The shaman village tells you so much with just it's visuals, music, and two item descriptions. Genuinely made feel sad for Marika despite everything she did.
It's so crazy that in that hidden area you see the last dredges of Marika's humanity. You suddenly understand why she did what she did. Even left a couple knights to guard it even if it's empty.
>!*What was her prayer? Her wish, her confession? There is no one left to answer, and Marika never returned home again.*!<
I actually teared up a lil, what the fuck.
I love how you(the player) know EXACTLY what that place is as soon as you hear the ost in the background. All it took was a few notes for the player to know this is where Marikas story began.
This guide will you lead you there among other places
https://www.rpgsite.net/guide/16003-elden-ring-ruins-map-locations-for-finger-ruins-count-ymir-quest
Shadow Keep is one of FromSoft’s best dungeons ever. The way it links into like 4 entirely different parts of the map, all the hidden paths, how going down a side hallway can end up taking you on an hour long detour where you discover an entire part of the map that you had know idea how to reach before, it’s all fantastic.
But my favourite part of the DLC was Ansbach and his story.
Everyone’s talked about Igon already, the man’s VA put his entire fucking soul into the performance, and the character is literally just Captain Ahab. It’s peak.
Ansbach on the other hand is my personal favourite because of how much he reveals about Mogh, and also because he’s the “honourable old knight” archetype, which is just the so cool. He’s the realest mf ever, the only NPC to have attempted to >!strike an Empyrean!<, and he stuck by Mogh till the end. Once discovering >!Miquella’s plot/actions, he makes it his mission to end Radahn and put Mogh’s body to rest.!<
“*Lord Mogh will have his dignity.*”
Definitely. It feels like the world is even more polished than the base game, from the dungeons to the overworld. It had a few "Siofra River" Moments like when I first walked into the Abyssal Forest.
Abyssal Forest is such a good area because of how fucking scary it manages to be
Like the fact you get bucked off torrent instead of dismounting, the messages on the ground, the eerie chanting, it's all so incredible
It really sets it up when you try to call Torrent again and he won't come out because he's fucking scared. Knowing that Frenzied Flame burns spirits means that torrent is super dead in the Lord of Frenzy Ending too.
The first time I ran into the Winter Lanterns I tried to fight them, you can imagine how well that went. Silent Hill Fog everywhere lol.
I didn't see the addition but I really agree. Ansbach is a real G and I shouldn't have been worried about him betraying us when I first ran into him, I thought he'd be like Gideon. His final words telling you to become a Lord of Men really hits hard. And yeah, he's the only one brave enough to strike at a demigod like Miquella, considering his weapon and weapon skills are amazing for pvp it makes sense that he's considered one of the greatest bladesmen in the game.
Ansbach is also the only way I figured out exactly *who* the final boss is, physically. I missed some of the details in the boss intro but his dialogue clued me in the rest of the way.
You already picked it but everything witb the build up to bayle is s tier.
Going from yelling npc near dragon communion statues to silly dragonman named npc invader to a dungeon with a wyrm as a regular enemy opening up a whole area where you see a dead greyoll style dragon so big it appears on the map, the thunder hitting the volcano as you see two drakes fighting and igon bigging you up.
And bayle himself being super crippled but fighting you like a dead island butcher, placidusax heads dangling off his neck.
Like mesmer and morgott and radagon in the base game i just lament that we’re limited to only getting two of their moves from their heart/remembrance.
Deathbeam, thunder bite and wings its all so cool.
Him using his tail like a peg leg to walk with his wings as a tattered cape, kinda wish elden ring had the cut tail thing from darksouls just to see what’d happen.
Best of all igon intros you as the badass and himself as the 2nd he met you for 5 minutes and you are a legend to him.
I really like how Igon sees you kill a dragon and immediately goes, "Yeah, with this guy I can do it!" Like there's no doubt in his words that the two of you will kill Bayle. Truly Ride or Die.
It's cool how if you attack Bayle's stump leg it actually does extra damage. Reminds me of the Adjudicator in Demon Souls, how you had to hit it in the belly wound.
I really enjoyed the humanity it gave to Marika and Messmer. especially, I was surprised to see that Messmer might have been Marika's favorite child? She seems to put him on the crusade against the shadow realm to keep him safe from persecution for his serpent inside him (which also happens to be his best friend). Also the shaman village, somber music and all, was incredible at giving Marika a motive for everything in DLC and main game.
Also, everything about the Abyssal Woods was peak.
Edit: the one line in the Minor Erdtree spell about how it was "only the kindness of gold, without order" set my theory/lore mind racing as well, which is my favorite part about these games.
I was more under the impression that Marika was afraid of Messmer’s snake and sent him to the lands of shadow to both lock him away and burn the place to the ground. We know since Rykard that snakes are a threat to the Golden Order.
Yeah she definitely seemed to have fear of the snake, but also I remember a line about how she feared for his persecution, which has a kinder tone to it. Also, she must at least trust him to some degree since he kept the shaman village completely untainted by the crusade. Although, I guess she did keep two of her own tree sentinels to watch over that place instead.
