geneyorkmorgan

I'm in the endgame and I never noticed the Stump Messengers. That explains all the accessories for them because I was like WTF is that for?

Anyway, @janman this was a really good run! Shadows of Yharnam took me several tries to beat but that's because I did it solo and rocked the Saw Cleaver. I didn't know you could summon 2 NPC phantoms for that fight. But then again, From Software wanted to make the fight fair for offline players since that fight can get bad in the second and final phases if the Shadows aren't taken out in quick succession. That was straight up clutch play.

I hope you go back to the snake forest between streams and get the items you missed since there's a lot of useful stuff in there and where the aliens are. Also, the shady looking guy in the tower upstairs with the corpses is worth taking out. Hint: use the doorway and poison knives. You can also kill the turret gunner NPC since he doesn't have a sidequest to get his outfit from the Insight Bath Messenger shop.

Lastly, remember to use the Bold Hunter's Mark to go back to a lamp if you want to cash in your Blood Echoes. It's in your inventory and saves backtracking time. I'm loving the series otherwise so please stick with it. It remains my favorite of the Lockdown streams since it's chill to do artwork as I watch (Judgement also gets my seal of approval). You're one boss away from the halfway point where things take an... interesting turn and the real Bloodborne begins. Hang in there.

@janman Great run! You inspired me to pick up my BB record last weekend. However, I'm in the endgame and in the DLC with one major boss and one optional boss left to trounce. I won't spoil either of them assuming you stick with BB long enough to see The Old Hunters through at some point.

Anyway, if I may throw a few pointers out to help you out:

• You have a bunch of Bold Hunter's Marks in your inventory which comes in handy in a pinch. They're the Bloodborne version of Homeward Bone from Dark Souls. It teleports you to the last lamp you saved at with your Blood Echoes intact. If you have a good chunk of them and want to cash them in without backtracking, use a Mark. It saves time.
• Arcane basically allows you to use magic spells in this game. The catch is that instead of MP or an X amount of uses, it uses a set amount of Quicksilver bullets. You will have to grind the bagmen quite a lot to get the necessary stats.
• You missed a few items. One of them was near Vicar Amelia's place (the body you saw going up to the church on a ledge), the other on the buildings you ran past to fight the two NPC hunters.
• There's an optional but useful thing in the tower above Oedon Chapel but it requires some platforming. You might want to ask chat about it next time you go live on where to go.
• Don't forget to speak to the NPC you sent to Oedon Chapel! She'll give you a recovery item for speaking to her.
• If you go back to the starting area of the game, you can speak to an NPC there.
• Similarly, the little girl you spoke to at the window in Central Yarnham might be worth talking to
• The Maneater Boar you were scared of fighting initially can be approached from behind and backstabbed. It drops an item.
• The Chalice Dungeons are a good place to grind at for Insight, Blood Echoes, and other useful stuff. They're not fun to show on stream though since they're procedurally generated dungeons that can be fixed if you want to grind the same place. It's purely optional of course and only for trophy purposes. The game never shoves it down players' throats.

Otherwise, I've been enjoying the streams. I hope you stick with BB. Hopefully, you can get Danny O'Dwyer on at some point since it was his 2018 GOTY. If I had to pick another game to stream, I would go with Yakuza 0 but that's because I'm a big fan of the series. It's a long game though if you try to do almost everything. But the story is fairly grounded compared to titles after YK1 which get really nuts.

@janman Long time lurker. I finally caught up with all the episodes. I agree with the general consensus that you were doing so much better under Tamoor's guidance so you might want to go back and analyze that run. A few pieces of advice:

• Don't be afraid to look up a guide off-camera and do some additional exploration. I know most people will say it's more fun to go in blind but it helps when you're stuck and you need to collect some stuff you may have missed.
• If you're interested in learning about the lore, pressing triangle in the menu offers a full item description
• Don't be afraid to use the Madman's Knowledge (BB's Humanity/Ember) to summon Alfred and other NPC phantoms prior to a boss fight. The more Insight you consume, the harder the game gets. You gain Insight as you discover new areas, do NPC quests, or discover an optional boss. You also gain Insight from completing Chalice Dungeons. Use Insight to buy armor and new weapons from the Insight bath messenger in the Hunter's Dream. Chat told you about the shop before.
• If you plan to stick with defeating BSB, remember the keys to the fight are it's weak against fire, use the Pungent Blood Cocktail, Alfred/Arthur to pull agro and chip away at it, bait it into attacking, and roll/dodge around the boss rather than away. I would upgrade the flamethrower a few times since it's handy.
• Keep at least 2 backup weapons in addition to your main weapon. The Saw Spear is a pretty decent bet for where you're at but if you want to use the Kirkhammer, it's a Strength-based weapon. While BB doesn't have the option to respec like Dark Souls 2 and Dark Souls 3, you can totally go off into other stats. As someone else said, Vitality becomes useless after 30 points.
• Similarly, don't be afraid to mix and match armor pieces. You'll find armor that offers high physical defense, resistances to poison, fire, etc. Always buy new armor, especially from the Insight shop since it's another tool in a good hunter's arsenal
• You might want to go back to the graveyard and to the girl you got the musical box from
• Similarly, the beast that you avoided confronting under the bridge is worth fighting. You can sneak up on it from behind it to take it out.
• The game is probably a bit more interesting if you play online but I can understand if you don't want to get invaded. I played through it offline but that's because I don't have PS+.
• If you want to do more exploring sans a guide, the key you bought is the key (pun intended) to the main path. You know where to go since the ladder where the mob killed you at leads to more areas
• The giants aren't as bad as you think. They have slow, big attacks but dodging behind them and waiting for an opening is key. Expect to fight more of them as you make your way to the boss in the area.
• The weird portal you saw outside of Oedon Chapel in the graveyard leads to another area if you get sucked into it. It might be something of interest if you're tired of boss bashing

