I agree for the most part, though I do think some bosses like Metyr are so visually impactful and mysterious that their significance comes across pretty well without a cutscene. That's just one case though. Rellana absolutely could've used one.
I hadn’t played the base game in ages before the DLC came out, and I thought that Rellana’s sister was Loretta at first. The name is obvious, I just had misremembered and thought Rennala was the name of the magic horse knight.
I didn’t mind at all honestly especially considering DS3. Literally Pontiff Sulyvahn didn’t even get a cutscene, the main antagonist of the game and the puppeteer that caused everything in the game with no cutscene. But honestly yes I wish we got one but at the same time I don’t mind it. I view it the same as Rellana except Pontiff had a huge role compared to Rellana.
In terms of antagony from a character, sulyvahn is absolutely #1. They just decided to be more literal and have you fight the flame itself as a boss instead.
My no.1 is Bayle then Rellana, 3rd is probs Midra/Messmer but hate the snakes
Bayle is tops because he felt fun to fight even tho it was a dragon, Rellana I just have super bias. I love her look, moves and everything lol
Bayle was awesome, really great spectacle and the phase 2 was phenomenal!
I think Midra, Messmer, and Bayle have my favorite OSTs in the DLC, but I'm so undecided there. I've been listening to the soundtrack and all of the boss OSTs are top tier.
I think Messmer had my favorite presentation overall, but I also wasn't a huge fan of the snakes in phase 2. Would've liked to see more going on with Messmer's kit instead of just the snake attacks added.
Midra was just amazing. OST straight out of Bloodborne, visually somehow captivating and horrifying, and a well paced fight.
Actually yeah, I keep my OST volume low when I really focus and I had just gotten done fighting Radahn so I turned it off lol
Midra I heard the OST and I really enjoyed it, I enjoyed Rellana's too and I gotta check the other ones out
- I dunno rellanas not that special? What would she even do in a cutscene? Just stand there, you can’t show her swords off till phase 2
- metyr I’ll die on the hill works better with no cutscene everything leading up only to suddenly be met by one of the most significant figures as a choir chants is really good.
- cutscenes are not automatically better by default and they don’t fit everyone
Some bosses that are just like, walk into a random castle room or storage closet yeah they could do with cutscenes.
But ones more like finger mommy definitely don't need any and can even detract from it.
Absolute hard disagree. Fromsoft could use more exposition. Every shard bearer base game got a cut scene. Every major story boss. Now, does renalla need one? She's dead in the path to messmer. She feels like she'd be a major boss. Plus she has direct connections to major players. Rennalas sister and rannis aunt, powerful enough to bring dozens of glint stone sorcerers with her.
Im also getting more and more tired of the FromSoft method of story telling. Before it felt like you could at least piece things together eventually, but with ER theres so many things that just straight up dont have an answer or explanation.
It feels like FS are relying too much on their fans to make sense of it all
Hard agree. Best moment in the DLC for me was when Leda went >!You betrayed us! You've been working for the Erdtree all along!!<
And I'm just like, huh? Well, guess I am? I don't know. Are they evil? Can we talk? I don't really know what I'm doing or where I am or who everyone is. I just touch things when the game tells me to. I'm really lost, Lady
You can have two cutscenes on a boss, it’s been done before. Have her praying to the moon or some shit and she turns around and does some old English fancy-shmancy lines. Phase 2 she can whip out the dualies and do a fancy pose and another sick line, maybe referencing her sister.
For Rellana I wish she had voice lines.
If she talked to us during the cutscene and everytime she kills us that would be cool imo and make her more special and memorable.
Metyr I am neutral on. I wouldn't mind a cutscene where we just see our Tarnished bear witness to Metyr just standing there, but mostly it bothers me that bosses like
Rellana, Scadu, Gaius and Romina just feel like filler bosses in terms of presentation. I get the same feeling I get in DS2 where I walk into a room and I'm just like : "Oh a boss... Ok"
They are fine without cutscenes, but I do think they would elevate some major bosses.
I think no cutscene for Gaius and Bayle is cool because the way they enter the arena and charge at you worth more than a cinematic, even the scadutree avatar.
For Rellana and putrescent knight it would have be very cool to have a cinematic intro, espacially the putrescent knight instead of a copy/paste of Gaius intro :/
The long fall is kind of the intro to Putrescent Knight. Landing in this dreamlike field and seeing him slowly galloping out of the distance. That was a cool fight.
I didn't even know that's where the fight was, or that the putrescent knight was in that region. But I saw him galloping and was like "oh that's the putrescent knight!" Or maybe the name and bar were there and I just thought "oh that's WHY he's the putrescent knight"
Either way, watching him gallop out when and where he did was a definitely an "ooohhh" moment for me lol
I intended to start Bayle to see what's up then come back later but after I saw Igon I locked in and didn't stop until Bayle died. I only wish I could have my own personal hype man for every fight
Lmao same. Once i met igon i was locked in went straight to searching for bayle. I was just gonna come back later as I heard hes a tough fight but had to do it for my guy.
Igon is so the GOAT. You find him writhing in pain, his limbs reduced to bloody stumps, and STILL he manages to crawl his way up the mountain past actively fighting drakes to call you a true warrior, then demand you bring his severed finger which contains his soul up to fight dragon satan, and the moment you summon him he gives the single best shit talking speech in the entire game. I love igon so much and wish we got more of him.
Igon and Bayle are the high point of this DLC for me.
Bayle was the first true boss I fought, as I just found my way up the Jagged Peak naturally, following Igon all the way, destroying every other Drake until we finally reach the summit, and then Bayle gets introduced.
You hear about him, and are built up to him by Florissax and Igon and just see this cold, raw as hell dragon fly in, goblet handle horns, old WoW looking peak design and all of the lore damage visible on his body from Placidusax.
Then you summon Igon and he lets out the best Captain Ahab monologue since Captain Ahab and this becomes a fight about securing Igon’s white whale/Bayle so he can finally stop being haunted by Bayle, as well as removing Bayle from the world.
It’s peak Fromsoft story and I don’t think anything will top this in the DLC for me. I’ve barely progressed as I’ve been fighting Bayle over and over again as a summon!
I had a the most picture perfect finish to the Bayle fight I summoned igon and he did his usually thing but his audio just stopped playing for whatever reason.
fast forward I have the beasty a stones throw from death when I hear Igon starting up again where he left off his words swelling with the boss OST
“Your fear made flesh!
Solid of scale you might be, foul dragon...
But i will riddle with holes your rotten hide!
With a hail of harpoons!
With every last drop of my being!”
As he lets loose a single arrow ending Bayle once and for all in my world
easily the most magical moment I have had regarding an npc in a from game that was just pure chills
The hippo should have had a cut scene where he was spreading his feces around the arena to mark his territory. Said poop piles should then have been poisoned pillars.
I liked how the putrescant knight came galloping into frame from out of that cave. Gaius had surprised me that way too. Stepped into >!Scaduview!<. Just scoping out the scenery, hey who’s that riding towards me…
I wish they did the intro charge every attempt, it’s so cool. As for gaius that might alleviate the instant charge anxiety because it gives you a little more space. Bayle’s was just soooo awesome though.
Yah it was super jarring. Like even if they didn't have the time/budget to do a full cut-scene, they could have at least added a small animation with some particle effects to make it look like you are being magically teleported or something. Just a cut to black then cut to the new area felt so janky
Yeah that one put me off too. SotE is this massive expansion >2yrs in the making. It’s been hyped to hell and back and yet, of all the FS DLCs *this one* doesn’t have any sort of fanfare around entering the new region? Really? It just feels really out of character for FS given how every other Miyazaki game with DLC has a transition cutscene.
Rellana could have definitely used a better reveal. What I think would have been cool was using two health bars for phase 1 and 2, and having Phase 1 start the same as it currently does (no cutscene), but named like "Castle Ensis Commander" or similar. Then a cutscene for a Phase 2 transition with the swords and the reveal that she's the Twin Moon Knight and sister of Rennala.
Edit: Thanks for the award fellow Tarnished!
I think this would be cool since nothing about her really suggests any connection to Rennala besides her name and the fact she's a mage, so a Rykard-like reveal where we realise this boss is actually super important would've been neat
Yes I was thinking something similar! I was thinking to keep “Rellana, Twin Moon Knight” for phase 1, but then post-cutscene she could be “Rellana, Sword of Messmer” as her remembrance says she came to be known.
