Elden Ring

[Dragon Lord]

Yes, level-up elements limited to the DLC have been added. They work similarly to the "Attack Power" system in "Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice", where you have to defeat a boss to increase your attack power. This will help to keep the DLC challenging for players regardless of their already established character level, as well as prevent anyone from becoming over leveled for the main game if they complete the DLC first.

This is extremely idiotic. It worked for Sekiro because the entire game was centered around it, but adding it into Elden Ring just for the DLC is so god damn stupid. Elden Ring (aka Dark Souls 4) is like it's predecessors in that you, the player, get to decide how strong or weak you are by what level you are, what stats you invest in, and what weapon/build you use. Trying to now turn around and limit that power for the DLC just doesn't make any sense at all.

It just feels so out of place and with how far in the game you'd have to be to even access the DLC (at least most players aren't going to be able to get to Mohg early and beat him). I don't understand what the goal is here. Are they just mad that people have continued to find "broken" builds in the game and make harder bosses a breeze, so they want to try to counter that because they're butthurt over it? They need to just let the players decide how easy or hard they want the game to be, and stop trying to force it to be difficult for everyone. The really fun thing about Souls games is that you can go through the game and make it how you want it to be.

If they want the DLC to be that challenging, just force players to start new characters and have the game start in the DLC and you can't access the main game until you beat it, and you can't level up in the DLC or upgrade weapons at all. Might as well if they want to cry about players countering the difficulty so much.

[Moonface]

I think the DLC needs some form of limiter on it because the range of levels players are at is so vast. Although, Miyazaki seems to have added that players can still choose how hard or easy to make things even with this system in place, so I get the feeling it isn't going to be as black and white as the interview made it out to be. The regular character level still has to mean something though because there has to be a minimum level requirement/recommendation for the DLC or like you said, may as well make the DLC a separate thing entirely where existing levels don't matter in any way.

I'd hope they give a better explanation and breakdown of the system before the DLC launches but I'm not going to hold my breath on it.

[Dragon Lord]

The thing that gets me about it is that they never felt the need to do it in any other Souls game. Especially Dark Souls II where you were stupidly broken at max level because it allowed you to wear the heaviest armor in the game and use combinations of broken weapons and still have a fast roll. But for some reason now they decide they need to try and do something to limit player power in Elden Ring's DLC. It just doesn't make any sense.

If the system was a part of the game from the very beginning, that would be one thing, but just randomly throwing it in now and only specifically for the DLC is just a very weird and I don't think very smart move. It worked in Sekiro because it was a main piece of that game from start to finish, just just haphazardly thrown into the game at some random point.

If they want players to have a harder time in the DLC, there's plenty of other ways to make it happen. Doing it this way just makes it feel like they're adding a layer of artificial difficulty to the DLC not seen in a Souls game since the Cursed Chalice Dungeons of Bloodborne.

If players want to roll into the DLC with already pimped out characters and make it easy for themselves, let them. The people who want a challenge will seek it themselves. There's absolutely no reason to try and force it on all players.

[Moonface]

Fair point on them not worrying about levels for DLC's in prior games they've made. I also wonder how this system will work for those in NG+ runs because presumably enemies would be harder in the DLC on NG+, but going into it for the first time on a NG+ run would be the same as a fresh run if this new level system has as much of an effect as it's implied to.

I went to the Elden Ring subreddit to see if anyone there had speculated anything about it that might paint it in a better light. Since you've played DS2 to understand this, one person said it sounds like the King Vendrick system but across the entire DLC instead of restricted to one boss. I can't really have any feelings on this take though having not played DS2 at all.

[Dragon Lord]

King Vendrick was an optional boss in Dark Souls 2 who had a mechanic revolving around the amount of Giant Souls you had (there was 5 to collect), and his defense would be massively buffed depending on the amount of them that you had. If you had zero Giant Souls, he'd have an extreme amount of defense that would make it so you'd pretty much just tickle him regardless of how powerful your build was. If you had all five of the Giant Souls, then he'd have significantly less defense and would require much less time to kill.

[Moonface]

I'm guessing this is a boss design, and from the look of it it seems to be using elements from Morgott with the foot, cape, hair and facial growths.

There was also this new enemy revealed a few days ago that looks like it got ripped straight outta Bloodborne: https://twitter.com/ELDENRING/status/179...7786451242

[Dragon Lord]

Mfw I realize I'm going to need to buy the Elden Ring DLC three times (or twice if PS4 and PS5 share a purchase).

I really need to get started on getting through the PS4 and PS5 versions of Elden Ring so I'll have characters ready to go for the DLC on them. Just need to decide which builds I want to use on each, because I want each platform to have a different build.

PC has the ever broken dual-wielding Bleed curved swords/twinblades that just drains boss HP bars in seconds.

Thinking PS5 will be a pure INT build using the fun broken spells and the always wonderful Moonlight Greatsword (or Darkmoon Greatsword as they called it in this game). Always a spectacular weapon to use in the Souls games.

PS4... not sure about that one yet.

[ShiraNoMai]

Shadow of the Erdtree: Story Trailer

The shadow of the story can now be told. Learn the history of the Realm of Shadow, the unseen land that will be revealed on June 21, 2024.

