170? Wow. What level were you when you got plat? I'm almost done with the game other than chalice stuff and I'm under half that level.
Bloodborne
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I wish roll(not dodge side step but roll) had more invincibility frames.
Yeah it's a little rough coming from DS2 where my char had 30 adaptability. I-frames for dayyyyys. Or whatever that subtle change actually was.
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170? Wow. What level were you when you got plat? I'm almost done with the game other than chalice stuff and I'm under half that level.
I think 80 something? Chalice dungeon echoes are pretty ridiculous average mob is like 6000? + the big boosts from bosses.
On the online features yeah it's pretty shitty that you can't access them without ps+ online play. I can't even say that ps+ is great so far as it was with the ps3 I'm sure it's coming but right now I'd rather not be forced to subscribe.
That said I think it's not some arbitrary thing that could be easily removed per patched seems like it was designed to function only with online from the very beginning(if that was necessary or not I have no idea). But dungeon glyphs only seem to work as long as the creator leaves them open. -
Finally beat it. Apparently I got the "true ending"
! All of my what. I was the great one that got birthed? TIme to start digging through dat lore.
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Some general closing thoughts on the game, there is quite a bit to nitpick but honestly all those things I subscribe to a difference in style/personal preference rather than it being a problem. I rather want to focus on things that I feel are major.
Won't talk about bugs and the loading times either since it's obvious how they're kind of bad in most cases.The good:
- This game gave the series a fresh take on the formula, back when I finished DS2 I was saying how I was feeling the fatigue on these games and that they had to revamp the combat a bit to make encounters fresh and challenging again because at that point I was just too accustomed with the Souls series.
And hooray they did, I had that learning phase again which was wonderful. - The weapons these where a ton of fun and it really reflects in your playstyle what weapon you choose. Overall I prefer this system of super unique weapons rather having the bloat of tons of weapons sharing a smaller pool of movesets.
- Chalice Dungeons at first I was kind of down on them, the first few(like all dungeons until depth 3) are really boring if you're too far into the game. But the more I played the more they grew on me. And the best thing is they surprised me whenever I felt oh I figured it all out how they will all look and gave me a surprise room. Also dungeon loot is fun.
- The world and map design. Just based on feeling it's probably not as good as DS1 but it's really nice after DS2 being so disappointing on that front. Shortcuts being such a valued thing was great.
- Lore felt way better than DS2 which was somewhat barren on that front
The bad:
- While I really like the weapon system I feel like Bloodborne is the most restrictive of the Souls games in choosing your combat option(no magic, less stats) not only from a content perspective but from what I've glanced also somewhat from a balance perspective(arcane seems underwhelming). It's really just that I wanted like 30% more of all that stuff but as it stands I felt it was a bit lacking especially coming off of DS2 which was absolutely baller on the content front. Maybe it would have been ok to have all the weapons have just stronger version of them that looked different just to satisfy the loot whore in me :P.
- NG+ and bonus content in general in Bloodborne is an absolute joke compared to DS2. There is nothing there that would make it interesting. Whereas in DS2 we got NG+ exclusive armor sets, special achievement rings, spells(ok these were a pain in the ass because trophies but otherwise a nice thought), upgraded boss encounters. Bloodborne got nothing and I don't feel Chalices are a good substitute for that.
- Some areas where really really short, like Brygenwerth those were disappointing.
- Gem balancing is really really bad.
- Covenants are really barren compared to DS2 item wise
Really overall BB for me has a lack of content problem as weird as it sounds because it is actually such a full game. It's mostly because all of those things I mentioned, have all gone into the Chalices but they don't really replace those all that well despite them being a really cool addition to the series.
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So what I hope for DLC(and I say this because I feel From has been pretty good content wise about their DLC so far):- more Chalice loot(lore loot, gems, )
- more weapons
- more bosses of course
Non DLC wise I hope for a gem rebalance patch that makes more builds viable.
Probably forgot something but whatever.
- This game gave the series a fresh take on the formula, back when I finished DS2 I was saying how I was feeling the fatigue on these games and that they had to revamp the combat a bit to make encounters fresh and challenging again because at that point I was just too accustomed with the Souls series.
