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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 18:32 
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X CITE MENT RISING


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Tue Mar 10, 2015 11:27 
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http://www.vg247.com/2015/03/09/bloodbo ... ler-video/

New interactive trailer!

Breaks under strain of the Internet. Again.


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Tue Mar 10, 2015 12:13 
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£37.85 is about the cheapest its been so far if people are looking for a pre-order

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/bloodbo ... es-2161606


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Tue Mar 10, 2015 16:28 
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PBGAHJNCLQ99

Free Bloodborne theme (multi use code)


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Wed Mar 11, 2015 16:03 
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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Wed Mar 11, 2015 20:44 
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Pre-ordered.

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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 9:44 
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I'm still stuck on Demon's Souls.

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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 16:02 
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I did manage to get through Demon's Souls, but I'm stuck on Dark Souls.


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 16:10 
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I didn't even get out the Undead Asylum.

(am I doing this right?)


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Sat Mar 14, 2015 21:29 
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I've nicked this from LewieP's timeline.

http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=1008208

EDGE magazine have spent over 40 hours on it and claim it's brilliant.

X CITEMENT at fever pitch levels!


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 12:21 
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'Review' Embargo has not finished yet but a lot of places are posting their initial feedback on the game - this one is for the first hour (spoilered because of both size and that it contains spoilers :-)

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015- ... ocialoomph

ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
Bloodborne's combat convinced me I don't need a sword and shield any more

Impressions from the first hour of From Software's PS4 exclusive.

Old habits are hard to break, especially when they're ones that kept you safe through trying times. When you walked through the Valley in the shadow of Drakes, when you descended into the toxic depths of Blighttown, and when you paced the gleaming ramparts of Anor Londo, the old sword and shield combo was a reliable fallback in Dark Souls. Block, slash, back off, wait. It was a mantra you repeated to yourself over and over, a song whose comforting words saw you through the darkest nights. Block, slash, back off, wait. Dark Souls' creator Hidetaka Miyazaki doesn't want you to get comfortable, which is why his latest title, PS4 exclusive Bloodborne, is taking that fallback away. And as suspected, learning to get by in a From Software game without relying on a sword and shield doesn't come easy - at least at first.

Starting the game, you awaken, laid out on a gurney, in Iosefka's Clinic, a grimy, sunless room lined with dirty bottles and rusted medical equipment. A man in a wheelchair with his eyes bandaged, presumably Iosefka himself, looms over you. He calls you a 'Paleblood,' tells you you'll need some Yharnam blood in you, and that you'll need a contract in order to begin the transfusion. This opens up the Character Creation screen, where you'll choose the appearance and gender of your avatar. You also select your character's personal history, or 'origin', which affects their starting attributes. Being a Lone Survivor gives you higher life essence and vigour, for example; other choices include Milquetoast (all stats are average), a Noble Scion, a Troubled Childhood and a Waste of Skin - a miserable state as you're told you're worthless, talentless, and shouldn't even really be alive. How charming, and oh so very Souls-like.

Upon creating your character and 'signing' the contract, the transfusion will begin, Iosefka will disappear, a werewolf will rise from a puddle of blood on the floor and reach out to you before bursting into flames, and then hissing little imp-like creatures will crawl up over the gurney and you'll pass out, awakening some time later. After getting up you're free to explore the clinic, though the only company will be your own creaking footsteps, until you stumble upon a werewolf that will immediately kill you. You'll reawaken (again) in the Hunter's Dream, a quiet, moonlit churchyard that'll act as your hub world. It's here you'll be able to level up, upgrade weapons, and, by inspecting various tombstones, warp to other locations. Upon the steps of the church, a life-sized doll stares at you with blank, glassy eyes - its use unapparent for now. Approaching it, the text description reads simply that it's "Just a plain doll." Not likely.

As you ascend the church steps, those imp-like creatures - loyal servants of Hunters like yourself called Messengers - rise out of the ground holding trick weapons, offering you a choice between a Saw Cleaver, a Hunter's Axe, and a Threaded Cane. I take the Cleaver. Another set of Messengers offer firearms, a choice between a Hunter's Pistol and a Hunter's Blunderbuss. I take the Pistol. You can equip up to two weapons per hand to switch between, though seemingly weapons will be nowhere near as plentiful as in Dark Souls 1 and 2 - they never drop from fallen foes in Bloodborne, for example. The Messengers hand me a third gift, a notebook, which the text states will allow them to leave my messages with hunters in other worlds. A soapstone, in other words. The church doors are locked for now, but approaching another Messenger sat in a birdbath and rubbing its hands greedily, I'm told it's here I can trade in Blood Echoes, which take the place of Souls as currency here, to buy and sell items. There are only basic items available to buy at the moment; Blood Vials, which take the place of Estus Flasks; Pebbles, which are used to distract enemies; Quicksilver bullets, and firebombs.

