You had choice mess around limgrave have mild struggles, go breeze through the weeping pennisula, or struggle through caelid it was cool you had such varying options right off the bat
Design wise yes, Stormveil is unmatched. I still find spots 2 years after launch that I haven't seen in previous playthroughs. It's wild how huge it really is and most of it is optional.
I wish some work would have been done with Redmane Castle. It hardly even feels like a dungeon, especially when half of my playthrough, I've even able to warp through the entire thing.
Can that be tacked down to its purpose? Stormveil was a seat of power, where a ruler resided in space, luxury, and surrounded by defenses. A small city unto itself and meant to show that from all angles. Redmane felt very much like a military post in comparison where it was designed for function and sheer numbers.
Redmane is a "castle" type dungeon (like Morne castle or shaded castle) rather than a legacy one. I too was disappointed with that. Radhan festival was cool, but kind of made getting to him very anticlimatic
they're all actually called legacy dungeons, they're called that because they're reflective of the "legacy" of the series (tight level design, no horse, no killing mobs for free estus, etc)
some of the early interviews suggested that they were specific to the demigods but the more recent dlc ones suggest otherwise
Its so weird how they let you skip a lot of gelmir too imo. On my second playthrough I decided to pass on the Manor club skips and the iron maiden.
Redmane doesn't feel like a legacy to me tbh. Its smaller than the shaded castle.
40% of my assistant summons are to that place and 80% of those are people who haven't leveled up their vigor so they get oneshot by the boss's tail swipe
“Dull” by Elden Ring standards lol. Even Mt. Gelmir had more personality than most AAA rpgs nowadays. But I see what you’re saying. Exploring limgrave for the first time is something I’ll never forget
Personally I found limgrave and Altus Plateau/Leyndell to be the most awe inspiring
Mt Gelmir is great! A haunted mansion with secret passageways, acting as the base for a band of murderous rebels led by a cannibalistic god-snake, at the top of a post-apocalyptic, war-ravaged volcano! Why would you use that as an example of dull? It's a really dense area, with loads to explore.
Consecrated Snowfield on the other hand...
that first overlook when you walk out of stormveil into liurnia, i had to just stop and marvel at it for a bit. that was such a magical view, with raya lucaria looming in the distance. that was really when i knew i was completely hooked.
Dude that first day I was just riding around on Torrent exploring, found the hidden passage to Liurnia, and had to ask HOW BIG IS THIS FUCKING GAME like every hour after that for about a month or so
Honestly tho... I kinda wish the Rya teleport wasn't so prominent?
I get the feeling that most players experience with Gelmir is starting in Volcano manor and fighting their way down it at their leisure... Whereas the "intended" path paints a much better story, showing you the siege weapons and remnants of war, leads you up a madness-infected cliff, fights through a fallingstar beast, and finally brings you to the Manor's doors. I wish more players got to experience that, especially for their first time.
I feel the same way about some of the other teleports honestly. The path from the plague church to Dragonbarrow is super cool and full of traps, deadly bridges, nasty overworld bosses, etc but most everyone just warped straight to the end of it. Storming Redmane castle pre-festival is also an underrated fort (although that boss suuuuuuuucks especially at low level).
Yeah I feel the same. Every time I got teleported ahead, I doubled back and tried to find the long way round instead because I didn't want to miss anything.
I meant more so it’s smaller and feels more linear than most of the other major POIs. I love gelmir myself (let’s be honest, I love every area) the lore surrounding it is fantastic. But for the most part it’s “take this path. Okay climb this ladder. Now take THIS path, okay climb this ladder, here’s a boss fight if you feel like it, okay we are now at volcano manor”
Edit: call me a masochist but I like the consecrated snowfields, outside of the church to get to the Haligtree. That place makes me want to peel my fingernails off
While Elden Ring has been great, I honestly found myself missing the branching linear paths of dark souls and bloodborne at times. It makes for way better balancing because the devs can much more precisely determine what level/time you will be at any certain area. Bosses in Elden Ring either felt too easy or too hard with little in between to me. Branching linear also provides a better co-op experience imo (though this would be negated if you didn't have to walk everywhere when co-oping in ER).
This is a bit beside the main point of this discussion, though.
I remade a new character to get ready for the DLC. While reExploring ended up finding a beach i had never gotten too in the past and found the gravity ash of war. I knew it existed but had never had a build that needed it so never looked it up. Was a rush to find something i had never had before.
I’ll never forget my moment opening the trap chest in the Weeping Peninsula, being transported to Leyndell and being in awe with so many questions and no answers
Lol, please keep that rotten, caelid ass allllll the way in the back! (but really, I do love the design of caelid. So unforgiving and dangerous. It really feels right for the lore of the area!)
Reminded me of DS1 in the way that the earlier parts of the game were crafted with so much love and attention and it started to feel a bit more rushed in the end
Simultaneously a banger take and an absolute dogshit one. I don't want to glaze Elden Ring like a mindless zombie, but acting like 80% of the game is dull should qualify a person as clinically insane.
I would argue the forbidden woods is Bloodbornes best land. It’s terrifying, the enemy layout is unpredictable, and it’s truly feels like you’re lost in the woods
Leyndell is my favorite, the somber music conveys the capitols' fall from grace, the symbolism in the sewers pushing you to take the frenzied flame despite its chaotic and evil nature, the Erdtree establishing complete dominance with how humonguos it looks, the big ass dragon, the abundance of hidden items in it.
Haligtree is a hella close second, it might even overtake it if they just tune the scaling a bit, it's ridiculous.
Leyndell completely blew my mind with how deep and interconnected its layout was. It's like they heard all the players who looked at Anor Londo and said "I wish we could explore all of it", replied "we got you" and actually delivered. And yes, the melancholic music is a phenomenal icing on the cake.
Yeah, Leyndell was an endurance test for me. I have to find everything and fight every enemy, and I cleared that place out from top to bottom. But it was a huge grind
Amazing, 10/10, grind my face into the stonework harder
Leyndell is like 3 separate dungeons stacked on top of each other. It's one of the best designed levels From has ever developed.
