I’d focus on Vitality for a bit! 19 does seem low. I try to keep my Vitality score about 5 points behind my Endurance score, but a lot of people favor higher Vitality over Endurance.
Boosting vitality and endurance is the easiest way to go in these games. You get the minimum damage boosting stats you need to equip a weapon, then rely on weapon upgrades for most of your damage until you get late in the game where you need the stats to deal more.
Yeah, my Endurance is 30 I believe. My Skill was whatever the minimum is for the weapons I was trying out, and Strength until lately used to be the minimum for Ludwig’s weapon, though i did recently put 3 points in because I was tempted by the “Cannon” I found, which requires quite a high strength. Maybe I’ll have to re-think that plan. I just wanted to see what the cannon could do.
I went on my first blood-run, so to speak. The equivalent of going to the painted world in Dark Souls. This time I went on the second path in the forgotten woods. Carefully killing every snake, methodically traversing the whole path, getting every shiny loot, killing every enemy. Eventually I ended up back at the third path, with only a pig in front of me and another snake man, and then the two elevators that would take me back up to the lamp post.
Only, I got killed by the pig for the first time. Huh. Freak accident. I’ll just go back down there, kill the pig and get my blood echoes back.
Pig killed me again before I could get the echoes.
I want to break something. I could have leveled up 3 times with all that blood. Facepalm. First blood-run: Unsuccessful.
I beat the spider queen finally, after using up another 6 or 7 Madman’s Knowledge so that I could go into battle with an NPC buddy to take some of the fire for me.
That was really mean, what they did after I beat the spider queen. Putting me in a cathedral with almost no health vials left, having to fight my way out and find my way to the next Lamp light, carrying all those blood echoes, nervous as hell. Luckily I recognized where I was when I ran into that hunter who was shooting at me. I recognize you, you bastard! I’m not taking you on. Instead I’m going to run past you at full speed so I can cash in all this blood.
Once again I seem to be at a dead end. Surely I’m not somehow supposed to find that giant creature on the inside walls of the cathedral am I? I didn’t see anywhere else to go though.
Maybe I’m ready to do the third headstone area now? The place where I was imprisoned early in the game?
The spider queen is Rom, right? After killing Rom, I’m pretty sure you start in or at least very near the next area. The first lamppost you find should be in the third headstone. I believe the lamp post in the place you were imprisoned earlier will now no longer work (but you should check!).
I just went back to that area where I was teleported (and killed the gun-wielding hunter along the way!) and what do you know? Looks like I missed a giant open door. And sure enough, there was a lamp soon after that in “the unseen village”. Thanks!
Reposting this from the other forum, since we switched over:
Last night I managed to finally just run past the three hunters. I mean,
come on, they’re ridiculous. I could take them all if I could find a
better way of separating them, but no matter where I led them to, they
always seem to stick together. And each one has so many hit points, you
can’t just quickly dispatch one while the other two are still catching
up. As soon as they catch up, I’m dead.
So yeah, I’m not embarrassed to admit that I ran past them, and kept
running, and eventually they gave up the chase. I unlocked new paths to
both the first and second lamp light, so I can start from either one now
and get to the new area.
I have to say, the grotesque creations at display in this area are
something you’d see in artist’s conceptual drawings after a game’s
release and think of how much better they looked. But now, we’re finally
at a place in the era of the XboxOne and PS4, where graphics have
caught up with artist’s conceptual drawings. They really look amazing.
Like the “dog” that’s prowling down in the cells where you were captured
earlier in the game? When I realized that it was made up of human
limbs, I almost forgot to fight it as I just wanted to circle it and
gawk at the audacity of such a creation. I mean, what the FUCK From
Software? You guys are sick geniuses, that’s all I gotta say.
I just started on the DLC and it is extremely challenging. I haven’t even gotten to a boss yet. Seems like a big step up from the previous content. Looking forward to diving into it more, but I need liberal breaks to handle the difficulty frustration so far.
I’ve been keeping an eye out during all these PSN sales, and the Old Hunter’s DLC has never gone on sale. Historically does PSN ever feature sales on DLC? I’ve never bought DLC on PSN before, so I’m not too familiar with it. I know Xbox does have sale on DLC, but it’s pretty rare. The only publisher who seems to do it regularly is Microsoft. Generally publisher sentiment seems to be to sell the main game cheap, and then hope people pay full price for the DLC.
I was hoping since this was a Sony game, maybe they’d be one of the exceptions.
Amazon has Bloodborne new for $15. If that sale had happened sooner, I wouldn’t have bought a used copy for $9. Not that there’s anything wrong with the disc, but Redbox used games don’t come with a case or a manual or anything, so that’s kind of lame.
It’s funny that the base game is now $15 new, and the Old Hunter DLC is $20.
Btw, where I left off last, (about 2 weeks ago) I was in the last Headstone, in a vast series of memories. I got inflicted with that old affliction of too many options. Should I go this way? How about that way? Or into this memory/world over here? Too many damned options. I did choose one and go into it. But even when I was in there, there were branching paths and multiple ways to go. Stop it Bloodborne! I don’t want to play an open world game. I like having two, maybe three options at most in my Souls games.
Rich Stanton goes on and on… and on about Bloodborne, as if in a fever dream. Which is fitting, considering his topic, and his sleep deprivation. I was sleep deprived myself when I read that article, so I actually read it all, and watched his video at the end, with him defeating his ultimate nemesis.
It’s worth reading, even though I think it’s all bullshit. But hey, I’m not that far into the game yet. Maybe I need a screaming infant of my own before I can really appreciate Bloodborne to its fullest.
In Bloodborne, do you trigger New Game+ on purpose, like in Dark Souls 2. Or does it automatically trigger once you finish the game, like in the first Dark Souls?
I figure that’s important to know as I explore the last headstone, since I read somewhere that you can’t go into the DLC area until pretty late in the game, and it’s designed to be played after the main game’s content.
It’s automatic, unfortunately.
You’ll know you’re at the end when there’s a major change in the Hunter’s Dream.
Go play the DLC at that point or make a backup save.
Cross posting from the Bargain Thread. The Old Hunters DLC is on sale for $8 for PS+ members, down from $20. And you can buy the game + DLC digitally if you’re a PS+ member for $20.
And now that I’m reading the posts above this one, it looks like I’m not quite ready for the DLC yet, since nothing major has changed.
If I remember right you can access the DLC after you defeat Amelia.
I haven’t played the DLC, but I might grab it on sale just in case. I’ve heard it is very good.
Someone who loves me (myself) got me a PS4 so I can finally play this. What do I need to know? And what do I need to know to know?
Having fun so far getting used to the subtle yet significant combat style changes. No longer looking for my shield when I explore new areas, etc. I was actually stumbling around somewhat lost and lurched unwittingly into the first boss battle. Visceraling (sic?) fatties is a blast (pun intended).
Depends on how much you like discovering yourself. And I say that without judgment, because there are too many things in these games that are just way too obscure for someone to put together.
I’d say that if you are getting the hang of the combat, and you know how to use the gun and visceral, you’re in a pretty good spot. Don’t forget about your health pool when you level up. The saw cleaver is a good enough weapon to last you through the entire game, but there are others that are more fun and interesting to wield.
- Kill all the foul beasts.
I think the only things you would regret not knowing are towards the end of the game. At some point, if you want to do the DLC, look up how to get into the DLC before you reach the end of the game. If you care about how the game ends, you might also want to look up how to get the ideal ending. I think it’s pretty unlikely you’d figure either of those without looking online. I didn’t realize I was ending the game the first time I hit it which can be a frustrating experience.