Well I got my copy today, the game is just as fun as everybody has been saying. I don't think the load times are as awful as everybody has been saying, I haven't seen a loading screen that was longer than maybe 10-15 seconds.
My only real complaint at the moment is how getting disconnected from the game server will throw you back into the main menu whereas in Dark Souls 2 you would just seamlessly transition into offline mode. It's not a big deal but it happened 3-4 times in the two hours I got to play.
It's amazing how much more alive the world feels as a result of the improved enemy AI. Some enemies will randomly wander off in different areas as time progresses which adds a horror factor to the game because sometimes an enemy will be in one position and other times they'll find a way to sneak up behind you. The game as a whole feels much more challenging than Dark Souls also, although I haven't gotten used to the idea of firing a gun to stun enemies yet.
I was skeptical about picking up a PS4 for Bloodborne since the other exclusive titles I'm waiting for won't be out for another 7-8 months at the earliest, but I think this game will justify the purchase of the console.
We British may be last but the hype is still there x)
Gotta love the updating phase of gaming. I was scared the latest PS4 firmware was gonna brick my console after hearing rumours. It has definitely made the dashboard laggy though which was also mentioned...
In all seriousness i can see why people think these games are hard Ive been stuck in the beginning section for a hour dieing over and over again. losing all my souls! even though i don't know how to upgrade my guy :S
I've gotten completely stuck, which is kind of a fun feeling. I just don't know where to go anywhere, and I've been to some weird places. I'm sure I'll figure it out.
Small complaint though, I've made it pretty far through the game I think, but most of the environments are kind of samey. In Demon's Souls and Dark Souls you could always immediately tell when you were in a different area, but in Bloodborne it all kind of blends together. Which makes sense to an extent, and the environments definitely look much better, but I miss having a few changes of scenery.
Also, has anyone else tried the randomly generated chalice dungeons? I went through 1, it was fun but I went through 3 boss fights and didn't gather enough souls to level up once, felt sort of like a waste of time. Maybe it was just because it was the first dungeon I could make.
I've been really enjoying it so far. Played it all day and felt like I experienced a good chunk of it!
It's a beautiful game. I've often stopped and just looked on at the views.
My experience so far (about 8 hours or more)
I started off with the mindset that I was going to kill that first wolf enemy because I had heard it drops a cool item for doing so and it makes sense as Demon's and Dark did that with the first boss of their games.
I was within a punch or two from killing it but argh it got a cheap slice and I died x) I later found out it doesn't drop anything different. Anyway I stopped after 10 minutes for lunch and came back to find the game was refusing to load my save. Kept saying Game Updated can't load save. Man my heart sunk cause I was scared this would be a problem!
I tested it again and my character saved this time so I went off on my adventure! The first area is really tough in my opinion. I'm a Soul's vet so I know the rundown but damn From were being mean x)
Suffice to say it got easier as things progressed and I was able to level up! I'm really loving the level design so far and even now come back and find new alleys with whole new monsters! It's also wise to revisit certain areas as new things appear.
If I have one complaint it's the framerate. It's fine most of the time but in old yharnam the frames dropped real bad for me to the point my PS4 fan was drowning out the sounds of the game...yeah...that loud...
Otherwise I'm really enjoying it. I couldn't resist killing the crow lady for her armour and spent an hour co-oping the female priest boss for 7k souls a kill so that I could get the duel blades ^^
I ended the night by going to the Forbidden Woods and stopping there but I remembered a guy told me to pay a visit to the old chapel for POWER. 2am...couldn't resist poking around...
I wish I hadn't xD It was so weird! A giant claw grabbed me and I was transported to a weird place where a crazy old guy laughed at me and I appeared in what I believe is a PVP dedicated area. Love secrets like that!
But I hope there's lots more interior levels. I really love these wooden rooms and loathe the outdoor forests and towns
I stopped after 10 minutes for lunch and came back to find the game was refusing to load my save. Kept saying Game Updated can't load save. Man my heart sunk cause I was scared this would be a problem!
This is a common problem that occurred for many people after the update. If it ever happens again with a future update, you need to start a new game, then quit back to the main menu and just select the "Load Game" option and you'll get your file back.
Made a little more progress yesterday. I spent the majority of it just exploring the old areas to make absolutely sure I had cleared what I could and I came across a wtf moment I won't say but it certainly brings up some questions.
Otherwise in regards to forest
I didn't try it out today, instead I went to the left of the grand cathedral and ended up in a wide open forest with lots of snipers and very dangerous demon like enemies. As I progressed I was like :O when I got to the lantern and saw the castle in the distance and the sheer madness of the women below, dancing around and laughing.
That was probably my favourite area overall. It gave off Resident Evil 4 vibes with the dark barn and the knife wielding women. I got to the witch boss and tried to solo it and at first it wasn't too bad once I realised she was invisible. I killed her and literally stuck my middle finger up cause despite her lack of attacks she still had a lot of health...and then seconds later I realise...this isn't over! O.O
Another one spawns and I'm already exhausted mentally from the first one...she shoots a paralysing spell and I get wrecked xD
I decided to co-op this one and I was right to! The health on those wenches may be a little high...I have a +5 axe with runes that triple its damage and give me health regen. That thing has wrecked a lot of enemies so far but these tiny old witches gave me trouble Suffice to say we won and I was happy.
So far I'm a little sad I keep finding these one way areas. The first place you go to has all these winding paths and it branches off to incredible locations but now I feel like I'm being guided and I want my freedom again. Here's hoping it returns, off to the forbidden forest I go!
so i just got done playing for the night and i was talking with some friends in a psn party. we compared what was going on in our games as we helped each other through areas, and surprisingly.. everything is different for us. so here goes..
so after defeating the boss in the grand cathedral and wandering around, i found a hunter outside the Odeon Chapel. she mentioned that she was hunting hunters. now i had already done a lot of exploring and fought other hunters while making my way around, but this time i walked my way back to the graveyard where i fought father gasgione and there was a hunter there waiting for me who attacked on sight. as i was fighting him, the hunter woman appeared and killed the guy attacking me, then telling me that i should be killing monsters, not other hunters, and to leave them to her. my friends did not have this experience, as they never saw her outside the chapel.
after we all defeated the spider in byrgenworth and broke the ritual (? maybe.. still figuring out the lore as i go), my friend went to the grand cathedral on foot.. he was not able to spawn there from the hunters dream. as soon as he entered, the woman hunter i spoke with began to attack him. so i went there to see what would happen.
when i got to the grand cathedral, the woman hunter was laying on the steps covered in blood saying for me to not go in the cathedral, that the prey inside was for her to deal with. naturally i entered and found a hunter who looked like he was praying, who attacked on site. i have not been able to kill him yet, and i wonder what he's there for.. but i just find it really really interesting that these events play out differently.
I finally got around to trying the Chalice Dungeons, turns out instead of finding the area with the sniper and the blood-starved beast, I took a wrong turn and ended up trying to fight off those assholes from the church with the giant sticks.
Anyway, the Chalice Dungeons are amazing, I don't even know if I can finish the game at this point because I just want to keep loading up a new dungeon rather than exploring new areas. I've done a handful of dungeons so far and while the tilesets seem to recycle pretty frequently, the dungeons have changed a lot every time from a gameplay perspective. The first root dungeon I did was very small and straightforward, the second one had traps around every corner, and the third one was like a maze to the point where I got lost a few times. I fought mostly different bosses in each one, although the same boss did appear twice in two different dungeons, however the layout of the room changed and that made fighting the boss much harder the second time around.
You seem to get a significantly reduced amount of souls for beating each boss in comparison to the main game, however it is offset by the fact that you can find a lot of ritual materials which can be sold for a ton of blood echoes. I also found some gems that are much better than anything I got from playing the main game so far, I'm sure everybody has already discovered everything before me but I got a gem that changes my damage type to fire and I found another gem that reduces the stamina cost of my attacks. I read that some people also found different tiers of the standard weapons in some of the higher level dungeons.
The replay value of this system has incredible potential in my opinion, I think FS can make this game last longer than any other game they've released if they just periodically release some new DLC related to it.
Where I got to last night has really intrigued me lore wise.
After going through that awesome forest and finding that mansion with the old man on the roof I was stunned when I jumped off into the sea and found myself in the Moonside Lake. But god damn that spider boss was...well annoying xD Mainly because it seems 90% you can't dodge its ranged attack. But oh well I defeated it and moved on but it's here that I'm wondering about the lore...
