Initial release date: March 24, 2015
Developer: From Software
Designer: Hidetaka Miyazaki
Platform: PlayStation 4
Modes: Single/Multiplayer
Why a new OT for a 3 year old game? Thread Mission:
This OT is being posted to help with the influx of newbies about to enter this deadly world via the PS+ March offering. Rather than a bunch of LTTP threads, use this thread to discuss the game, support newbs entering the world for the first time, as well as, group up for this game. There is a lot to learn and a lot to do in order to stay alive, so as a plea to BB vets, please post any tips, tricks or anything else that may help the newbs survive.
Game Lore:
Bloodborne takes place in Yharnam, a decrepit Gothic city known for its medical advances using blood as a primary tool.[37] Over the years, many travelers journey to the city seeking the remedy to cure their afflictions; the player's character journeys to Yharnam seeking something known as Paleblood for reasons unknown.[37] Upon arriving in the city, however, it is discovered that Yharnam is plagued with an endemic illness that has transformed most of its citizens into bestial creatures. The player must navigate the streets of Yharnam during the night of The Hunt, and overcome its violently deranged inhabitants and horrifying monsters in order to stop the source of the plague and escape the nightmare.
Screens:
C'mon now, these aren't meant to scare you away, they are here to get you excited. I mean, the aesthetics of this world are amazing... Don't back down now, you can do it!
Don't worry it's just the way this game is. It's bound to happen to you once or twice, maybe three times..... okay, maybe a bunch of times along the way....
Three items needed to access multiplayer:
Beckoning Bell
. The Beckoning Bell allows you to send out a signal, broadcasting your interest in having another player join you in a co-op multiplayer session Small Resonant Bell
The Small Resonant Bell is used to send a signal that you're available to join another player's game Sinister Resonant Bell
The Sinister Resonant Bell lets you invade another player's world, hunt them down and kill them if you want.
- The Sinister Resonant Bell and Small Resonant Bell aren't available until you've collected 10 insight, which happens by encountering bosses, beating bosses, and consuming Madman's Knowledge. When you've reached 10 insight, there will be a second shop available
Once you have these items, there are three options in Bloodborne:
- Co-Op With A Stranger
* Warning: By looking for help from strangers, you're also open to being invaded by strangers.
- Co-Op With A Friend
* matchmaking is done through a password system
- Invading Others Players And Killing Them
Let's get those tips for the rookies going!
1. It is sometimes better to dodge toward and through the enemy instead of away from them.
2. Master the parry/visceral combo as soon as possible. You don't need to rely on it but it is very useful in combat.
3. Explore. Explore. Explore. The level design encourages it and you will benefit quite a bit from it in more ways than one.
4. Don't be hesitant to just run pass enemies. You can always backtrack after you've got your bearings.
I got the platinum trophy for Bloodborne back in January, so I'll try to pop in and help answer questions for people who are new to the game. I can through out a few tips real quick for those jumping in,
You won't be able to level up until you get one insight. This is gained from meeting a boss or picking up and consuming a madman's knowledge. I wouldn't mess with enemies and try to avoid them until you find one of these things.
If you see a window to a house lit up or a red lantern outside it, then there is a npc voice you can talk to. This can sometimes be just lore, or a side quest. ;)
When you first start you won't have weapons, but when you arrive at the hunter's dream for the first time upon death, there will be little puddles with messengers behind the doll. Each on of these will ask you to chose your starter weapon and your type of parry gun. I know some will ask why this is tip, but I've heard that some people didn't know this is where you get your weapons.
Finally, and this is for those that have played the dark souls games, there are no hidden pathways blocked by a imaginary wall in the main game. This tip is just so you'll save time from running around hitting walls that look like they may hold a secret. There is however some imaginary walls in the chalice dungeons, but I wouldn't worry about that stuff until you're almost done with the game.
I hope you enjoy the game new hunters. The night is long and beasts thirst for blood. However, while you need that blood to grow stronger, remember to fear the old blood. ;)
Use the Threaded Cane and spec out your character in the SKILL stat
Don't worry about losing blood echoes when you die. Don't let the game stress you out. Later bad guys will be dropping those by the thousands, anyway.
Play at your own pace
The first few areas in the game I would practice until I could reliably 100% clear them while chatting with other folks. It's oddly calming
Enjoy the boss fights. In general, I don't use a single consumable item in a boss fight until I manage to get the boss down to ~40% HP. Learn their moves. Play them solo. But--I'm a pretty low stress guy.
If a boss is stressing you out then you should help out other people to kill the boss. After doing that a few times call in some random friends and have them help you out.
My biggest tip is to take it slow. Examine your surroundings before you proceed. Use rocks to try to pull as few enemies as possible at a time.
A lot of the bosses will take practice and that's okay.
Here are some of my tips:
- Learn your weapons moveset. Your dash attack may be poor, but your transformation attack may be awesome. It all depends on your weapon choice.