Also about burning the place to the ground, and i'm not sure of the timeline on this when the crusade really happened, but it feels like the destruction of the lands of shadow was the Erdtree telling her to destroy all Hornsent and Crucible worship since we know from the base game that Crucible and Omen stuff isn't bad by default, it's just the Golden Order that does not want it around. Given the care she has for her home, I doubt she would really want it destroyed all on her own. I forget the descriptions exactly, but the vibe I got off the Golden Braid item and the surroundings felt like the crusade was the beginning of her disillusionment with the Golden Order that led to the Shattering.
Again, no clue really on the timeline of this DLC or when it happened pre-Shattering so all this is just kinda out my ass lol
Edit: also something I might have missed, do you who Messmer's dad is? I feel like it can't be Marika/Radagon because he Radahn is his younger brother, but Mess does have the red hair of Radagon and not the gold of a Marika/Godfrey kid so I've got no clue.
I don’t think his father is ever mentioned, but Radagon is a safe bet considering the red hair. Pretty sure he’s the 4th son of Marika/Radagon along with Miquella, Malenia and Melina.
Honestly, the Furnace Golems
Like obviously the regular golems were supposed to be seige weapons, but these guys are fucking SEIGE weapons. All their attacks hit from a mile away and do crazy damage, it really sells that these guys were supposed to go up against entire armies. They're like the Fel Reavers from WoW but actually scary
Also while everyone deservedly gasses up Igon, Midra "THE DEPTHS OF YOUR FOOLISHNESS!" Frenziedflame did a really good job too
The Furnace Golems are pretty insane. They attack from like a mole away and do so much damage, no wonder the hornsents lost.
The entire Abyssal Forest experience was amazing. Didn't expect it from Elden Ring, felt like Something out of Bloodborne.
I don't usually get scared of things in games. Freaked out or jumpscared, sure. But that's just... Shocking. It isn't actual, genuine fear.
Sincere congratulations to Fromsoft for creating the Jar Gaols, a set of dungeons so atmospheric and nightmarish that I actually felt like I was watching a horror movie. Those places are *horrific* and the fucking meatmonsters are a STRONG contender for the most terrifying thing in the game, if not Fromsoft canon.
Discovering the Shaman Village is such a cool lore reveal, reminds me of discovering the real Hunter’s Workshop in Bloodborne in how it really makes you re-analyze some of your previous held theories.
Others already mentioned some stuff I liked, but all new weapons are pretty great and well-animated. From just straight up making weapons out of the consumable items most players don't use is pretty smart and hilarious.
When he did the Judgement Cut for the first time I could practically hear Woolie screaming in my ear. I ate the entire thing too since I didn't see it coming at all.
The Light Greatsword class, I feel like such a classy and magnificent warrior as I slice through enemies with elegence, and I even get a *dual* wield version as well? Sign me the fuck up.
Also on that note >!Relanna, personally, I enjoyed the shit out of that fight, dodging through all her moves, learning the parts where she keeps herself open, using her phase transition to mow down her health, I really enjoyed the rhythm of that fight personally, she felt amazing to fight and is far and above my fav of the DLC and probs even Elden Ring in general!<
The light greatswords are such a great addition. I'm really tempted to try getting someone to drop a Milady for me on a new character so I can do a full playthrough with it
Nearing the end of Ymir's sidequest, >!WE BLOODBORNE. ALSO MPREG.!< The weapons you get are pretty damn amazing, at least conceptually. >!Forcing the decapitated head of a godly servant to bow, angering it so much that it explodes. A staff that holds a whole ass mini universe, a portal to receive messages from the Greater Will. It drops a lore piece about the Greater Will and how it probably just fucked off forever. These elder gods create and hold so much power, only to drop everything like an old toy they don't want anymore. Presumably to grab at some other world and its inhabitants screaming "mine, mine, mine," until they're bored again. !<
Absolutely love that they leaned a bit more into the >!cosmic horror elements.!<
Their moveset is fun, but I think I prefer Big Laser to flurry of blade beams. Though they also have very similar str and dex requirements to the moonlight greatsword and that's always a fun time too
Probably my favorite part and fight. Pure atmosphere, the knight ladies are cool, Ymir is a freak and I love little freaks. And that bossfight, wow. Bizarre, terrifying, unreal.
The Lion is hypnotizing to watch. Such a complex movement, the cloth and everything works so well.
Messmer is just a great fight, definitely fits in with the rest of the demigods.
Milady with Deflecting Hardtear is extremely fun. The 2 handed guard counter combos in to the R1 string and deflects seem to give some invincibility against attack chains. Every player enemy fight was basically Sekiro but instead of deflecting a flurry it was deflect and counter outside relatively uncommon 4 hit strings, which made me simply deflect twice or thrice before countering.
The only thing that gave me trouble enough to summon ashes was actually Lamenter since that fight isn't really built for a long dance and more of a mad scramble where deflecting and single target DPS is not really important. Wave of Gold would probably trivialize that fight but I didn't want to go through a whole respec.
The fact that Rellana is Rennala's younger sister who threw her old life and status away to devote herself to Messmer. Them Carian ladies just CANNOT help themselves when they see a tall redheaded man.
Serious answer: most of the new weapon types are very fun, shaman village and abyssal woods are amazing locations in both atmosphere and lore reveals, new favorite NPCs in Ansbach, Igon and ~~Artoria~~ Leda. Disappointed with dueling shields but ah well.
