The Gaming Den

Yeah, the holy blade does about 20 more damage than my axe (even at a lower reinforcement level), but I'm addicted to the axe's two-handed range. Unless I'm going for a parry or backstab, I'm usually using it like a halberd.

Forbidden woods has gotten awfully snakey.

And I got to do a visceral hit on one of the giant pigs.

It looked like my character reaching a hand into its ass. Seriously. When the positioning correction occurred, my character was standing right behind it.

Eeeeuuuurrrrgggghhh

In the abstract, I'm gratified that games have gotten to the point that they organically generate something as unexpected as 'violently fisting a swine rectum.' In the abstract.

I've never pulled off a visceral attack on the pigs, but I wonder if this is a "thing" of Miyazaki's. I remember plunging all manner of pointy bits into the rear end of that boar in Undead Parish.

In other news, I broke down and looked up how to get to Cainhurst Castle. Holy crap that courtyard is a nightmare, but the interior has been much less deathy so far. I've found Reiterpallasch (the rapier-gun) and the Executioner's Robes. They don't look at all what I imagine executioner clothing to look like, but they're still pretty neat looking.

Concurred on Cainhurst. The courtyard is brutal. The inside much less so, but the little fellas have some sweet moves with those rapiers.

Also, I found a cannon!

I beat the boss of the forest.

Took a few tries because I kept trying to isolate and exploit openings.

When I said 'fuck it, ZERG RUSH KEKEKEKEKEKE", I popped a bolt paper once it was changing phases and then murdered one before the phase change finished.

I got through them on my first try mostly on the back of some amazing timings on my parries. I focused on the one with the katana first, then the one with the flaming katana, and then mopped up the guy with the mace. That was an intense fight.

I ran into the first rapier hunchback in Cainhurst before calling it to go to work. That was some unexpected finesse on his part.

RufusCorvus wrote:I got through them on my first try mostly on the back of some amazing timings on my parries. I focused on the one with the katana first, then the one with the flaming katana, and then mopped up the guy with the mace. That was an intense fight.

I ran into the first rapier hunchback in Cainhurst before calling it to go to work. That was some unexpected finesse on his part.

I know, the little buggers have some skillz there.

Also, the various hints I'm getting about stuff--particular rune descriptions--reminds me of something:

Wait until you finish Byrgenwerth. Things start getting pretty out there.

After first dying through straight-up man-fights, parrying Logarius to death was so satisfying.

RufusCorvus wrote:After first dying through straight-up man-fights, parrying Logarius to death was so satisfying.

I gotta agree. I beat him right before work after about five tries. I don't use the guns near often enough, but I figured something had to give because I wasn't going to outfight him in normal circumstances...

Also, I'm now technically a member of the Vilebloods. Huzzah.

Maxus wrote: Also, I'm now technically a member of the Vilebloods. Huzzah.

Same here. I can also be a Hunter now after finishing Eileen the Crow's questline. I figure I'll play around a bit as a Vileblood (I think you get a gesture after ranking up once), but the Hunter bonus is stamina regen... which sounds way more useful than the Corruption rune.

Edit: I just ran through two Depth 1 Chalice Dungeons. I ended up with about 20,000 blood echoes total, plus found around 40 blood vials and bullets. I think that will be my go-to method of resupplying from hereon.

I tried out the hunter's axe, it feels way stronger than the threaded cane, but my dedication to Belmonting had me keep on using the cane.

Have you reached the point where you can rescue NPC's?

OgreBattle wrote:I tried out the hunter's axe, it feels way stronger than the threaded cane, but my dedication to Belmonting had me keep on using the cane.

Have you reached the point where you can rescue NPC's?

Yes. You can rescue NPCs once the moon is out (have to beat three bosses) and you've spoken to the NPCs at the Chapel or the Clinic twice so they bring it up.

I'm still Belmonting. My cane is +8, and I'm hitting a lot of really big bosses who have weakspots on their heads. The cane's reach and arc makes it great for tagging those spots.

It's also good in a couple of otherwise nasty hunter-on-hunter fights.

After a cookout and between two much-needed naps, I got my Strength up high enough to use a cannon I found.

It is impractical, but awesome. Takes ten Quicksilver bullets a shot, but mine's a +2 and it does over six hundred damage to the enemies walking around Yharnam. So yeah, I can see applications for bosses that I -need- to put a great big hole into.

Maxus wrote:After a cookout and between two much-needed naps, I got my Strength up high enough to use a cannon I found.

It is impractical, but awesome. Takes ten Quicksilver bullets a shot, but mine's a +2 and it does over six hundred damage to the enemies walking around Yharnam. So yeah, I can see applications for bosses that I -need- to put a great big hole into.

I've heard the optimal way to use the cannon is to start with a full 20 bullets, then make 5 blood bullets before every shot. You should end up with 4 shots total. With the bullet-enhancing consumable (Bone Marrow Ash, I think), it should be a pretty solid way to put a dent in bosses.

Re: cane vs. axe. While I find the axe fast enough for general purposes, I notice it definitely comes up short on quick or small enemies. I don't have much experience with the cane, but I imagine it doesn't share that same weakness. I think my next character will be in the Belmont vein.

