago. I hope whatever project Fromsoft puts out next it’s better handled than this.
@@TREVORVADER appreciate the feedback/opinion. I’m hearing this from a decent amount of people. 2 years & change was a long wait for sure. For me I’m still having fun, but the more I play the more I’m finding things that could’ve been fixed pretty easily or handled better.
@@AverageGamerMatt no problem. I’m generally honest with my feedbacks even if people don’t always agree with me. It’s still fun to an extent just not quite as fun as the base game for me. It’s definitely more rough around the edges than the base game to me. Especially for the issues with fun builds feelings far less viable in the DLC. Mostly against Radahn but still the issue remains. I never felt like my builds were near impossible to make work in base game the way it feels in the DLC sometimes. Which is sad because despite the difficulty of DS3’s DLC over base game I could still make it work even if it wasn’t optimal.
I just on a basic level don’t love the Scadutree Fragment upgrade system. If I want to replay with one of my favorite characters, it’s because I want to re-experience how powerful or versatile I’ve made them. But the DLC smashes me unless I fragment rush. I just don’t wanna do it.
My main gripe with the DLC is the sheer amount of emptiness, feels like it could have used some cuts or more time in the oven. The majority of the south coast feels like a rendering demo, it's pretty but there is absolutely no pull from the game to go there and there is nothing interesting down there, save a dungeon which could have been anywhere on the map. Compare it to Jagged Peak, whilst small and sparce it was dripping with atmosphere and the pay off on the peak with Bayle and Igon was fantastic. I loved the bosses and the new areas but just wish they did more with the huge area given to us.
Am I the only one who got trashed by Orphan of Kos for weeks, wishing I could respec? That respeccing at all is a thing in Elden Ring is worth celebrating, and so is the fact that this hard DLC is EXTRA hard after completing the game SEVEN times. Now I just need someone to find a shortcut there so I don't have to beat Mohg on every new game....
@@definitelynotbutmaybe4610 orphan of Kos took me 2 hours first time. Isshin took me most of any souls or souls like at 4 hours. Radahn took me 2-3 with a summon first time lol but second time solo only like 30 mins cause shield poke. I wish there was a shortcut haha that’d be very helpful.
I never understood why so many people struggled with orphan of kos so bad personally. He’s definitely hard no doubt but I thankfully never struggled to hard with him. I actually find Lawrence and ludwig to be quite a bit harder IMO
@@MattDean-o1t Elden Ring was the first Souls game I ever played, and Bloodborne was the second. It was a good kick in the ass. I got there eventually, but I missed the freedom of experimentation that Elden Ring has.
@@AverageGamerMatt I only needed to respec from my base game build twice. First to a bleed backhand blade build to get past Gaius, and last to a shield poke to get past Radahn. Both were different that I'm used to and fun, so it was still a good experience.
Omg I feel exactly the same I’m on my 3rd play through and it’s like if I don’t shield and poke or straight up Thorn spell I can’t beat the Bosses you mentioned so frustrating and it feels cheap or cheesy if the nerf Thorns I’ll avoid the DLC plain and simple perfect example Sekiro was hard but it rewarded me with Skill to beat the game this DLC makes me feel cheap for over leveling or no skill build to cheese the boss
This is the video that needed to be made. All these “fun build” or “OP BUILD” videos are completely false. If it cannot fight Consort Radahn reliably, it’s not a real build. Base game builds are no longer relevant. The Finger Print Shield is officially the number one weapon. That’s kinda sad. DLC is the end of “fun or op builds.” Builds have to be absolutely broken in order to be viable. Not to mention the complete absence of intelligence builds. I love the DLC. But this development is disappointing.
Well said tbh. Yeah I’m very responsive to feedback. Literally 1/5 of comments were basically stating they couldn’t use weapons they liked, didn’t finish or won’t play it again. At that point I figured I’d make an honest review. It’s amazing but it missed the mark on replay value & build versatility.
@@JF-vz1ju what he stated was his opinion lol as my review was mine mixed in with comments & feedback. A lot of ppl didn’t finish or were one & done. Player count on steam is down 65-70% in 3 weeks. Even for a single player experience, that’s a big drop. I polled it too, seems 70% are doing 1 or a couple runs at most. It’s certainly different from the base game’s replayability for sure.
@@AverageGamerMatt no, what the original commenter said is ACTUALLY untrue, no other way around it. They mentioned builds that can't do Radahn reliably, but what are those builds? If you have 60 vig and an upgraded weapon, you CAN reliably kill Radahn, assuming you can dodge and know your punish windows. That damn shield was also already the #1 weapon in the game, no enemy can break this shit.
@@joaoluizkfsantos8392 honestly that’s his opinion, and he’s not entirely wrong. I’ve had a huge portion of comments on people using fingerprint because they couldn’t reliably beat Radahn with other builds. I made this video looking at feedback/comments on the dlc, polls & reviews (including steam which it’s now at a 7/10). It was fairly evident players used just a few builds for the most part to beat Radahn.
The DLC is amazing for me, but quests are really awkward, like in the base game. They don't make any sense. What was that Ymir & Jolan Quest? Jolan mumbles something about "to serve our count" stuff, but she always stays in the same place leaning on that pillar. And she has some dumb reaction when you tell her that you killed her sister. And Moore? What's the point of Black Syrup? And why did Moore die? Like WTF? 😅 From this point of view, SOTE is not even close to the Witcher's 3 DLCs. The final boss in his 2nd phase was way too hard for me. I beat solo Malenia, but here it was just insane. I summoned some "Let me solo him" or "Let me solo them", and this boss killed them in the 2nd phase. I think, only the 10th player managed to beat him. Messmer and Midra were very hard, but those were still nice fights and very cool bosses. The final one - thank you, but no. 😅 To sum up, the DLC is amazing with two negative points (awkward quests and an insane final boss).
@@BlackFlameMonk yeah Radahn phase 2 is wild lol and the quests are weird. I like Igon’s. It’s also very easy to mess them up too by naturally progressing too fast.
@@AverageGamerMatt yeah, and we have one puppet of Anna. Why? Was Seluvis there as well? Kinda strange. And of course, all that Miquella+Mohg, Miquella+Radahn consort stuff is just weird.
I think this was well said. I personally didn't find the DLC too challenging as I finished it all in the first 15 hours of release (don't judge me) however I did have to change up my build, choosing more meta over fun. I notice many of the people that say the DLC isn't that hard are the people that are also using more meta playstyles such as the shield poke or blasphemous blade users. It really just comes down to the type of player but forcing someone to change their playstyle just so they feel they can beat a boss is pretty disheartening. Overall I agree with this review. Also personally not much a fan of the whole gathering scadutree fragments to be more level with DLC, kinda wish the scaling was harder than base game but not needing scadutree fragments but that's just a me thing.
Thank you! 🙏 yeah basically a lot of players using the fingerprint shield for the final boss & then saying it’s easy lol or I’m getting many comments of using the BB or bleed through all of it. Not a lot on the new weapons besides the thorns & chicken leg.
You are %100 right. I played dlc at ng+4 with 220 level character and it was like nightmare for me. I tried lots of weapon but none of them worked and played all games with bleed bandit curved swords except radahn. I dont feel accomplish any thing because I collect all scadutree fragments and run like a mad man and try kill bosses before they one or two shots me. I am average player but base game always gave me chance to learn bosses attack pattern since none of them one shots me
I havbt watch3d the full video yet but I feel like these bosses while they look very cool it's hard to judge when it's your turn and it seems like they recover so quickly leaving very little room for a punsih or heal. What I mean is they will finish there combo and you see them not attack which you think is a time frame.for you to heal but the boss seems like it only gives you the exact amount of time it takes to use th heal before he attacks again So by the time you've registered it's "your turn" you hit heal and then the boss has recovered and then does a long range attack or it seems like there recovery time was spent running away from you
Great video Matt! I loved the dlc. But I agree gaius and the final boss were too insane for my skill level. Lots of fun weapons, but the remembrance weapons were overall disappointing. I am definitely going to play it again, but I may skip those couple of bosses. Still my favorite game of all time!
