I play as a mage and use ashes.
Did I truly play the game?
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I play as a mage and use ashes.
Did I truly play the game?
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UFOs Are A Psyop Shirt $21.68 |
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nah, ashes break boss fights
>ashes break boss fights
I feel sorry for every newbie here who bought into the "don't use Ashes" meme. Ashes are one of the most dynamic aspects of Elden Ring. There are ~64 unique Spirit Ashes in the game and there is an incredible amount of variety in their function, behavior, and use
>Multiple entities vs a single entity
>aggressive vs defensive
>ranged vs melee
>spell casting vs physical damage
>High health / low damage vs low health / high damage
>status effects vs stats
Like, if you never used any Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring, you missed like 30% of the combat mechanics. You, literally, did not play the whole game.
>Like, if you never used any Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring, you missed like 30% of the combat mechanics.
The combat mechanics of the AI playing for you?
>he missed 30% of the game
hey man, never too late to start a fresh run
AI minions are based and redpilled. t. D2 summon Necro
>why play the game when you can make an npc play it for you?
YDNBTG.
Any single spirit ash that doesn't just die in 2 hits is literally designed to just tank the boss while you rape them with no consequence, what "mechanics" are you missing out on here? If anything it's removing the spacing and dodging that you would normally have without ashes.
>normally
Elden Ring is the game. The "normal" fighting aspect is using the spirit ashes.
Spacing and rolling is innate to the controls from the get go, ashes are something you unlock, so you're just objectively wrong.
You unlock spirit ashes very early in the run, so yes they are just as much part of the core gameplay as anything else.
You can unlock 80% of the content early into a run, doesn't mean squat. If it's missable then it's not core gameplay.
I don't know where you came up with that insanely arbitrary definition for what "counts" as core gameplay, but just know that it is, indeed, arbitrary with zero basis in any way shape or form.
It's not rocket science autist, if you aren't required to use it at the start of the game it's not "core gameplay", you're just attempting to be a gold medalist in gymnastics trying to justify the way (You) played the game out of some odd insecurities. Why are you here trying to justify all this if it didn't bother you so much when people said you played on easy mode?
Cool, story isn't gameplay though.
>if you aren't required to use it at the start of the game it's not "core gameplay"
Not that anon. So that's like saying in Zelda Ocarina of Time since you don't get the ocarina at the beginning, it isn't core gameplay? You're lierally moronic.
On the contrary, Ranni's quest is missable but is clearly the main quest given that all other NPC stories and endings suck utter fricking shit in comparison.
I knew Ganker was moronic. Just didn't realize how much.
Very nice counter argument, but yeah using that "logic" of his running around the map and getting a +10 somber stone weapon in <20 minutes is """""core gampeplay""""". It's beyond disingenuous.
By that definition almost every single weapon, talisman, piece of armor, incantation, sorcery, ash of war, crafting or upgrade material is not core gameplay because it's all missable. This means that using anything other than the starting weapon at +0 with no flask upgrades and no talismans other than what you started with is the "normal" way to play the game, following your logic. Also leveling up and improving your stats is also missable, so leveling up is not a core mechanic and you are not playing the game normally if you level up.
>By that definition almost every single weapon, talisman, piece of armor, incantation, sorcery, ash of war, crafting or upgrade material is not core gameplay because it's all missable. This means that using anything other than the starting weapon at +0 with no flask upgrades and no talismans other than what you started with is the "normal" way to play the game, following your logic. Also leveling up and improving your stats is also missable, so leveling up is not a core mechanic and you are not playing the game normally if you level up.
Correct. Real SoulsBourne players beat bosses with starting weapons and only rolling through every attack without levelling up.
>rolling
Sounds boring.
>realizes his arbitrary distinctions are moronic
>decides to double down and become a stereotypical edgesouls tryhard
love this community
>By that definition almost every single weapon, talisman, piece of armor, incantation, sorcery, ash of war, crafting or upgrade material is not core gameplay because it's all missable. This means that using anything other than the starting weapon at +0 with no flask upgrades and no talismans other than what you started with is the "normal" way to play the game, following your logic. Also leveling up and improving your stats is also missable, so leveling up is not a core mechanic and you are not playing the game normally if you level up.
Not really, almost all of that is revealed to you in ways that are not nearly as "missable" as not being at the church at a specific timeframe for Ranni to show up, very often through tutorials the instant you encounter them. You'd have a point here if most of the equipment and upgrades were gated behind specific triggers like that instead of being able to be plainly picked up while exploring.
Most people don't know that the day/night cycle affects anything until they encounter death rite birds. I bet even less people know that certain "weather" affects things as well, because it is never explained to you.
Dogshit example because you are literally forced to use it to beat OoT, you are not forced to use spirit ashes at any point in ER.
Ashes are found in almost every nook and cranny of the game though. They're core gameplay, deal with it.
And you can get them and never know how to use them if you aren't at one specific church at night, incredible. They're optional content, deal with it.
They are nearly ever present and have tutorials, there's no big flashing indicator telling you to talk to Ranni at night to be able to summon spirits.
>And you can get them and never know how to use them if you aren't at one specific church at night, incredible. They're optional content, deal with it.
Well that's not even true since you can also get them later on from the shop in the round table. Plus, you come across a LOT of them, so naturally you'd try and find out how to use them.
And it is not in any way revealed to you that you can buy it at the round table later. "Finding out about it eventually" is not core gameplay no matter how you try and spin it.
If it's in the game all around you it is core gameplay. You still can't refute this.
"All around you"
Irrelevant, your character does not start with any of those things therefore they are missable as per the logic posted above.
Beating bosses is also missable, therefore not a part of core gameplay. You don't need to beat a boss in order to create a character or to start playing the game.
So would you say that the mikiri counter is not core gameplay of Sekiro? You don't start off with it and you don't have to unlock it if you don't want.
Do you play with starter gear only too?
slap on Shabriri's Woe and summon Latenna at a distance, then watch as she chips away the boss while you're fighting it.
Summoning the shield boys while I stand behind them with the flame whip was KINO. Felt like I was some slave driver pushing the drones through battle.
so much this
am a souls veteran and i abused the shit out of ashes
frick muh honor and muh git gud
souls games are not hard, you're just bad
if you're against ashes you should be against leveling up and upgrading weapons
Also ignoring the ashes system make 70% of the open world content worthless
You're right, just not for the correct reasons. Nobody should care what you used or how you played your game, but the ashes are largely pretty shit. There really is almost zero utility to them and they do almost nothing to the mechanics of any fight outside of a) jump in and tank damage to take the enemy's focus or b) hang back and shoot projectiles while occasionally taking the enemy's focus. If you used them on one boss you've used them on a dozen. Yawn.