There seems to be a major emphasis on "pale" or "white" and throughout the game I keep hearing a baby crying and I've found one of the Umbilical Cords.
So far I'm still trying to piece it all together but it started out as a gothic sort of werewolf hunt and now the whole world has changed into this fantasy, creepy demonic vibe...it's unreal and very, very cool.
Loving the Yahar'gul Set armour I found in the unseen village. That place is maaaaaaaaasive! I did an item rush where you basically ignore all enemies and go for as many items as you can and dear me it's a big place. Even got to the boss by accident xD Killed within minutes haha.
I'm looking forward to piecing this together. There's something weird going on...
Edit:
Got to the last boss! I'm enjoying it a lot. I killed myself on purpose so I could stick around in NG and do everything left.
Also I laughed out loud when I was summoned and the other 2 guys were wearing the same armour and weapons as myself.
Man Patches as a spider really caught me off guard. Creeeeeepy xD
Haven't seen a bump for this thread in a while, thought I would do the honours Hows everyone else enjoying it? I'm down to the last few bosses now... Some of the more hidden ones are a massive pain XO Am now trying to platinum the game and 100% its trophies, but it is feckin massive!!
I've been really liking it! My earlier complaint about a lack of variety in the environments seems to have been spoken too soon. A lot of areas do look quite similar, but there are some unique ones that pop up later.
I believe I'm on the last boss. It pains me how slow I've been going with this, I beat Demon's Souls in 3 days, but I've really been limiting myself to a few hours a day, and didn't play at all over the weekend. I'm really anxious to get through the game and start a second playthrough so I can start getting a better idea of the lore. Right now I don't understand jack shit.
Anxious as I am to get through it, I have been taking my time, and getting pretty far in chalice dungeons also. Which have gotten ridiculously difficult.
I am a little perplexed by my experience with one late game boss,
the wet nurse. My first try, I almost had her, but she kept going into this crazy state where everything went darker, and she would teleport and reappear attacking in surprising places, sometimes maybe even multiplying/splitting into 2. I dunno, it was hard to tell but safe to say I blew through 20 blood vials and got #rekt. I went back, taking things slow, dodged all of her attacks, and killed her without taking damage. She never went into the weird teleporty stage. Did I just luck out that she didn't do that attack, or was there a glitch or something? Also, anyone know what's up with the crying bride outside that boss? I just left her alone and she disappeared after I beat the nightmare.
I'm still pretty early in the game I think, I haven't had time to play much unfortunately but when I do play I just end up doing nothing but Chalice Dungeons since they are too addicting. I'm glad I paid extra for the collector's edition, this game is fantastic and easily my favorite FS game to date.
There's a bug where she may only use one attack the entire fight which is what happened to me however it's possible to deal enough damage to interupt her dark clone attack.
As for the bride, that's actually the queen of the race that existed before Yharnam who incidently is called Queen Yharnam and why the city was named. I'd say more but you said you didn't understand much of the lore and I don't wanna say too much.
Really pay attention to the descriptions of items, every item. Even the Chalice Dungeon is a major part of the story.
My thoughts on it now that I've experienced what it has to offer. I'd say that overall I enjoyed it...but I still don't think it has knocked Dark Souls 1 off the top. Mainly because of several factors, a lack of weapon variety, armour variety, friendly NPC's and a more straightforward story that I worked out on my first playthrough. The PVP on the other hand...I'll wait a bit longer but right now it feels rough compared to Dark Souls 1. I also disliked they went back to Demon's Souls style with the healing. I shouldn't be punished for trying to help people. Healing was great when it respawned at bonfires. You still had to be wise when using the Flask but at least you didn't have to keep farming for healing items.
I can't say for certain since I've only fought a few of the story bosses, but they seem easier than the bosses from previous games. Some of the bosses I've fought in Chalice Dungeons have been absolutely brutal though, but I could just be terrible.
Apparently there's a bug where if you keep the game running for too long, it will break the enemy AI for bosses and they will use a far more limited moveset (usually just 1 type of attack.) This is caused by keeping the game on for around 12 hours and apparently it is happening to people who are using the suspend/resume feature that was just added recently. I power off my console when I'm done playing so I haven't experienced it, but its possible people are experiencing an easier game than intended without even realizing it.
Apparently there's a bug where if you keep the game running for too long, it will break the enemy AI for bosses and they will use a far more limited moveset (usually just 1 type of attack.) This is caused by keeping the game on for around 12 hours and apparently it is happening to people who are using the suspend/resume feature that was just added recently. I power off my console when I'm done playing so I haven't experienced it, but its possible people are experiencing an easier game than intended without even realizing it.
Ah shit, that's probably what happened to me then.
@Habboi interesting. Yeah, I was unaware of most of that. I do read every item description but it tends to just go in one ear and out the other until my second playthrough where I tend to study and focus a bit more on the lore. That's been my approach for all the other Souls games.
I'm conflicted about how this game will stand up against the other FromSoft games for me. Obviously I can't comment too much since I haven't been able to beat it, but on paper the limited variety hurts it a lot. You're kind of forced into one build. There are no drastically different armor sets or weapon setups, you pretty much must use a gun in one and and transforming weapon in the other. Compared to dark souls where I had loads of fun going through the game dual wielding shields. And even though I thought Dark Souls 2 was weakest in terms of story and level design, it's crazy variety of rings, armor and weapons (especially with the DLC) probably makes it my favorite of the series, or at least the one I've spent the most time with.
I'm already really excited to roll a new character, but I'm afraid different build ideas will run out a lot sooner on this one. That said this first playthrough has been fun. Going through one of these games the first time (while avoiding any guides/spoilers) is a truly unique experience and always incredibly memorable for me. Even if I never want to play it again the game is probably 10/10 for me
Jesus there's so much black here that I can't wait to read once I've finished the game.
Having a great time, though I really hope I get as much out of it the second, third etc. runs. Especially how linear Dark Souls II was. I'm already trying to plan short-cut runs but doing it spoiler-free without knowing the full game is so hard.
Here's a challenge Vaati posted up to see how many hunters you can kill from the beginning of the game in under 15 minutes, you could win some cool stuff.
I made an attempt (Twitch link, start at 6:11) and did fucking terribly, dying to Glascoine. I'll try again sometime though
I'll be interested to see what kind of strategies turn out best here. I went for the saw spear instead of going to the hunters dream to get my weapon, but it sucks not having a gun. Also, doing that makes it hard to kill Eileen without back tracking.
Also, quick note: I really hate that you have to go back to the hub to warp to different light posts. Sometimes it's important to go back to the hub, but most of the time it just makes you sit through two excruciating loading screens (with no flavor text) for no good reason.
I'm sure everybody has already beaten the game like 3 times by now but I finally finished it tonight. The bosses in this game are definitely easier than in other FS games and the game is way shorter. I'm sure I missed a lot of optional things, but I basically beat like 60% of the story bosses in just a few hours and I was able to take out every boss after Amelia on my first try, which rarely happens when I play any other Souls game.
Still, Bloodborne is definitely my favorite FS title. All of my complaints up to the end of the game are just minor annoyances. The overall balance could probably be better though, the only encounters I've experienced so far that have given me any trouble at all are those stupid brain trusts and the last hunter you face for Eileen's quest line.
On a side note, I really wish more of the bossfights played out like the final battle. It was very fast paced and it was the only time I ever had to use a lot of my blood vials, I think it highlighted all of the best parts of the Bloodborne battle system in a single fight, similar to the Gascoigne fight.
I tell ya one thing that I was also sad about. There's a section in the game where this song plays to set the mood which is rare because the game often uses silence and I was quite unnerved by it. Reflecting on the game as a whole I wasn't really all that disturbed and that's a darn shame because I could think up some great scenarios where they could have truly caused terror.
Especially with darkness. Despite having a torch the game still didn't have many dark areas. I craved an abyss or Tomb of the Giants like level with music like this.
Oh well, I'm in NG+ trying to platinum it. Without even trying I'm 70% towards that goal and considering I put 1000 hours into DkS 1 and never got all the trophies...well that says a lot about the length. Fantastic game but fell short for me in some areas
Here's hoping (and I'm sure there will be) DLC saves the day!
