Bloodborne (PS4) "To Byrgenwerth we go!"

[Gregzilla]

I'll have to check my playtime when I get back on my PS4 in a few hours, but I'm thinking that average time sounds about right, assuming I'm at or near the end.

[Sami]

20 hours? Really? Bizarre. I'm at about 15 or so now I think and I still feel like I've barely scratched the surface. I've only beaten four bosses lol.

[Sami]

Fourth boss spoilas

 

[Gregzilla]

Beat the boss, which turned out to be the final boss indeed, and thus I have beaten Bloodborne.  And my total completion time was *drumroll please* ...... 19 hours and 2 minutes.  Less than half of what reviewers said it was.  Not complaining, since it still felt long enough, but what's up with that difference?  Maybe Dark Souls just got me prepped to plow through it faster than if I had been a newbie.  Anyways, guess now's a good time to give my overall thoughts on the game.

 

It's an amazing game.  The combat is some of the most satisfying I have ever experienced, and ripping enemies to shreds and seeing blood splatter everywhere is undeniably delightful.  The gunplay is an interesting new alternative to shields and parrying, and the transforming weapons are wicked cool.  They set out to create a faster-paced alternative to Dark Souls, and I believe they succeeded.

 

Then there's the presentation and atmosphere.  And unfortunately, this is where I started to get a bit less impressed.  Now don't get me wrong, this game is absolutely beautiful.  But the problem lies in variety.  The amount of visual variety seemed to be a lot less than in the Souls games.  You run into the same villagers and oversized fatties throughout almost the entire game.  When it throws new enemies at you, it's special and cool, but there are only a few that really stand out in my memory.  The same goes for the settings, they look great, but they generally fall into the same themes of gothic village or spooky forest repeatedly, and doesn't get REALLY interesting until a few points near the end.  I know I shouldn't compare it to Dark Souls too much, since it's a new IP, but....come on, it's a Souls game at heart, and comparisons are inevitable.

 

As for gameplay criticisms, I don't have many.  I didn't come across ANY new main weapons in my playthrough, which was a bit saddening, but the saw I had was so cool that I rarely got tired of it.  There are a few moments of questionable fairness where some obstacles seem really stacked against you, but those were only a couple I can think of.  My biggest complaint is the moments where the game pits you against another hunter like yourself, either an enemy or a boss.  I absolutely HATE these parts, Gascoigne being an example.  While the rest of the bosses feel like boss fights, this guy, and the other hunters you come across in the game, just test your fucking patience with how ridiculous they are.  Whenever I beat one, I felt relieved, but not in a good way.  I didn't feel satisfaction of completing a hard task, I was just like "thank god that shit's over."  These are basically the equivalent of phantoms in the Souls games, but way worse, and just not fun.

 

And then there's the story......I have no idea what it is.  Something about paleblood, and dreams, and madness, and...barely anything is explained.  In the other games, the lack of explanations was cool, because it left an air of mystery to the worlds you explored, but here, it's just confusing.  When it was finally over, I felt like nothing even happened.

 

But with all that said, it's still fantastic, as any Miyazaki game will be.  It just sucks that Demon's Souls and Dark Souls have set the bar so high for me that I'm not sure any of his new games will be able to reach it.  Still, it gets a wholehearted recommendation from me to any Souls fan, even if it's not quite on that level.

 

Lastly, some very spoilery stuff about the ending:

 

Like I said, 

fuck Gehrman.  All my criticism for the hunter fights are ten-fold here.  It is ridiculous the stuff the game expects you to react to.

 

On top of that, there are apparently three endings.  One of them is if you accept the offer Gehrman states to you at the end, and the game will end there.  The second is the one I got - you refuse his offer, fight him, and then get the ending.  The Souls games have been known to have fairly minimal and ambiguous endings, and there they kinda worked, but here, it's just weak.  It basically starts the game in a loop again, practically Souls tradition, but it just feels so lazy here.

