Bloodborne is one of the greatest games I've ever played

For reals.

Maybe my opinion is a bit skewed due to the lack of quality, "next gen" games, but holy shit, this game is a masterpiece. The atmosphere, the music, the art style, the enemy types, the boss battles, the varied areas, the bloody fantastic combat. It's a game that needs to be played.

I know @orc would love this game for it's setting alone.

Just a little fyi, I never had any interest in the Souls series, as a matter of fact I still don't, the few videos I've seen of DS2, the art style looks bland (granted I've only seen the opening) and the combat looks very, well, not good.

If you have a PS4, buy this game.

It also has really fun co-op/PvP.

I may buy it in a few days. I LOVE Demon's Souls, so I'd probably love this one, too.

I don't know man the Souls games were too slow paced for me, i like my action games to be fast paced.

I played the shit out of Demon's Souls and Dark Souls and while I like Bloodborne from what I've played so far it feels like a faster paced, stipped down, casualized Dark Souls. No magic, no branching upgrade paths, builds don't matter, neither does armor. I don't see it as an "action RPG" either, more like a hack and slash game with a leveling system.

It's a good game don't get me wrong but I'm not feeling the 9/10 9.5/10 10/10 hype it's getting from reviewers. It's easy too, but I guess that was the sacrifice necessary to appeal to a wider audience.

EDIT: I think I see the difference as to why Stoney thinks Dark Souls is boring and Bloodborne is great and I like Dark Souls more than Bloodborne. Dark Souls combat is slow and methodical, you learn your enemy and let them take the initiative and you react. You play very defensively, but Bloodborne is the opposite where you win battles by being hyper aggressive and overwhelming your enemy, you can even trade blows due to being able to gain some health back by hitting your enemy. Bloodborne rewards you for being aggressive and Dark Souls punishes you for it. Dark Souls battles are very tactful and drawn out, Bloodborne battles are very reactive and stamina lasts way longer and recovers much faster than in Dark Souls. The gratification in Dark Souls comes from finally beating your target after a difficult and often frustrating encounter, while gratification in Bloodborne is immediate and comes mostly from the fighting itself rather than the joy of winning. At least that's my take on it.

^ I've never played any of the Souls games but a common misconception in the gaming community is that difficult games = good game design. A game being frustratingly hard for the sake of it isn't really good game design.

Reminds me of something Shin Zu said "war is always clamouring, but victory is short stretch from clamour"

The_Biotic_God wrote:

^ I've never played any of the Souls games but a common misconception in the gaming community is that difficult games = good game design. A game being frustratingly hard for the sake of it isn't really good game design.

Preach.

Demon's Souls is the hardest game I have ever played in my life.

Stigma wrote:

I played the shit out of Demon's Souls and Dark Souls and while I like Bloodborne from what I've played so far it feels like a faster paced, stipped down, casualized Dark Souls. No magic, no branching upgrade paths, builds don't matter, neither does armor. I don't see it as an "action RPG" either, more like a hack and slash game with a leveling system.

It's a good game don't get me wrong but I'm not feeling the 9/10 9.5/10 10/10 hype it's getting from reviewers. It's easy too, but I guess that was the sacrifice necessary to appeal to a wider audience.

EDIT: I think I see the difference as to why Stoney thinks Dark Souls is boring and Bloodborne is great and I like Dark Souls more than Bloodborne. Dark Souls combat is slow and methodical, you learn your enemy and let them take the initiative and you react. You play very defensively, but Bloodborne is the opposite where you win battles by being hyper aggressive and overwhelming your enemy, you can even trade blows due to being able to gain some health back by hitting your enemy. Bloodborne rewards you for being aggressive and Dark Souls punishes you for it. Dark Souls battles are very tactful and drawn out, Bloodborne battles are very reactive and stamina lasts way longer and recovers much faster than in Dark Souls. The gratification in Dark Souls comes from finally beating your target after a difficult and often frustrating encounter, while gratification in Bloodborne is immediate and comes mostly from the fighting itself rather than the joy of winning. At least that's my take on it.

Builds do most certainly matter, armour too (poison, frenzy, bolt and fire specifically). And no, you can't got blow for blow (would love to see someone do that in the Nightmare Frontier or the Unseen Village with 40 insight), you have to play methodically, also, the feeling of beating a npc hunter is second to none. The Souls games combat looks terrible, that can't be denied, it may be more challenging due to that fact, but BB is fun and challenging and the world of Yarnham is gorgeous.

T'would be a 10/10 game if the load times weren't as long as they are and frame rate was consistent in some areas. I'm not even finished it, I've just beat Rom.

The_Biotic_God wrote:

^ I've never played any of the Souls games but a common misconception in the gaming community is that difficult games = good game design. A game being frustratingly hard for the sake of it isn't really good game design.

Casual

Stigma wrote:

The_Biotic_God wrote:

^ I've never played any of the Souls games but a common misconception in the gaming community is that difficult games = good game design. A game being frustratingly hard for the sake of it isn't really good game design.

Casual

Less frustration means less money spent on new controllers!

