Those of you who have been reading me for a significant length of time know that I've played the predecessors, Darksouls, Demonsouls, not so much demon souls 2, but... Dark and Demon. And they were okay. I liked them, but never really felt any need to continue to play them. Completed a boss or two, but then I just stopped. I never thought about grinding to get better when I couldn't continue, I never thought about playing for the sake of playing, but with Bloodborne I actually have been doing all of these things.
Whether it's because of the differences or because I'm a different, less easily frustrated person.
Don't get me wrong, I still get frustrated with hte game from time to time, but less because of feeling like the games too hard, and more because I feel like I've done something wrong. It's one of those games that makes you feel like if you die its because you got stupid.
The main differences between Bloodborne and the Souls series are the setting - victorian horror era instead of fantasy castle horror era - and the weapons.
Souls used very traditional swords, axes, heavy weapons, etc... most importantly they had shields. One of the biggest most common tactics I ever saw in Souls was sit behind the shield and pray. Well Bloodborne doesn't have shields.
Aparently the Developer of the games hated that people just hid behind their shields and killed the monsters (though trust me when I say it wasn't bloody easy). So they removed them and replaced them with guns. pistols, shotguns, etc... which made the gameplay all about dodging and attackign when you could. The guns have some uses but they're not designed to replace close range combat.
Rather than the simple weapons in Souls Bloodborne uses 'trick weapons' which basically means weapons with two forms. usually a quick weak form and a slow strong form, which makes for some interesting gameplay. At the time of writing this review I was using a weapon that was both a giant hammer and a quick longsword and one of the most difficult, yet satisfying things I've done is learn to combine the two forms in combat.
Darting in and dealing quick attacks when the enemy is moving fast then switchign to the heavier weapon mode mid attack when he slows down a bit.
In Souls there was a lot less to it, so for me at least it was a lot more boring.
I actually have really enjoyed Bloodborne. Don't get me wrong I get my ass handed to me a lot and i'm not very far through it, but I still like it.
If you want to watch me getting my ass handed to me by monsters weak and strong then you can watch me streaming (or watch old recordings of me playing) Bloodborne at http://www.twitch.tv/dantejcross
Tube
- James