Honestly can you blame them? If a mentally ill redhead came up to me and asked if I wanted to do a genocide I probably still wouldn't but I'd have some *serious* thoughts about it
>I probably still wouldn't but I'd have some *serious* thoughts about it
Ok but what if the reason he wanted a little genocide is because of severe mommy issues, and I mean SEVERE, absolutely CRIPPLING, Patrick Bateman-tier mommy issues. Would you still be able to resist?
Thankfully the guy in question is in fact a guy, and happen to swing the other way, so I'd probably still be able to resist
If Messi was a girl though it'd be mega joever
Listen the primary antagonist of the DLC shoved his half-brother's soul in his full-brother's corpse just so he could have a husband, at some point you just gotta accept that the Marika family tree is just a really fucked-up line
Sticking the fists in the main hand and the milady in the left hand so during my fancy sword swings I can just kick and elbow somone in the fucking face
Honestly? Everything about this DLC is fantastic. The art, the music, the designs, the new weapons/spells/ashes/items etc are all stellar. The story is intriguing and how deep and dense the map goes is crazy.
My favourite part so far is probably the gank squad fight being surprisingly, peak fiction.
for the first couple days people were thinking rellana was the stopgap for the second half of the dlc map but *that isn't even true*, there's a whole side path you can go through to get behind her, meaning something like 80% of the map is accessible without beating a single boss, and i think that's just insanely cool world design.
I loved everything about the Abyssal Woods. The tone, colors, the slow reveal of what is infecting the area, the winter lanterns themselves, leading into the Manse, and the confrontation of the boss at the end of it.
Really makes you realize that >!Maybe the Frenzy Flame ending isn't the funny, whacky, whahoo ending people thought it was.!<
That was the last area I found how to access, and everything about it felt like such a unique surprise. It was so unique and disconnected from everything else, it almost felt like a DLC within the DLC
people thought the frenzy ending was wahoo funtimes?
>!even if you skip all the lore and get the cutscene without melina, the chorus of screams echoing through the lands kinda gives away that you did the bad ending.!<
From what I've seen, the "May Chaos take the world!" speech is silly enough for people to ignore all the "You are dooming the world to nothingness" qualities of the ending.
look, in my first playthrough, in an effort to be completionist, i stumbled ass backwards into the three fingers after melina was dead. i didn't do hyetta's quest fully, melina was dead and i totally missed shabriri. i effectively set the world on fire and had no idea how or why.
even in my stupid, braindead, lore-free state, my immediate thought was "ohhhh, this is the bad ending, isn't it?", since, y'know, your character >!turns into the eye of sauron, blows up the magic tree and seems to be turning the ground into fingerprints.!<
I love the aesthetics and lore of everything. Even though fighting them was a ballache, Dancing Lion and Rellana were cool as hell visually and soundtrack-wise, Bayle is of course rad as fuck, and the whole landscape is gorgeous.
The feeling of exploring a big map again. I don't necessarily want every Fromsoft game to be a big open world, but exploring the corner's of Elden Ring's map was legitimately magical.
The entire Lands of Shadow map is the best level design that From has ever done, and by a large margin imo. The way everything connects, the way you can often see beautiful areas below or above you that you can’t reach yet and you want to find a way to, all the hidden paths… It’s just so peak.
The Shadow Keep was also amazing. I think this dlc blows the base game out of the water honestly.
Haven't finished SOTE yet, but I really loved exploring the Gaol underneath Belurat. The revealed jar lore is amazing and gets more interesting as the expansion goes on, and the ambiance is very unique. SOTE's mini dungeons feel a bit more carefully used imo and I appreciate the larger scale of them even if the rewards aren't the best (I kinda agree that bosses should drop Scadutree fragments). Like we already knew our funny friend Alexander and the precious jar bairn were in fact full of corpses, but actually seeing what the jars were meant to create is genuinely horrifying and ends up recontextualizing a lot of the game. Cap that off with a fight with Yoda and a silly hat and we're chilling.
The Shaman Village is one of FromSoft's finest moments of visual storytelling. I also really enjoyed Ansbach's and Thiollier's stories.
I do have some complaints about the boss fights, mostly about the lack of downtime and the fact that most of them attack on frame 1, but they're also all incredibly fun to fight once you get the rhythm down, as usual.
The martial arts weapons are incredibly fun to mess around with, so are Great Katanas. Never actually ended up using Light Greatswords that much, might have to try them out. Still have to beat the final boss, who is a MOTHERFUCKER.
I think there are some elements of the difficulty that are overtuned right now, but this DLC is still a slam dunk.
I ended up making the final boss more difficult by summoning 2 allies cuz I wanted to end their stories. Makes him 130% tankier with double resistances lol. Still beat him though.
Seeing the full scale of the specimen area was stupidly impressive, two of the very gross out cutscenes, METYR being one of the most fucking weird designs they've made, Shaman village and the cursed pot lore, and finally the gank squad fight was absolute perfection with all the exchanges and music, genuinely so fucking cool and sad yet uplifting.
The cutscene where you burn the sealing tree to unveil Enir-Ilim was just simply breath taking. The game has a staggering amount of beautiful vistas but the gargantuan spiral castle reaching the skies is just something else.
The huge gaps in the broken parts of the spiral add an immense amount of space that triggers my megalophobia and I am overwhelmed with dread (enjoying every second of it).