- Parry. There are some enemies and bosses you'll never really beat without learning how to do this. (I'm looking at you, Bloody Crow of Cainhurst.) - Not everybody you meet in the game will be an enemy. Don't just attack everything because it's there. Some NPCs have very worthwhile quests.
- Some equipment you might see in the shops are expensive, but it's worth it to invest in some cases.
Inspect the surroundings to find shortcuts and items, and read through all what's been presented to you.
Use Pebbles to lure the enemies away from the herd.
Practise parrying with gun, it'll make things much easier in the long run. The large brick-carrying trolls are good for practise.
Use all spare echoes from levelling up to gather Blood Vials.
You can find 8 Bloodstone Shards and Hunter armor set in the first area. The former can be used to upgrade your weapon, and you can also buy the armor set from the Bath Messengers in the Hunter's Dream.
You only need to concentrate on three stats on your first playthrough, Vitality, Endurance, and Skill/Strength. The latter depending on what weapon you choose. I chose Threaded Cane and Blunderbuss myself, and platinumed the game with that setup.
EDIT: I also found it handy to use the touchpad menu for items like Antidote and Sedative. That way you don't have to scroll though the other inventory, when you're in a dire need of them.
My tips:
- Don't sleep on the Hunter Blunderbuss. It can make parrying a lot easier for a lot of players, especially on certain bosses. Kinda depends on your style, but it's the best gun for me.
- Don't be afraid to grind and "over level" a bit if you're stuck. The game can be immensely satisfying when returning to a previously frustrating area as a one-shot hype beast.
- Get the Yarnham Hunter set from the shop. It's the best looking one.
- There's no spells like in the Souls-games, but there are occult eldritch items you can use that function in a similar way and are super OP.
One of the items literally summons parts of a late game boss as an attack. How fucking glorious is that?
Platinum Trophy holder (100% DLC as well). Proud to say I can provide some tips they may not have been covered if anyone cares:
1) Time Your Heal/Satus-Cure Item: During boss fights/small melees, you will sometimes have an inclination to rush away and heal when you get hit (often without clear view of your nemesis). This is a good way to get killed. Bosses will zone in on you when you heal clearly in their view. Wait till an enemy to finish attack, dodge and heal while keeping them in your view. A viable tactic in a PvP fight as well (provided you're not following the "rules of PVP" as some Souls people will tell you). The same can be applied to healing status ailments such as frenzy and slow/rapid poison.
2) Avoid Panic Rolling/Dodging: This will come with confidence but sometimes 1 good roll/sidestep is enough to avoid an enemy's attack. This leaves you open to get a shot in at times. Panic rolling can again make you lose sight of your enemy and this can be extremely dangerous so a controlled dodge/escape is key. As someone also pointed out, dodging forward can actually make sense.
3) Abuse Rally To Heal: The rally mechanic allows you to heal by striking enemies within a short window of being hit yourself. This can be a valuable way to claw back health without using a vial. This, combine with Point 1, can help with your Vial/healing economy. Common sense though: rally only if you have an opening. Rushing to reclaim your health is a good way to get dead.
4) You Can Get Through The Entire Game With Any Weapon: While I cannot attest to following this myself (purely out of selfish preference for 2 DLC weapons which I love), every weapon has their own quirkiness and charm. Don't feel afraid to stick with a weapon you love in spite of people luring you to the Thread Cane or the Axe (for that Spin2Win).
5) Observethen Act: This has been covered but I can't stress this enough. This is not a hack and slash game. It's about watching, learning and adapting. It's about learning an enemy's tell, the range and variety of attacks, the length of combos, etc. Some bosses have phases where attacks/behaviors change. You will die but you will learn. Refuse to learn and you will never win. It's really that simple.
For both newcomers and people that wants to make a new run with the PS+ free deal, here's glyphs from Depth 1 tier Chalices were you can obtain later weapons like Chikage, Blades of Mercy or Burial Blade.
You can enter them as early as Blood Starved Beast. Be wary though enemies are depth 5 tier (SL 120) but
he weapons are in the first bonus area, before the first main area, so you can just run and avoid enemies.
You can also find Chalice tier runes.
1 jgn2jkkw L1: Clockwise Metamorphosis + Oedon Writhe
2 ahg38eit L1: Clawmark
3 dtx7qxbq t L1: Blood Rapture
4 p2tbyrh2 L1: Eye
5 dgt23fwp L1: Anticlockwise Metamorphosis
6 nzzn259g L1: Uncanny Burial Blade + Dissipating Lake
7 9x9gipey r L1: Lost Threaded Cane
8 xc284ugx L1: Communion + Formless Oedon
9 9nheuvvz L1: Lost Chikage
10 5jne4scm L1: Logarius' Uncanny Wheel
11 wkzxrvfz L1: Lost Stake Driver, Lost Tonitrus
12 fearrfan L1: Uncanny Beast Claw, Uncanny Tonitrus
13 4f3x2uc6 L1: Communion +5, Lost Reiterpallasch
14 f3cz4awe L1: Lost Threaded Cane
15 6s46u7i4 L1: Lost Blade of Mercy
Also, PSA FOR NEW PLAYERS: IT IS NOT TRUE THAT YOU NEED TO SEE/FIGHT A BOSS FIRST BEFORE YOU CAN LEVEL UP. WHAT MATTERS IS YOU NEED TO HAVE AT LEAST ONE INSIGHT.
