Korax

He drops a badge that unlocks more stuff in the Dream stores. Same thing happened to me. Just quit and reload, and the pickup will be next to the gun at the top of the tower.

Oh, and don't look for co-op hosts in the Forbidden Wood. FromSoft has warned about a story progression bug that prevents a key item from spawning in the area afterward if you've been a co-op client (doesn't seem to affect hosts). I had already done a bunch of helping before the warning, so I figured I had nothing to lose. It turned out to not affect me anyway, but it's probably not worth the risk. There will be a patch soon to fix it.

Spent some time this morning helping people beat the Forbidden Wood boss. It was fun helping people through a tough fight, and helped me get tons of Echoes and stock up on items. Had a better time with the area after that; focusing more on parrying and visceral attacks definitely improved my end of combat encounters. Then it took me a few tries to get the next boss down. It was difficult, but mainly because most of its attacks dealt over half my HP in damage. It's not complicated, so as long as you're cautious and not trying to hurry, the fight isn't too bad. It's been hinted at by some item descriptions and mechanics, but that fight and immediate story bits after it make it clear that the setting isn't a take on Van Helsing so much as

From has experimented with expendable health restorers before. Demons Souls had various types of Moongrass, which healed different amounts. Dark Souls only had the Estus Flask, but Dark Souls 2 gave you a Flask with changed mechanics (starts at 5 charges, reinforcing the Flask gives one extra charge, no bonfire kindling) and a variety of Life Stones. I had a similar shortage of Vials when taking on the first boss, and was worried about the threat of grinding, but it hasn't been a problem since. Practice using the dodge-step to do hit-and-run attacks. Minimize the danger of losing health, and when you do get hit, get back in quickly and smash them back to regain that health. Another thing I've noticed with the Regain system is that even after an enemy dies, as long as they haven't gone ragdoll yet, weapon collision will still restore health. If you can manage an extra swing during a death animation, you can get back an extra chunk of health. In addition to just wanting to get better at the stun/parry attacks, the boss of the Forbidden Wood drops a rune that restores 200 health with a successful visceral attack. As long as I can manage to improve my parrying skills, my need for Vials will hopefully decline.

This happened to me, but a little later on. I think every instance of those enemies can do it, and they're in a few different areas.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK THE FORBIDDEN FOREST Hit the first real brick wall in quite a while. The Forest itself isn't too bad, but the boss is a bitch. What's nice is that the addition of even a single co-op partner makes it much easier, and three players is a cakewalk. What's not nice is that after helping others a few times, it took twenty minutes to get help myself. The area after that is brutal, too. Not many enemies, but they can fuck you up real good. I need to get better with the parrying.

Upgrade material update: A badge from one of the bosses allows you to purchase basic Shards, and there's at least one more material above Twin Shards: a Blood Stone Chunk. I've definitely found enemies that drop both basic and Twin Shards, so those are probably farmable if you want to take the time, though I haven't really had a problem finding them naturally.

I've tried PVP a couple times, and been destroyed. I was never that good in previous Souls games, and the increased combat speed makes things even more bonkers. I have, however, done a decent amount of co-op. Most of it has been helping people with boss fights. I'll hang around the arena and co-op the fight three or four times before moving on. I haven't done much summoning myself, and the few times I have the other player has died within the first couple minutes and I just go on to finish by myself. If anyone is having trouble and wants to see how well the password system works, I'll definitely be on tonight. PSN name is LordKorax if you want to add me. I saw somewhere that the characters need to be within 10 levels of each other, and I'm forty-something right now, so that may be limiting, too.

We're just worried about your safety, Chris! What's going to happen to the podcast when Danielle inevitably falls into debauchery, murder, suicide, and insanity (which is apparently worse than murder or suicide)? Or, worst of all, when someone decides you need to be colorized???

I live in Denver, where weed is legal recreationally, not just medically, and I'm a ten-minute walk away from the nearest shop. I don't smoke anyway, but now I'm going to not smoke specifically to spite those of you for whom it's still illegal. While flipping both middle fingers in the air. HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT?!?

I've thought a little more about what each of these bosses gives you access to, and I think only two of them are required for story progression. 2 is the only thing directly blocking the exit from Central Yharnam, and you need something you get from 4 to get to another area outside the city. 1, 3, and 5 are only guarding/keeping items that, while useful, haven't had any significance to progression through the narrative. At least, not yet.

The bridge with the bastard beasts leads to the first boss fight, and you won't be able to level until you meet it for the first time. So, yeah, you should probably buy a bunch of Molotovs so you don't lose all your blood when it kills you (and you have backup stock for repeat fights).

