n8doggy733: to add insult to injury with regards to the Cerulean Coast, they hid the red dancer fight in a bland masauleum instead of in the pretty blue fields like in the trailer
heus_sueh: It was a little disappointing that the lore of the godskins was not explored, it seems that the Gloam-Eyed Queen was written out of the story.
Helli__: You don't need to craft throwing items anymore. You can throw cookbooks now
shaunflinn1002: Maybe Myazaki was mad cuz he had to nerf base game radahn. Hahaha
chainclaw07: One thing i noticed in dlc compared to main game - the areas were incredibly big with very few rewards for exploring, i never found things in the nook and crannies of the world...
dariusybarra8281: Hey so maybe to help with your disappointment in the final boss being radhan and not godwyn, I think originally miquella’s goal was simply to make the world a gentler place and so I tried to make his own erdtree, the haligtree, but after that failed to work he realized he needed to become a God, and I think that Godwyn was his first choice as consort considering his efforts to try to revive his soul with the eclipse and his gift to commemorate Godwin’s death. However since Godwyn’s soul was slain via the black knife and the rune of death, it was permanently slain, as this was the only way anyone could actually die as Marikas age prevented anyone from truly dying. So Miquella couldn’t revive Godwyns soul and he had to turn to his next best option, but Radhan doesn’t seem the type to be miquellas consort and definitely not willingly. He’s war driven and definitely supports the golden order. So Miquella had his sister travel across the lands between to kill radhan so that Miquella could revive his soul in a manner more maleable to his charming nature and to become his consort. Sorry if some of that made no sense but it’s how I interpret it after watching many lore videos and also being confused.
Kurai_69420: I can't believe we went to a realm all about death and got NOTHING on the Gloam-Eyed Queen or the Godskins.
joelhodoborgas: Final boss feels like i was playing elden ring randomizer.
tsukagesenpai1899: I think my biggest problem is that there's no special interactions with the base game npcs
There's no interaction with Rennala while wearing her sister's helmet that she made
no interaction with Gideon or Goldmask about the realm of shadow
no special cutscene for Malenia after the final dlc boss
Nothing at all
wastefox9100: I feel the same about Radahn.
AgnesRoush: seems like they went for an "Oh, wow!" moment and instead got an "Oh, why?" moment with Radahn.
Mia-bbe: The final boss does feel random, it's like they had the DLC and said \
EldenLord.: I think Godwyn was beyond saving cause his soul is literally gone and his body cant be recovered aswell. I believe Miquella tried it in castle Sol to somehow get Godwyns soul back but it didnt work. So he worked out a plan with Radahn and involved Malenia in it aswell. I am not sure how Radahns side of the vow looked like though and how his thoughts were. The fact that Malenia was sent to kill Radahn in the shattering hints towards that Radahn didnt want any of that. Malenia thought she killed Radahn with the first rot bloom whispering in Radahns ear that he will be Miquellas promised consort but Radahn "survived" and we unintentionally finished Malenias job later.
snefansson: The finger ruins were just hilariously disappointing for me. The expectation when I stumbled upon the first one without an area map or anything… just to later learn it was just an talisman I’ll never use…. Yaaaaaaay
Camacho4Prez2024: I treated the finger area like there must've been something really nasty in the center that wanted to kill me. All i knew was something was trying to snipe me. The absolute disappointment when i realized it was just basic finger creepers and lampreys and nothing else after 5 minutes of carefully inching my way there...
GripChief: Exploration starts to feel pointless, when 90% of what i'm finding is smithing stones, gloveworts or a cookbook (yay more throwing pot recipes)
ThisLiteralFP: Imagine yourself 7 years ago playing the Ringed City DLC, at the final boss arena, with the world reduced to ash. You’re so excited to see who the final boss of the Dark Souls trilogy is, so you walk out to the wasteland, just to see prime Artorias with Gwyndolin on his back. No matter how good the fight is, I would feel the same way that I did with Radahn.
Icegaze039: -Why are perfume bottles so boring when you have elements like sleep, fire blood, magma...?

- Why make a sheet for great Katanas just for it to clip through everything ?

-Juste put a cape option on all armor sets ffs.

-While the castles are a blast to explore, open field areas feel so empty...

