Topic: Bloodborne Tavern: Impressions, Help, Discussion Board

Nice..as you said in the comments in the main page article you're probably overpowered now and will find the rest a bit of a cake walk. That said, if you get stuck again, all you gotta do is grind out a few levels. So really, is Bloodborne that difficult unless you self-impose restrictions? I'm not so sure to be honest..

[quote=SteveButler2210]

I'd have to agree, although it can still be problematic if you're swarmed, but not really any more difficult than a number of other games. I'm just past Rom now (and loving the new look of the place), and the only boss died to was Shadow of Yarnham who got me twice before I beat them. To be honest I've actually found some of the Hunter fights a lot more problematic than the main bosses!

[quote=kyleforrester87]

You're not wrong, the hunter battle just before Rom is a bit tough. Theres one later that caught me out, too.

I'm assuming you're referring to either Eileen's prey in the Grand Cathedral or the trio in the Yahar'gul Chapel. Those guys are definitely the trickiest lot I've faced so far! Managed to separate one for a while and finished him before I died, so hopefully they'll go down easier now there's only 2 of them. The guy in the Cathedral would be fine if his gun wasn't so brutal. All it takes is one hit if he manages to follow it up with a visceral!

The trio in the chapel..Harder than any of the bosses for me, lol.

I just finished this hunter on Eileen's quest line. It took me a couple tries, but I found if I kited him back down the stairs towards the cathedral doors, I could get in some V-Attacks do some damage as he slowly walked back towards the altar. I also used bolt paper, which seemed to do some good damage. Next on my list is Martyr Logarius in Cainhurst Castle. He's been tough for me.

Yeah I found If you lead him to the stairs he hardly ever busts out the gun, and clever evading lets him do most of the damage to himself with the Chikage if you're patient.

If you have high Vit with good arcane defence I found something that helped me with Logarius was to, when he is doing the aoe at phase change, instead of dodging back just tank the hit and use the time he's charging to really lay into him. The more damage you can do before he starts moving again the quicker that next part goes, which is a blessing. Ludwigs +10 with some fire paper does some serious damage.

All I have left now is Ebrietas, Chalice dungeons for the Pthumerian Queen trophy, and getting the endings. I'm nearly done with the Lower Pthumeru chalice and a bit underwhelmed so far, although really not looking forward to the defiled chalice sections!

Well if all goes to plan I should have the plat soon. Just finished clearing through Ailing Loran, so all that's left now is Defiled Pthumeru, a bit of Great Isz and then Grand Pthumeru and I'm done!

Matt one of the new PushSquare reviewers here- Am totally loving Bloodborne and just hit nightmare of menthis (lives up to its name with the frenzy spikes)...
Kinda keen to platinum this glorious game (esp with Witcher 3 and ESO waiting to play) - could do with some advice on the chalice dungeons / how to best work through them and find co-op peeps etc as have mostly been playing (and revelling in) the main story so far... cant' recommend this game enough, now if From would just hit us with a Demons Souls PS4 remaster that would be very sweet too as I preferred that and Bloodborne to the Dark Souls games so far.

I'm in the same position, nearly done with all the Chalices (at least, those required for trophies) and desperate to plat so I can spend a load of money I don't have and give in to The Witcher! The Chalice dungeons are definitely a lot easier with a few extra levels behind you - I'm on the second to last one and only just started to hit problems. I recommend googling how to obtain the 3 moon runes if you want to reduce the grind for levelling, as with all 3 equipped the amount of blood echoes you get in later dungeons is mad. There's an easily farmable section on layer 3 of Great Isz where you can make over 1mil echoes in about 15 mins! As for the best order to approach them, the trophy guide here (http://www.playstationtrophies.org/forum/bloodborne/262927-bloodborne-trophy-guide-road-map.html) gives the most detailed steps I've found for the fastest order to clear through the Chalice dungeons for the platinum. Good luck!

So I have a question for you guys, how much would you recommend this game to someone who has a copy of Dark Souls 2 (PS4) sitting on his shelf, but hasn't motivated himself to play it more after beating the first boss?

@Jaz007: It's difficult to say really but from my point of view I put a few hours into Demon Souls but it wasn't for me but I was excited for Bloodborne because I loved the look of it's world and I ended up putting about 80 hours into it and will get the expansion despite what I'm about to say underneath. What made it work for me over Demons and Dark Souls is that it allows you to be more aggressive in it's combat which works for me because the biggest enemy in these games is impatience because Dark Souls requires you to be more defensive but Bloodborne rewards you for going on the attack before dodging. Hope you found that useful.
ALERT If you live in the UK or mainland Europe you may not be aware that Bloodborne: The Old Hunter's price was raised in pounds it was £11.99 but it's now £15.99, can't remember what it is now in euros. It was the price that was mentioned on the PS Blog and various outlets including here too but the actual Blog post was changed without any acknowledgment about the error in pricing.

