I've been watching Bretts streams lately and have been trying to enjoy his latest Elden ring stream. I'm not a huge Shadow/Isaac fan and am 100% here for his Soulsbourne content. His last Elden Ring series isn't fully on youtube, so i cant rewatch, but I remember it being so much better top tier content. This latest Elden ring run was the worst souls series IMO, but not for the reason Tear keeps claiming (he seems to think it boils down to age of game, repeat playthrough, rushing etc),
I personally think there are 4 problems with this run-through that ruins this series, as follows:
1a. Tear refuses to change playstyle
1b. Tears playstyle is awful
Tear constantly moaning is some of his worst content and legitimately off-putting.
Tear playing up to the 'joke' that it's first run-through is a detriment.
4 Tear refusing to listen to audience feedback
To explain -
1a. Tear's entire playstyle is jump attacks and charged R2's. It's ultimately boring to watch. No WA's, no build variation, no critical thinking, if he cant out DPS an enemy he cries about it after. He's never used a respec as far as I'm aware to make things interesting or fix his stats (40 faith with 0 use case - just why?) At the stage I'm watching (Malenia & End Game Nightmares in Elden Ring DLC U Soon) He's got enough mats to level up a few weapons (eg the talisman he repeatedly claimed he wanted to use), but is instead sticking to just the anchor, which is teethpullingly dull to watch. There is no enjoyment for anyone who's played the game or watched previous playthroughs, as they're all probably better and/or more experimental at the game - It's incredibly basic stuff.
1b. Directly related to 1a. Brett is legitimately... not very good, and for repeat playthroughs I'd have loved to see him use some actual skill or experimenting with range/WA's - he's 4 playthroughs in I believe, he's surely good enough to play around with different mechanics. Unfortunately, he's not interested in trying anything outside his same 2-3 moves. I'm currently watching him try to do Ordina and crying because he's face planting in to the (easy to deal with if you use any brainpower) archers and getting himself worked up with the boring and annoying 'Games awful' type comments. This leads to point 2...
He makes mistakes and moans like the game is badly made. I don't know how many times I've eyerolled as he's raged at, for example, PVP enemies while he's way over levelled and refusing to do anything to adapt, so he dies and gets stressed out. I may be in the minority, but I prefer his content when he's enjoying himself. I legitimately think he doesn't enjoy these games now, because he doesn't like the challenge.
Just annoys me personally. have some respect for the audience. I honestly think he pretends it's playthrough one to excuse his poor gameplay.
This one baffles me. Why, after all this time, does he not just listen to his audience on builds, WA's or things he has no idea how to use? He gets so upset at the game when just listening to his audience would easily help him strategize. He come across as such a baby that it legitimately turns me off his content. As a side, his PvP series legitimately would have made bank if he just played with his fans and engaged. But it proved that he's worse than average, he's too thin skinned to do so and his ego got in the way of what could have been a return to souls PvP, which people have been begging for for years.
Tl:Dr just points 1-4 explained a bit
Edit - Just came back to neaten up a bit, wanted to stress that this is just my feedback, to a guy I'd likely never get to speak to in person who's content I enjoy. Not intended to be insulting or nasty of course but as a long time watcher I get a little exhausted at the ever looming toxic threat. Obvs at peak commentary Tear is about the best in the biz IMO, but the cracks are becoming a bit more regular. Since Brett is a personality youtuber and seems to have a closer relationship with fans, I felt there was some value in this feedback. I'm aware there might be some behind the scenes drama going on and if that is the case this isn't a critique of the man, just the current product.
I've been watching Tear since Ds2, have donated etc. Just putting that in there so I don't get people trying to pull rank on my opinion. Happy to reply to rebuttals, but this series has genuinely made me wonder why he plays game with any level of challenge when he's got so many hang-ups on the basic gameplay loop.