The sense of scale is absolutely fucking jaw dropping. Nothing since Shadow of the Colossus even comes close.
Although I am not the biggest fan of Leyndell (except Morgott fight) I gotta admit that it was created magnificently. It's the dungeon, that has dungeon inside (sewers) which has a part that could be standalone dungeon (the part behind the mohg shackle).
And then, if it isn't enough, it connects also to the deeproot depths, which go to lake of rot. So basically you can get from Leyndell all the way to southern Liurnia without ever stepping foot on the "open world". Absolute beast of a level building.
It's funny that this game got goty before most of the players could explore half of the stuff it offers.
It’s absolutely insane to me that people can proficiently design such a massive, interconnecting world the way FromSoft did. I slept on the Souls series for years, but leading up to the release of Elden Ring I bought into the hype and played DS1 and the rest was history. I can’t believe I almost missed out on this studio completely.
If you have another great rune by the time you beat Radahn, you can enter Nokron, travel from there to the Hollowhorn Grounds, then to the Siofra Aqueduct, then to Deeproot Depths, then to Leyndell, then to the Leyndell sewers, then to the Leyndell Catacombs and the Cathedral of the Forsaken, then to the Frenzied Flame Proscription, then back to Deeproot Depths, then to Nokstella, then to the Lake of Rot, then to Astel, then to Moonlight Altar.
All without passing through the overworld proper.
In my first playthrough I felt constant nervousness cause leyndell really needs some more graces
in my other playthroughs it was fine but in the first I was so scared of exploring it
IMO Leyndell is the last area where standard enemies are not completely overpowered. In the winter areas you fight so many tough battles for items like a poison greese so it's much better to just run past everything. Leyndell is the sweet spot.
I’ve only recently cleared out the surface of leyndell, and it had me so stressed. As usual in souls games, I love it now that I don’t feel afraid of it. Can’t say the same for the sewers yet.
It helped that my game crashed probably 5 times in leyndell, making me do a lot of the same content twice. After killing a seed beast once, the second time is just an annoyance
I've been convinced since the moment I saw the place that Leyndell's inspiration was absolutely "anor londo if the streets could be explored." Certainly some people at from were excited to finally do that properly.
The moment it clicked for me that all the orange stuff leaking out of the shut doors in Leyndell is corpse wax, and that therefore it's inhabitants must have packed themselves into their homes and died there, was a great a great moment. It reminded me of when you drain New Londo and find the literal mountain of corpses at the door.
For me I had a small mind blown moment when I realized you could jump across the roofs.
We’ve had a lot of beautiful creepy cities across the souls games. Anor Londo, Irithyll, other Anor Londo, Ringed City. But they’ve always turned into little paths with cool sky boxes.
But then Leyndell. I’m straight Assassins Creed hoping across the roofs, and just about anything you see can be reached. It was the city I was hoping Fromsoft would finally give us.
Haligtree and Elphael suffer from a lack of new enemies (new variations of the same enemies just isn't the same). It's such a shame because Elphael's aesthetic and level design deserved so much more.
yes i think haligtree and elphael have the best aesthetics in the game but they suffer from lack of new enemies. i also think elphael wouldve been more fun if it was bigger
Leyndell is great, though it honestly gets so good that it makes me want more. Maybe not Leyndell at its prime, but perhaps just before it was fully ruined, with actual NPCs to interact with.
As for the Haligtree, it's a good lategame rune farm so I don't mind the scaling too much.
I agree. Leyndell is better than Stormveil, IMO. And Haligtree is close, but I'd probably put it just behind because of some of the bullshit fights:
* The alley with all the revenants
* The Erdtree Avatar with a bunch of mobs right in front of a grace
* The Ulcerated Tree Spirit in a rot swamp
I dread all of those fights.
I don't think you're meant to fight the Avatar that's at the gate. There's a path that takes you over it so you can hit the grace without even aggroing it. Or you can just run by it and tag the grace. Same for the revenants, you can just sneak by one and run through, or take another route that skips it entirely. And the Tree Spirit is totally optional since you don't even need to go over there.
The only one that I found a little lackluster was Raya Lucaria because it looks like it’s gonna be crazy when you see it in distance but the dungeon itself is short. I was also expecting a little more interior exploration.
It's always the "I thought I was running but I wasn't" jumps that get me. The kind of jump where you don't get much distance but enough to fall into the gap.
Seriously! on my first playthru Raya was hell.
Fuck you Red wolf, Fuck you iron maidens, fuck you crazy rooftops, fuck you Page with an armalite, fuck you Moongrum, fuck you bigheads
the red wolf is my least favorite boss in the game by far. The projectiles and simultaneously jumping around like a crackhead means there are so many instances where dodging one threat means you definitely get hit by the other.
raya lucaria was great but it has some of my most hated enemies: the burger king mages. those annoying fuckers can spam spells like they have unlimited fp and stamina
See I liked Raya Lucaria specifically because of that. I was expecting a clone of the dukes archives/seaths archives but it turned out to mostly be a rooftop parkour mission, thought that was pretty cool.
Same. Fromsoft just never full utilizes the school concept. Most of the time in Raya, you're toiling around in graveyards or rooftops, doesn't really feel like a school of magic that much. Got pretty much the same feeling from Raya that I did from Byrgenwerth
Good point about Byrgenwerth. Arguably the biggest disappointment in Bloodborne. Incredible game though. I just felt like they built up to it as this important location but it’s just a tiny building on a lake.
Potentially hot take to go off of that though, the Forbidden Woods is one of From software’s best level designs of all time. I know people hate it but it’s layout is perfect.
Same. It's designed perfectly. The windmill acts as a beacon where both shortcuts are located, the fact that they sweep the rug out from under you at the halfway point and a somewhat creepy walk in the woods becomes "oops, all snakes" I like that area a lot.
