5 votes

I don't "get" soulslikes, but I'm interested in Bloodborne

I typically don't play these kind of games, the few times I've played Souls games, I found issues I had with every game I've played more or less, I've tried Demon Souls around the time where Dark Souls was a thing on PS3, it didn't take too long to get used to the general idea and flow of the game, slowish/sluggish controls on purpose, overall being very difficult, parrying being something that could make or break battles, healing items are consumables that you need to farm, dying makes you lose souls, EXP is the currency, etc.

 

It's been so long since I've played it, but I recall it being an interesting enough experience to stick around for a little bit, Bolterian Palace being somewhat memorable from the first 2 zones or so including the first area, but I absolutely did not finish it.
I've played the first part of the game by myself, but ended up watching my friends play it more than I did play it, so I ended up knowing that Shrine of Storms has that weapon that makes farming souls super easy, I ended up going there.
Then I encountered the rolling skeletons, I don't think I was aware at the time that Turpentine is how you fight them ,so I had miserable experience there, I think at the end I got tired of it that I ended up just quitting the game to reload to not lose my souls and halve my HP, which in hindsight, I didn't know that. you take half damage as a soul(iirc) at the time and compounded with the PS3's insanely long loading times, which eventually made me to simply quit and never return to it, not having shortcuts also doesn't help, killing the same mobs over and over just to try fighting a boss once isn't fun.

 
 

I've not played Dark Souls 1 or 2 myself, so I have nothing to say aside from that I've seen my friends play PvP a lot in DS2, and that Bed of Chaos apparently is a rushed boss by the devs to complete the game, and it shows.

 

Despite what the title may imply, I did play Bloodborne a little bit, I did get to the first boss(Father Cosguine?) and getting a parry on him was one of those memorable moments for me playing the game, but phase 2 happened, and I'm going to blame the camera or locking-on for my death because 3D games from that era had dogshit cameras.
I have also seen some of my friends play the game, and the weapons BB has looked so fun, of note is the Chikage, which I wanted to use when I played BB, but apparently it's not a good weapon to get on your first run of the game.

 

Might be worth noting that I gave Little Witch Nobeta a try to see how non Fromsoft Souls-likes are like, I also didn't really go back to it after defeating the first boss.

 

Then a year or two ago I decided to give Elden Ring a go, being pushed to it by an irl friend.
I rarely get a game and go "Wow I regret buying this", but ER was exactly that.
As usual, I did see a friend stream it in discord or play it while I'm at their house, so it's not that I didn't know what I was into, but I assumed it would be similar to my previous experience with souls games.
 
I picked up a Sorcerer, so my spells are barely better than hitting things with bare fists, my melee weapon is adequate at best, and my base stats were sort of gimped, I leveled up Intelligence to make my spells do more damage and for mobs, they are ok. I leveled up Dexterity as my main source of damage and that was... ok enough, at first.
 
I didn't get to Margit until a couple of hours in, I was wandering around and activating Lost Graces, just to avoid combat.
When I got to Margit, I died a lot but I did have some fun, it didn't feel unfair as much as it felt like my weapon limiting me and my spells barely tickling the boss.
Similar to how my previous Souls attempts went, I stopped playing, until one day I did accept my friends assisting me with the game instead of trying to do everything solo, and we felled Margit but with minimal intervention from my friends, we then got to Godrick and I don't remember much aside from the stairs and the stupid hitboxes.
After Godrick though, my lack of damage was even more apparent in the overworld areas after him, I can't really pick most battles in the world by myself because almost everything there is a group of enemies that notice you when you start attacking one of their group.
They handed me these souls giving item to level up my stats but despite leveling up a fair bit, my damage still felt pitiful and I didn't want to over level. When we called it a day that day, I never really returned to Elden Ring and I don't plan to, I "got" Souls games even less after that. Nightreign however seems to be a much more interesting game in general.
I think you'd need to be a big fan of Dark Souls in the first place to even find fun with ER.
 
This leads us to the past week or two where the same friend that got me to buy ER convinced me to play Dark Souls 3 with seamless co-op in memory of a recently deceased friend who has played the PC Souls games except DS3.
 
