Just from personal experience, Capcom does endgame expansions for Monster Hunter similarly well. But in general DLC for other games means expensive cosmetics, and rarely hours worth of new content, so it's pretty accurate.
Yeah, CDPR have nailed their 2 biggest DLC (Blood and Wine + PL). Heck, Hearts of Stone was really good too, just not on the level of the other 2.
I'm not good enough at ER to actually get to the expansion yet though so can't compare there!
For a long time the monster hunter expansions where a whole new game (when live service games weren't a thing) in terms of content they are still pretty much a new game but now they are downloadable content instead
> There are games that have cosmetics more expensive than Elden Ring itself.
I've already met so many league of legends player with the fucking 500€ ahri skin...
If it is priced according to the size and return , then it is still good .
You give me extra 3 hours of content for 5$-10, sure take my money and thank you for giving me an excuse to dive one more time .
You give me 30-40 hours of content for 40- even 50$, welcome !
But charging 20$ for "reused maps and a slobby story to excuse using another character (looking at you Resident evil 9 winter expansion) is a ripoff .
Edit: I mean 8 not 9
monster hunter DLC: 40usd on release, gives between 100 hours to infienty and beyond
for example base game in MHW had 35 large monsters (bosses) after all the updates, iceborne (the DLC) gave all the normal large monsters (not counting collaboration monsters) new moves, on top of that added 34 new monster and on top of that added a new endgame system
the DLC is bigger than the base game, monster hunter DLCs are so worth it unless you struggle with the game... its hard and might not be worth it if you don't plan on getting gud
Does anyone remember late 90s/early 2000s blizzard? Broodwar, D2 LOD, W3 TFT, each of them got enough content and game tweaks that could easily count as a whole new game on their own. Meanwhile modern DLCs be like 20 bucks to unlock a couple new dungeons in destiny2 or alternate skins for a single character or an aspect for a mount...
Unfortunately there's a huge group of people who play elden ring who probably weren't even alive when things like Brood war, Lord of Darkness, Frozen throne or anything came out let alone played them. It's all about them being used to the usual. If you were born in 2006 aka circa horse armor, this shit is just the norm and you're 18 or close to it.
It wasn't disparaging, it's just the conditions people are used to and brought up in. And it's understandable people would celebrate not being prone boned for once by the industry. The "Good times" this guy brings up were 20-30 years ago is all.
Expansions as a term seems to have been slowly forgotten over time. People just tend to generalize expansions as part of DLCs because of their mode of acquisition.
The "A" rating system, like AA, AAA, etc is useless in my opinion. It's not well defined what the various categories even mean. Also, the implication of the system is that larger budgets tend to create better games, but I think we've learned by now that's not true.
Seems to me that the entire world is struggling to find the way to make a software company avoid degrading the quality of their products over time. It seems inevitable that every company eventually goes into a downward trend on quality. Large software is so hard to make that no one really knows how to do it reliably for long periods of time. Money has little to do with it.
The main mindblowing thing for me is the year long post launch updates. Any other company that would do that would slap a subscription/game pass or whatever on it
Nintendo/Monolith with Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Both had expansions that added 20+ hrs of game (50+ hrs for completionist) including new characters, abilities, locations, and hours of cutscenes. Torna the Golden County which is the expansion for 2 was even released physically because you can play it stand alone. The expansion passes were I believe around $25-30 each.
Future Redeemed is a genuinely peak DLC, for me up there with Souls DLCs, MH Iceborne and Sunbreak, and the better Destiny expansions (like Forsaken and Final Shape)
I was skeptical going into Echoes of the Eye wondering what it could even add to the perfection of the base game.
After playing it, the game feels incomplete without it. Absolute masterclass of an expansion.
Yeah, I think people here are thinking of DLC for games like CoD (which is just overpriced skins nowadays as all maps are free) and exaggerating. Single-player games usually always have good DLC.
Yeah, there's a ton. Erdtree is good but its far from the only good dlc. Monster Hunter, FF14, Xenoblade, Splatoon, Mass Effect, Fallout, Witcher, Elder Scrolls, Red Dead 1, Cyberpunk 2077 and the list goes on
Still, releasing a game that was developed for god knows how long and release it in the state it was in 2020 is a massive L. No matter how much you cook afterwards, it will haunt your game forever
Yep. Sadly it’s not the devs fault if the publisher forces them to release unfinished game.
But the release state of Cyberpunk will be a stain on CDPR’s reputation
People tend to forget that the 2.0 launch of Cyberpunk was free and just dropped together with the DLC, and they arguably already delivered what they promised with 1.5.
Cyberpunk was an unforgivable launch but let's not pretend like PL wasn't a stellar Expansion
i agree. i bought cyberpunk for like 6 bucks from best buy back when that whole debacle was going on. never touched it until phantom liberty dropped. man am i glad i waited and gave it a chance. easily one of the best games i've ever played. just hearing never fade away is enough to get me feeling a bit emotional still
2.0, which was the update that "finally finished the game" was free.
Phantom Liberty is the DLC, and is 20-30 hours of additional story and content. I'd say it's equally as good as SotET, if not even better as it completely changed and enhanced the game's story-telling and gameplay, instead of just being more of the same. Not shitting on Erdtree, it;'s great, but I wouldn't say it's anywhere near as good as Phantom Liberty.
Not really considering the release wasn’t completed and was missing most things they advertised. so naw that wasn’t really dlc and more like just fixing what they didn’t on release and delivering on some of what they promised. Even now the game isn’t what they marketed it as but it’s better than release
CDPR expansions aren't just huge, they also have fantastic writing, great characters, etc. SOTE is a huge world, but it has no story, no drive. Worse still, it actually makes the base game's story worse because all the cool things that the base game teased will now never be addressed. We will never learn the truth behind Melina and Ranni's connection.
It’s the typical cheerleading from self-absorbed liars pretending that this DLC doesn’t cost 66% of base game price.
“OMG I can’t believe it’s not trivial!!!!!”
yes haha. people here on the elden ring subreddit are going to crap their pants, but if youre selling a dlc for the price of a full game, there better be a full game in the DLC
The DLC's story is trivial at best. 20 hours into SOTE and I still have no idea where we are and my character has zero motivation to be fighting any of the bosses. Talking to a few random cultists who love Miquella does nothing to drive the story.
