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[MaximusPayne]

I dont see how the manual could be any better because it tells you everything from controls to what each main mechanic like insight does.

Unless you wanted it all incorporated into the game.

This.

I'm specifically talking about the equipping weapons part here. If you need to use a help feature or have a decent percentage of players having trouble figuring out how to equip the weapons they just gave you, or don't realize they're not equipped at all, your execution of communicating a pretty basic system is lacking.

Exactly.

As a newcomer I thought the game was glitched because USE weapon was grayed out. Then I went online and found someone giving instructions on how to equip weapons in Bloodborne...lol. It's the things like this that are frustrating. Way more time spent than needed when there are monsters to slay.

 

[gunbo13]

I mean, it really should be. No one is going to bother with the manual in this day and age (especially a digital one) let alone be expected to. All it would take is one prompt after you get your first weapon to explain it.

Well it is pretty simple then. If you don't read the manual, you play lost and gripe about the lack of an in-depth tutorial to compensate for skipping. If you read the manual, you play at least less lost and likely still have valid complaints about lack of explanation. Not every important detail is covered in the manual, but probably about 95% is regarding what you would be missing going in without reading.

Nobody forces anyone to read manuals but I feel the validity of complaints is basically docked to zero when you choose not to. When the day 1 patch was downloading, wasn't that probably a good time to press 3 button clicks to start reading? Maybe I'm alone in thinking of that cohesive process. Worked for me and I already knew plenty from playing DS games previously.

And I have to say that no one will bother or is expected to read a manual is a pretty sad state of affairs.

On a last point, tutorials ruin atmosphere early on in modern games. Nothing makes introduction chapters more awesome then learning how to jump, crawl, and sprint.

This.

Hit R1 to hit the scarecrow with a light attack.
Good!
Now press R3 to lock onto the scarecrow.
Good!
Now let me animate the scarecrow to attack. Let's see if you can hit him!

Sucks you right into that dangerous world of inanimate object dangers.

 

[schwabdizzle]

I played about an hour and died about 6 times and I learned a lot. The statisfaction I got when I made it through the first level without dying and upgrading the armor on my dude can not be matched By any other game I played. I actually felt accomplishment, its so weird.

 

[Hypemaster]

Loving it so far, only died about 5-6 times and on my way to the second boss. This game definitely forces me to play completely different as I have to study each enemies patterns to take full advantage of defeating it. I also get very paranoid and become more alert of my surroundings due to ambushes or sneak attacks.

It also took me a while to get used to how the 'checkpoints' work in this game. I'm used to going from checkpoint to checkpoint while this game is more about opening shortcuts to 1 or 2 checkpoints so the level design is very creative. I enjoy how I'm not really told what to do in this game and it being more about me discovering things about this world as I go along.

Also the adrenaline I get when fighting a boss is like no other game I've played before.

 

[taa0098]

This.



Exactly.

As a newcomer I thought the game was glitched because USE weapon was grayed out. Then I went online and found someone giving instructions on how to equip weapons in Bloodborne...lol. It's the things like this that are frustrating. Way more time spent than needed when there are monsters to slay.

Think of it this way: It's an rpg. There's stats, leveling up, loot, etc. In almost every rpg ever, you have to equip a weapon or piece of armor before you can use it.

How do you usually do this? Well, you get to the menu. Usually by pressing the start button. When you do this in bloodborne, you're presented with at the top: inventory, stats, then settings. Under that the rows are labeled arms (weapons), attire (armor), and quick items. If you press x on any of these 3 rows, you're prompted to your inventory screen, where you see your available equipment. Naturally, you press x (confirm) because you want to equip them to use, and voila! By messing around with this, you would then eventually figure out that the left two rows are for your right hand weapon (this could be better, should be the other way around), and the right 2 are for your left hand weapons.

Maybe it's just me, but I fail to see how any of this is (apart from the layout of the arms row, but you can see that visually so it doesn't take more than a few seconds to figure out) is too complicated.

