Bloodborne gameplay : The first 18 minutes

That's great, then. I just don't see any in this vid, is all. At 16m his clothes are completely clean. If that were SD or DAI, with as much blood as this vid as, the main character would be covered head to toes in blood (even 10 minutes later in a cutscene) but in this vid he's clean. You played it, right, and there was persistent blood there? Shouldn't such a late build as this one still feature it?

Aww man, I liked the persistent blood feature, hopefully this is just an older build and we still have it in the final game.
 
[...] Bloodborne seems to be taking a step sideways: representing a different breed of western fantasy. Elizabethan cities, werewolves, and god knows what else is going to challenge us in this game.

I challenge anyone to point out any other recent title that does this theme, and does it this well. This game is unique.

[...]

Coincidentally, the Order 1886 is coming out in two weeks, and features Elizabethan cities, werewolves, and god knows what else.

But yeah. The order will last around 10 hours. Bloodborne features an open-ish world that will probably last around 70.
 
I'm getting the CE, but it's on my $79 US so not a bad deal. There is premium edition as well, but it is rather lackluster too and very expensive(and out of stock).

There's a Premium Edition for Bloodborne in the US?

When looking that up (unsuccessfully) and reading the collectors edition announcement, I came across something interesting:

In Bloodborne, hunters have special companions called Messengers that have creeped up out of the nightmare world

So it looks like we may see some other plane of the world in addition to The Hunter's Dream we just had revealed.

Edit: ^70 hours would make it the longest Souls game by at least 20 hours. Maybe including replays, sure.
 
Don't you think the game looks better in those trailers than it does in this new 18 minute trailer? Look, I don't mind a slight downgrade if it means improved performance I just wish From Software would say something about it. I am still extremely hyped for this game and will buy it no matter what, I just don't understand how people can be so calm about it when a game has obviously been downgraded so close to release.

How does the first one look better, exactly? The second one is the same, but we see different times of day. Bear in mind that this is the first time we've seen this particular time of day in motion.
 
Most people I think are just surprised at what looks like a graphical downgrade from what was shown previously, not too long ago too. The game still looks great and has a great style to it of course, just that now it looks like it could be run on the ps3. Hopefully someone is working on some comparison shots to make sure.


Lol get out
 
To me it looks like a really boring and slow DMC clone :( I bet there will be many disappointed because of the overhype of this game, but this is as always my opinion ;)
 
Imru’ al-Qays;150381314 said:
I'm not sure what the reason for the blood echoes/blood discrepancy is. Maybe it's to disambiguate blood the currency from blood the damage type?

If you look at its position in the stat screen, though, it's pretty clear this has to be this game's souls equivalent. It's right below level, just like souls is right below level in the Dark Souls stat screen. And if blood echoes isn't souls then there's no other value that could conceivably represent how many souls you're currently carrying.

In my interpretation, blood is the currency, it's just that the panel on the character screen is blood echoes. Which is a separate stat measuring how much blood you have taken in overall.

I'd be happy to be wrong though.
 
Are the graphics in this video final? It said in the beginning of the video that the game isn't final yet but it seem like this gameplay doesn't look as great as gameplay shown previously, kind of confused. Happy to see the dark souls menu system and ui though, very familiar .

It says it is from an early build and not final.

Pretty clear that statement.


What you are asking is if they are lying?
 
To me it looks like a really boring and slow DMC clone :( I bet there will be many disappointed because of the overhype of this game, but this is as always my opinion ;)

I cannot tell if you are sincere or a troll.

If this looks like a DMC clone, you need to play dark souls. In my opinion one of the very greatest games ever made.
 
I cannot tell if you are sincere or a troll.

If this looks like a DMC clone, you need to play dark souls. In my opinion one of the very greatest games ever made.

This is just my opinion ;) And when I remember right than the previous shown gameplay was way more faster and with more action, now everything looks boring and slow to me, but this is my opinion :)
 
How does the first one look better, exactly? The second one is the same, but we see different times of day. Bear in mind that this is the first time we've seen this particular time of day in motion.

