zen7RZ: Basically, the DLC feels like it needs a DLC
RicAdbur: Imo, the strangest thing about this DLC by far is that Melina wasn't included at all. Her role in the base game is mostly to provide peeks into Marika's backstory, and then we go to Marika's homeland - a place where Melina's own brother still rules - and we're supposed to believe she has nothing to say about it the whole time?
TKRepository: This dlc wants to be taken at face value while functioning independently of everything surrounding it in the base game. It legitimately feels like at least a quarter of the dlc is still missing.
yourkingreturns: My only gripe is story implications. This place has huge connections to everything in the main game, and yet, no dialogue, no new ending, not even a chance to ask Mesmer some questions or something lol. Not even an idea on how the scadutree exists.
usarker9369: It was baffling to me that those two finger bioms in the dlc are COMPLETELY EMPTY. No weapons, no armour, just a 1-2 crafting materials, leech looking cunts and two bells
Really feels like that freezing desert in the DS2 dlc
AndrewH9999: So glad someone finally mentioned no cutscene entering the shadowlands for the first time.
dartdevious561: What this DLC lacks is how you can take Gale's dark soul blood to the painter in the painted world.
prod.a.b.i.l1930: You are telling me that Malenia, the person who has been waiting for Miquella to come back to bring back the age of compassion........doesn't say anything when you are wearing her brother's crown after killing him?

