BLOODBORNE given Feb '15 Euro/NA release date, deemed worthy of own thread by ilxor

Arcane is a viable build in Bloodborne. You can do serious damage with some of those hunters’ tools like the Executioner Gloves etc. And the cap is 99 so you can keep pumping points into arcane and adding damage.

DS2 had Scholar of the First Sin but it wasn't a huge jump in quality or anything.

There are big calls to remake Bloodborne, mostly cos it's 30FPS, but I don't think it looks bad at all?
If I were in charge I'd maybe tone down some of the overall clutter, especially in places like Central Yarnham where the amount of coffins and other debris confuse my eyes a bit. It would be lovely to get some proper depth definition on that, really increase the atmosphere etc.

The fps discussion drives me insane. Sure, I can tell the difference now, but it doesn't matter once you start playing. Looks great, plays great.

I previously managed to get up to Micolash and Martyr Logarius in BB, both of which felt like walls, and then ER came out and it felt like a natural place to put it down.

I don't know whether to carry on with this playthrough and just beat it (I understand I'm fairly near the end game anyway); but I'm tempted to just start again from scratch, daunting as that is. I feel like I might gain a lot more from a second playthrough now that I know what I know.

yup, i don't get the FPS stuff either - I can barely tell

I could really do with mothballing my PS5 for a while. Gaming really has gone from being a casual hobby to a several-hours-a-week habit, and I find myself switching on the PS5 most nights by default as soon as I've finished dinner.

I shelled out for Ableton recently and I keep telling myself I need to get stuck into learning how to use it but Baldur's Gate beckoned every night and I haven't even used it yet!

Yeah, I got a Zoia. I have the same obsession going on that I had for games. Making synths that track with violin and guitar, making audio triggered synth drum sounds. I feel weirdly sheepish about how much of lockdown I spent playing From games. I’ll play Elden Ring DLC sometime but not this year I don’t think

I had a go at the Challice Dungeons last night in the hope I could get some upgrade materials and I'm afraid I don't really see the appeal. Maybe I don't really get what they're for other than grinding, which seems dull to me.

I made the mistake of ignoring them when I played the game, so that when I finally dipped in out of curiosity it was pretty silly, beating bosses in one hit or whatever.

It seems at first to be tedious in comparison to the main game, and it is, but the repetitiousness of it starts to appeal like “many hands of bridge” or “many crossword puzzles”. The bosses escalate in difficulty precipitously and become challenging/fun, the rewards are worth it, and once you get into the gem farming part of it it becomes extremely addictive

In a sentence: cursed blood gems offer a big upgrade and a minor debuff. They scale to impossibly high levels of power, and if you get one with an “easy curse” (ATK vs Kin down, or the minor stamina debuff) then stacking these gems makes for wonderful results.

You can also acquire upgrade materials (incl blood stone chunks) so any weapon you desire is maxed out. It’s definitely more of the code-divey “enjoy your combat” kind of play, but very much worth delving into.

The basic progression to attempt to murder the Pthumerian Queen is a big challenge and worth pursuing. You’ll have to fight a much upgraded Amygdala again which sucks but aside from that it’s very pure gaming enjoyment

I was after the Blood Stone Chunks in fact. Im not entirely sure I understand how the various rituals work. I have loads of the materials but I can only seem to create certain types or altar(?) or something(?) Eh...

Anyway, I seem to be doing this because I'm bouncing off both Logarius and Micolash. I think I can probably cheese Micolash but Logarius is NAILS. The other tough fight I can't do is that Cainhurst Crow NPC.

Is it fair to say that Bloodborne is maybe the hardest of the Soulsborne games overall? I haven't played DS2 enough to find out

DS2 has the annoying feature of tying iframes to a stat (adaptability), or at least it used to. So the early game was tough because you barely even have a functional roll, lol. But other than that I'm sure BB is tougher. But really it's just a question of getting used to the rhythms of each game, right?

I remember Logarius taking many tries. But Micolash is the gimmick boss who runs away from you, right?

Yeah that's right. My sense of direction is appalling so I end up running around the labyrinth house and getting decked by skellingtons a lot

It's worth learning about how Chalice Dungeon generation works so that you can generate any dungeon you desire. It is esoteric and confusing, I still don't fully understand it. Once you've unlocked the capacity to generate any possible dungeon, you can consult online databases of glyphs and find gems and items and armaments and anything you want. You'll also face some insanely hard enemies.

My last play through, I was focusing on an Arcane build. I had three weapons that I used. A fire-based Saw Spear, a bolt-based Saw-Cleaver, and a physical-based Church Pick. The best gems for these involved generating a cursed (you have half-health) 5-level root dungeon and descending down to the bottom and killing a Pthumerian Descendent. He would drop, usually, a level 19 or 20 gem; ideally, I wanted a level 20 "Cold Abyssal Cursed Blood Gem", one that paired maximum damage boost (either fire, bolt or physical) with a manageable curse (either stamina debuff, atk vs. kin down, or durability). There are many found glyphs that created optimal conditions for this endeavour, listed online. I would make it to the bottom, save outside the arena and killed him and save-scummed and reloaded and killed him again, over and over, until I got the gem I wanted. It was a highly enjoyable chore. I killed that Descendent 200 times at least. Immediately after getting my first useable Abyssal gem, my weapon went from flimsy to ironclad, and the game became much more manageable.

Cainhurst Crow NPC.

Oh shit, is this the one in the cathedral later? I don't think I ever bothered with him. Whatever guide I was following I think essentially warned that no matter how good or strong you are, it's basically a long slog of a fight.

Yeah, a crazy NPC who Eileen the Crow has trouble with (you meet her outside rather dishevelled). He heals constantly, has quickstep and I think has ranged attacks too