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LTTP: Bloodborne is *amazing*

III-V

Member
BB is the most baddest ass game in the fucking universe. I am not sure if any other game stands up.

Sex, blood, and extra terrestrials in a nightmare vision quest.
 

Get'sMad

Member
I already adored it and was one of my favorite games in the whole wide world but a recent play-through after not having touched it in awhile just cemented its place in my top 5 of all time.

pretty much a perfect game as far as I'm concerned (technical issues aside).
 

VICI0US

Member
I'm having a good time with it, about 7 bosses in so far. Not sure if I'd say it's better than the souls series or not yet.

The performance definitely hurts things, though. Especially coming from a rock solid 60 FPS in the other souls games on PC. The constant stutter from the poor frame pacing gets to me.
 
I'm mixed about the Rakyuo. It seems to be a much more practical but slower version of the BoM, but I was never a fan of twinblades, plus the transform animations don't look as cool as the BoM's.
I fell in love with it after I saw that you can combo spin attacks with it. After using the BoM for a while (until I encountered the Rakuyo), I noticed most of the combos were Dodge+R1. My secondary is the Threaded Cane and it might be that I use it even more than the Rakuyo. Most of the times I prefer to use visceral attacks and also it looks much cooler and more satisfying.
 

Reg

Banned
zstNbXw.jpg
Braintrust. Greatest enemies ever!
 

robosllim

Member
Woah I just looked up that weapon and got it mixed up with the Bloodletter for some reason. Neat didn't even know it existed. Not looking forward to that well which I've probably died 20 times at.
I just looked it up and didn't realize there were so many damn weapons in the DLC. I gotta hurry up and kill Amelia...
 

Despera

Banned
Play a bit more and you'll see why it's the best Soulsborne title.
It is great.

What I didn't like in a way, was how NOT relaxing was playing this game. After a difficult day at work having ass kicked by BB wasn't nice. I guess that's why I haven't tried it with DLC yet.
DLC is absolutely the best part of the game. Don't skip it.
 
Game of the generation for me, and my second favorite game of all time (TLoU is number one).

I played and beat it 5 times, all continuations. A Pro patch would send me over the edge in buying a PS4 Pro.
 

DaciaJC

Gold Member
Ehhh no you don't have "so many builds" at all. You have str, dex, quality, arcane, and bloodtinge. That's it. I love the game but I don't like how it streamlined the RPG elements so much, Dark Souls games are better RPGs.

Yeah, this was Bloodborne's one major failing for me. It's not so much the "lack" of weapon variety: if you factor in the DLC, nearly all of the major weapon classes (e.g. greatsword, scythe, mace, etc.) that you might find in Dark Souls are represented in BB by at least one form of a trick weapon. But there's not much as variety in the clothing sets, NPCs are far fewer and generally don't offer as much in the way of interaction, covenants don't have as much of an impact, multiplayer interactions (in my experience) were limited by the bell system, and build options weren't quite so diverse owing both to a reduced number of player stats and the blood gem enhancement system. All of that is to say, compared to Souls, Bloodborne seemed a bit lacking in its roleplaying potential, which hurt its replayability for me, but I still greatly enjoyed the five playthroughs (just started a sixth last night) I got out of it since the combat, music, art design, and world building (playing the game convinced me to read Lovecraft for the first time) are so damned good.
 
Ehhh no you don't have "so many builds" at all. You have str, dex, quality, arcane, and bloodtinge. That's it. I love the game but I don't like how it streamlined the RPG elements so much, Dark Souls games are better RPGs.

I don't even know what "quality" build is :) . For me it had three builds I loved, versus the one / two I kind of like from Souls, hich means I've replayed the game twice as many times as any Souls. I agree it's less of an RPG (not "worse"; "less"), which for me is a plus, as it was for Mass Effect 2. I'm not convinced that RPG elements add anything per se; complexity is not depth.

You were that impressed by the
Living Failures
? :p
Ludwig is the first DLC boss, if you meant him. If you meant Lady Maria, she's 3rd. Unless you meant Laurence but he's not really "second", he can be fought at any time after Ludwig as he's optional.

Heh, for some reason I remembered it as
Living Failures going after Maria
. Obviously I meant
her, indeed
.
 

J2d

Member
Bloodborne is the greatest from software game I have ever played, not even demons souls holds a candle. That's why it pains me that they haven't patched it enough, and I'm not even talking about the frame rate and skipping, it deserved more, it's a masterpiece and they just left it... fuuuuuuck
 
My friend got a PS4 over xmas and has been messaging me "omfg xyz boss fight was soo good" etc el

yup. It's an amazing game. I bought the DLC. Should get back into it.
 

ngower

Member
Not to poo poo on the love fest here, but I just cannot get into the Souls games. I get their appeal and there is certainly a hook, but the trial-and-error/insane frustration doesn't work with my schedule. I play games to unwind, not to get stressed out. I like the art style and I had some fun with what I did play of Bloodborne, but the comments from people saying shit like, "If you don't love this game you hate games" make no sense.
 
