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Bloodborne (Dark Souls 2 successor (Dark Souls successor (Demon's Souls successor)))

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So instead of fighting those two wolves I tried going down into some sewer area I had found. It seemed doable but I have a real problem with backing off when an enemy gets a hit in. I mentally go to this place where I think "if I just spam attacks maybe I can kill it before it kills me." This never works. Losing the echoes doesn't bother me as much as the time it takes to get there. On the bright side, I found that if you do the transformation move (L1) after a basic attack you get this combo that pretty regularly stuns dudes and knocks them out of their attack animation, so that's good at least (I'm using the axe). Not much luck with parrying though. In conclusion I'm terrible and this game is terrible.

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Am I doing something wrong with the chalice dungeons? I rarely ever get enough mats for the next one so I inevitably have to make a new one.

 

Can you just...reset one you've already run rather than creating an entirely new dungeon?

A lot of the materials are regular drops rather than chest treasures, mainly from the bodysnatchers and fat guys. So you can pop out and back in and usually will have enough for the next layer. That's if proper exploration didn't already give you enough (it's usually been enough for me. Note that there's illusory walls in some chalice dungeons, openable by hitting).

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I'm pretty happy with the chalice dungeons because I love the combat in these games, and love roguelikes which the chalices emulate pretty well.

That's exactly my problem with the (first) dungeon. I love roguelikes, but this ain't no roguelike. It's technically procedurally generated... but not in any way that could be described as interesting! It's just a bunch of big empty blocks with some enemies walking around behind some rocks or pillars. Sometimes there's a ladder. Maybe they get better?

 

It's such a stark contrast to the game proper that every time I go in I almost immediately want to leave. The only thing that keeps me there is the fact that the pre-boss exploration parts are blissfully short, and so I can get to the boss relatively quickly.

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Maybe it's just chance...I'm rolling in basically all the mats except for the requisite ritual blood. It just never drops for me which is really frustrating.

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So instead of fighting those two wolves I tried going down into some sewer area I had found. It seemed doable but I have a real problem with backing off when an enemy gets a hit in. I mentally go to this place where I think "if I just spam attacks maybe I can kill it before it kills me." This never works. Losing the echoes doesn't bother me as much as the time it takes to get there. On the bright side, I found that if you do the transformation move (L1) after a basic attack you get this combo that pretty regularly stuns dudes and knocks them out of their attack animation, so that's good at least (I'm using the axe). Not much luck with parrying though. In conclusion I'm terrible and this game is terrible.

 

I have been exclusively using the axe throughout my play through. And almost exclusively in 2-handed mode. I find that it's fast, and the L2 attack has excellent range, which is a 180 degree sweep, and pretty much always stuns, along with the standard R1 attack. Also learn the timings of the charged up R2 attack, as it stuns/knocks back pretty much every enemy, and is devastating.

 

Finally, my general beginner's tip is to break out of the habit of rolling backwards, instead to dash forwards and to the left/right. It usually gives you more than enough time to get a good combo going, and if you manage to land a charged R2 (1-handed) hit on the enemy's back , it leaves him open for a visceral attack, which is practically an insta-kill at that point.

 

 

That's exactly my problem with the (first) dungeon. I love roguelikes, but this ain't no roguelike. It's technically procedurally generated... but not in any way that could be described as interesting! It's just a bunch of big empty blocks with some enemies walking around behind some rocks or pillars. Sometimes there's a ladder. Maybe they get better?

 

I am on the 3rd chalice level, and I can confirm there's some minor changes, and there were a few cool traps, but nothing worth it's salt. They don't get better. 

 

My main problem with dungeons is that they feel so separate from the main game, and then on top of that, they're just really boring to play. There is no variation on what to do, or how to do it. Find the lever, kill boss, rinse and repeat until end. Also, it might be my bad luck, but bosses are now being repeated for me. It feels like a dungeon-crawler that is not like the rest of the series. I feel it doesn't fit in with the rest of the game.

 

 

Maybe it's just chance...I'm rolling in basically all the mats except for the requisite ritual blood. It just never drops for me which is really frustrating.

 

I had the same thing. In the end I just bought the required amount from the shopkeeps. I'm pretty sure you can use insight to get them too.

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Worth noting, once you've opened a chalice type once, you can search for other people's dungeons they've shared at no material cost, so all you ever really need to spend are the resources to open each "story" dungeon once. 

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That's exactly my problem with the (first) dungeon. I love roguelikes, but this ain't no roguelike. It's technically procedurally generated... but not in any way that could be described as interesting! It's just a bunch of big empty blocks with some enemies walking around behind some rocks or pillars. Sometimes there's a ladder. Maybe they get better?

 

It's such a stark contrast to the game proper that every time I go in I almost immediately want to leave. The only thing that keeps me there is the fact that the pre-boss exploration parts are blissfully short, and so I can get to the boss relatively quickly.

My experience has been that it's quite a bit more varied/interesting/challenging in the lower depths (lower pthumeru chalice & onward).

I adore the narrative/level design in the base main game but that level of content is not something I'm expecting or, I find, need to still enjoy playing. I'm quite happy to be able to switch between new chars/ng+ to reiterate the same content, and chalices which change it up a bit more.

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All right I'll give the other chalices a chance but IF THEY SUCK...

