LET'S TALK BLOODBORNE

Let's talk about Bloodborne, the latest from From Softwares's Souls games. Why there hasn't been a topic about this is beyond me, so here we are.

Honestly, this is one of the most engaging and satisfying games I've ever played, no joke. The Dark Souls games were loads of fun, and I still consider all of them terrific games (yeah, even Dark Souls 2) but Bloodborne has a distinct feel and atmosphere that sets it apart from the other games in the series. If you know anything about the Souls games, you have a general idea of what Bloodborne is.

However, Bloodborne has two primary differences that may seem small on paper, but completely change how the game feels and plays: The exclusion of useful shields, and Rally, which gives you a window of opportunity to regain lost health by attacking enemies when you get hit. This means that there's no downtime where you backpedal from the enemy with your shield up waiting for an opportunity to heal yourself. With limited health supplies, the game encourages you to be as aggressive as possible without button mashing. I love it!

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I'm currently running a Skill/Bloodtinge build to prepare for the DLC. I just got some extra cash for Christmas, so I'm making a new character since all my other ones are on NG+, and there's no way I'm going into any DLC on NG+.

Level: 61
Vitality: 23
Endurance: 22
Strength: 10
Skill: 25
Bloodtinge: 16
Arcane: 15

I'm rocking the Blade of Mercy and Threaded Cane in my right hand, while the Hunter's Pistol and the Hunter's Torch in my left hand. I'm thinking about swapping out the Threaded Cane with the Chikage once I figure out the intricacies of that weapon, but I'm not a fan of health drain with the katana activated. I played around with the backwards build of the Reiterpallasch in my right hand and the Flamesprayer on my left, but I don't want to give up the Blade of Mercy, as it's my go to weapon for any situation. And since I already use the Hunter's Pistol, the Reiterpallasch feels a bit redundant, since it can transform into a pistol.

Unfortunately, I don't play online. As much as I want to, it's not worth buying Playstation Plus since online Bloodborne is literally the only thing I'd do. For those that do, how is online play? Is it easy to hook up with friends? How often do you get invaded or summon help? Do YOU invade other players?

Post your builds and talk about the game. What did you like/dislike about it? What were your favorite moments? Least favorite moments? Do you play online? Wanna organize a hunting session? Post here!

Finally got my hands on the DLC. I waited until I reached Mergo's Wet Nurse (which is, like, a few minutes away from the end of the game) before attempting it because I heard it was much harder than the standard game. And they were right. I'm getting my ass handed to me everywhere I go.

Here's the kicker: My character was level 63 when I arrived. I look on the Bloodborne Wiki to figure out what I'm doing wrong and the recommended minimum level before attempting it is 80.

Oops.

True. Powering up to level 90 made dealing with the dark cave with the hunter using a gatling gun made it a lot more manageable, since every level boosts defense by a single, savory point. But as long as you read the moves right and dodge accordingly, defense and HP don't matter.

Still waiting on a new weapon that I can use, though. There's not a love of love for skill-based builds so far, and even then, most weapons are just slower, stronger versions of previous weapons. Now with my luck I'm gonna start playing and find a weapon for me in like ten seconds.

Spoilers up to the Living Failures boss in the DLC.

So it's pretty obvious that there were some sick experiments going down in the Research Hall. The Healing Church was trying to turn people into the Kin. I guess I missed it, but why exactly was the Healing Church trying to do that? Are Kin the same thing as Great Ones? That'd make a lot more sense.

By the way, the Living Failures were way more imposing than any other Kin I've seen (except for maybe Ebrietas), so I question the logic of calling them failures.

Ah. That makes sense.

So Lady Maria was a friggin brutal fight. She combined aspects of Sir Alonne from Dark Souls 2 with dual wielding Chikages. Though there is a way to cheese her pretty easily: simply moving right will let you walk past 80% of her attacks without even needing to dodge. I figured out that method after countless attempts, though, so I gotta praise the decision to put a lamp just outside the boss room.

By the way, did you notice the Amygdala corpses on the ground? I wonder what their story is? Yeah, they're Great Ones, but only a few of them are actually hostile. The rest are just content to stand there and look creepy if you have enough Insight to see them.

There's a lot more connections between them, I'm noticing. Lady Maria doesn't just have the same voice actress as the Doll (and also the same VA as the Maiden in Black in Demon's Souls. How about that?), but the face and hair are similar as well.

But the strongest evidence I'm seeing is that the Doll has unique dialogue if you talk to her after beating Lady Maria. Something about her feeling released from the past. Either the Doll was created in her image, or she actually is Maria. Who in the world was this woman? She was clearly a Hunter who worked for the Healing Church, but the inmates in the Research Hall seemed to revere her, despite the implication that she was the one trying to turn them into Kin.

Concerning the Hunter's Nightmare, the description of the Blood Drunk Eyeball states that there's a realm for Hunters who have gotten, well, drunk on blood. Considering the state that we find the Hunters in in the nightmare, I'm wondering if they even understand the concept of fear? The player is there despite not being drunk on blood simply because they posses the eye of a blood drunk Hunter.