Bloodborne

Spent a couple of hours with the game so far and beginning to fall under its spell.

That said, in that couple of hours, I managed to finally locate the first boss (who I destroyed in the alpha), that did not end well and I got completely slaughtered whilst wasting a bunch of careful collected healing items. Ouch!

In the Souls games I spent a lot of the time 'turtled up' so it is going to take a little while to adjust to being without a shield and the faster more aggressive nature of the combat may not come easy. I also have fallen into the most fatal of habits already, the biggest killer in the Souls game, and that's impatience. That could be a consequence of failing to adjust to the updated combat and my failure to watch (and learn) enemy attack patterns.

So far, so good, it should be a hell of a lot better by the time I get back into things/learn my way around. Only real issue so far is the torturous loading times, especially after death, then again, it would be less of an issue if I didn't let myself get killed so easily .

Really didn't want to switch it off, despite my failings so that's always a good sign, however, I also felt the need to at least give Toukiden: Kiwami (which also arrived this morning) a quick look.

I am edging more and more to the "Fuck it. Buy it." side of the fence due to all the positive reviews and people gushing about Bloodborne.

Been playing since yesterday but I haven't got past the Cleric Beast yet, the best I've managed is to reduce his health by half! I have however discovered a very handy shortcut to get to him now though, so deaths aren't quite as painful. As for the game itself, well it's very hard but I expected that but very addictive. Not that it's really that important, and it's more of an observation, but I don't think it looks particularly next gen though, you get the impression this could run quite happily on PS3 and the long load times are a pain, I believe a patch is being worked on to ease that though.

megablast16 wrote:Been playing since yesterday but I haven't got past the Cleric Beast yet, the best I've managed is to reduce his health by half! I have however discovered a very handy shortcut to get to him now though, so deaths aren't quite as painful. 

I only nailed that piece of shit this morning, even then it was after my third restart because I just couldn't find a starting build/weapons combo that suited me best. The stupid bastard still ensured that I used every single blood vial I had and I even had to spend the last 10-15% of the fight just praying that I didn't get hit again by that thing. I certainly wouldn't have enough confidence to try to beat that bastard again so I don't think I'll be offering my co-op services just yet :p.

Also did a little more exploring in an area that I briefly discovered yesterday but didn't have the balls to fully explore at the time, it wasn't a short-cut as such but it did reconnect nicely to the main opening area. That just reinforced my belief that FROM really are the masters of level design.

I actually came so close to nailing him this afternoon, got him down to about 10% of his health, but then with no Molatov's and no blood vial's left I panicked, rushed things and got slaughtered! 

I know it's not From Software's style, and I knew what I was getting into, but I'm pining for that videogame staple of being able to save right before a boss battle.

megablast16 wrote:Not that it's really that important, and it's more of an observation, but I don't think it looks particularly next gen though, you get the impression this could run quite happily on PS3 and the long load times are a pain, I believe a patch is being worked on to ease that though.

Really? There is a crazy amount of detail in this game and the lighting alone would cripple a PS3! I always found the Souls games annoying because they ran so poorly and looked so shanky half the time. Bloodborne is a huge step up in terms of quality and stability. 

That's right, I've got the game 

Got a copy of the game from a work friend  and I am also prepping to deal with Cleric Beast!

Went up against him once and got his health a third of the way down before dying. Thankfully that death unlocked the levelling system for Bloodborne so I spent the rest of the evening exploring and levelling up a bit. 

I managed to find my way into a sewer filled with deadly rat people and giant rats. There is a whole new set of clothes at the end of it too which has boosted my defensive stats nicely!

Will hopefully take him down tomorrow.

PorcusHawk wrote:

Found my way to the second boss, actually very close to the Cleric Beast and not blocked off by it either so in theory you could do either one of them first. 

The main problem with the Cleric Beast is where you have to fight it, there's just no room on that narrow bridge to manoeuvre and it's easy to get trapped and take a lot of damage.

Actually according to talk on forums the best tactic for Cleric Beast if you're struggling is to ignore him for now, go for the "second" boss first and if you can beat it another weapon becomes available that does massive damage to Cleric Beast. So I might give the Cleric Beast another try and go for that option if I can't nail him.

It's here! The PS4's "first killer app" as those in the press are saying! Despite being on the fence origionally I am really enjoying it. It is a huge step up from Dark Souls for me. Quicker, cooler, more brutal. Just sheer awesomeness!

