Bloodborne

[Jinsai]

I've worked through the first four bosses, and so far I think this might be my favorite Souls game. The combat especially is a massive improvement.
Comes out tonight in the US. Get it. First ps4 game that justifies the cost of the system.

Non-Spoiler Primer and tips for people wondering what's different:

- backstabbing has been drastically changed. Now, you can't just run up behind someone and backstab. You have to actually sneak up, charge your attack, stun them, and then backstab.

- So far I haven't been invaded... Not sure if invasions are still a thing?

- equip weight is no longer a thing... and I actually like this. All the other DS games required light equip for higher level play, and it just makes sense to cap it there and to stop pretending that dumb weighty builds are worthwhile.

- Combat is much faster, and you need to use gun-parrying to get by. In every way everything has been improved.

- There are a lot less items and equipment, but they're all much more developed and unique.

- You'll see lanterns hanging by some doorways in the town districts... these are people you can possibly recruit and sources for smaller missions.

- There isn't an Estus flask in the same sense as there was... you need to get used to spending the rest of your blood echoes on reserve healing potions and bullets.

- Every time you beat a boss, check the upstairs area in the hub... there's a bubbling cauldron up there that will sell you the boss' armor for your Insight. Insight is otherwise used to call in help from other players, but there's some good stuff in there that will only show up right after a boss fight, and after you check the cauldron it will disappear.

Spoiler tips for stuff you could miss (that I've already missed)

Spoiler: While you're walking around chatting with the doors, one will have a girl asking about her parents. She gives you a music box. You can use the music box on the second boss (his name is something like Mr Garsciolane or something) and he will shift into his werewolf form (which is a lot easier imo). Also, on the roof is the brooch the kid is asking about... when you go back, do not give her the brooch, refuse it, or she'll just keep crying and won't go into the sanctuary with you. Also, the brooch has another use.

After you beat the second boss, be careful about returning to that area. When you do, there will be another hunter there who will attack you, and a third hunter who will assist you. If you just run through there (like I did) she will die, and you're kinda fucked.

Also, after the second boss, there's an area around the chapel where a new mob spawns carrying a burlap sack... let him kill you, and he'll take you to a new area called the Unseen Village. You want to go here as soon as possible, because the enemies are easy (once you learn their patterns) and they drop higher upgrade shards, which will make the sophomore challenges in the game a lot easier.

[Tums206_BFY]

I'm really intrigued by this game looks really good and it's getting excellent reviews but I have never played Dark Souls or Demon Souls. My brother has both Dark Souls for PS3 so I might borrow them from him and play those before I get into this. Looks so good though!

[liquidcalm]

Ugh... the wait for this is.. difficult. Not out here until Friday. All the pre/re-views that spilled out last night are making for exciting reading.

[Kodiak33]

Thanks for the impressions, I'm awaiting my shipment...although I need to finish Inquisition first.

[Space Suicide]

Had Dark Souls and didn't care all too much for it, way too time consuming with the trial and error stuff. It wasn't necessarily the "difficulty" that scared me away from it either. The game was and is as hard as you make it aka you play like an impatient dumbass who is offensive heavy, you're going to die.

I'm not really into that type of shit. HOWEVER, whenever and if I get a PS4, this is a definite buy from me. I like how it looks and how it plays from video gameplay. Not to mention it looks to be a bit more deep gameplay wise as well as with lore. The game looks a lot more accessible as well.

[Aladdinsanity]

Do I need to play the other Souls games to get into Bloodborne story-wise? I'm getting a gaming PC soon and considered getting into Dark Souls I & II. If I can, I'd like to just jump straight into Bloodborne since my PS4 has dick in terms of console exclusives.

[Wretchedest]

Bout to hop onto this, thanks Jinsai for the tips.

[Space Suicide]

Yeah it's a souls successor but I'm so sick of people doing nothing but comparing and placing this with the Souls games. Fuck off with that analogy and comparison.

[Kodiak33]

Do I need to play the other Souls games to get into Bloodborne story-wise? I'm getting a gaming PC soon and considered getting into Dark Souls I & II. If I can, I'd like to just jump straight into Bloodborne since my PS4 has dick in terms of console exclusives.

Nope, totally different story/setting.

