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And I never got kidnapped by those guys as I never gave them a chance to kill me.

That's a shame. You missed out.

Regarding the tension in BB, you must have nerves of steel.

I have hundreds of hours in all four. From start to finish, BB is the most tense of all for me. At the start, you're in a new setting, with unexplored areas and unfamiliar threats, and no shield. Coming from Sword & Board melee and Mage ranged builds, the no shield safety net, plus low gun damage, git gud at parrying, was all tense. Then later, the story unfolds, you gain Insight, and start to see real, unnerving shit. And the creepy, sacrificial subject matter. BB had me feeling like Tower of Latria the whole darn game. That's tense.

Bloodborne excelled at boss fights - I think they were overall the best in the series, though there's no single standout like O&S, and even though I'm a Souls veteran a lot of them still gave me that old feeling of elation. So I don't mean them when I say the game wasn't very tense for me - the boss fights were definitely tense, though I do think some of them could have been tenser if the shortcuts weren't so generous (specifically Blood-starved beast, Martyr Logarius, and Wet Nurse).

Outside of boss fights, I'd say that for me the tensest moments were: the initial trip through Central Yharnam, which was basically getting to grips with the controls and lack of blocking for the most part. Then getting kidnapped to the Unseen Village and realizing I was horribly underleveled for the place and trying to figure out how to get out (I actually discovered Paarl before I discovered the lantern and for a little bit I thought that was the way out, which would have been awesome). And finally the first half of Forgotten Woods, right up to the first shortcut, which is that delightful buildup to the reveal of the first snakeman. I guess I'd add Upper Cathedral Ward there too, but it's really short, albeit atmospheric as fuck.

A lot of other areas could have been tenser, but suffered from either an overabundance of shortcuts or design that encouraged yolo strats. The latter is, I think, most pernicious. In Demon's or Dark Souls just blitzing your way through an area without fighting anything isn't really a viable strategy until you know the layout and enemy placements - you'll get cornered or lost or you'll fall off a cliff or something. There are a couple areas in either game where running through an area makes sense, but they're pretty few and far between. Furthermore, even if it is a viable strategy it's rarely an enjoyable strategy: I'd much rather take my time and explore an area thoroughly than try to get through it as quickly as possible. It's only when exploring an area thoroughly is made tiresome or disadvantageous that I'd consider trying to sprint through it.

Bloodborne had several areas that seemed designed to encourage you to just ignore everything and sprint through: areas with tons of slow enemies, or with an overabundance of powerful enemies, or with enemies that respawn, or with enemies that attack you from a distance. The second half of Forbidden Woods, post-Rom Yahar'gul, and Nightmare of Mensis are the most egregious examples, but places like Cainhurst and Nightmare Frontier are this way too. I think Bloodborne's level design falls apart in the second half just as much as Dark 1's does, if not more so.

 

[eot]

I think Bloodborne's level design falls apart in the second half just as much as Dark 1's does, if not more so.

I'm with you. Aside from Cainhurst (the combat there isn't great, but it's a cool place) all the good areas are before Vicar Amelia, which is much earlier compared to Anor Londo. Unlike Dark Souls though the quality in the bosses doesn't drop as much.

 

[Pandy]

Bloodborne ran perfectly fine. No patch needed.

Didn't come to this thread expecting a laugh, but got one anyway. Thanks.

 

[Sticky&Sweet]

Still no footage

Bloodborne ran perfectly fine. No patch needed.

It certainly doesn't.

 

[JMZ555]

For me, bigger the boss size wise the worse i find them and combat mechanics.

I actually prefer fighting somthing like dark souls 2 pursuer or bloodbornes shadows of yharnam.

 

[tassletine]

That's a shame. You missed out.



Bloodborne excelled at boss fights - I think they were overall the best in the series, though there's no single standout like O&S, and even though I'm a Souls veteran a lot of them still gave me that old feeling of elation. So I don't mean them when I say the game wasn't very tense for me - the boss fights were definitely tense, though I do think some of them could have been tenser if the shortcuts weren't so generous (specifically Blood-starved beast, Martyr Logarius, and Wet Nurse).

Outside of boss fights, I'd say that for me the tensest moments were: the initial trip through Central Yharnam, which was basically getting to grips with the controls and lack of blocking for the most part. Then getting kidnapped to the Unseen Village and realizing I was horribly underleveled for the place and trying to figure out how to get out (I actually discovered Paarl before I discovered the lantern and for a little bit I thought that was the way out, which would have been awesome). And finally the first half of Forgotten Woods, right up to the first shortcut, which is that delightful buildup to the reveal of the first snakeman. I guess I'd add Upper Cathedral Ward there too, but it's really short, albeit atmospheric as fuck.

A lot of other areas could have been tenser, but suffered from either an overabundance of shortcuts or design that encouraged yolo strats. The latter is, I think, most pernicious. In Demon's or Dark Souls just blitzing your way through an area without fighting anything isn't really a viable strategy until you know the layout and enemy placements - you'll get cornered or lost or you'll fall off a cliff or something. There are a couple areas in either game where running through an area makes sense, but they're pretty few and far between. Furthermore, even if it is a viable strategy it's rarely an enjoyable strategy: I'd much rather take my time and explore an area thoroughly than try to get through it as quickly as possible. It's only when exploring an area thoroughly is made tiresome or disadvantageous that I'd consider trying to sprint through it.

Bloodborne had several areas that seemed designed to encourage you to just ignore everything and sprint through: areas with tons of slow enemies, or with an overabundance of powerful enemies, or with enemies that respawn, or with enemies that attack you from a distance. The second half of Forbidden Woods, post-Rom Yahar'gul, and Nightmare of Mensis are the most egregious examples, but places like Cainhurst and Nightmare Frontier are this way too. I think Bloodborne's level design falls apart in the second half just as much as Dark 1's does, if not more so.

I agree about some of that but I don't think it's as bad as DS1 because generally the areas are more interesting. You can choose to go through them meticulously and level up or cheese them and fight the boss at a lower level if you want that challenge.
The only thing that prevents you doing that at the beginning of the game is the fact you're learning the controls/mechanics etc. The first few levels are genuinely terrifying because of this. Both games ease off a bit at the end just to give you a sense of power.

Having said that, In DS1 some of the levels just felt unfinished, so I would disagree with them being worse in Bloodborne as I got the impression that they were rushed in DS1. There's just way more jank in DS1 in general and there's nothing that feels that way in Bllodbourne. I prefer DS1 overall though.

 

[Zaventem]

Soeakking of a fast speed an yone else hope they're going back to DeS levels?