Oh well, I'm in NG+ trying to platinum it. Without even trying I'm 70% towards that goal and considering I put 1000 hours into DkS 1 and never got all the trophies...well that says a lot about the length. Fantastic game but fell short for me in some areas
I don't think achievements are a good measurement of game length by any stretch.
I never got all of Dark Souls achievements either, and there's a good reason for that: they blow. IMO one of Dark Souls greatest strengths is to take all the best elements of RPGs without ever forcing a player to grind. You never 'need' to grind for an item, or to level up, even though you can choose to. That said, grinding in these games is incredibly unfun and IS a necessity for Dark Souls achievements. Grind for hours to get titanite so you can make elemental weapons that you never want to use, and grind for hours getting more titanite and playing through the game multiple times just to make boss soul weapons, most of which are boring and useless. I can hop on and play Dark Souls for hours at any time and have fun, but not when I try to earn achievements. despite numerous attempts I don't think I'll ever 100% the game just because it's boring, and the required gameplay is not representative of any good aspect of the game. Sorry that's a bit of a rant, I just really hate those achievements, in contrast I thought the achievements in DkSII and in Bloodborne are much better.
I also find it really hard to compare the length of these games. Dark Souls II is undoubtedly the longest, even without DLC, but I beat it faster than my first playthrough on Dark Souls. I beat Demon's Souls in about 18 hours my first time through. The main difference is I had played Dark Souls for about 400 hours before hand and became used to that style of gameplay. There are always unique surprises in each game, but I'm just saying it's hard to objectively judge the difficulty or length of a game when you've sunk thousands of hours into it's predecessors.
People saying the bosses are easier in Bloodborne - eh, I don't buy it at all. Some are easier than others, sure, and some bosses in DkS were harder than most in BB too, okay. But I don't see any trend in decreased difficulty, the only difference is that my initial memories of playing through DkS bosses was when I had no experience with these types of games. It took me something like 20 tries to beat Gwyn the first time, and I went through the entire game not knowing how to kick, do a jumping attack, or a parry. Now I can beat Gwyn consistently without taking a hit, and those skills definitely carried forward even though Bloodborne is different.
Also, as far as game length goes, I think the chalice dungeons are a really cool addition. I was worried it would just rehash environment elements and enemies from the main game, but there is a lot of new stuff to find - even pertaining to the games lore - which you can't find in the main game.
I'm not trying to be too defensive of the game here, I just don't see too much logic behind complaints about the game's difficult or length compared to other Souls' titles. The main story is likely shorter but I think the level design is much tighter and very well done, which is more important to me than arbitrary length.
I've mentioned a few other things (like having to return to the Hunter' Dream to warp) but I'm really disappointed more of the good additions from DkSII didn't make it into the game. For instance, the jump button. Mashing the same button you're already holding down to run is an incredibly shitty control scheme, especially when you add a few difficult jumps in the game. Having the option to use the thumb stick was a life saver and it's really frustrating to go back to the old way for no good reason.
Anyway I've beaten the game, although now that I've looked online a little I realized I missed a few optional bosses, which shocked me because I thought I really thoroughly combed the world. I'm having fun cruising through again on NG+, and still contemplating what kind of build I want to do next, I'm getting bored of the Kirkhammer.
Ah that's a fair point. I totally forgot Dark Souls had those farming ones. Still I can't put my finger on it. Dark Souls had this epic, open feeling to it. Even if you break the zones down like uh Dukes Castle, I never felt like Bloodborne had grand moments like that besides one optional area, Cainhurst Castle.
It's strange...maybe it's the tighter level design or the fact a major part of it takes place in a city but it all feels like a smaller package. I need time to let it settle but there were some great moments though. The nightmare castle was wonderful. Maybe it's the theme that makes me feel this way. With Dark Souls it had a lot of "I wonder what I'll find next" and you'd go off on a path and find a giant area filled with unique enemies and armour/weapons. One minute you're in a swampy area with a katana wielding salesman, the next you find a secret ancient tree that leads to an even more ancient place, untouched by man.
Bloodborne has a lot of alleys and forests, typical stuff and I guess that's why I feel this way. The moonlit river being one of those O.O moments that I wanted more of.
Still I love the themes! I definitely want to explore more of the world they crafted. I want to see more NPC's with stories that expand all the way to the end.
Like with Alfred, he's all nice and you learn about his mission and not long after you send him to the castle and he switches personality real quickly and that's the end of his quest. I compare it to Dark Souls because they got a lot of things right in it. When I think of Onion Bro and how I was taking his pride away without knowing it until it was too late. I felt no connections like I did with DkS.
In regards to difficulty. This is an observation really but I've watched some Soul virgins play it and some who have played Dark Souls 2 only. They like Bloodborne more, saying it feels more forgiving. Someone even said to me on Kotaku though I haven't looked it up but apparently the devs even said they wanted to make it more accessable. Fair play, difficulty isn't why I play it. I'm here for the lore, the world building, the fashion souls and the good PVP
They really need to patch in an item that sends you to Hunters Dream! But yeah I need to play more Chalice. I think I got a good 3 hours in it so far and it has been really same'y for me. Reminds me way too much of the Everfall in Dragon's Dogma. Just endless grinding with same'y tunnels but I've seen people enjoying it so I'm gonna push through and see if I can join in agreement.
Got it early, beat it in 3 days, did all the optional bosses and then sat down with Chalice dungeons, got Platinum today. For anyone thinking this game has easy bosses? I welcome you to enter the Chalice dungeons :> The shit down there is way harder than anything you'll encounter in NG or NG+, thanks to location and specific damage types, aswell as curses and how they affect you.
It's easily my favorite From game. The art is absolutely astonishing, everything feels claustrophobic, the monsters are freaky and repulsive and the general atmosphere is incredibly thick and immersive. The combat is also greatly improved over the Soul's games. PvP especially is gaining a lot from this, as it's no longer about backstab fishing, but timing shots and being creative with consumables.
The setting and story also REALLY dragged me in, what started as purging of "infected" really went deep and sent me places I hadn't imagined.
The game is also incredibly dark, I've never killed this many children in a game before :P Nor have I killed this many babies or babies in utero. Heck, the chalice dungeon ingredients themselves are miscarried babies and dead kids a lot of the time.
It really fits the tone the game is pushing and it's almost crushing at times how eerie it is.
My only gripes are that some skills seem a bit too hidden in what they do, chalice dungeons can get repetitive in their design and NPCs that have quests are very limited. Otherwise I've had an absolute blast with it, and I can't wait to play through it again once the Futurepress guide is out, I am secretly hoping we still haven't seen everything there is to see in the game. The Chalice dungeon itself hides a lot of strange artifacts...
I think that it's safe to say that this past week I have been playing the game I have always wanted to play ever since the days of PS1. Everything about this is what I hoped it to be, and whilst there are some minor issues here and there with the game, overall there hasn't been a single aspect that has disappointed me. It has truly lived up to the hype.
Exploring this horrific, macabre masterpiece of a world has evoked feelings that I haven't felt in years whilst playing a game, not even Demon Souls did this to me, it really is something special, and whilst the game is based on core elements that have already been established by the Souls series, this stands well enough on it's own two feet.
Enemy design is stunning, bizarre and downright disturbing at times. Sometimes I'd get killed just because I was too distracted by the awesome designs rather than giving it my all.
Level design is top notch, and the way the environments are structured is down right staggering. It must've been an absolute mind-fuck at times to get this game made.
I love what they've done to the combat. The focus on aggression is a massive step forward in my opinion; the Souls games were weighted towards defence and cheese tactics a little too much in my opinion, whereas Bloodborne is all about dictating the fight. You are literally having to fight through your fears to win, and I found that incredibly effective in adding to the horror element of the game.
The only real niggles with the game are some weapon balancing issues, for example, Ludwig's Holy Blade turns in to an absolute monster at +10, because not only does it already have decent skill and strength scaling, but the arcane scaling hits max, so you're pretty much winning if you level your character accordingly.
Also not a big fan of bloodtinge based melee weapons. The Chikage (which looks totally awesome) is too detrimental to use two handed, unless you waste all your gems reversing the depleting health effect.
I've finished the main game (with optional areas and bosses) and the Chalice Dungeons do indeed get mental. I love that they have unique enemies and bosses (although some do contain bosses from the main game as well).
