After being killed LOADS of times by the Gatling dude, I climbed the ladder and shot him a few times and he fell off the edge. know people have done this, but still, it had me laughing.

EDIT
I just read the comments here about being able to friend him.....

That blood starved beast is a real fucker

@coolarman: I had the most trouble with that boss over any other so far. It took me a few tries to get the timing right, but I was finally successful when I just got up right in its face and parried it to death.

@gaminghooligan said:

That's a great place to farm Echoes somewhat early on, but more importantly Blood Shards and Twin Shards from the sack bros. Just lure them to the stores heading down and they can't reach you since they're too tall.

I beat the game tonight. Decent ending, but I'm playing through again to get everything I missed.

Concerning two NPCs in the Cathedral Ward:

This game has amazing detail. I love the blood on the clothing. I noticed something that's small, but blew my mind. Wear the hunters hat (the one that covers the face, but can see the eyes) get muddy by killing dudes, and then remove the hat.

Should I do the root chalices right now? I've gone through pthumeru & Central Pthumeru (PS pthumerian descendant can go fuck himself) & I have the root chalices for those 2. They say they change the form each time so I assume the game procedural ly generates a new dungeon each time I enter...is there good stuff to get there or is it there so I don't have to keep putting down a chalice I've just completed?

@csl316: It's just Dead Space 3 Souls instead of Van Helsing Souls, the ol' switcheroo.

@jiggajoe14: Root chalices seem mainly for farming blood to get to the higher tiers, though you could lucky and not have to do that, probably wait until you have all the chalice trophies before you take it super seriously; it gets much, much more difficult than the main game even without modifiers. Once you're at the highest/second highest tier you can probably just do root chalices for the loots (which are actually pretty compelling).

Hey so I sent the bloody guy from the windmill to the church and he's killed everyone. How bad did I screw up? I also attacked him and he's in full beast mode lol. Should I make a new character? I feel like I messed up real bad here...

Just killed my third boss, killed it on the second try. This game is just so memorizing, the art style, the monster design and that sweet ass kirkhammer. Despite the loading times, this game is just fucking incredible.

Also I defeated father Gascoine first and then defeated the cleric beast so I might of made it harder for myself. Anyone else did the same?

Fighting the final boss of the upper cathedral. Fuck it so god damn fucking much.

@gaminghooligan: None of the characters have Stockpile Thomas/Merchant status or anything, you should be fine.

@jiggajoe14: Same boss with twice as much HP and like 20% more damage in chalice land. Really the boss is fine just it's very difficult (impossible when locked on at most distances) to dodge the charge. In the 2nd phase it gets so many more attacks such that the charge is very infrequent and you can fight it like it wasn't there (if he does it then just shrug it off I suppose). Less frustrating than bullets missing point blank against Logarius for sure.

@fredchuckdave: yeah I decided to give the shaman blades or whatever on the boss (shocker they didn't work) and only had 3 vials so I just rolled under it and kept spamming the attack button. Timed my rolls right and took that fucker down. It does have an arcane attack that took me out a few times from a distance....but done with it for now. I was first pumping so hard after that fight.

PSA if you're dumb like me. If you run into a lantern that you can't choose to warp to from the Hunter's Dream... try the second gravestone instead of assuming "glitch!!"

Guys, I think I just punched out Cthulhu.

Alright so I'm near the ending. I have the chalices I need. If I go to new game plus will I lose this chalices that I got from beating bosses (ones that I haven't gotten a chance to do a ritual with because I don't have the materials yet) and have to beat them again? Also, I've been doing co-op with a buddy who's a bit behind me. Will we be able to still do chalice dungeon co-op if I'm in NG+ & he's not?

Apparently there's a chalice boss that has continuity between the times you fight him, interesting.

@fredchuckdave: Man, I've barely even touched the Chalice dungeons at this point. I wanted to at least see the ending and now my second playthrough is for the true ending, so I have to recollect all of the chalices. My question is, is there any significance to where you place the chalices? They give you 7 altars, are they just so you can have 7 different dungeons open at once? Or is it difficulty based? Also, I didn't do many on my first run cause I didn't ever have enough or the right materials. How do you get some of the higher end materials for them?

@themanwithnoplan: The doll wakes up when you get your first insight point, and for a lot of people that ends up being the first time you fight the first boss.

@theblue: so if I go to NG+ I'll lose the chalices out of my inventory and would have to get them again to put them down?

@jiggajoe14: I don't know about NG+, I think someone on here said that you keep chalice dungeon progress over playthroughs. I started a totally new game so I don't have them.

@theblue: Chalice order doesn't matter as far as I can tell. It took me 25-30 hours to get to the "last" chalice dungeon, though I still haven't even cleared all the vanilla ones open to me, let alone doing a root chalice for each. Pretty important thing is that one of the chalice dungeons has a 4th layer, don't miss that. For materials there's only one you can't get in the dungeons themselves (as far as I know).

Just finished the game this afternoon and i have to say that i really enjoyed it. Basically all of the changes they made to the formula were for the better and the way the story in that game plays out was pretty damn cool.

I put together a review that outlines how I felt about it so feel free to read it, i guess.

I'm 66 hours in and still not done with the first playthrough, granted 6 or 7 of those hours were spent afking or afk trolling.

@fredchuckdave: Yeah i was really wondering about the playtime stuff because im quite certain i did most of the stuff there was to do and finished it in 30 hours. I really hope I was just an outlier in that respect.

I've finished my first playthrough. This game is intense in a way that other Souls game weren't. Dark Souls 1, maybe on a few occasions, but Dark Souls 2? I walked through it pretty much.

