f13.net

Played for 5 minutes, was too busy gawking to beat the first guy.

Must always beat the first guy in these games.

Also, this has the feel and motion and love that Dark Souls was missing. All within the first 5 minutes.

Yay From Software.

My CE copy has been delayed for some reason -- the current ETA is Thursday.

Ugh

Load times are absolute shit. Apparently From acknowledged this a few hours ago and mentioned they're working on a patch for it (didn't see any sort of ETA).

Digital download. Load times seem.... Demon's Soulsish.

Does Doublejump still make strategy guides?

Also, this is the Van Helsing game nobody knew they wanted. How utterly fantastic.

Edit: Future Press guide ordered. Fuck missing things on my second playthrough.

Yes DoubleJump does the Strategy Guide. I preordered it. Also, hate you all, I have to wait another 16 hours.

I ordered this: http://www.amazon.com/Bloodborne-Collectors-Strategy-Guide-Future/dp/3869930691/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427180976&sr=8-1&keywords=bloodborne+guide

Double Jump is now called Onion Bat. What guide are you talking about?

edit: falc, just get on steam

Have the digital download as well. I feel confident saying that the load times feel much worse than any previous Souls game, which is why I had to check to see if anybody was complaining about them (which is when I came across the news about the patch). I probably won't bother playing much until they're fixed. Aside from that, the game seems decent so far from the couple hours I've played. Only other real issue is that I feel like there's a lot more clutter in some of the areas than previous Souls games making it easier to get caught on stuff when you're trying to move around. Most of the early enemies are pretty easy (and I'm liking the cane whip which I picked as my starter weapon), but I've died a few times largely due to level design and camera issues.

I haven't found things more "cluttered," simply... more. I mean, the PS4 is just letting them put all the flavorful shit in they wouldn't have before. I've found the vast majority of things will get rolled through - piles of shit and whatnot. And the camera, well, the camera is fine. Feels a bit more like Armored Core than Souls. That said, Dark Souls was a pale pissy shit shadow of what Demon's Souls was, and this feels way more like Demon's than Dark.

I really, really, really don't know how much I'll get into it without a strategy guide though. I just know there's more to weapon choices and stats and shit than I comprehend at the moment and I hate not knowing how systems work and the intention of certain choices.

(I don't know how many people remember the wiki most of us used for Demon's Souls, but it was a goddamned lifesaver in terms of mid-game heartbreak).

Strat guide has been delayed to add the last minute changes to it so it may be a while before you'll play again if you stop now.

I'm aware.

/wrists

Haven't really paid to much attention to any pre-release talk about the game, but one of the things I have heard is that there's only a handful of weapons in the game. My initial impressions from looking at the menus and from a quick glance at one of the wikis is that the mechanics seem very stripped down compared to the Souls games. Most of the stats seem fairly straight-forward, there's no going STR or DEX, there aren't a lot of weapons or items, there's no encumbrance stats or weight, and no magic. A lot of the depth and breadth seems to be absent here to the point where I'm not sure a strategy guide is really needed.

Given the strategy guide is heftier than the Encyclopedia Britannica, I'm gonna go off on the limb and say no one playing the game has any fucking idea of what they're doing. Yet.

Not watching it as it can contain (what I consider) spoilers, but here's a guide about Stats and how to build your first character. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwXQZLNwS54)

I ordered the collectors edition because I want the artbook; I haven't received any news of delayed shipment. Ordered from Amazon however.

For what they are worth, reviews go from Awesome to Awesomest. At the moment 93% out of 35 reviews.

By far the highest ranked PS4 game (not counting PS3 ports) since the console launch a year and a half ago.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/bloodborne

God damn it, is this another game I have to get?  :awesome_for_real:

Have to wait till next month, but you fuckers are making me add it to my list.

From a few random reviews (yes, they could and are probably shills):

"If you were expecting a compelling reason to buy a PlayStation 4 will find few better than this for a while, and if you already have the console, have a mandatory hunt to which you cannot miss."

"It’s a shame it’s only on the PS4, but frankly, Bloodborne is worth buying the system to play."

"The PlayStation 4 finally has its exclusive killer RPG."

Off to pick this up today.  So damn excited.

I bought an extra AC power cord for the PS4 just so I can grab it and move it to a different room to play this if the wife wants the big TV.

It was $5.  Sony really does win this gen.

F this game only releasing on PS4. And F the reviews it's getting. I can't believe I'm seriously considering running out at lunch to drop $400 for a PS4, $60 for a game, $50 for online play, plus tax just for one damn game. I've already got an Xbox One that I love and have plenty of friends on, in addition to recently upgraded PC that I both play sitting at my desk or streaming via Steam to the big screen. That entry price equals a lot of games on the other 2 platforms, and there's not even a single other game that's PS4 only I'm interested in either out or on the horizon.

Is there any, even sliver of a chance that this could release on PC in the future?

Is it really THAT GOOD?!!?

F you for getting an Xbox One. What's wrong with you?!?!

( :heart: )

After this game was announced a lot of people were calling it Demon Souls 2. It really is not that, as it seems to be much more action focused. Like I said, there's no magic, and range is limited. Apparently there's only one shield in the game and it doesn't do much. You aren't going to be choosing between super heavy armor that you can't roll around in and a high STR weapon or light armor with a DEX weapon. The game wants you to be aggressive and it wants you to dodge. Customization seems to be more about which of the games few weapons do you want to use, and how do you choose to customize it with Blood Gems. These aren't knocks against the game, but by all accounts the gameplay really does seem to be a lot more straight-forward than any of the Souls games.

:awesome_for_real:

Unfortunately it was first based on how many friends went to Xbox One. And secondly because of Kinect, which sounds lame, but I have the place everyone gathers to hang out and stuff like dancing games are awesome after much bourbon.

Is there hope yet? Any chance this could pan out from the rumor mill?
http://www.kdramastars.com/articles/79021/20150323/bloodborne-pc-release.htm

I doubt it. Exclusives are meant to be that. There might be a deadline after which an exclusive deal doesn't matter anymore, but it could easily be five years from now or even more. Before that, the whole point is to make people want to buy the console, not just the game.

Sigh :( . And where's my pc version of Red Dead Redemption, while we're at it???  :why_so_serious:

http://ca.ign.com/articles/2015/03/24/amazon-france-lists-bloodborne-for-pc

Which is just a link that echos what was posted.

I am doing everything I can to hold off on a PS4 until at least more than ONE game comes out that I want to play, but this is very hard to ignore.

https://twitter.com/ign/status/580395831745986560

How bad were they to begin with?   :ye_gods:

I honestly had no problem with the load times last night. I mean, they existed, which was annoying - but in 30 years of gaming it didn't even crack the top 100.

Mostly because the PS1 existed.

My wife is way too savvy regarding gaming and my habits for me to convince her I need a PS4 for just a single game. Recently upgrading my gaming pc and buying a new laptop has her unreceptive to the idea spending more money on toys.

