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

[Griddlelol]

I'm not grinding, I think I just have a lot of potions because I keep dying, and I die in such a way that I don't really have the opportunity to use many potions...

 

Also I've been accidentally pressing Up on the d-pad for days now and I only just realized that's what's been giving me that temporary +5 to bullets. Welp. That's a neat thing, though, sacrifice some health to get some bullets if you're out. Dunno if I'll ever need it (certainly haven't up until now), but hey. Also it's cool that it drains your health just like an enemy hitting you does, so you can theoretically not actually sacrifice any health at all if you play it right.

What?! I didn't know that. Bullets are arguably as important as health considering how much easier it is to parry now.

I'm also sticking with the hammer, it's just too cool not to use.

[Cbirdsong]

Yeah, vials are a lot easier to come by, so I've been trying to keep blood bullets in the quiver most of the time. If you time it right, you can lose the health right before attacking an enemy and recover a good chunk of what was lost using the regain system.

 

On the subject of bullets, it is so much more frustrating to die to a nearly-dead boss when resources are permanently consumed. 

Father Gascoigne, who I'm currently stuck on, seems particularly bad about this. He's really gets difficult once he hulks out at 25% health, so you're going to use a decent number of bullets and vials in almost every attempt.

After a close fight in Dark Souls, I would be a little upset but mostly thinking about how I can do better next time. In Bloodborne, frustration multiples with every consecutive loss, because I'm that much closer to having to grind for consumables. It's much less fun to learn by dying when learning/dying ultimately means I'm going to waste some time grinding for resources instead of doing something engaging. It feels a lot more like it doesn't respect my time.

[eot]

I maxed out both bullets and vials before I started bashing my head against Father without really trying all that hard. I guess I'm just more tolerant to grinding than others. Despite Bloodborne being practically the only gaming-related thing on my mind for days, I didn't play at all yesterday. I find it quite stressful despite finding it more fun than the past games I've played in the series(?).

Max out, as in you had 99 in storage?

I guess we have different ideas of "not trying too hard" heh. I think the most I've been at is 40, but I haven't made an effort to stock up either. The thing is though, that even if I haven't gotten frustrated by the mechanic yet the potential for it is apparent. I'd be surprised if there isn't a boss that I'll need 20 tries on in this game, pretty sure the other ones all had bosses like that, and the max vials you can have is enough for six attempts where you use all of them. It's just not that much. Personally I also enjoy doing the no levelling runs and that seems like a real pain in the butt, because those are basically just zerging yourself on bosses until you get through. The fact that you could easily reach a state where you had nothing to lose is something that I thought was great about the Souls games.

 

Also, regarding vials (tiny spoiler)

Their price goes up over time, so ginding for them doesn't become easier.

 

If you could reset the world without a load screen I probably wouldn't be complaining, because then I could just grind in Central Yarnham

[Bjorn]

Yeah, vials are a lot easier to come by, so I've been trying to keep blood bullets in the quiver most of the time. If you time it right, you can lose the health right before attacking an enemy and recover a good chunk of what was lost using the regain system.

 

I always try to do that on my first enemy, so I'm starting with five free bullets.  And if I think an enemy has dropped a health vial, I'll fill up with blood bullets, burn a vial, and then replace it from the dead enemy (assuming I'm at 20 vials already). 

 

Soooo, those of you who are further along, have you messed around with the beast pellet consumable at all?   I've had a bunch for awhile, but been chicken to try and don't want to spoil too much by looking it up.

 

For a weapon, I've actually been rocking the Stake Driver.  It hits almost as hard as the axe, but is faster with shorter range.  It's transformation switches it between a swiping attack and a pure thrusting attack, which is really useful to have in a weapon.  The charged R2 attack is an explosive punch that does almost as much damage as a parry critical, but is slow as fuck so it's mostly a gimmick to use for entertainment purposes.  But otherwise I really dig it. 

 

I killed my first NPC tonight, which was the right call.  First NPC that has set off a red flag for me.  He's relatively well hidden in the...

 

the Forbidden Forest, on the roof of the granary.  It probably would have been a really challenging fight if I hadn't cheesed it with poison knives because I had 80K echoes on me and had already lost one bloodstain worth 35K tonight). 

 

 

 

Also, fuck those burlap bag guys.  Fuck them hard, then set them on fire.  They cost me two different bloodstains tonight, one of 35K and another of about 14K.  Fucking bastards.  I've lost more bloodstains in Bloodborne than I think all 3 souls games combined.  I rarely lost a bloodstain of any value in the other games. 

[Griddlelol]

Oh man, the Gatling gun guy. He literally dodged off the edge, I climbed down the ladder and there was the item waiting for me. Couldn't stop laughing.

