Crown Of The Old Iron King DLC

A tower full of RUTHLESS VICIOUSNESS

    I've never gotten a nostalgic feeling for my first playthrough of Demon's Souls during any part of either Dark Souls or the sequel. However, with the second DLC for Dark Souls II, "Crown of the Old Iron King", I kept coming back to Demon's. And it was an amazing feeling. Now, I realize this is mostly centralized to me, and I haven't read anywhere else that this DLC reminded anyone of Demon's, so don't go into it thinking you're diving back into the world of Boletaria. However, go into it thinking you're about to play an amazing piece of DLC that trumps the Sunken King chapter in every way (except for bosses, unfortunately). Let's explore!
    As with the Sunken King, once you purchase the DLC, download the patch for the game, and install the actual DLC, you'll receive a key to your inventory. It's called Heavy Iron Key. This DLC is accessed in a very similar fashion to the first chapter (go to the primal bonfire past the Old Iron King). You'll find a similar altar to the one found in the Shrine of Winter (with the tall, headless snakes), and this will transport you to the new area. You'll open a huge, ornate, iron door, go up a ladder, and you'll be outside, with the gigantic Tower of Brume standing off in the near-distance. You traverse a huge chain to get to it.

Beauty, thy name is Brume Tower

    The screenshot there is probably a variation on an image that always accompanies every preview/review of the DLC, and for good reason. I mean, just look at it! It looks pretty damn bitching! Or, to be slightly less vulgar, it's awe-inspiring. Once you get across the chain, you're on the outside of the tower. This was my least favorite part of the entire DLC. You're walking around on what looks like snow, but I think is probably ash. Enemies can pop right out of it, without warning, and attack, which is a nice, albeit slightly annoying, surprise. Before I continue, I'd like to discuss some of the new enemy types. Some are great, and some are really the same-old, same-old. The main enemies are skeletons, called Ashen Warriors. They come with various weaponry: dual axes, swords and shields, halberds, or bows and arrows. These guys are a fairly typical solider-type enemy, but they can hit pretty hard, especially those dual-axe wielders. Just don't get ganged up, and you'll be fine with them.

Another view

    My favorite new enemy is a set of possessed armor. Sounds kind of boring, but they are diverse and interesting. They float over the ground, and they hold both a flaming sword and a bow and arrow. The arm with the bow and arrow can completely disconnect from its body and shoot at you, independent from what the rest of the body does. His attack animation in general is of that very fluid, pretty looking kind. Reminds me somewhat of the grace of Flexile Sentry's scimitar attacks. Another new enemy are gigantic soldiers. They hit very hard, can jump at you (and close any gap nicely and unexpectedly), and hey, just for shits and giggles, they spew fire from their arms! There are some other enemies, like the crawling soldiers who jump at you (how do they do that without using their legs, anyway?). Bear with me here, but they seem to crawl in a similar fashion to the people that all crawl towards that altar during the cold open to the first episode of season three of Breaking Bad (the episode is "No Mas").
    I'm not devoting an entire blog to the enemies, so I'll give a quick rundown of the rest: there are Brume sorceresses that shoot painful lightning; red phantoms with notched whips; and weak hollowed enemies that carry explosive barrels. Also, in one area (more on it later), there are Alonne knights and captains, and those obnoxious fire salamander bastards. There may be others I'm forgetting, but that is the large majority. Finally, there is a non-traditional "enemy" called ashen idols. They are stationary, and don't do any direct damage to you. However, they can buff nearby enemies in a number of ways, whether it's healing them, making them unkillable, or assisting offensively (okay, so they can sort of do direct damage to you) with spells. They can only be killed by using a new item, called a Smelter Wedge. You have to walk up to them and hit "X" to use it. They leave pieces of Souls of Nadalia, Bride of Ash behind. I believe 12 can be collected to create a "full" soul for this Nadalia person. She is important to the lore of Brume Tower (and the Fume Knight I think), but I'm not too sure on it yet.
    Okay, boring enemy descriptions are over. I LOVED this DLC. I thought the Sunken King DLC was fabulous, and it was a great addition to the main game. I think this DLC is better in (almost) every conceivable way compared to the first chapter. If I was giving arbitrary ratings, I'd give Sunken King 8/10, and this one a strong 9/10. The environment is, at times, breathtaking, and other times, deeply nostalgic (for me, at least. More on that in a bit). This area, Brume Tower, even more so than Shulva, is all about going down. It's very vertical, and you are constantly striving to get to the next lower bit of the tower. The whole quest culminates with an INCREDIBLY difficult boss battle at the very bottom of said tower (hey, I have a post about it! Just read it here already!), and the way down is full of intrigue and extreme danger.
    Most of what you go through is corridors, ledges, giant open rooms, iron bars (think jail cell), fire, and traps. At one point, you get to the main hub of the tower. It's very inactive (as is most everything you find in the tower). There is an item you can find, called the Scorching Iron Scepter. This works as a sort of key, and once you use it back in that main hub, you essentially start the engine of the tower. It belches flames, and huge chains laboriously move elevators and lifts up and down. This part is particularly stellar because some of the elevators are nothing more than metal grates on top of huge statues (I think) of soldiers. Once you first use that scepter and get the lifts going, it's a sight to behold.