Grew up on "PRESS PLAY ON TAPE". I am vaccinated.

That said, I remember how different loading times were in Dark Souls 2 on PS3 and on PC, and PC made the whole experience much better by speeding them up ten times. So if they can shorten them, great. Having to wait a while every time you die (and you die a lot) used to feel like an additional layer of punishment for your failures on top of losing your souls and having to run the level again, to the point one day while I was swearing and cursing AND waiting after another death I wondered if that was done on purpose by the sadistic developers.

What was the system where the load times were so terrible you could play with a chain of little light orbs to pass the time?  That was horrific.

PS1, Dreamcast, and PS2 all had loading screen games. Pretty sure Namco had the patent.

People forgot how terrible loading times are over time as they aren't that much of a pain point except for "RIGHT NOW I WANT TO PLAY DAMNIT" and then you're playing and forget about it.

Bitching about them in Bloodborne is just like "Oh shut the fuck up" levels of whinery.

My wife says "Don't Gamecube me on this, okay?" about once a week when I try to fit anything into the budget that could be construed as a major fun purchase. Apparently the Gamecube years left a mark on her.

That said, this is a major release that brings the PS4 to three titles I can't play on other systems (Infamous SS, The last of us remastered and Bloodborne). Urge to buy rising.

Hey, I wanted to say "oh shut the fuck up" when you were already sucking the game's dick five minutes into playing it but I managed to restrain myself.

I don't even have a PS4 and despite knowing this will be great, I can't muster the enthusiasm to play.

How brutally hard is it compared to Demon's Souls? Also, is there any platforming?

Experiencing a wee bit of choppiness and also the long load times. But. as a DS I & II fanboi I am really enjoying the atmosphere and combat mechanics, but only put an hour in.

Most of all, I was ecstatic to find out that..  (slight game mechanics spoiler)

So far, I am not feeling the long loading times at all.
What I am not particularly happy with is the lack of weapons which wouldn't be too bad if it weren't for the rumour that there aren't that many as in Dark Souls 2 anyway. Weapons are one of the coolest things of the Souls games. Reducing them can never ever ever be a good thing.

Other than that, loving it.

I don't have a PS4. I will play this, but not immediately. Will wait for a couple patches and hopefully a PS4 price drop at some point. I still need to beat Dark Souls 2!

Wait, what was that about not really being able to use a shield?  I.....I don't know if I can play this game without a shield.  And a spear.  Please tell me there are spears.

No shields. And I agree, it's very very bad for some people including me because I LOVED shields in the Souls game. This one is all about offense or dodging, it's like playing any of the *Souls with dual wield or two handed weapons. It's cool, except here it's not a choice, it's just mandatory. So yes, no matter what, it's another thing that I like less than in the other three chapters.

No idea about spears yet.

The only shield in the game is apparently a joke item. Your firearm is essentially supposed to be your defensive weapon as it can slightly stun enemies (they do shit for damage). The only weapon I've found so far as opposed to purchase is kind of a spear. Without the shield it doesn't really feel the same though, but you can find it fairly early on.

From what I can tell from the more comprehensive wikis, there's around 15 weapons in the game not including the guns and there's three versions of each weapon (Uncanny versions are stronger and Lost are the strongest). The dual functionality of each weapon makes them fairly fun to use though. After beating the first boss the Kirkhammer was available to purchase back at the hub. The normal function is just a sword, but your character carries around a big block of stone on his back and when you switch weapon functionality he sticks the sword into it and the weapon becomes a giant sledgehammer.

Two bosses downed now. I still feel like the camera and the environments get in the way a bit too much and I'm fighting those as much as the bosses. Since the focus in this game is more on faster paced melee combat, there's a lot of rapid fire dodging involved and the camera doesn't always seem to keep up well. So far it's been fairly trivial to max out on the blood vials (health potions) which allows for some leeway but I came pretty close to dying in the first boss fight when I dodged up against the side of a wall and the camera swung around outside it so I couldn't see anything. The few times I died on the second boss were from getting caught on objects in the environment and then rapidly getting beat down before I could get off. Of course in Souls fashion I was also able to use some of those objects to cheese the encounter a bit up until the point where the boss was able to start destroying them.

Since i am liking almost EVERYTHING, it's fair that I spend three seconds on the things I do not like:

- Not enough weapons. Why? Sucks bad.
- No shields. Sucks bad.
- No encumbrance and weight management. Sucks bad.

I am very early in the game, so I can't be totally fair. But I don't like these changes no matter what. They kind of piss me off.

Good thing everything else is amazing and it totally makes you forget about it while you play. The mechanic that allows you to get some life back when you counterattack is really cool. I hated it on paper, but plays wonderfully.

I'm so glad there are no shields, because shields are for suckas. Seconding the health regen on counterattack being awesome. Keep it aggressive!

Played almost 5 hours yesterday with two buddies switching the controller whenever we died.

At the start I was doing really well, but we hadn't found a second bonfire (lamp? whatever) and I kept going into dark alleyways or charging new enemies just to fuck with the other guys.

By the end of it we were getting into screaming matches about not being able to counter properly on the first boss. "WHY DON'T YOU JUST FUCKING DAMAGE HIM AT LEAST" "HOW ABOUT I JUST RANDOMLY SHOOT HIM WITH THIS PIECE OF SHIT GUN, ALSO FUCK YOU"

Definitely the most fun hot-seat multiplayer game in years. 5/5 would drink beer at 10 a.m. again.

Dual shield is best shield!

Did the same identical thing last night with three other friends and my son. We are all over 40 so it was a big deal because we met at midnight and stayed up until 3am having to go to work at 8am (these folks have issues getting out at night, family, kids, shit) and I can only agree with you lesion. I didn't have this much hot-seat fun since probably the Nineties, when online multiplayer was practically non-existent and me and these same guys used to play like this all the time.

I tried to get into the Souls games but ultimately just found them tedious. I'm glad I took a chance on Bloodborne because I'm enjoying it way more. The looser more aggressive style of combat is a lot more my style, and the frequency of health drops and shortcuts (in the first area at least) make exploration more rewarding than stressful.

Bosses so far are GREAT. Having to use the shotgun as a stun/interrupt weapon is a cool mechanic especially in the second boss fight.

But but

it's hard not to notice how many things have been simplified, yes. I still believe that I might have to bite my tongue considering I have seen 2% of the game. But as Velorath was saying, there's about half the stats and numbers we had before. No weight, no encumbrance, no poise, apparently no poison/bleeding meters. All of that also means you are not gonna move and swing faster or slower based on a weapon weight or your personal attributes, which was one of the most impressive and cool things of all the tprevious three games. I wonder what else have been stripped. There's about half the weapons we had before, which also means looting is so far very underwhelming.

There's also about half the fighting mechanics: you can say you like the new aggressive style all you want, but it was more than possible to play like this in the previous games if you wanted to. And on top of that, you had shields and defensive play. Now you have mandatory dual-wield or two-handed, so if anything the possible playstyles have been reduced. Shields were cheesy and dodge-rolling until you bleed is fine? OK.

