A few thoughts on
Bloodborne.
I finished up
Bloodborne last week. Overall, I enjoyed the game, but a couple of issues keep me from ranking above my favorite Souls titles.
Bloodboorne isn't a Souls game, per se, but when all is said and done, it is close enough to be grouped in with them. Soulsborne is a genre for a reason!
First, the great/good: The atmosphere and production design are stellar. This game just oozes with horror and existential dread. The developers absolutely nailed the whole Lovecraft thing. What starts as a sort of werewolf and cursed townspeople environment, eventually morphs into a twisted cosmic horror filled nightmare, ratcheting up the tension to almost unbearable levels. A few times, I had to set the game down for a while, as I needed a break from the barrage of dark horrors.
The boss fights, for the most part, were well done. As in the Souls games, the big, unwieldy beast type bosses are markedly less fluid and fun fights, which usually see you trying to hit some giant creature in the ass over and over, while dodging and rolling to get into i-frames during their attacks. This is the Souls method, for better or for worse. Also as in the Souls games, the humanoid Hunters/knights type fights are all excellent. The faster, more aggressive
Bloodeborne fighting really plays into these fights well. There are no shields in the game, so defensive styles pretty much don't exist. I have always believed the Souls games were more fun without using shields, and Bloodborne took that to heart in its design, and it's just so great. The enemy hunter fights were my favorite boss fights in the game, offering up a jaw-clenching level of challenge and strategy. Defeating these opponents was truly rewarding in that way that only Soulsborne games can be. The Gherman and Gascoigne fights were especially good.
I mentioned the fighting style. The rally system in
Bloodeborne is a stroke of genius. The idea that you can quickly regain some precious HP if you immediately attack after getting hit retrains Souls veterans into an approach to these games that is arguably objectively more fun and exciting, while simultaneously training new players to the series in a way that will heighten their gaming experience. This type of player conditioning is awesome, and more games should use it.
Now, the not so good: Sigh. I understand the Estus flask system is a
Dark Souls thing, but dang it, it makes all other healing systems pale in comparison. While the blood vial system is
Bloodborne is still a limited system, the fact that it is a farmable item is straight up annoying. In Souls, when I run up against a boss that is owning me, I can keep repeating the boss, learning its moves, and getting sort of mentally locked in on the rhythm of the fight, replenishing my flask after each death at the bonfire, and then running back to fight again, eventually overcoming the boss. In
Bloodborne, I can keep repeating the boss, learning its moves, and getting sort of mentally locked in...oh, now I have to go farm a bunch of items in some low level area by running around doing a bunch of useless **** over and over, because I ran out of healing items. Lame.
The rune system: Using runes instead of rings was kind of a cool idea. Making me run back to the hub to change them was not. Seriously bad idea. Oh, a poison swamp? Run back to the lamp, teleport back to the dream, etch the runes, teleport back to the beginning of the swamp area, fight all the way back to where you were...around the corner is a boss that does arcane damage. Uggg!! Back to the dream blah blah blah. Really? The latter half of the game was full of instance of me dealing with this.
Those are two pretty prevalent and annoying issues that ended up detracting from the game quite a bit for me.
So now, I am back to DS3. started a new game, due to me not knowing that Steam doesn't sync the Souls sequels for some reason, and in the time since I last played, I had to reinstall my PC. No NG+ for me! That's OK, DS3 is awesome, and I am glad to be back in the game. Running a Dark Build this time around; three bosses down so far, as well as some jolly co-op!