Inspecting a nearby Tombstone of Awakening warps me back to Iosefka's Clinic, though now I'm armed I'll have a better chance of passing through. The werewolf that dispatched me is still there, only now his eyes shine white. This trait means he holds the Blood Echoes I dropped upon death - or would have dropped, had he not been the first enemy I encountered. As with the Souls games, you'll drop your primary resource upon death at the spot in which you died, but in Bloodborne, a nearby enemy will sometimes snatch up your Blood Echoes before you manage to return to the spot to retrieve them. In that instance, you'll have to kill that enemy in order to restore the Blood Echoes you had previously collected, rather than simply touching a telltale pool of blood on the ground.

A few slashes with the Saw Cleaver quickly brings down the beast. The Cleaver has two states that you can switch between with L1; closed over, it'll deal greater damage at short range, but once snapped open it'll be much more useful at fending back greater numbers of enemies with wide, sweeping slashes. You don't have to steadfastly stick with one form or the other during combat, however - changing forms during attacks will change up the combos your character performs. Opening with a sweeping attack and quickly changing to a close quarters slice will help to open up enemies using shields, for instance.

Stumbling out of the clinic, up some carved steps and opening up a heaving, creaking set of iron gates, I suddenly find myself in central Yharnam - its 19th century gothic-inspired streets paved with wrecked carriages, decomposing horses, and rows upon rows of padlocked coffins. It's an incredible sight. Boletaria, Lordran and Drangleic were faded, ancient worlds; crumbling, medieval and melancholy. The twisted streets of Yharnam are something else altogether - dark, diseased, and exceedingly hostile. Gleaming spires, ornate fortresses and once-proud marble throne rooms are replaced by wrought iron spikes, weathered limestone statues and dirty alleyways. Sometimes you'll spy a sliver of light creeping under a door or out of a shuttered window and see a flicker of life inside, hear the murmur of voices within, lamenting the fate of the city but never allowing you to cross the threshold. As a whole Yharnam is a haunting creation, but it depicts a darker, more violent kind of beauty, the sort that'll have you standing and staring as the yellow flames of a bonfire gently lick a mutilated werewolf carcass.

Approaching one such bonfire from afar, I see a large group of standard enemies gathered - citizens of Yharnam that have become infected with a so-called plague of beasts, becoming maddened as a result. Somewhere, a bell tolls, signalling to the congregated mob that it's time to resume actively hunting for beasts. I watch them from afar for a time - some stand still, others wander up and down in groups, and still more seemed a touch unpredictable as they didn't appear to have a set patrol path. Whereas before in Dark Souls I'd have attempted to kite enemies, pulling them in one by one to make them more manageable, here that endeavour becomes more difficult. If I'm lucky I can use a pebble to distract one, but more often than not you'll grab the attention of two or three at a time.

It's at this point that the difference in combat between Bloodborne and From Software's previous titles really becomes apparent. You move much faster, for starters, the dodge button enabling you to weave quickly, though sometimes clumsily, in and out and around several enemies at once. With a sword and shield combo in Souls, the instinct was to remain unmoved, allowing combatants to come to you while keeping your defences up and waiting patiently for the right time to attack. In Bloodborne, enemies come so thick and fast that this approach would be suicide, even before factoring in your lack of defensive equipment. Your foes are faster and smarter, too, and have a wide array of attacks. Some prod you with a pitchfork while their comrades call you an accursed beast and wave fire in your face to scare you off. Some drag their scythes along on the ground behind them as they patrol, filling the air with a horrible scraping sound as they screech across the cobblestones.

