Fromsoft is a mind-boggling entity. Its simply incomprehensible to me how they managed to make a DLC that is larger than alot of full-scale games. Any future new player purchasing some complete edition of Elden Ring is burdened with such a toxifyingly high saturation of video game to play that it could actually be kind of concerning. Not only that, but Id argue its….. better than the base game?? At least in some ways: much much more interesting open world level design, a higher ratio of excellent bosses overall, a suite of exciting experimental gear replete with debut weapon types, and a much more engaging narrative thrust centered on the movements of Miquella and those most closely connected to him.

In fact the only major criticism I had (Fromsofts weird choice of progression curve for the Scadutree Fragments) was patched before I was little more than half way through the DLC. Without that, all Im left with are small wriggling nitpicks, like the fact that the world seems to be so large they didnt actually know what to fill it other than with a random assortment of Smithing Stones (or sometimes just nothing at all, shouts out to all my Abyssal Woods hikers writing confused messages on top of long climbs to nowhere). It couldve been better (it probably should have been better) but Im not losing any sleep over it. We're so close to the Lordranian ideal I can almost taste it.

But there is one alarming thing to talk about. Ive said it before, and the DLC proves it true: Fromsoft cant just up the ante indefinitely. Their commitment to escalating the drama of combat with each release is very admirable and its part of what has made them so prolific - but it was only a matter of time before Fromsoft would have to reach for risky design concepts to keep the fire going. The bosses dropping room-wide hydrogen bombs or shooting 7 ghosts at you per sword swing are doing so because Fromsoft has already done most of the more mundane ideas and its getting harder and harder to come up with new ones without fundamentally changing the combat system itself. You dont even need to be a game design wiz to understand the question: how do you make the next boss bigger and badder than the biggest and baddest boss theyve already made? If youre still not catching the concern, let me rephrase the question: how do you make the next boss bigger and badder than the final encounter of this DLC?

We’re deep in the coal mines baby, and my canary is coughing up blood. We have found The Line and we’re flirting with it. Fromsofts walking on the edge and if theyre not careful about how they choose to innovate on things going forward, we will definitely find ourselves falling off the edge someday soon - Im sure for some people and some playstyles it may feel like we already are. From my perspective it seems like its time to conclude the legacy Souls formula in lieu of branching out into different gameplay styles players have not yet accrued a vast skillset for. I think they need to find a new design space in which to build challenge because it feels like this one is running out of miles.

Elden Ring doesnt manage to escape all the trappings of the open world genre, but its incredible just how much they were able to revolutionize the experience with the simple idea of: “What if you made Dark Souls, but bigger?” Just make a world, just make large levels, it apparently doesnt need to be much more complicated than that. Who knows what George RRs contribution really was but Elden Ring also feels like Fromsofts most lavishly written scenario, imbuing this legitimately massive-feeling space with an appropriately extravagant sense of drama and mystique.

This might not mean much to some people but the vibe around this game during release and the following communal sense of discovery was positively electric. In some ways it felt too big, with fatigue setting in by the 3rd or 4th time you realize “Theres….. even more? It just keeps going, where does it end!?” Elden Rings gigantic scope barely fits into its legacy Souls RPG systems - and with the seams ripping around the edges and Fromsofts desire to constantly push the envelope, some nasty edge cases start to appear.

I think Elden Ring brushes up against the glass ceiling on where the Souls formula has left it could go. Some of the more frustrating boss encounters feel like feathers falling as the wax melts off of Fromsofts’ wings. How much higher can they go before theyve officially flown too close to the sun?

Once wrote an essay that I meant to turn into a video called "The Importance of good writing in non story focused games" and TF2 was a big part of the good examples I gave.

Its definitely been talked about to death but it doesnt make it any less true that the TF2 mercs achieve with essentially the purest of pure character design brilliance and a few odd voice lines what many AAA faux cinematic mocapped hollywood actors games can't i.e be memorable.

There is actually some plot to TF2 and there's the comics as well, but lets be real, nobody gives a shit and it isnt used as a crutch for bad characterisation (supplementary material being supplementary? NO!). Even the few direct traditional bits of characterisation like the Meet the... series are incredibly brief and are so great that it only makes this aspect stronger. Meet the medic is an all timer and even works as tutorialisation.

So what about the game? Well, it came out in 2007 so obviously I was mostly getting blown up by 10k hour demomen and soldiers hitting the most surgical ass rockets/bomb shots ever at my dumb ass, but somehow I was still regularly getting top of my team simply because I actually tried fulfilling the objectives and being a medic is pretty damn easy : heal people and try not to get killed by snipers. Also ubercharge the nearest heavy when appropriate.

I think TF2 is to multiplayer games what Half Life 1 is to First Person shooters. Old enough to have sensibilities that have since gone out of fashion whilst basically being the pioneer that marked the end of the traditional genre it upended. So you can rocket jump like its quake deathmatch but there are also F2P cosmetics. Lest we forget these mfers invented lootboxes! At least crafting and achievements and all that make it so youre not too disadvantaged by not spending a single penny, but thats only cause we've been worn down by the bullshit thats come since, which is partly TF2's fault! Its like how Max Landis being a shithead sex pest almost makes you forget his dad got 3 people killed.

