Why Does Everyone Hate The DLC?

[Fuzzy]

I went into the DLC right when it came out, and my mind was blown. Note that I went into it on NG+1 with a level 246 character. Anyways, I've been enjoying it like crazy and I think it's pretty much perfect.

But then, just today, I look at reviews and discussions and whatnot, and everyone... hates it? But why? What's the reasoning behind it? It mostly seems to be meta players being peeved over the specifics and small details who are basically doomers who claim "FromSoft has lost their way and can't make games right anymore", or generalists who try to rush through the game without exploring, getting stronger, or just taking in the dark beauty of the world of Elden Ring.

I feel like there are no reasonable points against Shadow of The Erdtree, or against Elden Ring, or against FromSoft as a whole. It's about having fun, and we've been provided with a fun and novel experience yet again from one of the greatest modern game developers in a post-gaming world where most other game companies nowadays are greedy and inexperienced.

Elden Ring and its DLC should not be taken for granted. We don't get many sparks of greatness like this these days. Have fun. :)

[LightningEdge]

It's repetitive. Expands on the issues that the base game had already. This is nothing new. They did the same with DS3 implementation in Elden Ring.

[Haru]

Yeah, I don't really get it. Any issues I have with the DLC are issues that carried over from the base game, most of which are based around scaling and how the difficulty curve works. I have absolutely no complaints or issues that are unique to the DLC.

Well, that's a lie. There's one damage sponge copypasta enemy with an unsatisfying reward that really, really sucked, but aside from that, I'm having a damned good time.

The areas are pretty exciting to explore, the new enemy variety is refreshing, the NPC questlines seem pretty interesting, and a lot of the new weapon types kick ass. Oh and the unique boss designs, particularly the first two, were extremely engaging.

I entered the DLC on a level 120 character I made specific for the DLC release months ago. Just a basic sword, shield and incant build. Nothing extreme. I'm now around level 150ish, and only about half-way. I don't use spirit ashes or summons. I occasionally use an NPC if I feel it's quest chain relevant. And those Scadu Tree blessings are very helpful.

[Livy]

Reused mobs without anything notable added to them. (The dragon area have a major issue with this).

Progression system of ambiguous effect and forces you to check every nook and cranny, can't just focus on key locations.

Easy to break quests. Missing spells/incantations (You get a tier 2 ghost flame dragon breath, but no tier 1 like the rest, so you can't use it on horseback). No dragonhead stones like the past games.

Too much junk, that may or may not be the critical key item needed for the ambiguous progression system.

[Lys]

"everyone" let me guess, everyone is you and your favorite streamer ?

[Jaggernaut]

Personally, for whatever reason, I can't access the DLC - Even with the required bosses slain. There's currently no thread/help that fixes or explains potential fixes for me.

Most people say "restart X console" or reinstall, which I've of course already, but it didnt fix the problem..

Thus, for me, it will get a negative review, and a warning that it might not work for everyone at this current time, for what ever reason.

[LightningEdge]

Originally posted by MrFox1231:

Reused mobs without anything notable added to them. (The dragon area have a major issue with this).

Progression system ambiguous effect and forces you to check every nook and cranny, can't just focus on key locations.

Easy to break quests. Missing spells/incantations (You get a tier 2 ghost flame dragon breath, but no tier 1 like the rest, so you can use it on horseback).

Too much junk, that may or may not be the critical key item needed for the ambiguous progression system.

Exactly the fact that you have to look everywhere and they give you smithing stone 4, when literally you got him by killing Mogh, who is technically end game territory.

[StrayGenesis]

Originally posted by noob:

It's repetitive. Expands on the issues that the base game had already. This is nothing new. They did the same with DS3 implementation in Elden Ring.

Bro, according to steam you haven't even played the game, why are you here? LOL

[LightningEdge]

Originally posted by StrayGenesis:

Originally posted by noob:

It's repetitive. Expands on the issues that the base game had already. This is nothing new. They did the same with DS3 implementation in Elden Ring.

Bro, according to steam you haven't even played the game, why are you here? LOL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyszFRXPzWY

ok..

[Livy]

Originally posted by noob:

Exactly the fact that you have to look everywhere and they give you smithing stone 4, when literally you got him by killing Mogh, who is technically end game territory.

Just did a minor open world dungeon and the key item was on a random corpse hanging on a ledge in an optional area in the middle of the dungeon... That might as well have been a pound of flesh on that corpse.