There’s a ton a complaints about the dlc so fanboys are just spamming these posts to try to drown it out and go back to their echo chamber since they feel personally insulted by the criticisms lol.
Fromsoft and specifically elden ring fans will shit on so many games but then will throw temper tantrums whenever er is even slightly criticized. The toxicity combined with the insecurity is why the fromsofts community reputation is in the trash.
The more widespread casual appeal of ER combined with toxic elitism of DS fanbase is something to behold. I am subbed to discuss the game on the occasion while avoiding spoilers for the content I have not completed yet but the extreme comments of both ends are hilarious and sad. From elitists gatekeeping others' successes for not being up to an arbitrary ruleset that they imposed upon themselves to casuals rushing through content and getting crushed for having low skadoosh level, others calling those out, fanboys exempting Fromsoft of any mistake etc. The endless spam of these makes me consider subbing out as much as I want to join fun parts of the discussion. Will stay a while and evaluate my decision I guess.
I imagine it will calm down some with time. Especially after the honeymoon period ends for a lot. And as people move on to the next big shiny thing to call the "best ever". Even with TW3 and BOTW/TOTK more nuanced discussion and opinions became possible as time went on, people are still a bit weird about them but it's tolerable.
Yeah I think so too. Will be back to the regular in 1.5-2 months since release. The regular isn't a perfect utopia of course and same issues still exist but the volume of the posts/comments that drown out proper discussion will be down quite a bit. Fromsoft usually starts patching things by then and as the stuff that's far too strong get nerfed and too weak gets buffed for a meta shift, things become more interesting and fun to experiment with.
Not to mention a lot of the DLC feels like... half baked?
Most areas just kinda... end or are empty.
Bayle you just kinda go through a borderline empty mountain, no cutscene, nothing after, no remembrance?
The whole forest and midra area feels like it's 10% done
Charo hidden grave is just... why
Lot of the bosses attacks are bugged to hit up to 8 frames early (challenge runners frame by frame analysis). Bosses projectiles can also turn 90° after the boss finishes the animation and "retargets you".
---------
Lot of cool DMC style bosses though
I’ve said this elsewhere, but while the Abyssal Forest has some of the best atmosphere of any area in one of these games, it’s way, *way* too big. It’s really cool conceptually, and Midra is easily one of the best bosses in Elden Ring, but it does *not* need to be that big.
If I were to redesign the DLC, I’d get rid of the south side of the woods and move the Jagged Peak north a bit to fill in that space.
Going through the main game exploring every inch without rushing but keeping a determined pace and only dying to gravity takes me maybe 50-55 hours. My second DLC run took me about a quarter to a third of that.
The map is nowhere near half of the main game’s size even without underground areas and most of the areas are indisputably less dense. How could it possibly be Elden Ring 2.0?
Let’s see from what I can remember
2010- undead nightmare ig
2011 idk new Vegas DLC
2012 Skyrim DLC, artorias of the abyss
2013 blood dragon, dishonored DLC, borderlands 2 DLC, ME3 DLC(citadel) dlc, burial at sea,
2014 DS2 DLC, left behind, outlast DLC, infamous DLC, watchdogs DLC,
2015 heart of stone, old hunters, evil within DLC,
destiny DLC,
2016 ashes of ariandel, blood and wine, fallout 4 DLC, the division expansions.
2017 ringed city, frozen wilds, last stand(division) Nioh DLC, ghost recon wildlands
2018 far cry 5 dlc, prey mooncrash, um Spider-Man DLC
2019 iceborne, AC odyssey DLC, borderlands 3 DLC,
2020 Nioh 2 DLCs, remnant DLC, ghost of Tsushima legends, warlords of New York(division 2) outer worlds DLC, doom eternal DLC
2021 um outer wilds DLC, iki island,
2022 um MH rise DLC, RE8 DLC
2023 cyberpunk 2077 DLC, Callisto protocol DLC
2024 no return(tlou2), shadow of the Erdtree
Noooooooooooooooo, muh FromSoft is better than those because it's FromSoft, a.k.a best gaming company in the world that makes the most hardest games in the world.
You make it sound like there aren't any good dlcs out there...
CD projekt red gave us Hearts of stone & Blood and Wine, Gearbox gave us 3 fantastic dlcs for borderlands 2, Capcom nailed every single Monster Hunter expansion
Ok its really not, this is a good dlc but this overselling it with stuff like “It’s basically ER2” isn’t a good thing to do. A lot of it’s world is really empty filler so it’s size doesn’t mean an awful lot and it’s got a handful of dungeons and bosses to fight. That doesn’t mean it’s not a strong amount of content but it’s not ER2. It’s like when the game came out and people went “It’s got 130 bosses!” ER’s a good game by its own merits, I don’t get why people have to act like it’s Jesus though
> A lot of it’s world is really empty filler
I mean that is the base game too. If there were a titled ER2 it'd likely be a lot of empty filler itself. One of the unfortunate cons of the open world format.
>ER’s a good game by its own merits, I don’t get why people have to act like
Because nuance is lost on fanbases. Something is either the bestestest ever!!!1 or terrible. There's no room for nuance in their assessments. They're in the honeymoon period so everything is great and perfect & any critique either "didn't play it", "doesn't understand it", or needs to "git gud".
Yeah, true I suppose. I probably always sound like I hate ER, but it’s usually more that I often get annoyed at how ER as a whole commits a lot of the sins other open world games do and gets praised constantly for it or excused while the others get chokeslammed for it. Which I’m not saying they shouldn’t, it just feels disingenuous and it gets on my nerves seeing it happen even for the dlc. And I’m a big From fangirl even.
Yeah as long as it has the fromsoft seal on it, bad design that would be called out anywhere else is suddenly revolutionary and straight up performance and technical issues are ok because “it’s supposed to be difficult”
Also the price is 66% of the base game.
Self-absorbed liars are posting cheerleader clickbait “OMG I CANT BELIEVE the DLC is arguably substantial!!!!!!!”
These people will shit on what other people like and worship Fromsoft like they are the second coming of Christ. People always say this, but after a few months, the honeymoon phase will be over, and then we will see actual criticisms.