>Nobody should care what you used or how you played your game
We absolutely should fricking care. If ashes are perceived positively, there's a good chance the next FromSoft game will contain a clutch like these instead of going back to relying on traditional grug skill-based rolling.
I'm pretty sure From is going to do whatever they want and not give a frick what a bunch of Gankerirgins on a Norwegian canoe making forum think about beating their game or not. Your little crusade is cute but don't act like it matters one iota.
>“I feel like our approach to these games, not just Elden Ring, is to design them to encourage the player to overcome adversity. We don’t try to force difficulty or make things hard for the sake of it. We want players to use their cunning, study the game, memorize what’s happening, and learn from their mistakes.”
Reminder that Miyazaki approves of beating the game by any means necessary
Miyazaki also said multiplayer makes dark souls an RPG
I don't think he knows what he's talking about most of the time
from is marketing the game as hardcore unforgiving trash just to please the low iq Gankercels and give you guys a sense of accomplishment
Yet the game was always easy as frick, hello summons?
I would love for someone calling Souls easy shit to show me this mythological 'real hard' or 'naturally difficult' game they are supposedly playing instead.
Ninja Gaiden and Sekiro are much better examples
cuphead
Halo 2 SLASO
Pretty sure nobody has legitimately cleared Gravemind to this day without the use of exploits
any dmc with dmd difficulty
every single metroidvania game
every single Shoot 'em up game
Super Meat Boy
the only remotely difficult castlevania games were OoE and CoTM. Aria gave you all sorts of dumb shit to cheese the game with, harmony's just a shittier sotn, sotn lets you go from israeliteel fist to other busted shit really early, 70% of dawn gets completely trivialized by backdash cancelling katanas, and portrait of ruin is not only naturally easy but hilariously easy to bug out in a beneficial way with the infinite item glitch.
OoE utterly breaks with certain Glyphs.
Axe, then three-way fireballs and finally Nova Skelly-beam is pretty much all you need in the entire game.
Elden Ring is probably the easiest Souls title out there. The fact that you can breeze through the game without effort and with nearly any build should give an idea that this game is not as ''hardcore'' as it is.
Friend of mine never played souls games.
Picked up Elden ring. Did entirety of Limgrave from catacombs to caves and optional bosses.
Killed Margit in 5 tries, Killed Godrick in 2 tries.
And continued so on. Funny enough, he got stuck for 2 hours with mature Fallingstar beast. Because he skipped Caelid and went to Gelmir.
Elden Ring is beside some small roadblocks a friendly game that's accessible to everyone. Just take your time, upgrade and you'll kill anyone with anything.
HAHAHAHAHAHAH
This homie just wants to play the same rollspam game forever and ever
Yes, actually, I actually want to play games that take skill.
>circle R1 circle R1 circle R1 circle circle circle R1 R1 circle R1
Wow how captivating and skillful, surely this is the apex of the singleplayer experience
Yes, homosexual, a zoomie wouldn't understand.
Yeah me too, that's why I don't use things like ashes or summons in souls games or shit like spamming prosthetics in Sekiro. The difference between us is I'm not a massive homosexual online about someone else playing a game differently than me, probably because I'm not stroking my little chode over some sense of superiority over a bunch of pixels on a screen like you.
Pretty sure I have a bigger dick than you.
>no rebuttal at all
No worries, big guy, I accept your concession.
Then you should play a different game that is actually hard
>We
homosexual
How is that a bad thing if it's optional?
By not using ashes, you're not watering down the gameplay from traditional formula, it's only those that are using ashes that are robbing themselves of harder fights.
Fromsoft is pretty good about doing what they want and not cutting down the tree to save a few apples. All of the b***hing about "muh too hard" over the years has only resulted in them adding tools for those b***hing, not bringing down the entire experience for those that aren't.
I see it as an almost opposite logic. By adding these ashes, now they can make harder, more unfair fights and when people complain about them cranking up the difficulty, they can point to the ashes, which will always be there as a free pass to victory for the unskilled. It could be a wonderful tool to cater to both camps.
The only downside is that those that don't use them get spat on a lot with so many being "rewards" for dungeons and side content, but that's par for the course at this point. Most content wont give you new things for your preferred "build".
>using ashes that are robbing themselves of harder fights
You also do that by
>upgrading weapons
>using weapon arts
>using shields
>parrying
>using magic or buffs
>using jump attacks
>using a horse
>leveling up
Where do you draw the line? This principle can be applied to every aspect of the game.
What does any of that have to do with anything I said?
Feels like one sentence struck a nerve and you took personal offense.
>resulted in them adding tools for those b***hing, not bringing down the entire experience for those that aren't.
Because your take is an elitist one pretending that game is something that it is not.
In every interview on this topic Miyazaki says that they want players to embrace freedom and give them as many tools as possible. But morons like you can’t accept that there’s no “right” way to play the game that makes you better than everyone else.
If you didn’t do a no-hit run of every game in the series without ever leveling up - you robbed yourself of the true challenge those games can give you.
The real crutch is actually summoning other players tbh
It really shows how piss poor the boss design in those games is if summoning an extra target with no damage completely trivializes every boss fight.
They really should have fleshed out the spirit ash system into something more of a full-on summoner/necromancer playthrough. Probably could have even woven it into the death sorceries and the lore behind the deathblight. If they bothered having factions with the demigods like other anons have brainstormed, they could even fall under Godwyn's banner. Such a missed opportunity.
Sorry moron but I'd rather have more MP to use my cool looking skills and spells than spend it all to summon armored dude or random animal and watch them whack the boss
Spirit Ashes are just a symptom of the game tacking on too much weird shit without thinking about how it actually fits into a greater whole. Like guard counters and jumping attacks and crouching. None of this is really necessary and it's just raw open world bloat to pad the game out with.
It wouldn't be so bad if all the mechanics meshed together better, but jumping attacks can trivialize the game even more than spirit ashes.
Spirit Ashes are weird because on one hand it definitely feels like the game wants me to use them, but on the other hand the amount of distraction they give the boss leaves me not quite satisfied, compared to when I was scraping though Margit and Godrick by the skin of my teeth.
It's like they wanted to get the solo players on board with summoning (hence the HP or FP costs: to have a trade-off) but I can't say they've won me over.
>People who didn't use spirit ashes didn't play the whole game
W-what?