The DLC was great but man the disconnect just feels so weird.
prod.a.b.i.l1930: I'm so disappointed we didn't get a Cutscene of Metyr, The Mother of Fingers. She's the main reason the entire story happens and she has the most tragic backstory, she lost the connection to the Greater Will and we can't tell the lady we swap out the remembrances with, that the 2 fingers will never respond because the greater will left the lands between long ago.
vegettoblack7852: The one thing that I don't like about the dlc is how empty it feels at times. I know there are a ton of hidden things and the dlc is vertical but when I went back to the main game to grab a few things I noticed how much easier it was to get lost or find dungeons I never knew existed
videocrowsnest5251: Godwyn mostly just really feels like an obvious bit of unfinished business. He can't be left to just grow out of control and to spread/consume all. And yea, a lot of the DLC bosses feel like they are kinda just there minding their own business until the Tarnished walks in.
Mario-SunshineGalaxy64: The lack of additional lines is such a disappointment, even the final cutscene was basically the same exact speech Miquella already gave in the intro and phase transition cutscenes. It offered nothing new.
JoseViktor4099: I think that Elden Ring lore relied so much between relationships and connection that the idea of a separated DLC like always felt extrange, doesn't it? Like, that SotE felt more like a ""sequel"" rather than an extension or expansion, with their own rules, their own logic, and their own independ characters.
platypipope328: I think the lack of malenia addressing us killing miquella, the lack of gideon's acknowledgement of us killing miquella, and the lack of any appearance of melina in the land of shadow are the only examples that actively hurt the experience
themengsk176: Gideon not having any dialogue about the enormous lore we discover exploring the Shadowlands is just a flat out lost opportunity. Seeing Miquella at the end and telling Gideon about it should have been a pog moment for him.
shring727: I find it so weird how melina says nothing in the whole DLC
ryan53134: My issue was the lack of cut-scenes or dialog with the bosses. You kind of just show up the, kill the boss, done. Makes them have less presence and character. This sucks knowing that most of these bosses are really hard, yet they don't have that classic opening of "im gonna kick your ass for a couple of hours"
jamesg7456: I thought for sure we would look through the divine gate and see the erdtree or the lands between. The suppressing pillar says it’s the center of the lands between. We should’ve been able to lift the veil and see the shadow realm from the lands between
richtofenify: According to leaks about Elden Ring DLC, the story was rewritten within 4 months, prior to the release. You can clearly see something is out of place or weird, and the aftermath of a Titanic showdown with Radahn-Miquella, feels empty as fuck. "You get 2 head pieces after killing a God" ,bullshit. The stairs were never supposed to be broken at the Gate of Divity. Also, the giant Lord Vessel at the Scadutree base? Bruv, Fromsoftware had to deal with Elden Ring publisher BS even during the DLC development. Glad the sequel will be free from external interferences, leaving Miyazaki free to create more feet models.
noveculent: Imagine if we got to talk to marika and godwyn
ch1ckensandwich420: havent watched the video yet, but i think the biggest problem is that they were so adamant about not connecting the base game to the DLC, but the DLC fundamentally connects a lot to the base game (marika's backstory, rellana, radahn/miquella etc.) and a lot of it feels forced/disjointed since its so relevant to the base game but they dont explain on it
marshallleeroy4225: ya in DS1 one of the best moments is when sif recognizes you from the DLC. something like that would make all the difference
lexiture: They ran out of time and Bandai execs told them to get it out before the fiscal year ended. That's it.
packabowl3888: I loved the dlc but i still prefer the base game, the dlc feels so much disconnected, even the last cutscene was disappointed because they literally put the same in the trailer… the mother fingers was an easy fight (and optional) compared to the elden beast. And not only that but theres a lot of empy BIG areas without nothing like the finger areas, if you not do ymir questline there is no point of going down there at all. I liked most bosses but i agree that feels so disconnected
Saibot_07: one thing that i wanted to see in final boss fight that if we have completed ranni questline ranni would come and help us like miquella does with radhan something like tarnished consort of ranni
matthewhibbard9807: Gideon saying you can’t kill a god after we just did.
saintlusso2907: I feel like the DLC not connecting or altering Main Gams wouldn’t be as much of an annoyance if SotE didn’t have so many aspects to it that felt out of place or completely missing. Like Romina not having a cutscene as a remembrance boss you already pointed out. It makes no logical sense and really frustrates me as like you said, she’s a really cool boss and probably my favorite beside Messmer.
But let’s not forget about the giant tower behind Commander Gaius that servers zero purpose other than to look cool when you first enter the DLC…. Like why??? I get it, it looks cool, but really? We cant have anything to do over there other than one boss battle, and a few fragments? Or the huge plateau area in the north you literally can’t access at all despite being able to see it on the map and with your own two eyes.
Nightwalker170: I'll probably catch some flak for this but to me the DLC didn't feel simply disconnected, but half-finished. The lack of cut-scenes and voices for some of the bosses, the way certain cutscenes promoted by the trailers simply didn't exist at all... I enjoy most of what I got to play, but I never escaped that feeling that some very important things were missing. Granted, this feeling sent me on a feverish hunt through the land of shadow to find it, and the journey was also fun until I realized it was all futile. A good comparison would be if after following Milicent to the Haligtree we couldn't ever find Malenia.
nicholasloduca6668: I know Miazaki said the DLC wouldn't affect the base game, but I'm shocked there aren't even hints on dialogue with characters. For example, I played the DLC with a character that had completed everything in the base game and with a character that did everything up until Fire Giant. With the revelation that Messmer and Melina are likely siblings, I thought for sure there would be at least some extra dialogue with Melina, like there is with the doll after you defeat Lady Maria and Orphan of Kos in Bloodborne, but there's just nothing. I can't help but feel like there are little missed opportunities like that throughout the game
ejolts: Only 3 minutes in rn but I agree with the gate of divinity, I got done with the boss fight and went over to it expecting something and when it was nothing I was like “seriously? Nothing?”
maxfeinstein4253: I think a really cool addition to the DLC would’ve been an expansion on St. Trina’s quest line where Trina task you with collecting all the pieces of Miquella from all the sites of Miquella and then returning them to her, giving her the strength to leave the Fissure.
Then you continue on as normal, defeating Radhan, but after the fight you’re giving the option to summon in St. Trina who proceeds to recombine Miquella into his original form.
Miquella then sees the error of his ways and apologizes for his misguided attempt at his age of compassion, giving you the option to become his Consort similar to the Ranni quest line.
This would open up an alternate ending where you can install Miquella’s age of compassion in the right way. It would also be cool if this option allowed you to go and fight Melania as normal, but after the fight summon in Miquella to finally rid his sister of the Scarlet Rot giving her peace.
Idk there are a lot of cool interactions this addition could add and i think it would be a lore accurate way to go about it.
Angel-uc1ps: This Video makes me realise even more how much wasted Potential this dlc really is
ignitebloodfall9065: It just feels like Elden ring and shadow of the Erdtree just completely different games at least to me
JKurayami: I would have liked a final cut scene or something most. After beating Radaquella it just feels anti climactic. Like little poot sound DLC done.
Would have liked to burn down or turn off the Scadu Tree and restore the shadow lands to the main map.
Also agree that a Madness Dragon giving Madness breath would have been nice.
flamingwayz7964: Melina - one line of text that vaguely referencing her (probably)

