The Bloodborne Identity with JanThe Bloodborne Identity with Jan: Part 5

The secret is coming back to the game with a fresh mind

Taking breaks from these kinds of games is key!

Bioshock Infinite is great. Whoever told you it's bad is a fool.

PS. I've really enjoyed this playthrough and I hope you keep at it Jan!

@janman Please continue to play Bloodborne unless you are not enjoying it. I love watching people play through it their first time and your playthrough has been really fun to watch. You have done really well so far, if you were to try and finish it, there is no doubt in my mind that you would be capable of that.

Also, you are farther than 10% into it.

Loving these streams. You're killing it, Jan!

Jan's the man! Really enjoying the Bloodborne playthrough.

Bioshock Infinite was an excellent game...Imho anyways :)

Real glad it sounds like you are dodging a bullet, health-wise.

Congrats on beating the good Father...

I miss cartoon Jan

I definitely would enjoy to watch you explore, but you do you duder!

Enjoying the play through Jan!

I like seeing you discover new places like you did in this episode and not just a boss rush. If you feel like you need to grind out XP offline please stay in areas you have been before. Hope you keep playing!

P.S. If you can you should try online mode.

Jan! Congratulations on the victory:)

Please keep playing Bloodborne there is nothing better than seeing the accomplishment on your face. Also no shame in playing online if you find something too difficult.

Really enjoying the Bloodborne playthrough.

Please continue to play Bloodborne unless you are not enjoying it.

Congrats on beating the good Father...

Yes Jan, well played! Agree with the others than sometimes a break away from a boss or area pushing you on tilt over and over is the best way to smash through it.

I will watch every single one of these as long as Jan keeps playing it. I'd like to see him beat it but if he moves on to a different game so be it. Personally I enjoy watching the exploration and fighting regular enemies more than boss fights so I'd hope he doesn't do much off-stream to be honest.

Bioshock Infinite was really well received right when it came out. I thought the gun play was kinda meh, but the world building, lore, and story was more than enough to make up for it. Such a neat world to explore and scenery to marvel at. I would have preferred it to be 90% exploration and 10% combat instead of 60% combat and 40% exploration but whatever, still a great game. For whatever reason, there has been a big surge in the amount of people hating on it over the past 2 years or so. Really don't understand why but it went from a game that seemed to have universal praise to one that was portrayed as mediocre. Regardless of the trend to criticize it, I would definitely recommend it.

That said, I would kill for a full playthrough of Bloodbourne -- or at least a good chunk of it.

God, imagine Bloodborne at 60 fps with the framepacing issues fixed on PS5. That would elevate possibly my favourite game of all time to another level. One can dream.

@janman how about Bomb Blocks or Bomb Blox for the LEGO show?

Love watching this Bloodborne run, 'ol Father G has stopped many people so congratulations on beating that hurdle.

good job Jan. now you're ready for Bloodborne

@janman, I have watched Brad play through the end and DLC of Bloodborne on this site. I have watched a 30+ hour lore breakdown video in which a man plays through the game while explaining pretty much every single pixel's significance to the broader story and themes at hand. I have watched every second of Natalie Watson playing Bloodborne on Waypoint. I would without hesitation watch every second of you playing Bloodborne during these times.

I have not beaten any one of these games (I folded after a few turns at The One Reborn, not necessarily because I found the fight too difficult so much as I just felt like I'd gotten everything I wanted out of the game myself) but I will watch anyone with a fun personality play them forever, and particularly Bloodborne. It is just such an awesome world to marinate in and always really fun to see what aspects of that world people latch onto or get turned off by

@shricher, a lot of the backlash stemmed from writers like Austin Walker and Leigh Alexander pointing out that the Vox Populi storyline wasn't just a little sloppy compared to the rest of the game, it was tonally disingenuous from the argument it was trying to make. Over the following year people would go on to note how Elizabeth's nature during gameplay is at odds with her importance to the narrative, noticed that many of Infinite's politics hedged towards a Libertarian streak that most far- and medium-left video game writers have only grown more repulsed by and uniformly decided the shooting just wasn't that good and the ending was a cop out masquerading as a Big Idea.

