Bloodborne

megablast16 wrote:I manged to beat the Undead Giant today, first attempt as well. I also got to the layer 3 boss too, and look who it is, it's Rom: The Vacuous Spider! I got careless and got killed though, then decided to pack it in for the day. Apparently later on there are dungeons that give the player a handicap such as lower max health and the like, don't like the sound of that! 

Glad I opted to steer clear of that Dungeon for a while, hated that thing in the main game and should imagine he's an absolute bastard within an enclosed space.

I have however, cleared my first Depth 3 dungeon, opted to go with the one at Lower Hintertomb and the bosses in there felt quite easy, due to this I got the Short Ritual Root Chalice which apparently allows you to co-op (both summon and be summoned) and invade random dungeons. I may give that a go at some point although I would assume co-op would usually be done through people sharing glyphs instead. Still looking for enough materials to start a ritual for a Depth 4 dungeon.

As for the dungeon variations, I have a couple of chalices that indicate buffed enemies within and another one where it seems that there's going to be a constant threat of invasion. Certainly could be interesting, assuming I decide to start one of them.

Also made a start on my NG+ and forgot how easy it can be to cruise through the game when you know what you're doing, took me less than an hour to clear out the opening area (inc the sewers) and beat Cleric Beast and Father Gascoigne, admittedly the second form of Gazza did cause me a couple of problems. I'm not sure whether I'll do all of the optional bosses this time though although I have remembered that one may need doing so that I can aim for the 'True' ending this time around.

How do you get the Hintertomb chalice? I've got Pthumeru, Isz and Aling Loran but not that one.

I need to clear the Pthumeru dungeons If I want to get the Pthumerian Queen Trophy, one of the three I'm missing. Then it's probably Ailing Loran next, the depth 4, layer 1 boss apparently almost always drops an ultra rare boodgem, which is another Trophy, although I could find one before then if I'm lucky, and the Beast Claw is also in Ailing Loran. This is the only weapon I'm missing for the Hunters Essence Trophy, and I think you can only find it in there.

If and when I do get the Platinum I'm not sure if I'll start a New Game+. I may have a break from the game actually either way, I've been playing it solidly for nearly a month now and seen virtually everything the game has to offer, and try something else. Maybe get Lords Of The Fallen, it's pretty cheap now even new - £23 at ShopTo - or Dying Light, another game I've had my eye on for a while.

megablast16 wrote:How do you get the Hintertomb chalice? I've got Pthumeru, Isz and Aling Loran but not that one.

It was in a chest in a side area in one of the Pthumerian dungeons, think it might have been Central Pthumeru (seeing as I remember starting Hintertomb before Lower Pthumeru) but not sure what layer it was.

As for you moving on, I'm firmly in the 'love' Lords of the Fallen camp so wouldn't hesitate recommending it although it may end up being shorter than you expect, in that you can see pretty much everything the game has to offer in about 20hrs. The Platinum will require three playthroughs though .

I may spend a few more days chasing those elusive Trophies but if it becomes too much of a chore, I'm not a big fan of grinding in games, I might just call it quits and then get LOTF or Dying Light regardless. 

I've beaten Rom in the dungeon now incidentally. You're right about fighting it in a cramped space but the good news is that there are stone columns you can hide behind now that block those damaging blue globs she throws at you. I also found it easier to lure out and kill all the smaller spider minions first after every teleport, otherwise you get overwhelmed by them when you try to attack Rom. You just have to keep an eye out for those blue plasma balls and dash behind a column if they're incoming.

EDIT: Actually got a couple more Trophies today, Bloodgem Master & Hunters Essence, both from the Ailing Loren dungeon. I got the ultra rare(level 15) bloodgem from the Layer 1 boss, a giant lychan called the Beast Possessed Soul, took a few attempts but he wasn't too bad once I'd got his attack patterns down and knew when to attack and when to back off, and the final weapon I needed was in a coffin chest just past the boss area in a side room. I only need the Pthumerian Queen Trophy now for the Platinum! 

megablast16 wrote:I only need the Pthumerian Queen Trophy now for the Platinum! 