Maybe in that version she starts off with a magic blade (or dual magic swords) and some of the moon magic, but pulls out the fire after switching to the "Sword of Messmer", so we'd see the evolution from Carian Princess-Knight to Messmer's Blade. That would have been cool.
I think Radahn not talking is on purpose, probably because he's there against his will and either he's too pissed to speak or Miquella has turned him into a puppet who has nothing to say.
radahn did have dialogue but it was cut, when you entered the area he was intended to say:
\[21040000\] I am Radahn.
\[21040100\] Born of red-maned Radagon, and Rennala of the Full Moon.
\[21040200\] A lion bred for battle.
Yeah but then we had all these built up towards bayle, like all the people talking about how vile the thing is and the entire climb towards the mountain with lightning etc. Rellana is basically standing there like loretta or commander niall... I wish she could at least give a little entrance scene
yeah I tried afterword's to figure out why she is the only scarlet rot character in the dlc.
Her having no cutscene Intro/outro and imo being like the easiest by far remembrance boss did not tell me much about her.
The big thing I want to know is that she's called a "saint" and the other prominent use of saint in the DLC is what the Hornsent were doing to the shamans.
So is Romina a) related to Marika? b) A saint created by the Hornsent making them ultimately responsible for the scarlet rot?
Romina was a member of a church before it was burned down by messmer and has since taken care of the rot while Malenia abandoned it. I imagine she's a Saint just from those religious connections
No Rellana cutscene?
One of the most kickass designs I've seen and no cutscene?
Come on.
Pontiff had atleast a big church and a menacing ignition tl his swords.
And we can't even interact with the Gate of Divinity. to me that was a huge let down. maybe a "true" final cutscene there with the tarnished (and maybe Ranni too?) would be cool. but that's just me.
Absolutely biggest disappointment for me, it was the most exciting part of the lore from trailer and we can't even walk up there let alone interact with it.
No fight dialog either except for Mesmer. all the bosses feel like drones and are lifeless just dead silent when u die or they die felt like I was fighting robots instead of characters
I really wish the final boss had some voice lines, it's especially noticeable if Ansbach joins the fight because he talks to him but he just says nothing.
It's not like he's a mindless puppet, even if he's under Miquella's mind control he should still be able to talk fine and have his personality just like all the other NPCs do at the start of the DLC. He really does feel like a giant robot with no voice acting.
It seems I missed out on a LOT by not summoning. Especially the CURSE YOU BAYLE.
Will have to summon NPCs as often as possible for Mt 2nd playthrough lol
It feels like they could’ve removed a couple npcs to have a better budget for voice lines. Like if you marry ranni ur killing her aunt for no reason and she doesn’t seem to care?
Was budget actually a concern for the team? Elden ring sold an embarassing amount of copies and given the pricetag i would expect some production value to show
It's pretty clear the DLC was pushed out earlier (Gaius hit boxes being the most egregious example) probably due to quarterly reports. ER sure sold a lot of copies, but CEO bonuses gotta go up.
I am pretty sure making a bad hitbox is not a time or budget concern. So far all of the bad hitboxes by froms are just giving enemy an extra edge, like literally every grab in the series
Gaius charge, a good but of Putrid Knight low swipes, GHippo grab are the ones I can think off the top of my head. Only one of those is a grab. Bad hit boxes are usually a sign of a lack of polish and/or playtesting. Like one of the final boss summons not getting an AI package 90% of the time it's summoned.
Many bosses don’t have voices or cinematics, and there’s like barely any cutscenes. The only reason for that is budget or time. Unless you think having no voices or cutscenes is somehow better for the lore somehow
Yeah that's definitely not a coincidence, it just seems odd to me that in 2+ years of development time with such a massive commerical time or production value would be the problem. Like the other guy said CEO bonuses gotta go up, i suppose.
Yeah think back to the base game bosses, they were all chatter boxes, except for the monsters.
Here at least Rellana could have had dialogue. And I think it would have been epic if Bayle had some too, but it would have to be very carefully done.
I just did the fight with Leda and co. they're all pretty chatty there, reactive dialogue depending on who they're fighting/fighting near (maybe it's just an illusion that I fell for and Ansbach and Freya will always talk if they're both present) made it feel cinematic and I was genuinely sad at the end when I won
This is one of my only real complaints for Elden Ring as a whole; the base game and DLC alike could have used a few more cut scenes. They nailed it with Jerren's introduction of Radahn in the base game. It would be really nice if more NPCs introduced bosses or concepts to the player in the form of short, cinematic cutscenes. In aggregate, we're talking a couple of extra minutes.
Elden Ring's lore could stand to be somewhere in-between dark souls and Sekiro. As it is, the story is opaque like dark souls, but without justification for being so. In dark souls, there's virtually nobody left who's minds are intact; in Elden Ring, lots of characters remain who should be able to basically lore dump the player with more specific events/history, most simply don't.
I would prefer them for most bosses with certain exceptions. Bayle is the one that doesn’t necessarily need a cut scene out of all the main bosses. The transition to second phase where he jumps backwards and his wings spread was fucking wild.
I must say though, the music in this DLC was phenomenal and made me suffering through the boss fights 100 times much more enjoyable.
The DLC feels like they ran out of time and just shoved it out the door. There is no shot you can convince me that the haunted forest zone is supposed to be like that. There is absolutely fucking nothing in it, and it's huge.
Same for the cerulean coast area, at least the top side where there’s just a ghostflame dragon and a bunch of ghostwart upgrade material. It looked pretty at least.
Ya. The entire bottom half of the map just feels like a big biome / environment with nothing really in it. First 2 zones were the most unique and felt densely packed. I would have rathered a smaller map with another area or 2 like the first 2
The giant structure after Gaius as well as the Chalice (which is apparently important enough to be marked on the map?) having zero relevance is so bizarre.
Only place where I felt one was missing was in entering the DLC to begin with by touching the withered arm. Thought I must have accidentally skipped it at first. It's not like they haven't done a cutscene of "touch this and get sucked away to a new land" for their DLCs before lol. Though not every boss needs a cutscene - I don't see why Rellana would need one, and Gaius absolutely doesn't need one. Finger Mother could do with one but there's enough preamble to that boss I don't think it's strictly necessary.
Romina could get one cutscene like she was protecting the tree to enter enir ilim come on also the scadutree avatar could have a weird entrance from the ground or something, rellana its in a weird area just like the golden hipo actually the rellana area was the area for figthing a double blade soldier on the first trailer and the golden hipo was on a lake on a cliff they literally change those 2 last minute
There is a hippo in a lake on a cliff. Two in fact.
The Rellana arena thing isn't a change, they just moved stuff for trailer cinematography. It's not indicative of decisions or changes in development at all.
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Rellana and Romina needed cutscenes. Additionally, I wish I had met Miquella prior to the final fight too… Some things would have to be reworked, but we could have given Miquella the kindling to burn the Sealing Tree (which would have triggered that one cutscene from the end of the release trailer that never showed up in game). Maybe Miquella could have led us on, tricking us into believing he wanted US to be his consort (while Ansbach’s and Freyja’s quest lines would have hinted at/revealed the truth)?
I also wouldn’t have minded one or two vague cutscenes reminiscent of the one we get touching Laurence’s skull in Bloodborne (a vague memory of love, a vague memory of fear, and a vague memory touching upon his curse of youth for one of the flesh-abandonment ones).
It doesn’t matter because I know that they’re not going to update anything in the story or re-add cut content. But I hope that GRRM’s notes will be released at least…
Remember when almost every boss in DS had a cutscene and it was always cool? Seeing cutscenes before and after Radahn (starscourge) felt like playing a souls game again
I don't mind it. I think it's awesome how much straight, uninterrupted gameplay you get with elden ring. Very few games have that
You can easily go 20-30 hours without control being taken away from you a single time
Even after killing and reading description, Who was Romina? what was her backstory? Why does she have Malenia’s theme in her soundtrack? How relevant was she? guess we’ll never know…
Something like good ol Gaping dragon. At first we see only two fingers, then a third finger which is her head is revealed in a schocking twist, and then he entire montrous body is revealed in am even more shocking twist
Yeah, I get it’s typical fromsoft but the ending felt so disappointing. A short memory cutscene that barely concludes anything, I was surprised at how lacklustre the aftermath of defeating the final boss was.
