WhiskeyJack's recent activity
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
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Comment on The Steam Deck now has over 5,000 Verified games in ~games
WhiskeyJack Link ParentI did actually finish the game and get 100% in the end, I had an old windows laptop and it ran fine on that. I admit the game is an edge case due to all the ARG elements, but the fact there's no...I did actually finish the game and get 100% in the end, I had an old windows laptop and it ran fine on that. I admit the game is an edge case due to all the ARG elements, but the fact there's no way to report the game, yet it's still marked as "Verified" to this day really annoys me.
It's my textbook example of why I don't like the Steam Verified system, because I don't feel I can trust it. I actually politely reached out to the dev of the game regarding steam deck verification by email. He apologised about the verified tag and said Steam added it without asking him, and as far as he had could tell he had no way to remove it. He suggested I reach out to Steam customer support to ask for it removed, but I never bothered as I wouldn't know who to even contact.
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Comment on The Steam Deck now has over 5,000 Verified games in ~games
WhiskeyJack (edited )Link ParentI second this, as far as I'm concerned the Steam verified system is a joke. Several "Verified" games just straight up don't work. God Of War is "Verified" and has a memory leak that crashes the...I second this, as far as I'm concerned the Steam verified system is a joke. Several "Verified" games just straight up don't work. God Of War is "Verified" and has a memory leak that crashes the game after an extended play time that never got patched. A game called "Who's's Lila" requires you install a DLC (which is a separate program) to progress the story, and the DLC doesn't work on Linux. I got it on a "Great on Deck" sale, and couldn't progress past the hour mark. Horizon Zero Dawn is verified and runs fine for the first few levels but in the latter half of the game the FPS just tanks.
It's ridiculous that games like Dark Souls get "Playable" tags despite running at 60fps flawlessly, just because you have to bring up the on screen keyboard to enter your name at the very start of the game, but a bunch of games that actually don't work get "Verified" status.
It wouldn't be so bad if you could report Verified games that don't work, but the only way to do this is to get randomly selected after playing the game and it asks you if the game should be classed as verified with a yes or no button prompt. You're not guaranteed to get this option and I've seen no evidence that valve even respond to this feedback, I don't think I've ever seen a game get downgraded from Verified to Unsupported.
It's against Valve's interest to mark these games as "Unplayable" because they want to sell more copies of AAA games even if they don't work on the Deck, it's a conflict of interest and the system needs fixing.
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Comment on What's next for Kagi? in ~tech
WhiskeyJack Link ParentI'm quite interested in seeing what happens with the mobile apps for both iOS and Android, If they're creating their own mobile browser I'd be interested in giving it a look to see how it compares...I'm quite interested in seeing what happens with the mobile apps for both iOS and Android, If they're creating their own mobile browser I'd be interested in giving it a look to see how it compares to the privacy respecting Firefox/Chrome forks. I'm also looking forward to Kagi maps but I'm not sure if this has been announced before.
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What's next for Kagi?
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Comment on What video games have had you taking real-life notes? in ~games
WhiskeyJack LinkThe Zero Escape trilogy is the first thing that sprung to mind. It's a Visual Novel/Puzzle game trilogy, and the premise is you have 9 characters who get trapped in a "Death Game" and have to...The Zero Escape trilogy is the first thing that sprung to mind. It's a Visual Novel/Puzzle game trilogy, and the premise is you have 9 characters who get trapped in a "Death Game" and have to progress through a series of "Puzzle/Escape Rooms" to survive. For gameplay think of either Phoenix Wright or Dangonronpa where the game has a lot of people talking, then it gets broken up by interactive segments (solving puzzles).
You don't need a pen and paper for all the puzzles, but there were definitely some where I had to write down notes and cross reference possibilities. I don't think it'd be possible to beat the game without taking notes as the later puzzles get very difficult and confusing.