-With how few special armor pieces there are, did you really have to make 3 of them based on fire knights?
saint1809: I know Miyazaki stated that they don't plan on making a second DLC but there are so many things unresolved

the nature of Melina and/or the gloam eyed queen, Miquella and Torrent's relation, Ranni's secret mentor, Miquella and Malenia's shadowbound beasts, and even in the DLC we haven't got to see through the divine gate and there is this useless spot on the map which is the scadutree chalice

well, if we don't get a second DLC then I guess somethings will remain a mystery forever
GravelordWrust: The lights in the final boss fight. I love the difficulty, but I am monocular post-brain tumour, and the light flashes render me blind for a short period of time due to light sensitivity. When you get inside that ringed light attack, and it flashes between you and the player character, it's f***ing blinding, and leaves a retinal image over my eye for the next 20 seconds. I'm playing in sunglasses.
Mythic916: I just finished my first run. I loved it. 10/10. But I felt like there was some missed opportunities, and I wanted to see some more lore characters. mainly a GODWINN THE RESSURECTED boss fight
Mario-SunshineGalaxy64: The final boss does feel random, it's like they had the DLC and said "oh but we need to surprise everyone" and changed whatever they were doing with Godwyn with Radahn and made Miquella a villain. Like, they could’ve stopped at “the whole world must learn of my peaceful ways by force” with Miquella but then they added “I nuked a country because my onii-chan would rather ride his horse instead of riding me” to him. Maybe it’s just me coping after months of stanning Miquella but it’s like things got too GoT just for shock value.
ThomasDSin: Just imagine walking into that final arena, a large form materializes, and you see that long golden hair, and you realize…”It’s Godwyn…it’s finally Godwyn…”

OR, it’s his abomination form, and you still have that realization, then in the second phase when Miquella comes down to aid him, his body transforms back into that radiant, golden demigod.

Radahn was cool, but just a little confusing, anticlimactic, and contrived.
Masterofcandy4: It’s so good to see a critique that isn’t just kissing Fromsoftware’s ass mentioning the open world aspects with literally nothing in them. I feel like they should have just scrapped most of these areas and focused on a more linear progression path with a denser more focused environment to explore similar to past games. That was one of my biggest hopes for the DLC, and it was a huge let down in that aspect. Not to mention that they didn’t bother adding any new covenants or rewards for them or the six player limit.
abraham4352: Godwyn not being the final boss is such a missed opportunity and I'll never forgive fromsoft.
LordKnightBane: Ending of the main boss seemed abrupt too, no final words...just Miquella closing his arms further around shoulda-been-Godwyn's head. I enjoyed the Abyssal woods, Midra's Manse and Midra far more than I did final boss and his area. Couldn't even have a good look at the Divine Gate. Was personally bummed out until I went to the Abyssal woods.
shiroamakusa8075: Malenia nuking Radahn did not separate him from his soul, the goal was for Malenia to slay him, release his soul to the Lands of Shadow and embed it in newly made vessel there. Radahn surviving this is what halted Miquella's plans in his tracks. I mean, they set this up with the first storyline trailer and Malenia whispering words to Radahn before going boom. Did you never wonder why Malenia would march straight to Caelid and attack the demigod furthest away from her own base while skipping much easier and more vulnerable targets on the way if it was just military conquest?

Also, Godwyn's story is over, you can get an ending based on his current form, that pretty much precluded the DLC reviving him or giving him true death as that would not only remove a possible ending from the game, it would also render the entirety of Deeproot Depths pointless.

Miquella failing to grant Godwyn a true death might have been another motivation for him to seek full godhood however.
KhazuAMV: On weapon type. If only From Software thought of those weapon type in the base game. This would be phenomenal. For example imagine if hand of malenia was light greatsword. It would match the stance Malenia uses with this weapon and would be more accurate in a way she is using the weapon. Probably more weapons could be changed like that. We could have gotten Serosh claws etc
sebastianholden4759: I don’t think you are nit-picking. DLC lore was a let down. They teased Godwyn throughout the entire main game yet he gets no follow up in the DLC. Instead of getting my 1000th rune arc, now I get a smithing stone that I can buy infinitely.
luxr5013: I am coming to terms with it being Radahn more and more by focusing on the Epitaph saying he wanted Godwyn to die a true death. Nothing more. So we do not see Miquella necessarily wanting to have Godwyn as a consort but just that he is at peace. Without knowing a ton of the lore on this part - I do think part of it can be that his soul cannot be restored like Radahn's due to the nature of the Black Knives and the use of the rune of death when killing him
jacobmeglich6699: The missable quests upset me the most.

