Edward_R_Murrow
Arcane
While I'm a huge fan of self-imposed and/or arbitrary challenges to squeeze more fun out of games, I've never understood the appeal of SL1 runs in DkS1, especially how widespread they are. It's simply not that interesting a run.
For one thing, there's easily available sources of damage in Pyromancy, Chaos-upgraded weaponry (particularly the Reinforced Club, which has Bleed power, good Poise damage, and very low requirements; take that out and things become a *little* more interesting), and all the damage boosters (e.g. Red Tearstone Ring, Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring, Dusk Crown, Power Within).
And players are scarcely limited in defense either. An SL1 Pyromancer can use a Heater Shield with 100% physical block. And dodging, having no statistical component involved in it's efficacy, will be the full 13-frames of invincibility, provided the player isn't dumb enough to overload their character with armor that will likely be of no use.
Most players embarking on the run already know all of this, making it a matter of going through the motions, pressing R1 and Circle/B a whole bunch. It's a "solved" run with a rather low skill requirement.
Lots of other runs in games seem a lot more worthwhile. Hell, Dark Souls 2, with it's plethora of stat-modifying equipment and even items that give a temporary boost to stats seems a lot more interesting from a SL1 perspective (not to mention a Deprived character will have shit for i-frames and no base ability to wield a 100% block shield). There's a lot of optimization that can still be done, perhaps more weapons/spells with conditional uses.
For one thing, there's easily available sources of damage in Pyromancy, Chaos-upgraded weaponry (particularly the Reinforced Club, which has Bleed power, good Poise damage, and very low requirements; take that out and things become a *little* more interesting), and all the damage boosters (e.g. Red Tearstone Ring, Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring, Dusk Crown, Power Within).
And players are scarcely limited in defense either. An SL1 Pyromancer can use a Heater Shield with 100% physical block. And dodging, having no statistical component involved in it's efficacy, will be the full 13-frames of invincibility, provided the player isn't dumb enough to overload their character with armor that will likely be of no use.
Most players embarking on the run already know all of this, making it a matter of going through the motions, pressing R1 and Circle/B a whole bunch. It's a "solved" run with a rather low skill requirement.
Lots of other runs in games seem a lot more worthwhile. Hell, Dark Souls 2, with it's plethora of stat-modifying equipment and even items that give a temporary boost to stats seems a lot more interesting from a SL1 perspective (not to mention a Deprived character will have shit for i-frames and no base ability to wield a 100% block shield). There's a lot of optimization that can still be done, perhaps more weapons/spells with conditional uses.
