In the last post, I was griping about my dex run in Elden Ring. I have never done a pure dex run, nad there’s a reason for it. Here are the things I am bad at in these games: dodging, chaining attacks without getting hit; melee if I can’t take hits. All three of these skills are important in a dex build.
By the way, this is one of the reasons I did not like Sekiro. This is basically the build you needed to master in order to be good at that game. And, man, was I so not good at that game.
Back to a dex build. Ofd the builds, I think this is the one that relies on natural skills more than the others. For a pure dex run, I mean. With a strength run, you can get away with a lot of mistakes as long as you hit harder than the enemy does. And with a casting build, as long as you can stay out of melee range, you’re ok. But with a dex build, you have to be good erough to get in there, but agile enough to get out without getting hit too much. In the first area, I kept getting stunlocked by the bigger enemies. Bigger meaning beefier. So the first Erdtree Avatar and the Tree Sentinel, for example.
Fighting them on horseback was a nightmare. With the Erdtree Avatar, he does a three hit combo that if he got me with the first, I could not escape the other two hits. You would think the fact that I had more endurance than health would have helped me out, but no. It didn’t help at all.
Some would say it’s a crutch to use ranged options, but those people can shut the fuck up. If it’s in the game, it’s fair play. I don’t understand this needless gate-keeping. If you (general you) want to play that way, so be it! But why do you (again, general you) care how others play the game? How does it affect you in any way? That’s the part that I don’t get and never have. Somehow, just having the options in the game sullies the game itself? That makes absolutely no sense to me. Keep your eyes on your own paper, Chad!
I have added a few points in faith so I can use the basic Heal and the cure poison/rot incantation. I also added enough arcane so I can use the Reduvia (a blood dagger). People in the RKG Discord have been helpfully giving me tips as to how to do a dex run, but it’s just not clicknig with me. I don’t like the starting katana for the samurai, so I switched as soon as I could. I’m using the Great Epee, which is fine, but it’s outliving its usefulness. I did add Bloody Slash to it, but that takes off my own health when I use it.
I just feel like I have to do so much more with a dex build that I wouldn’t have to do on a different build. I gave it a good shot, but I am not enjoying it. I may do a bit more with the pot build, but I’m not sure it’s enough to keep me going.
Let me be blunt.
I did not enjoy Sekiro or Bloodborne beacuse both of them favor dex builds. Like I said about Sekiro, there is no way to over-level yourself. It’s a punishing and exacting game. You WILL play it it the way it wants to be played, or else. I’m not mad about it because From gets to make the games they want to make. I will say, though, it’s not for me and is my least-favorite of the From games. This will get much furor in the community, but I don’t care.
Side note: I have stopped talking about this in the Discord group. No one wants to hear it, and it’s alienating to have my comments glossed over or dismissed. I know it’s hard for them to imagine that someone might not adroe Sekiro and/or Bloodborne, but here we are. The group is, in general, a very warm and welcoming group. But. And there’s always a but.
There is a strong groupthink about certain subjects. That includes what is the best From game, how the games should be played, and the belief that Star Wars is AMAZING. I don’t offer my opinion much of the time because, well, I’m the outlier. I’m always the outlier. Anhd the group isn’t very good about disabilities. They’re not bad about it, but they’re not good, either.
Which is society in general, let’s be real. It’s not something that gets talked about very ogften, and it’s so easy to gloss over it. I have gone on and on about how difficult it is for most people to see things outside of themselves, and it’s doubly hard when it comes to disabilities. Why? Because they are often invisible. The things that trip me up (slow reflexes, spatial issues, no periphery) aren’t immediately obvious.
And I don’t necessarily want to talk about them because it’s uncomfortable. Like, I don’t want to draw attention to something I consider a deficiency. And I’m tired of trying to explain it in a way that doesn’t make people upset or defensive. I know that’s not my job, but it’s part and parcel when you’re the dissenting voice. And when you’re the weirdo. And I’m tired of it.
I have a feeling that the Elden Ring DLC is going to be the beginning of the end for me when it comes to From games. Is that just me being fatalistic? Possibly. But I’ve seen it coming ever since the DLC for Dark Souls III. I did not enjoy Sekiro, and I could not play Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon at all. Again, that’s can’t play and not wouldn’t play.
I tend to reach the end of things if they don’t change. I mean websites, mostly, but I see it happening with FromSoft as well. There are things I don’t like about the games, and they tend to repeat in the games. The one that is really getting to me is htow they make their DLCs pnuishingly hard. I know that’s the price of entyr, but I’m not sure how much longer I’m willing to pay that price.