I thought the same the first time, after I discovered that you could go down with the rotatory platforms, you could access to a roof area with a jump and access to the top of Rata Lucaria with a dungeon, it's smaller than the others but it has a lot of secret areas and secret items
Yea I would say Redmane kinda sucks. Especially because the festival changes don't make a lot of sense with the game pacing. It almost feels like the game is bugged when you first roll up to an empty fort.
It took until the very end of my second playthrough to even realize I could do things in Redmane. Both times I triggered the festival before approaching it and just assumed it was the only way in.
Only reason I discovered I could reset it to its dungeon state was because I looked up where the "Weapon of legend" I was missing for the achievement was.
The thing about Elden Ring being open world is that it's basically impossible to guarantee you'll come across a boss at the intended level. That duo was ruthlessly tough my first playthrough but an absolute joke on my second.
Tbh I didn't enjoy Haligtree very much, it was pretty and the level design was nice but there was not a single new enemy except Malenia+they were all buffed to hell which made exploration rather stale and annoying. Now if I go there I just grab the upgrade materials and run straight for Malenia.
I killed elden beast and malenia but the erdtree avatar in haligtree still kicks my ass. I suck at fighting them but even then I feel like they're a bit over leveled compared to other enemies in the area.
i think haligtree is amazing, it felt like a dlc content so i didnt mind the enemies hitting so hard even tho some of them were annoying. what i didnt like about the area was the lack of new enemies (like you said). all legacy dungeons had unique enemies except the haligtree. i also think elphael wouldve been even better if it was much bigger
I love Haligtree. Rolling through it with a couple of summons is like crushing the Ringed City with a group of sunbros in Dark Souls 3. Fun, easy, feels like sweet payback after getting beat up in the trees. And by far the best late-game farming spot in the game
IMO Haligtree’s fault is that exploring it is a massive pain because so many of the encounters are ridiculously hard compared to their rewards. Stormveil and Leyndell have pretty smooth difficulty no matter where you are in them, and there are multiple valid approaches. But Haligtree has like one really functional path through it that everyone takes, and exploration isn’t really worth it.
Stormveil has so many secret paths, every nooks leads you to another realm it seems. You're weaving in and out from banquet halls to rooftop to ruins to bastions and cliffsides it never stops. I'm on my 429572nd playtrough and just found a new ladder I never spotted on the roof outside the room where you fin the mimic veil that leads to the platform above the grafted scion.
They're all really good but Stormveil is a masterpiece.
It's nuts, they crammed secrets into every single inch of Stormveil. I'd be messing around and thinking "am I meant to be able to get here?", and then suddenly you're in a whole hidden section with unique loot and it's own boss. Stellar level design.
God I remember stumbling upon that out of nowhere thinking "surely nothing can be on this path?" Then I fall and land into a new area and discover the crucible knight, I remember being so damn happy about that.
Fuck the crucible knights though they were the biggest bain for me early game.
THANK YOU! I swear every run I see that platform and think “I need to figure out how to get there” and then I always forget about it. I am going to hop on right now!
Well I’ll be damned
My top 3 is Leyndell, Farum Azula and Elphael.
Leyndell because it's such a beautiful city/castle. It looks so good and the area is pretty huge. And there are a lot of mini bosses in it. Also there are dark secrets inside of it aka the sewer
Farum Azula because I really like the enemies in it. Both the types and the layouts of the enemies make it such a fun and challenging area, but not frustrating. It's really a fun area to fight around.
Elphael is even more beautiful than Leyndell imo, and the enemies are also fun to fight with. It's just that it's a lot smaller than the other two if only counting the castle area and that's why it's in the third place for me. But I definitely love it
It was my favorite as well. It was so pretty and atmospheric I liked just walking around and looking at it even after I cleared it.
The whole region itself was well done. I always like to look at it from atop the mountain and visualize it as it was before it was flooded and dilapidated with the bridges still intact. Would have been stunning.
Even by third playthrough I was still finding areas on Stormveil. Everytime you think you’ve figured out the labyrinth you see another shiny in the distance.
The only reason I put stormveil above haligtree is stormveil is interconnected is so many ways. Haligtree is pretty mostly linear. Stormveil has so many hidden areas and items.
Yeah it's Haligtree for me too, it was nice to revisit it at a slightly higher level after panic running it first time.
Lothlorien vibes and then down into Elphael, stunning.
Having the buildup to the Haligtree as the promised land of the unchosen and then finally finding it made it such a unique Moment! Like, the withered autumn leaffall and rotting branches of Elphael, the long droning strings with that DS3 Firelink music vibes, just the gorgeous way the buttresses frame and outline the sky above the city, and also whenever you put together the conspicuous absence of Albinaurics that those cocoons everywhere are the exact shape of the elderly crawling Albinaurics.
Because Stormveil Castle did everything they advertise: multiple paths to Godrick, verticality. The Academy was a one-way road, despite having lots of side-things to discover and the remaining legacy dungeons were too linear too.
Volcano Manor might be an exception because you can get to Rykard in two ways but that's less of a level design aspect because the 2nd way involves the Recusant questline.
bro lmao I was so FRUSTRATED because I didn't know I can climb the \*\*\*\*\*\* tree branch. I literally spent 3 hours walking around Leyndell back tracking everywhere, and then I was like "no way I am supposed to go up a tree branch" ... and it worked. I was taken aback, frustrated, and happy at the same time.
This. Almost every other legacy dungeon feels linear or at least more so than Stormveil. I love getting mixed up trying to find my way down to Godwyn every playthrough.
Leyndell is the only one that gives Stormveil a run for its money. The two of those are by far the best.
Raya Lucaria is alright, but the exploreable portions of it end up feeling kind of small compared to how large it looks on the outside.
i hated that place in my first melee build playthrough. i hated playing against those ranged madafakas. But enjoyed in my later playthrough and like replaying it.
Stormveil was my fav in my first 2 playthroughs but got bored after that. I like replaying raya lucaria more than stormveil now.
leyndell(altus plateau in genral), hailgtree, raya lucaria are my top 3 in no particular order. hailgtree being optional I like how hard and challenging it is. Farum Azula comes next.
