Gaming Bloodborne (PS4)

[largelyworried]

Any tips on replaying this? I feel that while I liked BB, as all FromSoft games are excellent, somehow it didn't amaze me. Are there optional areas I should explore which I missed out on? Are there weapons/armor I should go get? I only remember the saw and gun, mostly. Maybe one or two others but nothing I really recall. Then there's the DLC which i Imagine is significant enough to try.

The DLC is very high quality and has the best bosses of the game in it, so if you've not tried it, definitely do.

Weapons-wise, try playing with the Hunter Axe if you did the Cleaver last time. Its very different in style but equally good.

Oh I didn't realise you could get more weapons as you go along. Cool!

I think the pistol interrupt trick is something I never figured out before and that's been a BIG help so far this time, learning that.

I wish they'd release a performance patch though. Feels so slow running at 30fps on my ps5

Parrying isnt mandatory, but its incredibly helpful against all but the biggest bosses. Pretty much anything humanoid can be parried and even some relatively big beast creatures can be parried. Also backstabs (viscerals) are important to get your head around.

There's actually a 60fps patch for jailbroken PS4s, it looks great, real shame they can't do that officially.

 

[Moby]

I decided to try this bastard again, six years later, to see if my tolerance for death has improved since my twenties and playing more difficult games.

It has! It's so damn good. Spent two hours dying endlessly in the opening area last night before finally unlocking the short cut to the first boss (further than I ever got before ) and actually managed to kill him in 3 attempts which I was happy with. Also think it helps that I checked online to see the best beginner build, so I went high vitality/strength and that cleaver weapon.

Let's go baby, bring on the pain.

Welcome. You're in for a treat.

 

[harshad]

Any tips on replaying this? I feel that while I liked BB, as all FromSoft games are excellent, somehow it didn't amaze me. Are there optional areas I should explore which I missed out on? Are there weapons/armor I should go get? I only remember the saw and gun, mostly. Maybe one or two others but nothing I really recall. Then there's the DLC which i Imagine is significant enough to try.

The Upper Cathedral is optional since you can finish the game without ever going there. There are two bosses that you can fight there. Another optional area is the Cainhurst Castle which is a great area since you do not come across the enemies there anywhere else in the game and has an excellent boss fight. Will deffo recommend to check out Cainhurst Castle.

What was your primary weapon that you used during your earlier playthrough? There are different weapons which scale with Strength and different weapons which scale with Skill. Choose a weapon based on how you are levelling up your Hunter

 

[Moby]

The Upper Cathedral is optional since you can finish the game without ever going there. There are two bosses that you can fight there. Another optional area is the Cainhurst Castle which is a great area since you do not come across the enemies there anywhere else in the game and has an excellent boss fight. Will deffo recommend to check out Cainhurst Castle.

What was your primary weapon that you used during your earlier playthrough? There are different weapons which scale with Strength and different weapons which scale with Skill. Choose a weapon based on how you are levelling up your Hunter

Even Old Yharnam is optional and one of the best areas in the main game.

The optional areas have some of the best fights in the game: Logarius, Ebrietas and Amygdala. The first two especially are absolute bastards.

Doing strictly the main game pretty much leaves out most of the best stuff in it. And of course that includes the dungeons.

 

[Ainu]

I decided to try this bastard again, six years later, to see if my tolerance for death has improved since my twenties and playing more difficult games.

It has! It's so damn good. Spent two hours dying endlessly in the opening area last night before finally unlocking the short cut to the first boss (further than I ever got before ) and actually managed to kill him in 3 attempts which I was happy with. Also think it helps that I checked online to see the best beginner build, so I went high vitality/strength and that cleaver weapon.

Let's go baby, bring on the pain.

One of those games where, once it clicks, you can't put it down and suddenly it becomes one of your favourite games of all time. I'm jealous of anyone going through that first run. And yeah, saw cleaver is an excellent weapon that can go the distance. You can basically survive on just three stats: vitality, stamina (don't forget this one, it's arguably the most important stat in the game) and strength. I think the cleaver also scales with skill but to a lesser extent than strength, so you can probably ignore it until you reach the first soft cap in strength.

