Bloodborne - PS4

[Thursday]

I summoned a dude for the 2nd boss, which I don't want to make a habit of, but I wanted to try it out. The boss had killed me with a slither of health left, but then my partner finished him off and it counted as a kill.

[brat-sampson]

Not sure what the etiquette is for this kind of thread, so for safety's sake gonna be liberal with the Spoiler tags.

Tips for getting past the bridge werewolves:

Spoiler alert

You can actually skip them completely. At the back of the fountain courtyard (one w/ a few flatbirds and a brick-troll trying to beat down the door, the back left has some destructables hiding an open ledge. If you go down here you can follow it around through a dark house back to the other entrance gate to the lantern. The route to the boss now only has one small annoyance, rather than, say, *all* of them.

[close]

Tbh even when you beat them

Spoiler alert

the boss is down the end of the bridge, so you might want to head left off the bridge into the dark house and back to the lantern shortcut anyway.

[close]

[Old Nehamkin]

Heads up: Demon's Souls is currently available for £3.99 on PSN, for those (like me) who haven't played it yet.

[Junglist]

Meet Clyde:



Clyde REALLY enjoys his work:

[mobias]

Can't decide whether to download the PSN version or go into HMV and buy the disc. I guess there's no benefit to the latter other than being able to sell it on if I don't like it, which seems massively unlikely.

[The Boston Crab]

OK, finally faced the first boss and got owned. I unlocked the shortcut, so that's saved me a lot. I'm getting the hang of gun parry now, too. Seems essential against the guys that can one or two shot you.

[Junglist]

Yeah gun parry is pretty much essential. Fairly easy to time too once you get the hang of it. I'm right near the 3rd boss, easy run up to it too but can't get back on 'til tomorrow. Absolutely adoring it. I think it helps if you've done many no shield runs in the previous titles, combat feels familiar and fluid.

[The Boston Crab]

Well, I'm struggling a bit with the first boss now. Seems I either can't gun parry him or can't time it yet. I expect it's the former but maybe not! I wasted all my molotovs on him. I was more successful when narrowing the gap but it's still against my instinct not to fuck right off out of there and heal when I get slapped. His medium range game is unplayable though, so I guess I've got to get up close and personal.

[Junglist]

RE: That boss, think Dark Souls 2.

[The Boston Crab]

Hug the hip/arse? I seemed to enjoy most success that way, just didn't have the balls to stick with it and tricky to get back in the mix.

[wasp_f15ting]

This is my first time playing these games.. mine will arrive on Friday coinciding with a 2 week holiday.. it better rock

[Junglist]

This is my first time playing these games.. mine will arrive on Friday coinciding with a 2 week holiday.. it better rock

Yup, its amazing how easy it is like that. Its the only boss/enemy I've had much success trying that on though.

[Thursday]

I wasn't so smart with my methods, I'd upgraded my weapon and strength a bit though, and I wasn't gun parrying him. I'm still learning to parry well. I can often time it right, but I get scared and back off so I'm not in a position to take full advantage of it. I do like that it's a lot more forgiving than shield parrying in Dark Souls though, which always seemed too high risk to bother with.

Junglist, on the way to third boss (assuming we're thinking of the same one)

Spoiler alert

That guy machine gunning you from the tower. Did you shoot him off the edge like I did, or fight him?

[close]

I am a bit worried about some of you lot that haven't played any of the Souls games that are getting hyped up for this. I think it's amazing, but it still very niche.
Although I do wonder if being new to the game could help in some ways because you'll approach the combat fresh rather than falling into Souls habits.

[Junglist]

Junglist, on the way to third boss (assuming we're thinking of the same one)

Spoiler alert

That guy machine gunning you from the tower. Did you shoot him off the edge like I did, or fight him?

[close]

Spoiler alert

I attempted to stagger him to parry him off, but failed when I mashed R1 too early. He then left me on a sliver of health (this was my 6th attempt!) so I pegged it to the ladder and got on it, hoping to go look for some blood vials. About 3 seconds later his body went flying past me as he tried to follow me and fell to his death.

[close]

So yeah, that was an odd moment.

[Thursday]

In other news, players seem to be recreating a Jam sketch

http://kotaku.com/bloodborne-players-are-killing-themselves-in-the-most-u-1693649641

(I'd wondered how people were killing themselves in the dream)

[Viero_Berlotti]

How does the gun parry in this compare with the shield/weapon parry of Demon's/Dark in terms of the difficulty of pulling it off successfully? I struggled to get a hang of the timing of it in Demon's/Dark and played through both without using it that much, so I might struggle a bit with Bloodborne if the gun parry is essential. I'm going to try and master it early on this time though instead of trying to learn it towards the end of the game like I did in Demon's/Dark when my non-parrying playing style was pretty much engrained.

In other news shopto confirmed my copy had been shipped yesterday. So I may get this a day early at least.

[Thursday]

So far, I think I've been able to get away without it using it much, although it does make things a lot easier. It's a lot more forgiving than a shield parry though, because if you do it too soon, it can still leave you with a small window to get away, as it can tend to slow enemies attacks. And in general, getting hit isn't quite such a big deal in this game, so learning to do it is a lot safer.