@Habboi: yeah, I definitely feel like the environments are less varied, it maintains a more consistent theme for sure. But I think it had just as many if not more "Whoa" or "What the fuck?!" moments I agree with some of the others, this one REALLY sucked me in and caught me off guard quite often.
And yeah... I think Bloodborne might be more accessible, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's easier, just better designed. I don't know though, like I said it's really hard for me to comment on difficulty.
On that subject though, what was the hardest boss for you guys? Or most challenging section? I beat most bosses on my first or second try with just a few exceptions.
Rom, the vacuous spider. I died quite a bit to this guy. He and his spider-friends really frustrated me, eventually I got the strategy down and on my final attempt got him without taking damage. Now I'm fighting a tougher Rom in a chalice dungeon, and even though I'm using the same strategy I can't seem to dodge his stupid ranged arcane attack at all and am getting repeatedly wasted. And his little spiders one shot me. Bah.
Gherman probably took me the most tries, but I didn't think he was particularly hard. It was a quick fight. Then I killed the Moon Presence on my second try.
The easiest for me was probably the witches of Eastwick. I went in not knowing what was going on, not expecting a boss, but went through without taking damage. She summoned the demons slow enough for me to easily kill them off, so I never got stuck or ganged up on. I remember another boss that was 3 enemies, reminiscent of the skeleton lords in DkSII, but the fact that I don't remember them kinda shows how little of an impression they left.
Amygdala was a really fun boss fight and cool design, probably one of my favorites although it wasn't really challenging.
Rom took me out a few times, his ranged attack being stupid OP at the time and I had no choice but to co-op that one however don't worry I got my revenge in the Chalice version last night. Use the pillars Shini, it's the best method. And seriously take your time getting rid of the smaller guys. Mainly because Rom's third phase is just plain redic. He spams ice from the ground at a fast rate. I ended up throwing every item I had to weed his HP down enough that I could finish him.
The other boss that gave me grief was spammy Mc. Martyr Logarius. Gotta keep close to him but I may have been too trigger happy with him x)
Lastly Moon Prescence co-op was by far the hardest thing I went up against. Its eye attack insta kills rather than 1 hp's which made co-oping a bitch.
I spent a great deal in the Chalice Dungeon last night. It's brutal! But damn if it isn't same'y. Couldn't they have made each chalice have a different theme. Like outdoors and snowy etc.
Also I heard that the body of Gascoigne's wife vanishes after you kill the Wet Nurse. Considering the music for that fight is the music box I do wonder what that means.
Definitely either Martyr Logarius or Rom. I actually died killing Rom, good job the game counted it (and also let me go back to his area to trigger the cutscene. Abhorrent Beast (chalice dungeon boss) is also a bit of a dick due to his Superman rocket punch that one hits you.
Some bosses that people were having difficulty with I managed quite easily though. Take Gascoigne for example. I had been warned prior that he was very tough to beat so I went in to that fight super aggressive and just went for him, and managed it first time.
Story bosses I did first time:
Gascoigne
Mergo's Wet Nurse
Blood starved Beast
One Reborn (basically Tower Knight from Demon's with a few additions).
Moon Presence
Amygdala
Celestial Emissary
Bosses that took 2-3 tries:
Cleric Beast
Vicar Amelia
Shadow of Yarnham
Witches of Hemwick (focused too much on the soot demons the first time around)
Micolash
Bosses that ruined me:
Ebriatas
Martyr Logarius
Gehrman
Darkbeast Paarl
Rom
Seems like I'm in the minority for thinking the Rom fight wasn't bad at all. My character builds are usually focused on speed and stamina so I had no trouble avoiding all of the little spider minions since I can easily out-run them or roll out of the way of their attacks. The AOE attack he has is powerful but it takes a long time to fire and you can do some serious damage then just quickly heal if you get hit.
The hardest fight for me was without a doubt the second hunter you have to kill for Eileen's questline. I have yet to see anybody legitimately kill the hunter without having to resort to unfair cheese tactics (which is exactly how I killed him.) It is probably the most unfair fight ever. He has infinite stamina, around 3000 health, infinite ammo, and if you get hit by his two-handed sword it does like 800 damage in one hit, while his gun does an equally large amount of damage. Due to his speed, it is quite common to get in a situation where you will try to hit him when you have an opening, and he will immediately shoot and stun you, then finish you off with a visceral attack. The best part is that once you get him to around 25% health left, he will use a blood vial that will restore almost all of his health, and he does this twice unless you can manage to hit him with a numbing pot but I tried and he kept dodging them until I ran out.
The dumbest thing is, if you just lure him back to the entrance door, he will literally kill himself due to the health drain of his sword without you having to even touch the controller. I think I died around 40 times and used almost all of my good items before giving in to cheap tactics.
Darkbeast Paarl was a weird one for me. When I first encountered him, I only tried once but it went so poorly I just said 'Fuck this, it's impossible". I went back a little later (not way later, still before the second time you arrive in this area) and it was a cakewalk. Felt weird. I had geared up to resist bolt, but I basically just stunlocked him almost by constantly breaking his limbs. I look forward to trying him again, I'm doing a playthrough now with a 'waste of skin' background and I won't level up. Haven't gotten far yet but it's been a blast.
I share the Glascoine sentiment, I heard a lot of people talking about how hard he was, and I had beat him first try. It was a fun fight for sure, and I wore his hat for the rest of the game, but yeah I didn't see the challenge.
I wish I didn't buy a PS4 for this crappy game. Now I just have to hope The Tomorrow Children or No Man Sky will be good, which I doubt they will be.
For example, it takes 1 minute to load anything in this bloody game. Why put the doll bloody leveling system in. If you want to level up you touch a lantern, wait 1 minute, talk to the doll another 1 and half minute, go back to world another 1 minute. 4 minutes wasted of my bloody life just so you have to interact with a stupid doll.
Instead of having Estus Flask you need to grind blood vials if you have trouble with a boss. Which, takes about 5 minutes.
I've completed Dark Souls 1 and it one of my favourite games, but bloodborne is such a fucking grind compared to Dark Souls 1.
I have to agree about the load times, and having to return to the hunter's dream so much if you want to grind and level up. Dark Souls 1 had it right where you could level at the camp fire, and reset the enemies as well very quickly. Apparently the load times are going to be patched and improved. These issues are still minor to me for how much I am enjoying this game. I think they did a fantastic job with it, and I find myself eager to boot it up most evenings
I wish I didn't buy a PS4 for this crappy game. Now I just have to hope The Tomorrow Children or No Man Sky will be good, which I doubt they will be.
For example, it takes 1 minute to load anything in this bloody game. Why put the doll bloody leveling system in. If you want to level up you touch a lantern, wait 1 minute, talk to the doll another 1 and half minute, go back to world another 1 minute. 4 minutes wasted of my bloody life just so you have to interact with a stupid doll.
Instead of having Estus Flask you need to grind blood vials if you have trouble with a boss. Which, takes about 5 minutes.
I've completed Dark Souls 1 and it one of my favourite games, but bloodborne is such a fucking grind compared to Dark Souls 1.
The load times are bad but if that isn't an exaggeration then it is possible something is faulty on your end. I know people who have trouble connecting to the servers (due to either location or poor connection) are reporting longer load times when playing online, but personally I've yet to experience a load screen that was longer than maybe 20 seconds.
It's annoying for the first couple of load screens you have to deal with but most of the time you can use the time to think of a plan to get through the zone.
As for the blood vials, you'll only have an issue with them early in the game. Once you get a bit farther in the game you can easily use the blood echoes left over after a level up or equipment purchase to stock up on any items you want. After the third or fourth boss I pretty much never had below 70 vials in my storage, and by the last third of the game I always had max vials and max bullets other than the few I'd have to use to get through the zone, and that is without grinding.
I have to agree about the load times, and having to return to the hunter's dream so much if you want to grind and level up. Dark Souls 1 had it right where you could level at the camp fire, and reset the enemies as well very quickly. Apparently the load times are going to be patched and improved. These issues are still minor to me for how much I am enjoying this game. I think they did a fantastic job with it, and I find myself eager to boot it up most evenings
If you want to grind, a small tip you can use to deal with the loading less is to just die in a convenient spot when you are done killing enemies. All of the good grinding spots in the game usually have safe death areas, such as cliffs, right next to the lantern spawn points. You can just suicide to respawn the enemies then pick up your blood echoes when you come back. Some of the endgame zones can easily supply you with 10k souls every 35-45 seconds in NG.