In my memory, Bioshock Infinite was possibly my favorite game of the entire PS3 generation, but I think it was a very vulnerable game that came at a time when a lot of new voices were coming into the games criticism space and those people had core interests in games that went beyond visuals, gameplay and dollar-per-hour kinds of critiques. Bioshock Infinite painted a huge target on itself through its themes and popularity, and acted as sort of a bookend to the era of narrative growth in games that stretched from Bioshock and Uncharted to Bioshock Infinite and Uncharted 3 (another game I really, really enjoyed but got knocked down over time because it similarly left itself open to criticism by being a game that in some ways tried to have its cake and eat it too.)

Go Jan Go Jan YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES !!!!!!!!!!!!

@nodima: I always think that Infinite is such an interesting case, because as you said it's a game that came out at a time where a lot of this creative writing was moving up to front pages from the murky shadows of personal blogs only enthusiasts visited. To this day I remember the Leigh Alexander piece on the game that I found (no pun intended) quite shocking. It was wonderfully written as whatever misgivings I have about her sometimes rather unorthodox and displaced opinions Alexander is undoubtedly an extremely talented writer. Her criticisms were largely valid, but they were criticism I've never seen levied at games before. The dichotomy of gameplay and narrative, the way the world didn't just let her live in it, the way she was forced to point her weapon at anyone she spoke to because she couldn't holster it. They are valid complaints but in 2013 Infinite was still way ahead of the curb when it came to marrying the cinematic storytelling with action gameplay. A lot of people wrote about these things, dissecting the game to it's most basic elements and pointing out how they ultimately didn't work when you weren't in the thick of it, but in my eye it was always missing the forest for the trees. Games have gotten much better at this whole cinematic experience thing, but criticism also has evolved quite a lot. It would be silly to see a long winded article detailing the ridiculous nature of Uncharted these days because it's obvious, we know he kills thousands of people, we don't need writers to point this out to us in 4,000 word tear downs.

Seeing a new player discover the fine art of hauling ass through a level really makes a veteran soulsbourn player smile. :)

Controversial hot take from me: Bioshock Infinite is actually a really good game with wonderful art, atmosphere and story. Shocking!

Also, I really hope Jan sticks with Bloodborne. Love watching him play and discover this game.

Half way through the video, but I would more enjoy P5Royal stream from you tbh! That game is a blast!

Nice going, Jan. Wasn’t able to catch it live but I’m happy to hear that you’re planning on sticking with the game a while longer. It’s been really enjoyable to watch.

Please keep doing these. They brighten up my day =)

I would watch every minute of this playthrough if you're willing to continue. That being said, do whatever makes you happy my friend! Especially in times like this. :)

This series has made me want to revisit this game. When I first played it I HATED it with a passion. This is largely due to an enormous number of glitches that I kept encountering. Seemingly far more than most seemed to encounter, so I recognize that this was apparently a situation that was fairly unique to my situation.

I would get stuck on wheels in the opening area... and by stuck I mean I would be unable to move at ALL, leaving me helpless. At one point I would hop off a ledge and somehow get stuck halfway down the decent, left to hover. The finale came with the Blood Starved Beast: he has an attack where the grabs the player and does some severe damage. On one occasion he accomplished this from across the room. It was amusing to see him going through his animation, while my character hung in mid air with blood gushing out; but it was the end of my enjoyment. I kept playing for a short while afterward; but it was hindered too greatly by the previous experiences (I only mentioned a small few, here); and instead of enjoying the experience I was just waiting and LOOKING FOR the next flaw.

Maybe, a year and a half later, it might be time to revisit it and see if I run into the same issues with a fresh playthrough.