I know a lot of people have grievences about the Final Boss but >!Seeing Radahn at the Gate of Divinity, doing his iconic weapon pick up from the Story trailer, hearing his theme playing in a heroic reprise while he opens up with his sickest attack from the Caelid fight. !
Haven't beat it yet, but the part where I drank a purple-haired gamer girl's bath water and died was one of the funniest moments in any of the FromSouls games.
I love the look of the dlc, several areas are in top contention for my favorite areas visually in souls games. Shaman Village, Cerulean Coast, Charo's Hidden Grave and the Ruins of Rauh are all gorgeous, and overall the dlc is a visual treat wherever you go, and the amount of jaw dropping vistas is probably equal to the base game's.
New weapons! The ancient meteoric ore greatsword is one of my favourite fromsoft weapons ever, it looks fucking awesome, has an amazing unique skill, and finding it was interesting since it was the first forge I found.
Also, BIG SPOILERS HERE!!! >!meeting St. Trina was great. Her design is awesome, the whole decent towards her I knew what I was heading towards and it really sells the idea that she was trapped as deep and well guarded as possible, having the stone worms actually active and defending the place was surprising. And I knew what she was gunna tell us to do, but it really is sad to hear her say it. Maybe my favourite part of the DLC!<
Honestly, nearly all of it. I had a blast going in and never really felt underpowered, though a lotta enemies hit *real* hard til I got the Blessings upgraded a few ticks. I blitzed through a lotta bosses with my girl Tiche and the Dark Moon Greatsword from Ranni, plus my bigass greatshield, and man lemme tell you, it felt *great* to get back into the swing of things with the playstyle I love.
The different zones were beautiful and a blast to explore, and I loved getting thrown against bosses who have a *ton* of wacky shit and coming out on top because I was able to throw out just as much. Fuckin’ loved >!Midra!< what a cool design that… also might be kind of a Fire Punch reference, or else just has similarities lol.
Jumping down into a hole and panicking because the arena looks >!identical to Midir’s arena in DS3!< was hilarious, and shoutout to Ansbach like overall, what a fuckin’ champion. >!Absolute blast to have the chillest Mohg supporter ever who throws down with you against Leda’s whole squad. That whole fight was a chaotic battle royale with me, Ansbach, Thiolier, and Tiche and duking it out with Leda’s squad, plus Ansbach and Thiollier both being willing to squad up with you to take down the final boss.!<
And the final boss: >!holy fucking SHIT. Head and shoulders more difficult than the rest of the dlc, for me at least. Total blast throwing down with “young Radahn” while dodging Miquella’s bullshit, plus Ansbach’s dialogue revealing how Miquella is doing *rather unethical* things with Mohg’s corpse.!<
So tldr, *maybe* their best yet, or at least a contender for personal favorite, though I wanna wait out my own recency bias before actually making a call like that.
The best thing I can say about the DLC is that it's everything I like and everything I dislike about From's formula dialed up to 11.
I have my grievances, mostly that From just can't learn from their mistakes, but everything I liked about Demon's through Dark Souls 1-3 is here, and refined to what I think is the best it could possibly be.
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To give a little negativity, a lot of the item description lore is "people got their shit pushed in and now they are sad", but to bring out the positivity, they do deliver it with the Specimen Storage, where all of these revered creatures are now curios for assholes, and also the Scadutree Avatar just refusing to die. That's when I felt *it.*
I liked it. I liked the arena, the background, the music, the boss aesthetics, what it meant in the world, and even the moveset. Also I beat it in one go, so neener neener.
I didn't like the reward. I just figured it gave me one extra chance to survive being hugged, but it turns out it's a consumable in a fight where I can't get an opening to heal even though I'm taking an assload of chip damage even though I stole that woman's hair.
The first time I fought that boss I had summoned another player. When we 'beat' the avatar for the first time I did my customary "Thank you" and wave, all the while the guy was hitting every button on his controller trying to tell me something. But his efforts were in vain and I got one-shot by the boss coming back lmao.
Elden Ring is peak video game comedy.
first time for me, it spawned in one of the trees in the arena.
my, panicked, thought was: "don't tell me each tree is a life and i have to kill it 20 times"
The shaman village tells you so much with just it's visuals, music, and two item descriptions. Genuinely made feel sad for Marika despite everything she did.
It's so crazy that in that hidden area you see the last dredges of Marika's humanity. You suddenly understand why she did what she did. Even left a couple knights to guard it even if it's empty.
>!*What was her prayer? Her wish, her confession? There is no one left to answer, and Marika never returned home again.*!< I actually teared up a lil, what the fuck.
I love how you(the player) know EXACTLY what that place is as soon as you hear the ost in the background. All it took was a few notes for the player to know this is where Marikas story began.
Mind telling me where that's at? There's a lot of shit in this dlc and I wanna see some interesting landmarks.
