Dark Souls is good because its was an "action game" that rewarded observation and having a good plan, something which was unheard of at the time, which is why it became a cult hit. It was the antidote to brain dead action games.
Bloodborne is completely antithetical to that design philosophy, rewarding nothing but reactions. Bloodborne was successful because it was the most generic "action game" From had ever made, and because the strength of the level design and setting shone through the generic gameplay. Making elemental buffs worthless, and abandoning any pretense of differentiated armor, in favor of FashionSouls only speaks to that. Just look at the Chalice dungeons, which laid bare how uninteresting and brain dead the combat truly was without the interesting level design to carry it.
Bloodborne's "genius" is that it was dumbed down to offset development costs. A sound business move perhaps, but nothing more.
If I sound salty, its because I sort of am. I'm happy that From has found success, but I am unhappy that yet another niche series gets sacrificed at the alter mainstream appeal. At this point only Armored Core remains, and I'm deathly afraid the same thing is happening to that series. Before Dark Souls 3 came out I wouldn't have been worried, because it a different game after all. But Dark Souls 3 was such a blatant reskin of Bloodborne, they didn't even bother to put poise back in until half a year later.
Bloodborne is completely antithetical to that design philosophy, rewarding nothing but reactions. Bloodborne was successful because it was the most generic "action game" From had ever made, and because the strength of the level design and setting shone through the generic gameplay. Making elemental buffs worthless, and abandoning any pretense of differentiated armor, in favor of FashionSouls only speaks to that. Just look at the Chalice dungeons, which laid bare how uninteresting and brain dead the combat truly was without the interesting level design to carry it.
Bloodborne's "genius" is that it was dumbed down to offset development costs. A sound business move perhaps, but nothing more.
If I sound salty, its because I sort of am. I'm happy that From has found success, but I am unhappy that yet another niche series gets sacrificed at the alter mainstream appeal. At this point only Armored Core remains, and I'm deathly afraid the same thing is happening to that series. Before Dark Souls 3 came out I wouldn't have been worried, because it a different game after all. But Dark Souls 3 was such a blatant reskin of Bloodborne, they didn't even bother to put poise back in until half a year later.