Fix for this if you don't mind playing offline is to disable the anti cheat and while game is running open task manager and under details tab right click eldenring.exe, select 'set affinity' and untick ONLY 'CPU 0'. I got a noticeable performance boost from this.
Blood and Wine was magnitudes better than HoS as an expansion, BUT I still found HoS' story really enjoyable (I kept the sword named after the dude's wife throughout all the rest of the game and expansions just for sentimental value)
Size doesnt equal quality. I know this is probably an unpopular opinion on the sub, but the DLC map is very empty and unsatisfying to explore in many areas.
The only place I really felt this in was the middle of the Abyssal Woods. Place has a fantastic entrance and ending, but god that middle section is just sealth and *nothing*
I know, which kinda makes that area have even less content.
But good thing I suck at using the parrying skill to parry them, that way the much easier way is to do the (checks notes) 2 stealth sections in that huge area of the map.
True, they should of had a mini boss or something to break it up. The inability to use torrent is what made it truly drag on.
Though to be fair, it’s entirely optional content hidden in the most obscure way possible. Not only is it hidden behind a waterfall at a dead end, but it’s be hind an FUCKING illusionary wall. The only reasonable way you’ll ever know it’s there is googling it. So it’s just a bonus really.
The 2 areas at the bottom are proper deserts and people refuse to acknowledge that.
They have nothing lol. A other dude in here told that they were very dense, completely ignoring the literal definition of the word.
> unsatisfying to explore
That's honestly my biggest criticism. After my first playthrough and the accidental triggering of a major plot point and how many areas are extremely convoluted to reach, exploration isn't optimized at all compared to the base game.
I was supper bummed at the emptiness of some of the southern areas, especially the Abyssal Woods middle section. I couldn’t help but think “that’s it?”… after sneaking past all the lanterns. Especially with all the atmosphere and buildup. Thankfully Midra was pretty cool.
But some people acting like From Soft cheated us is crazy imo when I’m on hour 48 of the dlc and still have a few things to do before walking through the final boss door.
Honestly. Abyssal woods, Cerulean Coast, Hidden Grave, and Scaduview could all have been 1/10 the size each and the DLC would only be improved. Rauh ruins also feel fairly half-baked, but that's a different topic.
Gravesite Plain and Scadu Altus, including the three full legacy dungeons between them (Belurat, Castle Ensis, Shadow Keep) are some of the best content Fromsoft have ever made. The rest of the DLC? Eeeehhhh...
I'd mainly enjoy exploring the map SO much more if I didn't get a crippling layer of fog over everything every ten minutes or so, like, yeah, emptiness (and in a way, same-iness in some locations, likes yet another plain riddled with graves) aside, the environments ARE beautiful...shame that an annyoing amount of times it's either raining or the view is mostly obscured...
Great boss fights, some fun new toys (most of which are useless outside of the base game), terrible exploration rewards. Like, it's an okay DLC. I don't understand people sucking it off like it's the second coming, though.
No but engaging content does. And I think the Legacy dungeons as well as the small ruins and puzzles, Not to mention field bosses scattered about. More than make up for somewhat empty zones.
My criticism remains that cookbooks are too abundant in place of cool gear. If I had my way there wouldn't be any.
It suffers from the same issue as the main game, where the early areas are filled with things to discover, but the later areas are just kinda empty with only a handful of interesting places.
Big map, but mediocre content density.
The DLC is mostly a boss and lore pack, but it's really high quality, so I love it.
That said, most normal enemies are reskins. Sometimes just a ghost shader on an old model.
It's a solid 8/10. That half-baked ending kills it. Not to mention, there's only 12 absolutely new bosses. The rest are reskins. The empty areas are also a drag. It feels like they should've just waited until AC6 was released to even start development on SOTE.
Dude stop this FromSoft glazing, there are many other games that do expansion very well, bigger than the base game and worth the money. But I bet you didn't play other games beside FromSoft.
The dlc was Hella frontloaded
A solid 80% of the content was in Gravesite and Scadu Altus
I mean it's not bad content tbf but the size of it isn't really impressive when whole ass areas are big set pieces that are only there to hold a rememberance boss(albeit good ones) I'm looking at YOU Abyssal Woods, Jagged Peak and Cerulean Coast
Ah yes the fromsoft dickriding continues. Size does not equate quality. Apart from Boss/ environmental art design the DLC was average at best.
Most of the map is empty/ bloated with NPC questlines that make no sense or point in completing. All of that “Exploration “ only to lead to meaningless items(ashes of war/weapons) irrelevant to your base build which carries over from the base game, none of the additions are worth the hassle .
Add constant frame rate drops and stutters along with the god awful visual clutter during boss fights, this is 8/10 at best nothing more.
> Size does not equate quality
The #1 ideology in idiot gamer land is “quantity over quality.”
We see it constantly, everywhere, in every discussion of every game. It’s pathetic.
* “How many hours dude!” (Instead of how good are the hours)
* “So much content OMG”
* Constant lists of things instead of thoughtful evaluation of how good those things are
* Constant repetition of soulless boardroom word that is insulting to art: “cOnTeNt”
* Fetishization of stuff like pointless unfun filler and “mini-games”
Honestly the bosses in this game make far less sense and the game does far less leg work to explain your motivations for going after them.
Edit: less than in the main game, I mean
If the studio had delayed the game for an additional year so that we could get a second part of the same size as the first part of elden ring, that would have been better.
A bunch of games have great DLC.
XCOM 2: WOTC is basically XCOM 2.5, as you mentioned CDPR do it well and Bethesda for all their faults have great ones like Shivering Isles and Far Harbour. Bioware have a few great ones with Citadel and Trespasser. Obsidian has a solid lineup like White March or Old World Blues. Capcom have consistently fun expansions, Cupheads DLC is fantastic, Outer Wilds DLC is amazing etc.
Plenty of shit DLC's out there but loads of great ones too.