It's hard to find a good video to compare to because the new one displays a different time of day, but this one might work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqN9c1kMTWk take a look at the brick work on the ground in this video and compare it to the new one released today. Seems like a significant difference in anisotropic filtering and anti aliasing, despite the daytime / night time difference.
 
There's a Premium Edition for Bloodborne in the US?

When looking that up (unsuccessfully) and reading the collectors edition announcement, I came across something interesting:



So it looks like we may see some other plane of the world in addition to The Hunter's Dream we just had revealed.

Edit: ^70 hours would make it the longest Souls game by at least 20 hours. Maybe including replays, sure.

Yes. Amazon has a listing for it and maybe Gamestop.

* edit

I'm wrong. I had Bloodborne mixed up with The Order 1886
 
Repost my previous thoughts since everything is buried in bullshit atm

I wanted to talk about your points - reposting if you're interested.
http://neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=150373118&postcount=1631

This is just my opinion ;) And when I remember right than the previous shown gameplay was way more faster and with more action, now everything looks boring and slow to me, but this is my opinion :)

Maybe it's because this is the beginning of the game, and the IGN player (supposedly) is going slower and more careful in general, to show us some of the initial gameflow.

Trust me, the gameplay will be just as you remember it once you get the controller in your hands.
 
Don't you think the game looks better in those trailers than it does in this new 18 minute trailer? Look, I don't mind a slight downgrade if it means improved performance I just wish From Software would say something about it. I am still extremely hyped for this game and will buy it no matter what, I just don't understand how people can be so calm about it when a game has obviously been downgraded so close to release.

You seem to be alone in this downgrade campaign at the moment. Those trailers are in the dark, meaning textures are less apparent, not as bright so the outlines are softer, etc. The framerate is worse in the other videos.

Looks exactly the same to me. The game has always had aliasing. We can just hope in the final build they find a solution that works within their engine. If not, oh well. Still looks leagues beyond anything else in the series. Gameplay looks fun as hell. Voice acting is excellent. Music is godly. Ambience is perfect and engrossing. And a ton of mystery.

I just find it funny people like you harp about something so insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Shows where your head is. Not in the quality of the actual product that's for sure.
 
To me it looks like a really boring and slow DMC clone :( I bet there will be many disappointed because of the overhype of this game, but this is as always my opinion ;)

It's a badly misinformed opinion. There have already been 3 very highly regarded games that are very similar to this made by the same studio so the only people likely to disappointed are those that expected something different.
 
This is just my opinion ;) And when I remember right than the previous shown gameplay was way more faster and with more action, now everything looks boring and slow to me, but this is my opinion :)

Boring and slow are not words I ever expected to see used in conjunction with this game. You have defied my every expectation you magnificent troll you. Bravo.
 
It's hard to find a good video to compare to because the new one displays a different time of day, but this one might work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqN9c1kMTWk take a look at the brick work on the ground in this video and compare it to the new one released today. Seems like a significant difference in anisotropic filtering and anti aliasing, despite the daytime / night time difference.

I'm not really seeing it, if I'm honest. I took screencaps of both the videos in roughly the same location:

Alpha
rFoxhL5.png


It really does just seem like it's the weather and lighting that's changed between the two. I genuinely can't tell the difference aside from that.
 
Your opinion is false, very false.

Looks like you have never played to a Souls game or even a DMC game.

Okay, but in the end it doesn't matter if it's a clone or not, what bothers me the most is that this game looks boring and slow to me. But as I said this is only my opinion, maybe it's just not my type of game then :)
 
I wanted to talk about your points - reposting if you're interested.
http://neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=150373118&postcount=1631



Maybe it's because this is the beginning of the game, and the IGN player (supposedly) is going slower and more careful in general, to show us some of the initial gameflow.

Trust me, the gameplay will be just as you remember it once you get the controller in your hands.

Ugh sorry got lost in all the other junk. I'll read through your thoughts and edit them in

Thank you for your intelligent thoughts on the actual game. Gonna try and use some page real estate on posts like this instead of giving graphics whores the time of day (hah, you see what I did there).