In short, save for the counter-to-heal mechanic, combat is LESS than it was in all the previous D*Souls, not more. Trick swiss knife weapons? Whatever, really.

For once, this is not a criticism about the game being easier (it's not!) than the previous ones. The word that everyone likes to use now is "streamlined", but there are certain degrees of complexity that even though are not for everyone, certainly contribute to make something amazing. This step back, clearly meant to lower what many perceived as an entry barrier, is the kind of dumbification that I cannot be OK with.

As a final note, I am very disappointed with the character creator tool. There's a ton of sliders but their range has been dramatically reduced from Dark Souls 2. I could do anything from very thin to obese in DS2 and now I had a really hard time to simply get a curvy character. In fact, once I entered the game she looked even leaner than in the creation screen. Minor gripe, but WTF?

Just to clarify, I am already addicted and loving the game. Simply trying to be objective about what I do not like of it, instead of stating the obvious fact that it's overall fantastic. But is it better than any of the three previous *Souls? I am really not sure yet.

I'd love to play this, but I don't have a PS4 and this is, so far, the *only* reason for me to get one. I know now that no game is worth spending 100's of £ on, so unless they make a decent PC port it's not gonna happen.

This game is really good but coming from Demon's Souls and in general being an impatient asshole I am really bad at it. The swoop dodging is incredibly good and useful but right now starting out it's really hard to eyeball exactly how far away you need to be to avoid some attacks so I keep getting barely clipped. Also I cannot figure out how to properly interrupt regular enemies with the pistol for counters for the life of me.

I kicked the tires on this last night for an hour (and in true Souls fashion, I had absolutely zero to show for it, not souls, no upgrades, no nothing).  I am feeling some of those same things that Falc wrote.  I do not get the dumbification.  The combat so far is less tense, because they have made these trade offs to ensure that you are playing aggressively and that means also being able to take on several mobs at one time.  One on one, the early mobs are stupid easy, and the only reason I die to them at all is when they start to gang up on me because I am being overly (and deliberately) careless.  In other Souls games, caution is always the way to go and any mob you think is easy will suddenly stab you 10 times in the ear for thinking such foolishness.  And what will this, and the lack of weapons/classes, do for replayability?  If I replayed and of the other Souls games, I could drop the shield/sword combo and go full squishy caster...it would be a totally different game.  Will it be the same here?

That said, I have little doubt that there is tons of good game here.  Have to get used to this different style of play.  Can't tell you how many times I hit L1 on the controller, because my stupid chimp brain has permanently mapped a shield to that button, only to do a weapons switcheroo in the middle of the battle and get hacked as a result.  Not cool.

This game isn't out in Europe until tomorrow apparently. Because pointless stupidity

<-----------European

Apparently it's just the UK that's on the 27th.

Literally no idea why

Really weird. It was on PlayStation Network exactly at midnight across the 24th and 25th. It unlocked at midnight CET. What part of Europe are you in? UK. So so strange.

Maybe they had to edit out all the cockney accents and replace them with more proper queen's english. 

Also, at the risk of having Schild go apeshit on me, I think the load times suck.  I can literally stare at the screen, lament the slowness, pick up my phone and check an email or two before it is done loading.  That's too long, kiddos, especially in a game where dying all the time is part of the experience.

It sucks if you die a lot like me.

Another thing that insanely sucks: the game asks you to grind for consumables, and then forces you through two very long loadong screen to respawn the mobs you need to grind, as opposed to the simple rest at a bonfire mechanic of the previous games.

I've run into the 3rd and 4th bosses, but haven't beat them yet. When you take into account the 2nd bosses transformation partway through the fight, all the bosses feel a bit too similar so far. It sounds like they switch things up a bit eventually, but a lot of the early boss encounters seem to focus heavily on them just rushing you and doing multiple attacks, and occasionally they'll do attacks that leave an opening. It feels like because they've boiled this game down to just a specific kind of melee combat that they've also somewhat limited what they can do with the bosses.

Overall the game feels a bit like Souls Lite. Maybe it was due to the transition to the new console and they just didn't have enough time to do a fully fleshed out Souls game, but from the direction they've taken things in since Demon's Souls I sometimes feel like they don't actually know what people like about these games.

I believe the two series will branch out. Bloodborne represent their new line trying to open up to a wider audience, more keen on attacking and less interested in defending. More inclined to just fight than to compare a million weapons and keep track of how many invulnerability frames did they gain by putting 1 more point in Dexterity. Bloodborne is From Software interpretation of Batman Arkham Asylum.

Dark Souls will retain the hardcore label, with its gazillion stats and theorycrafting numbers on top of a more diverse playstyle due to shields, encumbrance, movement and attack speed and so on.

Not that I know if they are gonna make another *Souls game, but honestly, to me this game doesn't feel like the successor of Demon's Souls at all.

*Disclaimer - I am still only ten hours into the game so this opinion is absolutely weightless.

This is all funny to me because things I hated about Demon's Souls:

1. 500 pointless weapons
2. Blocking (because it's for pussies)

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The shield thing is a "historical" setting choice as much as a mechanical one, I think. The game wouldn't look right with shields.

Yes I agree, shields wouldn't work in Bloodborne especially because of the setting. But it's also why they were amazing in Demon's Souls and its bastard sons, because they were "historically" accurate. I am not bothered that lots of you seem to prefer aggressive playstyle. Great. You could do it anyway so I don't see the problem. And generally speaking I am happy to be a pussy especially if that's the definition of my favourite playstyle. All the *Souls allowed you to be a massive immovable tank or an extralight murderous spinning machine, and also sooooooo many things in between. Now you can only be a hyperactive tornado of blades and that's why it feels more like Shadow of Mordor than Demon's Souls.

Shields were amazing because they made perfect sense in that setting, because they created an additional playstyle that is usually neglected in these kind of games, because they looked cool, and because they felt heavy, real, and just played great. And ultimately because if you didn't like them you weren't forced to use them.

There are no other games where hitting something is as satisfying as the Souls games (Bloodborne included), and similarly there are no other games where the sound of a weapon clashing against your shield sends vibrations to your spine and other blissful things to your brain.

Which makes me think of another element I am missing in Bloodborne. Metal. This game is all about leather, skin, beasts, soft matter, blood, "animal products". Which once again makes a lot of sense and cannot be circumvented given the time period. But it's hard not to miss all the metal.

The fictions these guys put together in their games could easily allow for using shields in Bloodborne if they had really wanted. I think this is either the game they wanted to make or at the very least, they game they felt they could make with the time they had to make it.

Just downed bosses 3 and 4 in quick succession. Getting health back from attacking enemies right after they hit you makes it almost counterproductive to dodge a lot in boss fights assuming you're leveled enough to go toe to toe with them a bit. Bosses move too quickly and too wildly at times to be able to count on dodging and waiting for openings, but if you stay in there and go after them you can get back a lot of the health you lose.