I can't...no...
I thought I was based bros...
It is always morally correct to use Tiche against Malenia, as in the end, it's a videogame.
And if you're not having fun with the game after 6+ hours of trying, why are you even playing.
This.
Souls games always had co-op, and ashes are a really fun and varied version of that.
What is this copium you sound like you're insecure because you beat game with ashes and internet guides.
This is some next level cope ->
I thought this place was for hardcore gamers, but it was just for noobs.
Yes I know that one redditor used the rivers of noob to solo Malenia, but hey at least he soloed her unlike you casuals.
Breaking? You mean beating?
Yeah, there is no shame in using the tools a game gives you.
But there is shame in INT builds.
>Playing Dex character
>Do random dungeon
>Get INT katana
>Figure why the hell not
>Focus on INT until I can use it
>Shoot fricking beams on unsheaths
>Find out every shitter in the world uses this weapon after I already reached lvl100 with it in mind
Don't care, shit is too rad, and I totally understand why everyone loves it.
same, no amount of crying will make me leave my moonveil behind
>Exclusively level up Uchigatana
>Add Bloody Slash ash of war because it easy modes everything
>People get angry at me now for '>using Rivers of Blood'
>Haven't even found Rivers of Blood
th core gameplay of this game is its combat , especially close quarter combat
bosses AI struggles with multiple aggro and ranged attacks
at least you got to explore the world
>bosses AI struggles with multiple aggro and ranged attacks
Skill issue
You’ve gotten better than the boss - that’s the point of the game. Picking worse tools for doing that does not make you better. It’s like those moronant who beat the game on a steering wheel - no one cares.
Ashes simply can't carry you through most boss fights and some fights will punish you for using spells.
Pretty sure it's just a bait thread but play like you want to, it's all balanced in the end.
>ashes can’t carry you
Water is not wet
>Ashes simply can't carry you through most boss fights
tell that to my mimic from ng+ post mimic nerf lmao
>Ashes simply can't carry you through most boss fights
I literally spent all of NG+ with my Mimic carrying me through every single fight after dealing with them without any summons or cheesy methods in my first playthrough. The increased health pools and damage literally did not matter, having a summon (Especially the Mimic) is so broken even after all these patches that just spamming L2 with the Blasphemous Blade and almost never dodging while the Mimic took aggro 90% of the time even without the Shabriri talisman broke every boss. Malenia was second try compared to five hours, and I would have won in the first try if I didn't have her immediately rush me down after the cutscene while I was summoning the Mimic since I forgot it stuck you in the center of the arena.
Just look at this crap, I even accidentally drank my empty Physick on accident and half-assedly kept spamming L2 and roll spamming like a mong because I didn't care to even think or try. There's a point where she even Scarlet Aeonia's aiming at me and then decides to redirect to the Mimic when hitting me would have killed me. The only reason the Mimic even died was because the AI kept walking into the SA.
>five hours
jesus, how many attempts was that? I took a cool like 25 attempts and even that was only like 90 minutes.
I didn't keep count but way more than 50. Learning to dodge into her, how to deal with some of Waterfowl (Could never dodge slash one), and the quirks of phase 1 is what got me through stuff. Even on my winning run I only won because she spammed Scarlet Aeonia four times in a row and never use Waterfowl in phase 2.
This sometimes happens to me with bosses even if I know their movese., Isshin for example took me two tries first time on Sekiro then when I did it charmless it was like six hours and I don't know why. I once spend eight hours fighting against KH2 Sephiroth only to come back on the PS4 release and beat him first try and I don't know what I did differently because I didn't remember any of his moveset.
>Isshin for example
I find that people have their games that they click better with. I was absolute dogshit, for some reason, when playing Dark Souls 1. Every boss took me 20+ tries. Literally ever one. Bloodborne though, I 1-shot almost everything on my first playthrough. 2 attempts at most, for everything except Ebrietas whom I got down to 1% greed-dumping my stamina bar before dying because I gauged my damage wrong and then I went on full tilt and it took me all evening.
What newbiegery is this? Who even pays attention to tripcodes? Literally didn't even notice until you pointed this out. Is this a reddit thing?
not replying to tripgays is a classic Ganker policy to deter namegayging and encourage anonymity
this reads like something some summergay came up with in 2019. Sorry, I've just been around too much longer than that, I must have missed the memo.
i am the eternal 2008 summergay, i was here before memes long forgotten
i force anon on all posts so i don't even see names/tripcodes
lurk more newbie
Don't reply to triphomosexuals
Good. Bullshit bosses like Malenia don't deserve respect.
>physick in the item slot instead of quick select
ngmi
>NG+
You're proving his point.
>full armor
>get hit once by a combo attack
>70% HP gone
What a shit game
if it's a combo attack it wasn't hit once moron. learn to use a shield if you are terrified of taking damage.
>wear medium armor
>stack defense penalizing talismans
>take lots of damage from the postgame superboss
WOOOOOOW
It's NG+ boss damage and she's considered a superboss and the hardest one in the game in general. She does far less than that on NG.
>stack defense penalizing talismans
Nah, the only thing I had that penalized defense was the Fire Scorpion Talisman and she doesn't use fire. My setup was Fap ring +2, stamina ring, Fire Scorpion, and I think the one that lowers FP on WAs? It was something to do with WAs.
>Nah, the only thing I had that penalized defense was the Fire Scorpion Talisman and she doesn't use fire
Oh no, he's moronic...
>but increasesPhysical Damagetaken by 10%.
Well crap, I guess I speedread, I thought it lowered fire resistance.
It also stacks multiplicatively with counter damage which is why you got chunked so hard
Would the stab be counter even though I was walking backward? I wasn't dodging or attacking.
Nah it looked like you were sprinting but that was jsut the low quality of the webm
tripgays never fail to be the most moronic people on the platform
>just want to play a spell caster but every game has dogshit magic
elden ring has some pretty good magic
magic is easy mode in literally every souls game barring maybe 3. and its stylish as frick in elden ring. what are you talking about?
It's less of an issue in Elden Ring (imo) than it was in Dark Souls 1. The problem not being the viability of magic but how the playstyle can trivialize fights by making it so you don't have to engage with their mechanics.
There are a lot of melee magic spells in Elden Ring that are very efficient and damaging but requires the player to actually put themselves at risk of getting hit. Some spells like carian slicer and catch flame, you can even cast while jumping.
Pyromancy is pretty good in 3 save for a select few bosses and it is suffering incarnate.
until an npc input read dodges every cast
than you use the stealth spells
Gravity spells are kino, Collapsing Stars and Astel Meteorite are awesome
It's time to play Dragon's Dogma.
