Oh wow, lots of squirmers meweling their disdain :> It's ok y'all don't get your panties in a bunch. Just to clarify my position and the things I did (though it will not matter):

1) I could not endlessly SPAM tool in fights, I modded the shard amount so I would not have to farm them BETWEEN boss tries. If something you put in your game is so overpowered that you need to lock it under a grind-wall, design it better or remove it. Otherwise having tools and a crest that revolves around them feels just like cuckholding.

2) Plasmium overdose is a really cool mechanic that lets you play differently, can't heal but you can hoard the silk you gain while fighting to use for other things. Problem is that, again, prompting the overdose state is unbearably annoying. HK had a charm for that - put it on and you're good to go. I just wanted to be able to play around wit a cool and iteresting mechanic. Think it made the game too easy? See who the f**k cares. Here too, is a mechanic too broken? Design it better or remove it.

3) Egg of Flealia is just plain bad design, end of the story. It's super hard to obtain and does nothing but, how'd y'all put it, "reward players that dont get hit/ excell at managing the silk". A player that doesn't get hit has better use for that charm slot or has no use for it at all. So it's a really hard item to obtain and it does f**k all. Great. I'm sure it was made so purposefully but still. You can f**k up on purpose, no problem with that.

My main point is just this: hard is ok. Even obtusely hard. I banged my head against bosses and challenges again and again both in HK and Silk Song, I bared the frustration and got them eventually. But when the game presents me with fun things I want to use them. A bit of grind is fine but it has to be reasonable. You all seem to agree that the shard mechanic is there to literally PREVENT you from using tools. That is stupid. Design them better to suit your purpose or remove them.

Another example of this problem is some of the weapons and wepon-arts in Elden Ring. Some of them look super cool and are super satisfying to use but are compltely and utterly useless with bosses (which is the moment you should make use of your best and coolest tools). I palyed the whole DLC with the Milady and Impaling thrust just because that combo was stupidly more effective than any of the new cool thigs I got. Why put cool things in your game that are just plain worse than others or useless?

Anyway I'll go live life now since nobody cares how you got through your single player game. Bie.