You’re insane. The soundtrack of BB was one of the best last year, and easily bests what From put out for Dark Souls 3 soundtrack. The audio design is fantastic as well, if unsettling.
The unique thing about the saw cleaver is that the transform attack (R1-L1) does extra damage and stagger. By comboing like that, it’s almost like a unique way to play the game. There are a few weapons like that where the playstyle is completely different from anything else. The axe is that way too. Charge two-handed R2s (spin to win) are really fun to time and aim. Try it out if you haven’t already.
Apologies forge. I’m sounding too negative. I’m just poking a bit of fun. I probably just need some time to tune into the subtleties of the sounds, and I mean that in a serious, non-sarcastic way. All I hear most of the time in the game so far is “splash splash splash splash splash splash splash”. Interpretation: “I hit the enemy twice, that’s the first two splashes. But then the enemy managed to hit me back twice in a row, that’s the second two splashes, but then I turned the tide and hit him three times”. There’s probably a lot of little grunts and moans and details in there that I’m not attuned to yet, because I’m distracted by all the blood splashes.
Which one does extra damage? From my little experiments it seemed like when you extend the weapon (L1), your attack (R1) has greater range, but you swing slower, giving the enemy a window in which to interrupt your attacks. The normal, shorter weapon (L1 to go back to short weapon) has a shorter range, but you can swing faster. Is that too simple an interpretation of what’s going on with the saw cleaver and the axe?
I’ve tried R2 a few times, but only when I get the drop on someone, and I start with that attack, then switch the faster R1 attacks to lower my chances of getting interrupted.
Not one attack, the combo attack for the saw cleaver. Instead of pressing R1, R1, R1, R1, etc. you press R1 and then L1. The weapon does damage as it transforms. The saw cleaver has a unique property that this transformation attack happens to do more damage and stagger than normal. Anyway, never mind, just stick with the axe.
Once you get used to enemy attack patterns, you’ll be doing the charged 2HR2 with the axe even as they’re approaching you. It’s very satisfying to time it right.
Woah, so you can extend the weapon WHILE you’re hitting someone with it? That sounds awesome.
Btw, does this game still use Havok?
The physics was such a big part of Dark Souls, I always thought it was very appropriate that Havok got as big a billing in the title screen as From Software.
From Software and Havok present: Dark Souls. That’s how I always thought of it.
But there’s no Havok splash screen at the start of Bloodborne, and so far, things seem a little less … physics-obsessed as Dark Souls. But this whole extending the Saw while using it sounds like a great use of physics if they implemented it correctly.
Chaining transformation combos are crucial to getting the most out of Bloodborne combat. I love the Axe’s R1 L1 R1 combo (or something like that) where you do some quick swings then slam as the axe becomes a halbard then lunge forward with a staggering poke.
This is another weird one, as Bloodborne brought back the ragdoll bodies that Dark Souls 2 lacked.
I hate this ‘feature’. They always seem to get stuck on my character and I end up dragging a corpse around half the level (hyperbole), blocking my vision.
I got a bit further last night and this morning. Last night I got stuck on the section where I’m being killed by a mounted mini-gun. Ouch.
So I backed up and bought the key to the Cathedral Something something using 10k blood, and explored that area a bit. I think I ran into a dead end there, but it’s tough to tell sometimes. I came back this morning and tried storming the mini-gun nest again by using cover. The problem is whenever I get into unfamiliar terrain, the close camera in the game makes it really hard to angle it to tell properly which areas will be exposed to the mini-gun. In proper Souls tradition, I’ll find out by dying over and over. That way I’ll know which areas are not safe. :)
I gave up on trying to kill the guy in the mini-gun nest. Whenever I get up there, he starts shooting me with his shotgun, and he just stun-locks me by shooting me repeatedly. I can’t attack, dodge, drink health, or anything. Just bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, dead. So I decided to just leave him alone up there.
Meanwhile, I did get to the blood-starved beast. He seems so easy until he actually connects with you, and then that connection is pretty deadly. He’d be easy to kill if he just had fewer hit points, but I have to keep hitting him for a long, long time.
