Chapter 0: Intro

Before starting this bad boy, I would like to thank to my friend that has shared this wonderful experience. He reached out to me out of nowhere asking that if I want to play Bloodborne with him on his PS4 and I said why the fuck not. Of course since this is our first Souls title that we actually finished (we played Dark Souls 3 years ago but only played like 2 hour-ish) we got kicked in the ass so many times but man it's so fucking worth it at the end and we had so much fun in this journey that one week feels like so short. Rizal if you're reading this well you will later, I'm very grateful for the warm company. Last year we played Red Dead Redemption 2 and this year is Bloodborne. Hopefully next year we can start another journey together. Aight let's get into the meat shall we.

Chapter 1: The Expectation

Bloodborne is a unique one I would say. I've known Souls series for such a long time now and heard so many praises about it. Whenever a Souls title release is like a global phenomenon that people will always talk about. Some see it as a series that will challenge your dedication and skills as a real gamer but there are also quite a few who see it simply as a game that simply sells an irrational level of difficulty as the main attraction. The main strength in the gameplay mechanic which requires careful calculation, patience and an intensive trial and error process makes every success, no matter how small in this game, feel like a big victory that will always invite a big smile. And Bloodborne is no exception. While it's different than the previous titles, Bloodborne is still a charming one. Beautiful visualization that is heavily inspired by Lovecraftian with a clear gothic atmosphere, super cool enemy and boss designs, smooth movement animations, and a different gameplay style approach than the Souls series, injecting a unique sensation. Even though I'm not that familiar with Souls only other games that inspired by it (Hollow Knight, Cuphead) but after experiencing it through Bloodborne, I can say that it provides a sense of satisfaction that cannot be compared to any other game when you successfully conquer the challenges it provided. Or to put it in a simple statement, Bloodborne is a game that gives you fun in an unusual way.

Chapter 2: The Hunter's Tale

Bloodborne is a game that depends on active participation from the player in order to complete the story. The plot approach in Bloodborne is not presented explicitly. There is never a clear thread of what is actually happening, apart from a few cut-scenes that are offered sometimes before or after you fight a certain Boss, or when you just enter an unfamiliar area. However, all the conversations and cut-scenes look like a giant puzzle that is missing the most important part. Extra information that acts as glue to find the story comes from pieces that you can find along the way. Honestly, after finishing it, me and my friend didn't even know exactly what and how the fuck these things happened that we couldn't help but ended up watching some of lore videos. What is certain is that you play as a Hunter who is trapped in a mysterious city called Yharnam. This city with magnificent and stunning architecture is believed to be a city that has a Panacea, a medicine that can cure all diseases on this earth. Therefore, it is not surprising that he became the target of pilgrims who tried to find him. But this time, Yharnam looked so different. A mysterious incident caused so many residents to turn into scary creatures that the city residents had to lock themselves inside their houses. The sky changed, the moon no longer shone brightly as usual. It now looks red. Although, this story isn’t something you have much involvement in, you’re not a prophesied hero putting an end to the dark. You’re a cursed nobody that’s always one step away from turning into the same monsters you fight.

Chapter 3: A Sick City That Promises Healing

Before exploring further into Yharnam, which incidentally will be the location of the main adventure in Bloodborne, there's no harm in taking a little time and enjoying how strong the design that From Software has offered for it. Yharnam looks like a beautiful and majestic city, with lots of classic architecture towering in various corners. But on the other hand, it is always filled with a mist of mystery that gives one strong signal, be careful with every corner you pass. There is nothing special about the design of the main character which must be admitted, it was never the focus. Regardless of the time you spend designing your main character, every costume he wears will end up covering up all those details. Your clothes will also be dirty and wet following the blood that you managed to incur with the weapons you have. Full of blood on clothes and weapons and reflections of light that make it even more shiny, Bloodborne looks so brutal and merciless.

While it doesn't have much detail in the main and supporting characters, Bloodborne lavishes all of it in the designs of the enemies you encounter along the way. Divided into several travel areas, each area will contain a unique variant of the monsters you will encounter. The design of each of them looks amazing. Every one of them appears sinister, threatening, enough to define a nightmare you never want to encounter. Not only for large bosses who seem capable of killing you instantly with one or two hits, but also small enemies that you encounter along the way. The unique variations, attacks, and visual details devoted to each of them successfully strengthen the horror atmosphere of Yharnam itself.