Just getting into this game. It's my first From Software game. Really tough first few days. Enjoying it the more I play though. Love looking at the architecture in the game. Really well designed stuff.
Of course you're going to be more critical of the game if you bought a whole console just for it. But let go of your frustration and you might find that you can really love it. The load times aren't worse than Demon's Souls and that game was fucking marvellous.
Yeah Jeff I love the architecture. The amount of geo put into some of the railings and doors and furry characters blows me away.
Last night I beat
the chalice undead giant with the crazy ass chains coming off it. I'm still underlevelled and was being one-shot by the chain whip attack so it was a total rush to slowly chip away until he had 1/3rd health then pop that festering wound for the kill.
If you want to grind, a small tip you can use to deal with the loading less is to just die in a convenient spot when you are done killing enemies. All of the good grinding spots in the game usually have safe death areas, such as cliffs, right next to the lantern spawn points. You can just suicide to respawn the enemies then pick up your blood echoes when you come back. Some of the endgame zones can easily supply you with 10k souls every 35-45 seconds in NG.
Thanks for the tip! I hadn't thought of that. It's interesting all the strategies and ideas people develop for these games, and it's often things I hadn't thought to try.
I tend to only grind a little bit in this game, usually if I'm near the amount I need to level or if I was having a tough time taking on a boss / hunter battle solo. My buddy at work that is also playing suggested not leveled too much too soon as the multiplayer is handled by a range of your level. So if you're too high level and want to help others with a tough situation you won't be able to connect to them. This was something I wasn't aware of in these games before, but it makes sense.
I like to beat a boss solo if I can, and once I do I help a few players beat that boss before I move on. The multiplayer has been an awesome experience overall with players acting friendly and not wasting time etc. The performance tends to suffer with 3 cooperators, but not enough to bother me much.
Oh yeah, how has everyone's multiplayer experience been? Honestly, this has felt a lot less like a multiplayer experience to me. I think part of it is that you can't see the physical representations of people looking to coop on the ground. I've also never been invaded.
I've only co-oped in one place so far: the Vicar Amelia boss fight. Not because I felt it was too difficult, actually I hadn't even tried it, I jus got to that point and thought "OH, maybe I should try the multiplayer" so I helped someone beat Vicar, then I summoned someone else to help me. Aside from that I haven't done anything - which is a little disappointing.
Something else I'll give Dark Souls II credit for is that it really did feel like the multiplayer was a significant portion of the game. The PvP and coop was more prevelant and more accessible throughout the game, and connection troubles were rare. In the first Dark Souls game it was such a pain in the ass to successfully summon a person at all that it was usually more of a headache than it was worth. I DID get into the PvP scene in Dark Souls, but goddamn it was a painful. It usually involved just standing around for 40 minutes until I can successfully invade or be invaded. DkSII was always so quick, and all the summon signs you'd see and multiplayer themed arenas and covenants really made the game feel more alive. Bloodborne again feels like a single player game with multiplayer kind of tacked on. I have tried summoning people in a few other areas, but never successfully.
Thanks for the tip! I hadn't thought of that. It's interesting all the strategies and ideas people develop for these games, and it's often things I hadn't thought to try.
I tend to only grind a little bit in this game, usually if I'm near the amount I need to level or if I was having a tough time taking on a boss / hunter battle solo. My buddy at work that is also playing suggested not leveled too much too soon as the multiplayer is handled by a range of your level. So if you're too high level and want to help others with a tough situation you won't be able to connect to them. This was something I wasn't aware of in these games before, but it makes sense.
The Chikage is your best friend for grinding because it allows you to kill yourself nice and quickly next to a lamp.
Oh yeah, how has everyone's multiplayer experience been? Honestly, this has felt a lot less like a multiplayer experience to me. I think part of it is that you can't see the physical representations of people looking to coop on the ground. I've also never been invaded.
I've only co-oped in one place so far: the Vicar Amelia boss fight. Not because I felt it was too difficult, actually I hadn't even tried it, I jus got to that point and thought "OH, maybe I should try the multiplayer" so I helped someone beat Vicar, then I summoned someone else to help me. Aside from that I haven't done anything - which is a little disappointing.
Something else I'll give Dark Souls II credit for is that it really did feel like the multiplayer was a significant portion of the game. The PvP and coop was more prevelant and more accessible throughout the game, and connection troubles were rare. In the first Dark Souls game it was such a pain in the ass to successfully summon a person at all that it was usually more of a headache than it was worth. I DID get into the PvP scene in Dark Souls, but goddamn it was a painful. It usually involved just standing around for 40 minutes until I can successfully invade or be invaded. DkSII was always so quick, and all the summon signs you'd see and multiplayer themed arenas and covenants really made the game feel more alive. Bloodborne again feels like a single player game with multiplayer kind of tacked on. I have tried summoning people in a few other areas, but never successfully.
I found the DKS1 experience to be the best. The vanilla game had some serious problems with connectivity on PC, but with DSCFix , I never had any problems especially when taking part in online fightclubs. I must have spent more than 150 hours just on PVP in that game.
DKS2 is a mixed bag for me. There certainly was a lot of focus put on the multiplayer (PVP focused covenants, better network code, dedicated servers), but somehow, the supposed balance tweaks made the experience really odd. The biggest problem for me was the lack of full orbs, forcing you to grind for cracked orbs in the arena and completely removing any PVP at low levels. There are of course rings, but I never had much luck getting summoned with these.
Then there is Soul Memory, a mechanic that penalizes you for doing PVP as it makes your pool of opponents smaller the longer you play. The lack of Soul Level matching also threw the whole idea of balanced builds out of the window. Whereas the old SL 100/120 meta made for much better fights.
Finally, the idea of dedicated PVP areas made the multiplayer feel very disconnected from the base game. DKS2 had some absolutely dead areas and then some where you would get invaded instantly (Belltower for example), whereas in DKS1 and Demons Souls I was playing with the knowledge i could be invaded anywhere and anytime.
As for Bloodborne, I'm still playing through the main campaign and so far I've summoned someone maybe once or twice. It's a pity that once again PVP feels disconnected, especially because invasions would work really well with that hunter theme. That said, as much as I love the game (which is on par with DKS1 in my eyes) the lack of equipment variety makes me worried about the longevity of the game and its PVP scene. Although, having gotten my copy a week late, I'm still going through NG, so there's still a lot of gameplay left for me.
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My only real complaint at the moment is how getting disconnected from the game server will throw you back into the main menu whereas in Dark Souls 2 you would just seamlessly transition into offline mode. It's not a big deal but it happened 3-4 times in the two hours I got to play.
It's amazing how much more alive the world feels as a result of the improved enemy AI. Some enemies will randomly wander off in different areas as time progresses which adds a horror factor to the game because sometimes an enemy will be in one position and other times they'll find a way to sneak up behind you. The game as a whole feels much more challenging than Dark Souls also, although I haven't gotten used to the idea of firing a gun to stun enemies yet.
I was skeptical about picking up a PS4 for Bloodborne since the other exclusive titles I'm waiting for won't be out for another 7-8 months at the earliest, but I think this game will justify the purchase of the console.
But why are they still using facegen!?
We British may be last but the hype is still there x)
Gotta love the updating phase of gaming. I was scared the latest PS4 firmware was gonna brick my console after hearing rumours. It has definitely made the dashboard laggy though which was also mentioned...
What a noob :poly142:
Small complaint though, I've made it pretty far through the game I think, but most of the environments are kind of samey. In Demon's Souls and Dark Souls you could always immediately tell when you were in a different area, but in Bloodborne it all kind of blends together. Which makes sense to an extent, and the environments definitely look much better, but I miss having a few changes of scenery.
Also, has anyone else tried the randomly generated chalice dungeons? I went through 1, it was fun but I went through 3 boss fights and didn't gather enough souls to level up once, felt sort of like a waste of time. Maybe it was just because it was the first dungeon I could make.
...speaking of which, have we got a PSN/XB gamertag thread on here?
It's a beautiful game. I've often stopped and just looked on at the views.
My experience so far (about 8 hours or more)
I was within a punch or two from killing it but argh it got a cheap slice and I died x) I later found out it doesn't drop anything different. Anyway I stopped after 10 minutes for lunch and came back to find the game was refusing to load my save. Kept saying Game Updated can't load save. Man my heart sunk cause I was scared this would be a problem!
