I'm sure I'm not alone in strangely finding it much easier to write up about things I dislike as oppose to those I like, and writing out acres and acres of criticism just makes for a much easier time and the words tend to flow a little more naturally. It's not that I'm an especially negative person or anything either, but I'd like to think it's part of sheer human nature that (most) people always tend to have more to say when it's something negative... Which is unfortunate, because I fakking love Bloodborne! Which differs from my two previous criticism blogs, one of which focussed on GTAV and the other Dragon Age: Inquisition. I just recently achieved the platinum across four different characters (with a fifth that I brought into this world only yesterday. She's called Mary and has my eyes), which counts for more than enough investment for me to properly consider my thoughts on the game. Which is that it's fantastic and is quite possibly my favourite of the souls/these types of games!
However
For all of my love for Bloodborne there are a number of problems both big and small that can be hard to ignore, some of which seem as if Miyazaki and his ego wanted to pretend that Dark Souls II and all of its many improvements for these games never even occurred. That obviously can't be proven to be the case, and given that Bloodborne is technically a separate franchise then perhaps it could be seen as From's ''A Team'' simply wanting to start over from the ground up and expand with the inevitable sequels, if not patches or DLC. Or both! Patches-focussed DLC sounds rather intriguing... Nonetheless, despite the many inevitable comparisons to be made to its forebearers, I feel that Bloodborne still has some notable flaws ingrained within its own frame separate to its spiritual predecessors.
From the top we start at the very bottom: Chalice Dungeons
Perhaps what was one of the most intriguing aspects regarding the game, and is also thusly the most disappointing. The Chalice Dungeons represented the idea of twisting the Souls/Souls-like formula into something even more related to action-RPGs by introducing all of these supposedly random elements. That, and a more accessible and longform venue for coop play! However that's not quite how they ended up. While you do eventually start acquiring ''Root'' Chalices that are supposed to implement randomisation, the actual 'random' rewards barely felt worth the effort. More often than not you would simply just keep acquiring materials to then start making more chalice dungeons, which at a certain point feels like it's defeating its own purpose... Acquiring more blasted tomb mould while I'm already exploring the lowest depth available frankly seems like a serious flaw in the dungeon's design. Opening one of 'dem gaudy looking coffins only to be rewarded with ritual blood to have the chance to eventually open up more coffins to possibly acquire more ritual blood is like some sort of surreal self-serving insanity. Sure, there are two outfits and a unique weapon to attain, but amongst the sheer number of dungeons it feels a little thin. And the ''uncanny/lost'' variants of weapons also aren't especially rewarding, for reasons I'll elaborate on below. I suppose the primary pull of the dungeons is the gems, as it seems that many of the game's very best reside in there.
Still, chalice dungeons quickly start to feel awfully monotonous. The environments are all wholly similar from dungeon to dungeon; different chalices feature their own aesthetic, but they're all largely the same. Exploring chalice dungeons often just isn't very interesting or enticing, and every time there's a side-door before you head to the boss battle I audibly groan. I know I'd be better off in just skipping it but I do it anyway because what if. What if this time I'll actually find a blood chunk even though I've only managed to find one amongst the dozens of hours I've put into these things alone. I'm definitely one that likes to make sure I've fully scoured each area, though I'm less so motivated now that I'm more fully aware to the fact that there's not really that much of worth -- and what actually is worthwhile have their odds of showing up firmly stacked against you. But for the longest time I would suffer through exploring every damn corner of these things.
I do at least appreciate that there are a number of exclusive boss fights cordoned to the chalice dungeons, though there's only so many before you start encountering repeats. Worst of all is the boss patterns never change; facing Beast-Possessed Soul only now it has like 10x the health and can kill you in 1-2 hits isn't any more interesting than it was the first 18 times I fought that fucker. Boss repeats from the main game feel a tad lazy at that, especially since they're again simply the same boss but with more health. And in the case of Amydala and Rom are now in a much more enclosed space; Amydala can thusly sometimes result in the camera being filled with nothing but its arms as you try to make out what is even happening, and Rom tends to lead to an entire layer of spiders that cover the whole area with barely any room to get by without one of 'em leaping into the air and rocketing down on you from outside your vision. That you'll also occasionally encounter common enemies like a Brainsucker as a 'boss' seems like they were running a little thin coming up with enough bosses to pepper throughout these things.