Tried out few different weapons, and I've mostly been liking the Hunter Axe. It's a bit slow and when it's transformed you can't use your gun, but it's got decent range and when I do a charged attack with it two-handed I can one-shot most normal enemies. Kirkhammer is supposed to scale more with strength, but it feels even more slow than the axe and the range kinda sucks.

One of the "issues" I am having in the early going (and I mean REALLY EARLY) - and it may just be because I haven't quite figured out wtf to do - is that I can collect a bunch of blood-thingies...and I have nothing to do with them.  The only dudes I can find back at the house don't sell anything I need, I cannot upgrade or buy a weapon, I can't even level up.  So do I just keep these things until I die and lose them?  That can't be right.  These games have always been about figuring out how far you should push before you go back and cash-in.  What am I missing?

Note:  I have not made it to the first boss, and maybe that is my problem.  Still, seems I should be able to do something when I have built up a few thousand.

Yes you have to kill the first boss. A lot of people won't get that far before quitting :awesome_for_real:

I think you only need to have one insight.  There is a consumable one you can get to before you have to fight the boss.

From what I understand, you only need to FIGHT the first boss to unlock leveling. Winning is optional. Granted, I'm not that far yet either due to a combination of no time and old man reflexes.

Yep, I found two of those things, so I was able to level up a few times before I encountered the first boss.

The second boss is the real first roadblock. He had his way with me last night, attempting again tonight.

I predict I will stop playing after failing to kill that big dude with the axe hiding behind the crates. :awesome_for_real:

That's assuming I can even get past their fugly face creator. You would think From would be able to afford some decent face modelers after all this time.

You just need to cross the bridge and die, not even enter the boss room, in order to start leveling.  I don't think killing the sewer pig is part of it.

If you have a lot of blood vials like me, you can sell them.  I also sell off extra bullets.  14 Arcane seems to be why I have so much crap.

The axe guy behind the crates is kinda tough since he seems to be the one thing that is fire-resistant.  I managed to slap his ass with the cane enough to do the job, and got a blood gem for my trouble.  It's a random drop, so good luck.

I still haven't entirely explored the first area, but I'm almost done.

Yegolev, folks.

Posts in one thread how he has a young ringer for a shooter.
Posts in another thread how you're all pussies and Bloodborne is easy.

#blessed

Boss five down and was the easiest one so far. Also did some backtracking through the first few areas and apparently there are at least a couple good reasons to go back though some places later on.

Fuck shields, fuck dodging. Get up there and chop chop chop.

I was starting to get REALLY pissed at this game...making no progress, losing all my souls (blood thingies).  Decided to try two handed, which I initially thought was too slow.  And surely you need to use the offhand pistol or torch?  Turns out I am way better at two handed.  Figured out how to bypass those two werewolves and finally make it to the first boss.  And yeah, he killed the shit out of me, but that indeed opened up the Doll back at the homestead for leveling.  Now I can grind levels, and feel like I am no longer wasting my time.  You really have to get to this point before this game is any actual fun. 

Let's talk about Chalice Dungeons.

Apparently you after you beat the third boss you can create your first chalice dungeon.

What is a chalice dungeon, you ask? I'd like to know it myself!

IF I got this right, a Chalice Dungeon is a randomly generated dungeon that you can create given you have certain items. There are 4 "biomes" and every dungeon you spawn can have up to five floors, but i am pretty sure you can generate more floors if you "craft" a dungeon with more unique ingredients.

Now, the idea is kind of amazing: as in a roguelike, endless procedurally generated dungeons for you to explore and loot, and the best part is that you can share them with other players, so you can give it to your friends and see how they do in it, and they can send you yours. Not to mention you can totally co-op them with a specific friend, not a randmoly summoned ghost. Also, at any time, you can just join a random dungeon by using the appropriate search tool, specifying what bionem difficulty and other things you want.

So yes, basically it seems like From Software injected more Rogue into their *Souls game. But the questions I have are:

- What is the point? Is this supposed to be something you start doing when you have finished the game, or are there good reasons to start running them whenever you want? I am asking this because you never know where the people at From want you to go in their games, so I wondered if I were supposed to complete my first Chalice Dungeon (I only cleared the first floor so far) or it's an extra thing that I can do or not and it doesn't matter?

- What are the rewards? Are there special rewards, or it's just to grind, get some consumables, and break the monotony assuming you have already finished the game?

- Is there anything else you know about Chalice Dungeons that I don't? Sure I could look up a guide on Google, but I would prefer if we shared what we know here.

576 pages of strategy guide is gonna clear up a lot of shit.

We can talk about all the shit stripped out from the previous games, but chances are we know precisely nothing about Bloodborne right now. Hell, it took us months to "solve" demon's souls. And a massive faq that was updated constantly.

So true. Apparently the NPCs have a ton of potential branched "quests", that change based on what you are wearing, when did you talk to them, how much insight you have, and what did you do with the other NPCs. So yes, we know nothing. But to be fair, there's a chance all these info are already just a google away. So while I wait for the official guide, I'd just prefer to trade knowledge than read bad walkthroughs riddled with ads.

Today, a mob killed me and instead of the usual respawn I got a short cutscene where that mob throws me in a prison. The place itself is cool and took me a while to get to an exit point. Clearly, I hadn't really finished to explore it and now I don't seem to be able to go back to jail. So, no idea what triggered it and no idea if I can eveb go back there before NG+, but it's stuff like this that makes me love these games.

I finished the Chalice Dungeon you get access to by beating the boss. There seems to be a bit of a progression with the dungeons so you might as well clear them out whenever you are able otherwise you'll probably outlevel the early ones a bit. By progression I mean that it appears that killing the second boss in the dungeon will get you the root version of the chalice allowing you to make random versions of what I'm assuming is the tile set of that particular dungeon. You also seem to find the other materials you need off various enemies in the dungeon. Killing the third boss gets you the chalice for the next dungeon.

I'm sure going through all of them will probably net you something in the end. Otherwise I assume they're for farming blood and items if you're doing chalices that are level appropriate. This first Dungeon was only giving me a trivial amount of blood. Also Chalices appear to have a depth rating next to their listing which is what I assume determines how many levels its dungeons have.

More important things that you might want to know:

Demon's Souls had a shit-ton of replayability that made all the hidden stuff fun to do. I didn't feel the need to do everything in the Dark Souls games and after beating them messed around with NG+ for a couple days and then never went back. I don't feel like I'm going to need 576 pages of information on a game I'll probably play through once, especially since it doesn't sound like a particularly hard game to beat.

Not sure what you take the lack of replayability from in this case. I actually heard (that's it, just heard) that this is the most replayable of all the four games. Can't say if it's true, just curious what you take your impression from. I heard there's lots of hidden bosses for example. And as in Dark Souls 2, lots of things change in NG+, on top of all the "quests" you could have done differently.

