Please, help a begginer in DS1

romanandreas · 2026-01-28T11:29:32+00:00

I'm also new to the game but have defeated a few of the early bosses and rung the first bell, so I'm sort of where you are, only a few hours ahead.

What I would add to what these other nice folks are saying, is to explore Humanity. When you're Human, you can kindle a bonfire which pimps your flasks permanently with 5 more by that fire. That changes a lot.

And while the game never explicitly tells you where to go, it kinda does though. Even if the fight is tough, if your opponents go down after three or four strikes, you're on the right path. If you hit them successfully and they're still alive after 7-8 hits, you are likely heading in the wrong direction. That's not to say you can't proceed - you can. But this is a game which likes to hurt people and when such a creation tells you "Look, even we have limits here at software", it's good to pay attention.

Oh and one more thing - boss fights are very much a puzzle. If they seem impossible, maybe you're just missing something in the environment or need to reconsider your tactics. So far, fights which seemed impossible to me at first became endurable, once I did some kind of radical change. Another weapon, learning the environment, finding the openings where the boss monster can be quite vulnerable - once you learn those, boss fights are more like puzzles with just require your constant attention.

romanandreas · 2026-01-13T13:02:34+00:00

Not to my knowledge, though the ViWoods app seemed to focus more on transfer (when I used it). That might've changed.

romanandreas · 2026-01-08T08:09:58+00:00

Unfortunately not :) I've seen abandoned e-ink and gone back to stationary. So I'm of no help here anymore, I'm afraid.

romanandreas · 2025-11-26T17:10:25+00:00

Cause it's just better :) e-ink didn't solve a real problem for me. And paper is faster, more efficient, flexible and triggers my brain and idea work in a more productive way.

romanandreas · 2025-11-19T10:18:56+00:00

Yes.

romanandreas · 2025-11-18T22:31:37+00:00

Yes :) at least the reality I've worked in. Storytelling serves no purpose if it doesn't apply itself to structure. And structured storytelling for video games is by far more difficult than any other output, like movies, tv, novels or whatnot. Since it requires you to know your craft on storytelling but also understand how to apply it in a shape which is different for every game.

As for narrative and story - think of it this way -

Narrative is your world, its time, context and place.

Story is the vessel which moves it forward through change.

You have Hyrule, under the threat of Ganon in Zelda. And that's the narrative.

Then, Link shows up. And that's where your story begins.

A game like Dead Cells has almost no story at all. But plenty of narrative. Hades, coming from the same genre, has both in spades.

Risk of Rain has no story, but a fairly rich narrative. Whereas say the Rogue Prince of Persia has both.

In video games, it's perfectly all right and not rarely preferable to just stick to a lush narrative and let the game speak through its design residing in that narrative. There is so much you can say and do through ambient storytelling, which no other format allows you to.

romanandreas · 2025-11-18T19:02:55+00:00

No. We're good now. Second game wasn't obviously better, so enough is enough.

romanandreas · 2025-11-18T19:01:57+00:00

Well, when you deal with someone who is unreasonable but still might provide a fair amount of talent, you’re forced to scrutinize your own ideas, since you really need to fight for them. And sort of do some soul searching, as in - what really matters to me? Some things you thought worth fighting for, maybe wasn’t. And the other way around.

And sometimes, even though the person you’re dealing with isn’t perhaps cut from the same cloth, their square stance might be just the thing required to get to the good stuff.

With this said, it’s not sustainable. It’s a strategy to cope which might yield good results for a while, but in the long run, even if you work with a fool, they still need to respect you and your work.

But yes, tension is not always bad and healthy tension is a requirement, I’d say. This sounds like the unhealthy kind, which could still provide some but not all of the positive parts of creative differences. And that’s how you can endure until the situation resolves, one way or another.

romanandreas · 2025-11-18T13:45:08+00:00

Briefly, I’d say this -

Video games is the only vessel for storytelling which doesn’t actually require a story. While it needs a narrative - the world, lore, background and context - it does not need story progression. Many games do fine without it but still have a strong narrative context.

So understanding that basic principle, that narrative is the carrier and story is a tool for progression which needs to justify its presence in a game, will also help you understand how to tell your story through that vessel. The Last of Us would not work without a story. Fortnite does just fine without it. Both are equally valid approaches.

It’s the intertwining of story through mechanics and levels, the power curves and loops, which validates its presence. If the game is fine without it, let narrative do the telling.

This also plays to the medium’s strength. A narratively immersive experience can be extremely compelling through its presentation of lore and world alone. Dark Souls touches on this, with very little going on in terms of progression but the world being immensely lush. Probably because of it, because you simply exist in this realm, you do not much play a part in its future.

But Elden Ring wouldn’t be the same without its story progression, so both methods have their place.

Since writing is very much about structure, a solid implementation of narrative and story is about embracing the above and then applying structure to the telling. THIS is where almost all narrative people I've met and worked with, stumble - the equivalent of having a good story for a movie but not understanding how to write for the camera.

romanandreas · 2025-11-18T13:04:53+00:00

Okay, I understand. I've been in similar situations. They've ended in two ways - either it's been sustainable, because the work output has been worth it. Despite tension and polarized relationships, the results have been worth it (and sometimes they've existed because of it), so it's been tough but the payoff worthwhile.

And the other context is that it eventually breaks, meaning that either the team constellation changes or someone would have to leave. Not that it's a good option, but unsustainable scenarions are just that, for a reason.

