From Software Bloodborne. Discuss or die!

[proxon]

I rented a ps4 over the weekend to play this and it was a joy beign a console peasant for a few days . From soft at their finest, gorgeous setting that matches their "old" english language that they love to use. Level design was not this good since first Dark Souls, shortcuts all over, and i probably missed a bunch. Bonefires are not all over the place here, so you have the be on your guard always. Another change that i liked is that when you get killed, souls get transfered to a nearby mob and you have to kill it to get them back, it's not enough to run back and pick them up. I wish they implemented this in other games.

New additions are trick weapons and guns. First is basically two weapons in one. I used Saw Cleaver and i ended up using normal form 95% of the time, i found the transformed version clunky. Guns are used to parry here, in general i never bothered with parry in Souls games, it was the same here, used it couple of times on bosses and that was it. Speaking of bosses, i think it was D_X that mentioned it was harder to get to them than fight them, i completely agree, fuck those frenzy inducing fuckers in particular. For me boss fights are one of the main highlights of Soulsborne games, and here they are a bit underwhelming. I played standalone version without the dlc and most of the boss fights were various monstrosities that took the whole screen, and you spend entire fight choping their limbs. I ended up wiping the most at Micolash and Rom, bosses that should be easy if your are patient, but ain't nobody got time for that. At least they saved the best for last, Gerhman and Moon Presence were really fun and fair, no Malenia bullshit moves. I got Childhoood ending or something similar, don't really remember.

In short, the game is 9 out of 10, would hunt again. I will get the dlc version in couple of months, since everybody is praising it. Also, thank God From Soft is too big now, and there is no way that Sony can afford to pay for exclusives anymore

 

[Silva]

proxon , the DLC makes the experience a 11/10. Trust me.


Bloodborne is so good. I pity the folks who will never swing a Chikage, or a Whirlgig Saw.

 

[Skinwalker]

Giving Bloodporn another shot, the first time I tried it I found it nauseating, but now I see it's just a more streamlined and lean Dark Souls. Seems somewhat easier too, which is a plus as far as I'm concerned. Anyway, I beat the first boss (needless to say, first try) and now the doll has come to life and started speaking in a heavy Russian accent. Facinating.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Anyway, I beat the first boss (needless to say, first try) and now the doll has come to life and started speaking in a heavy Russian accent.

Evetta Muradasilova, who also voiced the Maiden in Black from Demon's Souls.

 

[KIss My Ass]

Would touch the demon inside her.

 

[Silva]

Heads up: for those who like the 19th century aesthetics of Bloodborne, Hunt: Showdown is on sale right now on steam. It's an equally atmospheric and hardcore game which setting is the 1895 Lousianna where a supernatural infestation from a cosmical being (coff coff Nyarlathotep coff) takes place. Players are bounty hunters entering the area to hunt abominations.

Here, a sample with the newest legendary hunter:

 

[Skinwalker]

Man, this is a fun game in terms of exploration. I had to physically tear myself from it today.

Not sure how I feel about boss fights yet. The first one went down on first try, the second one almost did as well (got him to a sliver of health on the first attempt), but then I died and had to repeat it about ten times before I beat him. Plus farming for health and bullets in-between the attempts. Felt like a supremely parryable boss, but I guess I haven't gotten down the parry timing just yet.

Anyway, it's exploring the maze of Victorian-esque city streets and underground areas that really makes the game for me. FS level design at its finest. They even bothered to include some doors you can knock on and have people tell you to fuck off, lol. The fact that you're not limited to X amount of health potions that replenish at the bonfire substantially changes the pace of the game, for the better IMO.

They did go way overboard with the whole blood theme, though. Every other thing is some sort of "blood". Your souls are "blood echoes", your gunfire attribute is called "bloodtinge", you open "coagulated blood" to get more blood echoes, upgrade materials are "coldblood" or whatever, there are also "blood gems", "blood cocktail", bloody blood blood blood. Dark Souls wasn't so on-the-nose with its themes, everything wasn't called soul-this or soul-that.

 

[D_X]

Not sure how I feel about boss fights yet.

None of the bosses in the base game could really be considered difficult. For a more considerable challenge you'll want to dive into the chalices, which is not something I would really recommend unless you're hunting for cheevos or want to 100% the game, there are bosses unique to them but otherwise they're pretty repetitive and not that great in terms of level design or go play the DLC which is excellent.

Felt like a supremely parryable boss, but I guess I haven't gotten down the parry timing just yet.

What gun are you using? I found it considerably easier to parry Gascoigne with the blunderbuss than the pistol. Ideally you'd want to have both with you and if something gives you a hard time in the parry department, try the other one.

 

[MajorMace]

They did go way overboard with the whole blood theme, though. Every other thing is some sort of "blood". Your souls are "blood echoes", your gunfire attribute is called "bloodtinge", you open "coagulated blood" to get more blood echoes, upgrade materials are "coldblood" or whatever, there are also "blood gems", "blood cocktail", bloody blood blood blood. Dark Souls wasn't so on-the-nose with its themes, everything wasn't called soul-this or soul-that.

True but, even if I don't believe it's intentional, that makes the opening towards other themes and subgenres even more interesting later on.
Beyond blood lies something else, as you may find out by yourself.

None of the bosses in the base game could really be considered difficult.

I think it's one of BB's strength, retrospectively. No boss rush or 3-phase confrontation. It's much closer to Demon's Souls on the matter.

