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Elden Ring - Shadow of the Erdtree
60 Plays1 year ago
Join Dave and Jake as they seek the missing Empyrean in this week's episode! There’s a disclaimer before spoilers start!
Intro:
- Shadow of the Erdtree – Gravesite Plain
Outro:
- Shadow of the Erdtree – Those United in Common Cause
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Transcript
Gaming Nostalgia and Adulthood
00:00:38
Speaker
How's it going, everyone? Welcome to another episode of Soapstone. My name is Jake, and I am joined by my co-host is always Dave. How's it going to today, Dave? It's going so good. So good. and I've been gaming so much the past week. Same, yeah. Kind of a throwback to adolescence a little bit, right? It feels a little bit like
Excitement for Elden Ring DLC
00:00:57
Speaker
summer break. it It feels more like I'm an adult who can afford ah neglecting other things. That's nice. Because it was like sometimes during the quiet hours of work, it'd be like the one game I would play. I would occasionally do Dota as like a break. But I do like a game like, OK, bye. And then I go back to it. Dota is a tough one to weave. As someone who who who did play Dota over my time working at a university,
00:01:28
Speaker
it was I had to respond to tickets. It was not neglecting my duties, anything like that. It was fine. I still managed all my work, but it's not the best game for that. Oh, no, no, no. Hard to pick up and drop. Hard to just pause. um The enemy team picks anti-mage, and you're like, I'm going to disconnect.
Balancing Gaming and Real Life
00:01:46
Speaker
hey Or I guess Medusa or some other late game carry, whatever's meta now. They're all annoying, every single character.
00:01:59
Speaker
But yeah, it's been it's been good. It's been. It's been. half brown But like, even when the Elden Ring Shadow of the Urchery DLC dropped, I mean, obviously I was like stoked, but I also had a friend up for the weekend, so I didn't even start playing initially. Yeah. um But once I was able to imagine I had blinds and I close them, no gave the dog some sleeping medication. I'm like, Hey, uh, daddy's going to be busy for a while. Which just
Impact of DLC on Gameplay
00:02:34
Speaker
for the concerned audience members is just standard medication for this dog because of anxiety and stuff. This is not, yeah, she's, she's a lot better now, but occasionally if she's just, I need a little bit more space. I might give her like a donkey melatonin. Yeah. No, which is fair. Um,
00:02:53
Speaker
Yeah, I had I had time off for this, but obviously it was interspersed playing this and um and and destiny. But I had ah a moment I had a time where I was like, OK, this is the this is pretty much the hard break. I'm not going to play both these games together. I'm going to really, really immerse myself in the DLC for for Elden Ring. And ah that's the right call because going back and forth would have drove me insane and um And before we ever get into spoilers, I think it's pretty good. I would recommend it if, if, if that's what you were looking for. Pre-spoiler. There you go. That's my, my take on it. She won my opinion. Uh-huh. It's also really good. Um, I mean, I'll explain why more so throughout the episode, but blanket level. Very, very good. and
00:03:48
Speaker
Yeah, I think if you enjoyed Elden Ring, you would enjoy this. And if
Scale of Elden Ring DLC
00:03:54
Speaker
you have not, if you don't enjoy Elden Ring, there's no way in a million years you would enjoy this. It's probably the easiest way to say it before we talk about anything with controversy or difficulty or changes they made. um it is a class do You think it's fair to say that it's a classic expansion going back to the like Lord of Destruction era where it's like, oh, this is actually just more game that we put here. This is not like a microtransaction or a season pass.
00:04:27
Speaker
This is no, it feels like actual additional content. Yeah. um but Going back to something like a word of destruction, it was just like another act in Diablo two, which is comparatively um very small. I guess it's fair, actually, because the eldering DLC area. I mean, everyone's kind of curious how you're going to access it, then how big it was actually going to be. Yeah. But it's it's kind of fucking huge. um It is because like on the map, I mean, obviously it has its, you know, X and Y breadth as far as how big it is. But then, of course, with Elden Ring being Elden Ring, there's also a depth to it. um There are layers of elevation and stuff, so it just lends to a lot more things you can put in.
00:05:20
Speaker
Yeah,
Visual and Aesthetic Enhancements
00:05:21
Speaker
I'm trying to think of a corollary, like an an easy analogy, but it's kind of difficult for most games. Earth Tree would be either a sequel. Which I think is kind of just fair based off the length or um a standalone. It wouldn't be traditional DLC. Because if you go back to something like Dark Souls three. It's like, hey, here's a new area. Yeah. But Elden Ring's like, areas? Yeah, it's pretty much a, it's it's an entirely new map that's fairly large. and Not as big as the base game, but the base game for Elden Ring was gigantic. Yes. Hard to hard to overstate. I'm like comparing the two and being like, or tree smaller. Well, yeah, but, um,
00:06:13
Speaker
um cool. and I just feel like every time from salt has really something, um, they're fine tuning something else or just improving their formula as they go. Because love deltering 10 out of 10 game, etc et cetera, et cetera, accolades, yada, yada. But, um, it was really cool to be able to have that sense of wonder and exploration again. Yeah. And have these really cool fucking designed areas and like thematically, just artistically. Thank God I've upgraded my graphics card as well before this. Oh, yeah. I'm sure we'll talk about that a little bit too once we get into the specifics.
00:06:51
Speaker
um Make sure you have a make sure you have a ah pretty good system for it, because it would be unfortunate to be disappointed just due to performance or something like that once you get to this. I
Boss Design and Combat Mechanics
00:07:03
Speaker
know you can turn the graphics down and things, but it's very pretty when it's all turned up. Turned up. That's the same. I like it turned. Yeah. um That is our early, and that that's the off-ramp for people who don't want spoilers. Beyond this point, we've given you full disclaimer. We'll talk about some more stuff. We both recommend it, but we're also fans of the Soulsborne games. So, you know.
00:07:31
Speaker
Except our opinions, basically. They are truth. They are truth. They are rote law. Do you want to... Yeah. How do you want to talk about this? Do you want to talk about areas, bosses? So I wanted to start off and just for people who don't care about spoilers, so you're still listening, but you don't know exactly what this is. This is a long awaited expansion for Elden Ring. um Calling it DLC is not fully accurate. I think it's 40 bucks USD ah retail. If I remember correctly, I got like a slight discount on it from GOG. Yeah, GOG. Or I used ah green Green Man Gaming, GMG. Good old games might also have it, but I don't know. And yeah, we've been waiting like a long time for this, but I guess what were your expectations going in to this expansion, given how long we waited
00:08:26
Speaker
you know, compared to Silksong, compared to Cyberpunk. What were you thinking? I see another fucking Silksong article talking about how it's delayed and how the fans I don't give a shit. Just release it or don't. But it's like every single day. There's like 10 articles about it. Yeah, it is the name at this point. My expectations going in were just this is just kind of what I wanted. It's just blanket more Elden Ring. Yeah, they could just be like, hey, here's some new stuff. Go nuts. And I would have been happy with pretty much anything that they released. Um, but it just felt like they kind of, they cut the fat of here are some boring dungeons to explore. So pretty much it's broken up into like big open areas. There are some specific mausoleum fights, which are just like boss room. Um,
00:09:17
Speaker
There's some like out and about bosses. There are still those legacy dungeons. um There's like specific mine dungeons. um It just felt like there was a good variety of stuff across the board. But yeah, I really just wanted more of. I mean, it could have been the same, but I'm glad they really iterated on it. They added a whole bunch of new weapons and spells and things, and I did not explore those nearly as much as I should have. yeah um there's There's a spell in the game that requires 74 faith.
