Today we’re talking Legacy Dungeons – Leyndell, Mohgwyn Palace, Academy of Raya Lucaria, Crumbling Farum Azula, Nokstella and Nokron, and more! Let me know your ranking down below 🙂 and have a tarnished day!
Regions ranked: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c11EIDwNGms
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Intro: 0:00
12: 0:36
11: 1:42
10: 2:19
9: 3:20
8: 4:41
7: 6:23
6: 7:40
5: 8:37
4: 9:49
3: 11:35
2: 12:49
1: 14:12
source
I understand these encompass more than the 6 definitive legacy dungeons. These extra areas I included are structured practically the same, with a few minor differences like access to torrent. Check out the wiki for some info on the areas I picked from, and try not to flood the comments section with comments on how they aren’t real legacy dungeons!
Wiki: https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Legacy+Dungeons
Crazy good video 🔥
Ansel river is the worst. Blah.
I actually hate the ashen capital purely because it deletes the original version of lleyndell
Leyndell is what I wanted from Anor Londo. Favorite area in Elden Ring.
I didn't think that it could come out of anybody's mouth that any part of Elden rings other than maybe the eternal cities, could come ANYWHERE CLOSE, aesthetically speaking, to the Capital City.
I spent so many hours trying to figure Leyndell out, and it wasn't pleasant lol. Definitely prefer the lake of rot to that goddamn dog ridden city that's still ringing in my ears^^ But to be fair – discovering the roundtable was one of the top moments of the game
You said you were mad you couldn't see in one of the levels, why did you not just use a lantern lmao
To answer your question on "why FromSoft thinks we love poison" it is simple. Miyazaki said himself. "I love poison swamps. I can't get enough of them. I have to limit myself to one per game."
Stormveil was the moment it all came back for me. I found limgrave frustrating, I was seriously craving some more old school dark souls, a more dense period just like the souls games levels, and it hit me like a truck. Every good moment from the early game of the three dark souls games came back to me like it was yesterday. Stormveil will always have a special place in my heart!
I hate subteranian shunning grounds it is long confusing there are revenants i hate this place imop even lake of rot us better no cap
Haligtree and the roots are awful. Fromsoft thinks we liked the root area in ds1. No! That area was fuckawful
For dark areas like the interior of Moghwyn…I recommend the use of the trusty hand lantern. You can get it near the start of the game and it never leaves my side!
For Stormveil, they built an entire functional castle and an underground area, then drilled holes in it and wrecked it and turned into a video game level. This was astounding. Then you get to Leyndell and see that they did the same for an entire city.
Remember the 'moment' in dark souls was walking into Anor Londo? only to find you cant even access most of it anyways? Leyndell they replicated that moment, and then you start to realize you're actually walking around the floor of this big city. It's out of yesteryear's dreams
Finally someone else who ranks Vulcano Manor high. It was the most underrated area in my opinion
Nokeron lol. Ya gotta love when somebody plays the game but still says areas or npc names wrong. Like different npc's actually say Nokron
Love your content man! Think adding the subscribe button on the screen for people to click on might help get more viewers on your subscriber list. Keep up the awesome videos!
Long comment of justification incoming. Cos why the hell not.
12 – Lake of Rot – … I like the colors I guess ? I'm underwhelmed by it really, I wish it was more than just a flat trek through poison. I wish there was more to the structure raising out of the muck. To me this bdoesn't count as a dungeon tho, there's just not enough there.
11 – The sewers – I find the layout pretty damn good actually, how it twists and turns makes for some of the best shortcuts-based level-design in the game. It's a good level, it's too bad that it's just sewers at the end of the day.
10 – Deeproot Depths – Good visuals, I liked exploring it the first time through and unlike Nokstella, the fact that the city is in ruins helps sell the impression that it was indeed a city. Honestly I don't have an issue with this level but it doesn't leave me with a particularly strong impression either. It also disappointed me how the imposing sight of Godwyn's corpse leads to a battle against boring NPCs.
9 – Moghwyn Palace – Looking at it from afar and finally arriving there was exciting. Even from closer the burning acropolis looks imposing. I love the blood motive, I like the few things they did to give it some unique hallenge, the giant summon skeletons woods, the masses of blood albinaurics, but the level-design itself is nothing too special in the way this short level is laid-out. It's clearly meant more as a built-up to Mohg than a real level so it's fine.
8 – Nokstella / Ainsel river – I love these two levels. Nokstella has some beautiful imagery, the frost dragonkin arena filled with screaming statues under the giant skeleton is a marvellous scene. Same with the spot where you find the Ranni doll, especially if you access it from the Deeproot depths sarcophagus ride. I feel like Nokstella itself could have used a real boss tho. Fighting one of the monks with 2 silver tear (aka just two dumb naked NPCs) is a letdown of a finale, there's also not much to give the impression that this was indeed a city. It's just a bunch of rooms full of chests. Ainsel is also mostly just ant caves and samey ruins.