Perhaps the most important new aspect of combat, however, is the firearm, which takes the place of a shield in your left hand. Used as a long-range weapon it's fairly useless, at least at this very early stage of the game, but as soon as you figure out what it really is - a device with which to parry incoming attacks - it's a revelation. Firing the gun with L2 just as an enemy is about to land a blow staggers them, throwing them off balance and allowing you to follow up with a swift and bloody counterattack that will instantly kill lower-level aggressors, drenching your cloak in their blood in the process. This mechanic all but forces you to be more pro-active, and thus completely changes the pace of Bloodborne's combat. Where before, in Dark Souls, I'd be slowly circling singular enemies, suffering their attacks while feeling for the right moment to plunge a blade into their back, now I'm chasing them down and facing mobs of them head on, goading them into battle. Charged attacks can also be carried out on enemies by holding and releasing R2, and in the case of one that is unaware of your presence, can stun them long enough to carry out a brutal follow-up with R1.

In addition to this, the Regain system also rewards aggressive play by allowing you to claw back health lost from enemy attacks if you retaliate within a certain timeframe. After being dealt damage, you'll notice an orange section momentarily appears on your red health bar. This is how much health you can potentially get back from counterattacking, and each consecutive hit will add a small portion of that orange bar back to your overall health. It doesn't make you invincible, but it does embolden you to strike fast and keep consecutive skirmishes going for longer than you might otherwise have done. Make no mistake, combat here still demands strategic thinking and some degree of foresight, but it feels much more immediate.

My hour-long demo ends with the first boss fight of the game - the Cleric Beast, a tangled, towering mass of bones and branches and lichen that leaps over a wall with a bloodcurdling screech and launches directly at me. One of my favourite aspects of Dark Souls was its incredibly detailed monster design, so it's good to see that still intact here. The Cleric Beast appears relentless in its attacks, but knocking back its arm with the firearm does seem to leave it vulnerable to a more powerful follow-up with the Cleaver.

On one hand, Bloodborne is unmistakably Souls in nature. From the mournful music to the surprise enemy placements, to the labyrinthine, complex world and the need to strategise and learn from your mistakes in order to inch forwards, this is an experience that Souls fans will immediately recognise. But there are fundamental differences in its design that make playing Bloodborne a markedly different experience. Though an hour wasn't totally enough to wean me off all the habits I learned while playing From Software's previous games, I am no longer a shieldmaiden of Lordran. Prior to playing, I had thought I'd just stick to my Souls' 'block, slash, back off, wait' mantra whenever and however I could. Playing through just an hour of Bloodborne, I can see that simply won't be the case, and nor do I want it to be. I'm a convert; in Yharnam, a good offence is the best defence, and that's the song I'll be singing come release day.


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 14:24 
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I bought the first one of these with some trepidation thinking that it probably wasn't going to be for me but everyone loved it so I gave it a go, I got bored after perhaps ten hours play and never went back to it. I did the same with the second one. This looks so pretty that I'll probably get it thinking that this time will be different and I'll stick with it. I reckon there's a less than 1% chance I'll ever finish it.


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 15:58 
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Some notes on playing it with a Vita using remote play

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2015/03/ ... r=36969785

ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
How Bloodborne feels on PS Vita via Remote Play

Plus, more hands-on impressions of next week’s PS4 action epic

Though Bloodborne shares some broad similarities with Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, it translates From Software‘s trademark high risk, high reward play-style to PS4 in new and interesting ways.

Starting with its zippier movement speed, Bloodborne seems bound and determined to strip away anything that might encumber the moment-to-moment flow. Shields are no longer central to gameplay, replaced with dodging and a new “regain” system that allows you to regenerate lost health by striking the creature that inflicted the damage (don’t expect to mash buttons hoping for an easy health boost, though). These strategic tweaks further heighten From Software’s blissful blend of risk and reward and encourage you to stay on the offense.

Character creation will be familiar to veteran Souls players. In selecting a character “origin,” you’ll choose from colourful descriptors such as Troubled Childhood (high resilience), Violent Past (high strength), and Waste of Skin (nearly helpless). I opted for the Military Veteran, which gave a balanced boost to my strength and skill ratings.

Moments into the game, it’s clear that From Software is putting PS4’s processing power to good use. Bloodborne’s grim hellscapes are a clear generational leap from the castles and courtyards of the Souls games. Bottles and boxes tumble realistically when struck. Fog flows like spilled blood. Light sources glow menacingly. The environments look and feel alive in ways the eight year-old PS3 hardware just can’t accommodate.

After ogling the environments, my Military Veteran set to work. Some friendly demons presented me with a choice of three starting weapons: I skipped the Hunter’s Axe and Saw Cleaver in favor of the Threaded Cane, a nasty piece of work that bashed skulls up close and expanded into a bladed whip for longer distance work.