[Jinsai]

Do I need to play the other Souls games to get into Bloodborne story-wise? I'm getting a gaming PC soon and considered getting into Dark Souls I & II. If I can, I'd like to just jump straight into Bloodborne since my PS4 has dick in terms of console exclusives.

It's a similar type of game, but there's no story or world overlap. The setting and atmosphere in this one is completely different too... Bloodborne is rooted in what seems like a sort of HP Lovecraft gothic scenario, with the primary enemy being some sort of lycanthrope. The Dark/Demons games seemed to be taking inspiration from a more general concept of dark fantasy.

If you're feeling low on reasons for owning a PS4, I'd buy this game ASAP.

Question for anyone that's been invaded yet... I've been playing most of the game offline so far. The first time I rang a bell to activate online to look for co-op partners, I got a message that seemed to imply I was being invaded, yet it didn't seem to actually happen. In this one, can you only be invaded if you're looking for help? If so, that's actually kind of cool.

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

I never cared for the previous souls games myself. Beating the bosses you have been trying to for a long time feels very rewarding, but it was just too dam slow for my liking. I bought this last night, but I am currently still in the middle of The Last of Us and Infamous: Second Son at the moment.

[Kodiak33]

Question for anyone that's been invaded yet... I've been playing most of the game offline so far. The first time I rang a bell to activate online to look for co-op partners, I got a message that seemed to imply I was being invaded, yet it didn't seem to actually happen. In this one, can you only be invaded if you're looking for help? If so, that's actually kind of cool.

http://www.reddit.com/r/bloodborne/c...the_invasions/

From what this says, I think that's right Jinsai. You can also ring the Sinister Bell if you want to be invaded too.

[Wretchedest]

How fo you get to where you can level up? This game is so hard, i still havent gotten to the second bonfire....

[Thiah]

I somehow made it to the second boss without seeing the first one. I must have killed over 75 enemies before he killed me. I gave up trying to kill that axe reaper guy near the beginning after about 15 attempts. I'm guessing checkpoints in this game are really, really spread out. There's also nothing more satisfying than seeing your character drenched in enemy blood. Let's you know you're a badass

[october_midnight]

Watched my friend play this last night at his place for a while over some beers. Holy shit did he die a lot haha, love it. To hell with how much hand-holding modern games do...so much that when games like this drop, how 'hard' they are makes news. Used to be the norm!

[Millionaire]

So far its great. The combat, I think, is faster and a lot better than the Souls games. The bosses are really impressive. I read somewhere that many Western developers think that boss fights are unnecessary, hence why you get a lot of those Calladoody-style "press x to shoot the end boss" things. Fuck that shit. Boss fights are awesome.

[Jinsai]

How fo you get to where you can level up? This game is so hard, i still havent gotten to the second bonfire....

Once you fight the first boss you can then level-up via the doll in the main hub. You don't need to beat the first boss, just reach him and fight him.

And yeah, it is really hard in the beginning there. Practice the gun parry move. Basically, when the enemy is swinging at you, shoot him in the face. If you time it right, it will stun, and then you can run in and hit R1 to eviscerate them. Really helpful in the beginning when you're facing those larger troll guys.

Also, try sneaking up on enemies that are giving you a problem and backstab them. To do that, you have to charge R2, then, you can do the same thing as when you stun them with the gun: just run in and hit R1.

Another suggestion would be to buy some better armor from the birdbath. I think you can also fortify your weapon before you reach the first boss if you have enough blood shards. You do that via the bench in the workshop in the hub.

[liquidcalm]

So far its great. The combat, I think, is faster and a lot better than the Souls games. The bosses are really impressive. I read somewhere that many Western developers think that boss fights are unnecessary, hence why you get a lot of those Calladoody-style "press x to shoot the end boss" things. Fuck that shit. Boss fights are awesome.

I think many devs see bosses now as a 'set piece' rather than a challenge. A good boss takes everything you know about the game and tests you on it. A great boss does that in context of the level you are in. But thats just me, I know games like God of War have some tough bosses, and sort of defines that whole 'boss as a set piece' design, and it has its place sure, but my favourite bosses have always been encounters like The Boss in MGS3, some of Demon's Souls and Dark Souls bosses were up there too, so fingers crossed for Bloodborne (can finally buy it tomorrow!)