00:09:55
Speaker
What? I haven't found that one. It's like that. It's an incantation. I'm not going to be able to talk about that, but 74 is very high. That is above the soft cap. or anything
New Weapons and Mechanics
00:10:12
Speaker
That's bananas. Yeah. um Well, i I think you're probably eating good then because that's definitely what they what they delivered. I would say the only place I would diverge is if they would have had none of the ah
00:10:27
Speaker
The dungeons, um by dungeons I specifically mean the kind of like common tile pool. You go down an elevator, you're getting a bunch of glow wart or whatever the grave flowers are. If they took all of those out entirely, I would have been fine with it. i my My stance is known, I'm not a big fan of those in the base Alden Ring. I don't really like them here either, although I will concede as a minor point, um They try not to make them too repetitive this time. And some of them have like a little bit of a twist or some other interesting thing where it's like, oh, I haven't seen this type of encounter there before. Yeah, it felt like there was at least variety. Like I said, it wasn't like just littered with a bunch of them that all felt very samey.
00:11:12
Speaker
Yeah, but like for me, at least all of them fall short of anything else present in the DLC. That's that's basically the way it is. Any time spent above ground is better. um Any time spent exploring other types of unique dungeons or castles and stuff like that is better. um I'm just i'm I personally am not a huge fan of those dungeons. That's fair. As I was on record, it's probably because I spent a lot of time in Chalice dungeons for Bloodborne and I don't need more of it. But um yeah,
00:11:49
Speaker
absolutely in agreement for everything else. It is a pure expansion there. um And I know we'll go into more detail probably on some of these ah some of these weapons and things. Was there anything you found as far as how they made an approach to new weapons that was intriguing?
00:12:10
Speaker
oh Not overly so, I guess. I have one. If he you need some time to think about it. Stand out for me. there's I've only tried one of them, but there are two um specifically unarmed. weapons in the game where it's just like if you equip
Dungeon Layouts and Challenges
00:12:29
Speaker
this your weapon set is not like punching is something you can already do in Elden Ring and there are like weapons that augment punching kind of like think of the brass knuckle type aspect of weapons. um
00:12:41
Speaker
but like or or or maybe even claws but there are other that's a separate branch kind of um literally unarmed they have two one of them focused on like uh what like one set of martial arts and the other on another and it basically turns you into this like flipping spin kicking like crazy monkey fighting style like Really, really visually cool to watch and probably insane to get good at the game with ah style that just looks it looks excellent. Like and it's very, very different to anything they have in the game. Yeah, there's a lot of work that went into the new weapon or skill or spell animations. Yeah.
00:13:28
Speaker
that yeah it definitely feels it feels like like a DLC hero in Smash for that comparison um where they can do like a bunch of cool new stuff and it is fun to kind of explore and try those. um Because there's also like a backhand blade that you can find early. And I was like, this seems interesting. But I ain't a Dex bitch. At some point, I did switch to Dex and back. And I tried a million builds. But yeah, it just didn't stick with me as much. Yeah. I get used to my very simple weapon timing. And like, when can I bonk? Yes.
Difficulty and Strategies
00:14:08
Speaker
as i've said before i think that's always what i tend to default to is when we try and learn to move set and bonk and hope to god i can bonk now when i do bonk and i lose all my health yeah yeah there's i will say there there are some good offerings for for strength as well and um at least one colossal weapon that i found that ah It's so slow that it's basically a joke to me. like you can Against some of the faster bosses in the game, you can probably hit them once under very specific conditions. You will be hit in turn, and that is your ideal window to hit the boss. It's a little bit rough. but
00:14:52
Speaker
A lot of fun, fast decks things and then like um claws and things based off like animals, like ah berserker type weapons and stuff like that. I know they added the throwing weapons as well. Yeah, that was the other cool introduction. I didn't find the I found like a throwing dagger. I did not find a throwing axe they showed in a kind of like trailer. Yeah, yeah, I think I found... Yeah, the axes I found all also weren't throwing. But yeah, it's the, um, uh, the runesmith type, um, weapons. Oh, okay. gorgeous Then technically I did find a throwing spear. Yeah. I just never tried it.
00:15:35
Speaker
Yeah, because I mean, it's there's theres there's the the one thing I found that was a RuneSmith weapon that wasn't returning, I'm just going to borrow the D and&D in turn term for it, is like the ah the the super hammer, basically, but you're not throwing that, so sort of makes sense. um Everything else, it's just like, yeah, ah the description will say something about a spell being placed on it so that it'll return to you after you make an attack or something. um Whatever in-universe justification they need for returning weapons, fine by me. Cyberpunk didn't even try to explain it. yeah It's good enough. It's cool enough, it doesn't matter. just you know let Let us have it. ah
00:16:20
Speaker
Yeah, they did. ah They did a lot in each of those. Usually when you're talking about weapons in Elden Ring, you're like, you're oh, this is a rapier. It probably has the rapier moveset. Right. It'll have a different weapon art maybe um or a special one if it's like a boss weapon or something like that. But some of the weapons they had here, they clearly they did all of the unique animations for a completely new moveset. And that's pretty rare. um So props for that. Yeah. And especially for like PvP options, it's going to be a whole new set of things to try and read and guess what the fuck people are doing. Uh huh. Because there's now just a lot of options in the game for weapons, spells, builds. Yeah. Like the only reason I'm able to beat some bosses is repetitively playing
Boss Fights and Exploration
00:17:09
Speaker
against them, being like, oh, they have a defined a move set. Yes. Versus PvP or like they're spinning. Which weapon is that? I don't even fucking know.
00:17:17
Speaker
aha Yeah, though I had read a post not too long ago. People were talking about, um this came up, it was the the ant spear ah rapier from ah ant spur rapier from the base game because it's a ah They use it in PvP sometimes for low-level invasions if you're you know dishonorable. But it has a good chunk of Scarlet Rot baked into it, and then it's also infusible. You can add an Ash Revoir to it. So it's actually possible to have a weapon that's like Scarlet Rot, bleed, and one other thing. You can have Scarlet Rot bleed and poison on it. Hello. Which is ah dumb. and That's not the way most weapons should work.