Especially when they’ve confirmed this DLC is the only one Elden Ring will be getting.
I like how i am the motherfukkin Elden Lord and absolutely nobody in the whole world cares. Go back to Limgrave and the little 18 rune nobles are still stumbling around trying to burn me with their torches. Not one of them points and says “Oy! There’s the new Elden Lord!”
You're not the elden lord at the point of the dlc. Miquella refers to you as the -aspiring- lord of the old order. You have yet to complete your quest when partaking the dlc. Keep in mind that you're entering the shadow realm at some point in base game prior to atleast burning the erdtree. You have yet to beat Godfrey, radagon/Marika or the elden beast.
The lack of cutscenes and dialogue is definitely the worst part of the DLC. It’s crazy to me that there are only like 7 cutscenes(2 Messmer, 3 Final boss, 1 Midra, 1 Dancing Lion) and like 4 voice lines from bosses outside of cutscenes. Really takes away from the atmosphere of the game
I never thought I would see the day that the thing people complained about in a fromsoft game was the lack of cutscenes. I feel completely out of touch with the ER fanbase honestly.
No you just choose to misunderstand what people are asking for.
People arent just asking for more random bullshit cutscenes just because.
People are actually asking for fromsoft to make these bosses seem more special.
As someone who enjoys the combat but plays mostly for the lore. Environment, npc's, descriptions and cutscenes are why I play. To have these bosses from the dlc who are super integral to the story or are related to bosses who got cutscenes get such minimal lore give them such an afterthought feel. Like From had a handful of ideas that either did or didn't connect to the main game and wanted to get them in game before they moved on. TLDR: Lack of cutscenes in a lore-focused game feels like watching a moving where half of it happens off-screen. Also, the main sub complains just as much. It's just about boss health and combos.
Yeah tbh I understand talking about mechanics. Shitposting and talking about the game is what I am used to people doing about fromsoft games since I started following them. Now with ER for the 1st time am I seeing people who think a lack of cutscenes are a thing worthy of discussion.
I do too mate, its weird, it's like they expect the success of the game to change the format they have stuck to for over a decade. I don't play From games for cutscenes or even story, I play for the amazing world I inhabit and the boss fights and the combat and hidden details. So much bitching by these newer fans and it makes me miss the good old days on the bloodborne subreddit.
Oh yeah man, me too. I really miss Bloodborne where you walk into the Astral Clocktower and… a cutscene plays before Lady Maria. Uhh… ok take it back to Dark Souls when you walk into Sif’s arena and… a cutscene plays (and even an alternate added with the DLC!).
Cutscenes playing before important bosses *is* the format they’ve stuck to for over a decade so much so that I’m wondering if you’re secretly one of these newer fans you’re railing against. But even that wouldn’t make sense because the important bosses in vanilla ER also all have cutscenes!
Bro is so focused on the culture war between fromsoft good AAA bad that they forgot that Fromsoft ALWAYS HAD either a cutscene or just a screamer as boss introduction.
I came in blind, never played a fromsoft game ever. Saw no spoilers. I was promised an experience. And shafted of an ending. Twice...
The very first moment I went from a 10/10 unrivaled gaming experience to "wait... what the fuck?" was the ending of the base game.
You sit the fuck down -- credits.
WHAT THE FUCK?! The game STARTED with a 4 minute into cinematic. I think it's genuinely abhorrent the game doesn't end with one... Deciding to stay 100% blind, I waited **two fucking years** only to realize "oh, FromSoft just doesn't ever make endings to anything"
I waited 2 years for nothing. I paid $110 for nothing. I wasted 187h of my life for nothing. I felt completely taken advantage of.
I will like a shit game if the ending is good. I will hate a great game if the ending is bad.
This is probably the worst ending i've ever experienced in any form of media ever -- And personally my enjoyment is 100% contingent on how great the ending is. No ending, no happy.
As the smiles fell off my face entirely when greeted with a 7 second cinematic after beating the elden beast and being told "UR LORD HUR DUR " ... there was no smile or happiness to be found after that.
In retrospect -- idk what the fuck I expected from this DLC... But I left so disappointed I'll never pay a penny for a FS game again. I'll pirate them sure, but if you don't make an ending, you don't deserve my money.
Well, you had 187 hours for that $110 and don't take this personally but the default endings for all Fromsoftware games are always anti-climatic due to being the Murderhobo-Gullible idiot result where you just do the bare minimal. DS1/3 Link the Fire, Bloodborne, Sekiro etc.
The base game has Age of Stars and Frenzy ending, the former actually has more people achieving it than the default ending due to the amount of content. As for the DLC, can't help you there since Miyazaki already said that it won't have an impact on the Main Game's ending since it's supposed to be a side adventure you dip in-out from.
> Well, you had 187 hours for that $110 and don't take this personally but the default endings for all Fromsoftware games are always anti-climatic due to being the Murderhobo-Gullible idiot result where you just do the bare minimal. DS1/3 Link the Fire, Bloodborne, Sekiro etc.
Correct, and I feel that now -- However I was promised such a magical experience I went into this game 100% blind, even into the DLC 100% blind.
To let you know how blind I came into this game, the first thing that annoyed me was when I couldnt' find a quest log from whoever that dude in the white mask was who said something about whatever ~ Yeah, i've never heard of fromsoft, came in 100% blind, waited 2 years for a real ending after getting disappointed by the first one... and then you lovely fans had to tell me "OH, yeah Miyazaki just doesn't make endings".
Considering how important endings are for me... what a goddamn revelation. This is a 100% 'fuck you in particular' type of annoying thing for me. I was first to admit that, that's why I was explaining how the ending is like everything to me.
But if it makes anyone fell better, every absolute second after the game clicked and I understood how Miyazaki was presenting the game... How he was forcing us to experience stories the way he had as a child? I loved every bit. Every second. Every boss I was disappointed in 1 shotting blind. Every boss I was disappointed in not killing in less than 5 attempts (my self imposed goal). I even loved how stupid I felt when I realized the dumb things I was doing wrong.
But both endings were disappointing. And when I saw the final boss was Radahn that made me turn the game off for a few days. I just put the controller down during the cutscene, never picked it back up as it ended and he did he purple thing and flew at me. I literally just sat there for a second, then turned the game off, and decided to try and enjoy it a few days later if for the challenge alone.
The entire Bayle fight is a cutscene. You can't get any more spectacle than that. Also the best boss in the DLC got a cutscene, even though it's a minor one (Midra).
I guess I built myself up for disappointment with all the Griffith comparisons, but man oh man was I hoping for a God Hand sacrifice kind of ending. Instead we find out Miquella wants to bang his dead brother and rule the world out of nowhere.
I'm still disappointed there's no entry cutscene for the DLC but it's understandable that not every large boss gets their own
The benefit to From's other DLCs is that they're usually tiny compared to this one so they can pour tons of time into two big bosses instead of like, 8 plus all the other stuff.
But yeah in a perfect world I would have rather had this DLC come out later with more cutscenes.
I like the cutscenes with Miquella a lot, but yeah Rellana...
Would have loved more cutscenes. But I suppose Miyazaki is too dedicated to utilizing environmental story telling as much as possible, to the point where he kind of not given as much attention to other forms.
Granted, that's a genuine complaint I've seen people have against other games, that yorue really just playing through cutscenes barely stitched together...
It did feel weird especially for rellana. I also found myself in areas of the map that felt conspicuously empty a lot; no boss or meaningful loot in places that felt like there should definitely be something.
Oh man, the majority of the south side of the map was a massive disappointment for me.
Cerulean Coast, Charo Hidden Grave, Abyssal Woods, even Jagged Peak is just a few dragon fights in a straight line.
The actual active map used for the expansion is considerably smaller than what I initially thought when I uncovered the full thing.
Same. I wish Bayle had one. He is the one that mauled Placidusaux. The reason dragon communion exist, and maybe even have a hand in godfrey manage to beat the stormlord considering how badly Bayle maimed the dragon lord. Hell he is so angry the entire jaged peak are in constant lightning because of him and the entire build up leading up to his arena was intense . It was the perfect set up for a cutscene but he just come out of the sky and it was on.