The multiplayer-related side of the dungeons also comes across as something less than an afterthought. Multiplayer in general is a tad undercooked, but I'll save for that later. For starters, that you actually need to find a blasted item just to be able to join people in coop is insane to me; you can at least forever use your Beckoning Bell to bring them to you, but to actually act as the summonee requires its own item. And it's not like you'll stumble upon it within the first series of chalice dungeons; oh no, this thing will require far more damned layer cleansing than should be necessary. It's likely because of such obtuseness as to why both coop and pvp is so damned rare in the dungeons. Having to actually first 'open' your dungeon can't be helping things, especially since the dungeons will more than gladly let you ring that beckoning bell regardless while they snigger from around the corner as you wait an eternity for players that literally can't join you in the first place. Furthermore, coop still functions much like it does in the main game, so whence a boss is beaten they're sent home in a flurry of gestures. Given that the chalice dungeons are so damn monotonous, the idea that you could at least go through an entire dungeon coop would help alleviate some of my grumblings.
Coop at least has some success rate going for it, but pvp is seemingly non-existent. I mean it technically exists, but I've certainly had no luck with it. I once literally spent about an hour with my character searching to invade somebody (to which finally resulted in a server error and me getting kicked to the title screen), and all of my time playing through the 'Sinister' dungeons--wherein a bell lady is spawned into the dungeon--resulted in a grand total of zero pvp'ing.
Frankly I think what is the biggest offender of the whole shebang is how there's basically no end reward. There is sort of an end boss, and a pretty good one at that, being Yharnam, the Pthumerian Queen. She's quite a toughie (she got nuttin on Loran Darkbeast, though. Only boss I couldn't beast solo) and the fight itself is an engaging one. Given all of the time and turmoil it took to reach the bloody woman, however, then surely there must be something real swell awaiting for you once it's all over? Oh sure! Upon beating her you acquire the mysterious Yharnam Stone, which you can use to do ABSOLUTELY FUCK ALL. Yeah, seriously. It has no purpose. It's seemingly supposed to function as a badge of honour, but I'd say the actual PSN trophy you get for beating her would be good enough. People were scrounging for an age to find out what it does, but according to the official guide its purpose is merely to laugh in your face at all of your hard work. No weapon, no armour, not even a blasted gem! You get nothing, you lose, good day sir.
Insight
That people for the longest time were feveriously trying to figure out just what the fuck does this doaptly summarises what it is about these games that brings such fervor. Puzzling it together and figuring it all out is part of the fun, but another part is also actually reaping the rewards, of which Insight barely has any. Initially Insight was believed that it makes the game progressively harder, which it does... somewhat. The most notary alteration is that it steadily decreases your Beasthood and Frenzy resistances, which besides a few occasional situations (fuckin' brains and their stupid singing shit) doesn't really count for much. Beasthood I often tend to forget even exists at all frankly. Insight also gives certain enemies some new attacks, and by certain enemies I mean, like, one? Those church guardians with the lamp can now shoot some orbs and unleash a radial explosion, but by and large I think that may be it.
So, what other benefits/detriments does Insight incur? Well, er... you'll occasionally hear a baby crying? Those creepy laser-face spiders will now become visible earlier in the game? Well ain't that just dandy. I preferred Insight when it seemingly accounted for everything and anything and was full of mystery. Did you know that if you have 56.45 Insight and beat Shao Khan without taking damage, stay idle on the title screen for 7 months, take the disc out during the the opening cutscene and put in your copy of The Order 1886 you forgot to send back, then Shen Long will burst out of your anus and grant you the power of Greyskull?
