{"id":5715,"date":"2022-05-16T21:25:15","date_gmt":"2022-05-16T19:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pr.gagadget.com\/elden-ring-turned-me-into-the-bully\/"},"modified":"2022-05-16T21:25:15","modified_gmt":"2022-05-16T19:25:15","slug":"elden-ring-turned-me-into-the-bully","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pr.gagadget.com\/en\/elden-ring-turned-me-into-the-bully\/","title":{"rendered":"Elden Ring turned me into the bully"},"content":{"rendered":"
Elden Ring turned me into the bully<\/div>\n
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I\u2019ve had it with these jerks. <\/p>\n

My first attempt at Elden Ring <\/em>did not go well. My valiant efforts to chip away at any opponent\u2019s health felt like a toothpick poking a cinder block. Power stancing helped, yes, and hemorrhage weapons got me past my fair share of scraps. But I succeeded by the skin of my teeth. Margit, Godrick, and Grave Warden Duelist were all jerks, and I could feel <\/em>their joy as they tossed me around their respective arenas. Although I eventually achieved victories, they were slim.<\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019ve had six weeks away from the open-world epic. I got as far as beating Rennala before putting the game down to role-play as John Wick in Tiny Tina\u2019s Wonderlands<\/em>. When I came back to Elden Ring<\/em>, I restarted completely. I could have respecced with the Queen of the Full Moon\u2019s help, but something about a fresh start seemed more appealing. I wanted to see this world, complete in all of its magisterial beauty, without clenching my teeth at every turn. <\/p>\n

I chose to restart as the Vagabond, and nostalgia kicked in immediately, taking me back to the first time I awoke in Dark Souls<\/em>\u2019 Northern Undead Asylum before finding a sword and shield with which to batter the zombie horde. Elden Ring<\/em>\u2019s heartiest starting class gave me an early edge in the Vigor department, and its Strength stat (second only to the Warrior class) meant I could pummel foes from the outset. I could also withstand \u2014 or at least mitigate \u2014 the vast majority of enemy attacks. By the time I had entered the open world, the block, counterattack, stun lock <\/em>muscle memory had already come rushing back.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n\"A<\/source><\/picture><\/span><\/p>\n

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If this evergaol had a toilet, I would have given this guy a swirly<\/figcaption>Image: FromSoftware\/Bandai Namco via Polygon<\/cite><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

I shield-bashed my way across the Weeping Peninsula. I beat the living ass out of Leonine Misbegotten. I one-shot Margit with the help of my Lone Wolf Ashes and my watermelon triceps, and blocked each of Godrick\u2019s attacks before circling around to give him an atomic wedgie with my Omen Cleaver. He crumpled to the ground and disappeared in a cloud of gold, and as I breathed a sigh of relief, I also felt a pang of pity. I had bullied the bully, and in doing so, I had become the very thing I used to hate. <\/p>\n

Here at Polygon, we\u2019ve lauded Elden Ring<\/em>\u2019s flexibility several times over. We\u2019ve also praised Elden Ring<\/em>\u2019s willingness <\/em>to encourage <\/em>flexibility. Much of FromSoftware\u2019s catalog has already done this to some extent, but The Lands Between is so packed with magical armor, mysterious armaments, and helpful NPCs that there are numerous ways to mount every hurdle. Elden Ring <\/em>is not only the newest in a legacy of games that act as crucibles to test your character builds, but also that legacy\u2019s most approachable incarnation. <\/p>\n

In my first playthrough, I was a mere pest. But this time around, I\u2019ve created a character that doesn\u2019t put up with shit<\/em>. Runebear could only nick my stamina bar, and Radagon\u2019s Red Wolf couldn\u2019t interrupt a single swipe of my Grafted Blade Greatsword. I\u2019m the one tossing these would-be bullies around now. I\u2019m making these jerks look like dorks. My new playthrough is the second act of Mean Girls<\/em>, where the bullied Cady Heron fights back against Regina George only to become a bully herself.<\/p>\n

The difference here is that I refuse to come down from my perch. I\u2019m the Matt Wilson to Margit\u2019s Encino Man. I am the Vice Principal Vernon to Royal Knight Loretta\u2019s Breakfast Club. I am Tony Perkis, and Rennala is a gaggle of pubescent boys. I\u2019ve become the bully and it\u2019s served me well, and a dark part of me now understands the allure of punching down in FromSoft\u2019s cruel world. Here, Johnny Lawrence will always sweep Danny LaRusso\u2019s legs. In The Lands Between, O\u2019Doyle will always <\/em>rule. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

https:\/\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/MiQKphiVfzbpeCpIRl9VAT9MmsM=\/792×385:3840×1981\/fit-in\/1200×630\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_asset\/file\/23463805\/ELDEN_RING__20220513170701.jpg<\/div>\n
https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/23071596\/elden-ring-bully-strength-build-greatsword<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elden Ring turned me into the bully I\u2019ve had it with these jerks. My first attempt at Elden Ring did not go well. My valiant efforts to chip away at any opponent\u2019s health felt like a toothpick poking a cinder block. Power stancing helped, yes, and hemorrhage weapons got me past my fair share of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pr.gagadget.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5715"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pr.gagadget.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pr.gagadget.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pr.gagadget.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pr.gagadget.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pr.gagadget.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pr.gagadget.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pr.gagadget.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pr.gagadget.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pr.gagadget.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}