So the map is just... empty?

[120 BPM]

Once you start exploring the surrounding areas you will notice there is barely anything there, a few copypaste enemies, a few mushrooms and maybe a cookbook once in a while. Cerulan coast is devoid of content, more tedious and boring than a ubisoft game.

Base game had this problem too but never to this extent. What the actual ♥♥♥♥ fromsoft. My disappointment is immeasureable and my day is ruined.

Edit: Clownvote me all you want, this is not a troll post. I love the base game, DLC open world is just genuinely disappointing. If you are this far up your ass that you cannot see it then nothing can help you.

[Wolfguarde]

Originally posted by Mister Breaker:

Originally posted by Wolfguarde:

The kinds of worlds you want are still around 10 years away. Once the media generation AI develops sufficiently, game devs will be able to build a viable base (such as the existing world of Elden Ring), then have an AI iterate on what's already there to fully flesh it out with ecosystems, cultures, etc... essentially filling what would take the developers ten times the current development time to adequately fill.

There's a Nvidia tech demo from around a year or so back showcasing what I'm talking about. They basically gave their tech a set of prompts and had it dynamically generate a gameplay clip with no scripting or other prep. Character personalities/interactions, voices, background info, everything. All from a set of prompts. Once that takes off, games are going to take on a whole new dimension of realism. And for open world games, that means we're going to start seeing worlds that feel like actual worlds rather than beautifully-rendered expanses of... nothing.

Rockstar pulled most of this off two generations ago with Red Dead Redemption 1. Bethesda of all teams pulled it off with Morrowind before that. From have been massively successful for years now, ER especially sold well so the DLC has no real excuse for the corners they have cut.

Dude, I spent more than three thousand hours on Morrowind as a teenager. That world was as empty as this one is, give or take a few more spawn spots for wildlife.

I can't speak for RDD1, as I never played it. but I have a feeling from your reference to Morrowind that you're not grasping the scope I'm talking about in my previous post. Imagine ER or Morrowind with realistic population densities - human and wildlife both. NPCs with lives and history interacting organically and spontaneously to create story hooks that the player can participate in if they so choose. Never having the same conversation twice. Rarely finding the same NPC twice in the same wilderness spaces. Items with history being able to generate with no fixed location - meaning NPCs can pick them up and move them around the world, generating rumour/conversation hooks (or other tells) that the player can follow to track them down. None of it scripted - all behaviours, actions, and interactions generated by the game's backend, making every playthrough different not just from your actions, but those of the world's inhabitants.

I'll grant that From could have done more with this world. I haven't got the DLC yet, but given it came out two years after ER did, I can't imagine them having had time to do a better job with the DLC than they did with the base game. My point is exactly that - the kind of ♥♥♥♥ the OP (and the rest of us, being honest) want takes time to build.
For now.

[Lahoo Eckbert]

You haven't played the game. So far it feels more densely packed than any other part in the game.

[Killer Beast 77]

Originally posted by Vermilion Knight:

Originally posted by P1:

Skill issue. You missed tons of items and the hidden lore of the mystic boulder you passed

"Tons of items" HAHAHAHAAH
You mean 3 smithing stones and 4 gloveworts? .... Bro there isn't anything in this DLC you're drinking that cope juice.

lol who many ashes of war , unique weapons , talismans , incantations , npc , cookbooks and stuff did you miss ? are you sure you are playing the same game ?

[CHAO$$$]

so basically its the same as the base game?

[Welly]

Originally posted by CHAO$$$:

so basically its the same as the base game?

Ye have people forgot what the base game was like? WTF is even going on with this DLC has everyone just become a moron over the last 2 years?

[jaderpansen]

From the top of my head here are a few things missing from the main game, which made the latter feel more alive, i think:

- No Marika churches or similar recurring landmarks (or only just a few)
- No merchants
- No ruins with guaranteed, mostly worthwhile loot
- Less forts
- Less dungeons
- Less overworld boss fights (like Death Birds, Fallingstar Beasts, Cavalery...) [edit: i stand mostly corrected about this and are gladly eating my words with mustard. alas most are the same or similar to what we had more than enough in the base game already]
- No special encounters like the processions in Limgrave (you know the one, with the trolls pulling a wagon) or the walking mausoleums
- Less camps from different factions
- Generally less enemy variety (too many generic shadowdudes, stone birds and enemies we already know)
- No evergaols

etc.

That being said the scenery is breathtaking and the "dramaturgy" of unveiling the map nothing short of brilliant imo. The world itself _is_ great, just... well yeah, kinda empty / stage-like. I'm not much of an open world enthusiast anyway, but Elden Ring stood out. This DLC less so.

[TyresTyco]

Originally posted by jaderpansen:

From the top of my head here are a few things missing from the main game, which made the latter feel more alive, i think:

- No Marika churches or similar recurring landmarks (or only just a few)
- No merchants
- No ruins with guaranteed, mostly worthwhile loot
- Less forts
- Less dungeons
- No overworld boss fights (like Death Birds, Fallingstar Beasts, Cavalery...)
- No special encounters like the progressions in Limgrave (you know the one, with the trolls pulling a wagon)
- Hardly any camps
- Generally less enemy variety (too many generic shadowdudes and enemies we already know)
- No evergaols

etc.

That being said the scenery is breathtaking and the "dramaturgy" of unveiling the map nothing short of brilliant imo. The world itself _is_ great, just... well yeah, kinda empty / stage-like. I'm not much of an open world enthusiast anyway, but Elden Ring stood out. This DLC less so.