Insight primarily seems to exist merely as another form of currency; currency that I often only ever really use to buy the occasional armour sets that become available. Otherwise I will often have far more Insight than I know what to do with as it slowly accumulates. Amidst my pvp'ing I eventually amassed 99 Insight and have played most of the game as such, only to unfortunately confirm that it doesn't really change a whole lot. Certainly not enough to matter anyway. Which is a shame because the idea that Insight did in fact make the game harder, ala World Tendency from Demon's Souls and Bonfire Ascetics from Dark Souls II mixed with the Humanity concept of Dark Souls, sounds like a fine interpretation of those concepts. Considering the game is constantly awarding you with it you'd think it would thusly serve more of a purpose. Insight, more like OutofSight yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Perhaps there's still more to be discovered regarding what effects Insight has, but whatever it is I can already confirm that it's so menial as to barely even register.
Multiplayer
The online portion of the game in general is flawed in most regards, so I'd say it's best I go down each element one at a time:
Coop
Helping people is fun! And gratifying! And sometimes erotic depending on how you choose to help. However I won't lie in that at least part of the appeal of coop is also gettin' a little sumin sumin on your end. In previous games of this 'ilk', helping someone out netted you some souls, an item of some sort, and would even revive you. Bloodborne is... similar, in that it of course rewards you with Souls Blood Echoes, but that's largely the beginning and end of it. There's no penalty for dying anymore (beyond the fact that you don't regain the blood vials/quicksilver bullets you've used up), so there's no revival incentive or anything like that. You will acquire a single digit of Insight, but as mentioned above we all know how beneficial that is. Again, coop for the sake of coop is certainly a fun time, but I do really wish there was more incentive beyond the base level of Jolly Cooperation.
Sometimes simply trying to find your coop partner is an adventure all on its own. Because you now matchmake by jinga-linga-linging your bell, you're not guaranteed to actually spawn where the person summoning you is located. Because as the summoner your beckoning bell is perpetually beckoning after a single ring, you're pretty much always searching for those special someones. But again, as they travel around and pick up a hot bit of summoned assistance, chances are by the time you've arrived they're already on the other side of the location. It admittedly almost feels like detective work to try and find your summoner, following the corpses and bloodstains they've left like a more morbid interpretation of the breadcrumb method. But it can still prove to be a nuisance all the while. This is doubly so for the chalice dungeons when it actually manages to work, as at times it feels as if they're dropping you in the place at random like they were throwing darts at a dartboard while blindfolded.
PvP
Now, PvP... PvP is all kinds of fucked. Especially for me, because for the first time I actually genuinely quite enjoy it! I've certainly dallied in the past, mostly with Dark Souls II, however the crazy unbalance and latency issues constantly left me in a grump after so long. Bloodborne however excels primarily because of its vastly superior gameplay. The combat is so taut and fast-paced that fighting your fellow Hunter really makes for a lot of fun. The lack of customisation also funnily enough benefits the pvp for the sake of how balance is much more streamlined and so you're not going to wind up going against a magic user that can backstab you in the face with a sword made out of a kamehameha before you've even been invaded.
However, despite this without a doubt being pvp at its most accessible, it can often feel like From really wanted to stick it to those filthy invaders. For starters, much like in coop, your health is cut down by like a third. Which, OK, sure. You're the invader, the enemies won't attack you, and you can heal, so it's fair game to give your health bar a slap on the wrist all the while. The tough sell for the pvp is regarding the bell ladies. See, you can only invade someone wherein a bell lady resides and is swinging that curvy pile of rust. The bell ladies only actually exist by default in, I think, three locations? That leaves an awful lot of areas bell lady-less. Yet you'll find that you can still invade areas you know are ordinarily lacking the distinct clanging of a lady's bell. And that's because when someone summons a friend in, they tend to let in one of those bell ladies and it just gets everywhere and all over the carpet and ugh. As such, more often than not when you're invading someone you'll be faced with two to three opposing players. You only need to kill the host to win, and the host's coop buddies have the same health nerf as you do. But still, fighting against three players at once is real nasty business - seemingly impossible in fact.
Now, this acts as both a pro and a con. The con is that, well, you're very much outnumbered. The pro is that it thusly forces you to instead use guerilla tactics. You have to try and stay hidden, waiting for the right moment, and ideally butting in when they're scuffling against the enemy monsters and such. Using the enemy inhabitants to your advantage has always been there, but now it actually feels a little more even scaled to counteract what on the surface clearly leaves you with the overall advantage. The Unseen Village and its penchant for respawning enemies certainly makes for some rather entertaining back and forths. Almost sorta feels like a one-sided moba in some respects, only with the sound of angry people being exchanged for suffering through ''this town's finished...'' every five seconds.