00:17:59
Speaker
um But the guy was like, I use this in PvP. No one ever expects a horror lose shout or something instead of some bleed proc or whatever. You just go absolutely ham on them. But that's that's part of that the base nature of Alden Ring when you can swap out the arts or the skills. um Very cool, though. Agreed. um How did you like the ah the areas here? I know you first started out in like the gravesite plane. Yeah, it's really like a giant, very open plane with a lot of ah luminescent or transparent grave stones for a lot of it. Yeah, there are there are lore reasons for this, but um the I really I did like that.
00:18:49
Speaker
um There were a couple places in the game, and I think this is one of them, where the scale kind of kept me from being able to identify everything I needed to look at. And eventually I sort of remembered my own old habits. Once I can find a map, just put waymarks down on the map at places I want to check. Check them later, you know, make sure that I've got some coverage and stuff. um But just by the nature of how large it was, there were there were things that I missed until far too late in the game um where I came back and was like, oh, yeah, this is right here where I started, basically. It's it is easy to miss some stuff, whether it's hidden stuff or supposed to be a little bit more obvious as far as they want to drag you along a certain path. Yes.
00:19:34
Speaker
um But I remember talking with somebody else about this where I would want to explore, I get all excited, but I'm like, oh, fuck, where do I go? Because I can go left, I can go right, I can go straight. So I start putting like all these markers to make sure I didn't, right, had a chance to double back. Yeah. Any time I do like a legacy dungeon, it's like, here's the doorway. I'm like, all right, now I just want to make sure I keep going back and forth between all of my options so I know that this is side. Find out. This is MSQ. Yes, exactly. and then to try and do as much side stuff as I can find before continuing on.
00:20:08
Speaker
Yeah, no, I play it the exact same way. Um, that area was a, it was a great first impression. It's kind of, it's very desolate, obviously also emerging into, uh, a field that is also graves is, it sets the tone pretty, pretty, pretty well for what's going on in the, um, the shadow lands. I don't know what they're actually called, but the shadow of the herd tree shadow lands. I'm going to call them. That's fun. I think that works. Yeah. um And ah yeah, I mean, obviously the some of the other areas really stood out. I can't remember the name of it. you You mentioned it earlier in our pregame a little bit for the ah the floating islands, the green area or the. ah Something row. Yeah, something something row. That was really cool. I like that.
00:21:05
Speaker
um Yeah, it's like a big ruins area, very overgrown.
00:21:12
Speaker
Um, and then I also really liked the, uh, the is specifically the area around like the ancient felled dragon, which is, it's gigantic to like the Southeast of the map. Um, and you can just run across its body. It's
Graphical Enhancements
00:21:28
Speaker
terrain is the scale. It's not, um, I do not think it's as large as the massive impaled dragon and the base game towards the end and the, uh, the capital Lindell capital. Um. But it might be. They're both really, really big. I'm sure Zooli will come out with a video and tell us, because she did a video about that one. Doing all the size comparisons. Yeah. Compared to an armored core, this dragon is this large, yeah.
00:21:57
Speaker
Um, but that was really cool. And, uh, I told Dave beforehand when I encountered it, but there's areas of like red flowers and blue flowers nearby. And, um, maybe it's the RTX that's turned on. Maybe it's the graphic settings or whatever, but sometimes the time of day kind of shifts. Uh, it's like, Oh, it's nighttime. This looks peaceful. My eyes are adjusting. It looks beautiful. All this stuff. And then daytime comes along and it's just like full glare. And I'm just like, Oh, it's
00:22:27
Speaker
It's beautiful, but it's so like vibrant and bright um Yeah, the flower areas were absolutely gorgeous because like There are some other areas where she's hey, it's flowers, but these actually emitted light and had some like Animation with them blowing in the wind um But they're also like not very tall so which is like a very cool almost like bioluminescent. Yeah
Exploration Challenges
00:22:51
Speaker
ground area and that then had like a giant a bunch of like giant fucking stone coffins jutting out from the earth at different places. Oh, yeah, like down to the the coastal region. Yeah. Yeah, yeah the. ah
00:23:07
Speaker
What is it? Azure coast zy coast. Yeah. It's one of those words for blue. It's not Azure. It's, um, what was the other one you said? Sorry. Cerulean coast. Cerulean. That's right. Yeah. Cerulean coast. Bringing me back to my Pokemon days. Um, yeah, I loved how, I mean, they did this in the base game as well, but for, to add to that scale and that third dimension, just having like structures or things in the distance sort of like way fucking bigger than you. ah way fucking big. It makes you feel very small in a very gigantic world. I mean, a lot of the bosses you may be facing huge, a lot of the areas you're in are going to be huge. um And you're just in comparison, there's like a little guy. Yeah. So it feels like any time you are exploring or defeating a boss that you're really kind of going against the odds, which I enjoy.
00:24:02
Speaker
Yeah, it gives you that old ah kind of shadow of the Colossus vibe or something. it's It's you versus all of these obstacles. And this DLC is very much, there are a lot of obstacles. um i I do want to get into that. I will say mechanically, ah basically what they did for the DLC for power scaling is it doesn't really matter what level you are going into the DLC as much as it is how many Skadu tree fragments you find. Two Skadu. You can too. But as you're.
00:24:39
Speaker
As you're investing in those and leveling up your skidoo tree level, it sounds so silly. Saying it like that in particular. Skidoo. That's what's really going to make the difference between how much damage you take and how much damage you deal. yeah so If you're struggling with a boss, It is very much encouraged to go and explore and find something easier or be able to get more fragments because it does make a significant difference. I think pretty early on they like.
00:25:12
Speaker
kind of dangle one or two boss options for you to like go check out and they will destroy you. They will absolutely kick your ass and you need to come back unless you're like a perfect God gamer. Um, it's just almost impossible to actually kill them. Yeah. You're not gonna, especially for like a first encounter. Cause there's a big difference between like, how did I fight this boss when I first walked into the room? yeah And how good did I fight this boss after I spent a week studying its frame data on this this video or whatever. um And that's literally Elden Ring also. like That's the difference between how most people play and how the and how let me solo her plays. How do
Lore and Narrative Depth
00:25:54
Speaker
you feel about that level, that idea for progression? Because this is a big departure from the way it worked in Elden Ring. In Elden Ring, it was make your stats go up, make your weapon go up. You step into the lands of shadow,
00:26:08
Speaker
I already said I was going to call it Shadowlands, but it's the lines of shadow. I just remembered it. um and And you could have a maxed out weapon. You could have a level 150 or 200 character and a really, really struggle unless you're engaging in this side advancement. ah Yeah, for that reason, it kind of takes me ah back a little bit. I'm not
Difficulty Comparison with Other Games
00:26:32
Speaker
overly fond of it for that reason, because it feels like you kind of have to approach things in a certain order. And and also like I obviously didn't want to go in with like a level 300 character and feel like stuff was easy. That would be unfortunate. So that is the offset where whether you're 150, 200, 250, everyone's kind of going in at the same point as far as difficulty across the board, which is nice.