 

[SuperiorXI]

I got through the whole of BB without parrying as the mechanic pissed me off, further replays I forced myself to learn and I'm still crap at it but good enough for it to work every now and then, it's a huge help!

 

[harshad]

Even Old Yharnam is optional and one of the best areas in the main game.

The optional areas have some of the best fights in the game: Logarius, Ebrietas and Amygdala. The first two especially are absolute bastards.

Doing strictly the main game pretty much leaves out most of the best stuff in it. And of course that includes the dungeons.

Wanted to leave Amy for the 3rd play through

 

[Moby]

stamina (don't forget this one, it's arguably the most important stat in the game)

Really? I never focussed on it and didn't face any issue. Especially with the Saw Cleaver which is the most OP weapon in the game it is pretty much broken to the point where you barely ever feel running out of it.

Maybe those using massive strength weapons need to upgrade it but I was able to pretty much ignore it the whole time and beat everything with the Cleaver and Ludwig's Holy Blade. And then with Pizza Cutter in NG+

 

[Moby]

Wanted to leave Amy for the 3rd play through

Going to that area for the first time was the moment when I realised that this game isn't there to fool around.

 

[Ainu]

Really? I never focussed on it and didn't face any issue. Especially with the Saw Cleaver which is the most OP weapon in the game it is pretty much broken to the point where you barely ever feel running out of it.

Maybe those using massive strength weapons need to upgrade it but I was able to pretty much ignore it the whole time and beat everything with the Cleaver and Ludwig's Holy Blade. And then with Pizza Cutter in NG+

For me it was in any case, might depend on playstyle. The thing is it doesn't have a high soft cap, but those early increases were essential for me.
Edit: come to think of it, I put less into it than vitality. I used to go 2 points vit, 1 stamina/endurance, 1 strength. It's been a while.

 

[largelyworried]

I got through the whole of BB without parrying as the mechanic pissed me off, further replays I forced myself to learn and I'm still crap at it but good enough for it to work every now and then, it's a huge help!

Honestly its pretty finicky compared to, say, deflections in Sekiro. You can watch Twtich streamer with 1000 hours under their belt still miss parries on bosses. But its so powerful you really benefit from keeping at it.

Really? I never focussed on it and didn't face any issue. Especially with the Saw Cleaver which is the most OP weapon in the game it is pretty much broken to the point where you barely ever feel running out of it.

Maybe those using massive strength weapons need to upgrade it but I was able to pretty much ignore it the whole time and beat everything with the Cleaver and Ludwig's Holy Blade. And then with Pizza Cutter in NG+

Cleaver is outright awesome, but its main weakness is its poor rally. With the Hunter Axe +5 you get 100% of available health back with a successful R1 after an attack. Even with a Saw Cleaver +10 you only get 55%. That really makes a huge difference because you can walk away from most enemy encounters with full health. That saves a tonne of blood vials, especially in boss encounters, where it can be hard to land a hit.

 

[Moby]

For me it was in any case, might depend on playstyle. The thing is it doesn't have a high soft cap, but those early increases were essential for me.
Edit: come to think of it, I put less into it than vitality. I used to go 2 points vit, 1 stamina/endurance, 1 strength. It's been a while.

I think I went Vit and Str for most of the early ones, more on vit and then it was skill. Only after all of them had soft max I bothered about stamina.

I used the bigger Holy Blade for some time but then realized my best playstyle is going small and fast, so I am pretty much a skill/dex based player. Apart from specific cases when you are dealing with big bastards who give big windows (Amy, One Reborn, Ludwig etc) I always go for faster weapons and that's what I got through with some of my toughest fights (Logarius, Gehrman, Laurence and Orphan). Although I think in one of the Gehrman fights I just kept charging the big Holy Blade that got the timing spot on where it stabbed through him at the exact time he charged.

