CorgiShinobi Posted April 6, 2015 Report Share Posted April 6, 2015 I don't know whether I like it or not how armor/clothing doesn't affect your stats too much. Sure there are a few sets with one specialized resistance, but otherwise it's a guilt-free variant of Fashion Souls! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted April 8, 2015 Report Share Posted April 8, 2015 (edited) So...father Father Gascoigne. Didn't use the Music Box because I ran into the area without knowing I was about to fight him...and just didn't have the damn item equipped and was waaaaay to skiddish to try and and use it. What the hell does it do anyhow? Well, beat him. Used almost 20 potions doing so. I ended up fighting him before the first "primer" boss...because I went right past it. But when I went back to fight it, that fight turned out worse than Father G. Guess with the Father there was more space to run around in and catch him off guard. So, now I'm grinding blood echoes to gain a few levels. It's totally the space you're in which makes Cleric a bit of a... beast to fight. The encounters in this game are so damn well designed. I don't know whether I like it or not how armor/clothing doesn't affect your stats too much. Sure there are a few sets with one specialized resistance, but otherwise it's a guilt-free variant of Fashion Souls! I feel the same re armour, Atom. On the one hand it's great – just for once in an RPG – to put on whatever looks cool instead of whatever has minor stat improvements. On the other... I hate the feeling that I'll take fewer hits to kill than I would otherwise. Last night I beat BSB and the W o H. BSB was fairly easy, but I think I was very overlevelled. Like level 40 or something, with a +5 Hunter's Axe. I discovered Forbidden Woods well before the other two paths,and found it so compelling I ran through it a few times before I went back to BSB and WoH. Two tries for BSB, one try for WoH. I'm 16 hours in, which I guess is a pretty long time to be doing those relatively early bosses. But at this pace I am absolutely loving the game and I'm far more engrossed in it than I ever was in DeS or DaS. Just encountered my first "snake"... That was very surprising and more than a little disturbing. It's all so Resident Evil 4, but juiced into a vulgar Lovecraftian nightmare Edited April 8, 2015 by kenshi_ryden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted April 8, 2015 Report Share Posted April 8, 2015 This game. This beautiful, magnificent bastard of a game. I will never beat it. I already know that. It's a double hard bastard. But I love it just the same. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted April 9, 2015 Report Share Posted April 9, 2015 (edited) This game. This beautiful, magnificent bastard of a game. I will never beat it. I already know that. It's a double hard bastard. But I love it just the same. It is beautiful. Some stuff in the world just seriously changed at the stage I'm at, in a big way. Really amazing - as far as I can tell more ambitious and unusual than anything in the previous souls games. A veritable visual feast. Very much the horror too. I beat an irritating mid-game boss last night on my second try, entirely through hints and tips from others online. I'd wager the game is actually easy to beat as long as you go online and ask people for suggestions. There will always be some aspect/pattern you haven't picked up on which will make life easier. Don't give up on completing it, TN! I think Bloodborne will actually be the first Souls game I fully beat. It's marginally easier than the other games, but also the world is just so compelling and immersive. Walking into a new place, feeling like a hunter on some otherworldly frontier, is just addictive. Edited April 9, 2015 by kenshi_ryden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted April 9, 2015 Report Share Posted April 9, 2015 Had a crack at the first boss. Was thoroughly unprepared, got him down to about 2/3 health but I only had a couple of blood vials, no molotovs. As much as I love From's games, I do wish they would do a little more in the way of tutorials. It was only after losing to the boss that I discovered that you can assign items to the quick select menu. Up to then I had been doing the following insanity: 1. Target monster with R3. 2. Press touchpad to bring up item menu. 3. Highlight Molotov. 4. Press x to throw Molotov. By which time I've spent about 10 seconds with a menu floating over half of my screen and the monster in question has moved out of range. Rather than having Molotovs ready on quick select and hitting square. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted April 9, 2015 Report Share Posted April 9, 2015 (edited) Yeah, they don't explain the quick-item selection menu at all. I thought they did a better job of explaining some other core mechanics than usual - all the messages left in Hunter's Dream explaining how to fight properly, for example. But yes, some things always get left by the wayside... Protip with CB: if you can strike his head enough, he'll get stunned and become vulnerable to a visceral attack. Also, sticking near his knees and rolling diagonally past him when he attacks is always a good shout. In general, rolling diagonally past enemies is a game-changing tactic. If you end up right behind them they'll often hit you with a back-swipe style attack, but roll diagonally behind them, to their back-flank, and usually they have to awkwardly turn to reach you again. Edit: and I'm sure you've worked it out, but if you unlock the shortcut back to the gate at the Central Yarnham lantern (this opens the gate immediately on your left when you spawn there), you can get to Cleric really fast and also farm echoes and blood vials off the brick-wielding trolls down to the left. Also don't be afraid of the sewers. It looks horrible, like Blighttown or something, but it's a really painless bit of the level. I did it all in a oner, without dying and with almost no risk. Edited April 9, 2015 by kenshi_ryden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted April 9, 2015 Report Share Posted April 9, 2015 Oh, and another thing... Who's bright idea was it to lock up character levelling until you have met a boss?!? What the fuck is insight? Is it consumable? Or is it a level thing? The game doesn't just need a tutorial. It needs a glossary, and a map. Oh well. Now that I'm able to level a bit I'm going to farm some and then we'll see who's a murderous sunnavabitch. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted April 9, 2015 Report Share Posted April 9, 2015 (edited) Haha, yep. You played the previous Souls games, right? They throw around unusual game systems with reckless abandon. And don't tell you how they work. You have to pay close attention to work everything out yourself. Or talk to others about it, which is equally valid. Feel free to not read the following stuff if you don't want a little further info. Not really spoilers so I haven't spoilered it. Insight is essentially like Sanity in Cthulhu mythos... But kind of the opposite. When you first arrive in Yarnham, you're basically a normal, reglar-kinda, ole hunter. You see the world and take it at face value. But once in Yarnham on this unusual night, the more mind-destroying stuff you see, the more insight you get into the world behind the world. Your deeper understanding of things unseen grows. And as a hunter with unusually solid constitution and will, you don't lose your mind over it. You get more insight. (Evidently once you have a little insight you can see the Doll's true nature and the Doll is aware of this and will speak to you.) A point comes where Insight begins affecting the world in certain, highly disturbing ways. I've only touched the tip of that iceberg, so this is basically as much as I know. And yes, it's a consumable resource, unlike Humanity in Dark Souls which you lost when you died, just like souls. Insight you can get by seeing bosses, beating bosses, or consuming certain items. It can be spent purchasing items through a certain merchant. You also use it to engage in co-op with other players. (Gaining insight into their world, I assume.) So you sort of have to be a little careful with it. Though I know of people hitting very high insight on their first playthrough, like 55+. Also, as you've probably learned, stay the fuck away from the Werewolves on the Great Bridge. Edited April 9, 2015 by kenshi_ryden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted April 9, 2015 Report Share Posted April 9, 2015 I've heard you can kite them to a room where they can't follow you... Might exploit the bastards. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted April 9, 2015 Report Share Posted April 9, 2015 (edited) Get cheesing Edit: oh, but also don't. I'm about level 60 and they still give me jib. Can kill me easily if I don't play my cards very carefully. I'd say ignore/avoid them mainly. Edited April 9, 2015 by kenshi_ryden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted April 9, 2015 Report Share Posted April 9, 2015 I'm only a mere level 13 (I think) Professional. Presumably this has little to no effect on endgame, e.g. your end stats can be the same regardless of where you start out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted April 9, 2015 Report Share Posted April 9, 2015 (edited) Definitely dodge the wolves for a while. As with anything in the game, you can kill em from any level with sheer skill, but a hit or two will probably kill you at this point. And yep, your origin affects nothing but starting stats. Choosing the one that starts super-low level means you can specialise a bit more, but on the whole, yep, you'll end up about the same point by late-game Edited April 9, 2015 by kenshi_ryden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCP Posted April 9, 2015 Report Share Posted April 9, 2015 Anyone who started as anything other than Waste of Skin is in fact, a waste of skin in real life!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted April 9, 2015 Report Share Posted April 9, 2015 Anyone who started as anything other than Waste of Skin is in fact, a waste of skin in real life!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetalCaveman Posted April 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2015 You can level up before the first boss fight, if you explore the sewers, there's an item that gives you insight (there's also a weapon, and an NPC), allowing you to level up before fighting the boss. For those in/near the Forbidden Woods, when you find the NPC that asks you about a safe place, do not, DO NOT send him to the chapel, at least, not if you've sent other people there, instead, fight him (poison works wonders) if you want a rune and a good amount of echoes, or send him to the clinic if you just want the rune. On a side note, for some fun times, get to 40 insight, then walk out to the graveyard in Oedon Chapel. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted April 10, 2015 Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 I've been all over the thrice cursed sewers and have not seen an NPC. I've also got no idea where the hell I'm supposed to go next. Every door I open is just a new way to visit somewhere I've already been. Which sounds wonderfully philosophical, but doesn't help me progress in the game... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted April 10, 2015 Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 The NPC is hidden away a little. You have to approach the sewers from a certain end and remember rolling Great shout about finding Madman's Knowledge in the sewers to get Insight before the boss, Caveman Last night I got through half of the Village. Fuck that place. Had my first "fuck this shit" moment of Bloodborne stuck in there, especially the short sprint before the second lantern. Absolutely insane shit. I so almost gave up entirely. But as always, the developers aren't that sadistic. There's always a caveat to situations which seem genuinely impossible. And indeed, there was light at the end of a very short, harrowing tunnel in this case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted April 14, 2015 Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 Feel like I have finally settled into the groove of this game. The biggest leap I find is swapping your concept of "progress". Progress used to mean going from a to b to c while your level goes from 1 to 2 to 3. Now progress is going from a to b to c to d so that you unlock a way to get from a to d skipping b and c entirely and then levelling up or repeating the cycle from a to d to e to f until you unlock the a to f shortcut. It's quite jarring at first because it sometimes feels like I've made no progress till I look back and realise that I'm skipping whole swathes that used to take 10-15 minutes to traverse and am wailing in on fights that would previously have been heart thumping, titanic struggles. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted April 14, 2015 Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 The navigation aspect sounds a little bit like a metroidvania. I mean, I get that it's not a metroidvania, but the whole concept of opening up new ways to get places and going back through previous places. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted April 14, 2015 Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 Yeah, there is a fair bit of that to it. Obvioulsy you don't get new ways of traversing, But there is that feeling of unlocking new areas and connecting them to old ones with shortcuts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted April 15, 2015 Report Share Posted April 15, 2015 (edited) Feel like I have finally settled into the groove of this game. The biggest leap I find is swapping your concept of "progress". Progress used to mean going from a to b to c while your level goes from 1 to 2 to 3. Now progress is going from a to b to c to d so that you unlock a way to get from a to d skipping b and c entirely and then levelling up or repeating the cycle from a to d to e to f until you unlock the a to f shortcut. It's quite jarring at first because it sometimes feels like I've made no progress till I look back and realise that I'm skipping whole swathes that used to take 10-15 minutes to traverse and am wailing in on fights that would previously have been heart thumping, titanic struggles. Yes, that is a good way of putting it. Bloodborne is mainly a game about progression through areas, learning to control/manage those areas, and getting good strategies for bosses/ generally getting good at fighting. The levelling stuff is basically ancillary. The navigation aspect sounds a little bit like a metroidvania. I mean, I get that it's not a metroidvania, but the whole concept of opening up new ways to get places and going back through previous places. Not a bad way of putting it. Although "metroidvania" is predicated on getting gadgets/gimmicks/new moves to open up new areas. In BB you're basically just pulling levers/opening paths back to where you've already been, so the trudge is less harrowing and long. There are times in the game where you basically can't beat an area until you unlock the shortcut to make it managable, to skip the really nasty shit it has going on which you can barely beat. But to actually discover this, you have to just sprint past all the enemies, trying to survive, hoping you'll find a shortcut/lantern. God it's intense. I also beat a boss last night and got to a new area. The new area doesn't have a lantern where you spawn. So I'm carrying around 63,000 blood echoes, no way of getting back to Hunter's Dream to save them, and I just have to press forward into unknown, highly dangerous territory in an effort to find a lantern. If I die, I will probably lose all 63,000 blood echoes for good. Also the enemies have become genuinely terrifying. I thought I had seen all the horror the game had to offer, but it just keeps ramping up, and I'm probably only half way through now. It's a long game. Edited April 15, 2015 by kenshi_ryden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCP Posted April 15, 2015 Report Share Posted April 15, 2015 A Souls game where you can upgrade your ability to traverse like a Metroidvania might be the greatest game of all time. Someone make this game! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted April 15, 2015 Report Share Posted April 15, 2015 This article makes the Castlevania comparison really well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted April 16, 2015 Report Share Posted April 16, 2015 (edited) Yeah I read that, probably the only thing by that writer I've really liked (granted I've only looked at a few of his articles). He does really hit the nail on the head. Once you realise it's mainly about your strategies and that your levels/weapons only give you a minor boost, it's really a game changer. I beat three bosses the other night, and overcame the toughest levels I've seen yet. The more you apply brain power to boss battles, analysing their movements and bodies, the easier it becomes. It took me two tries on a boss I've heard people about struggling with for hours. I analysed what must be his weak points, watched for his movement tells and after-attack-lags, and tried to pin down ways I can force him to do certain things. So satisfying to win. So far there have been a couple of bosses that were absolute wash-outs, though. So, so easy, and brings down the mean quality of boss fights in the game. They're still atmospheric and good, but just way too easy. I don't think it's my level because the routes up to both of them were so difficult. You got me on PSN, Thursday? Add me up. Edit: Dude, I just noticed Tim Rogers does that damn Level Geometry thing! The Level Geometry The second of Bloodborne (and the Souls games') three tent poles is the level design. The level design in these games is excellent. He even says 'level design' right after! FFS! Edited April 16, 2015 by kenshi_ryden 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted April 16, 2015 Report Share Posted April 16, 2015 You got me on PSN, Thursday? Add me up. Done. Also, didn't realise that it was that "stream of conciousness" arse clown Tim Rogers. Still a good article. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.