I agree with some of the critique here, but the lesson I took from the experience of following those first graces was "oh, I guess I'm going to need to be stronger to fight this guy, guess I'll go wander around and level up" - which I think is _exactly_ the lesson that the designers intended.

That's exactly what I did and I've been having a ton of fun. "Okay, I'm not ready for this person yet, but there's all these other things around me, let's go explore that and I should be leveled up and just better at the game/controls by the time I come back." This means absolutely no grinding. The game also taught me to not fight everyone and to focus on skills rather than runes. The game is unfair, so you have to be unfair back.

This is what I did too. And my point is that it took me throughout the entirety of Caelid and liurnia which was stupid as shit. Because the rate of progression was extremely slow, especially when you’re just running past things, and the only area that’s particularly appropriate up front is castle Morne which is not advertised.

I don’t think the game is unfair. It’s boss design is great. It’s the pacing that’s shit. Margit was an awesome fight.

> I don’t think the game is unfair

I disagree. It is very intentionally unfair. Two against one bosses where one has long range attacks and one is melee? One shot kills? Losing all your level progress when you die and being unable to retrieve them? This breaks a lot of the common game formulas. It forces you to just "get good" and think about your gameplay differently. But that's exactly what I like about the game. When you're getting you ass handed to you you often can't just come back at a higher level, but need to actually take new strategies. You can for the main questline but outside that you need to "get good"

There’s no one shot kills. If you get one shot it generally just means you don’t have enough vigor.

I’m not clear what you mean by outside the main quest line. The main quest line is the only noteworthy content. Everything can be done at a later level and probably will unless you’re using a guide to find everything in order. Malenia and mohg are outside the main quest line, technically I guess.

I’m 65 hours into this and only have a vague idea what the main quest line is. I see something on the map and run to it. It’s fun to explore and there is so much. I’ve met a lot of random people that want me to do stuff. My only want in the game is a log of who I’ve talked to and what they said.

It’s very easy to find random npcs. It’s incredibly difficult to find them again once they move. Some of them have natural points where you’re likely to encounter them progressing through the game normally, but only if you’ve already encountered all of their previous meeting points by that time.

I guess I don't take the attitude I need to find them again. If I do, great, if not, I still go over the next hill to see what's there. I find the open world exploration quite fun.

I unironically paid zero attention to Varre and accidentally tromped through and completed Weeping Peninsula without any instruction whatsoever. It just felt right. Very intuitive.