Good work man

Been continuing on with the NG+ and dropped Blood-starved Beast last night, needed that one to get access to one of the items that's required for the true ending. Also toppled Vicar Amelia and Witch of Hemwick today, Vicar Amelia was a bitch as I expected her to be and took a few attempts and I wasn't going to bother with the optional bosses but as the Witch of Hemwick is one of the easiest bosses in the game I figured that would be easy blood echoes, of course, I managed to get careless and did die once to her/them which is more than shameful .

Still torn between cracking on with the NG+ or getting busy again with the Chalice Dungeons.

I've been looking up in a guide exactly how to get to the Pthumerian Queen and I've still got loads of work to do to get all the materials needed, including playing up to Layer 3 in Ailing Loran and Great Isz dungeons for rare ritual materials! Plus the next Pthemurian Dungeon is a defiled one with your health lowered by 50% all the way through! That Platinum is still some way off. 

megablast16 wrote:I got the ultra rare(level 15) bloodgem from the Layer 1 boss, a giant lychan called the Beast Possessed Soul, took a few attempts but he wasn't too bad once I'd got his attack patterns down and knew when to attack and when to back off

I'm guessing that's not a guaranteed drop, just beat him myself and didn't get the desired bloodgem . I did find the weapon between Layers 1 and 2 though, but because of the ending I chose I still need that final weapon.

PorcusHawk wrote:

megablast16 wrote:I got the ultra rare(level 15) bloodgem from the Layer 1 boss, a giant lychan called the Beast Possessed Soul, took a few attempts but he wasn't too bad once I'd got his attack patterns down and knew when to attack and when to back off

I'm guessing that's not a guaranteed drop, just beat him myself and didn't get the desired bloodgem . I did find the weapon between Layers 1 and 2 though, but because of the ending I chose I still need that final weapon.

If you've got the Great Isz Chalice, and the materials to create it, try that dungeon, there are a lot of high level Bloodgems dropped there. Great Isz actually isn't too bad, I've got to Layer 3 and the boss's are a joke, the first one is just one of those normal brain sucking guys only with a lot more health - I beat him at the first attempt without losing any health at all, just unleash a combo on him with a fast weapon, back off, rinse and repeat. He also dropped a level 16 Bloodgem. The Layer 2 boss is Celestial Emissary and he's just as easy as in the main game, easier if anything because he doesn't have any minions to harass you, and there are some columns to hide behind when he fires his death beams. Although it should be noted he starts off in his giant form.

In my game I've spent most of today farming blood echoes to build up my vitality before I head into the Pthumerian defiled chalice and it's 50% health loss handicap. It's the last dungeon before the Pthumerian Queen dungeon, although I need a few more materials to create it.

megablast16 wrote:If you've got the Great Isz Chalice, and the materials to create it, try that dungeon.......

Got the Chalice but not sure if I've got the materials, will have a look later, those bosses sound like an absolute farce and I would have expected better in there.

I've also starting dropping a few points in Arcane because I ignored it for the most part on my build and figured the increase in 'Discovery' may help in getting at least one of those elusive bloodgems.

Continued on in my NG+ today after that brief foray into the Chalice Dungeon and it's most definitely been an off day, have struggled just to get through Forbidden Woods but got there eventually only to have a few issues against Shadow of Yharnum, who remain unbeaten after a ragequit . Will have another crack after a small break, that's probably all that's needed.

The video below is the Defiled Chalice Layer 1 boss, there are two more layers in this dungeon and then you get the Great Ihyll Chalice and access to where the Pthumerian Queen resides, and hopefully the Platinum. As you can see you're handicapped with a 50% health reduction throughout, it's a bit like being at the start of the game again when everything could one-hit kill you, although on the upside you endurance, attack strength and weapon power are much higher now - only your health is affected thank god.

