Grinding? Why grinding? I was saying that it's better to put your point in vitality first since that stat is a must have for any build (I always increase it at least to 40 before any other stat).
As I always said, Saw Cleaver is always an awesome weapon for the first half of the game. You can safely upgrade it to +6 and wreck shit with it without the need to increase any stat (which is more than enough until you get the weapon you seek). Even for a build like BT you can keep that as your secondary weapon (to use it with fire for example) after you acquire the Chikage.
I didn't say you mustn't play NG+. I always do. I even went to NG+8 and beyond NG+20 in Dark Souls (but that's another story).
I'm just saying that creating new characters is fun. It's not a waste of time like you seem to think. It gives you a new look at the game every time you do it and discover new ways and tricks to play with. You use your previous acquired skill and knowledge to breeze through the game and have a lot of fun.
Not to mention you can roleplay a different character itself. I always try to create characters inspired by famous persons, heroes or from folklore. If not for that TBH I wouldn't still come back to this game.
You are retreading enemies in order to get echoes to upgrade a stat. It's not farming, but if you have a specific goal for a character, you're just grinding away at the path to getting to that goal, making it a grind.
Your point about using previously acquired skill and knowledge is as true with NG+ as it is with an NG. If you're concerned about weapon strength, then I can just buy a new version of any given weapon and suddenly enemies take way longer to go down, so it is in effect the same thing as a New game, except I can choose to flex my acquired weapons whenever I want. So, as I see it, other than making a new character, I can do almost anything I can do in a NG.
As for new characters, you're right about that, and I've mentioned doing the same...but with a new game coming out, that will be a far more novel experience than roleplaying a whole different character whose personality I construct will not be reflected in the world around me. I mean, I like doing it, but it does bug me that the storytelling I make is so minimally integrated within the world. I could almost as well just reconstruct the BB narrative in my head with the new character reacting to the different points of the game without actually having to play it. So doing this with an actual new game would be more compelling.
I don't think I ever claimed it was a waste of time for anyone except myself, because I don't see the point. If you find pleasure in doing it, by all means, go nuts. But your argument continuously falls back on things I can do that supposedly minimalize the complaints I put forth. Sure, I can spend 3 hours with the Saw Cleaver (which I don't like and think it looks dumb) just so I can end up Cainhurst while I level up along the way, but I've yet to hear a particularly compelling reason of why I would want to when I have 50 in BT right now Chikage in my hand.
From what you're describing, it sounds like you derive pleasure from the act of progressing to acquire the item as well as the use of the item itself. I did the first time as well, but that was due to a sense of discovery. If I'm just going through the motions, then that pleasure of the act of acquiring is significantly diminished for me, while the more I use most weapons, the more I take pleasure from using them. So maybe it's just that we're built differently as gamers.
