My thoughts on the base game: Elden Ring. And my thoughts on the DLC:
- The final boss of the DLC is terrible
- Phase 2 is broken. I gave up on several times and eventually had 877 tries. My friend @dtox created a custom-build based on items I had to beat the boss
- The character brought back a fan favorite when the base game ending was perfect to the lore
- There’s no window to trigger your preferred summon
- The General Gaius boss is another example of a badly designed boss, the thing just rams into you
- The base game was made for every type of gamer, the DLC is made for souls-fans who like melee combat and punishment
- The lore of the DLC: I think it worked but I also think it was a weak connection
- The ending you chose in the base game has no impact on the DLC, it was a bit disappointing that if someone chose the Consort of Ranni ending, there was no help from Ranni against the Promised Consort of Miquella — the final boss
- The DLC introduces the concept of Scadu Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes to scale the weapons and summons, only within the DLC; very creative element to make the boss fights tougher, I hated it
- The poster-boss, Messmer, was a fun fight, and whoever voiced the character made it even more rewarding to beat
- I was mostly speed-running through the game and didn’t fight most of the optional bosses or do most of the side-quests, this meant that I didn’t have the second summon for the final boss; I think that’s a shitty game design where I lose out on much needed support to fight a broken boss
- The side quests were not as rewarding as in the base game (e.g., the summon Tiche and Mimic Tear as part of Ranni’s quest)
- A good portion of the map could be avoided and still complete the game (except for collecting scadu fragments)
- I watched several videos of new weapons that the DLC introduced, and I tried none of them; those were a waste (#MoonveilForLife)
- The visuals of the DLC were fantastic, much like the base game
Game play playlist: