From Software Bloodborne - how good is this game?

[Phage]

Only nine deaths from character creation to Cleric Beast?

I think I died more than that, lol. It's funny because this is the same DSP that randomly struggles with simple controls.

I'm honestly surprised he made it that far.

Yup, one of the deaths was from the warewolf in the beginning. He beat Gascoigne pretty shortly after. To be fair, it took him a long time, and he explored/leveled up in the sewers a lot - but, I mean, when you lack mechanical skill, there's no shame in doing that.

 

[DragoFireheart]

I actually think Demon's Souls is the easiest game of the group, BUT I agree that Dark Souls is probably the best place to start simply due to the god-tier estus healing system. Still can't figure out why they fucked with the nearly perfect formula they had with DS1's estus. The only time it got out of whack was if someone rushed to pinwheel and got the rite of kindling really early on - and frankly, that requires a fair amount of metagaming beforehand to realistically pull off.

Rushing to get more Estus? Somewhat out of whack.

Also getting the Gravelord Sword? Easy Souls here I come.

As for Demon's Souls being easier, there are some quirks that would make a newbie struggle. 5-2 comes to mind and Flamelurker is a bit of a difficulty spike.

Yup, one of the deaths was from the warewolf in the beginning. He beat Gascoigne pretty shortly after. To be fair, it took him a long time, and he explored/leveled up in the sewers a lot - but, I mean, when you lack mechanical skill, there's no shame in doing that.

I'm impressed. Maybe he can beat this game. Though to be fair he has had some souls experience.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

As a result of the player's dwindling resources, death is more punishing, making it more difficult to initially start the game - I mean, hell, CK couldn't get to the first boss it seems before he gave up.

My problem with your argument is that it’s very commonly and widely known—and widely discussed in many reviews—that this is a hard game, part of a hard franchise. It doesn’t deserve to be docked points on a review because it’s hard or opaque or whatever. It deserves the praise it’s gotten because the developers have done a very, very good job creating this specific type of game. It’s up to consumers to read the reviews, hop on forums, whatever, and find out if maybe it’s too hard for their comfort level. But I think you’re wrong that this is somehow a failing of the gaming press.

Bloodborne is the equivalent of a genre movie. It’s the pinnacle of it’s genre but that doesn’t necessarily mean it transcends the medium. The problem with criticism is that there really is only two types of games that are treated as genre games (fighters and sports games) but everything else is treated along the same spectrum. An 8 or a 9 out of 10 for a sports game doesn’t mean it’s a contender for game of the year, it merely means it’s a great sports game (almost to a fault, NBA 2k11 was a legitimate game of the year contender but disregarded because it’s a sports game). Whereas an 8 or 9 for a triple A non-yearly release means it’s one of the best games out that year.

Bloodborne is certainly way more niche than critics seem to be willing to admit. It’s closer to a great vampire movie than it is to a best picture nominee. Gaming culture has to start orientating itself around that concept as games get more and more varied.

 

[Phage]

I think that this is delving into a separate issue, which is that the rating system for games (and almost all media for that matter) is completely out of whack. Games in particular are almost rated in a binary fashion - either the game is gud and gets a 8-10, or it's shit/mediocre and scores below an 8.

I'm mostly just busting your balls because you apparently returned the game at a (I'm assuming) financial loss because you didn't invest the initial hours to start the learning curve... and you're posting on the codex, a site that's founded on a love of games that require an initial player investment before they start rewarding you.

I also enjoy being facetious

 

[Murk]

Unrelated to the discussion at hand but on the topic of DSP, I am altogether too certain (tho with little or no proof) that he is a character and is not actually that stupid. His idiocy is too blatant and at times far too consistent and comical. I also think he knows that people _enjoy_ watching him be a buffoon. I think it's an act, I don't know how much of it is an act but I am of the opinion that he fakes some of his idiocy.

His idiocy is so popular that there are entire youtube channels and copycats of youtube channels that give nothing but recaps/remixes of his videos of him playing the game. It just seems wayyy too much for a person who can somehow make a living off this crap to be so bad -- and while I find it easy to be smug and call him an idiot and revel in my superiority to him... I can't help but think I'm being led into that thought, which makes me suspicious.

End of off-topic rant.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I've run out of material so I'll come out and say I've been copypasting comments from the Forbes article since page 1. As I hinted on my reply to Polo, I don't have a PS4.

Maybe when the PS5 is released

Spoiler

it's kind of depressing that nobody can tell when I'm posting normally and when I'm trying to sound retarded, though

 

[Dreaad]

How is Clockwork Knight succeeding in trolling everyone in here? Though I do agree with his bit about reviews. I also think that once you reach about the age of 20 all you need to do is look at 15mins of a lets play and decide from that if you will enjoy the game or not. Reviews are heavily biased one way or another and words cannot show you if you will like the atmosphere or story or gameplay since all such descriptions are inevitably filled with the reviewers own writing style and language choices. The best you can do if relying just on words, is read a.) 2-3 low score reviews and 2-3 medium score reviews, gamefaqs or metacritic will do.

 

[dunno lah]

Eh. I saw through CK. It'd be a great decline if CK wasn't trolling...

 

[Jick Magger]

Unrelated to the discussion at hand but on the topic of DSP, I am altogether too certain (tho with little or no proof) that he is a character and is not actually that stupid. His idiocy is too blatant and at times far too consistent and comical. I also think he knows that people _enjoy_ watching him be a buffoon. I think it's an act, I don't know how much of it is an act but I am of the opinion that he fakes some of his idiocy.

His idiocy is so popular that there are entire youtube channels and copycats of youtube channels that give nothing but recaps/remixes of his videos of him playing the game. It just seems wayyy too much for a person who can somehow make a living off this crap to be so bad -- and while I find it easy to be smug and call him an idiot and revel in my superiority to him... I can't help but think I'm being led into that thought, which makes me suspicious.

End of off-topic rant.

I recall listening to a podcast between Slowbeef and Diabeetus where the former talked about going to a Street Fighter 4 tournament and meeting DSP there (this was before his YouTube days and he was just trying to make a name for himself in the tournie circuit). Apparently he really was that bad at Street Fighter 4 at the least, though I can't say the same for everything else he plays. He was also apparently as much of a prick then as he is now.

 

[Phage]

I've run out of material so I'll come out and say I've been copypasting comments from the Forbes article since page 1. As I hinted on my reply to Polo, I don't have a PS4.

Maybe when the PS5 is released

Spoiler

it's kind of depressing that nobody can tell when I'm posting normally and when I'm trying to sound retarded, though

Well played.

 

[Sothpaw]

For background, I have beaten every boss in all previous Souls games including all DLC bosses (even took down the Ancient Dragon fucker). I don't do any pvp ever; someone invades I log out because I don't have time for that nonsense. Never done any NG+ because time. I even played through Lords of the Fallen.

That being said I would say BB is the most fun I have had out of all the Souls games. The level design is pretty out of control. The combat has a great feel to it and you can't cheese much due to no shields or reliable range attacks. Parry system is fun and even useful on human bosses. Chalices could be better, but they still provided an excellent post game challenge (at depth 4+) and are entirely welcome.

Would have loved a PC version because consoles are trash and the frame rate is terrible. Load times are also absolutely ridiculous.

 

[DragoFireheart]

There's almost zero reasons to go to NG+ in BB.

Interestingly enough, Chalice dungeons don't scale with NG+.

 

[Eyeball]

Why should you not play NG+ in BB?

 

[DragoFireheart]

Why should you not play NG+ in BB?

Because there's no reason to.