[Moonface]

Mfw I realize I'm going to need to buy the Elden Ring DLC three times (or twice if PS4 and PS5 share a purchase).

I was going to say I'd expect it to be shared but that'll only be the case if both versions are in one purchase. I doubt it will based on some games I have that are cross gen and have their DLC's separated by version.

PC has the ever broken dual-wielding Bleed curved swords/twinblades that just drains boss HP bars in seconds.

I'm curious how a build is broken on PC but not console. Is it just because of frame rate?


As for the story trailer, it was a cool trailer but I have learned nothing except that Sites of Grace seem to have a new look for the DLC. I don't need gameplay footage but I do want to hear about how the leveling system actually works; it's the only thing I want to know about up front.

[Dragon Lord]

My bad, I didn't mean that the bleed build only works on PC. I meant that I'm already using that build on my PC version of the game, so I don't want to re-use it on PS4 and PS5 since I want to try to use different builds on each copy of the game. Just to try and make it so that it doesn't get boring too much, since using the same build on all three would make the game quite a bit stale in the long run.

Just want to try and keep this varied as much as possible.

[Moonface]

Ah, I see. I thought it was a case like RE2 Remake on PC where the knife is attached to frame rate so you can do crazy damage with it at higher frame rates.

Does FromSoft usually do multiple endings for their DLC's, or do they just keep that stuff to the base game? I'm not sure whether I'd want multiple endings in the DLC or not because on the one hand it gives reasons to replay it but also it means I'd have to replay it for the different ending trophies...

[Dragon Lord]

DLCs don't have any endings. They normally don't have any effect on the rest of the game at all. The only time they ever did was in the first Dark Souls game where doing the DLC before fighting a certain boss would alter the opening scene for that boss.

Bloodborne had that short scene after killing Orphan, but I don't know if I'd consider that an ending since the game just continues after it. I expect Elden Ring's DLC to be about the same.

[Moonface]

Ah. I thought maybe they just did ending cutscenes for them but wouldn't put you into NG+ like the base game ones do.

With how this DLC feels really story heavy I'd be surprised if there isn't an ending cutscene and I'd expect there to be multiple. If there is, then ideally I'd like it if the game asks you if you want to start a NG+ or continue with the base game like what happens in Sekiro and Lies of P after you watch the endings in those games.

[Moonface]

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree | Previews Summary
So previews have been coming out today for the DLC, and although I personally won't be looking at any of them I have at least seen some summary comments from people about info shared in the previews that I think can be of interest to anyone who wants to know some more details about the DLC without spoiling themselves with footage or in-depth details:

• 8 new weapon types
  • Light Greatswords, Martial Arts, Beast Claws, Perfume Bottles, Reverse Grip Swords, Throwing Daggers, Great Katanas, Dueling Shields
    
• 100+ new weapons
  
• Major boss count is at least 10
  
• Playable area is roughly the size of Limgrave + Weeping Peninsula + part of Caelid
  • Unsure if this is the whole DLC or just what the previews had access to
    
• Previews had access to two legacy dungeons
  
• 30~50+ hours of playtime if you rush, obviously a good amount more if you actually take your time and enjoy this properly like you should
  
• No recommended level, but requires beating Mohg so the assumption is about level 120~150
  • Obviously the above point means the DLC is accessed via Mohg's Palace
    
• New ways to upgrade your character that aren't seen in the base game
  

There might be more than this but I'm trying to not accidentally spoil myself on anything major while keeping an eye out for any interesting details that aren't likely to spoil going in blind. I hid a couple of things in the list only in case someone wants to keep those things unknown but they're nothing major.

---

Some of the stuff was pretty obvious before now like where the DLC was being accessed from and the expected level recommendation, but I'm excited to hear how big the DLC seems to actually be or at least the first area of it, since I can't figure out if the size description is for the whole DLC or just part of it. If it's just part of it then that's fucking wild!

[Moonface]

If I have to say one thing about Elden Ring as a whole, it's that FromSoft did an abysmal job when it came to making sure the game runs well. For those who don't recall, the base game ran like shit on most PC's and the PS4 version had better frame rates than PS5 because it had less grass. 

Then we get to the DLC. Since I first started it there has been constant pop in, and loading in at any grace will often see nothing loaded in for a second or two despite running on the PS5 SSD. However, just now I fought the Divine Beast Dancing Lion boss and FromSoft should be fucking embarrassed to have shipped this DLC with the fight in the state it's currently in. The frame rate drops so badly it goes way below even 20fps, and it's guaranteed to happen on practically every attack the boss does. Half the difficulty of this fight comes just from trying to dodge and attack with an inconsistent frame rate, and there's no way this performance issue didn't get noticed during QA. 

For how long FromSoft spent on this DLC it's a joke they shipped it with such blatant issues, and that's just on PS5. I dread to think what it's like on PS4 and I've heard it runs like ass on PC's that can run the base game no problem. I'm on the fence about review bombing stuff but this is a case where it would be deserved to happen to the DLC because it shouldn't be shipping with these problems in the first place.

I don't know if Armored Core 6 had any performance issues but if it did then I really can't say I have much faith in FromSoft putting out a polished game at launch given their recent track record.