It's where the vast majority of weapons will come from. It makes sense in the setting; only Hunters use trick weapons, and almost all the enemies are beasts or other monsters, so they all have regular swords and such.

Oh yeah, use Molotovs all the time. Fire in Bloodborne is like lightning in Dark Souls - the thing you hit is probably going to be weak to it, and if not, at least not resistant. You can buy them in the Dream for fairly cheap, so I always make sure I have a full stack (10) when I'm heading out. Once you've found the first boss, you'll have enough shortcuts opened that getting to the fight won't be a big chore, so returning after stocking up won't be a huge hassle. Another thing that's not immediately apparent is the stash in the Dream. There is one, in case you didn't know, but anything you pick up that exceeds your personal inventory is automatically sent to it. It's indicated by a green stash icon next to the item icon when you get the pickup message. And anytime you die or travel back to the Dream, your Blood Vials and Bullets are automatically filled from the stash.

So far I've found Blood Stone Shards and Twin Blood Stone Shards. It's like Titanite Shards & Titanite fragments. You can get a weapon up to +3 or +4 on basic shards, and then you need Twin shards to continue. Basic shards have been plentiful, and I think there might be enemies that drop them for potential farming. Twin shards are a bit more rare, but I've still found a decent amount of them. There is also an analog to the Crystal Lizards - a small mandragora/plant root creature thing that runs away from you, drops Shards, and doesn't respawn if killed. I saw my first one in Old Yharnam, and have found two or three more since then. I haven't been able to buy any yet, but since basic shards are so plentiful and there are so few weapons, I've just started upgrading stuff that I'm probably never going to use. I have something like 6 trick weapons and 4 guns, and except for starting gear, only one of them was loot. All the others came from the shop in the Dream. Oh, and I found a shitty wooden shield. It's shitty.

I've glanced at a couple guides, and they have this order in mind (boss names only): From what I can tell, 1 & 2 are set, but then things are more or less open. I opened the door to boss 4 next, and left because it was obvious that there was a boss fight and I didn't feel ready. I then beat 5 (just needs an item to access its area, Crest-of-Artorias-style), beat 3, and made my way back to 4. Also, out of those 5 story bosses, and the 3 Chalice Dungeon bosses I've fought so far (Chalice Dungeons have multiple floors, and a boss in each floor), the first one has been the hardest by far. It's like they want you to prove that you want to play the game in order to get anywhere.

Those guys are bastards. There's another side path off that bridge that you can get to without aggro-ing them. I recommend exploring down there a bit and coming back when you've got some more items and such to use. The first boss is the hardest out of the four I've fought so far. Just don't make the same mistake I did and use the Beckoning Bell. At that point, almost nobody is going to have the item required to be summoned, so it's just a waste of Insight. Also, the game doesn't give you the ability to level up until your first encounter with it, which is a bit of a weird choice.

Yep. Of course, figuring out the timing/whether or not something can be stunned is still an adventure. Yes, as far as I know.

I'm having a lot of fun, though it's taking me a bit to get used to how fast-paced everything is. My fallback in Dark Souls was to crank up my Endurance, get a good shield, and wait out enemy attacks. The Regain system makes it a bit easier, but figuring out dodge timing and darting in and out seems to be my main hurdle. What's nice is that gear doesn't seem to have any weight, so balancing armor vs mobility isn't a consideration you have to make (at least so far). There's also just not a lot of gear. I've found a weapon, bought a couple more, and found a few sets of clothing, all of which had similar stats to what I've been wearing, just shuffled around a bit. You can upgrade weapons, as usual, but fortification is more of a gem socketing affair. There's also something to do with equipping runes on your character, but the item you need to do so is protected by a boss (I'm on my way to kill that one next). I like the changes to the summoning system. You get a Beckoning Bell early on, and you can spend a point of Insight (sort of like Humanity) to ring it, and then the game searches for others in the area who have used their Small Resonant Bell and pulls them in. Of course, it also opens you up to those who have used a Sinister Resonant Bell to invade. From also incorporated the DS2 Name-engraved Ring right into the Network menu, and you can input a password to limit matchmaking to those using the same password.

When you get splattered with blood or slog through a waterway, the residue is persistent until you die or use the bonfire equivalent. If you've been at it for a while your clothing gets a slick red sheen that looks pretty cool.

PREY SLAUGHTERED

goddammit

My digital pre-order has pooled 5GB of Bloodborne on my PS4, and if my clock-reading abilities are correct, it unlocks at midnight on the east coast (10 PM local).

One of the first I ever saw, and I can never not see it in my head when the song comes up on shuffle:

27th sounds good. Creating a character shouldn't be to complicated. A lot of the more detailed customization doesn't start happening until 2nd or 3rd level.