I don't think it's important if the people who think the DLC is too hard are right or not. What is important for From Software, is how many buyers for the next title they might going to loose. Reading all the comments here you get the impression that almost 100% of the DLC players are happy. But most if not all people in this channel are die hard Elden Ring players. I think that there is a huge group of players who are not happy with Shadow of the Erdtree and I think they will wait and see what the next game from FS will be like before buying it. Hope you understand my English because it's not my first language.
Your English is good Altho my fan base is not all die hard fans lol it’s very mixed with great people & I love that. A lot actually did comment that build versatility was an issue in dlc as well as the open areas & loot.
2500 hours in Elden Ring alone. Love the DLC but Your Average Gamer brings forth some solid accurate points. The DLC needs a little tuning for sure, some of the weapons need a buff and some of the bosses need a nerf. Also, some areas of the map have little going on except looking awesome. One things that bothers me is the many times ive gotten to a place to get something and the thing that was hard to get to and get...was dung. Like a somber stone, really? All in all, i'd give the DLC a 9.5 and it will get a 10 if its tuned a bit better.
I agree with you on replaying the DLC. I loved my 1st play through but the so many weapons are pointless. I would rather play the base game. Run into the DLC to get a new weapon, then go back to base. I don't want to spend hours and hours fighting the final boss on a build that can't keep up.
Thanks Matt last time I went onto a comment section and discussed my opinion on the dlc weapons. I got called a bozo and someone even asked if I was dropped on my head as a baby, just lovely comments lmao.
Damn just ignore them lol we all have our own opinions after all. I listen/read most of my comments & can tell you a fair bit aren’t happy with the new weapons.
@@AverageGamerMatt Thanks Matt I just find it funny cause insulting others for their opinion is pretty telling of poor character. So that's why I find it more funny lmao.
Hi Matt ye I think I will play it through several times perhaps even just to get all items, but would be interesting to see trying out different builds for perticular bosses but on the other hand do we really want to keep changing are builds just for the sake of one or two bosses, I think that when you finally find a build that your happy with you want to stick with it and make your way through but doesn't hurt to change a couple of items around now and again but it's certainly challenging and different so if they do fix any issues perhaps let it be that we can hit enemies through walls as well as they can 😬 anybody find this an issue as well it's really annoying and unfair. Once again Matt many thanks for your great videos and help 👍💯🍻🍻
The Radahn fight alone lowers it a full point. I was very disappointed to fight Radahn again only much harder, but not in a good way. I’ve beat him now solo with backhand blades, claws of night, ice spear on blacksteel twin blade and powerstanced Milady’s. I’ve replayed the dlc 4 times. I love it. But each time I do not look forward to the last fight. I think it’s hard for the wrong reasons and I don’t get the same feeling of satisfaction I did from figuring out any other Elden Boss. Why? Well first off, finding the last boss to be a boss you’ve fought before really didn’t work for me story-wise. Godwyn would have been fantastic. Or something unexpected the way Elden Beast was. Radahn seemed out of place even if I enjoyed the npc stories leading to it. I simply didn’t care about Radahn or frankly Miquella… so defeating them didn’t feel satisfying. But then learning to fight him…well…it feels like work. Tedious work. Dodging 6 times to get one attack in that will have any poise or status reset before you can attack again wasn’t challenging, it’s just annoying. There’s no give and take in a fight. No dance. And therefore no real drama or payoff. It’s easily my least favorite boss in all of Elden Ring. I will say phase 1 wasn’t bad. It felt much more like a dance. It was learnable even with intense pressure while solo. But it def favored quick weapon attacks, light roll or winged tear, and heavy weapons are hard to get off. And I’m sorry to those that beat him with the wall and poke build but…I don’t feel you accomplished anything at all. I don’t blame you either, it’s just not much different than typing in an easy mode code. Congrats in doing what you had to to get done with that fight because it’s really not great. Overall the DLC was a 9/10 for me but the last fight dropped it to an 8/10.
I have bad news Matt, there won’t be an elden ring 2. This is the end of the IP. They’ll take what they learned and put it in a new IP. I’d love to see you cover lies of P if you haven’t yet!
ER 2 is still very possible. It sold nearly 25 million copies, and the company that owns FromSoftware will push them to do it most likely. It just won’t be until 2028-29. I’ll be covering lies DLC & black myth comes out next month! 🤘
@@AverageGamerMatt the lore was a collab with GRRM. They used all the lore in this game. It’s tapped and was never planned to have a sequel. The story is done with the DLC. There’s no big questions left to explore or move forward, the ending is super final. The game was a resounding success but the story is done. The next game may play like ER but it will be a new IP.
8:30 just keep your physick for p2 and put a winged crystal tear in, basically guaranteeing lightrolls even in full havel, i paired this with blind spot and no difficulty dodging him anymore at all, i could even dmg him during his combos Others learned the sekiro parries Others learned to actually parry him Theres many ways, but i agree - solo & midroll was none Noone was forced to sink as deep to turtle with a shield , it just popped up as counter to him and many casuls jumped on that train.
@@AverageGamerMatt but by no means mandatory I even seen someone with lifesteal and ironjar aromatic just standing still, staring him in the eyes and outtrade him
@@AverageGamerMattyea I think it would be a fun build to play with. I mean we can cheese anything with something at this point. It's about finding fun ways to play. I can't get the deflect tear to be worth it because it's so different than how I play. I would enjoy a build around deflecting and counter attacks.
The same people who are calling it cheese are the same people bawling about how the game is too hard. You can't turn your brain off while using it, but it can give you opportunities to counter attack where they didn't exist. Deflecting tear is a great mechanic that I hope stays baseline for these types of games going forward. You should go for it. I hadn't done any blocking (outside of sekiro) since DS1 well over 10 years ago. It was really fun to add deflecting to my tool kit and I think I became more skilled at elden ring by learning how to throw in deflect/guard counters occasionally while still 2handing a weapon.
I mean you can cheese just spamming it kinda, but then you'd lose out on the stack buff part of deflect. Was fun using it my first time in the dlc with str build. Felt good chunking bosses.
Omg why is everyone whining so hard about the dlc?!? It’s ridiculous to me! I mean is it perfect? Of course not nothing is. It’s pretty damn close to perfection though IMO and personally I look forward to many more playthroughs of the dlc and trying out all the new toys. As far as some of the weapons not being that strong I’m sure they will adress that in future patches just like they did with the base game. 10/10 dlc for me no question.
I think that some players should just take time and learn the bosses move sets, I remember struggling with the mad pumpkin head in the waypoints ruins when I first got the game.. yes the dlc bosses are extremely hard but not Impossible, also there’s 9 Lavar tears in the dlc use them when you’re really struggling against a boss. Also I want to add that I beat the game in ng +7 while it was a hard experience it was also very rewarding and enjoyable
It was for sure, just missed in a few spots for some people = the overly open zones, weapons that were mid, & a few bosses with combos that would be best with shield poke. Overall a 10/10 for me, but I can see the reason why I have people that aren’t running through a 2nd time.
First of all I absolutely love the dlc however I find it very lacking in many ways and I wish fromsoft would have left this in the oven for another couple months
@TheKingofRedLightning so 1st yes the size in general, I believe the areas are beautiful and unique however the land mass is too large! And could have been better if their were more encounters or things to engage with 2nd and 3rd as stated in the video certain bosses were way overturned and kind of bottleneck players into a certain playstyle! And of the almost 100 weapons, spells, AOWs almost all are outclassed by base game and aside from a couple I don't find myself excited to rush back to the dlc and grab them to make a build around it! 4th and 5th back on the bosses I don't like how their were a lot of bosses and mini bosses ripped from the base game with no unique tweaks or reskins to make them stand out as new content! I also dislike the lack of cinematic or dialog or lore for many of the main line bosses it was very disappointing! 6th aside from 1 or 2 of the new NPCs in the scuffed band of the hawk I really didn't like their dynamic or interactions very much! 7th tbh I was really disappointed in the enemy variety! Way too many shadow dudes, and gravebirds! 8th though I enjoyed most of the legacy dungeons most of them were way too short, had like no hidden areas, and really didn't reward exploration that much 9th im all about the Elden Bling! And imo the drip was severely lacking! 10th I really wish they would have made the 4 Mausoleum NPC fights as invadres or actual NPCs you can talk to! And lastly I wish they would have expanded way more on some of the base game mechanics like outfit alterations, merchants, torent mecs or appearance, Invasions, so on and so forth
@@Oni-_-Elite a lot of fair points here for sure. Enemy variety was less than expected for myself too. The lore & end cutscene was also comically short..lol
@TheKingofRedLightning again I love the dlc I already have over 200 hours in it, it's a welcome addition to an already 10/10 beloved game just wish they cooked a bit more is all
Ending was garbage. Blocking off the chance to stand at the Arch and look out to what could be out there was also VERY disappointing. I absolutely hate using torrent but some areas it was a must just to save time. Alot of map bloat, and then you beat it and just stand in an arena after a flashback 20 second cut scene? C'mon. No tie ins to the base game either, unless you read every single item description, which is lame as hell. Will not be doing the dlc again and just recently uninstalled cause the fun was just drained out of it for me.