I have it backlogged on GOG but later heard there are some online issues that are handled better with Steam. Should I play it on Steam?
Yes.
This looks boring as frick
It's time to play the RPG with the best magic gameplay of all time
>miss
>miss
>miss
>hit for 1hp
>miss
you aint harry potter homie
just play skyrim
skyrim had the absolute worst magic in the series
And? Still better than "EEeeeeepeeeeeewww" "EEeeeeeepeeeeeeewww" "EEeeeeepeeeeww"
No it's not, magic in vanilla Skyrim is the worst magic system ever created for a videogame. It is literally unusable without the impact perk which turns every fight into a 20 minute long stunlock.
Are you moronic?
everything is viable in skyrim, you can't just whip out flames and kill a high level enemy with 14 destruction, no.
people also complain about it not being viable on legendary, when on legendary the highest damage you can get on a melee weapon legitimately is like ~300 without exploits. Channeled magic spells can easily do like 200+ damage a second over time. You can also pop a potion and melt even the tankiest enemies in the game almost instantly at range. So all it really is is people complaining "why can't I one shot like when I melee with one click and a low tier spell?!"
>everything is viable in skyrim
Not really, you can't effectively use any spell in Skyrim until you have 100% cost reduction at which point you spam your highest damage skill that triggers Impact. Before having full cost reduction you always use the second tier spell because anything else is literally useless as they require 3-5x the magicka cost for 1.5x the damage.
>people also complain about it not being viable on legendary
It's viable, it's just a fricking snoozefest to spend 30 minutes stunlocking legendary enemies to death before getting magicka cost reduction stacked.
Since magic damage doesn't scale with anything in Skyrim you're literallly plinking enemies to death with useless spells until you get full cost reduction at which point you might as well just be cheating since you can just spam your strongest spell infinitely. It's objectively the shittiest magic system to ever exist and it's laughable how bad it is by default, especially when LITERALLY every single mod in existence that does anything related to magic in Skyrim fixes its issues by just... making magic damage actually scale as you level up.
I have never gotten infinite mana in skyrim with a mage and did fine, are you moronic? The game also gives you access to infinite mana potions while in combat
>dude you don't need 0% cost if you just spam infinite potions
Same shit, different smell.
Doesn't change that Skyrim's magic is objectively dogshit.
Also, you can't even say your moronic shit about how Elden Ring has 5 variants of the same spell, because Skyrim literally has 4 spells. Bolt, stream, trap, and cloak.
I don't know I think you might be moronic, getting infinite mana is far harder than stacking a couple regen enchantments and skills and effectively having near infinite mana pretty early in the game
I don't think you've ever actually played skyrim
>getting infinite mana is far harder than stacking a couple regen enchantments
No?
It's pretty trivial to get 100% cost reduction (or something so functionally close that it might as well be 100%) for a single type of spell, you only need it for destruction.
>and effectively having near infinite mana pretty early in the game
Once again, same shit, different smell. You either might as well be cheating with infinite mana, or you're doiing nothing. Thank you for proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am correct in saying Skyrim's magic is dogshit.
>It's pretty trivial to get 100%
>you can't effectively use any spell in Skyrim until you have 100% cost reduction, it's not viable
Yes, both of those things are true anon.
That's why Skyrim's magic system is dogshit
>b-but I don't technically have 100% reduction
Then you have something functionally identical because Skyrim's magic system is dogshit.
>hurr no Idon't
Then you're doing some meme strategy equivalent to a challenge run except doing it in a game where there is no challenge in the first place.
that doesn't make any sense and you've never played the game
I accept your concession.
I sorta kinda of have to agree there
Magic in vanilla skyrim is absolute dogshit and incredibly boring.
Not to speak of the fact that it makes looting items significantly harder.
Magic becomes more fun when you install Apocalypse and Triumivate mods, alongside Ordinator/Perkus maximus.
You can kill enemies just fine with vanilla magic but where is the enjoyment.
at least skyrim didn't have like a dozen different tiered versions of the same spell.
this
elden ring is a lovely game but who cares about the same fricking spell but you need 70int to use it...
Elden Ring has some pretty awesome spells between all the schools of magic. The only thing holding it back is the godawful spell selection system that hasn't evolved once since Demon's Souls.
I also liked it better when magic was tied to your stamina instead of forcing a separate bar for mana into the mix
IIRC DS1 didn't even use stamina to cast spells, think that was DS2
Mages are not strong in Elden Ring this isn't Dark Souls 2 bro
bleed, poison/rot, summon ashes, a few broken skills maybe but spells cost too much mana to be overpowerd
I guess if you have a bonfire right next to the boss then it's good but throughout the game they just alright
Play Dark Souls 2 and either go faith for lighning arrows taking off 1/5th of boss HP or go dark and have 150 casts of Dark Orb that deals about 400 damage per cast.
>if you have a bonfire right next to the boss
As if this wasn’t the case for every boss in ER
Yeah, everyone will tell you magic is OP but it's not.
Soulsgames always have shit magic that triviliazes a few things, while making the rest of the game more bothersome.
You didnt beat the game but who gives a frick?
Sorcery is fine, ashes are for gays
A proper wizard needs his familiar
yeah you just robbed yourself of most of the enjoyment though
>Enjoyment of getting fricked by 4 moronic endgame bosses for 20 hrs
Nah
I played double bunga bonk build and you bet I used the clone ashes
Yes, ashes are fun. You beat the game
Ashes aren't fun because you can only summon them in boss fights. Not letting me summon ashes just to watch them fight the already harmless fidld enemies is a crime
You can on multiple occasions though. Just activate the summoning pool statues when you see them.
??? Aren't those a multiplayer thing?
No, you can summon ashes in a ton of overworld places. The Gatefront Ruins, like the first site of grace most people found upon starting the game, are a viable summoning location and you can clear out the whole of the nearby ruins with your ashes. Also tons of places in legacy dungeons let you leverage ashes.
Those are exclusively multiplayer things, not for ashes. There's definitely plenty of places you can summon ashes outside of boss fights though, like in Sellia.
>you can only summon them in boss fights.
demonstrably and factually untrue tho?
Depends on for which fights you used ashes for. I use them for every shitty copypaste/ganksquad boss.
It felt dishonorable to use ashes against Horah Loux but I was sick of his anime grabs
Malenia is made for getting tag team raped by mimic tear
Yeah sure, just like someone playing a game on "very easy" beat the game.
