Tag: criticisms | A Banana Peeled

Shadow of the Erdtree, what frustrated me, part seven

Posted on July 18, 2024 by Minna Hong • 0 Comments

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.

Shadow of the Erdtree, what frustrated me, part six

Posted on July 17, 2024 by Minna Hong • 0 Comments

I feel the need to start this post by saying that Shadow of the Erdtree is a really solid DLC in many ways. I would say my feelings about it are more positive than negative, though I would not blame anyone for thinking that I hated it based on the last five posts. It’s just that the things that irritate me about the DLC irritate me a lot. In part beacuse many of the things I’m complaining about are the same things that have frustrated me in all the previous games. In the last post, I ended by talking about the bosses. I will talk about more about that in this post, but I want to start with the Scadutree Fragments. I’m sure I’ve talked about it before, but in my second run, I have stronger feelings about it than I did in the first.

*SPOILER WARNING*

Why? Because the Scadutree Fragments (and Revered Spirit Ashes) reward exploration. This is mostly fine in a first playthrough, but the fact that I am 19 (out of 20) and 9 (out of 10) respectively annoys the fuck out of me. Would that last one have made a difference in the last boss fight? Probably not, but it hurt my soul that I did not have them. I wanted to find them, but that meant I have to go to all fifty locations (plus, ah, twenty-five maybe for the Revered Spirit Ashes) to find the one or two I missed.

In this playthrough, I am roughly two-thirds done with the main story and half done with the extra content. I have 15 Scadutree levels and 7 or 8 revered Spirit levels. And I can’t be assed to find the others, but I know I need them. Especially the Scadutree levels. So I strongly agree with the suggestions that there be more fragments/ashes than needed in order to reach full. I also agree that more of them could have been tied to optional bosses as a reward. That way, people would actuall go to the optional areas even if they were not so inclined. I’m really resenting having to hunt for the fragmants and ashes when I know that there are several of them that are completely tucked away. It’s another reason I take issue with Miyazaki not liking that people use wikis on a first playthrough.

Another thing than annoys me. I was just getting the Sword of Light & Darkness with my strength character. I really like the concept of it. It’s a stone sheathed sword when you pick it up. When I got it with my first character, I read the item descritption, shrugged, and moved on. It wasn’t until much later (in reading forums and such) that I realized there was much more to it. There are three related altars. At the first one you come across, you get the Stone Sheathed Sword. At the second, you can turn it into the Sword of Light or Darkness (and, despite what people assume, there is a specific one for each. I just found that out). At the third, you can turn it into the other.

Shadow of the Erdtree, what frustrated me, part five

Posted on July 16, 2024 by Minna Hong • 0 Comments

Back again with even more criticisms for Shadow of the Erdtree! Yes, I said a few days ago I was going to give my review, but I’m not ready for that yet. Or rather, I don’t feel like doing it yet. Not sure why. Maybe because the ideas are still percolating in my brain. I have included a review from a content creator called Scott Jund.

*SPOILER WARNING*

In the last post, I ended by talking about the platforming–which is the bane of all the games. FromSoft are in love with platforming, but they are shit at executing it. They have been since the first Dark Souls (and I’m sure Demon’s Souls, but I have not played that game), and it’s only gotten worse over time. It’s terrible in Elden Ring because they added Torrent, the spirit steed (basically, your horse). In theory, that should have made it better because it gave them freedom to go bigger and better. Instead, it made it worse because jumping on Torrent is a nightmare. It’s as imprecise as ever, but even worse. Why? Because Torrent himself is imprecise. And he’s wider than you are. Which means turning on him is frustrating as fuck. Plus, if you’re on him and do anything related to him, he lunges forward–which can launch you off whatever ledge you’re precariously balancing on.

I love Torrent. He’s my boy. He’s aided me through the Lands Between and the Land of Shadow. Any time I have to do a jump with him, however, I groan, wince, and hold my breath as I grimly make my way up or down. Take, for example, the gravestones that you have to jump down. It’s easier to do with Torrent because of the smoothness–if you don’t ever stop. I have recently taken to hopping down on foot because it’s much easier to control my character minus Torrent. If I jump down to a gravestone on Torrent and then want to turn the other way, it’s 50/50 whether Torrent will stop as I’m turning rather than fall off the gravestone. If I want to jump to another tombstone, again, it’s 50/50 if I’ll land on it or overshoot–or not jump at all as you can’t really jump from a standstill.

Another complaint with Torrent is that horesback combat still feels shitty. I have tried and there are times when it’s necessary (such as when fighting a dragon), but it’s never enjoyable. In the DLC in particular, there’s one time when it’s rage-inducing. There’s a boss, Commander Gaius, who is trucking along on a war boar. Which, fine. I will jump on Torrent and–dead. Ok. Let me try again. I will jump on Torrent and–dead. Either Torrent or I (or both) were killed in an instant because the war boar can run faster than Torrent can.

Shadow of the Erdtree, what frustrated me, part four

Posted on July 15, 2024 by Minna Hong • 0 Comments

Back again with more criticisms.