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My only complain is that some areas seemed too underused for its massive size. Even though the Abyssal Woods is my fav area in all of ER but it looked kind of empty besides the Manse. I just feel there could have been one extra catacombs or something there. As I'm writing this: can you imagine going into a Catacombs inside that place? Holy f**k
Haha yeah creepy BB type area for sure. But yea the open space in it & sneak parts were not the best lol still, the boss there is one of the best.
@@AverageGamerMattDidn't really need to sneak I had assassin's gambit on a dagger to pop for situations like that during the dlc lol
@@AverageGamerMatt it set up the atmosphere perfectly 👌
I didn't mind Gaius too much. Of course, dodging that rush is IMPOSSIBLE, it can't be done intentionally, but after that I just glued myself to his side and it wasn't too bad. Radahn on the other hand is deliciously difficult. I've beaten him 5x now, four of those were via Reduvia spam and just the last time was with dual God Skin Peelers and it takes HOURS each time. I compare it to the ones before it though. The hardest bosses on Bloodborne and DS3 were on the DLC and they were FAR AND AWAY more difficult than the base game bosses for the most part. I would have been disappointed if they didn't have at least one truly ridiculously hard boss on SOTE and I was not disappointed at all.
Very good points! Yeah his hitbox is very much off on the charge lol Radahn is intentionally crazy, but I got a lot of ppl only using shield poke for him. I’ll try something different on my fourth run here soon.
@@AverageGamerMatt There's an aow called Raptors of the Mists. It literally lets you dodge anything. I use it for Radahn's big explosion so I can keep hitting him until the last second. Probably would work nice on Gaius' nasty rush.
Artorias, Crown of the Sunken/Ivory/Old Iron Kings, Ariandel, Ringed City, Old Hunters.
Fromsoft has always made DLCs harder than the base games and its awesome.
Yep they have! Ringed city & old hunters is amazing. But I’m still seeing many people quit or leave before beating ER’s DLC, so I figured I’d address it.
@@AverageGamerMatt Is anything in the DLC as PTSD triggering as the God damn snow Reindeer from Ivory King Dark Souls 2 DLC?
The absolute worst boss run back and terrible jank boss in the entire series!
@@chuckchan4127 DS2 DLC was tough yeah haha but for different reasons. I do not miss adaptability lol
@@AverageGamerMatt people today just want their hand held for everything. Nobody knows how to overcome a challenge anymore. I mean they give you all the tools you need in the game to defeat any boss including the final one. I will agree though that the final boss was maybe very slightly over the top in its 2nd and 3rd phase
@@chuckchan4127NOTHING in SoTE is as bad as horsefuck valley.
I went through the entire thing with dark moon great sword and night comet I didn’t even know some bosses were hard because night comet wrecks so hard
Haha of course lol but that’s a base game option, not a dlc weapon or spell. Night comet is amazing though.
One of my biggest gripes was the Map. Finding the abyssal woods map and the Ruah ruins map was damn near impossible to do on a blind run!!! And yeah, i’ve never struggled in a souls game like i have in the DLC. If you’re not like INSANELY good at the game, spirits are basically required
@@no_Body2121 I mean I did it solo & I’m average lol but yes I agree it’s very difficult. The map had a few weird design choices for sure, the abyssal woods is also very empty when you get there.
@@AverageGamerMatt You're not average lmao. You say in the video that you have beaten the base game like 100 times.
Spoiling the final fight and seeing the builds used to cheese the last boss confirmed that Elden Ring is the most jRPG of the souls games.
Polar opposite of Sekrio. Skill matters, but your build and stats almost make or break fights. One character build could struggle heavily while another could literally face tank the entire DLC and be almost brain dead easy (looking at you Ironjar + Malenia rune builds)
While that’s true (spoiler warning was in this video), it leans to very specific builds. I only made this in response to people hanging up ER’s DLC after beating it once or not finishing it. Seems to be a trend.
@TheKingofRedLightning
Still not as insane as 1 HP Bloodborne Chalice dungeons.
But yeah, I can see how people would be turned off if their build gets crushed by Radahan like a Bulldozer driving over a watermelon.
I think most people want variety though, Sekiro is the DDR of Souls games and is just a simple memory game on learning attack patterns and there is not much leeway on playstyles, fun if you are into that, but boring as batshit if you are not.
Completely agree. I beat the base game 4 times with 4 different builds and played around with 4 others. I like fighting the fights again in different ways. Build variety is a strength of the game, but not in the dlc. In the dlc I was forced into a build and forced to go on a scadutree scavenger hunt. If I have to play a build I already played and find things I already found why would I want to replay? I don’t, and probably won’t.
I don’t blame you lol it’s a great dlc but it’s got issues for sure. If they did some boss balancing & new weapon buffs that would help its replay value.
After being excited for dlc for so long(watching all ur videos leading up till the dlc for months) i was absolutely hyped and was having a blast until i hit rellana. I took a break and my friend spoiled the final boss for me by accident (he was nonstop grinding) i continued playing despite this but now im away and cant play ER for 2 months and the spoilers keep coming😢. I gave up and moved to other games sadly but might come back in the future.
Well hopefully you find your way back eventually. It’s an amazing dlc, just needs a few patches or updates imo.
@@AverageGamerMatt thanks, wonderful vid btw
I’ll say this with the note that I have had to play very slowly due to having a family of four and not much time to play, one of my proudest video game moments was beating slave knight gael after summoning someone who died instantly. He took multiple days for me to beat. I had to play smart and attack at the right moments. I have not felt that this dlc is over my ability. I summon mimic or other people to help me for the first times I beat these bosses and it has been enjoyable. Im not the best at games but I see the bar Fromsoft has raised and I look to achieve it. I haven’t beat half the bosses in the dlc yet but look forward to it. I am at the point in the main game where I just reached the mountain tops of the giants so I can’t rely on great artifacts yet which causes me to play with dlc weapons that I feel are fun and able to beat some bosses with. Keep up the great content man! I feel like the prep for the dlc has ruined some people’s initial play through but that’s just me 🤘
Thanks! And maybe it’s just too much to compare it to the base game. I do wish the new weapons would be buffed, although that is still possible.
@@AverageGamerMatt I completely agree. A handful of dlc weapons that are better or balanced with the main game would be nice. A final weapon from the final boss that is better than blasphemous blade would have been awesome. We just need some more balancing. Either way man I appreciate the awesome videos! You have grown to be one of my favorite elden ring content creators
i agree 100%. As a pretty mid souls player the reason i loved the base game was because i could still learn bosses without having to use broken builds. but the dlc bosses just feel like too much for me. my two favorite bosses, Midra and Bayle, are locked behind two pretty huge optional areas. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, these areas felt just a little bit bland. Their designs are absolutely phenomenal, but it just feels like there's not much else to do in them than run to the boss. Still a 10/10
Same! Well said 💯
I though the DLC was pretty good on my 1st play through, the bosses were just a reminder that it is a souls game and not another basic RPG, The map was unique and beautiful, the only problem was replayability and having to venture far for 1 boss fight, also the last boss fight was kinda disappointing and weird, Radahn should of been where Needle Knight Leda was and we could have fought something new
All fair points. Yeah the open space thing though is most open world games lol I’m not sure it’s been done to perfection yet.
