Bloodborne

[munchiaz]

I just finished the dlc. quite surprised that I managed to kill OoK with fewer attempts than both of the previous bosses. I think the whole package is completely amazing. it adds so much to the game as a whole, tons of weapons / armour, loads of interesting lore stuff to get your head around, great areas / bosses. just really amazing all round.

this dlc really makes me think bloodborne might be an even better game than dark souls, although that still has a bigger place in my heart.

-edit- holy shit I just found out there is another boss which I missed!

and that extra boss is a pain in the ass, at least it was for me

[ryu]

That form is insanely difficult to deal with, so it's not just you. That phase can be skipped entirely with careful use of the tiny music box, backstab/visceral, and a molotov or two--makes for a very satisfying finish, too.

I basically beat him by throwing Molotovs and being lucky he didn't kill me before I killed him. What's the music box? Must have missed that item. Like the flamesprayer, only got that one after I beat the first two bosses in Yharnam.

[Necronopticous]

It's possible to talk with Gascoigne's daughter prior to fighting him. She is found in one of the houses in Yharnam, and you can speak with her through the window. She gives you the music box, which momentarily disorients Gascoigne when played and allows for you to get a few free hits/backstab in during his most aggressive form. Kudos for beating him without it!

[Immryr]

I just watched lobos' NG+7 fists only win over Ludwig. holy shit. the successful attempt took 40 minutes. so intense.

[ryu]

It's possible to talk with Gascoigne's daughter prior to fighting him. She is found in one of the houses in Yharnam, and you can speak with her through the window. She gives you the music box, which momentarily disorients Gascoigne when played and allows for you to get a few free hits/backstab in during his most aggressive form. Kudos for beating him without it!

Thanks. I just came across her while retreading through the town. Will keep the location in mind for my next playthrough. Anways, tbh I beat Gascoin with a summon. But then the other guy was almost useless and took forever to get close to Gascoin's last form, so it was pretty much a solo kill if bosses get HP boosts in multiplayer mode like they do in Souls games.

So far I've explored Old Yharnam and the first chalice dungeon. The blood-starved beast was surprisingly easy, and I somehow managed to beat the giant undead first try as well. People often clain the chalice dungeons were the only part of the game they didn't like, but I really enjoyed what I've seen of played. It had a really spooky atmosphere I was missing in Bloodborne up until then. Hopefully there will be more atmospherily terrifying areas in the game.

And I just noticed that the game appears to be changing as time passes, read I progress through the game. That's prettty cool. But I also realized that the NPCs behind doors change their dialogue, and one of the doors has gone completely quiet w/o me having sent its inhabitant to a shelter. Can I miss the timing to send survivors to the chapel/clinic?

[Necronopticous]

People often clain the chalice dungeons were the only part of the game they didn't like, but I really enjoyed what I've seen of played. It had a really spooky atmosphere I was missing in Bloodborne up until then.

The best way to play the chalice dungeons is occasionally, throughout the game. You started at the ideal time. Most people don't bother with them at all until the very end of the game and try to binge through all of them, which is a pretty miserable experience.

Hopefully there will be more atmospherily terrifying areas in the game.

Yeah, Bloodborne has got you covered. Wait until you see the DLC. Good God.

Can I miss the timing to send survivors to the chapel/clinic?

You absolutely can, but I wouldn't worry about it too much. The NPC interactions in this game really leave something to be desired, and are nowhere near as important/interesting as Souls. If you're planning on playing through multiple times (highly recommended) then I wouldn't even worry/bother with that at all.

[DestroyTheCore]

Question about the DLC:

Spoiler

I just beat Vicar Amelia in my NG+ playthrough and I would like to purchase the DLC. Can I access the new area even if I beat that boss before purchasing the DLC? It's now night time in Yarnham since I activated the skull in the boss' room, by the way.

[Necronopticous]

Question about the DLC:

Spoiler

I just beat Vicar Amelia in my NG+ playthrough and I would like to purchase the DLC. Can I access the new area even if I beat that boss before purchasing the DLC? It's now night time in Yarnham since I activated the skull in the boss' room, by the way.

Yes. There were people who went straight to the DLC with characters they had at end-game far prior to the DLC being released.

[ryu]

Can't you reclaim your blood echoes in a chalice dungeon? I just died to a boss and can't find them anywhere in the room.

edit: someone on gamefaqs had the same issue in the same room. Going back to the Hunter's Dream and once again returning to the dungeon made the echoes respawn. Weird.

