Scadu fragments ruin the core idea behind Souls Games

[Kalvix]

Now hear me out, as I'm sure some people will already be saying thats a huge over the top statement to make about 1 change to the game BUT it's actually kinda true. One of the big reasons that Souls games have never had a difficulty mode has been that by doing so, it creates a more shared sense of accomplishment, when you say you managed to beat a boss, people know you had a very similar experience to them, especially if you had a similar RL, which most people will.

But have you noticed with the DLC it's become a common question when people complain about a boss... "oh but how many scadu do you have?". Scadu have more or less become the difficulty modes we didn't want, separating peoples experience of the game. If you don't explore every nook and cranny for them you'll be finding it way harder, if you do search them all out and leave a boss till you'd got some more it becomes a lot easier.

This difference feels even greater than the effect RL and weapon upgrades, as its a given you'll have a +25 by end-game, and by the time you hit RL150 your build is already pretty optimised, so getting more levels becomes more about more and more options than doing more and more damage or taking less.

These Scadu are separating us all out into how many ranks of it did you have before you fought a boss. And honestly I'm getting kinda tired of "oh you don't have enough Scadu, come back later", as in the base game I never found the issue was "oh your RL is to low, come back later" as it was easy to more or less keep up in RLs, but Scadu if you don't explore the boring open world enough you'll get left behind.

So ye, the scadus while an interesting idea, are the worst thing to ever happen to a souls game.

[Sgt. Flaw]

Elden Rings base game blew the top off people having similar experiences in a playthrough..

I honestly think it's a good thing

[Fineous🔥]

Greetings, OP.

Nah, no need to read the whole thread to disagree. Encourages exploration and gives you more "PrEcIoUs" things to loot.

Goobye, OP.

[Get Out]

Stop it already. No one will take seriously an argument about "the game is bad because there is too much gameplay". If you want to progress, you have to explore. If you explore you will organically find the fragments needed. If you want to power through it without the fragments, you will suffer. That's the whole point, and it actually works flawlessly as intended. Stop complaining.

I never once actively searched for the fragments, I just wanted to see every nook and cranny of the map and find every secrets, bosses and fun encounters. That's the game is all about. Exploration, adventure and a ton of fights and loot. Stop acting like the core gameplay is a chore. If that's the case just play another game.

[Kalvix]

Originally posted by Sgt. Flaw:

Elden Rings base game blew the top off people having similar experiences in a playthrough..

I honestly think it's a good thing

I mean ye the open world definitely effected it and made it less special than it was, but it still at least had a similar end-point where the hardest bosses would all be the same challenge. The scadu fragments though just leave you needing to farm them all out or you'll be playing hard mode while somebody who used a guide to grab em all is on easy mode.

But ye, part of the open world to try draw in more players definitely allowed much easier grinding to add a version of easy mode already as they couldn't properly pace the game. If the next game is open world as well I think it'll sadly just be time to accept they've decided to focus getting more players by making the games more generic and generally easier.

[AngryShark]

Originally posted by ☣ N\A ☣:

Stop it already. No one will take seriously an argument about "the game is bad because there is too much gameplay". If you want to progress, you have to explore. If you explore you will organically find the fragments needed. If you want to power through it without the fragments, you will suffer. That's the whole point, and it actually works flawlessly as intended. Stop complaining.

I never once actively searched for the fragments, I just wanted to see every nook and cranny of the map and find every secrets, bosses and fun encounters. That's the game is all about. Exploration, adventure and a ton of fights and loot. Stop acting like the core gameplay is a chore. If that's the case just play another game.

It actualy punishes you for exploring if you dare to move to the next area because you will get vigor checked by the basic mob or alternatively the bosses which now all come with bare minumum of atleast 1 massie AOE attack. At that point just do it by forcing me to collect the fragments by putting up a forcefield like the one in capital where you need few great runes to get in.
This encourages only a very specific type of exploration, the one where you take fingerprints off of every piece of furniture in the zipcode. Not to mention there are just areas where theres actualy nothing. So you spend hours searching an area to find jack and ♥♥♥♥. Its like those areas are there just for padding.
Not 100% the damn loot also has the side effect of turning bosses into slogfests where you can easily die because they brush up against you once. Base game never required this.

[Senki]

the fromsoftware community are the only people to ever call in game upgrade mechanics ''difficulty modes''

[Nifty]

Originally posted by Kalvix:

Now hear me out, as I'm sure some people will already be saying thats a huge over the top statement to make about 1 change to the game BUT it's actually kinda true. One of the big reasons that Souls games have never had a difficulty mode has been that by doing so, it creates a more shared sense of accomplishment, when you say you managed to beat a boss, people know you had a very similar experience to them, especially if you had a similar RL, which most people will.

But have you noticed with the DLC it's become a common question when people complain about a boss... "oh but how many scadu do you have?". Scadu have more or less become the difficulty modes we didn't want, separating peoples experience of the game. If you don't explore every nook and cranny for them you'll be finding it way harder, if you do search them all out and leave a boss till you'd got some more it becomes a lot easier.

