Bloodborne Is Genius, And Here's Why 

Bloodborne is second only to muppets Christmas carol in its depiction of victorian dystopia

Darksouls takes the “let the kid touch the stove” approach to player teaching.

You mentioned that the sound design is really good. I am happy to announce that it was personally made by Tommy Tallarico in collaboration with Hideo Miyazaki. In fact Tommy inspired the development of Bloodborne as well as Elden Ring. His mother is very proud.

I think something that doesn't get enough attention is how well Gascoigne is designed specifically to teach you how to use your tools properly. He has, until he turns into a monster, your weaponry, your move set, and he kicks the shit out of you cause he fights _super agressively_. He's a mirror image of what you have to be to win, until he turns monster.

As someone said in Steam: Dark Souls is about badass overpowered protagonists... except that you're no protagonist.

Giving gascoignes daughter her dead sisters bloody white bow is a moment I'll never forget, the way she started crying I genuinely felt so bad, I turn away to go about my travels and I start to hear her laughing saying how pretty it is and that it's all hers, i stood in disbelief for about 15 minutes. Sent chills up my spine

Bloodborne was the first game I enjoyed after I stopped gaming in like 2010. I genuinely tell people who don't even play videogames about the removal of shields and the rally mechanic and how it changed the game in such an amazing way by encouraging aggressive, rhythmic gameplay. I wonder how many of them were just waiting for me to shut up about something as esoteric gameplay mechanics.

Elden Ring's guard counter seems like a capstone on the slow development of fun-shielding. By giving you an attack that looks very powerful and does more damage that you only get by successfully blocking, it is actively baiting every shield-user into attacking immediately instead of waiting for obvious safe openings. You are being drawn into taking risks, with the prize of crisp AV feedback and obviously more damage, and eventually start seeing the posture-break counters which are hugely damaging and very satisfying. That way even if you're playing defensively, you're actively engaged with the enemy.

I have a theory that bloodborne is more fun for newbies because the rally system engenders what i like to call "Mad Bastard Energy". Basically that insanely agressive "C'mon if you think you're 'ard enough" attitude you get in east London pubs on a match day. It' s seriously impressive.

The Yahar’gul area music is especially chilling when you realize it isn’t ambient, it gets louder when you get out of the Chapel and is coming from a certain direction, it is canonically what your character is hearing in game, there is a choir singing loudly somewhere in the village.

I never realized how you can tell mimics apart with the position of the chain on them in ds1 but I thought it was a really brilliant and subtle way to give you a chance to tell

One benefit I think blood vial farming has is that it pretty much forces you back to central Yarnham, where if you talk to NPCs, dialog changes as you progress through the story. But in general, I like the Estus mechanic more.

That is such a brave way to pronounce “Gascoigne”

My favourite section of Bloodborne is when the Blood Moon rises, and you enter Yahar'gul. From the top of the area, you see all of the Amygdala's clutching to the buildings, and everything smeared with a red, bloody, hue. Arianna gives birth to a deformed celestial baby in the sewer, the old lady goes mad, Adella grins to herself creepily, the skeptical man grows silent, the Oeden Chapel Dweller wishes it to be over, the imposter Iosefka tries to ascend, and fails, the Yharnamites in their homes grow silent as the weight of the entire universe crushes their tiny minds. It's the part of the game, when you realise that it's all, much, much worse than you thought, and you're alone. It's the part of the game when I realised that everything was fucked.

I tried Bloodborne a while back because I loved the dark souls series so much, and bounced off of it because I was far too methodical with the combat. I took things too slow and didn't have very much fun. This video inspired me to come back to it and try again with a different perspective, and to play more aggressive. All I can say is thank you. You are the reason I got to truly experience such a work of art. I have never fallen in love with a world more so than this game.