 

[cslesce]

I will put it this way. A better tutorial would go a long way. It took me a good 45 minutes to beat the werewolf at the beginning and then another 45 minutes to figure out how to equip my damn weapons. It's growing on me but I have to get use to the mechanics and the non existent save points. LOL

on some youtube i saw you can run past it.

 

[GuitarAtomik]

Well it is pretty simple then. If you don't read the manual, you play lost and gripe about the lack of an in-depth tutorial to compensate for skipping. If you read the manual, you play at least less-lost and likely still have valid complaints about lack of explanation. Not every important detail is covered in the manual, but probably about 95% is regarding what you would be missing going in without reading.

Nobody forces anyone to read manuals but I feel the validity of complaints is basically docked to zero when you choose not to.

It's more that no one expects to have to until someone tells them to. If they refuse at that point, then agreed. I don't think that's the case here though.

When the day 1 patch was downloading, wasn't that probably a good time to press 3 button clicks to start reading? Maybe I'm alone in thinking of that cohesive process. Worked for me and I already knew plenty from playing DS games previously.

I always do something else during day one patches and didn't even realize the manual was there until I backed out of the game from my first session. I wouldn't be surprised if that's most people's MO.

And I have to say that no one will bother or is expected to read a manual is a pretty sad state of affairs.

I've been gaming a long time. My dad to this day still ribs me about being the kid who read the entire manual on the way home from Blockbuster and refusing to begin the game until I was done. Games aren't like that any more and I'd argue are largely better for it. In the end, it doesn't matter if they are or aren't though because the reality is that no one expects to have to read a manual today to learn basic functions of a game, and the developer shouldn't expect you to assume you have to.

On a last point, tutorials ruin atmosphere early on in modern games. Nothing makes introduction chapters more awesome then learning how to jump, crawl, and sprint.

Here's the thing. If Bloodborne went all in on not explaining the basic stuff in the game, I can see where they were coming from. I'd still probably disagree with that direction, but at least it would be consistent. Bloodborne instead goes halfway by putting what are literally about 20 little hints explaining basic functions. So when another basic function like how to equip your weapon is absent, the player naturally assumes they either don't have to, or can't yet. That's bad design. Either explain all the basic functions (which again could have been just as easy and consistent as having another hint in between the two weapons), or don't explain anything at all.

 

[OniBarubary]

One thing I learned the hard way...

Spoiler

On some bosses and fights, if the enemy uses a non-combo attack on you, it's sometime OK to let the enemy hit you that one time - because it puts you in the position to land a Heavy R2 attack and then bounce-out and heal as they are about to go into their combo-attack. You heal up while they whiff away at empty air and then you jump right back in on them. The trick is to get familiar with their basic 1-hit attack vs. their combo-attacks.

I've done this with a couple of those bigger dudes who are a bit slower, that have a 1-hit attack that takes you down to like 50% health, but doesn't kill you right away like their combo-attacks does.

It's weird but in this game, it seems like it's better to NOT try to dodge every single attack and to try to find the enemy's one weakest attack to absorb so you can land your strongest attacks and then bounce out safely to heal while they waste their combo-attack on empty air. The Heavy Attack you land also heals some of your own health up pretty nicely since it's within that time frame where you can recover some health right after being hit.

Just my 2 cents.

Quoting this because it is exceptionally good advice. Even for old Souls players the new aggressive style takes some getting used to.

I'd even go one step farther; tank the hit and attack but don't back out to heal. The regain mechanic is SUPER important and if the jit isn't more than like 50% of your life than you'll most likely gain back your lost life in 3 hits.

It took me a LONG time to figure out that regain promotes aggressive fights since I'm a long time Souls player and I had to unlearn running away from every hit. By the 2nd boss I healed maybe 5 times due to timing my attacks to regain his hits on me.

 

[UnluckyKate]

Slow. I don't take much risk. I spend all the money buying molotov. Just beated first boss big beast on the bridge. Took many health potion and molotov. Now I can buy levels and attributes with xp, so I'll slow down on molotov.

Exploration is fun though. Every corner, every stair, could lead to more horrors and ferocious beasts. No idea what the reward will be, but xp. Hard to memorise every roads. But so far it's fun.