Bloodborne’s weapons are multifaceted marvels, each effectively serving as two weapons in one. Combined with firearms like the Hunter’s Pistol and Blunderbuss, I strung together wicked multipart combos that shredded enemy mobs quickly and efficiently.

Bloodborne also taps into some of DUALSHOCK 4’s unique control features, starting with the touchpad. Click the right side and you’ll see your personal effects (molotovs, notebook, etc); click the left side and you’ll see your available gestures, which you’ll activate using DUALSHOCK 4’s internal motion sensor.

Being a PS4 title, we naturally had questions about how Bloodborne’s faster combat would translate to PS Vita’s smaller form factor. I can happily report that FromSoftware has implemented various niceties that ensure a smooth transition from
DUALSHOCK 4 to PS Vita, including a few clever re-mapping solutions:

DualShock 4 Control In-game function Remote Play Control
L2 & R2 Gun & Strong attack Bottom corners of front touchscreen
DS4 Touchpad (split to left & right halves) Gestures & Personal Effects Front Touchpad (split to left & right halves)
R3 Lock-on to enemy Right half of Rear Touchpad

After about five minutes of re-training my muscle memory, I was already dodging and counterattacking Bloodborne’s nightmarish beasts with the same finesse and ferocity as I was managing while playing natively on PS4.

Then there are the new Chalice Dungeons, procedurally generated levels set in the vast ruins beneath Yharnam. I test drove one dungeon called “Chamber of the Seal,” and its gloomy atmosphere and haunting ambient audio gave a tantalizing preview of what’s in store.

After hacking through a mob of scuttling rats and hulking horrors, a towering undead giant flattened me in two mighty blows. This experience perfectly encapsulated the major differences — as well as some key similarities — between Bloodborne and the Souls games. The melee combat felt more immediate, and I made rapid progress thanks to my faster movement speed. But in classic Souls style, all it took was one moment of hesitation to seal my fate.

I’m dying to dive back into Bloodborne when it lands on PS4 next week.


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 16:00 
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And a bit on Kotaku talking to Miyazaki

http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2015/03/16/dark ... ne-killing

ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
Where Dark Souls is About Death, Bloodborne is More About Killing

I’ve played a bit of Bloodborne. Not as much as I could have, because I don’t want my experience of it to be the weird, isolated experience of playing a game before its release, when the servers are empty and the code has strange wrinkles. I want to play Bloodborne like I played Demon’s Souls six years ago after I picked it up in a Japanese game store with no idea what it was. I want to discover it alongside a secret community of fellow players around the world, helping each other out. Not in an office somewhere, fumbling through pre-release code on my own.

Everything I’ve seen of Bloodborne so far suggests it’s going to be something really special, too, which has only hardened my resolve. Like quite a few early Souls devotees I know, I found Dark Souls 2 strangely difficult to love despite its many great qualities. The prospect of a new game from the series’ mastermind Hidetaka Miyazaki excites me so much more than a Souls retread, however good it might be. And I get the impression that it excites Miyazaki himself, too; when I speak to him at FROM Software in Tokyo, the studio of which he is now President, he seems incredibly energised about Bloodborne - eager to share it, but wary of spoiling it. The game has literally just gone gold, and the studio’s nearly empty. I see futons and pillows stowed under desks.

Three years or so ago, Sony came to Miyazaki with the then-unannounced PlayStation 4 hardware and invited him to create something unique for it. I’d assumed that Bloodborne might have started out as Demon’s Souls 2, but evidently that wasn’t the case - Masaki Yamagi, the Sony Worldwide Studios producer who’s been working with FROM on Bloodborne since the very beginning, says that Sony wanted something new. “The goal was, just like we did with Demon’s Souls, to give people a whole new gaming experience - this time on PS4,” he says. “We always wanted to have this as an entirely new experience and allow Miyazaki-san’s directorial vision to come through. There was never really a conversation about it being a Souls game.”

Bloodborne might share an extraordinary amount of the Souls series’ DNA, from the third-person perspective to the sound that footsteps make on its cobbled gothic-Victorian streets, but there are key things that are very different about it - things that will feel very significant to anyone familiar with the subtle symbolism of Demon’s and Dark Souls. The Victorian horror setting is an obvious change, but I’ve also noticed a thematic shift. The Souls games are about dying - every feeble creature and majestically grotesque monster and crumbling castle in those games is a manifestation of death in its many scary and sometimes beautiful forms. But Bloodborne? Bloodborne’s more about killing.