It gets frustrating don't it? Sometimes can't help myself and I add to the problem. Really if the comments were just ignored they would go away and become background noise. But they get quotes 10 times on a page so it just adds fuel.


Yes! The blunderbuss sounds fantastic in the heat of battle, and it's just a starter weapon! I can't wait to experiment with the other firearms.

I was listening to the video on a lower volume but that first blast made my pop my head up and quickly add another 25 volume to my receive lmao. So good.


Hold your horses there, it could well be a mix of the two styles. I.e. Warp to a major location (from a separate hub area) and then travel around the map as it unravels.

The main reason I didn't go with that train of thought is due to how he unlocks the Central Yharnam region and then is able to kick back to it from the Dream Refuge the same way you do in Demons when you unlock a new zone. Able to choose from 1-1, 1-2, 1-3 in the same fashion from the Nexus. And unlike Dark 2, its not like Fast Travel where you can jump around while in the zones, but have to do it from the Nexus alone.

I have good reason to believe that those other tombstones you saw are to do with the Chalice Dungeons and associated rituals.

I also have good reason to believe that the hub area itself will have a few interesting nooks and crannies to explore... There's just no telling right now if it's completely disjointed from the rest of Yharnam or not.

I thought about the Chalice Dungeon too. One of them could be meant for the Chalice Dungeon. But if I recall right wasn't the Chalice Dungeon accessible once you get a certain item or something? I'll have to go read about the chalice dungeons again, but I recall reading something about an item you collect that gives you runs within the dungeon .. or allows you to switch it up ... or something like that. Forget the exact wording.

Interesting theory. I see nothing right now that could prove it either way, but I like the idea. We shall see.

Yeah its just pure theory, nothing more. Based around the information we have and what we have seen up till now. No way they decide to do a sudden entire time of day shift from what they have showcased of the area up to this point. Theres just something about it. The fact that its kind of middle of the road type ambience. Not too sunny, not too dark. Like a Dusk or sunrise feel. And the fact that it was that sort of ambience from the very beginning. You'd think a game with the theme of Darkness would begin in a crushing Darkness like that you'd see in the videos. But nope, in this beginning, you are in the daylight. It just ticked off that thought process. If I'm wrong, still interested to see how it effects everything.


It is a puzzling intro (just the way one likes it!) and I can't wait to dig into it more on my own time.

The ending will have you waking up as a beast creature boss for another player lol. Doc puts you to sleep, puts you into sort of trance. Uses you to collect beast souls and uses those souls in your trance like state to transform you in the end to be another enemy within the city for the other sucker hunters who have been put into this trance and using this transfused blood.


However, I have reason to believe that you don't *need* to die and/or return to the "Nexus" straight away. It may well be quite open-ended like the "tutorial" areas in the Souls games.

From the looks of it the player didn't have much of a chance. Completely unarmed going up against that bloodhound. I didn't see any chance to get around it. Sort of like if you beat Vanguard in Demons Souls in the journey to the nexus you meet the Dragon God which you have no chance again really. Its all just a clever way to get you to the Nexus, but hidden inside a tutorial or opening.



Yeah, it gives me those RE4 vibes. Not just mindless zombies, but infected/derranged citizens... "Friends" refer to you as Hunter, while "foes" refer to you as Beast... very interesting.

That sort of thing mixed with the opening sequence has my mind going in a ton of different directions as far as the potential for what you are and what you may become in the game.

Demons Souls was my overall GOTG last gen so yeah, im trying to stay away from all this information and see it all for myself but my willpower sucks and its so fucking far away. Worst thing ever that could happen. All this info coming with 2 months to go.
 
I'm not really seeing it, if I'm honest. I took screencaps of both the videos in roughly the same location:

It really does just seem like it's the weather and lighting that's changed between the two. I genuinely can't tell the difference aside from that.