Something I've noticed is that there are a lot of short cuts, and barely any lanterns. I don't know if it's a coincidence, or I'm missing them, but I kind of like that choice. I'm so nervous constantly, then I find a door or ladder, ascend it, and suddenly I recognise where I am and sprint back to spend my souls.

[eot]

Also, fuck those burlap bag guys.  Fuck them hard, then set them on fire.  They cost me two different bloodstains tonight, one of 35K and another of about 14K.  Fucking bastards.  I've lost more bloodstains in Bloodborne than I think all 3 souls games combined.  I rarely lost a bloodstain of any value in the other games. 

I ran into one of those guys shortly after fighting BSB and got trapped in that prison. Yes, fuck those guys. Their damage is ridiculous. I found that the ones by the bonfire can be cheesed on the staircase though, the roof is slightly too low.

 

Oh man, the Gatling gun guy. He literally dodged off the edge, I climbed down the ladder and there was the item waiting for me. Couldn't stop laughing.

Something I've noticed is that there are a lot of short cuts, and barely any lanterns. I don't know if it's a coincidence, or I'm missing them, but I kind of like that choice. I'm so nervous constantly, then I find a door or ladder, ascend it, and suddenly I recognise where I am and sprint back to spend my souls.

You're not missing them. I'm loving the shortcuts too, but I haven't had that many great "aha" moments because I tend to find the shortcut backwards so to speak, so I'm already expecting it.

[melmer]

I used a beast pellet and didn't actually notice any effect :/

[Yasawas]

This is ludicrously good. For background I'm one of those dicks who actually bought three versions of Demon's to get all the platinums and 100%ed both Dark Soulses on multiple formats so I am quite predisposed to these games generally but I did not enjoy my first few hours of Bloodborne at all. I had chosen that shitty cane because I thought it would be funny and with the setting and the different feel of the combat it reminded me of those awful recent Castlevania games, I was expecting Souls with top hats but it was all a bit further removed than I'd expected. And then when first boss crushed me literally 15+ times without me doing better than 25% of his bar, I went to bed angry on Thursday night and worried it might all be over.

 

Friday morning though I manned up a bit and took him down with plentiful healing, started to make a bit of progress, found a new weapon, made a bit more sense of the new mechanics when it finally dawned on me the gun was a parry substitute and in the way of these games won me over with its grim charms. Three bosses down currently and if it can maintain the level of quality I've seen so far then I think it's going to be the best of these games, and I'm so pleased I was able to avoid all the previews for this as working things out is such a big part of the fun. Even if I was 12 hours in and two bosses down before I worked out how to repair and upgrade weapons - I was buying duplicates of weapons I had as I couldn't restore their durability.

[Synnah]

So I'm having quite a hard time finding enjoyment in this game. I'm currently around 10-12 hours in, in Old Yharnam, and I'm having an incredibly frustrating time 

largely because of the gatling gun prick on the tower

but also because most of the enemies in this area have lots of annoying small, non-telegraphing attacks that can open you up for a lot of damage if you get surrounded.

 

So far, my issues are mostly with changes made to the general balance of the combat over the previous games, and the knock-on effects these have on the other mechanics. For example, because the game puts you in a lot of situations where avoiding taking damage is very difficult (Large groups of enemies spread out, or just attacks that are difficult to read), it feels like the health regain system was implemented to compensate. However, this makes you lunge back in after taking damage, rather than make space, so you end up taking more damage (Maybe I'm just not good enough to avoid this yet, but I've had a number of panicked encounters where I got completely surrounded because I lunged back in to regain health, where my Dark Souls instincts were telling me to create some distance). It feels like the health system was changed to compensate for this, as the general consensus is that you go through a LOT of health items. This is the kicker to me; the Estus flask was an amazing mechanic, coupled with the bonfires, which fixed the problem with farming for health items in Demon's Souls, so doing away with both of them is kind of baffling, and makes you play the game in a very different way. Couple this with dreadful loading times and the awkwardness of having to return to the Hunter's Dream to do basic things, and the experience is generally one of frustration.

 

I have to keep reminding myself that I got frustrated quite a lot during all three previous games, too, but there was always something that kept me hooked. Often it was just the wealth of options for your character, in terms of armour, weapons and play styles (Shield, shieldless, dual-wielding, bows/crossbows, pyromancy/magic). All of these seem to be limited in Bloodborne. There were so many different kinds of armour before, which affected your play style, but everything I've found so far seems to look identical; a kind of bad steampunk cosplay. I like the trick weapons a lot, so I can't complain much about them, although I do feel like there might be slightly less variety overall. The range of useful play-styles seems to be a lot narrower, though, and that's what I have a problem with. Souls games were always about playing the character you wanted to play, and I don't really feel like I can do that at the moment; maybe that will change, though. I'm fairly intrigued by the story and setting, but I don't feel like it's going to be enough to keep me from giving up on the game after a particularly shitty string of encounters.