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I'm at the end just going through the chalice dungeons now. Not on the super hard ones yet, but I'm already dreading all these materials I need for the next ones that aren't dropping. Like, that's really tedious. I feel they were meant to be done with other players or at least shared, but when you have to create your own ones from scratch every time you want to attempt a new loot run, it's really dumb and grindy. And most of the time I don't get anything great, so I'm hoping the harder ones there are different. If it weren't for the ingredient crap (like actually letting me create them at will, maybe at the cost of Echoes), I'd be happy. But it's way too tedious if I want to actually try to go for rare loot (blood rocks, upgraded runes, better gems etc). Also even though there are in fact surprises now and then, overall it's REALLY monotonous.
I think I'll give NG+ a try afterward, especially if the guide comes out and I can use it to find fun stuff I missed the first time, but that's probably it. I'm not that inspired to redo everything. And as for the lore comment, maybe it's just me but I really hate the way it was presented. Just disjointed really cryptic messages here and there that you forget by the time you get a new piece of information, and it NEVER amounts to anything halfway satisfying in terms of worldbuilding.
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^ Chalice stuff gets better with depth 4. And yeah I often had that feeling of this would be so much better in MP. Especially the early ones because you can't skip exploring to go straight for the boss because of materials.
I'm still not sure what triggered the merchants selling some of the materials. I imagine it's even worse because you can't make chalice dungeons for free per glyphs.About the lore it's a love it or hate it thing. It all being very cryptic is very intentional and if you really dive in deep it's amazing what you can gather(it's a lot). It's like the gamefication of what it would be like to be an archaeologist(the romanticized version of the job :P).
Has BB kindled your interest in DS2? Would be interesting to see what the reverse perspective is coming from BB to DS while they are similar in many ways they feel really different.
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Yeah not being able to use glyphs is my biggest beef with it right now. It puts people who don't pay for PS+ at a HUGE disadvantage for running these dungeons, as the requirements are pretty numerous on some of them. I would be okay with having to create each type once (including with handicap modifiers), but beyond that it's just a goddamn slog. So I probably won't actually spend much time looking for more blood rocks or glyphs. At least for gems, I imagine you can just keep killing enemies in generated dungeons to try to farm them. Also, through depth 3 ones at least the Echoes I earn are pretty insignificant. Though I have (all?) 3 Moon runes so I can stack on some pretty serious bonus Echoes if I focus purely on that. But I'm fearing I'll have to re-create and repeat dungeons just to collect the materials for the MANDATORY chalice dungeons, let alone the ones that I don't have to do (even though for completion purposes I kinda wanna). On the subject of materials, where do you even get Red Jelly? I only have 2 that I found during the main game.
Anyway, is any of the lore suff recorded anywhere? It doesn't necessarily bother me if it's going to be cryptic, but it bothers me that there's no way I'm going to remember everything that gets said or that I read. It's the kind of thing I want to have all the information together so I can begin piecing it, and not just rely on my memory when so much of what happens is so bizarre and involves tons of invented groups and factions etc.
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You probably have to read through the wiki, fextralife bloodborne is probably the most complete right now, alternatively you can just read an interpretation of someone piecing it all together and then pick out things you find interesting and maybe draw your own conclusions. http://www.reddit.com/r/bloodborne/comments/30wpo3/massive_bloodborne_lore_theories_spoiler/
I usually just read all item description after I'm finished with the game(I usually remember where I picked most unique items from) sometimes I revisit places cause sometimes the place of the item can tell you a lot too. I think the hardest part to keep track off is character dialog though. Those are really easy to forget and they provide the most context a lot of times.You get 2 red jellies in one of the mandatory dungeons that you have to go through to get that one trophy(for me they were in a side area). With the 2 from the main game you have enough just be careful you don't use them up on another dungeon.
Also yeah about the moon runes that's what I did for level farming, you can get even more with the visceral attack rune(more echoes when you do them) but it was too hard to apply for me in the later dungeons when you get swarmed.
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I finally found the time/motivation to continue through the chalice dungeons. Currently on the final layer of the final Pthumeru chalice. I also already beat the Isz chalice because I needed red jellies (there were not any in the mandatory dungeons, and I confirmed this on the wiki).
I have a kind of love/hate relationship with them. Sometimes exploring is really fun, but other times I'm just going through the motions to slowly check each path, avoid traps, etc. I rarely come across combat situations that I find truly fun; it's usually either easy or cheap (like the two spider chime maidens in one room scenario). I will say some of the best standard enemies are in these dungeons, like the crazy rolling giant or the psycho knife ladies straight out of Japanese horror films.