Everyone says, even the Devs say “if a boss is too hard, explore and come back stronger”

They don’t say “explore and lock yourself out of quest lines”
Flora-of_The-Moon: I was really hoping for Godwyn as well. When I first faced one of the death knights with Godwyn’s face in the background and learned that they were Godwyn’s bodyguards I was so excited to meet Godwyn eventually. For what other reason would Godwyn’s personal bodyguards be in the land of shadows if not to await the resurrection of their lord?
ParkBongSig: The entirety if the dragon communion area are two dragon fights, a randomly placed ancient dragon smithing stone and nothing else. Not a puzzle, just spirit jumping platforms.
tatu9805: 3 criticisms:

1. Rellana does not have a cut scene
2. some areas are too dark
3. the finger ruins are dead empty spaces.
salaciousvgames: Radahn did not support the Golden Order that's the biggest misconception about Radahn since the base game. Radahn never abandoned the Carians. There is a Moon Altar in Redmane Castle suggesting he still follows the teachings of the moon, Jerren his right hand man, is still loyal to the Carians and even helps stop Sellen from overthrowing Rennala. There is an Abductor Virgin in Redmane Castle suggesting that Rykard gifted him with some Iron Virgins, and there is a portrait of Radahn in Rykard's Manor, why would Rykard do all this if Radahn is pro-Golden Order?
Morgott who runs the Golden Order fought Radahn before and calls him as one of the Traitors during his Boss cut scene.

The only evidence that Radahn is pro-Golden Order is that he was a fan of Godfrey, but Godfrey was kicked out of the Golden Order and was forced to leave, yet Radahn still wears his Godfrey inspired Armor. Radahn is not pro-Golden Order, he just likes Godfrey and is still loyal to the Carians.
samplexample: My biggest issue is that there’s no Mending Rune ending.
Remember that one trailer showed Miquella on fire, healing the Scadutree and removing the veils in the sky?
During his grab move, Miquella uses similar language as Ranni “a thousand year voyage etc” he has four arms, and when he steals your heart, you kneel and he puts out his hand like Ranni.
The Godwyn-Eclipse side plot and Ranni’s quest line both foreshadow SOTE. Ranni did a bootleg version of what Miquella does, except Miquella has no willing followers, let alone a willing lord. I think there is a hidden quest/ending we haven’t found. Miyazaki said some NPC quests would find resolution in SOTE. It’s too new to opine on the lore. I honestly love all of it.

Another minor aesthetic criticisms involves the Shadow Realm map - I thought it would fill in the center and some edges of the Lands Between map. There are portions of land that were clearly cleaved off and sent to the shadow realm and mashed together, but how it all fits is left to our imagination. Some regions clearly pertained to region of the Lands Between. Hell, Scadu Altus map fragment says as much.
The geography is one of the most interesting aspects of the Shadow Realm lore.
JoseViktor4099: My idea if Godwin even came back would be this.
Miquella was trying to resurrect Godwin, but discovering that he was unable to do so because death in Soul would seal his fate made him try another method.
So he wanted to use "Godwin" on a different way. He took part of his body and Moghs body as well in order to make a chimera on some sorts, using his idea of what Godwin was, in order to revive something that really isn´t the hero he expected, a mindless puppet.
So, the more we fight Godwin, more he becomes more unstable while Miquella idea is deteriorating, remembering how tragic his death was.
At the end, "Godwin" becomes a monster of deathblight, an abomination that never should had been a consort to begin with. A real nightmare that Miquella tried to bring back but utterly failed.
bilge677: one of my criticisms of the cookbooks is how few new recipes they unlock. In the base game, there are cookbooks which unlock 3 and even sometimes 4 new recipes, but all the ones in the DLC unlock 1, maybe very few of them 2, as far as i can recall. This 'waters down' or dilutes the reward of getting a cookbook in my opinion.
SimplySwayze: The disquieting, almost alien
LeggoMyGekko: I am 99% positive that the final boss was intended to be Godwyn, his soul restored and placed in Mohg’s body. I’m thinking, if it wasn’t due to time constraints, it might be that they thought the player base had a stronger connection with Radahn as a character than Godwyn, and decided to use that information to try and appeal to their wider audience? It’s such a weird decision that I can’t think of any other explanation. Surely this wasn’t planned from the start…

