Bloodborne - a lesson in perseverance
As much as I love playing video games I understand that I tend to still be a button masher when it comes to fighting and instead of skill I hope that pressing buttons fast enough will help me defeat my foe. I also tend to stick with games with a more linear storyline where to get what you want you play in a straight line defeating everything / everyone you come across along the way.
THIS DOES NOT WORK FOR BLOODBORNE!
After the 3rd day of killing all the same baddies and dying in practically the same spot more time than I can count I was very close to throwing the disc out the window. Then I got some advice from a friend who had highly recommended the game to me.
“Remember that you don’t have to kill everyone and that you move faster than they do.”
Well bugger me.
So after that I kept on playing and started to enjoy the game a lot more. Then I hit another obstacle. How on earth do you awaken the doll so you can use blood echoes to level up?
This time a mixture of a good friend and google searching assisted. Turns out that you only have to START the first boss battle with the cleric beast to get the insight needed for the doll to come to life. You don't have to defeat it.
Sigh.
And with those 2 tips I am now obsessed with playing this game. Even going back and grinding away at some of the early baddies to get more blood echoes is fun and amazingly cathartic if anything in life is getting you down.
Even with these super helpful bits of info this game is still HARD. It does not go easy on you at all and you will find yourself playing the same bits again and again and again and again. BUT it is such a good feeling when you finally get past the point where you are stuck that the annoyingness is made up for.
Highlights of the game for me:
Online play - I have never been into online games before but this is a great format for someone like me. You just ring a bell and then you have people coming into your game to help you out. You ring a different bell and you are suddenly in someones game helping them out. No need for talking. No risk of over excited players cussing you out for dying while fighting a boss. (not that that happens to me often or anything...)
Map you have to learn - The first map area is a maze and when I finally got out of my groundhog dayish loop I suddenly found myself lost and battling a beast I had never seen before. This is great fun when you are used to a relatively straight line of gameplay or a map that is unfolded to you as you play. Without going online and searching for a map you are stuck with whatever you can remember from where you have been before.
PS Vita remote play - not perfect but great for those times you are farming for blood echos or items.
Low point:
Those first 3 days - I will never get back that time I spent in my groundhog day loop! I just have to accept it and move on. 😎