Boss-wise there have been some cool fights too. The Amygdala chalice fight was pretty fun, but also somewhat boring (just dodge and bait out slam attacks, then punish head). Though after the arm rip, I just got under her and chipped at her legs where it was pretty safe other than stomps. I think I actually enjoyed the watchdog boss in Defiled more, because it was more up-close and personal and involved a lot more dodging of attacks. But neither fight took me that many tries. In fact, I found that entire dungeon kinda easy, especially since they didn't put a single chime maiden in IIRC. For reference that's with 30 vit and no runes to boost HP.
My favorite chalice dungeon so far is Isz. I just really really like it aesthetically and there are some neat ideas. It also has by FAR the hardest room I ever encountered. The one with two of the blue projectile shooting aliens, one on a middle platform and one way up top, that just continually spam you. Then the room is littered with some 5 brainsuckers (the ladies that leech onto your head and steal insight), and to top it off 2 werewolves on the top floor. Also this time around Ebrietas was pretty tough. I actually ended up using the phantasm shell for the final phase which isn't usually my style.
By far the most awful boss though is the Ihyll version of Bloodletting Beast. My god that is just the worst designed boss that works against the game mechanics in every way. It's just not a good boss. I mean, it's one thing if you want to put a giant lumbering beast with unfair range that hounds your ass constantly and literally doesn't let you put distance between you, and does a variety of attacks which tend to have tricky timing. Sure, that's a challenge, but it could be a good challenge. Except… if you do that, the game should let you actually see what the fuck is going on. The thing is so huge that if you stay or dodge close to him, which is all you can really do if you expect to avoid attacks and get any hits in, you can't see anything. You can't tell what his arms are doing or what his telegraphs are. And if you lock on, it just gets worse. And you may even end up trying to attack and swiping at the air because the game thinks the target is his head which is behind you. It was just a horrible and frustrating experience to fight this guy, mostly once his health gets lower and he buffs, gets the snake head, and becomes enraged. It's stupid. This was the only boss where I actually busted out the bolt paper because he needed to die as fast as possible.
For completion's sake I think I'll do the Hintertomb chalices (should be cake) and also Lower Loran (I looked at the boss list and I bet Abhorrent Beast is going to be a bitch, judging by the last time I fought him, and possibly the other bosses too). After that I basically have plat and I don't know if I'll play more after that. If the guide ever ships I'll still maybe do another run, though debating NG+ vs a fresh run because I'm intrigued by doing a pure Bloodtinge build with Chikage and guns.
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I'm also working through the chalices now (story is complete except for final boss(es)).
Going through the motions is right, for the most part. So much sameiness with little payoff, but it's fun enough to keep me slogging through :P
That said…Abhorrent in Ailing Loran the and Defiled Watchdog are giving me trouble now. My level's definitely high enough (30/30/20 str/skl/arc) but those attacks are brutal.
I'm thinking the best strategy with Watchdog is to bait the easily-avoided head swipes then punish and/or sidle around and focus on one leg so he'll stumble and be vulnerable, but with all that hp, it's just hard to get very far before I mess up dodging asingle dash attack and get OHKO'd.Not looking forward to Bloodletting 2.0 either haha.
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Man Abhorrent in Ailing Loran was annoying enough, which is why I'm kind of dreading him in Lower Loran.
As for the watchdog, not locking on worked wonders for me. If you try to stay under/behind him, very few attacks can really hit you… the dash attack being one that practically never hits. You mostly have to watch out for some of his turn bites, and then if he jumps back you have to watch out until you get close again. But then moves like the lava spit are just an opening for free wailing on him. His later stage AOE is I think the only move that would one-shot me, but it has such a huge telegraph that it wasn't an issue. Also I think either his knees or his belly are a serious weak spot. I got to the point where I would run into the room, and his first move was always a dash attack so I would run right to his flank and just go to town with the saw cleaver. About a third of the time I could actually knock him down onto his face before he even executed his first attack. Using a saw cleaver +9 btw, because the holy blade was my +10 (I found the saw cleaver more fitting for this particular fight).
But yeah between Defiled and the other layer 4/5 dungeons I've run so far, I leveled super high. I mean, I was around level 80 when I started and now I'm like 130 (no grinding whatsoever). My stats are something like 35/30/50/50/9/15 (Vitality/Endurance/Strength/Skill/Bloodtinge/Arcane).
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Thanks for the doggy tips! He ended up being nbd after memorizing those patterns.