 

And then there's the third ending.  Which apparently is super hidden, features a new final boss, and is the TRUE ending.

 

Fuck that shit.

 

You have to find three special items to get this ending.  One of which you get in the main story, but the others?  I looked it up, and I have no idea how the fuck you're supposed to figure out the other two.  The game seriously hid the actual ending with bullshit secret items.  Come on, that's hitting below the belt even for these games.

[Sami]

Beat the boss, which turned out to be the final boss indeed, and thus I have beaten Bloodborne.  And my total completion time was *drumroll please* ...... 19 hours and 2 minutes.  Less than half of what reviewers said it was.  Not complaining, since it still felt long enough, but what's up with that difference?  Maybe Dark Souls just got me prepped to plow through it faster than if I had been a newbie.  Anyways, guess now's a good time to give my overall thoughts on the game.

 

It's an amazing game.  The combat is some of the most satisfying I have ever experienced, and ripping enemies to shreds and seeing blood splatter everywhere is undeniably delightful.  The gunplay is an interesting new alternative to shields and parrying, and the transforming weapons are wicked cool.  They set out to create a faster-paced alternative to Dark Souls, and I believe they succeeded.

 

Then there's the presentation and atmosphere.  And unfortunately, this is where I started to get a bit less impressed.  Now don't get me wrong, this game is absolutely beautiful.  But the problem lies in variety.  The amount of visual variety seemed to be a lot less than in the Souls games.  You run into the same villagers and oversized fatties throughout almost the entire game.  When it throws new enemies at you, it's special and cool, but there are only a few that really stand out in my memory.  The same goes for the settings, they look great, but they generally fall into the same themes of gothic village or spooky forest repeatedly, and doesn't get REALLY interesting until a few points near the end.  I know I shouldn't compare it to Dark Souls too much, since it's a new IP, but....come on, it's a Souls game at heart, and comparisons are inevitable.

 

As for gameplay criticisms, I don't have many.  I didn't come across ANY new main weapons in my playthrough, which was a bit saddening, but the saw I had was so cool that I rarely got tired of it.  There are a few moments of questionable fairness where some obstacles seem really stacked against you, but those were only a couple I can think of.  My biggest complaint is the moments where the game pits you against another hunter like yourself, either an enemy or a boss.  I absolutely HATE these parts, Gascoigne being an example.  While the rest of the bosses feel like boss fights, this guy, and the other hunters you come across in the game, just test your fucking patience with how ridiculous they are.  Whenever I beat one, I felt relieved, but not in a good way.  I didn't feel satisfaction of completing a hard task, I was just like "thank god that shit's over."  These are basically the equivalent of phantoms in the Souls games, but way worse, and just not fun.

 

And then there's the story......I have no idea what it is.  Something about paleblood, and dreams, and madness, and...barely anything is explained.  In the other games, the lack of explanations was cool, because it left an air of mystery to the worlds you explored, but here, it's just confusing.  When it was finally over, I felt like nothing even happened.

 

But with all that said, it's still fantastic, as any Miyazaki game will be.  It just sucks that Demon's Souls and Dark Souls have set the bar so high for me that I'm not sure any of his new games will be able to reach it.  Still, it gets a wholehearted recommendation from me to any Souls fan, even if it's not quite on that level.

 

Lastly, some very spoilery stuff about the ending:

[Dobkeratops]

Apparently the game has a lot of optional areas, not counting the Chalice stuff.

 

I didn't come across ANY new main weapons in my playthrough, which was a bit saddening, but the saw I had was so cool that I rarely got tired of it.

[Sami]

Apparently the game has a lot of optional areas, not counting the Chalice stuff.

 

 

Wut, I beat BSB (3rd boss) yesterday and I have like 7 different main weapons already. You need to explore more!

 

Emblems gotten from enemies and bosses will expand the shop inventory and some of them are hidden in the levels.

[MegasonicZX]

Its good to know that we still have plenty of optional stuff in the game that you can completely miss on a first playthrough, some people take it as an issue but I think its better that way since it gives more incentive for multiple playthroughs.