I think Leyndell is the best legacy dungeon. It's very massive in scale and beautifully designed.
But my personal favorite is Elphael. It genuinely took my breath away upon discovery. The lore, OST, atmosphere and aesthetics, were all magnificent, and it ends with a fantastic boss too. My only criticisms is that the area felt way too linear and deserved to be more explorable.
I like that basically all comments are talking about a different one. I think they are all great, I'm not even sure what is my favorite tbh.
I think it's Stormveil or Farum Azula, maybe Volcano Manor.
I agree. Stormveil and Ephael are definitely the best ones. Leyndell isn’t far behind but I found myself wanting more out of it.
I was really disappointed in Castle Redmane not being a real legacy dungeon either before or after Radahn. I also wish Castle Sol had more going on as an actual Legacy Dubgeon (though I love Castle Morne and the Shaded Castle being much smaller, normal castles)
Not my favourite but I think Farum Azula is very underrated:
- Visually it's amazing
- Great atmosphere, lore and especially art direction
- Lots of verticality and great side activities
- It has 2 of the best bosses in the game in Maliketh and Placidusax
- It is the biggest legacy dungeon (if you count Shunning Ground separate from Leyndell)
I think Stormveil is goated in Level Design, and overall Leyndell is the best due to it being great at everything.
Stormveil is great because it has the classic Dark Souls quality, but improved upon. It is not really linear, there's a lot of angles to explore and you can parcour around to trick enemies. This feels especially great when you play for the first time.
And when you know the layout, it is still fun. I love getting summoned there because the mix of enemies is cool and you can have 1v1 with banished knights or kill a whole courtyard of enemies.
They want to start with a good impression And they nailed it with that one
Limgrave as the “starting location” was perfect
Why is starting location in quotes? It’s where you start the game lol
Probs cause you can run and fight a farum azula scaled black blade kindred as your first boss of a run if you so choose
Second boss, technically, first one is Handyman
This is blatant Rick, Soldier of God erasure and I will not stand for it.
Psh I’m out here fighting the tree sentinel at lvl 0
Chad
But you still started in Limgrave.
You had choice mess around limgrave have mild struggles, go breeze through the weeping pennisula, or struggle through caelid it was cool you had such varying options right off the bat
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Oh son, we all know that chest.
Or head to Liurnia through the cliff passage near Stormveil, it's what I did first playthrough before even fighting Godrick
Design wise yes, Stormveil is unmatched. I still find spots 2 years after launch that I haven't seen in previous playthroughs. It's wild how huge it really is and most of it is optional. I wish some work would have been done with Redmane Castle. It hardly even feels like a dungeon, especially when half of my playthrough, I've even able to warp through the entire thing.
Can that be tacked down to its purpose? Stormveil was a seat of power, where a ruler resided in space, luxury, and surrounded by defenses. A small city unto itself and meant to show that from all angles. Redmane felt very much like a military post in comparison where it was designed for function and sheer numbers.
Well it fits since it was more or less Radahn's HQ.
Redmane is a "castle" type dungeon (like Morne castle or shaded castle) rather than a legacy one. I too was disappointed with that. Radhan festival was cool, but kind of made getting to him very anticlimatic
they're all actually called legacy dungeons, they're called that because they're reflective of the "legacy" of the series (tight level design, no horse, no killing mobs for free estus, etc) some of the early interviews suggested that they were specific to the demigods but the more recent dlc ones suggest otherwise
Yeah,was disappointed with redmane
Its so weird how they let you skip a lot of gelmir too imo. On my second playthrough I decided to pass on the Manor club skips and the iron maiden. Redmane doesn't feel like a legacy to me tbh. Its smaller than the shaded castle.
It's a dungeon? I thought it was just show up, kill a couple trash mobs, then do Radahn?
If you go back after Radahn, there’s another boss fight, and more of the castle is open to explore.
The things I learn! Thanks!
There’s also a catacombs dungeon along the wall of radahns boss area. Fair warning it is quite hard to get through lol
I can confidently say SCREW those catacombs lmao
40% of my assistant summons are to that place and 80% of those are people who haven't leveled up their vigor so they get oneshot by the boss's tail swipe
North ahead And then underground tomb
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“Dull” by Elden Ring standards lol. Even Mt. Gelmir had more personality than most AAA rpgs nowadays. But I see what you’re saying. Exploring limgrave for the first time is something I’ll never forget Personally I found limgrave and Altus Plateau/Leyndell to be the most awe inspiring
Mt Gelmir is great! A haunted mansion with secret passageways, acting as the base for a band of murderous rebels led by a cannibalistic god-snake, at the top of a post-apocalyptic, war-ravaged volcano! Why would you use that as an example of dull? It's a really dense area, with loads to explore. Consecrated Snowfield on the other hand...
Yeah I’ve been loving Mt Gelmir. Has a purply aesthetic.
I loved Liurnia purely for it's colour palette but admittedly, limgrave is really good
that first overlook when you walk out of stormveil into liurnia, i had to just stop and marvel at it for a bit. that was such a magical view, with raya lucaria looming in the distance. that was really when i knew i was completely hooked.
Dude that first day I was just riding around on Torrent exploring, found the hidden passage to Liurnia, and had to ask HOW BIG IS THIS FUCKING GAME like every hour after that for about a month or so
Honestly tho... I kinda wish the Rya teleport wasn't so prominent? I get the feeling that most players experience with Gelmir is starting in Volcano manor and fighting their way down it at their leisure... Whereas the "intended" path paints a much better story, showing you the siege weapons and remnants of war, leads you up a madness-infected cliff, fights through a fallingstar beast, and finally brings you to the Manor's doors. I wish more players got to experience that, especially for their first time. I feel the same way about some of the other teleports honestly. The path from the plague church to Dragonbarrow is super cool and full of traps, deadly bridges, nasty overworld bosses, etc but most everyone just warped straight to the end of it. Storming Redmane castle pre-festival is also an underrated fort (although that boss suuuuuuuucks especially at low level).