I tested it again and my character saved this time so I went off on my adventure! The first area is really tough in my opinion. I'm a Soul's vet so I know the rundown but damn From were being mean x)
Suffice to say it got easier as things progressed and I was able to level up! I'm really loving the level design so far and even now come back and find new alleys with whole new monsters! It's also wise to revisit certain areas as new things appear.
If I have one complaint it's the framerate. It's fine most of the time but in old yharnam the frames dropped real bad for me to the point my PS4 fan was drowning out the sounds of the game...yeah...that loud...
Otherwise I'm really enjoying it. I couldn't resist killing the crow lady for her armour and spent an hour co-oping the female priest boss for 7k souls a kill so that I could get the duel blades ^^
I ended the night by going to the Forbidden Woods and stopping there but I remembered a guy told me to pay a visit to the old chapel for POWER. 2am...couldn't resist poking around...
I wish I hadn't xD It was so weird! A giant claw grabbed me and I was transported to a weird place where a crazy old guy laughed at me and I appeared in what I believe is a PVP dedicated area. Love secrets like that!
But I hope there's lots more interior levels. I really love these wooden rooms and loathe the outdoor forests and towns
Also...
[ame]
[ame]
Hahahahaha Torch that's too funny. I kinda wish I hadn't seen that, I'm roughly there myself and I would have cracked up if it got me x)
Otherwise in regards to forest
That was probably my favourite area overall. It gave off Resident Evil 4 vibes with the dark barn and the knife wielding women. I got to the witch boss and tried to solo it and at first it wasn't too bad once I realised she was invisible. I killed her and literally stuck my middle finger up cause despite her lack of attacks she still had a lot of health...and then seconds later I realise...this isn't over! O.O
Another one spawns and I'm already exhausted mentally from the first one...she shoots a paralysing spell and I get wrecked xD
I decided to co-op this one and I was right to! The health on those wenches may be a little high...I have a +5 axe with runes that triple its damage and give me health regen. That thing has wrecked a lot of enemies so far but these tiny old witches gave me trouble
So far I'm a little sad I keep finding these one way areas. The first place you go to has all these winding paths and it branches off to incredible locations but now I feel like I'm being guided and I want my freedom again. Here's hoping it returns, off to the forbidden forest I go!
after we all defeated the spider in byrgenworth and broke the ritual (? maybe.. still figuring out the lore as i go), my friend went to the grand cathedral on foot.. he was not able to spawn there from the hunters dream. as soon as he entered, the woman hunter i spoke with began to attack him. so i went there to see what would happen.
when i got to the grand cathedral, the woman hunter was laying on the steps covered in blood saying for me to not go in the cathedral, that the prey inside was for her to deal with. naturally i entered and found a hunter who looked like he was praying, who attacked on site. i have not been able to kill him yet, and i wonder what he's there for.. but i just find it really really interesting that these events play out differently.
Anyway, the Chalice Dungeons are amazing, I don't even know if I can finish the game at this point because I just want to keep loading up a new dungeon rather than exploring new areas. I've done a handful of dungeons so far and while the tilesets seem to recycle pretty frequently, the dungeons have changed a lot every time from a gameplay perspective. The first root dungeon I did was very small and straightforward, the second one had traps around every corner, and the third one was like a maze to the point where I got lost a few times. I fought mostly different bosses in each one, although the same boss did appear twice in two different dungeons, however the layout of the room changed and that made fighting the boss much harder the second time around.
You seem to get a significantly reduced amount of souls for beating each boss in comparison to the main game, however it is offset by the fact that you can find a lot of ritual materials which can be sold for a ton of blood echoes. I also found some gems that are much better than anything I got from playing the main game so far, I'm sure everybody has already discovered everything before me but I got a gem that changes my damage type to fire and I found another gem that reduces the stamina cost of my attacks. I read that some people also found different tiers of the standard weapons in some of the higher level dungeons.
The replay value of this system has incredible potential in my opinion, I think FS can make this game last longer than any other game they've released if they just periodically release some new DLC related to it.
There seems to be a major emphasis on "pale" or "white" and throughout the game I keep hearing a baby crying and I've found one of the Umbilical Cords.
So far I'm still trying to piece it all together but it started out as a gothic sort of werewolf hunt and now the whole world has changed into this fantasy, creepy demonic vibe...it's unreal and very, very cool.
Loving the Yahar'gul Set armour I found in the unseen village. That place is maaaaaaaaasive! I did an item rush where you basically ignore all enemies and go for as many items as you can and dear me it's a big place. Even got to the boss by accident xD Killed within minutes haha.
I'm looking forward to piecing this together. There's something weird going on...
Edit:
Got to the last boss! I'm enjoying it a lot. I killed myself on purpose so I could stick around in NG and do everything left.
Also I laughed out loud when I was summoned and the other 2 guys were wearing the same armour and weapons as myself.
Loving the scythe, my favourite weapon *_*
P.S. Third boss spoiler but funny none the less xD
I believe I'm on the last boss. It pains me how slow I've been going with this, I beat Demon's Souls in 3 days, but I've really been limiting myself to a few hours a day, and didn't play at all over the weekend. I'm really anxious to get through the game and start a second playthrough so I can start getting a better idea of the lore. Right now I don't understand jack shit.
Anxious as I am to get through it, I have been taking my time, and getting pretty far in chalice dungeons also. Which have gotten ridiculously difficult.
I am a little perplexed by my experience with one late game boss,
As for the bride, that's actually the queen of the race that existed before Yharnam who incidently is called Queen Yharnam and why the city was named. I'd say more but you said you didn't understand much of the lore and I don't wanna say too much.
Really pay attention to the descriptions of items, every item. Even the Chalice Dungeon is a major part of the story.
My thoughts on it now that I've experienced what it has to offer. I'd say that overall I enjoyed it...but I still don't think it has knocked Dark Souls 1 off the top. Mainly because of several factors, a lack of weapon variety, armour variety, friendly NPC's and a more straightforward story that I worked out on my first playthrough. The PVP on the other hand...I'll wait a bit longer but right now it feels rough compared to Dark Souls 1. I also disliked they went back to Demon's Souls style with the healing. I shouldn't be punished for trying to help people. Healing was great when it respawned at bonfires. You still had to be wise when using the Flask but at least you didn't have to keep farming for healing items.
And maybe it's just me but it felt...easier.
Apparently there's a bug where if you keep the game running for too long, it will break the enemy AI for bosses and they will use a far more limited moveset (usually just 1 type of attack.) This is caused by keeping the game on for around 12 hours and apparently it is happening to people who are using the suspend/resume feature that was just added recently. I power off my console when I'm done playing so I haven't experienced it, but its possible people are experiencing an easier game than intended without even realizing it.
Ah shit, that's probably what happened to me then.
@Habboi interesting. Yeah, I was unaware of most of that. I do read every item description but it tends to just go in one ear and out the other until my second playthrough where I tend to study and focus a bit more on the lore. That's been my approach for all the other Souls games.
I'm conflicted about how this game will stand up against the other FromSoft games for me. Obviously I can't comment too much since I haven't been able to beat it, but on paper the limited variety hurts it a lot. You're kind of forced into one build. There are no drastically different armor sets or weapon setups, you pretty much must use a gun in one and and transforming weapon in the other. Compared to dark souls where I had loads of fun going through the game dual wielding shields. And even though I thought Dark Souls 2 was weakest in terms of story and level design, it's crazy variety of rings, armor and weapons (especially with the DLC) probably makes it my favorite of the series, or at least the one I've spent the most time with.
I'm already really excited to roll a new character, but I'm afraid different build ideas will run out a lot sooner on this one. That said this first playthrough has been fun. Going through one of these games the first time (while avoiding any guides/spoilers) is a truly unique experience and always incredibly memorable for me. Even if I never want to play it again the game is probably 10/10 for me
Having a great time, though I really hope I get as much out of it the second, third etc. runs. Especially how linear Dark Souls II was. I'm already trying to plan short-cut runs but doing it spoiler-free without knowing the full game is so hard.
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I made an attempt (Twitch link, start at 6:11) and did fucking terribly, dying to Glascoine. I'll try again sometime though
I'll be interested to see what kind of strategies turn out best here. I went for the saw spear instead of going to the hunters dream to get my weapon, but it sucks not having a gun. Also, doing that makes it hard to kill Eileen without back tracking.