Defiled Amygdala was cake, and Abhorrent wasn't bad with poison knives, but Headless Bloodletting…you weren't kidding.Thing must've killed me 30 times before I got comfortable instantaneously reacting to whichever lightning fast attack he's about to whip out (except the worm strikes- those were too fast to ever get a grip on). Ended up beating him with 3 blood vials total remaining (like...no more in storage even). Also used bolt paper for the final 1/4 of his health :P
All that's left before I move to NG+ are Isz Ebrietas and Loran Darkbeast (to get their respective next-level chalices), Queen Yharnam (for trophy), and Moonie. Then two more quick runs through the game for the other endings and platinum...
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You can back up your save before the final boss and just do all 3 endings haha. I got my plat a few days ago finally. Loran Darkbeast actually suffers from a lot of similar problems to Bloodletting Beast but at least the lack of vertical height makes it easier to see what's going on. But it still suffers a lot from lock-on issues and general inability to see well if you dodge toward/under him. I didn't feel it so much on Paarl but maybe just because he went down pretty fast.
Anyhow I finished all the non-root chalices so I decided to be a real masochist and created an Ihyll chalice with all optional offerings (fetid, rotted, and cursed or whatever). Haha if you thought the Defiled chalice was hard, try half HP on a depth 5 dungeon with more traps and enemies than normal who are damage buffed and sometimes permanently enraged. It's really tough. The upside is I equipped all 3 Moon runes and now every single mob drops at minimum 10k Echoes. As I was clearing the first layer (which is tiny) I picked up over 1.5 million (this is of course including several deaths and recovering my Echoes). But yeah, the very first room in the dungeon alone gives me 85k of them.
I've also been getting a ton of sweet cursed gems, and by sweet I mean the downside is something I can totally live with like damage reduction against Kin or slightly increased stamina consumption. In exchange for like +22% attack with an additional +5% to charge attacks. Sadly no great treasures so far; I was hoping for a blood rock and/or some high-level runes. The big treasure of the first layer was a Lost Chikage, which taunts me with that Bloodtinge build I wanted to make. I guess I could grind out another 50+ levels for it haha. The cool thing about it is that the last slot on the Lost version is circular so it can equip all the special Bloodtinge gems normally exclusive to guns. I have some pretty sick ones like Bloodtinge scaling +20.
The most unique thing I came across in this dungeon is the Witch of Hemwick as a standard mob. She immediately summons 3 of her soldiers, each of which can one-shot me. Oh yeah and they toss really evil Hunter enemies everywhere too. Like guarding treasure rooms and the boss door. One of them took me like 10 tries. This damn Hunter in Ashen clothes with a fire-enchanted saw spear. Who heals. Oh and they respawn, too. But yeah, still at least 2 layers to go so there could still be cool stuff. I can't just keep making these due to the really steep ingredient requirements though and no PS+ so once I finish this one I'm probably done with chalices.
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I wanna play Bloodborne I wanna play Bloodborne I wanna play Bloodborne sooo bad. But I can't afford a PS4….
This must be what Purgatory feels like. So desirable & tantalizing, yet just out of my reach.
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Haha aw. Well I "finished" my Ihyll cursed/rotted/fetid run today. Picked up Lost Chikage, Lost Blades of Mercy, and the strongest Heir rune (+60% Echoes for viscerals). I put the word "finished" in quotation marks because I didn't beat the boss of layer 3. Because it's Bloodletting Beast (of course they had to make me fight him). And no sir, I am NOT doing that shit with a buffed boss and me at half HP. Just is not going to happen. I took down Watchdog in layer 2 and that was hard as hell but at least fair. Compared to facing him in Defiled he's powered up significantly and has more HP, to the point where quite a few attacks one-shotted me. But Bloodletting Beast can blow me. So I'm putting the game down for now. But my strategy guide did finally ship and will arrive in a few days, so a NG+ run is fairly likely at some point.
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Finished all I wanted to with Chalice dungeons (i.e. all the pre-set ones), got the "good" ending, and now I'm speeding through NG+.
…But I think I might stop just short of completing NG+, because I learned my lesson in DS2 when I "had" to battle through the first DLC on NG+5 (second DLC on NG+6, third on NG+7, because I'm an idiot). Fume and Blue Smelter on NG+6 were harder than anything else in a souls game, for me.
So yeah. Gonna put this aside for now, probably.@Rogues':
I wanna play Bloodborne I wanna play Bloodborne I wanna play Bloodborne sooo bad. But I can't afford a PS4….