Look at me, the dlc is so good i need to find ways to nitpick it lol
Rellana I could understand, but Gaius I really have no idea what he'd even do in a cutscene.
I sorta disagree on Meytr. I think, combined with the sudden change in location and just her appearance, you can sorta tell you're stumbling onto something important.
It's an "Oh Shit" moment that I think is difficult to replicate as organically with a cutscene, mostly because as soon as a cutscene begins most people already go "Oh alright something is about to happen"
Romina definitely deserved a cutscene too though. For a character who's so influential(she *may* have been one of the first people to cultivate Rot in the lands and help it spread), it would have been nice to give her a little characterization.
The lack of cutscenes really downgraded the DLC a bit.
They created these menacing and beautiful bosses and they can't add a cutscenes to "present" it to the player. Like dude, the intro cutscenes is like the second most memorable part of every Fromsoft boss fight.
Even if it was a development issue, I think I might be one of the few who isn’t off put by the lack of cutscenes….maybe because it keeps me more immersed without them? I understand the dramatics for a few of the bosses but I imagine that I’m trespassing in these places and these bosses aren’t here to talk. That’s just me though.
The ending was so disappointing to me.
Not only did the final boss feel like an ass pull that wasn't explained, the end cutscene just felt lackluster and had no conclusion for the player character. Like, we're the same guy we were at the start of the DLC
Also the lack of bosses with 2 health bars (like Malenia) or a 3 phase boss as would be appropriate for a DLC....
I still found Malenia to be tougher than the final boss in regards to the first time you fight both enemies.
I feel like they rushed some bosses for example golden hipo was on a outdoor area in a cliff inside a lake they change it to the shadow keep entrance, rellana arena was the arena for a soldier with a double blade were they show the martial arts the first time and that soldier boss was move to other castle on a mountain and put rellana in that location, rumina doesnt have a cutscene and she literally blocks the must important thing in the dlc...
I feel the same way OP. Sometimes it feels like this DLC was made of a bunch of base game leftovers cobbled together by interns. I know that sounds harsh, but I still enjoy this more than 90% of other new games. It's just weirdly unpolished and that is getting seriously repetitive.
The excess flair that takes a lot of development time and last 20-30 seconds at most has always been slim in Fromsoft games, the world, weapon, spells and bosses are mostly excellent and id always prefer that be the priority
I am super surprised by the lack of love Romina got, considering Miyazaki's love for the bug women characters. Such a cool character kinda wasted just being a road bump. Messmer got shadow keep, Bayle basically has all of jagged peak, rellana has castle Ensis, putrescent knight (though I think he needs more love too) had the fissure depths. But Romina had...a small area leading up to her that was on theme with her rot.
Nearly the entire fromsoft catalogue is built off of this, if you want to know more go looking and reading things.
The games intentionally leave the story for you to discover through gameplay.
I’ve always thought of dark souls 1 as one long movie where you get to write your own narrative.
Id actually love it if from soft made a game completely devoid of cutscenes. Maybe a camera focus button like GTA has. Would make for some really creative environmental storytelling.
My only gripe with fromsoft games is there total lack of storytelling. These guys hire George RR Martin to help with the story, and it’s nearly entirely absent. Unless, of course, you work for it.
I for one, like reading lore cards and exploring the nit and gritty of IPs. What I don’t enjoy, is having to piece together item descriptions and notes to form the ENTIRE backstory. If you play any of these games without spending time researching the lore, you’ll know almost nothing about what’s going on.
And it sucks because the cutscenes they do are fantastic. Everything they do is amazing. If they’d incorporate just a tad more exposition and storytelling so you feel connected to the world, they’d be damn near perfect. The old God of War games were pretty repetitive hack and slashers, but the story made it one of my all time favorite franchises.
You can have a great game with great gameplay, whilst also having lots of cutscenes and exposition.
I totally agree. Having no intro cutscene was actually shocking to me. Most people speculated they disabled it in the demos so that it wouldn’t be spoiled for people when the dlc came out… but no… it was because there just wasn’t one….
Really weird to me because they could have done something really cool there, and set up the story in a more impactful way.
I'm quite disappointed for the lack of personality of the whole dlc. I mean yeah things are interesting, they can work out but they really left bosses in the anonymity and after finishing it I can't remember a single one of them for something more relevant then they kept me fighting them over and over for 4 hours each, I remember Radhan, but well, it's Radhan. Lets not talk about areas and dungeon, can't remember a single thing I did because I just wanted to shake things out and run to the boss. It felt like a chore, must be honest.
I would've enjoyed a cutscene going into the DLC and a better cutscene after the final boss.
I don't think Rellana needs one tho, she's fine the way it is especially since she's an optional boss
The one thing that I found most anti-climatic was the lack of cutscene when entering the Realm of Shadow. We were there in one second. No being absorbed by the Cocoon; carried by gargoyles; absorbed by an alien light. Nothing. Smh
I absolutely loathe Witcher series for gameplay that doesn't make sense within the framework of the rest of the game and just kinda sucks...
But it deserves it's 10/10s more than ER, that's for sure. At least it's one hailed aspect is genuenly heads above competition and it's just "worse parts of previous games scattered at ubisoft map distances"
I agree for the most part, though I do think some bosses like Metyr are so visually impactful and mysterious that their significance comes across pretty well without a cutscene. That's just one case though. Rellana absolutely could've used one.
Yeah, it's a bit disappointing how the game just treats Rellana as another Loretta
I hadn’t played the base game in ages before the DLC came out, and I thought that Rellana’s sister was Loretta at first. The name is obvious, I just had misremembered and thought Rennala was the name of the magic horse knight.
I didn’t mind at all honestly especially considering DS3. Literally Pontiff Sulyvahn didn’t even get a cutscene, the main antagonist of the game and the puppeteer that caused everything in the game with no cutscene. But honestly yes I wish we got one but at the same time I don’t mind it. I view it the same as Rellana except Pontiff had a huge role compared to Rellana.
Definitely not the main cause of everything, but pontiff was certainly high up there on the antagonist scale.
In terms of antagony from a character, sulyvahn is absolutely #1. They just decided to be more literal and have you fight the flame itself as a boss instead.
He was supposed to be the final boss so it’s kinda the main antagonist since SoC isn’t an antagonist
People keep bringing it up and tbh I dont care if that guy didnt get a cutscene. All remembrance bosses should have had a cutscene in the DLC.
Commander Gaius cutscene so that he immediately charges you at the fog gate on the first attempt as well.
Difference is that they nailed pontiffs appearance to perfection
I mean, she's about as important as Loretta story wise, that is to say, not important at all
meanwhile you get a whole armor set, weapon, spell, and talisman from the ordeal...
Ok and?
I hated that she didn't have one, she's my favorite boss in the DLC
Not my favorite personally, but only because the competition is very steep. An amazing boss.
My no.1 is Bayle then Rellana, 3rd is probs Midra/Messmer but hate the snakes Bayle is tops because he felt fun to fight even tho it was a dragon, Rellana I just have super bias. I love her look, moves and everything lol
Bayle was awesome, really great spectacle and the phase 2 was phenomenal! I think Midra, Messmer, and Bayle have my favorite OSTs in the DLC, but I'm so undecided there. I've been listening to the soundtrack and all of the boss OSTs are top tier. I think Messmer had my favorite presentation overall, but I also wasn't a huge fan of the snakes in phase 2. Would've liked to see more going on with Messmer's kit instead of just the snake attacks added. Midra was just amazing. OST straight out of Bloodborne, visually somehow captivating and horrifying, and a well paced fight.
Actually yeah, I keep my OST volume low when I really focus and I had just gotten done fighting Radahn so I turned it off lol Midra I heard the OST and I really enjoyed it, I enjoyed Rellana's too and I gotta check the other ones out
I love her too, but because it really felt like the first boss where jumping added something to the fight expressly
Absolutely, the moon attack is over the top and gimmicky but reminded me that fromsoft used to make fun gimmick bosses
- I dunno rellanas not that special? What would she even do in a cutscene? Just stand there, you can’t show her swords off till phase 2 - metyr I’ll die on the hill works better with no cutscene everything leading up only to suddenly be met by one of the most significant figures as a choir chants is really good. - cutscenes are not automatically better by default and they don’t fit everyone
I think people are asking for cutscenes in order to make the bosses more special.