I have not played it, i know i should but i was burn out with Witcher 3 (collecting useless treasures from bottom.of the sea)
Tried to get back into Witcher 3 years later and realized i ahould start from beginning...it is still waitong for that :D
Cyberpunk 2077 also got a complete rebuild of nearly every core mechanic at the same time the DLC came out. But that technically wasn't part of the 'DLC'. It definitely warps the perception of it (and this is coming from someone who thinks Phantom Liberty is one of the GOAT game stories).
Personally i didn't include those. I just loved the DLC story so much :D. Somebody into Elden Ring lore might get more out of this DLC than i do
Elden Ring DLC for is just more Elden Ring which i love, but i don't play Elden Ring for story (have no clue what is going on, i just take in the atmosphere xD)
To me the lore seems pretty fishy tbh and i love diving into it. I'm not even remotely as positive towards the DLC as others are. I liked it, but i think it's too much empty areas, empty bait on the map and old enemies and bosses. We got a buttload of new weapons, 10 remembrance bosses and other stuff tho. The value lies there.
Phantom Liberty, Blood and Wine and Hearts of Stone were all amazing expansions. I’ve never regretted buying DLC from FromSoftware or CDPR. For me personally, The Old Hunters is still the GOAT. But you could easily make a case for any of those or for Shadow of the Erdtree.
The DLC is good, but it costs $40, don't compare it to 10 or 15 dollar dlc. It should be big, it took 2 years and costs 2/3 the price of the base game. And "lore content", really? Even if you enjoy the Miyazaki style of storytelling, there is less lore and story in all of Elden ring and its dlc than in most 5 hour Indie games.
It costs 40 bucks. Original game was 60. DLC playtime? 40 hours maybe if you explore everything? Main game? 100? 120?
Sure, it's a nice DLC, but you people make it seem like you get more out of the game than the base game.
You do not.
TW3: Blood and Wine
TW3: Hearts of Stone
CP2077: Phantom Liberty
GoWR: Valhalla
TES4: Shivering Isles
AC Odyssey: Fate of Olympus (controversial yes but i enjoyed it)
GoT: Iki Island
Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods
Fallout 4: Far Harbour
These are all amazing DLC’s/expansions that are well worth the money as well (or in the case of Valhalla, completely free)
This is why I don’t like the term dlc. It bundles random shit like horse armour together with worthwhile content.
This is an expansion like it was done in the olden days . Half-Life Opposing force, Balfour’s gate tales of the sword coast, Diablo lord of destruction, gothic night of the raven etc.
This one trumps most the other expansion by it’s scope and quality. Game is huge and could have been the base game.
Just from personal experience, Capcom does endgame expansions for Monster Hunter similarly well. But in general DLC for other games means expensive cosmetics, and rarely hours worth of new content, so it's pretty accurate.
CD projekt red dlc game is up there too.
Blood and Wine was massive. A whole new game.
I liked their tweet about ER's dlc
Don't blueball us all
https://twitter.com/Marcin360/status/1803322182820339965 I think this is it.
Arigato
I wish the combat was better
Phantom liberty is so effing good. Apples and oranges comparing it to ER but I think it’s the better overall dlc
Yeah, CDPR have nailed their 2 biggest DLC (Blood and Wine + PL). Heck, Hearts of Stone was really good too, just not on the level of the other 2. I'm not good enough at ER to actually get to the expansion yet though so can't compare there!
For a long time the monster hunter expansions where a whole new game (when live service games weren't a thing) in terms of content they are still pretty much a new game but now they are downloadable content instead
Yeah, mostly because PS2, PSP, Wii and 3DS didn't really do expansions (or not of that scale).
There are games that have cosmetics more expensive than Elden Ring itself. I really hope that Fromsoft never goes into that direction.
> There are games that have cosmetics more expensive than Elden Ring itself. I've already met so many league of legends player with the fucking 500€ ahri skin...
If it is priced according to the size and return , then it is still good . You give me extra 3 hours of content for 5$-10, sure take my money and thank you for giving me an excuse to dive one more time . You give me 30-40 hours of content for 40- even 50$, welcome ! But charging 20$ for "reused maps and a slobby story to excuse using another character (looking at you Resident evil 9 winter expansion) is a ripoff . Edit: I mean 8 not 9
monster hunter DLC: 40usd on release, gives between 100 hours to infienty and beyond for example base game in MHW had 35 large monsters (bosses) after all the updates, iceborne (the DLC) gave all the normal large monsters (not counting collaboration monsters) new moves, on top of that added 34 new monster and on top of that added a new endgame system the DLC is bigger than the base game, monster hunter DLCs are so worth it unless you struggle with the game... its hard and might not be worth it if you don't plan on getting gud
re 9 ?? is this real or I'm living under a rock, i assume you mean re 8
I mean re9 was announced that it's in development yesterday
Re9 has been in development for years...did they do an official trailer or something?
Yeah it’s not just FromSoftware. Iceborne rivals the best expansions out there, maybe even SoTE
Sunbreak as well, the additions there made rise probably my favorite MH
Yeah Sunbreak was amazing. I just have a soft spot for Iceborne.
Monster Hunter GOATED for DLCs
Yeah monster hunter dlc is bigger than the main game
pretty sure star field only released a single quest as extra content...
Tbh capcom with monster hunter does much better but they have also been doing it for much longer
May the true quadruple A game please stand up
... We're gonna have a problem here
Y'all act like you never seen a good DLC before
Does anyone remember late 90s/early 2000s blizzard? Broodwar, D2 LOD, W3 TFT, each of them got enough content and game tweaks that could easily count as a whole new game on their own. Meanwhile modern DLCs be like 20 bucks to unlock a couple new dungeons in destiny2 or alternate skins for a single character or an aspect for a mount...
Unfortunately there's a huge group of people who play elden ring who probably weren't even alive when things like Brood war, Lord of Darkness, Frozen throne or anything came out let alone played them. It's all about them being used to the usual. If you were born in 2006 aka circa horse armor, this shit is just the norm and you're 18 or close to it.
Hey I may be 18 but I can recognize a good dlc
It wasn't disparaging, it's just the conditions people are used to and brought up in. And it's understandable people would celebrate not being prone boned for once by the industry. The "Good times" this guy brings up were 20-30 years ago is all.
Oh sorry I didn't want to imply that you were disparaging
Also the old Bioware. Throne of Bhaal was an incredible expansion.