[brat-sampson]

Re. 3rd boss discussion

Spoiler alert

I tried to kill the gunner a couple of times but wow, he's got a lot more health and skill than the other hunter in the plaza below, so I just skipped him. If you found the tower shortcut you never have to mess with him again anyway and can run straight to the actual blood-starved beast boss pretty quick.

[close]

Thinking about it, despite being at the 4th boss, technically there's only been one so far I actually *had* to kill to progress. Even now, I can *get* to the 4th one at a leisurely sprint, but have a few other options for where to go instead. It's a really interesting way to design the game.

[The Boston Crab]

Yaaaassss yaa baaaaasssssss
Just beat the cleric beast. Such a rush you get from this game. I only used one blood vial by following the advice given here, so thanks lads. Ready for Gazza now. Also, as soon as I bought the hunter's garb, I got a boner.

[Onken]

Can't decide whether to download the PSN version or go into HMV and buy the disc. I guess there's no benefit to the latter other than being able to sell it on if I don't like it, which seems massively unlikely.

You can take advantage of the PayPal offer so it works out £40 for the download.
https://coupons.paypal.com/offers/m5u4a1m#

[mobias]

You can take advantage of the PayPal offer so it works out £40 for the download.
https://coupons.paypal.com/offers/m5u4a1m#

Cheers for that. Downloading it now. Lucky I just happen to have tomorrow off. Can play it from midnight tonight by the looks of things.

[Junglist]

Third boss beat today, the boss design is superb. Got to the fourth and backed off, and have unlocked a mahoosive new area. Very intimidating and very, very gothic horror. Level 34, and looking like a boss.

[Thursday]

A thing can happen after you beat

Spoiler alert

Blood Starved Beast

[close]

If you

Spoiler alert

Get killed by a certain enemy, (I don't know if it has to be a specific one or just any in the general area) You get taken away and caged up in an area that's a bit more difficult. I think it's deliberately too high level for you. I eventually found a lamp and escaped, but then later couldn't find a way back there. It turned out you get there from a different gravestone.

[close]

4th boss (for me anyway was)

Spoiler alert

Vicar Amelia, who's actually more of a scaled-up cleric beast, staying close and strafing worked well

[close]

[Junglist]

Yeah that has just happened to me, had to leave it there for tonight. I got around that area by going elsewhere but went back and 'it' happened. So cool.

Also yeah, same boss I'm at. Gonna get on that tomorrow.

[mobias]

Started playing this this morning. The character creation tools are amazing. I've spent 30 minutes so far on editing my nostrils alone! Can you go back and change things later on? I want to be a hot chick in this game but so far I've come out with a slightly effeminate looking young man with a bad case of botox.

Please let me change my eyelash colour at a later date. I'm not sure this shade of blue really goes with the hair and I certainly don't think its going to go with all the killing thats going to come later.

[Viero_Berlotti]

I doubt it is likely you will be able to change the appearance of your character later on. It's not the kind of feature From Software usually include. So if you aren't happy with your character, best start up again now before you get too far into it.

I've tried to link in the HP Lovecraft universe by creating a version of Randolph Carter. Chose the Professional origin and the Threaded Cane to go with it. I was a bit wary it was going to be a crap weapon, but it seemed to compliment the Professional origin well because of the good damage scaling from the Skill attribute. It's a great weapon though and I am glad I chose it, in both the cane and chain whip forms I'm really getting the hang of it now. Plus it suits the character of Randolph Carter as well.

[brat-sampson]

I reckon whichever weapon you pick you can get used to it's methods and use to tear shit up, albeit in different ways. It's the main counter to the drop in weapon variety compared to DaS, because sure there's less, but they're *all* useful.

Been reading some more of the recent reviews and just feeling the lore/atmosphere, hell even the vocabulary of this game so damn hard. Hunters off on the Hunt, Blood ministration, the chalice dungeons being where they 'partake of communion'...

Also it's been revealed that Insight plays a bigger part than just allowing you to Jollily co-operate or invade, I'll spoil in case but

Spoiler alert

it also affects the difficulty. The whole business signifies ideas of madness. Gain one insight and you can speak with a previously inert doll, 10 and you get a new shop, bt 15 is where it gets interesting. A lot of assumptions that the game just got progressively more difficult can be tied to Insight. Whether you have greater or less than 15 (or other values no doubt) affects the abilities and strength of enemies in the world, more insight, more powerful Beasts.

[close]

I'm sure there's more secrets to come too, but I'm still pretty early game.

[Junglist]

The really good thing about your spoiler is

Spoiler alert

you can trade Insight for goodies too. I had 13 Insight early on, and spent 6 of it on new armour. Its a very well tied in concept.

[close]

[mobias]

There's so much to learn and take on board with this game. Even just the controls are a steep learning curve. I'm managing the basics but I'm no where near being any good yet. The fact thats its quite old school in not having many save points is making dying fairly tedious, especially with the long load times. I'm determined to get into it though because killing things is so much fun when you do it well. I'm also determined to get into it because RPG's have traditionally been something I've given up on too easily. Usually because of their steep learning curve and demand so much attention. There's so much to keep on your mind at any one time.

Beautiful looking game though. The detail in everything is astonishing.

I'm finding this guide from over on Neogaf really useful. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1018111

[Junglist]

Really do keep at it as the lack of save points is a mechanic that will become clearer as you start to explore. Once it 'clicks', there's nothing else like a Souls game.