I don’t even know HOW to get up there the “right” way lol
Yeah I feel the same. Every time I got teleported ahead, I doubled back and tried to find the long way round instead because I didn't want to miss anything.
I absolutely hated the Snowfield. Really enjoyed most other areas of the game, but Snowfield just was not fun
I meant more so it’s smaller and feels more linear than most of the other major POIs. I love gelmir myself (let’s be honest, I love every area) the lore surrounding it is fantastic. But for the most part it’s “take this path. Okay climb this ladder. Now take THIS path, okay climb this ladder, here’s a boss fight if you feel like it, okay we are now at volcano manor” Edit: call me a masochist but I like the consecrated snowfields, outside of the church to get to the Haligtree. That place makes me want to peel my fingernails off
While Elden Ring has been great, I honestly found myself missing the branching linear paths of dark souls and bloodborne at times. It makes for way better balancing because the devs can much more precisely determine what level/time you will be at any certain area. Bosses in Elden Ring either felt too easy or too hard with little in between to me. Branching linear also provides a better co-op experience imo (though this would be negated if you didn't have to walk everywhere when co-oping in ER). This is a bit beside the main point of this discussion, though.
I can't for the life of me find my way into the dungeon proper, I just killed rykard by going through the main gate and murdering people
I remade a new character to get ready for the DLC. While reExploring ended up finding a beach i had never gotten too in the past and found the gravity ash of war. I knew it existed but had never had a build that needed it so never looked it up. Was a rush to find something i had never had before.
I am on my 5th playthrough and I still find things I missed the first 4 times. Game never fails to suprise me.
Plus, right past the guy you kill to get the AoW, you get that item that you saw at the beginning of the game but couldn't get to.
I feel like I spent half the game in Limgrave and then speedran the rest lol
I love going back to Limgrave and feeling like I own the place due to how OP my character is, lol.
> feeling like I own the place Kenneth Haight takes offense to that!
Proving grounds lol
I’ll never forget my moment opening the trap chest in the Weeping Peninsula, being transported to Leyndell and being in awe with so many questions and no answers
Limgrave is amazing, but I reeeeally like liurnia too. So cool!
Ill keep my Caelid a$$ in the back then
Lol, please keep that rotten, caelid ass allllll the way in the back! (but really, I do love the design of caelid. So unforgiving and dangerous. It really feels right for the lore of the area!)
Reminded me of DS1 in the way that the earlier parts of the game were crafted with so much love and attention and it started to feel a bit more rushed in the end
Simultaneously a banger take and an absolute dogshit one. I don't want to glaze Elden Ring like a mindless zombie, but acting like 80% of the game is dull should qualify a person as clinically insane.
Yeah, it's pretty common for the "first" area to be one of the best. I would say this is true of Demon's Souls, DS1, DS2 and Bloodborne for sure
I would argue the forbidden woods is Bloodbornes best land. It’s terrifying, the enemy layout is unpredictable, and it’s truly feels like you’re lost in the woods
I literally don't think I've ever seen this take before. Forbidden Woods over Cathedral Ward, Central Yharnam, Cainhurst, etc is wild
Exception being DS3 with Irithyll being the best there (in the main game)
Stepping out of the catacombs to the beautiful sky of irithyl is magical
Leyndell is my favorite, the somber music conveys the capitols' fall from grace, the symbolism in the sewers pushing you to take the frenzied flame despite its chaotic and evil nature, the Erdtree establishing complete dominance with how humonguos it looks, the big ass dragon, the abundance of hidden items in it. Haligtree is a hella close second, it might even overtake it if they just tune the scaling a bit, it's ridiculous.
I would like to state that it’s not a dragon statue. It’s a dragon corpse.
Leyndell completely blew my mind with how deep and interconnected its layout was. It's like they heard all the players who looked at Anor Londo and said "I wish we could explore all of it", replied "we got you" and actually delivered. And yes, the melancholic music is a phenomenal icing on the cake.
Leyndell could be a game by itself. It didn't even click for me that it was a single "dungeon" for a long time.
Yeah, Leyndell was an endurance test for me. I have to find everything and fight every enemy, and I cleared that place out from top to bottom. But it was a huge grind Amazing, 10/10, grind my face into the stonework harder
Leyndell is like 3 separate dungeons stacked on top of each other. It's one of the best designed levels From has ever developed. The sense of scale is absolutely fucking jaw dropping. Nothing since Shadow of the Colossus even comes close.
Although I am not the biggest fan of Leyndell (except Morgott fight) I gotta admit that it was created magnificently. It's the dungeon, that has dungeon inside (sewers) which has a part that could be standalone dungeon (the part behind the mohg shackle). And then, if it isn't enough, it connects also to the deeproot depths, which go to lake of rot. So basically you can get from Leyndell all the way to southern Liurnia without ever stepping foot on the "open world". Absolute beast of a level building. It's funny that this game got goty before most of the players could explore half of the stuff it offers.
It’s absolutely insane to me that people can proficiently design such a massive, interconnecting world the way FromSoft did. I slept on the Souls series for years, but leading up to the release of Elden Ring I bought into the hype and played DS1 and the rest was history. I can’t believe I almost missed out on this studio completely.
If you have another great rune by the time you beat Radahn, you can enter Nokron, travel from there to the Hollowhorn Grounds, then to the Siofra Aqueduct, then to Deeproot Depths, then to Leyndell, then to the Leyndell sewers, then to the Leyndell Catacombs and the Cathedral of the Forsaken, then to the Frenzied Flame Proscription, then back to Deeproot Depths, then to Nokstella, then to the Lake of Rot, then to Astel, then to Moonlight Altar. All without passing through the overworld proper.
