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Bloodborne
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Synonamess Botch
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March 31, 2015 - 2:33 pm
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And if you didn't already know, that digital copy of The Last of Us Remastered comes with Left Behind.

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Steerpike
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March 31, 2015 - 4:18 pm
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GOD DAMMIT, BOTCH

 

Why? Why? Why? Why would you do this? I thought we were friends. Is it the delerium? Are you just mean and cruel? Why do you hate freedom and America?

Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.

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Synonamess Botch
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March 31, 2015 - 7:38 pm
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Yes it must be the delirium.  That and all this juicy PS4 goodness.

Seriously though, having taken the plunge I can say that I would have been fine waiting a while.

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xtal
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April 4, 2015 - 1:27 pm
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Botch, hopefully as a PS+ member you've been going on the PS store and "buying" all the free games every month?

I've had the PS4 for 11 months now and I could have spent no money on games and still be up to my ears in them. It's great. If you haven't, at the very least go on the store before Tuesday to collect the March free games (I believe they are the remaster of Abe's Oddysee and Valiant Hearts, which was just a very beautiful and touching game about some fictional WWI stories), and then there will be a new set on Tuesday as well.

Re: Bloodborne technical problems, I noticed you've played the game so by now I'm sure you can judge for yourself. The frame rate stuff is no more of an issue than I found it to be in DkS (i.e. here and there, but not bad). The loading times are undeniably long; truthfully though it doesn't bother me. Would I rather they be 5 seconds? Sure, but I've never been bothered by waiting. That's me though. My style of playing these games is that for 50% of the time I'm just sitting there doing nothing, or moving around very slowly. And really... 40 seconds is a great amount of time to go get yourself a glass of water.

But looking at it objectively (bleh) and not someone who overlooks it because the game itself is so enjoyable, yeah, they're bad. But I'm a contemplative person so I don't mind long, contemplative nothings.

 

I haven't really posted anything of my progress because .. well it's not the same just talking to myself, and if no one else is playing they don't know how far in the Forbidden Woods is and yada yada. It appears to me though that I'm like, maybe sorta near the middle-ish parts of the game? I only say that because looking at my trophies, I am guessing at the amount of non-optional bosses there are.

I am at a boss right now that ... well let me say it's really unfortunate that this could be the boss I replay the most, because arachnophobia. I get the feeling that I may have to replay this boss more than any other I ever have in the Souls series. I wish it was because it was an awesomely intense and fun fight like Artorias or Darklurker, but it's not. It seems relatively easy until the same thing happens every time: this boss rains down a meteor shower that, while not impossible to dodge, is near impossible to predict, and so it catches you when your back is turned to the boss (because it has minions). That said, I don't hate this boss fight yet. But I've only failed it I think 3 times. If I die another 10 times my tune might change.

Still loving the game. It has clear flaws like all the Souls games have had, but much like those they are forgivable to me because the game is just so good, the world so enjoyable to uncover.

I will say that with the mysterious "stat" that is Insight, Bloodborne, much more than the two Dark Souls games, recalls the world tendency of Demon's. One thing that really surprised me: [not a huge spoiler, but if you want to be 100% surprised by everything in this game don't read] 

that your progress plays into a day/night cycle that has made subtle but not insignificant changes. NPCs that seemed to serve no purpose before now say different things or in one case I've found give an item required to progress in certain areas. While I never liked world tendency, this isn't too bad. You just have to be prepared to go back to places you may have forgotten about. There are a lot of locked doors in Bloodborne.

That's all for now.

If being wrong's a crime I'm serving forever

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Synonamess Botch
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April 5, 2015 - 8:45 am
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I'm having a difficult time making progress.  This game is hard, for me at least.  I've gradually been adjusting to the demands for a different style but it's been tough, although enjoyable.  I still haven't quite gotten my head around good crowd control.  It took me a long time just to make it past that first mob at the bonfire (and even now I only take on a few at a time).  And now I'm stuck on the two werewolves.  I explored a little in the below area, just above where it looks like there are a bunch of our old friends the giant rats.  But that's it.  I've been avoiding all wiki-type info so I only just figured out how to upgrade my weapons.