This must be what Purgatory feels like. So desirable & tantalizing, yet just out of my reach.
Watch for deals on groupon! I managed to get $60 off the 500g+Last of Us bundle.
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@CCC:
Finished all I wanted to with Chalice dungeons (i.e. all the pre-set ones), got the "good" ending, and now I'm speeding through NG+.
…But I think I might stop just short of completing NG+, because I learned my lesson in DS2 when I "had" to battle through the first DLC on NG+5 (second DLC on NG+6, third on NG+7, because I'm an idiot). Fume and Blue Smelter on NG+6 were harder than anything else in a souls game, for me.
So yeah. Gonna put this aside for now, probably.So my strategy guide arrived. You might be interested to know that enemy attack/defense stats only increase in NG+ and NG++. After NG++ the stats all stay the same except their HP and Echoes dropped. These values increase until playthrough number 7 (at which point enemy HP is 2.25 times as high as the first NG+ round), and then stop changing at all. So I don't think it will ever get very difficult.
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Oh wow. Yeah that doesn't sound like much compared to past games (casulification, doodz). I would have sworn that Souls enemies hit harder and harder each time, but then again I don't know the explicit numbers.
…But I will when I get my copy of the DS2 guide from Udon to use as a reference when translating the DS2 art book (...hopefully they give me Bloodborne too if I prove my mettle with this).
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This is my first time playing a game in this series so I'm not really sure what I'm doing. I choose the starter build with the most points in arcane because I like magic. I've only gotten to Old Yarham but I haven't seen any spells yet so it kind of feels like a waste. I'm using the Saw Spear right now as it does more damage than my Cane and it just feels better. Should I be stingy with what weapons I choose to upgrade or should I, in a normal playthrough, expect to max a good amount of weapons Or will later on I just find one weapon that's heads above the others? Right now I'm putting my points in Skill as it seems to give both my weapons damage as opposed to Strength which just helps one.
I've kind of gotten used to the combat, still learning, but I feel pretty lost on the stat system, I usually like a build but I've just been putting points where i feel they'll have the most short term impact, I don't really want that to bite me in the ass later.
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This is my first time playing a game in this series so I'm not really sure what I'm doing. I choose the starter build with the most points in arcane because I like magic. I've only gotten to Old Yarham but I haven't seen any spells yet so it kind of feels like a waste. I'm using the Saw Spear right now as it does more damage than my Cane and it just feels better. Should I be stingy with what weapons I choose to upgrade or should I, in a normal playthrough, expect to max a good amount of weapons Or will later on I just find one weapon that's heads above the others? Right now I'm putting my points in Skill as it seems to give both my weapons damage as opposed to Strength which just helps one.
I've kind of gotten used to the combat, still learning, but I feel pretty lost on the stat system, I usually like a build but I've just been putting points where i feel they'll have the most short term impact, I don't really want that to bite me in the ass later.
I'll give the same advice I was given ;)
Don't be stingy about upgrading, at least to +6. Because those upgrade stones are common as hell and even infinitely purchasable, later. +7 to +9 is more limited resource (annoying to farm), and +10 is once per NG cycle unless you delve deep into root chalices.Magic is honestly…a bad choice in this game. There are no "spells" like in past souls games. Just "hunter items" that use up bullets and scale with arcane. But they're honestly pretty bad and not meant to be primary damage dealers. More like support items and surprising tricks to pull out now and then.
Your starting "class" won't ruin you, though, as the minor differences will flatten out once you're a reasonably high level. Aim for 30/30 str/skl in general (then 50/50 eventually), unless you're going for a bloodtinge build (!?).
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@CCC:
I'll give the same advice I was given ;)
Don't be stingy about upgrading, at least to +6. Because those upgrade stones are common as hell and even infinitely purchasable, later. +7 to +9 is more limited resource (annoying to farm), and +10 is once per NG cycle unless you delve deep into root chalices.Magic is honestly…a bad choice in this game. There are no "spells" like in past souls games. Just "hunter items" that use up bullets and scale with arcane. But they're honestly pretty bad and not meant to be primary damage dealers. More like support items and surprising tricks to pull out now and then.
Your starting "class" won't ruin you, though, as the minor differences will flatten out once you're a reasonably high level. Aim for 30/30 str/skl in general (then 50/50 eventually), unless you're going for a bloodtinge build (!?).
Thanks. Disappointing about the spells though but I'm glad I'm not screwed from the start and focusing on str/skl instead of putting more points into arcane should open up more weapons for me.
