Quinneapolis
it's almost saddening how much my mental health improved when I stopped playing elden ring every day
Quinneapolis
I have more energy and even other totally unrelated things piss me off less
Gabiluzbad
The game is infuriating
Quinneapolis
I'm going to finish it, maybe
Quinneapolis
maybe
Quinneapolis
I heard things about the final boss that left me unsure
Quinneapolis
I think DS1 engendered too much passivity in me
Quinneapolis
the later games expect a more bloodborney level of offense
Quinneapolis
and it does not came naturally to me
Quinneapolis
I want to keep my shield up and keep my distance, wait for an opening, hit once or twice and duck back out to recover stamina
Quinneapolis
but DS3 and onwards are like NO YOU GOTTA GET IN THERE
EsperBot
At minimum you need to like. Dodge towards and then smack them from behind.
EsperBot
There’s a lot of enemies who just will not give you an opening if you’re blocking them
Quinneapolis
the problem with shield strats is you need to have a lot of stamina all the time
Quinneapolis
so if you go hard on attack then you can't block anymore
Quinneapolis
unless maybe there's some kind of greatshield of artorias level megashield for strength builds
oh i'm scary
Sven was talking on discord about how a certain shield and talisman combo gives you a shield with 100 stability
oh i'm scary
which, allegedly, literally means you lose no stamina on block
Quinneapolis
when I come back, next month at the absolute earliest, I think I'm gonna start fresh
Quinneapolis
with a strength/faith build
oh i'm scary
you could respec
Quinneapolis
no
Quinneapolis
if I'm learning a completely new playstyle I'm doing it from the beginning
Quinneapolis
not learning it against fucking maliketh
oh i'm scary
fair enough
Quinneapolis
the longer I sit in having lost the more irrationally certain I am that everyone I know is gonna blitz through maliketh in a day
Quinneapolis
that's fine
Quinneapolis
my build did extremely good for a long time
Quinneapolis
I beat everyone TO maliketh, they can have the rest
oh i'm scary
I'm absolutely not suggesting you ever go back and try it again but it occurs to me, in an I-think-this-is-kind-of-interesting way, that your fundamental approach to combat is probably why you hate Dark Souls 2 so much too
oh i'm scary
like it's not a game that demands aggression, the stamina bar is WAY too restrictive for that
oh i'm scary
but it is a game that punishes trying to stay disengaged by default
oh i'm scary
it's a game where it's consistently much, much, much easier to dodge too early than too late
EsperBot
Honestly I think that that's probably the design intent in DkS2 but the hitbox jank makes going shieldless WAY too scary
oh i'm scary
I always do, it's not like you can get a decent shield before going through one of the hardest zones anyway
oh i'm scary
the first zone being one of the hardest is of course also an issue
oh i'm scary
but yeah everything is bigger than you right out the gate and has huge ridiculous tracking on all its attacks
oh i'm scary
stealing hits and then backing off does not work
oh i'm scary
they want you backed off
Quinneapolis
the tracking
Quinneapolis
fucking destroyed me
Quinneapolis
I'd be directly behind someone 2 frames before the attack lands and they'd do a fuckin 18 in place
Quinneapolis
180
oh i'm scary
they sure would
oh i'm scary
honestly 3 inherited its fair share of that with fuckers like Lothric Knights, Elden Ring feels much nicer about tracking in general
oh i'm scary
gif of the giant archer shooting straight down notwithstanding
Quinneapolis
in my experience they aren't even particularly good at hitting stationary targets