Seems to me you are subtly kind of talking the game down just to counterbalance Schild talking too high. The 576 page thing is probably a big deal because, simply put, thnk about how much money Double Jump just lost to add those 130+ pages. Countless people will cancel their preorders since they will have beaten the game by the time the guide gets released. So I doubt they would throw that money away (not to mention that they had to pay to add 130 more pages but the cover price is unchanged) if it weren't for the fact that they contain valuable information. Not sure if you have seen the previous guides, but they are packed to the brim and it's not fluff.

Playing after the end of the first playthrough is a personal thing. For example, there were plenty of good reasons to go through NG+ In Dark Souls 2 but it doesn't mean you are doing it wrong if you don't want to. In Bloodborne it looks like there is tons of stuff to do after you beat the game, and a proper guide usually makes it even more fun.

Nah, I don't need to counter-balance schild. When Dark Souls came out he said that From had made a game that was better than Demon's in every way, and then never finished it or even talked about it much.

The replayability in Demon's for me, and I probably mentioned this in one of the Dark Souls threads, is that it had bite sized chunks in the way it's levels were put together. I liked the hub system of Demon's over the open worlds of the Dark games. Going through the Dark games felt more like going through a long RPG. By the time I was through I just felt done with them. It was also partly that I feel like very few areas in the Dark games had been crafted to the extent of those in Demon's, and similarly, however far into Bloodborne I'm in, the environment hasn't really changed much at all.

Basically I feel like Demon's had quality over quantity, the Dark Souls games stressed quantity more, and Bloodborne right now lacks in both. It doesn't have the quality of Demons's and it doesn't have the quantity of any of the games right now, both in terms of environments and gameplay.

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3584773/Bloodborne%20Cannon.jpg)



(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3584773/Bloodborne%20Cannon%202.jpg)



 :awesome_for_real:

(It's ten bullets each shot)

Just found that, although I don't have the stats to lift it. Also attacked the NPC nearby since he was gnawing on a body before I talked to him and seemed particularly interested in going to one of the safe areas. His subsequent reaction seemed to make me feel like I made the right call. Also went through the second Chalice Dungeon (not the root version of the first one). 3rd Dungeon seems slightly tough for my level. Picked up Ludwig's Holy Blade from the vendor and I'm liking it so far but after playing most of the game with the axe so far it's a big adjustment switching to a different weapon move set.

That's what I always liked about the Souls games as opposed to pretty much every other game where you feel the need to optimise. Even when there were too many weapons, they were all viable. When you start upgrading them, they all do their job, so eventually you can totally play with the one you prefer because of the animations, speed, range and so on. Sure, some weapons are just outright better, but you can do amazingly well with pretty much everything. I gotta give it to the "trick weapon" system for allowing you to practically carry 4 weapons on you at all times instead of 2. Easy to cover all situations and enjoy variation even when you stick to one or two weapons.

I got the Ludwig Holy Blade too and I was underwhelmed at first since it didn't seem as enough of an improvement over the beginner axe. Then again, when you get used to the new moveset (both of them) and you starrt upgrading it, it quickly turns into a beast. This is not to say that the axe from +4 onward wasn't already a monster, but the Holy Sword devastating impacts are simply too good to pass for my tastes. I am tempted to do a whole new playthrough just with the kirkhammer heavy form. But let's face it, I've only seen 8 trick weapons so far and considering how unique they are the whole process of finding new ones is proving to be a huge motivation to progress.

The Kirkhammer is pretty potent stat-wise but the move set wasn't working for me. Not to say it's bad but it just really wasn't fitting my playstyle. The axe's two-handed charge attack has been a favorite of mine throughout the game because it's good at hitting multiple targets, and the arc also makes it somewhat possible to hit targets around cover.

Okay so supposing I want to get into this series but I'm limited to PC gaming due to not having the console, should I start with Dark Souls 1 or jump right in to Dark Souls 2?

Dark Souls 1. (just to make the distinction clearer)

The "prepare to die edition" is less than $20 on Steam right now. DS is also a vastly better game than DS 2.

If you had access to a PS3 I'd probably suggest Demon's Souls instead but on the PC it's Dark Souls.

You'll also need a gamepad.

Buy a PS3, get Demon's Souls. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

You guys are insane.  I have just managed to finish off boss number two, and have managed to upgrade my weapon just a couple of times.  I'm somewhere around level 25 and feeling that I am making fine progress indeed.  And then I read all these things you guys are doing and don't even understand half the words.  Le sigh.


Dark Souls 2, I would think.  I have heard lots of negatives about the PC port of DS1, but can tell you from personal experience that DS2 is perfectly good on PC.  And it looks the business.  The games are not otherwise linked in any explicit way that makes you need to play them sequentially.

Heh, I like how he get three totally different answers.

Whatever.  They are all great games IMO.  If you can get DS1 to work on PC, I suppose.

I'd actually agree with Schild that - all things considered - I'd probably recommend Demon's Souls over Dark Souls. Buying a PS3 just for that game seems a bit excessive though.

Going through the hassle of getting to run DS on a PC is worth it IMHO. Get Durante's patch which fixes a lot of issues the game has on PC and you'll be fine. DS is a much better game than DS 2.

I am right with you, second boss down, one weapon to +3, and working to get to the third boss. Starting to question my stat choices as the level costs get higher, though. Got vitality and endurance to 12, but mostly focusing on Strength at 20 now. Wondering if I should get Arcane bumped up now, or if it's better to focus. Supposedly, respeccing is not an option, so I worry spreading too thin early on could be a bad idea.

I still have nightmares about the swamp in DS1. Overcoming that is something everyone should go through once in their life.

Well when it comes right down to it, I would agree with that as well.  I mean, surely one can borrow a PS3 from someone. 

Demons Souls = Wacky unbalanced mad scientist random things thrown together type game.  The more you like weird stuff, the more you'll like this.

Dark Souls 1 = Awesome NPCs, best of any FROM game.  Very twitchy gameplay (but not as much as Bloodborne).  Better balance and flow than Demons Souls.  Everything feels like it "fits" better.

Dark Souls 2 = Best story and lore but much weaker NPCs, most areas, longest game experience, more of everything than the other games.  Way less twitchy play, takes a second to do anything so there's more planning and less reflexes than the other games.

I actually preferred Dark Souls 2 over the other 2 because that play style is preferable to me..  I also never signed up for XBOX Live gold and borrowed a PS3 for Demons Souls, so no online play at all for me.

That's why I asked!
 :awesome_for_real:

Somehow we skipped Playstation generations in this household -- went from 2 to 4, but we got XBoxes all the way down (kids). I've always preferred PC anyway, even if I have to hork around with it to get it to run right.

Hmmm. If I can get this Nvidia Streaming Stuff working smoothly, I could shoot Dark Souls from my gaming rig to the big screen downstairs and play with the SHIELD controller, maybe...

Thanks for all the answers guys. The more you know!

