One YouTuber by the name of ymfah has beaten Dark Souls 2 without talking to any NPCs.
You may not realize it but NPCs play a vital role in Dark Souls 2. You can level up at a bonfire in the first game but, in the sequel, you do so through the Emerald Herald who also upgrades your Estus Flask – the main healing item of the game. Meanwhile, blacksmiths make your weapons dole out more damage while selling a range of other equipment. Others throughout your journey hand you items that can be a boon in a tight spot. Without talking to any of 'em, you're essentially running a soul-level one playthrough with base weapons. That's tough.
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This 52-minute video was spotted by PCGamesN and it showcases a slew of glitches and workarounds to avoid bosses that push you to talk to them and seemingly unavoidable moments where you're pressed to speak to characters. All the while, there's no commentary, just goofy music and subtitles – like altering Shrine of Amana to say 'Hell' which is hilariously fitting – that highlight how it all works. Ymfah even dives into the DLC which is lauded as being much harder than the base game during this run.
Speaking about the run, ymfah said, "I wasn't sure if the Shrine of Winter would open without lighting all four First Bonfires since Aldia pops up after the 4th. I was half expecting to farm one million souls using Melantia's Ring and Maughlin's set. Thankfully, the door opened without a hitch."
For context, there are four key bosses in the game that, when slain, open a new path that leads to the next half of Dark Souls 2's journey. In reality, what you're doing is amassing a set number of souls. As such, with items such as bonfire aesthetics which, when burned at a bonfire, up a select area to the next new game plus, you can beat the same key boss four times instead. However, in Scholar of the First Sin – the remaster – there's a new NPC and boss. Their name is Aldia. That's who ymfah was avoiding but, by doing so, they couldn't fight them after the final boss, Nashandra, which is when he typically appears as a fightable enemy.
Ymfah has a few other videos such as "How to beat Skyrim without walking," "How to Pacifist Dark Souls," and "How to "Gun Only" Bloodborne." If challenges are your thing, they might be worth checking out, but good luck if you give them a whirl yourself.
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