I usually get 1 shot in "very easy mode" in most games yeah
>hurrr i dont put points in health
>its the games fault i get 1shot
>use ashes.
Alright frickers, name the most fun Ashes to play with.
in descending order:
>Marionette Soldiers
>Bloodhound Knight Floh
>Nightmaiden and Swordstress
>Banished Knight Oleg
>Winged Misbegotten
Greatshield soldiers
Skelleg Town Militia
>Greatshield soldiers
patrician's choice. I'm also a fan of Omenkiller Rollo.
I'll add Mausoleum Soldiers if you're more interested in a "ghosts" sort of Necromancer
Unironically Mimic pre nerf. I can't believe how gutted the AI has become. I'll use it on a caster build and it will just run in for melee nonstop. Does next to nothing but tank damage and potentially hold aggro.
It used to be so fricking cool and actually put your build to use. I hate that they didn't just nerf its damage and HP to compensate instead of literally lobotomizing the AI to the point it acts like a fricking soldier of godrick.
Maybe the mimic tear boss got automatically nerfed too, because they share the AI?
black knife tiche
>Greatshield
>Shabriri's Woe
>Latenna
M'lady.
Giant rat only
Level faith to assist them
did you have fun?
What are the best ashes to simulate being a necromancer?
>Skeletal Militiamen
>Skeletal Bandit
>Puppets
>Haligtree Soldiers
>Fanged Imp
>Clayman
Depends on the aesthetic you're going for. Skeletons for obvious reasons, the puppets for more of a "re-animated dead individual" vibe, or imps/claymen for "animated golems".
Don't forget Rotten Stray for that undead-dog look. Also for "golems", the Soldjars of Fortune are great.
I still want one those massive skeletons that shoot laser beams from their eyes as summon or even fricking spells like the dragon attack miracles; It would have been the coolest shit.
I can only hope they add it in the DLC.
> tried 20+ times on Godskin Duo in Faram Azula, Level 104 - St Trina blade + 9 and Dolores +10
I'm thinking about busting out the Mimic Tear, bros. ;_;
Just throw sleep pots at them at the beginning and then make sure to only fight one at a time, so the other stays asleep. it's cheese but it works
I just started the game, should I get myself the meteor staff and the Meteoric Ore Blade? Or would that take the fun out of playing?
Just be yourself.
>Meteoric Ore Blade
>meteor staff
If you're going INT, they're good items to get. I found the Meteor Staff around the time I was getting into Raya Lucaria and it was a nice upgrade over what I have. It's not crazy necessary though because you can get a boss weapon staff from like the second dungeon that stays very good throughout the game. Meteor Staff is more of a spell-specific weapon, as it gives a big boost to gravity magic, so if you like the way Rock Sling or whatever it's called feels, then it's a good choice. If you're using more glintstone spells, then it's fine but is surpassed by other weapons.
>Just started playing
>Already looking up things and google gaming
Just play and stop relying on guides and wikis to know everything.
to this day I will still summon solaire in gargoyles fight and use lightning resin unless I get a bk weapon drop which is basically a win condition. Soulstroons stay malding the game’s are easy.
If you had fun, you beat the game :3
yes you did play the game, anyone that says otherwise is coping and seething that you played it differently
its not playing the game if you're not interacting with it
On my first playthrough and use exclusively sword and board (occasionally 2 hand it) while ignoring all ranged and magic options.
Am I truly playing the game?
Yes, now try modding it. I just mod the game. Let's me engage with all the enemies instead of running past them just to fight bosses. Gonna play a randomizer run soon
>get grave scythe instantly after stormveil
>put quickstep on it
it's enough to make a man sick
>reply
>thread dies
Absolutely not but 99% of the posters here did the same, as well as on all the previous Souls games too, so they didn't beat them either so you fit right in.
Wanna explain your reasoning behind how 99% of people didn't beat the game?
Ganker sucks ass at games. The only posts about ER on this board are people saying they didn't get past the first few bosses or saying "ez game" and then posting their caster builds + mimic tear/tiche.
And not 99% in general, just on this board, but you can probably extend that to most of the players anyway since they made the game a lot more approachable than previous Souls games from the sheer amount of handouts given in it.
>caster builds + mimic tear/tiche
but those people did beat the game. objectively
mimic/tiche beat the game you mean
those people saw the credits and chose an ending. they beat the game
No, mimic and tiche saw the credits, stop trying to downplay their efforts.
sorry I didn't realize I was talking to someone with a mental deficiency
Sorry, I didn't realize I was talking to someone that is visually disabled and clinically moronic.
if you couldn't realize that while talking to yourself, I dunno what anyone can do for you
Ah, so you're schizophrenic as well, my apologies for failing to notice.
*shoots you in the head*
*misses because I'm literally not there in front of him*
Medication, now.
*teleports behind you*
huehuehue prepare to meet your maker....
*slash!!!*
not that he even exists
*sheeths sword and then your body splits where I sliced you*
heh....nothing personnel
they didnt interact with it, so they did not beat it
Yes.
I am going to replay all of these with a magic focused build, never did one before and now it just seems really interesting to try so I actually care about all that MP/FP restoring stuff.
>AI Art
>Ganker: you didnt make the art the AI did
>Spirit ashes
>Ganker: i BeAt ThE gAmE
Yeah, why not?
I'm playing my first play through as a Mage (intelligence 36) with Meteorite Wand with Rock Slang, Collapsing Stars and Great sword, what''s the best armor for mid/post game? I've been wearing whatever armor gets me the best defense but it's making me too slow. I also have a buckler shield and a Misericorde but I'm having trouble parrying attacks, should I just switch to a medium/large shield and will having lighter armor with large shield make me too slow?
Armor is almost purely aesthetic in Souls games, even the heaviest "tankiest" armor will make you live one more hit at best until you reach late game and bosses will kill you in 2 hits at most anyway. The best way to mitigate damage is using buffs/spells, cracked tears or a good shield. Parrying is nice but only viable on some enemies, you aren't going to parry a dragon for example, basically only ones that are closer to human size.
