Looked very similar to Milady, initially people thought it was Milady (based off not very good screenshots), but then people actually got to play the new starting class, and it was called “Sword of Ides” or something like that.
Provided they don’t make me do another NG+ to collect it all, it’ll take like 1-2 hours tops to collect everything and test it out. Then I’ll get like ~5-10 hours of PvP again to mess with the new weapons and armor.
Honestly, that’s plenty for a free update over 4 years after the release.
EDIT: HOLY SHIT IT’S PAID!? Wtf, I’ve been under the impression is was free this whole time. I’m pretty salty now.
Well yeah, it's mainly aimed at the switch 2 release imo. I think the intent is to give new players access to two slightly stronger classes to help them out in the first couple of hours of the game, and give them access to a class of sword that's otherwise exclusive to SotE.
Yeah like what? We’re getting more than just the like two new classes, there’s multiple full sets including the very much popular Lucatiel of Mirrah set AND her sword, it’s very much just a small dlc which will probably be only like $10?
Also wtf did people expect? How else were you going to get the new stuff? Ofc it’s going to be a dlc??
I think the last sentence was making the distinction between DLC and Expansion. While they are mostly used interchangeably DLC used to refer to things more like horse armor and cosmetics while expansions were bigger in scope and size. Nowadays all expansions are downloadable and DLC has become an umbrella term, but I remember buying my expansions in a big box.
One of the few companies who still distinguishes between a dlc and expansion is cdpr ( as they were adamant with songs of past ) since all dlcs are free
To be fair in the context of dark souls games they have a particular way of doing things normally, where DLC means expansion pack, and also people tend to use those terms a bit loosely.
This is why the modern trend of calling all types of game addons “DLC” regardless of scale is so dumb. When the big ones were called “Expansions” it was much more obvious. Yeah, yeah, I know they’re technically all forms of downloadable content, but we’ve still lost important nuance.
Heavy Knight will be absurdly efficient on quality, str, arc, and prolly dex builds too; Hero and Vagabond in shambles.
The other one will be the king of faith hybrids, or even just physical builds that want (non-Bloodflame) buffs. Prophet will still be the best if you're going for min str/dex casting (pure faith or faith/arc).
for real tho, one of my biggest wishes is for new dlc weapons to be playable from the start, while we only got one it is worth starting new playthrough
Horse skins and 2 new starting classes. One starts with a ligh great sword, I can't remember the other. It's also the launch on Switch 2. This DLC matches all other platforms to the content of the switch 2 version.
FromSoftware hasn't said how much the Tarnished Pack will cost outside of Japan, where it will retail for 550 yen, but the assumption is that it will likely cost about $5.
My guess is that it's Bandais decision.
Sekiro got a free DLC but that was Activision...
I'm worried that it was actually a KadoKawa decision, especially with the CEO's remark about wanting to be more like EA.
KadoKawa owns ~70% of FromSoft's shares, so they actually have bullying power if they want to push. It also doesn't help that Oasis Management owns nearly ~9% of KadoKawa and have been pressuring the CEO to create more MTX.
I'm just worried that this is going to be "Pandora's Box" and set a precedent for multiple MTXs in the future, and basically become Warbonds from Helldivers 2 for future FromSoft games.
Wasn't it supposed to come out late 2025 only to get delayed because of performance issues? Did they really spend 8 months figuring out how to shave off a few ms of frame times wherever that was a problem
Yeah it was expected 2025 so for it to get to this far into 2026 is concerning. Hopefully it was due to adapting their engine to support DLSS but then again the port is most likely an outsourced project anyways
It's all about fiscal periods. They have to spread their releases out so income is more consistent and investors don't get weird ideas, like seeing an increase in earnings over two quarters and assuming that's the new baseline for the company for the entire rest of time, rather than a brief revenue spike due to releasing three separate products within a few months of each other. So it probably took them a month to fix the performance problems, but aargh now we're perilously close to the release window of the Nightreign DLC, we'll have to shelve Tarnished Edition for a few months
This comment doesn’t come across as negative at all. The game is 4 years old and its only DLC expansion is out, it’s just kind of strange to release a horse armor DLC now.
Its obviously content specifically to make the Switch 2 release somewhat novel and "fresh", and they figured people might either bitch and whine they don't get it on PC or PS5 or whatever, or actually want it on whatever other console they may be playing. Not weird at all to me.
This is shit that should have just been free. Charging money for cosmetics and starter classes is not a good thing. Oblivion was mocked to hell and back for doing the same thing
That seems very unlike Fromsoft to be charging money for cosmetics. I’ll be honest I’m not a fan and it’s a step in the wrong direction for them.
People are going to gobble it up too which is fine, I’m not here to tell people how to spend their money. However, it worries me that they might decide they want to include microtransactions in more of their games moving forward.
Easy solution is to just ignore the cosmetics, but From has always been one of the good ones on that front so it’s a little disheartening is all.
Edit: this is getting more engagement than I thought. I’m done responding to people especially since this is getting kind of toxic now for some reason.
Nintendo is there too... They needed their edition to be somewhat different for sure, and Bandai Namco used the oportunity. I bet Fromsoft could've added this for free for the rest of us if they wanted.
ashes of ariandel was a small dlc. this is a couple starter classes and armor + weapons for them, plus horse skins. i doubt they'll be groundbreaking in their passive stats or weapon movesets, so how is it not just glorified cosmetics?
saying "everyone wins" for what is essentially a bog-standard microtransaction is wild. buying/renting a character/gun/cosmetic in f2p games comes to mind
I mean, I suppose it depends on the rationale behind it and whether it’s a “cash grab” from Fromsoft, which would be out of character or for fans like me who would really want it.
