I played it 3 times for the platinum, not with magic build but with the Mimic Tear Summon (though I got it about 50 hours in or so). I hate the constant FromSoftware fanboying that people are not allowed to play a game if it is not blindfolded and only on Saturday or else you suck. I liked playing it that way. I really liked the game and think with Malenia it has the best super boss I have ever fought - except for Sephiroth in KH. My problem with it is - and I have that problem with many open world games - it is open world just for the sake of it. It has some background lore with the demi gods, the deathroot, etc. but no actual story. Many of the things you do is just repetitive stuff. Tears of the Kingdom and its prequel has the same problem. Whenever I did something for the story in Tears of the Kingdom it was fantastic. But the rest was so-so. Open world games should design their world both visually and task-wise very original. Tears could have given you ancient ruins of old dungeons as optional dungeons or old relics, so items fro old Zelda games or places where you would find the other Links' spirits who tell you the old stories of the other Zeldas or teach you something. Sadly many open world games are just there and liked for "big world, can do many things."
Hey how's it going? Yeah I've beaten Elden Ring twice now. First time was an INT run and Ranni ending, second time was STR and Frenzied Flame ending. I definitely consider it to be one of the best games of all time and certainly my favorite open world game ever. I haven't been so absorbed in a single player game as an adult as I was in my first playthrough of Elden Ring. My second playthrough ended right as the new Zelda game came out, so I was pretty burnt out on open world stuff and haven't put all that much time into it as a result. As much as I praise Elden Ring I still think I prefer the combat and overall experience of Sekiro. Elden Ring is all about the exploration and Sekiro is all about the combat, which is ultimately what I care about the most. How about you?
Have you played Elden Ring?
I know how good Double Ichimonji can be but I was always too lazy to learn the timing and it is too punishing if you mess up. I think Floating Passage is the best move by far because it costs 0, is fast, therefore builds pressure and even deals chip damage that when used often enough with its speed adds up considerably. And Dragon Flash even won me the final phase of the Betrayal Route easily. They are almost broken really. For the bell I cannot help you, sorry. I only used it for drops and all that.
Awesome fight, I watched the whole thing! It highlights something I love about the game, which is the wide variety of ways you can approach a fight. My battle against him and yours look very different, and both of ours would look quite different from a third person. I'm glad to see that you used the Ceremonial Tanto, AFTER I beat him the thought came to me that since half of his moves one-shot me anyways, it probably would have been worth it to use that. Personally, when I'm fighting a boss with a sword I feel much more in control when I'm in their face the entire time. So that was my strategy with Owl Father too, though in the early attempts this led to me getting destroyed by his gunpowder. I also relied heavily on Double Ichimonji, which turned out to be my number-one used Combat Art BY FAR this playthrough (last time through I basically used Floating Passage and nothing else). It's gonna be awhile before I run through the Shura ending. I don't think I have it in me do it without Kuro's Charm (or whatever the one is that gives chip damage if you don't perfectly deflect). But I am considering ringing the Demon's Bell when I do play again. What is your opinion on that? Is it worth it, or is the difficulty that it adds more tedious than interesting?
This attempt of the battle was far from flawless but I was just glad when I beat him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p41umreqmK0
Yeah, I was talking about Owl Father. Good job on only needing one hour beating him.
Wanted to update you on my Sekiro progress because my girlfriend doesn't care and I gotta tell someone. I know in my last visitor message I said I was planning on betraying Kuro but I just couldn't bring myself to do it, I love the little guy. So I decided to go for the Return ending, but I also gathered up the items from the Purification ending so I could fight the optional bosses. I assume the boss you didn't want to spoil for me was Owl Father? If so then yeah I agree that he might be the hardest, he took me a good hour probably to beat. If I played him on my first playthrough it would have been much, much longer. Breezed through the game after that and beat Sword Saint on my 3rd try! Can't tell you how satisfying that is after he took me days to beat on my first playthrough. Eventually I gotta suck it up and do the Shura ending, but I need a break from the game for now. Could be another year before I pick it up again, who knows? /rant
Ah thanks for not spoiling it. That's super impressive that you platinumed it. My first playthrough I got the "default" good ending, and this time I'm just going for the "default" betray Kuro playthrough because I'm too lazy to go through all the stuff for the other ending(s).