 

[Ame]

Any other noobs having trouble with the parrying system? During a farming run, I was trying it out on lower level enemies, and they either completely disregarded my blunderbuss shots, or didn't stagger to a knee to where I could hit them with a visceral attack. It seems to be more effective on larger enemies, but even then, it seems to be real hit or miss. I know it needs to happen during certain frames, so perhaps this window is smaller than I'm thinking.

It's a very small window. You literally need to shoot right before you get hit. The longer you wait, the higher the chance you have of staggering. It's easier against the bigger slower enemies, since most of their attacks aren't fast. I'm pretty sure It also has a lot to do with range. You have to be close, especially with the blunderbuss. I may end up swapping out the blunderbuss for one of the pistols, since a friend said they're more accurate.

 

[Inferno313]

Really enjoying it. I played an hour or two of Demon's and Dark Souls, but this is the first one that's really grabbed me. I'm going with a skill build and have beaten the first couple bosses. The first boss took me quite a while to get past, but once I grinded a few levels, and got the Hunter set. I was able to take him. It was so satisfying.

Personally, I think the faster combat, the better explanations on items, and the significantly better art direction are what have grabbed me where the previous souls games haven't.

 

[OsirisBlack]

So far a lot easier than I expected.

 

[Dr. Malik]

Took me 3 hours to get the hang of it now I only mostly die with a boss

 

[solomon]

My thousands of hours in MH are sort of helping things are going Ok.

 

[gunbo13]

snip

I can agree that it may not have been obvious where the manual was. I personally sought it out, flipping around a bit while the patch was downloading. It's inconsequential in reality that this was during the patching process. What I think should have been done is having a "Manual" selection right next to both the online/offline & subsequent start game menu. Also, there is no harm when games bring up the manual right when you start your first game. Just as long as there is an easily identifiable message to skip the process. Or just ask the player, would you like to read the manual yes or no? It's only one prompt in the entire experience, so I'd say it's negligible. It doesn't even matter if this pushes you to browser, though I'd say it's a silly idea and to keep it on file.

I also can't argue about the one foot in, one foot out approach with the hints. It's sort of just a DS staple at this point. The idea I take away from those hints though is that they are reminders to certain things pulled from the manual, aside from base controls. That's because saying hit R1 to attack on a hint is pretty pointless. So what could be done better? Well, I hate the training dummy stuff in game but feel it could be put in as a main menu option. Add a practice mode with a simple fighting game type progression system far away from interfering with the gameplay. You can also ask players before they start their first game if they want to train on a dummy for a bit. Just as long as it isn't some persistent piece of the SP experience.

Games do these things. From doesn't. I knew this going in so I made an effort by reading up. Maybe that's an unfair perspective for those who didn't. But I also read manuals the vast majority of the time. For some, maybe it would have been wise to seek out the manual after playing for a few minutes with no help. Maybe it's modern game design's fault and people are left hanging waiting for the tutorial to start.

It's kind of a jumbled affair. However, my main point stands. You don't have a lot to complain about when you skipped the manual and went online for help saying that was your saving grace. The manual is also online. It's also linked to the game's menu. So all you actually did was look at a different version of the manual, maybe better, maybe worse. So the real criticism is for From and how they advertise the necessities to the gamer. Still, my opinion is that the game is better for not having a tutorial and that goes/would go for most titles.

EDIT:
Let me clarify my last point. Games are better for not having mandatory tutorials. Optional tutorials, especially far away from the SP experience, are more than welcome.

 

[Newtype-001]

This.



Exactly.

As a newcomer I thought the game was glitched because USE weapon was grayed out. Then I went online and found someone giving instructions on how to equip weapons in Bloodborne...lol. It's the things like this that are frustrating. Way more time spent than needed when there are monsters to slay.

I agree it could be even more obvious but was it really that difficult to actually click through the inventory? Playing souls its exactly how i learned in the first 5 minutes.
Seeing what buttons do and all.

 

[Noobcraft]

I'm doing ok I think. I just killed the Cleric Beast by some miracle. I'm sure this video shows my noob skills lol.
My Cleric Beast Fight (probably painful to watch for people good at the game): https://youtu.be/i-YMaNBj_WE

I probably shouldn't have started as a Waste of Flesh lol.

