What struck me the most after finishing my first play-through was that I wanted to get back right into a second one. Something I seldom feel the need to do in games, always preferring to move on to the next experience.
The game is a dream of a ride. Hunting down man-beasts in a fashion akin to a hectic dance, in the nightmarish, victorian backdrop of Yharnam's death-infested narrow streets, made this game incredibly fun and cool. I think it's the best diversion from the souls' formula since Dark Souls 1.
To tread the thin line between accommodating the new pace of the game and preserving Dark Souls' DNA some adjustments had to be made. Your characters' moves are nimble and dodging becomes a quick step when locking on a target, instead of a roll. Actions, such as running, attacking, and avoiding attacks, require less of a commitment as the stamina cost is far lower than its predecessors. The cherry on top is the emphasis put on attacking your foe instead of fending off attacks by the means of a shield. To add insult to injury, shields are completely dropped in this entry, apart from a gag shield that exists solely for the reason of mocking more conservative players. On the opposite, damage-dealing weapons received a great upgrade in their move set, with each "Trick Weapon" holding two variants that can be switched to and from effortlessly through yet another type of attack, this game's mother tongue. On the other hand, other reliable sources of damage such as magic spells are not entirely dropped but noticeably understated.
The level-up system carried on from the previous games but stats are less, emphasizing more on your character's basic parameters -- i.e. HP, stamina, and Trick Weapons damage output -- making the experience more streamlined and pioneering Souls' iconic play-style into the action genre.
Let's address the elephant in the room -- parrying -- a previously great source of damage that was stuck on what Bloodborne sought to forsake -- shields. The fine art of parrying was due to be lost if it remained exclusively a shield's function and guns didn't exist. Parrying, firearms, and Bloodborne are a match made in heaven, and probably the game's greatest achievement. They are far more fitting companions than shields for the setting and for the fast pace in which this game operates. And parrying, to remain relevant, had to be associated with such a quick-to-respond tool. Parrying changed and became more integral to the gameplay than it ever had been. From being a high-risk-high-reward means of dealing damage to a reliable gimmick that was quicker and usable at a safer distance. The risk is kind of there, albeit lower. Bosses and lesser enemies alike can and will close the gap between them and you on short notice. The reward is as high as ever. Getting the correct timings is impactful both to the fight and to your sense of accomplishment.
To balance such a mechanic, From Software decided it was best to limit your shots to the number of bullets that you carried, adding a new essential item that had to be found in the game's world. This could have been to the game's detriment, considering that already Dark Souls 1 understood that crucial consumables shouldn't be permanently removed after use. An ingenious solution was found, and so now you could trade some of your health for 5 additional shots. The problem would have been solved if Dark Souls' Estus' system wasn't ditched in favor of one-time health vials. This was, in my opinion, the worst slip-up of the game. Dying from bosses and strolling through the Romantic scenery inevitably becomes slightly dull and frustrating when you need to visit a place to regather your spent resources for the umpteenth time.
Yet another new mechanic exemplifies the aggressive playstyle that this game thoroughly favors. The "rallying" system, namely the one for which when hit you can get a relatively small chunk of your health back by hitting back, is a much welcome addition, even though its effectiveness starts to decline as windows to punish bosses get shorter, and the blows they deal harder. This trend doesn’t extend as much to common enemies, and it can still be used reliably to limit your healing items consumption. Hence why rallying manages to stay relevant and even rise to iconic status.
Bloodborne has a very linear power progression. Like Souls games, you use currency, in the form of your enemies’ “blood echoes”, to level up your character. in this installment, the only thing to keep in mind when building your character is that you want your damage output to be as high as possible in close-quarters combat. There is no tanking to take into account, as it is rarely an option. Especially when armor damage reduction is unimportant and intrinsic armor poise, the quality which decides what attacks can stagger you, has been removed in favor of a system that grants poise to specific attacks. Moreover, not much indecision can take place at the leveling menu, as character defense statistics increase with your level, regardless of what you decide to spend your points in.
The reason why I specified close-quarters combat as your main approach to dealing damage can be discussed. As a premise, I will disregard the handful of spells this game offers, as they’re hardly found in a first playthrough and they’re not something to base your build around. With no exceptions worth of note, your character always carries in his right hand his Trick Weapon and in his left hand his firearm. Both of their damage output can be upgraded, through damage-enhancing gems or by leveling specific statistics; but this weapon setup cannot be changed, meaning you cannot dual wield Trick Weapons or firearms. There is no benefit in deciding to forsake one in favor of the other. Quite the opposite. So, is this weapon setup doomed to asymmetry, depending on which type of damage you decide to upgrade? No, it is not the case, as the firearm’s primary role — parrying — is always fulfilled regardless of statistics, contrary to Trick Weapons, which need levels to deal optimally with the increasing difficulty. If —despite the inefficiency when compared to its counterpart — the safe distance at which guns can be fired is tempting, the limited nature of ammunition might remind you that this is inherently more of a versatile tool than a reliable source of damage. To further put across this idea, non-melee damage doesn't allow rallying, rendering the mechanic absent from ranged builds.
In conclusion, Bloodborne is deep down a close-quarters action game that forsakes the roleplaying aspects of previous titles. It manages to partly compensate for the loss of gameplay variety -- and enticing subsequent play-throughs -- with an arsenal of unique and diverse weapons meant to give greater depth to the combat by allowing new tactics. But I don't think cutting down on solutions to combat encounters was necessary. What I believe is that From Software when creating this game stayed too faithful to the Souls' formula, realizing that roleplaying systems, as they were originally conceived, were incompatible with their new project's core philosophy of combat at breakneck speeds. I don't see it that way, and such systems only needed to be reinvented or substituted to accommodate the aforementioned pace -- like parrying was -- but definitely not dumbed down or removed altogether.