[Gregzilla]

When I played through the game, I expected to miss like two or three secret areas and bosses, but looking at lists, I missed a SHIT ton.  There's way more optional stuff than I expected, and I'll definitely be going back to find that all.  I fought the Darkbeast and a few other optional bosses that at the time I thought were mandatory.

 

Weird thing is, for a good chunk of the time, I felt like I was combing the areas pretty thoroughly.  A few areas I rushed through when there were dangerous enemies or I was trying not to get lost, but a lot of the areas felt like I explored every inch.  Guess I'll have to be even more thorough this time.

 

Edit: Oh also, I'd like to mention again that the music gets really good closer to the end.  This boss theme in particular stuck with me.

 

 

 

Creepy as shit.

[Sami]

When I played through the game, I expected to miss like two or three secret areas and bosses, but looking at lists, I missed a SHIT ton.  There's way more optional stuff than I expected, and I'll definitely be going back to find that all.  I fought the Darkbeast and a few other optional bosses that at the time I thought were mandatory.

 

Weird thing is, for a good chunk of the time, I felt like I was combing the areas pretty thoroughly.  A few areas I rushed through when there were dangerous enemies or I was trying not to get lost, but a lot of the areas felt like I explored every inch.  Guess I'll have to be even more thorough this time.

 

Edit: Oh also, I'd like to mention again that the music gets really good closer to the end.  This boss theme in particular stuck with me.

 

 

 

Creepy as shit.

[Silencer226]

I finally figured out where the fuck to go... I think (hope, pray, etc). Hopefully I can beat Yharnum soon and progress to the next area. Sheesh.

[TheOcelot]

Jimquisition: Bloodborne Is Where Survival Horror Lives On

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb4n4jwTDUM

[Brad]

Somebody beat the game in 35 minutes.

 

Alternatively (and less choppy), somebody else beat it in 44 minutes.

 

 

So er...

[Badnik Mechanic]

What... tell me they use glitches.

[PSI Wind]

What... tell me they use glitches.

Yes, it does. Here's the glitch straight from the description:

This run makes use of a duplication glitch involving a second character's stash inventory (that character is made during the run to show it) and a very early skip into a later part of the game (just jumping over a fence really).

[Sami]

wow bloodborne confirmed shorter than ground zeroes 2/10 game of the nothing go play mario kart

[PSI Wind]

wow bloodborne confirmed shorter than ground zeroes 2/10 game of the nothing go play mario kart

I know you're joking, but this is only possible if you use exploits and glitches that will obviously be patched out later. And it's the Bad Ending too.

[The Pit of Mystic Cave]

I know you're joking, but this is only possible if you use exploits and glitches that will obviously be patched out later. And it's the Bad Ending too.

[Sami]

There's a bad ending? I just figured there'd be two morally gray choices at the very end like the other games

[Dobkeratops]

I don't see many people using Stake Driver when I get summoned. Do people have no taste? Best weapon design so far that's not a giant fucking hammer and possibly up there with Dragon Bone Smasher and Meat Cleaver for souls-like games.

 

There's a bad ending? I just figured there'd be two morally gray choices at the very end like the other games

[Sami]

I don't see many people using Stake Driver when I get summoned. Do people have no taste? Best weapon design so far that's not a giant fucking hammer and possibly up there with Dragon Bone Smasher and Meat Cleaver for souls-like games.

 

 

Demons had clearly defined good and bad endings tho.

[Dobkeratops]

I have that but (ab)used Zweihanders too much in Dark. Need a change for this playthrough.

 

>helping people at BSB

>host and boss about to die

>stake driver transform

>boss coming right at me

>charge

>approval gestures

 

[PSI Wind]

I say Bad Ending because you can fight The First Hunter, but only if you choose to. I consider going a step beyond and doing one more fight a Good End choice.

[Sami]

UH HEY SPOILERS

[PSI Wind]

UH HEY SPOILERS