[Griddlelol]

So far, my issues are mostly with changes made to the general balance of the combat over the previous games, and the knock-on effects these have on the other mechanics. For example, because the game puts you in a lot of situations where avoiding taking damage is very difficult (Large groups of enemies spread out, or just attacks that are difficult to read), it feels like the health regain system was implemented to compensate. However, this makes you lunge back in after taking damage, rather than make space, so you end up taking more damage (Maybe I'm just not good enough to avoid this yet, but I've had a number of panicked encounters where I got completely surrounded because I lunged back in to regain health, where my Dark Souls instincts were telling me to create some distance).

 

This is just something you have to get used to. I absolutely love the health regen mechanic because it makes me play more aggressively, but it is a fine balance between safe aggression, and knowing when to back off and use a consumable.

 

Against groups of enemies, the health regen has been more of a hindrance, and I found it better to just back away, whereas with 1-on-1 fights, you tend to know how safe you are after being hit. The key is to just not panic, create distance when you don't know, be aggressive when you do. 

 

I'm loving the combat, at first the loss of a shield worried me, but in the previous games I never really used it. I always had one, but it had 2 roles:

1) Turtle the first time I encounter a boss. Learn it's moves, try not to die for as long as I can, so I can understand as much as possible.

2) Hold it up constantly, yet dodge anyway. Sort of like insurance against fucking up a dodge. 

 

I miss 1). I don't miss 2). I dislike how little time I last against bosses on the first attempt, so it takes me more times to kill them than in DS because I don't know their tells/attacks yet. It's basically meant I've been pumping points into endurance as a way to dance around as long as possible, sacrificing HP as a result.

 

Has anyone come across a gun that does decent damage? The Bloodtinge (?) stat feels useless if there are no high DPS guns.

[Cyborg771]

I have a new favourite weapon. I've gotten the hang of Ludwig's Holy Blade and haven't looked back. I can take out the giants in the cathedral ward with 2 hits now.

Has anyone else had trouble finding multiplayer sessions? I tried both local and global search for about 15 minutes each and couldn't connect. I have a good internet speed and the messages/phantoms show up so I know I'm playing online. I really wanna help somebody kill some bosses but can't.

[Korax]

Also, fuck those burlap bag guys.  Fuck them hard, then set them on fire.  They cost me two different bloodstains tonight, one of 35K and another of about 14K.  Fucking bastards.  I've lost more bloodstains in Bloodborne than I think all 3 souls games combined.  I rarely lost a bloodstain of any value in the other games. 

 

I can't wait to see what you think of the mind flayer things that are in Bergenwyrth and the Upper Cathedral Ward. Those are my new favorite thing to hate.

 

I haven't really bothered with the Beast Blood Pellets, but it looks like they require rapid weapon attacks to build up whatever effect they provide, and most weapons just aren't fast enough.

 

 

Has anyone else had trouble finding multiplayer sessions? I tried both local and global search for about 15 minutes each and couldn't connect. I have a good internet speed and the messages/phantoms show up so I know I'm playing online. I really wanna help somebody kill some bosses but can't.

 

I've had similar periods of inactivity that have usually been solved by exiting and fully closing the game from the dashboard, and then starting it up again. It seems like there might just be an occasional network communication error that doesn't fix itself without a complete refresh.

[eot]

I have to keep reminding myself that I got frustrated quite a lot during all three previous games, too, but there was always something that kept me hooked. Often it was just the wealth of options for your character, in terms of armour, weapons and play styles (Shield, shieldless, dual-wielding, bows/crossbows, pyromancy/magic). All of these seem to be limited in Bloodborne. There were so many different kinds of armour before, which affected your play style, but everything I've found so far seems to look identical; a kind of bad steampunk cosplay. I like the trick weapons a lot, so I can't complain much about them, although I do feel like there might be slightly less variety overall. The range of useful play-styles seems to be a lot narrower, though, and that's what I have a problem with. Souls games were always about playing the character you wanted to play, and I don't really feel like I can do that at the moment; maybe that will change, though. I'm fairly intrigued by the story and setting, but I don't feel like it's going to be enough to keep me from giving up on the game after a particularly shitty string of encounters.

I'm a little torn on this issue. It's not apparent to me why this game couldn't have had as much weapon and armor variety as Souls, but to be fair towards the game it's not technically in the same series. I like that it's different, because as much as I love Dark Souls I don't really want to keep getting more of the same. For that reason I don't want to criticise Bloodborne too much for the ways in which it's different. I want to judge it based on what it is, not what it isn't.

 

I agree with Gridde though that the lack of a shield makes the process of learning a boss' moveset more painful.

[Twig]

(carrying over a thing from the general PS4 thread)

 

Apparently some people are having trouble staying in Online mode when using PS4's rest feature? (Korax alluded to this above.) However, I still see the occasional ghost and I definitely still see messages. Buuuut most of the time when I click "view spectre" or whatever (to see people's deaths), I get nothing. So am I offline or online?!