I will say though, being able to use paywalled taunts by walking up to someone currently doing the taunt is great and learning of it retroactively makes Fortnite super lame for not having the same feature

In summary, cool game. Would be even cooler is casual wasnt mostly filled by people spamming slurs in chat, but nobody's perfect (just in case someone comments, yes this is a sarcastic joke, stop typing)

So just wanna get out of the way that I've finished this game twice........so ya can't get mad at me.........

I'm so sad that I don't love and adore this game like I once did at 16 years old. There's a lot to love about it! The visuals, the music, the Resident Evil framework the whole thing is clearly working off of, the fun goofy cheesy ass story and dialogue, the arcade game type design. The game absolutely has the sauce. It just, kinda didn't capture me this time.

I find the more action games I've played and experienced since I last played this years and years ago, the more Ninja Gaiden's and Devil May Cry's and Bayonetta's I've experienced, the less and less I fuck with this which isn't totally fully fair to this game cause like obviously it came first in this long line of character action gaming.

But I can't sit here and really pretend that I jive with it anymore after playing with so many more toolkits and systems and design ideas that I've liked as good additions to the original framework that this game built itself. It's a game that's absolutely important to the language and design of action games going forward after it but I'm gonna be real I'd rather go back and play Devil May Cry 3/5 again before going through this. Though I do respect what this is doing and for what it did in the long run.

I don't dig the way enemies work, I don't dig the feel of the weapons you do obtain, I don't fuck with some of the bosses at all. I can have more patience with action games like this but I have little for this one anymore and I don't really know why. Maybe just getting older and being less willing to deal with a ghost enemy or a bad water section? Who knows.

I've fallen out of love with the original Devil May Cry and that's a huge bummer to me. I should really play Ninja Gaiden Black or Devil May Cry 3/5 again sometime.

If ya wanna hear me talk more at length about these feelings in podcast format or comment FILTERED at me for being bad at this game then come check out my new podcast episode where I discuss this in more detail!!!

The biggest piece of add-on content fromsoftware have ever made, in what is already one of the biggest games ever released, and simply put, its beautifully done. I'm going to have to delve deep to properly understand and appreciate all of the remarkable content on display here from a lore perspective, but the fact is that what is right infront of you is jaw-dropping and reaches peaks that I didn't even get in the base game.

From the moment that I stepped into this dlc the oppressive atmosphere gave me this absolute rush, there's nothing like experiencing a soulsborne game for the first time, especially when its new and you're totally blind, it is seriously like Christmas morning. The base game leaves a lot open for interpretation and expansion in its story which this dlc takes full advantage of, deepening the games' world extensively. Simultaneously, it adds a staggering amount of new content to discover and utilise for oneself that I feel like I've barely even begun to try it all out and I want to play this all over again to get a taste, trying out new build options and playstyles in the process. Elden ring already had the largest and deepest collection of weapons, armour sets, builds and cosmetics to play around with and the dlc is the game's own delicious second course. I ended up changing up how I play and respecced in order to get my own unique experience and i'm so glad I did, opting for a one of a kind boss weapon with massive versatility that took me through almost the whole thing. Usually I go straight in alongside my unga bunga strength jump heavy attack squad but this time I used a weapon which scaled equally off of 4 different stats and got a very well rounded experience from it as a result. Doing that motivated me forwards because I felt like I was properly interacting with everything that the expansion offered, taking my time to take it all in (despite the fact I finished this in like 5 days because I was so utterly addicted).

Fromsoft come out swinging with ALL of their staples in full effect - devastatingly brutal boss fights, a big toxic swamp (thanks), exploring massive structures in places you wouldn't expect (or probably would by now), ganks and player trolls galore, cryptic questlines and secrets to be found in all corners of the map, a miserable tone and deliciously gross aesthetic and of course, one of my favourite things about these games, gorgeously designed legacy dungeons that loop back on themselves through shortcuts. As is the case seemingly every time a soulsborne game or piece of content releases (and most certainly exacerbated by elden ring's own popularity and accessibility), there is widespread controversy and discussion online over the intense difficulty and unfairness to the player, despite this being technically the fairest they've ever been with this kind of thing. For the most part yeah, its a case of just getting better at the game and maybe exploring more, but that's not to say it is without its issues and there isn't a place to criticise. For example, I do personally think that whilst adding a new progression mechanic reminiscent of sekiro in the land of shadow was a good way of ensuring players would scale with the game and wouldn't be overlevelled, the way it is implemented is a little too oppressive when you consider just how fundamentally necessary the fragments & spirit ash upgrading items feel. The devs hide them inside of enemies and scatter them in some of the hardest to reach corners of the world. On one hand, that's awesome, encouraging players to explore almost every inch and that commitment to immersion and a sense of your own discovery rather than one that is simply handed to you is part of what makes these games so special - but on the other hand, it can feel like a chore and I dread the thought of doing this again in a way because I have to find them all again, without which most bosses will hit me like a freight train (and they still do). My minor complaints of elden ring are also mostly still here like very cryptic and confusing npc questlines, though granted, I definitely found them easier to progress without a guide than I did in the base game. The surprisingly unhelpful map and weirdly implemented verticality can be a bit frustrating to navigate, but both are somewhat minor inconveniences that rarely ever actively hindered my enjoyment of the game.