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xtal
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April 9, 2015 - 4:17 pm
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What did you pick as your starter weapon, Botch? I went with the Threaded Cane, because it looked the least weapon-y, and loved it.

(You can find one weapon to loot in Central Yharnam, and it's not one of the starting weapons.)

 

I am making steady progress. I have defeated about 8 bosses; beat one last night after 4 solo attempts; very satisfying. I have a +9 weapon, and it's not my starter weapon.

Tip: Don't worry about skimping on weapon upgrades (your firearm, for example) for fear or material shortage. I have done what I consider almost no grinding (I've gone back to Central Yharnam on blood vial runs twice) and I currently have 98 blood shards (not including the 64 of them that I've used on upgrades). So yeah. I've got 162 of them without grinding for, or buying them. Ever. Don't worry about them! (When you get to twin blood shards those are a bit more precious.)

If being wrong's a crime I'm serving forever

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Synonamess Botch
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April 10, 2015 - 11:38 am
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I've beaten the first boss, Cleric Beast.  Actually it almost seems like an optional boss, although some obvious changes occur in the Hunter's Dream after first facing it.  I was a bit surprised that I could level up after only facing the boss, and not actually defeating it.  It took me 4-5 attempts.  It was frankly disappointing.  The camera was a mess, and I never really got a sense for what the heck it was doing half the time.  So the fun of figuring out a boss's moves and discovering the best way to approach it - that whole feedback loop was pretty unsatisfying.

I've found one other weapon - the saw spear, which is similar to my saw cleaver, which I really like.  I've been upgrading it whenever I can and not worrying about upgrade materials.  It's at +2 right now - upgrades cost a lot more than they did in DkS, and I'm fine with that.  After so many hours spent on Souls games, I no longer worry about doing things the "right" way, which is good.

In my brief time with the game I get the sense that Miyazaki has made an effort to slough off some of the things about previous games that were needlessly obtuse, such as weapon upgrades.  Of course, I haven't seen all there is so who knows.  Some other decisions I'm still curious about since I don't quite know their full effects,especially given that I've met no invaders yet.  Poise?  gone.  Equip burden?  gone.  Armor upgrades?  seemingly gone.

Right now I'm stuck on Father Gasciogne.  It was pretty easy to figure out that a particular item is his weakness (read those item descriptions!) but again, his movements seem sloppy and inscrutable.  He's killed me 2-3 times now.  Sometimes my character won't dodge and I don't know if it's because I'm staggered somehow or what, but it's annoying.

Central Yarnham is gorgeous, but I haven't really enjoyed the exploration as much as I'd hoped.  Several shortcuts I've opened and thought "Oh, a shortcut I'll never use."  Some of it comes off as a bit bland and generic.

Despite my criticisms, I'm enjoying the game.  The moment-to-moment gameplay is pretty satisfying and kind of terrifying.  It definitely feels like Dark Souls 1 and not like Dark Souls 2, which is nice.  I don't miss the dark fantasy setting at all and I'm glad that From went in a different direction thematically.  This is the kind of Souls "sequel" I can get on board with - similar in mechanics but different in theme.  Given that Souls games tell their stories less directly, this approach seems better than any kind of direct sequel.

And Steerpike, if for any reason (other than financial) you're still on the fence, know that the voice actress who portrayed the Maiden in Black is back...

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xtal
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April 10, 2015 - 2:29 pm
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So getting the ability to level up is not tied to any boss. It happens after you get your first point of Insight. And you get 1 Insight from facing a boss (and another 2 for defeating it). You can level up sooner by using Madman's Knowledge. 

And yes, upgrading is straightforward, no embers. 