That isn't always the case, however. Three players all working together will usually be able to best most enemy encounters, and it's awfully demoralising to invade a world that's already been picked clean of potential frenemies to rely upon for help. Sometimes it'll simply involve all players just staring at each other from a distance, gesturing to and fro as neither one dares to budge. Everybody can heal as well, so if you're thusly cornered against three players on your lonesome, with less health than at least one of 'em, and if they're al more than willing to partake in a little blood from the vial, your chances of success are pretty slim.
I can sort of understand why they went this route, at least partially. Because the Soul Memory thing didn't carry over from Dark Souls II, you could potentially run into the classic scenario of a Grade A Masterclass Bastard keeping their level real low and powering through to upgrade their weapon and, in this case, acquiring the sweetest of gems and runes. All for the aim to then invade some poor schmuck who's only just getting his/her feet damp in bloodstains. So, they make pvp real restrictive and for most barely even a thing that happens lalala happy happy happy.
Then why the Hell isn't there at least some kind of pvp arena? I cherish the chance that I actually encounter someone on their own (which is only if they too are trying to invade someone, as all the while they get their own personal bell lady to throw the invasion back in their face. And carry your bags) that also abides by the golden rule of ''keep your fuckin' mitts off your blood vials!''. But I cherish those encounters specifically because of how rare they are.
Also, latency is still a problem I run into. It's not quite backstab in the back even though from my perspective you're still like a mile in front of me, but that's only because you can't backstab in this game. Seriously, I've been killed from attacks that clearly didn't connect, and there has been many a time where you can very clearly see my attacks hitting them only to see their health bar poker face you in return and blow cigar smoke in your eyes. Sometimes if I have a fire weapon or what have you you can literally watch the flames engulf my opponent from an attack, only for no damage to occur. Hell, sometimes I'll even be able to get my health back from an attack while still not doing any damage!
Covenants, if that's what you'd even call them
I think the most disappointing aspect of the online overall are the covenants, or lack thereof. I mean what we have are barely worthy to be used in the same sentence. They seem to exist more so as an additional rune slot than as a way to incentivise and encourage online play in all its forms. So, as far as I know, we have:
Hunter of Hunters
The rune slightly hastens the speed by which you regain stamina, which is nice. Otherwise I have not a single clue what this one involves or does. The crowfeather armour set is pretty bitchin' at least.
Vilebloods
This one's rune makes it so you'll regenerate some health when you're nearing close to death. Hey, great! Oh, wait, it's a single damned digit of health and it's like per 10 seconds or something and only seems to last until your health is like a 1/16th regenerated? This rune fucking sucks. I had figured that it would at least serve to help stabilise the health drain that the Chikage places upon you when you've buffed it up with your own AB Negative, but no, it doesn't come close to stopping the tide. I guess you could try and stack it up with certain gems that provide their degree of regeneration, but still in relation to the other two runes I don't see why you'd have it equipped.
Well, for the sake of the Vilebloods I guess, which is the one that actually somewhat resembles how the covenants originally operated. See, with the Vileblood rune equipped every enemy Hunter you kill--NPCs and players alike--you'll earn a blood dreg. These can then be handed to the Vileblood Queen, who in return allows you to play charades as you mime yourself feasting upon the sweet, sweet air. The dialogue she responds with, and that you of course are to hand these things in, implies there's different levels to it, but as far as I'm aware there's only basically two. First Level: hand in a single blood dreg to earn the Deep Respect gesture. Second Level: Hand in blood dregs for eternity for the sake of a fucking leaderboard with no other rewards.
I've handed in about 115 overall with my pvp-centred character only to have no further rewards beyond that bloody (lul) gesture. It's a pretty sweet gesture, but I had hoped there would have been more down the line. Maybe another level to this Respect train that has me bow while also lying on my back. Or maybe a bow that shoots a giant blood geyser as I kneel, or a bow that has me bow with so much goddamn respect all the enemies and NPCs can do in response is salute with a single, shedding tear.