A more recent example I can think of is Crow Country, a Survival Horror game inspired by old school Silent Hill & Resident Evil. The puzzles aren't particularly difficult but there's a lot of number based puzzles (which are saved to a notes file your character has). However, you can only view these notes in the save room, so you either need to memorize the number codes or write them down somewhere in real life.
There was also one puzzle towards the end of the game where you need to cross reference numbers presented to you on a slideshow across multiple slides, and It'd be quite difficult to solve without being able to write them down. (There is an alternative way to solve this puzzle that I won't spoil, which does let you bypass it though).
I think I prefer games that make you break out a pen and paper to solve them vs everything being in game. I find it quite fun to remove myself from the screen for a bit, however this can be annoying if you're in a situation where you can't just pull out a pen and paper eg: playing on a portable console.
I think a good middle ground is games where they have a "notes option", which let you scribble things down using a stylus or something similar so you can draw diagrams or other notes you may need.
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Comment on Twenty-six billion records exposed in massive leak, including data from Linkedin, X, Dropbox in ~tech
WhiskeyJack LinkThings like this always concern me, not for me personally as I use a password manager and 2FA for everything; but I have so many friends and family members who use the same email and password for...Things like this always concern me, not for me personally as I use a password manager and 2FA for everything; but I have so many friends and family members who use the same email and password for everything.
I wish more basic cyber security was taught to people. You can prevent things like identity fraud with just some simple changes like using 2FA or a password manager but most people don't know or care.
From what I've read with this leak though its mostly a compilation of very old leaks so hopefully most people should be okay.
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Comment on Let's share some obscure forgotten tunes (<20K plays/views) in ~music
WhiskeyJack LinkEverlasting Fire - IronFlame I was looking for metal artists that sound similar to Iron Maiden and kept getting suggestions of things like Megadeth and Metallica which wasn't really what I was...I was looking for metal artists that sound similar to Iron Maiden and kept getting suggestions of things like Megadeth and Metallica which wasn't really what I was looking for since they were more thrash metal, and since Iron Maiden is just labelled as "Heavy Metal" I was struggling to find something similar as they have quite a unique sound.
Then I stumbled across these guys and I'm surprised this song only has 5.2k views they're quite good, If you're a fan of Iron Maiden give these guys a listen, it has the same sort of epic and dramatic feeling.
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Comment on What game(s) do you love that you never see brought up in conversation? in ~games
WhiskeyJack LinkThe Zero Escape trilogy of games they are a hybrid between an escape room simulator and visual novel. I'm not usually a big fan of Visual Novels but I enjoy Phoenix Wright and Visual Novels that...The Zero Escape trilogy of games they are a hybrid between an escape room simulator and visual novel. I'm not usually a big fan of Visual Novels but I enjoy Phoenix Wright and Visual Novels that have small amounts of gameplay to break up the reading. I would say the Zero Escape trilogy is the visual novel series for people who don't like visual novels. The focus of the game is about the mystery and unraveling it slowly as you play, I found most visual novels have a big focus on romance and relationships which this didn't. The third game is a little different from the first two and plays and looks like a Telltale/Choose your own adventure game, but it is still a solid entry.
It's hard to talk about this trilogy without spoiling it because it's so story heavy, but the premise of the first game '9 Persons, 9 Hours, 9 Doors' is that nine people wake up on a sinking ship and are told by a mysterious figure they have to find a door with number 9 painted on it to escape before the ship sinks.
As it's a visual novel you'll spend a lot of time reading, but every numbered room you enter is a puzzle escape room which breaks up the reading. The closet comparisons I can think of are Pheonix Wright or Danganronpa which are visual novels with gameplay elements. The puzzles are usually quite difficult but fair and fun to figure out, I felt they got a bit convoluted towards the end of the game but I still thought that overall the puzzles were mostly well made.
The story absolutely blew me away and I liked that it used it's medium as a video game to tell it's story. I can't emphasis enough how good the story of his trilogy is. It ties the Nier franchise for my favourite video game stories ever.
