How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success?

I glanced at this prompt as I was getting ready for work this morning and used my short “meditative morning commute” to let my thoughts build themselves around the question.

FromSoftware has built up a reputation for making difficult games, however, the reality is that their games don’t follow or utilize many standard/common game design elements that the majority of players are used to. This made for the eventual creation of the “Soulsborne” genre of games. Brutally difficult for beginners, but exceedingly rewarding with that feeling of accomplishment when you make progress and beat a seemingly insurmountable boss.

Their game Elden Ring is no exception. In fact, it dials it up a notch!

You have the potential to build your character for any play style you choose (and yet you will invariably get your ass kicked at some point.) I always liked doing  dexterity builds, using light weapons for quick attacks and being able to dodge out of the way, so that’s where I started my character build. I ended up layering in magic quite a bit not long after starting.

Being a dexterity and magic focused build, my character was squishy. Not a lot of defense or health so most everything, not just bosses, could stagger or kill me in one or two hits. It took a while to get used to the timings of everything, dying over and over again, but eventually I did.

Every time I died, every failure, became a chance to try something different. Charging in and catching the enemies off guard? Checked. Sneaking in and pulling off a backstab? Tried. Attacking with magic from a distance? Sometimes a good start. Learning the parry timings? That eventually became paramount to my build. It took a lot of experimenting, learning different magics, finding and trying different weapons and shields over the course of more than a hundred hours just to get through the game.

There was one particular “hidden” boss that I got really stubborn about wanting to beat. I didn’t keep an exact count, but I probably died 60-80 times until I finally nailed down the parry timings and learned the distances I needed to work within to control the actions of the boss so that I could make it through the fight. Amazingly, I did it without a scratch in the last attempt, AND I have it recorded! If you’re curious you can check it out on my YouTube channel that I never really used.

Two or three hours of failed attempts, dying over and over again, boiled down to a three minute fight. The feeling of satisfaction at beating it was incredible!