Souls Veteran here. I'll never play another FromSoft game again.

[P1]

Firstly, let me explain by saying I am a souls veteran. I have been playing since demon souls, and have completed the DS trilogy multiple times under multiple different builds. When Elden Ring came, I enjoyed it even though it had a lot of differences from the mainline souls game. So when the DLC was announced, I couldn't wait to try it. All the 10/10 from media outlets had me hyped. Then I got the DLC upon release and was left disappointed and almost feel swindled by all the media hype.

Firstly, the DLC is a huge let down. And before they come at me saying "git gud", I want to state this is not a complaint about the difficult or DLC being hard, but it being tedious and boring.

Same copy-pasted ghost dragon dude copy-pasted everywhere. Shadow dudes literally spammed everywhere. A New level-up system that copies Zelda BoTW by forcing you to search empty maps for shrines - I mean "scadutree" fragments to be powered up, or you'll get one shot in full bullgoat armor by a shadow dude. The bosses are the worst designs of any Souls game, in fact they don't even belong in a souls game, and should be in some fast-paced action combat game. Having bosses that unleash 50 combos followed by 20 aerial combos followed by 10 arena wide AoE attacks while you control a clunky dark souls character is just a cheap attempt at artifial difficult and tedious. Oh, and most bosses literally instantly attack you before you barely even step through the foggate.

If this is the direction souls games are going now, I will never play another one again. I want a SOULS game, not some ANIME style combat. It seems like now since souls games have gone so mainstream game journalists and die hard fanboys will just pretend from games can not have a single flaw and are always perfect. I really hope miyazakis next game just boots up to nothing but a screen featuring a picture of him taking a massive, stinky dump. Fromsoft die hard fanboys will be praising it and discussing the hidden lore of the sweetcorn hidden in the right corner of miyazakis dump, and telling anybody who complains to "git gud".

[Kung Fu RUSSEL]

I will say I do agree with the Dragon complaint though. Ghostflame Dragon was okay but Jagged Dragon and Ancient Dragon just felt like a lazy cop out. Also the map could have been smaller imo. A LOT of wandering around to find either a lackluster base game upgrade material or literally nothing.

[Kalameet]

Originally posted by P1:

Firstly, let me explain by saying I am a souls veteran.

Understandable. have a nice day *laughs in background*

Originally posted by P1:

If this is the direction souls games are going now, I will never play another one again. I want a SOULS game, not some ANIME style combat.

What? aren't you entertained, mr souls veteran, now that Fromsoftware is literally forced to make their games harder and harder, because they can't do anything else to further spice up their own formula?

They ditched slow gameplay first; then made every critter move as fast as if they were in bloodborne; then removed limited-use magic and added FP and weapon arts; now they made every foe/boss hyper-aggressive with less and less openings (and rebalanced them to force most people use summons).

Now they slammed some sekiro gymmics and its upgrade system into the main game loop.

[Kalameet]

Originally posted by Banana King:

Your butthurt will fade with time and you will buy and play the next fromsoft game.

Time heals all wounds.

No, that's more like an addiction. If gamers weren't hypocritical, they would drop Fromsoftware's new releases. All they do, instead, is waiting for their yearly fix, like true crackheads

[Faust Wither]

Originally posted by Kalameet:

Originally posted by Banana King:

Your butthurt will fade with time and you will buy and play the next fromsoft game.

Time heals all wounds.

No, that's more like an addiction. If gamers weren't hypocritical, they would drop Fromsoftware's new releases. All they do, instead, is waiting for their yearly fix, like true crackheads

im the crackhead you talking about.

[Armando Broncas]

Originally posted by Kalameet:

Originally posted by P1:

Firstly, let me explain by saying I am a souls veteran.

Understandable. have a nice day *laughs in background*

Originally posted by P1:

If this is the direction souls games are going now, I will never play another one again. I want a SOULS game, not some ANIME style combat.

What? aren't you entertained, mr souls veteran, now that Fromsoftware is literally forced to make their games harder and harder, because they can't do anything else to further spice up their own formula?

They ditched slow gameplay first; then made every critter move as fast as if they were in bloodborne; then removed limited-use magic and added FP and weapon arts; now they made every foe/boss hyper-aggressive with less and less openings (and rebalanced them to force most people use summons).