The rhythm and style of the combat is different, you see, even if it might look broadly similar. In Souls you’re usually on the defensive - you walk into a room with your shield up and can take a few hits before reacting. That just does not happen in Bloodborne. You don’t even have a shield. When something hits you, you have to hit back, and quickly, to regain health. My initial instinct was to dodge backwards and regroup after getting hit by some screaming madman with a cleaver, but after a while my mindset changed and I was lunging back aggressively with my own transforming cleaver after every blow I took. It’s exceptionally aggressive and exciting and on-edge. Every single encounter feels like life or death, and it usually is.

It gave me a feeling of bloodlust that was rare in Souls. It made me behave like the hunter that I was playing. Souls’ protagonist is a dead thing amongst all the other dead things, but Bloodborne’s is a demon-hunter drawn inexorably to the sight and sound and idea of blood. During boss fights his clothing becomes saturated with it. Every slash sends ribbons of it gushing and flying. It had a very strange effect on my primal brain. “You’re certainly drawn to a more aggressive style of fighting,” Miyazaki tells me later on. “It’s a running theme within the story of Bloodborne that you are drawn to the blood, and as you fight more and more in this terrifying combat, you’re being gradually swallowed up by this nightmare. If that is getting across through the combat mechanics, I feel that’s very effective in telling the story of Bloodborne.”

I’m not usually a fan of gore, or of horror, which made me nervous about Bloodborne - I’m still not convinced that I’ll be able to get through it mentally unscathed. This isn’t dark fantasy any more. It’s more gruesome than that. But it’s not gross-out - there’s no viscera gushing from wounds, no gore-porn, nothing that made my nose wrinkle in disgust. I’ve been scared and occasionally shocked by the things I’ve seen so far in Bloodborne, but not repulsed. This shouldn’t be surprising, really, as this is a Miyazaki game, and rarely has there been a game creator more devoted to aesthetic beauty - even if that beauty is also gruesome.

“I feel like nobody will believe me when I say this, but I’m a tasteful man and I like to adjust things accordingly; there was very careful management of the boundaries of what is shown,” he says. “Things like what colour the blood would be - we had to really adjust the tone of the red that we were using. But also when creatures are attacked and blood is spilling everywhere, it’s adjusted so that it’s expressed in more of an artistic way than a violent or gruesome way; it’s symbolic. It’s expressed in the way that a painting would show something, not a photorealistic representation. That maintains a sense of terror without being gratuitous.

“There were many things that needed to be toned down. Bloodborne is set in a nightmarish world, and that sense of horror needed to be expressed, so there are always going to be things that when first created were rather too over-the-top. Where do you set the limitations of what you show visually? It’s something that I had to exercise quite a lot throughout the project. I wanted to take a step into that more sinister, gruesome setting and environment compared to the Souls series, but then you’ve always got to be careful of how far you step into it - that’s something that Sony has helped with. We did discuss what the right boundaries were, what would be too distasteful.”

It’s evident from talking to anyone involved with Bloodborne that Hidetaka Miyazaki has taken the same extremely detailed, hands-on approach to directing the game as he did with Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls - even though he is now the president of FROM Software. “Director Miyazaki is much like an art director himself the way he works, so he gives the art staff very specific, concrete ideas on what he wants. The team works together with Miyazaki on very specific nuances of how things should look in the design,” one of the lead artists tells me.

“He is a very interesting director. He’s a very logical person,” adds Yamagi. “But one of the biggest things about him is the process by which he creates something, where he comes up with an idea for a creation. It is very unique to him and also very fast. He is a very quick creator and that’s something that really impressed me. Another thing about him is that he gets inspiration from a lot of different things, but his strongest inspiration comes from novels - he is a big fan of literature. As a result he’ll read a book and be like “THIS!”, and underline a section, and show it to the artists and attempt to draw - he’s not an artist himself, but he’ll draw what he’s looking for. He does everything in his power to expand his imagination to that his worlds take on a life of their own. I am very impressed by that.”

I wonder how he still has time for this, given all the other duties he must now have as President. Miyazaki laughs when I ask. “I feel very lucky, because I do get away with things for the good of the game - we’ve got a parent company now, Kadokawa, and they’re very understanding, and [Sony] is also very accommodating to some of the things that I decide not to do, because in order to make time to make the game I must forego some other duties, so to speak.