Light armor with a greatshield is alright, the more the shield is upgraded the better it is at blocking attacks and it lets you perform guard counters which are pretty good at breaking an enemy's stance to get a riposte, so long as your equip load is under 70% of the max you will medium roll.
i like to get up close and personal with the bosses. broadsword + shield, then switch between 1H guard countering with the shield and 2H attacks with the square-off ashes of war
Yes, like everyone else. It's just a videogame.
i just want more creature spirit ashes
>bear spirit
>flat-head ant spirit
>white lion spirit ( with curved blade on its front paw )
>dog T-rex spirit ( give it & the lion spirit insanely high FP cost to summon )
>no slime ashes
I'm upset. Would be a good friend for Aurelia
You played it exactly as intended and that's a bad thing
Sorry, but intentionally gimping your playthrough and playing "properly" doesn't get you laid. Mimic chads win again.
you're not seriously considering the male responses here to be actual women, surely?
Lol, STR gays coping with their build being shit, if INT was the harder build then STR gays would go on and on about how their superior build is the best one
They always make themselves out to be the one and only way, no matter what, in matter what game
im glad miyazaki tricked all you morons into putting countless hours into a soul-less dark souls 3 DLC.
>I used many different mechanics available to me and that are encouraged by the devs to use
>Did I truly play the game?
Yes, and moreso than most morons who started the series at DS3.
Spells and miracles are the best these games have seen. Enjoy yourself.
>mage
more like gayge since they never stop whining and sucking each other off
If I run past all the mobs and just kill the bosses, have I played the game completely? The bosses aren't so bad but I fricking hate lobsters, dogs and those shitty crows. I know mobs are most of the game, but I really don't like interacting with them
The correct way is to clear out all the mobs in your first run of an area, then when you get to the boss, run past them to go straight to the boss every time.
Some mobs are obviously not playtested. Lobsters and the various other enemies that snipe you across the map were explicitly designed to be like "hehe let's just make an enemy to kill no hit runs". Unfortunately by extension of them trying to dunk on tryhards normal people get fricked by AIDS when they just want to take their time going through an area. All the awareness in the world can't prepare you for getting sniped from behind 500 feet away.
So to answer your question: yes, since it seems like you've engaged with them at least once before.
Yes, this is why I mod the game. I get to engage all enemies, and I do more than just roll. You should mod the game too
In any other souls game I would have called you a homosexual, but something about the mobs in ER just aren't fun to fight at all. I think I can count on one hand the amount of mobs I actually find enjoyable to fight, the rest are either annoying or downright infuriating to deal with.
>If I run past all the mobs and just kill the bosses, have I played the game completely?
what do you think we did in previous souls games. anyone that says otherwise is just lying.
It’s way easier to run past enemies on a horse and a lot of levels in Souls games were designed to specifically catch and trap “runners”
>were designed to specifically catch and trap “runners”
that does not work at all lmao.
My point is that they tried.
If you’ve never been hit by a stray spell, ambush or an arrow while running though a mob on your 10th attempt, when you’re too tired to pay attention anymore - you’re lying.
It may not even be a lot of damage but it can force you to waste a flask.
>a lot of levels in Souls games were designed to specifically catch and trap “runners”
And none of them did it particularly well outside of DS2 where they just hard gated you
Eh, you would have to memorize roll times in DS3 to get through a lot of areas. The option felt like it was there to get through the levels if you knew exactly where to go and what to do and it didn't feel like cheating because it was arguably harder to do than just clearing the level, but you saved loads of time
>use game mechanics
>did i play the game?
>click "see the credits ASAP" button
>"did I beat the game?"
Obviously not.
if you conflate seeing the credits as instantiated by a menu option, that's on you.
Why is it only this game where the whole "you didn't beat the game" shit applies?
I've seen people say the same thing about MonHun for example (eg: co-op? you didn't beat the game) and everyone just laughs and says they're wrong. What's the difference?
It's just banter m8.
The difference is that souls tryhards drank too much of their own koolaid. They bought in to the "dark souls is le hard game for hardcore gamers like me" shit a little too much, now they all think they're Buts Gerserk for slamming their head against a wall until they overcome some self-imposed obstacle
Fromdrones think theyre better than other gamers because their game is harder, or something.
>Why is it only this game where the whole "you didn't beat the game" shit applies?
People have been calling summoning easy mode since dark souls and it's quite literally playing the game wrong to use them.
this sounds the exact same to me as autistic screeching from Midwest homosexuals crying about putting ketchup on a hotdog
>nooooo you didn't REALLY have a hotdog you can't do that noooo!
The main shill of the game couldn't handle people calling the game easy so he started spamming threads with "if you do this you didn't actually beat the game" to cope with people not thinking the game was hard.
Like when it was exposed that Radahn or whatever his name is can be soloed entirely by AI phantoms without you even having to get off your horse he started spamming that Radahn was nerfed and there was a secret version of him that only he beat that was actually hard
idk, but Monster Hunter is definitely the better boss battle game. feels way more engaging to play (as long as you're not HBG), combos are actually pretty cool and varied, and the bosses (monsters) all feel good to play against
Not him but the major difference is up until late game there are VERY few bosses that can kill you in just a few attacks, and upgrading armor and eating before hunts to maximize your health is considered standard even among veterans.
Because from's games used to have a shared sense of struggle with the challenge. It built a community in its difficulty at points. Now there's none of that. Someone could claim Malenia is the hardest boss in fromsoft history and another person new to the game would summon ashes, bleed frost and say she's super easy.
>Someone could claim Malenia is the hardest boss in fromsoft history and another person new to the game would summon ashes, bleed frost and say she's super easy.
That was literally always the case. You didn’t notice it in earlier games because you were in a bubble.
I went the wrong way in DS so I arrived to O&S very late and over leveled. Fight was piss easy and I could never understand what’s all the fuss is about. Souls games are very unbalanced and the difficulty is extremely uneven for every individual experience. Now even more so with a bigger world.
>Because from's games used to have a shared sense of struggle with the challenge
yeah no, every game is a cake walk after your first souls game.
Elden Ring's not the only game people say this in, have you not been here since the DeS import threads? Using shields outside of the passive, using magic, and using summons has been considered a crutch since Demon's Souls threads.
Shields straight up let you ignore damage and the stamina cost is barely anything on the better shields on top of letting you poke through it. It also lets you completely ignore learning a boss' moveset and lets you power on through everything. It only gets more broken as the Souls games go on. Elden Ring is by far the most broken to the point that Shield Only runs aren't even challenge runs anymore, it's a legitimate way to slaughter bosses without taking any damage.
Magic was so broken that starting as Royalty let you beat every boss and combat encounter without even trying with the basic Soul Arrow and only got progressively more broken as the series went on with DaS1 and ER being the zenith of broken spells.
Summons break everything the games stand for. They can handle enemies for you, drag enemies out for you, tank attacks that you would have had to deal with, and provide something to aggro for bosses while dealing damage you never earned. They also always have significantly more health than the player, typically better gear than the player, and if you're summoning online players you are literally letting people with experience in the game and potentially meta builds walk all over any challenge in it.