Cleaver is outright awesome, but its main weakness is its poor rally. With the Hunter Axe +5 you get 100% of available health back with a successful R1 after an attack. Even with a Saw Cleaver +10 you only get 55%. That really makes a huge difference because you can walk away from most enemy encounters with full health. That saves a tonne of blood vials, especially in boss encounters, where it can be hard to land a hit.

Indeed, it's not the best for rally but for me I generally go for hitless strats where I prefer fighting head on, focus on timing my dodges and never getting hit. But either ways, I'd anyday trade less parry for the combination of speed and damage you get from the cleaver which pretty much gives you insane amount of DPS. Laurence is the toughest fight for me in the game, the only time I managed to beat him was going non stop with the cleaver. Spit lava now you fckin legless cnut!

 

[harshad]

Honestly its pretty finicky compared to, say, deflections in Sekiro. You can watch Twtich streamer with 1000 hours under their belt still miss parries on bosses. But its so powerful you really benefit from keeping at it.



Cleaver is outright awesome, but its main weakness is its poor rally. With the Hunter Axe +5 you get 100% of available health back with a successful R1 after an attack. Even with a Saw Cleaver +10 you only get 55%. That really makes a huge difference because you can walk away from most enemy encounters with full health. That saves a tonne of blood vials, especially in boss encounters, where it can be hard to land a hit.

Makes all those BL4 runs all the more impressive

 

[Massive Spanner]

One of those games where, once it clicks, you can't put it down and suddenly it becomes one of your favourite games of all time. I'm jealous of anyone going through that first run. And yeah, saw cleaver is an excellent weapon that can go the distance. You can basically survive on just three stats: vitality, stamina (don't forget this one, it's arguably the most important stat in the game) and strength. I think the cleaver also scales with skill but to a lesser extent than strength, so you can probably ignore it until you reach the first soft cap in strength.

stamina = endurance right? Yeah I went with the start build that had that and Vitality as the highest, lone survivor or something.

Yeah I can see why people can't put it down, I'm itching to start the next area now after killing the first boss!

Although I assume it's a good idea to do a bit of farming in the first area now for blood echoes seeing as I unlocked levelling up?

 

[largelyworried]

Makes all those BL4 runs all the more impressive

You have little choice with a BL4 run. You can't use a heavy weapon like the axe due to your low stamina and you don't meet the minimum stats for most other weapons.

 

[Bosws87]

stamina = endurance right? Yeah I went with the start build that had that and Vitality as the highest, lone survivor or something.

Yeah I can see why people can't put it down, I'm itching to start the next area now after killing the first boss!

Although I assume it's a good idea to do a bit of farming in the first area now for blood echoes seeing as I unlocked levelling up?

Don’t really have to hard grind at any point in the game usually by the time you defeat a boss you have levelled up enough.

Only time I ever farmed was getting the blood vials up to 20 so you always have max.

The Brick trolls in the first part of the game are great for that once you learn to parry/stagger them they are super easy/quick to kill and drop loads

 

[harshad]

You have little choice with a BL4 run. You can't use a heavy weapon like the axe due to your low stamina and you don't meet the minimum stats for most other weapons.

Yeah. The only weapon I have seen in BL4 runs is the Saw Cleaver

 

[Massive Spanner]

Don’t really have to hard grind at any point in the game usually by the time you defeat a boss you have levelled up enough.

Only time I ever farmed was getting the blood vials up to 20 so you always have max.

The Brick trolls in the first part of the game are great for that once you learn to parry/stagger them they are super easy/quick to kill and drop loads

Yeah I got to grips with the trolls easy enough.

Feck those two hounds in front of the first boss though, I had to just feck about 5 molotovs at them

 

[Moby]

stamina = endurance right? Yeah I went with the start build that had that and Vitality as the highest, lone survivor or something.

Yeah I can see why people can't put it down, I'm itching to start the next area now after killing the first boss!