Meanwhile, in terms of setting design that you encounter, Yharnam itself is very dynamic. Even though some parts of the story will require you to follow the same path, you still won't encounter the same world. Because the plot that develops itself tells you that all the actions you take occur in no more than one night. For several boss variants that you conquer, Yharnam will experience a time shift from afternoon, evening, midnight, making it much more tense. At some point, a giant monster called Amygdala will even be seen just taking over this big city. All of that elements everything succeeds in creating an extraordinary atmosphere in Bloodborne.

Chapter 4: Speed and Brutality

Bloodborne appeared with more fluid animations and a gameplay approach that encourages you to be aggressive rather than just waiting for the right timing in the style of the Souls series. There is no shield to protect you, so quick dodging movements are key to minimizing the risks involved. But on the contrary, you can do Parry which is something that we both sucks at and need hours upon hours to adapt to it. Armed with a firearm in your left hand, you can destroy the enemy's defenses and produce an instant mini stun effect if executed successfully at the right timing, especially during the attack animation. Meanwhile, on the weapon side, there is not much difference. At the start of the game, you will be provided with various weapon variants to use. Each weapon will have two modes: normal mode and two-handed mode which can be activated with just the "L1" button. Normal mode means it allows you to attach other equipment to the main character's left hand, such as a gun or torch for lighting and rapid fire-based attacks on enemies.

The choice of weapon will affect what kind of character status you have to improve, because quite a few of them have super strong associations. For example, Axe requires Strength, while Cane, for example, will have damage that increases along with how many points you distribute to the Skill section. Some other weapons like the Flamesprayer, for example, focus on Arcane. With six attributes that you can upgrade, you have the freedom to build a character that suits your own playing style, especially from the main weapon choices available.

There are several classes that you can choose at the start of the game, but it's just a matter of distributing dominant points for your starting character. There’s a purpose behind giving the player a lot of control over what their character looks like and then making it almost meaningless in the actual game, you’re not meant to be distinct in how you look, well not really. You’re a hunter, but not one with a unique outfit or famous name like some of the enemies you fight in the game. Instead, the path to cultivating yourself as a unique individual comes almost entirely from combat. Whether you smash through enemies with a massive hammer or dart through them with quick steps and double blades, the variety of weapons and strategies you can use is the only identity the game is interested in giving you. As one character reminds you, mildly irritated by your continued presence, A hunter hunts.

Chapter 5: May The Good Blood Lead Your Way

I would also like to appreciate the accessibility in Bloodborne. The bosses in this game are quite difficult, but I think in two fights you can immediately defeat several of the bosses in Bloodborne if you have sufficient strength. But what I think plays an important role in the accessibility of this game is that Blood Vials are easy to find everywhere. Blood Vial is a useful item for restoring your HP and you can find it in various places easily. One of the most common ways to collect them is to defeat the enemies you encounter. Whether the enemy is difficult or easy, I think Blood Vials are a very common commodity in Bloodborne.

Apart from that, the way you strengthen your weapons in this game has been made easier using the element called Blood Echoes. It becomes a single currency that can be distributed for the three most essential things: buying items, leveling up and upgrade your weapons. You can use Echoes to buy a series of items and equipment available in Hunter's Dream, a safe place for your Hunter which can only be accessed from a Lantern which functions like a checkpoint. You can also use the same Echoes to raise the status of the main character via The Doll who is in the same place. Each status increase will require a certain number of Echoes to be executed, which will also automatically count as a level increase.

Chapter 6: The Delicious Torture

And like all the Souls series that came out of the same hands, Bloodborne is not an easy game to conquer. Regardless of the size of the enemy you face, just an ordinary enemy or a massive boss, all of them are ready to kill you with just a few blows. Regular enemies sometimes come in larger quantities and attack faster to ensure your blood is drained if you're the least bit careless. Meanwhile, Boss is not necessarily defined as a giant, slow creature. Most of them are massive, with much greater attack power, but on the other hand able to move just as fast to kill you instantly (yeah I'm glancing at you Amelia). But there is where the pleasure of Bloodborne itself, that there are no threats that you can take lightly. You always approach each of them with great consideration. We took down the The Cleric Beast in only a few attempts but when we fought Father Gascoigne, we were like yeah this ain't fucking around anymore. Like one quote said, You can get to know your opponent by exchanging one-two punches, the only way for you to get to know the threats in front of you is to attack them, learn what kind of reactions they make, and learn what typical strategies you should adapt. There's always a first for every enemy, and there's always death to accompany it if you rush.