 

[Ennosuke]

I only played it for 30 minutes. Still have some other games to finish first. But to be honest I totally love this feeling of being lost in this big dangerous world. I have no idea where I have to go and every fight could be my end. It is something different, it is a challenge, you have to think different and this is what I like. Looking forward to playing it on the weekend.

There is still so much too learn and understand

 

[Revolutionary]

Seeing what buttons do and all.

According to this thread http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=1010398, there are people who won't ever press a button unless they're told to.

 

[_h8bit]

I think the toughest part is not getting too discouraged when I fail upwards of like 8-10 times on a boss in a row honestly :/

 

[lastwolf82]

First time playing a game like this just defeated the second boss.. Im loving this game.. I will have to buy dark souls 2 for the ps4 as well..

Its time well spent .. and when I defeat something like a boss in this game .. I get a rush! its an awesome feeling


Love this game!

 

[DarthPrince]

I'm 7 hours in and haven't even fought the werewolves in the first area yet. Explored most of the remaining level tho. I can't remember the last time I was this cautious (read: terrified) around enemies. It's thrilling. Still learning the nuances of the weapons and experimenting with different approaches. I wasn't expecting the combat system to be this deep. I absolutely love that if I loose concentration in any fight, even the "easy" ones, there's a real chance of dying. Also love that leveling up doesn't seem to have a HUGE impact, it's more about me getting the practice rather than the character getting stronger. Currently struggling a bit with when to use lock on and when to leave it off, but I think I'll get it eventually. Hasn't happened yet but I'm DREADING being invaded... pretty sure I'm gonna be one-shoted....

Overall, it's a blast thus far. I definitely missed out on the souls series last gen, will need to go back and check it out at some point. But for now, let the nightly hunt resume =D

This was probably posted but I found this useful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJxi_w6jwRg

Watched this like three times. Really helpful =)

 

[marcincz]

Played 1,5 h. WTF is going on?! I need tutorial.
Why I can't equip new armor and cap after buying it?
What's it icon looks like eye?Right upper screen under blood.
After defeating 2 wolves/werewolves on the bridge

Spoiler

before boss fight

where is lantern? I lost 2500 blood and I am little fu... After dead I started at lantern on the roof. That's very far from the bridge.
How and where I can leveling? Only in dream?
To be honest normal opponents are rather simple, but boss fight? Hell.

 

[Newtype-001]

According to this thread http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=1010398, there are people who won't ever press a button unless they're told to.

Welp.

 

[RiverKwai]

After defeating 2 wolves/werewolves on the bridge

Spoiler

before boss fight

where is lantern? I lost 2500 blood and I am little fu... After dead I started at lantern on the roof. That's very far from the bridge.

There is a shortcut through the house in between the wolves and the brick ogre/crows on the bridge. Once you open up that shortcut, it takes less than a minute to run from the starting lantern back to the bridge.

I've been led to believe that the second lantern is only available after you beat the boss on the bridge. I don't know for sure though, because I haven't beaten him yet.

 

[Skilletor]

According to this thread http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=1010398, there are people who won't ever press a button unless they're told to.

Somebody in the FF15 demo thread didn't know there was a jump button because they never had to do it during the game.

 

[taa0098]

Played 1,5 h. WTF is going on?! I need tutorial.
Why I can't equip new armor and cap after buying it?
What's it icon looks like eye?Right upper screen under blood.
After defeating 2 wolves/werewolves on the bridge

Spoiler

before boss fight

where is lantern? I lost 2500 blood and I am little fu... After dead I started at lantern on the roof. That's very far from the bridge.
How and where I can leveling? Only in dream?
To be honest normal opponents are rather simple, but boss fight? Hell.

For the armor, press the options button. Notice where your outfit pieces are located, under your weapons. You should be able to figure it out from there.

At the werewolves, go left after you beat them, you should go through a really dark house. Keep going from there.

You can level only in the dream, the doll wakes up either after you get your first insight (the eye you're talking about), or after you die to the first boss the first time. Or beat it.

