RespectThySole
Member
I purchased a PS4 just prior to Uncharted 4's release along with UC4 & Bloodborne. Uncharted 4 was a decent game, but largely a disappointment due to it's pacing issues and some odd design decisions. On the other hand, Bloodborne made me wonder why I hadn't bought one sooner. I'm a big Souls fan and they all have their strengths and weaknesses, but I feel like Bloodborne is peak-Miyazaki.
I adore the trick weapons. I've upgraded 3 to +10 so far and tried out several others.(Saw Cleaver, Ludwig's Holy Blade, Whirligig Saw) The Saw Cleaver is probably one of my all time favorite video game weapons. The moveset is fantastic, both forms are very useful. It has speed, but it still has decent range. The Rakuyo and HMGS also seem pretty fun to use. I'm actually okay with less weapons since most of them are pretty unique.
My favorite areas are Forbidden Woods, Research Hall, Fishing Hamlet and Cainhurst Castle.
Forbidden Woods - The level design is really impressive and the atmosphere is so eerie. It's such a large area, but FROM made it work with only one lamp. I almost got lost in this area. The deeper you go into this area, the weirder it gets. There's even a cave with a rainbow lake that connects back to Iosefka's Clinic.
Cainhurst Castle - This area really stands out in comparison to the other ones in the base game. It looks gorgeous and although there wasn't much enemy variety, the ones that were there give it a strong sense of character. The boss and Queen Annalise are cool too
Research Hall - I could go on and on about this area, but the most important thing is the Lady Maria fight. That was definitely my favorite fight in the game. Bloodborne went full on DMC3 here, shades of Dante vs Vergil.
Fishing Hamlet - Art design was awesome including the enemies themselves. Those giant sharks dudes can fuck off though. The two in the well killed me more than any boss in the game did except Ludwig! It gets major points for having a ton of blood chunks and a blood rock!
My favorite bosses aside from Lady Maria are Orphan of Kos, Ludwig, Cleric Beast and Darkbeast Paarl. The sound design is ridiculously good. Ngl the crows in Central Yharnam creeped me out the first time I saw them even though they're weak as fuck. The soundtrack didn't blow me away, but it definitely has it's high points. A few standouts are Cleric Beast theme, First Hunter theme and the music that plays in Hypergean Gaol. (pre-Rom)
Minor nitpicks:
Framepacing is very noticeable in certain areas especially Old Yharnam and Nightmare Frontier.
Chromatic Aberration
Byrgenwerth was a misstep. I was expecting a lot more from such a big lore area. It was really tiny.
Unseen Village (post-Rom) was a gank fest. I liked it much more the first time around.
Nightmare Frontier was pretty small and didn't have anything particularly useful in it. Boss was a total pushover as well. It's good for PvP at least.
I didn't like Witches of Hemwick, Celestial Emmisary, Living Failures or Amygdala The first three are like an even easier Deacons of the Deep which I didn't think was possible. You can pretty much just ignore the adds in the first two. Living Failures fight was kind of dope visually with the meteor showers though. Amygdala was just a chump.
I didn't like Rom either because it was such a tedious fight. Maybe I would've enjoyed it more if I was using a weapon with more reach at the time though. I loved the arena at least.
Early chalice dungeons are incredibly boring. However, I've only done Depth 1&2 ones so far. I've heard that the Depth 5 ones are more engaging.
Fashion Souls is weaker here.
No teleportation from lamps or healing at lamps. We have to go through that damn loading screen.
Maybe Dark Souls 3 just prepared me for the faster pace or because I've played all of them, but I felt this was by far the easiest Souls game. No boss killed me more than twice except Ludwig.(7 times)
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Overall, I greatly enjoyed Bloodborne and it was well worth buying a PS4 in order to play it. It's the best Souls game and my second favorite game this gen after TW3. 10/10.
I adore the trick weapons. I've upgraded 3 to +10 so far and tried out several others.(Saw Cleaver, Ludwig's Holy Blade, Whirligig Saw) The Saw Cleaver is probably one of my all time favorite video game weapons. The moveset is fantastic, both forms are very useful. It has speed, but it still has decent range. The Rakuyo and HMGS also seem pretty fun to use. I'm actually okay with less weapons since most of them are pretty unique.
My favorite areas are Forbidden Woods, Research Hall, Fishing Hamlet and Cainhurst Castle.
Forbidden Woods - The level design is really impressive and the atmosphere is so eerie. It's such a large area, but FROM made it work with only one lamp. I almost got lost in this area. The deeper you go into this area, the weirder it gets. There's even a cave with a rainbow lake that connects back to Iosefka's Clinic.
Cainhurst Castle - This area really stands out in comparison to the other ones in the base game. It looks gorgeous and although there wasn't much enemy variety, the ones that were there give it a strong sense of character. The boss and Queen Annalise are cool too
Research Hall - I could go on and on about this area, but the most important thing is the Lady Maria fight. That was definitely my favorite fight in the game. Bloodborne went full on DMC3 here, shades of Dante vs Vergil.
Fishing Hamlet - Art design was awesome including the enemies themselves. Those giant sharks dudes can fuck off though. The two in the well killed me more than any boss in the game did except Ludwig! It gets major points for having a ton of blood chunks and a blood rock!
My favorite bosses aside from Lady Maria are Orphan of Kos, Ludwig, Cleric Beast and Darkbeast Paarl. The sound design is ridiculously good. Ngl the crows in Central Yharnam creeped me out the first time I saw them even though they're weak as fuck. The soundtrack didn't blow me away, but it definitely has it's high points. A few standouts are Cleric Beast theme, First Hunter theme and the music that plays in Hypergean Gaol. (pre-Rom)
Minor nitpicks:
Framepacing is very noticeable in certain areas especially Old Yharnam and Nightmare Frontier.
Chromatic Aberration
Byrgenwerth was a misstep. I was expecting a lot more from such a big lore area. It was really tiny.
Unseen Village (post-Rom) was a gank fest. I liked it much more the first time around.
Nightmare Frontier was pretty small and didn't have anything particularly useful in it. Boss was a total pushover as well. It's good for PvP at least.
I didn't like Witches of Hemwick, Celestial Emmisary, Living Failures or Amygdala The first three are like an even easier Deacons of the Deep which I didn't think was possible. You can pretty much just ignore the adds in the first two. Living Failures fight was kind of dope visually with the meteor showers though. Amygdala was just a chump.
I didn't like Rom either because it was such a tedious fight. Maybe I would've enjoyed it more if I was using a weapon with more reach at the time though. I loved the arena at least.
Early chalice dungeons are incredibly boring. However, I've only done Depth 1&2 ones so far. I've heard that the Depth 5 ones are more engaging.
Fashion Souls is weaker here.
No teleportation from lamps or healing at lamps. We have to go through that damn loading screen.
Maybe Dark Souls 3 just prepared me for the faster pace or because I've played all of them, but I felt this was by far the easiest Souls game. No boss killed me more than twice except Ludwig.(7 times)
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Overall, I greatly enjoyed Bloodborne and it was well worth buying a PS4 in order to play it. It's the best Souls game and my second favorite game this gen after TW3. 10/10.
