BLOODBORNE given Feb '15 Euro/NA release date, deemed worthy of own thread by ilxor

From Software's penchant for enemies that not only one-shot you but also do so in a slow, unpleasant animation is a point for anyone who rides the "this shit is too hard and these creators are just sadists" train

tbf it's more like "these are enemies that you should really try to avoid and/or be careful around and/or try a different approach and/or come back later." That said, the brain suckers, iirc, were really hard to avoid in a couple of spots, I want to say a really dark basement-y area preceded by lots of werewolves? Which were themselves kind of a PIA. Upper Cathedral Ward? That may be an optional area, though I can't recall why one would opt out.

Right, Blood Starved Beast, I'm not afraid of you.

For some reason I seem to be able to summon an NPC for this one

Killed it on the third attempt. Not so hard with the NPC helping out. Ouch but now I seem to have been kidnapped and put in a horrible creepy tower with some absolutely horrid enemies

I played this for hours last night. Got out of the creepy gaol. Negotiated the massive tower which you have to descend for ages (and with the help of a guide I found the secret healing workshop?). I think I'm coming up to the next boss.

Creepy kidnap jail one of the few From levels with its own creepy music, iirc.

This game is super cool.

I want to say you will return to that place later (when things are a little ... different) and learn where it fits into the map.

One of the things I was pleased with was my handling of the fire throwing monster at the bottom of "gravity tower" in Cathedral Ward. The YouTuber I was watching took ages to defeat it whereas I ran right up to it and just pummeled it before it had a chance to get up. Merked it without a scratch

I don't really enjoy dealing with pigs, reaper things or brain suckers

Either I'm overleveled (which is possible) or some of the bosses are very easy. Managed to kill Vicar Amelia extremely easily (I had summoned the NPC though). That said, other generic enemies can be quite deadly.

I'm on the Hemwick Witch(es) right now though and they're definitely a challenge. Keep conjuring up more and more enemies and it's really hard to get a good shot of them as they're nearly invisible

What I love is that even now, going back to Central Yharnam if I just wanna farm Echoes and Blood Vials, it can be easy to get blasé about things but if you're not on your guard even the most basic enemies can corner you and do some serious damage

lol I just started Dark Souls 2, and there are these three little bullying not particularly cute pig things that wander around the usually safe-haven main hub, and while I was still figuring things out and not really paying attention they once managed to kill me!

These Hemwick witches and their stupid everspawning soot monsters are really pissing me off. I get so close to finishing off the last one but then from nowhere it casts a spell on me so I can't move and then it's game over, I'm trapped and there's nothing I can do

I think ignore the monsters, just run around and look for the real witches (not the fake ones, just the ones that take damage on the boss health bar)?

I remember lots of running, iirc counterclockwise?

I cheesed her by using up all my insight (bit of a waste) but it means the soot enemies don't spawn. Still managed to die somehow though!!

I'm a bit confused now. The guide I'm following went a bit beserk and decided to run past a bunch of stuff to acquire some weapons earlier than normal, and I couldn't be bothered. Anyway, I know you're meant to get to Cainhurst Castle by running towards a blue headstone in Charnel Lane because that's what the dude did in the video. But how on earth would I know to do that without a guide? Also, apparently it only works once you've gone through the Forbidden Woods and done some stuff at Iosefka's Clinic. It does confuse me how anyone would be expected to know all this stuff without a guide.

PS I thought it would be funny to try and hit Iosefka through the door at the start of the game and she got cross with me and won't talk to me any more. I wonder if I've killed her or just pissed her off some.

Oh god these Forbidden Woods are a nightmare. I got so lost, killed a whole bunch of enemies and then a bloody great hammer thing tied to the trees swung down and pushed me off a ledge! That's so evil. I couldn't even dodge out the way

From does like to hide a large & cool (but optional) area in ways that most people might miss on their own. I like to think it's for the sense of discovery for those who find it, and getting people to talk & share info outside of the game?