Now they slammed some sekiro gymmics and its upgrade system into the main game loop.

Exactly, they have been slowly destroying what made Dark souls great.

[Haru]

I feel like you've already made this exact thread before, but I'll reply anyway.

Shall preface by stating that I'm sorry that you didn't enjoy the DLC. I'll add that it's never a good idea to take gaming outlets seriously when it comes to reviews. It's always heavily biased or weighted in favour of sales versus critical analysis. Elden Ring released with a lot of bugs and was unplayable for a lot of folks on release, but still received perfect tens around the board. The 0/10 rating system, from third parties, is a horrendous way to collect information on a game prior to buying. The industry proves this again and again.

I feel like a lot of your criticism in this thread can entirely coincide with similar criticism about the base game. I will say that I think it's great that they added 11 unique remembrance boss fights tho', to counter balance that. And while there are definitely areas I feel are too vacant - with the abyssal woods being one of the worst zones in From history - I think there is plenty there to compensate.

I think the scadu system is pretty lazy too, but I found them all just by exploring and using my intuition. I never cared about them much fight wise or felt as if I needed them to progress.

I disagree that the bosses are poorly designed, but this disagreement in part stems from me not treating this game like a Souls game, or Bloodborne, or Sekiro, because it isn't. It's extremely similar and definetly a spiritual successor, but it is a very different ball game. At this stage in the player character's development, you are more than capable, on a base level, of keeping up with every boss the game throws at you - on a base level. If you use all of the tools available, many of these encounters are not only surmountable, but they can be entirely trivialised.

In Dark Souls, which I have played semi-recently, the tanky and slow bosses reflect the tankiness and sluggishness of the controls of the player character, which carries over into Dark Souls 2, with its own brand of jank. In Bloodborne, the player character, by the mid-point, is so powerful and smooth, that every boss outside of the Old Hunters DLC feels like a joke, and you're just a bully rounding them all up. Dark Souls 3 inherited this to a degree, with the player being suddenly extremely powerful and easy to use, with many of the bosses either being gimmick fights, or barely able to lift a candle to you.

In Elden Ring, you set the difficulty for yourself. You can gear differently for every boss, if you choose too. Their are hard counters for every single fight in the game. You can negate a lot of combos entirely, and interrupt many too. The Elden Ring player character is -not- a clunky Dark Souls character, by any means, and people will notice this if they go back and compare the two. They might also find that the boss encounters in Dark Souls by this point, might also put them to sleep.

I've noticed, as of today, that they've changed some bosses so they either start earlier than the instant fog wall attack, or take longer to aggro. This is not the case with Consort Redahn, who one shots every single host that summons me in, which is oddly reminiscient of how base game Redahn's arrows 'used to be' towards people who did nothing to defend them against them. Perhaps they'll continue with these changes. None of it really effects me.

If you want to play a Souls game... I would advise that you go and play a Souls game, or perhaps try out some different ARPGs. The market has never been more filled with 'Soulslikes' before. I imagine there's something in that field that you'll enjoy.

Mortal Shell is one such game I enjoyed recently. I intend on trying out Lies of P sometime this month too.

I'd also like another well crafted single player adventure, or an action experience in the vein of Sekiro, or an experience that's inherently designed to be -just- for a group of people, though I doubt that's going to happen.

But yes, I would argue as I think I stated in the other thread, that your core issue with Elden Ring is that it isn't Dark Souls.

And nothing can fix that.

[Armando Broncas]

Originally posted by Kalameet:

Originally posted by Banana King:

Your butthurt will fade with time and you will buy and play the next fromsoft game.

Time heals all wounds.

No, that's more like an addiction. If gamers weren't hypocritical, they would drop Fromsoftware's new releases. All they do, instead, is waiting for their yearly fix, like true crackheads

Once again, true, its an addiction and it becomes even worse because its addiction and a cult, a sect, every game has one, and this is a fanatism, addiction narcissism issue.

[Yard-Dog®]

Originally posted by P1:

Souls Veteran here. I'll never play another FromSoft game again.
Firstly, let me explain by saying I am a souls veteran. I have been playing since...

Look out now! "Badass alert!"