I don't even want to know how much of a pain Blood-starved Beast is without parrying him.
I know. I've only learned to parry at the end of the game. Bloodstarved Beast is my favorite Soulsborne boss because as cliched as it might sound, it forced me to get good. I played with magic for Dark Souls I and II so it was quite an exhilerating experience when I learned all the beast's move and I finally won. My hairs stood on all ends.

By the way, Bloodborne along with Shadow of the Colossus are the only two games where bosses consistently gave me adrenaline rush and goosebumps.

PS: if you thought the Bloodstarved Beast was bad without parrying, wait until you reach the
shadows
.
 
I don't even want to know how much of a pain Blood-starved Beast is without parrying him.

SO much pain. You can beat him without parrying (I didn't get into parrying that thing until the chalice dungeons) but man, it's going to take you a while to find something that works.
 

Van Bur3n

Member
Yeah, this was Bloodborne's one major failing for me. It's not so much the "lack" of weapon variety: if you factor in the DLC, nearly all of the major weapon classes (e.g. greatsword, scythe, mace, etc.) that you might find in Dark Souls are represented in BB by at least one form of a trick weapon. But there's not much as variety in the clothing sets, NPCs are far fewer and generally don't offer as much in the way of interaction, covenants don't have as much of an impact, multiplayer interactions (in my experience) were limited by the bell system, and build options weren't quite so diverse owing both to a reduced number of player stats and the blood gem enhancement system. All of that is to say, compared to Souls, Bloodborne seemed a bit lacking in its roleplaying potential, which hurt its replayability for me, but I still greatly enjoyed the five playthroughs (just started a sixth last night) I got out of it since the combat, music, art design, and world building (playing the game convinced me to read Lovecraft for the first time) are so damned good.

Indeed this. I'm finding trouble trying to come up with different builds and reasons to play it again in different ways but very few ideas of coming up. Not to mention there were some design inconvenience from Demon's Souls (vials and lamps that only go back to the hub area) they decided to go back on here for reasons for which I simply cannot comprehend as to why.

Besides that, it is probably my favorite Souls game, or at least on par with that of Dark Souls.
 

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
Not to poo poo on the love fest here, but I just cannot get into the Souls games. I get their appeal and there is certainly a hook, but the trial-and-error/insane frustration doesn't work with my schedule. I play games to unwind, not to get stressed out. I like the art style and I had some fun with what I did play of Bloodborne, but the comments from people saying shit like, "If you don't love this game you hate games" make no sense.

well i bought it in the sale.
and i am still figuring out where the fun factor is compared to monster hunter.
 

IconGrist

Member
SO much pain. You can beat him without parrying (I didn't get into parrying that thing until the chalice dungeons) but man, it's going to take you a while to find something that works.

Once he starts spewing poison all over the place he's so erratic and, personally, very hard to read. He just so happens to have an easy tell for that pounce and he does it in all 3 phases. By far the easiest move to parry out of his attacks.

There's a guy in one of the chalice dungeons that's also a huge pain to deal with without parrying.
 

Van Bur3n

Member
I never understood what the fuss was about with BSB. His long-winding attack with his right arm leaves him incredibly exposed and how long he keeps that arm up is a dead give away as to what he is going to do. Like a number of other bosses in Bloodborne, the strategy seems to be dodging through its attack to get behind it and wack it to death.

The same applies to
Ebrietas
who, from a recent thread about the hardest Soulsborne bosses, was mentioned quite frequently. A lot of bosses seem to be helpless when it comes to their backside.

Guess its just another case of different bosses are harder for different players.
 
Bloodborne is the best video game to release since Resident Evil 4 back in 2005.

The same applies to
Ebrietas
who, from a recent thread about the hardest Soulsborne bosses, was mentioned quite frequently. A lot of bosses seem to be helpless when it comes to their backside.

Yes, she can be cheesed once you learn this, but until you do, she's tough as nails.

It's also pretty lame to defeat her this way, so I'm glad I can win that battle normally.
 

IconGrist

Member
I don't follow the discussion much so I'm not sure how this stacks to the experiences of other players but the hardest boss for me is
Martyr Logarius
. I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of that boss but it's the one battle in the whole game I dread.
 

Sanctuary

Member
I don't even know what "quality" build is :)

It's a term from Demon's Souls where weapon scaling was based on a pretty even split between STR and DEX, instead of highly favoring one over the other.

Also, I don't really get the "less RPG elements" argument. Unless customization is just another term for "RPG". Bloodborne had less variety and less overall customization, but I've never once thought of any of these games truly as an "RPG". Just grand action/adventure/horror games with very minor RPG elements.
 