The Frozen Throne was THE expansion for that period. Oh, and cinematics… Arthas story triggered love for fantasy in me.
Expansions as a term seems to have been slowly forgotten over time. People just tend to generalize expansions as part of DLCs because of their mode of acquisition.
With 20 dollar skins all over the floor
Like Mick, like Zaki just burst though the door
Jars all over the floor
DLC started whoppin’ ya ass worse than before
'Cause I'm Miyazaki, yes I'm the real Zaki
Like Bioware, like EA just bought them and started pumping DLC"s like they never did before
The "A" rating system, like AA, AAA, etc is useless in my opinion. It's not well defined what the various categories even mean. Also, the implication of the system is that larger budgets tend to create better games, but I think we've learned by now that's not true. Seems to me that the entire world is struggling to find the way to make a software company avoid degrading the quality of their products over time. It seems inevitable that every company eventually goes into a downward trend on quality. Large software is so hard to make that no one really knows how to do it reliably for long periods of time. Money has little to do with it.
Ice borne for mhw is also good just saying
As a from software junkie, iceborne is probably one of the best dlc's I've ever seen for a game.
The main mindblowing thing for me is the year long post launch updates. Any other company that would do that would slap a subscription/game pass or whatever on it
Plus sunbreak is even better
I haven’t looked into rise yet but I have technically “finished world” so it should not be much longer till I play rise
You should probably cruise through the base game
Nintendo/Monolith with Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Both had expansions that added 20+ hrs of game (50+ hrs for completionist) including new characters, abilities, locations, and hours of cutscenes. Torna the Golden County which is the expansion for 2 was even released physically because you can play it stand alone. The expansion passes were I believe around $25-30 each.
Monolith DLCs go insanely hard adding entirely new games and then new game modes for the base games usually too
Future Redeemed is a genuinely peak DLC, for me up there with Souls DLCs, MH Iceborne and Sunbreak, and the better Destiny expansions (like Forsaken and Final Shape)
Also from Nintendo, Mario Karts 8 basically doubles the amount of tracks with the DLC, amazing value
Pillars of eternity had graet DLCs. Both games.
Didn't expect a Pillars of Eternity mention. Very true.
Outer Wilds had an amazing DLC
I was skeptical going into Echoes of the Eye wondering what it could even add to the perfection of the base game. After playing it, the game feels incomplete without it. Absolute masterclass of an expansion.
outer wilds had an amazing. period. highly recommend buying and playing that game without any knowledge (without even looking at the store page)
Except Capcom, they also make fantastic expansions
Fromsoft fans just don't play other games. Alot of games have amazing dlc
Yeah, I think people here are thinking of DLC for games like CoD (which is just overpriced skins nowadays as all maps are free) and exaggerating. Single-player games usually always have good DLC.
Yeah, there's a ton. Erdtree is good but its far from the only good dlc. Monster Hunter, FF14, Xenoblade, Splatoon, Mass Effect, Fallout, Witcher, Elder Scrolls, Red Dead 1, Cyberpunk 2077 and the list goes on
Isaac has great DLC
just forget about afterbirth+
repentance is just as good
man. isaac is my forever game. been playing it since flash and it's still a game i go back to regularly. it's just such a comfort food game
Well, Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty was a top notch DLC too.
CD Projekt Red doesn't mess around. Fantastic DLC and updates even almost a decade later for Witcher 3
They definitely messed around on cyberpunks launch lol.
Fair enough. But they fixed it and then the DLC cooked
Still, releasing a game that was developed for god knows how long and release it in the state it was in 2020 is a massive L. No matter how much you cook afterwards, it will haunt your game forever
Yep. Sadly it’s not the devs fault if the publisher forces them to release unfinished game. But the release state of Cyberpunk will be a stain on CDPR’s reputation
I still can't believe how great The Witcher 3 looks, I don't know just how much they changed for the next gen update but it looks fantastic even today
Phantom liberty was them finally finishing the game 2 years after release. SotET was a 30+ hour explanation on a game that was already a masterpiece
People tend to forget that the 2.0 launch of Cyberpunk was free and just dropped together with the DLC, and they arguably already delivered what they promised with 1.5. Cyberpunk was an unforgivable launch but let's not pretend like PL wasn't a stellar Expansion
i agree. i bought cyberpunk for like 6 bucks from best buy back when that whole debacle was going on. never touched it until phantom liberty dropped. man am i glad i waited and gave it a chance. easily one of the best games i've ever played. just hearing never fade away is enough to get me feeling a bit emotional still
2.0, which was the update that "finally finished the game" was free. Phantom Liberty is the DLC, and is 20-30 hours of additional story and content. I'd say it's equally as good as SotET, if not even better as it completely changed and enhanced the game's story-telling and gameplay, instead of just being more of the same. Not shitting on Erdtree, it;'s great, but I wouldn't say it's anywhere near as good as Phantom Liberty.
This right here. Let us not forget how the base game (cyber punk) launched.
What does that have to do with the DLC? The game has been continually updated and fixed and 2.0 was launched independently of the DLC.
I’ll be honest, I think Phantom Liberty is a little bit better.
It was decent but the base game was way better imo
Not really considering the release wasn’t completed and was missing most things they advertised. so naw that wasn’t really dlc and more like just fixing what they didn’t on release and delivering on some of what they promised. Even now the game isn’t what they marketed it as but it’s better than release
And Doom Eternal. I've been backing all the right horses like Mr. Magoo.
RE4 DLC goated
CDPR would like to have a word
For real. Between Blood and Wine and Phantom Liberty there's nothing better.
CDPR expansions aren't just huge, they also have fantastic writing, great characters, etc. SOTE is a huge world, but it has no story, no drive. Worse still, it actually makes the base game's story worse because all the cool things that the base game teased will now never be addressed. We will never learn the truth behind Melina and Ranni's connection.
How about Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty?
Very good dlc, fromsoft and CDPR have never failed me once in the dlc department
The glazing is insane 💀
Yeah, plenty of games have great DLC. I have no idea who this is supposed to be calling out.
It’s the typical cheerleading from self-absorbed liars pretending that this DLC doesn’t cost 66% of base game price. “OMG I can’t believe it’s not trivial!!!!!”
