Topic: Bloodborne Tavern: Impressions, Help, Discussion Board

@Kidfried I’m still trudging through the Forbidden Woods. I’m having a little trouble here, mostly because it’s harder to navigate. I spent a couple hours and then got killed by the snake head guy in the windmill and lost all my blood echoes. I had enough to level up probably 3-4 levels. Oh well. I’m not as upset when I die and lose progress as I was early game. Still frustrating though. 😅
I haven’t tried any coop yet, but I would like to try. My problem is just time is unpredictable. I game when I can and it’s fairly random. Today is going to be a little bit now and then I have to meet some friends later. But I would totally like to try some coop maybe at some point.

@Th3solution Have you not ventured into the woods? My memory of the area is a bit hazy, is the windmill quite near the start? I did find that area quite difficult to get through. 😬

@JohnnyShoulder The windmill is pretty far into the area but fairly close to the shortcut back to the lantern, which I finally found after much pain and suffering. Then after that is really the worst part of the woods with harder new enemies, and more nebulous pathways to get lost in.

Ah that's right. Then the snakes come into play. Snakes…why'd it have to be snakes?

How violent is Bloodborne? Is it not for the squeamish?

@ReanSchwarzer7 Pretty violent. Not quite as gratuitous as the early God of War’s (can’t speak to the new one) but there is a lot of blood and some gore. For example some enemies grab you and try to gouge out your eyes, or bite you, or choke you, or smash you with a board with nails poking out of it, or burn you with fire, or a number of other methods to painfully and quickly execute you. The bosses are quite terrifying, the things of nightmares. The is a real creepiness to all aspects of the world, from the streets littered with bodies and rubbage, to the constant sounds of screeching, moaning, and cackling. As you fight, the “squishing” sounds of your weapon tearing through flesh resonate and blood splatters everywhere, including all over your character, who becomes increasingly covered in blood as you progress through (a la Snake in MGSV, only more so). Many enemies are demented humans, but many are disturbing manifestations if real world animals and fantasy creatures, and things you’ve just never seen or imagined before, even in your nightmares. Actually .... come to think of it, it’s probably just as violent or more so than God of War. Just not as stylized with all the over the top decapitations and rage killing as Kratos does.

All that said, I don’t care for horror or ultra violent games or movies, but I really really like this game. The violence doesn’t seem tacked on for shock, and the game doesn’t focus in on disturbing images, they just come as a natural course of playing through the game.

But yeah, it is not for the squeamish.

@ReanSchwarzer7 It’s violent, but I feel like it’s a little overrated there personally. Yes, it’s a bloody game, but the developer took care to be tasteful. He was very careful with the tone and specific color of the blood for this. He didn’t want to make a gorefest (I think it looks weird in your characters bare skin becjase kid this). The blood stains for your character progressively and and can fly and stain the ground from combat. However, it’s not like Ninja Assassin where if you poke someone blood spurts like a fountain. It’s not gratuitous. Gore is pretty minor. All I can really remember is a werewolf on the beginning knowing on someone, but you get past it pretty quickly and it’s not gratuitous either.
And there are sound effects, but I don’t think (at least 90%, If any) of the monsters designs or the combat if you took out the blood would have pushed to the M rating it has. The enemies are nightmareish for sure, but don’t have guts hanging out as I remember. If you watched a little gameplay, I’d say you get a good feel for if it’s too violent for you or not.

@ReanSchwarzer7 Yeah, I would agree with @Jaz007 in that it is toned in a way to not showcase the violence or gore. For example, when you die (which you do a lot) the game doesn’t typically zoom in to show you getting eaten by a zombie, or specially focus in on you getting disemboweled or having your throat slit or stuff like that which you may see in a traditional horror game like Resident Evil or Until Dawn. Although it is implied what has happened, the animation is that you slump over and die, and although I haven’t finished the game yet, I haven’t seen my character say, get torn into pieces or something like that.

Blood Starved Beast, one of the earlier bosses is a malformed beast that has had all of the skin peeled off its back, making for a truly gruesome sight. One Reborn a later boss is disgusting boss for other reasons (ones I won't go into for fear of spoilers). There was one section which had me freaked out cos I have phobia of something, and that area has the more freaky enemies in the game. But those are the exceptions rather than the rule.

@ReanSchwarzer7 Yeah, like the others have said, it's violent, but not in that juvenile OTT way we're so used to seeing in gaming. It's a dirty, seedy sort of violence, like going to a back alley doctor to have your kidney removed.

That's kinda what happens right at the start, except you have a blood transfusion! 😷

@JohnnyShoulder Very true! Definitely not a qualified MD. To almost quote Buzz Lightyear, I don't believe that woman has ever been to medical school.

Omg, I went ahead and bought the Tonitrus on a whim and man that thing is awesome! Durability is crap, but it can 1 hit and 2 hit kill some pretty tough enemies. Those pesky big fat armored executioner guys go down easy now. The poor durability means it’ll have to be used situationally I guess.

@Th3solution Ha ha yeah the Tonitrus is great against some enemies. Had some good fun frying some ememies which were giving me grief. Like you say the durability is pants but I'm sure there is a rune you can get to help with that.

By the way, I feel the game is getting better the more I progress. I don't understand anything about the game's story, but I do get a sense of the world. Later on in the game you get to visit some amazing locations, and the sense of satisfaction after beating a certain part or enemy just doesn't wear off.

I also love just how game-y Bloodborne is, as it feels like a modern day Castlevania.

@Kidfried You’ve made some great progress! I think you’re pulling far away from me. I only had about 2-3 hrs to invest this weekend unfortunately. Do you think you’ll go for the platinum?
Personally, as much as I’m loving the game, it is so enormous with so many hidden areas and bosses, I probably will have to just finish the story (if I’m lucky enough to do that). If I read correctly somewhere on here someone said there is a point of no return and once you finish the story then there is no going back to mop up stuff.

@Th3solution There's a new game plus of course. So in a way you can return.

I would love going for the platinum, but I think it involves finishing the game more than once for me, as some trophies are missable. I haven't paid much attention to this game's trophies, but I probably have killed some potential allies already or missed key items.

IF I finish this game (I hope I will) I'll take a look at the trophy list again.

Also, it's just a weird game progress wise. Sometimes you're stuck somewhere for hours, but another time you might rush to the next lantern in a few minutes.

@Th3solution Also, I love how we're both playing this, though both so new to the Souls games. Happy I'm not the only one who feels like a newbie all the time.

@Kidfried Absolutely! Part of the joy of this game is talking about it. Maybe we can coop eventually if time permits. But even if not, it’s just fun to chat about it since it’s a game that makes me really want to scream from the rooftops when I find something cool, experience a crazy surprise, or accomplish something grand. 😄
For example, the unexpected opening up Cainhurst Castle happened to me last night and I was like — 😱, what just happened?! Haha!

@Kyroki Lol, yeah, I was just typing that while you were. That area is still well implemented. It’s a bit too difficult for me though so I will need to come back later to complete it. I couldn’t even survive the first few enemies for very long. 😅

Is there a good time to start Chalice Dungeons? I haven’t touched them and I am just making my way through Forbidden Woods still and taking side areas to keep leveling.