catfeeder

I have finally gotten around to play my proposed challenge where magic completely replaces weapons.

Here's a breakdown of the limitations I set for this run:

• I can't use weapons or drink estus flask. I decided to ban the latter only after 2 hours of the run.
• I can't level up any stats except Attunement, Intelligence, and Faith. I can't wear items that increase my HP.
• I can't wear equipment that increases my poise.

This way I plan to beat all the bosses in the game, hopefully even in the DLC (but that one will be tough...). I also want to replicate another challenge I did years ago - to complete the catacombs using Force as my only offensive spell.

So far I've completed the easiest part of the game - the bells. I don't expect much trouble before the Great Soul hunt though.

Some thoughts on what I already experienced:
Magic is more than enough to go through the early stages of the game, I basically never had to think about my spell uses, and I tend to kill every enemy on my way. No need for Dusk's ring either, fortunately. With that said, I HATE how much soul arrows miss! It's enough for an enemy to move a little and that damn "homing" projectile flies pass them. I rely on Combustion much more than I expected to lol.

Title. Can't figure out how to crosspost anything in Piefed.

Years ago I've completed Dark Souls 2 using only magic (sorcery + pyromancy) - so no weapons at all. It went surprisingly smooth although I ended up not going to DLCs.

I'm thinking on doing this for the first installment but I have some doubts:

• First, is it even possible to beat Four Kings with spells? On my first playthrough I tried to beat them with magic and it went really poorly. I'd prefer not to repeat this experience...
• Second, are locations like Duke's Archive and Oolacile even doable with spells? With the sheer amount of enemies with high magic resistance, they sound like hell, especially given that we don't have any magic restoration options from DS2.

I always loved retro-style games, long before I learned that they're considered retro. I'm not sure what makes them so fun but they completely dominate my gaming nowadays.

Naturally, I became curious about the games that had inspired my favorite titles. I tried many of them, and eventually came to a conclusion: most of the time, retro games are nothing but a historical curiosity.

Ultima 4 has fairly unique concept but falls flat with its roleplaying feeling forced, its bland gameplay and its setting with no originality whatsoever.
Compare this to Moonring. Gameplay rivals many modern roguelikes (the classic definition, so Brogue, not Isaac), great setting that sucks you in immediately, and so so many mysteries.

Ambermoon pretends to be an open world RPG but is actually a linear RPG-lite with combat feeling more like a puzzle (and a wrong solution punishes you by 15 mins of you and your opponents missing each other every turn).

That's not to say that retro games aren't important - the modern indies are standing on the shoulders of giants. Yet I can't say that retro games worth the trouble of getting into them, compared to the polished modern indie titles.

Characters in the pic are:
Charlotte from Hello Charlotte (trilogy of RPGMaker games)
The girl from Milk Outside a Bag of Milk (visual novel)
Lain from Serial Experiments Lain (anime from the late 90s)

1. Stay near the vertical center of your side. Yamada is slow and he can't roll up or down so, the moment you get too far away from center, your opponent will hurl the ball too far for you to catch it.
2. Spend all your energy to spawn bombs. Your charged attack is awkward to use and isn't any stronger than a bomb. Bombs are life. Bombs are love.
3. Your side attacks (the ones that replace dash of other characters) are stronger than your main attack. For some reason, they often send the ball in a fast and erratic manner - this effects is triggered by after dash attacks on other characters, and are thus riskier than what you as Yamada can do. Absolutely abuse it (until enemy's AI becomes so sophisticated they can send this hell of a ball back at you).

After you have mastered the three teachings, only a few attempts will stay between you and cherry in Bushido Ball!