The Bloodborne Identity with JanThe Bloodborne Identity with Jan

Jan has joined the Hunt! 💯💯💯

Cartoon Jan forever!

Looking forward to watching after work _ol lo_

As an old-school Giant Bomb fan: I'm delighted by the return of Cartoony Duders.

The ol' cane-whip trap. Looks cool as heck.. isn't all that great.

Bloodborne doesn't really do a whole lot of builds. I mean sure if you really want to you can make an arcane build but that doesn't even come into it's own until you're halfway through the game. In reality you just want to be pumping your STR stat and using the axe or cleaver. I used to the cane on my first playthrough and was wondering why people were having such an "easy" time with some of these bosses? Well, turns out that stunlocking bosses like Amelia can really make a world of difference.

Still had a fun time - first ever PS game I got a trophy platinum in - but man I wish I chose that goddamn cleaver.

@humanity: I used the cane whip for most of my first playthrough, the range is deceptively long and so it's a really safe weapon. Also it's serrated, so good against beasts.

I stan cartoon jan

Aren't people sick of streaming and watching souls games by now? Especially Bloodborne..

Jan FYI you did pretty well after you got going.

>This isnt as bad as I thought it would be!

Perfect

Really into the Janimation. Like REALLY into it.

Threaded Cane is the best weapon in the game! (maybe not literally but it's still the best)

Great job there for a first attempt. Just a heads up in case you did not notice as things were a bit frantic. The game's healing mainly revolves around the rally system, that is after taking damage you can regain most of that lost health by landing hits on any enemy for a brief period of time. It is meant to encourage the aggressiveness this game leans towards. You can always stick to keep away like you have, it is just going to take way more resources as you could tell when you had to restock at the fountain, and that costs the same currency you use for leveling so it can be a drag.

Hope you had some fun at least, thanks for the show.

Is it even possible to get into GranBlue fresh at this point? Haven't I missed all those sweet limited run characters by now?

Don't listen to the naysayers. Threaded cane is the best starter weapon in terms of versatility, with the axe being the best starter in terms of sheer force. Saw cleaver is for boring people with no imagination.

Man, where can I get one of them rad floating cartoon heads?

@thatoneguy830: Please, it's called Janime, tyvm!

This is going to be Jan-fucking-tastic!!

I really hope Jan sticks with this until the end. The soulsborne series can be obtuse and will sometimes downright punish and push new players away, but the feeling of wonder invoked by their worlds and sense of accomplishment from beating them is hard to match.

I am so excited to watch this! I just played through Bloodborne again recently and have been doing the Chalice Dungeons for the first time. Such a great game. Thank you Jan!

Fuck yea, nice choice

@goulash_enjoyer: Nope!

@goulash_enjoyer: watching someone play souls game for the first time in particular is always a lot of fun. there's some archived vids on youtube of dan ryckert "nicely drunk" streaming and fumbling his way around Dark Souls 1.. and i think watching it while being familiar with the game makes it all the more hilarious.

happy to see jan try out bloodborne. haven't watched the stream yet, it'll be up to him if he's enjoying it or not but i'm always keen to watch people play these games for the first time.

@goulash_enjoyer: I imagine it's similar to the Sims or Mario Party content for a lot of people, myself included in this case, in that there's an endless potential for amusing shenanigans (and perhaps a bit of lighthearted suffering) and it's fun to watch entertaining personalities experience and engage with them. In the case of the Souls/Bloodborne content it often involves rotating staff, so it's fun to see how new people interact with the series. Personally, I watch Vinny's DS1 run with commentary from Rory and Ian, in full, at least once every 6 months or so. Brad's Demons Souls run is up there as well; never gets old.

@humanity: I sort of had the same experience. I've always wanted to do a cane play through but I always just end up going for a strength build. A cane that turns into a whip is such interesting and elegant weapon but it simply doesn't have the stopping power that you need against things that charge at you. It was also first weapon I picked up in the game the first time I played and got destroyed several times by the cleric beast. I started a new game and on the second time around killed it the first try with an Axe. Maybe some day I'll do a cane play through.

I wish I tuned in to the stream, I could have taught him about the jump slash with the whip. It got me through most of the game on my first playthrough.

No. Least of all Bloodborne!

@goulash_enjoyer: No.

@oddballs said:

Threaded Cane is the best. I Platinum'd Bloodborne and only switched from the cane when I got the Burial Blade.

I'm surprised you didn't at least try the cleaver! Still my favorite and got me the platinum as well. Arcane and bloodtinge builds are super fun but would be too much for your first playthrough. I'm doing a 99 arcane build now and zoning out bosses is so great.

Fun stream Jan! You can always start over and pick an easier weapon. The first time I played I couldn't even get the first shortcut for hours but then it clicked and now I can't stop playing it.

I hope Jan sticks with this. So far it's been great! Bloodborne has haunted me ever since I played it when it first came out. First and only Souls game. I hope they're planning one for Next Gen. I'd be all over that.

Blood Ochoa'n for life!

P.S.

Jan's not doing too bad. Probably better than I did when I started.

@sixtycakes: On my first playthrough I had invested so many stat points into skill that it wasn't a viable option anymore and I wasn't about to start over. Later I changed my weapon out for the transforming scythe which was pretty cool and I stuck with that for the rest of the next two playthroughs.

The cane whip is the choice of pimps. I played through the whole game with it.

If you want a co-op partner for hijinks, I need an excuse to boot up Bloodborne!

Love that you're streaming the game, but I'm not a fan of the big Cartoon Jan in the corner, it's distracting. His lips don't even match your dialogue. :(

@goulash_enjoyer: Honestly, I'd watch an individual stream of every cast member playing every Souls game if they had the time. Don't expect it, wouldn't wish it on the non-fans, but I'd watch every single one of those streams! Something about that fresh playthrough is so fun to watch for people who have overcome that first playthrough themselves. Watching them learn and adapt!

But yeah long and short, not tired, can't wait for more.

Totally agree. I just went through Brad's Breaking Brad Demon's Souls again last week. Still as entertaining as ever even though I watched in 2014. Even got me to load Demon's up on the PS3 emulator and put in 50 more hours. Still not a fan of Sekiro.

And he did it all with his back to the game

Oh boy. 20 mins in and I hope he learns the gun mechanic. A lot of mechanics, actually. Chat did Jan dirty not telling someone who has never played a souls game to pick saw cleaver.

I can't imagine coming into this game with zero souls experience. If this were to become a series, a wisened Brad would be a good accompaniment. Metal Gear Scanlon vibes.

The way this man manipulates a camera is rough.

Oh man, 59:10. Right at the end of that fight, too. Uncool.

Jostling Jan: Bloodborne Edition ~ "You're Gonna Finish It!"

i love listening to the thought process of somebody playing through a soulsborne game for the first time

Is the framerate really low? Is that just the stream or is that Bloodborne in general?

Either way, I'm happy to have the souls games return to Giant Bomb.

I'm pretty sure it's just the game; Bloodborne has always run pretty poorly. Whenever I go back to it I'm always taken aback at how questionable the FPS is for such a demanding game.

Same! I really wanna know, too!

Still very jarring to see how poorly this game runs, even when I've probably watched it being played every year since 2015. I wonder how stoked people would be, if PS5 did some magic and made this thing run way better.

Poor performance aside, this was a great watch!

Love that Jan is doing this.

And am mostly fascinated by the fact that it never really occurs to him to 'look both ways before crossing a road'...or generally look behind him.

The best part about this is getting to watch the learning and growing XD

"Is this one of those things where I'm supposed to die?"

He will learn quickly...