This is a great romhack for anyone who hates a good time. I genuinely would love to give this hack a high rating for its technical achievements and the seamless integration of those aspects, but as someone who actually tried to nuzlocke this game (basically meaning using suboptimal teams at all times, as pokemon should be played) I got my ass whooped and there was nothing I could do about it. And sure, you could scream "filtered!!!" as Showdown dwellers love to do, but seriously, this hack crumbles under the slightest bit of scrutiny even from a competitive perspective.

I'm gonna preface this by once again reiterating that I did nuzlocke the game, and so my pokemon choices were limited, but I even further handicapped myself by randomizing pokemon and their abilities. I didn't know the repercussions of this until much later into the game, at which point the ball was already rolling so there was no point in stopping. I have honestly no idea why the game refuses to let you randomize boss battles, but I digress. I will also mention that I had to lax the rules of nuzlocke quite a fair bit to prevent myself from constantly wiping and having to restart, though the spirit stayed up until the end of the game.

Even if you don't take into account my Obviously Wrong way to play this hack, the boss battles are way too unbalanced for what you're given, and they're also TOO DAMN FREQUENT. Trainers having items that you don't have access to was already a huge red flag, but it got worse once I actually realized how the AI functioned. Difficulty is a subjective type of thing, but I believe in a fair and balanced game. What you face as a player must play under the same rules as you do. In Pokemon, for example, the AI should only be aware of what I can see from their end: the Pokemon that they have shown to me, and the moves that they have used, as well as items that have triggered. Difficulty, in this case, would depend on how smart the AI is in predicting what I'm going to do next based on that info.

So explain to me why the AI changes and reacts to swapping pokemon (that haven't been displayed yet), items, and movesets? How does it know those things? I'm sorry but I think I missed out on this update to competitive! Sarcasm aside, this is just bullshit. If the creators were just trying to mimick predicting by making the AI know what you have, I'm sorry but it doesn't work. You've actively made the opposing agent stronger than the player by making them play under different rules. In the most succinct words, you've failed.

And the worst part is this isn't an infrequent occurance, because "boss" battles are EVERYWHERE. Regular trainers are changed into them. You run into them on accident all the time, because rivals have changed positions and have new positions. It gets tiring. Like, really tiring. I wanted this game to be over by the 5th gym. And then it makes you fight Giovanni 3 times. It makes you fight the Rocket duo 3 times. It FORCES you to rematch gym leaders before you can move on. You couldn't define padding better than this if you tried.

Oh yeah, before I forget, gyms? Do you remember how they're supposed to have themes with the typings? Just wanted to let you know that Sabrina has 3/6 Psychic types. Koga has 2/6 Poison types. Gyms having pokemon that are out of the typing theme is a regular occurance because "muh competitive team". Look, I just wanna know why Misty has a Ferrothorn. I really need someone to sit down and give me a good reason as to why this makes sense within the context of the game. Speaking of context, the champion? Like your rival, which has one of the starters you didn't pick? Not anymore. The starter turned into Koraidon or Miraidon, because that makes sense. And 4/6 of his pokemon are legendaries (some of which you don't even have access to, and two of which are some of the best pokemon in Ubers!).

"Just play on easy scrub" Yes actually! That sounds like a good idea. The game might be some fun then, but I doubt it. The meat is still there. It'll still be a slog.

Another review on here gave it a mention, but I'd just like to note that the Pokemon community is forever doomed to optimizing the fun out of their children's game. Being an adult means that your hobbies should be lifeless too. So why should Pokemon be enjoyable?

And it's funny too, because a lot of the decisions made to Pokemon seemed to somewhat steer that way. They turned Ledian into a decent pokemon that's actually pretty fun to use. But you can't, it's not optimal! Good summary for the experience really.

I finished it a couple days ago and have been gathering my thoughts + reading up more about the game's lore and the cut content, etc. Even now I'm still not entirely sure what I think about the game is truly correct in my own terms, but I can't get rid of it from my mind.

In many ways, Bloodborne is far from a perfect game. Entire areas seem like they weren't well-designed/needed more work. The Forbidden Woods, especially, is a great example of all the flaws of the game; overdrawn, confusing, and haphazard enemy placement. Other lesser examples would be the Nightmare Frontier, Yahar'gul and even DLC areas such as the Research Hall, and the Fishing Hamlet.

I won't get into the details of why Forbidden Woods just sucks, but boss pretty much says it all. Contextually, it shouldn't even be there. They are the Queen's retainers/bodyguards as proven later in the game. Why are they in the Forbidden Woods if she's not even close to there? I'm half-convinced they put them there 'cause their limbs are kinda "snake-like" and that's that.

It feels like Bloodborne was compensating for giving the player so much freedom of movement and control that they thought the best solution was to place as many lesser enemies as possible. Strength in numbers is boring. Design enemies that make me feel challenged. Unlike past Souls games, where the player's freedom is limited and the level/boss design has to work around that freedom, Bloodborne is a massive departure. The player is God, and God can hit, dash, then shoot in the time the Chosen Undead takes one sip of the Estus.

It needed more time in the oven to truly push all that is Bloodborne to its limit and perfect it. In the same way that Dark Souls 3 needed Dark Souls, and Dark Souls needed Demon's Souls, Bloodborne 2 needs Bloodborne.

But in spite of all its failures, I'm still in love with it.

Bloodborne is the most perfect imperfect Soulsgame. The game is aesthetically beautiful in the weirdest way. The story/lore is sprawling, brilliant, while also absolute nonsense, and nonexistent. The trick weapon system is fantastic, but ultimately plagued by its DS heritage. Some of the best enemy and boss designs but also some of the worst in the series. Best written NPCs with the most soulful voice acting, but not enough of them, and too many cut lines.

Despite its setting, this is the nerdiest, quirkiest, most manic pixie soulsgame. I'll never forget it.