@@AverageGamerMatt I guess I just got bored of riding a horse for a while, been playing a lot of bloodborne and ds3 before the DLC
I agree with most of your takes but I thought that that radahn was definitely beatable even as an average player. I beat it by using impaling thrust on a cold Milady and defense talismans. I’d suggest trying it to anyone struggling with the final boss that doesn’t wanna use summons or a shield poke build.
Nice! And thanks 🙏 yeah this was mostly based off feedback & comments on the dlc so far.
I got close to finishing DLC with a NG3 build, but the grind grew tedious, so I packed up the new weapons and started a base game NG4 just to have some fun. Currently sitting on a NG2 in the DLC, but the base game keeps dragging me back and I finally beat the game on NG7 and have started an NG8.
Nice! Yeah I’ve heard people taking weapons from the DLC back to the base game cause they’re crazy there lol
One more thought…. FromSoft Please rework the spell casting system !! How many times do I need to recast golden vow while trying to cast Discus of light haha 😂
Haha we need designated buttons or mapping lol
I love the DLC, and yeah i have to agree about the weapons just not being that great compared to the base game. Perfume bottles were wayyy too overpowered but i don't think think they should've been nerfed as bad as they were. The kung fu weapons are extremely fun to use too but they just don't compare to alot of the main game weapons like you were saying. The scadutree fragments were a great addition, just wish they could've added 10 more so you don't have to look up a guide to find the last two, just like how golden seeds were implemented in the base game. The last criticism would be the amount out items to pick up that are a smithing stone 2 or something else underwhelming (don't get me started on the cookbooks). But overall I love pretty much everything else about the DLC including a few new favorite bosses. Midra, Messmer, Bayle and Gaius. I know alot of people hated Gaius but for some reason i find that boss super fun besides the charge attack. The difficulty is pretty damn good though. I think the people that say it's too hard need to get more scadutree fragments and explore more.
Fair points! Yeah Gaius’ hitbox I can’t stand lol agreed on the smithing stones, you could go through a whole dungeon just to get 1 & some random items.
I still have trouble with melania to this day but I beat messemer in under 20 tries. I think what parts are difficult just depends on the person and I’m aware I spelled their names wrong.
I did notice this as I was nearing the end of the DLC.
The game reeeeeeeeally wanted you to change your play style to something like a Shield Poke, or Ultimate Kamehameha.
I was able to power through and just learn the final fight, which was great fun.
IDK, too hard? Meh, not as binary as that. The builds DO get funneled a bit more though
Fair for sure, deff asks us to play a specific way towards the end.
@@AverageGamerMatt Whats funny is some of the builds I've seen used absolutely obliterate the base game.
I beat with my str build after figuring out the fun of the deflect tear. Was chunk final guy for like 8k on counters
Ive played through the game 3 times now, i've more or less had to go to shield poke in each play-through. Sad, still fun but the over-tuned bosses forced me there. Get gud you say? I have 2500 hours in Elden Ring, Im not going to get any better.
0 replayability, as u said around 10 viable weapons and most others are trash, exploration and loot sucks compared to base game, content is decent but still lacking since we waited 2 years only to get underwhelming weapons, too much empty area and for areas that are actually not empty the loot is mostly useless (crafting books and smithing stones...), this is not a 10 out of 10 game at all as this dlc just feels disapointing for the most part. Im a huge fan of the base game but this dlc is really not to the same level. So sad to see people keep jerking off about the difficulty as it is the least concerning flaws of this dlc for me, look like its only purpose is to overshadowing all the others issue i mentioned above.
I would even go further and say that sadly the difficulty is the only content we really received here.
Yeah they messed up the new weapons for sure. Replay value is an issue. The only difference for me is it’s a 10/10 because it has better quality than most other single player games. It’s still got some amazing bosses, dungeons & locations.
@@AverageGamerMatt Easy to be better then most games since this industry offer mostly generic average games now, still that does not make it a 10/10.
I’m seriously enjoying the journey of the DLC and still on my first playthrough. Owning a business etc just doesn’t allow for marathon playthroughs. However, the fact that I can’t wait to get on and do my next planned run says alot about Elden Ring and the DLC it’s just excellent! Yep 10/10. This build will goto NG+ and will be starting a completely new one when time permits. Like any great game there will be highs and lows but the DLC is good value for what you get in the package.
@@fishfinderchartersdavis9556 absolutely worth it for sure 💯 even 1 run has more value than most single player games.
@@AverageGamerMatt
💯 yep having a blast!
The DLC is not harder than anything you would have to deal with in the base game save for the final boss.
People who complain about the difficulty got carried by meta builds in the base game and never learned how to properly fight anything legit. When the game throws something that their build can't deal with quickly, they fall apart because they never developed the skills they should already have.
I’d agree with most of it, save for the final boss or commander. The 95 new weapons, most could’ve been better imo.
Freaking promised consort Rahdan is
@@AverageGamerMatt The final boss is indeed too much and commander pig man is primarily just hitbox issues. From can easily fix both by making phase 2 of the final boss easier to see and fix the hitbox problems of commander pig man.
For everything else? None of them are harder than the bosses you've already fought.
I was actually disappointed when I fought Rellana because of all the hype people gave her on release. Then I discovered that you can duel her pretty consistently and has so many roll windows. She wasn't Malenia 2.0 in the slightest.
Ulcerated taught you how to deal with Dancing Lion. Placidusax taught you how to deal with Bayle. Maliketh taught you how to deal with Messmer. Etc.
@@archimedes8276 Imagine what the world would be like if you actually read through things properly
@@1wayroad935 A wonderful place with flying cars, space ships that can travel at light speed, and never hearing about my cars extended warranty anymore from spam callers?
Here's my thoughts on the points in this video, love to hear other peoples thoughts:
1. Replay value
I agree that there's little replay value, but not because it has very little weapons to play with but because it's a journey and a half to play through the dlc again without going through the base game again or powering through ng+. I've gotten my time to around 5-6 hours to get to mohg (without varre's questline and not being incredibly underleveled) and honestly it has become a chore to want to do a "this" or "that" playthrough in the dlc (I am now resorting to doing a full complete playthrough of the game, and having a backup to reload going forward). I personally feel like most weapons are good, but that may be because the appeal to me is finding new weapons and making them work with my current build or with a respec, so the idea of something being 'op' or 'viable' doesn't matter unless it's absolutely bad (which are like 1 or 2 weapons for me in the dlc excluding gimmick weapons/bows). I also feel like what this dlc does well with its weapons is implement items that compliment builds going into ng+ and doing a full 2nd playthrough with your new goodies (e.x death knight armor/spells complimenting a dragon cult build) or create entirely new playstyles with the thrusting shields for example (i know people use the shield poke for it, but I have found a lot of fun in its abilitiy to black while doing a r1 or charged r2)
I also think a major thing people are forgetting is the crafting system. there are greases that give a pretty good boost to elemental damage and every boss has something they are weaker to (except radahn's 2nd phase iirc). These are a HUGE help to any quality builds AND you no longer need a faith requirment for golden vow of all things since it comes in the form of a tool now. What I love about this dlc is that it makes you use everything at your disposal and you can definitely trudge along, exploring very little for scautree fragments, weapons with alternate damage source, etc or you can explore and find things that have their use in some way or another
2. Too difficult?
I think it's definitely difficult before getting a level 5 or so scadutree blessing level. Things HURT but they definitely become manageable after a while. I think there are many people who are relying on base game builds because there is SOOOO much information out there for it with build guides and everything and while those things can definitely carry over, a lot of the new weapons have some really decent ashes of war and talismans that compliment them (such as rellanas cameo opening up quite a bit of build variety, people are just unsure what works with it or if its even all that good). People relying on shield poke/faith: I think this has always been the "cheesy" way to play the game, its not new and has only soared in popularity because of radahn videos out there showing that you can easily beat him with it, and there's definitely nothing wrong with using them. Most enemies and bosses are new, and I think people are using this as a learning method but once it clicks I feel like people will start relying less and less on them. Take melania for example, once considered the hardest boss, almost everyone used tiche and a bonk build at the very beginning, but as time went on and information got out there as to how to dodge waterfowl, we saw less and less of that. I think the best way I can describe this dlc, is that every enemy feels like a black knight, but die more and learn more and eventually they become just another enemy lol. or every boss is a malenia, hard at first, but with some patience (and maybe some googling) it becomes more managable like most bosses.