00:27:01
Speaker
um So I'd say overall, I'm fine with it because I'm that guy who's going to explore anyway. As soon as I hit a roadblock, I'm going to make a right turn and keep going in the direction. I'm basically mentally I'm a Roomba. I'll come back to an area eventually turn 90 degree left. But yeah, it's I think it's a fine system really just to set a level playing field across the board. Yeah. Because it would definitely suck to take a character that you could work really hard on. And then feel like the content's too easy. Yeah. it's it's I agree with that take. it's It's a difficult problem to solve in other DLC. This is not a comparison saying that the like but Fallout DLC is anywhere in the same playground as this, but they have a similar problem. Your character could be broken.
00:27:53
Speaker
and then you're entering a DLC area. And the traditional RPG solution for this is take your gear, all right? They're literally like, oh, you were abducted. Your gear will be in a chest at the midway point or whatever. But for now, we're going to be setting the baseline difficulty or re-baselining you knew where we want you. And they kind of did have to solve that problem. But I do think that the fact that you have to get like so far into optional content in the base game to even access this area, someone's gonna be here at level one. I understand that. I understand someone's gonna make it through at level one. That's not gonna be most people. So um and from that perspective, I think you can kind of expect that people have pretty busted builds when they go in.
00:28:49
Speaker
And I do think they also expected that, based on how difficult these fights were. And I think the first patch, it may not have been the literal first patch, but I believe it was, was to reduce the reliance on this optional side advancement, this kadoo tree nuts or whatever they're called. like
Summary and Future Prospects
00:29:06
Speaker
Souls, whatever they are. To reduce the alliance reliance on them at lower levels. So like the first couple have a major effect, and then it tapers back to what the effect would have been later in the DLC. They literally just made it easier to start. okay It was like the first patch. That's a good call. um
00:29:31
Speaker
As long as bosses kick my ass constantly. It's not just you. I know. I do want to talk through some of them, because I think sure first from soft games in general, also Elden Ring. A lot of the draw is the spectacle of the fight. and just the mechanics of it and then learning to survive and eventually overcome that. true Yeah, I'm going to put a pin on you since you mentioned or we we both mentioned difficulty. I'm going to put a pin in that to come back to because it it's is its own controversy in the community right now. But to the bosses, which one do you want to start with? Which one stands out for you is something something to mention.
00:30:12
Speaker
I mean, I'm fine starting at the beginning. The first major boss that you're encouraged to go fight is the Divine Beast Dancing Lion. This was shown in trailers as well. Yes. And it is the final boss for Belorat town settlement. It is a problem.
00:30:33
Speaker
I will say I enjoy the fuck out of it, even though I lost a lot. Yeah. And there's definitely some visual things where I'm like, what's happening? I've got better at it. um But I just love how it's laid out. And then when like the music kicks in as well, it's it's so hype. I really enjoyed it. I have to i have to mention, this is this is the this is the dividing point. So from the rest of the episode, when we're talking about boss fights, Dave will take the perspective of the hardcore player. And I will take the perspective of the casual player. I will use any means necessary short of summoning other players because none of them are available. My level is too high um to make it through the rest of the bosses. That being said,
00:31:24
Speaker
When I first started this, I didn't fully try to casual it until I realized how difficult this boss was going to be for me. And then I entered that path for the rest of the DLC. For the record, I will say that this is the one boss where I'm like, oh, let me use Mimik tier. Yeah. And then after that, I'm like, personally, for me, I I don't like that I feel like I have to use Mimic Tears, so I just stopped after that. You're the guy that tried Heroin once. I was like, yeah, not for me. Not for me. But I'm very close with the final boss of going back on Heroin.
00:31:57
Speaker
um
00:31:59
Speaker
Yeah. it's um I mean, and we can talk about the nature of the boss a little bit. Excellent design. Obviously that beast motif, no arms or legs to speak of generally. um I would say it's there they're hidden. They they are, yeah. they're They're not really part of the fight and the boss doesn't really use them as far as I can tell. Um, because if you find a little side path, which is what I did after this, uh, it's just like a guy in a suit or something like that. Um, that I wasn't completely ready for, especially since it's very bestial. It literally has a bite to bite attack. If you were a guy in like a dragon suit and you're like, okay, I'm going to get in a fight. Would you try to bite somebody with a dragon? i Like that doesn't make any sense. Anyways, whatever.
00:32:46
Speaker
Also, it flies through the air at times and does other nonsense things, but this is this is a Japanese game. It's fine. um Really cool design. I had the same issue with readability because I get used to the guys who are like, I'm going to raise my sword as a preamble to swing in my sword, right? And this boss is just as the first boss. It's like, ah, we ain't doing that anymore. I mean, it still does have tells. um yeah But like you said, it's much more bestial in nature. So the way it's moving around um is definitely not human readability. It's like shoulder checks, hip checks. Yeah. So like with any boss, you really do have to learn the move set. um But because it has.
00:33:32
Speaker
this very like rattered, tattered cloak across its body as it's doing some like these flying spin attacks. You're like, I don't know exactly when it's going to be striking me, ah um which gets you into the habit of like constant dodge rolling and then you're getting punished. um Yeah, I fell into that a lot for sure. Yeah, this DLC absolutely wants you to roll too much so that it can can just kill you for it. Oh, oh, yes. Oh, my gosh. Oh, yes. So much. 100 percent true. And that's it's it's funny. It's very much like
00:34:04
Speaker
I'll wait to talk about the the feedback, but one of the issues people were having was there were lessons to be learned in the base Elden Ring that many people have forgotten in the intervening years before this DLC came out. And Elden Ring absolutely as a base game just punishes over rolling compared to any other game in the soul series. Like it was never the best strategy if you wanted to look cool while you did it. But you're, if you just rolled constantly, your uptime on iframes for bloodborne for dark souls two was a lot more than your vulnerable frames, right? You could kind of just split the difference. Um,
00:34:47
Speaker
Not so for some of these bosses. it' It's it's risky to roll all the time. Yeah. It's it's human nature to like see a lot of damage coming your way and be like, oh, I know of a surefire way to get out of this. Yeah. But then your timing will be all for you. Again, keep mashing and it's like, OK, I'm going to hit you or I'm going to have a slight enough delay for if you keep spamming role. So it is kind of encouraging you not to play that way. Even though I still will find myself being like, the boss is too close. um I need to space out or something. It's boring. And I think I've said it before at least once, but like the optimal, the optimized correct way to fight these bosses or any, any, any Boston from soft game for the most part is like unequip your weapon, enter the boss fight, learn to dodge all the attacks.