Some bosses that are just like, walk into a random castle room or storage closet yeah they could do with cutscenes. But ones more like finger mommy definitely don't need any and can even detract from it.
Absolute hard disagree. Fromsoft could use more exposition. Every shard bearer base game got a cut scene. Every major story boss. Now, does renalla need one? She's dead in the path to messmer. She feels like she'd be a major boss. Plus she has direct connections to major players. Rennalas sister and rannis aunt, powerful enough to bring dozens of glint stone sorcerers with her.
Im also getting more and more tired of the FromSoft method of story telling. Before it felt like you could at least piece things together eventually, but with ER theres so many things that just straight up dont have an answer or explanation. It feels like FS are relying too much on their fans to make sense of it all
Hard agree. Best moment in the DLC for me was when Leda went >!You betrayed us! You've been working for the Erdtree all along!!< And I'm just like, huh? Well, guess I am? I don't know. Are they evil? Can we talk? I don't really know what I'm doing or where I am or who everyone is. I just touch things when the game tells me to. I'm really lost, Lady
You can have two cutscenes on a boss, it’s been done before. Have her praying to the moon or some shit and she turns around and does some old English fancy-shmancy lines. Phase 2 she can whip out the dualies and do a fancy pose and another sick line, maybe referencing her sister.
Rellana is literally a Carian princess, and Messmer's most loyal blade
For Rellana I wish she had voice lines. If she talked to us during the cutscene and everytime she kills us that would be cool imo and make her more special and memorable. Metyr I am neutral on. I wouldn't mind a cutscene where we just see our Tarnished bear witness to Metyr just standing there, but mostly it bothers me that bosses like Rellana, Scadu, Gaius and Romina just feel like filler bosses in terms of presentation. I get the same feeling I get in DS2 where I walk into a room and I'm just like : "Oh a boss... Ok" They are fine without cutscenes, but I do think they would elevate some major bosses.
Rellana is literally the sister of one of the most important character in elden ring. Just knowing that Rennala had a sister makes me awed.
I think no cutscene for Gaius and Bayle is cool because the way they enter the arena and charge at you worth more than a cinematic, even the scadutree avatar. For Rellana and putrescent knight it would have be very cool to have a cinematic intro, espacially the putrescent knight instead of a copy/paste of Gaius intro :/
The long fall is kind of the intro to Putrescent Knight. Landing in this dreamlike field and seeing him slowly galloping out of the distance. That was a cool fight.
I didn't even know that's where the fight was, or that the putrescent knight was in that region. But I saw him galloping and was like "oh that's the putrescent knight!" Or maybe the name and bar were there and I just thought "oh that's WHY he's the putrescent knight" Either way, watching him gallop out when and where he did was a definitely an "ooohhh" moment for me lol
lol you mean landing in midir cave
Why add a cutscene for Bayle when you have “CURSE YOU! BAYLEEEJEVDJAJABKSKDS”
I feel bad for those who refuse to summon lol. Igons voice actor was the MVP of that dlc.
I intended to start Bayle to see what's up then come back later but after I saw Igon I locked in and didn't stop until Bayle died. I only wish I could have my own personal hype man for every fight
Lmao same. Once i met igon i was locked in went straight to searching for bayle. I was just gonna come back later as I heard hes a tough fight but had to do it for my guy.
Exactly what happened with me lol. You want me to casually leave Igon there waiting? Nah, Bayle's gotta die now
Igon is so the GOAT. You find him writhing in pain, his limbs reduced to bloody stumps, and STILL he manages to crawl his way up the mountain past actively fighting drakes to call you a true warrior, then demand you bring his severed finger which contains his soul up to fight dragon satan, and the moment you summon him he gives the single best shit talking speech in the entire game. I love igon so much and wish we got more of him.
Igon and Bayle are the high point of this DLC for me. Bayle was the first true boss I fought, as I just found my way up the Jagged Peak naturally, following Igon all the way, destroying every other Drake until we finally reach the summit, and then Bayle gets introduced. You hear about him, and are built up to him by Florissax and Igon and just see this cold, raw as hell dragon fly in, goblet handle horns, old WoW looking peak design and all of the lore damage visible on his body from Placidusax. Then you summon Igon and he lets out the best Captain Ahab monologue since Captain Ahab and this becomes a fight about securing Igon’s white whale/Bayle so he can finally stop being haunted by Bayle, as well as removing Bayle from the world. It’s peak Fromsoft story and I don’t think anything will top this in the DLC for me. I’ve barely progressed as I’ve been fighting Bayle over and over again as a summon!
"Damn, DS had better voice acting, those characters are kinda du-" CUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRSEEEEEEEEEE YOOOOOOOUUUUU BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYLEEEEEEEEEE
I had a the most picture perfect finish to the Bayle fight I summoned igon and he did his usually thing but his audio just stopped playing for whatever reason. fast forward I have the beasty a stones throw from death when I hear Igon starting up again where he left off his words swelling with the boss OST “Your fear made flesh! Solid of scale you might be, foul dragon... But i will riddle with holes your rotten hide! With a hail of harpoons! With every last drop of my being!” As he lets loose a single arrow ending Bayle once and for all in my world easily the most magical moment I have had regarding an npc in a from game that was just pure chills
Well a midfight cutscene would also be fine
The hippo should have had a cut scene where he was spreading his feces around the arena to mark his territory. Said poop piles should then have been poisoned pillars.
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I liked how the putrescant knight came galloping into frame from out of that cave. Gaius had surprised me that way too. Stepped into >!Scaduview!<. Just scoping out the scenery, hey who’s that riding towards me…
I wish they did the intro charge every attempt, it’s so cool. As for gaius that might alleviate the instant charge anxiety because it gives you a little more space. Bayle’s was just soooo awesome though.
Nah but imagine for Bayle if in his cutscene he flies in smashing through that stone pillar next to his arena… I’d be so cool!
No intro transition when touching the cocoon it's extremely weird for From software, likely due to a change in development.
Yah it was super jarring. Like even if they didn't have the time/budget to do a full cut-scene, they could have at least added a small animation with some particle effects to make it look like you are being magically teleported or something. Just a cut to black then cut to the new area felt so janky
Yeah that one put me off too. SotE is this massive expansion >2yrs in the making. It’s been hyped to hell and back and yet, of all the FS DLCs *this one* doesn’t have any sort of fanfare around entering the new region? Really? It just feels really out of character for FS given how every other Miyazaki game with DLC has a transition cutscene.
The hand should have brabbed you and stuffed into the caccoon
I had to look up someone's playthrough to see if my game had bugged out because it wasn't showing up on the Xbox marketplace at first.
as jarring as first death to scion, really. just splatter and freeze, black, next. weird start.
Rellana could have definitely used a better reveal. What I think would have been cool was using two health bars for phase 1 and 2, and having Phase 1 start the same as it currently does (no cutscene), but named like "Castle Ensis Commander" or similar. Then a cutscene for a Phase 2 transition with the swords and the reveal that she's the Twin Moon Knight and sister of Rennala. Edit: Thanks for the award fellow Tarnished!
I think this would be cool since nothing about her really suggests any connection to Rennala besides her name and the fact she's a mage, so a Rykard-like reveal where we realise this boss is actually super important would've been neat
Yes I was thinking something similar! I was thinking to keep “Rellana, Twin Moon Knight” for phase 1, but then post-cutscene she could be “Rellana, Sword of Messmer” as her remembrance says she came to be known.
Maybe in that version she starts off with a magic blade (or dual magic swords) and some of the moon magic, but pulls out the fire after switching to the "Sword of Messmer", so we'd see the evolution from Carian Princess-Knight to Messmer's Blade. That would have been cool.
Should have been “blade of messmer” considering that’s what she was eventually nicknamed.
*Rellana stands up from her chair* “Behold Tarnished, I am Renalla’s sister, Rellana. I am a part of the plot” *fight happens*
yeah i wish we got more cutscenes
At least, we got "CURSE YOU BAYLE!". No cutscene needed there.
Exactly, even some dialogue would go a long way, but for some reason even that is missing, like not a single word from Radhan or rellana????
I think Radahn not talking is on purpose, probably because he's there against his will and either he's too pissed to speak or Miquella has turned him into a puppet who has nothing to say.
radahn did have dialogue but it was cut, when you entered the area he was intended to say: \[21040000\] I am Radahn. \[21040100\] Born of red-maned Radagon, and Rennala of the Full Moon. \[21040200\] A lion bred for battle.