for anyone curious, I beat radahn at level 165 with a strength/faith (something like 65str/30faith) and using the death knight longhaft axe and beat him a 2nd time with freyjas greatsword. Most of my failed atempts were from trying to be really flashy with avoiding his hits with the death knight skill lol
3. The DLC Boss fored many people into certain playstyle
The above points
4. Bayle point
I agree that there ABSOLUTELY should be a lock on for the body. I also agree with a point that another person has said in another video: Bayle is essentially a gimmick fight in disguise. While I don't think it forces you to use pest threads, it definitely leans on you to use the dragon katana, but touching on a point made earlier, there is dragon communion grease to help with that and if your weapons can't be buffed there are those dragon spears that you can use if you think you're doing too little. So again, I absolutely feel like it's a gimmick fight in disguise, but there are tools at your disposal to help with that, I think people just overlook these things since they weren't very prevelant in the base game. As with most bosses, there will always be an easier method (malenia with tiche/bonk, any boss with a shield, any giant boss with ancient dragon lightining, etc) and I think bayles is pest threads.
5. Phase 2 Radahn:
I really don't think this fight only has one viable build, I just think people are still learning the fight and dodge methods. I ABSOLUTELY agree though that it asks too much from a player which is why people might steer into one of those builds. There is hardly any room to learn and say "i died because of this" Did I dodge too early? Did I dodge too late? Am I supposed to dodge in a certain way? etc. And not to mention the visual clutter that makes it hard to see his next attacks. I feel like this fight has players mostly rely on internal timings instead of the usual visual/audio/count cue due to the high visual clutter (funnily enough, the easiest attack for me to dodge is his meteor into hologram attack since it's always avoiding the final hit, moving to the side, waiting a tiny bit then dodging and funnily enough this is one of the only moves that you're not up close to him to be blinded). My ideas on how to improve this fight? perhaps change the beam model to a more translucent or transparent color, perhaps even making it a ground aoe much like Midra's flame path attack that he does, it just doesnt work with the camera being behind you and being flashbanged every attack, especially with its design favoring a aggressive bait and hit playstyle. I think with beating him twice, it has only made me want to beat him more, I can't remember the last time I felt so much adrenaline over a challenge, which I think definitely sucks the fun out a bit, but in turn places a whole other feeling of accomplishment when you do beat him (definitely a double-edged sword, I've seen people talk about how they just felt unsatsfied with beating him with shield/poke, and to that I say google and learn his fight, it truly becomes very exhilarating)
I am literal trash and tried variety of weapons etc and managed without using cheese dashed builds like bleed etc.
I really am considerably below average. It just isn't too hard, its tuned about right, even better since the latest patch.
The patch improved it for sure 👍 but I’m seeing a lot of people either leave before beating it or not replaying it.
My main issue with the DLC are the unnecessarily complicated zone maps. Even on my second play through I am still confused about which way to go to reach a certain area. I didn't mind the harder boss fights except for Radhan second phase. It felt way too difficult and confusing. Another thing I didn't like was the mandatory jump puzzle. On console I have to press 3 buttons to do a sprint run jump and unfortunately I only have 2 hands.
Also feel like INT didn’t get much love in this game. Maternal staff requires arcane and star lined sword is more of a dex weapon
Yeah they added barely anything for magic. Maybe cause It’s always OP in souls’ games idk 🤷♂️
I struggled on the general until I swapped strats. I managed to kill the General by using a lance and just charging into him. Stunned him twice, then he died.
Additionally it took me 10 hours to beat Malenia. Then only 6 for Consort. I was struggling with consort until I started parrying him then it kind of became brain dead.
Is it too difficult?
Short answer: no
Long answer: hell no
I’d agree although the commander hitbox & final boss could have adjustments. Either way, seeing a lot of people leave before beating it or not replaying it like the base game. So I figured I’d address some of the community feedback.
I've completed the DLC 3 times now, twice on base game and once on NG+1 (I have completed the base game multiple times on +7 difficulty). The DLC is definitely much more difficult than the base game late areas, but I actually think thats due to the normal enemies being overtuned. Things like the revenant enemies do more damage than bosses it feels especially in NG+. I also feel like there are waaaaay too many grab attacks from normal enemies. I agree with the comments on last boss P2 being overtuned. I had to use a mimic on it in NG+ (after not using any apart from that) as I didnt have the patience to try and play perfectly. I did say after completing the DLC the first time that I didnt want to ever play it through again... but then I did...
Haha true! At least you went back into it though. Yeah regular enemies do a lot of damage, but tbh you can run past most lol
I think they intentionally made things as hard as they are.
But I can say I started a new character in base game to get into the dlc fresh instead of level 250. And the enemies in the base game feel Soo much easier on new game vs new game+ dlc lol
But I think the difficulty was intentional for players who aren't challenged by base game anymore. Since they won't add any more content, it makes sense to me.
I love the fire knight great sword 😂😂
@@ryanzz1357 ya it’s excellent lol
I really wanted to use all the new weapons and ashes, but also switched back to BB. It is just no fun to enter a boss arena with 2300 HP and only defensive talismen and get one shot after 1 second. Even if you want to use summons you hardly can. I just finished NG+7, but it was no fun at the end....btw, i was rushing through the base game lately, and tried all the new stuff there. Thx for your honest review
Thank you! 🙏 yeah I made this after so many comments lol people basically were using broken builds or the fingerprint shield.
BTW... if you want to see how real build variety looks like, have a look at Remnant 2. Although the latest DLC there really also lead players into 2 meta builds. However, there is still room to vary classes and waepons in such a great details, it is pure fun.
@@PetePossum111 I played remnant 2 it was really fun for a bit.
What i love about the dlc is that you can't just jump in with a super op weapon and dominate like you can in the base game (bb is the only one i can think of) even with the bb it's still a learning curve, the messmar fight is absolutely brilliant i loved learning his moves etc
@@Gauntea nice! Messmer was one of the best for sure 💯
I've beat the DLC several times with different builds. The only boss I re-spec'd for every time was the final boss. Every time I swapped to great shield + Antspur. I look at it as a gimmick fight like Rykard. Sure, you "can" beat Rykard without the Serpent Hunter, but it's a pain to do so. Same logic for Radhan Prime for me. There's a lot of cool gear in the DLC, but like you said, like 90% just doesn't compare to the base game. The new armor fashion is cool, and I've found some new weapons that work well with my builds, but some stuff just feels like "not as good as what I already have, so why bother?" That said, Elden Ring is still my favorite game. The most fun I've been having so far is seeing how the new weapons do in the base game.
Great stuff Matt. I’ve been a little bummed by how unrefined the DLC is. Not just what you’ve laid out, but basic world exploration stuff, like on one hand telling you to play non-linear and go find scadutree fragments, and then making it ridiculously easy to break questlines because you explored non-linear. It sucks that for my first playthrough I had to choose between avoiding guides and ruining questlines. It’s way more egregious than in the base game.
@@Pullo83 thank you! 🙏 yeah I’m hearing the quest thing too. Tbh I broke all quests on my first run lol my 5th boss was the final boss.
So I'm a fucking nutball who what's to do a playthrough for each weapon and spell type.
That totaled to 50 playthroughs with the help of some cosplay or gimmick builds. After 6 playthroughs of the DLC(only beat consort twice rn) I will say that if you could beat Malinia with it, you can beat the DLC with as far as weapon choice and build choice goes.
And on the topic of NG+7. Only like 3 or 4 setups are strong at NG+7 in the base game so will also have a small list. Jumping bleed, BB, Shield poke are some of the only builds with that high of a power level. With BB being the most popular as it needs no setup to be strong.
I don't mind that Radahn is the final boss. The base game mad it VERY clear Godwin is not coming back. Mending rune of the death prince and the ghost at the end of castle sol spell it out pretty well. Plus I always wanted to fight a prime Radahn and now I have my wish.
The final boss is hard to learn but so was Malenia, and fighting her is fun now.