What makes it interesting is the element of risk that is consistently present, and even strengthens at some points. Bloodborne feels like a true survival horror game, where death always smells from every corner. This is further strengthened by the gameplay design which makes Yharnam an open world for you to explore. There are never clear instructions on where you have to go to achieve story progress, there is never clear information about which bosses are not related to progress and can actually be skipped. You are just thrown into this city full of curses and forced to find your own way about what you actually have to do, overcome and face. The threat aspect is strengthened through this design, especially considering that all the enemies always have a way to kill you instantly. This makes Bloodborne always intense. Even opening a door, seeing a new and unknown enemy lurking at the end of the tunnel, can be a terrifying experience.

Death is something that is certain in Bloodborne, but it doesn't leave a feeling of frustration at all. You will understand very well that all the deaths that occurred largely because of the purity of your weakness, that you were the one who acted rashly, that you missed one or two things that should have been taken into consideration first, that you always had the opportunity to overcome them in the next fight, that there's something you're learning. And once you succeed in defeating them or make even a little progress from your previous point of death, there is a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that is difficult to explain. But on the other hand, new areas mean the potential for new, more deadly threats, new growing alertness. This mixture of emotions will not end, until the game's ending credits roll. That's where the appeal and enjoyment of Bloodborne itself lies. If there's one thing From Software succeeded in doing for Bloodborne, it's ensuring that none of the moments you have in Yharnam ended up boring. Every enemy you encounter ends up being scary, threatening, and could be the instant end of your life and Echoes. Your adrenaline keeps pumping at all times, ensuring your body and eyes are alert to every new door you enter, every enemy variant that still feels so foreign.

Chapter 7: Knowledge. Is It a Friend or Enemy?

Knowledge turns out to be positioned as a very dangerous weapon in Yharnam. There is another unique thing that From Software implemented for Bloodborne. In addition to Blood Echoes, it offers a currency called Insight which is in the shape of an eye at the bottom of the number of Echoes on the screen. In contrast to Echoes which can be obtained in tens of thousands instantly by simply killing existing enemies and grinding, Insight is present as a unique currency with a different approach. The Insight number will increase depending on the exploration you do such as discovering new places or fighting Bosses you've never seen before. It can also be reproduced using the items you get.

Insight is not an ordinary currency. Apart from allowing you to access a special Insight-based shop in Hunter's Dream which can only be accessed by using 10 Insights, it is also a currency for accessing the existing cooperative online mode. If you need help and use the Beckoning Bell to summon your friends, you must sacrifice 1 piece of Insight to access the function. If you don't have Insight, you won't be able to do it. You will also have to sacrifice some Insight if you invade another user's gameplay and fail to kill them. You can accumulate the Insight you have to prepare yourself to buy items/equipment at the Insight Shop in the future, or when you have to ask a friend for help.

Chapter 8: The Mothafucking Chalice Dungeon

It's frustating and absolute ass, moving on.

Chapter 9: The Old Hunters

If you reached it this far, you're a fucking madlad and thank you for wasting your time but finally it's time for the DLC. Bloodborne is already a great game and then this DLC exist jesus fuck it made the game even greater. A truly significant escalation in difficulty, this sentence seems appropriate to explain what is The Old Hunters contain. The Old Hunters itself still carries the typical storytelling style of the base game, or all Souls series projects from From Software so far. You'll be met with a few separate cut-scenes, but none of them will explicitly explain to you what's really going on, who you are, why you're there, and who each enemy is that comes your way with the clear attitude that you're another life that must be removed immediately.

The Old Hunters takes this mystery even further. You are now in a different version of Yharnam, a location called Hunter's Nightmare. In contrast to Yharnam which is so dark and eerie from the first moment you see it, Hunter's Nightmare feels "brighter" by not making the city and narrow streets the main focus. You can see the architecture of buildings here and there at the start of the game with a Gothic impression that remains clear. Although there are slight changes after you play far enough and it makes it much more tense and scary compared to what you encountered at the beginning. The only key to understanding the story and who the characters you meet still depend on your ability to mix and assemble every clue you get from short conversations or descriptions of key items you find. One thing is for sure, Old Hunters takes the mystery of Bloodborne to a new level. You will meet many "iconic" characters that you only know through items in the base game, such as Ludwig and Laurence, for example. At first glance, The Old Hunters is not a prequel story or something like that that takes you to Yharnam in the past. The Hunter's Nightmare itself is believed to be a world that emerged as a "home" for Hunters who have consumed excessive amounts of blood, the main element of the Bloodborne story. The main theme of the story itself still revolves around The Great One and of course the organization that uses blood as a source of power, the Healing Church.