Yep, the only difference I notice is of the time of day.
You can get a better comparison at 7:04 at the IGN video and 1:16 of the alpha video
 
Man i would think after drive club people would know how much lighting can effect a game.
I don't see any downgrade if anything it look better since the frame rate is smoother than before.
 
You seem to be alone in this downgrade campaign at the moment. Those trailers are in the dark, meaning textures are less apparent, not as bright so the outlines are softer, etc. The framerate is worse in the other videos.

Looks exactly the same to me. The game has always had aliasing. We can just hope in the final build they find a solution that works within their engine. If not, oh well. Still looks leagues beyond anything else in the series. Gameplay looks fun as hell. Voice acting is excellent. Music is godly. Ambience is perfect and engrossing. And a ton of mystery.

I just find it funny people like you harp about something so insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Shows where your head is. Not in the quality of the actual product that's for sure.
Haha, yeah. Honestly I may have gotten out of control a bit. To me what sold me on the game is like you said the style and music most of all. I was just slightly shocked with what appeared to me like a mild downgrade but after looking at more and more videos maybe the game has looked like this all along. I'll let others argue for me if there is anyone else on my side, otherwise I'm still quite happy with how the game is turning out.
 
So you're not comparing it, just saying it looks like it...
Yeah, no, i t does not look like a DMC clone and I'm convinced now you have never played either.

I played both, Dark Souls and DMC ;) Maybe I am disappointed in this game because I wish there would be more action in it instead of the slow gameplay like Dark Souls. But this is what I would prefer, and of course it's my opinion ;)
 
Of all the interesting things we could be discussing like - bloodborne being potentially the first souls game to give you a hub area, then ripping it away from you.
Instead the discussion is trolls and "omg downgrade looks like shit"...
 
I am not comparing it ;) I said to me it LOOKS LIKE a DMC clone and not that it is a DMC clone ;)

Everyone else is writing you off, but tell me have you played any of the Soul's games?

They're not for everyone, but if you really want to get a sense of what this game is actually like give one a shot and see for yourself.

Edit: Ah, I see you answered above! Let's face it, this game is a Soul's game with minor changes in everything but name.
 
Everyone else is writing you off, but tell me have you played any of the Soul's games?

They're not for everyone, but if you really want to get a sense of what this game is actually like give one a shot and see for yourself.

I played both, Dark Souls and DMC ;) Maybe I am disappointed in this game because I wish there would be more action in it instead of the slow gameplay like Dark Souls. But this is what I would prefer, and of course it's my opinion ;)
 
I played both, Dark Souls and DMC ;) Maybe I am disappointed in this game because I wish there would be more action in it instead of the slow gameplay like Dark Souls. But this is what I would prefer, and of course it's my opinion ;)

Ah, you played both but believe BB looks like a DMC clone.
Hokay...
 
I played both, Dark Souls and DMC ;) Maybe I am disappointed in this game because I wish there would be more action in it instead of the slow gameplay like Dark Souls. But this is what I would prefer, and of course it's my opinion ;)
When was it advertised as a stylish action like dmc ? It´s from the same developer as dark souls and taken as a spiritual succesor of demon´s souls, i don´t get your comparison.
 
I played the game at PAX, and it looked pretty much the same as the IGN demo we're seeing here, just with a considerably worse framerate. Also, don't forget people, optimization is the absolute last thing to happen in a games development. It's likely that the IGN build is several months old (older builds tend to be more stable in some cases), and games often get dramatically improved in the last leg of development. I'd be completely unsurprised if we ended up with a solid, locked 30 (seems to be nearly the case in the IGN footage) and maybe 2x AA.
 
I played the game at PAX, and it looked pretty much the same as the IGN demo we're seeing here, just with a considerably worse framerate. Also, don't forget people, optimization is the absolute last thing to happen in a games development. It's likely that the IGN build is several months old (older builds tend to be more stable in some cases), and games often get dramatically improved in the last leg of development. I'd be completely unsurprised if we ended up with a solid, locked 30 (seems to be nearly the case in the IGN footage) and maybe 2x AA.

I just want persistent blood, just gimmie that and i'll be happy.
 