The Death Knight Armor description talks about some very interesting things regarding the Prince of Death’s “cadaver surrogate,” and the Age of the Duskborn.
The last section says:
“These knights, once Godwyn's personal guard, quested to find their transfigured master's cadaver surrogate—for the coming age of the Duskborn.” This is just wayyy too relevant to the Miquella-Radahn-Godwyn dilemma not to bring up. Cadaver surrogate… sounds a lot like what Mohg’s body is for Radahn. Mohg is essentially Radahn’s cadaver surrogate. This is a big reason I think they originally planned for the final boss to be Godwyn. I just can’t figure out why they would decide to change it up the way they did… almost makes the story feel watered down in a way…

Also, this is somewhat relevant but not quite: on the handles Death Knights Twin Axes/Longhaft Axe, there are markings which look VERY similar to the markings we can see on the Godslayer Greatsword. This, to me, implies some kind of familiarity with the GEQ before his Death.

It’s unfortunate those marking are probably the only evidence of this theory we’ll ever get… the mystery can be fun sometimes but there are certain things I think they really needed to answer or expand on but just didn’t. And I know that’s how the FromSoft DLC cookies crumble, I’m saying this about all their soulsborne games. It’s okay to leave a stone or two unturned for the sake of intrigue, but there are certain things that you just HAVE to answer for it to be a satisfying conclusion to the story. When a DLC doesn’t answer those big questions the fans have been pondering for years, it feels frustrating but in an existential way, like, “damn, I really live in the reality where this is all we’ll ever get about that plot line.” And it sucks! It’s one of the very few bad aspects of FromSoft DLCs.

I don’t think anyone is happy we didn’t get any GEQ lore/information, more Godwyn content, more clarification on how Marika did what she did, or who she did it to. Some people might say they like it this way, but I truly think those people have just tricked themselves into believing that so they can continue to enjoy the game without the curiosity worm turning their brains to mush.
artorias6969: The worst thing about Sekiro's DLC is that it doesn't exist.
johntomaro7202: It’s amazing how much space the finger ruins take up on the map. Add Scadutree view, abyssal woods, and hinterlands. A whole bunch of emptiness. The first half of the DLC is so much more dense and interesting. I think they had to rush it.
Sanji_Vinsmoke_69: Completely agree with the criticisms here. I went to fextralife to see what awesome new thrusting shields there were to collect only to be in disbelief when I found out there was only 2. I was met with even more disbelief when I found out that there were only 2-3 weapons for each new weapon category.. I thought that the site probably hasn't been updated the full list yet and that there are still more to be added as the DLC is rather new so I looked online only to confirm my disappointment.

Regarding the empty areas: At first when I read the reviewers saying there are too many open empty spaces I immediately thought that they're just being nitpicking and that empty areas such as they grass fields of the starting area and places like limgrave are fine. not every area needs to be jam packed. However as I played more of the DLC I understand what they actually meant. I first saw the first finger ruin area when I was at the dragon communion place, looking down at it it looked so effing awesome and I could not wait to see what was down there... only to be extremely disappointed to find out there was practically nothing and no boss. Same with the seond finger ruin and what was even more disappointing was the completely almost empty area you can access after you beat commander gaius.

Another complain I have is the lack of cutscenes for bosses.. Bosses like Commander Gaius, Putrescent Knight, erdtree avatar, metryr, and the scarlet rot bud boss all felt slightly underwhelming. After reading the remembrance description of Metyr I thought that a being of such significance to the lore should've gotten a cinematic treatment but the boss fight was pretty easy, nothing amazing and was generally underwhelming.