Although I assume it's a good idea to do a bit of farming in the first area now for blood echoes seeing as I unlocked levelling up?

It depends on you. Now that you have unlocked that first shortcut, that whole area is a good one for farming blood vials (you get 4 from the two ogres, 6 from the two werewolves and a few more from those villager jobbers) so if you want you can go over it a few times and have a bunch of vials stored for later and also get a few upgrades. (Also keep in mind the prices of consumables go up later in the game when you hit particular transitions in the story, so it is easier and better to stock up fully during early game).

But I guess it's better to just keep going and see where you seem to really need an upgrade. Goes without saying but explore each and every corner, talk to every NPC and clear everything before ever moving forward. This is a game you'd wanna do 100%.

 

[Massive Spanner]

It depends on you. Now that you have unlocked that first shortcut, that whole area is a good one for farming blood vials (you get 4 from the two ogres, 6 from the two werewolves and a few more from those villager jobbers) so if you want you can go over it a few times and have a bunch of vials stored for later and also get a few upgrades. (Also keep in mind the prices of consumables go up later in the game when you hit particular transitions in the story, so it is easier and better to stock up fully during early game).

But I guess it's better to just keep going and see where you seem to really need an upgrade. Goes without saying but explore each and every corner, talk to every NPC and clear everything before ever moving forward. This is a game you'd wanna do 100%.

There are definitely a few areas I need to go back to, don't think I did the aqueducts properly, I was just so focused on unlocking the short cut before dying! I think I reached some sewer where there was a bit rat thing that looked like he was going to run at me and I went nope feck that, also some bridge with a load of guys and a boulder that looked like it was going to chase me and I went nope again. I'll try them next.

 

[Moby]

There are definitely a few areas I need to go back to, don't think I did the aqueducts properly, I was just so focused on unlocking the short cut before dying! I think I reached some sewer where there was a bit rat thing that looked like he was going to run at me and I went nope feck that, also some bridge with a load of guys and a boulder that looked like it was going to chase me and I went nope again. I'll try them next.

Yeah, theres quite a bit in that entire area to explore. Also NPCs and side quests which are great.

 

[harshad]

There are definitely a few areas I need to go back to, don't think I did the aqueducts properly, I was just so focused on unlocking the short cut before dying! I think I reached some sewer where there was a bit rat thing that looked like he was going to run at me and I went nope feck that, also some bridge with a load of guys and a boulder that looked like it was going to chase me and I went nope again. I'll try them next.

Word of advice - Don't do a @Moby and kill any NPC the moment you encounter them.

 

[Moby]

Word of advice - Don't do a @Moby and kill any NPC the moment you encounter them.

The killing part came much later on, the initial bit was attacking them for fun and getting my ass torn to pieces.

But as the saying goes, a hunter must hunt!

 

[Massive Spanner]

Father Gasgoigne is an asshole

 

[Moby]

 

[Massive Spanner]

Yeeees just bet him. Feck this game

 

[SuperiorXI]

Yeeees just bet him. Feck this game

He's a fairy compared to some of the other bosses

Enjoy

 

[Bosws87]

He's a fairy compared to some of the other bosses

Enjoy

I thought Gascoigne was considered one if not the hardest boss in the game, due to how difficult and early it was.

Most of the other bosses you have got the game down and know what your doing so are easier

 

[Sweet Square]

I thought Gascoigne was considered one if not the hardest boss in the game, due to how difficult and early it was.

There’s an item you can get with makes his first stage quite easy.

I beat him on my second go but then died a lot more to the “easier” boss fights.

 

[Massive Spanner]

There’s an item you can get with makes his first stage quite easy.

I beat him on my second go but then died a lot more to the “easier” boss fights.

I got that item but never used it. But apparently it makes his last stage even longer and that’s the one I kept dying on sooooo I dunno?

he was definitely much tougher than the cleric, obviously, think he took me 6 or 7 goes. I’m sure there is much tougher to come

 

[Sweet Square]

I got that item but never used it. But apparently it makes his last stage even longer and that’s the one I kept dying on sooooo I dunno?

