Two tries. On my first try I had him down to a sliver left, but he got me with a big attack. On the second try I got him (her?)
Btw, the whole set of enemies in the Fishing Hamlet area, it’s got to be some of the best animation and AI for enemies in all the Soulsbourne series, surely. Definitely the best “I’m going to swallow the player character” animation I’ve ever seen. Definitely the best “I’m going to bonk the player character over their head” animation I’ve ever seen. Definitely the best “I’m going to dive headlong and get that son of a bitch player no matter what it takes” animation I’ve ever seen. I feel kind of robbed that this whole sequence of the DLC wasn’t longer. I love these guys so much.
Kolbex
1785
…
What in the absolute shit, man.
Yeah, people waltz through bosses others find hard all the time in these games, but that’s crazy.
He did say he was way overleveled for Lady Maria. That might be part of it. Anyway, well done.
Yeah, for someone who found The Living Failures difficult to beat, rolling through Orphan in 2 tries just feels wrong.
I think it shows that although player skill is the most important thing, player character level still makes a big difference.
I remember being annoyed when it was implied otherwise back in my first experience with Dark Souls.
Yeah, I was actually quite shocked at the massive amount of difference in the Lady Maria fight. It was night and day. With my old character (78) and my new character (82), the blood phase was one where I could only survive two hits, but after leveling up at the pigs for an hour (95 I think?) I could survive at least 5 hits from the blood, which completely changed the nature of that fight.
By the way, I have a theory about why I got Manus in Dark Souls and Orphan of Kos on my second try in both games: when I first fight a boss, I’m always just trying to survive as long as possible so that I can observe the moves. In Dark Souls that meant blocking a lot. In Bloodborne it means evading a lot. But then that changes over time when I’m doing the same fight over and over, the focus goes from blocking/evasion to offense, and when to attack, and I get more and more impatient usually about evasion. If I hadn’t gotten Manus and Orphan early on, I bet I’d have been stuck on them for a while.
My goal was to finish this game on Halloween night. Kolbex mentioned upthread that I’m really close to the end. The only other thing left to do is the Chalice dungeons, which have been surprisingly fun, so I guess I’ll keep going with those this week, and then try to finish up the main game at the end of the week.
Last night on the Chalice dungeon “Ailing Loran” (I think), I fought the Blood Starved Beast again. He was much tougher in this dungeon version. I don’t know if he did this in Old Yarnhum or not, but every once in a while he’d go into this mode where he would grab you and basically kill you in one hit. So I got killed like that four times in a row, despite my attempts to alleviate it by switching out my equipment.
Eventually I used the same thing that worked for me in boss fights like I talked about above: focus on evasion. Especially when he goes into that other form, just focus on not getting hit, don’t even worry about damaging him.
Of course, that meant the freaking fight took forever, but I got him. Two more levels to go in that dungeon I think.
newbrof
1792
do you guys play around with beasthood? Is it worth it?
I finally tried it last night. I took one of those pellets. It tasted sweet, and a little tangy.
And when I fought monsters, a little HUD indicator appeared on the screen that goes upward when you’re hitting them, and then back down to zero when you’re not hitting them.
I don’t know what that means. I always thought I’d be converted into a beast when I swallowed a pellet, but instead it’s some kind of … something that I don’t understand.
newbrof
1794
I read that it increases your phisical damage over time and also decreasing your defense, when the mode is active. Also there is a beast claw weapon in a chalice dungeon to be found, that can transform you to beast hood.
I wondered if it is worth dealing extra damage (for bosses) …but looks like you guys are not using it.
Kolbex
1795
There’s a rune that turns you into a beast (the one you got from Laurence, I think?) and a weapon that’s in the Hunter’s Nightmare that takes advantage of it. Like most things in this game, you have to plan in advance for it and build around it, I think, which is a real shame because it prevents people from just rolling with things. I think that’s a pretty bad design decision on From’s part.
Edit: oh, it is in a chalice dungeon, but you can also buy one from the messengers right before the end of the game.
Kolbex
1796
I’ve never really done any chalice stuff. They just seemed kind of boring to me, but it seems like maybe half the game is hidden in there (though without the vistas that are half the reason I come to these games. I definitely won’t be doing them before Halloween, but maybe I ought to try delving them. Would be fun to do cooperatively.
newbrof
1797
yeah, what’s the point if it is so late game… I am still using my basic axe from the start of the game, improved to +6
And is there any use of the pistol? I used it for stun in the early game, but not using it anymore if I just can finish the enemies with the axe. I have more than 300 bullets. Can you do a range build in this game?
Kolbex
1798
You can, but again you have to plan in advance, know where certain weapons good for it are, etc. Bloodtinge is the stat that increases gun damage, and it doesn’t really do anything else, so builds that lean heavily into it are pretty niche. People do it, though.
Sounds like a lot of the play in chalice dungeons is at level 200(!). Might have to dust off my old overleveled guy for that, since there’s no way this new dude is getting that high or even close to it.
Edit: oh, funny story about how this game can still surprise you even after dozens of hours. I’m gonna spoiler this, but it’s just a little thing you may never see, so if you’re not really spoiler averse I wouldn’t avoid: I needed a couple hundred echoes for a level so I went back to Cathedral Ward post-Rom or maybe even post-One Reborn to grab them, and during the loading screen I got up to get some water because that lamp is safe, no problem. While I’m in the kitchen my girlfriend shouts, “you’re dying!” and I’m like wtf?! and run back out, thinking there’s no way, she’s fucking with me, that’s the first lamp, that lamp is safe, but sure enough there’s a little beast bashing away at me, like one of those little dudes from Old Yharnam. I kill it and am like where in the fuck did that come from? Maybe they spawn here after a certain point in the game? Teleport back to dream and return to CY, but no beast. Go down the stairs, look around, maybe it’s a new patrol…but then I notice the window. The window where you talk to your first NPC, the sick guy whose name I can’t remember, who points you first to the Great Bridge and then the aquaduct, his window is blasted open, so he must have turned (he thought he dodged it!) and come out as a one time only enemy.
Also damn it, @Rock8man, you’ve got me thinking about chalice delving with my old character, now. We haven’t met up for any co-op yet, but that would be the place to do it…
Sure, I’m up for some dungeon co-op. I always click the “shared” dungeon thing off, but I guess next time I create one, I should make it shared, and then we can figure out how invites work?
I have this! And I’ve been using it the whole time since I got it. I just love having the beast hair. As far as I could tell though, it’s just a cosmetic change?
Are you talking about the Beast Claw? I have that in my inventory.
Hmmm, interesting. I have plenty of materials to convert another weapon to +9, I guess I could upgrade the Beast Claw and see if it’s fun to use. The whole beasthood thing seems pretty half-baked to me though. Especially if all it does a little subtle increase in offense and decrease in defense.
Kolbex
1801
I believe it changes the moveset of the beast claw, but I’m not sure exactly how.
Oh nice, looks like Polygon did an article on this topic:
Wow, at the highest level, that’s quite the difference. I’m not sure if it’s worth losing 80 percent of your defense for 1.7 times the damage though.
newbrof
1803
it’s like +70% increase if you are full beasthood with runes etc… for me, it’s too much effort right now. Compared to Bloodborne, Dark Souls and Demon’s souls are less obscure reagrding their builds and upgrades.