“Having such a hands-on approach to everything is very important to me, but it’s also important to the company. The most important thing is to create something that is great, in whatever time that takes… The development team understands that, the surrounding staff understand that, the chairpeople understand that. So the way I see it, it’s not having the time to do everything, it’s creating the time to do everything - ensuring it. Because without that, FROM would not be FROM. If we don’t create something great, that is compromising on what we’re all here to do.”

This is a situation that any other developer would long for; who wouldn’t want to take every minute necessary to make something as great as it can be? The realities of fiscal quarters and release windows and budgets usually prevent that from happening, but not here. “FROM absolutely do not accept compromise on their work,” Yamagi says, when I ask if it’s difficult as a publisher to work with such perfectionism. “A lot of people, if they get to 90% of the perfect product, they’d let that go, even if there were little things they weren’t quite satisfied with. But that is not From Software. I actually don’t think they’re doing anything particularly differently from any other studio, but they are so particular about their work and refuse to let anything that’s even 90% done go. Years and years of that attitude has created the FROM style that we know today.”

When I first played Demon’s Souls, it felt like it had arrived - fully formed and exquisite - from nowhere. It seems to me that Miyazaki has these worlds fully realised in his head, and the development time is mostly devoted to communicating them to the people who work with him. There are obvious influences - Fighting Fantasy was one of Souls’ main inspirations, and Miyazaki talks about the Cthulu mythology and the Dracula stories as part of the basis for Bloodborne - but FROM worlds just aren’t like anything else you find in video games. It’s not just the attention to detail - I think it’s the directorial vision that the studio’s structure enables.

“I think it’s something connected to Japanese culture: this is how we’ve always created games, the way that we’ve worked,” says Yamagi. “I’m sure we’ve added various aspects from overseas game development and been influenced in many ways, but that’s the way we’ve always done it, so that’s the way it’s done to this day… when it comes to Bloodborne specifically, I definitely think that this way of creating a game is what has led to its unified world. All of the aspects of art and design are connected, all of the aspects are linked, and they’re all unified - and I think that is precisely because of the way they are created.”

———


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 17:16 
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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Tue Mar 24, 2015 11:22 
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Review Embargo is up and its basically all 9's

Metacritic with 35 reviews is sitting at a 93 - http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/bloodborne

Stevivor - 7.5

Gaming Age - A

Gamespot - 9

Jimquistion - 10

Destructoid - 9

RPGSite - 9

GamesRadar - 4.5/5

MMORPG - 9

Game Informer - 9.75

NZGamer - 8.9

The Escapist - 4.5/5

CGM - 9.5

DigitalSpy - 5/5

Telegraph - 5/5

PlayStation Lifestyle - 9

Attack of the Fanboy - 4.5/5

Tapezilla - 5/5

Hardcore Gamer - 4.5/5

Gaming Trend - 95

Tom's Guide - 4/5

NeoSeeker - 9

PSU - 9.5

EGMNow - 9.5

God is a Geek - 10

Digital Spy - 5/5

Falcon Kick - 10

Hardcore Gamer - 4.5/5

Gaming Nexus - 9

RPGFan - 95

Gametrailers - 9.6

MMGN - 9.5

Vandal - 9.4

Spazio Games - 9

EveryEye - 9

Meristation - 9.3

Siliconera - No Score

Sydney Morning Herald - No Score

VideoGamer - TBA

IGN - Review in progress

Venturebeat - Review in progress

Eurogamer - Review in progress

USGamer - Review in progress

Kotaku - 20 hours in impressions

(links shamelessly stolen from Neogaf)


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Tue Mar 24, 2015 11:31 
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Bad Girl

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Bloody hell. Is it out yet? I NEED THIS IN MY LIFE!


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Tue Mar 24, 2015 11:31 
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And I think this is one of my favorite quotes from a review (From Jim Sterling)

Quote:
The weapons you can acquire are not as abundant as they were in previous Souls titles, but every single one is gorgeously designed and more flexible in its use. Each gun and melee weapon behaves differently, and the latter is always able to switch between two forms. One standard weapon, the Saw Cleaver, may be used as either a short-ranged hacksaw held against the forearm, or extended to produce, obviously, a cleaver. My personal favorite, Ludwig’s Sword, is a relatively unassuming longsword that makes swift attacks, with an unusually huge scabbard mounted on the Hunter’s back. When transformed, the Hunter reached behind, sticks the small sword into the scabbard and brings it forward, because that sheathe was, itself, a giant sword.

