Oni

I agree with those saying it's consistent and cohesive. I view it as a positive because I *love* the aesthetic of Yharnam. But the back half of the game has a lot more visual variety, I will say. But I left my heart in Yharnam. I wouldn't get tired of it even if the entire game had the Central Yharnam / Old Yharnam / Cathedral Ward aesthetic.

As for armor, a lot of the cool stuff is in optional areas in late game. I agree that early on it's all a bit samey.

I prefer the Skill weapons, especially Blades of Mercy, more than the slow weapons. I tended to prefer the slow, staggering weapons in Souls games because those games are slower paces, and for that exact same reason I like the faster weapons in Bloodborne, they really make the combat shine. The Blades of Mercy are just a fantastically fun weapon to use with incredible speed and moveset. I also really like the Saw Spear, and don't let its basic nature fool you, it's really effective. The R1>L1>L1 transforming combo is very effective at stunlocking almost everything and the second hit does a lot of damage. It's one of the fastest transforming combos I've discovered, too. If you want to know how to get the Blades of Mercy: Eileen the Crow. Follow her quest line, or kill her.

Now you are just talking straight crazy and I'm bowing out of this. We clearly don't see eye to eye. That's fine, but y'all both crazy. Partizan but with less moves indeed! Dark Souls 2 may have had a ton of weapons, but the move sets for the weapon classes were pretty limited. I don't think you're arguing in good faith with statements like that.

Reminds me of Cassandra from DA:I, I only realized until after the fact. Just with pinkish hair

@fredchuckdave: Oh that's what that was, yeah that makes more sense. I just saw that you hit him with an attack and it made the same noise as when you parry and he went to his knees. I don't think I ever staggered Logarius the couple times I fought him, hence my confusion.

@fredchuckdave: Oh that's sick, I was convinced it wasn't possible to shoot him because all my attempts failed. Also, what the hell was that at 3:35 where you parried him with a transforming (I think?) attack?

@thehuntsmen5434: I don't really agree with most of that, sorry! I don't agree with all of the design decision FROM made here (I think you're mostly right about the gem system, I'm not a fan. It's too min-maxy for my tastes), but one weapon in this game is equivalent to like one or two weapon CLASSES in any Souls game. I don't agree that it's dumbed down and comparing it to COD just doesn't hold any water for me. Less content (probably not true if you count Chalice dungeons, but if we're talking "regular" game you're right for sure) can be justified by how much more detailed this game's environments are. I think the level design is visually and from a game design perspective above and beyond anything in Souls. It's just too early in the game's lifespan to be making those kinds of statements too, we don't even know what FROM's post-release support plans are regarding patches, possible DLC etc.

This is true, but 90% of the playerbase ended up adapting to the same meta anyway. Think of all the Havelmonsters, Giantdads, mundane Avelyn's/Santier's Spear, whatever the flavor of the month is before it gets nerfed. And to be honest, I use what's effective. Gimmick builds are cool, but they're just that. The difference in Bloodborne is that it seems to me that every weapon is truly viable. Maybe there isn't as much on-paper build diversity, but I'm not yet convinced that it's going to hurt the game's longevity. I mean for a start it's just much better than Dark Souls 2, and Dark Souls 2 had no problems sustaining an active player base despite its myriad issues, like ridiculous hitboxes, enemy tracking etc. The proof's in the pudding, but the quality of Bloodborne's gameplay will give it plenty of longevity, I think. It will for me, anyway.

You're not missing, he has some kind of bullet-deflecting shield. You straight-up cannot hit him with bullets. Even the cannon glances right off him, I tried. I love that fight, it gets me pumping every time. He's intense. That one and Gehrman are probably my favorites.

Got y'all beat, sadly. Just lost over 700k. I had just finished NG+ (true ending, you get a TON of souls) and dove straight into NG++. No problem, right? Right. Except I went to fight Cleric Beast, and he picked me up and threw me through the game world. I clipped through the floor, fell into an abyss for like 20 seconds, and when I ran back there, sure enough, bloodstain gone. I was pretty sour, that's still like 5 levels at my level (120ish).