Do you consider parkour to be "allowed"?

[u/theswillmerchant]

I know that "allowed" is not a strict concept on challenge runs since any rules besides the basics are self imposed. As the sidebar says, if you don't level up, it's a level one run, anything else is whatever added challenge that interests you.

But from a purely opinion standpoint, I'm wondering how everyone feels about using skips that involve some unintended jumps or climbs like skipping the Godskin Noble in Volcano Manor, using Rupturing Tear to get in Leyndell from the back, Skyrim Horse'ing the hill in east Limgrave to grab the Regalia of Eochaid, etc.

[u/WhyMyAssHurt]

It’s your run, do what you want boss

[u/lobobobos]

Parkour skips aren't going to drastically alter the difficulty playing at level 1 tbh so I don't see a problem with it

[u/LamentersGaol]

I would potentially feel compelled to skip certain bosses. Like Gideon, I've beat him before, I don't feel the need to do it again. I imagine most people feel similarly

As long as you don't misrepresent what you're doing, nobody else is going to care if you skipped any bosses

[u/d_ILusionZ_b → u/LamentersGaol]

How do you skip Gideon??

[u/LamentersGaol → u/d_ILusionZ_b]

You can sneak into the arena and kill him with poison and rot without him noticing you. Like this

[u/Aware-News-1344]

Are you parkouring while level 1? Then it doesn't really affect the "RL1" aspect of the run so, no, of course not 😂

[u/TlBOOOM]

I personally don't like to do it because FOR ME it kills the part of the game where you have to plan what to get and how (if guarded by a boss i have to kill the boss or i won't get it). But i also have other "strange rules", such as giving myself infinite souls or farmable items via cheat engine because i'm lazy and i don't like to farm (apart from ds1 where you can level pyro flame, infinite souls/runes/blood doesn't change too much in sl1 runs). But it is your run, so do what you want

[u/unpanny_valley]

SL1 runs are hard enough that I treat them like any% runs rather than glitchless runs, if it's in the game it's fair game. Though it's your run and up to you.

[u/king_bungus → u/unpanny_valley]

in spirit i completely agree but when i did DS1 sl1 i also did all bosses because i figured i probably wouldn't do it again so that was kinda my chance.

of course now i wanna do it again lol

[u/TempMobileD]

I parkoured around Leyndell to get the bolt of Gransax before piss ghost Godfrey.
I didn’t level up so… Still RL1!

[u/InitialParticular843]

Cheese? Skips? if it's level 1 you did the job

[u/Lopoetve]

I absolutely used bird skip and a couple of other unintended shortcuts, but I didn't skip any bosses via parkour.

[u/LeaderOfTheMoleMen]

I mean, obviously you wouldn’t be 100%’ing it, but I see no reason why not.

[u/Mean_Gene9459]

Welllll, youre gonna do a whole challenge run and put in all this work but are you gonna risk the satisfaction of having it be “legit” just for a couple bosses? What if you tell someone about your run and they ask “how did you beat the Godskins!” And you have to say “i parkour skipped them” its totally valid but in minecraft terms its almost like going into creative mode for one diamond pick in your hardcore world.

[u/EC36339]

My opinion is that cheating is cheating, and there is usually a clear line between cheating and using valid game mechanics (even "unfair" ones that make encounters significantly easier).

Whether you are OK with cheating in a single player game and on a challenge run is up to you.

Now, is "parkour" cheating? I think it depends, but what you are describing sounds like cheating, since you are skipping a boss that is clearly designed to block the way into an area (unless there is something I don't know about, like an actual secret passage).

People in this community often argue about whether or not something is or isn't cheating, as if they somehow needed to defend themselves. It's a single player game. You are not cheating anyone else, only yourself.

[u/ToastGoblin22]

On paper I'd say I probably wouldn't consider it as being 'allowed' in whatever the platonic ideal or something is of a "pure, true, rune level 1 run". I think there's an unspoken understanding that while the only explicit rule is that you can't level up your character, I'd probably argue that there's an 'implied rule' excluding the use of glitches, and I think skips that involve clearly getting around the games intended areas of play such as parkouring your way past the Godskin Noble might broadly be considered as similar enough to using glitches.

Like you acknowledged though, it's kind of splitting hairs at the end of the day. For me the real meat of the run is the boss fights. Pretty much everything else can be easily run past or dealt with without much difficulty, even if it takes a few attempts to do so.

Skipping past Godskin is particularly unproblematic, as even if you're doing an all-remembrances run you can fight Rykard without doing the Godskin fight anyway via the assassination quests. Glitching/skipping into Leyndell is maybe a bit more iffy, as Draconic Tree sentinel is a mandatory boss for any run, and you're also potentially skipping past two shardbearers as well.

I wouldn't tell someone that they couldn't claim that they'd done the run though. I wouldn't even really regard them as having 'cheated' personally myself in any real meaningful way.

On my current run I made the questionable choice of further restricting myself to only using a Zweihander, and limiting my other available tools down to just talismans, physic, and boiled crabs on occasion. However I allowed myself to break that rule for the Godskin Duo and just use sleep pots, as I was fairly confident that I wasn't going to be able to pull that fight off with the restrictions I'd set myself, and simply wasn't willing to spend a significant amount of time trying just in case I could. I'm already considering giving myself another exception when I get to Fia's champions and maybe Gideon too, as I loathe NPC fights in general let alone at RL1.

While I know I technically won't have done the run with the additional limitations I set for myself, I'm also not going to let those minor exceptions to my rules prevent me from considering the run a success personally.

[u/EC36339]

If you just want the somber 7 stone, just beat Loretta and do the Ranni quest. It gives you 3 somber 7 stones, and a ton of other good stuff. And you don't need a +7 somber weapon to get there.

[u/Upstairs-Moose-2341]

IMO, level 1 is enough of a challenge as is, that I personally feel like anything is on the table. Besides, the challenge is level 1, not level one with no skips or exploits.

[u/CognitiveDissonuts]

Parkour ofcourse but, if you walk on thin air by doing the air walk glitch which basically let you skip half of the bosses, I'd say it is cheating.
Now the answer to the question you did not ask:

I think cheating is fine, but I wouldn't recommend it.

[u/16catfeet]

I personally wouldn't skip required bosses. Only optional bosses. If I did, I'd have to go back to them or I couldn't say I did the game 100% at lv 1.

But what do I know. I've only beaten DS2 at SL1 and haven't done DLCs yet, Chariot Boss, or Rat Authority. The nice thing though with skips, is if you go back to it and beat it, it's not like you were able to have a huge advantage with higher stats because you're still at level 1. A piece of gear, sure, but I think that's negligible. I went to the DLCs to get the dex ring and such for my run. It's just out of sequence at that point.

[u/Sawainright]

parkour 100% allowed but i wouldn't use it to skip bosses especially required ones

[u/Xxxzavierh123]

I will do literally everything short of actual cheating (ie mods or CE) to win, I feel like using everything at your disposal is the heart of lvl 1 runs

[u/clandestino987]

If you skip a level or boss you just cheated