[An Irate Walrus]

Originally posted by Armando Broncas:

Originally posted by Kalameet:

No, that's more like an addiction. If gamers weren't hypocritical, they would drop Fromsoftware's new releases. All they do, instead, is waiting for their yearly fix, like true crackheads

Once again, true, its an addiction and it becomes even worse because its addiction and a cult, a sect, every game has one, and this is a fanatism, addiction narcissism issue.

"Everyone who doesn't see things as I do is a fanatical, narcissistic cultist."

Well, there's no irony in that position. Nope. None.

[Haru]

Originally posted by Tr3m0r:

This thread is a great example of how people just are conditioned to be divisive and find problems when there is no need. It's a well thought out thread and opinion. People are so used to just finding arguments and opposition all online interactions they fail to ever have any meainginful discussion. I used to think it had to be actual developers and people too close to a project taking so many corporate level stances, until I realized it's pervasive across every game forum. It's also sadder realizing how susceptible people are to manipulative discourse tactics to the point they don't even realize it.

I still think ER is my favorite game of all time but I can also appreciate what the poster is saying.

To be honest, and I'm not saying this about the OP of this particular thread (despite this being his second thread on the topic), a lot of the time you try to engage in a meaningful discussion and it becomes clear that the person on the other side simply wants to have their opinion expressly validated, rather than explored, which is an exhausting prospect.

The assumption that a lot of folks are just sheep is too much of a broad generalisation, especially on a forum that utilises shady awarding tactics that motivate ♥♥♥♥ posts for tangible awards.

[Todd Howard]

Calls himself a souls veteran but fails to remember Gwyn, Artorias, Allant, Abyss Watchers, Soul of Cinder, Dragonslayer armor, Ornstein, Gael, Pontiff, Dancer, Maria, the one reborn, yeah okay.

These anime fights have been in fromsoft's souls series since day 1.

[Haru]

Originally posted by Porcelain:

Calls himself a souls veteran but fails to remember Gwyn, Artorias, Allant, Abyss Watchers, Soul of Cinder, Dragonslayer armor, Ornstein, Gael, Pontiff, Dancer, Maria, the one reborn, yeah okay.

These anime fights have been in fromsoft's souls series since day 1.

None of these bosses have insane combo spam to be fair, which is what he's getting at more than anything else.

Gwyn is aggressive but something of a parry monkey. To be fair, most of the DLC bosses are parry monkey material too.

Allant has a really poor AI.

Abyss Watchers is about as much a boss as any of the Mausoleum fights. To be honest, easier.

Only one out of that list that really compares to anything combo wise is maybe Maria or Dancer. Or perhaps Gael.

[Faust Wither]

Originally posted by Porcelain:

Calls himself a souls veteran but fails to remember Gwyn, Artorias, Allant, Abyss Watchers, Soul of Cinder, Dragonslayer armor, Ornstein, Gael, Pontiff, Dancer, Maria, the one reborn, yeah okay.

These anime fights have been in fromsoft's souls series since day 1.

i'm not souls veteran, but i can call myself elden ring veteran. (i know you talking about OP i just like to introduce myself.)

[CyberWire]

I havent played the DLC, just cant afford it. But although some of what you said could be vaild (all personal experience with the dlc, dif for everyone possibly) does it really stack up badly against DLC for other games? thats how id rate it. honestly could your money have been better spent elsewhere? from what ive seen games nowdays are hella ♥♥♥♥♥

[Todd Howard]

Originally posted by Faust Wither:

Originally posted by Porcelain:

Calls himself a souls veteran but fails to remember Gwyn, Artorias, Allant, Abyss Watchers, Soul of Cinder, Dragonslayer armor, Ornstein, Gael, Pontiff, Dancer, Maria, the one reborn, yeah okay.

These anime fights have been in fromsoft's souls series since day 1.

i'm not souls veteran, but i can call myself elden ring veteran. (i know you talking about OP i just like to introduce myself.)

What even constitutes a "souls veteran" nowadays? To me, if you joined during DS3 you are not a souls veteran. Even joining during Bloodborne is pushing it a bit. That term gets thrown around too much without a proper definition of itself.

Also, hi Faust. Nice to meet you. Elden ring is cool and is a great game. Glad you like it