We underestimated this DLC thinking that it will be the same difficulty, nope playing this DLC feels like the base game is just a child playground. From Ludwig with his thick blood and annoying variety of attacks, Laurence the First Vicar who is able to kill you with two hits even when he only has his upper body, Maria whose sword attacks are not only fast and continuous, but also with an extra AOE effect when she is about to face the end of her life, to Orphan of Kos with whatever the fuck he has in his hand and his back. There is no name of a more suitable place to use as an arena for playing The Old Hunters than The Hunter's Nightmare. Surprisingly Ludwig which many people struggle with, we only beat him in under 15 attempts. Then Laurence I believe more than 15 attempts, still has some bullshit moves like Amelia. Maria is really an interesting one, many people said she is easier than Ludwig, some people said she is harder and I still don't know yet. It took us more than 20 attempts to beat her but then again Ludwig's first phase is harder than Maria and Maria's second phase is harder than Ludwig so yeah I have no clue. And then there's Orphan, I lost count after 30 attempts so it must be like more than 50 attempts so fuck you and fuck your mother.

But yeah this DLC is amazing, the best one I've played no doubt. It knows no mercy and brings content that will increase the sensation of anxiety and risk in the base game many times over. From its status as a DLC, I can say that The Old Hunters is completely flawless. A new world, new music, new characters, a mysterious story that increasingly arouses curiosity, cool boss designs, super high difficulty levels, and the relentless sensation that makes this series beloved manage to appear even more perfect and stronger in this extra content.

Chapter 10: The Finale

There are no more appropriate words to define Bloodborne, other than calling it a fantastic project from From Software. We managed to complete it in around 50 hours, include The Old Hunters aswell. Everything that From Software injected into it runs optimally, creating one of the best action RPG game experience that I have ever played, both in terms of gameplay mechanics, visualization, atmosphere, level of difficulty, monster design, and risk factors that will make you enjoy every inch of the sensation it wants to inject. Apart from the action RPG genre that it carries, Bloodborne also feels like a survival horror game. Because in the end it revolves around one main concept the effort to survive, no matter what. There are so many elements of risk that consistently trigger a dilemma, whether it is worth pursuing or not. Bloodborne will keep you tense, interested, alert, and curious.

Most video games, especially horror games, struggle with actual death. A horror sequence that isn’t a surprise necessarily takes away some of the horror. Bloodborne’s solution to that problem is to make the repetition part of the game, to train the player to memorize level layouts and monster patterns and then to subvert that knowledge as the game progresses. As the player gets more comfortable with their role as a hunter, paradoxically your fear of new, unfamiliar enemies gets enhanced. You don’t understand why all this is happening, but after enough tries, you’ll know how to kill it.

Very well, let the echoes become your strength. Let me stand close. Now shut your eyes...

I am done with Bloodborne, but I'm not sure if Bloodborne is done with me. Rarely do I ever play a game again when I've been through it once and even rarer still do I think the second run is where the game really is able to shine. It's like learning to ride a bike. in the beginning your brain is pre-occupied with keeping the bike upright, so much so that you don't really enjoy the view and it's not before you master a certain set of skills you'll be able to take full advantage of it.

Do I want Bloodborne 2? Of course, but no. Just think about it and it makes sense.

[10/07] Demorou. Demorou muito, mas acho que eu finalmente entendi o porquê de esse jogo ser tão amado. Após jogar quase toda a DLC em um segundo personagem criado em abril, convenci-me a criar outro e jogar tudo do zero novamente, cuidando para não perder quests e com uma build de Skill.
Eu joguei pela primeira vez no início de 2019, deixei meu boneco parado o ano inteiro e só fui zerar lá em dezembro. Agora, em abril, criei outro, joguei um pouco e parei por uns 2 meses. Porém, voltei a jogar sem muita pretensão enquanto esperava um outro jogo instalar no PC e minha cabeça explodiu durante a luta contra a Lady Maria. Todas as minhas reclamações passadas foram apagadas com aquela luta. Eu acho que tô entrando pro clube da galera que ama esse jogo