00:35:43
Speaker
Because the weapons kind of just bait to get killed in the early attempts, depending on the difficulty. Like if you, yeah, it feels good to beat a boss the first time you encounter it. Almost none of the bosses in this DLC are ones you're going to clear as soon as you walk into the fog gate. No, it's especially if you're not on narrative difficulty, like if you're not using NPC summons and a mimic tier. It's a lot. It can be a lot. um really cool though and it was cool once we once I'm gonna say anytime I say we I mean me and my mimic tier the copy of the one once we beat him um and this was well within the range of difficulty of uh two-handed great swords was still viable
00:36:28
Speaker
There will come a point in the game where that is not true anymore, but with all of the handicaps on, it was still viable at this point. I will say for the record, um I have been majority of the game doing giant two-hand weapon because I need to rely on stagger, I feel. um Well, I shouldn't have said too handy. I mean, dual wielding, because those are two things you can you can to hand a weapon in this game, too. Yeah. Yeah. How did you feel about Rolana, Twin Moon Knight? Rolana is like visually one of the coolest, I think I really like I don't know.
00:37:10
Speaker
What's really funny to me is back when Elden Ring was announced, they're like, this is in conjunction with ah George RR Martin. And A Song of Ice and Fire is obviously the thing that he's been writing. I'm like, oh yeah, that's just this boss, actually. She just has a song of fire, and isn or a sword of fire and a sword of ice. It's kind of just funny to think about. um But yeah, I mean, I don't know. The visuals almost overtake everything else here for this fight. I don't remember this one being tremendously punishing by comparison just because I think um conventional knight type enemy, maybe with some sweep attacks and stuff like that. But from a difficulty perspective, this one was easier for me to read than the divine beast.
00:37:57
Speaker
um
00:38:00
Speaker
Yeah, I'd agree that readability is definitely better. um But for me, switching off of Mimic Cheer to go into this, just like with all bosses, definitely had my struggle period. Mm hmm. But really do like the moveset and the animations. Oh, yeah. Don't actually remember the music for this one as much, but. Yeah, this is it's a long DLC and this is fairly early in the DLC still, so. Time or memory is just not that good. um I will say his boss weapon, because I don't even remember what the divine beast gets you. You can use her swords off of this. A lot of people are going to be using her swords. They're really cool looking.
00:38:41
Speaker
Yeah, they seem pretty good too, like they scale with four stats. I never got around to actually investing in them to level them up and try them. but I did. I maxed him out and played around with him. Her sword's weapon art is like she readies both the fire and the frost blade and or one of them is magic. I don't think it's actually frost. I think it's magic damage. I think frost is magic. Like there's not a frost type. true Yeah, it's not like this frost affliction, I guess is what it would be called in Elden Ring terminology.
00:39:14
Speaker
um But you just stand with both of your swords ready and then based off which button you follow up with either R1 or R2, you'll either do a point blank AOE with like a flame buffet sort of attack around you, um which has like a lot of stagger to it, um or a ranged attack with the blades. And that's really, really cool. Like you'll you'll send ah beams out kind of like link. um with ah the magic sword attack. And that's really cool because I love options where it's like you're prepped, the opponent can read that you're prepped to throw something out, but you could pivot, right? You're like, okay, i well, I could cancel out of this or I could do the point blank AOE or I could throw ranged attacks. It's not so fast and it's like wind up that you're just going to be weaving this into like normal combos and things. but
00:40:05
Speaker
um It's really cool to do and the ah those those ah the fire knights that you fight through a good chunk of the game in the castle. Fuck them. Fuck them so much. They're miserable. ah They love to combo you to death. Their delayed projectiles are like the worst thing ever created. um You can permanent so permanent stagger them with the flame, buff it, attack, and then just wait, reactivate it, do it again. They just die. That's the second, my second favorite way to kill them. My first favorite way is there's a so shield you can get very, very late in the game whose skill skill is a charge, and then like an almost Wrath of God knockback at the end of it. Legend. They're on a like ah cliff or something. See, we're out of here.
00:40:54
Speaker
I'm doing the Soul Calibur Ringo. Literally, it was literally that. But Rinala is really cool. Rinala? Rinala? Rellana. Rellana. It is interesting that they use names so similar. um It's almost as though there might be connections. Yeah. um I just kind of reason through here a little bit. Sure. I fucking love the putress at night so much. um I never did Orphan of Kos, but like it definitely had some vibes there. the The weapon is exactly the same as Orphan of Kos. Like it's like a giant crescent moon blade. ah hu And even the visual yeah read on this boss is.
00:41:42
Speaker
Like you could tell me that this is just orphan of costs and it would I'd have to like look and be like, oh, like the ground doesn't look quite like maybe they made the contrast is off or something. I wouldn't immediately recognize that to be false. Um, until I saw some other frames or something. But that's not a bad thing. There's not that many and giant crescent blades like that. Yeah. um It is pretty good, too. I think it also has frost. And yes, I saw someone beat the most difficult boss in the game with this weapon. So interesting. I tried the moves at once. I didn't actually level it up at all. Yeah. But they're a very spin attacky type character or they'll do sweeps or giant overheads.
00:42:30
Speaker
um And then when they do like their giant combo string, ah the little slime horse will appear from the ground and charge you as well, which I think is cute. When I saw that, I actually had a thought like mid boss fight. um I'm going to continue to reference really because she's done a lot of research into the Souls games. She literally had a video on like. the technical aspects of trying to have a mounted combatant and whether that was going to be true in Elden Ring and stuff like that before it released. Because previous bosses in the Soulsborne series were all like if they were mounted, they like shared a health pool or they did some other fake trickery or something like that to make it work.
00:43:12
Speaker
And then this boss was just like a flex on that. um Like they had mounted writers um in the base game. And that was the proof that they could do two entities like bound together like that. But this one was like, oh no, we can do we can and do we we can do everything. right Boss, morphing horse, not on the horse. Horse is attacking, like all this stuff. And you're like, OK, all right, I understand. It's just a flex.
00:43:38
Speaker
That was super cool, though. um
00:43:42
Speaker
Also like the area to get to them as well. Yeah. It's just you keep kind of plunging down into the earth. It's very Tomb of the Giants, for me. Yeah. Especially since there's the giant. I mean, the giant tombs. Giant tombs. Yeah, the the giant coffins and stuff like that. um Yeah, they've only really gotten bigger since Dark Souls 1. Yeah. um A lot of this stuff is all connected to lore, obviously, as well. I actually had. More I understood more of what was going on than I usually understand in souls content and most of that is cuz like I was stopping and reading item him descriptions and things like that, but Still it was nice. It felt really good when I saw the body video after it was all done and I was like, yeah I actually picked up on a lot of this rather than like oh I had no idea. I had no idea. Yeah, exactly
00:44:37
Speaker
I think I picked up on some things but I definitely was not going through item descriptions as much. yeah I started out in the first hour and then afterwards I'm like, I just want to do content, I don't want to read. So I definitely transitioned off. I'm definitely looking forward to lore stuff because it is deep. Yeah. um But while I'm on my boss rant, sure, his boss actually absolutely have to talk about my favorite design, probably as far as moveset and the fact that they have ah two cut scenes is fucking Mesmer. Yeah. Mesmer, the impaler, the main antagonist shown in the trailers. Mm hmm.
