Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Bosses - A Decline in FromSoft's Design

Before doing a massive ranking for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree bosses, it's time once again to discuss boss quality as a whole. While the best Elden Ring bosses tread close to greatness, the mediocre and worst of Elden Rings bosses feel more prominent than ever before. In this video, I'd like to discuss why with you. Stay tuned for a big ranking coming soon.

Video Sources:

Music (In order of appearance)
Momentum Mori - Crypt of the Necrodancer
Opening - Elden Ring
Even Dogs Get Lost Walking in This Town - Goemon's Great Adventure
Mohg, Lord of Blood - Elden Ring
Deep Inside - Max H
Pirates - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Vortex - Jonny Poole
Dust it off - Stanley Gurvich
Jouin High School - SMT V
Final Boss of DLC - Elden Ring
Sword Saint Ishin - Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Alien Manifestation - NieR Automata
Alternate Anticipation - A Hat in Time
Days of Sisters - Persona 5
Better Days - Cheese
Bayle the Dread - Elden Ring
Signal To Noise - Scott Buckley
"Scott Buckley - Signal To Noise" is under a Free To Use YouTube license

[thefailbender]

I’ve already beaten the DLC and I imagine the majority of players have as well at this point, but it’s a little odd to take time to warn about the final boss for the sake of avoiding spoilers, while at the same time making it the thumbnail.

[darkrootambush]

I mean, to be fair, you get a giant text wall explaining what scadutree fragments are for as soon as you inevitably find one

[JLHoskins]

I love how you left a spoiler warning but the final boss is the thumbnail lmao

[IssacTheScourge]

11:19 “Spoiler warning” You literally put the final boss as the thumbnail, why bother.

[gustavl]

I agree with the argument that its overly stingy that all 50 scadutree fragments are needed to max out your blessing, but I'm not buying the "poorly communicated" argument at all. There is a pop up when you pick up the first one, increasing your blessing is highlighted when resting at a site of grace, and hell - aren't people curious about new things they pick up???

The only improvment the system could use is to add more fragments/reduce the numbers needed to max out the blessing.

[athanatos]

Scadutree fragments are probably the most straightforward mechanic From Soft has ever put into a game. It is just a linear progression in power explained via a tutorial prompt, that constantly reminds players that it exists whenever they sit at a grace. It is more intuitive and communicated more clearly than weapon scaling ffs.

[polo_trousers]

8:10 is this a fucking joke 💀 the first thing you see when you open your inventory in the dlc is an explanation of how scadutree fragments work

[threemeters]

>radahn’s lightbeams are always behind you
>keeps rolling backwards
>???

[jointkay-yi]

When elden ring was released people said that they wanted to fight prime Radahn. Well, be careful what you wish for.

[renanbezerra]

I gotta be honest, Messmer is my new favorite from software boss

[latimaify]

Not gonna lie I have 18 of the 20 scadutree stuff just exploring my normal way so there was never really a problem with that for me. Like i did all of the coast stuff before I even went to the keep

[rhysofsneezingdragon]

I don't like the final boss' after effects very much, but it's honestly astounding watching you roll them not only wrong, but the same wrong, every single time.

Roll in. Just roll in. Like Bloodborne.

[Entro]

Fighting Bayle solo so many times that you learn his patterns then complaining that you can beat him easily with summons (now that you know his patterns) is a very strange argument to make

[SuperSlice]

legends say he still rolling backwards

[DarthVader-xhmo]

If they got rid of Radahn’s bullshit cross slash that is borderline unavoidable & toned down the blinding particle effects, he would be the perfect boss. The buildup, the bombastic choir cascading into beautiful vocals, the learnable move set (minus the occasionally janky hitbox & follow up light explosions) and spectacle only rivalled by accursed Bayle. He has the makings of one of the best bosses in the series, but suffers from the obnoxious mechanics (the aforementioned cross slash & epilepsy inducing flashes).

[davidfigueras]

The holy light shots from radahn should absolutely not count as their own attack, they are a supplement to a previous attack. If you forward dodge the same way you do in phase 1, they will not hit you. They only exist to prevent back rolling away from him, a habit that should be gone anyway after the last 50 bosses punish that manner of evasion

[axel]

Honestly, the only points i can agree on are the technical issues and the visual clutter in some fights, mostly 2nd phase Radahn. On everything else i have to disagree.