I am a slow player and I take pride in that. I am at a point in life where all games bore me before I finish them and I believe that the 4 *Souls games are the only one that I enjoyed from the first second to the last. So I might be ahead of (some of) you, but that's because I already put 35 hours in this, and I have only killed 4 bosses! And the reason I mention this is because I've heard from multiple sources that a reasonable time to finish the first playthrough is 40 years hours. Yeah, not me. It took me 90 hours to finish Dark Souls 2 whereas everyone was clocking around 45. It's not that I suck, I just go deliberately slow as a way to prolong the experience and enjoy every second and every nook.

Bottom line, I think I am just a boss or two ahead of you. I have literally seen less than 30% of the game at this point.  :awesome_for_real:

Wow this is an epic game.

 :uhrr:

My bad.

Stuck on the second boss; that enrage phase is some bullshit  :oh_i_see:

The formula doesn't change. Just roll under its armpits and hit it a couple of times and then sidestep-sidestep-sidestep. Rinse repeat. When it phases to beast form you gotta dodge-dodge-dodge until it does something that leaves it open. Use the tombs and trees the best you can and put them between the two of you, but make sure to never trap yourself so pick an area around a few tombs that you are really familiar with. For as much as I am loving the game, the mechanic that always allows you to sidestep even at zero stamina is cheap as ass. Pure cheese. I just downed boss 5 and 6 at my first try and while I am supposed to be happy, I know I am not that good. It must be the game.

Also if you have the music box from an earlier quest, you can save it until the enrage then use it to stun him for a few seconds. Then lob molatovs in his face!

Yeah, the music box was what made the difference for me. 

For all the legit complaints we can make about this game - and I personally feel there are many ways in which it is a small step back from the other Souls games - I find it almost equally enjoyable anyway.

I have to say. The setting is just unbelievable. I mean, clearly it hits a personak weak spot of mine, but it is beyond fantastic and it only starts to show its real face after the 4th boss or so.

Basically, and I am not gonna spoiler anything here, From Software did an incredible job in hiding what the game was really about. And what the game is really about (or it seems, I am only halfway through it) is one of my favourite literary things ever.

Anything with a bit of fire really hurts beasts.

Finished the game earlier. Might continue to mess around with the Chalice Dungeons a bit since they don't reset or scale with NG+, but don't really feel the need to go back through the game again and it doesn't sound like there's anything special to see or do in NG+.

I heard of a good amount of secret bosses and full areas that are easy to miss on the first run. Did you kill Amygdala? I am asking because I just did and so far it has been the hardest boss, so I'm kind of pumped and satisfied.

Anyway, generally speaking I am against replaying games. All I am asking for is a rich, fulfilling run from end to finish. So far, this has been extremely gratifying.

Yeah, I got all the secret bosses including the end one. I think Martyr Logarius was the hardest boss, at least for me anyway.

I just beat the game. 48 hours is my total.

All in all, while I think is inevitably a great game and I clearly enjoyed it a lot, I think this is obviously the worst of the four *Souls game so far released. There's a lot of things to love, and the action combat is, if possible, better than ever with much improved hitboxes than any of the previous games. Other than that, I think it's fair to say that there's not a single aspect of the game that hasn't been simplified, stripped out, and impoverished.

They wanted it make it more accessible, and they probably succeded if you think that of all the 4 games this is the one with the better metacritic average (Demon's Souls 89%, Dark Souls 89%, Dark Souls 2 91%, and Bloodborne 93%). But that annoys me so much. OF COURSE the weakest, shortest, easiest, emptiest game of the series gets the highest praises on planet Earth. I am so fucking tired of humans. Someone please rapture me away.

it doesn't bother you more that Dark Souls 2 is above Demon's Souls given that Bloodborne doesn't have the word "souls" in the title?

It does, of course it does. To me it's all backward. Demon's Souls is the best and has the worst score. It DOES drive me nuts. But this one has clearly so many things LESS than the previous games that it is just quite insane to give it a higher score. It really feels like lots of people were kind of giving the cold shoulder treatment to the previous games because it sounded too hipster or something to openly appreciate, but somehow decided to jump on this one bandwagon now exactly becuse it doesn't have the *souls* name and because it is clearly less hardcore.

But yes I see what you mean. Maybe I am just pissed because this one ended abruptly when I was still expecting so many things (systems, NPCs, features) to show up, and instead I was at the end of the game. Outside of the roguelike random dungeons, this feels like a weird, strange, huge step back on so many levels. And I am not gonna get into details not to spoiler too many things, and also because I am still buzzing with disappointment. Which I didn't have until I realized it was over all of a sudden and the end credits were rolling.

Need I remind you that Demon's Souls ended pretty abruptly, we never got access to the land of the giants, and pretty clearly an entire dungeon was cut from the game? I still consider it the best console game ever made, I'm just saying.

Sure, sure. But we didn't have expectations back then, didn't we? And yes that's hands down the best console game ever made.
This one has a growing history behind its back and DELIBERATELY fall flats not to alientate a customer base that doesn't want to deal with "too much stuff".

We can disagree, but I assume you are still waiting for the guide. I am genuinely interested in your opinion once you'll be done with the final boss. If you have already beat it, I am genuinely interested in your opinion now

 :drillf:

EDIT: Also worth mentioning that my complains are not about the "story", or a bad ending. It's just the lack of stuff. All of it. Gear, NPCs, systems, features. I can't wait for my guide to find out that maybe it's my fault and I missed who knows what.

I am waiting on the guide, but at this point I'm more like "What are the 576 pages devoted to?" 

That said, all the support systems in Demon's Souls were secondary to the brilliant level design for me. So we'll see where this falls flat. At the end of the day though - I've played Demon's Souls. When I started it, it was pretty clearly the best Zelda we'll ever get. And by the end of it, the whole experience was "new" in the pantheon of gaming classics.

Bloodborne never had and never will have that opportunity to be "new" so I can't even pretend to think it would do novel things in such a way that I view it as more than an expansion of that particular school of design. A little DNA from Souls goes a lot further than a little DNA from any other license though.

From what I've played, I don't see a way it could massively let me down.

Obviously there's a lot of factors as to why the metacritic averages are different beyond people thinking that one Souls game is better than another. Also, I still think a big reason for the streamlining here was trying to get a game out on the PS4 in a reasonable amount of time. There's currently only 8 games for the PS4 (XB1 is in an even worse situation with only 2). Of those 8, Bloodborne is the only one that is not a port of a previous gen game. If you pull out all the HD remakes, indie games, annual sports titles and such, developers seem to be struggling to put out anything to make the current gen consoles relevant. Even something like Destiny that had a shitload of time and resources put into it came out disappointing and bereft of content (and hamstrung by having to include previous gen consoles). I think From did what they could with the time and resources available and that maybe that meant stripping out a lot of the systems and hidden content and just focusing on the core game and filling out the content a bit by adding the ability to randomly generate dungeons.