00:45:20
Speaker
um So fucking cool is like using Messmer's Flame, which is, I guess, a stronger fire, basically. Yeah. um But also has like a spear and snake attacks. Yes. And it's just everything about it felt super cool and anime and badass. I think this is my favorite fight. I think that's going to be for a lot of people. It's the right combination of. These attacks look obviously threatening, so you can dodge through them, but also, ah, I got clipped by that, but not like I got wiped out, but because I got clipped by that, you know, like you recognize, you see this boss the first time, and you're like, yeah, fire resist, probably, right? It's not misrepresenting what he's bringing to the table.
00:46:09
Speaker
ah um And then, yeah, just the combination of the knight and two kind of b-shield knight attacks. A lot of that almost, it's evocative of Artorias for me, going all the way back to DLC, where it's just like, yeah, he's just really trying to kill you with a bunch of honest attacks and then a couple readable special attacks on top of that. um But it's not anime nonsense.
00:46:43
Speaker
And eventually the game gets to animate nonsense. And I don't I'm not a fan of it, but that's OK. We'll talk about that one someday. um Favorite fight, though, for sure. And apparently his ah his his spear, you can get like mesmer spears, the boss weapon. That one's also pretty good. I haven't tried that, but I'm sure it has a special multi poke move, which is silly. Yeah. But I love the shit out of that fight. Talking about multi poke moves, the ah the weapon that I ended up using towards the end of the game was a bleed weapon to me um that is really reminiscent of Moog spear that actually has like the same effect. And again, there are lower reasons for that. They both like are piercing the formless mother or whatever to generate the the the blood effect.
00:47:40
Speaker
um And yeah, it's just, there's so much here that's, that's tied together. Vadi's going to be able to make at least 20 videos. I feel like he has a deal with FromSoft where it's like a certain release cadence. It's like, I got to feed my family. People aren't buying the disc plate posters or the giant book of art, please. yeah Yup. Yup. um Very cool fight, though, and I think that's going to be the standout. I think as more people complete the game, they're going to look back on this and be like. It felt good when I beat these fights, this fight I enjoyed, um and there sometimes there's a delineation between those. Those are not always the same fights. Yeah. Speaking of content that I wasn't necessarily a fan of. Sure.
00:48:33
Speaker
um How did you feel about the Abyss? um So the Abyss was really interesting. That was the closest thing I think they did to like an experiment or like a really new design gameplay direction um in Elden Ring. Kind of full stop, but definitely Shadow of the Year tree. um And by that, I mean like the hide and seek mechanics. the All the messages calling you snake when you sneak past enemies. Um, by the way, it took me like the lead up to it, the lead up to it. We got to talk about the ambience leading up to it. That's good. I do like the ambiance of the area and how it's just like very.
00:49:19
Speaker
spooky and giant trees, and you feel like you're very much lost in the woods. Drive some in Torant. You can't. Torant's too scared. It's too scared. And you're like, what does that mean? um But like when I was going through trying to do the hide and sneak stuff, I'd keep running into like these tall bushes. yeah but And then I'd hear a jingle, and I'd be spotted. I'm like, how do they spot me? huh It's the thing I was running into is really making noise. It's the plant. Yeah. And I just didn't pick up on that until much later. I saw it in a message, but I still had to test it once first. The message was just like material ahead. It was something like material ahead, like Bubby Wary or something like that. I was just like, what does that really mean? Like those look like plants I could get. Oh, OK. That's why next. But basically in that area, you are kind of escaping from
00:50:14
Speaker
Some enemies that just had like a giant eyeball essentially. Frenzy eyeball. And like if they spot you, they will chase you indefinitely. And you can't hit them or interact with them as far as you're told. They teleport next to you even. They teleport next to you even. They don't just chase you. They just appear and shoulder check you. Apparently there is some way you can actually kill them. Yes. I saw a YouTube highlight. I killed the first one cause I saw a comment or not a comment, a message. okay It was like, try parrying. I was like, that seems dumb, but I'll try it. And then I died like six times. Then I parried it and I was like, Oh, okay. You can actually parry this. You get an item for it too. Oh, damn. Yeah. It's, um,
00:51:02
Speaker
It's an item that is for frenzy builds. It's a talisman. I think it literally, it's either increases it increases your damage when people frenzy around you or something like that. Okay. um but Well, my experience through that area was trying some of the hide and sneak stuff. I try not to read too many messages because I don't want too many hints throughout the game. It's usually like if I would felt like a little bit lost, I'm like, let me just read something for some context. ah um
00:51:34
Speaker
But I kept getting spotted ah regardless of me hitting like the noise bush. Yeah. And I was like, I see where this next site of great is. I'm just going to book it. And it took me a little bit, but I figured out a good pattern of running nonstop and then mashing roll when they try and do a grab thing. And eventually I was able to get to the site of grace funny before they grabbed me. But like I was literally going like a mile as multiple or chasing me. I had this bell for it as well, and I think it's it may you even be available on an item, but there's definitely a spell for it. But the real thing that helped me here was for most of the DLC, I was wearing the... um ah I can't remember the name of the order, Black Knives, the Black Knives armor. Okay. um Which silences your footfalls. It makes for your movement. Oh, okay. I had to use a charm for that, or Talisman.
00:52:28
Speaker
Oh yeah, there's that's what the other one source was, the Talisman. ah That helps a lot there. The other reason I was using it though was just because it kind of just helps the ambiance for me when I'm just hearing the music and like I'm hearing everything that's going on. And depending on your armor that can I mean, it's not that it sounds bad. Chainmail football is a very satisfying plate, whatever. um But it's just really cool to feel like you're running through the world and taking it all in without impacting it. I don't know. It's weird. But leave nothing but footsteps. Exactly. yeah Take nothing but photos.
00:53:03
Speaker
ah That helped there. um But I'm also not a fan. I think the lead up was cool. I like the they there are developer messages in the game leading up to it. Like you can see them. They look a little different than player messages, but you can like read them on the ground. It'll have like a stone shape instead of just being like glowing kind of on the ground, superimposed, almost hovering. um And the lead up to the area was like, uh, don't let them see you. If they see you, there's no escape. All of this stuff. Right. It's almost like someone reading you the warning before you enter a haunted house is basically the vibe I got. Um, and unfortunately the enemies are cool, but they're not that cool. Right. It wasn't like, um,
00:53:57
Speaker
And immense darkness swallows you for instant death or anything like that. It's just a difficult enemy that'll kill you and you can only beat it by parrying it. Yeah. And you're like, yeah, it also did not strike as much like there's obviously some apprehension of getting caught. Yeah. But it's not as scary to see, like, essentially a guy walking around with like a giant eyeball head and a Harry Potter wand. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I would have liked something a little more Madness or frenzy themed. um I mean, it's definitely frenzy themed. Well, yeah, because they also they have the effect of the um the auger of frenzy or whatever it's called in Bloodborne. Like if they see you, it starts building your frenzy meter. Mm hmm. But.