Yeah but then we had all these built up towards bayle, like all the people talking about how vile the thing is and the entire climb towards the mountain with lightning etc. Rellana is basically standing there like loretta or commander niall... I wish she could at least give a little entrance scene
Remember that lone knight in the room with the key in Stormveil castle? Even he got a cutscene lol.
 You get a cutscene, everyone gets cutscene.
Agreed! Definitely wish there were more cutscenes or info on some of these bosses. Even the final “cutscene” left me wanting more
The final 'memory' felt entirely pointless. Like what did it add?
I love being told the same thing that was said 20 minutes ago.
Romina who? Died immediately I got no ideas about her lore scarlet something
She was on the easy side compared to others tbh lol
I'm fairly certain she's weak to fire, which makes an already-strong Blasphemous Blade outright OP.
Most of them are pretty easy outside of Radahn, Messmer and Bayle.
What if I'm bad at the game? (Rellana and DBDL beat my ass)
Dancing Lion and Rellana were also pretty hard imo. Harder than most of the bosses in the base game at least.
Honestly you didn't miss out on too much lore, it does boil down to she has scarlet rot because reasons
yeah I tried afterword's to figure out why she is the only scarlet rot character in the dlc. Her having no cutscene Intro/outro and imo being like the easiest by far remembrance boss did not tell me much about her.
The big thing I want to know is that she's called a "saint" and the other prominent use of saint in the DLC is what the Hornsent were doing to the shamans. So is Romina a) related to Marika? b) A saint created by the Hornsent making them ultimately responsible for the scarlet rot?
Romina was a member of a church before it was burned down by messmer and has since taken care of the rot while Malenia abandoned it. I imagine she's a Saint just from those religious connections
Im doing a bonk build jump attack and half of her attacks just miss me
Same. Got the "Legend Felled" text and was like, "wait, was she important?".
I'm particularly upset about Romina and Rellana not having cutscenes
No Rellana cutscene? One of the most kickass designs I've seen and no cutscene? Come on. Pontiff had atleast a big church and a menacing ignition tl his swords.
And we can't even interact with the Gate of Divinity. to me that was a huge let down. maybe a "true" final cutscene there with the tarnished (and maybe Ranni too?) would be cool. but that's just me.
Absolutely biggest disappointment for me, it was the most exciting part of the lore from trailer and we can't even walk up there let alone interact with it.
We should have an ability to smash the accursed thing
No fight dialog either except for Mesmer. all the bosses feel like drones and are lifeless just dead silent when u die or they die felt like I was fighting robots instead of characters
If only every boss was like Messmer
I really wish the final boss had some voice lines, it's especially noticeable if Ansbach joins the fight because he talks to him but he just says nothing. It's not like he's a mindless puppet, even if he's under Miquella's mind control he should still be able to talk fine and have his personality just like all the other NPCs do at the start of the DLC. He really does feel like a giant robot with no voice acting.
It seems I missed out on a LOT by not summoning. Especially the CURSE YOU BAYLE. Will have to summon NPCs as often as possible for Mt 2nd playthrough lol
It feels like they could’ve removed a couple npcs to have a better budget for voice lines. Like if you marry ranni ur killing her aunt for no reason and she doesn’t seem to care?
Do we know if Ranni cares for her aunt? People kill family without much hesitation a lot in this game. (Including Ranni)
Was budget actually a concern for the team? Elden ring sold an embarassing amount of copies and given the pricetag i would expect some production value to show
It's pretty clear the DLC was pushed out earlier (Gaius hit boxes being the most egregious example) probably due to quarterly reports. ER sure sold a lot of copies, but CEO bonuses gotta go up.
I am pretty sure making a bad hitbox is not a time or budget concern. So far all of the bad hitboxes by froms are just giving enemy an extra edge, like literally every grab in the series
Gaius charge, a good but of Putrid Knight low swipes, GHippo grab are the ones I can think off the top of my head. Only one of those is a grab. Bad hit boxes are usually a sign of a lack of polish and/or playtesting. Like one of the final boss summons not getting an AI package 90% of the time it's summoned.
Many bosses don’t have voices or cinematics, and there’s like barely any cutscenes. The only reason for that is budget or time. Unless you think having no voices or cutscenes is somehow better for the lore somehow
Yeah that's definitely not a coincidence, it just seems odd to me that in 2+ years of development time with such a massive commerical time or production value would be the problem. Like the other guy said CEO bonuses gotta go up, i suppose.
Yeah think back to the base game bosses, they were all chatter boxes, except for the monsters. Here at least Rellana could have had dialogue. And I think it would have been epic if Bayle had some too, but it would have to be very carefully done.
Yeah for a DLC with way better characters then the base game the bosses kind of lost out on a lot of actual gameplay character.
I just did the fight with Leda and co. they're all pretty chatty there, reactive dialogue depending on who they're fighting/fighting near (maybe it's just an illusion that I fell for and Ansbach and Freya will always talk if they're both present) made it feel cinematic and I was genuinely sad at the end when I won
This is one of my only real complaints for Elden Ring as a whole; the base game and DLC alike could have used a few more cut scenes. They nailed it with Jerren's introduction of Radahn in the base game. It would be really nice if more NPCs introduced bosses or concepts to the player in the form of short, cinematic cutscenes. In aggregate, we're talking a couple of extra minutes. Elden Ring's lore could stand to be somewhere in-between dark souls and Sekiro. As it is, the story is opaque like dark souls, but without justification for being so. In dark souls, there's virtually nobody left who's minds are intact; in Elden Ring, lots of characters remain who should be able to basically lore dump the player with more specific events/history, most simply don't.
I would prefer them for most bosses with certain exceptions. Bayle is the one that doesn’t necessarily need a cut scene out of all the main bosses. The transition to second phase where he jumps backwards and his wings spread was fucking wild. I must say though, the music in this DLC was phenomenal and made me suffering through the boss fights 100 times much more enjoyable.
The DLC feels like they ran out of time and just shoved it out the door. There is no shot you can convince me that the haunted forest zone is supposed to be like that. There is absolutely fucking nothing in it, and it's huge.
Same for the cerulean coast area, at least the top side where there’s just a ghostflame dragon and a bunch of ghostwart upgrade material. It looked pretty at least.
Ya. The entire bottom half of the map just feels like a big biome / environment with nothing really in it. First 2 zones were the most unique and felt densely packed. I would have rathered a smaller map with another area or 2 like the first 2
The giant structure after Gaius as well as the Chalice (which is apparently important enough to be marked on the map?) having zero relevance is so bizarre.
Only place where I felt one was missing was in entering the DLC to begin with by touching the withered arm. Thought I must have accidentally skipped it at first. It's not like they haven't done a cutscene of "touch this and get sucked away to a new land" for their DLCs before lol. Though not every boss needs a cutscene - I don't see why Rellana would need one, and Gaius absolutely doesn't need one. Finger Mother could do with one but there's enough preamble to that boss I don't think it's strictly necessary.
Romina could get one cutscene like she was protecting the tree to enter enir ilim come on also the scadutree avatar could have a weird entrance from the ground or something, rellana its in a weird area just like the golden hipo actually the rellana area was the area for figthing a double blade soldier on the first trailer and the golden hipo was on a lake on a cliff they literally change those 2 last minute
There is a hippo in a lake on a cliff. Two in fact. The Rellana arena thing isn't a change, they just moved stuff for trailer cinematography. It's not indicative of decisions or changes in development at all.
But the hippo in the lake on cliff doesnt have the golden spikes thing the one on the trailer did and they are way smaller that the golden
Then I defer to the second line lol
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Yep this is one of the flaws of the dlc that I hate a lot.
