Dark Souls III - Season Pass contained 2 new DLCs consist of Ashes of Ariandel and The Ringed City. The DLCs are short and sweet, hit in the right spot for the right price. Apparently the two of them doesn't serve a standalone story, where, The Ringed City is the continuation and a climax for the two of them. It's challenging, it's fun, but some aspect are a bit obnoxious.
Ashes of Ariandel is atmospheric, immersive, and give you a clarity in context of what we're doing and why should we do it. My ashen one using Faraam armor set exploring the snow gave a chilling vibe and when you get to the village, you will find unsettling civillization. To be fair, I love exploration more in Souls game, so the DLC doesn't really fulfill my expectation, but fighting the Final Boss in the DLC was pretty fun and challenging. You will also realize that the game is really outdated and the buttons are not in the same place from Elden Ring. It's just a funny personal experience where not only I have to fight a good boss but also remembering the buttons. I was really upset because Ashes of Ariandel doesn't have epilogue after final boss, because apparently, it continues to The Ringed City.
The Ringed City takes everything to eleven. It's harder, challenging, and they give less context on what we're doing here, because it's still connected from the first DLC. This is the obnoxious part, some of the area is not just filled with a group of big enemy and not giving any runes or good items, but they will put like flying enemy that will keep shooting at you and you have to kill the host at the end of the map. This is not a one-time gimmick, the worst part is it continues. Now, i'm not a fan of these, simply, because I want to explore all area, immersed with the map and also exploring the area. This pressure you to eventually just skip everything to the next bonfire. The next area is more hellish, there's a prayer that will summon multiple uninteractive skeletons to shoot you, and apparently they're not a miniboss, they will respawn. I keep questioning it, "Why should I even bother to explore the place?". Since it's a linear story that doesn't reward exploration on the DLC, might as well skip these guys. It's not a fun design to not being rewarded to clear an enemy to explore the place. Not only that, they will put NPC with enemies patrolling the area, so not only you have to read, you have be quick because they're coming to get you. "Clear the area first", for what? The runes? It's 3 big enemies in a cramped area and also I'm being missiled everywhere and I have to find that one too. The placement of monsters are too much and they're just casual monsters that are not mini boss so it doesn't give enough runes. If I want to farm I will just go to Lothric castle fighting the 3 big wing people that gives 40k runes each. But in terms of storytelling, I like The Ringed City more.
The climax of The Ringed City reminds of Gwyndolin. It all comes down do the initial purpose of the first DLC where in the end, there is no best way to resolve it. The final fight was epic, it's sad, and it's challenging for sure. The best part of the DLCs are the bosses. Ashes of Ariandel might not have many bosses, but in The Ringed City, from Demon Prince, to Midir, to Final Boss was really fun, challenging, and honestly, it give me headache. After the amazing fight, there's an epilogue for both DLCs and it's sad. It's a nice sad epilogue to say goodbye to the DLC and wrapping the game to get to the next New Game Plus Plus.
I enjoyed the expansion pass. The DLCs are short and sweet. Ashes of Ariandel is immersive and enjoyable meanwhile The Ringed City is harder and downright obnoxious exploration. The Season Pass is a journey to find Dark Souls... 3. I give the expansion pass 7/10 making the Dark Souls 3 up to 7,9/10.