The game is a dream of a ride. Hunting down man-beasts in a fashion akin to a hectic dance, in the nightmarish, victorian backdrop of Yharnam's death-infested narrow streets, made this game incredibly fun and cool. I think it's the best diversion from the souls' formula since Dark Souls 1.
To tread the thin line between accommodating the new pace of the game and preserving Dark Souls' DNA some adjustments had to be made. Your characters' moves are nimble and dodging becomes a quick step when locking on a target, instead of a roll. Actions, such as running, attacking, and avoiding attacks, require less of a commitment as the stamina cost is far lower than its predecessors. The cherry on top is the emphasis put on attacking your foe instead of fending off attacks by the means of a shield. To add insult to injury, shields are completely dropped in this entry, apart from a gag shield that exists solely for the reason of mocking more conservative players. On the opposite, damage-dealing weapons received a great upgrade in their move set, with each "Trick Weapon" holding two variants that can be switched to and from effortlessly through yet another type of attack, this game's mother tongue. On the other hand, other reliable sources of damage such as magic spells are not entirely dropped but noticeably understated.
The level-up system carried on from the previous games but stats are less, emphasizing more on your character's basic parameters -- i.e. HP, stamina, and Trick Weapons damage output -- making the experience more streamlined and pioneering Souls' iconic play-style into the action genre.
Let's address the elephant in the room -- parrying -- a previously great source of damage that was stuck on what Bloodborne sought to forsake -- shields. The fine art of parrying was due to be lost if it remained exclusively a shield's function and guns didn't exist. Parrying, firearms, and Bloodborne are a match made in heaven, and probably the game's greatest achievement. They are far more fitting companions than shields for the setting and for the fast pace in which this game operates. And parrying, to remain relevant, had to be associated with such a quick-to-respond tool. Parrying changed and became more integral to the gameplay than it ever had been. From being a high-risk-high-reward means of dealing damage to a reliable gimmick that was quicker and usable at a safer distance. The risk is kind of there, albeit lower. Bosses and lesser enemies alike can and will close the gap between them and you on short notice. The reward is as high as ever. Getting the correct timings is impactful both to the fight and to your sense of accomplishment.
To balance such a mechanic, From Software decided it was best to limit your shots to the number of bullets that you carried, adding a new essential item that had to be found in the game's world. This could have been to the game's detriment, considering that already Dark Souls 1 understood that crucial consumables shouldn't be permanently removed after use. An ingenious solution was found, and so now you could trade some of your health for 5 additional shots. The problem would have been solved if Dark Souls' Estus' system wasn't ditched in favor of one-time health vials. This was, in my opinion, the worst slip-up of the game. Dying from bosses and strolling through the Romantic scenery inevitably becomes slightly dull and frustrating when you need to visit a place to regather your spent resources for the umpteenth time.
Yet another new mechanic exemplifies the aggressive playstyle that this game thoroughly favors. The "rallying" system, namely the one for which when hit you can get a relatively small chunk of your health back by hitting back, is a much welcome addition, even though its effectiveness starts to decline as windows to punish bosses get shorter, and the blows they deal harder. This trend doesn’t extend as much to common enemies, and it can still be used reliably to limit your healing items consumption. Hence why rallying manages to stay relevant and even rise to iconic status.
Bloodborne has a very linear power progression. Like Souls games, you use currency, in the form of your enemies’ “blood echoes”, to level up your character. in this installment, the only thing to keep in mind when building your character is that you want your damage output to be as high as possible in close-quarters combat. There is no tanking to take into account, as it is rarely an option. Especially when armor damage reduction is unimportant and intrinsic armor poise, the quality which decides what attacks can stagger you, has been removed in favor of a system that grants poise to specific attacks. Moreover, not much indecision can take place at the leveling menu, as character defense statistics increase with your level, regardless of what you decide to spend your points in.
The reason why I specified close-quarters combat as your main approach to dealing damage can be discussed. As a premise, I will disregard the handful of spells this game offers, as they’re hardly found in a first playthrough and they’re not something to base your build around. With no exceptions worth of note, your character always carries in his right hand his Trick Weapon and in his left hand his firearm. Both of their damage output can be upgraded, through damage-enhancing gems or by leveling specific statistics; but this weapon setup cannot be changed, meaning you cannot dual wield Trick Weapons or firearms. There is no benefit in deciding to forsake one in favor of the other. Quite the opposite. So, is this weapon setup doomed to asymmetry, depending on which type of damage you decide to upgrade? No, it is not the case, as the firearm’s primary role — parrying — is always fulfilled regardless of statistics, contrary to Trick Weapons, which need levels to deal optimally with the increasing difficulty. If —despite the inefficiency when compared to its counterpart — the safe distance at which guns can be fired is tempting, the limited nature of ammunition might remind you that this is inherently more of a versatile tool than a reliable source of damage. To further put across this idea, non-melee damage doesn't allow rallying, rendering the mechanic absent from ranged builds.
In conclusion, Bloodborne is deep down a close-quarters action game that forsakes the roleplaying aspects of previous titles. It manages to partly compensate for the loss of gameplay variety -- and enticing subsequent play-throughs -- with an arsenal of unique and diverse weapons meant to give greater depth to the combat by allowing new tactics. But I don't think cutting down on solutions to combat encounters was necessary. What I believe is that From Software when creating this game stayed too faithful to the Souls' formula, realizing that roleplaying systems, as they were originally conceived, were incompatible with their new project's core philosophy of combat at breakneck speeds. I don't see it that way, and such systems only needed to be reinvented or substituted to accommodate the aforementioned pace -- like parrying was -- but definitely not dumbed down or removed altogether.
theDriu
1 year ago