The game is non linear and you can take different routes through the story which have big reveals and plot twists, but depending on which other routes you have completed first this information can either be revelations or make no sense and leave you with even more mysteries to figure out. It's all dependent on what knowledge you as the player has acquired so far.
All three games in the trilogy are great and if you think the concept sounds interesting I would highly recommend playing them or at least trying the first game.
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Comment on What game(s) do you love that you never see brought up in conversation? in ~games
WhiskeyJack Link ParentThis game was on my to play list since it's release and I finally got around to playing it last month. I think the concept is Amazing but I wish it was a little less linear, I don't mind having to...This game was on my to play list since it's release and I finally got around to playing it last month. I think the concept is Amazing but I wish it was a little less linear, I don't mind having to do the objectives in the set order but I wish there was a little more freedom in exploring, at the start it feels like you're going to have to find out which order to rescue people and go from there but I got frustrated because I had to do it in such a specific order. It would've been nice to have a bit more variety of which order to save people.
I'd love to see a sequel to this game but since it released in 2017 I don't think we'll ever get one. It felt to me like one of those games that missed it's potential, It was very good but it was missing a few things that I think could've been fixed in a sequel that would be a massive hit.
I would definitely recommenced it to anyone thinking about checking it out despite it's flaws, it's a great concept and doesn't overstay it's welcome.
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Comment on Japanese Steam user number reaches record high in June in ~games
WhiskeyJack LinkThe percentage of Japanese users on steam has gone up to a record high of 2.82% in the month of June. From what I understand PC gaming isn't very popular in Japan and the dominant gaming platforms...The percentage of Japanese users on steam has gone up to a record high of 2.82% in the month of June. From what I understand PC gaming isn't very popular in Japan and the dominant gaming platforms are the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5 so it is interesting to see it on the rise. I wonder what has caused the increase in users, as PC hardware isn't very affordable at the minute so I'd expect the numbers to be dropping.
As of August 2022 the Steam Deck was available in Japan so I wonder if this has had any impact on the PC gaming market with a slow burn effect as portability is a big selling point, similar to the dominant Nintendo Switch. I wasn't able to find any sales numbers so have no idea if the Steam Deck has been responsible for any of the uptick in Japan or if it successful at all. I wouldn't say the Steam Deck is a competitor to the Switch but being portable could be a big selling point for the Japanese market. Steam also has a large collection of Japanese games including a lot of Visual Novels, so I wonder if there is an audience of people joining steam to purchase Visual Novels instead of from other companies/websites.
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Japanese Steam user number reaches record high in June
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~talk
WhiskeyJack (edited )LinkPorn will just go to whatever social network is biggest at the time even if it isn't allowed, the content creators will just balance of the edge of the rules seeing how far they can push it...Porn will just go to whatever social network is biggest at the time even if it isn't allowed, the content creators will just balance of the edge of the rules seeing how far they can push it without getting banned. Look at the twitch hot tub streamers for a perfect example of this. If you look at Tiktok, there's plenty of videos which are pushing the terms of service to the limit just to redirect people to their Instagram which lets them link their Onlyfans pages. They use code words and emojis to get around the key word filter so it is still discoverable for anyone looking.
Reddit isn't going anywhere for a while, it's lost some of it's userbase over the past month, and I'd argue it's lost plenty of "high quality" users who post good content and discussions but this will have no impact on the porn. These "high quality" users leaving are not going to affect porn bots and Onlyfans creators spamming their content to 50 different subreddits trying to get anyone to click. Realistically casual users could not care less about what's happening to Reddit, and they will stay there until it shuts down which means porn will have a safe place there indefinitely.