The_Biotic_God wrote:

^ I've never played any of the Souls games but a common misconception in the gaming community is that difficult games = good game design. A game being frustratingly hard for the sake of it isn't really good game design.

I would have enjoyed the Soul games more if they held my hand from start to finish, QTE boss fights, regenerated health, able to see all enemies on radar and re-spawn points 2 metres apart.

Stoney wrote:

I know @orc would love this game for it's setting alone.

Nice! I hope you're right. The gameplay I've seen so far really hasn't been my thing though. I mean I would probably like these kinds of games if they were more open and more forgiving. I can't stand Dark Souls or Lords of the Fallen because they're tediously hard and pretty damn linear. But were I to get a PS4 I think I'd be tempted to pick Bloodborne up.

(Also combat was WAAAY too slow on those two games and from the gameplay of BB it looks to be similarly slow so I'm still very reluctant to hype it up).

Orc wrote:

Stoney wrote:

I know @orc would love this game for it's setting alone.

Nice! I hope you're right. The gameplay I've seen so far really hasn't been my thing though. I mean I would probably like these kinds of games if they were more open and more forgiving. I can't stand Dark Souls or Lords of the Fallen because they're tediously hard and pretty damn linear. But were I to get a PS4 I think I'd be tempted to pick Bloodborne up.

(Also combat was WAAAY too slow on those two games and from the gameplay of BB it looks to be similarly slow so I'm still very reluctant to hype it up).

You are not a true gamer

2Sugoi2Die wrote:

The_Biotic_God wrote:

^ I've never played any of the Souls games but a common misconception in the gaming community is that difficult games = good game design. A game being frustratingly hard for the sake of it isn't really good game design.

I would have enjoyed the Soul games more if they held my hand from start to finish, QTE boss fights, regenerated health, able to see all enemies on radar and re-spawn points 2 metres apart.

I would have enjoyed them more if the PvP wasn't broke to shit.

Haha data leaks.

Stoney wrote:

Stigma wrote:

I played the shit out of Demon's Souls and Dark Souls and while I like Bloodborne from what I've played so far it feels like a faster paced, stipped down, casualized Dark Souls. No magic, no branching upgrade paths, builds don't matter, neither does armor. I don't see it as an "action RPG" either, more like a hack and slash game with a leveling system.

It's a good game don't get me wrong but I'm not feeling the 9/10 9.5/10 10/10 hype it's getting from reviewers. It's easy too, but I guess that was the sacrifice necessary to appeal to a wider audience.

EDIT: I think I see the difference as to why Stoney thinks Dark Souls is boring and Bloodborne is great and I like Dark Souls more than Bloodborne. Dark Souls combat is slow and methodical, you learn your enemy and let them take the initiative and you react. You play very defensively, but Bloodborne is the opposite where you win battles by being hyper aggressive and overwhelming your enemy, you can even trade blows due to being able to gain some health back by hitting your enemy. Bloodborne rewards you for being aggressive and Dark Souls punishes you for it. Dark Souls battles are very tactful and drawn out, Bloodborne battles are very reactive and stamina lasts way longer and recovers much faster than in Dark Souls. The gratification in Dark Souls comes from finally beating your target after a difficult and often frustrating encounter, while gratification in Bloodborne is immediate and comes mostly from the fighting itself rather than the joy of winning. At least that's my take on it.

Builds do most certainly matter, armour too (poison, frenzy, bolt and fire specifically). And no, you can't got blow for blow (would love to see someone do that in the Nightmare Frontier or the Unseen Village with 40 insight), you have to play methodically, also, the feeling of beating a npc hunter is second to none. The Souls games combat looks terrible, that can't be denied, it may be more challenging due to that fact, but BB is fun and challenging and the world of Yarnham is gorgeous.

T'would be a 10/10 game if the load times weren't as long as they are and frame rate was consistent in some areas. I'm not even finished it, I've just beat Rom.

You can't upgrade the armor like you could in dark souls so it matters less and less the further you get into the game. I've been going through the game rather slowly tbh. You can't go blow for blow with everything but you can with a lot of them. I just tanked The One Reborn with the +8 Tonitris (think I spelled it wrong, the electric mace). Just got under him and wailed on him until he died after killing the maidens.

snip

These guys are crazy good...

You should watch VaatiVidya Stoney, his channel is dedicated to Souls and Bloodborne games.

Ok now that I've gotten past my initial gripes I have to say I love this game. I'm going through new game + right now with the Burial Blade +10 and Blades of Mercy +9. Guns are only for parrying so I only have the hunter pistol +6. I'm an arcane/skill build. Burial blade is a curved sword than can turn into a scythe and it's has amazing crowd control and range. Blades of mercy are duel daggers that are great close range and for single targets as it's the fastest weapon and can stunlock most enemies.

I just love the cosmic horror theme the game has. My biggest complaints are that it's shorter than Dark Souls, and that there's less depth to the leveling/upgrade system. I am hopeful for an expansion pack.

Also, Ebrieta's was a total bitch.