StoppedInTracks
Member
Preface:
0) Platinumed Demon's, Dark 1/2/3.
1) My favourite RPG ever is Demon's Souls. It is ahead of Deus Ex, Ultima 7, Baldur's Gate 2 etc. which are placed 2nd, 3rd and 4th.
2) I think Dark Souls 3 is the best "Dark Souls" game. It is infinitely better than DaS2 and slightly better than DaS1 due to incredible amount of polish, incredible level design (The Cathedral of the Deep is one of the best Souls levels, EVER), world design (after you beat Vordt you can see the whole game world before you) and throwbacks to earlier games (the moment I understood I am in Anor Londo was the 2nd best Souls moment for me). DaS3 does not make a single mistake through its entirety.
Given the above, after ~10 hours of Bloodborne and 4 bosses down (Beast, Father, Vicar, Bloodstarved-Beast) it goes dangerously close to being #1 along with Demon's Souls.
Why is that?
There are couple of reasons:
1) BB feels fresh: weapons
I spend ~500 hours in the medieval, sword & board fantasy world of Demon's and Dark 1/2/3. No matter how much they differ they still feel as the same material. You can be a spellcaster with Souls Arrows/ Lanes, you can be a turtle with Havel's shield or a Katana wielding death machine think Satsuki from Demon's.
In BB I have a useless shield, a useless gun and no magic whatsoever. Instead I have a variety of incredibly original weapons like:
- spear rifle
- sword & hammer in one weapon
- axe/ polaxe (I main it 100% of the time)
- mini-flamethrower (looks awesome)
- I also saw Ludwig's blade on a loading screen which uses its sheath to transform into a fucking Great Blade
So I did not know how to use them at the beginning. I had to learn them after knowing almost every other weapon from Souls series. It was super fun to try them out because every single one of them just *feels* different.
2) BB forces me to play in a different way: no shields
I was a super turtle in all Souls games. Artorias? Block his every attack with his own shield. Manus? Block his *entire combo* with Artorias Greatshield. Smelter Demon? Block his every attack with the 100% Fire Proof shield. Sir Alonne? I never even flinched with my shield up. I even blocked Nameless King with that Lightning Shield... etc. etc.
Of course there were some bosses that I simply could not block. My super shields were useless in those fights:
- Aava the King's Pet
- fucking Fume Knight
- Old King Allant
- Pursuer
- Champion Gundyr
- Flamelurker
Those bosses first frustrated me, then humiliated me and then forced me to 2H my main weapon and just git gud. And guess what? The biggest "FUCK YEAH!" moments were when I finally beat them, without having a shield equipped. I felt the biggest dopamine shot right there at those very moments.
In BB every boss is like that. I cannot block them. I must evade them 100% of the time.
Gascoine fight was literal pandemonium with him being all the time on my ass while I was rolling/ dashing through the graves around him.
Bloodstarved Beast fight was incredibly satisfying. Just me and him, no shield, no magic, no bullshit - a true beasto-a-mano fight with only one... beast standing left.
3) BB has top of the tops level design
I think we can all agree on that. The bonfires are *miles away* from each other unlike DaS2 *cough, cough*. The shortcuts are well hidden and concealed and are the biggest reward for searching through the levels (the elevator from the Bloodstarved Beast area ot the rooftops of Old Yharnam - which I found after literally 50 minutes of playing, shaking with fear, shaking with anger that I will have to redo the crazy Ritual Room area - the moment I found where it leads to and opened the shortcut... it was such a relief... I think biggest since I opened the shortcut in Valley of Defilement 5-2).
BB levels easily rival DaS3 levels and guess what? They were FIRST.
4) BB is scary
The whole change from Medieval to Victorian setting did wonders to this "genre". At the same time it feels like a Souls game and does not. The monsters are different with amazing, horror-like design (the big skeletons from Cathedral Ward are my favourite so far). The bosses are straight Silent Hill monstrosities. The levels are dark as fuck (or as Tomb of Giants) etc. There is a super coherence in play here when it comes to graphics, dialogues, music and ambient.
Basically the majority of the game feels like: Tower of Latria: The Game. And we all love Tower of Latria and Valley of Defilement, no?
Incredibly well done.
---
To sum up: I am really surprised how surprising this game is for a Souls veteran. It really is amazing how a simple change of setting and main mechanics (no shield) gives you a totally different game that feels familiar but is not.
If anyone of you did not play BB yet: you are doing yourself a disservice. The game stands tall next to Demon's Souls as the best Souls game ever.
Was BB2 ever confirmed? Say yes, please.