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Comment on Any Tildes android app? in ~tildes
WhiskeyJack LinkThe developer of Reddit is Fun is working on an app but it is a few months away. See here However the mobile interface works surprisingly well. I have the Tildes website saved as a shortcut on my...The developer of Reddit is Fun is working on an app but it is a few months away. See here
However the mobile interface works surprisingly well. I have the Tildes website saved as a shortcut on my home page using firefox. It's not really much different than using an app for the most part, the mobile design of Tildes is very well made. You can create a shortcut by following this guide for Firefox
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
WhiskeyJack (edited )Link ParentMy username is actually a Malazan reference! I've found there are quite a few similarities between Malazan and Black Company, Malazan definitely feels inspired by Black Company but not derivative,...My username is actually a Malazan reference! I've found there are quite a few similarities between Malazan and Black Company, Malazan definitely feels inspired by Black Company but not derivative, they feel similar in themes and atmosphere.
In Black Company there are big battles but it's not written dramatically, it's told from the POV of the character so the violence is very much straight to the point. It's still exciting but it's not written to big and bombastic, the battles are violent and brutal but very straight forward with what's happening. I can't say whether it would be good for you to read or not with struggling with a weak imagination but it's all from one character's point of view so there isn't any hopping around mid fight. One thing I can give Glenn Cook credit for is his books are short, you can breeze through them quite quickly and don't feel like a large time investment to decide if you like it. Of the ones I read i found them to be "good but not great" but they had some great moments. The climax of book 3 is brilliant and really feels like the conclusion that everything was building too, I really like the world and characters.
Regarding WOT I have heard it's very different from the rest from a few places so it'll be interesting how it plays out. I'm looking forward to working my way through the big epic story across 15 books, I have no idea what's going to happen. From what I've read about the middle books dragging is because they're spent on side plots and don't really move the main plot along, apparently they're not that bad when read in succession but it was frustrating for people waiting years between books waiting for the story to progress. I'm really excited seeing how it plays out.
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Comment on Steam Summer Sale 2023: Hidden gems in ~games
WhiskeyJack LinkI'm going to post below some of my favourite games I've played in the past couple of years, Three Survival Horror, A Sim Tycoon and a Point & Click game with some quick reviews below below: Alisa...I'm going to post below some of my favourite games I've played in the past couple of years, Three Survival Horror, A Sim Tycoon and a Point & Click game with some quick reviews below below:
Alisa 40% Off - £8.40 - 629 Reviews - Old School Survival Horror inspired by Resident evil & Silent Hill
Alisa has you exploring a large doll house (see: mansion) full of monsters and puzzles where you have to find the right key or item to progress. Ammo is somewhat scarce, however enemies drop currency upon defeat which you can use to buy upgrades and ammo. The upgrades include various dresses which give you different stat boosts such as taking less damage, or faster movement. You have to decide how much ammo you want to use to clear a room and whether it's worth the exchange as enemies don't respawn. After you finish exploring an area you will fight a boss which upon defeat will give you access to the next area of the game. The combat can be quite difficult however the game has has some options to make the game easier with things like an auto-aim toggle, The level design is quite good and the different areas of the game all feel unique with different enemy types, visual styles and music, and as you progress you'll find shortcuts linking the areas together for faster travel. 7-10 Hours to beat but has plenty of replay value with 3 endings and NG+ modes.
Tavern Master 50% Off - £5.99 - 5607 Reviews - Medieval Tavern Tycoon Game
Tycoon game where you build your own Tavern, very fun but basic and not very difficult. You start with one floor to work with and as you progress the game you can decorate your tavern, unlock ore floors, and and unlock new wines/beers and upgrades for your tavern like being able to make rooms to rent out. There's not much to do in the endgame an once you've unlocked everything there's not much to do but I got a solid 20 hours out of it.
Darkside Detective 70% Off - £3.83 - 2725 Reviews - Humorous Point & Click Adventure with EasyPuzzles
The Darkside Detective is a love letter to classic point and click adventure games with a focus on the humour rather than obtuse and obscure puzzles. It follows the story of Detective McQueen and his sidekick, Officer Patrick Dooley as they investigate various hauntings taking place around the city as they try to uncover the truth and crack the case. The game is broken down into 9 cases, 6 main cases and three bonus cases which were added post launch. Each case takes around 30 - 45 minutes on average to beat so it's a great game to pick up and play in short sessions.
