Zero Punctuation: Bloodborne - Bloodly Dark Souls

[truckspond]

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.

Besides which, running EVERYTHING on that SSD causes the lifespan of that SSD to drop rather dramatically and it is exceptionally poor value for money to use anything other than the OS and some frequently used programs on the SSD unless you use a HDD in conjuction for bigger, less frequently accessed stuff like media and games which is impossible on a PS4.

 

[truckspond]

If there was a pc version there wouldnt be any loadscreens....i am not kidding for some reason loadscreens on pc are instant compared to consoles.

Play the Sims 4 and you will see why loading screens are so hated.

 

[jhoroz]

oh hey, Escapist hasn't sacked Yahtzee yet, I'm surprised

Yahtzee is the only few worthwhile things the Escapist has going for it and this is coming from somebody who is ambivalent towards him on most days of the week.

 

[Qizx]

oh hey, Escapist hasn't sacked Yahtzee yet, I'm surprised

Well that was certainly relevant to the conversations.

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...

its not about entitlement its about being able to enjoy this game in 10 years when psbox3001 comes out that once again not backwards compatible while anyone can still play any pc game ever released on their pc

*Cough* old DOS games *Cough* seriously unless updated a lot of games will be unplayable in the future. Granted it has a longer life span but still has one. I mean I can more easily plug in my N64 and fire up some games than I can start playing the original Ultima games.

 

[SilverHunter]

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 Estus mechanic wouldn't have worked in Bloodborne, because the game is way faster and you're required to pop health more frequently.

If you had to take a swig of Estus during a Boss fight in Bloodborne you'd get killed in like 2 seconds. By giving you the ability to quickly pop a blood vail they were able to make the fights much faster and intense. However, because you're popping them so frequently they couldn't just have them respawn indefinitely otherwise there'd be no risk for consuming health whatsoever. The risk in previous Dark Souls games being finding that lull inbetween enemy attacks. This hardly exists in Bloodborne since the game moves so fast.

And I really never found myself needing to farm health untill the very, very end. Every new area drops them at such a generous rate the first 5 times you replay them that you'll build up a substantial supply in no time at all. And I don't know what Yahtzee was talking about with sections that don't drop blood vails, because there isn't a section that doesn't. If it was bullets, sure, since only enemies with rifles or arcane weapons drop that. But in every area there's a certain amount of enemies that will drop vails. Even with the bullets there were plenty of times where even the storage box reached its limit.

The only thing I would criticize is the over reliance on Beast creatures for the Boss fights in the first 1/3 of the game, and the kinda unsatisfying ending considering the game was reaching for cosmic hellish heights. Other than that, this is probably my favourite Souls game.

It doesn't have to be an Estus flask, but why not have the messengers refill your blood vials when you die. I'm sure there is something lore-wise that could've explained it. And yes, I never really had to refill blood vials while I was just progressing through the game, but anytime I started to explore, like the Nightmare areas, I found myself running out very quickly. It just seemed pointless to take away a great mechanic and replace it with farming.

Chalice Dungeons are another area that are infuriating if you have to leave to farm blood vials. I would rather have no blood-vial drops from enemies and have it refill at the lantern. QSBs were fine, but blood vials sucked. Especially in something like the Defiled Chalice where you ALWAYS had to heal to full health otherwise you would get 1-shot, and even at full health it would happen sometimes. So you end up using 2 vials anytime you only needed one.

Ultimately, my point was that in Dark Souls 1 or 2 I never felt like I had to farm unless I wanted to. This game, you will HAVE to farm at some point.

It wasn't exactly brought up by anyone yet, but when you die you do get your Blood Vials and Quicksilver Bullets refilled. However, they get refilled from your storage. As you pick items up in the game, you only can hold a limited number of them in your personal inventory. Instead of being unable to pick them (most of them at least) up, the game will automatically send any excess to your storage chest. Have 10 molotovs already? The 5 you just picked up will instantly be put in your storage chest in the Dream. Farming vials and bullets only becomes necessary once you have drained your storage chest of anything you picked up.

 

[asdfen]

*Cough* old DOS games *Cough* seriously unless updated a lot of games will be unplayable in the future. Granted it has a longer life span but still has one. I mean I can more easily plug in my N64 and fire up some games than I can start playing the original Ultima games.

dos games play fine on pcs even if you are using another operating system. I have been able to run all old games I ever cared for on todays PCs, I am replaying Stonekeep on win8 as I type this. I grant you that it requiers some tinkering.

 

[obliviondoll]

One From software game?
what about Armored core?

I dunno, I feel like From Software has forgotten how to make a decent Armored Core game. I like that there's some variation between the entries but the fifth game is kind of where it all went off the rails for me since they took a step back and made the mechs control like vacuum cleaners again.

1. It comes across as if you're saying that because you didn't personally like 5th-gen Armored Core, the series is now an extension of the Souls games in gameplay style.

2. Even ignoring that impression, you're applying "I don't understand the new game" as a reason to dislike it.

ACs in ACV and Verdict Day can control quite fluidly and gameplay is very fast paced... IF you're willing to put in the effort to learn how the new systems work, and to build an AC capable of that kind of fluid movement. Verdict Day in particular has a lot of openings for players to create crazy fast machines that border on 4th-gen speeds. Building a fast-moving, agile AC in PS2-era games is a matter of "this still feels heavy and sluggish". In AC4 and For Answer it's pretty much the norm. In ACV and Verdict Day, it's a niche role that's extremely powerful when done right, but requires a good knowledge of both building and piloting to pull it off.

All that said, yes, Yahtzee is missing out by thinking all From games are the Souls series when Armored Core still exists - and I'm hoping to see a new AC (but also hoping there's a PC version because the new consoles aren't getting my money in anything like their current state)

 

[UltimatheChosen]

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...

The primary difference is that aside from games with control schemes that don't work on controllers, there's nothing preventing PC exclusive games from being ported to consoles if there's enough demand.

Conversely, most console exclusives games are shackled by deals with the publisher and cannot ever be released on any other platform, which segments the gaming community.

 

[Sledgimus]

Huh. I've heard lots about Bloodborne, but nothing about long loading times. That's a sad problem indeed.

Can't they update/fix-up games on the latest consoles now? That's one of the great things about gaming on the computer.

The great thing about consoles used to be that the games didn't NEED updating/fixing. Now that they're all online, we're effectively paying for the privilege of being beta testers if we buy a game within the first couple of months of release.

 

[Nazulu]

Huh. I've heard lots about Bloodborne, but nothing about long loading times. That's a sad problem indeed.

Can't they update/fix-up games on the latest consoles now? That's one of the great things about gaming on the computer.

The great thing about consoles used to be that the games didn't NEED updating/fixing. Now that they're all online, we're effectively paying for the privilege of being beta testers if we buy a game within the first couple of months of release.

Yeah, I've known this one for awhile now. Especially thanks to EA and Ubisoft rushing their shit out unfinished.

I meant it in a good way though, you know because not all games came out perfect back in the golden ages, and it would've been really neat if they could update like the old computer games.