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Bloodborne |OT+++| ...and so the Nightly Hunt continues

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I read that people find Rom to be difficult, so here are my 2 cents - avoid the
spiders
and just
hit and run
at
Rom
.
 
Lol, people actually think grinding for vials adds anything more than wasted time and monotony. It's just one of the many design flaws this game has.

Isn't that how most conversations for tough games like these go, complaints are met with variations of ''just get good like me'', they meant to do this.
 
Let's drop the blood vial-disussion then. I think you're a good poster.

Regarding DkS2: I love that game so insanely much, but losing a tiny portion of your health was such an insignificant way of punishing the player who would die over and over again. Seriously, human effigies were given to you like they were nothing. I don't recall anyone ever having issues or feeling "bad" about using them once you've finally gotten your health below ~85%.

So maybe you can see his point as well then? I and many others see this system as a insignificant way to punish players that only really manages to do so effectively early in the game and mostly only against bad players.

For everyone else it is just a process of tedium that is required every now and then to replenish a bountiful resource that doesnt really serve as much of a risk aversion that several people assert it is. That the cons of this system far outweigh the pros because for most, the risk aversion effect is close to zero, pretty much indistinguishable from Dark Souls and less then Dark Souls 2 and Demons Souls, but the tedium of vial grinding is something that can never be fully eradicated due to the games design. Which means that for many it just adds a layer of monotony to the experience, no matter how small, that really isn't outweighed by the pros.
 
Let's drop the blood vial-disussion then. I think you're a good poster.

Regarding DkS2: I love that game so insanely much, but losing a tiny portion of your health was such an insignificant way of punishing the player who would die over and over again. Seriously, human effigies were given to you like they were nothing. I don't recall anyone ever having issues or feeling "bad" about using them once you've finally gotten your health below ~85%.
Thanks, same to you buddy. Not sure why I'm getting heated about this to begin with, it's really a minor issue to me and has barely affected my enjoyment of the game.

I feel like the vial system punishment isn't very significant either. I can buy about 50 vials after 5-10 minutes of grinding. It just feels unnecessary having to sit through load times and grind out enemies in another area instead of trying the boss again. The Dark Souls II system was more fun to me because I felt the tension rising with each failed attempt as my max health continued to go lower and lower. I rarely used effigies simply because I am a hoarder and I preferred learning how to beat the boss without taking much damage, haha. It felt like a good balance to me.

Anyway, I can at least see why some people prefer the blood vial system and I think Sullichin's points about how the game is different in other ways are fairly sound. It sure isn't going to stop me from adoring the game regardless.
 
I'm currently trying to get through the Lower Fisty Chalice Dungeon, and managed to figure out the second boss.
I don't see how chalice dungeons were supposed to supplement a gameplay session, the difficulty gaps are all over the place.

Chime maidens generating red aggro spiders can eat my ass
 
Yep, gotta keep the weak down and uplift the elite :)

Its more about acknowledging there are two sides to the coin, the vial system can either be rewarding or punishing.
If there was no regain mechanic i would agree that the system is a downgrade from estus, but there is a regain mechanic.
Its a design decision not a flaw, just like how the story telling is a design decision.
 
I never really ran out of vials. One time I spent about 20k echoes on 50ish vials. Never had to farm or anything.

Estus is still the superior system. It's clean and balanced. x heals per life. x gets a little bigger as the game gets harder. Vials works but the mechanic is sloppier.
 
Also, in NoM, and just got to this long bridge in front of me. To the left is a green elevator and two green switches beside it. Is there a lantern around here or do I have to backtrack? Got a good amount of Echoes and 0 Vials. Don't want to get ambushed or something.
My advice: Whenever you see a green elevator, get on it. Using it "unlocks" it, so you can use it from both locations, and most importantly almost always answers the questions: Is there a lantern? Do I have to back track?
 
Lol, people actually think grinding for vials adds anything more than wasted time and monotony. It's just one of the many design flaws this game has.

Never got the need to grind. No vials left? Kill a few monsters, buy several vials, and by the time you get to your destination, youre full of them.
 
Guys, let's put aside the blood vial discussion and ask the bigger question: who would win in a fight, Iron Tarkus from Dark Souls or the Hunter by Grand Cathedral lamp?
 
Hey GAF, can we talk about something else?

What's your favorite Attire and do you wear it for stats or fashion?
Mine is Cainhurst for most of the game (it's good and looks badass) with Choir and Church sets in certain locations.

Man, I used so many.