These giant statue/elevators are creepy

Once they get fired up

     The soldiers almost look like they are hanging, and it's a bit of a depressing sight. The whole operation certainly makes you feel small in comparison. Once you get these things moving, there are several new areas for you to explore. Eventually, you'll find a new area called Iron Passage. I'll briefly discuss it here. This place is very similar to Cave of the Dead from the Sunken King DLC. It's a straight-ahead area that leads right to a boss, and it's LINED with enemies. Apparently, this area and Cave of the Dead were designed as co-op areas, which is why both are very difficult. Iron Passage, specifically, is way more of a pain in the ass, compared to the Cave. You have to fight through three small areas, and each is packed to the brim with enemies. The first area has a few ashen soldiers, a lightning sorceress, and a powerful faith/miracle caster. This is the easiest part. Get through this, and the next bigger area has a few more soldiers, another miracle caster, and two of those possessed armors (one is a red phantom, no less). Finally, after this area, you get to a large, open area, with the boss gate at the other end. You have to deal with at least one possessed armor soldier, two casters (one red), and two of those giant soldiers (one red). I generally just run through all this bullshit as quickly and carefully as possible. It is not worth my time to try and fight through all this muck. It's probably a 70/30 ratio of me running through to the boss and me getting killed on my run to the boss. And what kind of boss do you get for surviving this hellish area? Oh, a re-skin of a boss from the main game (more on him in his own post). Blah.

