I’ve been fond of the Souls saga since Demon’s Souls, having played the game a year after release. A friend told me about the game and showed me all the features it had. I must confess that initially I wasn’t very excited and did not pay too much attention to his suggestion so I just told him “Ok, I’ll think about it”. After a few months I found myself looking for fresh new games to play and while staying at my friend’s house he told me again to try Demon’s Souls, I wasn’t looking for anything in particular anyway so I did it and I must say I was fascinated.
Everything in that game felt amazing right from the start, from the terrific soundtrack to the minimal lore, the feeling of being in danger every step of the way, the action, the satisfaction after beating a boss or an invader, the online mode and the fact that it wasn’t “just another RPG”. I immediately decided to buy the game and play with him to acquire all the trophies and such. I just loved it, and since then I have played all Souls games without hesitation. I must say I have been very satisfied with all the releases so far. I don’t think of myself as a gameplay master of the series but like any average Souls gamer, I handle them well and most importantly enjoy myself while playing. I can spend tons of hours exploring the levels, helping other players online, trying builds and stuff I am not used to, upgrading weapons, farming, and even sometimes trying PvP, which is not my favorite feature since I’m not very good at it. Every time I play one of those games I find new details that amaze me and make me love them even more.
Enough with the intro though, let’s get to the point. When Bloodborne came out I did not own a PS4 so I could not play it right away, and never watched videos about it because I knew eventually I was going to play it, even if by the time I did the servers were down. I started playing it about two months ago and it caught me off guard. The differences with the Souls games are evident from the very beginning, the character creation was somehow familiar but you can feel that a whole different context from the Souls worlds is waiting for you. The character felt more “modern” if I may use the word, but there was an aura of fragility that made me feel I was going to suffer a lot during the gameplay. Now that Dark Souls 3 is out, the stark differences between the two games are quite clear.
You get used to Souls games when you play them frequently and you will surely start to let aside details and lore, especially because a lot of items in the Dark Souls games are the same. With Bloodborne I had to read all the descriptions to get a little bit of the lore or learn how to use certain items, it was truly a way to go back to all those emotions and feelings when I played Demon’s Souls for the first time. I watched the initial cutscene and was blown away. The beast coming out the pond of blood, the terrifying creatures crawling on you…it was shocking! As soon as the game started I looked into the inventory, watched the scenery, the details, the lightning…everything looked amazing and new even when the general layout reminded me of its predecessors. It was a whole different game and I felt I had to learn a lot of things again. I have to confess that in several parts of the game I felt too scared and lost, specially in Central Yharnam…too big and intricate in the beginning. For me it was getting difficult to acclimate to some changes: no shields, guns, trick weapons, different actions to avoid and parry, the change in some stats, completely new items, and especially the aggressiveness of every enemy. This made the game more and more exciting for me as I pressed on.
It took me a long time to feel comfortable with the game, it is way more aggressive in general than Souls games. The theme is also so different, the soundtrack is definitely a masterpiece and the sound effects keep you on your toes all the time. The pace is also faster than Souls and I must say that even the trademark mysterious method of dispensing the story is tweaked as this game gives you a little bit more of information. I really liked the fact that sidequests don’t take most of your time and actually can be part of the main plot which is a big difference I noticed between the Souls saga, Bloodborne and a hell lot of other RPG. The plot is much more visible when highlighting the connection of the characters and you can put more pieces of the puzzle together, without it really feeling spoon fed.
Before concluding I’d like to say that the bosses are…and this might be a word many people would find out of context, beautiful! The way they are designed, the movesets, the sound effects, the stages during the battles…they are just unique and you can tell the effort put on by the programmers and artists behind all of them. This evolution in boss design is now very evident in what we are seeing with the bosses in Dark Souls 3.
I know I have stated only the good things I have found in Bloodborne so far, and of course there are some “buts”, let’s face it, there is nothing perfect. Even though I’m so used to the Souls universe this game was an amazing surprise for me. Bloodborne is a great masterpiece and a work of art, equal in such category only to other personal favorites like Demon’s and Dark Souls, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Metal Gear Solid 3 & 4, Limbo.
Now here’s hopingDark Souls 3becomes a masterpiece in its own right.
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