As far as what schild said about level design goes, I don't think any of the other games have been able to achieve what Demon's Souls did in that regard. Largely I think that has to do with the later games having open worlds that have to have some logical sense of progression. The hub system of Demon's made it so they didn't have to worry about how a Castle connected to a mine, which leads to a swamp, etc...

Big spoiler (you have been warned). But a cool 3D map showing the level complexity of Bloodborne.

I dunno, I don't think Bloodborne hits Demons Souls level of "This is really fucking cool" but I thought Dark Souls was bleh where Bloodborne is really fun/good/interesting.

Nifty map. I now own Bloodborne and am waiting on the PS4 to arrive. I bought a PS3 to play Demons' Souls so this is kind of a trend now.

Dark Souls was fun but a tad disappointing. I didn't think Demons' Souls was as challenging as people seemed to believe but it was definitely engaging and fairly deep mechanically (but also incredibly obtuse).

Rumor has it that a lot of stuff has been cut from Bloodborne due to release date constraints which were in turn a consequence of the need for a killer PS4 app as soon as possible. This would explain why so many parts of it feel so deflated and dehydrated.


On a different note, the random roguelike dungeons are really cool. Interestingly, you can find loot and enemies that you haven't met in the main playthrough. And what's not to like in endless dungeons where you have to find the lever to unlock the door to the next floor, get to the bottom and fight the boss? Especially with such an amazing combat. Endless bliss.

I agree with all the criticisms, and academically I am not happy about the dumbing down of the game.  But in the real world, I played like 7 hours of this game in one stretch yesterday and was highly entertained for every single minute of it.  At the end of the day, that is what matters most to me.  Cool shit happened, and I did cool shit.  I killed the shit out of a few bosses and even did the "double middle fingers dance of ecstasy and swearing at the TV"...which is literally what I do when killing a boss that I previously failed to kill a few times.

I think the combat encounters flow a little better in this game, and I think it has something to do with the fact that in most cases you are more in danger when you are getting ganged up on.  In the Souls games, you kill a few drones here and there with ease, and then you suddenly run into some (initially) impossible-to-scratch juggernaut.  It was challenging and cool as hell in its own way, but different.  Here, you waves of moderately challenging stuff and have to watch out that you don't bite off more than you can chew.  And then you meet something that looks like a juggernaut, but is only a bigger, more dangerous version of what you were just fighting and you have to again be careful that someone doesn't jump you from behind, because that is what will kill you.  Moderately challenging combat all the time, as opposed to easy easy easy easy OH FUCK.  Also, the grinding aspect here is better.  I always felt in the other games that you would get to a point where only killing bosses and other huge nasties was the only way to really get enough souls to advance.  Here, you get a constant, steady stream of them.  Am I the only one who sees it this way? 

So, apples and oranges, IMO.  Same can be said of the world building parts.  I loved the hub concept in Demon Souls, but I also love the more connected worlds in the other games.  These motherfuckers know how to build cool worlds, no matter the methods they choose.

I had a blast with Bloodborne too. Combat, atmosphere & setting are just too good so my criticism is in comparison to its predecessors. But these games are in a league of their own, and to me pretty much 10 to 100 more fun than anything else.

About what you said, one my complains (which doesn't include Demon's Souls) has always been that the moment you learn the ropes and start growing in power and upgrading your weapons the proverbial difficulty goes away and the game becomes almost trivially easy. This -if possible- has been even more evident for me in Bloodborne. The hardest area for me has been the first. Towards the end I was almost unstoppable, and that's disappointing for me.

Yeah I don't regret my purchase at all and when I have more time I'm gonna explore the game to the fullest, there are a few nooks and crannies most people don't know about still.  That said the game is a solid B+,  it's just missing a bit of depth to make it truly great.

Yeah, after a single play through I don't see a reason to play NG+ at all.

I'm going to shelve it until it's patched a bit and an expansion hits before trying again.

It doesn't seem like there are that many character builds. I mean, there isn't really an armor system at all in this game. It's just dress up. You can't do a build centered around guns due to the way ammo (and damage scaling on guns) works. Str covers pretty much everything. Arcane stuff is all late game. Ludwig's is DRASTICALLY better than any other weapon. The list goes on.

Lacking in a lot of areas, while still being good overall. I guess that says a lot about the general design principles - despite missing a lot of crap it's still good at the core.

Say what you will about the game, but I don't want any of the drugs that you're on that makes you think that Dark 2 is somehow a stronger entry than this game.

I'm a fair bit into it now, but I already can't wait to start another game with an arcade build, or even a dex build to use all of those weird weapons I found. Arcane builds can get a weapon early on that's pretty good for them, and the flamespitter; another early item also scales from arcane. I'm also curious as to what secrets that huge guide that's coming out is going to have in it.

Dark 2 is absolutely a stronger game than Bloodborne.

Grabbed this tonight and I'm liking it, but (of course) dying a lot (which I expect from a *souls game, part of the learning process and all), but the loading time to the lantern after you die and to/from the Hunter's Rest is absolutely brutal.

There is simply not a single thing wrong with Dark Souls 2 (Except the disappearing mobs).
Somehow some people decided to try and convince themselves that it wasn't that great but that's an exercise in self-trolling. It's like when you meet that someone who tells you they don't like Stanley Kubrick and convince themselves that everyone who does is just pretending or simply weird.

There isn't a single aspect of Bloodborne that wasn't done better and more extensively in Dark Souls 1 and 2.

- Bigger world, meaning more areas and so more game.
- More area diversity.
- Better NPCs.
- More weapons.
- More armours, and they had a meaning and a purpose unlike in Bloodborne.
- Better and more Covenants.
- Better PvP.
- More stats, which meant waaaay more character customization.
- More playstyles, including magic and ranged if those were your thing.
- Better NG+.


You can make a case for the setting and lore, but that's a matter of personal taste. And all the nonsense about offensive play vs. shields makes no sense as the Dark Souls could be played as offensively as you liked since you even had dual wield and power two handed stances on top of a million other things to really experience very different playstyles (as opposed to dodgedodgedodgedodgedodgedodge in Bloodborne).

Dark Souls 2 had a bigger world? I'm not so sure about that, but even so the game was so poorly designed and ugly that I fail to see how that's a point. The level design fell to shit as soon as you left Majula, and with the exeception of Dragon Aerie, all of the areas were either ugly, badly laid out/designed or both. Remember that area after the mist forest that looked like a really bad Turok level? In regards to area diversity, I don't know, an entire game + an expansion might have more diverse areas than a game that just came out; but who cares when most of them are a slog to play through?

Better NPCs... Hm; Bloodborne, provided you take your time to find them has quite a few NPCs in it with interesting tidbits to share. The extent of what I can remember about Dark Souls 2 is Lucatiel and er... Hold on let me google this -

Oh yeah Rosabeth. She was ok I guess; even though she had nothing going on whatsoever after you rescued her. (Remember how in earlier games NPCs actually had their own agenda, and did things? Happens in Dark Souls 1, happens in Bloodborne; this doesnt happen in Dark Souls 2)

More armor I'll concede. I liked the bigger variety of looks you could have in Dark Souls 2, but I think the lack of wildly different armors was more of an intentional design choice.

