Back again with another post that examines the flaws of the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC because I don’t quite have it out of my system yet. In yesterday’s post, I was musing on the cleverness of FromSoft and how/when it goes too far. Also, how frustrating the NPC questlines can be. The video I have included is Doms Roundtable’s five best and worst spirit ashes from the DLC. Not really related to the subject on hand, but just for funsies.
*SPOILER WARNING*
I tried so hard to do Jolan’s quest right. I messed it up and did not get her summon sign in Messmer’s fight. I found out in the RKG Discord that you can also summon her for the Tree Sentinels near the Shaman Village, which makes narrative sense–kind of.
At this point, though. I’ve given up. I knew I would not get all the NPC questlines the first time around because I was just playing as I played without regard to that. I did not expect that I would fuck all but one of them up. It was a huge disappointment as someone who likes the NPC questlines more than the actual storylines most of the time. I get attached to certain NPCs and would do anything for them.
One thing that I think I will never like about this game are the dungeons/caves/catacombs. I appreciate that FromSoft introduced a new kind of underground dungeon to the DLC–the forges–and that they give you upgrade materials. But, I still groaned at the fact that I had yet another one of these tedious dungeons to do. I like that there weren’t bosses in these forges, but I did not like that the golems in them were so dang tanky. Yes, it’s because you’re supposed to hit their weak point (the red glowy bit on their backs), but given that they have a sudden 180 degree hit that does massive damage, it’s dangerous to get up close and personal with them. Granted, my paladin can tank some hits and stun them in three hits or so. But my caster had a miserable time with them because it’s hard for me (specifically) to spell them to their crit point.
In addition, most of the smithing stones are kinda meh. I get that it’s so people who are only casually playing can quickly upgrade the shiny new weapons they find in the DLC. And, yeah, if you don’t have the stones, it’s nice. However, I agree with the person who said that one way to deal with that is to have new weapons be partially upgraded so you could at least give it a go. Then again, a +15 regular weapon or a +4 somber weapon isn’t going to cut it in the DLC. That’s part of the problem. With my caster, I used two weapons from the main game throughout the DLC. With my paladin, I’ve tried out four or five DLC weapons, but have not upgraded them to the max. I have two issues with this. One, if the game is going to drop smithing stones, give me the final one more often. I get why they can’t be everywhere, but I would much rather get one of the final upgrade per region than twenty of the regulars sprinkle throughout.
Someone else mentioned that it’s a disappointment to find shinies in the world and get yet another smithing stone. I agree with that. The amount of good loot versus meh or ugh loot seemed to be out of proportion. The fifth time in a row that I picked up another smithing stone, I barely even registered that I picked something up. With my first character at least, I have all the bell bearings so that I can buy any smithing stone I want, except the final in each category. And, given that it takes me over 400,000 runes to level, might as well buy smithing stones with the pocket change I have at any given time.
This is one of the issues with the DLC, and I don’t know how to mitigate it. People who go into the DLC are probably near the end of thegame. Depending on how they play, there is little that they actually need in terms of items, crafting, smithing stones, and/or levels. Part of the reason to play these games is exploration and getting new shit. Whether it’s armor sets or weapons/spells/incantations or new spirit ashes, it’s not for a Smithing Stone (3). Not even if there are multiples of it.
My first character is wearing the same armor I had in the base game–Hoslow’s Set. It’s fire, and it would take something really special to get me to change. I will say that the Night Set is great, and I did wear that for a while. With my paladin, I was wearing mostly Lionel’s Set for the base game. Now, I’m rocking as much of the Solitude Set as possible. There are some really great armor sets in the DLC, but this is the best one from a stats point of view that I can rock.
My one complaint with the strength weapons is that I’ve gotten three bonking sticks that are infused with holy. Two hammers and one, ah, massive sunflower. It’s made from the Remembrance of a boss, the Scadutree Avatar, and it’s out of control. In the best way possible. The Shadow Sunflower Blossom’s Ash of War, Shadow Sunflower Headbutt, is way too good. It slams the ‘head’ of the sunflower to the ground and emits a shockwave. You can do it three times in rapid succession. It stuns enemies and does massive damage. And, yes, it dishes out holy damage in general.
I have been using this for most of the DLC after getting it. I have the Putrescence Cleaver made from the Remembrance of the Putrid Knight, and it’s really good, too. So, yeah. Strength characters and dex characters are eating real good with the DLC weapons. There are a few good incantations, but not many. And spells? I can’t think of any, but I don’t use spells for the most part. I may try a pure sorcerer at some point.
I can’t get over the bosses, though. And not in a good way. I remember going through the game on my first playthrough and dreading when there were bosses. Again, I have never been someone who plays the game for the bosses, so this is not that far out of normal for me. However, it’s gotten past the point of reluctant acceptance and moved into winced avoidance. Meaning I will do anything but fight the bosses for as long as I can. I’ll get to that in another post since I feel it can be a post of its own.
I just did a bit to get a spirit ash, and it reminded me of how much I hate platforming in the rafters. This is one reason I didn’t like the Shadow Keep–there is a significant part of it that is jumping and running on the rafters. This has been a things since the first Dark Souls game, and it’s in Bloodborne as well. Maybe it’s in the other games, but it’s significant in those two games. This version is pretty similar to the one in Bloodborne because you have to push a lever to turn the rafters in both.
In my journey to get this spirit ash, I had to run across the rafters, kill bats, and face off against one of the fire knights who could blow me over, literally. I think it may be the only fire knight who had this particular attack, but it knocked me down one level with its wind blow. It doesn’t help that this enemy is ridiculously OP in general, but to put them in the rafters was just an asshole move.
I’m done for today. More tomorrow. I’ll give my overall review after I’m done with this playthrough.