I like how people assume that even the lowest, smallest level of criticism of this DLC is "bait". The brain rot is real.

My main problem is the lack of good loot from exploring.

Your criticism of Elden Rings open world makes no sense to me. An open world this vast without a map & a horse? For an open world as vast as Elden Ring that would be the most tedious thing ever. It seems you just want to throw away the open world & just have one big dungeon instead, like in the Souls games.

I love fromsoft games, but ER's biggest problem for me is that it gives you so many fun tools to play, but as soon as you actually want to start using them, the boss makes you shift to a nohit game mode. You are simply not incentivized to play like you are in an rpg, like you have build variety and fun diverse spells to cast, no, the game encourages you to put yourself in the shoes of a nohit runner, especially in the DLC. The amount of time I decided to use a cool incantation just to realize that the boss will punish me severely...

Fromsoft is loosing it‘s way, the good don‘t outweigh the ever piling bad.

Very bad take - the whole point and joy of elden ring is picking up the items regardless if they're useful or not. It's the process of exploring a big and mysterious world with the chance of finding something cool. The general thesis of this video "my time is being wasted" is a clear indication that these games (souls-like and specifically elden ring) aren't for you. And that's fine, but it's foolish to claim that its a bad follow up to a universally loved video game simply because you don't like elden ring in the first place.

I disagree with a few things you said, like not having a map or respecs, but overall this was a great duology of videos. You hit basically all of the nails right on the head for why I can't love Elden Ring and can't be part of the fanbase turned cult. From and the fans have lost the plot with these games. It was never about difficulty, and this insane pursuit of even greater challenge and more difficult bosses who are now playing an entirely different game than the PC has driven the formula to the brink. I don't think this formula can be stretched any further, and any attempts to do so will fail. Whatever From does next needs to be a complete reinvention, because I will not be buying Elden Ring 2.

I could not disagree more about the map design. The idea that there are areas only flowing into eachother if you go down the most random holes in the wall is stupid and pointlessly unclear. Especially when 99% of those exact same scenarios lead to either nothing at all or pointless upgrade materials or cookbooks...

This is a DLC not a sequel did you expect them to rework the entire game of the year?

Map is big but either empty empty or full of reused enemies. Many of them are from the main game. Finding path is the most frustrating thing in the game. Shadow keep is the best part of game. If you exclude the boss fights, this game is a disappointment.. It took them 2 years to develop this dlc. It's clear that they spent most of the time in creating a huge map.

Ya know what's even sadder? What used to be a game about surviving a harsh world and learning how to keep trying is now a game about dick measuring and laughing at the noobs. You can even see it with how many videos there are of people reading the reviews, pretty much disregarding any criticism as "They are just bad". If this is the future of FS games and specially its community then I'm done with it. I'll keep with the soulslike like Lies of P. At least they know a thing or two about QoL features.

Is is rude to give you advise? If you put a layer of very quite music or even abstract ambience under your voice, qnd do a little bit fade at the end of audio clips, you will get rid of this "popping" effect in the places you merge two voice clips together :)

10:00

No, removing Torrent would not improve the experience in the open world. To begin with Torrent making the open world too safe is not simply an issue of Torrent, it's an issue of the world in general. The world is too large, too open and doesn't have enough enemies to make running past them not an effective tactic. You could easily do at least 90% of the pick up item and run parts of the game without Torrent just as effectively, albeit a little slower. Not only are the enemies slower than Torrent they also tend to be slowed than the player character and eventually lose aggro. Besides some elevators and ladders running past enemies indoors where Torrent is not summonable is also very effective and enables the player to avoid the enemies. This is not only the case in Elden Ring's own legacy dungeóns but also fromsoft's earlier games like dark souls 3. Only place where they somewhat succesfully make the player fight all the enemies is dark souls 2 and look what happened with that one. The running past enemies problem aside the world is just too big and would need to be scaled down severely to be at all engaging to explore without Torrent. Even with Torrent's travel speed you encounter large basically empty areas of the map you really wouldn't want to have to run. This is an issue with the open world, yes but removing Torrent would make it far worse. Also if you wanted to make the open world harder you really also should remove the get flasks back when killing an enemy group mechanic. It trivializes exploration far more imo.

I feel catharsis over how well you expressed these points.

I agree with you on everything else tho esp the scadutree fragment issue. I’ve been saying this since day 1. Is the boss too hard or do I need more shards ? Can’t really focus on beating the boss when you’re clouded with not even knowing if you’re intended to fight it at that particular time

Very well put. I was hoping the DLC would make up for mistakes in the base game, but it sometimes just intensifies them. Most maps are TERRIBLY shallow and the smithing stone loot is borderline offensive.

You nailed it. I've tried to explain to people my issues with the DLC and to some extent Elden Ring.

Keep on cooking, my guy. While I have some disagreements, you've echoed many of my own issues with Elden Ring and the DLC, especially on map design, fast travel, and boss design. I hope FromSoft (or at least other Souls-likes) take some cues from your critiques.

Fighting enemies in the open world is a very low priority point of the game which is why you have the option to bypass them. Theres really no reason or incentive to fight them other than boredom, rune farming or testing weapons.