The Bloodborne Identity with JanThe Bloodborne Identity with Jan: Part 8

You got this Jan! This game has a lot of routes to explore so if you get stuck on something just try something new!

Great fun watching this live, looking forward to more.

The wall that was built by Cane

My rule with souls games is if I get sick of fighting a boss I'll explore other paths, try a few more times, and then take a tip from someone I trust to only tell me just enough to slightly modify what I'm already doing, rather than those people who want to tell you their optimal way to play the whole game. I also have to say that getting stuck on Blood-starved Beast was the low point of the game to me and I didn't really feel it was worth the time investment even when I finally did beat him. Loved the rest of the game though, especially the weird secrets, a few of which are even cool enough to be worth getting spoiled on if you don't figure them out yourself.

Sad I missed this, love catching these live but totally whiffed on an alarm.

Just glad he's keeping with it, it can be easy to be tripped up, get frustrated and lose all your items in the process.

Also damn that first run was well done, sometimes it's good to have a breather between attempts.

Edit: Well done JAN!

FYI all weapons are viable, but some are more viable than others based on your stats, stick with what feels best, but don't be afraid to test the waters with other weapons in your stat specialty (just y'know... upgrade them before you bring them into boss fights).

The cane scales excellently with Skill, but compared to a lot of weapons it's got low base damage and low stagger potential, whereas the Spear is a great all-rounder that while focused on Skill, can dish out a large amount of good damage (tip: the transform into extended attack (R1 > L1) is a very good combo finisher that hits hard with some extra range).

Also, besides Amelia you now have a couple of good options for exploring (she's mandatory but can be spongy if you take her on right away), take a look around the church she's in.
And take a look around your hub church too, there is an NPC you might want to say hello to now :)

Michael with that masked Kylo Ren vibe.

Man, I pretty much played this entire game with the Threaded Cane. Had no idea it was considered a difficult weapon to use.

@janman a bit about leveling up in bloodborne: it is always a good idea to level vitality and strength or skill, depending on your weapon. endurance is actually rarely leveled up beyond 15, 20 or at most 25. the reason for this is that stamina regens extremely quickly in bloodborne, and you will unlock runes which increase your stamina.

The chat is chaos and probably not helpful at a glance, but I definitely think you should keep having on guests who can give you some non-spoilery light coaching. There's too many things you will have a tough time figuring out on your own, considering the esoteric nature of From's souls-like games. Especially if you don't try to enjoy the exploring new areas aspect of the game. The bosses do not scale to your level, and it's where all the new weapons and goodies will be.

JUST in case you actually do skim the comments, here's what I think has gotten lost in the shuffle of everything that has already happened:

You don't have the "saw cleaver," one of the other two starter weapons, that Michael and others have mentioned, but you can get something that will let you buy it/them. You need to find a big gross looking mammal that's in the water-logged sewer area from before. It will drop something that will add it to the fountain shop.

You have enough, and will keep getting enough upgrade materials in the early game to play around with different weapons. Levels 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10 itself require a different type of material, so if you got extra, do what you want with it. (Don't forget your gun). There are lots of weapons and guns that you will find or be able to buy, don't be afraid to mess around with them. Right now you are early enough that that selection is pretty small.

Last, minor thing, that hasn't been brought up in awhile, blood gems are like FF7 materia, you can swap them out if you like a new one better. Update: Ooh good you remembered this episode.

To anyone reading this and about to turn this into the Metal Gear Scanlon comments again: I am not trying to tell anyone the right or wrong way to be playing a game. I'm just putting some tips out there that will help them know all the tools they have at their disposal.

The only real difficult part of it is that it deals less damage than the strength weapons making fights last longer, and more importantly it rarely if ever staggers. When you fight Amelia with the cane it is a lot harder to stagger her out of the healing animation rather than if you were using the cleaver or axe. Also the lower damage thing is quite a big deal for starting players because it just means you are prolonging the fight and the longer it goes on the bigger the chance you slip up or miss an evade. In Bloodborne, especially early on when you are very squishy, one bad dodge can mean a fight. How many times was Jan basically 1 hit away from killing the Blood Starved beast?