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Played today a bit on the new patch there is definitely improvement in load times and at least subjectively a substantial one(might just be because I can now read description during the loading).
Trying to play through the game on a stake driver build I feel like captain falcon doing that. It's pretty fun, I'm probably not a master of the weapon but I play it very dodge based and patient only using it's other attack when the attack windows are just too small to employ the special strong attack. Stake driver really sucks though when you get swarmed you need to get so close you can get surrounded very easily and the speed feels pretty meh on it's normal attacks at least compared to blades of mercy.
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Kind of an unfair comparison when Blades of Mercy are the fastest weapon in the game :P
But yeah, I'm actually excited to do a NG+ run post-patch and maybe pick up some of the stuff I missed using the guide. I'm at almost 99 Insight and apparently that's going to make Frenzy a real bitch. But right now, Mario Kart.
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But yeah, I'm actually excited to do a NG+ run post-patch and maybe pick up some of the stuff I missed using the guide. I'm at almost 99 Insight and apparently that's going to make Frenzy a real bitch. But right now, Mario Kart.
No kidding. At 99, one nip from those little slug beasts in Upper Cathedral fills the meter up right quick.
…So I went and bought every piece of equipment and a ton of Twin Blood Stone Shards from the Insight Shop.
Incidentally, I'm thinking of picking up Mario Kart with birthday money tomorrow. Must be true that great minds think alike ;)
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Wait, more insight increases frenzy speed!?
Dang, no wonder the Nightmare of Mensis gave me so much trouble. I had 99 insight the entire last half of the game.
That just goes to show how much of this game is unknown (without wikis of course). I beat NG+, delved deep into Chalice Dungeons and even got the plat, yet I still never learned that helpful tidbit. I wonder how much else I don't know…
On another note Bloodborne is one of my favorite games of the decade. I've never played a Souls game, but Bloodborne is the kind of game that makes me remember why I love video games. No other game has been as intense and made me this obsessive in a long time.
I've been taking a break for things like Axiom Verge and Mario Kart DLC, but I'll be back.
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Wait, more insight increases frenzy speed!?
Dang, no wonder the Nightmare of Mensis gave me so much trouble. I had 99 insight the entire last half of the game.
That just goes to show how much of this game is unknown (without wikis of course). I beat NG+, delved deep into Chalice Dungeons and even got the plat, yet I still never learned that helpful tidbit. I wonder how much else I don't know…
It's actually tied into the whole Lovecraftian horror deal, where being more in tune to the true nature of the world (aka the existence of godly tentacle beasts) naturally leads one to insanity (hence the item Madman's Knowledge [insanity yields insight] and the Mensis Cages, which induce insanity via torture to get the wearer that much closer to enlightenment).
So frenzy = insanity, are you're more susceptible to it with high insight.The fact that it just knocks of 70% of your HP isn't the most exciting mechanic, but I guess expecting Eternal Darkness-style sanity effects would have been too much ;)
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On another note Bloodborne is one of my favorite games of the decade. I've never played a Souls game, but Bloodborne is the kind of game that makes me remember why I love video games. No other game has been as intense and made me this obsessive in a long time.
You should go try Dark Souls. It's pretty much perfect.
Demon Souls and DS2 are pretty good too in their own ways.
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On another note Bloodborne is one of my favorite games of the decade. I've never played a Souls game, but Bloodborne is the kind of game that makes me remember why I love video games. No other game has been as intense and made me this obsessive in a long time.
Love comments from newcomers like this. Reminds me when I first got into Demon Souls and then Dark Souls. With alot of triple-A games more focusing on cutscene narratives, or just shallow action games that tends to use difficulty selectors in order to draw in different audiences.. It's neat that From Software actually has a grasp on design and well know that there are actually people out there wants games like this.
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I've been following a few communities for Bloodborne and one of the things I keep hearing is people saying "I went back to replay DS games and I can't do it anymore after Bloodborne because it feels so slow and boring and contrived." Which I thought was interesting. Either way I'm not really that interested in going back and checking out the older games (or I already would have even before Bloodborne honestly).
But I do think Bloodborne is fantastic, and I keep wanting to play more. I'm getting ready for NG+ now, just boosting my Arcane and such so that I can mess around with all the random items. And Robby, how did your pledge to not use healing items on bosses work out for you? :P
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I've been following a few communities for Bloodborne and one of the things I keep hearing is people saying "I went back to replay DS games and I can't do it anymore after Bloodborne because it feels so slow and boring and contrived."