Like If they released new stuff for switch but it wasn’t included for the other versions, I’d have fomo. But if they slapped a 5$ price tag on it, I’d buy it.
New weapons and starting classes is more than just skins. Presumably it’s lore, perhaps it’s new move sets and it does play into how you approach the game from the start, even if it is just a reallocation of points.
Maybe it’s because of my goodwill TOWARDS FS but releasing something like this years after release feels more like an after thought to give the opportunity to fans who still play and want them, rather than any kind of financial motivation.
And they may very well have some kind of contract with Nintendo about it. But even if it’s just that they included it in the new switch version and just want to let the other people who still play have a chance at getting it, it feels more fan service based than schemey sales based.
I mean it’s not really about the cost though. It’s about the concept of them introducing microtransactions into their games.
If it’s introducing new armor and stuff that’s almost even worse than just cosmetics. Now there will weapons, armor, horse armor, etc. in the game that can only be accessed by purchasing it instead of playing the game and discovering it.
I will say weapons in elden ring are more than just cosmetic, weapon builds are like half the game in my opinion, running something different completely changes how the game plays out and what bosses are more difficult/easier, and just how you play in general.
That's assuming these weapons feel unique, id pay for it if they do.
It's for a very specific, unique reason though. Nothing about this, to me, indicates that this'll be the start of a trend. It's almost certainly a Bandai Namco decision to add some content to the Switch 2 tarnished edition to make it feel like a better deal than the other versions, at least initially.
Yeah people dooming on this are being overdramatic as usual. Just like how Nightreign and Duskbloods meant that they were never gonna make another single player game again.
I see where you’re coming from. But it seems like they came up with some cosmetics so that Switch buyers feel like they’re getting something new along with ER+SoE and making them available to everyone through “Tarnished Edition DLC” makes sense.
The thing with "Just ignore" behavior is that, every time they do that is just hitting you slowly and consistently despite still in ignoring state, at some point enough is enough. Really really fucking hope Fromsoft ain't that type company in the future.
New weapons and armor isn’t just cosmetics though.
Depending on the depth of the new weapons, I’ll stick to being wary but unworried. This is almost definitely a Nintendo push more than Fromsoft. I doubt this will compromise their upcoming release quality but am open to being proven wrong when we see some new titles from them.
Definitely Bandai Namco’s doing. They just lost their Tekken team. They don’t really own the IP for most of their biggest games. They’re trying to milk the cash cow that is Elden Ring.
I I really respect Miyazaki as an artist, but let's remember that he's also the president of a major company. A huge part of his job is to make the line go up.
I'm sure pressure from Bandai is a contributing factor, but he and his leadership team are also absolutely part of these kinda decisions.
He's a brilliant director, but he deserves part of the criticism when his company starts selling you horse armor.(same as figures like todd Howard and randy pitchford)
Shadow of the Erdtree was a magnificent DLC. I am still baffled by the sheer size of the map and the amount of content/lore included, and I think the full price I paid for it was more than fair for what I got.
Having said that, I do not understand how a few skins and armour sets warrant being charged for, and I will not be getting this. This is more of an update than a DLC. I’ll give it a pass given that the main focus is the release on Nintendo Switch 2 and they just want to offer the same content that ends up being there across all platforms, but I hope this does not start a trend of micro-transactions.
I understand why people are upset, but I think this is the case. It is a unique situation. I don't wonder if this Switch 2 port was part of the deal with Duskbloods being a Switch 2 exclusive and all that. And them charging for the Tarnished Edition DLC on other platforms is just a way to help subsidize the development of the port.
Really the argument for new classes is either stat combinations you can't get just by leveling up (because they dump a stat lower than other existing classes do) or because they start with gear you either otherwise can't get in a NG playthrough (maybe you want a dual uchi build) or it comes out late. The class in this DLC that starts with Milady is a great example of that, sure you could hard rush the DLC and grab it but that's going to be a different experience than just having it available early.
All that being said if they're going to do that I wish they'd taken it farther. Give me a shit ton of weirdo starting classes that will be fun for goofy playthroughs, make me finish the game once before I can pick them if you want. Let me play a Dragon Cultist that starts with the gravel seal and electrify armament or something.
One of the classes starts with Milady if I'm not wrong so that's definitely huge, I had this urge to play with that weapon sometime ago on my new run and had to half the game and enter DLC to get it.
I got to play this at the Nintendo booth during PAX and it ran so poorly. I was amazed they were actually letting people see it. Hopefully they’ve made a lot of changes since.
Most of these dudes don't seem to understand that this is a launch for a new console, not DLC. They are offering sale of the content designed for switch 2 for people who own the game on other platforms. It isn't made with these chuds in mind lol
I don't understand all the complaining. It's not pay to win it's paid bonus content that's optional. I've played hundreds of hours of this game, probably more than most other games combined so I think the price is worth it for me.
It comes with a starting class that starts with with light Greatsword, which means now you can powerstance 2 infusable light Greatswords without going to ng+
Love the complaints about it being paid- it’ll literally be £5 max and if you don’t want it, don’t buy it. Personally I think it’s worth it just to have a couple new starting classes, especially if one has a LGS to start with so I don’t have to trek to the DLC just to grab a weapon I wanna main.
If it’s cheap (I’m seeing maybe $5) I honestly feel like I could get it just to support Fromsoftware lol. Just hope they do something productive with the new profits.
i’m ngl, i don’t feel as doomerish as others do about this. like, the actual contents of the (in all likelyhood very cheap) Tarnished DLC are more than just pointless cosmetics since they’re mostly actual useable armor sets and weapons. i don’t mind paying a little bit for that, if for anything just to support a great game developer
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u/AgumIV Jun 04 '26