Fair points, Malenia certainly got easier with time for sure 👍
It’s true it is very hard. That said, I think more of the issue is from “over leveling” of player characters. What I mean is, it was obviously difficult to make a game equally balanced for a level 150 character and a leveling 400 character. The scadutree system was a great solution if you really take a look at it. I think most probably didn’t utilize scadutree’s like they were supposed to, prompting FromSoft to buff them very early. As for weapons, again, balancing these weapons for characters of all levels was another challenge. They chose to go conservative so that they could buff later and on (atleast that is what it appears). I am definitely excited to keep playing and figuring out new ways to beat Radahn lol. That probably makes me crazy
@@halspurlock7490 haha yeah Radahn is tough, and the balancing with fragments deff impacted playing at RL 150. At least they did an update though that made the early ones buff you more.
Some of the new incant spells are purely “oh looks cool” shit dps even when stacked with buffs, some new weapons are cool but others meh
The bosses fights were great apart from the fps issues at release.
I enjoyed it a lot done 3 runs back to back with different NG+ and up characters, but I just don’t have that feeling to play it as much as I did the base game. Favorite dlc from Fromsoft tho.
Yeah it’s amazing 10/10 for sure, but it doesn’t have the base games replay value apparently for many people.
@@AverageGamerMatt yea man I’ve done so many back to back journeys on base game testing stuff all the time for fun simply, with DLC after 3 journeys I put it down, (nothing to do with difficulty for me personally)
@@AverageGamerMatt how?!?
My biggest problem is, most bosses in ng 7+ are impossible to poise break
@@ryanzz1357 yeah poise increases by about 30% by then.
I literally skipped Radahn in the dlc because the reward really wasn’t interesting enough to keep fighting him. I’m not a good player but I’m not a terrible player either. I do my research, build well, and learn the movesets but this one was just not fun. Malenia was a blast for me so it was disappointing here. My 2nd character I might try depending on what all happens in the next patch update.
I’m hearing this often. Unfortunately they missed the mark on Radahn’s phase 2. It also lags on PC too, even with a good setup to add on to difficulty lol
Well I started the dlc while I was in ng +3. It was rough and I was at 280. Until I got all the tree shards, revised my build into int faith and started using the twin blades
Nice!
I tend to agree with almost everything you've said.
I've beaten the base game 15 times with a different build each time. I don't have much of an interest in playing through the DLC again for any other reason than to get a second of certain weapons and stock piling some consumables.
They've missed the mark with vast majority of the weapons in the DLC, as you said. I've used them all and maybe a dozen are good while the rest are bad. There's no middle ground there.. The story and characters feel lifeless and are down right confusing to me.
Replay ability (is that one word or two? 😂) shouldn't effect a games score/rating but considering the base game still feels endless to me after 1200 hours (and many others, I bet), the DLC just doesn't. There's not enough going on to drag me back. The fun has been had.
The DLC is great but i think maybe the base game spoiled us into expecting more from the DLC. I don't know. It's an odd one.
Base game is 9/10
DLC is 8/10
Excellent video, mate 👏🏻😊
I wish, for replay value that they would add a random loot generator. Like every new game cycle, the loot would be in different places. Not that you could potentially get multiple of the same items and none of others. But like the bell bearings may be in a different place and shiny loot otems swapped around with others.
This xould be a thing you can turn on or off. So it you want to do a playthrough normaly to get certain things you can. But if you turn random loot on, then tou will have to search for stuff
That & a boss randomizer lol that would be epic. 🤘
@@AverageGamerMatt not knowing what boss will be on the other side of the fog gate when you cross would be the closest thing to playing again for the first time
Hey man off topic for this but what would you suggest be my build for the base game. I'm like level 126 like 65 percent done and I have a quality build using the bloodhound fang but I'm tired of using this. so what do you think?
If you wanna have fun, go with faith imo. Check out my top 8 faith builds on my channel & pick any. 🤘
is there builds for base game on there
@@hyki5337 all of the damage type playlist ones on my channel are base game builds.
Over I found the DLC really lackluster compared to the base game that has a lot of things I love.
Not to mention needing to go on a collection quest to gather all the scadu fragments is not fun at all for me.
Only thing I found particularly cool is were some of the NPCs. Ansbach, Thiolier, and Igon were 10/10.
Overall after all the time we waited, I expected better. Had they dropped this like a few months after the game came out or even last year maybe I would’ve been fine with it but after 2 and a half years it was kind of a let down.
Heck they even cut the Miquella scene from the end of the trailer we got just a few monthd ago. I hope whatever project Fromsoft puts out next it’s better handled than this.
@@TREVORVADER appreciate the feedback/opinion. I’m hearing this from a decent amount of people. 2 years & change was a long wait for sure. For me I’m still having fun, but the more I play the more I’m finding things that could’ve been fixed pretty easily or handled better.
@@AverageGamerMatt no problem.
I’m generally honest with my feedbacks even if people don’t always agree with me.
It’s still fun to an extent just not quite as fun as the base game for me.
It’s definitely more rough around the edges than the base game to me.
Especially for the issues with fun builds feelings far less viable in the DLC. Mostly against Radahn but still the issue remains.
I never felt like my builds were near impossible to make work in base game the way it feels in the DLC sometimes. Which is sad because despite the difficulty of DS3’s DLC over base game I could still make it work even if it wasn’t optimal.
I just on a basic level don’t love the Scadutree Fragment upgrade system. If I want to replay with one of my favorite characters, it’s because I want to re-experience how powerful or versatile I’ve made them. But the DLC smashes me unless I fragment rush. I just don’t wanna do it.
True but journey 2/NG+ you keep your fragments just like with golden seeds.
@@AverageGamerMatt did not know that, am dumb! Thanks
My main gripe with the DLC is the sheer amount of emptiness, feels like it could have used some cuts or more time in the oven. The majority of the south coast feels like a rendering demo, it's pretty but there is absolutely no pull from the game to go there and there is nothing interesting down there, save a dungeon which could have been anywhere on the map. Compare it to Jagged Peak, whilst small and sparce it was dripping with atmosphere and the pay off on the peak with Bayle and Igon was fantastic. I loved the bosses and the new areas but just wish they did more with the huge area given to us.
That’s completely fair. Yeah the summit & fight/lead up was amazing. But the bottom south section of the map & abyssal woods have too much space.
Am I the only one who got trashed by Orphan of Kos for weeks, wishing I could respec? That respeccing at all is a thing in Elden Ring is worth celebrating, and so is the fact that this hard DLC is EXTRA hard after completing the game SEVEN times.
Now I just need someone to find a shortcut there so I don't have to beat Mohg on every new game....
@@definitelynotbutmaybe4610 orphan of Kos took me 2 hours first time. Isshin took me most of any souls or souls like at 4 hours. Radahn took me 2-3 with a summon first time lol but second time solo only like 30 mins cause shield poke. I wish there was a shortcut haha that’d be very helpful.
I never understood why so many people struggled with orphan of kos so bad personally. He’s definitely hard no doubt but I thankfully never struggled to hard with him. I actually find Lawrence and ludwig to be quite a bit harder IMO
@@MattDean-o1t Elden Ring was the first Souls game I ever played, and Bloodborne was the second. It was a good kick in the ass. I got there eventually, but I missed the freedom of experimentation that Elden Ring has.
@@AverageGamerMatt I only needed to respec from my base game build twice. First to a bleed backhand blade build to get past Gaius, and last to a shield poke to get past Radahn. Both were different that I'm used to and fun, so it was still a good experience.
Omg I feel exactly the same I’m on my 3rd play through and it’s like if I don’t shield and poke or straight up Thorn spell I can’t beat the Bosses you mentioned so frustrating and it feels cheap or cheesy if the nerf Thorns I’ll avoid the DLC plain and simple perfect example Sekiro was hard but it rewarded me with Skill to beat the game this DLC makes me feel cheap for over leveling or no skill build to cheese the boss
@@MrDandino72 yeah that’s why I made this lol so many comments stating they can’t even use non broken weapons. Crazy.
