Elden Ring FAILED Where Bloodborne Succeeded: A Late-Game Analysis

Thank you for watching! The clip of the Frenzied Flame ending was streamed on Twitch, so if that was fun, or you'd like to hang out, go follow me there! www.twitch.tv/thelegendofxander

I actually laughed when you said Malenia felt like she should be in a different game, because while I was fighting her I remember thinking "this girl is the best Devil May Cry boss ever" lol.

I could forgive almost all of the problems with Elden Ring's lategame if somebody would just turn down the amount of damage everything deals you post-Morgott.

100% Agree on Elden Beast. But my caveat would be this: Elden Beast is a vassal entity created by the Greater Will to maintain its control over the Lands Between. In the default endings, the Tarnished is attempting to become an Elden Lord under the Greater Will... which means it makes even LESS sense that the Elden Beast is trying to STOP you from from doing what it's boss wants. Instead, it should have been similar to the Moon Presence -- a final boss that only shows up under specific circumstances. Radagon (and maybe Marika, because I honestly have no issues with Radagon as a boss on his own) would be a boss if you were going for the any of the endings that have you mend the Elden Ring. On the other hand, if you take on the Flame of Frenzy, or complete Ranni's questline (which should, and in this hypothetical scenario WOULD, lock you into that ending), since you are attempting to oust the Greater Will from the Lands Between, THEN the Elden Beast would show up as a last-ditch effort to stop you. This would have made Elden Beast feel WAY more lore appropriate, and would have been a cool way to make a semi-secret final boss for players to discover. Also, please give us Torrent for that fight. The entire Elden Beast fight felt like it was built and balanced around the player having Torrent, but then they just got rid of them at the last second and didn't change anything else. Just imagine: you haven't seen Torrent since the Fire Giant. The whole of Farum Azula, possibly the Haligtree depending on your progression, Gideon (who is also a joke), Godfrey, and Radagon have been on foot. Then, during the cutscene for the Elden Beast, Torrent, who chose YOU, shows up of their own volition, and you hop on, ready to ride into one last battle.

i've heard in another video a good idea of the problems with the late bosses. "You're playing dark souls while every boss is fighting like Sekiro".

Something else about the taurus demon and Cappa demon is when you get later in the game you come to realize that what was so hard weren't bosses, but minions who got trapped

Another point about Bloodborne that was kinda grazed over when you talked about insight and the night changing is that different enemies also spawn in some areas. Main instance of this is Hemwick Charnel Lane. It my first few pmaythroughs I went there before I best Amelia then one time I decided to beat up Amelia first and the mobs the witches spawn started appearing. I never knew they spawned before that time because they are locked to spawn until after night. Another subtle change happens in cathedral ward after you have a certain level of insight. While the Amygdalas appearing is the major thing you notice, there are also changes to weapons of the enemies. The one with the scythe is now glowing showing off the arcane damage he deals that isn't visible before but you still take more damage. You can see the ones with the wooden stake snow covered in red what look like thorns showing off the frenzy build up they inflict. It's a very nice touch thats easily missed. Also quick note, while they do largely suck and are tedious to do I feel like Chalice Dungeons are worth mentioning in the end game. Having to search up glyphs to get exactly what you're looking for and having to use the rites and everything is quite annoying to do, but I actually like that there are bosses completely unique to the dungeons. My favorites are probably the ptumerian elders specifically the caster that makes different weapons, as well as the abhorrent beast, and the bloodletting beast. Sure getting paarl or rom with buffed up rites is a nightmare but some of the bosses just shined. It's a shame they were locked to this part of the game.

I think the biggest issue regarding all the items in ER is the way they're given to the player: completely unupgraded, be it a weapon or ash summon. Weapons I understand, but I think ashes should have been done differently, where instead of upgrading each individual ash, you, say, upgrade the bell. This could work too if there were say 2 bells, one for normal summons and one for special/legendary summons. This way the player would be encouraged to try every summon and not just immedietely pass them off as too weak to use. This would make summons more like pseudo spells Also, at the end there, I never realized that was Torent's ring, I thought it was the literal remains of the Elden Ring, but it being torrents ring makes more sense

When you consider the size of Elden Ring, I think FromSoft did a pretty damn good job. Ds3 is my favorite, but i loved elden ring. I believe most people did as well.

Correction: Orphan of Kos is hard, because nobody knows what the fuck he's doing, unless, after fighting him 50 times, you reach a state of clairvoyance and nirvana and just know by instinct what he will be doing

Here's one thing that I realized with ER. Going after a special weapon or item gives this whole Odyssey meets clash of the titans feel...because to get one weapon, you have to go fight an even more deadly challenge than your path originated...like perseus having to kill Medusa in order to kill the kraken. Needing her head to fight another boss.

