Finished up everything save for the final boss. Seems I did a real good job not botching quest lines before I started using a walkthrough to finish up everything I missed. Going through the previous areas was a breeze and I was getting cocky about how overpowered I was. Then I got to the conclusion of Eileen’s quest line. That dude wrecked me. He’s not even a boss and yet he was harder than many of them. The main problem was he can use visceral attacks and it killed me instantly if it hit.
I didn’t know this game had a true ending, but I got the items needed for it. I also finally gave the chalice dungeons a go. I was way overleveled for the first chalice, but it was pretty cool and looks like it will take some considerable time to get through them. I haven’t bought The Old Hunters yet, but with DS3 so close I think I’ll save that for another time. Sure wish I could get the satisfaction of beating the game and then go into the DLC later, but From decided to screw that up completely.
I just started playing this over the weekend because of recommendations on our Dark Souls thread and it’s definitely another Demon/Dark Souls game. I love the shortcuts, finding those is my favorite thing.
What isn’t my favorite thing is the boss fights. I played through all of DS1 never summoning help and had a hate/love relationship with the difficulty. Father Gascoigne took me 4 tries because I didn’t summon and it was just right in terms of difficulty. Then I started summoning help because hey, that’s what that does, and uh… its goofy easy. I assume it gets harder even if you are summoning? Will try the next battle without summons I guess. The two hunters I found so far were much harder, god damn healing.
Also, three times now, a major or mini boss has died by falling off a cliff or glitching. The falling (technically after I died) was funny but I sat there for almost a minute after the Blood-starved beast dove through a wall and my NPC helper tried to claw his way through to him. I took that time to equip the antivenom I had forgotten and just when I finished I got the echoes and trophies.
Whatever. I would have liked to have seen & finished those fights, especially with the ridiculously easy mode provided by the summons. Hopefully that’s just bad luck on my part, everything else about the game has been stellar.
That’s actually useful information for me. I stopped playing Bloodborne after taking out Gascogne, largely because I got distracted, but also because I didn’t really like the increased emphasis on parrying and figured I’d jump straight to Dark Souls 3. But that statement, plus some of the stories I’ve read about how the lore has a lot of lovecraft influences, has me intrigued to try it again, although I’ll prob stick with DS3 for now.
Interestingly, although I was definitely a heavy shield user in Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, and got 100% trophies in both those games so I played them a ton, I find that I’m playing Dark Souls 3 with a much more dexterous approach, dodging far more than blocking, so clearly I was influenced by my relatively limited Bloodborne experience.
Parrying is still pretty situational. Gascoigne (sorry, autocorrect might have messed that one up) is one of three or so bosses where it really works best, plus a handful of large spammy enemies like those brick trolls in the first couple areas. It’s fun though. Keep up the limited shield use in Dark Souls 3 and you probably won’t even notice they’re gone.
I have been making great progress in Bloodborne, so I thought I would give the DLC a try at lvl 73. Nope. I can make progress but it’s bone grindingly difficult still. The first area is littered with Hunters and unlike the main game these guys keep coming back everytime you die. And I die, oh how I die.
Back to the main game (awesome) and the chalices (yuck) for now I guess.
I have it installed for the longest time, I’m just waiting until I’m done with Dark Souls before starting over in Bloodborne. First time I bounced off it hard. But now that I’m so much better at Dark Souls, I figure I can appreciate it for the gameplay even though I don’t like the Victorian/Cartoon Transylvania setting.
I beat my first boss and activated the Bridge lamplight. I’m still not feeling this game. My first character had the Cane, this character has the Sawblade. The screen seems to noisy and busy at all times. During the fights, it isn’t nearly as clear where I’m rolling. There’s too much junk everywhere in the levels that obscures the things that matter. By contrast they did a great job in Dark Souls 3 in having this same level of detail but cutting down on the clutter, and always making clear where you are, what you’re doing, what objects are important. In this one I’m always overwhelmed with visual noise. Not to mention that actual audio noise, with that ridiculous cartoony splashing of blood everywhere.
Still, I’ll keep going for now. Maybe something in the game will finally click, like Dark Souls 1 finally clicked this last time.
When I returned to Bloodborne I noticed my depth perception was kind of shit due to either the chromatic aberration or some other processing effect. Never had that problem with any of the other Souls games. It sort of felt like everything was flattened instead of being 3D. I got acclimated to it after a couple of sessions, so maybe it won’t be as visually noisy for you after more time.
Yeah, I’m starting to get used to it a little now. I still have trouble determining what’s a wet puddle on the ground reflecting light (which is nearly everywhere) and what’s a message, and what’s a shiny loot that I’m supposed to pick up. I still go towards puddles and lamps all the time before getting closer and realizing what they really are.
rowe33: I have not tried the Axe yet, but I just unlocked it at the bird bath. So whenever I have enough blood to purchase it, I’ll give it a try.
Slow down! First, I have to beat Father Gregoire, or whatever his name is. I’ve fought him 4 times so far. I did best the first time when I wasn’t trying to run away so much. But now that I am trying to run around while picking my opportunities, I keep running into graves and other objects, and then getting trapped. My personal irritation is that sometimes he can hit me through a tree. But that same tree blocks his bullets. So I still want to use the tree to block his bullets, but not get too close to it because then he can melee me through the tree. This game is so bizarre! Oh Victorian London, you’ve got really strange rules.
Gascoigne is a lot like Artorias. Good lore, theme, gameplay, and challenge all wrapped up into one cohesive package. My favorite boss in the game. Sold the PS4 for me.
I got home and beat him the first time tonight. I made some progress after that too. I just quit that session because I just lost over 4500 blood. Ugh, so painful at this stage.
The axe is interesting. Definitely the most viscerally satisfying weapon of the starting weapons. Which is surprising, considering that one of them is a saw.
I also bought the weapon from the bird bath that’s a giant hammer/silver sword. I haven’t tried that out yet, but that seems like an intriguing combo.
I’m playing this mostly on the PC. Not ideal, since I can only play it at 720p while streaming it to the PC, but this way I can play while my wife is cooking downstairs, and she doesn’t have to listen to screams and cartoonish gory blood splashes.
I dislike the audio in this game enough that I’m contemplating, for the first time in a long time, in playing something else on my PC while I play this. Maybe some podcasts or listen to some music. Some Cross/Justice might fit the mood better than the audio they’ve got in the game.
