Freshened up the opening post a bit.
![Smile :smile:](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
After some 1000hrs in Dark Souls, and ~150 in Dark Souls II, it really hit me how tricky it is to discuss these games in isolation, as a latecomer. Looked up element data for a DS1 sword, was treated to a slate of unsolicited Bloodborne DLC spoilers.
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
BB's not really a plot you can "spoil," of course, with it leaving troubling chasms of Great Unknown by its Weird Fiction design, but I consider a general first-timer blindness invaluable in these games.
Have to say, I grew to love DS1's Equip Load system, as well as the much starker build distinctions; obscenely superheavy berserker tanks, more finely-tuned knightly/samurai/clerical warriors, featherlight backstabbing ninjas/thieves, as well as the whole canon of the arcane, from tricky Faith and Pyro to cold hard INT and twisted feral Dark. I'd always seen BB knocked slightly for its lesser build variety, and wondered if it'd all seem a bit samey on return.
I was happy to find (as I'd also seen noted over the years), BB makes up for the relatively narrow player variety - everyone has ninja movement, everyone can bust out murderous sniper crits, everyone can die from a couple solid hits - with notably trickier weapon mechanics. DS1's various weapon classes - Halberd, Rapier, Greatsword, etc - differ radically, but within each group, if you master one, you'll be on fine footing for the rest. BB's individual weapons, even roughly similar ones, tend to be entire disciplines unto themselves, to say nothing of the really offbeat stuff, the Stake Drivers and Amygdalan Arms and Kos Parasites. I went a full 1000hrs in BB with my beloved Saw Cleaver over the course of a year, and only just realised a couple months ago that it has
a fuckin double backstab. ![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
Even the stuff with clear DS1 antecedents, like the Church Pick (a Great Scythe gone monstrously Berserk) are full of surprises, like the immortally satisfying slam n' slap GIFFed in the OP.
And then there's the guns! Guns, guns, guns. Loads of 'em. Pistols, shotguns, flamethrowers, miniguns, bazookas... plus the killer range alternative of Simon's Bowblade, and weird little one-offs like Fist Of Gratia aka Fist Of B.Bas Rutten, made for ruthlessly liver-shotting light-and-middleweight enemies at clinch range. I've seen some JP players do fairly insane shit with sole survivor of DS1's shield array the Plank, too, even - a particular point of interest for me, after DS1's shield mechanic proved an unexpected treat.
(Now I understand: the Plank's infamous
"Shields are nice, but not if they engender passivity" wasn't a knock on DS1. Not the way I play DS1, anyway! Play that motherfucker like Psyvariar. Push the green bar to its limit, eating hits that'd tear your unshielded head clean off as you move to their flank, delivering your own biblical payload as they struggle to regain their footing - almost like BB's speed metal massacre dialled down to bone-crushing doom. Shit is
FUCKING HOSTILE, I love it
![Image](https://i.imgur.com/jRuvWzp.gif)
)
Then there's all the truly arcane stuff that BB shuffled over to the subweapon slot... I have to admit, I never found them very compelling, mostly for the long cooldown periods seeming like total backstab bait - but it's still cool that they're there, and as with the Saw Cleaver double-stun, I've no doubt there's ways around the reload periods. (oddly, while Beast Roar dominated my subweapon usage utterly - CPU hunters simply cannot deal with skilled usage of it - I never used its DS1 predecessors Force or Great Force at all... BB and DS1 make a great pairing)
TLDR: BB might enforce ninja agility, aggression and frailty, but it absolutely doesn't lack for variety. A smorgasbord of lovingly-polished murder machinery!