The game has a larger focus on on the humour and exploration over obscure puzzles with moon logic which I felt was a great decision. Usually the puzzles will be standard adventure game fare such as combining items and using them on part of the map but I found for the most part these solutions were all very logical and made sense in context. There's also some puzzle segments which are mini games like connecting tubes together to make a tunnel which allowed for a nice change of pace and a brief break for exploring. 5-6 Hours to Beat
Tormented Souls 45% Off - £9.34 - 3110 Reviews - Old School Survival Horror inspired by Resident evil & Silent Hill
Tormented Souls is a love letter to old school survival horror. If you're a fan of old fashioned Resident Evil or Silent Hill this is the perfect game for you. Limited saves, fixed camera angles and scarce ammo, this game is exactly what survival horror is about. The basic core gameplay loop has you exploring an abandoned hospital searching for clues about the disappearance of two missing girls. It takes inspiration from RE1 in that as you explore you'll be unlocking shortcuts and be circling back round the way you came to the same areas. By the time you've finished the game you should be able to map the entire area without too much trouble. The puzzles are quite difficult in this game, and some of them are a bit too obtuse, I know this is a love letter to classic survival horror games but I feel the puzzles may have been too hard overall, however this didn't really dampen my experience as everything else about the game is fantastic. There's a few different enemy types and they're all fun to fight however visually a lot of them are quite similar. I'd love to have seen some more enemy variety but overall the enemies did their job and were fun to fight through the whole length of the game. 8 - 12 Hours To Beat
Bonus Suggestion, Not on sale but Cheap Lake Haven - Chrysalis - £2.49 - 278 Reviews - Fixed Camera Angle Horror Adventure inspired by Silent Hill
A classic style PS1 style horror game that looks and plays like Silent Hill 1 or Resident Evil 1-3. You play as a detective and visit a mysterious house where you must solve the mystery of what has happened to the residents. Lots of puzzles, and a great atmosphere, There aren't any "survival horror" elements it's just atmospheric horror so if you're looking for things like limited saves or low ammo rationing this isn't the game for you..The game is relativity short and will take you about 60 to 90 minutes to beat, but for the price i would highly recommend to any fans of Silent Hill 1 or Classic Resident Evil, it's an experience worth playing for retro horror lovers.
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Comment on What's a mechanic that you used to dislike when introduced, but now that it's common you prefer having it in ~games
WhiskeyJack (edited )LinkDual Analog aim, I remember trying to play Halo as a child and getting really mad I had to use both sticks to move rather than just being able to use the Dpad to navigate. Honestly I don't think I...Dual Analog aim, I remember trying to play Halo as a child and getting really mad I had to use both sticks to move rather than just being able to use the Dpad to navigate. Honestly I don't think I could live without Dual Analog now, moving back to old games control schemes can feel archaic. If I remember correctly there's a Gamespot review of an Alien Resurrection game that says something along the lines of "The control scheme is awful, you have to use one analog to move, and another to aim??", it's quite funny how standardized the video game controller has become over the past 20 years.
On mechanics that I used to like but now hate I'd have to say Quest Markers, I understand they were useful in open world games when they first started being popular, and it was an easy way to communicate with the player where they need to go but I feel this has just led to lazy map design. I tried playing Ghost Wire Tokyo and had to turn the HUD off because it looked like the meme where the entire screen is filled with map icons and mini maps and an overload of information. I played the game for an hour trying to immerse myself in the setting and atmosphere, then realized It's literally impossible to navigate the game without the horrible UI taking up >50% of your screen.
There was one instance where I was scaling a staircase at the side of a block of flats and all the doors were locked, turns out I had to go up X amount of floors, then go into one specific door that was identical to all the others but this was one unlocked. This was impossible to know without Quest markers so I ended up missing it then had to try every door on every level until it opened. This could have been signaled to the player with a different light source, or some sort of sign on the door that made it unique.