This was about my 10th attempt, a couple of his attacks can kill you instantly with your health lowered, and it got hairy a couple of times near the end when his flame attack almost did for me. I've also had a sneaky peek at the other two bosses in this dungeon and I may have to boost my vitality further before attempting them. One of them is a reappearance for Amygdala, the original Nightmare Frontier boss!  

Out of curiosity megablast, what's your character level and vitality stat?

I've now got hold of the Defiled Chalice and I think I have the ingredients for the ritual (will check when I finish the current dungeon I'm on). I'm just wondering because I'm not sure whether to try it yet or continue with some other dungeons first.

My character level is 116 with vitality at 45. However I should warn you that I've reached the layer 2 boss in the Defiled Chalice, the Watchdog Of The Old Lords, and with the -50% health penalty he is in my opinion the hardest boss in the entire game. So much so that after countless attempts I'm having serious doubts I can beat him without grinding my vitality to a ridiculous level, the best I've managed is to reduce his health bar to about a third by which time I had zero blood vials left!

I'll try and put up a video to give you some idea of the challenge.

megablast16 wrote:My character level is 116 with vitality at 45. However I should warn you that I've reached the layer 2 boss in the Defiled Chalice, the Watchdog Of The Old Lords, and with the -50% health penalty he is in my opinion the hardest boss in the entire game. So much so that after countless attempts I'm having serious doubts I can beat him without grinding my vitality to a ridiculous level, the best I've managed is to reduce his health bar to about a third by which time I had zero blood vials left!

I'll try and put up a video to give you some idea of the challenge.

Fucking hell, that sounds absolutely nasty, wouldn't mind a video if you do get a chance to stick one up.

I'm around Level 127 but only have vitality at 40 so it looks like I'll continue with some other dungeons and/or my NG+ for a little while then. It may be worth pointing out that if you are going to grind vitality then maybe make a start on the NG+ (if you haven't already), the bosses (and some of the other major mob enemies) give ridiculous amounts of echoes. Stick an Heir rune on beforehand and you're laughing.

I have recorded my latest failure so I'll upload it when I get chance, you literally can't make a mistake with this guy or you're one-hit killed or, if you're lucky, left with just a fraction of health! From are evil for making you do it with half health. 

Does progress in the dungeons also carry over in New Game+? I don't fancy starting it all over again, but if it does I might take your advice and spend a couple of days using that method to boost my vitality a lot higher.

megablast16 wrote:Does progress in the dungeons also carry over in New Game+? I don't fancy starting it all over again, but if it does I might take your advice and spend a couple of days using that method to boost my vitality a lot higher.

Yes, progress does carry over and even better, because the Chalice Dungeons are independent from the main game (some lore aside) they remain at the same difficulty no matter how many NG+'s you do.

EDIT: Made a start on the Defiled Dungeon and the Layer 1 boss was easy enough, nailed him on my second attempt as with a quick weapon (boosted with arcane element and hunter rune for quicker stamina regen) you can pretty much stunlock him for multiple hits. That was a good time to call it a night but after what megablast posted above about the next boss I'm not letting myself get lulled into a false sense of security.

In my NG+ I managed to get past Shadow of Yharnum finally, that was a real stumbling block for a while, moreso when you consider that I nailed those fuckers on my second attempt in the initial run through. Also dropped Rom on the first attempt, although I used a lot of blood vials as my timing to dodge his ranged attacks was a little off this time. Now onto Unseen Village, an area that was pretty tough in places so I'm now heading there with not much excitement. Will also hopefully get a couple of videos up, although they may be of boss battles that either myself or megablast have already shown, as I keep forgetting to capture other stuff.

Finally beat that bastard in the Defiled Chalice Layer 2, I lost count of the number of attempts but it must have been approaching 30!

You really need patience with this thing, you have to watch it like a hawk, learn it's trigger movements and how to bait it to get a hit in, and you can only get one hit in a time. It's weak point is it's head but it's reinforced at the start so you need to break it before you can do decent damage, and even then the armor is restored after a while. It's also advisable to equip anything that adds fire resist. I used quite a few blood vials too, but I learned from bitter experience you can't afford to be at anything other than max health at any point.

