LogFAQs > #886293139

chikage is very cool. I highly recommend it.

I will say this... the most fun I've EVER had was when I did a gun only run and when I did an arcane tool only run. those things fundamentally change how you play the game and they give you a huge and new appreciation for the level of quality that the design team put into this project.

not only because these runs are possible, but because of how your experience with the game can give you an edge while you're still forced to adapt to an entirely new style of play. this speaks mostly to the arcane run; each of the sub weapons are designed to have certain advantages and disadvantages. through the run I found myself swapping between different tools often to use whatever the situation required. it was actually a lot more diverse, skill intense, and engaging than a normal weapon run because with a normal weapon run I just spam R1 with my weapon most often. or whatever the optimal combo is based on my moveset. for gun only; this is just fun because it increases the level of challenge in ways that are different from a normal run. it's all about pushing yourself to the limits and can turn each boss battle into a test of endurance AND skill rather than just skill. yeah dodging paarl's attacks and killing him quickly can be difficult. but imagine having to dodge his attacks over and over again while slowly whittling away at his health with a gun. and each time you get hit that causes you to need to use a blood vial to heal yourself... which cuts into your ammo supply.

anyway I would probably not recommend either of those runs for a new player but there's definitely good halfway points. you can do a bloodtinge character and work your way up to using the chikage and evelyn. chikage is one of THE optimized weapons in the game so you do eventually become a badass. you'll likely get very good at parrying but who knows, maybe not. similarly you can do an arcane based character who just uses normal weapons and scales them off of the arcane stat. unfortunately this doesn't feel TOO different from a normal run but it is still a somewhat unique experience -- particularly if you do get your hands on the hunter tools and start experimenting with them to familiarize yourself with each. although I will say there are some tools I NEVER used or appreciated before doing a very strict 'arcane tools only' run.
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