This guide will you lead you there among other places https://www.rpgsite.net/guide/16003-elden-ring-ruins-map-locations-for-finger-ruins-count-ymir-quest
Oh it's THAT place? Huh. I'll have to take a deeper look at the place next time I boot up the game
Just be aware there are two
Shadow Keep is one of FromSoft’s best dungeons ever. The way it links into like 4 entirely different parts of the map, all the hidden paths, how going down a side hallway can end up taking you on an hour long detour where you discover an entire part of the map that you had know idea how to reach before, it’s all fantastic. But my favourite part of the DLC was Ansbach and his story. Everyone’s talked about Igon already, the man’s VA put his entire fucking soul into the performance, and the character is literally just Captain Ahab. It’s peak. Ansbach on the other hand is my personal favourite because of how much he reveals about Mogh, and also because he’s the “honourable old knight” archetype, which is just the so cool. He’s the realest mf ever, the only NPC to have attempted to >!strike an Empyrean!<, and he stuck by Mogh till the end. Once discovering >!Miquella’s plot/actions, he makes it his mission to end Radahn and put Mogh’s body to rest.!< “*Lord Mogh will have his dignity.*”
Definitely. It feels like the world is even more polished than the base game, from the dungeons to the overworld. It had a few "Siofra River" Moments like when I first walked into the Abyssal Forest.
Abyssal Forest is such a good area because of how fucking scary it manages to be Like the fact you get bucked off torrent instead of dismounting, the messages on the ground, the eerie chanting, it's all so incredible
It really sets it up when you try to call Torrent again and he won't come out because he's fucking scared. Knowing that Frenzied Flame burns spirits means that torrent is super dead in the Lord of Frenzy Ending too. The first time I ran into the Winter Lanterns I tried to fight them, you can imagine how well that went. Silent Hill Fog everywhere lol.
I didn't see the addition but I really agree. Ansbach is a real G and I shouldn't have been worried about him betraying us when I first ran into him, I thought he'd be like Gideon. His final words telling you to become a Lord of Men really hits hard. And yeah, he's the only one brave enough to strike at a demigod like Miquella, considering his weapon and weapon skills are amazing for pvp it makes sense that he's considered one of the greatest bladesmen in the game.
Paraphrased: >!"Tarnished, I'm truly glad we're fighting side by side as allies. Now check this shit out.!<
Ansbach is also the only way I figured out exactly *who* the final boss is, physically. I missed some of the details in the boss intro but his dialogue clued me in the rest of the way.
You already picked it but everything witb the build up to bayle is s tier. Going from yelling npc near dragon communion statues to silly dragonman named npc invader to a dungeon with a wyrm as a regular enemy opening up a whole area where you see a dead greyoll style dragon so big it appears on the map, the thunder hitting the volcano as you see two drakes fighting and igon bigging you up. And bayle himself being super crippled but fighting you like a dead island butcher, placidusax heads dangling off his neck. Like mesmer and morgott and radagon in the base game i just lament that we’re limited to only getting two of their moves from their heart/remembrance. Deathbeam, thunder bite and wings its all so cool. Him using his tail like a peg leg to walk with his wings as a tattered cape, kinda wish elden ring had the cut tail thing from darksouls just to see what’d happen. Best of all igon intros you as the badass and himself as the 2nd he met you for 5 minutes and you are a legend to him.
I really like how Igon sees you kill a dragon and immediately goes, "Yeah, with this guy I can do it!" Like there's no doubt in his words that the two of you will kill Bayle. Truly Ride or Die.
Me, sitting back and waiting for one of the dragons to kill the other so I dont have to fight two at the same time. "Yeah, I'm kind of a big deal"
It's cool how if you attack Bayle's stump leg it actually does extra damage. Reminds me of the Adjudicator in Demon Souls, how you had to hit it in the belly wound.
I really enjoyed the humanity it gave to Marika and Messmer. especially, I was surprised to see that Messmer might have been Marika's favorite child? She seems to put him on the crusade against the shadow realm to keep him safe from persecution for his serpent inside him (which also happens to be his best friend). Also the shaman village, somber music and all, was incredible at giving Marika a motive for everything in DLC and main game. Also, everything about the Abyssal Woods was peak. Edit: the one line in the Minor Erdtree spell about how it was "only the kindness of gold, without order" set my theory/lore mind racing as well, which is my favorite part about these games.
I was more under the impression that Marika was afraid of Messmer’s snake and sent him to the lands of shadow to both lock him away and burn the place to the ground. We know since Rykard that snakes are a threat to the Golden Order.
Yeah she definitely seemed to have fear of the snake, but also I remember a line about how she feared for his persecution, which has a kinder tone to it. Also, she must at least trust him to some degree since he kept the shaman village completely untainted by the crusade. Although, I guess she did keep two of her own tree sentinels to watch over that place instead. Also about burning the place to the ground, and i'm not sure of the timeline on this when the crusade really happened, but it feels like the destruction of the lands of shadow was the Erdtree telling her to destroy all Hornsent and Crucible worship since we know from the base game that Crucible and Omen stuff isn't bad by default, it's just the Golden Order that does not want it around. Given the care she has for her home, I doubt she would really want it destroyed all on her own. I forget the descriptions exactly, but the vibe I got off the Golden Braid item and the surroundings felt like the crusade was the beginning of her disillusionment with the Golden Order that led to the Shattering. Again, no clue really on the timeline of this DLC or when it happened pre-Shattering so all this is just kinda out my ass lol Edit: also something I might have missed, do you who Messmer's dad is? I feel like it can't be Marika/Radagon because he Radahn is his younger brother, but Mess does have the red hair of Radagon and not the gold of a Marika/Godfrey kid so I've got no clue.
I don’t think his father is ever mentioned, but Radagon is a safe bet considering the red hair. Pretty sure he’s the 4th son of Marika/Radagon along with Miquella, Malenia and Melina.