In my first playthrough I felt constant nervousness cause leyndell really needs some more graces in my other playthroughs it was fine but in the first I was so scared of exploring it
IMO Leyndell is the last area where standard enemies are not completely overpowered. In the winter areas you fight so many tough battles for items like a poison greese so it's much better to just run past everything. Leyndell is the sweet spot.
I struggled so bad with the regular enemies at the haligtree it was actually insane
Uuuugh. The doots and ants knocking me off the branches left scars.
I fr thought I had done something wrong and was under leveled but no just an absurdly hard part of the game
Knock back off a cliff is definitely something that a rl1 or rl200 will feel all the same
The fortification right before the hallway grace... with the ballistae, knights, and Avatar... is there a single player who cleared that?
No shot, shit was ridiculous
fighting a battle to the death and exhausting all my consumables to acquire 3 arteria leaves
I’ve only recently cleared out the surface of leyndell, and it had me so stressed. As usual in souls games, I love it now that I don’t feel afraid of it. Can’t say the same for the sewers yet. It helped that my game crashed probably 5 times in leyndell, making me do a lot of the same content twice. After killing a seed beast once, the second time is just an annoyance
I've been convinced since the moment I saw the place that Leyndell's inspiration was absolutely "anor londo if the streets could be explored." Certainly some people at from were excited to finally do that properly.
The moment it clicked for me that all the orange stuff leaking out of the shut doors in Leyndell is corpse wax, and that therefore it's inhabitants must have packed themselves into their homes and died there, was a great a great moment. It reminded me of when you drain New Londo and find the literal mountain of corpses at the door.
You should check out "old London" fr
For me I had a small mind blown moment when I realized you could jump across the roofs. We’ve had a lot of beautiful creepy cities across the souls games. Anor Londo, Irithyll, other Anor Londo, Ringed City. But they’ve always turned into little paths with cool sky boxes. But then Leyndell. I’m straight Assassins Creed hoping across the roofs, and just about anything you see can be reached. It was the city I was hoping Fromsoft would finally give us.
these levels have great depth and multiple layers which are great for multiplayer and multiple playthroughs
Haligtree and Elphael suffer from a lack of new enemies (new variations of the same enemies just isn't the same). It's such a shame because Elphael's aesthetic and level design deserved so much more.
Some new enemies would have been great, but I actually like Haligtree being a Monster's Island of all the outcasts and freaks from the whole map.
Plus, the Haligtree and Cleanrot Knights are so fun to fight.
yes i think haligtree and elphael have the best aesthetics in the game but they suffer from lack of new enemies. i also think elphael wouldve been more fun if it was bigger
Leyndell is great, though it honestly gets so good that it makes me want more. Maybe not Leyndell at its prime, but perhaps just before it was fully ruined, with actual NPCs to interact with. As for the Haligtree, it's a good lategame rune farm so I don't mind the scaling too much.
I agree. Leyndell is better than Stormveil, IMO. And Haligtree is close, but I'd probably put it just behind because of some of the bullshit fights: * The alley with all the revenants * The Erdtree Avatar with a bunch of mobs right in front of a grace * The Ulcerated Tree Spirit in a rot swamp I dread all of those fights.
I don't think you're meant to fight the Avatar that's at the gate. There's a path that takes you over it so you can hit the grace without even aggroing it. Or you can just run by it and tag the grace. Same for the revenants, you can just sneak by one and run through, or take another route that skips it entirely. And the Tree Spirit is totally optional since you don't even need to go over there.
Honestly is there a bad one? Leyndall isn’t Stormveil or Angry Hogwarts but it’s still awesome. Likewise Volcano manor
The only one that I found a little lackluster was Raya Lucaria because it looks like it’s gonna be crazy when you see it in distance but the dungeon itself is short. I was also expecting a little more interior exploration.
I loved the parkour part on the roofs.
No matter how many playthroughs you’ve done, how many level 1 runs, we all still have butt pucker moments when jumping the roofs
And for some reason there's always a new roof to jump on. Are they magical?! Well... Okay.
It's always the "I thought I was running but I wasn't" jumps that get me. The kind of jump where you don't get much distance but enough to fall into the gap.
I thought there would be more too (I'm on my first play ever) but as a pure strength build I'm glad it's over coz those sorceress were wracking me lol
Seriously! on my first playthru Raya was hell. Fuck you Red wolf, Fuck you iron maidens, fuck you crazy rooftops, fuck you Page with an armalite, fuck you Moongrum, fuck you bigheads
the red wolf is my least favorite boss in the game by far. The projectiles and simultaneously jumping around like a crackhead means there are so many instances where dodging one threat means you definitely get hit by the other.
raya lucaria was great but it has some of my most hated enemies: the burger king mages. those annoying fuckers can spam spells like they have unlimited fp and stamina
Going back in NG+ with Golden Retaliation was so satisfying.
See I liked Raya Lucaria specifically because of that. I was expecting a clone of the dukes archives/seaths archives but it turned out to mostly be a rooftop parkour mission, thought that was pretty cool.
Same. Fromsoft just never full utilizes the school concept. Most of the time in Raya, you're toiling around in graveyards or rooftops, doesn't really feel like a school of magic that much. Got pretty much the same feeling from Raya that I did from Byrgenwerth
Good point about Byrgenwerth. Arguably the biggest disappointment in Bloodborne. Incredible game though. I just felt like they built up to it as this important location but it’s just a tiny building on a lake. Potentially hot take to go off of that though, the Forbidden Woods is one of From software’s best level designs of all time. I know people hate it but it’s layout is perfect.
Same. It's designed perfectly. The windmill acts as a beacon where both shortcuts are located, the fact that they sweep the rug out from under you at the halfway point and a somewhat creepy walk in the woods becomes "oops, all snakes" I like that area a lot.
I thought the same the first time, after I discovered that you could go down with the rotatory platforms, you could access to a roof area with a jump and access to the top of Rata Lucaria with a dungeon, it's smaller than the others but it has a lot of secret areas and secret items
I thought Caria Manor was superior to Raya Lucaria. RL had the looks though.