It's been fun watching your run. It's lighting the fire on my ass to beat the main DLC boss and the optional boss. It gets better and more nightmarish as the game goes on so hopefully, you stick with it. Happy hunting and good luck!

@gregk Hahaha, my name is Jhoan but on the PAX shows, I go by the Enforcer handle Gavilan. I was an Exhibitor Assistant on the 6th floor but swung by your booth when I had a break. This username is my Twitter handle (which admittedly doesn't roll off the tongue well haha). I was a tall, Latino guy with black-framed glasses. Here's a picture of my badge you signed which hangs on my wall of past event badges. I just updated my avatar to my real picture. If you guys are at PAX South and/or PAX East next year, I will definitely come by and say hello again when I'm on a break.

I'm in the middle of wrapping up Control and put it in the back burner. I think It's rough around the edges with combat being dull, frustrating bosses, bad checkpoint system, and the performance issues on PS4 are annoying. But I like reading about the strange, cavernous world that is The Oldest House and encountering weird crap.

Although as a New Yorker, it drives me nuts how a huge shadowy government building would be allowed to exist without interfering with the subway system and what have you. But then again it's a work a fiction. I've never heard of Noita so I'll have to look into it. Anyway, all the best to you and your family in the next decade.

Greg, it was a pleasure to finally meet you at PAX West 2019 and get my badge signed by you. It came full circle for me to meet one of the Gamespot alumni whose work I enjoyed. Now if I only could meet Kevin Van Ord but that's a tall order. I always love reading your thoughts in article format and enjoyed Bastion and Transistor. Once Hades comes to consoles, I'll check it out (I doubt my laptop can run it but I will have to check).

This is a fantastic list overall. Kind Words and A Short Hike sound like games to turn to when life has one feeling down. I suppose Wattam also fills that void of a feel-good game along with Sayonara Wild Hearts. I've got my eyes on Kind Words so I'll see if my laptop can run it. And yes, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio is one of Sega's best and biggest powerhouse studios along with Atlus (although their quality has been all over the place lately) and Creative Assembly.

Also, having kids hog games sounds terrifying as someone who's still on the fence on whether to conceive someday. For now, two nieces and an infant nephew are enough for me.

I love it when more people give Yakuza a shout out. 0 gets a lot of acclaims (as it should) but 3 had a unique setting and 5 is bloated with so much content before 6 brings it back full circle to Kiryu. You probably won't ever have the time dive into the Yakuza Remastered collection but I'd love to hear you and NoGoblin talk about parenting and how it relates to Yakuza someday.

I personally think The Last Of Us is overrated but it shot the game industry into the stratosphere with serious games. I'll have to give The Last Guardian a fair shake after hearing mixed thoughts about it.

You're a Yakuza fan?! One learns something new every day. First NoGoblin and now you. The Yakuza series is a fantastic franchise so I'm always happy to see the series get more love. I share your sentiments on Judgment as I didn't like the filler missions, Yagami's tacky jeans, and other minor things about Yagami's characterization relating to the women he dates. Also, the drone races and mahjong had me yelling many four-letter words. Nonetheless, solid list. I probably won't play half of the games on your list like What The Golf? unless it ends up on Android and/or Switch and Goose Game is tempting on PS4.

Also, Giancarlo, I know you don't write for games anymore but I wanted to say that I still remember and enjoyed your Too Human review on 1up. I laughed so hard at "horribly animated cutscenes." Anyway, solid list overall. As a new-ish Switch owner, I appreciate the non-traditional blockbuster list since Outer Wilds is dominating lists. I need to check out 90% of the Switch games on your list save for a few of them. All the best to you in the upcoming year.

@unsolvedparadox: It's from Brian Provinciano, the Retro City Rampage creator. It's a spiritual successor that pays tribute to 16-bit era games and throws a bunch of 80s humor into the mix. It's currently on sale on the Switch e-Shop.