@Jaz007: I haven't played Dark Souls 2 but I have played 1 and I will say I think Bloodborne is a little bit easier than Dark Souls (and therefore possible DS2) in that there doesn't seem to be quite the same feeling of a heavy penalty if you die with a lot of souls (or blood echoes as there called in BB) simply because the pace of the game is a bit quicker than Dark Souls and therefore you can earn souls quicker in BB (at least that's how I feel). The game basically feels a lot quicker than the methodical and patient approach that Dark Souls games encourage you to play as. Also it's worth noting that Miyazaki (director of Demon and Dark Souls) wasn't directing DS2 which has lead to many people feeling that the game lacks his touch of magic, for me the best things about BB and DS are the worlds that Miyazaki built, I find them just so interesting to explore and discover. His worlds also are known for being very interconnected in clever ways, there's a real sense of coherent geography to his games which again people felt was lacking in DS2 (which has put me off playing it for the moment). Finally it should be said the Dark Souls games and BB sometimes take time to "click" with the player, meaning that you may need to invest some time into the games before you see their appeal and get drawn into the world

Basically I'd recommend BB as it is simply a better game than DS2 from what I've read and provides a much better example of what makes Miyazaki's games special, Dark Souls 2 could be considered a poor representative of the series while BB gives you the experience that everyone keeps raving on about hope this helped somewhat

@Jaz007: My experience of Bloodborne is it's a lot easier than Dark Souls 2. And it's still pretty tough. I appreciate the risk/reward approach to going on the offensive over hiding behind a shield.

@Jaz007: I'm going to risk a tomato pelting and say that Dark Souls II isn't that great. Bloodborne is a more realised game and is different in its nature. Here are the key differences:

• Bloodborne is much more focused on offensive play. You can also gain health back through combat if you counter after you are hit.
• There isn't the mechanic of humanity any more. That's gone.
• There are far fewer items and weapons, making combat and customisation a lot more streamlined but still with some depth there.
• The game is a bit easier overall as you have more health items on average and animations to heal health are a lot faster.

Overall, Bloodborne is like the cousin of the Soul's series. It shares some similar traits but has a different feel to most of the game. Also, it has more of gothic horror-inspired theme to the visuals and atmosphere. I personally prefer it to the Souls series but I think most would agree it's a little more accessible.

Playing bloodborne right now, and spent about 150 hours in DS2:sotfs. It's true that BB has a cooler vibe than the generic fantasy of ds2, but also bloodborne:
*Is easier. Too easy. Most bosses on first or second attempt without reading online. Except darkbeast parrl

• makes healing much much more accessible.
• lacks the armor customization and upgrading of ds2.
• lacks the variety of game play styles, meaning in ds2 your choice of armor and weapons was much more impactful than in bloodborne. I played DS2 without ever using a shield, for example. But I could have and it would have been different. Similarly with spells there were even more variety in approaches to the game.
• doesn't have as much opportunity for fashion souls

DS2 does have one critical, damning flaw in that mobs eventually stop respawning. This both robs you if farming opportunities and sets a limit on how much you can retry before the game makes it easy on you. This ends up ruining some of the zones.

DS2's slow almost morose pacing is of course intentional as you are in a world where everyone is undead and cursed, and depressed about it, and the world is caught in an endless cycle.

There is no doubt BB is an iteration on top of ds2 but it does take some steps back.

I got Bloodborne. Thanks to everyone who answered my question about it earlier. I'm liking the game more than Dark Souls 2. I like offensive combat more, I'm glad there are more healing items, and like that the gear seems to be more streamlined. It's really helping me get into the game. I think the difficulty and the depth of items/gear was too much for me to really get into DS2, but this has the right balance and has drawn me in.
So the environments are beautiful in this game. The atmosphere is just amazing. I actually walk a lot in game both to absorb what's around me, and out of caution. It just feels so natural too, it doesn't feel like I'm snailing my way through when I walk. The game's combat is also really good. It's frustrating to die at times, but it makes living that much more fun, and has you put that much more effort into ensuring it stays that way. Overall, I'd say the game has a good balance of difficulty. DS2 might have lost some of that in being masochistic. The game also wasn't kidding when it said it'll make you hunt your nightmares. It's scary to go after some of the tougher looking enemies in the game. You really have to put yourself forward eventually though.

@Jaz007: You pretty much summed up my feelings on the game too, glad your enjoying it. I don't know if you got the DLC but if you haven't then my advice is to wait for awhile till you leveled up a lot. In theory you can access it fairly early on but you will probably find yourself been overwhelmed, I started it as a level 135 NG+ hunter and it's still really challenging. Plus there's certain lore aspects that you might not quite understand until much later on.

Okay, so I'm at the Forbidden Forrest, and I decide to try out PVP for the first time, invade two worlds then get invaded. I got beaten eventually. So I respawn at the lamp, see a hunter and think "okay, so I've been invaded again," wrong, it's a hunter NPC with an unreasonable amount of health that shanked me real good on my few try's on him. Does anyone know what's up with this? Was he triggered by invasions or what? I can't find anything online about it. I think the game might have overstepped with it's random difficulty at this point. Getting invaded without a ridiculous NPC is more than enough.

@Jaz007: Is the hunter standing beside the windmill? He's a NPC hunter who when you kill him drops something called a Vermin. Eventually when you get through the Forest and you gain access to that windmill (don't want to spoil anything so trying to stay fairly vague here) there's another NPC in the windmill who will invite you to a covenant. He will ask you to kill the NPC hunter outside the windmill if you haven't done so already. Kill the hunter then go back and talk to the NPC