I did get lucky at about 5 minutes when I got hit by it's charge attack, this is usually a one-hit kill but I think because it was a glancing blow rather than full on I survived, just! And again right at the end the same attack missed me by a whisker and I was able to get in the killing hit before it could recover. I needed a lie down afterwards.

Anyway the video is below and I never want to fight that thing ever again. lol

Man I am so far behind you! I've only just killed the Blood-starved Beast!

BTW the latest update is available now. Loading seems a lot quicker, especially from dying to restarting, and instead of a black Bloodborne screen during loading there are now random item pictures & descriptions. I believe it also fixed the so called "12 hour" glitch that made bosses easier if you had the game running for extended periods.

Just a couple of videos:

This first one is my attempt at the same boss megablast posted a few posts up, however, unlike him I kept screwing up my timing on the parry, thankfully it didn't matter (stunlock FTW).





The following is Shadow of Yharnum on NG+ and these fuckers gave me considerable problems. I didn't help myself by forgetting to parry and I really should have used the 'trick' mode on my Threaded Cane +10.

Nice work with the first boss, you sure made mincemeat of him. 

I've now beat the final Layer 3 boss in the Defiled Chalice, Amygdala. She was a lot tougher than her Nightmare Frontier incarnation, mostly because of your enforced health reduction but also because there is less space to avoid her attacks. The worst part is her final phase when she rips off her arms and uses them as clubs, her reach is horrendous and the only really safe place is right behind her, hacking away at the legs.

Anyway I'm glad to see the back of that nightmare Defiled Chalice and get all my health back, and I now have have the Ptheremu Great Ihyll Chalice so I can at last create the final Ptheremu dungeon where the Blood Queen and the final Trophy resides. By all accounts it isn't as tough as the last dungeon, but I'll reserve judgement until I've actually tried it.

I thought the last dungeon was going to be plain sailing after clearing that horrible Defiled Chalice and getting all my health back. I was wrong, meet the Pthumerian Descendant, the first boss of the Great Ihyll Chalice and my new toughest boss in the whole game.

This guy is a melee fighter and his reach and speed is ridiculous! He is armed with, initially, a small sickle which he transforms into two at a certain stage in the fight, he uses this to do lightening fast and devastating multi hit combos, and he also  throws them like boomerangs, this attack alone can remove a third of your health. This guy is so fast that even healing can be difficult, you can be 20/30 feet away, try to use a blood vial, but before you can complete the action he's on you again slashing away.

Another problem is the confined space, you fight in a kind of corridor with two rows of stone columns on either side. As I've found a few times it can be perilously easy to get cornered, when this happens it's all over. My vitality is at 47 now, so my health bar is huge, I got cornered once and my full health was reduced to zero in about 4 seconds by a merciless multi hit combo. Another attack he has in his second, two sickle phase is a kind of dive bomb attack. He'll jump into the air and try and land on you, this alone removes a lot of health, but he also immediately starts a combo if he hits. Oh and if you try to use the columns for cover he can throw his sickles straight through them!

I have got his health down to about a quarter a couple of times, so he probably is beatable. I found a good tactic was to use a charged attack, if you time it right he can run straight into the attack for decent damage, however he seems to cotton on to this in his second phase and it doesn't really work as well, he'll back off when you charge up and then dash in after it's missed, either that or he'll throw his sickles a lot more. Like all the melee fighters in the game he can also be parried and staggered for a visceral but, again due to his speed, getting the timing right is very difficult.

I think I could be here a while as I try to work out an effective strategy for his second phase in particular. 

EDIT: And wouldn't you just know it but after bigging up this guy I beat him on only my second attempt today. To be fair I phoned a friend, lol. He told me that you can actually cheese him by keeping one of the stone columns between you and using a charged attack with a long reach weapon straight through it, while staying just out of range of his attacks. He still threw his sickles occasionally but it worked a treat, cheesy or not. 

Only two bosses left for the Platinum now!