14 minutes into a 7 year old video, but the question “Is it possible to play a game wrong?” has a huge place in my heart. I always had a way of playing games, which was more of a grindy, slower, lore-focused playing method. My best friend was more of a middle-ground grinder-completionist-style player, which exacerbated my own style, and it caused us both to have a great time sharing RPG profiles with each other. However, when I met my wife, she was more of a “Story Games Only” type of player, and she preferred using walkthroughs. At the time, I could have died on the hill of “she isn’t struggling through the game enough, therefore she isn’t experiencing it correctly”, and we got into semi-fights about it where I felt like I was defending my whole way of living life. Eventually, though, we ended up playing Final Fantasy Lightning Returns together, which doesn’t really have a “grind” option to it, due to it being a completely timed game, and it kind of broke that habit for me. After that I had a much more profound appreciation for the amount of time that I had put into video games, but I was also kind of mad that I had even done it to begin with, and I realized that I was completely wrong about people “playing games incorrectly”. I give so much more respect to people who genuinely LIKE the games that they play, because I just want to be that person now. TL;DR: I don’t think there is any wrong way to play a game, even though I used to think that way.

You can't just spam attack. *laughs in saw cleaver*

Bloodborne: Let's teach 'em how to dodge Sekiro: Bitches gotta parry.

I remember playing the first game as a mage. ...Without knowing what the lock on button was. I remember having to dodge around bosses at point blank range and shooting the spells by aiming with the controller. The CONTROLLER. So I put the catalyst in my offhand and sword in the other, and focused on using mainly shotgun type spells while dodging and hitting occasionally with the sword. When I found out that their was a lock on button I immediately went to the soul spear and thought it was completely op that you could just one shot mob enemies from a meter away, and was literally so happy.

One time I was watching my friend play through this game for the first time, and he was fighting Ludwig. It was very difficult, but at one point Ludwig went for one of his big stage one forward attack sequences, and my friend just said "fuck it". He was pissed enough that he got aggressive and committed to a huge powered-up swing when he got an opening... And that's how he derailed Ludwig's whole attack and made him stagger by smacking him upside the face with a perfectly-timed Ludwig's Holy Blade. It was minor, but it may have been one of the coldest moments I've seen in a game in awhile. Bro really said "NUH UH" with a bigass sword.

*Being handed a bowl of good soup* "This is missing something..." *Sticks gun into soup* "Now THIS is gourmet"

"Bloodborne is great, so lemme talk about other games for a half hour" I unironically love these videos

I was introduced into the 'soulslike' genre with Sekiro. The sense of accomplishment that came with beating the game made playing other games seem hollow. It also made playing Shadow of War (which I picked up after Sekiro) trivial.

I never got into Bloodborne, Demon Souls etc but I do love the fandom around them. The sheer love for those games and how they got so well known they are practically their own game-category now is just so fun to watch :) Also mentioning Shadows of Mordor and Vampire the Masquerade bc I wanna see what you meant at the end there :D What's gonna happen?

“Bloodborne, the game about injecting yourself with increasing amounts of a dubious liquid, is itself a gateway drug” Just incredible

The irony of saying "what does a rhythm game have to do with a [Soulslike]" Then, a couple years later, in walks Sekiro

Okay I know this is about Bloodborne but as an animator, that footage of Lords of the Fallen HURT ME. Every one of those swings was so methodical and slow but there was absolutely no weight behind them. The character standing upright and really only using the bare minimum of the rest of their body to take the swings, the fact the speed remained almost completely flat with little acceleration and no anticipation or overshoots. Good god. I HOPE that was the result of them having to rush the project before they could finish the attack animations because if someone thought that was acceptable then I do not want to see their portfolio.

"Any game that successfully makes you afraid of a quirky pavement is unquestionably a masterpiece".

Regarding the healing mechanics in bloodborne, it's worth noteing that the system ties into the story. If you run out of vials, you are FORCED to hunt for more. You become the bloodthirsty monster you claim to be hunting This game is a masterpiece

I think the part that you're missing is, in games like DMC, and even Zelda ocarina of time, you are not actually supposed to die. Death is a mechanic, but within the game universe u are not supposed to die, you are a hero fighting against death. Dark Souls games are different in that, you ARE supposed to die, its not just a game mechanic, but also part of the story. Death is part of ur story. I think this difference in philosophy illustrates the kind of games they are supposed to be and why dying in Dark Souls feels better than a game like DMC. I feel like if you died to the first enemy you encountered in DMC, you'd just drop the game lol.

