Mr Dave wrote:
Is it as good as Dark Souls though?
No.
Or maybe yes.
Christ, it's hard to be objective here as to which is the better game. There's virtually no filler in Bloodborne. Dark Souls was a massive tightly woven labyrinth masterpiece. Bloodborne's is slightly smaller but equally enthralling yet without 'some' of the mystique. But the only reason that it's lacking is that we've had Dark Souls so we know the types of tricks and games that FROM have in store. We know we have to take our time, we know there's giant bosses, we know there's maze-like structures with hidden items, we know there's a lot of junk items, we know all of these things because of Dark Souls. If I'd never played Dark Souls I might think this was the greatest thing since sliced bread but since I've played Dark Souls I know that this is the greatest thing since Dark Souls.
It's kinda a natural evolution from Demons Souls to Dark Souls to Bloodborne where the fat is trimmed with each passing. The ridiculous weight limits were removed and now the weight limits are absent entirely. Who cares what you're welding cause you'll still be as fast as you started out at the beginning. The magic (which I relied on some much in Demons; loved in Dark Souls and, personally, HATED with a passion in Dark Souls 2) is restricted to tiny items picked up in the later third of the game. They're fun to muck around with (as magic should be) without spoiling the game for everyone else (remember the massive magic effects that nailed bosses in DS2 while you stood glibly by and made PvP a nuisance). The shooting is reet good fun (even though I barely used it at all). The weapons are great and varied. The two handed moveset is cool as fuck. The edition of a third (and sometimes fourth) attack button can change up the combos (personally I love when you start with a one handed attack and combine your weapon mid-way through for some uber cool looking combos).
The graphics are sublime. There's only noticeable slowdown and some pop up of effects (like fire on torches) when you're speed running around. You'll find none of it when you're just negotiating the areas normally no matter how many things are onscreen. The pots and barrels that you break are many. The enemies are first class. I can't think of any boss or enemy that I thought "meh" to, unlike DS2 which were a little deary. The backgrounds are a little "too" detailed for my liking as you see places where you've been but they're difficult in the city to pick out amongst the buildings. When you get out into the forest and see Byrgenworth (however its spelt) you'll love it. The windmill thing at the top of the cliff is a "high point" (AHAHAHAHAH). The Nightmare worlds are "insanely" (AHAHAH) (I'll stop that now) detailed. The big brain thing thing at the start of one world is a tricky area (and a secret I initially missed). Level layouts are great: shortcuts galore in some of the best designs since Dark Souls. None of this linear Dark Souls 2 stuff or the terrible volcano on a windmill crap. Plus there's areas where you actually find having a torch helps (or a lantern on your pocket), which Dark Souls 2 on the last gen couldn't handle.
The sound is fantastic; like, really fantastic. The voice acting is terrible of course, but better than ever before. It's suitably eerie throughout. The enemies attack sounds range from standard grunts and shouts to THOSE FUCKING CROWS. Terrifying is an understatement.
Story: It's nonsense. Natch.
Cut scenes: There's a few more. I actually liked how muted they were.
Endings: There's some and they are not universally terrible but if you've not been paying attention to story details (and it's a Dark Souls game so why would you even 'get' it first time round without reading up) then you might just think "Wha?"
Anyway, I managed to reach the last boss and thought "Fuck it, off to the wikis I go, so I don't miss anything". And I missed a fair bit. I also thought, I'm going to kill all the NPCs; so I did. Got some natty slippers.
Insofar as the world is concerned, it's actually quite astonishing how many of the worlds and bosses are entirely optional. There's hidden bosses for no reason other than, hey, here's another fucker for you to have a go at. Hey, as far as I know you never even have to kill the first boss you meet and proved such a test for some of us on here. Two world's are entirely hidden unless you read the item descriptions (they are a dead give away as to the location however) of two items. One of these secret worlds is actually the best level by a county mile (HINT: It's the castle).
And it's all these secrets and the obviously genuine love that's clearly gone into creating the game that keeps you coming back until the bitter end.
Fortunately, cause I knew I was at the end I was able to go back and try out some of the wiki suggestions. I missed the big brain altogether. I knew I should have rinsed that area more thoroughly but it was a reet shitter of a level. In a good way. I was however surprised how much stuff I had actually found all by myself but there were some character quest lines that I didn't have a handle on but I was able to complete with a nudge here and there. I did experience some ace stuff though like the mental guy who I sent back to the cathedral or that twat in the window I sent to the clinic. I almost forgot about the clinic. And so on... I did however accidentally stumble upon the special items needed for the true ending but I didn't figure I had to use them to get the ending but the wiki sorted that out and that's the ending I got. FYI: It's the worst ending. I spotted the door to the abandoned area but I could never figure out how to get to it. The wiki sorted that out. There was stuff I couldn't do on my first playthrough like tame the chaingun guy but I would like to do on my NG+. And so on and so on and so on. So much stuff in there, so much seen, so much to see. I found myself over the weekend playing NG+. I defeated everyone up to the Vicar and then the Witch just cause, well, it's fucking ace.
Problems: it's the shortest Souls game. 39 hours to complete (by contrast I did Demon's in 50, Dark Souls 70 hours + for the first run and 100 hours in total, Dark Souls 2 I spent 69 hours with all the DLC in there).
Seriously, it's ace. 10/10. Best game on PS4. Better than Dark Souls? Maybe not.
It's the sequel that isn't a sequel to Dark Souls that we actually deserved.
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