This is the video that needed to be made. All these “fun build” or “OP BUILD” videos are completely false. If it cannot fight Consort Radahn reliably, it’s not a real build. Base game builds are no longer relevant. The Finger Print Shield is officially the number one weapon. That’s kinda sad. DLC is the end of “fun or op builds.” Builds have to be absolutely broken in order to be viable. Not to mention the complete absence of intelligence builds. I love the DLC. But this development is disappointing.
Well said tbh. Yeah I’m very responsive to feedback. Literally 1/5 of comments were basically stating they couldn’t use weapons they liked, didn’t finish or won’t play it again. At that point I figured I’d make an honest review. It’s amazing but it missed the mark on replay value & build versatility.
Not a single word of what you said is true.
@@JF-vz1ju what he stated was his opinion lol as my review was mine mixed in with comments & feedback. A lot of ppl didn’t finish or were one & done. Player count on steam is down 65-70% in 3 weeks. Even for a single player experience, that’s a big drop. I polled it too, seems 70% are doing 1 or a couple runs at most. It’s certainly different from the base game’s replayability for sure.
@@AverageGamerMatt no, what the original commenter said is ACTUALLY untrue, no other way around it. They mentioned builds that can't do Radahn reliably, but what are those builds?
If you have 60 vig and an upgraded weapon, you CAN reliably kill Radahn, assuming you can dodge and know your punish windows.
That damn shield was also already the #1 weapon in the game, no enemy can break this shit.
@@joaoluizkfsantos8392 honestly that’s his opinion, and he’s not entirely wrong. I’ve had a huge portion of comments on people using fingerprint because they couldn’t reliably beat Radahn with other builds. I made this video looking at feedback/comments on the dlc, polls & reviews (including steam which it’s now at a 7/10). It was fairly evident players used just a few builds for the most part to beat Radahn.
The DLC is amazing for me, but quests are really awkward, like in the base game. They don't make any sense. What was that Ymir & Jolan Quest? Jolan mumbles something about "to serve our count" stuff, but she always stays in the same place leaning on that pillar. And she has some dumb reaction when you tell her that you killed her sister. And Moore? What's the point of Black Syrup? And why did Moore die? Like WTF? 😅
From this point of view, SOTE is not even close to the Witcher's 3 DLCs.
The final boss in his 2nd phase was way too hard for me. I beat solo Malenia, but here it was just insane. I summoned some "Let me solo him" or "Let me solo them", and this boss killed them in the 2nd phase. I think, only the 10th player managed to beat him. Messmer and Midra were very hard, but those were still nice fights and very cool bosses. The final one - thank you, but no. 😅
To sum up, the DLC is amazing with two negative points (awkward quests and an insane final boss).
@@BlackFlameMonk yeah Radahn phase 2 is wild lol and the quests are weird. I like Igon’s. It’s also very easy to mess them up too by naturally progressing too fast.
@@AverageGamerMatt yeah, and we have one puppet of Anna. Why? Was Seluvis there as well? Kinda strange. And of course, all that Miquella+Mohg, Miquella+Radahn consort stuff is just weird.
I think this was well said. I personally didn't find the DLC too challenging as I finished it all in the first 15 hours of release (don't judge me) however I did have to change up my build, choosing more meta over fun. I notice many of the people that say the DLC isn't that hard are the people that are also using more meta playstyles such as the shield poke or blasphemous blade users. It really just comes down to the type of player but forcing someone to change their playstyle just so they feel they can beat a boss is pretty disheartening. Overall I agree with this review. Also personally not much a fan of the whole gathering scadutree fragments to be more level with DLC, kinda wish the scaling was harder than base game but not needing scadutree fragments but that's just a me thing.
Thank you! 🙏 yeah basically a lot of players using the fingerprint shield for the final boss & then saying it’s easy lol or I’m getting many comments of using the BB or bleed through all of it. Not a lot on the new weapons besides the thorns & chicken leg.
You are %100 right. I played dlc at ng+4 with 220 level character and it was like nightmare for me. I tried lots of weapon but none of them worked and played all games with bleed bandit curved swords except radahn. I dont feel accomplish any thing because I collect all scadutree fragments and run like a mad man and try kill bosses before they one or two shots me. I am average player but base game always gave me chance to learn bosses attack pattern since none of them one shots me
Yeah it deff forces average players to use meta weapons & summons. Base game bosses were fun with an assortment of weapons.
I replayed the base game and DLC, 2x total, and it’s just a drain with the size of the map and difficulty in the DLC.
@@fogstorm5531 yeah I’m hearing this a lot unfortunately. Most are resorting to broken builds & shields lol
I havbt watch3d the full video yet but I feel like these bosses while they look very cool it's hard to judge when it's your turn and it seems like they recover so quickly leaving very little room for a punsih or heal.
What I mean is they will finish there combo and you see them not attack which you think is a time frame.for you to heal but the boss seems like it only gives you the exact amount of time it takes to use th heal before he attacks again
So by the time you've registered it's "your turn" you hit heal and then the boss has recovered and then does a long range attack or it seems like there recovery time was spent running away from you
Great video Matt! I loved the dlc. But I agree gaius and the final boss were too insane for my skill level. Lots of fun weapons, but the remembrance weapons were overall disappointing. I am definitely going to play it again, but I may skip those couple of bosses. Still my favorite game of all time!
Thank you! 🙏 and same here, it’s my favorite by far! 🤘
I don't think it's important if the people who think the DLC is too hard are right or not. What is important for From Software, is how many buyers for the next title they might going to loose.
Reading all the comments here you get the impression that almost 100% of the DLC players are happy. But most if not all people in this channel are die hard Elden Ring players.
I think that there is a huge group of players who are not happy with Shadow of the Erdtree and I think they will wait and see what the next game from FS will be like before buying it.
Hope you understand my English because it's not my first language.
Your English is good Altho my fan base is not all die hard fans lol it’s very mixed with great people & I love that. A lot actually did comment that build versatility was an issue in dlc as well as the open areas & loot.
2500 hours in Elden Ring alone. Love the DLC but Your Average Gamer brings forth some solid accurate points. The DLC needs a little tuning for sure, some of the weapons need a buff and some of the bosses need a nerf. Also, some areas of the map have little going on except looking awesome. One things that bothers me is the many times ive gotten to a place to get something and the thing that was hard to get to and get...was dung. Like a somber stone, really? All in all, i'd give the DLC a 9.5 and it will get a 10 if its tuned a bit better.
Fair points! Yeah it’s just a bit rough around the edges. All it needs is a few improvements via patches/buffs/nerfs & it would be perfect 👍
I agree with you on replaying the DLC. I loved my 1st play through but the so many weapons are pointless. I would rather play the base game. Run into the DLC to get a new weapon, then go back to base. I don't want to spend hours and hours fighting the final boss on a build that can't keep up.
Yeah seems replay value is an issue. I just polled it & 70% are doing 1 run of DLC or just a few.
Thanks Matt last time I went onto a comment section and discussed my opinion on the dlc weapons. I got called a bozo and someone even asked if I was dropped on my head as a baby, just lovely comments lmao.
Damn just ignore them lol we all have our own opinions after all. I listen/read most of my comments & can tell you a fair bit aren’t happy with the new weapons.
@@AverageGamerMatt Thanks Matt I just find it funny cause insulting others for their opinion is pretty telling of poor character. So that's why I find it more funny lmao.
Hi Matt ye I think I will play it through several times perhaps even just to get all items, but would be interesting to see trying out different builds for perticular bosses but on the other hand do we really want to keep changing are builds just for the sake of one or two bosses, I think that when you finally find a build that your happy with you want to stick with it and make your way through but doesn't hurt to change a couple of items around now and again but it's certainly challenging and different so if they do fix any issues perhaps let it be that we can hit enemies through walls as well as they can 😬 anybody find this an issue as well it's really annoying and unfair. Once again Matt many thanks for your great videos and help 👍💯🍻🍻
Thanks! 🙏 yeah item hunting sounds fun, there’s still some weapons I’m missing too.
