How does it differ from Dark/Demons Souls? I really wanted to get into those games but I just found the whole 'die, try again, die, try again, die, try again, get a bit further, die, etc' style frustrating.
Alrighty, super early first impressions after maybe 3 hours of playtime. I'm still pretty much in the prologue I think. The whole game hasn't downloaded yet on my PS4 so Online functionality isn't enabled yet and I haven't gotten to the point where I can level up my character yet. Explored a lot though and bought some better armor and leveled up my weapon.
Class selection screen. I went with "Professional", which is low on Strength, but high on Skill (Dex). Seems like carry weight doesn't matter so much in this, and you'll move and roll just as fast no matter what you're wearing.
At the start you're given a choice of 3 weapons. I picked this badass cane, which transforms into an even more badass chain which you can whip around.
The world design is great. It wraps around a lot and lets you unlock shortcuts back to earlier areas. Also I've already found a couple secret paths just by smashing down stuff. Also seems to be more interactivity with NPCs and the world. You can take on sidequests, and there are short readables here and there.
As for the bad stuff: I got stuck on geometry once and had to sacrifice my gathered souls(which aren't called "souls"), and the loadtimes are really long. Pretty much constantly over half a minute, which becomes a real pain when you're dying a lot redoing the same bossfight over and over.![]()
How does it differ from Dark/Demons Souls? I really wanted to get into those games but I just found the whole 'die, try again, die, try again, die, try again, get a bit further, die, etc' style frustrating.
As far as that goes, things haven't changed all that much. Though with that said, the Souls games aren't quite so trial and error once you get used to the ebb and flow of things.
Yeah driver, it's the same thing. You'll hate it.
It's hard. I got killed by the first enemy. And there's a huge guy in an alley which I've tried to fight probably 10 times and haven't killed yet. That guy is this game's version of a black knight tho, I think. Big and strong and terrifyingly fast. Also ran into the first bossfight, which is really brutal. I might be able to take the guy out, but I'd go through my entire health potion supply in the process. Healthpotions don't replenish in this, instead you need to buy them. At least I've reached the point where I can level up by now.
Just defeated the first boss on my 5th attempt (or thereabouts). So far my biggest problem with the controls is that I keep pressing triangle out of habit to switch between one- and two-handed modes and wasting blood phials. As weapons I picked the hunter's axe (upgraded at +1 right now) and the blunderbuss which I have yet to learn how to use effectively.
I just figured out how to use the guns effectively tonight. I'd read that you're supposed to use them for parrying, which sounded a bit scary to me as I've never been big on parrying, barely ever used it in the Souls games. But whereas you usually parry by hitting the button just as the enemy attacks, here you fire your gun as the enemy is winding up to attack, so the window for parrying is bigger and easier to hit.![]()
@henke
Thanks for the hint about parrying during the wind up of the attacks. I would have figured it was the same as in previous games.
I've actually been able to parry quite reliably many of the enemies in Demon's Souls and Dark Souls 1 (I didn't try it out much in Dark Souls 2 as it seemed too much risk for too little reward there as you have to wait first for the enemy to fall down and also you are not invulnerable during the riposte animation).
Playing Bloodborne like I would play Dark Souls has been disastrous. To be successful you have to be super aggressive. It definitely is a different take on combat mechanics. If you take damage and retreat to heal you're going to get rekt as you have to move in and try to recover your blood by doing damage. It's a really interesting take on the souls formula. Couple it with the weapon transformations and charge attacks, combat is unique yet familiar. I love it.
This game feels a whole lot like Demon Souls such as the messages when you recover blood echos or defeat a boss. Speaking of which, bosses have some neat mechanics. The first one seen in the trailers is not too bad. The second one I've found is a bit more tough with some unique mechanics. I haven't found any covenants but fun fact, invasions are not announced. At all. Invaders just show up. Graphic and sound wise, it is absolutely stellar. I'm playing with headphones and audio is thick and layered. Obviously it looks nice. My only real gripe is the lengthy load times. This is supposed to be patched soon so I'm not too worried. Started a new job the day before BB released so I haven't had as much time as I would have liked. Gonna get some serious time this weekend though.
Last edited by Shinrazero; 27th Mar 2015 at 01:31.
Yeah the second boss is a really hard. I fought him probably 10 times but only managed to get him down to maybe 20% health at most. Finally caved in and got someone to help me.
(not too spoilery, pretty much all of this has been in the promotional gameplay videos)
Nicely done, I had a similar experience, getting him down to about 20% before dying. I learned you can stun him by playing the music box. I just defeated him doing that. I also just learned that if you hit R1 and then L1 it does a nice strong attack. I'm using the saw spear and the combo has a nice wide sweep with good damage.
Last edited by Shinrazero; 27th Mar 2015 at 03:08.
Just defeated the second boss (Father Gascoine) on my third try. Without being able to parry with the blunderbuss I don't think I would have managed it anywhere near as easily. As is I used up all 20 quicksilver bullets to get through the first phase of the fight and then did the second phase by simply dodging his attacks and then punishing him with charged attacks from my elongated hunter axe (upgraded to +2 at this time).
I found the shield. Heh, it's pretty useless. You basically get staggered every time you block. Not that I'd use it anyway, by this point I'm more comfortable with a pistol or a torch in my second hand. Have made a good bit of progress in Old Yarnham and outside the city. The bosses are really hard in this. Thankfully, after Father Gascoigne, it doesn't seem that your progress is barred by bossfights too much.
Yeah, I think the shield's meant to be a joke for former DS vets. Cute touch.
No doubt. The description for the thing actually ends with "Shields are nice, but not if they engender passivity."![]()
Antidotes are important...
Heh yeah, HedgeFundSolarie was a cool guy. Still wearing the starter clothes but tearing down that boss like it's nothing anyway. I mostly just stood back and occasionally prodded the thing with my cane.
Does anyone know how to defeat the Executioners? (big hooded guys with axes) Occasionally I can parry them when they charge but mostly they just power right through my bullets and I end up with an axe in my face. Whether or not parry works on them seems completely random. Not fun.
I love the name - it's perfect. A guy in a nice three piece suit helping people fight bosses.
Well, my PS4 got fast tracked since they were selling them at a newly opened shop for ~USD260. Bloodborne has been downloaded, but I haven't played it yet. Anyway, is there a list of the TTLG people's PSN handles so I can befriend and kill you?
... and in the game?
(Realistically, I'll be the one getting killed - I've never been all that good at PvP.)
I just beat the blood-starved beast on something like my 10th attempt. As someone else said antidotes are definitely a must for this fight. Also pungent blood potions are a very effective at distracting the beast so that you can get some damaging charged attacks in.
BTW while farming for blood phials in-between attempts I was attacked by a hunter at the place where the Father Gascoine boss fight was. He's killed me twice so far and made me lose about 9k total in blood echos.
Last edited by salass00; 29th Mar 2015 at 12:16.
I went back to Yarnham and it was dark outside, whereas during my earlier visit it was sunset. The way the night keeps growing darker, and all the NPCs seem to be loosing their sanity makes for a really bleak atmosphere. It feels apocalyptic in a way not many other games do.
Just beat the Witch of Hemwick. This was definitely my favorite boss fight so far. Not particularly hard as I managed it on my second attempt but very creepy and different from the other boss fights.
The reason I died the first time was that I got careless and let myself be surrounded and then got paralyzed by the witch's spell while trying to escape. After this there was nothing really I could do.