I have to talk about the bosses for a moment because my god there are some bangers here but they really do go all out in making the remembrance encounters as aggressive and brutal as possible. In a similar fashion to how fromsoft seemed to overtune malenia like they did, I feel as though the devs really felt the need to go all out here too because of the sheer size and scope of elden ring and the vastness of playstyles, builds and levels of progression. Fromsoft dlcs have a reputation that this lives up to in the fullest sense, offering some of the most intense, but also some of the most dynamic and gorgeous bosses they've ever done outside of sekiro. While obviously everything is technically avoidable and the entire game is undeniably very skill intensive, I couldn't help but feel like many of these bosses having these comedically enormous aoe attacks, overwhelming phase changes and insanely wide attack hitboxes was a big personal fuck you - but don't get me wrong, i'm at a point now where I just love it, even at its most headache-inducing I don't get salty like I used to, infact i'm left wanting more and saying 'thank you dark souls', guess that's what playing these games multiple times does to a man.

Infact, some of the fights here are all timers in the soulsborne catalogue, like Messmer, god I fucking LOVED fighting him; and of course that ludicrous final boss which was so heinous that it made me want my mummy and a milk carton. In general, elden ring bosses do follow much more dynamic and unpredictable attack patterns than i'm used to, which you need to look out for. You don't get to just punish between attacks freely without suffering for it, you need to be damn sure you've got a window (or you can just completely overwhelm the boss if you're that much stronger than them, which might be less likely to happen here because of the new scaling system and the cranked up stats.) But the more I play the more I appreciate the design of these bosses and the way they feel so scary and difficult to predict - Messmer for example has combo routes that throw in spinning attacks and thrust attacks which have completely different timing, but he telegraphs which he is going to do when he does it, so there is infact quite a small window to react and dodge/counter accordingly; once I got it down it just felt incredible. Many attack startups look quite similar but can have totally different 'windups' and what is usually a long combo of moves can sometimes just end abruptly as the boss starts coming toward you slowly giving you a chance to heal or use a spell or something, its hard to know how a boss fight is going to go each time you enter the arena for a rematch and that is stressful and sometimes annoying, but its also intense and so much fun in a different way to classic souls combat. In general I had a total whale of a time, but that certain dragon boss can fuck right off!

A must play for every soulsborne/elden ring fan and one of the greatest pieces of add-on content since the likes of the witcher 3's blood and wine and bloodborne: the old hunters. Constantly new and exciting and yet still so undeniably 'fromsoftware', i'm so glad I got to play a game as gargantuan and expectation-fulfilling as elden ring in my lifetime and even after finishing it multiple times i'd still be happy to do it all over again.

A much better put together game than the first one but also a lot more streamlined compared to the first. Where 1 feels like its throwing darts at the wall and sees what will stick. 2 is a lot more of a straight forward Point A to Point B action game. There isn't anything particularly wrong with that but its an observation i want to make and keep in mind with my replay of the series and see if the memory of "the series slowly devolved into and lost its identity to the pop culture idea of itself" is actually true. Gears exists in pop culture and memes as the dude bro action game for beer guzzling frat boys but you see in the first two games they are trying to be more than that. Sure its still filled with stuff put in the game because the devs thought it was cool, which is a design philosphy i am all for. But it tries to have more of a story than but some of it goes by so fast that it comes off comedic.

You spend an entire game trying to prevent the sinking of a city only for Marcus to hear a single voice recorded sentence of his father saying they should sink Jacinto and he is now going "we have to sink the city before they do." It looks and sounds stupid because its a complete 180 in a matter of seconds after hours of build up in the opposite direction. When you stop and think about it the idea makes sense. Marcus is a man that has been consumed by a world at war for 15 years and if this is the hail mary to stop it in one fell swoop he is gonna take it, for the good of humanity even if its a very difficult decision to make. As said by Adam Fenix in the game "end the war at the cost of humanity's last refuge"

To go back to the topic of Gears slowly leaning in to the memes of itself and morphing into the games everyone thought they were there is no better example of this than Marcus's voice performance by John DiMaggio. This was one of if not the biggest thing parodied at the time of the series peak in cultural relevance. In this first game his performance is a lot more subdued but in 2 DiMaggio is a lot more gruff sounding. He is putting a lot of tension on the muscles of his throat to give his voice this gravely texture to it which results in Marcus sounding a lot more aggressive. I can't say for certain what was the cause of the change in direction and if it caused more parody and memeing than what already existed but it definitely felt like it didn't help and was a sign of where the series was being steered towards.

Overall a good game if not a little bit more forgettable in areas than 1 because its mostly just hallway fight after hallway fight. Excited to replay 3 which was my favorite