GRANT US EYES!! Bloodborne is the 4th game in the "Soulsborne" series (and the game that turned it from the Souls series to that silly name), and it is in my opinion, still the best of them. Although in fairness I haven't beaten Dark Souls 1 in a while... Bloodborne has a character creator and RPG elements like leveling and item stats, and that helps play into a nice sense of build and weapon variety. The builds certainly aren't as diverse as the regular Souls series, but Bloodborne has something else going for it - Trick Weapons. The weapons in bloodborne (the main hand ones anyway) all have a unique gimmick: they transform with the L1 button from a one-handed form to a two-handed form and change their attack patterns and style. In my first playthrough of Bloodborne I used one weapon almost exclusively - the Threaded Cane. It is a fancy walking cane you can bludgeon and poke enemies with that can transform into a lengthy whip blade. To transform back, you jam it into the ground with a polite "tut" and a hearty clang that through the entire game NEVER got old. What could top it this playthrough? How about a short-sword turned Massive Hammer and a mace turned BUZZSAW
Now, to be clear, these weapons were not as cool as my first playthrough, and the that diminishing return held true for the rest of the game. Bloodborne was a transcendent experience the first time through, the games shifting horror from confusion to beasts to Eldritch madness to melancholy resignation is really best done only once, but I still was drawn to the game every day I wasn't playing it, for the joy of smashing and rending beasts and bosses. It's just a joy to look at, in a horrifying way, the architecture is beautifully gothic, the enemies are still horrifying and elicit a strong sense of "What the hell is this thing" even when I know exactly what they are and how to kill them.
For this playthrough I focused mainly on the DLC, The Old Hunters, which I never finished during my Platinum run. I do think it is a solid addition to the game, expanding on lore and making the Lovecraft influences even more prominent (Oh hi weird fish people from a small fishing village set to kill outsiders...) and beating the final boss the Orphan in a single attempt felt pretty damn good.
All in all a fantastic experience and I'm so glad I replayed this game. Arcane build playthrough 2021 maybe? The worst part about the game however, is how sharply it contrasted with another From Software/Miyazaki directed game I was playing through at the same time... but we'll get to Sekiro later.
Now, to be clear, these weapons were not as cool as my first playthrough, and the that diminishing return held true for the rest of the game. Bloodborne was a transcendent experience the first time through, the games shifting horror from confusion to beasts to Eldritch madness to melancholy resignation is really best done only once, but I still was drawn to the game every day I wasn't playing it, for the joy of smashing and rending beasts and bosses. It's just a joy to look at, in a horrifying way, the architecture is beautifully gothic, the enemies are still horrifying and elicit a strong sense of "What the hell is this thing" even when I know exactly what they are and how to kill them.
For this playthrough I focused mainly on the DLC, The Old Hunters, which I never finished during my Platinum run. I do think it is a solid addition to the game, expanding on lore and making the Lovecraft influences even more prominent (Oh hi weird fish people from a small fishing village set to kill outsiders...) and beating the final boss the Orphan in a single attempt felt pretty damn good.
All in all a fantastic experience and I'm so glad I replayed this game. Arcane build playthrough 2021 maybe? The worst part about the game however, is how sharply it contrasted with another From Software/Miyazaki directed game I was playing through at the same time... but we'll get to Sekiro later.