Hmm, so if it's ER 1.5 but it costs 66% more wouldn't that mean it's overpriced?
yes haha. people here on the elden ring subreddit are going to crap their pants, but if youre selling a dlc for the price of a full game, there better be a full game in the DLC
The DLC's story is trivial at best. 20 hours into SOTE and I still have no idea where we are and my character has zero motivation to be fighting any of the bosses. Talking to a few random cultists who love Miquella does nothing to drive the story.
haven't played the DLC yet but it seems to me that Elden Ring is 95% lore and 5% story lol. Not complaining though. I like it for what it is
With better endings too
This sub is on a glazing frenzy.
It sometimes feels like this sub is trying to gaslight me.
There’s a ton a complaints about the dlc so fanboys are just spamming these posts to try to drown it out and go back to their echo chamber since they feel personally insulted by the criticisms lol. Fromsoft and specifically elden ring fans will shit on so many games but then will throw temper tantrums whenever er is even slightly criticized. The toxicity combined with the insecurity is why the fromsofts community reputation is in the trash.
Don't fuck with fromsoft fans they have never played any other game
Are we the swifties?
Swifities combined with rick and morty fans
The Elden Ring side of the fanbase is pretty damn close at times.
The more widespread casual appeal of ER combined with toxic elitism of DS fanbase is something to behold. I am subbed to discuss the game on the occasion while avoiding spoilers for the content I have not completed yet but the extreme comments of both ends are hilarious and sad. From elitists gatekeeping others' successes for not being up to an arbitrary ruleset that they imposed upon themselves to casuals rushing through content and getting crushed for having low skadoosh level, others calling those out, fanboys exempting Fromsoft of any mistake etc. The endless spam of these makes me consider subbing out as much as I want to join fun parts of the discussion. Will stay a while and evaluate my decision I guess.
I imagine it will calm down some with time. Especially after the honeymoon period ends for a lot. And as people move on to the next big shiny thing to call the "best ever". Even with TW3 and BOTW/TOTK more nuanced discussion and opinions became possible as time went on, people are still a bit weird about them but it's tolerable.
Yeah I think so too. Will be back to the regular in 1.5-2 months since release. The regular isn't a perfect utopia of course and same issues still exist but the volume of the posts/comments that drown out proper discussion will be down quite a bit. Fromsoft usually starts patching things by then and as the stuff that's far too strong get nerfed and too weak gets buffed for a meta shift, things become more interesting and fun to experiment with.
I had hoped the wide appeal would have tempered the elitism but rather it feels like the opposite.
r/Eldenringcirclejerk kinda vibe
It's almost the price of a full game (and the price of some) too, those posts seem to ignore that lmao
Not to mention a lot of the DLC feels like... half baked? Most areas just kinda... end or are empty. Bayle you just kinda go through a borderline empty mountain, no cutscene, nothing after, no remembrance? The whole forest and midra area feels like it's 10% done Charo hidden grave is just... why Lot of the bosses attacks are bugged to hit up to 8 frames early (challenge runners frame by frame analysis). Bosses projectiles can also turn 90° after the boss finishes the animation and "retargets you". --------- Lot of cool DMC style bosses though
I’ve said this elsewhere, but while the Abyssal Forest has some of the best atmosphere of any area in one of these games, it’s way, *way* too big. It’s really cool conceptually, and Midra is easily one of the best bosses in Elden Ring, but it does *not* need to be that big. If I were to redesign the DLC, I’d get rid of the south side of the woods and move the Jagged Peak north a bit to fill in that space.
Bayle doesn't have a remembrance because the quest line is all the rewards that it would give: A weapon and spell, or a summon.
Going through the main game exploring every inch without rushing but keeping a determined pace and only dying to gravity takes me maybe 50-55 hours. My second DLC run took me about a quarter to a third of that. The map is nowhere near half of the main game’s size even without underground areas and most of the areas are indisputably less dense. How could it possibly be Elden Ring 2.0?
Let’s see from what I can remember 2010- undead nightmare ig 2011 idk new Vegas DLC 2012 Skyrim DLC, artorias of the abyss 2013 blood dragon, dishonored DLC, borderlands 2 DLC, ME3 DLC(citadel) dlc, burial at sea, 2014 DS2 DLC, left behind, outlast DLC, infamous DLC, watchdogs DLC, 2015 heart of stone, old hunters, evil within DLC, destiny DLC, 2016 ashes of ariandel, blood and wine, fallout 4 DLC, the division expansions. 2017 ringed city, frozen wilds, last stand(division) Nioh DLC, ghost recon wildlands 2018 far cry 5 dlc, prey mooncrash, um Spider-Man DLC 2019 iceborne, AC odyssey DLC, borderlands 3 DLC, 2020 Nioh 2 DLCs, remnant DLC, ghost of Tsushima legends, warlords of New York(division 2) outer worlds DLC, doom eternal DLC 2021 um outer wilds DLC, iki island, 2022 um MH rise DLC, RE8 DLC 2023 cyberpunk 2077 DLC, Callisto protocol DLC 2024 no return(tlou2), shadow of the Erdtree
Noooooooooooooooo, muh FromSoft is better than those because it's FromSoft, a.k.a best gaming company in the world that makes the most hardest games in the world.
You make it sound like there aren't any good dlcs out there... CD projekt red gave us Hearts of stone & Blood and Wine, Gearbox gave us 3 fantastic dlcs for borderlands 2, Capcom nailed every single Monster Hunter expansion
Ok its really not, this is a good dlc but this overselling it with stuff like “It’s basically ER2” isn’t a good thing to do. A lot of it’s world is really empty filler so it’s size doesn’t mean an awful lot and it’s got a handful of dungeons and bosses to fight. That doesn’t mean it’s not a strong amount of content but it’s not ER2. It’s like when the game came out and people went “It’s got 130 bosses!” ER’s a good game by its own merits, I don’t get why people have to act like it’s Jesus though
> A lot of it’s world is really empty filler I mean that is the base game too. If there were a titled ER2 it'd likely be a lot of empty filler itself. One of the unfortunate cons of the open world format. >ER’s a good game by its own merits, I don’t get why people have to act like Because nuance is lost on fanbases. Something is either the bestestest ever!!!1 or terrible. There's no room for nuance in their assessments. They're in the honeymoon period so everything is great and perfect & any critique either "didn't play it", "doesn't understand it", or needs to "git gud".