And I'm having fun, for change? I'm getting, guided, sure, and I'm not having the full experience by hitting the noob traps, and the bosses seem to get mowed down by playing with more experienced players.
Maybe it's a change in mindset, or maybe I'd only enjoy Souls games co-op.
My issue with DS3 however, is that everything looks the same to me, as in I'd get lost very easily because of how similar everything looks, which is in contrast of what I remember Demon Souls being like.
Not having a map of sorts makes me it difficult to navigate areas in games like these.
 
 

Given my struggles with the other Souls games, the fact that I really like what I've seen from BB's gameplay, the weapons, the fact that you can parry at range, what I've read of the story and lore that makes it very compelling. Are there any tips or ways that I can change my perspective so that when/if I undust my PS4 and my friend's copy of BB, I can have fun? I get that I don't need to like Souls games, but this feels like it'd be my best shot.
 
I don't intend to play it co-op because of both wanting the "full experience" and my PS4 can be modded on its current firmware.

2 comments

  1. Shevanel
    Link
    Disclaimer: heavily biased, these are my favorite games of all time. +1 to @Carrow and wanted to bring up a separate point. The class and build you choose, especially early game, can make or break...

    Disclaimer: heavily biased, these are my favorite games of all time.

    +1 to @Carrow and wanted to bring up a separate point. The class and build you choose, especially early game, can make or break your enjoyment of these titles. Bloodborne is probably the least affected by this, but reading that you finally attempted ER and went with a magic first build helps paint a good picture for why it was such a struggle. Magic is notoriously weird in FS games - it is almost always the very best option by the end of the game, and as such, it’s almost always the least beginner-friendly. ER is the most beginner friendly by far if you choose to go full strength build and/or start to lean Strength/INT by endgame. But I fully acknowledge that needing to be aware of a studio’s tendencies to bias beginners towards a certain class is, in and of itself, a beginner-unfriendly design choice :)

    With that in mind, I’ll add that parrying in Bloodborne, and the rally mechanic (heal some HP if you do damage to an enemy shortly after taking damage yourself) encourage a super aggressive playstyle and it’s actually quite forgiving if you lean into it. Per my first point, I’m sorry to say, but I would probably steer you away from the chikage and other Skill-based (the attribute “Skill,” not IRL talent) weapons. In my experience, FS games are almost universally easier to ease into with heavy strength based weapons. Kirkhammer is an early game weapon that trivializes encounters with smaller enemies. Hunter’s axe + blunderbussis is going to be a lot easier of a starting combo than anything else (but I think you did that if I read your post correctly).

    Exploration, using every tool at your disposal, taking a break when you’re bashing your head against a wall… all very viable options in FS games. Good luck!

    3 votes
  2. Carrow
    Link
    I think I'm in a similar boat as I've bounced off FromSoft games many times but still feel like they're close to clicking. I say use every tool at your disposal to make it a better gaming...

    I think I'm in a similar boat as I've bounced off FromSoft games many times but still feel like they're close to clicking.

    I say use every tool at your disposal to make it a better gaming experience. My best time playing Fromsoft was when I was playing Dark Souls and exploited the save files to create save points and obviate the mechanics that make you lose progress (I'm too old and there's too many games to play to mess around like that). I think you can do this on modded firmware? I think it can also be done with cloud saves.

    But I also had an online map handy. I avoided over-relying on it, using it mainly as a reference of where stuff was but not really using it for objective seeking. Again, too old and too little time to run in circles because I put the game down for a week to do real life stuff and didn't keep my mental map up to date.

    To that end, a personal journal can also help you keep track of your various objectives.

    Someone with BB specific game knowledge should give guidance on building towards the archetype you want to play as I have found the balance in FS games... poor. I do wonder if you'd be playing an unpatched version on your PS4 and how impactful the patches were, as I recall, Elden Ring patches were massively impactful.

    I may be critical as I find some design decisions make things difficult by being user hostile instead of earnest difficulty, but I do still enjoy their games. Beating Ornstein & Smogh on my first try is one of my top personal gaming achievements.

    1 vote