Bonfireside Chat 300: Castle Ensis
Added 2024-09-22 17:39:10 +0000 UTCA Sword of Fire. And Ice.
This week we tackle a Legacy-ish Dungeon, Castle Ensis. Don’t get us wrong, the boss fight here is very good… but the level design and lore here are both threadbare. They can’t all be winners, but the good news is that every other dungeon is better than this one.
Comments
I didn’t even know Ensis was a Legendary Dungeon until this! lol. What’s wrong with there being no trace of Messmer being in Lands Between? Seems to follow the meta FromSoft theme of a significant character being erased from history. Nameless King. Gwyndolin. Even already did it in the base game with Morgott / Mogh.
Jessie joy
2025-07-24 08:36:06 +0000 UTCIt’s interesting because to me, Ensis was fine - just from a gameplay perspective. Especially considering the general lack of boss cutscenes and dialogue in the DLC, it’s par for the course. Mildly disappointing, but it makes enough sense even if sloppy. Very curious to hear your thoughts on Abyssal Woods on a second run, since I’d consider that the lowest (heh) point of the DLC over Ensis by a mile
Lucas West
2024-09-29 19:31:11 +0000 UTCOn Hornsent and Miquella - it’s not that he doesn’t believe in Miquella, it’s that ultimately he decides he doesn’t want redemption, he wants revenge. After the charm breaks he says the following that clarifies this: “Do you presume us allies, even now? Though Miquella’s spell is newly broken? I must profess, the spell mattered little. Uphold his covenant Miquella shall, and in godhood redeem our rueful clan. Then Marika, and vilest Erdtree both, will at last be from divinity wrench’d. And surely I ...contented I will be.” And he later says the following after defeating Messmer: “To say the least, I am to you indebted. Yet unquenched remains my thirst for revenge. The death of Messmer was merely the start. Now comes the piper to collect from Marika, her offspring, and all the Erdtree's denizens... In vengeance for the flames, my blade I wield... If Miquella's redemption soothes the ache...that throbs within, demanding blessed vengeance... Then I wish not to be by him redeemed.” The rest of the Hornsent people appear to desire redemption though, hence their warriors being stationed at Bellurat and Enid-Ilim on the way to Miquella. And, lastly, if you deny Hornsent his vengeance by not summoning him during the fight with Messmer, he isn’t overtaken with bloodlust and remains aligned with Miquella. When slaying him in the group fight, his last words are: “O Miquella… Please… redeem our… clan...”
dshamz_
2024-09-25 14:51:49 +0000 UTCSilver Tear Shield can simply make blocking the moon attack (and many of her other attacks) viable! Such a fun fight, played it over and over again as a summon, trying all different spells and weapons and strategies while helping others.
Justin Zode
2024-09-25 10:29:04 +0000 UTCI’ll admit that Rellana is one of the bosses I died to the most in this DLC. I’m embarrassed at how long it took me to figure out I had to jump over the twin moons. Instead I just sat there yelling, “GODDAMMIT, MOON MOON!” every damn time.
Scottmichael Farrey
2024-09-24 12:55:52 +0000 UTCI thought there was some intent to echo Renallas story with Rellana in the both forgo duty in some capacity for love. In both cases for Red haired progeny/aspects of Marika. It makes me wonder if the charming of both sisters was some longer term Marika scheme to break the power of Caria through indirect means instead of through pure brute force. This is all just fun speculation of course. The light greatsword class of weapons is fantastic, really fun to play around with. I did multiple versions of M'lady with different ashes and really enjoying them all. In other news I have been playing through Dark Souls 2 for the first time and listening to your podcast after moving past and area. I know y'all got scholared but it is still fun to have y'all as company on my playthrough. Not sure where all the DS2 hate comes from I think it is great so far and I think it will likely rank above DS3 for me in the end.
MeltyHam
2024-09-24 07:36:47 +0000 UTCCastle Ensis may not have been a good play-experience, but the podcast it provided, crystalizing feelings I had while playing it, is really very good.
David
2024-09-23 23:00:41 +0000 UTCRennala was for me the toughest boss in her game due to her immunity to bleed and her complicated move set. Radahn, Mesmer? Nothing compared to rennala
Tala Maillot
2024-09-23 17:32:06 +0000 UTCEnsis is the dlc in microcosm. Nothing here makes sense and everything sucks.
Fringleton
2024-09-23 12:37:35 +0000 UTCApologies for how disorganized this probably reads, writing doth not be my strength… <~< After like two years of not really understanding what is and isn’t a Legacy Dungeon or a Side Dungeon, I realized that Legacy Dungeons (6 base, 2 dlc…) get their own tab on the list of map regions. Stormveil Castle, Academy of Raya Lucaria, Volcano Manor, Lyndell Capital City, Miquella’s Haligtree, Crumbling Farum Azula, Tower Settlement, Shadow Keep. (Both halves of the hornsent tower share a tab) The 5 Main biomes and 3 underground biomes each get one, and even though the dlc lists the map region as “lands of shadow”, it breaks the dlc biome up into two tabs. Oh, and roundtable hold obviously gets a tab all to itself. Beyond that, they have the groupings under each region tab, which is where castles, caves, and catacombs end up! It became a bit easier for me to internalize the rules for these after looking through that.
JackelZXA
2024-09-23 08:26:20 +0000 UTCOne might say: Castle Ensis makes no sensis.
Jeff Moscaritolo
2024-09-23 04:55:21 +0000 UTCI liked Rellana for what her presence & lack thereof in the lands between did for Rennala- the absence of her sister made Rennala's isolation & ruin much more poignant (at least more than it already was) and I can almost see Rellana's departure as the beginning of that tragic loneliness. There's a way some of the instruments in Rellana's music sound isolated/solo against the rest that I interpret as the paradoxical solitude of the knight of the twin moons, without her twin. That last part Is interpretation, but I do love her boss theme. I snuck up behind & poison-misted the shit out of Moonrithyll with the poison mist incantation. I've done that for Baleful Shadow & Quest-End Blaidd, Draconic Tree Sentinel, Commander O'Neil, a random fire knight in the shadow keep and probably some other people I can't remember. It's my go-to method when I can't otherwise be assed, I bumped up faith just to use it. I'm like a knockoff Thioller
Goldie
2024-09-22 22:35:16 +0000 UTCCastle Penis
Gabriel
2024-09-22 18:04:00 +0000 UTC