Beginning of the Iron Passage. Looks great, at least

    There's another optional area that ends with an optional boss (a much better one than at the end of the Iron Passage). At one point, as you ride those elevators, you'll find a small room with a set of samurai-looking armor on a stand, and a long katana sitting on the floor under it. If you have the Crown of the Old Iron King, and the ashen mist heart, you can enter a new memory (remember those Giant memories?), the Memory of the Old Iron King. This is a small area teaming with those Alonne knights and captains (and those annoying fire salamanders), from the Iron Keep. There's a very good reason for that, considering the boss of the area. Spoiler alert: it's Sir Alonne. This area is a bit tough, but it's far easier than Iron Passage.
    Interjected story time! After receiving the titular crown after beating Fume Knight, I excitedly made my way to the bonfire right outside where that set of armor is. I walked up to it, ready to take on a new area, and...nothing. I didn't have the ashen mist heart. What did that then mean? Oh, nothing much. Just had to: run through Drangleic Castle and beat the dual Dragonriders and Looking Glass Knight; run through Shrine of Amana and beat Demon of Song; run through Undead Crypt and kill Velstadt; run through Aldia's Keep and kill the Guardian Dragon; and finally, run through the Dragon Aerie to get to the Ancient Dragon, so he could give me that goddamn ashen mist heart. Suffice to say, I was quite annoyed to have to do all this. It only took me an extra few hours, but trying to just rush through an area in a game like Dark Souls II is not smart (speedrunners notwithstanding), and it probably leads to extra time being taken because you're being careless. I will say though, for the first time ever, twice in a row Looking Glass Knight summoned an actual human player during his fight. Yeah, not fun.
    Okay, enemies and optional areas are done. I'd love to talk about the look and feel of this DLC now. Remember when I mentioned the nostalgia about Demon's Souls? This DLC really hit me right in the feels (as the kids are wont to say nowadays. By the way, I am not a miserly 50 year old). There's a section that's full of barrels, hollows carrying barrels, and fire shooting out around. This really reminded me of 2-2 StoneFang Tunnel, with those hollows bearing a resemblance to the normal StoneFang workers. Also, large parts of the tower sections reminded me of 3-1 Tower of Latria. There were several times throughout where I just stopped for a second, because I was overcome with a beautiful sense of deaj-vu. I'm not sure exactly why, but just the whole aesthetics of it has a throwback feel (and it taking place in a large tower certainly helps). It made me really want to play that game, and I'm thinking of starting a new character in it soon. Beyond the vague Demon's Souls feeling, I preferred the look of Brume Tower over Shulva. It's more colorful (compared to that overall drab, bluish color of the sunken city), it's got outdoor sections (which I think I prefer in Souls games over indoor sections), overall it's just more interesting, what with all the fire, elevators, the traps and inventive ways you can go about various sections. I've actually seen the DLC likened to the Arkham Batman games, in that you can analyze certain areas before you enter, and you can pick a strategy specifically for said area. I'll also say, arrows are a big help throughout this DLC. I've never gone through so many arrows in any area of ANY Souls game before. I bet I've used 500-600 just in the DLC alone. So hopefully you have a decent bow!
    I think I've talked about everything I wanted to, except for maybe the most crucial aspect: this DLC is hard as hell. In general, Dark Souls II was pretty tough, and the "Sunken King" DLC was hard, but this DLC is nasty in every sense of the word. It has brutally difficult bosses (maybe the single toughest one in the entire game?), very tough areas filled with mobs of enemies, and even very hard NPC invading phantoms (Maldron the Assassin being tougher than Jester Thomas even. Plus FIVE red phantoms invading at once!). Generally the challenge was welcome, and I was able to overcome everything the game threw at me. I will say, either my skills are deteriorating, or I'm just not as good at this game as I once thought. These goddam bosses are eating my lunch. I've already put up my Fume Knight post and how difficult I found him. Without spoiling my own future posts, I'm stuck on both Sir Alonne and re-skinned Smelter Demon. It's very frustrating, because the DLC has been out for two weeks I think, and I just want to finish it. As much as I LOVE these games, I have other stuff to play. I actually came to this revelation during my runthrough of the main game, trying to get the ashen mist heart. I never proclaimed to be an amazing Souls players (even the platinum trophies for Demon's Souls and Dark Souls II, while difficult to obtain, were not something unachievable for me, like say the platinum trophy for a game like, Max Payne 3, for instance), but I figured I could at least beat every boss solo. I on;y beat one of three solo on the first DLC, and it's looking like a smiliar ratio for this one. Oh well, I guess it's not something to get that worked up about, right? I really think Homer said it best, "No matter how good you are at something, there's always about a million people better than you."
    I'm gonna wrap this up on a more lighthearted note. Firstly, yes, this DLC is amazing, and I would strongly suggest it to fans of the regular game and the first DLC. Boring (or, lazy) boss design aside (more knights with swords!), everything else is a pure pleasure. I haven't touched on it much, but this one is much more lore heavy than the first chapter. Lore hounds should eat it up. But what's really the best thing about this Iron King chapter? This:

No caption needed

    It's the Smelter Hammer, and I got it from a drop from one of those huge knights. I bring it to attention because, well, just look at how gigantic it is! It has to be the most ludicrously large weapon in Souls history. Also, it takes a staggering 70 (!!) strength to wield, and that's definitely the most strength you need for any one weapon.
    Finally, I'd like to add that I haven't 100% finished the DLC yet (still have the two aforementioned bosses), so I may come back here and update with one final paragraph, once I beat them, if I deem it necessary. Otherwise, thanks for reading, and check back soon (hopefully) for those two boss posts. I know I've said it in the last like three or four posts, but I really will have some Batman: Arkham Origins posts up pretty soon. Most likely

Fun note: I used the acronym "DLC" 27 times in this post (counting this one, and the one in the title).