Melania - one line of text which gives 0 additional insight to her character, doesn't give a single shit that you killed Miquella, and vice versa

Gideon - literally doesn't give af about Miquella apparently

Torrent - idk maybe spirit raisins give some insight, maybe specimens in the specimen storehouse too, but both of those are major stretches

Ranni/Rennala - don't give a shit that you kill their aunt/sister, nobody else does either apparently

Godwyn - literally nothing outside of his faces in catacombs and a minimal reference to him in the death knight armor

Nothing in the frenzied flame questline changes or reacts to you killing Midra, THE LORD OF FRENZIED FLAME

Romina - literally a boss with no explicable lore apart from she was present during the crusade and the bud had something to do with scarlet rot

The trees - got pretty much nothing about the trees (Haligtree, Scadutree, Erdtree), which are pretty much still big mysteries

The crucible - also pretty much nothing

The badlands - nothing


Yeah, it's absolutely crazy that the DLC was THIS disconnected to literally every single one of the unexplored plot points that we were itching to have explained by the DLC.

IMO the only good lore we got from the DLC was the dragon lore, a bit of the finger lore, and Marika/Messmer. Miquella's story in the DLC was unfortunately quite shit and everything else gave literally 0 concrete answers or just useless info that leads to nothing.
dankokamcevski: The honeymoon is ending and the flaws are starting to appear
thenotexistingguy: You forgot scadutree Avatar he has three phases
TheAuspiciousGoldmask: Is very weird that they didn’t put anything at all, in ds3 we have Base game-Dlc interaction and DLC-DLC, we show Fried soul to Yuria and she will talk about it and we can give the blood of the dark soul to the painter in Ariandel, little interactions like those make the Base game and the dlc more connected.
Alex-mn1fb: Exactly how I feel. The DLC is fine, but the story is just disconnected. Kinda shoe-horned in. And giving them the benefit of a doubt and say its "lore reasons" is kind of a storytelling cop out imo.
First of all, there is no connection with the main game. No Great Runes, no alternative endings, no items, not a sngle line of dialogue. All of that would require additional work on the main game, and it seems they were in a rush to roll out the DLC. Several things point out to this, such as the lack of voicelines or cutscenes for most bosses. And some mechanics that just make no sense, but maybe were intended to be something more but ended up being cut or reduced.
The Putrid Knight was datamined to be connected with the gloam eyed queen, but it ended up being merged with the St. Trina storyline, as the GloamEyedQueen got scrapped. The whole Messmer story does not fit lorewise, it feels he was concieved as a character post main game release, as they needed a memorable posterboy for the promot materials.
It just isnt landing imo.
vegettoblack7852: Omfg summoning melania to fight miqiella is something i said since i first found out the final boss was radahn. Imagine the rematch of the eons with you there
ambymike: I find it strange that in the fight with Miquella his eyes are actually eclipsed, but they're closed the entire time in the fight. Almost like the attempt of Godwyns revival at castle sol, had an impact on Miquella himself.
NasuPrime: I knew it was a long shot but I wanted to see if Melina’s dialogue would change if you had her invite you to the roundtable from a dlc grace. Unfortunately, not even sitting in Messmer’s boss room elicits a reaction. Would have been such a cool Easter egg
thegrammarpolice69: The DLC just made us realize that the puzzle we thought only needed a few more pieces to complete was way bigger than we could've ever guessed.
Kprino: One theme from the base game that the DLC could have addressed is the Gloam Eyed Queen. I wanted to know if she is really Melina or not... It's a theme that intrigues me a lot, any key connection would be of great value.