Just finished up my NG+ with the 'True' ending. It may have been better doing those final two battles on the first playthrough (had I known) as one of them in particular was a bit of bastard.

On the whole though, the NG+ was disappointingly easy (barring a couple of spots) especially when compared to From's previous games, it's also a pity that there's nothing new to be discovered on latter playthroughs, although I did pick up on a couple of things that I didn't notice previously so it wasn't a complete waste.

One late highlight was some fucker invading me in the final section of Nightmare of Mensis, if you're going to challenge me don't bring a slow heavy weapon, you're only going to get parried if you try and get close, let's not forget that the range of my Threaded Cane +10 means you probably ain't getting close anyway. Watching the poor bastard tying to heal after I chucked a Numbing Mist on him was also priceless. That's what you get when you try to interrupt my closing in on the NG+ endgame .

Despite saying otherwise previously, I have made a USB save prior to the point of no return and it is tempting to just see the ending I'm missing that way, rather than doing the NG++. That said, I also feel that I may be cheating myself and the NG++ probably won't take long at all anyway, so I won't rush to use the save method.

The real challenge lies within the Chalice Dungeons and as a follow on to what megablast has previously stated, the Defiled dungeon Layer 2 boss is an absolute bastard and due to the 50% health penalty it has a couple of moves that can one-hit kill you. I do think I'm being overly aggressive against it. especially after watching megablast's video but I just can't help myself, I may need to learn a little more patience in due course.

Yeah that Watchdog is nasty isn't it, you really need to take your time and it's perilous to try and get more than one hit in at a time.
Meanwhile I've got the Platinum now. 

I beat the Pthumerian Blood Queen a little earlier on. It took a few attempts but compared to some of the earlier dungeon bosses not too bad. It's an interesting fight and quite different to most of the battles as she mostly uses blood attacks and spells, she also creates clones that need to be identified and eliminated asap or you get attacked from three of her!

As usual with Bloodborne bosses her first phase is easy but then gets complicated when her health reaches a certain level, that's when she starts creating clones and starts using a lot of new attacks. Anyway I've saved the footage and will upload it soon.

I might start a New Game+ just out of curiosity, but I don't know how far I'll go with. Now I've got all the Trophies and seen pretty much all the game has to offer, including all the endings, I don't have much incentive, and I after a solid month of Bloodborne I want to play something different. Having said that though I'd like to explore more of the dungeons now the pressure's off.

Congrats on the Platinum megablast, with any luck I should be joining you in a couple of days.

I opted to go through the NG++ after all, I'm treating this as a sort of speed run seeing as there would be little point in doing optional bosses, NPC quests etc.

Just ran through the first couple of bosses without any problems, even Vicar Amelia was far less problematic than she was in NG+, not sure how that happened. For shits and giggles I thought I may as well stick a video up of the Father Gascoigne battle in NG++, largely because the opening cutscene was nearly longer than the fight itself .

As promised here's the video of the Pthumerian Queen battle, btw you may recognise her as the ghostly figure standing outside the Mergo's Wet Nurse battle arena. I wouldn't says it's tough fight, more tricky until you've got a handle on her unusual attacks. Compared to some of the bosses to get here though she's not too stressful. I've also put up the video of the penultimate boss, which is a souped up version of the Bloodletting Beast which you may have fought in a lower level dungeon. This got very tense at the end as I'd almost beaten it but then suffered some heavy hits and had to quickly use all my remaining blood vials.

I did start a New Game+ last night, and it was fun cutting a swathe through Central Yharnham to the bridge and beating Cleric Beast without dying once in about twenty minutes when I remember how much trouble I had here when I first started out. But, as I thought would happen, the urge to carry on isn't that strong anymore so I may call it quits for now and play something different.

I've enjoyed the game a lot though, it was frustrating and infuriating at times but also thrilling and exciting. For once I think I'll keep hold of the game, I may well return to my New Game+ or dabble in some more Chalice Dungeons in the future, and there's bound to be some DLC at some point and I doubt it will be standalone.