From the top of my head I can remember those three:

Cainhurst Helmet
Crowfeather Garb
Surgical Long Gloves
Hunter Trousers

Tomb Prospector Hood
Charred Hunter Garb
Choir Gloves
Tomb Prospector Trousers

Gray Wolf Cap
Tomb Prospector Garb
Surgical Long Gloves
Executioner Trousers

There are a few more I like to use, but I won't really remember piece by piece without having the game to consult >_>

EDIT: Always for fashion, fuck stats.

Vials work for this game, Estus works for DS. There's no health/hollowing penalty on death. Instead in this game you just have to worry about your consumables each attempt. Vials encourage the use of the rally system and cautious play. They add a small sense of inventory management in a game otherwise lacking this. They are some of the only loot that drops in a game lacking this. So I don't think you can take out vials/consumable health and replace it with Estus, keeping everything else the same, and wind up with a better game.

That actually makes a lot of sense. You convinced me.
 
I think people are making a big deal out of the blood vial mechanics. It's just there to add an extra layer of caution. Most hardcore Souls fans have already worked out and understand the losing & regaining of souls so they probably wanted to add more caution and tension to the game.

It's clear to me anyway that From wanted to make this game as similar to Demon's as possible (with probably some pushing from Sony themselves) and this is a refinement of the herb system. You can't abuse it anywhere near as much and you have to manage your resources more carefully as was probably intended with herbs.

It's not perfect but I don't really feel it's a legitimate flaw like the fact that you have to go through two loading screens when using a "bold hunter's mark" or the fact that you can't just sit at a lamp to replenish the enemies in an area.
 
Man, I used so many.

From the top of my head I can remember those three:

Cainhurst Helmet
Crowfeather Garb
Surgical Long Gloves
Hunter Trousers

Tomb Prospector Hood
Charred Hunter Garb
Choir Gloves
Tomb Prospector Trousers

Gray Wolf Cap
Tomb Prospector Garb
Surgical Long Gloves
Executioner Trousers

There are a few more I like to use, but I won't really remember piece by piece without having the game to consult >_>

EDIT: Always for fashion, fuck stats.

Absolutely! Though I do change for the lower depth chalice dungeons, I like having that defense and resistance.
 
beat
micolash
. I think that might've been the biggest joke boss. All he did was run around and use that tentacle move. Eventually he tried to do a move I interrupted each time. Jesus. It was more annoying trying to catch him than anything else.

I think I have three bosses left. I might finally be able to beat the game.

This boss sucks, I was running around all last night, Benny Hill theme playing. Has to be a troll boss
 
Is anyone else going to give VaatiVidyas Bloodborne Challenge?

Basically, the objective is to kill as many hunters as you can within 15 minutes. The guy who gets the most kills wins a PS4 or something. It's a really fun challenge and you get to experience some of the toughest fights in the game (for the reason that you're all stressed up and you're under-geared/leveled).

Killing 4 hunters was insanely fun - I'm thinking 5 is impossible within 15 minutes. Unless I'm missing something out.
 
Hey GAF, can we talk about something else?

What's your favorite Attire and do you wear it for stats or fashion?
Mine is Cainhurst for most of the game (it's good and looks badass) with Choir and Church sets in certain locations.

I dont know why but I tend to like the promotional equipment the most for fashion (so I always used the Elite Knight Armor on DS1), so in this game I either use the Bloodborne promotional hunter set or the Charred one from Project Beast.

Exception was DS 2, were I used the Alva set because it looks so good.
 
Guys, let's put aside the blood vial discussion and ask the bigger question: who would win in a fight, Iron Tarkus from Dark Souls or the Hunter by Grand Cathedral lamp?

Probably the Hunter. Tarkus can't heal while the Hunter can, and Tarkus is amazing because of how in your face he is, while the secret to beating the Hunter is just walking away.
 
Here I go guys, wish me luck.

AMRipLS.jpg
 
Good luck!
I hate Vicar. She's always been such a bitch for me and it's no different on NG+
jic
That boss is weird. It was really hard for me when I first faced it. In NG+ It stood still for half the fight :| This was after a fresh boot and with 50+ Insight.
 
I'm currently trying to get through the Lower Fisty Chalice Dungeon, and managed to figure out the second boss.
I don't see how chalice dungeons were supposed to supplement a gameplay session, the difficulty gaps are all over the place.

Chime maidens generating red aggro spiders can eat my ass

Is that the one with the Undead Giant? He was rather difficult in comparison to everything else in the dungeon. Hell, he was harder than the main game bosses to be honest.
 
I don't think so. You should have gotten a cutscene if you went to the correct location, then
go to the wagon and enter it

Nothing happening, maybe Rom has to be dead. But someone said you can get to Cainhurst by killing only one boss, but I doubt it because I already had to kill 2.
 