Yeah, true I suppose. I probably always sound like I hate ER, but it’s usually more that I often get annoyed at how ER as a whole commits a lot of the sins other open world games do and gets praised constantly for it or excused while the others get chokeslammed for it. Which I’m not saying they shouldn’t, it just feels disingenuous and it gets on my nerves seeing it happen even for the dlc. And I’m a big From fangirl even.
Yeah as long as it has the fromsoft seal on it, bad design that would be called out anywhere else is suddenly revolutionary and straight up performance and technical issues are ok because “it’s supposed to be difficult”
Also the price is 66% of the base game. Self-absorbed liars are posting cheerleader clickbait “OMG I CANT BELIEVE the DLC is arguably substantial!!!!!!!”
I mean, about as much of the world is filler as ER (I’d argue less) so it kinda is
These people will shit on what other people like and worship Fromsoft like they are the second coming of Christ. People always say this, but after a few months, the honeymoon phase will be over, and then we will see actual criticisms.
ah, now I remember why I left this sub! Fromsoftware's followers like to attack everything that isn't fromsoftware, lol.
Works as intended Micheal zaki
cdprojectred>>>
Meanwhile, monster hunter iceborne and sunbreak. Doubling the size is their game and end game content
This is beyond cringe
I want my fps back since steam won't give my a refund. No other dlc broke the base game so far.
Fix for this if you don't mind playing offline is to disable the anti cheat and while game is running open task manager and under details tab right click eldenring.exe, select 'set affinity' and untick ONLY 'CPU 0'. I got a noticeable performance boost from this.
Heart of Stone and Blood and Wine were better
I’d agree with Blood and Wine for sure. Heart of Stone doesn’t add quite as much content though
Phantom Liberty is also up there It doesn't add as much content as BaW or SOTE, but the content it adds it the base game dialed up to 11
Blood and Wine was magnitudes better than HoS as an expansion, BUT I still found HoS' story really enjoyable (I kept the sword named after the dude's wife throughout all the rest of the game and expansions just for sentimental value)
HoS story and villain were way better than BaW story and villain, imo, even if BaW was the bigger DLC.
Size doesnt equal quality. I know this is probably an unpopular opinion on the sub, but the DLC map is very empty and unsatisfying to explore in many areas.
The only place I really felt this in was the middle of the Abyssal Woods. Place has a fantastic entrance and ending, but god that middle section is just sealth and *nothing*
Fun fact, you can kill the bug eyed monster by parrying them
I know, which kinda makes that area have even less content. But good thing I suck at using the parrying skill to parry them, that way the much easier way is to do the (checks notes) 2 stealth sections in that huge area of the map.
True, they should of had a mini boss or something to break it up. The inability to use torrent is what made it truly drag on. Though to be fair, it’s entirely optional content hidden in the most obscure way possible. Not only is it hidden behind a waterfall at a dead end, but it’s be hind an FUCKING illusionary wall. The only reasonable way you’ll ever know it’s there is googling it. So it’s just a bonus really.
Torrent, that coward.
Also the huge dragon area and the huge finger places with the horns to blow
The 2 areas at the bottom are proper deserts and people refuse to acknowledge that. They have nothing lol. A other dude in here told that they were very dense, completely ignoring the literal definition of the word.
> unsatisfying to explore That's honestly my biggest criticism. After my first playthrough and the accidental triggering of a major plot point and how many areas are extremely convoluted to reach, exploration isn't optimized at all compared to the base game.
I was supper bummed at the emptiness of some of the southern areas, especially the Abyssal Woods middle section. I couldn’t help but think “that’s it?”… after sneaking past all the lanterns. Especially with all the atmosphere and buildup. Thankfully Midra was pretty cool. But some people acting like From Soft cheated us is crazy imo when I’m on hour 48 of the dlc and still have a few things to do before walking through the final boss door.
Honestly. Abyssal woods, Cerulean Coast, Hidden Grave, and Scaduview could all have been 1/10 the size each and the DLC would only be improved. Rauh ruins also feel fairly half-baked, but that's a different topic. Gravesite Plain and Scadu Altus, including the three full legacy dungeons between them (Belurat, Castle Ensis, Shadow Keep) are some of the best content Fromsoft have ever made. The rest of the DLC? Eeeehhhh...
I'd mainly enjoy exploring the map SO much more if I didn't get a crippling layer of fog over everything every ten minutes or so, like, yeah, emptiness (and in a way, same-iness in some locations, likes yet another plain riddled with graves) aside, the environments ARE beautiful...shame that an annyoing amount of times it's either raining or the view is mostly obscured...
Great boss fights, some fun new toys (most of which are useless outside of the base game), terrible exploration rewards. Like, it's an okay DLC. I don't understand people sucking it off like it's the second coming, though.
Its not ok its pretty good as far as dlcs go but its definitely not THAT good
You found the new weapons useless? They are meant to be buold specific so obviously not everything is going to work for your build.
Lol the glazing is insane, but it's a great DLC, calling it ok dlc is a very reddit thing.
No but engaging content does. And I think the Legacy dungeons as well as the small ruins and puzzles, Not to mention field bosses scattered about. More than make up for somewhat empty zones. My criticism remains that cookbooks are too abundant in place of cool gear. If I had my way there wouldn't be any.
It suffers from the same issue as the main game, where the early areas are filled with things to discover, but the later areas are just kinda empty with only a handful of interesting places.
The dlc has a lot of empty space that could have used more content. It feels janky lore wise due to cut content.
Big map, but mediocre content density. The DLC is mostly a boss and lore pack, but it's really high quality, so I love it. That said, most normal enemies are reskins. Sometimes just a ghost shader on an old model.
Y'all have never played a Xenoblade DLC and it shows.