It's not some HUGE difficulty leap, especially if you're familiar with the Souls games, but compared to the strength weapons it does seem a bit tougher.

Jan, so proud of you, dude!

this is some The Ritual ass shit.

Go! Jan! Go!

I saw so much of this live and somehow missed the ending. So glad to come back and see how it wrapped up!

Michael rules and way to go, Jan! Beating Blood Starved. He's a wall but he also teaches you how to play the rest of the game.

you the man Jan!

Hell yeah Jan!

That was incredible. I think I held my breath for that whole last part. Deep Higham has blessed us this day.

JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!

R2 attacks! I used the cane for the whole of Bloodborne and the basic (not charged) R2 attack is much more effective against single targets. Fun show.

Yea Jan! Great job dude!

Well done! Next up Sad Featherduster Vicar Amelia.

Great job Jan. Only one more boss and the game really starts.

Please please please with sugar on top STOP USING THAT CRAP WEAPON. This is torture. Use saw weapons against beasts.

Whip it Michael is my new favorite GB guest

Good job on the blood-starved beast, Jan. That final run would make even Matt Rorie gasp in awe. And he beat Bloodborne on stream once.

I recommend always moving towards their back.

damn that whip is trash huh

Good job switching weapons! I haven't commented because I don't want to influence someone playing through a Soulsborne game, but playing through with the cane, especially if you don't have much experience in the series, is a recipe for disaster. Happy you saw immediate results.

Jan's face when he meets new friends is always so great lol

It's very specific to use as you cant just Spin To Win or have high DPS on 3 light swings, etc but it does have some VERY good specific attacks. One does to have to utilize every attack with good accuracy though.

When you all had the deeper voice in the past, is it possible you were recording closer to the microphone than usual? A la the Proximity Effect

@janman Heard about you getting caught by the Bagman and that's actually excellent news! Hidden Village is a very good early grinding spot in my experience, especially once you know a way to exploit the Bagmen's AI you can kill em fairly easily if you're 1-on-1.

Here's how to do it: At full health their movement is slow so you can easily find a opening to do a fully charged R2 into their face, once they lose a about 1/4 of their health they will "Enrage", expect this and use the time they execute this animation to circle behind them and do a fully charged R2 into their back, counting as a backstab and letting you follow up with a viceral attack! they will fall down from the viceral attack letting you do one final fully charged R2 as they get up.

Whether this combo finishes them off depends on your damage, but it will severly weaken them at least.

Yes, this. I keep mentioning how much I loved the whip/cane for my runs with a complimentary weapon on hand. While the whip is slow, it's amazing while exploring and turns into a well-scaling and quick weapon in the cane when you don't need the reach+aoe.

Try to remember that serrated weapons ALWAYS do more damage to beasts! 20% to be specific.

The Threaded Cane's transformed state is considered serrated! So while the normal form is faster, it certainly does far less damage. Transforming combo attacks are sweet too.

More Jan and Michael content please! JanRPGs is only a matter of time now....

Playing co op is just as "proper" as solo. Try it with one of the friends you've had chatting during the episodes and you'd find you were plenty satisfied playing with another person. Random online co op might lead to the other player just plowing through the game with no regards to your experience.

Addendum: But also good job Jan.

I was about to come in here and give jan tips about how to handle BSB. But looks like he had it on lock. BSB was the hardest for me, and even worse in the dungeons. I disagree with them saying he doesn't open up any new areas, since he opens up the chalice dungeons. He just doesn't open the door behind him.

As someone named Alan, I feel called out.

The Jan + Highem combo is killer.

You love to see it.

Michael in witness protection. What does he know? Reminds me of Delocated.

I would happily watch some JRPGs; which we all know means Jan Role Playing Games. Games in which you role play as Jan.

Lol at Vicar being "one of the easier ones." Probably the second hardest early game boss behind Father G. That fucking heal.