Bloodborne is a game that lets you put more sword on your sword because you need Too Much Sword.


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Tue Mar 24, 2015 15:03 
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Saturnalian wrote:
Bloody hell. Is it out yet? I NEED THIS IN MY LIFE!

Friday for the UK. Today if you buy it from the U.S. PSN.


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Tue Mar 24, 2015 15:04 
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I have never played DeS or DaS2. I enjoyed DaS1 until I got to the second or third boss, when the cunt of a camera put me off and I never went back. I probably shouldn't buy this but by lord, the hype train has me by the balls.


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Tue Mar 24, 2015 15:10 
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Doctor Glyndwr wrote:
I have never played DeS or DaS2. I enjoyed DaS1 until I got to the second or third boss, when the cunt of a camera put me off and I never went back.


I never played DeS - I enjoyed DaS1 until i got stuck and never went back and DaS2 never really grabbed me

Doctor Glyndwr wrote:
I probably shouldn't buy this but by lord, the hype train has me by the balls.


:this:


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Tue Mar 24, 2015 15:11 
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I'd really like to try one of these games but I very much suspect they'd be too hard for me so I'm not willing to actually buy one. Whatever happened to bloody demos eh?


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Tue Mar 24, 2015 15:28 
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I tried and failed to play Dark Souls. Must have played over those first 30 minutes at least a dozen times. And each time I stopped because I...I don't know why. I think I was overcome by that fear I was missing things. I was doing things wrong. I was getting a half-fat experience, which I felt was a waste of the 30-odd hours the game would demand from me.

All of which I know is stupid, and large part of a souls game is trying, failing, exploring, discovering, muddling through your own way. I don't like hand-holding, far from it. I just don't think I'm the right player for the game. It's not you, Mr Souls, it's me. You dirty bastard.


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Tue Mar 24, 2015 16:10 
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Bad Girl

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Bamba wrote:
I'd really like to try one of these games but I very much suspect they'd be too hard for me so I'm not willing to actually buy one. Whatever happened to bloody demos eh?


Demon's Souls was on PS+ a while back. Shame you missed it cause I reckon you'd win some record for the time taken before you delete it from your system.


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Tue Mar 24, 2015 16:22 
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Bamba wrote:
I'd really like to try one of these games but I very much suspect they'd be too hard for me so I'm not willing to actually buy one. Whatever happened to bloody demos eh?


There was an interview with a lady in the games industry who said something along the lines of demos lose them sales so they do not want to do them anymore but buggered if I can remember who or when.

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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 14:13 
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Bad Girl

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Oi Bamba have you stil got your PS3? Demon's Souls is £3.99 until 15 April on PSN. That's as cheap as a demo you're going to get me thinks


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 14:34 
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Saturnalian wrote:
Oi Bamba have you stil got your PS3? Demon's Souls is £3.99 until 15 April on PSN. That's as cheap as a demo you're going to get me thinks


Nah, I got shot of my PS3 and Xbox to make room for the PS4. Dark Souls 2 will probably turn up on PS+ for the PS4 eventually but I might not have a sub at that point. Or I could pirate a PC games for the first time in about ten years! Except that I don't really care that much.


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 15:27 
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Bamba wrote:
Or I could pirate a PC games for the first time in about ten years! Except that I don't really care that much.


PC version of Dark Souls is normally cheap

Out of stock right now but £8

http://www.simplycdkeys.com/steam/dark- ... ition-key-

(I think i paid around $5 for DaS1 in some amazon sale at one point)


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 15:39 
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UltraMod

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Bamba wrote:
I'd really like to try one of these games but I very much suspect they'd be too hard for me so I'm not willing to actually buy one. Whatever happened to bloody demos eh?

I don't wish to sound rude (but I'm going to anyway), but if you found TLoU too hard, don't even bother with these games.

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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 15:45 
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Paws for thought

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I'd concur. If you don't like games that will repeatedly kick you on the teeth until you've learned how to be good enough to stop them, it's not going to appeal, regardless of how much you might like the world and the like.


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 16:31 
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Mr Dave wrote:
I'd concur. If you don't like games that will repeatedly kick you on the teeth until you've learned how to be good enough to stop them, it's not going to appeal, regardless of how much you might like the world and the like.