Most of the replies I got dealt at least partially with the issue of world structure and warping, so I'll deal with those in general first.

On warping, it seems like a matter of carefully restricting where and when warping is possible, but this also depends on what warping gives access to. If warping is always how you access critical functions like weapon upgrading, cutting it off at any point is a huge problem. If they allow you to perform all critical functions away from the hub, that really weakens the hub's role in the game, which it seems unlikely they want to do. This makes me seriously doubt that there will be limits on warping. I hope I'm wrong.

The existence of a hub is a hairy matter. One obvious, massive issue is how the Dream Refuge's disconnected nature allows it to be a void of level design. Traversal is where a huge portion of the interest is generated in an adventure game, and there can be no interesting traversal in the Refuge; all the carefully constructed loops and knots of the outside level design are conveniently untangled into a dead simple row of tombstones to choose your reentry point from. This is fine for a game with the structure of Demon's Souls, where everything is disconnected, but it's a serious drag in an otherwise interconnected world. Even Majula was superior in this regard; at least it had physical connections to other locations and some interesting traversal as a result, though the amount was small. This leaves the Refuge without its largest opportunity for intrinsic value. There are other ways they could make it interesting and enjoyable to spend time in, but none are as powerful, and I very much doubt they could execute them well enough to compensate.

Unfortunately, it seems we're looking at a replay of later game Majula, where the only reasons to go there are for vendors of various types. Gathering all the vendors together seems convenient, but having to wait through a loading screen and do some basically nonexistent traversal (walk from warp point to vendor and back) turns that kind of hub into something players actually resent. In general, making a hub a vendor gathering place alone is weak design. Level design must always be the priority in a game in the style of Dark Souls. At this point, my thinking is that the designers are very infatuated with the idea of a safe zone to contrast with the rest of the game both gameplaywise and audiovisually, so much so that they're willing to force that safe zone in even when it doesn't help their broader goals at all. Maybe they'll beat my expectations completely and blow me away, but I'm skeptical, and disappointed that they seem to be letting an obsession with an aesthetic ideal that doesn't actually work get in their way. The Dream Refuge might not be a terrible detriment to the game, at least on the surface level, but it almost certainly won't be a boon.
I would hardly call running around with 20 estus flasks or 99 health gems 'near perfection'. Also, the guns were never meant to replace spell casting. They are essentially crossbows with the ability to parry. The arcane stat shows that there might be some form of magic that has yet to be revealed.


It's too soon to say as this is simply the beginning of the game. The first one is needed as you have to die to get your weapons and stuff and the second one is the first 'real' area of the game. Would you really want to walk all the way from firelink shrine to anor londo every single time you want to go there? Morover, it could be that we are only allowed to warp to specific bonfires like in DS1. We don't know how warping works yet and saying that it 'confirms your worst fears' is pretty silly..

You're right, 20 flasks was too high a limit and lifegems were a significant misstep. There's also the issue of humanity as a healing item. I was referring specifically to the first Dark Souls with that comment, and I meant to acknowledge its flaws with "near perfection." I think attacking that specific comment was a waste anyway, since all that counterargument implies is that I'm praising Dark Souls' systems too much, rather than that I'm wrong that Bloodborne's systems are inferior, which was my real point.

I realize that guns aren't meant as replacements for magic, I'd just very much like to see the amount of shots you're given be set and replenished at checkpoints the way spell charges were in Dark Souls (I imagined that you'd be able to increase the number of shots by upgrading guns the way you do standard weapons, and that they'd have their own robust upgrade paths in general). In that scenario I'd still be a bit leery about making parrying limited to a strict number, but this game's emphasis on dodging helps assuage that fear. It all depends on enemy attack design. I actually hope magic returns in Bloodborne, but exclusively as buffs/debuffs and tactical options (stealth, distractions, fall damage negation, etc.). No spamming the latest Soul Arrow equivalent to victory.