*SPOILER WARNING*

At the end of the last post,I mentioned that I felt defeated at the Leda fight because it was supposed to be this grand and wild spectacle, but because of how I fucked up all the NPC questlines, it was just boring and anticlimactic.

When I reached Shadow Keep, if I had looked up the storylines, I would have been able to set things up better. I didn’t want to do that, though, because I like to do my first playthrough as spoiler-free as possible. I can’t deny, though, that I was unhappy at the end of the game by how much I fucked up the NPC questlines. I will say that in the video from the last post, he mentioned something from Lies of P that he thought would have been a good addition to this game. It’s that when you look at the list of…whatever they’re called in that game–basically, bonfires, there will be a picture of someone or something if they are related to something you can do in that area. That way, you knew when to go back to an NPC, for example, after doing a step in their quest.

I really appreciated that. I didn’t like the game in general, but I liked that I could tell in a glance if I needed to do more with an NPC or important thing in the area. I would really like it if FromSoft would do this. They could do it by putting a picture next to the Site of Grace fairly easily, I feel. Even following a Wiki with my second playthrough, I’m so paranoid that I will miss something with the NPCs. For example, only by reading the RKG Discord Elden Ring forum did I realize that you could do something with the Dragod Priestess, but you had to do something completely unrelated to her (with another character, Thiollier) by a certain point in order to get a different scene with her.

I’m sure there are people who got this on their first playthrough, but I doubt there is anyone who got it all in one playthrough without a guide. I know that’s part of the point–to get people to replay the DLC. You can say the same thing about any of their games. It’s a choice, and it’s vaild. However. That means that anyone who only plays it once will be losing out.

My first playthrough is what I consider to be my canon playthrough. I always have a soft spot in my heart for that character because they are my stand-in. I’m going into any From game, not knowing what the hell I’m doing. I do what I want regardless of how optimal it is. There’s a running joke in the RKG Retry Elden Ring episodes that Rory has a smorgasbuild. It’s a little of this, a little of that, and a little of what’s over there. He is a magpie and is attracted to the last cool thing he saw. I mean, most of us are, but he’s especially so.

Shadow of the Erdtree, what frustrated me, part three

Posted on July 14, 2024 by Minna Hong • 0 Comments

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.

Shadow of the Erdtree, what frustrated me, part two

Posted on July 13, 2024 by Minna Hong • 0 Comments

In my last post, I was talking about the things I found frustrating about the Shadow of the Erdtree (FromSoft) DLC. I ended by talking about my displeasure with how the bosses were created for this game. In the DLC, it’s not so much that they have two bosses as one (looking at you, last three bosses of the base game. Per yooz:

*SPOILER WARNING*

Beast Clergyman/Maliketh, the Black Blade; Godfrey, First Elden Lord/Hoarah Loux; Radagon/Elden Beast. In the DLC, there weren’t any like that (as far as I remember. My memory is trash since my medical crisis). But, there’s another thing the base game did that has carried over into the DLC. It’s having two phases for a boss with different names for each phase. So Malenia, Blade of Miquella becomes Malenia, Goddess of Rot, for example. And some bosses didn’t have a name change, but they did have two phases with different moves.

In the DLC, there are plenty of the last example (two phases with no name change, but different movesets). This has become the standard, I think, and I just take it for granted that there will be two phases for any major boss fight. There are none of the first type in the DLC as I mentioned, but there are at least two of the second I can think of off-hand. One is Messmer who is Messmer the Impaler in the first phase and Base Serpent Messmer in the second. This is one of my favorite bosses in the DLC, and I was not expecting to have feelings for him. Not, “I want to shag you” feelings (though, you know, I would not say no), but “Oh, your mother treated you so poorly, let me give you a hug” feelings.

Also, it was an enjoyable fight because I had explored before going in so my Scadoooooootree Blessing level was at least 10 (halfway) for the fight. And my Revered Spirit Ash was 5–also halfway as far as you can level. I had Mini-Me, of course, and one of the NPCs, Hornsent. For whatever reason, his summon sign was in the arena, which is not usual for NPC summons. I missed it the first time and only saw it near the end of my second attempt. We got him on the third try.

Here’s an interesting fact that I only recently learned about the Mimic Tear. They will use whatever weapon/tool you have in your hands at the time you summon them. I mean, it makes perfect sense, but it never occurred to me that if you summoned your Mimic Tear with, say, your seal in your right hand, Mimic Tear can’t use the weapon you also have in that right hand.

So, of corse you can put your seal in your left hand and that way Mimic can use both, but I prefer to leave Mimic with a shield. I want Mimic to stay with me as long as possible, which means a shield. I will say that witth my strength characer, I will two-hand sometimes for the added oomph, but I still prefer to hide behind my monsterous shield.

Back to Messmer. He was probably my favorite fight in the game because it was such a spectacle, and I barely had time to take it in. Let me be clear. He was a total jerk. He needed to be taken care of (as in, gotten rid of), but he ended up the way he was because his mother sent him down that path. I’m not going to talk about Marika in this post (his mother), but suffice to say, she is at the center of all the drama and lore.

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