 

[marcincz]

There is a shortcut through the house in between the wolves and the brick ogre/crows on the bridge. Once you open up that shortcut, it takes less than a minute to run from the starting lantern back to the bridge.

I've been led to believe that the second lantern is only available after you beat the boss on the bridge. I don't know for sure though, because I haven't beaten him yet.

Damn. I entered this house, but was too dark and leaved. Of course if it's house you're writing about.
Thx for tip.

 

[marcincz]

For the armor, press the options button. Notice where your outfit pieces are located, under your weapons. You should be able to figure it out from there.

At the werewolves, go left after you beat them, you should go through a really dark house. Keep going from there.

You can level only in the dream, the doll wakes up either after you get your first insight (the eye you're talking about), or after you die to the first boss the first time. Or beat it.

Thanks a lot. Very good tips for me.

 

[RiverKwai]

Damn. I entered this house, but was too dark and leaved. Of course if it's house you're writing about.
Thx for tip.

Yes, its a really dark house. There's a few easy bad guys in it, and then I think one more on the way up the stairs to the shortcut gate. Then next time you revive at the lantern, you can go left at the starting lantern, down the stairs, into the house, up the stairs to the 2nd floor, and then the door pops you out right in the middle of the bridge.

 

[semprfi17]

Have played four hours total because of work and sleep requirements and haven't gotten to keep a single blood echoe. My last run lasted more than 30 minutes in which I died to a group of gun henchman deep into the sewers right when I climbed up a ladder. And my cane durability is at 78/200 :/

 

[LoneWolf780]

Last night I spent about 4 hours dying and finally made it past the main street. It took me that long to figure out the combat and strategy, and unfortunately didn't realize to use blood vials so I was never healing.

The atmosphere is great and the combat is very satisfying, I can't wait to play more tonight and hopefully make progress.

 

[Koh]

According to this thread http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=1010398, there are people who won't ever press a button unless they're told to.

I pressed a button and immediately lost half my health in exchange for ammo. That kind of made me hesitant to press for learning.

 

[Deified Data]

I'm specifically talking about the equipping weapons part here. If you need to use a help feature or have a decent percentage of players having trouble figuring out how to equip the weapons they just gave you, or don't realize they're not equipped at all, your execution of communicating a pretty basic system is lacking.

The equippable weapons slots should have been labeled left hand and right hand. I understand a lot of people's confusion here.

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

Played 1,5 h. WTF is going on?! I need tutorial.
Why I can't equip new armor and cap after buying it?
What's it icon looks like eye?Right upper screen under blood.
After defeating 2 wolves/werewolves on the bridge

Spoiler

before boss fight

where is lantern? I lost 2500 blood and I am little fu... After dead I started at lantern on the roof. That's very far from the bridge.
How and where I can leveling? Only in dream?
To be honest normal opponents are rather simple, but boss fight? Hell.

Press options, armour is the second row. Select a space and you can equip.. Eye icon is something called insight. Its used for online and having some may also unlock secret events (not too sure on the details of how much and when though).
You can only level with the doll maiden.

I pressed a button and immediately lost half my health in exchange for ammo. That kind of made me hesitant to press for learning.

Pressing down on the D pad converts some of your health into 5 bullets. I'm guessing this is in case you run out of bullets but have lots of health potions you can exchange especially in the midst of a battle.

 

[captainraincoat]

Kept dying on first wolf trying to beat it with my fists.....thought that the game was trying to ninja gaiden hardmode me.....become master of dodging and manage to beat it after about 30 minutes. ...think this was a tough boss....walk outside...guy with giant sickle sets fire to me.......

Turn off ps4...go on gaf....your meant to equip a weapon.....feel stupid....will play again tonight

 

[Typhares]

Alright fine, I tried Demon's soul a while back but couldn't get into it.
Skipped DS because of it but reading all those comments I'm going to pick up bloodborne and give it a go. God damn hype catching up to me!

 

[Zxrophantom]

Cross-posting from a different thread:

~2 hours in.