 

[D_X]

I think it's one of BB's strength, retrospectively. No boss rush or 3-phase confrontation. It's much closer to Demon's Souls on the matter.

Oh yes, it is. I didn't mean to say it's a weakness of the game, on the contrary, BB is the last game in the series which respects the original formula of DeS with navigating the level being the primary challenge rather than the level's boss. One other aspect in which this is visible is the placement of lanterns which mimics the archstones of DeS. True, you do have situations like in Central Yharnam where the Cleric Beast, being an intermediary boss, spawns one, but the general principle remains the same.

 

[Skinwalker]

So, Cathedral Ward has outdone Central Yarharharnam with its convoluted maze of streets. I think I've found entrances to three other areas, and I haven't even seen the boss yet.

Also, why are there random blobs of energy being emitted when I stand in a very particular place near the entrance to the Cathedral Ward bonfire? Is my character having a vampiric reaction to crosses, or is there some invisible mage casting spells from somewhere?

 

[Silva]

Also, why are there random blobs of energy being emitted when I stand in a very particular place near the entrance to the Cathedral Ward bonfire?

Dont know what you're talking about. Do you mean the bonfire inside Oedon Chapel, where the weird pilgrim resides?

 

[D_X]

Also, why are there random blobs of energy being emitted when I stand in a very particular place near the entrance to the Cathedral Ward bonfire? Is my character having a vampiric reaction to crosses, or is there some invisible mage casting spells from somewhere?

If you're talking about the place I think you're talking about, then ignore it for now and continue with the story, you'll find out later.

 

[SharkClub]

Finished this game a couple of days ago after borrowing it and a PS5 to play it on for a couple of weeks. It was definitely pretty good but I think in the 9 years it's been out it's probably been overhyped a shitton (likely in large part due to its exclusivity).

At the time it came out between DS2 and DS3 it probably felt very fresh by comparison to its contemporaries but since DS3 and Elden Ring I find it hard to really pinpoint anything the game does that is truly so unique and well polished as to award it the 11/10 rating that people love to apply to it while saying the other games are worse. To me it's just another 8/10 like any other FromSoft souls game (yes, even DS2, though I have some scathing opinions of what SOTFS did to that game). I feel like if you've played DeS, Dark Souls 3 and Elden Ring then you have experienced like at least 80% of what Bloodborne has to offer outside of just the setting/lore, obviously two of those games came out after Bloodborne but the game still has this golden goose status around it this many years on.

I don't really like the rhetoric that you see on le reddit, 4chan or on dogshit sites like NeoFag or RetardEra where Playstation fanboys reside that try to say the game is absolutely flawless and all the other souls games pale in comparison, then they bring up all this totally subjective stuff like "oh well Yharnam is just better... because it is, that's why" while simultaneously going out of their way to discard any criticism of anything in the game and telling people that they are only pretending to have played it and are actually salty and seething about not having it on their platform of choice (it always seems to come back to the exclusivity bias).

Yeah, for me an 8/10. I'll probably never feel the need to play it again but it was a pretty neat experience overall and I'm glad I played it, now the only modern FromSoft game that is remotely adjacent to this genre I have yet to play is Sekiro, but I think I'll return to the older parts of their library first and play King's Field 4 and Shadow Tower Abyss.

 

[Silva]

Bro, if you think DS3 and Elden Ring have something on BB combat, you're nuts and should go play AssCreed which must be more to your shitty tastes. Only Sekiro reaches the beauty of BB combat among the modern entries, and even so through a tweaked formula.

Also, why are there random blobs of energy being emitted when I stand in a very particular place near the entrance to the Cathedral Ward bonfire? Is my character having a vampiric reaction to crosses, or is there some invisible mage casting spells from somewhere?

If you're talking about the place I think you're talking about, then ignore it for now and continue with the story, you'll find out later.

Oh, I got it. Yeah, it will be revealed later.

 

[SharkClub]

Whew, not surprised that someone got offended that I rated the flawless perfect game a measly 8 out of 10, what a diss. I expected that of course, because a large part of the Bloodborne fanbase are cultists on every other site so I'm not sure why there wouldn't at least be a few here.

 

[Silva]

Not offended in the least, just stating the facts about your shitty post.

 

[SharkClub]

You're a good example of the exact type of person I described in my post, thank you for posting.

 

[cruel]

Bloodborne deserves 9/10 just for the atmosphere alone. The only significant flaw of the game is low weapon variety in the beginning IMO.

 

[MajorMace]

the only modern FromSoft game that is remotely adjacent to this genre I have yet to play is Sekiro

Do it. It's different, especially more demanding for better or worse, but it's quite as good overall.

 

[KIss My Ass]

FS had the best run of any developer in history. From Demon's Souls up to Bloodborne every game was a masterpiece or close to it. Some people will claim their streak is still going but those people are full of shit. DS3 and Sekiro were obvious decline, and Elden Ring as well in some ways. But still a 4 game streak of nearly flawless classics is unprecedented.

 

[Dadd]

Armored Core 6 will start their new streak

 

[Silva]

I don't think Sekiro was a decline, more of a side step (a successful one). But yes, the run from DeS up to Bloodborne is probably unmatched in the industry, specially the DeS - DS1 - BB triad.

 

[KIss My Ass]

I don't think Sekiro was a decline, more of a side step (a successful one). But yes, the run from DeS up to Bloodborne is probably unmatched in the industry, specially the DeS - DS1 - BB triad.

Dark Souls 2 is the most important leg on the quadropod.

 

[Dadd]

Dark Souls 2 is the side step