Perhaps inspired by tomorrow's release of Lies of P (though given that it's also the day that the full Mac version of Baldur's Gate 3 comes out, I'll probably be playing that instead - thoug I do find myself oddly drawn to the "Steampunk Pinnochio game) I found myself drawn back to the Gothic/Cosmic Horror masterpiece that is Bloodborne.
Having now put many full (more or less - the game is enormous) clears of Elden Ring behind me, I thought I'd return to this first Souls game I ever beat.
Despite my experience, the early part of Bloodborne is still crushingly difficult. I died many times exploring Central Yharnam, and while I did eventually come across a couple of Madman's Knowledge items there, I'd already gotten to the Cleric Beast and had two halfway decent attempts at it before I went and got the full Hunter's outfit for better protection and then upgraded my Saw Spear to +2 and put a few levels into Vitality and Endurance, and I was able to take down the Cleric Beast with about half my Blood Vials remaining, which I count as a win.
I actually managed to one-shot Father Gascoigne and the Blood-Starved Beast (the latter taking advantage of Alfred's assistance - I think this playthrough I'm going to be way less precious with things like Insight - I think I never even used any of the Madman's Knowledge or Great One's Wisdom in previous runs. I also played offline before, and I'll be curious to see if I'm able to assist anyone on bosses this go around.
There are a couple things I don't love about the game, to be fair. Farming Blood Vials and Quicksilver Bullets isn't all that fun (I'm sort of shocked that I seem to perpetually be out of the latter) and sometimes I feel like I should put all my boss Echoes into simply replenishing these stores.
The tuning is also very different from Elden Ring. I think perhaps because Elden Ring, like Dark Souls, allows for more defensive playstyles, in this, the bosses have pretty hefty stores of HP, which requires you constantly whittle away at them, even while their attacks are (at least at this stage of the game) not the hardest to avoid. I also think it was a fantastic idea to have all players start with a huge Stamina bar in Elden Ring, as I really feel energy-starved at this stage of the game.
Also, there's just no support for Arcane or Bloodtinge builds in the early game. My intent is to ultimately go with the latter for this character, but until I can get my hands on a weapon that uses it, I'll be basically playing like a Skill build that focuses a lot on Vitality and Endurance.
But I love this game, and that love remains strong. There are definitely things I've forgotten - like how to make Djura non-hostile (I might have approached him prematurely... maybe I need to beat Darkbeast Paarl first?)
I don't know if we can ever expect to get a Bloodborne II. I'd love to see one. While I adore Elden Ring (and, frankly, prefer its aesthetic and world over that of Dark Souls) and expect that, given its success, that will be the one more likely to get a direct sequel, I'd love for FromSoft to return to this Gothic setting.
Though admittedly, it'd also be really cool to see them make a Souls-like in a new setting with a new aesthetic. I'd love a futuristic sci-fi Souls-like (and no, Armored Core VI is not that).
I'd also love to see a version of Bloodborne with the quality-of-life improvements we got in Elden Ring. You know, like a Jump button.
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