One other thing I found annoying was there there were some incantations/powers from enemies that we don't get access to such as the aspect of crucible frog mouth/tongue from a black knight enemy and the aspect of crucible centaur thing from Devonia. I thought we would've got those but we didn.t
CoffeeBrainzz: Story trailer teased a lot of story info that we never got and it was UNBELIEVABLY disappointing..... The lack of any of the Marika and Divine Gate stuff, the creature she pulled the gold from, nothing!!!!! Nothing about Melina or Flown Eye Queen, nothing added to the Godskins, there was just so much lore beats that were missing.... And apparently there was zero relevance to the sap flowing down to that arc tower... We didn't even go there lol. The sunflower boss was really cool tho
Tokyoprism: This is the first time in a fromsoft game that I felt I was wasting my time at certain parts. After about 10-20 minutes of running around the overly-massive finger ruins of dheo, I actually set my controller down & put my face in my hands. Maybe I was just over excited for the dlc, maybe I thought they’d improve upon this from the base game. But finger ruins really felt like I’d been trolled. The cliffside lead up to the chapel with 80 or so wolves had me sighing with boredom. Don’t even get me started on the abyssal woods. Taking away torrent, yet not scaling the area down to on-foot traversal is infuriating.

I get they wanted it to be harder, but there’s so many enemies in the open world that I’m just running through them all wondering what was the point. & then yes, the absolute lack of weapons & armor was heartbreaking. I’m still using the ronin armor because there just isn’t any armor in the dlc to top it for me. So many bosses in the open world don’t drop anything worthwhile. To top it all off, the open world is complex, I’m still trying to figure out how to get to certain areas. So when traversal is so much tricker than the base game, it’s baffling that the rewards aren’t greater.

Finally, I fully agree on the lore aspect. It seems like its only purpose is to make sense of Malenia & radahns battle, as if they wrote the battle first & then tried to write an explanation for it after the fact, or like it was one of the first pieces of lore written & they didn’t realize how much less sense it makes after adding all the rest of the lore. & the fact it’s literally radahns body when they’re trying to say it’s mohgs is just sadly funny. I just wish the ending had brought all the plotlines together more cohesively, would’ve been more satisfying.
samueltitone5683: You will never be able to convince me that Radahn’s inclusion wasn’t pure fan service. Literally the only tentative connection between Miquella and Radahn is O’Neil and Nial being asset flips of one another. 100% Radahn was only included because of the way the fan base latched onto him.
thegamersconclave8709: The surprise ending with Radahn was a rug pull that made no sense whatsoever.
GripChief: The bosses were already brutal. I really don't think we needed the bosses to attack me instantly, as soon as i walk through the fog gate. It gives me barely any time to summon AND several npc's have to be summoned in the boss arena. Trying to summon Igon in Bayle's arena is painful lol
Draevan13: I wonder if the original DLC idea was to have Godwyn as Miquella's consort, but someone at Fromsoft saw all the speculation online about Miquella wanting to revive Godwyn and thought "Oh no, they figured it out, now we have to change it", then they changed the plot, like what happened in Westworld. I really hope not, because that would be really dumb.
Guava11534: You know as much as I love Radahn for being as cool as he is I do think fighting Godwyn would have been a million times better since we only have stories of his strength we can’t actually go and fight him. Still I think Miquella choosing Radahn as his consort is just further proof that Miquella isn’t as great as he tries to make himself out to be. He wants a world of kindness and peace and yet he mind-controlled a warlord to be his king. It seems to me Miquella wants mind control the world and force people to view him as a god and to be good to each other and those he can’t mind control to simply wipe away with the power of Radahn.
DG-nv4pf: Is it sad the second to last boss was more entertaining than the final one
cyber5345: on the smithing stones - there are no mines in the dlc, it seems they instead decided to disperse them rather than concentrate them within mines like the base game.