[DestroyTheCore]

I never picked the Beckoning Bell in my first playthrough. I know, I know, I must be blind as hell to not notice all the items on the stairs in Hunters' Dream. So my current NG+ playthrough is my first co-op experience in Bloodborne. I must say the boss battles are way easier. At the beginning I could deal with the first bosses all by myself, then the later boss fights became quite a challenge as the bosses' life gauges increased a lot since my original playthrough. I guess choosing between solo and co-op is a great way to give players a choice between autonomous achievements and cooperation if you feel a part of the game is too hard.

[Necronopticous]

So my wife & I have been switching off attempts at a No Hunter's Dream run, which is exactly what it sounds like. Last night I managed to beat Vicar Amelia for the first time. Check it out!

http://www.twitch.tv/jumplust/v/29408597

[ryu]

Well done!

I just completed Brygenwerth. The place was a complete disappointment. I expected a huge academy setting for it.

[Acid King]

I picked up a PS4 and a copy of Bloodborne on black friday and downloaded the DLC a few days later. So far I really dig it. I've been playing offline and I haven't had a ton of trouble with it so far. I killed the cleric beast, Gascoigne, Vicar Amelia, and the hemwick witch, now I'm a bit lost and I'm ready to just look up where to go next. Amelia took me a few tries, but none of the bosses have been too tough. Other than that, the first impressions are much better than Dark Souls 2. The combat is really nice and I like the darker atmosphere the ludicrous blood spurts, and the nods to HP Lovecraft.

[ryu]

If you're really lost

Spoiler

Go check out the area directly to the left just after the gate that leads to the plaza with the 2 giants in the cathedral ward. ALso try knocking on doors until you get that green stone, then check the church at the end of the path opposite from the path in the cathedral ward that leads to the area where you fought the witch.

[Necronopticous]

I killed the cleric beast, Gascoigne, Vicar Amelia, and the hemwick witch, now I'm a bit lost and I'm ready to just look up where to go next.

I also got stuck there my first time through. In addition to what ryu mentioned, did you find your way down to Old Yharnam? I highly recommend clearing that area (there's a boss accessible there that you didn't list) and once you do that I recommend allowing yourself to be killed by one of the tall creepy bag men found in various areas. It's a weird/obscure trigger to access a bit of content that you can miss entirely if you progress past a certain point in the game.

[Immryr]

maaaan, after struggling with the hidden dlc boss for a couple of hours I decided to go kill gehrman as a bit of light relief, got him first try then quickly realised I hadn't yet done everything to trigger the TLB -_-;. I was just going to homeward bone out but instead I had to watch the credits roll. very frustrating.

[evil_ash_xero]

maaaan, after struggling with the hidden dlc boss for a couple of hours I decided to go kill gehrman as a bit of light relief, got him first try then quickly realised I hadn't yet done everything to trigger the TLB -_-;. I was just going to homeward bone out but instead I had to watch the credits roll. very frustrating.

Not good. I don't know what game you are on, but the DLC gets really freaking hard on each plus. That sounds obvious, but it seems worse than the main game with it.

[Immryr]

that was just on new game. I started a new character when the dlc was released. I suppose ultimately it doesn't matter as i'll play though the game and dlc many more times.

[DestroyTheCore]

maaaan, after struggling with the hidden dlc boss for a couple of hours I decided to go kill gehrman as a bit of light relief, got him first try then quickly realised I hadn't yet done everything to trigger the TLB -_-;. I was just going to homeward bone out but instead I had to watch the credits roll. very frustrating.

Not good. I don't know what game you are on, but the DLC gets really freaking hard on each plus. That sounds obvious, but it seems worse than the main game with it.

Yeah I only have one boss left to beat in the DLC and I must say the bosses are really hard. I only beat two of them by myself. I'm playing in NG+ BTW.

[ryu]

Looks like I may be near the end of the game. Should I complete all the preset chalice dungeons before I end the game, or can I leave the remaining ones for NG+ (since they apparently don't scale in difficulty anyways)?

[evil_ash_xero]

You can do the Chalice Dungeons in NG+, if you'd like.

[ryu]

I somehow managed to beat Orphan of Kos and Laurence last night. Wasn't a fan of Laurence's wide area attacks, I died a couple of times just trying to pass him. Orphan of Kos was awesome however. Probably the best boss in the game.

[Marc]

Keep eyeing this up, but attempted to restart the main game in preparation the other night and realised I have no interest whatsoever in playing through it again. Finished the Souls multiple times, but can't bring myself to go back to this for some reason. Maybe because it'd take me up until DS3 to play through again, several months to finish that, and that's my gaming time for most of the next nine months gone.