Some of the pointless shortcuts are disappointing. Every single shortcut in Demon's Souls seemed epic. Remember knocking down the bridge in 5-1 (Valley of Defilement)? There are still fantastic ones that were completely absent from DkS2, but yeah, some seem irrelevant. I noticed it most just in the area I'm at now (Yahar'gul, Unseen Village). 

Cleric Beast reminded me of Taurus Demon, but harder. 

If being wrong's a crime I'm serving forever

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Synonamess Botch
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April 10, 2015 - 4:59 pm
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Ah yes, Insight.  I still haven't even scratched the surface on that one.  I originally saw it as somewhat analogous to Humanity, but then you don't lose it upon death.  So if there is an analogy, it's a loose one.  I am looking forward to figuring that out, as well as some of the new attributes, namely Arcane (at least I think that's what it's called).

Who could forget that Valley of Defilement shortcut?  Possibly the best one ever.

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Synonamess Botch
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April 11, 2015 - 12:01 am
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Almost forgot: you can actually sell things.  I cry foul!  This is obviously not a Souls game! tongue

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xtal
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April 13, 2015 - 10:36 am
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You know, it's funny, looking at how Bloodborne works, and the bath messenger shop ... it seems to be the exact system I wished for on another thread (maybe Dark Souls 2?) after the sprawling complexity and abundance of spells etc. in DkS2 ... and it happened.

Unless I have missed a lot, there are not many NPCs in Bloodborne. This makes me a bit sad, as I loved meeting new ones in Demon's and Dark, and a bit less in Dark 2 since they weren't as interesting mostly, but it makes sense within the lore of Bloodborne. The world seems a bit less filled with mystery and a bit more with horror. And so it makes sense that there are more voices behind doors than NPCs to see in the flesh. In fairness, some of them still offer, or are part of, quests.

There is a friendly hunter NPC, whose name is apparently Eileen the Crow (she's not an actual crow like Sparkly) who is interesting. I believe I failed her quest line because I came across her embattled with another (NPC) hunter. The other hunter killed her before I could assist; I then killed him. It ended up being worth it because the Crow Hunter Badge that Eileen drops gave me an amazing weapon that I haven't put down since (the Blades of Mercy). I really, really, really love the trick weapon system. There are fewer weapons than in any previous Souls game as far as I can tell, but that's made up for in their rich movesets. Make sure to experiment with transforming L1 combos. Some of them are excellent. But yeah, this Blade of Mercy dagger sort of weapon is phenomenal. I haven't yet found the Stamina hard cap (my Endurance is lvl 33 I think) so I have a huge stamina bar - I can go through a 12 swipe combo with this weapon and every attack is fluid, in that I'm not resetting the same 3 slashes of a standard combo. It goes on seemingly forever. I can endlessly stagger a lot of enemies with a barrage of attacks that get deadlier over time. This weapon has joined the all time classic ranks for me aside Demon's Souls' Meat Cleaver, Dark Souls' Longsword, and Dark Souls 2's Mace and Rapier.

Major spoiler (unless you have cleared the Lecture Building floor 1 and floor 2 - and if you don't know what that is, you haven't been there):

Patches makes his glorious return. And once again he knocks you into a wretched pit. And of course, I didn't forgive him because he's Patches! There were a lot of people on Reddit fretting about making the right choice (to forgive or not). Pffft. C'm'on people!

spank

If being wrong's a crime I'm serving forever

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Synonamess Botch
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April 13, 2015 - 12:00 pm
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I'm in Old Yarnham, wrecking beasts and trying not to get shot by that turret gun thing, so I won't be reading your spoiler for a while probably.  That gun makes the place feel like a war zone, moving from cover to cover, and I mean that in a good way.