Van Bur3n

Member
Yes, she can be cheesed once you learn this, but until you do, she's tough as nails.

It's also pretty lame to defeat her this way, so I'm glad I can win that battle normally.

What defines "normally"? Just standing in front of her? That doesn't sound too smart and rather unnecessary.

One of the main parts of fighting the bosses in Souls is looking for their weakness, an opening. Taking advantage of those openings for too long will result in most bosses punishing you for being greedy. One of the best examples of this is
Laurence
.

If a boss is completely helpless because of one opening, I would call that bad design, not defining what is the normal way of fighting a boss and what is a cheese. A cheese is throwing bombs over the wall to kill Capra Demon or shooting arrows through the dark to kill Manus from above. I also don't know what there is to learn about getting behind the enemy. That's something you learn since backstabbing in the Souls games.
 
Question about the GOTY edition:

I only see a $39.99 one available, no used copied, on Amazon. Is there a cheaper version, or is that the only one?
 

Shmuppers

Member
I don't follow the discussion much so I'm not sure how this stacks to the experiences of other players but the hardest boss for me is
Martyr Logarius
. I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of that boss but it's the one battle in the whole game I dread.
Yeah it's super frustrating the first couple runs. Once you get to the second phase he becomes pretty easy to parry.
 

Raven117

Member
Yup. Once the heat wore off and I had time to think.... This game is easily in the running for the best of the "souls" game
 
It's absolutely amazing. I played through it in a week. I suck at games, so I felt really accomplished beating that game without any summons. I thought about going through it again but I think some games are better left alone. Definitely the best game I've played this generation and one of my favorites of all-time.
 
I didn't "get" the game at first. Never played a Souls game before.

But I just beat the first boss. And it was satisfying. Finally learned how to upgrade. We'll see, but I think I'm hooked now.
 
I didn't "get" the game at first. Never played a Souls game before.

But I just beat the first boss. And it was satisfying. Finally learned how to upgrade. We'll see, but I think I'm hooked now.
It clicked for me after the second boss. I was hooked afterward and it ended up being one of my favorite games ever. Keep going!

Bad frame pacing is not amazing
Agreed.

Bloodborne is amazing, however.
 

magnetic

Member
As a fan of both Monster Hunter and Souls, I always wished the Souls game had something as ridiculous as the gunlance, charge blade or switchaxe, really technical, transforming weapons that serve as a nice contrast to big primitive weapons like hammer or greatsword or small shabby ones like dual blades or sword and shield.

The weapons in the Souls game always felt a bit too down to the earth for my taste.

The transforming weapon idea in BB it easily the aspect that fascinates me the most. It's the main reason I want to check it out some day.

Sounds like BB comes close to MH in that regard, where every weapon is basically its own class.
 

Vidpixel

Member
Fantastic game, no doubt. Probably my favorite out of the "Souls" titles, with Dark Souls 1 coming a close second. While Dark Souls 1 definitely made a bigger impact when it was released, the fast and frenetic combat of Bloodborne just feels so satisfying. I really need to get around to playing the DLC... Too many games on my plate at the moment, though.
 

Kaisos

Member
I've really grown to loathe these "playing with a shield means you're not a REAL MAN and Bloodborne taught me how not to be a PUSSY SCRUB" posts, especially with some of the examples OP gives. You are not going to be able to beat Sir Alonne and Smelter Demon by turtling behind a shield because of how much stability they take off, so using a shield with them isn't about "hiding like a wimp", but is actually about managing your stamina which is, you know, a major part of these games??

Furthermore, the only reason that Bloodborne's dodge-heavy gameplay works is because the dodge is actually -easy to pull off-, unlike the earlier Souls games. You aren't better, and nor is the game better, for forcing one particular playstyle over others.

In Soulsborne games you have absolute control over what you do in combat, all the time, and there's pretty much never a moment where you say "NO I didn't mean to do that!".

I introduced a friend of mine to Bloodborne and he said that literally every time he fought anything, lol.
 
I just bought this recently, and I can't even make it past the first boss.

In my defense, this is the first time I've ever tried something like Dark Souls.
 

IconGrist

Member
I hate the Braintrust enemies. Hate them. I don't have trouble beating them but in the
Nightmare Frontier where you have to deal with them AND being poisoned by the water
it's mind numbingly infuriating.
 

Toxi

Banned
Parry? Oh man, I didn't know they could be.

I hate the Braintrust enemies. Hate them. I don't have trouble beating them but in the
Nightmare Frontier where you have to deal with them AND being poisoned by the water
it's mind numbingly infuriating.
Watch this video. Parrying the Winter Lanterns is incredibly rewarding, because if you are in the middle of a visceral animation, the frenzy won't damage you. They're also very easy to parry, with a generous window and only one attack you have to learn the timing for.
 
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