People throw a fit when you use things like this and now Ashes of War because it doesn't make you learn boss movesets, doesn't make you really care about fights, doesn't actually have you learn how to fight in general, and lets you strongarm every challenge by making the bosses submit to a bunch of the mechanics that make it much easier.
At the same time it's all arbitrary and how you play is how you play, but don't be surprised when you get talked down at for using Mortal Draw on bosses in Sekiro.
>At the same time it's all arbitrary and how you play is how you play, but don't be surprised when you get talked down at for using Mortal Draw on bosses in Sekiro.
it always makes me laugh when loser nerds think they can talk down to anyone at all, let alone just because they play a videogame without wasting as much time as the loser nerds do. congrats on spending hours retrying the gargoyles until you got lucky in DaS1, meanwhile I used my sunbro and then actually got further in the game in that time.
This has been discussed a million times.
Elden Ring was designed as a coop game. You can play it completely solo and learn boss patterns but many bosses are easy/hard based on which attacks they choose to use and how aggresive they are. If they act aggressive and use the bad attacks you have to wait 10-20 seconds before getting 1 attack. And if you're not overleveld you'll have to do this 60-100 times. That up to 30 minutes for a single boss fight and if you frick up it's 1-2 hours. There are like 60 bosses in the game.
Now sure most bosses are not that bad and you do usually get a bonfire right next to the fog gate. But to a lot of us it's just too much time spent on a game that's already very long and kinda repetitive especially since we've been playing it for 15 years now.
Not to mention some of us only play the singleplayer as to collect items for the multiplayer and don't care about fighting AIs.
I dont think elden ring is fundamentally a co-op game, but it does have alot of shameless multiplayer hooks to nudge players into paying for an xbox or playstation sub.
Are you a moron?
i have 100 hours in elden ring and never touched the multiplayer once
No I'm calling you a moron for saying that the game has the same multiplayer features Demon's Souls had on the PS3 with free online because they want to get you to pay for online (when the primary platform for ER has free online)
the PC port is a hackjob and clearly not the target platform when the PS5/ Xbox SX have the superior stutter free version of the game. Not to mention they make up most of the sales like all console multiplats do.
>the PC port is a hackjob and clearly not the target platform when the PS5/ Xbox SX have the superior stutter free version of the game
>less features
>worse performance
>paid online
>not the lead platorm
Nope, sorry.
Souls was never a PC game and fromsoft are console developers first and foremost.
Souls games have been made for PC and ported to other platforms since DS2. Granted this is how basically every multiplatform game is developed since it's the easiest way to develop games but still.
>PC developer
>two of their better games are locked on a Sony console
Why would I expect reason here
Demon's Souls was made before they had in-house PC development and Bloodborne was made on an engine that is explicitly developed for multiplat development, it was just released as an exclusive because it was co-developed with Sony Japan Studio. Do you even know anything about the games you're talking about?
You’re forgetting Dark Souls which was a console port.
>Moving on, it seems Dark Souls on PC will not support any sort of user modification or editing – unlike, say, Skyrim with its creation kit. "Personally, I am interested in the concept of Mods," said Miyazaki. "However, due to our lack of experience with the PC we need more time to adapt to what PC gamers want from mods. So this time we're not doing it."
>You’re forgetting Dark Souls which was a console port.
How am I forgetting it? You didn't mention it and my post expliictly said "since Dark Souls 2". I didn't forget shit, you just literally cannot read.
>muh main platform
moron
>They're ports,
They're developed for PC then ported to other platforms, that's how multiplatform development works. The menus and sometimes controls have been shitty because From are incompetent at designing interfaces for PC due to being console developers, but that doesn't change how mutliplatform development works.
>that's how multiplatform development works
No it does not. It’s developed under common SDK and then adjusted for each platform accordingly.
They're ports, not PC games. Thats why their menus are shit to navigate and you'd have to be a moron to play a souls game on anything other than a Dualshock controller.
Souls has always been a console-first game, that's why it took them 10 years to finally get even slightly functioning anticheat, and they had to have it literally be given to them by a modmaker after an RCE exploit got demonstrated publicly (It wasn't even the first one either, the others just got buried because executing them was way over the head of any moron and they could just patch it into the anticheat mods).
Speaking of mods, if from doesn't count them as a feature (because they'll ban your ass from the online if your save has anything off about it) then you can't count them as part of your excuse to call PC the lead platform.
>Souls has always been a console-first game,
Until DS2 where they moved into mutliplatform development, which means developing for PC and porting to other consoles since doing it any other way requires 10x the effort for the same returns, because tha'ts how multiplatform development tools work.
Multiplatform development and "this game is primarily designed to run on PC" are not the same thing. Morrowind is an example of the latter, as can be told by it's xbox port being a piece of shit.
Worded a bit better, Just because a game was developed on PC and ported to other consoles afterward does not mean that the primary system it was designed for was PC. For example, Bloodborne. Can't call it a PC-first game because it only ever released on PS4, despite being developed the exact same way as the other souls games.
>Multiplatform development and "this game is primarily designed to run on PC"
Sure, but it doesn't change the fact that PC is the lead development platform.
>lead development platform
>only way to play without stutter is on console
Or you can play it without stutter on PC.
No, it is impossible to play NG without stutter unless you already completed the game. The only “PC” config immune to it is Steam Deck, because they rolled out a specific fix that From does not bother to port to PC.
>multiplayer issues
>constant performance issues on release
>never fixing stutter
>no graphical improvements over console
>no extended hardware support
From never cared about PC and never will.
issues
Just like consoles
performance issues on release
Just like consoles
fixing stutter
Just as much as consoles
>>no graphical improvements over console
False
>>no extended hardware support
True
>From never cared about PC and never will.
And yet it's still the lead platform for development, because that's how development works.
>multiplayer is down for the whole series for a literal year
Business as usual on consoles
>Multiplayer is down forever on DS1
Business as usual on consoles
>anti cheat crashing and issues
Business as usual on consoles
>KBM implementation is buggy on every launch
>never fixing stutter
>Just as much as consoles
Shader compilation stutter is not present on consoles, moron
>And yet it's still the lead platform for development, because that's how development works.
And yet you still keep repeating things you know nothing about
Again, lead development platform and target platform are two different things. I'm not denying that souls games were developed on PC, I'm saying that the target platform for the games is console.