As far as I can tell beyond the first gesture unlock there really is no more to it than merely climbing the leaderboard ladder. Which I suppose is fine for some, but I had hoped for something a little more tangible. Considering you can gain dregs from NPCs you could then potentially just keep farming them by helping people in the Unseen Village against those three chuckleheads in the chapel. So it's not like your position may entirely be founded by your skills in pure mano e mano combat anyway!
Executioners
The rune makes it so you gain a higher percentage of health per blood vial, which is real fuckin' mint boiiii. My favourite rune of the lot, and would potentially be my favourite 'covenant' if it actually worked. So, from what I'm to understand Executioners exist to hunt Vilebloods, so if a Vileblood summons you for assistance, you are then tasked with bleeding their ass dry. The idea of being summoned under the guise of a friend w/ kirkhammer only to then use the hammer to pummel them while they question their mistakes and sink into a deep depression from this betrayal is fantastic. It brings to mind the Undercover Cop mode from Kane & Lynch 2 in fact. However for myself at least this has never gone as planned. I've certainly tried enough times, but really because the Vileblood rune is without a doubt the worst of the three, why would anyone actually have it equipped anyway whilst they're about to engage in coop?
And this other stuff
That Hunter outfit is so last season
I'm a vain fucker. I always enjoy customising my characters to make them look how I want 'em, to roleplay and spend decades tinkering in character creators to prepare for the future when we can customise our own human-emulated dolls and oh I'm so lonely. The Souls game were no exception, and there's a reason why Dark Souls II in particular had a whole subset of a community dubbed ''Fashion Souls''. The variety of outfits allowed me free reign to customise and style my characters. Creating new characters often had me excited about what I was going to wear as much as how I was going to play. Cosmetics often always came before practicality, and if anyone were to watch any of the videos/screenshots I've uploaded would notice my characters are nearly always decked out in something different.
However Bloodborne's clothing options are a little on the slim side. There's certainly variety, but not enough to satiate my Fashion Souls lust that has grown ever more when every new 'one of these games' comes around. The Dark Souls games in particular were really good about how virtually every bit of clothing you see someone wearing, chances were you too could get it yourself. One size fits all as well conveniently enough! That's most definitely not the case in Bloodborne. There's many a set of armour and crumpled top hat that is unattainable. Hell, they don't even give you Gehrman's badass Evil Magician outfit from his boss fight. Instead you're stuck with his old man attire that he's wearing when he's not trying to decapitate, bifurcate and generally eviscerate you. From what I can tell he's only wearing a slightly different version of the top hat and charred hunter's cape (a fine combination that is sure to turn heads if I do say so myself), so I don't see why they had to be so stingy about it. Although if they were willing to add the ''Old Dragonslayer'' armour set into Bloodborne after years of waiting for it to be attainable in Dark Souls II I think that'd be both grand and ridiculous enough that all would be forgiven and then some.
You're a Wizard, Yummy. lol j/k get back in the cupboard
I'm not usually one who gravitates towards magic in these games. I enjoy the melee combat, so I generally prefer to stick to being a boring ole sword-swinger. I've certainly 'experimented' and gone through a college faze as they say, but I always tend to go back to what I know. However after how crazily out of whack the magic was in Dark Souls II, I figured I'd pave my way to the wonderful world of shooting rainbow swords out of my ass dealing 99999 damage. Only what seems to pass for 'magic' in Bloodborne is more akin to cheap parlor tricks.
It seems with every new Souls-esque game revision the way magic is handled is different each time. Demon's Souls had the OG tried & true mana bar, Dark Souls fucked that off in favour of limited spell uses per each spell, and now Bloodborne has everything governed by Quicksilver bullets. Less so Magneto offspring and more anti-werewolf fuel, Quicksilver bullets not only serve as by which you shoot at the things but also how you enact an all manner of malarkey. I don't see how bullets are related to shooting out Lovecraftian fanfiction out of your arm, but no matter. While all of the 'spells' look flashy and rather intimidating at first glance, most quite frankly haven't proven much use during my time. There's only a very small selection available overall at that - enough so I can list 'em one by one with my thoughts neatly tucked under each!