I've moved to the saw spear which I like.  I don't mind the smaller weapon selection at all and, like you, I really dig the varied movesets of the weapons that are there.  The L1 combos are just too much fun for words (not to mention being guard-breakers), and I can honestly say I don't miss shields (like you, I assumed that shield you find is just From up to their usual trolling ways).  I moved from the Blunderbuss to the Pistol - I prefer the better range and quicker "parrying."  I haven't found a good use for the flamethrower.

It's amazing how these games hone you until areas that were once terrifying, soon become your personal domains, with the enemies as just so much cattle for the slaughterhouse.  Old Yarnham is no joke for sure, but I'm not intimidated by those fast-moving beasts.

Is Eileen the one who calls you a pansy (A hoonter must hoont!) and gives you that epic Shake Off Cape gesture?  That's all I've gotten from her so far.  Oh, try bowing to the Doll.

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xtal
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April 14, 2015 - 12:22 pm
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Bowing to the doll? Hmm..okay.

And yes, Eileen is the hoonter must hoont lady. I'm not sure where you first encountered her (her quest is reported as being buggy by a lot of people, myself included) but since you're in Old Yharnam it's very likely that she is right outside one of the exits of the Cathedral Ward lamp, and to the left. It's easy to miss her there .. when I first saw her I had no idea how long she'd been there. Keep talking to her to progress her quest. And ... I'll just say, revisit the area where you fought Father Gascoigne when you've exhausted Eileen's dialogue.

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Synonamess Botch
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April 14, 2015 - 12:35 pm
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I found her in an area above that dry dock place with all the rats and the saw spear in Central Yarnham.  I'll keep my eyes out for her next location.  Always pays to revisit areas in a Souls game...

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Synonamess Botch
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April 18, 2015 - 5:46 pm
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It's official.  This game has gotten its hooks in.  Deep.  I'm playing quite a bit, and thinking about it when not playing.  I've only defeated three bosses so far, and all of them took many attempts.  The most recent one probably took me over 20 tries.  This game punishes you for taking a defensive approach, such as backing away from foes.  Usually the best tactic is staying in fairly close, and using the enemy's aggressiveness against it.  All of the bosses I've met so far are extremely aggressive, and get more so as the fight progresses.

The visceral attacks (so-called, and most appropriately so) just do not get old.  So far I think they nailed the combat.  You simply cannot play defensively, because you have no meaningful defense.  Yes it retains the deliberate, tactical nature of a Souls game.

I can tell there are many more mysteries to solve and secrets to uncover - can't wait to see what happens next.

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Synonamess Botch
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April 20, 2015 - 9:27 am
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Central Yarnham seems downright quaint compared to the stuff I'm seeing now.  The mysteries just keep piling up...

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Steerpike
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April 22, 2015 - 12:38 pm
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You guys are not making my enforced Desert of the No PS4 easy!

Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.

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xtal
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April 23, 2015 - 11:39 pm
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I still haven't beat the game. Going pretty slowly, deliberately. I found a key in my inventory to an area I had long forgotten about. Gotta love that. It's given me a break from the Nightmare (you'll see), a hellish place. I defeated one more boss today, and on my first try, which is always a good feeling. It was sort-of-but-not-really a puzzle boss fight, which of course there are a few of. I believe I've now slain 12 bosses; 6 optional, 6 mandatory.

I don't think I have much more to go.

Tried one chalice dungeon; it was underwhelming, but it was neat that there were 3 new bosses in it. Though they're quite weakened compared to regular bosses. I'm sure that changes in harder dungeons.

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Synonamess Botch
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April 24, 2015 - 2:05 pm
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I'm going at the same pace: very deliberate.  I'm also revisiting areas regularly, and have not been disappointed with the results.  I beat my fourth boss yesterday, and it was the easiest one yet for me.  It was the Cathedral Ward boss and I got it on the second try.  I'm about at level 40, with a +6 Saw Spear.  I've explored a fair bit of Hemwick, but I keep going back and forth between areas.  I'm enjoying this method as it benefits me in several ways: it helps me get my head around all of the path options, it lets me soak in the atmosphere, it increases the likelihood that I'll find a path I missed the first time (VERY easy to do in this game), and it gives me much-needed practice.