Bro the cainhurst floor tiles thing is actually so true. I did the exact same thing and avoided the tiles thinking they were pressure plates when I first went there.

“NPC’s can’t heal like you do” Bloody crow of Cainhurst: Evil laughing intensifies

every video i see about the mimics in dark souls they never mention that the mimics have a different look chain on the side showing that they are mimics, also if you look at them long enough they start to breath. I just feel like im going crazy when videos dont talk about the chain.

the idea that there are right and wrong ways to play a game, makes no sense if the way your playing to game is using what the developer gave you. On top of that, using sorceries isn't not having to engage with the game, if its in the game its engaging with it. You still have to dodge attacks, figure out the right time to attack and heal, you still have to explore the world to find items or to just to where you want to be. You still have to find items. You can still get ambushed. Does he think that because you have ranged options, that gives you superpowers and makes you invincible?

shield bad: the video essay

'''Dodge the attack, hit them with the stick'' Thats it, this man just solved the entire souls series with one phrase, holy shit

When you start bloodborne you sign a contract. You'll never be the same

This is an interesting video but, I really don't understand why every souls review made by fans always ends up falling in the realm of "this is the right way to play", "the devs had an specific idea for how this game should be played" or "this way is boring". The series takes direct inspiration from MMORPG games. It's meant to be played however way you prefer. Sure, the first games did a terrible job balancing things for all play styles, and it took until Bloodborne for them to learn how to design movement, but it was still made with the obvious intent of playing it whichever way you prefer. The only thing I can concede as things that actually are the correct way to play and meant to be used by everyone is the parry mechanics.

Devil May Cry is easy to learn but takes a lifetime to master. Especially DMCV Dante's 4 styles and 9 weapons that can be switched between mid-combo makes for near infinite variety and the challenge comes from begin stylish and chaining combos. It's a totally different vibe than the souls games. I love both tbh

12:36 “119 hours played in Dark Souls 2” Congrats on beating DS2 exactly once!

The first time I saw a chest in Bloodborne, I whacked it just in case. 😂

You probably have already heard this, but i honestly enjoy the sword and board style. I will say that i do not, and really never have, used the shield they way you describe. it was always an insurance if i missed a dodge, or me intentionally blocking a hit so i can retaliate immediately after. when i learned how to parry with a shield, that only enhanced my enjoyment. for my personal taste, the guard counters in elden ring are my single favorite mechanic in these games, period. I do love bloodborne, it is my favorite overall even, but i also enjoy blocking with a shield and looking for an opening. Your other points about game design i flat out agree with, and i understand your point about the shield teaching passivity. related to this is the fact that sekiro is my least enjoyed game by fromsoft in this genre, and it featured the frenetic gameplay.

The saw spear also has a second R2 after the fully charged one and it's pretty cool Massive knockback

"In souls games you develop a natural feeling for when to attack" Margit the fell omen "hold my cane"

I've had one game of bloodborne going since 2016 that I've been playing on and off over the years. Last time around I got right up to the final boss and stopped. Gonna have to get around to finishing it while I'm in quarantine. Edit: Finished it.

This video lays out so many of the reasons why, in retrospect, I am incredibly thankful for this game being my entry point into the series. I start new files in this game almost on the regular now, just to run back through and giggle joyfully throughout the entire experience. Absolutely my favorite game, and possibly the most entertainingly disturbing comfort aesthetic that I have.

Here in 2023, I can admit. Elden Ring got me started, Bloodborne made me realize OH FUCK I DO LIKE THESE. Going back and playing the other now!

I love how the Rally system feeds into the themes and story of Bloodborne. You are a hunter being consumed by the beast inside. Literally he who fights monsters becoming the monster. And the game encourages you to lash out at those who hurt you, to be more brutal and feral than the monsters you fight.

