The true way is your way. Same as living, don't let people dictate how to enjoy your life.

Besides, Miyazaki said he uses summons.

The true way playing elden ring is ignoring any kind of forum and having fun.

People hang themselfs up far to much because of some trolls or stupid people.

Have fun!

Play however you want. Anyone trying to limit or dictate how you should play isn't worth listening too.

The only cheese is mimic tbh everything else(summons) is in my experience useless as it does little dmg and dies within seconds. Tbh even mimic dies fast in Radahn phase2 - like 15-20 sec xD

In the end there's no such thing as "true" way to play despite what some may claim. Play in a way that makes you enjoy the game and have fun - that's it, and "fun" is diferent for everyone so just play and have fun as you want and ignore morons.

The true way is the way you enjoy the game the most. If you are using lets say spirit summons and you breeze through the game starting to get bored, you might want to consider to stop using them. Or the other way around, if you start playing without the summons and you are feeling frustrated not being able to progress because you are stuck at a boss for too long, you might want to use the summons.

I, as in my play through for me, refuse to use any spirits because they didn't exist in previous games, are more tanky than a lot of players could hope to be outside of maybe one or two builds, and the reason for that is to keep the boss distracted so you can heal up in the back ground and not have them constantly on you.
That in turn makes the combat easier, which is fine. If that's what you want to do, the devs gave you the tools just like everything else to use if you wish to. I however don't wish to, and thus I won't.
I don't honestly give two ***** if others do, and they have lore implications in this game specifically so they do to some extent mean something beyond an option to make the game easier, but to me my default is what previous souls games were and so that's how I choose to play the game.
I'll never use spirit ashes. That's MY choice. I don't care what opinion anyone else has, it's my game for me. You do what you want with the tools you were given. I'm doing what I want with the tools I was was given. Simple.

Originally posted by SimplyFinn:

People say using Spirits is sort of a cheese and that you've not really beaten Elden Ring if you used them. Same for Summons or some Status builds. You're using a strong Ash of War? Youre Cheeseing. Youre farming for runes? Cheesing. Youre running a strong mage build? Cheese. Some people even consider using the Physick potions to be a dishonest way of playing.

So my question is what is the "true" way of playing Elden Ring?

You must amputate your prefered hand, the other hand must be burned to the 2nd degree. After that you must blind yourself by at least 80%. This is the ONLY true way, according to the toxic ass community. Just play the ♥♥♥ game like you see fit.....

One can only truly play Elden Ring by not playing Elden Ring.

The real cheese is using guides and youtube videos to fast-forward learning how to beat bosses. Or to find the best equipment with no need to bother exploring.

It's cheating way harder than summoning.

You know the meme of "you didn't beat the game unless you beat it at level one no summoning no spirits no flasks no equipment no consumables with your bear hands" (or some variation thereof)? It's this question that results in it. Doing anything will cause some people to not like whatever you just did, including playing the game at all.

In other words, there's no true way. So play in whatever way results in the most fun for you.

Originally posted by كريس:

The real cheese is using guides and youtube videos to fast-forward learning how to beat bosses. Or to find the best equipment with no need to bother exploring.

It's cheating way harder than summoning.

I can understand why some people would read guides. The way I play, I explore every little corner of the map and come back to previously explored area to check for NPCs and other stuff that might have changed. And despite that, I broke some quests and missed items.

Originally posted by Clockwork:

The true way is your way. Same as living, don't let people dictate how to enjoy your life.

Besides, Miyazaki said he uses summons.

This. Play your games like you (hopefully) live your life: without undue deference to the direction of others, and hopefully without deliberately screwing with other people.

Your way is the true way of playing the game.

I don't learn boss patterns, I just react and use spirit summon mimic tear (the rest suck after going to ng+, have all of them at +9 or max) when I can.

The True way of playing the game is play as your desired way and enjoy.

There are all the tools the dev provides you.

You can either use them or if you are a challenger, don't use them.

I myself enjoy playing with others. Because the bosses have triple the HP and make fight last long enough for me to enjoy.

You don't have to care about what other say about using summons is cheating.
It's just a game, and those who enjoy it win.

Thats the answer.