Zero Punctuation: Bloodborne - Bloodly Dark Souls

Jman1236

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Jul 29, 2008
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Yeah I'm holding off getting deeper into bloodborne until they patch the load times. On DS2 for ps4, it's like 6 secs for a load time but 40 secs? Screw that.
 

OuendanCyrus

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Jun 16, 2010
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Whenever people ask me to describe Bloodborne, I simply tell them that it's Dark Souls, except replace all the "dude in armour" bosses with "huge beasts with a fetish for long flowing hair and cloth physics", that being said, the hunter fights are still among the best imo. I still don't understand why they removed the item descriptions for the loading screens? because of spoilers? because there aren't enough items in the game?
 

FPLOON

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Jul 10, 2013
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Huh... Despite most of its criticisms, they don't seem to make me want Bloodborne less... In fact, even before the game came out, my interest in Bloodborne was relatively higher than it was for Dark Souls and, in the end, would gladly get a PS4 for that game since I already know that it wouldn't just be the only copy of a physical game being played on said system in general... Then again, as I "joked" before in another Bloodborne-related thread, there's always a Bloodborne 2 to think about getting that multi-platform release...

Other than that, does Melbourne know about this evil parallel universe you speak of?
 

zegram33

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Oct 24, 2012
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One From software game?
what about Armored core?
they're much more my style than the souls series, and I'm always kinda sad that they've been eclipsed by games that are....well, the exact same thing, but a more generic setting (medieval gritty rather than post post apocalyptic gritty w/ giant robots)
 

A.K.B.

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Feb 27, 2014
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I wonder if this would still make it his top 5 as the former games did.
i don't know if it was just me, or not, but he was digressing a lot in his review... Maybe he was trying to avoid gushing over it? He has done the same in the Wolfenstein and Shadow Of Mordor review ...
Or maybe that's just me gushing over Bloodborne, I guess...
 

lassiie

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May 26, 2013
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I agree 10000000000% about the Estus mechanic being gone. Honestly, I thought Estus was one of the best mechanics in Dark Souls and was extremely sad to see it leave. One of the things I loved about Souls games is I never felt like I was FORCED to farm. Maybe I needed just one more level so I farmed an area for a few minutes to get the souls, but it never felt forced. Until NG+ I had to farm blood vials at least 5 times which was extremely annoying. Once I got to level 120ish I just started buying all my vials and bullets at the shop in the Dream because at that point blood echoes become useless.

The other part about the Estus mechanic I loved in Dark Souls was how it tied into the lore. The Bonfires were like safe havens for the undead (which they tell you in the game), but, they didn't just tell me it, I felt it. The farther I went from a bonfire, the more tense things got. Whether it's because I was running low on Estus, or because I didn't want to backtrack if I died, there was a tangible fear that came with being far away from a bonfire. Not to mention finding a bonfire gave me an actual feeling of relief and safety. Lanterns in no way feel that way in this game and it kind of makes me sad.

Other than that, it's a great game. Loading times suck unfortunately, and I am hoping for a patch soon. The other huge issue is PvP. They have made PvP such a chore to do, that unless they fix it soon, or give us new ways to PvP, this game will not have nearly the lasting power the other Souls games did. Without PvP, not many people will be playing to NG +9 and beyond.
 

major_chaos

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Feb 3, 2011
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I'm up to Vicar Amelia and so far this is my least favorite souls game.
That isn't to say it's a bad game, just not as good as its predecessors. The reduced build variety is lame, the reduced weapon variety might have been fine if they had used it ensure better balance but that didn't happen, dodging is still far too *ahem* dodgy and reliant on iframe timings more than actually not being in the path of an attack, camera still hates you when fighting large bosses, story is still disjointed shards of gobedygook for you to piece together into your own personal headcannon rather than a coherent plot, hitboxes are still occasionally iffy, boss design has been both repetitive and kinda meh although that might just be an early slump, load times are appalling, getting rid of estus flasks was dumb and adds pointless farming rather than difficulty, and so on and so forth. It just feels like they added a few new problems without fixing any of the longstanding ones. They did do some things I like; trick weapons are a cool concept, equip weight going away is a good thing, the hop-dodge is a step in the right direction, and the Lovecraft elements are far more interesting than any of the story elements in previous games.

Now this video on the other hand was great. Nice to see Yahtzee in top form. I haven't laughed this hard at a ZP in awhile.
 

Funcakes

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Jul 17, 2011
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I hear you can install an SSD to the ps4 that fixes loading times, but having to do that for a console is obnoxious. Especially considering consoles are kind of obnoxious to begin with at this point.
 

Neurotic Void Melody

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Jul 15, 2013
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I wonder how Yahtzee would take it, if this turns into a zelda-esque series; same formula, different spices. Where such criticisms do not deter the lover from embracing each iteration with varying levels of tolerance.
It does seem to be FromSoft's cashcow comfort zone, creatively speaking.

Captcha - Baby steps. Oh alright captcha. I see you are a lover too...
 
Jan 27, 2011
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There are other From software games, you know.

Like 3D Dot Game Heroes, AKA, "Parody of Zelda build your own hero out of little 3D blocks if you want you can even play as a tank!"

I am sad that they got rid of the Estus mechanic. I haven't played much of Dark Souls (it lags unbearably on my PC even WITH the fix, I really need a better Laptop... >_>), but the Estus mechanic is fantastic since it means that the game knows EXACTLY how prepared you are healing-wise for each segment, and can tune itself appropriately. Begin able to grind potions takes away from that.
 

KDR_11k

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Feb 10, 2009
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zegram33 said:
One From software game?
what about Armored core?
they're much more my style than the souls series, and I'm always kinda sad that they've been eclipsed by games that are....well, the exact same thing, but a more generic setting (medieval gritty rather than post post apocalyptic gritty w/ giant robots)
And Chrome Hounds and Steel Battalion and Metal Wolf Chaos and Lost Kingdoms and Tenchu and Ninja Blade and ...

They want to serve ALL the niches.
 

09philj

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Souls, along with Half Life, falls into the category of games I respect but don't like. (As opposed to, say, Assassin's Creed, which I don't respect, but like, FFVI, which I respect and like, and The Last of Us which I neither respect nor like.) I can see what people like about them, and appreciate what they have done for gaming, but ultimately don't actually enjoy them.
 

Johnny Novgorod

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You can tell Yahtzee likes a game when he spends less time talking about its flaws and more about the context (PS4 vs. PC) in which he played it. I don't get where the PC entitlement comes from, by the way. PC has its exclusives, consoles have their exclusives...
 

Silentpony_v1legacy

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Jun 5, 2013
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These are starting to sound like Zelda reviews. Same basic everything, but a new adjective or a re-skin. Won't be long before From Software reviews have a deep sigh at the beginning or a line like "Just read my previous one, because its more of the same."
 

Erttheking

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I kind of agree. Better than Dark Souls II, not as good as Dark Souls I. All three are still awesome games in their own right though, so we all win.
 

Neurotic Void Melody

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09philj said:
Souls, along with Half Life, falls into the category of games I respect but don't like. (As opposed to, say, Assassin's Creed, which I don't respect, but like
I am exercising all willpower to avoid using hooker comparisons here. Especially as AC Unity is the pretty one. But whatever people think of series as a whole, I do appreciate the delving into history that occurs there, with the added freemasons templar bassline thrown in for innnnntriiigue. It has spurred myself to look into historical documents, I would like to think that any game that can bring forth interest in learning, could have a slight crumb of respect thrown their way :)
 

gorfias

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Er, I like easy games. Y'know, the ones where you are unlikely to die very much. Thank you.

Nice review Yahtzee, as always.