7 – Siofra river / Nokron – It looks so good. It's also such an incredible surprise to find early in the game when you're just coming to grips with how big the world is and suddenly the game adds another huge layer to itself. That being said, I find it disappointing they repeat the exact same set-up for both Spirit Ancestor fights. Nokron is built-up so much and yet it's so short and doesn't even have a boss, instead they throught a silver-tear troll would be climactic…
6 – Volcano Manor – I think this is one of the levels where the non-linearity hurts it a little. You can skip huge chunks of it here and there, not like in other levels where non-linearity is a choice between multiple path, in the Volcano Manor it's just the choice to have less level. Being able to teleport there is neat in terms of option but the trek to actually go to the manor is excellent build-up, not to mention haivng to find the secret behind the walls is more exciting than just being shown the manor if you teleport from Raya Lucaria so it's a shame that you can rob yourself of it all so easily. What's there is really good tho, the shortcut design is great, the enemy variety is fantastic, the horror vibes are opppressive at times.
5 – Raya Lucaria – I remember seeing a glimpse of that place in the gameplay reveal of the game and it got me so hyped due to how beautiful it seemed. There are some things that disappointed me tho, like I wanted to ride the twisty road up to Raya Lucaria but you're teleported all the way up once you touch the sealed gate. I also could have used more magic in the way the academy operates, except for the ball and fake walls, there's nothing too magical about the way you traverse it. It reminds me of Hogwarts but it doesn't have magic elevators or rotating staircases, I just wish they'd have done more like that.
But the level itself is really good. I love the variety in environments that I didn't expect from the outside at all. Even if progression is linear, the optional path make Raya Lucaria feel a lot more open and it's fun jumping from rooftop to rooftop. I also love the theming of the sorcerers, they don't feel like bland pointy-hat types we've seen over and over again. And the atmosphere is so fantastic.
4 – Stormveil – Back when I started the game, I did open-world stuff for dozens of hours, always leaving what looked big for later. It kinda grinded me down a bit, while I enjoyed it all it started to feel a little underwhelming. Then I finally entered Stormveil and damn. It completely rekindled my enthusiasm for the game. I think it's probably the best level in the game, although not my favorite.
Top 3 is basically interchangeable, I can't decide.
Haligtree/Elphael – I would basically repeat what the video say. Altho I would add the the Haligtree part and the later part of Elphael, gameplay-wise, aren't too special to me. It's good stuff early on, incredible stuff when you get to Elphael and there's three lanes' worth of level design to go over that cross into each other, then it's a lot of enemy spam at the bottom of Elphael. Still, the majesty of the visuals alone makes me adore this part of the game, it's one of those levels that makes me think "how can something so good be in an open-world game ?"
Leyndell – Pretty much agree with the video. It's incredible that what is basically a full cite has made in a Souls games instead of just a few streets pretending to be a city. It's even more incredible that it still feels worth exploring it all. I do think some back alley here and there aren't too meaningful ontent-wise but that's nitpicking. I also love that the progression has this "am I really supposed to do that ?" feel when you climb the dragon's wing.
Farum Azula – Gameplay-wise, it's all really good but perhaps not as insanely good as Stormveil or Elphael multi-layered non-linearity, it doesn't matter tho cos the atmosphere is so breathtaking that being "pretty good" is all that it needed to be one of my favorite.
RANKMAN: THE RANKING
He’s Back, He’s angy, and he’s RANK
Honestly I find it hard to even distinguish which ones are the legacy dungeons. After I finished the game the first time I though there are only 2. Stormvail and the Academy. But I guess the hailig tree brace counts as well. Red mane castle is pretty meh and I would not consider it a legacy dungeon especially considering you could just trigger the festival and not even get to fight enemies there.
Great list I love your enthusiasm. Subscribed
I had a blast last night exploring volcano manor. Not as long as some but it's was awsome. Azula is a pretty wild place too.
I love the haligtree and the braces of the haligtree it is the most aesthetically pleasing area. I also love nokstella, the one in Ranni’s questline.
Every time I see one of these, a main critique of certain areas is "copy and pasted enemies." It always seem to ignore, or be unaware of, why the enemies are there. All enemy placements have lore reasons and a story to tell. Saying that the Haligtree is full of "copy pasted enemies," while technically true, is missing the point
Stormveil is definitely my favorite dungeon in Elden Ring. it is so enormous & there are so many secrets & passageways to be found!
i thing castle Mourne, as many player's first introduction to legacy dungeons, deserves a shout out for just how good of an introduction it is, with some distinct sub areas & a couple branching paths (though not so many as to make it overstay its welcome), some interesting encounters including a pumpkin head miniboss, and even its own attached npc storyline, including an npc summon to help new players tackle the boss. the conflict between the human knights and the mongrelfolk give Castle Mourne a distinct narrative identity while also being a great way to curb the difficulty for what is effectively a training dungeon. It also has a few nice early game treasures, including most player's first ultra-greatsword, a fun & silly giant sword-made-of-swords. It's one of the best tutorial dungeons in the series, knocked down only slightly by the fact that new players need to turn around and go in literally the opposite direction from where they're told to get there.