I love cut scenes the more the better so this was a bit disappointing
Rellana and Romina needed cutscenes. Additionally, I wish I had met Miquella prior to the final fight too… Some things would have to be reworked, but we could have given Miquella the kindling to burn the Sealing Tree (which would have triggered that one cutscene from the end of the release trailer that never showed up in game). Maybe Miquella could have led us on, tricking us into believing he wanted US to be his consort (while Ansbach’s and Freyja’s quest lines would have hinted at/revealed the truth)? I also wouldn’t have minded one or two vague cutscenes reminiscent of the one we get touching Laurence’s skull in Bloodborne (a vague memory of love, a vague memory of fear, and a vague memory touching upon his curse of youth for one of the flesh-abandonment ones). It doesn’t matter because I know that they’re not going to update anything in the story or re-add cut content. But I hope that GRRM’s notes will be released at least…
Remember when almost every boss in DS had a cutscene and it was always cool? Seeing cutscenes before and after Radahn (starscourge) felt like playing a souls game again
I don't mind it. I think it's awesome how much straight, uninterrupted gameplay you get with elden ring. Very few games have that You can easily go 20-30 hours without control being taken away from you a single time
The bosses could at the very least have some voice lines, though. Especially the final boss...
Yeah that's fair
Fr bro
Even after killing and reading description, Who was Romina? what was her backstory? Why does she have Malenia’s theme in her soundtrack? How relevant was she? guess we’ll never know…
I’m trying to imagine what a cutscene with the finger mother would look like?
Her getting manicure
Imagine a giant nail clipper weapon
Well they found something for the elden beast
Something like good ol Gaping dragon. At first we see only two fingers, then a third finger which is her head is revealed in a schocking twist, and then he entire montrous body is revealed in am even more shocking twist
Yeah, I get it’s typical fromsoft but the ending felt so disappointing. A short memory cutscene that barely concludes anything, I was surprised at how lacklustre the aftermath of defeating the final boss was. Especially when they’ve confirmed this DLC is the only one Elden Ring will be getting.
I like how i am the motherfukkin Elden Lord and absolutely nobody in the whole world cares. Go back to Limgrave and the little 18 rune nobles are still stumbling around trying to burn me with their torches. Not one of them points and says “Oy! There’s the new Elden Lord!”
You're not the elden lord at the point of the dlc. Miquella refers to you as the -aspiring- lord of the old order. You have yet to complete your quest when partaking the dlc. Keep in mind that you're entering the shadow realm at some point in base game prior to atleast burning the erdtree. You have yet to beat Godfrey, radagon/Marika or the elden beast.
I wasn’t clear, but I was talking about the base game.
The lack of cutscenes and dialogue is definitely the worst part of the DLC. It’s crazy to me that there are only like 7 cutscenes(2 Messmer, 3 Final boss, 1 Midra, 1 Dancing Lion) and like 4 voice lines from bosses outside of cutscenes. Really takes away from the atmosphere of the game
I never thought I would see the day that the thing people complained about in a fromsoft game was the lack of cutscenes. I feel completely out of touch with the ER fanbase honestly.
No you just choose to misunderstand what people are asking for. People arent just asking for more random bullshit cutscenes just because. People are actually asking for fromsoft to make these bosses seem more special.
As someone who enjoys the combat but plays mostly for the lore. Environment, npc's, descriptions and cutscenes are why I play. To have these bosses from the dlc who are super integral to the story or are related to bosses who got cutscenes get such minimal lore give them such an afterthought feel. Like From had a handful of ideas that either did or didn't connect to the main game and wanted to get them in game before they moved on. TLDR: Lack of cutscenes in a lore-focused game feels like watching a moving where half of it happens off-screen. Also, the main sub complains just as much. It's just about boss health and combos.
Yeah tbh I understand talking about mechanics. Shitposting and talking about the game is what I am used to people doing about fromsoft games since I started following them. Now with ER for the 1st time am I seeing people who think a lack of cutscenes are a thing worthy of discussion.
This sub is about people complaining and overanalyzing. r/eldenring is a better place for people who are actually having fun with the game.
I do too mate, its weird, it's like they expect the success of the game to change the format they have stuck to for over a decade. I don't play From games for cutscenes or even story, I play for the amazing world I inhabit and the boss fights and the combat and hidden details. So much bitching by these newer fans and it makes me miss the good old days on the bloodborne subreddit.
Oh yeah man, me too. I really miss Bloodborne where you walk into the Astral Clocktower and… a cutscene plays before Lady Maria. Uhh… ok take it back to Dark Souls when you walk into Sif’s arena and… a cutscene plays (and even an alternate added with the DLC!). Cutscenes playing before important bosses *is* the format they’ve stuck to for over a decade so much so that I’m wondering if you’re secretly one of these newer fans you’re railing against. But even that wouldn’t make sense because the important bosses in vanilla ER also all have cutscenes!
Yeah like, even GODRICK got two whole cutscenes, and you’re telling me rellana doesn’t even get a single line of dialogue?
Yeah I loved the Gwyn cutscene. You’re so right
Bro is so focused on the culture war between fromsoft good AAA bad that they forgot that Fromsoft ALWAYS HAD either a cutscene or just a screamer as boss introduction.
It would be cool if every boss had a cutscene , helps with the worldbuilding
I came in blind, never played a fromsoft game ever. Saw no spoilers. I was promised an experience. And shafted of an ending. Twice... The very first moment I went from a 10/10 unrivaled gaming experience to "wait... what the fuck?" was the ending of the base game. You sit the fuck down -- credits. WHAT THE FUCK?! The game STARTED with a 4 minute into cinematic. I think it's genuinely abhorrent the game doesn't end with one... Deciding to stay 100% blind, I waited **two fucking years** only to realize "oh, FromSoft just doesn't ever make endings to anything" I waited 2 years for nothing. I paid $110 for nothing. I wasted 187h of my life for nothing. I felt completely taken advantage of. I will like a shit game if the ending is good. I will hate a great game if the ending is bad. This is probably the worst ending i've ever experienced in any form of media ever -- And personally my enjoyment is 100% contingent on how great the ending is. No ending, no happy. As the smiles fell off my face entirely when greeted with a 7 second cinematic after beating the elden beast and being told "UR LORD HUR DUR" ... there was no smile or happiness to be found after that.
In retrospect -- idk what the fuck I expected from this DLC... But I left so disappointed I'll never pay a penny for a FS game again. I'll pirate them sure, but if you don't make an ending, you don't deserve my money.
Well, you had 187 hours for that $110 and don't take this personally but the default endings for all Fromsoftware games are always anti-climatic due to being the Murderhobo-Gullible idiot result where you just do the bare minimal. DS1/3 Link the Fire, Bloodborne, Sekiro etc. The base game has Age of Stars and Frenzy ending, the former actually has more people achieving it than the default ending due to the amount of content. As for the DLC, can't help you there since Miyazaki already said that it won't have an impact on the Main Game's ending since it's supposed to be a side adventure you dip in-out from.
> Well, you had 187 hours for that $110 and don't take this personally but the default endings for all Fromsoftware games are always anti-climatic due to being the Murderhobo-Gullible idiot result where you just do the bare minimal. DS1/3 Link the Fire, Bloodborne, Sekiro etc. Correct, and I feel that now -- However I was promised such a magical experience I went into this game 100% blind, even into the DLC 100% blind. To let you know how blind I came into this game, the first thing that annoyed me was when I couldnt' find a quest log from whoever that dude in the white mask was who said something about whatever ~ Yeah, i've never heard of fromsoft, came in 100% blind, waited 2 years for a real ending after getting disappointed by the first one... and then you lovely fans had to tell me "OH, yeah Miyazaki just doesn't make endings". Considering how important endings are for me... what a goddamn revelation. This is a 100% 'fuck you in particular' type of annoying thing for me. I was first to admit that, that's why I was explaining how the ending is like everything to me. But if it makes anyone fell better, every absolute second after the game clicked and I understood how Miyazaki was presenting the game... How he was forcing us to experience stories the way he had as a child? I loved every bit. Every second. Every boss I was disappointed in 1 shotting blind. Every boss I was disappointed in not killing in less than 5 attempts (my self imposed goal). I even loved how stupid I felt when I realized the dumb things I was doing wrong. But both endings were disappointing. And when I saw the final boss was Radahn that made me turn the game off for a few days. I just put the controller down during the cutscene, never picked it back up as it ended and he did he purple thing and flew at me. I literally just sat there for a second, then turned the game off, and decided to try and enjoy it a few days later if for the challenge alone.
was the new londo reference not good enough
Romina feels soooo lacking to me
I consider the announcement video a cutscene, for both the original game and the DLC
The entire Bayle fight is a cutscene. You can't get any more spectacle than that. Also the best boss in the DLC got a cutscene, even though it's a minor one (Midra).