My only "accomplishment" so far in the game is I managed to purchase the first set of upgraded armor for my character. After clearing the first couple of areas, I doubled back and spent my blood currency on the gear since I figured I would lose it anyway upon dying. I didn't know that going back to the main hub would respawn all 30 or so enemies I had already killed. Damn. You really have to work your way through the areas cautiously and try to draw out a few enemies at a time to stay alive. I'm going to aim for reaching the first boss tonight so I can unlock the "level up" option and see if that sways things in my favor.

This game seems to favor dark souls a bit more and in that same vein finding shortcuts is key to skip fighting enemies over again. I know up to the first boss there is a few shortcuts to unlock or find.

 

[BokehKing]

This.



Exactly.

As a newcomer I thought the game was glitched because USE weapon was grayed out. Then I went online and found someone giving instructions on how to equip weapons in Bloodborne...lol. It's the things like this that are frustrating. Way more time spent than needed when there are monsters to slay.

Yeah I had the same problem, ended up discarding my weapons thinking I can start from scratch and grab new ones, lol nope, deleted that guy and started from scratch again ha

 

[The Lamp]

I have never played a Dark a souls game before but I feel as though I am already good at it. I don't die much unless I am going against bosses.

It's really not difficult so much as unusual. People who learn quickly that you have to be patient and rational and precise in this game often avoid death.

 

[Coins]

It took me forever to figure out I was supposed to die in the beginning. Then it took me forever to actually equip weapons. Then I died repeatedly once I was actually in the game.

Yeah, lot of fun. Ill keep playing because I blew 60 bucks on it.

 

[GuitarAtomik]

I can agree that it may not have been obvious where the manual was. I personally sought it out, flipping around a bit while the patch was downloading. It's inconsequential in reality that this was during the patching process. What I think should have been done is having a "Manual" selection right next to both the online/offline & subsequent start game menu. Also, there is no harm when games bring up the manual right when you start your first game. Just as long as there is an easily identifiable message to skip the process. Or just ask the player, would you like to read the manual yes or no? It's only one prompt in the entire experience, so I'd say it's negligible. It doesn't even matter if this pushes you to browser, though I'd say it's a silly idea and to keep it on file.

I also can't argue about the one foot in, one foot out approach with the hints. It's sort of just a DS staple at this point. The idea I take away from those hints though is that they are reminders to certain things pulled from the manual, aside from base controls. That's because saying hit R1 to attack on a hint is pretty pointless. So what could be done better? Well, I hate the training dummy stuff in game but feel it could be put in as a main menu option. Add a practice mode with a simple fighting game type progression system far away from interfering with the gameplay. You can also ask players before they start their first game if they want to train on a dummy for a bit. Just as long as it isn't some persistent piece of the SP experience.

Games do these things. From doesn't. I knew this going in so I made an effort by reading up. Maybe that's an unfair perspective for those who didn't. But I also read manuals the vast majority of the time. For some, maybe it would have been wise to seek out the manual after playing for a few minutes with no help. Maybe it's modern game design's fault and people are left hanging waiting for the tutorial to start.

It's kind of a jumbled affair. However, my main point stands. You don't have a lot to complain about when you skipped the manual and went online for help saying that was your saving grace. The manual is also online. It's also linked to the game's menu. So all you actually did was look at a different version of the manual, maybe better, maybe worse. So the real criticism is for From and how they advertise the necessities to the gamer. Still, my opinion is that the game is better for not having a tutorial and that goes/would go for most titles.

EDIT:
Let me clarify my last point. Games are better for not having mandatory tutorials. Optional tutorials, especially far away from the SP experience, are more than welcome.

I mostly don't disagree with you here and I think we're largely on the same page. The bolded specifically would have been a nice addition. That's mostly what I'm saying in that it could be done better. It's just a tiny thing that seems to have caused a lot of needless frustration. I'm all for having an experience where you discover the intricacies of a game's mechanics and world through play and experimentation, but there is no sense of accomplishment or fun in figuring out the basic menus you know lol?

 

[Skilletor]

It's super easy to run through all of the enemies up to the first boss. It takes like two minutes.

I didn't know about the shortcut, though, so I'll have to unlock that.