I also imagine they foresaw people running to the twin maiden husks to mass purchase smithing stones for all their new weapons, so they figured they’d just provide a steady supply
kodemasterx: Huge miss opportunity not using Godwin as the final boss, since the OG trailer I always thought he would be a boss of some kind but no, a 2.0 version of a boss that was sort of hated and had to be nerfed sadly.
andreacordara2393: Someone suggested that miquella might have wanted radhan as a lord because of his power of stopping the stars thus stopping outer gods from descending in the lands between the same way the Elden Beat or Astel did. Fighting back against outer gods was one of Miquella’s things if i’m not wrong but so was bringing godwynn back… i’m not disappointed in radhan as the final boss but i can’t help but wonder what if it had been godwynn. What i’m disappointed in, as a lot of people probably, is the lack of clarity about topics we thought the dlc would answer. What about godwynn, the gloam eyed queen, placidousax’s god…. Dlc is still great tho
SilasSeiler: The addition of the DLC weapon classes just makes me more excited for the next game in the series, assuming those new weapon types will be carried over into a potential sequel/spin-off
ph-1012: im like 70-ish % sure there was a massive lore rewrite in SoTE or stupidly large amounts of information was cut, certain parts of it flat-out don't make sense: How does Radahn's soul "die" and enter the land of shadow if the rune of death isn't unsealed? why did miquella even need to shed his body (we know he keeps empyrean status)? how does Miquella shed his body twice, once in Mohg's palace and again all over the land of shadow? how does touching miquella arm even logically transport us to the realm of shadow? why did everything regarding the divine gate's significance seem to get cut? why was lore regarding the Gloam Eyed Queen cut (Putrecent Knight was originally Knight of the Gloam Eyed Queen according to its internal name)?
ParkBongSig: Some boss, looking at you Commander, are just plain dumb.
jacobbosse4507: Godwyn’s soul wasn’t separated, it was destroyed, thats the point of destined death. Maybe he was miquella’s first choice. But it would be bad writing for his soul to survive when its complete destruction was the entire point of ranni’s story
mikeoxlong403: SPOILERS AHEAD

I'm just really disappointed none of the Destined Death plotline was explored in the DLC.

I can live with a head canon where Miquella wasn't able to resurrect Godwyn for XY reasons, so he opted for Radahn as his plan B. But to not explore the only plotline where you actually get left on a cliffhanger is a huge missed opportunity imo.

Maybe there's reasons for that we don't know about, but really hoping we get a second DLC down the line, touching on those subjects and maybe even giving some reasoning for Radahn being his consort.

Either way, the community will find a way to cope with the lore. We're all just mostly making up shit as we go lol.

Thanks for the vid.
UltravioletNomad: I know "gameplay first" and everything, but lore in souls games is important. Part of the myriad of reasons we consider DkS2 inferior is because it's story telling and world building was at times too simple and blatant and at other times too convoluted.

Miquella letting the his altruism turn him into a monster god of conformity is 100% in character, using Mogh to divest his flesh is in character. But the Radahn thing isn't just out of character, it just frankly doesn't make sense. Radahn isn't evil, his version of war is more sporting. But in that vein, Radahn only fights for glory and accolades, not to end conflicts succinctly. Now I think there's a total possibility that Sol still was endeavoring to revive Godwyn's soul and failed, that Miquella discovered that his soul was truly obliterated by the Rune of Death, and thus pivoted to becoming a god with a powerful demi-god as his Consort. But the DLC A) Seems to imply Radahn was always the choice, and B) Doesn't mention this failure or relation to Godwyn at all. I expected, upon finding that St. Trina was divested a long with his love and doubt, that perhaps the St. Trina quest would mention this failure. But no, St Trina basically tells you to do the one thing the game forces you to do anyway.

On that note, I ABSOLUTELY feel like this DLC is "unfinished", there's just too many examples of classic Fromsoft loose ends and redirects, and it sounds like Dubi is already find lots of cut content. 2 years and 40 dollars... As big as this DLC is it's disappointing to see such lackluster side quest and singular ending, or just significant cutbacks to areas in general.

I've already been playing devil's advocate for people who don't like the Scadu Fragments and or the games balance, but after getting to the final boss and seeing most of the lore on offer, well yeah I think being disappointed in that too, while subjective, is valid.

The DLC isn't bad to me, I like it better than most of base game even, but I cannot call it a 10/10 or peak. And similarly, if people "can't recommend it" I totally see why. I can see how fans could come in with totally reasonable expectations and not seeing any of them met in this despite its size and pedigree.
beelow84: 20 hours of exploring an empty map just to trigger an event that caused every npc to disappear on me. Can’t just start over. Kinda killed the vibe.

Jul 03 2024

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