Absolutely! Though I do change for the lower depth chalice dungeons, I like having that defense and resistance.

Yeah, not gonna lie, for my first character, the moment that frenzy started building up I went like NOPE and equipped my best frenzy resistance equipment.

Now it's not necessary because I know where to go, how to avoid it as well as possible and don't waste sedatives, but on my first try? I had to put Fashionborne down for a while.
 
It's risk/reward just like other aspects of the game. You die too much or you waste too many vials you gotta spend time or currency getting more.

I disagree. I feel making the Blood Vials something that is finite adds a layer of depth to the game and makes you value your resource management and actual skill that much more. Saying that it creates issues or wastes time is really not a valid reason for wanting an automatic replenishment system outside of, "I don't want to go and get more vials due to me using them all up for whatever reason." That sounds more like laziness to me. The only part of your argument I will agree with it is the time it takes going back and forth from HD which From is addressing.

This. Precisely.
 
He had no idea what it was going to do lol. That's still an accomplishment. They even acknowledged they aren't that good haha.

There are quite a few times where he was one hit away from dying. XD

I'll agree with the regain system, but I dont really understand the cautious thing.

Guess it was just me, but I was as cautious as in DS, even more in that game for having LESS estus than 20.

But as I said maybe it was just me, I can see people using vials without thinking, but as I said, you start with FAR less estus in Souls games than 20, making it hard to survive if you abuse of them (endgame is different but it's also way easier to get Vials at BB's endgame)

Playing cautiously in this game is more like playing as if you are a samurai. You want to engage your enemies on your terms (your strike range and positioning) while staying out of their strike zones.

It is very different from playing as a knight/tank where you can afford to receive the hit because you have a shield.
 
Is that your video?

Because if it is, it looked like you took quite a beating from her even if you ultimately triumphed.

Yep, it's my video. It was my first time fighting her, so I didn't know what to expect. I was trying different buffs (fire, arcane, electricty), Molotov's etc. to see what would work best.

I wasn't trying to imply that I did good, just that I beat the boss on my first try and I'm not that great at the game.

I definitely took a beating. :P
 
People keep missing the obvious benefits of Blood Vials when talking about the negatives. With Estus Flasks if you used a few during the level you're at a disadvantage when you get to the boss and only have a few left whereas with Bloodborne if you use a few during the level most likely you'll still have 20 before the boss due to the really generous drop rate of Blood Vials. It's also satisfying when enemies drop them when you're at full health because it just adds to your total stock for when you need them. All it requires is a bit of resource manaagement, spend any spare Blood Echoes after levelling up to buy some vials. I have 99 vials in storage and only ran out once when I got stuck at an optional boss due to being underlevelled. Since then never had an issue.

The Blood Vial mechanic also makes the regaining health through attacking more important as you can avoid having to use one of your resources. If your Blood Vials just respawned you'd just use one and not take the risk. The Blood Vial mechanic has clearly been thought through, which is why they've restricted the amount you can carry unlike in Demon's Souls, and it's definitely the right decision for the game alongside the regaining health through attacking as they compliment each ofther well. But I guess people just miss their regenerating health. You can prefer the Estus Flas system that's fine, personally I prefer Blood Vials, but just because you do doesn't make a different mechanic "bad game design" that's just showing your ignorance. It's clearly been thought through and makes sense with the other design decisions.
 
Nothing happening, maybe Rom has to be dead. But someone said you can get to Cainhurst by killing only one boss, but I doubt it because I already had to kill 2.

You definitely need to kill two without cheating.
Father to get to grand cathedral and Vicar Amelia to get the password to the forbidden forest. From there you can grab the summons in the clinic and run to the area in hemwick where the pillar is. If it's NG+ though you already have the password.
 
There are quite a few times where he was one hit away from dying. XD



Playing cautiously in this game is more like playing as if you are a samurai. You want to engage your enemies on your terms (your strike range and positioning) while staying out of their strike zones.

It is very different from playing as a knight/tank where you can afford to receive the hit because you have a shield.

I mean the approach about using healing items, it is the same for me in both games. Obviously the gameplay aspect is different here.

Although I dont think it's free to block in DS, you lose a shitton of stamina blocking.
 
The thing I like about the Chalice dungeons is although they are definitely hard they are really fair. The boss spawn points are really convenient.
 
I hope we get much more when the Ludwig of the First Hunt DLC comes out :P
If we get a time travel DLC again, it would be hilarious if we saw the password guy the day he started guarding the door to the Forbidden Woods.

"I wonder when someone will get the password?"
 
HAHA OH WOW managed to throw
Yharnam, Pthumerian Queen
inside the altar with the axe. It took some time for her to get out of it.
 
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