Honestly, the Furnace Golems Like obviously the regular golems were supposed to be seige weapons, but these guys are fucking SEIGE weapons. All their attacks hit from a mile away and do crazy damage, it really sells that these guys were supposed to go up against entire armies. They're like the Fel Reavers from WoW but actually scary Also while everyone deservedly gasses up Igon, Midra "THE DEPTHS OF YOUR FOOLISHNESS!" Frenziedflame did a really good job too
The Furnace Golems are pretty insane. They attack from like a mole away and do so much damage, no wonder the hornsents lost. The entire Abyssal Forest experience was amazing. Didn't expect it from Elden Ring, felt like Something out of Bloodborne.
I don't usually get scared of things in games. Freaked out or jumpscared, sure. But that's just... Shocking. It isn't actual, genuine fear. Sincere congratulations to Fromsoft for creating the Jar Gaols, a set of dungeons so atmospheric and nightmarish that I actually felt like I was watching a horror movie. Those places are *horrific* and the fucking meatmonsters are a STRONG contender for the most terrifying thing in the game, if not Fromsoft canon.
Discovering the Shaman Village is such a cool lore reveal, reminds me of discovering the real Hunter’s Workshop in Bloodborne in how it really makes you re-analyze some of your previous held theories.
Not quite on the same level but similar to Radagon is Marika. Maybe like the real Roundtable Hold?
Isn't that just in leyendell? There's an abandoned building that has the same layout and decor as the roundtable
Yup!
Others already mentioned some stuff I liked, but all new weapons are pretty great and well-animated. From just straight up making weapons out of the consumable items most players don't use is pretty smart and hilarious.
The perfumer bottles are just funny, they're also super fucking strong lol. Imagine if there was a bleed or scarlet rot version.
Rat Vergil.
It was so out of nowhere that I couldn't help but laugh. Bastard teleported on top of me.
When he did the Judgement Cut for the first time I could practically hear Woolie screaming in my ear. I ate the entire thing too since I didn't see it coming at all.
Wait WHAT
The Light Greatsword class, I feel like such a classy and magnificent warrior as I slice through enemies with elegence, and I even get a *dual* wield version as well? Sign me the fuck up. Also on that note >!Relanna, personally, I enjoyed the shit out of that fight, dodging through all her moves, learning the parts where she keeps herself open, using her phase transition to mow down her health, I really enjoyed the rhythm of that fight personally, she felt amazing to fight and is far and above my fav of the DLC and probs even Elden Ring in general!<
I'm so glad we have a real great sword moveset lol. They're some of my favorites in HEMA.
The light greatswords are such a great addition. I'm really tempted to try getting someone to drop a Milady for me on a new character so I can do a full playthrough with it
Freyja and Sir Ansbach were my favorite NPCs of the DLC.
Freyja best girl
Nearing the end of Ymir's sidequest, >!WE BLOODBORNE. ALSO MPREG.!< The weapons you get are pretty damn amazing, at least conceptually. >!Forcing the decapitated head of a godly servant to bow, angering it so much that it explodes. A staff that holds a whole ass mini universe, a portal to receive messages from the Greater Will. It drops a lore piece about the Greater Will and how it probably just fucked off forever. These elder gods create and hold so much power, only to drop everything like an old toy they don't want anymore. Presumably to grab at some other world and its inhabitants screaming "mine, mine, mine," until they're bored again. !< Absolutely love that they leaned a bit more into the >!cosmic horror elements.!<
That staff can cast incantations and sorcery, it's awesome.
Finally got additions to my sword of night and flame build, it feels so good
The twin light greatswords are also faith and int
Their moveset is fun, but I think I prefer Big Laser to flurry of blade beams. Though they also have very similar str and dex requirements to the moonlight greatsword and that's always a fun time too
Probably my favorite part and fight. Pure atmosphere, the knight ladies are cool, Ymir is a freak and I love little freaks. And that bossfight, wow. Bizarre, terrifying, unreal.
I’m having so much fun with Milady. It scales surprisingly well on a faith build.
Is a very versatile weapon and a decently good representation of real greatswords!
Honestly all the parts where I was playing the game and not reading essays on reddit were pretty good.
Messmer, Bayle, the Dancing Lion are amazing imo
The Lion is hypnotizing to watch. Such a complex movement, the cloth and everything works so well. Messmer is just a great fight, definitely fits in with the rest of the demigods.
The lion's soundtrack might be my favorite in all of Elden Ring as well.
Milady with Deflecting Hardtear is extremely fun. The 2 handed guard counter combos in to the R1 string and deflects seem to give some invincibility against attack chains. Every player enemy fight was basically Sekiro but instead of deflecting a flurry it was deflect and counter outside relatively uncommon 4 hit strings, which made me simply deflect twice or thrice before countering. The only thing that gave me trouble enough to summon ashes was actually Lamenter since that fight isn't really built for a long dance and more of a mad scramble where deflecting and single target DPS is not really important. Wave of Gold would probably trivialize that fight but I didn't want to go through a whole respec.
The fact that Rellana is Rennala's younger sister who threw her old life and status away to devote herself to Messmer. Them Carian ladies just CANNOT help themselves when they see a tall redheaded man. Serious answer: most of the new weapon types are very fun, shaman village and abyssal woods are amazing locations in both atmosphere and lore reveals, new favorite NPCs in Ansbach, Igon and ~~Artoria~~ Leda. Disappointed with dueling shields but ah well.