Typical, after a number of attempts yesterday to take down the Cleric Beast and failing I actually beat him on my very first attempt today  . Took all my Molatovs and a lot of Blood Vials but I did it and I was so pleased about doing it I forget to save and upload the footage on here of the bastards downfall before quitting the game, doh! Anyway now I've been able to light another lamp and create a new fast travel point I finally feel like I'm making progress. Might hang around Central Yharnam for a while farming blood echoes and leveling up before venturing into that forbidding looking pit by the giant rats, where I'm sure my new found optimism will soon disappear! 

Actually beat the Cleric Beast on my first attempt today, would you Adam and Eve it! Details on the new Bloodborne thread Cal has created.

Took down the second boss this morning, took a few more attempts than I would have liked, however the route to him was perfect for farming blood vials and bullets so it kind of worked out well.

Problem is now that I've become so comfortable exploring the opening area I'd forgotten just how nerve-racking venturing into uncharted territory with a bunch of blood echoes can be, although it's also another reason why I fucking love these games. Needless to say, I didn't explore far before pussying out and heading back to Hunter's Dream to cash them in.

I have also opened up the ability to be summoned and tried to aid some random hunter with the second boss. Unfortunately it was going well, both myself and another summoned one had good health, but the beckoner/host got wiped out as we were close to beating him.

Regarding co-op, I noticed a password facility in the Network settings so I'm hoping that it may make it easier to co-op with friends rather than the crapshoot it was in previous games. So, if anyone here wants to try it out at some point just let me know. 

Disclaimer: I can't guarantee that I'll be able to successfully aid you against any particular boss.

Took down the Cleric Beast on my second attempt!

But now I'm stuck on Father Gascoigne. I get that it is a fight all about counters but man my timing sucks at times. I nearly killed him on my first attempt too  

Rather than trying in frustration for the rest of the evening I've decided to leave it until morning. Hopefully coming at him fresh and distressed will make it an easier fight.

Apart from that I've enjoyed exploring the sewers/aqueduct area and fighting all the weird beasts that are down there. Including SPOILERS a fairly comical giant pig of doom!

cal_el wrote:Including SPOILERS a fairly comical giant pig of doom!

And I hope you gave it a charged backstab in the rectum (actually that sounds all types of wrong ), it looked like the thing just deflated and was a hilarious animation.

As for Father Gascoigne, don't fret too much on the counters, I found that he was often too quick for me to be able to fire a shot reliably so it was more a battle of constant evasion/dodging.

PorcusHawk wrote:

cal_el wrote:Including SPOILERS a fairly comical giant pig of doom!

And I hope you gave it a charged backstab in the rectum (actually that sounds all types of wrong ), it looked like the thing just deflated and was a hilarious animation.

As for Father Gascoigne, don't fret too much on the counters, I found that he was often too quick for me to be able to fire a shot reliably so it was more a battle of constant evasion/dodging.

Damn right I shoved my axe up that pigs arse!

As for Gascoigne I'll try evading and going for the openings he leaves. It will be tough because I really like the counter mechanic in this over Dark Souls for some reason. It is just so satisfying!

I've fully explored the sewer area and encountered that huge horrible pig in the tunnel! and I met up with a mysterious guy who gave me a new weapon, the saw spear. I also opened up a short cut from the first lantern to the next boss, via a lift. I haven't taken on Gascoigne yet, or Gazza as I call him, but I have collected the music box that's supposed to help in the boss battle, have you got that Cal?

I've got a lot on today so I probably wont get any game time in, but he's next on my to do list.

cal_el wrote:

EDIT: I tried merging threads but it went horribly wrong! Best leave the moderating to Marky!  

Sorted! 

MarkySharky wrote:

cal_el wrote:

EDIT: I tried merging threads but it went horribly wrong! Best leave the moderating to Marky!  

Sorted! 

Was hoping for my  Bloodeborne: Down, down, down in Yharnam Town to be the first one (so it looks good on the portal) but it doesn't seem to like setting it as the top post!

Oh well!

Not too much progress today, I'll keep things a little vague for fear of spoilers.

Managed to beat the Blood-starved beast (video in relevant thread) which led to a dead-end, cue a little while spent wondering where the hell I was supposed to go. Thankfully, got a vague hint from Gherman and noticed an exit I had previously missed.

