i actually had fun against the anguished guardian but he did have A LOT of health

The Zoo is definitely not the only area of Overture that throws hordes of enemies at you, but it is the one that does it the most. But, honestly? I kinda love that the Zoo is like that. It’s a bit frustrating, sure, but it’s also genuinely terrifying as an experience which I think does a perfect job of setting the tone for the entire DLC. It’s all about witnessing the absolutely horrific results of the Alchemists’ schemes and experiments, and truly driving home the idea that the Alchemists are the catalyst for everything that led to the collapse of Krat. The brutal difficulty helps the equally brutal truth hit home even more.
Plus, if my understanding of the story is correct, the base game is more or less Gepetto sending you on a path to become stronger and absorb enough Ergo, so you’re mostly going places that he knows you can handle. In Overture, you’re no longer sticking to that “safe” path, so it makes sense that it feels much more overwhelming.

There's not enough Markiona praise in the comments, easily my favorite duo/gank fight in any soulslike or even the fromsoft games.

Anguished guardians is one of the best fights in the game

I played the game when it first came out and then over the 2 years after I replayed it a couple of times so when the DLC came around I didn't really have to relearn the game or felt disconnected from it. That being said I had the exact same feeling you described; Playing through the DLC truly felt like playing LoP again for the first time with the same joy, glee and exitement.
Everytime I found a new weapon, a new enemy or boss or got to a new area I was grinning to myself in exitement of what's to come. So I can safely say that the feeling the DLC gave me wasn't based in nostalgia but rather this completely new and fresh experience of a game that I love without needing something to hold it up; it really stands on its own.
The devs really understood what made LoP so special and created the DLC with that in mind while adding a fuck ton of style and filling in the story in a way that was interesting and fitting. For a game where I only have very few minor criticisms the devs did exactly what I wanted (which is just giving me more) and after playing the DLC the only thing I still want from this game... is even more.

Fun fact: the devs said that legendary stalker is the difficulty that the game was on originally

Anguished Guardian is my favorite boss here because it allows so much freedom in the fight. I felt like the health pool was too big at first too, but the secondary mechanics of the boss really help melt the rest of his HP. It's a slow start and a blaze to the end.

Unlike the final boss...

Excellent video though, you're way more organized and articulate than I would have been

It's always interesting how experience differs, perhaps because I play the DLC after patch, the anguished guardian is one of my favorite big boss souls fight.

Mechanically for a giant souls boss, it is probably my favorite but the emotion is not as big as Midir, Bayle, or even the gimmick divine dragon boss from Sekiro.

I love the way the camera pulls back a lot for the guardian, I love that I can easily anticipate his attacks. I also love how if I use fire which is a big weakness for carcass, I can obliterate his healtbar very quick.

Perhaps due to patch, obeliterate Anguished guardian is not a problem for me. I died a lot because I'm so greedy at damaging him lol.

Regarding the Zoo section where the gank mobs are annoying for me personally was the part before the giant alligator boss. That is very hard and frustating. The aligator boss is also bad because of the small arena filled with some obstacle in it.

I will also mentioned that I found myself loving the story so much. It is simple and minimalist but the excecution is so well done. The final boss is amazing largely due to the story I'd say, the emotion and stakes are very high and oppressive that defeating it felt very liberating. Mechanically, the fight is amazing but the story really enhanced it a lot.

I loved the dlc. My only gripe about the overall update was that they didn't fix the hyper armor. It would be amazing if you didn't hit stunned in the middle of a charge attack.

Great video man. Honest and heartfelt.

The DLC is so interesting to me specifically because of how much people’s criticisms vary but still lead to the same point of “it’s peak”.
I’m one of those psycho’s who have beaten this game at minimum 11 times with different builds, weapons, and legion arms. For me, it was a really nice change of pace to get my ass kicked by dogs, bears, and kangaroos again in the zoo. The dlc coming out swinging and not pulling ANY punches felt so perfect for me and made me start learning again rather than just experiencing.
The final boss for me exemplified everything I loved about the game as well as made clear why I have comparively more negative feeling towards SOTE. I know it’s not a feeling many others in the ER community share, but Promised Consort felt like a boss that was “hard for the sake of hard” that was being severely limited Elden Ring’s framework. Meanwhile LOP:O’s final boss took advantage of our capabilities to make something that was not only difficult, but fair and stylish.
I love this game

13:51 correction: you use quartz for this process. the Upgrade Core is just the doodad that unlocks it.

as someone who bought the game and the DLC at the exact same time and played through pretty much the entire DLC as soon as it became available before continuing with the main game, I have to say that guardian is maybe a contender for my favourite fight in the game, and guaranteed a spot in top five.
in the end, killing the Guardian took me 4 minutes in total and I doubt my build was very optimized. The most I changed it was using the fire damage grindstone because he looked green enough for it, but that was about it.


he weirdly reminds me of bayle even? And not because of the amounts I like each of them, those are pretty different. thankfully guardian doesn't have the weird Janky fire physics to come along with the similar feel.

so yeah in the end, I'd say that guardian is a truly wonderful boss fight

yeah saving this video for when i gotta work

Your original vid made me want to play the game... I'm very happy I waited until the dlc dropped. Playing the dlc before finishing the game was just...chef's kiss. Instantly in my top 5 all time gaming experiences

Thank you, was waiting for this review!

See, normally I'd agree. I hate giant monster fights in Soulslikes. I just did my first ever full playthrough of Bloodborne and the giant corpse amalgamation was so cool looking but I hated fighting it. Literally was probably my favourite looking boss but least favourite to fight.
I loved the Anguished Guardian. This creepy twisted abomination version of Poseidon. Somehow I guess I just locked in because I beat him in two tries.

Yay welcome back 🎉

Love this game currently playing through the dlc in my ng+ .cant wait for the next game

this games is awesome especially the music with storyline  Subbed!