Oh didn’t know it made him stronger in his last stage. I did only just beat him, I was mostly hanging on and ended up getting lucky.

 

[largelyworried]

I thought Gascoigne was considered one if not the hardest boss in the game, due to how difficult and early it was.

Most of the other bosses you have got the game down and know what your doing so are easier

He's the first boss where playing like Dark Souls doesn't work, so a lot of people got stuck while they learned the new mechanics. If you play like Dark Souls 1 or 2, rolling away, waiting for an opening to try and get the odd hit in, he's hard because he comes at you so often. But if you play like BB wants you to, he's actually pretty easy. Literally, for every attack he has, just roll into it, turn round and hit him in his huge recovery window. That's it. Parrying makes it even quicker. But back then people weren't used to any of that, so they had to learn the hard way, especially with that tedious run back to the boss from the lantern.

 

[Moby]

I got that item but never used it. But apparently it makes his last stage even longer and that’s the one I kept dying on sooooo I dunno?

he was definitely much tougher than the cleric, obviously, think he took me 6 or 7 goes. I’m sure there is much tougher to come

He's easy if you figure out the strat early, and know what BB wants you to do and go ultra aggressive but still 55% of the players who start BB can't get past this guy so it's a good skillcheck and a welcome to BB fight.

He fights like a hunter in the initial phase, although probably the slowest hunter but the hunter fights are far tougher than bosses. For me in the main game my toughest fight is one that isn't even mentioned as a boss, but an NPC hunter that tears you to absolute pieces.

 

[Ainu]

He's easy if you figure out the strat early, and know what BB wants you to do and go ultra aggressive but still 55% of the players who start BB can't get past this guy so it's a good skillcheck and a welcome to BB fight.

He fights like a hunter in the initial phase, although probably the slowest hunter but the hunter fights are far tougher than bosses. For me in the main game my toughest fight is one that isn't even mentioned as a boss, but an NPC hunter that tears you to absolute pieces.

Which one is that? I'm guessing the one at the end of Eileen the Crow's storyline, only fought him in one playthrough but I remember it was hard. Eileen herself can be pretty rough as well, and then there's the dude in Byrgenwerth. God I hated that guy.

 

[Moby]

Which one is that? I'm guessing the one at the end of Eileen the Crow's storyline

Indeed, that's the one.

The one in Byrgenwerth (Yurie) is a bit crazy but I got her in first try, before she could get out one of them call beyonds. Same with Iosefka. Loved the Djura fight, easily one of the best characters in the game and fighting him fair and square was great especially how easy it is to die from falling off there. Absolute best dialogues in the game as well.

But the absolute worst of the lot are those two assholes in the DLC right after beating Ludwig. (The white one seems to be Amelia?) Unlike a lot of other hunter fights, they are not optional and doubleteam you to absolute bits. I got them in NG but it went to another level in NG+. Had to shamefully separate them in the end to have a chance.

Think Alfred is the main one I haven't fought. Dude comes at you with a fecking wheel.

 

[harshad]

Think Alfred is the main one I haven't fought. Dude comes at you with a fecking wheel.

Time for another playthrough

 

[Massive Spanner]

Blood starved beast down after about 20 goes that was a whole other level to anything else so far.

 

[caid]

Blood starved beast down after about 20 goes that was a whole other level to anything else so far.

I'm quite jealous reading your progress. Wish i could play the game fresh again. Elden Ring is out soon isn't it?

 

[Moby]

Blood starved beast down after about 20 goes that was a whole other level to anything else so far.

Good pace so far.

Best thing about this is everyone has their own experience. Like for me Gascoigne was so much tougher than BSB.

 

[Moby]

I'm quite jealous reading your progress. Wish i could play the game fresh again. Elden Ring is out soon isn't it?

2 weeks.