Bloodborne

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
ryOtoha said:
I have to confess, Bloodborne is the first ''soul game'' that really caught my interest. Because of the setting but truly because of the shift in the gameplay that seems to rely more on offense than defense within the well known mechanics of the franchise.

I understand, but you can play these games however you want. The style I have always gravitated to is quite offensive. I rarely even use shields except for certain bosses (Artorias is one...). I just memorize moves and roll a lot.
 

Dar_Klink

Last Guardian when? - CyberKlink 20XX before dying
I'm glad for this delay since it gives me more time to save up for a PS4. I still have to get a Wii U for Smash bros ASAP as possible.
 
Walter said:
I understand, but you can play these games however you want. The style I have always gravitated to is quite offensive. I rarely even use shields except for certain bosses (Artorias is one...). I just memorize moves and roll a lot.

From what i've played of Demon Souls and Dark Souls , the game pushes you to be cautious and defensive, even if you have the choice in the end. Bloodborne does not give you the possibility of hiding and waiting, increasing the stress and adrenaline that I'm waiting for in action-rpg games.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
ryOtoha said:
From what i've played of Demon Souls and Dark Souls , the game pushes you to be cautious and defensive, even if you have the choice in the end. Bloodborne does not give you the possibility of hiding and waiting, increasing the stress and adrenaline that I'm waiting for in action-rpg games.

Well it's not like hiding and waiting gets you anywhere in the aforementioned Souls game. You have no choice but to go forward if you want to progress, and even when trying to be cautious you usually aren't safe from harm. I don't expect Bloodborne to really differ from that model.
 
Aazealh said:
Well it's not like hiding and waiting gets you anywhere in the aforementioned Souls game. You have no choice but to go forward if you want to progress, and even when trying to be cautious you usually aren't safe from harm. I don't expect Bloodborne to really differ from that model.

Let's say that the evolution and design choices of Demon Soul mechanics in Bloodborne seems to provide even more tools and reasons to be aggressive and less to be too cautious.
 

waqas

Oh, nevermind...
Edge has the first "review" for Bloodborne in its latest issue. I say review but t has no score (I assume there is still an embargo in place) but they put 40 hrs into the game which as far as I know is more than anyone else - and they say they hadn't completed it yet. You can find scans of the article in the links below:

http://www.reddit.com/r/bloodborne/comments/2yor7k/edge_magazine_scans/

http://imgur.com/a/uOT3b

What I found most interesting is that apparently the game has less replay-ability than other games in the series - mostly due to their being fewer weapons and armour sets. I played through the previous games (except DS2) multiple times but it was mostly to experience different areas/paths of the game or to try different covenants or NPC paths - so lack of weapon/armour variety doesn't bother me much. I usually played as a high Dex fighter or a mage type character.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Pretty great article. I felt bad reading scans though... I'll get the e-edition to compensate them.

waqas said:
What I found most interesting is that apparently the game has less replay-ability than other games in the series - mostly due to their being fewer weapons and armour sets. I played through the previous games (except DS2) multiple times but it was mostly to experience different areas/paths of the game or to try different covenants or NPC paths - so lack of weapon/armour variety doesn't bother me much. I usually played as a high Dex fighter or a mage type character.

Well, what I found most interesting was this line at the end: "As if there was ever any doubt, Miyazaki and his team have done it all over again." That's reassuring.
 

waqas

Oh, nevermind...
Walter said:
Well, what I found most interesting was this line at the end: "As if there was ever any doubt, Miyazaki and his team have done it all over again." That's reassuring.

Personally I don't put too much stock into the hype from magazines. As I recall DS2 was the highest rated of the Souls games (so far) - but it was the one I enjoyed the least. At any rated this was always going to be a day one purchase for me because of the developer. :daiba:
 
VaatiVidya have a video where he talks about the Edge "Review" etc. Pretty good info, most of the stuff is ofc already in the Edge scans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d-upp0BrB4
 
I'm a little disappointed with the cut to weapons and I'm assuming armor. The exploration and massive amount of items in the souls games are half of the fun. Many of the items tend to be useless at a certain point in the game, so I'll hold my opinion until I'm cramming hours into it on day one.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
waqas said:
Personally I don't put too much stock into the hype from magazines. As I recall DS2 was the highest rated of the Souls games (so far) - but it was the one I enjoyed the least. At any rated this was always going to be a day one purchase for me because of the developer. :daiba:

While I agree it's healthy to digest these early reviews with a grain of salt, I think it's logical that DS2 was the highest rated among most publications. Perception for the Souls series changed over time. Demon's Souls and even Dark Souls were treated as obscure, wonky things by most publications. But by the time DS2 arrived, Souls had become a household name thanks to the fanbase growing, and the series' eccentricities had been mostly accepted or at least been made more palatable.

That being said, I certainly enjoyed it the least of the Souls games that I've played. And honestly, even with Miyazaki's involvement, that game put a serious wet blanket on any excitement from me for Bloodborne.
 

waqas

Oh, nevermind...
Walter said:
Perception for the Souls series changed over time. Demon's Souls and even Dark Souls were treated as obscure, wonky things by most publications. But by the time DS2 arrived, Souls had become a household name thanks to the fanbase growing, and the series' eccentricities had been mostly accepted or at least been made more palatable.

Exactly. By the time DS2 came out the Souls games had become "trendy" in a niche/clicky sort of way which pushed up the praise DS2 received.

Walter said:
That being said, I certainly enjoyed it the least of the Souls games that I've played. And honestly, even with Miyazaki's involvement, that game put a serious wet blanket on any excitement from me for Bloodborne.