I feel like map markers have just led to lazy map design and development, you don't need to make well designed maps because a big marker tells the player where exactly where to go. I think this is caused by trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator and devs worrying if everything isn't spoon fed to the player they won't know what to do. I'm not saying let's go back to 90's moon logic but I feel game design in the AAA space has stagnated since the 360 era. I feel the only "new" genre we've got since 2007 is Battle Royale.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
WhiskeyJack LinkSo I finished the first three Black Company books by Glen Cook which I really enjoyed. It's a Grim Dark fantasy about a Mercenary Group who get hired by the "Big Bad Evil Guy" and it was a pretty...So I finished the first three Black Company books by Glen Cook which I really enjoyed. It's a Grim Dark fantasy about a Mercenary Group who get hired by the "Big Bad Evil Guy" and it was a pretty solid trilogy. There's no good or bad guys, everyone is a horrible person so it's quite refreshing and different from most fantasy fare. I think there's 11 books(?) in total, and the fourth one I was reading felt like more of an Epilogue forBook 3. I got about 3/4 of the way through but didn't love it as much as the first three so decided to take a short break. It was good but I don't know If I'm just burnt out on reading at the minute but i was struggling to get through it. I didn't think it was as good as the first three books but it wasn't bad at all.
I've decided to take a bit of a break from Black Company so am currently half way through Wheel Of Time Book 1. I've re read the first Wheel Of Time Book about 5 times in the past decade but never managed to get into the second book for various reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of the book or series, just life gets in the way.
This time I'm determined to get through the whole series. Wheel of Time has been haunting me for over a decade as a Fantasy nerd and I feel obliged to finish it before I die and I feel if I don't do it soon I never will!
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Comment on Taylor Swift is an unlikely public transit icon in ~transport
WhiskeyJack LinkThe title made me think this post was going to be about a Manchester UK meme called "Tram Taylor" so i was surprised by this article about public transport and how it affected the economy,...The title made me think this post was going to be about a Manchester UK meme called "Tram Taylor" so i was surprised by this article about public transport and how it affected the economy, Interesting read nonetheless.
If anyone is interested in what Tram Taylor is, In Manchester England there was someone who had a cardboard cut out of Taylor Swift in their window which you could see as you're riding into the city centre, which lovingly became known as Tram Taylor. It became a bit of a local icon over the years and recently the owner said they were moving house and needed to re-home Tram Taylor which caused an uproar as people were worried about losing a local landmark
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Comment on Any 'Yu-Gi-Oh!' fans here? in ~games.tabletop
WhiskeyJack LinkI keep jumping in and out of Yu-Gi-Oh. I grew up on the game and loved it, stopped playing around the time Duel Masters ended and GX started and I got rid of all my cards. I was massively the Duel...I keep jumping in and out of Yu-Gi-Oh. I grew up on the game and loved it, stopped playing around the time Duel Masters ended and GX started and I got rid of all my cards. I was massively the Duel Masters anime as a kid and will still stand by it being great (The sub anyway, not the 4kids dub). I've found myself enjoying it on rewatch as an adult. the concept is dumb but the drama is incredible.
A few years later my friends were playing the game so i decided to start playingagain - this was around the time XYZ were introduced, this is when I really got into the game, I was studying decks and creating my own on Duel Network (A free online Yu-Gi-Oh game which has now shut down because of copyright). I made a Harpie deck myself, they weren't meta but I found them really fun to play. After my friends stopped playing it was quite difficult to keep playing in real life as I didn't have a meta deck or the funds to make one, but I still played on Duel Network until Pendulums became a thing and I hated the format so quit but kept my cards.
Years later I got back into the game thanks to Master Duel, I updated my Harpie Deck and built a Dragon Maids deck too in real life. Unfortunately my local only played on weekdays and I had work so couldn't play in real life so now I log in to master duel occasionally but don't play that often anymore, I still enjoy the game but don't get to play it as much as I like. Master Duel is great but real life is a lot more fun.