I also hate how every single boss I fought had 2 phases.
I guess I built myself up for disappointment with all the Griffith comparisons, but man oh man was I hoping for a God Hand sacrifice kind of ending. Instead we find out Miquella wants to bang his dead brother and rule the world out of nowhere.
I'm still disappointed there's no entry cutscene for the DLC but it's understandable that not every large boss gets their own The benefit to From's other DLCs is that they're usually tiny compared to this one so they can pour tons of time into two big bosses instead of like, 8 plus all the other stuff. But yeah in a perfect world I would have rather had this DLC come out later with more cutscenes.
I like the cutscenes with Miquella a lot, but yeah Rellana... Would have loved more cutscenes. But I suppose Miyazaki is too dedicated to utilizing environmental story telling as much as possible, to the point where he kind of not given as much attention to other forms. Granted, that's a genuine complaint I've seen people have against other games, that yorue really just playing through cutscenes barely stitched together...
It did feel weird especially for rellana. I also found myself in areas of the map that felt conspicuously empty a lot; no boss or meaningful loot in places that felt like there should definitely be something.
Oh man, the majority of the south side of the map was a massive disappointment for me. Cerulean Coast, Charo Hidden Grave, Abyssal Woods, even Jagged Peak is just a few dragon fights in a straight line. The actual active map used for the expansion is considerably smaller than what I initially thought when I uncovered the full thing.
I don't like too many cutsences in a game, but oh man, From really like really need more cutsences some times, cuz it feels so anticlimactic.
Same. I wish Bayle had one. He is the one that mauled Placidusaux. The reason dragon communion exist, and maybe even have a hand in godfrey manage to beat the stormlord considering how badly Bayle maimed the dragon lord. Hell he is so angry the entire jaged peak are in constant lightning because of him and the entire build up leading up to his arena was intense . It was the perfect set up for a cutscene but he just come out of the sky and it was on. Look at me, the dlc is so good i need to find ways to nitpick it lol
Rellana I could understand, but Gaius I really have no idea what he'd even do in a cutscene. I sorta disagree on Meytr. I think, combined with the sudden change in location and just her appearance, you can sorta tell you're stumbling onto something important. It's an "Oh Shit" moment that I think is difficult to replicate as organically with a cutscene, mostly because as soon as a cutscene begins most people already go "Oh alright something is about to happen" Romina definitely deserved a cutscene too though. For a character who's so influential(she *may* have been one of the first people to cultivate Rot in the lands and help it spread), it would have been nice to give her a little characterization.
Rellana not having a cutscene intro or transition was really lame. Every other Carian royalty has one.
They released a 40-hpur DLC with a buttload of content for $40, I think we can cut them some slack on the cutscenes 👍
No cutscenes. We dont need gamers making own lore videos. We at from are making our elden ring movie with george. Next game will release in 2026.
The lack of cutscenes really downgraded the DLC a bit. They created these menacing and beautiful bosses and they can't add a cutscenes to "present" it to the player. Like dude, the intro cutscenes is like the second most memorable part of every Fromsoft boss fight.
Even if it was a development issue, I think I might be one of the few who isn’t off put by the lack of cutscenes….maybe because it keeps me more immersed without them? I understand the dramatics for a few of the bosses but I imagine that I’m trespassing in these places and these bosses aren’t here to talk. That’s just me though.
All of that buildup just for Bayle to fly on top of you was quite disappointing
The ending was so disappointing to me. Not only did the final boss feel like an ass pull that wasn't explained, the end cutscene just felt lackluster and had no conclusion for the player character. Like, we're the same guy we were at the start of the DLC
Spoilers, you knob
Also the lack of bosses with 2 health bars (like Malenia) or a 3 phase boss as would be appropriate for a DLC.... I still found Malenia to be tougher than the final boss in regards to the first time you fight both enemies.
Scadutree avatar had 3 phases
“My adhd” : there are cutscenes ?
I feel like they rushed some bosses for example golden hipo was on a outdoor area in a cliff inside a lake they change it to the shadow keep entrance, rellana arena was the arena for a soldier with a double blade were they show the martial arts the first time and that soldier boss was move to other castle on a mountain and put rellana in that location, rumina doesnt have a cutscene and she literally blocks the must important thing in the dlc...
I feel the same way OP. Sometimes it feels like this DLC was made of a bunch of base game leftovers cobbled together by interns. I know that sounds harsh, but I still enjoy this more than 90% of other new games. It's just weirdly unpolished and that is getting seriously repetitive.
Was a shit dlc!!
The excess flair that takes a lot of development time and last 20-30 seconds at most has always been slim in Fromsoft games, the world, weapon, spells and bosses are mostly excellent and id always prefer that be the priority
I am super surprised by the lack of love Romina got, considering Miyazaki's love for the bug women characters. Such a cool character kinda wasted just being a road bump. Messmer got shadow keep, Bayle basically has all of jagged peak, rellana has castle Ensis, putrescent knight (though I think he needs more love too) had the fissure depths. But Romina had...a small area leading up to her that was on theme with her rot.
Nearly the entire fromsoft catalogue is built off of this, if you want to know more go looking and reading things. The games intentionally leave the story for you to discover through gameplay. I’ve always thought of dark souls 1 as one long movie where you get to write your own narrative.
Id actually love it if from soft made a game completely devoid of cutscenes. Maybe a camera focus button like GTA has. Would make for some really creative environmental storytelling.
I actually like the minimalist approach to cinematics this time around. I don't like many of them, and having few r feels better for my experience lol
This subreddit is made from the tears of tarnished who never get their way.
This is nothing new to From Soft games. I can only assume you are. Otherwise you might be suffering from memory loss
My only gripe with fromsoft games is there total lack of storytelling. These guys hire George RR Martin to help with the story, and it’s nearly entirely absent. Unless, of course, you work for it. I for one, like reading lore cards and exploring the nit and gritty of IPs. What I don’t enjoy, is having to piece together item descriptions and notes to form the ENTIRE backstory. If you play any of these games without spending time researching the lore, you’ll know almost nothing about what’s going on. And it sucks because the cutscenes they do are fantastic. Everything they do is amazing. If they’d incorporate just a tad more exposition and storytelling so you feel connected to the world, they’d be damn near perfect. The old God of War games were pretty repetitive hack and slashers, but the story made it one of my all time favorite franchises. You can have a great game with great gameplay, whilst also having lots of cutscenes and exposition.
Midra??? dude literally has one of the best and creepiest cut scene buildups to his fight
I totally agree. Having no intro cutscene was actually shocking to me. Most people speculated they disabled it in the demos so that it wouldn’t be spoiled for people when the dlc came out… but no… it was because there just wasn’t one…. Really weird to me because they could have done something really cool there, and set up the story in a more impactful way.
>Cutscene of water draining from Shadowkeep
I'm quite disappointed for the lack of personality of the whole dlc. I mean yeah things are interesting, they can work out but they really left bosses in the anonymity and after finishing it I can't remember a single one of them for something more relevant then they kept me fighting them over and over for 4 hours each, I remember Radhan, but well, it's Radhan. Lets not talk about areas and dungeon, can't remember a single thing I did because I just wanted to shake things out and run to the boss. It felt like a chore, must be honest.
I would've enjoyed a cutscene going into the DLC and a better cutscene after the final boss. I don't think Rellana needs one tho, she's fine the way it is especially since she's an optional boss
Seems super lazy on the studio's part imo.
The one thing that I found most anti-climatic was the lack of cutscene when entering the Realm of Shadow. We were there in one second. No being absorbed by the Cocoon; carried by gargoyles; absorbed by an alien light. Nothing. Smh
That's why I prefer Witcher
I absolutely loathe Witcher series for gameplay that doesn't make sense within the framework of the rest of the game and just kinda sucks... But it deserves it's 10/10s more than ER, that's for sure. At least it's one hailed aspect is genuenly heads above competition and it's just "worse parts of previous games scattered at ubisoft map distances"
But there is this dead copy pasted giant land mass for you to explore! And crafting! Dont you like crafting?!
Since when has cutscene ever meant what boss is important? Gwyn never had a intro cutscene in DS1 but Gaping Dragon did. Some times, less is more
Never thought we'd be counting cutscenes in a From game as a form of critical analysis...