I adore Raya Lucaria. I had bought elden ring on launch and thought it was just fine (it was also my first souls, I've gone back and played many others since). I kinda faded away from playing the game right after getting to liurnia. I got covid one week and thought I may as well jump back in. I reached Lucaria and was ADDICTED. It single handed made me love the game more than I ever thought I would.
I really like Lin grave.
One of my favourite features in Leyndell is that the enemies play the background theme on their instruments and that is beautiful
I actually don’t like Leyndell and I HATE volcano area, my top 3 BY FAR (like ngl the only 3 ones I really like) are
3. Raya lucaria
2. Stormveil castle
1. Crumbling Farum Azula (top 3 in the series for me)
I agree with Stormveil Castle being underrated, it has such a great vibe to it, like something tragic has has happened and dark, horrific things continue to go down. Redmane Castle with the music and festival was another one of my favorites
Not sure what you’re doing in Crumbling that took you dozens of hours lol. I did the entire area in an evening/night
I really did not enjoy Leyndell at all
Does mogwyn palace even count its like a singular path with an elevator and a boss room
One of the most beautiful games I have ever played. There is so much passion in it. It's amazing.
if cinema sins and watch mojo had a child it would sound like this commentary
There's something about deeproot depths that's just not right and idk why. Like somehow the lighting, the colour scheme, the white water and the level design all give it this really amateurish feel, like it reminds me of those skyrim mods you used to get that added new areas and they somehow never felt as immersive as the developer made ones
I highly disagree about your comment about nokron and nokstella looking the same. In Nokron you are jumping rooftop to rooftops descending the city, while in Nokstella you are actually in the city and ascending it. It feels very different Imho. When in Nokstella I feel like "yup I am going through this city normally." while in Nokron it's more like "Parkour" and I'm on roofs that I should not be on cause scawey
I love how you can loop through through Leyndell –> Shunning Grounds –> Proscription –> Deeproot Depths and back to Leyndell via the portal near Godwyn. I love that journey down down down, which is probably why I also love descending the Haligtree. Both areas make the map truly feel massive. Also the Haligtree is established in the lore as a safehaven for the otherwise persecuted so imo its maybe the only area where copy pasting enemies makes perfect sense bc they fleed there.
Honestly I'm a pretty big fan of the Subterranean Shunning Grounds; it's absolutely miserable, but it highlights the misery that the Omens have to live in and highlights the atrocities of the Golden Order, to the point that once you finally reach the Flame of Frenzy you might consider using it. Narratively the silent story telling of the place is brilliant.
For mohgyn palace dark area
Dude you literally have a light source
just use a lantern when its dark
Sweetie what is this frame rate 😭😭😭
So, I feel as though I'm in the minority, but as I've replayed the game, I honestly have grown to find Leyndell boring. There are almost no meaty enemy encounters, the path is a straight line down one street, up a dragon, then some tree branches. Yes, the city is massive, but there is no function to its size. So much of the city is pointless that, for many playthroughs after my first one, I thought I had just hallucinated the existence of Crucible Knights with the shoulder charge ability, until NG+ like 14, where I just on a whim went and fought the Crucible Knight down by one of the many pointless shortcuts in the city, and was pleasantly surprised to realize that, no, it was real. Now, if, say, each section of the city held a key, and you needed all of the keys to progress, then now the layout of Leyndell is so much more satisfying. I definitely feel, however, that that's not what people are looking at the level for. I, personally, hate when levels have huge, optional swathes of content, because I'd rather 90-95% of the level be mandatory, with meticulously curated combat encounters. I am not opposed to secrets, but just as an example, Raya Lucaria. The "Second Archstone", if you will, of that dungeon is 30 seconds long. But, there is a solid twenty minutes of content, but it's all optional. I'd find the Academy so much more fun if the rooftops were the path to Rennala, but instead, it's all dedicated to a key, for a questline that you will do exactly one time, and never again. Therefore, unless you're just feeling really bored, you'd never do the rooftops again. In short, I like secrets like the Crucible Knight of Stormveil Castle, the path to Altus from the Manor, the Abductor Virgin at the bottom of the waterwheel. I dislike things like the Wormface section and the upper cityscape of Farum Azula, not because they're bad, but because I wish they were mandatory for how large they are.