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Thoughts at the 1/3 Mark in Bloodborne


cobaltTangerine

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I started Bloodborne 3 or 4 times over the past few years and made my way to the first two bosses, which is an hour or two of gameplay. Several times I died 30 or so minutes into a run and would then struggle to get back to my blood echoes. I was under the assumption that this would be the nature of the game, the constant fear of dying and loosing/waisting time and progress.

 

In the first few hours, the game does a number of things to scare you off. You have very little health, so it is easy to either get one shot or killed by being stun locked by an enemy or multiple enemies. The first boss in the game is incredibly intimidating and pops out of nowhere. Right after you start the game, an Executioner, one of the most difficult early game enemies, is right there behind some boxes. Literally 30 seconds into the game. Then there is the whole mechanic of needing insight before you can spend blood echoes (the XP in the game, which you loose when you die and have one chance to retrieve). Then you need figure out (or Google) where and how to use the blood echoes. So I'd just quit the game out of frustration more or less each time, assuming this would be the entire game experience.

 

That being said, after you figure out these game mechanics and the general mechanics of combat (the different weapon attacks, types of attacks, as well as the parry and the timing involved with that), the game becomes much more manageable. You'll discover farming locations that you can use to level up if you so choose. As with any numbers based RPG, getting those numbers up always makes things easier.

 

Finally, what I've been doing with the game is playing an area blind for an hour or so and then watching a walkthrough video to see what I missed. I've been using the youTube channel of FightinCowboy and his walkthroughs are incredible. Great personality and to the point. He basically goes through each area and cleans it out, picking up all collectibles and dealing with any NPCs and explaining their best use. There are so many obscure and unexplained things about this game that I easily find a dozen or so I missed or didn't understand in each of his 30 min videos. The levels are also incredibly dense and confusing. These walkthrough videos help with finding things like shortcuts you might miss. I'm currently in an area called the Forbidden Woods and I spent over an hour scouring the level for the shortcut. It turns out, right when I entered the level, I missed a path to my right. The videos are great with little things like that.

 

Overall, just wanted to give my initial frustrating experience with a game I've come to really enjoy and hope others don't forego in response to the early game frustrations and challenges. I'm currently making my way through the Forgotten Woods. I am honestly enjoying this game the more I play it. The game and world just keeps getting weirder and is always changing. Also, the feeling of constantly improving at the combat is nice. Though the combat it totally different, it makes me feel like I did playing the Batman Arkham games. I'm switching over to Far Cry 5 when I need a break from Bloodborne, as the game can get intense and having a fluff game around to no brain it through seems like a good balance.

Edited by cobaltTangerine
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  • 2 weeks later...

I just started playing this game less than 2 weeks.ago. I've not played any of the souls games before and went in completely blind. I agree with the first bit where for the first hour or so it's just you getting your ass handed to you. But slowly and surely, you improve, survive longer and progress just a bit further. I love the feeling of exploring a place and getting lost, seeming further and further away from safety and just a step closer to an inevitable boss fight but then out of nowhere you miraculously discover the shortcut to lead you back. This game however hard it appears to be in the beginning, is amazing at rewarding "getting good". I found myself dying less and struggling less with later boss fights as opposed to the first 5 bosses. 

 

This game is truly one of the best games of its gen if not of all time. I just need to finish the chalice dungeons for the plat then it's off to the DLC! 

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I just beat Amygdala last night on the second try. I thought I was toast, but got a visceral at the end of the fight. The most chaotic fight so far. Most other fights I seemed like I was is a bit of control with strifing and dodging, but I just stayed under her and my Saw Spear with a fire buff somehow got me through. That was really the only time in the game where I was just relying on luck and button mashing. But as you said, most everything else in the game seems like a slow improvement. I don't play many horror games outside of the Resident Evil type releases, but this has to be on of the most tense games I've played.

 

I played a dozen of so hours of Demon's Souls on PS3. They are very similar in how little information they give about what is going on. The other souls games seem to be much slower paced than this one, with more emphasis on defense. At least that was my take from Demon's Souls. And I agree, this will likely be one of my all time favorites. I feel bad I put it off for so long, which got me to post about my initial thoughts, hoping it would make other people who got turned away by the initial hours, like myself, give it another chance. Good luck with the DLC!

Edited by cobaltTangerine
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