00:54:42
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. It could have been a little bit more. My real gripe with that area is there are several sites of grace. There's that encounter. There's some minor items. I don't remember if there was any big gear or not. there's a solid, like the loppetated mansion, which is like the actual point of interest for the abyssal woods. Yeah, like the spooky house. Yeah, it's the the spooky house. I like that. oh That was definitely the standout, but the area is far too large for the actual content that's in it.
00:55:14
Speaker
Yeah, it felt very empty. And I'm not sure if that's something that they were going for as far as like, hey, why is there nothing here? It's kind of spooky. Yeah. um Yeah, it would have been cool to have more stuff there. There's some other parts of the map where it felt like large swath of area, but not as much packed into it. Yeah, those were kind of like very. I guess quest specific areas. This one felt worse because specifically you couldn't summon Torrent. And after seeing the enemies, I was like, I could understand if there was an AoE around them where Torrent would vanish, right? Because you already have vanishing walls for Torrent if you go into like certain areas. Or if there's going to be an NPC invader. Yeah, exactly. It'll kick you off, kick you off, Torrent. They did not need the entire woods to be horseproof. If the entire woods were not horseproof, you could have navigated it a lot faster.
00:56:11
Speaker
And what it actually reminds me of, there's like those old adventure games where you're just running on kind of like simple geometry, great distances. And you're like, why is my movement speed not like 30% faster, right? Like I'm just running around and not doing anything. That literally happened a couple times for me in this area. And usually the horse solves it, but they took the horse away. So that's on them. well um So unfortunate, but yeah, the mansion, though, is cool and the boss is excellent. Yes, he's the the the failed. Well, he's he's not called the failed frenzied flame, but he's somebody who did not. He resisted becoming a Lord of frenzy until you finally reach him and he's like, ah fine, I give up.
00:57:03
Speaker
You know, I didn't like his design. It felt very.
00:57:08
Speaker
Boss from Soul Calibur II. Yeah. Which is just like a giant body kind of cloaked in flames and then like a big eyeball head. Borderline never saw. in frenzy But that was cool, too. um Yeah, that was really my only area where I'm like, I'm not super crazy about this. I mean, there's some other ones that are like I feel like just better thematically, even if they are a little open. Yeah. um But overall, I did want to let's take that pin out because we're approaching time. Yeah. Are we are we stopping on time for the good luck? I mean, I mean, not exactly. i need to So the the DLC is difficult. Yeah. I think that's a fair statement to say across the board. Not not much of a hot take. The Skidoo tree. Skidoo tree fragments are really what helps you progress as far as dealing more damage, taking less damage.
00:58:09
Speaker
But even with that, ah what are your thoughts on the difficulty throughout the DLC? Is it too easy? Is it perfectly balanced? Is it a little bit bullshit hard? ah Yes, with qualifiers. So anyways, here's my here's my essay. Again, this is from the perspective of someone who was playing at narrative difficulty. I did not use a shield until a very, very light late fight. But I would use NPCs if they were available because I wanted to see if they had any dialogue and some of the quests.
00:58:48
Speaker
I don't know if this is true, because I don't i don't recall if it was true for the base Elden Ring, but in the past Souls series, sometimes you had to summon NPCs to continue their quests. That was just the way it worked. ah So I summoned NPCs if they were available. I used my Mimik tier because I have no shame. um
00:59:08
Speaker
Most of the bosses at that difficulty were very attainable. um using those tools, some of them still were brick walls for a good chunk of time. Or I had to ah had to resort to like even more digit like stack more degenerate strategies on top of it. um culminating in basically pulling out all of the stops other than cheat engine for like the last fights in the game. by um But there are reasons for that. Some of those fights, I think it's because I didn't learn the moveset. It was a legitimate skill issue. I had no skill or whatever pop up on the left side.
00:59:51
Speaker
um And other fights were just too comp, like they were too visually cluttered for my liking, for my personal preference. And that's the gripe I think that may stick unless they specifically turn tone it down. A lot of these fights I could have learned. I could have gone in without a weapon. I could have learned to dodge their attacks. I could have learned the move set. ah learn to bait things out, punish windows, all of that fighting game terminology. The thing that you can't as well adapt to is just there's too much going on on your screen. And that happens for a couple fights for fast fast bosses or just bosses with massive elemental explosions. That would be my take. But overall, I think they're difficult bosses. And if you're not enjoying your gameplay,
01:00:45
Speaker
it's absolutely worth considering switching up your build and consider any of the broken builds that can beat any boss in the game. I think it's usually bleed, it's usually a sword, or usually bleed and usually a shield. um no And you can use both at the same time if you want to. You can poke from behind a shield in this game. You do not have to put your shield down to attack.
01:01:12
Speaker
some while that we're living in this and timeline now. But that's my take as a casual player. What about what about for you? As a pro gamer who is struggling with the last boss for these reasons, um I was able to beat everything else in the game ah using variety of builds. um But typically I found the most luck with, again, big ass strength weapon. ah Build kind of tanky and then just find your your cheap shots and then try and break stagger to get a critical That's gonna work for a lot of things. Yeah, um I Still felt very reliant on the skidoo tree fragments Which if that's how it's designed, that's fine um For where I'm at right now it feels Like I can
01:02:08
Speaker
beat the first section of moves. I feel like I have it down to not a perfect science, but I understand what I should be doing in those interactions as far as when to roll, when to attack. But the next part of that encounter where I'm at is. Very hard to read. Yeah, there's a lot of aou stuff where like follow up attacks where I feel like even if I am dodging, I'm still being caught in something. um
01:02:40
Speaker
And I know that for a lot of players, they feel like they have to use a shield or a lot of people who have been the game have used a shield at that part. yeah um And I hope that's not the case. I hope I don't actually need a shield to do it. like I'm fine changing up my build because I've tried multiple things. yeah Switching everything back to faith, terrible fucking idea. We still need a way to deal damage and mitigate damage. yeah um But with faith, I would definitely have some buff options. Whereas right now, I'm just trying to like throw a bunch of candy in my gob and see where we can get.
01:03:15
Speaker
um Overall, I think I'm fine with the difficulty because I'm fine hitting a brick wall and coming back to it. Nothing felt super unfair outside of ah this last boss, which I'm now getting definitely some notes of, all right, this is kind of bullshit. Yes, there's. um I saw, so I'm going to mention, ah same thing I told you, ah let me solo her who's the renowned player who guided people through the millennia fight thousands of times and ended up giving a statue of her and all this other jazz from the company. um Took him three hours to beat the final boss and I think he used a shield.
01:03:57
Speaker
um I shouldn't have said final boss, but we were alluding to it. there there is ah There is a last boss. It's pretty hard. I'm surprised. So no no shade at all there. um Anything that you're comfortable using I would definitely take. um It's not actually that much of a help. So I was pretty much a faith build. ah That boss does not give you time to buff. You can buff before you go in. If you're really fast, maybe you'll have buffs around the time that the fight starts to build an intensity. ah You're not going to have time to do more of that once those start dropping off. So, um you know, pick the important things to apply.