Auger of Ebrietas
Sort of like the 'training wheels' to officially becoming a bible-bashing nutjob of the Bloodborne world. It only uses one bullet, but the actual damage is negligible and you're just asking to get a Holy Blade up the rectum if you're using it in pvp. It has a 100% chance to knock an enemy over at least, although they're also invincible whilst they clamber back onto their feet/claws/amorphous slime body. As such, and what'll be a recurring theme for these things, dem bullets are best spent elsewhere. Like, in your gun.
Old Hunter Bone
What sounds like a punchline from a Judd Apatow movie is ''the art of quickening'', which temporarily turns your dashes into what looks like you're actually teleporting with the power of sand or something. The visual of it all is again engaging to look at, but the actual practicality of it doesn't ring as true. For starters it requires 5 bullets, which could potentially be a whole quarter right there, and the effect of the spell doesn't long especially long. It seems like something that is meant for pvp purposes really, and from my experience pvp bouts tend to last quite the semester. That, and again those bullets are far more valuable as a means to parry dem son'bitches while they healing.
Empty Phantasm Shell
An arcane enchantment, one that I haven't made much use of across my characters because it seems like nearly half of the weapons aren't even bloody applicable! If a weapon already comes with an enchantment packed in, such as the Chikage, Blades of Mercy, Wheel of Logarius ect., then no such additional enchantments can be administered. I don't even rightly know what arcane is good for anyway. Fire is good for burning all of that wavy beast hair, bolt seems efficient against extra-terrestials and general tentacle folk, so arcane is perhaps best against humanoid enemies? I dunno, never felt like I needed to make use of it in my time.
Beast Roar
One such spell that can actually prove to be useful at times. It doesn't do any damage by itself, but the knockback is good for disarming a horde, if not using it to knock a hapless player off the edge to their doomdom.
Tiny Tonitrus
And now we're right back to ''barely even worth acknowledging''. This greedy shit requires 6 bullets, and the damage never seems to make up for it. That's if it even hits as it only travels in a singular line, again making it nothing short of a deathwish in pvp.
Executioner's Gloves
Another waste of space, this will summon a trio of slowly hovering menstruation ghoulies that'll travel like 5 feet before calling it a day and sapping 3 bullets out of your pocket. Damage isn't especially impressive and again they barely even go anywhere before dissipating into a waste of air.
Messenger's Gift
This one's alright. Lets you live out your wildest fantasy of existing as a tiny grouping of ghostly burn victims to fool any would be attackers. Easy enough to distinguish should you pay enough attention, due to how they show up as messengers displaying a message even without you being in the vicinity, but at a glance they can prove efficient in fooling people. Plus only a single bullet! Just like the lovable little goblins to be so easy on the cost.
Choir Bell
As someone that enjoys playing the support role in multiplayer environments this certainly strikes as something worth my attention. However as you're to likely be playing with randoms, who are highly likely to down their blood vials almost instinctively whenever necessary, it'll often seem like a waste of 8 perfectly healthy blood bullets.
Death By a Thousand Cuts
I don't know how I did this, but that right there is the sort of power that demands to be harnessed.
A Call Beyond
What is supposed to function as the granddaddy wizard-meister spell that basically flattens all of existence, A Call Beyond is wholly disappointing. As with other spells there's a lot of sparkly shit going on to try and make you forget how useless it is. The damage it does is dependant on how many of the magic sperm hit their target, only they're just as bad at navigating as actual sperm as it turns out. Most often won't usually hit anything besides the floor and the damage dealt is typically a complete waste. I could shoot those 8 bullets into nothing and I would still feel that I got a better use out of 'em.
So, yeah, most of the magic stuffs I find is kinda rubbish. Because of how damned Godlike the parry-with-bullets system is, your bullets are always infinitely more useful in saving for the guns they were meant to be loaded in.