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After going back to DS2, my disappointment in the Bell system in Bloodborne is completely solidified.  Multiplayer is simply worse in Bloodborne in every conceivable way.  Without signs, you have no idea if the area you are in is populated with people within your summoning range.  I suspect having to burn Insight also makes people less likely to want to summon someone, since it has a cost, even though Insight is ultimately plentiful.  Being summoned to your location, instead of the host's location, is just dumb and a waste of time.  I suspect this has to do with loading screens though.  There's no loading screen when going to someone else's world, so my guess is that you load exactly on your location to avoid that.  If it used the summon sign system of previous games, you'd be much more likely to need to load the area if you had wandered too far away, and with the loading times being what they are, that would have made co-op even worse.  Having to return to the Dream to reset your vials/bullets means you can't just hang out and co-op a boss or area over and over, which is a thing that can be really fun to do, especially if you just want to help people through a hard spot or particularly enjoy an area/boss. 

 

It just feels like there are more barriers than ever to multiplayer in Bloodborne, and the barebones covenants reinforce that.  It almost feels like an afterthought, or that it is an incomplete system. 

 

I think Bloodborne might well be the strongest single player campaign of the Souls games (it feels perfectly balanced for that), but is unfortunately the weakest in terms of online play. 

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Having to return to the Dream to reset your vials/bullets means you can't just hang out and co-op a boss or area over and over, which is a thing that can be really fun to do, especially if you just want to help people through a hard spot or particularly enjoy an area/boss.

 

 

The fact that you have to burn through your stack of consumables also makes me feel a lot less excited to try and co-op. I tried to help people fight Rom last night, and after three failures all I had to show for it was the need for a trip around Central Yarhnam to top off my blood vial stack.

 

Related: Before doing that, I was trying to get help for my fight with Rom. Rang my bell / burned an insight, and half a second later a message popped up saying the server was going down and I needed to reboot the game. That felt great.

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I did zero multiplayer in Dark Souls (the only other Souls game I played), where I got help on Artorias and beat him the first try with help.

 

In Bloodborne, however, I've done a lot of helping people with bosses, and yeah, it's pretty shitty burning through consumables and then the person you're helping dies. It'd be fine if when they died I got back any consumables I used, maybe. I guess that could be seen as "too easy", but really I just think it's more convenient. I dunno I dunno.

 

I have yet to do any multiplayer that isn't just the bosses, though, so the problem of having to Find The Person hasn't really surfaced for me.

 

EDIT: Also I like that Bloodborne is referred to as a "Souls" game and no one questions this.

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All right I'll give the other chalices a chance but IF THEY SUCK...

I don't think our tastes ever align dude :P

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I tried helping some dudes for The One Reborn and the person summoning was a Vileblood (I had Executioner rune) so we were adversaries.

 

Then I got scared and fired a silencing blank and rung the co-op bell again.

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For the third one, I'd gotten up to get some chocolate milk while the game was loading, so I just got back to an invader standing by the lamp throwing pebbles at me like... heyyyyyy let's fiiiiiight c'mon buddy let's not be friennnnnds.

This is in Nightmare Frontier, where there's some NPC I can't find ringing a bell to summon invaders. It's a fun little mechanic, but I am really bad at PvP in Souls games.

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For the third one, I'd gotten up to get some chocolate milk while the game was loading, so I just got back to an invader standing by the lamp throwing pebbles at me like... heyyyyyy let's fiiiiiight c'mon buddy let's not be friennnnnds.

This is in Nightmare Frontier, where there's some NPC I can't find ringing a bell to summon invaders. It's a fun little mechanic, but I am really bad at PvP in Souls games.

 

If you can't find her, or don't want to keep struggling with that area, I can provide directions.  There's only two areas in the game that start with bell ringing maidens in them, so those areas tend to be heavily populated with invaders. 

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Or just play offline for that section. Personally I loved the invasions, especially as it was generally the same guy who kept invading me.

 

I just got the Cainhurst armor set. It looks real weird in the context of the rest of the game, but is pretty cool looking.

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I think Bloodborne might well be the strongest single player campaign of the Souls games (it feels perfectly balanced for that), but is unfortunately the weakest in terms of online play. 

 

Probably true.  I did a lot of Multiplayer in DS2 and I liked helping people with bosses, but I didn't have a ton of fun with the rest of the game.  Still going to check out the remaster when it drops to like 30 bucks.  I've heard the DLC is very good.  DS2 definitely had the best system for online play.  (Though I am partial to the DSFIX mod of Dark Souls on the PC.  Some friends and I have done Drunk Souls 3-player co-op for the game.  We somehow made it through Blighttown and got 2 of the 3 of us to the top of Sen's Fortress.)

 

Bloodborne's the game that finally makes the PS4 share stuff relevant for me.  Some friends and I captured and shared all our boss fights as well as weird little lore bits and interesting quest dialogue.  I imagine I'll be making use of it again when MGS5 hits later this year.

 

All right I'll give the other chalices a chance but IF THEY SUCK...

 

The chalice dungeons kinda all suck.  I adore this game, but I do not adore those.  There are, however, some very excellent boss fights that you can only see in those dungeons.  

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I didn't know that sedatives reduced Frenzy buildup.  I feel dumb.  I remember reading their description and it said something about insight, so I thought it was an item that interacted with insight somehow and never tried it. 

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I'm sick of Ludwig's greatsword. It's a fantastic weapon but Ive been swinging it around for about 50 hours now.

I decided to try out the Rapier with the gun attachment. It's pretty ok. I wish it hit as hard as the long sword mode for Ludwig, but it's fun to use. Unfortunately, it's terrible at dealing with multiple enemies, so I'd like another weapon to compliment it, any recommendations?

I can't wait to dual someone with a fully upgraded rapier, should be fun.

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