>I'm not denying that souls games were developed on PC
Cool thanks for acknowledging that I'm correct.
>primary platform
>he doesn’t know
>UK
>If they act aggressive and use the bad attacks you have to wait 10-20 seconds before getting 1 attack. And if you're not overleveld you'll have to do this 60-100 times. That up to 30 minutes for a single boss fight
Did you never find Master Hewg, what the frick
For me? It's Dark Souls III with Champion's Ashes.
Malenia used waterfowl dance. Did she truly kill me?
Literally just fricking block the attack
Radahn used a meteor strike. Did he truly kill me?
Sounds like skill issue if you die to post-nerf Radahn meteor.
Anon, you may love playing as mage even more.
Because this dude is turning every incantation into a sorcery.
Those magma sorceries are fricking cool
My friend, the sorceries shown in the video aren't even half of what's going to be ingame.
I am extremely hyped to play Elden ring with sorceries.
As my first run ever was... a weird one. I went with Strength + faith with a regenerating build.
If there's going to be so many cool spells, willing to gave it a shot.
Also magma sorceries are hilarious as they can stunlock enemies.
whats the point of getting rid of incantations.
normalgay morons (the target audience for this game) wouldn't know how to get a pyromancy flame
>souls 6
>magic is still an afterthought
That's how you know the game is shit.
I think my first playthrough of Dark Souls 2 was a more enjoyable experience than the first playthrough of Elden Ring.
elden ring late/end game is dogshit
zones are miserable long corridors forcing you to do the same 3 activities you've done since the first hour of the game
same boring enemies but with more hps
Best ash is the archer
If you don't hold aggro boss will destroy her
All she does is provide damage, no effects
Literally just speeds up fights via increased damage
>Did I truly play the game?
Only if you had fun.
For me, it's a variety of builds over multiple playthroughs.
that was the zoomiest, most normiest fricking thing i have seen on this website in years. and I am not one for buzzwords.
why? Because it shows how stupid the game is?
?
Jeez dude a little kneejerk there? I never mentioned anything about the game. I'm referring to the meme format stylistic choice of the video.
so like showing how the game is easily trivialized
Sure, whatever.
Now try using your words to explain your reasonings this time anon.
Now try using your words to explain your reasonings this time anon..
cringe, not killing off zoomers and getting rid of abortion are a mistake
All that matters is that you had fun 🙂
You played it sure, but you didn't beat it.
The extent to which you didn't beat it depends on what magic and ashes specifically that you used.
>Untitled-4.jpg
Did you make this image yourself anon? It's a bad look spamming this everywhere.
Some of those takes are fricking idiotic.
>oh wow, let me shit on people for actually liking something
Literally the same as gays, trannies and israelites hating on every living thing that dares to enjoy something they dislike.
You've played a version of it.
Different builds have very different experiences with the game and there are fights that punish mages and ashes specifically, while they're easier for other build.
It's not necessarily about getting good, it's about getting good at different things.
your achievements says you beat the game.
Souls' elitism is one of the most moronic aspects of its fandom. These games are not as hard as you think they are. Gimping yourself for the sake of muh hardcore achievements is moronic and always will be. That homosexual with a giant dad/havel mum build ganking forestBlack folk will always have more fun than the average player who thinks he is an MLG pro in a game with broken multiplayer and very simplistic combat mechanics.
As fun as magic is, there's always at least one boss who just tanks it like crazy. So you're left with no choice but to invest in str or dex for a physical weapon.
Respec - kill the boss - respec back
It’s that easy
>switch to magma sorceries
problem solved
What are good mods for ER for a 2nd playthrough? Any good overhauls or shit to try out?
I larp as a Shinigami and Ashes are my bankai aka when I am out of flasks.
I wish we had weapons that transform you and completely change your move set for a while
Yes. It is the developer's responsibility to balance the game.
anything that makes the enemies lose health with zero player input or decision-making is an anti-mechanic. After the initial ash spawn there is rarely anything more to do other than wail at the enemy as fast as humanly possible. Whether or not this is "unfair" or not is irrelevant - this anti-mechanic devalues the game's own core systems, reducing the fun as a result.
>using poison or other damage over time effects is anti-mechanics
You still have to spend an action to summon the spooky ash ghost, just as spending an action to poison/burn/whatever the enemy in any other game
>zero player input
You press a button
>decision-making
You decide to waste a whole mana bar on this
>zero player input
>player has to wail at the enemy
ok
Souls games have always had NPC and multiplayer co-op, you're outing yourself as a Souls newbie.
>anything that makes the enemies lose health with zero player input or decision-making is an anti-mechanic.
You literally have to choose to summon, then pick a summon for the situation, then perform that action, and spend your mana/health to summon, and then you still need to play with your summon in mind with things like good positioning so you both aren't getting hit by AOE attacks. What are you talking about moron?
Yes you did. If you saw the credits you beat the game even if you technically played it on easy mode. What you should be asking yourself is did you have fun. That is all that matters.
I completed the game on release with a STR/FTH/ARC build (starting with flails and later switching to the vyke's spear with some dragon magic to clear trash). Now that I've got an itch to play again what build should I try for my 2nd playthrough?
pure STR, BIG BONK
a ripped tomboy punchgirl might be fun now that I think about it, thanks!
If you already did str/fth/arc the answer is to try int/dex. Prisoner is a good starter class, and you can go for a more niche weapon or just go crazy early with meteor staff and Moonveil. If you're sick of magic overall, go sword and board this time and focus on using a shield to block and parry, that can really change up which enemies are annoying and difficult drastically.
I played a pure mage build first time I played and had lots of fun with it.
Now I'm playing a randomized coop game with a couple friends so I think I'm gonna either do a pure sword/shield build or unga bunga colossal weapon build for variety.
Numerous Soulsgays have told me (when I, never having played Dark Souls, decided to get Elden Ring) that the "only" way to play is to go in blind as a sword and board. I did go in blind so that if the game was as obtuse and hostile to noobs as I thought it was (it largely was) I could feel justified in my original skepticism about Fromsoft games, but I ignored their anti-magic horseshit and deliberately played as a sorcerer literally just because I knew they would seethe about it.
I did the same when i started these games ages ago.
But your friends are right. I have the most fun when not bothering with magic and just making the most of consumables when i need to be tricky.
you played more than most people did
Ganker has a weird cuck fetish over implying that seeing more content means you played less of the game
>80 int
>moon greatsword
>0 spells equiped
Time to game
Elden Ring fans are the most pretensius gamers I've met in a long time.
elden ring sucks ass