The Radahn fight alone lowers it a full point. I was very disappointed to fight Radahn again only much harder, but not in a good way. I’ve beat him now solo with backhand blades, claws of night, ice spear on blacksteel twin blade and powerstanced Milady’s. I’ve replayed the dlc 4 times. I love it. But each time I do not look forward to the last fight. I think it’s hard for the wrong reasons and I don’t get the same feeling of satisfaction I did from figuring out any other Elden Boss. Why? Well first off, finding the last boss to be a boss you’ve fought before really didn’t work for me story-wise. Godwyn would have been fantastic. Or something unexpected the way Elden Beast was. Radahn seemed out of place even if I enjoyed the npc stories leading to it. I simply didn’t care about Radahn or frankly Miquella… so defeating them didn’t feel satisfying.
But then learning to fight him…well…it feels like work. Tedious work. Dodging 6 times to get one attack in that will have any poise or status reset before you can attack again wasn’t challenging, it’s just annoying. There’s no give and take in a fight. No dance. And therefore no real drama or payoff. It’s easily my least favorite boss in all of Elden Ring. I will say phase 1 wasn’t bad. It felt much more like a dance. It was learnable even with intense pressure while solo. But it def favored quick weapon attacks, light roll or winged tear, and heavy weapons are hard to get off.
And I’m sorry to those that beat him with the wall and poke build but…I don’t feel you accomplished anything at all. I don’t blame you either, it’s just not much different than typing in an easy mode code. Congrats in doing what you had to to get done with that fight because it’s really not great.
Overall the DLC was a 9/10 for me but the last fight dropped it to an 8/10.
I have bad news Matt, there won’t be an elden ring 2. This is the end of the IP. They’ll take what they learned and put it in a new IP.
I’d love to see you cover lies of P if you haven’t yet!
ER 2 is still very possible. It sold nearly 25 million copies, and the company that owns FromSoftware will push them to do it most likely. It just won’t be until 2028-29. I’ll be covering lies DLC & black myth comes out next month! 🤘
@@AverageGamerMatt the lore was a collab with GRRM. They used all the lore in this game. It’s tapped and was never planned to have a sequel. The story is done with the DLC. There’s no big questions left to explore or move forward, the ending is super final.
The game was a resounding success but the story is done. The next game may play like ER but it will be a new IP.
8:30 just keep your physick for p2 and put a winged crystal tear in, basically guaranteeing lightrolls even in full havel, i paired this with blind spot and no difficulty dodging him anymore at all, i could even dmg him during his combos
Others learned the sekiro parries
Others learned to actually parry him
Theres many ways, but i agree - solo & midroll was none
Noone was forced to sink as deep to turtle with a shield , it just popped up as counter to him and many casuls jumped on that train.
I did it solo but with a different shield. Fingerprint is a bit too easy imo. But yeah it became the meta solution for Radahn lol
@@AverageGamerMatt but by no means mandatory
I even seen someone with lifesteal and ironjar aromatic just standing still, staring him in the eyes and outtrade him
@@healmyvision5941ironjar plus Malenia rune is hilarious. Basically playing Bloodborne at that point.
Kind of wish flasks healed for a percentage of health a bit. Sucks having to pop several when I had certain thresholds of health.
I mean they work the same way in the base game lol
@@AverageGamerMatt yeah I guess haha. Just felt more apparent in the dlc.
"We chose to go to the moon, not because it is easy. It's because it is hard." JFK
ER is one of my top games of all time but phase 2 Radahn is bullshit and I refuse to use a shield against him.
@@ReDD0311 yeah he’s tough. A lot used shield poke for 2nd phase. It is what it is lol
could u try a video with deflect hardtear? i think it would be dope
I’ll look into it, although I’m hearing ppl calling it a cheese haha sounds fun though tbh.
@@AverageGamerMattyea I think it would be a fun build to play with. I mean we can cheese anything with something at this point. It's about finding fun ways to play.
I can't get the deflect tear to be worth it because it's so different than how I play. I would enjoy a build around deflecting and counter attacks.
The same people who are calling it cheese are the same people bawling about how the game is too hard. You can't turn your brain off while using it, but it can give you opportunities to counter attack where they didn't exist. Deflecting tear is a great mechanic that I hope stays baseline for these types of games going forward. You should go for it. I hadn't done any blocking (outside of sekiro) since DS1 well over 10 years ago. It was really fun to add deflecting to my tool kit and I think I became more skilled at elden ring by learning how to throw in deflect/guard counters occasionally while still 2handing a weapon.
I mean you can cheese just spamming it kinda, but then you'd lose out on the stack buff part of deflect. Was fun using it my first time in the dlc with str build. Felt good chunking bosses.
The only thing that's possibly too hard is Radahn phase 2.
And fuck the sunflower. Hate that fight.
Omg why is everyone whining so hard about the dlc?!? It’s ridiculous to me! I mean is it perfect? Of course not nothing is. It’s pretty damn close to perfection though IMO and personally I look forward to many more playthroughs of the dlc and trying out all the new toys. As far as some of the weapons not being that strong I’m sure they will adress that in future patches just like they did with the base game. 10/10 dlc for me no question.
I gave it a 10/10 lol but the feedback/comments I’m getting lately are people leaving and/or not finishing it. Many aren’t replaying it at all.
I think that some players should just take time and learn the bosses move sets, I remember struggling with the mad pumpkin head in the waypoints ruins when I first got the game.. yes the dlc bosses are extremely hard but not
Impossible, also there’s 9 Lavar tears in the dlc use them when you’re really struggling against a boss. Also I want to add that I beat the game in ng +7 while it was a hard experience it was also very rewarding and enjoyable
It was for sure, just missed in a few spots for some people = the overly open zones, weapons that were mid, & a few bosses with combos that would be best with shield poke. Overall a 10/10 for me, but I can see the reason why I have people that aren’t running through a 2nd time.
Best dlc I’ve played fr. Idk if I’m willing to runnin it back tho
It’s very good for sure! 👍
Next we need an Elden Ring MMO 😂
They’re supposedly still making a mobile game for it lol
I thing it was too easy. Not trolling. If you know how to build your character of course and im not even counting spirit ashes
First of all I absolutely love the dlc however I find it very lacking in many ways and I wish fromsoft would have left this in the oven for another couple months
What issues did you have with it? If it’s too much open space that’s every open world game lol
@TheKingofRedLightning so 1st yes the size in general, I believe the areas are beautiful and unique however the land mass is too large! And could have been better if their were more encounters or things to engage with
2nd and 3rd as stated in the video certain bosses were way overturned and kind of bottleneck players into a certain playstyle!
And of the almost 100 weapons, spells, AOWs almost all are outclassed by base game and aside from a couple I don't find myself excited to rush back to the dlc and grab them to make a build around it!
4th and 5th back on the bosses I don't like how their were a lot of bosses and mini bosses ripped from the base game with no unique tweaks or reskins to make them stand out as new content!
I also dislike the lack of cinematic or dialog or lore for many of the main line bosses it was very disappointing!
6th aside from 1 or 2 of the new NPCs in the scuffed band of the hawk I really didn't like their dynamic or interactions very much!
7th tbh I was really disappointed in the enemy variety! Way too many shadow dudes, and gravebirds!
8th though I enjoyed most of the legacy dungeons most of them were way too short, had like no hidden areas, and really didn't reward exploration that much
9th im all about the Elden Bling! And imo the drip was severely lacking!
10th I really wish they would have made the 4 Mausoleum NPC fights as invadres or actual NPCs you can talk to!
And lastly I wish they would have expanded way more on some of the base game mechanics like outfit alterations, merchants, torent mecs or appearance, Invasions, so on and so forth
@@Oni-_-Elite a lot of fair points here for sure. Enemy variety was less than expected for myself too. The lore & end cutscene was also comically short..lol
@TheKingofRedLightning again I love the dlc I already have over 200 hours in it, it's a welcome addition to an already 10/10 beloved game just wish they cooked a bit more is all
Ending was garbage. Blocking off the chance to stand at the Arch and look out to what could be out there was also VERY disappointing. I absolutely hate using torrent but some areas it was a must just to save time. Alot of map bloat, and then you beat it and just stand in an arena after a flashback 20 second cut scene? C'mon. No tie ins to the base game either, unless you read every single item description, which is lame as hell. Will not be doing the dlc again and just recently uninstalled cause the fun was just drained out of it for me.
I don’t blame you, hearing this pretty often. The end lore & final scene was incredibly short yes lol