This game though? Fucking intense from start to finish. I think my final playtime is 30 hours and some change, doing everything I could find to do (and looking up some secret areas as well). I love the aesthetic, I love the twists and turns in the narrative, and I love the way it plays. I was considering picking up the PS4 version of Dark Souls 2, Scholalr of the First Sin or whatever... but I have no idea how I'd ever go back to using a shield after Bloodborne.

Fuck I really hope they make another one of these. I want to know everything about this world.

I am at the last bawss but I decided to progress the chalice dungeons (which I had done none until today), and there's a ton of things I want to explore in a few areas. That boss dude is gonna have to wait man.

Man this game is great!

@theblue: ah I see.

I must've glanced over the comment you are talking about without thinking haha. I fuess that means even if I don't put a specific chalice on the ritual altar it will stay in my inventory. I was just hesitant to go into NG+ because I got the Isz chalice but haven't put it down on the altar yet. I really don't want to have to fight that boss again to have to get that item again lol.

@oldirtybearon: I'm not especially keen on recommending Demon's Souls (Read: It's still an excellent game, just has some rather obvious problems) but it is definitely a "dodging is the best way to go until you get some broken ass items" game if you haven't ever played it; would be an interesting comparison piece for Bloodborne.

@fredchuckdave: Ah I was wondering where he went off to. Strange I never noticed that elevator there before. Okay, cool.

What did you guys do with iosfeka? I feel like if i leave her like this its going to come back and bite me in the ass?

Snake woods is the worst... the worst god damn thing.

And then I ran into a big one, its head went up to spit, so I Bold Hunter Marked the fuck out of there.

@csl316 said:

They look a lot worse than they actually are. A couple of leaping R2s from my Kirkhammer did them all in. And the sword variant stunlocks the smaller ones and they die in two or three swings. Big ones require a little more movement, but on the whole just R2 dat azz and you'll be fine.

The layout of Forbidden Woods though? That can go straight to hell. I got lost in there a lot. There's no real discernible landmarks to use as guides so that's a big problem. It's probably the only area in a FROM game where I've thought that the lack of an in-game map hurt it.

@oldirtybearon: They're easy, but there's just an endless supply hissing at me. And to top it all off, I ran into a pig. Now, the last two times I hit pigs I instantly died. It's been a while and maybe I could take them now. But I ran back into the woods with no idea where to go, surrounded by snakes, so I took my souls and went home.

Maybe I'll try again tomorrow but I'm already dreading going back in.

@csl316: I feel you, duder. Forbidden Woods is probably my least favourite section of the game, due to how easy it is to get lost.

Tip for pigs though; fist it. Charge R2 from behind, and fist it.

Fisting while surrounded by snakes. Fist Snake. Snake Fist.

That's it, I'm going to sleep.

I just got to the Forbidden Woods. And I'm really digging this area.

@sterling: It starts out as a nice change of pace for an hour or so. Once you see the first snake cluster, then like 100 more, you'll know what I mean.

@csl316: Oh yeah I've ran around the area for about 2 hours. I don't mind all the snake enemies. I got to the first boar and headed back to the lamp and called it a night. In that two hours I racked up 105K echos. Its a good farm run if you need echos to buy stuff.

@sterling: Indeed, I had 65k the first time and 50k the second, not to mention all the Twin Blood shards and consumable blood echoes. So at least I feel super beefy for the first time.

I wonder how the design meeting went for the Snakepiles in Forbidden Woods.

"Hey miyazaki, check out these snake enemies, they're cool right? (showing a single badass snake)

"They are not dignified enough, these snakes do not represent the despair and neverending pain of living in this nightmare, instead it should be a PILE OF SNAKES"

@jiggajoe14: I did it! (Actually didn't take that many attempts but I did go do other stuff for like 8 hours, other stuff of course meaning more Bloodborne, there is nothing else)

@csl316: @sterling: It's definitely amazing for pvp.

I don't know, I've been pretty down on the game up until I reached the Forbidden Woods. It's been my favorite area so far.

I think From Software has an unhealthy disdain for boars.

@spoonman671: For me the issue with Forbidden Woods has less to do with the environment (spooky woods is great and all), and more to do with the level design. It reminds me of Dark Souls II in that everything is on a flat plane. There's no real verticality to any of it, and because by the nature of the environment (it's a wood), you can't get the interconnected detail for this area that you could with Central Yharnam or Cathedral Ward or anywhere else farther into the game. I also don't like the Nightmare areas for the same reason.

I mean, from a design standpoint, I'd say most if not all areas in this game are incredibly well designed. Aesthetically I'm in love with this game far more than any other From title I've played. The level design for Forbidden Woods doesn't do anything for me, though.

@fredchuckdave: awesome. I can only imagine how much that fight will kick my ass when I get to it.

On another note I don't know why I didn't upload a save to the cloud and then check out NG+. Turns out that the chalices do stay in my inventory so I can always put them down in NG+. So I don't have to beat that boss again!

Until the fucking chalice dungeon....

Just like... hearing "pile of snakes" and "snake cluster" and "GIANT snake cluster" makes me shudder.

Holy crap, I might have a latent snake phobia. Now I can see why people hated fighting giant spiders in Resident Evil.

Where can I get some damn sedatives?

Just beat the game right now. The bosses I thought were most challenging were surprisingly the ones I beat on my first try. Overall, this game is more inspired in enemy and level design than dark souls 2, though I was never one that complained about the quality of that game.

People often think the "souls" franchise of games is its own genre, but in reality, this is a boss rush in the same vein as megaman or metal gear solid.

I'd just like to say that the Hunter in the staircase at Byrgenwerth might be the cheapest enemy I have ever encountered in the series.

I have staggered the guy dozens of times yet the game won't give me the riposte and meanwhile he just keeps spamming his stupid magic attack which is practically impossible to dodge so it kills me on one hit every time when it moves directly through the staircase. Sweet collision detection guys.