That's probably for the best. I remember at least a couple of occasions where I wanted a game to be good so badly that I actually convinced myself I was having fun while playing it. Only when I finished the game and put it down I realised "holy crap that was rubbish - I just wasted 10 hours of my life!". So I guess lowering expectations can (sometimes) be a good thing. :ganishka:

Here's the new trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmnGHp-NXuk

Once you've seen it:
The crying baby sound at the end gave me chills
 

Kompozinaut

Sylph Sword
Some first impressions (no spoilers):

I played some yesterday, and maybe I'm projecting, but it's definitely got that same feel that DkS had (and that was missing, in my opinion, from DkS2), even with a completely different setting. The convoluted, interconnected world (or at least the first area) is back and beautiful. It's pretty overwhelming when you step out into the streets and see all the buildings and narrow paths (think lower Undead Burg, but even more confined space). Yharnam really feels like a city.

The game, while quicker and more fluid than the previous titles, to me, seems much harder. It could be because I'm out of practice or maybe it's because of the weapon I chose to start with, but the first boss I ran into has put up a roadblock that I can't quite get through. Of course, I'm still learning his movements, but I hope to get past him soon.

Weapon variety and placement appears to be pretty low. I've only found one weapon other than what I started with so far, and that was even pretty well hidden. The pressure and atmosphere of this game is leagues better than DkS2. So far I'm really impressed. I don't know how it'll fair in the long haul, and I'm still unsure on build variety, Co-op, and PvP, but I definitely have no regrets in making the purchase.

The big downside, for me and a lot of people it seems, are the loading times. They are pretty bad. If you die, you can expect a solid 30+ seconds of staring at the words Bloodborne on a black background. Not sure why they abandoned the item description loading screens, but those would make the wait much more bearable.

There's still so much more to learn about the game. I'm surprised I've managed to keep myself pretty well in the dark about everything. I only recently, within the last two weeks, started checking up on how the game was shaping up.
 
I'm to the 3rd boss now and I'm actually fairly disappointed. While this is not a souls game the comparison must be made. This is the weakest of this play style.

The lack of different environments, weapons, chests, armor, shield, and special weapons really is a bummer. The combat is smooth and the difficulty seems the same as every game before.

This is gta4 to me. New system but stripped of some essential aspects that made it extremely fun. The poor mans dark souls. Better than lords of the fallen but I'd put it under demons and
both darks. I have played 2 hundred hours of each and got platinums across the board. I doubt I do it with this game.

Now while I sound very let down it is a blast, just not quite as deep as I was hoping. Lastly the load times are a bit much. I'm getting around 15 fo 20 seconds myself. There is a patch to fix it in the works.
 

waqas

Oh, nevermind...
My copy arrived yesterday (two days before the official UK release! :ubik:) and so far this game is kicking my ass! Only had time to play for a couple of hours but I'm really enjoying it so far! I'll post some impressions when I get further into it.

As for the loading times - I get 20-30 secs but it was pretty much the same with Demon's Souls as I recall. Also in the grand scheme of things it's such a minor issue I'm surprised people are making such a big deal of it. It's just another example of an internet meme where everyone jumps on the bandwagon :ganishka:
 
I have fallen completely in love with this game. I think I am close to the 3rd boss by now. Love the new more aggressive approach to the combat mechanics, weapons are fun and I love I can combo R1 L1 L2 etc.

Salem said:
The lack of different environments, weapons, chests, armor, shield, and special weapons really is a bummer. The combat is smooth and the difficulty seems the same as every game before.

I think being at the 3rd boss and already judging the game for it's lack of items is a bit rash. By now I have about as many weapons and armor as I would in Dark Souls boss 3. Sure there were perhaps more areas to go to in Dark Souls from the Firelink Shrine but hopefully Bloodborne is huge and a lot still awaits. Concerning the environment I think the setting will change later on, as in Dark Souls the starter areas were all castle/same looking as well. People seem to forget that or is it just me?

And yeah the loading times are not a big issue for me at all, I want it fixed ofc but people like to whine about everything, which is why I tend to avoid user comments from vids/sites etc.
 
asic said:
I have fallen completely in love with this game. I think I am close to the 3rd boss by now. Love the new more aggressive approach to the combat mechanics, weapons are fun and I love I can combo R1 L1 L2 etc.

I think being at the 3rd boss and already judging the game for it's lack of items is a bit rash. By now I have about as many weapons and armor as I would in Dark Souls boss 3. Sure there were perhaps more areas to go to in Dark Souls from the Firelink Shrine but hopefully Bloodborne is huge and a lot still awaits. Concerning the environment I think the setting will change later on, as in Dark Souls the starter areas were all castle/same looking as well. People seem to forget that or is it just me?

And yeah the loading times are not a big issue for me at all, I want it fixed ofc but people like to whine about everything, which is why I tend to avoid user comments from vids/sites etc.

The load times aren't that bad. People were saying 40 seconds but I haven't once had that. Maybe the game will open up more with my complaints, but it is disappointing compared to the others as a die hard fan.
 
Well I'm thinking I'm just venting my wants, lol. It is early on and I'm on boss 4. Think I'll leave my final judgement till its done. Souls 2 was a better experience the second playthrough. I was pretty hard in my first 10 hrs of souls 1, comparing it to demons. It wouldn't be hard to say I'll love this like I do dark souls after I get closer to the end. One observation....coffins everywhere. Coffins are to this game as rocks are to the last few games.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
From all I've seen/heard, even in the extreme positive, it doesnt seem different enough to be that exciting. Dark Souls: Turbo Edition.
 

Kompozinaut

Sylph Sword
I haven't seen anyone talk about this, but here's the Hunter's Mark from the game. It's also used as the save notification.

hunters_mark.jpg


At this point we should just expect these influences in each game, but this is probably one of the more obvious ones.
 
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