Also, quick note: I really hate that you have to go back to the hub to warp to different light posts. Sometimes it's important to go back to the hub, but most of the time it just makes you sit through two excruciating loading screens (with no flavor text) for no good reason.
Still, Bloodborne is definitely my favorite FS title. All of my complaints up to the end of the game are just minor annoyances. The overall balance could probably be better though, the only encounters I've experienced so far that have given me any trouble at all are those stupid brain trusts and the last hunter you face for Eileen's quest line.
On a side note, I really wish more of the bossfights played out like the final battle. It was very fast paced and it was the only time I ever had to use a lot of my blood vials, I think it highlighted all of the best parts of the Bloodborne battle system in a single fight, similar to the Gascoigne fight.
I tell ya one thing that I was also sad about. There's a section in the game where this song plays to set the mood which is rare because the game often uses silence and I was quite unnerved by it. Reflecting on the game as a whole I wasn't really all that disturbed and that's a darn shame because I could think up some great scenarios where they could have truly caused terror.
Especially with darkness. Despite having a torch the game still didn't have many dark areas. I craved an abyss or Tomb of the Giants like level with music like this.
Oh well, I'm in NG+ trying to platinum it. Without even trying I'm 70% towards that goal and considering I put 1000 hours into DkS 1 and never got all the trophies...well that says a lot about the length. Fantastic game but fell short for me in some areas
Here's hoping (and I'm sure there will be) DLC saves the day!
I never got all of Dark Souls achievements either, and there's a good reason for that: they blow. IMO one of Dark Souls greatest strengths is to take all the best elements of RPGs without ever forcing a player to grind. You never 'need' to grind for an item, or to level up, even though you can choose to. That said, grinding in these games is incredibly unfun and IS a necessity for Dark Souls achievements. Grind for hours to get titanite so you can make elemental weapons that you never want to use, and grind for hours getting more titanite and playing through the game multiple times just to make boss soul weapons, most of which are boring and useless. I can hop on and play Dark Souls for hours at any time and have fun, but not when I try to earn achievements. despite numerous attempts I don't think I'll ever 100% the game just because it's boring, and the required gameplay is not representative of any good aspect of the game. Sorry that's a bit of a rant, I just really hate those achievements, in contrast I thought the achievements in DkSII and in Bloodborne are much better.
I also find it really hard to compare the length of these games. Dark Souls II is undoubtedly the longest, even without DLC, but I beat it faster than my first playthrough on Dark Souls. I beat Demon's Souls in about 18 hours my first time through. The main difference is I had played Dark Souls for about 400 hours before hand and became used to that style of gameplay. There are always unique surprises in each game, but I'm just saying it's hard to objectively judge the difficulty or length of a game when you've sunk thousands of hours into it's predecessors.
People saying the bosses are easier in Bloodborne - eh, I don't buy it at all. Some are easier than others, sure, and some bosses in DkS were harder than most in BB too, okay. But I don't see any trend in decreased difficulty, the only difference is that my initial memories of playing through DkS bosses was when I had no experience with these types of games. It took me something like 20 tries to beat Gwyn the first time, and I went through the entire game not knowing how to kick, do a jumping attack, or a parry. Now I can beat Gwyn consistently without taking a hit, and those skills definitely carried forward even though Bloodborne is different.
Also, as far as game length goes, I think the chalice dungeons are a really cool addition. I was worried it would just rehash environment elements and enemies from the main game, but there is a lot of new stuff to find - even pertaining to the games lore - which you can't find in the main game.
I'm not trying to be too defensive of the game here, I just don't see too much logic behind complaints about the game's difficult or length compared to other Souls' titles. The main story is likely shorter but I think the level design is much tighter and very well done, which is more important to me than arbitrary length.
I've mentioned a few other things (like having to return to the Hunter' Dream to warp) but I'm really disappointed more of the good additions from DkSII didn't make it into the game. For instance, the jump button. Mashing the same button you're already holding down to run is an incredibly shitty control scheme, especially when you add a few difficult jumps in the game. Having the option to use the thumb stick was a life saver and it's really frustrating to go back to the old way for no good reason.
Anyway I've beaten the game, although now that I've looked online a little I realized I missed a few optional bosses, which shocked me because I thought I really thoroughly combed the world. I'm having fun cruising through again on NG+, and still contemplating what kind of build I want to do next, I'm getting bored of the Kirkhammer.
It's strange...maybe it's the tighter level design or the fact a major part of it takes place in a city but it all feels like a smaller package. I need time to let it settle but there were some great moments though. The nightmare castle was wonderful. Maybe it's the theme that makes me feel this way. With Dark Souls it had a lot of "I wonder what I'll find next" and you'd go off on a path and find a giant area filled with unique enemies and armour/weapons. One minute you're in a swampy area with a katana wielding salesman, the next you find a secret ancient tree that leads to an even more ancient place, untouched by man.
Bloodborne has a lot of alleys and forests, typical stuff and I guess that's why I feel this way. The moonlit river being one of those O.O moments that I wanted more of.
Still I love the themes! I definitely want to explore more of the world they crafted. I want to see more NPC's with stories that expand all the way to the end.
In regards to difficulty. This is an observation really but I've watched some Soul virgins play it and some who have played Dark Souls 2 only. They like Bloodborne more, saying it feels more forgiving. Someone even said to me on Kotaku though I haven't looked it up but apparently the devs even said they wanted to make it more accessable. Fair play, difficulty isn't why I play it. I'm here for the lore, the world building, the fashion souls and the good PVP
They really need to patch in an item that sends you to Hunters Dream! But yeah I need to play more Chalice. I think I got a good 3 hours in it so far and it has been really same'y for me. Reminds me way too much of the Everfall in Dragon's Dogma. Just endless grinding with same'y tunnels but I've seen people enjoying it so I'm gonna push through and see if I can join in agreement.
It's easily my favorite From game. The art is absolutely astonishing, everything feels claustrophobic, the monsters are freaky and repulsive and the general atmosphere is incredibly thick and immersive. The combat is also greatly improved over the Soul's games. PvP especially is gaining a lot from this, as it's no longer about backstab fishing, but timing shots and being creative with consumables.
The setting and story also REALLY dragged me in, what started as purging of "infected" really went deep and sent me places I hadn't imagined.
The game is also incredibly dark, I've never killed this many children in a game before :P Nor have I killed this many babies or babies in utero. Heck, the chalice dungeon ingredients themselves are miscarried babies and dead kids a lot of the time.
It really fits the tone the game is pushing and it's almost crushing at times how eerie it is.
My only gripes are that some skills seem a bit too hidden in what they do, chalice dungeons can get repetitive in their design and NPCs that have quests are very limited. Otherwise I've had an absolute blast with it, and I can't wait to play through it again once the Futurepress guide is out, I am secretly hoping we still haven't seen everything there is to see in the game. The Chalice dungeon itself hides a lot of strange artifacts...
Anyway 10/10 GOTY for me, easily.
Exploring this horrific, macabre masterpiece of a world has evoked feelings that I haven't felt in years whilst playing a game, not even Demon Souls did this to me, it really is something special, and whilst the game is based on core elements that have already been established by the Souls series, this stands well enough on it's own two feet.
Enemy design is stunning, bizarre and downright disturbing at times. Sometimes I'd get killed just because I was too distracted by the awesome designs rather than giving it my all.
Level design is top notch, and the way the environments are structured is down right staggering. It must've been an absolute mind-fuck at times to get this game made.
I love what they've done to the combat. The focus on aggression is a massive step forward in my opinion; the Souls games were weighted towards defence and cheese tactics a little too much in my opinion, whereas Bloodborne is all about dictating the fight. You are literally having to fight through your fears to win, and I found that incredibly effective in adding to the horror element of the game.
The only real niggles with the game are some weapon balancing issues, for example, Ludwig's Holy Blade turns in to an absolute monster at +10, because not only does it already have decent skill and strength scaling, but the arcane scaling hits max, so you're pretty much winning if you level your character accordingly.
Also not a big fan of bloodtinge based melee weapons. The Chikage (which looks totally awesome) is too detrimental to use two handed, unless you waste all your gems reversing the depleting health effect.