Slow I can imagine. Going from Souls to Blood is like taking off training weights.
Boring and contrived though…eh. They're different beasts. "Contrived" implies that the Souls games don't have awesomely in-depth combat themselves.
But then again I got way more of a kick out of world design than combat anyway, which is probably why DS2 was such a letdown in all regards :P -
I guess contrived in the sense that, for example, people were complaining that a lot of boss battles were just going through the motions and patterns that just felt lame after the dynamic Bloodborne fights. But again I haven't played the games, so this is just stuff I read multiple people bring up repeatedly. I myself was complaining a bit earlier in this thread about the total chaotic nature of some bosses where I didn't feel like there was a great way to get a grasp on the attack patterns and exploit them. But it certainly allows you to be as aggressive or defensive as you want.
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Either way I'm not really that interested in going back and checking out the older games (or I already would have even before Bloodborne honestly).
You really should give DS1 a chance. Its a bit more thoughtful and deliberately paced, but you can use shields and whatnot, (its a game much more about doding and rolling than offensive all out attacking) and the design and storytelling is just SO good and theres about a million things you can do in it that are all your way. Learning paths or sequence breaking or finding fantastic items early in the game, skipping bosses, making shortcuts… good stuff. And the lore and backstory is really strong too.
Its not Bloodborne for frentic combat, but it is probably the best designed game I've seen for areas.
And Robby, how did your pledge to not use healing items on bosses work out for you? :P
I've only been playing on weekends on a friend's PS4, but its been going fine. Dealing with the wet nurse currently. but going on a trip so not going to touch the game for a month.
I probably wouldn't put myself through it but my friend is super obsessed with the franchise so I have to sort of meet them at their level. We trade off and alternate when it comes to learning the patterns and exploring and deciding where to go next. My friend (who has the PS4) is obsessed. THEY are doing the same challenge without any health upgrades and full insight. (They've also clocked about 1000 hours into DS1, and over 400 into DS2, and were running through the game once a day for a while).
We'll sort of alternate on learning patterns and exploring, but obviously they are far better than I am but I do okay. I'd probably use heals if it was just me but it is a friendly competition, keeps things interesting when you have a friend that's that much of a veteran.
Being able to do boss rushes in one go only being clipped once or twice is the challenge. Later replays can be tanky or use different weapons or heal tons or whatever… but there's only one chance to play through at full challenge the first time.
Any rate, near the end.
I guess contrived in the sense that, for example, people were complaining that a lot of boss battles were just going through the motions and patterns that just felt lame after the dynamic Bloodborne fights. But again I haven't played the games, so this is just stuff I read multiple people bring up repeatedly.
The bosses in DS tend to have less phases, they won't change modes and attack paterns at half health so much… (but some do)... but they'll still have 4-10 patterns to deal with and are much more about pattern recognition and strategy, over "spam attack to try and heal". "Going through the motions" is going to happen with people that have played through the game dozens of times for a couple years now and know exactly how to work around the enemies.
Ornstein and Smough will kick your ass for a while even after you know how they work.
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I myself was complaining a bit earlier in this thread about the total chaotic nature of some bosses where I didn't feel like there was a great way to get a grasp on the attack patterns and exploit them. But it certainly allows you to be as aggressive or defensive as you want.
Yeah I feel you. And based on that, I honestly think you might like the earlier games, which are allllll about learning patterns. …Or figuring out creative cheesing methods, if that's what you're into (usually environment-based).
BB bosses aren't too different in that regard, but there is a lot more room for button mashing.
Martyr Logarius, on the other hand, feels like one that could've come straight from Souls. Very methodical with intimidating attacks that are practically trivial once you learn the tells and ways to cope. -
Ok I just read that the special blood vials you get from Iosefka/etc are probably menstrual blood vials.
Ehm…. it makes a ton of sense too kind of...
http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2015/04/27/wild-theory-blood-bloodborne-actually-comesStill weird… but also kind of amazing xD, like I never looked at it that way and in retrospect in kind of feels like something obvious?
Yep that's Souls series story telling for ya... xDAlso Blood Dregs are bloody semen http://bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com/Blood+Dreg (look at the picture icon and the description)
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Any place we could see Japanese names for items? Curious about "dregs" now.
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Can't find one and I tried. Only thing I found was some japanese threads discussing the same thing.
