Reddit user Legendarygap found themselves in a quandary after trying Elden Ring. They'd played and loved Sekiro, their first FromSoftware game, and everyone said Elden Ring is the best of the best. But from their point of view, it felt terrible to play. It was only a month later that they finally learned about the RPG's equip load system and realized they'd unintentionally been playing with the absolute worst dodge roll the entire time.
"I picked up Elden Ring next because I’ve heard it is amazing. I started playing and had a miserable time. The game felt extremely difficult and I could not figure out what I was doing wrong," they said in a Reddit post lamenting that they had played on "hard mode" for a month. "It took me about a week to finally beat Margit the Fell Omen, and [I] had a similar experience with other early bosses."
They explain that "when I first started, I beat the Tree Sentinel (after like two hours of doing nothing but that) and picked up the weapon he dropped. Turns out, that damn thing is super heavy, so from that point on I had been playing the game while super obese. I could not understand why everyone loved this game so much, but after discovering this, I actually like it now too!"
Accidentally played on hard mode for a month from r/Eldenring
I can see why this would make Elden Ring un-fun. The plodding, heavy dodge roll not only takes much longer, it also provides far fewer invincibility frames than normal or light rolls. This makes it borderline useless; even if you do manage to roll through one attack, you're sure to get caught in a follow-up hit before you can even stand up.
At some point in the unforgiving Souls game induction process, we've all felt like the biggest screwup to ever screw up. I myself have fond memories of completely misunderstanding the original Dark Souls' magic system and taking the worst possible route through the opening areas.
I suppose if you're coming purely from a Sekiro mindset, equipment load wouldn't be a concern, but that's still a legendary oversight to make for a month. I reached out to Legendarygap to talk through their painfully relatable experience, and they say they're enjoying Elden Ring a lot more now.
"It’s been about a week since I toggled off of hard mode," Legendarygap begins. "I’ve been playing quite a bit; I work from home so when I take breaks I am playing Elden Ring.
"The way I discovered that the equip load mattered is when I was watching LilAggy speedrun the game on YouTube. He said something along the lines of 'you know what would be crazy? Trying to do this challenge with a full equip load.' I had a That’s So Raven moment and looked up a beginner tutorial, learned about the equip load stuff, and checked my inventory. Sure enough I was heavy.
"Also ended up learning about the Spirit Call Bell and realized I had also missed out on that which also made it much much easier. But yeah when I found out it felt like every neuron in my monkey brain started firing."
Astonishingly, Legendarygap managed to beat multiple bosses in the month they spent with training weights strapped to their body. They say they got past Margit, Godrick, the Ancient Hero of Zamor, Scaly Misbegotten, and the heavily memed dungeon Watchdog. It's a legitimately impressive accomplishment in its own unfortunate way.
I'm also fascinated by their experience with Elden Ring as a former Sekiro-only Souls player. I've spoken to a lot of Elden Ring players. Enthusiasts like Bushy, who thrive on beating the game with absurd builds and limitations. Community heroes like Let Me Solo Her and Let Me Solo Them, beloved for their co-op efforts. Turtle cosplayers who just want to go for a walk online. But I don't think I've ever met someone with this exact history with FromSoftware's games.
"It’s going much better now," Legendarygap says of their now-lightened playthrough. "I am building a samurai character in honor of Sekiro. Trying to get my Endurance up so I can carry big boy weapons. I’m also playing around with using parry, which is much more difficult than the Sekiro parry system. You have to be much more precise, but it’s been fun using a mix of parry and dodge. I just beat Rennala today, but I’m spending a lot more time exploring and going wherever.
"I've also learned that’s what makes the game so good. I think combat feels much more polished and satisfying in Sekiro. It’s probably my favorite game ever. It has so much replay value for me because the combat is so good. Elden Ring is really awesome as far as exploration goes, and it is crazy how much there is to do. Also love the soundtrack for some of the bosses in it, they are great."
Elsewhere, an Elden Ring masochist has adorned themselves in debuffs to intentionally get one-shot in PvP.