Dante: I'm fighting for an S score! Chosen Undead: I'm fighting for my fuckin' life!

On many points I agree, but the core part of the more "Fun" way to play previous Souls games: I vehemently disagree. For example the part where you introduce how Dark Souls gives you the shield and the play conditioning linked to it. That isn't really an objective lesson the game teaches you. One could rearange the narrative to do this. Here let me try: _"First you get a very crappy weapon and fight some zombies. Okay, then you enter a room and a huge boss shows up with your main option being to run away. Shortly afterwards you get a shield with a ranged opponent, teaching you that against smallfry and ranged opponents: The shield is a good way to go."_ So far so similar. But now watch this: _"So the game taught you that if you pick something up, it is generally more usefull than what you previously had. And afterwards you encounter many enemies and find your weapon. This is introduced as an upgrade to your shield. It is introduced to be better than the shield. It even teaches you to two-hand the weapon for more power! And to emphasise this: You mow down the enemies and perform a plunging attack that carves out a huge chunk of the bosses health, thus showing that the weapon is better than the shield."_ See how this narrative got turned around? And I want to emphasise: My made up lesson also is not correct. Dark Souls neither teaches you to hide behind the shield, nor to go agressive. It gives you both, shows the uses of it and then lets you decide. Not just that: There are more than one ways to use a shield. To give an example of my first souls game run in Dark Souls (No prior experience): I finished the tutorial and equiped a sword and board. My strategy was to be agressive, but with a shield. I kept the shield down and swung, only shortly blocking to stay in range to follow up on attacks. I did not hide behind a shield: I used it to be more agressive. Later on, I started using dodges more often and twohanding my weapon, while only switching to the shield when I was not familiar with the enemy attack pattern. I naturally switched from one handed sword and shield, to dodge-combat with a shield as a backup and a one handed sword, to a Zweihander + shield on back combo. Meanwhile a friend of mine used shields which increase parry frames. And another friend went full Klonk with the heaviest weapon he could find, using blocks and parries to get openings and smash the enemies head in. He even switched from shield to two handed weapon just for the reposte. There was no need for bloodborne to show us to be more agressive. We did it from the start, but used shields to do so previously. Only difference was that now: We have a gun. And bloodborne was a nice game for my friend aswell, since the attack-parry style was allready his playstyle. I mainly focused on dodge-combat. But our Klonk friend? He was dismayed that bloodborne is so limited. Don't get me wrong: He played well. He got agressive, dodged, parried, the works. But he quit midway through the game saying that he would skip that one, since it is just not his playstyle. And that is the main point of disagreement: Fun can mean different things for different people. I agree with you on many things, but it really seems to me as if you projected your own personal experience in these games onto everyone else.

I played dark souls 1 as a tank with a huge shield, and I had a blast! I was so afraid, and therefore it was so exhilarating to conquer my fear. I pretty much agree with most of what you're saying, especially a point you made yourself about lords of the fallen (the game is like dark souls but all of the sliders controlling player interaction are off by a lot). But I don't agree with your argument that shields and magic/ranged combat is almost 100% bad. Different people have different tastes, I finished Elden Ring with a dual wielding strength build in my first playthrough, and right now I am having an absolute blast as a ranged shield using battlemage. My point is that in game design there is a a 'fourfold path' or 'golden mean', and by this I mean that shields can be fun if the 'game design sliders' are positioned correctly. And by omitting shields in bloodborne From Software retroactively showed people a different amazing or very very much more amazing way of enjoying their portfolio of games.

monster hunter gets away with every one of its flaws as a series because before you go on a hunt, you can have a cat cook you a meal. its 10/10 game design honestly

This game is still brimming with people to play with to this day, I stand around boss arenas ringing my resonant bell just to help people through them with my broccoli squid powers. The longevity of this game is beautiful.