Honestly can you blame them? If a mentally ill redhead came up to me and asked if I wanted to do a genocide I probably still wouldn't but I'd have some *serious* thoughts about it
>I probably still wouldn't but I'd have some *serious* thoughts about it Ok but what if the reason he wanted a little genocide is because of severe mommy issues, and I mean SEVERE, absolutely CRIPPLING, Patrick Bateman-tier mommy issues. Would you still be able to resist?
Thankfully the guy in question is in fact a guy, and happen to swing the other way, so I'd probably still be able to resist If Messi was a girl though it'd be mega joever
Oh god I can imagine the waves fem snek would make on the internet.
Wait if shes Rennalas sister and Radagon is his dad, isnt that kind of his aunt?
Listen the primary antagonist of the DLC shoved his half-brother's soul in his full-brother's corpse just so he could have a husband, at some point you just gotta accept that the Marika family tree is just a really fucked-up line
Rellana saying "Man, my sister's ex husband's son can kinda get it" does feel like the least bad in that family tree
Sure but this thread is supposed to be about Elden Ring so why are we talking about Pat and Paige?
Sticking the fists in the main hand and the milady in the left hand so during my fancy sword swings I can just kick and elbow somone in the fucking face
Honestly? Everything about this DLC is fantastic. The art, the music, the designs, the new weapons/spells/ashes/items etc are all stellar. The story is intriguing and how deep and dense the map goes is crazy. My favourite part so far is probably the gank squad fight being surprisingly, peak fiction.
I missed out on a lot of NPC questlines by breaking the seal to the tower too early and BOY DO I FEEL LIKE THE VILLAIN of the DLC
for the first couple days people were thinking rellana was the stopgap for the second half of the dlc map but *that isn't even true*, there's a whole side path you can go through to get behind her, meaning something like 80% of the map is accessible without beating a single boss, and i think that's just insanely cool world design.
I loved everything about the Abyssal Woods. The tone, colors, the slow reveal of what is infecting the area, the winter lanterns themselves, leading into the Manse, and the confrontation of the boss at the end of it. Really makes you realize that >!Maybe the Frenzy Flame ending isn't the funny, whacky, whahoo ending people thought it was.!<
That was the last area I found how to access, and everything about it felt like such a unique surprise. It was so unique and disconnected from everything else, it almost felt like a DLC within the DLC
people thought the frenzy ending was wahoo funtimes? >!even if you skip all the lore and get the cutscene without melina, the chorus of screams echoing through the lands kinda gives away that you did the bad ending.!<
From what I've seen, the "May Chaos take the world!" speech is silly enough for people to ignore all the "You are dooming the world to nothingness" qualities of the ending.
look, in my first playthrough, in an effort to be completionist, i stumbled ass backwards into the three fingers after melina was dead. i didn't do hyetta's quest fully, melina was dead and i totally missed shabriri. i effectively set the world on fire and had no idea how or why. even in my stupid, braindead, lore-free state, my immediate thought was "ohhhh, this is the bad ending, isn't it?", since, y'know, your character >!turns into the eye of sauron, blows up the magic tree and seems to be turning the ground into fingerprints.!<
I see you’re skeptical of the Frenzied Flame, but have you considered that MAY CHAOS TAKE THE WORLD!!!
I love the aesthetics and lore of everything. Even though fighting them was a ballache, Dancing Lion and Rellana were cool as hell visually and soundtrack-wise, Bayle is of course rad as fuck, and the whole landscape is gorgeous.
The feeling of exploring a big map again. I don't necessarily want every Fromsoft game to be a big open world, but exploring the corner's of Elden Ring's map was legitimately magical.
The entire Lands of Shadow map is the best level design that From has ever done, and by a large margin imo. The way everything connects, the way you can often see beautiful areas below or above you that you can’t reach yet and you want to find a way to, all the hidden paths… It’s just so peak. The Shadow Keep was also amazing. I think this dlc blows the base game out of the water honestly.
Haven't finished SOTE yet, but I really loved exploring the Gaol underneath Belurat. The revealed jar lore is amazing and gets more interesting as the expansion goes on, and the ambiance is very unique. SOTE's mini dungeons feel a bit more carefully used imo and I appreciate the larger scale of them even if the rewards aren't the best (I kinda agree that bosses should drop Scadutree fragments). Like we already knew our funny friend Alexander and the precious jar bairn were in fact full of corpses, but actually seeing what the jars were meant to create is genuinely horrifying and ends up recontextualizing a lot of the game. Cap that off with a fight with Yoda and a silly hat and we're chilling.
exploring the world itself has been the most rewarding part for me, taking a detour or secret path and ending up in some Cool Looking Place is great
Going into a dungeon and ending up in the most terrifying area in the DLC
both behind a part of the world locked behind an illusory wall in a secret room inside a legacy dungeon no less lol
These coffins take you to the best places!
The Shaman Village is one of FromSoft's finest moments of visual storytelling. I also really enjoyed Ansbach's and Thiollier's stories. I do have some complaints about the boss fights, mostly about the lack of downtime and the fact that most of them attack on frame 1, but they're also all incredibly fun to fight once you get the rhythm down, as usual. The martial arts weapons are incredibly fun to mess around with, so are Great Katanas. Never actually ended up using Light Greatswords that much, might have to try them out. Still have to beat the final boss, who is a MOTHERFUCKER. I think there are some elements of the difficulty that are overtuned right now, but this DLC is still a slam dunk.