It took me forever to figure out I was supposed to die in the beginning. Then it took me forever to actually equip weapons. Then I died repeatedly once I was actually in the game.

Yeah, lot of fun. Ill keep playing because I blew 60 bucks on it.

I knew I had to equip a weapon because they made me choose one. /shrug

Dying isn't frustrating (for me) because it's my fault and shows progress when I manage to kill stuff.

 

[jjonez18]

It's going very well. I died a couple times early on, but once I got the hang of things it was relatively easy. Killed the 1st boss on my second try and the 2nd boss on my first. I know it probably ramps up a lot later on but so far it's been pretty manageable.

Enjoying every second I spend in Bloodborne by the way. The world is so full of detail. No load screens (outside of entering the Hunter's Dream AFAIK) is what's most impressive. The combat is slick as hell to. Chaining parries with heavy, light, and switches is so satisfying.

I am still kinda iffy on staggering though. Sometimes the pistol doesn't stagger when I fire right before they attack and other times it does. Throws off my rhythm when I go in for a visceral and take a blade/claw/brick/axe/etc... To the face.

 

[Nabbis]

Played 1,5 h. WTF is going on?! I need tutorial.
Why I can't equip new armor and cap after buying it?
What's it icon looks like eye?Right upper screen under blood.
After defeating 2 wolves/werewolves on the bridge

Spoiler

before boss fight

where is lantern? I lost 2500 blood and I am little fu... After dead I started at lantern on the roof. That's very far from the bridge.
How and where I can leveling? Only in dream?
To be honest normal opponents are rather simple, but boss fight? Hell.

Savior these memories.

 

[C-DubSP]

 

[AwShucks]

I pressed a button and immediately lost half my health in exchange for ammo. That kind of made me hesitant to press for learning.

This is why you find the controls or press every button right at the beginning of a game. Get it over with, you can always restart if it's detrimental.

 

[Hidden One]

Died sooooo much yesterday. Probably about 40 times before I reached the first boss where I died another 4-6 times. I'm starting to get the hang of it tho..I think.

 

[Grady]

Well it is pretty simple then. If you don't read the manual, you play lost and gripe about the lack of an in-depth tutorial to compensate for skipping. If you read the manual, you play at least less lost and likely still have valid complaints about lack of explanation. Not every important detail is covered in the manual, but probably about 95% is regarding what you would be missing going in without reading.

Nobody forces anyone to read manuals but I feel the validity of complaints is basically docked to zero when you choose not to. When the day 1 patch was downloading, wasn't that probably a good time to press 3 button clicks to start reading? Maybe I'm alone in thinking of that cohesive process. Worked for me and I already knew plenty from playing DS games previously.

And I have to say that no one will bother or is expected to read a manual is a pretty sad state of affairs.

On a last point, tutorials ruin atmosphere early on in modern games. Nothing makes introduction chapters more awesome then learning how to jump, crawl, and sprint.

Hit R1 to hit the scarecrow with a light attack.
Good!
Now press R3 to lock onto the scarecrow.
Good!
Now let me animate the scarecrow to attack. Let's see if you can hit him!

Sucks you right into that dangerous world of inanimate object dangers.

I agree, I absolutely loath game tutorials. So boring and sometimes very time consuming. Very often treating gamers like simpletons. "Make sure you crouch to duck under object"

 

[MilkBeard]

I don't know how it doesn't hit 60fps either, especially with Dark Souls II achieving it. If we're using The Order as a benchmark for the PS4, Bloodborne hasn't achieved that level of graphical quality.

I don't mean to derail, but The Order and Bloodborne are different beasts entirely. Much bigger worlds and enemies at once, not to mention Bloodborne is full 1080. Bloodborne looks 'next-gen' in my opinion, even with some visual faults. It's too bad about the framerate, but it still runs okay.

And as for Dark Souls II being 60, well that game isn't even a constant 60 and visually speaking, it's not even close to Bloodborne in my opinion.

Anyway. Carry on, lol. I'm not a newb to Souls but I find it interesting what people are saying about Bloodborne. And as for me, even though I have experience, I still found the beginning of the game pretty tough until I figured out the gameplay system.