Scadutree fragments are incredibly straight forward and explained plainly. They reward every build and playstyle and finding an appropriate amount for whatever boss you are facing is not an issue as long as you explore a bit. You also don't need nearly all of them as anything after like 15 really doesn't make much of a difference due to diminishing returns. Maybe some people simply don't like the concept itself, but i found it really well implemented as an isolated upgrade system for the dlc.

The rememberance bosses are almost all amazing, too imo. Aside from a few specific hiccups (some of Dancing lion aoes and camera, Bayle camera, Gaius charge attack and Radahn's visual clutter as well as near undodgable combo), all bosses are well designed in almost every regard imo.
Messmer, Bayle and Midra are probably 3 of my favorites in the entire game now. Intricate movesets, incredible visuals, good lore, i honestly don't know what's not to love.

With all that being said, considering that you already had your issues with the bosses of the main game, i am not surprised to see the criticism now, but i think it is quite obvious that Elden Ring wants you to play differently than DS3. The game gives us so many tools and mechanics to overcome the bosses (and i'm not even talking about spirit ashes). Exploration and experimentation rewards you more than ever before. Respeccing is easier than ever before as well.
Sticking to one play style (judging from your footage only using the dual maces), playing the game like it's DS3 and then complaining about the game being unfair is quite frankly unfair towards the game imo. If you are unwilling to use any of the countless options provided by the game then you are literally doing a challenge run and you can't blame the game for things not going as you want them too. And once again, i am not talking about spirit ashes, i don't use them either.

I am also not saying that there are no issues at all with the game. There are plenty of flaws, and the dlc is no exception. But i can't help but feel that this specific criticism is misguided.

[hikou]

I think theres a hidden story in the subtext of why DeMod doesn't like this DLC. Look at how he describes himself. Pointing out his extensive experience with FromSoft games, challenges runs, speedruns, his deliberate attempt to craft a powerhouse build. DeMod is essentially listing reasons why he is entitled to succeed at this DLC given his pedigree.

I feel like I get where his frustrations are coming from because I myself take pride in being relatively "good" at FromSoft games. I haven't done any amazing challenges or anything, but I have beaten numerous tough bosses in 1-2 attempts blind and found myself feeling pretty proud. That same pride was the reason I found myself so initially frustrated with Radhn. I am a "good" player, I found none of the DLC bosses particularly challenging outside Rellanna, therefore, I should be able to beat Radahn without too much trouble.

I think DeMod's expectations for himself, built up by his past experiences make it hard for him to go back to that feeling of "oh shit, I have no idea how Im going to beat this guy".

I felt the same way initially. Now, that Ive had time to practice more and see guides that werent rushed out in the immediate wake of the DLC I can better appreciate the complexity of Radahn.

When you take a lot of pride in being good at something it can be challenging to attribute an unexpected hurdle to oneself. Its easier to protect the ego by coming up with reasons why you are not at fault and how everything else is too blame except yourself.

DeMod was so upset with his performance that he took it upon himself to post a bizarre rant complete with footage of himself making the same mistakes over and over on the same boss without a trace of irony. He rolls right into the light beams, heals at poor times, and generally makes the exact same errors we all do experiencing these games. The question is whether you take joy in the fact that one of your favorite devs found a way to challenge you again even after all this time. Or if you take the unfamiliar feeling of actually struggling in a FromSoft game again as a personal insult.

I was definitely the former but I am much clearer headed and a lot less salty now. I would encourage anyone who is convinced of the unfairness of any of the DLC bosses to watch some of the no-hit completions people have done. Perhaps it will change your perspective on the fairness of this DLC.

[pepeflamingo]

My opinion is everyone thought they were just going to go in and steamroll the dlc. I'm glad fromsoft didn't just make a squishy boss gauntlet.

[SereTheDoggoUwU]

I disagree about pretty much everything except for Radahn, and the blessing should have been more plentiful, but other than that I thought it was much more balanced than the base game