u/Hugh_Mungus94

Elden Ring is my first ever Souls game and I think I might just suck at this genre lol

I've been a gamer for many, many years, but somehow I never played a Souls-like before. I finally decided to give Elden Ring a shot because I really like the setting and the whole atmosphere of the game.

I just defeated Godrick at level 26 and holy shit, that fight was difficult for me. It took me probably 30-50+ attempts, even with the Godrick Soldier summons.

I've seen people online say that Godrick is one of the easier bosses, which honestly made me feel pretty discouraged about whether I'm even cut out for Souls games in general 😂

I was eventually able to recognize some of his attacks and learn when to dodge, but a lot of his moves still feel completely like mumbo jumbo to me, especially that damn stomp. Half the time when I successfully dodge an attack, it honestly feels like I just got lucky rather than actually knowing what I was doing.

Even when I finally beat him, I was sitting there thinking, "Yeah... that was definitely luck." LOL

For people who played their first Souls game and were also absolutely terrible at it, how was your experience? Did you also feel like you were just randomly getting lucky with dodges and victories at first?

How did you eventually learn to get better at these games? Did something eventually just "click" for you? I also dont play Multiplayer since I wanna learn to fight and not having someone beat the boss for me

I genuinely like Elden Ring a lot and really want to get better at it. I'm just trying to figure out whether being completely clueless at the beginning is normal or if I'm actually just terrible at Souls game

I grew up pretty poor in an immigrant household, and video games were basically a luxury we couldn't afford. I loved games growing up, but I almost never actually owned them. I'd go to friends' houses to play their games or borrow games from acquaintances.

When I eventually started buying games myself, my rule was basically never pay full price. Bundles, 80-90% sales, used copies, whatever. Paying $60+ for a game genuinely felt irresponsible.

Fast forward to now. I managed to dig myself out of poverty and make pretty good money for my age. At this point, I make enough in an hour to theoretically buy 2-3 AAA games at full price.

And yet...

I still feel guilty spending $60-$70 on a fucking video game. I'll see a game I really want and think, "Yeah, I could buy it right now." Then my brain immediately goes:

"Or you could just wait a year or 2 and get it for 70% off."

Deluxe editions? Preorders? Basically a war crime even though I wanted them so bad.

$70 for a game I know I'll play for 50+ hours somehow feels like I'm being financially irresponsible, even though I'll casually spend the same amount on other things without thinking twice.

I know this is probably leftover poverty mentality, but I genuinely don't know how to get out of it. Rationally, I understand that I can pretty easily afford it with my current financial situation, but emotionally my brain still treats buying a full-price game like I'm making mistake.

Has anyone else experienced this after growing up poor and eventually becoming financially comfortable? How the hell do you teach your brain that it's okay to spend money on something you enjoy without feeling like you've committed a financial crime?

Who needs Xcom 3 anymore lol. Jokes aside anyone else super excited for this?

I'm looking for recommendations for strategy games where your individual units can gain veterancy/experience over time, and where changing their equipment actually changes how they look on the battlefield.

I recently played Age of Wonders 4 and Age of Wonders: Planetfall, and I really love the way you can customize your troops with different equipment and actually see those changes reflected on their models. There's something really satisfying about having a unit survive through multiple battles, become a veteran, get better equipment, and visually look different as a result.

I'm looking for something NOT 4X this time. Tactical RPGs are fine, but I'm more interested in something that feels like a strategy game where you're commanding groups of troops, rather than a handful of individual characters. I also already played Xcom and Phoenix Point

Basically, I'm looking for that feeling of developing an army over time and becoming attached to specific units because they've survived a bunch of battles.

Any recommendations would be appreciated?

So let me get this straight...the dragons already have front legs then they have arms that are connected to the wings which are suppose to be front legs in conventional dragons (like the dragons in GOT). Are they six legs dragon or a bad case of AI use?

I love turn based tactic games and is looking to bag a couple this steam sale. I really like customization and make the best looking team with cool armor and weapons as well as build a home base. Also just got a pretty powerful rig so I want to find a game that looks great but not really a make or break deal as long as the game is good. Drop me your recommendations and hidden gems!! Thanks a bunch

Some of the games I already played:

-Pathfinder kingmaker series

-Battle Brothers

-Xcom series

-Final Fantasy remake series

-Phoenix point

I've been noticing that Walmart has a lot of running shoes in the $35 to $45 range, and I've even seen some pairs on clearance for around $20-$25.

Honestly, they look surprisingly well made in person. The materials, stitching, and overall design seem pretty decent, but I have no idea if they actually hold up once you start putting miles on them. My job involve lots of walking and running and I need shoes to last long....