I've finished the main game (with optional areas and bosses) and the Chalice Dungeons do indeed get mental. I love that they have unique enemies and bosses (although some do contain bosses from the main game as well).
Looking forward to some DLC.
Also,
And yeah... I think Bloodborne might be more accessible, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's easier, just better designed. I don't know though, like I said it's really hard for me to comment on difficulty.
On that subject though, what was the hardest boss for you guys? Or most challenging section? I beat most bosses on my first or second try with just a few exceptions.
Gherman probably took me the most tries, but I didn't think he was particularly hard. It was a quick fight. Then I killed the Moon Presence on my second try.
The easiest for me was probably the witches of Eastwick. I went in not knowing what was going on, not expecting a boss, but went through without taking damage. She summoned the demons slow enough for me to easily kill them off, so I never got stuck or ganged up on. I remember another boss that was 3 enemies, reminiscent of the skeleton lords in DkSII, but the fact that I don't remember them kinda shows how little of an impression they left.
Amygdala was a really fun boss fight and cool design, probably one of my favorites although it wasn't really challenging.
The other boss that gave me grief was spammy Mc. Martyr Logarius. Gotta keep close to him but I may have been too trigger happy with him x)
Lastly Moon Prescence co-op was by far the hardest thing I went up against. Its eye attack insta kills rather than 1 hp's which made co-oping a bitch.
I spent a great deal in the Chalice Dungeon last night. It's brutal! But damn if it isn't same'y. Couldn't they have made each chalice have a different theme. Like outdoors and snowy etc.
Also I heard that the body of Gascoigne's wife vanishes after you kill the Wet Nurse. Considering the music for that fight is the music box I do wonder what that means.
Some bosses that people were having difficulty with I managed quite easily though. Take Gascoigne for example. I had been warned prior that he was very tough to beat so I went in to that fight super aggressive and just went for him, and managed it first time.
Story bosses I did first time:
Gascoigne
Mergo's Wet Nurse
Blood starved Beast
One Reborn (basically Tower Knight from Demon's with a few additions).
Moon Presence
Amygdala
Celestial Emissary
Bosses that took 2-3 tries:
Cleric Beast
Vicar Amelia
Shadow of Yarnham
Witches of Hemwick (focused too much on the soot demons the first time around)
Micolash
Bosses that ruined me:
Ebriatas
Martyr Logarius
Gehrman
Darkbeast Paarl
Rom
The hardest fight for me was without a doubt the second hunter you have to kill for Eileen's questline. I have yet to see anybody legitimately kill the hunter without having to resort to unfair cheese tactics (which is exactly how I killed him.) It is probably the most unfair fight ever. He has infinite stamina, around 3000 health, infinite ammo, and if you get hit by his two-handed sword it does like 800 damage in one hit, while his gun does an equally large amount of damage. Due to his speed, it is quite common to get in a situation where you will try to hit him when you have an opening, and he will immediately shoot and stun you, then finish you off with a visceral attack. The best part is that once you get him to around 25% health left, he will use a blood vial that will restore almost all of his health, and he does this twice unless you can manage to hit him with a numbing pot but I tried and he kept dodging them until I ran out.
The dumbest thing is, if you just lure him back to the entrance door, he will literally kill himself due to the health drain of his sword without you having to even touch the controller. I think I died around 40 times and used almost all of my good items before giving in to cheap tactics.
I share the Glascoine sentiment, I heard a lot of people talking about how hard he was, and I had beat him first try. It was a fun fight for sure, and I wore his hat for the rest of the game, but yeah I didn't see the challenge.
For example, it takes 1 minute to load anything in this bloody game. Why put the doll bloody leveling system in. If you want to level up you touch a lantern, wait 1 minute, talk to the doll another 1 and half minute, go back to world another 1 minute. 4 minutes wasted of my bloody life just so you have to interact with a stupid doll.
Instead of having Estus Flask you need to grind blood vials if you have trouble with a boss. Which, takes about 5 minutes.
I've completed Dark Souls 1 and it one of my favourite games, but bloodborne is such a fucking grind compared to Dark Souls 1.
It's annoying for the first couple of load screens you have to deal with but most of the time you can use the time to think of a plan to get through the zone.
As for the blood vials, you'll only have an issue with them early in the game. Once you get a bit farther in the game you can easily use the blood echoes left over after a level up or equipment purchase to stock up on any items you want. After the third or fourth boss I pretty much never had below 70 vials in my storage, and by the last third of the game I always had max vials and max bullets other than the few I'd have to use to get through the zone, and that is without grinding.
If you want to grind, a small tip you can use to deal with the loading less is to just die in a convenient spot when you are done killing enemies. All of the good grinding spots in the game usually have safe death areas, such as cliffs, right next to the lantern spawn points. You can just suicide to respawn the enemies then pick up your blood echoes when you come back. Some of the endgame zones can easily supply you with 10k souls every 35-45 seconds in NG.
Yeah Jeff I love the architecture. The amount of geo put into some of the railings and doors and furry characters blows me away.
Last night I beat
Thanks for the tip! I hadn't thought of that. It's interesting all the strategies and ideas people develop for these games, and it's often things I hadn't thought to try.
I tend to only grind a little bit in this game, usually if I'm near the amount I need to level or if I was having a tough time taking on a boss / hunter battle solo. My buddy at work that is also playing suggested not leveled too much too soon as the multiplayer is handled by a range of your level. So if you're too high level and want to help others with a tough situation you won't be able to connect to them. This was something I wasn't aware of in these games before, but it makes sense.
I like to beat a boss solo if I can, and once I do I help a few players beat that boss before I move on. The multiplayer has been an awesome experience overall with players acting friendly and not wasting time etc. The performance tends to suffer with 3 cooperators, but not enough to bother me much.
I've only co-oped in one place so far: the Vicar Amelia boss fight. Not because I felt it was too difficult, actually I hadn't even tried it, I jus got to that point and thought "OH, maybe I should try the multiplayer" so I helped someone beat Vicar, then I summoned someone else to help me. Aside from that I haven't done anything - which is a little disappointing.
Something else I'll give Dark Souls II credit for is that it really did feel like the multiplayer was a significant portion of the game. The PvP and coop was more prevelant and more accessible throughout the game, and connection troubles were rare. In the first Dark Souls game it was such a pain in the ass to successfully summon a person at all that it was usually more of a headache than it was worth. I DID get into the PvP scene in Dark Souls, but goddamn it was a painful. It usually involved just standing around for 40 minutes until I can successfully invade or be invaded. DkSII was always so quick, and all the summon signs you'd see and multiplayer themed arenas and covenants really made the game feel more alive. Bloodborne again feels like a single player game with multiplayer kind of tacked on. I have tried summoning people in a few other areas, but never successfully.
The Chikage is your best friend for grinding because it allows you to kill yourself nice and quickly next to a lamp.
I found the DKS1 experience to be the best. The vanilla game had some serious problems with connectivity on PC, but with DSCFix , I never had any problems especially when taking part in online fightclubs. I must have spent more than 150 hours just on PVP in that game.
DKS2 is a mixed bag for me. There certainly was a lot of focus put on the multiplayer (PVP focused covenants, better network code, dedicated servers), but somehow, the supposed balance tweaks made the experience really odd. The biggest problem for me was the lack of full orbs, forcing you to grind for cracked orbs in the arena and completely removing any PVP at low levels. There are of course rings, but I never had much luck getting summoned with these.
Then there is Soul Memory, a mechanic that penalizes you for doing PVP as it makes your pool of opponents smaller the longer you play. The lack of Soul Level matching also threw the whole idea of balanced builds out of the window. Whereas the old SL 100/120 meta made for much better fights.
Finally, the idea of dedicated PVP areas made the multiplayer feel very disconnected from the base game. DKS2 had some absolutely dead areas and then some where you would get invaded instantly (Belltower for example), whereas in DKS1 and Demons Souls I was playing with the knowledge i could be invaded anywhere and anytime.
As for Bloodborne, I'm still playing through the main campaign and so far I've summoned someone maybe once or twice. It's a pity that once again PVP feels disconnected, especially because invasions would work really well with that hunter theme. That said, as much as I love the game (which is on par with DKS1 in my eyes) the lack of equipment variety makes me worried about the longevity of the game and its PVP scene. Although, having gotten my copy a week late, I'm still going through NG, so there's still a lot of gameplay left for me.