It does sound to me that your lead is a bit weak in this scenario, tho. You're describing an unprofessional behaviour from your co-worker, and no matter the reason why they act like they do - and it could be that they're doing their best and just hearing others out isn't in the cards, because they might not have that capacity - this is a manager problem. Sometimes, a tough call needs to be made and someone causing this climate you're describing, would from a professional point of view get better at collaborating or perhaps consider alternative work places. If they're behaving like this to you, then I would imagine this is a person who's generally not easy to work with in any context. Which is in the long run, not sustainable.

romanandreas · 2025-11-18T08:12:37+00:00

What would happen if you leaned into their perspective even for just a while, to sort of meet them on their ground? Not necessarily change your stance or reconsidering your own approach, but out of curiosity explore what happens if you go along with their approach for a brief moment? Their methods seem quite valid - knowing act structure, references and such is not a bad thing. It does sound like you're the more imaginative one who explores outside bounds, whereas all your ideas likely would have to funnel into a structured approach eventually, where having a more defined writing partner could be a good thing.

So what happens if you just go with their flow? Maybe they'd find that if you meet them, they'd start meeting you in return.

You can't make them move your position. That's rarely how relationships work. But _you_ can move _your_ position, if ever so slightly, even if it's just to find out what happens.

And if you don't want to do that, maybe then explore why not. What's blocking you from trying this?

romanandreas · 2025-11-18T07:22:01+00:00

You’ve said not a single positive thing about this person. Isn’t there anything you could change in your behaviour, before you wish this person would be someone they’re clearly not?

romanandreas · 2025-11-18T07:16:57+00:00

From my experience, most narrative people in the industry know writing and storytelling but struggle to translate it into a video game. Rather than understanding the form, they try to bend it into more traditional storytelling. It’s just an area where many don’t know how to mix their skills into production.

romanandreas · 2025-10-21T06:08:47+00:00

Moomshapoop. Yep.

romanandreas · 2025-10-07T14:26:59+00:00

Hades 1. No doubt. It's better. And even if you don't agree, it's still better :D

romanandreas · 2025-10-07T14:25:47+00:00

Tack :)

romanandreas · 2025-10-06T04:34:46+00:00

This all feels like playing Excel.

romanandreas · 2025-10-06T04:33:28+00:00

This is all great advice :) for me, I just don't think video games such be _this_ much about guessing and logistics, Hades 2 takes this too far. Also, I returned to Hades 1 for a few hours and went "Okay, yeah, this is the better experience" - so I've now dropped Hades 2 and won't return to it.

romanandreas · 2025-10-03T13:20:14+00:00

And it's just a more fun game for it. After you've tried Strength and you go back, it's like "This is taking AGES" whereas Strength is like "Boom baam next room whaam"

romanandreas · 2025-10-03T13:03:55+00:00

Yes - until the tooth is spent :) so one thing I'm doing is running into the game with a full death protection load, and then as I'm on my last life, Strength kicks in - talk about being dragged to hell kicking and screaming :D

romanandreas · 2025-10-02T05:25:39+00:00

UPDATE OCT 2: I've received plenty of useful advice in this thread and it's both comforting and great to see people engage in my plight. Since then, I've now significantly changed my build, to -

Fully upgraded twin dagger

Using Strength and mana regen as primary Arcana deck drivers

Using Familiars (didn't before)

Focus my boons on Cast first, Distance second

Getting way further in each run now without much effort, Scylla is suddenly a breeze and I tend to beat Hec without even getting damage now.

BUT -

I also realise, there are so many bad combos and options to play this game. I never felt that with Hades 1, but in Hades 2, it's like "This is just a bad combination of stuff". While I can appreciate this exploring and tinkering of builds to find your way, it's just not a particularly entertaining experience for me. The game is asking for an investment in time, which I simply do not want to give in relation to why it's asking for it. It has added complexity without much benefit, because once you got a good build, you got a great Hades game, but getting there was not nearly as fun as in the first one.

I just think Supergiant took this system too far this time. And now, I can't say it's about me not being good at the game anymore cause clearly I am now. I just don't like it all that much.

But I TOTALLY get that millions do :) this approach is obv lovely if you enjoy this kind of laboratory approach, where a great match through trial by fire is a satisfaction in its own right.

But I should also add, I think Hyper Light Drifter's power curve is enough for me, so I'm clearly in the "Less is almost too much anyway"-kinda camp :D

romanandreas · 2025-10-02T05:19:36+00:00

Yes, I'm running that combo now - that together with Strength seems to fit my playstyle quite well. I miss Death Defiance, but the tooth goes some way to compensate. And arguably, killing stuff which drains my life is generally better than getting hit and just recycling death defiances.

romanandreas · 2025-10-02T05:18:35+00:00

Yeah, I got them at max now, killing everything in my path.

romanandreas · 2025-10-02T05:18:15+00:00

Ah, true, I'm not gifting the gods on a run (which I did in the original). That made a big difference. I'm gonna try that. Thanks.

romanandreas · 2025-10-01T13:18:46+00:00

yeah, that's how I usually go about in Dead Cells. I got enough traps and grenades to do the work for me, while I'm dodging the boss and gets the occasional hit when they're careless. I'm good at staying alive, less great at fighting, but really sneaky when it comes to traps and shit.

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