New Game Minus
One of the greatest innovations Dark Souls II brought about the way it handled its New Game+ offerings. Most games, including the previous two Souls games, often have NG+ function as the same game only enemies hit harder. Rejigger with the damage and health modifiers and boom, you got yourself a NG+ mode. That's why I really appreciated DSII and how it would actually introduce whole new ways for you to die. Completely new enemies would be introduced, more black phantoms would arrive to ruin your day, boss designs would change, as would many also now have new drops such as rings and even additional boss souls.That part where The Duke's Dear Freja molested my mental health by clambering up the cliffside before I was even nearing her domain is one of the most effective jump leap scares in recent memory. Now technically speaking you could have already seen all what's new by using bonfire ascetics before you were to officially start a NG+ playthrough, but regardless it's a sight better than what Bloodborne decided to answer with.
Unfortunately Bloodborne reverted back to the ways of ''MULTIPLY ALL ENEMY HEALTH BY A HUNDRED''. The only difference from one playthrough into the next is how much damage you and the enemies can withstand. There's quite literally nothing else to set them apart. No new drops, no additional secrets, nothing. That you'll still be picking up damned blood shards and having enemies drop level 1 gems despite also doing about the same damage as an attack from a first playthrough Gehrman seems somewhat misaligned. What's especially humorous, and by humorous i mean annoying, is how you'll even potentially unlock a new weapon! Only you more than likely won't be able to upgrade beyond level 6 for the longest time because of how weirdly stingy the game is with their blood chunks. That's also what makes acquiring all of those ''lost/uncanny'' weapon variants such a dry fart of a reward because of how you won't be able to upgrade them especially high anyway, lest you plan before hand.
Medium Travel
Why can't I fast travel to different areas via the lamp rather than having to keep heading back to the Hunter's Dream? Like, comon now.
Micolash
Just...
A lack of mystery
I'd say a lot of what I've written can ultimately be amounted to how the game comes across as surprisingly small scale in relation to its forebearers. That I was able attain all the weapons, spells, and armour pieces amidst a single playthrough makes me feel all weird inside. All of the speculation surrounding certain mechanics kinda erupted into a puff of smoke, and in a weird way to put it Bloodborne is most certainly a much easier game to understand than any games of this type have come before it.
This blog's finished...
It goes both ways, though. Bloodborne's overall accessibility acts as a boon to many certain elements such as weapon customisation. Allowing you the freedom to easily switch a variety of gems in and out as you please makes it so it's less punishing for experimentation and lets you try things at your own pace. Though it's just a bloody shame the actual weapon upgrades system wasn't as lenient.
In any case with this being a criticism blog obviously it's all death, pain and miseries, but I see it merely as the toughest of love. And believe me, I love this game. As mentioned earlier I've platinumed this sucker, yet I'm still playing. I've completed it on NG+, and yet that isn't enough to stop me. Even those wretched chalice dungeons aren't enough to hold me back as I moan my way through layer after layer in the hopes of getting me some motherfuckin bling. The gameplay is such an incredible leap from the games past that it's suddenly made the Demon's and Dark before it feel weirdly slow and sluggish in relation. Don't get me wrong, though, I can and have been enjoying my time with Dark Souls II: Scholar of The First Sin all the while. They're different sorts of games basically. Bloodborne is much more action-y and a bit more reliant on reflexes than it is as much as methodically differing between offense & defence. Stamina management isn't as much of a concern as you can practically cartwheel across all of Yharnam without breaking a sweat.
I'm not usually one that tends to get drawn into the lore of theses games, but Bloodborne has even managed to seduce me in that regard as well. I'm not about to write up my own synopsis of what the fuck I think is going on, but I'm intrigued enough that I'm always paying attention per playthrough so as to make sure I catch any little deets I may have missed in a previous one. Bloodborne is one of those games that I feel impassioned by, that I frankly want any reason whatsoever to keep playing; whatever you're selling, Bloodborne, I'll be buying! And it's what has made me such a tough critic, because I want to see it to improve. I don't want this blog to be viewed as me whining about everybody's favourite werewolf x tentacle fanfic, but as a fan that only wants to see this series improve in certain areas that I feel could do with a little.
Still love you, BB! xoxo
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