Thread 717221268

>You can easily get dozens of levels and a maxed out weapon without even having to fight anything
>You can summon an AI partner to tank boss fights for you
>You can become practically invincible by equipping a greatshield
I was told this was supposed to be the hardest From game, but even Demon's Souls might be harder than this.

>>717221268 (OP)
>I was told this was supposed to be the hardest From game
Who the fuck told you that? None of the souls games are hard unless you choose to make them hard.

>hard
>game
kek

Lots of games have these communities built around self imposed difficulty modifiers or challenges because games are otherwise top easy.
This is not one of those cases. All the things you described require a level of prior knowledge of game mechanics and reward locations. The people struggling with these games are struggling because they don't even know about these things, probably because they're new to Elden Ring or to souls in general.
If you're playing with a wiki or clearing zones 100% before bosses things are going to be SIGNIFICANTLY easier.
I personally just sword and board 100% of the time with no items so it's usually a decent challenge.

>>717221268 (OP)
>muh greatshield
DLC radahn really did pussify you fags and all you need to do is hear about him

>>717221268 (OP)
>hundreds of hours to finish your 1st playthrough and you don't anything out of it (Marika in particular)
fuck this game

"can" is the operative word here.
You can easily avoid leveling up or maxing out your weapons.
You can never even go out of the way to get the mimic ashes.
You can not use a shield period.

Use your brain. Or don't. How you play a game is up to you.

>>717221268 (OP)
You can.

But you don't have to.

That's the point.

>>717221898
Wrong. I got a cool magic wife out of it.

>>717221268 (OP)
>grinding until he becomes overpowered and the game becomes easy
>somehow this is the game's fault

No one who really likes these games plays them for the difficulty. They're all quite simple ARPGs mechanics wise.
People like them because of the dire, solemn tone. It's the end of the world and you're all fucked but you persevere anyway because fuck it. All the Souls games do that quintessential Western high fantasy with dragons and swords and shit better than all others. That's why people like them.
The YOURE GONNA FUCKING DIE A MILLION TIMES THIS GAME IS SO EPIC HARDCORE STYLEZ FOR ULTRAAAAA GAMEEERRRSSS shit is just marketing. Makes people who are shit at games feel like they're part of the "cool crowd."
They're all fags and so are you, OP.

>>717221596
Using wikis too much kind of ruins the experience imo. I've tried to keep wiki use to minimum as I am playing the game for the first time. Leads to neat shit like accidentally stumbling into the capital city via a sort of underground route rather than (what I assume to be) the main route which was guarded by that dragonic tree sentinel. The only things I've looked help for on wikis are some of the quests because it is really annoying how little the game tells you about how to advance some quests or where to find a character if he/she suddenly fucks off in the middle of a quest.

>>717226475
Yeah the game was too big for the characteristic obtuse side quests. You talk to some chick and she's like
>after Trogdor absconded with Ghranleic's Gatorade in the twilight of the old ones...
then she just vanishes and you have no idea where she went. I played ER without a guide for 90% of the game but at the end I was asking "Where the fuck is that guy?!" so I used one for a few things.
Getting spirited away to Caelid from that chest when I was level 7 was awesome. And discovering stuff in general is just way more fun doing it yourself.

It's the hardest if you're a no healing, no OP build, no rolling GOD like me.

>>717221898
if it took you over 50 hours to beat this game then just kill yourself

>>717221268 (OP)
Difficulty isn't measured by having end game knowledge and memorization and then cheesing the game.

>>717221596
By the way people talk about the game it's obvious 90% of players used youtube guides or wikis. During launch week everyone coincidentally had Mimic Tear, Rivers of Blood, and the Meteor Staff and also knew that you had to sleep bomb the Godskin Duo. It's the oldschool souls players who were going in blind, all the newfags just played it like an MMO.

>>717221268 (OP)
Elden Ring with the mimic tear is easier than the average AAA slop game.

>>717221898
Miyazaki is hellbent on denying players a satisfying ending in a game that is ostensibly a power fantasy.

>>717227153
Lel I got sent to Caelid while extremely underleveled as well. Was pure survival horror mode in there as I tried to find a way out of that hellhole.

The game honestly ought to have some sort of quest tracker though. Not necessarily map markers or shit like that, just some log where you can review all the people you've interacted with and what quests you are doing. I am certain that I have just forgotten or missed a bunch of quests due to how obtuse they are.

>>717228048
I've personally actively tried to avoid looking up where best weapons etc are so that the temptation of rushing for them wouldn't even be there. I did by pure coincidence, happen upon the moonveil katana as I was exploring around and finding it made me start putting points into intelligence so I could use the damn thing, and generally shifted my samurai character into more of a mage knight type of dude. With carian retalliation on my shield I just parry spells and cut fuckers into ribbons.

>>717221268 (OP)
If you find any game difficult you might have some disability desu

>>717231641
Post your 1CCs