Your take on Malenia is 100% how I feel, the first phase would feel so much more fun if either waterfowl didn’t exist or it existed as a transition thing like Godfreys’ pommel slam. The phase 1 feels fantastic once you learn the moves but once you get to the point its just a tedious game of “oh she’s slow walking at me but I better not try and hit her with my giant crusher or else I might die instantly,” completely ruins the flow of the fight. Winning doesn’t even feel good, cuz every time I’ve won against her it wasn’t because I mastered her moveset, its because RNG didn’t let her use one of her moves that near immediately kills you if you fuck up. Also it seems like waterfowl was designed to be dodged when not locked on which is weird asf

I noticed you didn't even MENTION the outright insult that was Gideon. He was built up over the entire game as a manipulative bastard, with agents and spies all over, entire bands of mercenaries at his beck and call. He seeks knowledge and power, to truly match his mantle of All-Knowing. He order the death of the entire village of Albinaurics just to get HALF a medallion that would get him to the Haligtree, which he only wants to reach so that he can aquire Miquella's knowledge and spells (and perhaps some magic from Malenia too). He's the one to figure out that Marika planned the Shattering the whole time, that she used Ranni and the Black Knives to kick things off by killing Godwyn, to give her an excuse to shatter the Elden Ring and throw the whole continent into chaos. That she doesn't want ANYONE to become Elden Lord, and wants all contenders to struggle unto eternity, effectively "starving out" the Greater Will as the passage of time combined with the Fractures Elden Ring forces the Outer God from the Lands Between entirely. All the teardrop scarabs have HIS symbol, are spying on your progress as he follows in your footsteps, gaining new spells with every Shardbearer you defeat. And then we get a fight against a guy with a hammer that spams spells all day. He also has virtually no poise, meaning his "boss fight," is just a mandatory, glorified NPC invasion. And you know hammers are awful in Elden Ring when even the AI Gideon doesn't actually use his scepter beyond the weapon skill. Speaking of, the weapon skill is just awful. 20% more magic damage to everyone including YOURSELF, for some reason. You'd think an All-Knowing guy would have figured out how to not have his own weapon debuff him. Then he just switches to a seal and a staff. Now, I don't have a problem with him spamming high-damage magic. It makes sense with his lore, and makes up for his minimal poise and low (relative compared to other bosses at that point in the game) health pool. But just picture this as a rework to Gideon: His hammer is instead a staff, that can cast both incantations AND sorceries, and requires a decent investment in both INT and FTH to compensate (30/30, maybe even 40/40). Which would be RIGHT up his alley for who he is. And instead of a blanket debuff, Knowledge Above All (the weapon skill) would instead do something that no one else in the entirety of the Lands Between could figure out how to do, including demigods: It would cast an area of effect, and anything within it would act like it was under Vow of Silence from DS3 -- you can cast any spells, and unlike the paltry 23 seconds of DS3, this would last a full minute. But more importantly, it wouldn't apply the debuff to the caster. If that happened, Gideon would be a FAR more credible threat to the player, a dangerous bossfight rather than a joke, and he makes up for his general squishiness by being an absolute powerhouse at range, with means to prevent you from fighting back outside of melee.

Bloodborne's final boss isn't even Gerhman nor the Moon Presence as they're technically optional, Mergo's Wet nurse is the actual final boss.

I've made countless builds in DS 3 - easily over 50. I've played Bloodborne at least 15 times, and it is probably my favorite PVE Souls game. During my first playthrough of ER, I thought, "this is probably the best From game I've ever played", but I just can't bear the thought of playing it a 2nd time. For me, the open world that suits the first playthrough so well really works against you for subsequent playthroughs.

I loved Elden Ring. My biggest problem with Elden Ring is that every time I want to reinstall and make a new toon I have to ask myself if I really feel like doing all that shit all over again and the answer is no. In DS1/3 I can chew throught the entire storyline in no time. But Elden Ring almost feels like gearing for mythic in WoW.

I agree with almost all your criticisms of Elden Beast, except that I felt it was hinted on by the Elden Stars description: “It is said that long ago, the Greater Will sent a golden star bearing a beast into the Lands Between, which would later become the Elden Ring.” So when I saw the Elden Beast I had the “Oh this guy” moment. But you’re right, it doesn’t work as well as the Moon Presence, whose precence we felt althroughout the game in BB.

Yeah I agree with this. For me, Elden Ring is just too big. It's a problem I have with most open world games. With Bloodborne I can make multiple characters and give them different stats to use different weapons because a play through doesn't take that long and it's paced well, it isn't frustrating to get through. With ER I made 3 characters then thought, I can't do anymore, I'm not having fun. Although unlike BB you can change the stats of a character so I suppose that helps a little.

Ds3 was the first one I played. I am an indecisive person, I wanted to use soul magic, a giant axe, healing spells, and obviously LIGHTNING. I ended up with a sickening quality build, and by the time I had got to soul of cinder, I was still ass. After the 5th-6th try I started to realize, he started using a curved sword when I did, and he would use the same soulmass spell. I thought I was literally fighting some kind of ai doppelgänger that could mimic my play style, which was kinda terrifying. Still pretty cool how it’s every player and lord of fire condensed into one tho

Honestly I'd be more ok with at least some recycling if we saw more things like the misbegotten in the consecrated snowfield where it used the model of the weapon it dropped and had a new move. Like the one in morn or even the one misbegotten that drops the rusty anchor having the anchor as a weapon would be SOMETHING!