I do hate getting lost in those woods, maybe my least favorite level, great boss though.

Ah so the Castle is an optional area okay

They're a pain, but I generally like From's wooded levels. That and the requisite Spooky Village.

Cainhurst features 1) a totally obscure point of entry and 2) a total PIA (optional) boss that requires an annoying run. But you can always come back later.

So I've all but stopped following this guide now because the dude started gaming the system and hacking through sections faster than I could follow. So now I ended up getting a tonsil stone and ended up in that creepy lecture building with all the gooey students trying to grab me and got to the Nightmare section. But I thought better of it and just decided to go back to the Forbidden Woods, somehow managing to run very quickly through the part where I got lost and killed last time and managed to trigger the shortcut! Whew what an evening! This game is a million times more threatening when you don't know what's going to happen next

Out of interest, have most people here completed this game? If not, where was the bit where you gave up?

I'm about to face the boss at Cainhurst Castle and I've a feeling the difficulty level is going to ramp up.

I'm not exactly sure what else there is to do really: I've managed to get to the Nightmare world beyond the Lecture Building but the enemies there are really tough.

I managed to get into the back of Iosefka's Clinic but didn't get to fight her as I'd already killed her through the wall.

I guess I could go deeper into the Forbidden Woods but there are SO MANY SNAKES! Goddamn!

Yeah the difficulty level has certainly shot up. It's weird that in this game it's never obvious what the consequences of the decisions you make are going to be, for example sending different NPCs to Iosefka or Oedon seems to bring out counter intuitive outcomes.

I finished it, and if I can do it, anyone can!

Awesome DLC, iirc.

I'm really enjoying it to be fair.

Something else I wanted to know: is there an easier way to tell what clothes I should be wearing? In the shop it doesn't tell you how the ones you're looking at compare with he ones you're already wearing.

It doesn't show how your stats would change? No matter, clothes don't matter much in BB except for style points. In the Souls games, they're a bigger deal as far damage reduction and increasing poise at the cost of weighing more.

there are some marginal benefits to choosing outfits best suited to particular enemy types iirc, for example some sets are better suited to countering poison or rage

Looks like I permanently(?) rage quit at Ebrietas, which is an optional boss I know but w/e.

This pretty awesome looking From-inspired Pinocchio (!) game is taking a big gamble that it gets completed before the rumored "Bloodborne" remaster and/or sequel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzE4WBKs98o

Against all odds I've managed to make it to Byrgenwerth. No trouble beating the shadow bosses since I summoned two NPC helpers and buffed my weapon. There's a very difficult NPC here I'm having difficulty doing any damage to.

I've decided to do this than try the boss at Cainhurst.

Okay now onto the dreaded spider boss who I came SO CLOSE to killing but now I have no more Beast potions or anything like that

Rom's not one of the worst ones in my experience, just stressful because of the many spiders and the regimented thing of having to spend time running away from the big attack every so often

Logarius is like you have to be similarly quite patient and cautious when he's all over the place early on, but then if you're brave and parry him a lot in his last phase you'll massacre him

Rom I recall being a pain in the ass, but I can't remember why. I had trouble with Logarius, too, but he's optional, so I just came back a bit later and had an easier time with it.

fuck a vacuous spider

― Keith Moom (Neil S), Sunday, April 19, 2015 8:56 PM (six years ago) bookmarkflaglink

that said, Rom is much easier if you summon some help, which I would highly recommend

Yeah, there are two fellas you can summon, however I didn't realise it used Insight each time. I'm starting to run out of resources

Ohhhhh, that explains why I was sometimes able to summon companions, and when not!