What’s the deal with my blood echos by the way? Do I have to kill him to get them back? I can’t find them on the ground anywhere after the last time I die in his chamber. That’s one of the major changes from the Souls series to the Blood series: your blood echoes are a LOT harder to spot than your dropped souls, and often get absorbed by the being that kills you, as far as I can tell, so you have to kill them to get it back. Luckily, sometimes it also seems to get absorbed by a nearby weak enemy who happens to be walking by, I assume. Oh look, here’s some blood echos, let me just drink that. Nom Nom Nom. Mmmmm. Forbidden Doughnuuuuut. I mean bloooooood.
I’ve never seen a boss pick them up. Usually it’s a (hard to spot) blood spot somewhere close to where you died.
Yep, they can be picked up by random things walking by. Their eyes should glow blue after they do that, but it can be hard to spot on fast moving creatures like the werewolves.
Yea, I was only responding to losing them behind a boss shroud. Gendal is right though. Sometimes you will get a bonus and the echoes will be on a creature much closer than the one you died to.
Bosses can’t eat your souls, ahem, blood echoes, though.
I finally found the circular way around the area behind the door that required me to buy a key all the way around to the area that opens up at the “front” door of the cathedral. So I think if I play Bloodborne again, I can avoid buying that key, since it doesn’t really get you much extra.
I lost all the blood I earned for the day though. Lost about 20k liters of blood.
Edit: So much in this game is such a cypher to me, still. Like why did I spend hours to fall down platforms to kill a beast just to get a “beast” item? And why did I open up that whole area just for it to lead to a door for which I don’t have a key yet? It’s all so mysterious and bizarre.
So I made a couple of discoveries this morning.
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I’d been summoning Hanrietta to help me with some of the area, and every time it takes 1 insight. Fine, she’s hungry for insight, I can feed her in exchange for her services. But eventually she stops following me, and just stands in one spot. At first I thought she got stuck on something, but I went in a different direction next time, and she stopped after a while and refused to follow. So that’s either a function of distance or time that she follows me. I’ll have to experiment to find out whether it’s distance or time.
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When I ran out of insight, I used the stored Madman’s Knowledge I had to gain insight so I could summon her help again. But wait, what’s this? I forgot to munch on Madman’s knowledge this time and had 0 insight, and yet, I still summoned her! Woah! So she’ll only take an insight if I happen to have one! So really I should have been only summoning her when I DIDN’T have any insight left if I wanted to be greedy. Interesting.
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I wasn’t using my pistol much (since it’s worthless most of the time) but sometimes when I use it, it brings my opponents to their knees. So I’ve been experimenting with the timing. I’m not 100% sure yet, but I THINK the pistol is like a parry in the Souls games. It’s most effective when the enemy is attacking me. Or maybe about to hit me. I’m still not super certain on the timing yet, but I think I only bring them to their knees if I’m about to get hit by them.
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In the early game, I really used blood vials way too much. Now later in the game I’m always short and having to spend blood buying more. If I could talk to the young me who started playing this game, I’d tell him, blood vials are limited! They don’t actually magically replenish to 20 every time you die. Stop hitting Triangle just for the hell of it in the early game! They just happen to come automatically from storage if you have any. And when you no longer have any in storage, they do NOT replenish.
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Molotov cocktails go into storage when you buy too many from little dead kids. And there seems to be no way to retrieve them. When you use them, they stay in storage and do not come back from it. And yet, they are still listed as being in storage. I figure there must be a hidden storage somewhere in the game I need to find. What a pain in the ass.
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Madman’s knowledge tastes better than blood. More nutty, less bitter.
Oh good grief, Rock8man.
Yes, shooting things just as they swing to attack will parry them. Quickstep forward and hit R1 to do a visceral attack.
Blood vial farming sucks really bad. There’s a simple route early in the game that makes it more tolerable.
The storage chest is to the right as you walk into the building in the Hunter’s Dream. It’s far to the right of the weapon workbench.
Yeah, that’s the area where I must have gathered a LOT of blood vials, since I was in that area a long time. That’s why I used to think Blood vials are infinite and always start at 20 when you die. I didn’t realize at the time they were all coming from storage.
Also, thanks for the location of the storage! I thought I’d licked everywhere in that little library but I guess not.
If I like Dark Souls, would I like Bloodborne? The fighting looks different, also the setting, I am not a fan of spiders and insects, I love skeletons and zombies… I don’t have a PS4, yet, but eventually I might get one for this and Ninokuni 2