Until Elden Ring, I had never played any of the Souls games. Wow, was my missing out! For me, ER is the best game I've ever played and spent more time on it than any other game, half of which were probably devoted to boss fights--easily my favorite aspect of the game.
Finished the DLC twice and have some thoughts. As with ER, my initial couple of playthroughs were blind without any guides, absent any summons, and with the Nagakiba, utilizing unsheathe or double slash, depending on the fight.
While I'd score the original game a 10 and my personal favorite game of all time, by far. The DLC is a solid 9.5, not quite as fulfilling as the original. Some say it's too hard, it's not. Anyone who played the original game without summons should find the DLC challenging, but certainly not "too" difficult.
Fromsoft had to make this hard, otherwise it would be too easy. If we go back to the original game, those bosses are so easy now. Even Malenia is basically a two trick pony. Once you learn how to dodge waterfowl dance (round around under and she'll miss, then dodge & dodge) and scarlet bloom (unlock and dash underneath), she's easily bullied. So, they really had to overtune the bosses otherwise I suspect their core fanbase would be disappointed.
Elden Ring isn't only game of the year, but game of the century, far as I'm concerned. Even the DLC while not perfect, IMHO, is easily the game of the year.
Spoiler alert
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.
.
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For those who have played and had become engrossed in ER and the DLC as much as I, I'd like to share some of my thoughts on the DLC.
1. Rellana - easily one of my favorite fights of all time. Between the music and the dance like engagement, this is probably the boss I had the most fun. The Milady with the Wing Stance made this fight so much with the quick double R2 and Wing Stance attack. The first time, I used all dodge. During the second playthrough, I used all parries. The dodge is more fun, while the parry is a little easier. Only criticism is her left handed sword attack is so quick, it's impossible (at least for me) to parry in time without guessing. IMHO, the notion of "hard but fair" shouldn't have attacks where one couldn't react to with the naked eye.
2. Bayle - One of my complaints during the initial game were the dragons. There were too many, the heads were frustratingly difficult to hit, and I mostly had to resort to locking off and just poking its feet. With Bayle, they corrected those shortcomings and it's the best dragon fight ever created. Period. My first playthrough, I ran pass the ancient dragon (hate fighting them as I mentioned above), and headed straight towards Bayle. Top notch fight and I really have no complaints.
3. Radahn - Ah, phase one was fun and pretty easy to parry. Phase 2 was like a Star Wars light show. I realize at this point the original bosses seem easy, and they had to turn up the difficulty, but IMHO, they over did phase 2. I literally had no idea what was going on, how I was dying, or even how to avoid any of the AOEs. Unlike with any other boss fights, I decided just to cheese phase 2. I respeced my character increasing endurance, carried the Black Knight shield on sacred with 100% holy damage, along with my parry shield. After phase one, instead of learning or practicing to dodge, I'd just switch to it to block all the holy damage. When he was done, I'd switch back to the parry shield and bullied him around. The light show and Miki's hair made this fight very hard, since I really couldn't see and parried from memorization. Oh, also used deflecting hard tear you get from the first golem. Not one of my favorite fights because of the light show and, in my view, disappointing story line. Radahn was my favorite character from ER, and they turned him into an undead zombie type thing.
Anyway, the other bosses I really don't know too well, since I just beat them with reactions without really learning their mechanics. Except for Gaius, which probably took me a while to learn how to dodge some of his combos, though I can't quite get the timing of his charge. While I don't think I'll play the DLC as much as the original, Rellana & Bayle I'll probably keep fighting, since I enjoy them so much.
Finished the DLC twice and have some thoughts. As with ER, my initial couple of playthroughs were blind without any guides, absent any summons, and with the Nagakiba, utilizing unsheathe or double slash, depending on the fight.
While I'd score the original game a 10 and my personal favorite game of all time, by far. The DLC is a solid 9.5, not quite as fulfilling as the original. Some say it's too hard, it's not. Anyone who played the original game without summons should find the DLC challenging, but certainly not "too" difficult.
Fromsoft had to make this hard, otherwise it would be too easy. If we go back to the original game, those bosses are so easy now. Even Malenia is basically a two trick pony. Once you learn how to dodge waterfowl dance (round around under and she'll miss, then dodge & dodge) and scarlet bloom (unlock and dash underneath), she's easily bullied. So, they really had to overtune the bosses otherwise I suspect their core fanbase would be disappointed.
Elden Ring isn't only game of the year, but game of the century, far as I'm concerned. Even the DLC while not perfect, IMHO, is easily the game of the year.
Spoiler alert
.
.
.
.
.
.
For those who have played and had become engrossed in ER and the DLC as much as I, I'd like to share some of my thoughts on the DLC.
1. Rellana - easily one of my favorite fights of all time. Between the music and the dance like engagement, this is probably the boss I had the most fun. The Milady with the Wing Stance made this fight so much with the quick double R2 and Wing Stance attack. The first time, I used all dodge. During the second playthrough, I used all parries. The dodge is more fun, while the parry is a little easier. Only criticism is her left handed sword attack is so quick, it's impossible (at least for me) to parry in time without guessing. IMHO, the notion of "hard but fair" shouldn't have attacks where one couldn't react to with the naked eye.
2. Bayle - One of my complaints during the initial game were the dragons. There were too many, the heads were frustratingly difficult to hit, and I mostly had to resort to locking off and just poking its feet. With Bayle, they corrected those shortcomings and it's the best dragon fight ever created. Period. My first playthrough, I ran pass the ancient dragon (hate fighting them as I mentioned above), and headed straight towards Bayle. Top notch fight and I really have no complaints.
3. Radahn - Ah, phase one was fun and pretty easy to parry. Phase 2 was like a Star Wars light show. I realize at this point the original bosses seem easy, and they had to turn up the difficulty, but IMHO, they over did phase 2. I literally had no idea what was going on, how I was dying, or even how to avoid any of the AOEs. Unlike with any other boss fights, I decided just to cheese phase 2. I respeced my character increasing endurance, carried the Black Knight shield on sacred with 100% holy damage, along with my parry shield. After phase one, instead of learning or practicing to dodge, I'd just switch to it to block all the holy damage. When he was done, I'd switch back to the parry shield and bullied him around. The light show and Miki's hair made this fight very hard, since I really couldn't see and parried from memorization. Oh, also used deflecting hard tear you get from the first golem. Not one of my favorite fights because of the light show and, in my view, disappointing story line. Radahn was my favorite character from ER, and they turned him into an undead zombie type thing.
Anyway, the other bosses I really don't know too well, since I just beat them with reactions without really learning their mechanics. Except for Gaius, which probably took me a while to learn how to dodge some of his combos, though I can't quite get the timing of his charge. While I don't think I'll play the DLC as much as the original, Rellana & Bayle I'll probably keep fighting, since I enjoy them so much.
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