From Software's Bloodborne

I sort of dreamt up a Bloodborne 2 with an electropunk turn of the century Americana aesthetic that I really want and I think Bloodborne is flawed enough that a sequel could iron out the kinks, but otherwise I'm fine with there not being a sequel.

Miyazaki jossed that.

Bloodborne 2 doesn't seem likely, but I sure as hell want it.

Yeah, I don't especially want a Bloodborne sequel, I don't think there needs to be one, and I doubt there will be... but if there is I'll be all over it.

Here’s the thing, I think.

I don’t necessarily want a sequel in the traditional sense. I just want a game that builds on Bloodborne’s mechanics. Like, I’m sure Dark Souls is great, and Sekiro looks fine, but Bloodborne is one of the most mechanically satisfying games I’ve played in a long time, and even if the plot and (heaven forbid) the aesthetic are different, I want a follow-up in terms of gameplay.

Oh I'd be all up for more of the plot we already got. But that's never happening knowing from.

I'd love another From Soft game that played like Bloodborne and not like Dark Souls trying to be Bloodborne.

Edited by VeryMelon on Jan 14th 2019 at 2:07:36 PM

I'm getting the feeling that Sekiro is gonna be in part a design study for a potential BB sequel. Bloodborne's biggest flaw was how it was held back by obsolete vestigial mechanics from Dark Souls that made the game's RPG element feel very half-arsed. Sekiro cleans up the plate by removing the entire shallow stat game, and further builds on the game engine that had been used for almost a decade now without any major changes other than graphical improvements. But now there's suddenly free movement, there's jumping, climbing, even swimming. While those things aren't necessarily needed in Soulsborne games, and might in fact even get in the way when it comes to multiplayer, it's still an important step forward by opening future games up i.a. for more complexity and variety in map design.

Edited by TAPETRVE on Jan 14th 2019 at 12:12:52 PM

See, all of that reads to me as new design philosophy, not building on the mechanics of Soulsborne.

Yeah, how is building on it if it remove almost every feature?

Is the only thing that makes a Soulsborne type game a high difficulty and a stamina bar?

Got to start the game, messed around a bit. Full blind definitely is a whole nother ballpark. Got lost a few times, tried my luck with the Executioner near the second lamp and got my ass thoroughly kicked until I was depleted of Blood Vials and decided to move on. Gotta say, not a real fan of the change from Estus, I get that they were probably going for a "you need to fight on to get more healing instead of falling back to safety", but the implementation is lacking, as it just encourages grinding — Hollow Knight, for example, did it better. Is there any rhyme or reason to Vial drops? Got none in several runs through the nine or so mooks between the lamp and the Executioner, then got showered in them once I chose to press on.

Anyway. Predictable sneak attacks, startled by the carrion crows, rolled on some crates and opened a path to a sewer area which I've decided to leave for later if ever — at the very least till I got some levels on me. Got to a bridge, aggroed two big ass werewolves, ran to the sewer area and got them to fall down. Ran around, opened doors, unlocked the gate leading from the lamp so now we're in real Souls territory, baby. Practiced ripostes on the big slow dudes near that exit, found out I'm not above murdering creepy old dudes in wheelchairs, and met the other creepy old dude in a wheelchair in the dream who I may or may not have to murder at some point.

Fun stuff.

Don’t count on drops for Vials. You get a ton early on, but that stops soon. Your main source of them comes from travelling back to the Hunter’s Dream at the lamps and spending your Blood Echoes on them. They cost almost nothing, so you should always have a steady supply there.

Also, it may be in your best interest to go explore the sewers. The first armour set is down there.

Edited by BadWolf21 on Jan 14th 2019 at 7:20:57 AM

Awaiting your encounter with the first boss, who also has one of the best Fromsoft music tracks. Not super hard but the sound direction in the fight is great.

What weapon did you start with?

Edited by Vertigo_High on Jan 14th 2019 at 11:01:45 AM

I'm with Garcon. I'm still looking forward to Sekiro, but everything we've heard about it is "Sekiro won't have <x feature from Soulsborne>". At this rate, I would expect that the closest we're going to get to a Sengoku-style Soulsborne is Nioh.

