So I Just Played: Bloodborne

Find your Zen, achieve Nirvana, or otherwise get your head in the right space, because it's time for Bloodborne. Playing a "Souls game" requires a mental preparation unparalleled in most other game experiences I undertake. In recent weeks I can't say I was in the right space to play Bloodborne, but after seeing some initial impressions, I MADE myself get in the right space. I wasn't missing out on this one. There's a special experience to playing a Souls game (I don't know how else to refer to them) when it's new. I never played Demon's Souls, I came to Dark Souls pretty late, and I waited for the PC release to play Dark Souls 2. As such, I had never played one of these games during the magical discovery period. There's a brief window of time when the internet hasn't solved all the riddles the game has to offer. I wanted in on that.

I definitely got what I wished for, and the result was initially very frustrating. Over time, however, that frustration built into satisfaction and an immense feeling of triumph. There are some key fundemental differences to Bloodborne from previous games, but the ultimate hurdle is just getting yourself back in the groove of things, which admittedly took me several hours.

The big talk coming into Bloodborne was the removal of shields. The Dark Souls games heavily featured shields, and I certainly used one at all times as the ultimate safety blanket. I probably wore out my left shoulder button by having that shield up at all times. While many will say playing with a shield wasn't the "true" way to play Dark Souls, those people can kindly crawl back up their own ass. The Souls games were about finding the playstyle that suited you the best. If shields work for you, go ahead and use them. Bloodborne isn't about that. Bloodborne is about mastering the playstyle they've pre-determined for you.

Everyone in Bloodborne will be using the same weapon set with a couple variances. You'll be using a gun in your left hand, and a trick weapon in your right hand. Guns are the closest analog to a shield, being primarily used to stagger opponents to follow up with a counter-attack. The trick weapons are really cool, and provide some neat diversity in your playstyle. My weapon of choice was Ludwig's Holy Blade, which was a standard sword that fit into a massive scabbard which was actually also a sword. Being able to switch between a smaller, faster weapon and a massive claymore was really handy. Other examples of trick weapons include a cane that turns into a whip and a saw-cleaver that is essentially a massive switchblade.

Everything is pared down and simplified on the weapons and armor side. There's only about a dozen weapons in the game, so it's less about finding new weapons and more about upgrading and mastering your existing weapons. It's very plausible that you'll fight the game's final boss with the same weapon you fought the first boss with. Armor is also simplified. There's not really an element of armor weight. Your character moves at the same speed regardless of what they're wearing. Rarely is a set of armor a straight upgrade from any other gear. Instead, the armor specializes in certain defenses and resistances. Picking the poison resist gear in the swamp will certainly help, but there's no Havel's Armor equivalent on offer here.

As is often the case for me, I found Bloodborne started really hard and actually got easier over time. I had a great deal of difficulty with the very first boss and ended up summoning in another player to help me past it. I beat the second boss on my own, but it took quite a few tries. After that I settled into a groove where I finished most of the remaining bosses in 1-3 attempts. It really is an amazing feeling the first time you defeat a boss in one try. I did actually have quite a bit of difficulty with the last boss, but bosses 3-9 or so went down with little trouble for me.

In terms of ranking this game I can't help but feel that it's somehow lesser than the Dark Souls games, particularly the original Dark Souls. Namely, I can't think of many good reasons to want to replay Bloodborne. When playing Dark Souls I would do one run as a spellcaster, one as a heavy armor/2-handed player, and maybe one as an archer/katana player. Sometimes Id' get one of the special boss weapons like the Moonlight Butterfly Horn and play through with that. I just don't see that level of variety in Bloodborne. I know there's a lot of debate about the removal of shields, but to me their absence is just symptomatic of a larger issue: lack of variety.

Still, Bloodborne continues a trend of immersion, and in my case obsession with this series. I'm absolutely absorbed in these games while playing them, and they harbour discussion among my other friends currently playing the game that few other franchises do. While there is a bit less variety to Bloodborne than Dark Souls, they did a great job building a cool and challenging world. At the end of the day, Bloodborne probably isn't as good as Dark Souls, but is probably a bit better than Dark Souls 2, a position that still qualifies it as one of my favourite games in recent years.