Yeah and the doll stops chatting to you if you have no insight. I just worked this out

Okay Rom is seriously pissing me off now. I'm doing doing everything online strategists are telling me, summoning NPCs to help, but I'm low on Insight, don't have any bolt papers or beast blood, and somehow she managed to OP me just when I've got her really low. It's those falling ice crystals. Usually I can run away from them but sometimes they just somehow home in on me even when I'm running too speed

if memory serves, by this point in the game it's possible to get a lightning infused mace, to give you perma lightning power.

lol I clicked on this thread thinking it was the Succession thread and chat about Rom and Logarius seemed to make sense until I tried to actually read it

Xp is that the tonitrus? Yeah I was wondering if it's any good against the spider but my axe is like +7. I've tried both but still get merked

I killed Rom with the Tonitrus.

Rom took several goes. I was ready to give up: Had no Insight so couldn't call NPCs to help, no Beast Blood, and was getting tired of farming for HP each time I died. But I finally beat her. Definitely the hardest since Gascoigne and I was shaking for a good minute after I did it. Whew!

Not started Yarhagul Unseen Village (or whatever it's called) yet. Had a go at doing the Eileen Crow NPC battle up at Grand Cathedral and.... no. Way way too hard. Apparently you were able to cheese that one in the early days before they patched the game.

Thought I'd have a go at the first Chalice dungeon. Not exactly sure what the point of them is, but seems I'm quite overleveled for it so it was a nice change from the tough difficulty I've been up against lately.

Anyway, I know I'm boringly blogging my travailes across a game that people finished six years ago, but what the hey.

Eileen Crow is hard, I may have skipped her after watching a video that showed she was a fight of attrition that took foreeeeeever.

I did the same thing with Chalice Dungeons, waiting until I was overleveled, and after more or less one-shotting a couple of bosses decided against it.

Nice! That's usually how it goes, summons and buffs are really a way of brute forcing the fight without having to really learn it. And by the time you do learn it, you don't actually need them.

The chalice dungeons get harder, I guess the idea is that you dip into them as you progress, but no one does that, they either do them at the end or at the beginning. You can get way stronger gems for your weapons than in the main game, but that only really matters for pvp. There are some unique bosses too, if you want more after the main game.

XP it's not actually Eileen I'm fighting, it's another NPC with a similar name (Bloody Crow? Something like that) but they're part of Eileen's story. She's dying on the Cathedral steps before the fight starts

What I've liked about this game so far, is that I always get a little bit further each time. But just a little bit. And then I get so far and think "No that's enough. I'm done. There's no way I'm going to be able to best this part". But the next time I pick it up, I'm ready.
It's not like, say, Witcher 3 where there's just this constant state of progression, of moving constantly through the game, of relentlessly pursuing the next quest or the next chapter in the story and getting hooked on that.
In a way, it's games like Bloodborne (and maybe to a slightly less extent Death Stranding) which could finally be seen as the antidote to social media-induced attention span deficits. It's still very hack'n'slash of course, but there's a point a few hours in where your shoulders relax, your grip on the controller becomes less tight, the monsters stop making you jump (well, sometimes), you stop getting too worried about dying all the time, and it just starts feeling Zen about the whole thing.

I cannot believe these Forbidden Woods. I feel like this is some kind of game design high-water mark. Everything is so natural, so clever, disorienting without being confusing, I'm just amazed by it all.

My first foray into the Woods, I was unspoiled, I just picked my way through, murdered everybody, missed the shortcut I could've opened, went into SnakeLand without issue. I was murdering these small snake moments and saying to my bf "these guys are such pushovers, I feel weirdly ominous about how easy they are". Found the larger snake moments and found it unchallenging.

Then I ran into a RE4-knockoff dude who immediately summoned three little snakes that boxed me in and I died in two seconds.

My second foray in, I scanned a couple spoilers, realized about the shortcut (and the Cannon), and grabbed them accordingly. Slipped off a ledge and was face to face with two RE4 dudes. Dodged away fearfully and slipped into a crevasse. It was pitch black and everything was giant snakes and I was killed immediately. I love this game so much.