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Damn, i really want to play this game already …. but i'm only half through Dark Souls 2 (i think ... i got the second great orb thing from that King) and i want to finish it first!
Actually i'd like to play it again (and DS1 for that matter) after i beat it, but i don't think i can wait much longer. DS2 made me really eager for Bloodborne. >_< -
I wonder what the DLC will be like. I was just finally getting kinda bored with the game. I'm on NG+7 and it's still not difficult. Though some bosses are always a pain. Nothing will stop me from hating ROM, and Bloodstarved Beast has the ability to KO annoyingly fast.
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So the game was patched and has some interesting changes. Blood Stone Chunks are drops in lower chalice depths now, and even Blood Rocks can drop from bosses of them. They buffed a lot of weapons and hunter tools, made co-op possible without level range requirements, and a bunch of other assorted stuff.
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I hope that doesn't mean they increased enemies resistance to bolt. Also how do you increase the duration of Auger of Ebrietas. Hopefully the english version will clarify some things.
I'm almost done the game. I just have the final boss left but I'm saving it until I'm done all the chalice dungeons. I went with an arcane build anyway so I'm like level 90 something with 50 arcane maybe 30 vit and 20 stam. I'm pretty happy with it. Spells are limited and bullets suck as a resource but they trivialize some fights. Like Amygdala was just me cast a Call Beyond twice and slapping her a bit and she fell right over. Over all I haven't been this attached to game in a really long time. Not sure if I'm going to play NG+ or ++. My account is a guest account so I can't go online and I'm making sure I'm getting everything done before I end it so there's not much point in a new game.
I saw this posted at the Av club today and it's a really interesting watch if the plot has been confusing things. It's spoilers obviously but it does a solid job of tying all the pieces of lore together into something coherent.
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I finished the game yesterday (i mean … i beat Gherman) and was surprised that i was thrown right into NG+. I thought i could explore the areas i haven't found yet and try the chalice dungeons even after i beat the final boss ... but oh well, game is fun, so i'll tackle it again.
But oh man ...after i checked what i missed, i feel like i have been going through this game with blindfolds!
-A total of 6 bosses with their respective areas. Where the hell are they supposed to be?
-I got 2 NPCs into the church of which one disappeared.
-Never tried a chalice dungeon and never found out where to start them.
-Missed a ton of weapons and armor (i basically wore the same outfit for 99% of the game).
-Missed a lot of sidequests, like that Crow-Lady who then almost killed me in the Cathedral.But at least i still have a lot of stuff left to explore!
And yeah, game is awesome BTW. -
I just got Bloodbourne today and after thinking I was prepared because I watched tons of videos, I was not quite ready. I was determined to run past the werewolf and get to the Hunter's Dream via Lantern instead of dying but the werewolf chased and killed me after I opened the gate. Then I wanted to get to the Hunter gear in the sewer and I got it after dying a bunch. I'm also not finding a lot of Blood Vials. Also where do I go to get on the other side of the gate near the 2nd lantern? Will I get to unlock it after the Cleric Beast?
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Also where do I go to get on the other side of the gate near the 2nd lantern? Will I get to unlock it after the Cleric Beast?
Nah. Cleric Beast only unlocks an item for purchase in the store. It's not blocking a physical path.
For the gate shortcut you're trying to get to… Go through the whole outside sewer part, climb up at the end (near the pig), take the elevator, get past the brick trolls, and you'll find your way to the other side of that gate.
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@CCC:
Nah. Cleric Beast only unlocks an item for purchase in the store. It's not blocking a physical path.
For the gate shortcut you're trying to get to… Go through the whole outside sewer part, climb up at the end (near the pig), take the elevator, get past the brick trolls, and you'll find your way to the other side of that gate.
Ah, I went the other way and dropped off next to where I got the Hunter's gear because I didn't want to deal with all those rats but now I know where to go. Thanks CCC.
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Ah, I went the other way and dropped off next to where I got the Hunter's gear because I didn't want to deal with all those rats but now I know where to go. Thanks CCC.
Oh right, that works too!
…I realized that what I described is actually the shortcut to the next boss... -
@CCC:
Oh right, that works too!
…I realized that what I described is actually the shortcut to the next boss...The directions really helped me out though as I now have the gate open and I can get around easier.
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First DLC announced:
http://kotaku.com/bloodborne-s-first-full-expansion-has-just-been-announc-1730724445Best part- the bow.
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For the first time ever a game's expansion has far exceeded my expectations.