PVP... you mean that ritual where two people stand opposite of one another with absurd amounts of armor on casting buffs for 20 seconds before actually fighting?

More stats, but how many of them were actually used? How many of them were useful? Remember that time your dodge roll effectiveness was arbitrarily reliant on a stat; so everyone had to put 20 in that stat to not have dodge rolls that were garbage?

Dark Souls 2 had ranged and magic! As opposed to Bloodborne that has neither of...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1BRWSn3jU4

Oh...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK-0md6sOLU

o....


Covenants! DS 2 had more covenants I, but how many of them did people actually use? Well; people played the shoehorned in sunbro covenant to grind medals to get a spell; so Im sure that added a lot to the game.

Other than that; it was all Bell Tower and Rat mainly. Oh and the dragon covenant that people... used to grind dragon scales to get a set and then never use it again. So really; the only things people actually joined was the Rat, Bell and MAYBE blue covenant.

And in closing, NG+ - Haven't got there myself so I can't comment too much; still - Dark Souls 2 had some neat ideas by changing the bosses a bit on NG+ - a shame that a majority of the main game bosses were terrible and were broken by the following:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il_cQrugDgk


If you'd like to see the above stated in a clear and concise matter; watch the following!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UScsme8didI

I am sorry but none of your points make sense.

Then good news, you can just watch the video.

A 49 minute video cannot be called concise.

Also that's not a comparison. There are lots of flaws in Dark Souls 2, but that wasn't the topic. There's a reason I always thought it was the weakest game in the series... until Bloodborne. And who's the author, you? Cause if it isn't you why should we care about a random internet guy's opinion anyway? Is anyone going to watch my 49 minutes video critique of Bloodborne? That's what I thought.  :oh_i_see:

That's not me; as much as I'd like to be able to produce content like this guy.

The flaws went over in the video are things addressed in Bloodborne, the most obvious being the level design and boss design; two things that are sort of important in these games. There's a lot to say about what's wrong with Dark Souls 2 which is why its 49 minutes; I'm sorry that's more than your attention span will allow.

I'm not really sure how to explain this better.

Dark Souls 2 was so uninteresting I played it for less than 5 minutes. By comparison, I played Dark Souls for about 3 hours.

I logged about 60 hours in Demon's Souls.

So, ahem, size isn't everything. Or anything really.

You'll know what I mean when you will put more than 5 minutes in... Bloodborne.

So you've got one video that shows a guy using the magic items in the safe area and one with a guy just using a gun against a boss. Neither of these are actually viable ways to play through the majority of the game. Even the guy in the gun video seems to only have that one video where he relies on the gun that much. You just can't always count on having enough ammo. The magic items in particular take anywhere from 2-10 bullets per use.

I would!  Unless it was just "IT'S SOOOOOOOOOOOO...." [45 minutes later] "...OOOOOOOOOO BAD!"

How could I? It's a great game.

The only thing I will agree with is that Ludwig's Holy Blade is ridiculously good and makes stuff like the saw cleaver pointless. The saw cleaver just does mildly more damage than Ludwig's silver sword, but with Ludwigs you can switch from a heavy two-hander that hitstuns larger enemies like the asshole guys with the bags, or a one-hander that does alright damage and lets you use your gun. Basically it's all you need.

Is there a single reason to play NG+? I beat three bosses and didn't see anything new, other than the weapon you get at the end of a normal game.

This is the argument for it being the weakest game in the series. There is no depth at all.

Enjoying this game as I get further into it. Currently up to Cainhurst (flea men are bullshit), Byrgenwerth (spiders are bullshit), and the Nightmare Frontier (rock throwers are bullshit). These three zones definitely feel more un-fun than the others before due to how bullshit rock throwers and flea men are, but I guess it will pass. I definitely enjoyed the game the most as it opened up post-Gasgoine.

Now all they need to to is make a game with these mechanics, and Diablo's itemization, and we'd be golden.

"An action RPG that basically is Dark Souls but isn't called Dark Souls to trick people who hate Dark Souls into trying out Dark Souls".


** BEWARE - FULL OF SPOILERS **

Bloodborne - Honest Trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLsc-U8b4E8)

You're really gonna love Nightmare of Mensis. Your rock throwers plus extreme bullshit advanced werewolves that shit out snakes when they die. Will make you look back with nostalgia on the "flea men."

Why?  :ye_gods:

From what people are saying aside from some lore and a bit of technical stuff like frame data, damage modifiers, and Beasthood stats, and confirmation that a couple of the items that had no discernible use don't actually have any use, it doesn't sound like there's anything in the guide that hadn't already been discovered.

I wish I could get this fucking guide. Still not here.

Mine is supposed to come today.

Mine should be downstairs I think.

Incoming DLC. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDuVK4J2hE8) Or "expansion" as we used to call them, and they are too. Anyway, it looks amazing.

I sort of forgot that I bought this game.

so did I

It is still a great game.

What is?

I couldn't get past the circa-2005 character graphics in the character creator.

Bloodborne is good.

Yeah, see, that's the thing.  It's good.  It's not great.  There are just too many things out there vying for my attention in this day and age, good no longer cuts it.

I've decided Demon's Souls ruined games for me.

Hopefully Fallout 4 solves that problem.

But I've finished precisely fuckall since DS came out.

I'm hard pushed to think of better than Bloodborne right now, apart from Witcher 3. I'm not even a huge fan of the genre but that game is just so well designed and put together.

How so? FO as none of the gameplay value of DS. I mean, they're shooters, for one. I don't know if the RPG elements will be closer to NV or Skyrim, but you better hope it's not the latter.

The best thing about these games is the environment/emergence. Something DS lacks...but makes up for in every other way.



Anyways.. Bloodborne. I don't have a PS4. Looking for things that make it worthwhile. Is this it?

Nope.

I would also say it is great. Best Soulsy game since Demon's Souls. I wasn't overfond of Dark Souls 1/2.

To me it's the opposite as I still prefer the Dark Souls to Bloodborne (and Demon's Souls more than all of them), but Bloodborne is still a great -not just good- game.
We live in an era where all major releases suck, and it's gotten harder and harder to agree on what is 'fun' as we all find solace in random and often minor things. In this bleak scenario, Bloodborne is still the best thing to come out in 2015 except maybe Metal Gear V.

I've only discovered two somewhat-distinct playstyles in Bloodborne.  I chose one which doesn't seem very effective.

This isn't about comparing the two on a gameplay level. It's about overall experience.

I get you then..

I decided to just preorder it recently. Screw it. I have all kinds of action games to play, but I get a jonesing for any AAA RPG. Hopefully it's not complete shit like DAI. I can deal with it being so-so like FO3.