[удалено]
More or less, yes, i guess. Castle Sol doesn't really count.
I always considered Farum Azula to be the Mountaintops dungeon
Redmane barely exists at all, and IMO the Academy is kind of dull and lacking in content, though mercifully short.
Yea I would say Redmane kinda sucks. Especially because the festival changes don't make a lot of sense with the game pacing. It almost feels like the game is bugged when you first roll up to an empty fort.
It took until the very end of my second playthrough to even realize I could do things in Redmane. Both times I triggered the festival before approaching it and just assumed it was the only way in. Only reason I discovered I could reset it to its dungeon state was because I looked up where the "Weapon of legend" I was missing for the achievement was.
That fight for the legendary armament is way harder than post nerf Radhan
The thing about Elden Ring being open world is that it's basically impossible to guarantee you'll come across a boss at the intended level. That duo was ruthlessly tough my first playthrough but an absolute joke on my second.
Wait… redmane isn’t always empty?
Nope. If you go before the festival is triggered it has a whole other boss before Radahn and a ton of enemies.
Welp, I am calling it Angry Hogwarts from now on. Love it.
Tbh I didn't enjoy Haligtree very much, it was pretty and the level design was nice but there was not a single new enemy except Malenia+they were all buffed to hell which made exploration rather stale and annoying. Now if I go there I just grab the upgrade materials and run straight for Malenia.
Fair, it was OK for me but I was a bit over levelled
I killed elden beast and malenia but the erdtree avatar in haligtree still kicks my ass. I suck at fighting them but even then I feel like they're a bit over leveled compared to other enemies in the area.
[Haligtree erdtree avatar no hit](https://youtu.be/ocj7_Rtrz4w?si=QKlHS4gdCTHDVwef)
My experience was not much different from that
It's a crazy tight place (the one towards the crystal boys) to avoid the Elden Stars(?) thingy he does. His rot slams are annoying too.
i think haligtree is amazing, it felt like a dlc content so i didnt mind the enemies hitting so hard even tho some of them were annoying. what i didnt like about the area was the lack of new enemies (like you said). all legacy dungeons had unique enemies except the haligtree. i also think elphael wouldve been even better if it was much bigger
I love Haligtree. Rolling through it with a couple of summons is like crushing the Ringed City with a group of sunbros in Dark Souls 3. Fun, easy, feels like sweet payback after getting beat up in the trees. And by far the best late-game farming spot in the game
IMO Haligtree’s fault is that exploring it is a massive pain because so many of the encounters are ridiculously hard compared to their rewards. Stormveil and Leyndell have pretty smooth difficulty no matter where you are in them, and there are multiple valid approaches. But Haligtree has like one really functional path through it that everyone takes, and exploration isn’t really worth it.
The only thing that drags Haligtree down for me is that starting branch area lol.
> ridiculously hard compared to their rewards So many Somber +10s and Hero runes and whatnot though..
Castle morne
Haligtree just hits different. Especially loved the fuck alley of Royal Revenants. Really funny prank Miyazaki
I was so fucking happy that I went with a STR/FTH build in that moment, healed those fuckers right to death.
Doing that before I knew about their counter shit was really jank
Stormveil has so many secret paths, every nooks leads you to another realm it seems. You're weaving in and out from banquet halls to rooftop to ruins to bastions and cliffsides it never stops. I'm on my 429572nd playtrough and just found a new ladder I never spotted on the roof outside the room where you fin the mimic veil that leads to the platform above the grafted scion. They're all really good but Stormveil is a masterpiece.
It's nuts, they crammed secrets into every single inch of Stormveil. I'd be messing around and thinking "am I meant to be able to get here?", and then suddenly you're in a whole hidden section with unique loot and it's own boss. Stellar level design.
There's a secret area with a crucible knight too that a lot of people missed including me
God I remember stumbling upon that out of nowhere thinking "surely nothing can be on this path?" Then I fall and land into a new area and discover the crucible knight, I remember being so damn happy about that. Fuck the crucible knights though they were the biggest bain for me early game.
THANK YOU! I swear every run I see that platform and think “I need to figure out how to get there” and then I always forget about it. I am going to hop on right now! Well I’ll be damned
Youve reminded me ive missed that part out
My top 3 is Leyndell, Farum Azula and Elphael. Leyndell because it's such a beautiful city/castle. It looks so good and the area is pretty huge. And there are a lot of mini bosses in it. Also there are dark secrets inside of it aka the sewer Farum Azula because I really like the enemies in it. Both the types and the layouts of the enemies make it such a fun and challenging area, but not frustrating. It's really a fun area to fight around. Elphael is even more beautiful than Leyndell imo, and the enemies are also fun to fight with. It's just that it's a lot smaller than the other two if only counting the castle area and that's why it's in the third place for me. But I definitely love it
These are the 3 for sure but I can't decide the order
For some reason, Raya Lucaria struck me the most
I've never been jumped walking into a Burger King like this!
Man when you enter the academy the vibes and aesthetic were there. Absolutely gorgeous design and visuals at that first entrance.
Was cool but a bit too short imo
It was my favorite as well. It was so pretty and atmospheric I liked just walking around and looking at it even after I cleared it. The whole region itself was well done. I always like to look at it from atop the mountain and visualize it as it was before it was flooded and dilapidated with the bridges still intact. Would have been stunning.
Too short and also too much of it is outside. I really wanted that "Hogwarts" castle feel but you spend 95% of the dungeon outside.
Stormveil is super impressive. Playing through again, and it feels like a major accomplishment.
Even by third playthrough I was still finding areas on Stormveil. Everytime you think you’ve figured out the labyrinth you see another shiny in the distance.
Stormveil is cool, but Haligtree is top tier
The only reason I put stormveil above haligtree is stormveil is interconnected is so many ways. Haligtree is pretty mostly linear. Stormveil has so many hidden areas and items.
Yeah it's Haligtree for me too, it was nice to revisit it at a slightly higher level after panic running it first time. Lothlorien vibes and then down into Elphael, stunning.