THERE ARE TWO MADMAN KNOWLEDGE THAT YOU CAN FIND BEFORE FIGHTING ANY OF THE FIRST TWO BOSSES. ONE IS IN BOTTOM AREA WITH A LOT OF SMOKE WHERE YOU CAN ALSO FIND FREE SAW SPEAR AND ACCESS TO EILEEN (also make sure to talk to her before fighting Gascoigne)
THE OTHER IS IN BETWEEN THE CROWS NEARBY THE LITTLE GIRL'S HOUSE AND THE TROLL THAT FACES THE DOOR.
"Beasts all over the shop. You'll be one of them, sooner or later."
-Gascoigne
I just finished this game a few days ago. One of the best games I've ever played.
A tip: you can level up before fighting the Cleric Beast if you go down into the sewers. There should be a Madman's Knowledge somewhere down there, and all you need to level up is 1 insight.
To those of you experiencing Bloodborne for the first time, I don't want to overhype the game and inflate your expectations, so I will simply say I hope you are ready to experience the greatest video game ever crafted in the history of the known universe.
Welcome new hunters. Hopefully everyone gets to enjoy the greatest game of the generation.
Once I'm done with Monster Hunter World I'm probably joining for another play through.
Every day I wish someone would wipe my memory of Bloodborne so I can play it again as fresh as the first time. Enjoy, new hunters!! I'll dive in to help sometime!
I feel bad for Bloodborne. All those psplus subscribers are going to be disappointed with it because its the game that has to follow knack. Nothing could live up to that.
Sure why not it's the best game on ps4 yet.
Enjoyed the game immensely, will play through it again before i get Dark Souls on Switch.
My fav wep was the cane whip i roleplayed as my irl name belmont (Castlevania), next guy will be named squiddo inklin turned human & bein in a horribly nightmare.
Hopefully I can get into and stay in the game this time.
It's a cool looking game for sure and the lore is intriguing, I'm going to make more of an effort to give it the play time it deserves.
From the outside in, the obsession people have for this game is obnoxious. A bunch of nerds going hog wild over yet another souls game, okay, sure. But playing it and having it click is a completely different experience. Once this game clicks for you it becomes goddamn incredible. The sense of progression you feel in this game is unmatched. Once you get into that "hunter mindset" then every encounter becomes this incredibly thrilling push and pool. And it's not like you're just some person desperately trying to survive against an impossibly difficult boss. You play as this monster protagonist with extreme movement, a killer arsenal and a blood lust.
I mean "Prey Slaughtered" come on.
And that's not even covering the level design, the music and overall atmosphere. Sorry, I beat the game in December and it's still on the mind. Unbelievably good.
For both newcomers and people that wants to make a new run with the PS+ free deal, here's glyphs from Depth 1 tier Chalices were you can obtain later weapons like Chikage, Blades of Mercy or Burial Blade.
You can enter them as early as Blood Starved Beast. you need to clear layer 2 of the regular first Chalice and obtain the root Chalice. Then create one root dungeon. With that all glyphs will work.
Be wary though enemies are depth 5 tier (SL 120) but the weapons are in the first bonus area, before the first main area, so you can just run and avoid enemies.
You can also find Chalice tier runes.
1 jgn2jkkw L1: Clockwise Metamorphosis + Oedon Writhe
2 ahg38eit L1: Clawmark
3 dtx7qxbq t L1: Blood Rapture
4 p2tbyrh2 L1: Eye
5 dgt23fwp L1: Anticlockwise Metamorphosis
6 nzzn259g L1: Uncanny Burial Blade + Dissipating Lake
7 9x9gipey r L1: Lost Threaded Cane
8 xc284ugx L1: Communion + Formless Oedon
9 9nheuvvz L1: Lost Chikage
10 5jne4scm L1: Logarius' Uncanny Wheel
11 wkzxrvfz L1: Lost Stake Driver, Lost Tonitrus
12 fearrfan L1: Uncanny Beast Claw, Uncanny Tonitrus
13 4f3x2uc6 L1: Communion +5, Lost Reiterpallasch
14 f3cz4awe L1: Lost Threaded Cane
15 6s46u7i4 L1: Lost Blade of Mercy
Welcome new hunters! Putting nostalgia aside, Bloodborne is easily the best of the Soulsborne games (although Demon's Souls is my favorite due to nostalgia), and has become one of my favorite games of all time.
