Witchking of Angmar

You also admitted that you got through Malenia by running away most of the fight. I think we have different opinions on what is fine. Well I did notice that strength and dex did not really drop off after 40. Though even with a fully upgraded greatsword that I always two handed, 60+ in both dex and strength, I still only felt I was barely qualified to deal enough damage to the bosses to not be a slog.

And I disagree on the base that their stats are way off for a one on one for a character of expected level. Or any level because of soft cap. I honestly feel like I've walked into New Game+.

That's the one I was primarily thinking about when writing down that con. May not be so bad for ranged spell characters as they can have the luxury to stay at a decent distance, but for melee characters they're indeed a pain. On one hand I think they can be a good stand-in for summoning other players for cooperation, which is good if your internet or the servers decide to fuck up. On the other hand I read bosses were designed with them in mind and that's why I felt the late game was poorly balanced when I tried playing without them. Mimic tear is by far the best one. It just copies you and if you got good gear it will too. And using it costs health instead of focus, which means my non-spell caster can use it without much issue.

Finally beat Elden Ring. My overall opinions: Pros Stakes of Marika - Only wish there weren't boss arenas without them directly outside. Ashes of War - Love them. Now I can combine special moves I like with the weapon I want. Too bad the can't be switched out on special weapons. Memory Stones - While I haven't done a spellcaster playthrough yet, I do like not having to invest points into a stat that may not give any for a couple of levels. The open world is rather well structured and there's always something new to discover. Not to mention it looks gorgeous. Cons Poorly balanced late game - The enemies and especially bosses in the late game have so much health and deal so much damage. Could possibly be somewhat mitigated if the soft caps for the stats were pushed back to 60 instead of 40 as is now. But right now I had to go out of my way to find a bunch of the best damage reduction talismans and consumables just to not die in a couple of hits from the final boss, despite being 160+ level. So many double bosses - They're fine on rare occasion, but it's not fun to get blindsided. Kinda forces you to use summons. Reuse of bosses - I get it as a way to add content while saving up disc space, but it got rather noticeable at one point. Large bosses, ironically, tend to be very easy to lose track of. Keep a lock on and the camera goes wild when close and struggle to focus and let you see an attack. Don't have a lock on and the boss jumps out of view and you have to hope you find them before getting blindsided by a charged attack. Unsure Mounted combat - Sometimes it's a bit too easy where you can just run past as you swing, other times you get so easily stun-locked from even the tiniest hits only to be thrown off and then killed without even being able to dodge. Can't deny it's for the most part fun.

One thing I do love though are the Stakes of Marika. I want these semi-checkpoints at the doorstep to every boss arena.

And I'd die from boredom before the boss actually kills me in that case. I want to be able to charge in and attack, dodge, attack, dodge and pull back for the stamina to recover before doing it all again.

That's something you can stun-block, parry, or dodge out with 1-3 steps. This AoE chases you.

I'd rather face a Bloodborne character than this boss. That AoE is bullshit.

I still think of the runes as souls too. Though grace and bonfire is half and half.

Looks like I'm not the only thinking of the flasks as estus all the time.

I've reached the Altus Plateau. But I'm currently mostly running around the old areas checking for stuff I might have missed. Bosses vary. I decided to headbutt the first castle boss for so long I beat him. Only to later realize when I got stuck on some knights and tried exploring in a different direction that I realized I had been a bit underleveled for that area. And things got easier. Till I ran into the red rotten wastes. Opting to not use any shield has me also play the game a bit like Bloodborne. I just miss the faster dodging and ability to get back health by hitting back fast enough.

It's at least a reliable build. Though I've opted to not use any shield. At least for the most part. Used it when facing some annoying flyers with bows. Though I solved that later by getting a good bow myself. So from here it's just a curved greatsword and a bow.

I'll probably do that for my second character. Current one will stay a Dex and Strength based warrior.

Yeah. And I've been playing it for a while. Running around in the Kaiden armor and swinging the Bloodhound's Fang. Though ever since I found one of those glintstone greatswords I've been tempted to respec into a melee sorcerer.

The UN is a forum and not some world state. It has no real authority. All declarations are merely formal ways for countries to make their positions known to all. If Russia wanted to withdraw their formal recognition of Ukraine as a sovereign nation, they could do that at any point.

It means Russia has formally recognized Ukraine as a sovereign nation in front of the entire world. Otherwise you'd have a situation like where Turkey does not recognize Cyprus, despite Cyprus sitting in the UN and being recognized by all other countries in the UN.

Ukraine was part of the Russian empire, then declared itself an independent nation before being absorbed into the Soviet Union and declared independence again somewhere in the early nineties. And looking up countries not formally recognized by at least one UN country, Ukraine isn't on the list.

Though it is his proclaimed casus belli, alongside saying he's doing it to depose nazis. Even though it's just an excuse, Putin still can't just say they want to invade Ukraine on the chance that Ukraine might join NATO. That would be openly admitting he's the aggressor and that he wants to dictate the Ukrainian people's position. Especially since NATO can't make a country join and has to rely on countries choosing to join.

My guess, judging from that Russia is attacking Kiev, is that Putin wants to turn Ukraine into a puppet state like Belarus. Which I reckon will cost him. I doubt the western Ukrainians wants to become subjects to Russian oligarchs. If he had only invaded the land the separatists (whom protecting has been his casus belli so far) lay claim to, I think there would have been a lot less uproar.

Though we'll have to wait and see how long that support stands firm. War tends to generate bodies and when people see their sons coming back in coffins, they tend to ask what is being fought for and if it's worth it. My guess is this might end up as an Afghanistan/Vietnam.

I reckon it'll come down to a test of endurance. Ukraine can't win militarily, but they can make it costly, which in turn can make Putin's position even more precarious. Then there's the gas Russia used to sell to Europe, primarily Germany. Not buying Russian gas is of course gonna cost both ways. Then there's Russian oligarchs that has a lot of money tied up in Britain, a sizeable part in London's real estate. And so on.

I can't even hold it against them. Big events generate traffic for obvious reasons. Though even our news, that tend to be skeptic towards Russia at best, take varying degrees of pity on the Russian people and put all blame on Putin.

Hard to say right now. Government is saying their expected condemnations. I'd expect the military is on high alert. News are having a field day.