01:04:42
Speaker
a And it's definitely doable. And I think once some time passes, um the the hardcore Souls people will be like, absolutely, this is as difficult as it should be. I'm a little disappointed that some of the fights got nerfed. I kind of think that this final fight will probably get nerfed. um But for a person who doesn't want to like look up strategies on how to react to moves and stuff like that, i there are some instances in this game, in particular the final fight, where it's it's too much for the average person going in.
01:05:22
Speaker
And ah that literally has hurt the review score. The thing I wanted to mention, this was the pin we're coming back to at the end of the episode, is there were two main factors for PC Elden Ring, Shadow of the Erdtree. um, receiving low user review scores. One of them was stuttering issues, uh, graphics and stuff like that. That was apparently affecting people in the base game too. I've never been heavily affected by it, but I have a ah very good graphics card and I did experience slowdown myself at times. There's just, there's a lot. Um, I didn't want to turn down the graphics settings though, cause it was very pretty and most of the time it was fine.
01:06:05
Speaker
You can't do anything for that. That's on the developer fair or valid critical review. Other people legitimately were reviewing it because they're like, these bosses are either too hard or they were saying it was too hard, but listing criteria for why. um And I am curious how that'll all shake out. They've already kind of nerfed the difficulty in a way or given everyone a buff, depending on your stance with the the early game. um They might do other things for bosses, but how necessary
01:06:45
Speaker
Is it for you to maintain the sanctity of the difficulty of the shadow of the urge to experience? How much do you want to gate keep this game, Dave? Not. OK, like so and anything I've been talking about as far as like not using some stuff, that's for me. It's really just for me, um because in the base game of Elden Ring, I initially went through doing the I want to win by any means possible. Which is valid. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise. If you beat a boss, you're the one who beat that boss. And any tools you want to use your disposal to do so, go nuts. Whether it's bringing in friends, whether it's using um Mimic Tier or anything else. Like, enjoy the game you want to... I don't care how you do it. um For me, um because I have a lot of Mimic Tier so much in the past, I just wanted to try not doing it.
01:07:43
Speaker
And like I said earlier on, I'm starting to kind of miss it. um But yeah, I don't want to gatekeep stuff. Like, if it becomes a little bit easier, OK, cool. um Right. Because it's the developer's vision at that point. You'll be like, OK, that's fine. You're not going to feel like you missed out on something if this boss yeah like becomes easier to read or something like that. I'm there for the lore, I'm there for the experience. um right If the movesick gets changed or the damage goes down a little bit or they do less AOE bullshit, I'm not going to be like, what? You've ruined it. Maybe the screen's not so bright for the entire other phase. Yeah. but Yeah, like there there can be changes and I feel like it's not really going to take away from the overall experience. um I just do want to beat the last boss for the sake of completion.
01:08:40
Speaker
And then I can just look up everything I want to. I'm definitely going to be going back again at some point and trying a different approach. Maybe I do use summons. Maybe I try and do more NPC stuff. I'll definitely be looking up some quest line things there. um You know what my what my my challenge thing is? I want to try this. I want to try to solo some of these fights. Maybe all of them. I want to not do it in new game plans. That's why I'm here. One shot, one shot, one shot. aha data say One of those, one of those six does. But yeah, you know the one. um
01:09:20
Speaker
Yeah, that's fair and for the casual crowd out there who were there but a narrative difficulty with me getting through enjoying the challenge just know Miyazaki Specifically set creator of this game. He uses everything He's not out here in challenge mode, you know in his underpants and a dagger a broken sword will reference Lenny trying to kill every boss. He's like, yeah, I'll use summons. I'll use I'll use NPCs, I'll use the tears and stuff, whatever. There's there's become a like community stigma as far as like some of that gatekeeping and like this is the correct way to do something and get good.
01:10:00
Speaker
um But like, I also have seen with like the release of the DLC and the good reviews it's getting and Eldering already having good reviews of people who I have never seen play a Souls like game. Yeah. Add it to their Steam wish list or they're interested in checking it out. And I want to encourage those people to do so. Yeah. I think even if you are what you would consider to be a casual gamer, you can learn and do this. I don't think it's going to be an overnight thing. I think some of the things are definitely a bit of a process. um But I think with the tools you can get at your disposal, it is possible. I think you can learn fights, you can learn certain skills to rely on for your build, whatever it may be.
01:10:47
Speaker
I encourage you, if you feel like you're one of those people, to check it out and give it a try. If you think you would like Souls anything. And Don Rushmore got explore first. yeah If you encounter a boss, that doesn't mean you have to fight the boss right now. That was the case so for maybe certain Souls games, maybe parts of Sekiro. That's not at all the case for Elden Ring. Yeah, there's You can really choose your order for things and how you want to approach it. And I will say for all previous Souls games, when I would hit roadblocks, I would grind up in levels and come back. Yeah. Or I'd like take some time and be like, OK, what am I doing wrong in the boss fight? Where am I losing the most health? Can I be dealing more damage here? ah Treat it like a bit of a puzzle that you don't have to solve immediately. Exactly. I feel like people hit roadblocks and then they're like, fuck this, I'm out.
01:11:41
Speaker
Yes, it is challenging, but the the point of the game is not solely difficulty. Right. It is just an aspect of it. Knowledge is a big piece. I can go back to any Souls game and perform infinitely better than I used to previously, just for having that knowledge of knowing some, oh, the boss is weak to this, or I'm familiar with this moveset pattern and some of its muscle muscle memory. Plunging attack. Plunging attack for real. Plunging attack. Taurus demon. Here we go. By the way, one of the most fun things to do when you're going to the quote-unquote orphan of cosfight is doing a plunging attack and then spinning on the way down That's very funny. It burns all your stamina. It doesn't really matter. ah It's just for shits and gigs, but it's fun
01:12:26
Speaker
Yep, definitely recommended though, and it's still I mean from us a safe bet. um If you enjoy the base game, which is definitely where I would start since you have to. True. Definitely check out Shadow of the Year Tree. I will also at this point like to put on the record. I think they will be doing another DLC. Really? Okay. They've traditionally always done at least two DLCs per game. This is big. It is. And it might not be an immediate thing because it took like two years for this, right? But that is my theory. Part of the reason being they added one new prattling paint in this DLC. Yeah, I didn't know that. But only one. And I'm like, I feel like there's room for more, more prattling paints. Yeah, not enough paints.
01:13:21
Speaker
But that is our impression, review, and comprehensive analysis of Shadow of the Urd Tree. If you guys have your own Pridling Pates, you can send those in, soapstonepodcastgmail.com, or you can join the Pates on Facebook, facebook dot.com slash soapstonepodcast. And as always, we'll see you in the next one. Good luck, Tarnish.
01:14:25
Speaker
um