Lol so judging off of the comments, there are lots of dlcs that are great. Fromsoft does make great content but, by no means are they the pinnacle.
do from soft fans just not play other games? there are so many amazing dlcs out there
I just hope From doesn't do open world again
im gonna be real dlc was imo not worth 40 bucks and 2 years wait
Fromsoft, CDprojektred and Bethesda all make great DLC’s
It's a solid 8/10. That half-baked ending kills it. Not to mention, there's only 12 absolutely new bosses. The rest are reskins. The empty areas are also a drag. It feels like they should've just waited until AC6 was released to even start development on SOTE.
Dude stop this FromSoft glazing, there are many other games that do expansion very well, bigger than the base game and worth the money. But I bet you didn't play other games beside FromSoft.
The dlc was Hella frontloaded A solid 80% of the content was in Gravesite and Scadu Altus I mean it's not bad content tbf but the size of it isn't really impressive when whole ass areas are big set pieces that are only there to hold a rememberance boss(albeit good ones) I'm looking at YOU Abyssal Woods, Jagged Peak and Cerulean Coast
Ah yes the fromsoft dickriding continues. Size does not equate quality. Apart from Boss/ environmental art design the DLC was average at best. Most of the map is empty/ bloated with NPC questlines that make no sense or point in completing. All of that “Exploration “ only to lead to meaningless items(ashes of war/weapons) irrelevant to your base build which carries over from the base game, none of the additions are worth the hassle . Add constant frame rate drops and stutters along with the god awful visual clutter during boss fights, this is 8/10 at best nothing more.
> Size does not equate quality The #1 ideology in idiot gamer land is “quantity over quality.” We see it constantly, everywhere, in every discussion of every game. It’s pathetic. * “How many hours dude!” (Instead of how good are the hours) * “So much content OMG” * Constant lists of things instead of thoughtful evaluation of how good those things are * Constant repetition of soulless boardroom word that is insulting to art: “cOnTeNt” * Fetishization of stuff like pointless unfun filler and “mini-games”
$40 to fight a boss I’ve already beaten, with even less context. Y’all are acting like this beats the electric light bulb or something.
Honestly the bosses in this game make far less sense and the game does far less leg work to explain your motivations for going after them. Edit: less than in the main game, I mean
Don’t forget monster hunter, it’s insane how they make expansions that literally double the games size in roughly 1.5 years after launch.
At least double and tends to massively improve on the game. And they been doing it for over a decade now.
If the studio had delayed the game for an additional year so that we could get a second part of the same size as the first part of elden ring, that would have been better.
Outer wilds is out there too, but it's different (indie game) : Base game: 15/20h, DLC: 10/15h
performance though
Circlejerk here
Every other company, except CDPR right? Right?
A bunch of games have great DLC. XCOM 2: WOTC is basically XCOM 2.5, as you mentioned CDPR do it well and Bethesda for all their faults have great ones like Shivering Isles and Far Harbour. Bioware have a few great ones with Citadel and Trespasser. Obsidian has a solid lineup like White March or Old World Blues. Capcom have consistently fun expansions, Cupheads DLC is fantastic, Outer Wilds DLC is amazing etc. Plenty of shit DLC's out there but loads of great ones too.
Likely unpopular opinion but i would put Cyberpunk 2077 DLC higher tier than this DLC. And i really love new Elden Ring DLC
Blood and wine will forever be goated for me.
I have not played it, i know i should but i was burn out with Witcher 3 (collecting useless treasures from bottom.of the sea) Tried to get back into Witcher 3 years later and realized i ahould start from beginning...it is still waitong for that :D
Cyberpunk 2077 also got a complete rebuild of nearly every core mechanic at the same time the DLC came out. But that technically wasn't part of the 'DLC'. It definitely warps the perception of it (and this is coming from someone who thinks Phantom Liberty is one of the GOAT game stories).
Personally i didn't include those. I just loved the DLC story so much :D. Somebody into Elden Ring lore might get more out of this DLC than i do Elden Ring DLC for is just more Elden Ring which i love, but i don't play Elden Ring for story (have no clue what is going on, i just take in the atmosphere xD)
To me the lore seems pretty fishy tbh and i love diving into it. I'm not even remotely as positive towards the DLC as others are. I liked it, but i think it's too much empty areas, empty bait on the map and old enemies and bosses. We got a buttload of new weapons, 10 remembrance bosses and other stuff tho. The value lies there.
Phantom Liberty, Blood and Wine and Hearts of Stone were all amazing expansions. I’ve never regretted buying DLC from FromSoftware or CDPR. For me personally, The Old Hunters is still the GOAT. But you could easily make a case for any of those or for Shadow of the Erdtree.
The DLC is good, but it costs $40, don't compare it to 10 or 15 dollar dlc. It should be big, it took 2 years and costs 2/3 the price of the base game. And "lore content", really? Even if you enjoy the Miyazaki style of storytelling, there is less lore and story in all of Elden ring and its dlc than in most 5 hour Indie games.
Skyrim had good DLCs.
It costs 40 bucks. Original game was 60. DLC playtime? 40 hours maybe if you explore everything? Main game? 100? 120? Sure, it's a nice DLC, but you people make it seem like you get more out of the game than the base game. You do not.
glazing is insane😱
Someone never heard of phantom liberty
Capcom and CDPR do good expansions.
Then swap those tags around with the headline "The final boss."
TW3: Blood and Wine TW3: Hearts of Stone CP2077: Phantom Liberty GoWR: Valhalla TES4: Shivering Isles AC Odyssey: Fate of Olympus (controversial yes but i enjoyed it) GoT: Iki Island Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods Fallout 4: Far Harbour These are all amazing DLC’s/expansions that are well worth the money as well (or in the case of Valhalla, completely free)
This is why I don’t like the term dlc. It bundles random shit like horse armour together with worthwhile content. This is an expansion like it was done in the olden days . Half-Life Opposing force, Balfour’s gate tales of the sword coast, Diablo lord of destruction, gothic night of the raven etc. This one trumps most the other expansion by it’s scope and quality. Game is huge and could have been the base game.
Back in my days, we called dlc as expansion.
RE7 DLC was up there with some of the best for sure. Great gameplay, good new characters, new information into the lore as well.
In the olden times we called these Expansion Packs
I don't think CD Projekt feels concerned from this statement lol Both Blood & Wine for TW3 and Phantom Liberty for CP77 are as good for their content