I think it's kind of sad that the toughest enemies in the game for me are the tiny jumping leeches. The axe can't hit those motherfuckers worth a damn with anything but an overhead slash. Even then it's 50/50. I've burned so many blood vials on them.

I just beat the One Reborn.

It was kinda sad, actually.

My first try, I was trying to keep upstairs. I killed the witches, and I was trying to target his focal point.

That didn't work, but I did notice the fireballs do crap damage and he's sloooooow (albeit fucking awesome as a necromantic construct). So I started going hit-and-run on him. I'd run up, do a dashing strong attack on his leg or whatever was handy, then run away and slow to a walk when I has some distance to let stamina regen. Using a fire paper just expedited this process.

And the witches died when he did.

In-game I'm walking up some stairs in Central Yharnam, when suddenly my (out of game, real life in the room with me) dog starts growling. I glance back at the screen and see movement on the bridge, werewolves. My dog had heard the werewolves growling before I noticed and alerted me to their presence. Good boy.

This is seriously depressing.

Basically, if you leave Bloodborne suspended for 12+ hours, the game starts having trouble properly loading the bosses, basically neutering the fights. This happens even if your PS4 is in rest mode (which is what I do so the controller can charge). I found the option in the menu that stops applications from being suspended, but... this kind of makes me want to delete my character and start over. I'm pretty sure I've run into this. Unintentionally easymoding the game was not something I wanted to do.

I'd been wondering this whole time if the bosses were easier this time around or if my hundreds of hours of Souls experience was paying off.

EDIT: At the very least, my Blood-starved Beast fight looked nothing like this one. Some of my one-shot boss kills were legit. That makes me feel better.

Huh. I think that's what happened with Ebriteas for me. Although her horking up frenzy-causing spit repeatedly was a challenge.

Anyway, so I beat Mergo's Wet Nurse.

And then

HOLY FUCK THE OLD MAN HAS SOME SWEET MOVES. Dammit. Why won't the game let you fight like that.

Anyway. After I killed him--after several tries--I was approached by Something Else.

It's called the Moon Presence. Uh. My buddy acted like Gehrman was the Final Boss. Anyone have a clue what the fuck is going on here?

Commiserate me on the 500 dollars I just spent for same day delivery of Bloodborne and my special Bloodborne controller.

Maxus wrote: And then

HOLY FUCK THE OLD MAN HAS SOME SWEET MOVES. Dammit. Why won't the game let you fight like that.

Anyway. After I killed him--after several tries--I was approached by Something Else.

It's called the Moon Presence. Uh. My buddy acted like Gehrman was the Final Boss. Anyone have a clue what the fuck is going on here?

I've heard there's multiple endings and a few different possible bosses of the "final" variety. I've heard it involved those umbilical cord items, but I don't know for sure.

I've gotten over my mild depression at the easymoding. Hopefully I'll be able to finish up my playthrough tomorrow.

Commiserate me on the 500 dollars I just spent for same day delivery of Bloodborne and my special Bloodborne controller.

That's about the same amount I paid for my PS4 plus the Bloodborne collector's edition, so consider yourself fully commiserated from this end.

I beat the game just now.

Thanks for tipping me on the 12-hour thing. I think my first go-round, I'd passed the mark. It kept doing the same three-hit combo.

When I realized it, I threw the fight, turned it off, and then spent about ten happy tries learning its moves and how to deal with its desperation mode and finally, beat it.

Still using the cane.

Maxus wrote: Thanks for tipping me on the 12-hour thing. I think my first go-round, I'd passed the mark. It kept doing the same three-hit combo.

No problem. To misquote JFK horribly out of context, we do these things "not because they are easy, but because they are hard".

I wasn't able to make it to the ending this week, but I did finally beat Mergo's Wet Nurse. So far that's the only boss I've looked up strategy on. I just couldn't figure out how to make it through the purple cloud phase. Apparently running in a circle really is the best strategy.

Anyway, I've eaten a total of three umbilical cords (...yuck), so we'll see if I get the boss after Gehrman. I was able to go a couple rounds with him before work yesterday. I'm able to consistently get him to his third phase, but I need to get better at reading his second phase patterns.

I also realized I haven't found Ebrietas, so I looked up what I was missing. I'll be taking a break from Gehrman to do that and track down any other missing areas. I also figure I'll try and do all of the Chalice Dungeons before I get into NG+. At the very least I want to get the Beast Claw weapon.

1) Chalice Dungeons are pretty cool initially, though we will see how I change my mind when I have beaten all the bosses and they just keep throwing them at me with more HP.

2) Blood Vials are stupid. It just forces you to take a break from fighting the boss to go farm blood vials. And worst of all, blood vials cost in souls scales with level. Was there really a problem with people getting to fight the boss over and over without having to go farm the level 1 zone in between?

(Personally, it hasn't directly effected me that way yet, but only because once I realized that was the end implication, I just took to playing bosses with no blood vials at all until I know all their moves, am pretty sure I can beat them, and they are at least 2/3rds HP gone.)

Fuck the Paaryl Beast. That thing is stupid.