Back at it with more criticisms for the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC (FromSoft). Standard caveat:
*SPOILER WARNING*
In the last post, I talked about cheesing Radagon with no regrets in my first playthrough. Oh, before I go on, I have included a video by Umbriferous with solid cricisms of the DLC below. I don’t agree with all of them, but he has given it much thought, and it’s well-reasoned. Back to what I was talking about and to recap, I mentioned the two-boss-in-one fight thing because it was part of a bigger point–that there were two many two-bosses-in-one boss fights in the base game. There were none of those in the DLC, but there were plenty of bosses with more than one phase.
It’s come to the point where I just assume that any big boss will have at least two phases. It is, as the kids say, what it is, but I feel as if the lack of surprise makes it…I don’t know quite how to explain it, but I’ll try.
One of the best things about a From game is the element of suprise. It’s why exploring is so rewarding. There is something around every corner, and I’m eagerly trying to find everything I can while simultanously dreading it. I will say that the DLC gets top marks for the level design. My frustrations with that are beacuse of my own issues and limitations.
When it comes to bosses, I feel as if that surprise just hasn’t been there lately. I know I’ve played a shit-ton of these games and the hell out of most of them. In other words, I’m spoiled and somewhat jaded. When I watch other people play the games, mostly people who are new to From games, I see the joy and amazement, and I remember that feeling. I want that back. Although, to be brutally honest, I never really felt joy when fighting a boss. I see other people chilling as they fight, laughing and having a good time. I have never enjoyed a fight because I am so bad at the combat. Even when I’m romping in the fight (as I mostly am with my paladin), I’m not enjoying it.
Before my medical crisis, I was about the soloing bosses. Why? I think because I felt that was the way it should be. Even though I know better, the toxic mentality had seeped into my soul. What changed? Dying twice. In real life, I mean. Plus, Elden Ring had the spirit ash summon system and tuned all the bosses around that system. Could I have tried to solo the bosses? Of course. Did I want to? Not one bit.
I have mentioned that several content creators, specifically FromSoft content creators, were mad that Elden Ring was made significantly harder to solo the bosess. On the one hand, I get it. They are the true hardcore fans who have brought so much attention to the games with their no-hit runs, their onebro runs, and more. All the time and effort they put into the games, well, yeah, it’s understandable that they would want to keep that going. Not just for the clicks and the content, but also because it’s what they enjoy.
However. And you knew there was going to be a however.
They are not entitled to FromSoft games being exactly as they want/like them. This is one of the downsides to content creators getting big–they start to think they’re owed something. They may not think it consciously, but it’s there. They seem to believe that they should always be able to solo the bosses in a From game, which, I’ll put this as kindly as possible, is old-school.
What I mean is that FromSoft has moved on for that–at least with Elden Ring. My theory is that because it was aimed at the mainstream, they wanted to make it more co-op-friendly. They made a judicious decision to tune the bosses around the Sprit Ashes, and they were pretty clear about that. Maybe not in words, but just the fact that they exist and can only be summoned in certain areas–including boss arenas made it quite clear to me.
We can talk about whether or not that is a good thing (it is, to me), but I believe this is what was going on in this game. I appreciate it because my skills are deteriorating. Some of it is age, but it’s also my medical issues. I liked having a friend in a boss fight, and I did not hesitate to ring my summoning bell for every and any boss. But, the downside is that FromSoft felt at liberty to make the bosses even harder.
By the way, Miyakzaki was cited as saynig that while it was valid to play the games with the help of a guide or a wiki, he felt it was a failing on his part if they had to do so.
My dude. Brah.
On my first playthrough, I tried to stay away from the wikis–I really did. I like to go through these games as unspoiled as possible. I don’t watch the launch trailer or the bazillion videos about the demo before the DLC actually dropped.
This meant I completely fucked up all the NPC questlines. I mentioned that I felt FromSoft was more generous with missing a step or two in the base game. Not in the DLC. Or rather, there is a significant event that if you don’t do certain steps before you, you’re completely locked out of one person’s questline. And if you don’t do Shadow Keep properly, you will lock out two characters’ questlines. And if you miss another NPC altogether–well, I don’t know what happens because I looked up how to find him. So while I found him late, I did find him in the end.
Here’s the other thing that sucks about messing up the NPC questlines. Right before you fight the final boss, there’s a scrap against Needle Knight Leda and her alies. You have allies on your side as well, depending on which NPC questlines you’ve finished. Which, again, let’s remember–I fucked almost all of them up. If you do everything right, you can have Moore, Dryleaf Dane, and Hornsent fighting against you–wait, you can have Ansbach and Redmane Freyja join her, depending. On your side, you can have Thollier, Ansbach, and Redmane Freyja. Of course, this all depends on what you do to see who will go on what side.
Again, I fucked up everything. I ended up with a Sanguine Noble (so, basically a nameless NPC) on my side against Leda and Dryleaf Dane. It was easy, and it was boring. I heard how chaotic and hard it can be (because she calls them in one after the other), and I’m really sad I missed out on it. I plan on doing it for this playthrough as best I can (I really want Redmane Freyja on my side because she’s my boo, but her sword and shield are siiiiick for my build).
Ironically, the one NPC I didn’t mess up (Hornsent) is the one that because of the way I did it, he didn’t show up in the fight. Had I done things a bit differently, he would have ended up on Leda’s side. Here is his questline, as best as anyone can tell.
Look. I appreciate that each NPC has their own story and they are not just there for you. I appreciate that they move around in the world because it makes it seem like it’s a living ecosystem and not just static setpieces for you to find. And, truly, in the main game, when I fucked things up, I was mostly ok with it–especially as the windows for doing things were so generous.
In the DLC, though, I just felt defeated when I reached the Leda fight. I knew it was supposed to be bigger than it was, and I felt like I got the D-tier version. Yes, it was much easier for me than it could have been, but it was such an empty feeling once I was done.