Finished the game, and as such I went to look up what I missed. A surprising amount. I missed like 20% of the game. Didn't even encounter a single Oath, never got the weapon that fitted my build, skipped a few bosses and more.

Surprisingly, I did get the 'true' ending, apparently. There are 3 endings, one of which seems incredibly unfulfilling. When you go to Gehrman and choose to submit your life, the credits will roll without any boss fight. I choose to refuse him, in which case you need to fight him (which btw, the most challenging boss in the game for me. Very fun fight). But, apparently because I had 3 umbilical cords used, I also had to fight Moon Presence.

Pretty funny that I stumbled into that, while being completely oblivious to other parts of the game.

Which ending did you get?

I didn't just randomly find it but also the secret ending. Gehrman doesn't care if you've got 1500 health apparently, at least not when you also have 90 insight.

I got just the gehrman fight (no moon presence), because I thought he was saying DO YOU WANT TO FIGHT THE END BOSS? I had other things I wanted to check so I said refuse naturally, I had no idea it would alter my endgame. I'm glad I did though, gehrman is a very cool boss fight, although he was nearly impossible for me so I parried him A LOT. Do you have to beat gehrman and moon presence one after the other or are they treated as separate fights?

@claybrez said:

One after the other, but you can die to the Moon Presence and suffer no penalty outside of, well, dying.

Just did the secret ending apperently, which was nice! Man the Gehrman fight was hard for me, i used every item that did damage to that guy. The final boss was a joke though, i didn't have much trouble with that guy.

In true souls fashion, I have no idea what to make of the story. Was that thing at the end the doll picks up me? Im so confused.

Fun game

@fredchuckdave:

Fighting your mentor in a field of white lilies?
What a thrill.

Just the "normal" ending. Thought that there was probably something to do with the umbilical cords, but at that point I just wanted to finish it because it was taking over my life for the past few days. Glad to see a final boss fight that isn't a complete joke, too.

I beat gehrman with 0 blood viles. Granted it took a while, but he's easy once you get a pattern down. I got the ending where the hunter turns into a squid thing and the doll picks you up and says "good hunter". What a weird fucking game

And I think I'm actually gonna play ng+ with bloodborne. Didn't do that in dark souls because I felt like I got my fill by the end.

@claybrez: You fight Moon Presence immediately without break after fighting Gerhman. However, if you die to Moon Presence you'll awaken in Hunter's Dream again. If you go through the fog door where you fought Gerhman, you'll just fight Moon Presence again instead.

@takayamasama: That's how I took it. Pretty sure you are the new 'Great One', though I have no idea why. I didn't really understand the story, like I never do. I'll go read what it was about. Seems interesting though.

Yeah, Gerhman is easily the best bossfight in the game. I didn't count, but I think I died 8 or 9 times to him. But once I got his moves down, I killed him with surgical precision. I did use some vials though, but man it felt awesome from being completely wrecked to being in complete control. It's really too bad he is the only boss that was challenging in that way.

Yes. It's not 100% confirmed but the running theory is that when you kill the Moon Presence you become the child that was supposed to be Yharnam's, (that being the woman in white before Wet Nurse). It's like the Dark Lord ending in Dark Souls where you take your newfound power and fuck off to be ruler. Only now you're a Great One.