I don't really care about brand names or wearing Nikes, Adidas, etc. If a $20-$40 pair is comfortable, durable, and gets the job done, I'm perfectly happy with that.

Has anyone here actually used Walmart running shoes for regular walking, jogging, or running? How did they hold up over time? Were they comfortable, or did they fall apart after a few months? I'm curious whether they're genuinely a good value or if they just look good on the shelf.

I recently finished the Final Fantasy VII Remake series and absolutely loved the Materia system. One of my favorite things was how much freedom it gave you to customize your characters. You could completely change your playstyle by swapping Materia around, create unique builds, or combine different Materia for some really fun and powerful synergies.

Now I'm looking for more games that scratch that same itch. I'm not necessarily looking for another JRPG, just games with deep character customization and grinding, build crafting, and interesting ability combinations where experimenting with different setups feels rewarding. Also important to have very hard fight/ bosses to make min maxing feel necessary.

The only catch is that I'm not really into top-down ARPGs like Diablo or Path of Exile. I strongly prefer third-person or first-person games.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Correct me if I'm wrong but now that Pizza Hut is being sold, Domino and papa John are pretty much the only pizza chains leading the market now in the US and Domino is the more prominent of the 2 imo. Shouldnt this be a huge catalyst in the upcoming days for Domino stock if Domino can climb to be the top Pizza seller in the US?

Hi everyone, I'm a young adult working in healthcare. I started working three years ago at age 28 and have been slowly trying to build wealth, but the progress feels incredibly slow.

I came from a poor immigrant family, so I don't have a house, inherited assets, or financial support from my parents. My goal is to eventually buy a home, but living in California means that will probably cost around $1 million. I also don't plan to move out of CA due to work opportunities and good salary here.

I've been told that my salary is pretty solid for a middle-class lifestyle at around $180k per year. However, after paying rent of 2k5/month, maxing out my retirement accounts, making some investments here and there, and covering other living expenses, I only have about $2000 per month left to save toward a house.

By my calculations, that means it would take roughly eight years just to save a down payment of around $200k. Is this the reality of being middle class in California, or am I actually below middle class by California standards?

I just can't imagine needing to save for 8–10 years to buy a home. That seems incredibly slow. Is that normal, or am I doing something wrong?

I'm looking for a game where I can constantly improve my character through gear, skills, talents, perks, weapons, stats, crafting, or whatever progression systems it has. I absolutely love games that let you min-max and optimize builds, chase better loot, and there feeling of there's always more to unlock but no matter how much you grind there's always bigger/badder enemies to face. Example would be: monster hunters series/ god of war series/ final fantasy which I enjoyed greatly

What I'm NOT looking for:

• ARPGs like Diablo, Path of Exile, Last Epoch, etc.
• MOBAs

What I'm looking for:

• Tons of upgrades throughout the game
• Deep character progression
• Lots of build variety and min-maxing
• Enemies getting stronger and always give you a challenge/ wipe the floor with you if you dont upgrade enough.

I'm mainly interested in first-person or third-person games but if theres RTS with progressions like that I would love it (starcraft 2 where you can upgrade your roster for example), but I'm open to anything as long as the progression and build-crafting are deep.

Some examples of the feeling I'm chasing are games where you're constantly tweaking your build, finding better gear, unlocking new abilities, and squeezing out every bit of power from your character while the game keeps throwing stronger enemies at you.

Any recommendations? Thanks! 😄

I cant seem to figure this out. For example if I have 100$ in a fidelity account and got 100% gain (total 200$) then I sell 50$ of the gain so now my account has 150$ in stock and 50$ cash. The total gain show in the account will then exclude the 50$ since it's a closed position. Is there a setting that basically tell me how much money is made/lost in total including closed position?

From what I understand, Musk is rigging our retirement accounts to buy the SpaceX IPO at a stupidly high price by fast-tracking its inclusion into the S&P 500. If that’s the case, would stopping contributions or diverting all contributions to international stocks in our 401(k) for a few months or a year while waiting for it to cool down after the SpaceX IPO be a good move? I’m a dumb new investor lol. Someone please explain the pros and cons of doing this. I just don’t want to be exit liquidity for Elon lmao

I (31M) work in healthcare and make close to $200k a year. I go to the gym regularly, stay in shape, and overall have a pretty stable life. My girlfriend of 4 years also has a good career and makes a little more than half of what I make. We both came from poorer backgrounds, so neither of us really had family money, houses, or assets growing up. Even now, despite my income, I still don’t own a house (still saving for one) or really feel “established” compared to some people our age.