 

Also does multiplayer work differently than how it used to? Like there's no humanity, but there is insight. Do I use insight to make myself "whole" again, or does dying no longer make me... dead? I know insight is used for a lot of different things (and it's kinda rad!), but dunno if it has any effect on multiplayer.

[JonCole]

I get the impression that there is no alive/dead state, instead you're always alive but you can only be invaded when you use the bell to summon co-op support.

[Twig]

Ah so it's much more controlled. Hmm sorta like that sorta don't hah.

[Bjorn]

Has anyone come across a gun that does decent damage? The Bloodtinge (?) stat feels useless if there are no high DPS guns.

 

Yes, it takes 10 bullets per shot

 

 

 

I can't wait to see what you think of the mind flayer things that are in Bergenwyrth and the Upper Cathedral Ward. Those are my new favorite thing to hate.

 

Are you talking about where someone spilled some ResEvil into my Bloodborne?  If so, I have found the first couple of examples of those.  Been really good with getting a parry kill on them, but I'm sure I will start fucking up the timing on that soon, as that's what's happened with both the big cleaver guys and the burlap bag guys. 

[Cyborg771]

Ah, the rest feature could explain it, I've been using it constantly since the patch. I'll quit out of the game and try again after work.

Oh, best moment so far was getting the mysterious stone from the guy in the forbidden woods. He said something about going to the right of the grand cathedral but I was really surprised when I got there.

[Bjorn]

Apparently some people are having trouble staying in Online mode when using PS4's rest feature? (Korax alluded to this above.) However, I still see the occasional ghost and I definitely still see messages. Buuuut most of the time when I click "view spectre" or whatever (to see people's deaths), I get nothing. So am I offline or online?!

 

Probably 60ish percent of the time that I click on a spectre, I get nothing.  Which is really disappointing, watching other people die in interesting/dumb ways is one of my favorite Souls pastimes.  I always get real excited when I find a stain at the bottom of a tall ladder.  "Look out belooooooow!"

[Korax]

Yes, it takes 10 bullets per shot

 

And 30 STR to wield!

 

 

Are you talking about where someone spilled some ResEvil into my Bloodborne?  If so, I have found the first couple of examples of those.  Been really good with getting a parry kill on them, but I'm sure I will start fucking up the timing on that soon, as that's what's happened with both the big cleaver guys and the burlap bag guys. 

 

There are a couple examples of a weaker version in Yharnam, which makes the sudden bastard-ness of the full-strength version that much more of a panicked surprise. Their main grab attack deals massive amounts of damage if you don't manage to parry it (somewhere around 500HP), and drains Insight. It doesn't take much to interrupt them, though, so if you have a quick weapon you can stun-lock them until you run out of Stamina and get grabbed while trying to dodge away from them.

[coaxmetal]

Has anyone found a use for either the bloodtinge or arcane stats, beyond just meeting minimum reqs? 

[Cyborg771]

Some weapons scale based on Arcane or Bloodtinge so increasing them can increase damage. Arcane supposedly has an effect on weapon buffs too.

[eot]

The world and atmosphere are growing on me. This might not be the most technically proficient games ever, but much like Dark Souls it has amazing visual design.

[Bjorn]

And 30 STR to wield!

 

I'm already on a STR build path, so I'm really tempted to put in the few extra points I need to get to 30, but the Stake Driver is a quality (equal skill/str bonus) weapon, and I haven't found a STR replacement for it yet.  And I'm sure it would ultimatley be something just to use for giggles anyways, as the most shots you could possible get out of it would be 3, and that would take filling up twice with Blood Bullets. 

 

 

I looked up what the Beast pellets do.   Beast pellets and at least one weapon draw on your Beast stat.   I assumed there would be a physical transformation, but there isn't.  You get a new meter (temp for pellets, permanent when using the one weapon) that as it fills up your damage increases, but your defense decreases.  The damage bonus has some relationship to your Beast stat.  I'll definitely have to mess around with them next time I play. 

 

 

Oh, I also went all the way through my first dungeon this weekend.  Has anyone done more than one?  It seemed like it wasn't very rewarding.  All I got was stuff for more dungeons, and the echo payout was shit.  I don't know if bosses are randomized, but fuckfuckfuck the third layer boss I had to fight.  Got through him in one go, but it was close.  He was a...

 

giant dog that was on fire and puked up lava.  Similar to the giant wolf/dog fights in DS1 and DS2, except, you know, on fire.  I fucking hate dogs.  Spiders bug someone people out in games, for me its dogs. 

[Vulpes Absurda]

You can also find weapons with diffrent blood gem slots then the normal versions and the best blood gems can only be found in the chalice dungeons.