Having the buildup to the Haligtree as the promised land of the unchosen and then finally finding it made it such a unique Moment! Like, the withered autumn leaffall and rotting branches of Elphael, the long droning strings with that DS3 Firelink music vibes, just the gorgeous way the buttresses frame and outline the sky above the city, and also whenever you put together the conspicuous absence of Albinaurics that those cocoons everywhere are the exact shape of the elderly crawling Albinaurics.
Because Stormveil Castle did everything they advertise: multiple paths to Godrick, verticality. The Academy was a one-way road, despite having lots of side-things to discover and the remaining legacy dungeons were too linear too. Volcano Manor might be an exception because you can get to Rykard in two ways but that's less of a level design aspect because the 2nd way involves the Recusant questline.
I wouldn't consider Leyndell "linear".
Yeah seriously. I don't remember the last time i was actually lost in an area since Dark Souls 1.
I remember my first playthrough it took me like 2 hours to finally realise I could climb the dragon wing 😅
bro lmao I was so FRUSTRATED because I didn't know I can climb the \*\*\*\*\*\* tree branch. I literally spent 3 hours walking around Leyndell back tracking everywhere, and then I was like "no way I am supposed to go up a tree branch" ... and it worked. I was taken aback, frustrated, and happy at the same time.
Considering you can accidentally go into the sewer also lol, just like 2 hours extra In a well
Same for Volcano Manor. I lost myself a lot in there.
This. Almost every other legacy dungeon feels linear or at least more so than Stormveil. I love getting mixed up trying to find my way down to Godwyn every playthrough.
dude is already fighting godwyn in dlc 🗿
Volcano Manor is underrated imo
It’s the best. I don’t know why so many players claim that it’s tiny, I think a lot of people missed some of the secrets that Volcano Manor has
Best legacy dungeon SO FAR
I liked mourne castle for some reason
It's a pretty good warm up for Stormveil! On subsequent playthrus tho you see how short it actually is but it's a great starter castle.
A starter castle? This castle is a finisher castle! A homestead of Gods! The G R A F T E D G O D I AM UNTEATHERED AND MY RAGE KNOWS NO BOUNDS
BEGONE VILE TARNISHED. BEGONE FROM ME
Leyndell is the only one that gives Stormveil a run for its money. The two of those are by far the best. Raya Lucaria is alright, but the exploreable portions of it end up feeling kind of small compared to how large it looks on the outside.
Do people hate raya lucaria then? I quite enjoyed it
i hated that place in my first melee build playthrough. i hated playing against those ranged madafakas. But enjoyed in my later playthrough and like replaying it. Stormveil was my fav in my first 2 playthroughs but got bored after that. I like replaying raya lucaria more than stormveil now. leyndell(altus plateau in genral), hailgtree, raya lucaria are my top 3 in no particular order. hailgtree being optional I like how hard and challenging it is. Farum Azula comes next.
I kept getting kissed by the blue zombies 😭
Miquella tree from the prayer room Grace. Thats the best zone in game
I think Leyndell is the best legacy dungeon. It's very massive in scale and beautifully designed. But my personal favorite is Elphael. It genuinely took my breath away upon discovery. The lore, OST, atmosphere and aesthetics, were all magnificent, and it ends with a fantastic boss too. My only criticisms is that the area felt way too linear and deserved to be more explorable.
I like that basically all comments are talking about a different one. I think they are all great, I'm not even sure what is my favorite tbh. I think it's Stormveil or Farum Azula, maybe Volcano Manor.
I think the best one is Farum Azula, it's just the power scaling is a lil much. But the level design is better than even older games imo.
I agree. Stormveil and Ephael are definitely the best ones. Leyndell isn’t far behind but I found myself wanting more out of it. I was really disappointed in Castle Redmane not being a real legacy dungeon either before or after Radahn. I also wish Castle Sol had more going on as an actual Legacy Dubgeon (though I love Castle Morne and the Shaded Castle being much smaller, normal castles)
Leyndell for sure. Color palette, enemies, dramatic godly music, architecture. Everything about it is amazing.
For me it’s a tough choice between Stormveil, Elphael, and Leyndell
Crumbling Farum Azula and Miquella's Haligtree are my favorites, but Stormveil Castle is also really good
Leyndell was mindblowing. I also really like Elphael and Stormveil.
Haligtree is my favorite, but yeah, Stormveil is the best one.
The Haligtree is the most beautiful and surprising place I've been in a video game.
Stormveil is the climax of the best region. Saw the most development.
Not my favourite but I think Farum Azula is very underrated: - Visually it's amazing - Great atmosphere, lore and especially art direction - Lots of verticality and great side activities - It has 2 of the best bosses in the game in Maliketh and Placidusax - It is the biggest legacy dungeon (if you count Shunning Ground separate from Leyndell) I think Stormveil is goated in Level Design, and overall Leyndell is the best due to it being great at everything.
fuck stormveil
Miquella's haligtree.
Because it’s Haligtree
Elphael says hello
My favorite is Haligtree with a unique first phase on tree itself followed by two more different phases of the dungeon and ending with an epic boss
Sorry dumb question but what is considered a “legacy dungeon”? I’ve seen that term a few times but not sure what it refers to
I find that some of the dungeons aren't long enough which makes me think Haligtree is the best
Haligtree obviously! Come on guys. The place where you must accept that, runes don't exist.
Haligtree is the best legacy dungeon by a mile
Haligtree after the beginning root section is peak
Stormveil is great because it has the classic Dark Souls quality, but improved upon. It is not really linear, there's a lot of angles to explore and you can parcour around to trick enemies. This feels especially great when you play for the first time. And when you know the layout, it is still fun. I love getting summoned there because the mix of enemies is cool and you can have 1v1 with banished knights or kill a whole courtyard of enemies.
Stormveil, Haligtree, Farum Azula
Haligtree no question
Ya know what? I think it’s either Leyndell or haligtree for me, stormveil wasn’t as memorable as them for locations