I really hope you stick with Bloodborne Jan, I am really enjoying this series. I actually prefer playing Souls games when someone is watching, it motivates me to keep going.. I wouldn't mind if you played all of it on stream. Get Vinny on discord and boom you've got A+ content right there

Name for the LEGO thing: LEGOthing is Jan-some

I second all the previous comments asking you to try to continue playing through this. If you're feeling fatigued, don't play it every day, taking breaks is key as has been mentioned before. I am really enjoying seeing you work through the mechanics and you've been learning the key mechanics a LOT faster than most people usually do. It's been a blast.

Of course if you're simply not having fun with the game then eff it, play what you like.

Heyooooooooooooo Jan! Nice one beating Gascoigne! gg

@thursday1977: I'm sorry you had that experience. I've played through the game multiple times and have never seen anything like what you're describing. Not doubting your experience, just bummed out that you had a bad time. I hope you give it another shot! It's my favorite game of all time.

This series gave me the motivation to actually go back and try to beat this game, always would get stuck at the forbidden woods. Managed to press through on a fresh character and am now working to beat Orphan of Kos. So thanks for the inspiration to give this game a try again!

Jan, this has been a great time watching you play my favorite game during these weird days. I've enjoyed watching you constantly improve and learn the game. Please keep going if you're enjoying it! If not, I'd happily watch some bishock infinite (it's my favorite bioshock).

@jrowley223: Yeah, like I said I recognize that this was pretty unique to me specifically so I may give it another go once I'm done with DQXI.

100% agree, on both statements :)

Jan is absolutely handling this game! He's countering now with pretty amazing regularity and especially in that last big room, is getting great at crowd control too.

Would definitely continue to watch.

Jan, I would definitely watch the whole playthrough. Thanks for your dedication!

Jan, I encourage you to keep playing this series if you find yourself hooked by this game. Even though I’ve played through Bloodborne multiple times I still really enjoy watching others experiencing it for the first time.

As for the 90% estimate of how much of the game is left, I’d say that it is an accurate and inaccurate assessment. Without giving too much away, I’d say that half of the content in Bloodborne is optional (maybe even more than half). So you’re 15~20% along in the main quest/story, but a little less than 10% along if your goal is to face every boss and complete every area.

Gotta say, some of these Lockdown streams have been playing in the background, but I'm glued to this Bloodborne every minute. Hopefully it continues in some form, even if it's just an occasional check in on progress once a week or whatever.

Side tip, when a boss is almost dead, that's when I'll bring out a cocktail or two for some safe damage and a possible kill.

Bioshock: Infinite is an amazing game. Not sure why it got a ton of backlash 6 months after release, but it's a damn fine experience worth revisiting (especially the remastered version).

As for the Lego show: Brick Boi with Ya Boi

Exploration is the best part to watch and play! Bosses are tedious.

This is my favorite series on the site in a while.

Don't do things for the audience. If you wanna keep playing Bloodborne on your own time and your streams can be random check-ins, that is fine. If you wanna stop playing because you don't like the game anymore, or are bored or just aren't feeling it, stop playing.

Whatever you want to do.

Damn. Jan took care of FG in spectacular fashion. I never even thought about luring him to the stairs, so the worst part of that fight for me was getting stuck on the grave stones.

@shricher: And it was still received very well 8-9 months after it came out at Game of the Year time.

I want to see Jan playing through all of the game. If you need to grind grinding off stream is fine for me

I'm all for exploration and bosses on stream/archive.
I enjoy Bloodborne, and I'm enjoying your journey through it.

I do get the vibe you're not quite invested/enjoying it though, so if there's something else you'd rather do, please. You're not obligated to grind against something you're not into.

As long as you're enjoying playing it, I'm 100% down for watching everything you do in the game, be it bosses, exploration, grinding, whatever.

Watching a player grow is always the best with From games.

I want to see all of it, Jan. ALL. OF. IT.

Jan, you're going to be meeting so many wonderful new friends soon!

mwahahaha