[Necronopticous]

Maybe because it'd take me up until DS3 to play through again, several months to finish that, and that's my gaming time for most of the next nine months gone.

There is absolutely no way it would take you 3-4 months to beat Bloodborne on a second playthrough, even if you did absolutely everything the game had to offer. Bloodborne is significantly shorter than any of the Souls games, and the majority of the time spent in the first run is learning bosses/areas which you've never experienced before. I think my second playthrough only took 10-12 hours without chalice dungeons, and I was hellbent on acquiring every item, beating every boss, and completing all character stories. You'll be rocking the DLC in no time if you start a new character now. If, for some reason, you feel like replaying the game will be boring, I recommend that you rush to Gascoigne -> Blood Starved Beast -> Amelia just to open the DLC areas up (shouldn't take longer than an hour or two) and go on a suicide run to procure one of the new weapons which is just laying around in the first area of the DLC so that you can use it as your primary weapon for most of the content in the original game. The new weapons are basically all incredible, you pretty much can not go wrong. My wife & I did exactly this with the Boom Hammer and had a blast, though I think most will recommend the Whirligig Saw. Get in there!

http://www.twitch.tv/jumplust/v/29320229

Here's a recent vid of me playing all the way thru Amelia in a half hour without ever visiting the Hunter's Dream. If you follow this while leveling up/upgrading your weapon normally it is fairly trivial.

[ryu]

I thought he just didn't have much time to play. In that case I'd also play something new instead of replaying a game.

Started NG+ today. Beat Amelia and did some more chalice dungeon floors. So far it's been pretty smooth, and even the fifth depth of the labyrinth doesn't seem so bad (yet).

Btw I realized I seem to have missed s.t. in my first playthrough. What's up with the bath in Yahar'gul that teleports you to a dead end with an elevator? I never came across the point where I could activate that one.

[Immryr]

the bath is just basically a short cut so you can run from yahargul to the one reborn.

anyway, yeah, when I restarted bloodborn to replay the dlc it took me around 11 hours to get everything other than chalice dungeons done, and I hadn't played the game in a long while. the dlc took me about the same time again first time through. it's definitely worth buying. it adds so much to the game.

[ryu]

the bath is just basically a short cut so you can run from yahargul to the one reborn.

Then it's really weird that I was unable to activate the shortcut.

Just cleared the fixed Pthumeru depth 5 chalice. The boss on layer 2 was a joke. I beat it by rushing in and playing super aggressively - although the camera didn't allow that at all leaving me pretty much blind! I'm surprised I beat that boss in just a couple of tries. Also since despite all, constantly standing close to the boss seems to be the best tactic.
The secret boss in the lowest layer was nice and didn't take me too long to beat either, I found the timing on some of the attacks that require evasion via the dodge button to be really weird though. I basically only beat the boss so quickly due to a lucky RNG.

Lower Loran and Isz are the only fixed chalices I've got left now. The general idea and rough execution of the chalice dungeons is fine, but boy is this part of the game overblown. A couple of endgame chalices would have sufficed imo. Don't think I'll ever go through the trouble and redo all of these on a new character from here out.

Ineterestingly, the more I play the more I find myself agreeing with the common complaints about the game. Stuff like the chalice dungeons, the game's linearity and lack of build variety - all that didn't bother me for the longest time. But now that I'm in the middle of NG+ I'm srarting to feel unsatisfied with those aspects of Bloodborne.

[DestroyTheCore]

So it's now possible to buy Blood Rocks for 60 Insights since the latest patch. At last!

http://bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com/Patch+Notes

[Necronopticous]

Ineterestingly, the more I play the more I find myself agreeing with the common complaints about the game. Stuff like the chalice dungeons, the game's linearity and lack of build variety - all that didn't bother me for the longest time. But now that I'm in the middle of NG+ I'm srarting to feel unsatisfied with those aspects of Bloodborne.

It's definitely different from the Souls games, but I still think the replayability is totally there. Challenge runs are where it's at--give the level 4 game a go!

[Immryr]

ehhhh it doesn't seem that big of a deal to me. I mean, how many weapons do you really need maxed out on one character? with the new one in the dlc that's two maxed out weapons in new game, then it only takes a couple of hours to blast through to get to the nightmare of mensis in ng+ if you're desperate for another one quickly.

then again I'm not interested in pvp much in this game so maybe if you're into that big time it's good for maxing out your armour and stuff as well....