You're also right that we don't have a full picture of how warping works yet, but I'm confused by your comment about walking from Firelink to Anor Londo because that's actually impossible. Do you mean walking from Firelink to the top of Sen's Fortress? If so, with both of the shortcuts in that path active that's a rather safe path that takes a couple of minutes. I still wouldn't want to do that, but the path between the two lanterns in this footage is almost completely safe and would take only seconds to travel if the doors on it were already open. My "worst fears" comment was mostly in reference to the health and bullet systems, since those are now very unambiguous, while there are still questions about warping.
The biggest thing about the warping that I find makes it okay is that you seem to not be able to warp from lamplight to lamplight. You must first get to one then go back to the Refuge then choose where you want to go.
Oh no, now you've poked another hole in the scheme, I didn't even think about this. This is actually awful, it's functionally identical to being able to warp from lantern to lantern, but with a useless intermediate step. Shit, this is really something they need to fix if they haven't already.
I have heard that the blood vial vs Estus thing was a decision that Miyazaki deliberated hard over for a long time. Ultimately he went with blood vials because he thought it was the best decision for this game's design. Trust in his thinking, I suppose.
I would absolutely love to pick his brain over this issue. If you're claiming insider knowledge, I really hope you've cleared yourself with the mods.
So the ability to jump around from section to section ... kind of kept your sanity and made it easier to work toward progression. Each section was challenging, but you never got completely stuck in one zone facing the same enemies over and over and over creating that redundancy that can get people complacent and bored and frustrated and ultimately leaving, or restarting.
This is a really good argument for the Demon's Souls style of world structure. I think that the Dark Souls structure can have this advantage as well though, by having checkpoints that are surrounded by serious threats, thus trapping the player, be rare. I mentioned the "normal" route through Blighttown in my earlier post, and it's true that that experience, though rarified in the context of the goals of the game, can forcefully push some players away. In the end it's about the balance achieved in the specific level design. In cases where players can be trapped, the way forward needs to be challenging enough without being too challenging. I guess that's kind of stating something obvious and generally applicable, but it goes to show that the most fundamental aspects of design can be both very broad and incredibly subtle.
 
Most people I think are just surprised at what looks like a graphical downgrade from what was shown previously, not too long ago too. The game still looks great and has a great style to it of course, just that now it looks like it could be run on the ps3. Hopefully someone is working on some comparison shots to make sure.
I love these kind of posts.
We have them every damn gen.
It looks like a PS1 game / It looks like a PS2 game / It looks like a PS3 game.....and it continues forever.
Reality check: Look at some RPG games on the PS3 and then, look at Bloodborne on the PS4. It doesn't get much easier than that.

To me it looks like a really boring and slow DMC clone :( I bet there will be many disappointed because of the overhype of this game, but this is as always my opinion ;)
Why am I a troll when this game looks boring and slow to me? Can I not have a other opinion than yours?
So it looks like a clone of a game from a totally different gerne? Uh...okay...
"Overhyped" by many? Yeah... believe me, people who played the three Souls games won't by disappointed, because they know exactly what they will get.
 
When was it advertised as a stylish action like dmc ? It´s from the same developer as dark souls and taken as a spiritual succesor of demon´s souls, i don´t get your comparison.

When did the developer said it is a spiritual succesor of demon souls? Just because it's from the dark souls developer? So every nintendo game is now a mario game because nintendo made it? But this doesen't matter, in the end it looks like that I probably expected something different from this game or it's just not my type of game which is not a crime ;)

Edit: And I never said that it was advertised as a stylish action like DMC! I said to ME it LOOKS LIKE a DMC game ;)
 
I spent my first 18 minutes of Dark Souls II trying to fist-fight the
big hippo monster in starting area
. I wouldn't put too much weight on whatever this video shows.

Souls(-like) games are best played completely and utterly blind. I will stay away from this gameplay and other material (trailers etc) they will release. The more you know about the game, the more you watch guides, videos, and read wikis, the lesser your experience will be in my opinion.
 
that's one ugly created character. hopefully they can smooth out the frame rate before release.

does this still run at 1080p? I haven't been following the news because I want to go in fresh but holy crap is there a lot of shimmer in the video.
 
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