That led to an area that does no favours to the reputation of wheelchair users  but made my way through there only to be greeted by a freaking locked door. Retraced my steps and found an area which consisted of some rather hefty drops onto very narrow ledges but safely made my way down, although the height of some drops resulted in the loss of a few blood vials.

By this point I had accumulated just over 10k in blood echoes so was desperately seeking any sort of short-cut back to familiar territory or better yet, a lamp. Sadly those were never found but instead I managed to find an enemy that I'd not seen previously, and one that is capable of one hit killing you, which I duly discovered .

Following that death I respawned somewhere I've never even been to before so have absolutely no idea where my dropped stash of blood echoes may be, I fear they may be lost forever.

I have also seemingly unlocked the Chalice Dungeons and was desperate to give them a look, I had planned to give them a glance after cashing in my blood echo stash but it looks like those will now have to wait until I figure out where the hell I am.

And somehow, I still absolutely freaking love this game.

PorcusHawk wrote:Not too much progress today, I'll keep things a little vague for fear of spoilers.

Managed to beat the Blood-starved beast (video in relevant thread) which led to a dead-end, cue a little while spent wondering where the hell I was supposed to go. Thankfully, got a vague hint from Gherman and noticed an exit I had previously missed.

That led to an area that does no favours to the reputation of wheelchair users  but made my way through there only to be greeted by a freaking locked door. Retraced my steps and found an area which consisted of some rather hefty drops onto very narrow ledges but safely made my way down, although the height of some drops resulted in the loss of a few blood vials.

By this point I had accumulated just over 10k in blood echoes so was desperately seeking any sort of short-cut back to familiar territory or better yet, a lamp. Sadly those were never found but instead I managed to find an enemy that I'd not seen previously, and one that is capable of one hit killing you, which I duly discovered .

Following that death I respawned somewhere I've never even been to before so have absolutely no idea where my dropped stash of blood echoes may be, I fear they may be lost forever.

I have also seemingly unlocked the Chalice Dungeons and was desperate to give them a look, I had planned to give them a glance after cashing in my blood echo stash but it looks like those will now have to wait until I figure out where the hell I am.

And somehow, I still absolutely freaking love this game.

Guess I've got all this to look forward to when I play  ore this week!

Ps. Nice job on the editing that shit is centred to the max! 

Managed to beat Father Gascoigne today, only took 4 attempts too! He was actually easier than Cleric Beast imo, especially his first stage, I managed to stagger him a couple of times at this point with gunshots and get a lot of damage in with counters, and I had the music box which dazes him for a few seconds so you can get safely get a couple of attacks in, his health was about a third when he changed. I also found a sneaky trick when he was in his werewolf form, if you go up the stairs it's possible to get him attacking at fresh air from behind the railings on the steps, from here you can safely lob Molatov's at him while he's slashing away. I was able to whittle away most of his remaining health this way and then finish him off with some quick slash attacks. 

I realised that I could use the music box on him after I found the mother's corpse and put two and two together >.<

Just when I thought I was getting reasonable comfortable with the game things seem to have cranked up a notch.

As mentioned previously, I stumbled across an enemy that is perfectly capable of one hit killing you and one that transported me to some prison or other. Well, that place is over-run with the fuckers and despite repeated attempts I have yet to kill a single one of them. It's bad enough that a standard hit from them is currently taking half of my health but after a while they seem to become enraged and then they're even harder bastards. Despite that, I decided to try a different route through the prison, managed to sneak past a couple and thankfully find a lamp to get the hell out of there.

However, I have now noticed that those pieces of shit have started to turn up in places that they weren't previously (places I've already run through) so I'm not sure what the hell triggered that. Looks like I'm going to have to get good at killing them and fucking soon.

If that wasn't bad enough, after taking the route that meant I ended up in prison in the first place I'm not even sure if that was where I was supposed to be going which means I'm now currently lost whilst fearing running into any more of those large hooded bastards.

In other news, shortly after my prison break I tested out my first Chalice Dungeon. Only got through the first floor before deciding to bail out, largely due to my getting careless against a boss down there, the result of which was an rapidly diminishing stock of blood vials.

Something's tell me that the real Bloodborne has only just begun

So this game can be beaten in 45 minutes huh? and they said The Order was short!! 

Wolvieware wrote:So this game can be beaten in 45 minutes huh? and they said The Order was short!! 

"6 out of 10 would speed run again"