After all, does Melina really have any connection to the Gloam Eyed Queen? Or is her talk of Destined Death and the purple eye just nothing? Did her creation of the apostles and nobles as serpentine beings, wrapped in a specific cloth, have something to do with the Mesmer? Or with Egley? Or with the empty snake skin? Does her channeling the power of a rune and being an empyria chosen by the two fingers confirm that she was a demigoddess? And if it is Melina, why does she have the black knives moveset? What is the relationship between them?

So many questions, it would be nice if the DLC could provide some answers.
cincameron: I know Miyazaki said that the possibility for another dlc is low, but maybe the Divine Gate could be an entrance to the 2nd dlc in the same sense that we get access to the DS3 Ringed City expansion by either getting to Soul of Cinder in the base game, or defeating Friede in Ashes of Ariandel expansion. Perhaps it could be the same thing here. We get access to a 2nd dlc from the Divine Gate, OR for people who do not want to do Shadow of the Erdtree, another entry-way could be in either Farum Azula or Leyndell, Ashen Capital (2 very likely locations for a divine gate-way to be located, if anywhere).

A big thing I wanted to happen at the end of the dlc was Miquella breaking the veil obscuring the Realm of Shadow from the rest of the world. It would have been an incredible visual change in the base game, allowing you to see the entirety of the Lands Between, albeit ruined from the years of constant wars.

Another thing I wanted was Godwyn... We got extremely little for him. Oh well, perhaps if we get a 2nd dlc~
matheussantos9367: The one thing I wanted, which was to feel like the Shadow Realm was, at least at some point, a part of the Lands Between like they built it up so much, I didn't get.
We know it was a part of the Lands Between because they hammered it on our heads so much, but honestly it doesn't feel like at all.
kr1spness: We shouldn't have received the Miquella Memory, it should've been a Marika one. I took it as how he charms people is by giving them some sort of implanted memory, but we deserved either a true ending to the DLC or a new ending to the base game. Old Hunters didn't have a great ending like Ringed City, but it did give us a cutscene that basically said we settled Oprhan of Kos' sorrow and ended the nightmare by setting him free.
vol8247: The dlc was super disconnected from the main game and i hate it. For example the 2 crowns of miquella, and St Trina could have had some new dialog added for them. For example, since sleep quells the frenzied flame, i realy wish u could have done something, with the nomadic merchants. Or miquella crown being used to help milasent.
alberttus2328: When you first playthrough the dlc: 8-9/10

When a week's gone by and you've had some time to think about it: 6/10

It's good but I agree with everything above. Not only does it feel so totally disconnected from the base game but everything too just feels so scattered and eclectic like half finished projects and ideas. Messmer was hardly what the advertising made him out to be and, lets be frank, everyone would have been happier to see Godwyn as the final boss. Miquella could have had some part in it, but ffs its just so second note in comparison to what could have been. Literally without the new lore hamfisted in with the dlc that 'Miquella was actually the bad guy all along' who would have given a shit?
Juggla23: I think the whole point of Godwyn being dead in spirit alone means not only that he isn't in there at all and is absolutely gone but also that Death itself is the only thing that CAN reside in his body thanks to the halfwheel centipede carving.
TheMag1cWalrus: I know the dlc was never going to affect the base game but I was super bummed to find out that you can't affect the dlc based on what you did in the base game. I thought maybe the frenzied flame enemies would react to my frenzied flame but nah. I thought Messmer might react to any of his sibling's remembrances. I even thought the hornsent might react to the omen doll thing you get. But nope.
alldayscapegoat: Anyone else think that maybe the divine towers in the base game are the anchors holding up marikas veil over the shadow lands, and that by visiting each one to activate the great runes, we’re actually responsible for revitalizing the veil…
electron3820: The lacks of new lines in the base game was so disappointing.
And i'm kind of tired of this cryptic bullshit. At least in ER.
clarkkotte3069: I loved the game but the dlc felt completely unsatisfying. Didnt even finish radahn, and ive beaten every other fromsoft title. The story and its conection to the main game made no sense to me overall.

Aug 06 2024

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