Meanwhile there is a champion mob guarding the final chest that drops nothing which would have been perfect as the one holding the key item.

[Supa]

Because some people don't enjoy the lvl 200+ gameplay. It just feels like you're playing some RPG. And sure this has always been RPG but now it feels like action is less important and you just force yourself through by sheer numbers.

[Coinkydink]

The gameplay formula is my main gripe here. There are other problems I will address later but this here is the true source of my frustration, which inevitably spoiled most of the enjoyment I had. People say that it all started with DS3, but personally I believe it was a slow process of "memification" of the Souls genre gameplay. The git gud mentality behind it all which steered all design decisions towards what I consider now a pure CBT and ultimately unfun experience. The perfect summary I've read around is: "it feels you're playing Dark Souls while every enemy is playing Bloodborne".
Slow, uncancellable animations are sometimes so annoying it feels you're playing with 500 ping all the time. Most of the bosses (and even enemies) are hysterical, aoe spamming madlads with perfect hit tracking, inconceivable hitboxes and so many AOE moves that sometimes they feel copypasted. Imagine Pontiff Sulyvahn on crack. Not enough? Ok now imagine zoning AOE bosses, sorta like Laurence of crack. That's 90% of how I felt my experience with Elden Ring.

[MeanMothercyka]

They hate it because it was designed for jolly co-op, and most people can't deal with that fact.

[rhoenix]

Originally posted by Fuzzy:

I went into the DLC right when it came out, and my mind was blown. Note that I went into it on NG+1 with a level 246 character. Anyways, I've been enjoying it like crazy and I think it's pretty much perfect.

But then, just today, I look at reviews and discussions and whatnot, and everyone... hates it? But why? What's the reasoning behind it? It mostly seems to be meta players being peeved over the specifics and small details who are basically doomers who claim "FromSoft has lost their way and can't make games right anymore", or generalists who try to rush through the game without exploring, getting stronger, or just taking in the dark beauty of the world of Elden Ring.

I feel like there are no reasonable points against Shadow of The Erdtree, or against Elden Ring, or against FromSoft as a whole. It's about having fun, and we've been provided with a fun and novel experience yet again from one of the greatest modern game developers in a post-gaming world where most other game companies nowadays are greedy and inexperienced.

Elden Ring and its DLC should not be taken for granted. We don't get many sparks of greatness like this these days. Have fun. :)

As someone pretty new to the DS franchise, I am very impressed with the DLC so far. It's very dense in terms of things to explore, each area is as strongly visually distinct from each other as the main game areas are.

I've had to adapt my tactics during fights quite a few times - and the process of doing that was much more fun than I expected. I've found the movesets from the bosses and even normal enemies are usually much more vicious than they are in the main game, which encouraged me to learn how to create openings, rather than just waiting for an opening to exploit.

As much as I enjoy a two-weapon fighting style, breaking out a shield for parrying is something I do pretty often in the DLC. It is incredibly satisfying to do, and there are even items and weapons that give one more options.

On a related note, the Black Steel Greathammer not only lets you block-counter, but allows you to do so as an AoE with high poise damage - which is wonderful. It's one weapon that's tempted me away from parrying as a go-to.

The build options that open up based on the options you get is downright enthralling. If you want to cosplay as an ancient dragon lightning knight, you definitely can now - there are even two good weapon options for it.

I haven't completed it yet, but I have gone through a good amount of bosses and land area so far. Honestly, my biggest complaint is that we don't get enough ancient dragon smithing stones for all the great new weapons. I've found a few, but... with this many new good weapons one wants to build around, I definitely haven't found enough.

[Mall Ninja]

I just hate commander Gaius.
Worst boss design ever. If not for the stupid hog, it would be a challenging but enjoyable fight. But with Thomas the Train relenlessly choo-chooing after me, nah...

[Livy]

Originally posted by rhoenix:

I haven't completed it yet, but I have gone through a good amount of bosses and land area so far. Honestly, my biggest complaint is that we don't get enough ancient dragon smithing stones for all the great new weapons. I've found a few, but... with this many new good weapons one wants to build around, I definitely haven't found enough.

Yeah, that's another issue that have been plaguing all of these games save for DS1. No reliable way to get more slabs, outside of NG+. It greatly cripples the ability to try out things for us since whatever we make +25 will always be superior to those items stuck at +24.

And so what someone, somewhere wants to max every pieces of equipment in ng+0?