I haven't tried a chalice dungeon yet, but what I've heard matches your assessment - meh.

The 1.03 patch is out and I notice the decrease in load times, although it's a minor improvement.  The most noticeable difference is that those load screens now show item descriptions, which is nice.

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xtal
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April 28, 2015 - 1:09 pm
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The load times seem highly improved to me. I think having item descriptions to read makes them seem shorter too.

I beat the game yesterday! It was a slow, jolly month, but I did it. I won't say anything about it yet because spoiling it would be no fun!

Like DeS and DkS, beating the game automatically puts you into NG+ mode, no option to finish things up like in DkS 2. I wouldn't say the ending is abrupt, but to me it is the least obvious of all four Souls games. I mean, it's still kind of obvious, but not Kiln of the First Flame or going below the Nexus obvious.

I don't know how deep into the lore of this game I will ultimately dig, as I've really soured on some of the formerly wonderful YouTubers, as they seem to me now to be nothing more than fanboys (ENB, VaatiVidya), so I'll be continuing to look for things on my own, or from a new perspective. I have completely avoided the Wiki communities for Bloodborne, instead spending a bit of time on Reddit, which I still don't think is a great place, but it's at least not as obtuse as those Wiki forums.

 

All in all I love the stripped down feel of Bloodborne. Unless I missed a lot, which I don't think I did, there are, I think, less than 10 spells in the game. And maybe 20-25 weapons in total, and that includes everything, from the wooden shield, to torches, to the weird Flamesprayer. So it's not even as many as it seems. No confusing boss souls (I don't love this system looking back on Dks1 and 2; I think Demon's did it the best), no vendors in annoying places (having to jump over that broken bridge in Sen's in Dks1 any time you wanted to buy Green Blossom, anyone?). And unless there are a lot of variations on the game's ending, I received a badge that added 1 weapon to the bath shop. Holding the simplicity together: a highly complex and flexible combat system.

I think Bloodborne is an amazing game. It's impossible to see this from a larger perspective because it can be so consuming to compare it to the other three games, but when you put this beside the other mainstream games coming out there's just no comparison. So much hype and obsession over the Batman games, and the Assassin's Creed games (though that seems to be fading quickly), and this and that bland action game ... I just think if the fans of those games-- who have maybe been scared off from the Souls series by the failure of the games media to to capture their essence and not just the bullshit, and the failure of its own advertising to go away from the YOU'RE GONNA DIE angle-- would try Bloodborne, they would be blown away.

So I'm going to continue my crusade of saying that Bloodborne, and all the Souls games, are for everyone-- to at least try-- because the misinformation at this point upsets me. It's so ridiculous. Listening to the Giant Bombcast since Bloodborne's release and hearing them talk about it makes me batty. You've got Brad who mostly defends it but is pretty wishy washy in general, and then Jeff, whose opinion is usually shouted into fact, being a newcomer to the Souls genre (that's a thing now) just would not stop talking about how annoyed he was with the game because of all the bullshit surrounding its difficulty. He disliked it heavily to start and thought about quitting multiple times, basically because the impression he has is "what the fuck is with Souls fans? This isn't that hard." It's not surprising to see the backlash pile up, and it doesn't help when you have one of the most listened-to voices in the industry echoing that and coming to the conclusion that yep, these games are bullshit because the people who play them are assholes. Which is sad. He's right though. The souls games are not "hard." Hard should be replaced with "require patience, require careful observation." Simple as that. The bosses can be hard. The rest is not "hard" hard like the impression that so many fucking outlets won't stop showering on the game.

These games aren't good because they're "hard." They're good because they eschew conventional design wisdom.

I could rant forever. Maybe I should!

If being wrong's a crime I'm serving forever

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