The issue is that my girlfriend is way more driven. She’s always talking about career growth, side hustles, networking, buying property, planning for the future, and constantly improving ourselves. Meanwhile, outside of work, gym and household chores (we divide housework evenly so that's not part of the problem) I honestly just want to relax and play video games.

Video games are basically my main hobby and the thing that genuinely helps me decompress. After dealing with patients, stress, long shifts, and adult responsibilities all day, all I want is to sit at my PC and disappear into another world for a few hours before going to bed. besides maxing out all my retirement accounts and invest extra money into VOO, I don’t really have some huge dream of becoming ultra wealthy or building an empire.

Recently, she told me she feels frustrated because she thinks I have “no ambition” outside of maintaining my current lifestyle. She said I have a lot of potential but waste most of my free time gaming instead of building toward something bigger.

I kind of snapped and told her not everyone wants to spend their entire life grinding 24/7 just to impress other people online. I told her I already escaped poverty, got a stable career, stay healthy, and pay my bills. To me, that’s enough.

Now things have been awkward between us, and honestly I’ve even started thinking maybe we just aren’t compatible long term. I genuinely love her, but I also don’t want to spend the rest of my life feeling judged because my ideal evening is playing games instead of chasing more money or status.

AITA for feeling this way and considering ending the relationship over it?

Not gonna lie, I’m a dumb new investor LOL. I only started investing last year and decided to jump into CCCX around $20–21/share because everything looked amazing on paper and the fundamentals seemed really solid. At the time I had no idea there’s usually a huge pullback after mergers. Learned that lesson the hard way.

So even with today’s pump I’m still deep in the red. Still keeping my shares and trying not to become exit liquidity for someone smarter than me 😭

Please give it to me straight. Did I just buy at a terrible entry and need patience, or am I mostly cooked here for the next 10 years or so?

I’ll be honest, speaking from experience, one of the hardest but most financially responsible things a poor person can do is give up their pets to someone who can actually afford them. I’m not talking about dumping them on the street, I mean rehoming them through family, adoption, or shelters, which is what I personally had to do a year ago.

People hate hearing this because pets are emotionally treated like children nowadays, but the reality is that love alone doesn’t pay for vet bills, quality food, medication, grooming, emergencies, or even basic maintenance. When you’re already drowning financially, a single sick pet can completely nuke whatever progress you were making. I’ve seen people in terrible situations max out credit cards, skip meals, miss rent, or fall deeper into debt because their dog suddenly needed a $4,000 surgery.

And honestly, I think a lot of people normalize keeping pets in environments that aren’t actually good for the animal either. If someone can barely afford food for themselves, lives in a cramped stressful situation, works nonstop, and can’t afford proper medical care for the pet, is that really a good life for the animal? People get offended by that question, but it’s a real one.

I see posts all the time from people already on the verge of eviction or financially collapsing, then suddenly their pet gets sick and now they’re begging strangers online for emergency vet money. At some point people need to admit that pets are a luxury expense, not just an emotional support accessory you keep no matter your circumstances. Sometimes the most responsible and loving thing you can do is admit you’re not currently in a position to properly care for one.

It’s honestly funny how in RPGs a random NPC will look at your character with tears in their eyes and ask:

“Why are you helping me? What do you gain from this?”

Meanwhile the real answer 99% of players would give is:

“25,000 XP, gold, reputation points, and whatever legendary item you’re hiding at the end of this quest.”

Like bro, your village burning down is tragic and all, but I mainly accepted this quest because I saw the reward icon glowing purple.

What makes it even funnier is how our characters act like selfless heroes after casually breaking into every house in town, stealing everyone’s food and money, and looting ancient graves 10 minutes earlier. RPG protagonists are basically fantasy mercenaries with good PR lmao.

Hey everyone, played jade empire recently and realized I wish there are more game like that but turned base. Now I'm craving a good tactical turn-based game with a strong Asian-inspired aesthetic/world. Could be feudal Japan, ancient China, Korean fantasy, wuxia/xianxia vibes, cyberpunk Asia, preferably NOT anime-style games. I’m mainly looking for games like Xcom/Rouge traders but set in Asia. Is such a thing even exist?

Some examples of aesthetics I really like:

• Ghost of Tsushima style environments
• Dynasty Warriors / Romance of the Three Kingdoms vibes
• Cyberpunk Asian megacities
• Traditional temples, lantern-lit towns, bamboo forests, rainy neon streets, etc.

Gameplay-wise I enjoy:

• Tactical/grid-based combat
• Party management or character building
• Deep progression/grinding/loot
• Political intrigue, war, clans, or faction systems
• Good worldbuilding and immersion

Found out I have a key for this game laying around LOL. Unfortunately not my type of game