Well, yeah, I totally assume this will be the case which is why I haven't bothered picking any of them up at any point. It would just be nice to at least have tried them out given how much of a talking point this series is in general over the last few years.

As for that evergreen 'ha, Bamba's shit at games' meme, it's possibly worth noting that TLoU is the only game I've ever had to drop down to easy to finish since, well, since I can ever remember. So I don't know if I am generally massively cack-handed at games or was just frustrated by TLoU specifically for some reason. Not that I have an issue with that being the case if it is, I'm just not entirely convinced given that I do finish the vast majority of games I play and I do it on the normal difficulty level.

Fake edit: actually, that's not true. The other games I've given up on due to, partially at least, the difficulty have been Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Dante's Inferno and Guacamelee so there's that evidence for the prosecution.


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 16:38 
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Of those, the only one I've played was Guacamelee. Which I also gave up on. Not so much as it was too hard, but more I just didn't much like the fighting style.


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 17:08 
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Mr Dave wrote:
Of those, the only one I've played was Guacamelee. Which I also gave up on. Not so much as it was too hard, but more I just didn't much like the fighting style.


I didn't enjoy the combat style much either which was a contributing factor to my frustration. There were also a couple of platforming sections I had to practise over and over and over again to get through where you had to chain a load of different techniques together in what felt like a very small time window. I wasn't very far through at that point and assumed it was just going to get more ridiculous as time went on so just gave up. Which is a shame because after the sheer joy that was Shadow Complex I thought Guacamelee might be a genuinely decent new metroidvania to get stuck into but it wasn't for me.


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 17:15 
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Bad Girl

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There's definitely a few puzzles that need lightning reflexes. As a DmC aficionado I was capable of pulling them off (just about). There's no penalty for death (as far as I remember) so it was never that bad anyway cause you'd revert to the room entrance.


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 18:48 
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Guacamelee was the best non-Castlevania mmetroidvania i've ever played, and it had some of the best boss battles.

Interesting that so many people didn't liked it.


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 18:50 
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Bad Girl

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Cool people liked it though, aye?


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 18:52 
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YES!


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 19:01 
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Bad Girl

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o/


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 22:36 
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Bad Girl

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He better come back and finish that high 5.


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 10:21 
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o/

(is this how cool people do it, right?)


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 10:36 
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Bad Girl

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(No!)


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 10:38 
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Now you're just a pair of Hitler Youth in a line.

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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 13:48 
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o/

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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 13:49 
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Just finished FC4 so I'm ready for Bloodborne now please.

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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 14:00 
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http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/03/i ... own-blood/

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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 15:07 
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Zardoz wrote:
Just finished FC4 so I'm ready for Bloodborne now please.


You can buy the American one now - and if you pre-ordered the UK one you might get it today


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Fri Mar 27, 2015 9:03 
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I did and I didn't but I hope I do today.

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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Fri Mar 27, 2015 10:09 
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Zardoz wrote:
I did and I didn't but I hope I do today.


I got mine yesterday - died a lot and really struggled with a very basic point - i will put it in spoilers below but around your starting weapons :


ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
At the start you have no weapons - you face the first enemy and will probably die
This puts you in a graveyard and a you can then view the various notes about gameplay and choose your two weapons

*this does not equip them*

I spent forever going through menus / inventory / pressing every button but could not work out how to get my weapons in my hands - I wondered if it was a bug and re-started (the same) - wondered if i needed the multiplayer patch (i was playing off the disk while it downloaded) - nope - and ended up looking up online where most of the advice was 'you dont need weapons you should kill the first enemy with your hands cause its supposed to be hard !'

What I was missing is to equip a weapon you pull up the side menu (press option) , move the cursor on this screen to your 'arms' section , press X and then moving left and right you can select a weapon (press X and there is a red blood smear on it) and then it will be equipped


Oh and 2.6 gig patch which you'll need to install before online is enabled


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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Fri Mar 27, 2015 10:35 
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Reminds me of dark souls, where one of the intro instructions teaches you about how to do a certain move with a weapon. Only if you're a dex character it gives you a weapon that you can't actually do that move with...

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 Post subject: Re: Bloodborne - From Software - PS4
PostPosted: Fri Mar 27, 2015 13:53 
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Bad Girl

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I have gots this.

But weirdly I want to finish Oddworld: New & Tasty first. Hnnngh.


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