My opinions on the game overall is that "classic" Yu-Gi-Oh is better. I do enjoy, Syncro's, XYZ etc and I'm not hating on those formats but I think Syncro's are overly complex but XYZ is a good format. I think the modern game is a lot of fun although difficult to pick up for new players and it plays very differently from what I grew up on thanks to the invention of hand traps, the game is basically unrecognizable from the original at this point.
I do worry about the games shelf life since I think the game is too convoluted for kids to pick up which limits the new audience. The anime hasn't been good since 5D's in my opinion. The anime was always just an advertisement for the cards, but now the rule set is too complex to flow well as an anime and I think the quality has dropped.
I think when it comes to card games Yu-Gi-Oh is seen as a kids game and Magic is seen as an adult game, which isn't true but that's the general consensus I see. I don't imagine many new people picking Yu-Gi-Oh up over Magic, especially with how convoluted the Yu-Gi-Oh ruleset is now. I haven't played Magic in about 5 years but I doubt it's gotten as convoluted and complex as Yu-Gi-Oh so please correct me if I'm wrong.
If someone told me they wanted to get into Yu-Gi-Oh now, I feel I'd teach them with the original format and gradually work through the years to explain, Rituals, Fusion, Syncro's, XYZ, Pendulums and so on. The game is fun and great to play but It's very complicated and has 20 years of rules piled on top of each other which I think scares a lot of people off.
I think the discussion of difficulty in this DLC is getting a bit muddled because there's so much variety on how hard the content can be. If you find the Scadushards first, the difficulty isn't "that bad" (more on this point later). However If you're like me and struggle to find the shards, when you fight the bosses you'll hit a brick wall.
I had a problem where I'd explored what I thought to be all of the areas in the first zone, and I was only level 3. I'd beaten multiple dungeons and explored every area thoroughly, but when I went to fight the second major boss I was getting two shotted constantly. I don't want to spoil the boss details, but they had a very long combo and a punish window of one second, I couldn't find any other opening. So even though it was possible to beat at any point, it wasn't very fun at level 3 since the odds were so stacked against me despite me exploring the majority of the content in zone 1.
I didn't know where else to explore as the boss was blocking off the next batch of content, so I looked up a guide for the shards. Turns out I'd missed plenty in places I'd already searched. I found the problem to be there was no consistency. Some shards drop from enemies, some are found under statues, some are from random caves along with other random loot, some are in small rooms you can easily miss (I walked by a location 3 times and didn't see the entrance).
I think being underleveled has caused a lot of people to complain the difficulty is too hard, for example when I leveled up and came back to the second major boss, they weren't anywhere near as difficult. They were still hard but not impossibly difficult and broken as I've seen some people say.
I've always felt the entire of the base game of Elden Ring was balanced around Spirit Ashes, and the bosses were unfair without them, they had way too much aggro and no downtime. So seeing people say the DLC bosses are unfair without Spirit Ashes seems a bit strange to me, the developers intend for you to use them, and the original game never felt playtested without them. Saying the bosses are too hard without Ashes is a weird complaint. I understand if people want to play without the Spirit Ashes, that's fine. But complaining it's too hard and deliberately handicapping yourself seems the equivalent of doing a SL1 run on the original Dark Souls and complaining the bosses deal too much damage.
I'm only up to the third major boss in my playthrough, so maybe I'll change my mind, and I've heard the final boss is completely broken, unfair and unbalanced (even using Mimic Tear) so will probably get a nerfed soon.
And for what It's worth I've solo'd Dark Souls 1, and Dark Souls 3 without summons. The difficulty of Dark Souls 1 & 3 bosses without summons is about the same difficulty as Elden Ring using Spirit Ashes. Trying a no Ash boss fight in Elden Ring seems masochistic. More power to people who want to do it, but saying the bosses are too hard while doing this is absurd and a weird complaint.