Except the last two points.. everything you said is wrong. There are more forts than in limgrave. There are more dungeons than in limgrave. Ruins have loot if you think it's worthwhile or not doesnt matter.. it's equipment. There are overworld boss fights .. even a death bird and falling star beast.

There are a couple of camps not all of them have chests tho. And yeah there are no wagons with weapons .. fair enough. Shadowlands have the golems tho. There are also more weapons to find than in limgrave, peninsula and caelid combined.

[McJiggy]

The hardcore drones are really in denial and coping that the DLC they waited 2 years for is mediocre and a complete disappointment full of recycled content.

[Viper]

Its about the size of Limgrave and has 2 major cities in it. So I am not sure what the poster is talking about.

[jaderpansen]

Originally posted by TyresTyco:

Originally posted by jaderpansen:

From the top of my head here are a few things missing from the main game, which made the latter feel more alive, i think:

- No Marika churches or similar recurring landmarks (or only just a few)
- No merchants
- No ruins with guaranteed, mostly worthwhile loot
- Less forts
- Less dungeons
- No overworld boss fights (like Death Birds, Fallingstar Beasts, Cavalery...)
- No special encounters like the progressions in Limgrave (you know the one, with the trolls pulling a wagon)
- Hardly any camps
- Generally less enemy variety (too many generic shadowdudes and enemies we already know)
- No evergaols

etc.

That being said the scenery is breathtaking and the "dramaturgy" of unveiling the map nothing short of brilliant imo. The world itself _is_ great, just... well yeah, kinda empty / stage-like. I'm not much of an open world enthusiast anyway, but Elden Ring stood out. This DLC less so.

Except the last two points.. everything you said is wrong. There are more forts than in limgrave. There are more dungeons than in limgrave. Ruins have loot if you think it's worthwhile or not doesnt matter.. it's equipment. There are overworld boss fights .. even a death bird and falling star beast.

There are a couple of camps not all of them have chests tho. And yeah there are no wagons with weapons .. fair enough. Shadowlands have the golems tho. There are also more weapons to find than in limgrave, peninsula and caelid combined.

You're right about the fire golems, honestly forgot about those.
About the rest i'm not sure, i haven't finished the DLC and two maps seem yet to be missing, so might well turn out you're right, but up until now i stand to my impressions, with Cerulean Coast and Finger Ruins of Rhia being the worst offenders thus far.
Of course i agree subjective quality of loot shouldn't count, like Rises were completely useless to me cos i don't play casters, but i acknowledge they were there.

Speaking of which i just came to think of two more things the main game was littered with:

- No Rises
- No minor erdtrees

[jaderpansen]

Originally posted by Viper:

Its about the size of Limgrave and has 2 major cities in it. So I am not sure what the poster is talking about.

It's most certainly bigger than Limgrave and Caelid combined in terms of square meters, not taking verticality into account, which is also much higher than in these places.
Just switch from world to world on the map, it's honestly quite obvious. Myazaki's comment was an understatement, most likely a conscious one.

[Viper]

Originally posted by jaderpansen:

Originally posted by Viper:

Its about the size of Limgrave and has 2 major cities in it. So I am not sure what the poster is talking about.

It's most certainly bigger than Limgrave and Caelid combined in terms of square meters, not taking verticality into account, which is also much higher than in these places.
Just switch from world to world on the map, it's honestly quite obvious.

so cry more. Its far from empty. There is a camp a ruins.a giant enemy, a shack, even before you get to the cities. Not to mention elevated areas you cant get to with much more.

[SpottedHare]

Honestly this world feels more empty then the Forsaken Land of the Great Sea, and Shadow of the Colossus and Windwaker world are supposed to be empty and barren.

[jaderpansen]

Originally posted by Viper:

Originally posted by jaderpansen:

It's most certainly bigger than Limgrave and Caelid combined in terms of square meters, not taking verticality into account, which is also much higher than in these places.
Just switch from world to world on the map, it's honestly quite obvious.

so cry more. Its far from empty. There is a camp a ruins.a giant enemy, a shack, even before you get to the cities. Not to mention elevated areas you cant get to with much more.

I'm quite alright and far from crying, enjoying the content (even if it's aguably less in proportion) quite alot, thank you. :)

[jaderpansen]

Originally posted by jaderpansen:

Originally posted by TyresTyco:

Except the last two points.. everything you said is wrong. There are more forts than in limgrave. There are more dungeons than in limgrave. Ruins have loot if you think it's worthwhile or not doesnt matter.. it's equipment. There are overworld boss fights .. even a death bird and falling star beast.

There are a couple of camps not all of them have chests tho. And yeah there are no wagons with weapons .. fair enough. Shadowlands have the golems tho. There are also more weapons to find than in limgrave, peninsula and caelid combined.

You're right about the fire golems, honestly forgot about those.
About the rest i'm not sure, i haven't finished the DLC and two maps seem yet to be missing, so might well turn out you're right, but up until now i stand to my impressions, with Cerulean Coast and Finger Ruins of Rhia being the worst offenders thus far.
Of course i agree subjective quality of loot shouldn't count, like Rises were completely useless to me cos i don't play casters, but i acknowledge they were there.

Speaking of which i just came to think of two more things the main game was littered with:

- No Rises
- No minor erdtrees

Come to think of it i also met two dragons. But those were basically the exact same like in the main game just with black fire breath... So yeah. Kinda mixed bag, too.