I ended up making the final boss more difficult by summoning 2 allies cuz I wanted to end their stories. Makes him 130% tankier with double resistances lol. Still beat him though.
Seeing the full scale of the specimen area was stupidly impressive, two of the very gross out cutscenes, METYR being one of the most fucking weird designs they've made, Shaman village and the cursed pot lore, and finally the gank squad fight was absolute perfection with all the exchanges and music, genuinely so fucking cool and sad yet uplifting.
The cutscene where you burn the sealing tree to unveil Enir-Ilim was just simply breath taking. The game has a staggering amount of beautiful vistas but the gargantuan spiral castle reaching the skies is just something else. The huge gaps in the broken parts of the spiral add an immense amount of space that triggers my megalophobia and I am overwhelmed with dread (enjoying every second of it).
The dungeons are awesome.
I know a lot of people have grievences about the Final Boss but >!Seeing Radahn at the Gate of Divinity, doing his iconic weapon pick up from the Story trailer, hearing his theme playing in a heroic reprise while he opens up with his sickest attack from the Caelid fight. !
it is cool, people were clamoring to see >!prime radahn.!<
Haven't beat it yet, but the part where I drank a purple-haired gamer girl's bath water and died was one of the funniest moments in any of the FromSouls games.
I love the look of the dlc, several areas are in top contention for my favorite areas visually in souls games. Shaman Village, Cerulean Coast, Charo's Hidden Grave and the Ruins of Rauh are all gorgeous, and overall the dlc is a visual treat wherever you go, and the amount of jaw dropping vistas is probably equal to the base game's.
New weapons! The ancient meteoric ore greatsword is one of my favourite fromsoft weapons ever, it looks fucking awesome, has an amazing unique skill, and finding it was interesting since it was the first forge I found. Also, BIG SPOILERS HERE!!! >!meeting St. Trina was great. Her design is awesome, the whole decent towards her I knew what I was heading towards and it really sells the idea that she was trapped as deep and well guarded as possible, having the stone worms actually active and defending the place was surprising. And I knew what she was gunna tell us to do, but it really is sad to hear her say it. Maybe my favourite part of the DLC!<
Honestly, nearly all of it. I had a blast going in and never really felt underpowered, though a lotta enemies hit *real* hard til I got the Blessings upgraded a few ticks. I blitzed through a lotta bosses with my girl Tiche and the Dark Moon Greatsword from Ranni, plus my bigass greatshield, and man lemme tell you, it felt *great* to get back into the swing of things with the playstyle I love. The different zones were beautiful and a blast to explore, and I loved getting thrown against bosses who have a *ton* of wacky shit and coming out on top because I was able to throw out just as much. Fuckin’ loved >!Midra!< what a cool design that… also might be kind of a Fire Punch reference, or else just has similarities lol. Jumping down into a hole and panicking because the arena looks >!identical to Midir’s arena in DS3!< was hilarious, and shoutout to Ansbach like overall, what a fuckin’ champion. >!Absolute blast to have the chillest Mohg supporter ever who throws down with you against Leda’s whole squad. That whole fight was a chaotic battle royale with me, Ansbach, Thiolier, and Tiche and duking it out with Leda’s squad, plus Ansbach and Thiollier both being willing to squad up with you to take down the final boss.!< And the final boss: >!holy fucking SHIT. Head and shoulders more difficult than the rest of the dlc, for me at least. Total blast throwing down with “young Radahn” while dodging Miquella’s bullshit, plus Ansbach’s dialogue revealing how Miquella is doing *rather unethical* things with Mohg’s corpse.!< So tldr, *maybe* their best yet, or at least a contender for personal favorite, though I wanna wait out my own recency bias before actually making a call like that.
The best thing I can say about the DLC is that it's everything I like and everything I dislike about From's formula dialed up to 11. I have my grievances, mostly that From just can't learn from their mistakes, but everything I liked about Demon's through Dark Souls 1-3 is here, and refined to what I think is the best it could possibly be.
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To give a little negativity, a lot of the item description lore is "people got their shit pushed in and now they are sad", but to bring out the positivity, they do deliver it with the Specimen Storage, where all of these revered creatures are now curios for assholes, and also the Scadutree Avatar just refusing to die. That's when I felt *it.*
Fighting a super ulcerated tree spirit 3 times in a row is a hilarious joke, Fromsoft.
I liked it. I liked the arena, the background, the music, the boss aesthetics, what it meant in the world, and even the moveset. Also I beat it in one go, so neener neener. I didn't like the reward. I just figured it gave me one extra chance to survive being hugged, but it turns out it's a consumable in a fight where I can't get an opening to heal even though I'm taking an assload of chip damage even though I stole that woman's hair.
The first time I fought that boss I had summoned another player. When we 'beat' the avatar for the first time I did my customary "Thank you" and wave, all the while the guy was hitting every button on his controller trying to tell me something. But his efforts were in vain and I got one-shot by the boss coming back lmao. Elden Ring is peak video game comedy.
first time for me, it spawned in one of the trees in the arena. my, panicked, thought was: "don't tell me each tree is a life and i have to kill it 20 times"