Recent reviews by JohnDegrees

Im going to keep my old review of this DLC up as a reminder of my hubris as this edit is about
10-ish hours after my original review. Some of my points do still stand in my opinion like the bosses just slapping you with their 8 piece combo before sending your ass back to the lands between however, I looked back at my time with the DLC and watching my other friends play through the game and realized that majority of my problems were made of my own accord, I made things FAR harder for myself even using everything at my disposal (summons, buffs, etc.). I took a fairly stupid progression path going from one hard boss to another without really spending time to explore the rest of the map and at least try to get more of the Scadutree Fragments earlier than I did. I think I just ended up putting a sour taste in my mouth as I tried to look more for annoying things in the game rather than just looking at it as a whole and exacerbated my issues with the game even more.

I did finish the DLC at least to my standard. (Defeated every Rememberance boss within the DLC and exploring the majority of the map) I plan to do another playthrough at some point and hopefully it will go better.

As I had stated in the old review, I do still believe that if you are a more casual player that you may not want to purchase the DLC but if you enjoy souls games and are a fan of them, absolutely play this DLC.

Don't do what I did, finding anything and everything to complain about because you messed up and chose to fight some of the hardest bosses woefully unprepared.


----OLD REVIEW (Negative)----

I want so badly to give a positive review for this DLC, however I just cannot.

The visuals are stunning as usual and the game looks great, Im lucky enough to not be experiencing the performance issues others are experiencing except for certain times where particle effects are far too plentiful.

There were some cool secrets to discover that I enjoyed for a brief moment until the reality of the rest of the DLC settled in.

Unfortunately, that's about as far of praise as I can give it. The open world feels empty as usual, really only filled mostly by items that the player will likely never use. The established mechanics of Elden Ring feel almost moot, majority of what I learned about the combat of Elden Ring is turned on its head once I faced any boss of the DLC.
Again, the visuals of the bosses were good, incredible even, but it feels FromSoft went the route of "make everything more difficult than even the most difficult boss of the main game". Not a single boss felt good to fight against, every boss was either a fight against the camera, particle effects, or straight up bad boss mechanics. I know people will say "git gud" but I finished the DLC not with a sense of accomplishment but a sense of relief now that I don't have to play the damn game anymore.
Every Rememberance boss just has a gap close that they use as soon as the fight starts so its likely to just be pinned of the start of the fight and assuming you dodge that you then have to dodge the fury of Miyazaki as the boss will continue to dish out a 50 hit combo on you with zero time to punish with anything meaningful. Majority of my victories felt more like luck than because I actually learned how to face the boss and beat it through skill. It was a test of brute strength and how much I was willing to hit my head against a wall until I finally broke through it.

There is something I want to say about some of the positive reviews talking about "skill issues" or "just get stronger y'know, just like you did in base game".
I was 100+ levels over the recommended level for the DLC during my playthrough. Yes, there was a new leveling system, I got all of the fragments and maxed out that leveling system, it didn't feel like it helped at all. I could see the numbers changing going from DLC to base game to see just how much of a difference it makes and it really does make a huge difference, but it doesn't matter when the game scales just as hard as you do and makes all the blessings you get are null and void. The bosses gained more HP so my damage upgrades meant nothing, the bosses gained more damage so my increased resistance meant nothing, I had 2375 (I think) hp with nearly 60%+ absorption in every single resistance and I still was getting either 1-shot or could only take 2-3 hits at most until I died. Yes, the systems kept me in line with the bosses, but it doesn't help enough. Im not saying that the game needs to be easy, hell it wouldn't be a FromSoft game if it was, but this just felt unfair. Maybe you're right and it is a skill issue, maybe I just need to play more/be more patient and learn more. At the end of the day though, as I have said, the victories didn't feel good. There was no sense of "exhilaration" of overcoming a difficult obstacle, there was just a empty sense of relief that I no longer had to fight the boss.

I could probably type and complain forever about the bosses in the DLC but I'll keep it short(ish) and instead say this:

If you are a "die-hard" fan of Souls games, go ahead and buy this DLC, you'll probably enjoy it and get your money's worth.
If you are a casual player and only played Elden Ring because it was "the new thing" DO NOT BUY this DLC, it will be a waste of your money.

👍

where bloodborne pc

Odin keeps staring at me and my friends are slowly going crazy.

This game is an experience of a lifetime, an experience where even getting ♥♥♥♥♥♥ hammered or getting higher than a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ kite wont help you even enjoy this game in any capacity. This game ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ sucks.

Was winning, Game decided that we're going to die and just flashed the game over screen.

Honor mode can actually suck my ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ nuts, murphy's law is active 1000% of the time

The game has its ups and downs, but it always has me coming back and enjoying the game.
The game pisses me off sometimes with how OP some of the Enemies attacks are and PvP can be a real pain.
Despite the games shortcomings (In my opinion) its still a real fun game to play, especially with friends.

You die too easily. Just simply NOT jumping on an elevator or getting to close to the edge causes you to die other wise its an ok game.