My story began as I assume most did. I picked my class, Wretch in this case, and began with the introduction to the game. I fell to the Grafted Scion, completed the tutorial area, dying to the Soldier of Godrick once while trying to learn the controls, and ascended to the surface. I'm incredibly paranoid that everything is going to kill me so I crouch walk everywhere avoiding combat with anything I don't believe I can take on.
I start by following the chain of Sites of Grace to the Gatefront Ruins. Along the way, I kill what Soldiers of Godrick I can and acquire a set of armor from their corpses. I meet Melina, accept her proposal to serve as my Maiden and began honing my combat skills a bit. My problem at this point is that I don't know how I want to build my character and thus don't invest any runes at all at this point.
I start with the Gatefront Ruins with the singular goal of clearing the entire site without needing to rest at a Site of Grace. It takes me a good bit to learn the attacks of the soldiers but I figure out a way to dispatch them fairly consistently. I catch them by surprise with a jump attack and follow up with two standard attacks. With enough perseverance, I was able to accomplish my goal while netting around 15k runes.
I begin sneaking down the road to the southeast while avoiding the mounted enemies. I come to a stop at a bridge trying to figure out how I can sneak around the mounted patrol. While searching for an answer to that question, I notice two giants pulling a giant cart down the road towards me. I wait a fair bit for them to pass and I think I notice a chest on the back end of the cart. I hop on but I can't interact with it.
I hop down, mount up and try hit and run tactics against the giants. They stomp but I'm out of range each time they do. I down one of the giants and notice the other start kneeling. I check the back of the cart again and acquire a Greataxe. Now this is a weapon I can invest in.
I wield the axe with two hands and start pumping my strength up a bit. Feeling emboldened, I begin striking out at other enemies I had been avoiding up to this point. My fears of some of these enemies were unjustified. Some others, were more terrifying than I could ever had imagined. With a Site of Grace in my peripheral lulling me into a false sense of security, one shambling husk on a cliff transformed into a giant bear, mauling me before I could utter the words "what the fuck!?"
I eventually found my way to exploring the Dragon-Burnt Ruins. After clearing a basement filled with Giant Rats, I walked through a door to find a chest. I claimed my prize... a teleport trap sending me all the way to the Sellia Crystal Tunnel in Caelid. Terrified, I rush to find an exit. My first thoughts were: "Okay, I'm underground. I need to go up to get out." I find that path upwards and it leads me to a boss that didn't even give me time to remember it's name. Thankfully, I had already spent the bulk of my runes or they'd be forfeit to this cave. I eventually do manage to find the exit.
I find my way out of one hell and into another. The swamp makes me paranoid again. I cautiously touch the crimson blood-water, fully prepared to dodge roll back to shore, thinking it would damage me in some way. Finding the pools only damaged me psychologically, I start to explore the local area. As I walk, mushroom infested corpses climb from the blood bog to attack me. I make my way into nearby ruins finding hostile plants and a corpse with Perfumer's Traveler attire. I hop atop Torrent and run west to find any Sites of Grace or any semblance of road or path back towards Limgrave.
This brings me back to the starting area. Currently, Margit, the Fell Omen is walling me in the story. I've gotten him to 40% health or so but I'm finding it hard to dodge all but two of his attacks. I've also cleared the minibosses from Stormfoot Catacombs and Groveside Cave without dying once to them.
I've decided on a Greataxe build, opting to invest into strength, reaching the requirement for my greataxe. My playstyle so far has simply been find an opening -> jump attack/charge attack -> run away/dodge. Currently, I'm level 25 and I've invested into Strength up to 30 and Vigor and Endurance to 12. I've also applied an Ash of War to my greataxe changing the affinity to only pull from Strength at B rank. I am a little squishy right now but I plan on rounding out Vigor and Endurance over time. At some point, should I need to, I may also pick up a shield. I'd have to wait until my carry weight is increased before entertaining the thought, however.
I don't know if I'm playing this game or building my character "correctly," but I have been making progress. After playing up to this point, I can see the appeal.