I still think there's tons of stuff they could do with the Bloodborne setting, even if the Hunt was generally localized to Yharnam, and I'm not ready to give up on the Soulsborne format either. There's a reason why it's popular, and that's because it's damn fun to play. It would be a shame to lose it, even with five full games of it out already.

Yeah, enemies in Central Yharnam (is that the name of the first area?) can drop many vials, but after that not so much. That said, I never felt I had to depend on buying them. Making runs through that area became my go-to method of getting vials. Start at the Tomb of Oedon (where you fought Gascoigne, if I have the name wrong, my memory is failing me), head back towards the bridge, killing enemies along the way. The two tall skinny guys almost always drop vials, and the troll who pushes the fireball along the bridge always drops vials. Cross the bridge, where one of the mobs there will usually drop one, then up the elevator. The two brick trolls here will always drop vials. Head through the darkened building up to the Great Bridge, and kill the wolves there, which always drop vials. Finally, head towards the lamp at the end of the bridge, where you fought the Cleric Beast, killing the brick troll on the way, which, you guessed it, always drops vials[[/spoiler That run will, if my maths is right, generally get you between 10-15 vials.

I only ever really felt like I had to make that run when I was stuck on a boss or in a particular area for a while; most of the time I seem to remember you would get enough vials from enemy drops and the environment to get by.

And yeah, vials do have a very different feel to estus. Most obviously you hoard your estus, since you only have a limited number between bonfires, but in Bloodborne if I was maxed or almost maxed on vials and didn't quite have full HP, well, might as well top off. I didn't feel like it was a bad thing though, and I don't remember it ever feeling unbalanced. I suppose the key thing is that, while you can grind for vials, you can't just carry more than you'll ever need, like with grass in Demon's Souls.

Edited by artfulscruff on Jan 15th 2019 at 10:11:37 AM

I went with what I assume is the basic bitch option and took saw + pistol. Which funnily enough is pretty much just like 2-handing a weapon in Dark Souls, but I imagine the changes are more pronounced with other trick weapons. Oh, and I saved up to buy the aesthetic armor set from the cute little bath messenger in the dream, I was kind of astonished at how much your defensive stats climb when switching off the starting set.

The basic bitch weapon is the Hunter's Axe. Transform it and R2 to win everything.

And yeah the starting armor is garbage and must be replaced as soon as possible. Bloodborne's opening is honestly a little too unforgiving.

Did you find the Saw Spear?

Edited by RodimusMinor on Jan 16th 2019 at 7:27:53 AM

Nope. Thought I explored what little I've seen thoroughly, but guess not.

Saw Spear is basically an objectively better Saw Cleaver where both forms do extra damage to Beast-type enemies and scales better with Skill. You can find it in Yharnam or you can buy it later.

Also near where you find it is a sidequest NPC but I don't know how much you want to know go your first playthrough.

Was that crow lady? Crow lady is cool.

Yeah Crow Lady. I want to say more but I don't know how spoilered Ninety wants to be for his first playthrough.

Saw cleaver? I found it the least fun weapon of the 3, it's the epitome of Boring Yet Practical in BB. Hunter's axe is fun and awesome, cane is harder to use but uber stylish with nice range. Saw cleaver is just...eh. it's not bad by any means(none of the starting 3 are bad), it's pretty effective but just kind of boring.

Generally I've learned that whatever weapon the guy on the front cover is holding is likely one of the less exciting ones.

Edited by Vertigo_High on Jan 16th 2019 at 7:22:04 AM

I find that I can't stand the Hunter's Axe any more because of how slow it is.

I don’t think I ever used the Saw Cleaver. Saw Spear was so much better on the rare occasion I needed it.

Threaded Cane was my go-to for most of the game, and the Hunter’s Axe’s transformers charge attack was my solution for anything that needed a little extra power.

It's slow but the transformed' range and arc are great for crowd control. Plus it's a big improvement over the axes in the souls games, which ended up kinda disappointing mostly(weird since enemies seem to have no problem tearing you up with them lol).

Kirkhammer is the one BB weapon I detest though. Such a let down.

Beat Mergo's Wet Nurse on the second try a few nights ago. Didn't expect her to be that easy.

And I've been rocking Threaded Cane all game, along with the Blade of Mercy for enemy hoonters and other high-health enemies I can stunlock.

Edited by GoldenKaos on Jan 17th 2019 at 3:18:35 PM