0) Platinumed Demon's, Dark 1/2/3.
1) My favourite RPG ever is Demon's Souls. It is ahead of Deus Ex, Ultima 7, Baldur's Gate 2 etc. which are placed 2nd, 3rd and 4th.
2) I think Dark Souls 3 is the best "Dark Souls" game. It is infinitely better than DaS2 and slightly better than DaS1 due to incredible amount of polish, incredible level design (The Cathedral of the Deep is one of the best Souls levels, EVER), world design (after you beat Vordt you can see the whole game world before you) and throwbacks to earlier games (the moment I understood I am in Anor Londo was the 2nd best Souls moment for me). DaS3 does not make a single mistake through its entirety.
Given the above, after ~10 hours of Bloodborne and 4 bosses down (Beast, Father, Vicar, Bloodstarved-Beast) it goes dangerously close to being #1 along with Demon's Souls.
Why is that?
There are couple of reasons:
1) BB feels fresh: weapons
I spend ~500 hours in the medieval, sword & board fantasy world of Demon's and Dark 1/2/3. No matter how much they differ they still feel as the same material. You can be a spellcaster with Souls Arrows/ Lanes, you can be a turtle with Havel's shield or a Katana wielding death machine think Satsuki from Demon's.
In BB I have a useless shield, a useless gun and no magic whatsoever. Instead I have a variety of incredibly original weapons like:
- spear rifle
- sword & hammer in one weapon
- axe/ polaxe (I main it 100% of the time)
- mini-flamethrower (looks awesome)
- I also saw Ludwig's blade on a loading screen which uses its sheath to transform into a fucking Great Blade
So I did not know how to use them at the beginning. I had to learn them after knowing almost every other weapon from Souls series. It was super fun to try them out because every single one of them just *feels* different.
2) BB forces me to play in a different way: no shields
I was a super turtle in all Souls games. Artorias? Block his every attack with his own shield. Manus? Block his *entire combo* with Artorias Greatshield. Smelter Demon? Block his every attack with the 100% Fire Proof shield. Sir Alonne? I never even flinched with my shield up. I even blocked Nameless King with that Lightning Shield... etc. etc.
Of course there were some bosses that I simply could not block. My super shields were useless in those fights:
- Aava the King's Pet
- fucking Fume Knight
- Old King Allant
- Pursuer
- Champion Gundyr
- Flamelurker
Those bosses first frustrated me, then humiliated me and then forced me to 2H my main weapon and just git gud. And guess what? The biggest "FUCK YEAH!" moments were when I finally beat them, without having a shield equipped. I felt the biggest dopamine shot right there at those very moments.
In BB every boss is like that. I cannot block them. I must evade them 100% of the time.
Gascoine fight was literal pandemonium with him being all the time on my ass while I was rolling/ dashing through the graves around him.
Bloodstarved Beast fight was incredibly satisfying. Just me and him, no shield, no magic, no bullshit - a true beasto-a-mano fight with only one... beast standing left.
3) BB has top of the tops level design
I think we can all agree on that. The bonfires are *miles away* from each other unlike DaS2 *cough, cough*. The shortcuts are well hidden and concealed and are the biggest reward for searching through the levels (the elevator from the Bloodstarved Beast area ot the rooftops of Old Yharnam - which I found after literally 50 minutes of playing, shaking with fear, shaking with anger that I will have to redo the crazy Ritual Room area - the moment I found where it leads to and opened the shortcut... it was such a relief... I think biggest since I opened the shortcut in Valley of Defilement 5-2).
BB levels easily rival DaS3 levels and guess what? They were FIRST.
4) BB is scary
The whole change from Medieval to Victorian setting did wonders to this "genre". At the same time it feels like a Souls game and does not. The monsters are different with amazing, horror-like design (the big skeletons from Cathedral Ward are my favourite so far). The bosses are straight Silent Hill monstrosities. The levels are dark as fuck (or as Tomb of Giants) etc. There is a super coherence in play here when it comes to graphics, dialogues, music and ambient.
Basically the majority of the game feels like: Tower of Latria: The Game. And we all love Tower of Latria and Valley of Defilement, no?
Incredibly well done.
---
To sum up: I am really surprised how surprising this game is for a Souls veteran. It really is amazing how a simple change of setting and main mechanics (no shield) gives you a totally different game that feels familiar but is not.
If anyone of you did not play BB yet: you are doing yourself a disservice. The game stands tall next to Demon's Souls as the best Souls game ever.
Was BB2 ever confirmed? Say yes, please.