This difference feels even greater than the effect RL and weapon upgrades, as its a given you'll have a +25 by end-game, and by the time you hit RL150 your build is already pretty optimised, so getting more levels becomes more about more and more options than doing more and more damage or taking less.

These Scadu are separating us all out into how many ranks of it did you have before you fought a boss. And honestly I'm getting kinda tired of "oh you don't have enough Scadu, come back later", as in the base game I never found the issue was "oh your RL is to low, come back later" as it was easy to more or less keep up in RLs, but Scadu if you don't explore the boring open world enough you'll get left behind.

So ye, the scadus while an interesting idea, are the worst thing to ever happen to a souls game.

It takes like 10 minuites to get fragment level 10 on replay.

Because the vast majority are located around black keep and castle ennis.

Probably take you several hours to collect enough golden seeds and flask upgrades to play optimally.

Most people who cry about the boredom of re-rolling characters are talking base game.

They are generally excited by the time they reach dlc.

[Zefar]

Originally posted by Fineous🔥:

Greetings, OP.

Nah, no need to read the whole thread to disagree. Encourages exploration and gives you more "PrEcIoUs" things to loot.

Goobye, OP.

We don't need the fragments as a reason to explore. We would be exploring anyway. The weapons and armors would be the reward enough for exploring areas. Finding just a scadoosh fragment is just "oh, this again".

The fragments just ruin the experience when you try to coop and help others when bosses suddenly deal a ton of more damage.

[Sonnenbank]

Originally posted by Kalvix:

One of the big reasons that Souls games have never had a difficulty mode has been that by doing so, it creates a more shared sense of accomplishment, when you say you managed to beat a boss, people know you had a very similar experience to them, .....

Stopped reading after that
opening with a completely untrue statement doesnt make for a good discussion.

If you played ER basegame with Spirit Summons you had a completely different experience to someone who didnt use them.
If you did overlevel and use op tools like pre patch Beast Claw or Blasphemous blade you had a completely different experience than someone who did just use Shield and a Straight Sword

[Dr.Abscondus]

If you hate Scadus then you should hate the rune leveling mechanism in the base game. They're the same thing. By the time you get to the DLC, leveling up is no longer very effective at increasing your fighting power. They needed another way for the player to become stronger. That's what the Scadus are for. If you're a purist then you should level 1 through the entire game.

[Get Out]

Originally posted by AngryShark:

Originally posted by ☣ N\A ☣:

Stop it already. No one will take seriously an argument about "the game is bad because there is too much gameplay". If you want to progress, you have to explore. If you explore you will organically find the fragments needed. If you want to power through it without the fragments, you will suffer. That's the whole point, and it actually works flawlessly as intended. Stop complaining.

I never once actively searched for the fragments, I just wanted to see every nook and cranny of the map and find every secrets, bosses and fun encounters. That's the game is all about. Exploration, adventure and a ton of fights and loot. Stop acting like the core gameplay is a chore. If that's the case just play another game.

It actualy punishes you for exploring if you dare to move to the next area because you will get vigor checked by the basic mob or alternatively the bosses which now all come with bare minumum of atleast 1 massie AOE attack. At that point just do it by forcing me to collect the fragments by putting up a forcefield like the one in capital where you need few great runes to get in.
This encourages only a very specific type of exploration, the one where you take fingerprints off of every piece of furniture in the zipcode. Not to mention there are just areas where theres actualy nothing. So you spend hours searching an area to find jack and ♥♥♥♥. Its like those areas are there just for padding.
Not 100% the damn loot also has the side effect of turning bosses into slogfests where you can easily die because they brush up against you once. Base game never required this.

That's just simply not true. I have never had problem with a single mob enemy during the DLC. All the areas are a light breeze just like in the core game, and the only enemies that vigor check you are the bosses.

[Pnume]

It's just a leveling system on top of the leveling system to add a sense of progression to a end game DLC. Otherwise it would just be a flat run to the finish.

I think they did the right thing

[Lynfinity]

Originally posted by Kalvix:

the scadus while an interesting idea, are the worst thing to ever happen to a souls game.

Originally posted by Kalvix:

I'm sure some people will already be saying thats a huge over the top statement

Because it is. It is an "over the top statement" to declare that Scadutree Blessing is the worst thing ever.

[Fineous🔥]

As someone who completed the first playtrough blind i disagree about everything you just posted. Of course armor and other goodies are enough to explore everything, but the fragments are RAW power...killed Radhan with 13 or 14 blessings, cant remember now so other thing that keepings your eyes opened for Miquella crosses, spectres carring a vase or Marika statues in churches they are easy to find (and respawn in a NG+).

Originally posted by Zefar:

The fragments just ruin the experience when you try to coop and help others when bosses suddenly deal a ton of more damage.

Now this is the sad truth. There is some people not bothering at all with the Scooby-Doo fragments......Why? Probably just sheer ignorance but summoning a helper for big bosses like Bayle and having 4 or 3 blessings? I hope people finally understands they NEED THEM.

[John Titor]

Originally posted by Kalvix:

Now hear me out...

No sir. I don't think I will.