[Kodiak33]

Ugh, this game is already going to pull me in. No one does atmosphere like From does.

They really haven't changed much of their animations etc have they? A Souls game through and through

[Wretchedest]

The only prpblem i have is that the parry window is really slim and ambiguous. Sometimes it works and sometimes you eat shit. There should have been a better cue.

I had some luck on the third boss when it fell through the map on my first attempt. I thought it was pulling a dig maneuver, but then i got the prey slaughtered haha and i was stoked. Also took the fourth boss on my first attempt. So its turning out to be maybe a bit easier than previous games but the atmosphere amd graphics are really second to none.

[Kodiak33]

Are the "bloodstains" broken for everyone? Sometimes they work but most of the time they don't.

[Jinsai]

Are the "bloodstains" broken for everyone? Sometimes they work but most of the time they don't.

Do you mean the stains that show you how other people died?

If you're talking about going to your bloodstain to collect your blood echoes, they changed that... most of the time, your souls will get picked up by a mob in the area, usually the one that killed you, and you need to defeat them to get them back. You can see which one has them because they have glowing white eyes.

[Kodiak33]

Do you mean the stains that show you how other people died?

If you're talking about going to your bloodstain to collect your blood echoes, they changed that... most of the time, your souls will get picked up by a mob in the area, usually the one that killed you, and you need to defeat them to get them back. You can see which one has them because they have glowing white eyes.

I meant how the other people died. I also didn't know about them picking your echoes up...that's awesome.

[Jinsai]

I meant how the other people died. I also didn't know about them picking your echoes up...that's awesome.

I think the only bloodstains that don't show how people died are when you click on your own bloodstain, but I could be wrong

[liquidcalm]

Well... I've died. A lot.. Way more than Dark Souls. This 'attack the enemies' combat is different. Not saying its bad, it has the same 'respect EVERY enemy' that the DS series has, which means frustration can easily get the better of you. For a hard game, I never died all *that* much in Dark Souls because I took everything reallly slow (so slow I've not finished it, also lack of PS3 now..), this makes me confront that..

All this said. I like this game a lot. It has the Demon Souls Nexus feel, its pretty, its intense and I love the setting.

[implanted_microchip]

I'm enjoying this more than Dark Souls. The setting and atmosphere has me totally engaged, the lore is interesting, I'm in love with this combat. Couldn't be happier.

[Kodiak33]

I think the only bloodstains that don't show how people died are when you click on your own bloodstain, but I could be wrong

Im thinking of those gravestones that pop up, which replaced bloodstains from the previous Souls games.

[Jinsai]

Im thinking of those gravestones that pop up, which replaced bloodstains from the previous Souls games.

I haven't been clicking them much, but they seem to work for me when I do.

Just found something... might be considered a spoiler, so Spoiler: Not 100% sure how I got the item, but I think it was the female hunter that appears in the very first area of the game. You can access her after you kill the witch boss in the forest. If you kill her, you block the whole side quest where you can send people to her workshop for safe keeping, so you might not want to do it. But if you do, go to the witch's area from the warp portal, and then backtrack down the steps outside. Around where the armored executioner guys are with the axes there is a black monument that looks like a small tower. Approach it and a coach will ride in and take you to this snowy castle area... From what I've looked into online, I guess this is where you join the vampire cult... which would be happening for me now if I could beat the boss, who is insanely hard.

EDIT: Woo hoo, if you beat him, you'll wind up in front of an empty chair. You need to put on the crown of cainhurst and approach the chair to get anything out of this.

Also, speaking of the forest area... As you progress through it, you'll see this guy crouching on the ground around a bunch of dead bodies. He'll seem timid and ask if you know a safe place to send him. If you send him to one of your save spots, he will show up and kill everyone there... so don't do it. Instead attack him, and he'll turn into a mini boss that drops a high level transformation rune.

Side note about Insight... they don't explain this, but if you collect a lot of insight the world changes. New monsters show up, things get harder, stuff unlocks....

[Wretchedest]

Ive powered through all of the main game and now im checking out all the optional stuff i missed. Theres some totally random obscure impossibke shit you have to do to unlock entire areas and bosses... Crazy

[Space Suicide]

So, I just bought this.

http://www.amazon.com/PlayStation-4-...ps4+bloodborne

God have mercy on my soul.