As one of the 10 people who actually beat the Pthumerian Queen at the end of the Chalice dungeons I feel I can comment with some authority on them: It was a fun dungeon crawl with a randomizer element. To me, the repetition combined with the enemy randomizer lured you into a false sense of security when entering a similar looking area. Also the fire thrower boss fight was amazing, as well as the princes and king (I can't remember the names it's been awhile.)

Too be fair going slow in dark souls isn't necessarily a bad thing. Especially in new areas. Take your time, observe the environment and play strategic. Even in bloodborne I did that so I wouldn't end up in situations where I'd had more deaths then was necessary. Its fine to play aggressive or action rpg like but you also need to play with patience and thought. Play smarter not harder.

As a non-gamer (read: person socialized to believe that I was bad at gaming because of my assigned gender, and also socialized to believe that video games would negatively affect my cognition because of my family's conservatism), I tended to feel utterly hopeless about most games, until one day, a gamer friend explained that video games were all about learned conventions. He said that most gamers learned all these conventions while they were children, maybe just watching their older friends/siblings, or from the internet. It changed how I approach games completely, perhaps a bit like the revelation occurring with Bloodborne players who return to Souls games better equipped. A few months later, this friend suggested I try a classic tower defense game and I beat it in one night with zero assistance! My "I'm bad at games" belief was thoroughly shattered when I realized that I'd figured out better strategies than my friend the expert gamer, who'd spent months or years playing it. I watched him play a level for a few minutes and his way was obviously more stressful, so I showed him how I did it and his mind was blown. All this is to say that, it's definitely a good thing to acknowledge that there are better and worse ways to play a game! Play conditioning really matters--within a game, within a series, and even across different genres! I think it's really interesting that there are games out there that make gamers feel just as crappy as I used to feel, and I kinda feel bad for them, even though they sound way more whiny and entitled than I ever did (because they had previously tasted success, whereas I hadn't). So I agree with you that it's better to build a nice on-ramp rather than blaming the player. It makes me wonder why Souls game fans didn't just share their strategies rather than lording their superiority over someone who's already struggling and demoralized.

The fact that Dark Souls kills you arbitrarily all the time also kinda rams home how only the undead - people who revive after dying - could do this job. It makes respawning - something that's always a non-diegetic thing in games - a core part of the story. This isn't something that makes the game great, it's just really interesting. "The developers didn't blame the player, they blamed the game. And then they fixed it." This design philosophy is something about this company that I really appreciate. Each game works to refine and improve upon the previous one. It doesn't say, "Well, we found something that works, let's stick with it.' It said, "Okay, we found something that works, how can we make it work better?" Not enough creators have this attitude.

My boyfriend introduced my to Dark Souls as my first ever videogame. I was turned off of video games entirely for years after that.

“The best defence is a swift and decisive offense”

I like my shield. I still mainly rely on rolling, I don't just hide behind the shield. I use it for parrying, and I use it for situations where I'm cornered, quickly raise it to avoid a lot of damage, and then get out of the positions. Shields don't have to be the slow hiding thing. They can be the emergency button

3:52 "I've had to put so much thought into defeating a certain type of enemy" ***Circles for Backstab***

Hey! I went to university for game design. The term you coin as 'play conditioning' does actually already exist - it's called affordances, which is a byproduct of immersion. People think immersion is just people getting into a game and believing it's real, but in game design it also refers to players responding to the rules of a world by making choices based on how they have experienced the game and want to experience more of it. There is indeed a massive body of work on the subject, and it's all really interesting. I dunno why I'm banking on you seeing this but if you do, hit me up and I'd be glad to share with you a lot of the articles my professors recommended to me! Cool video, I just figured you'd wanna know so you can make more analysis videos and stuff. If this made you mope in the corner I'm sorry. EDIT: Originally, my comment omitted the term 'affordances;' a commentor Mel pointed out the term. The term honestly slipped my mind, I'm def. not perfect at this either. My bad!

Mostly agree with this, but I do think the analysis of DMC is a bit misinformed. The challenge doesn't necessarily come from sheer difficulty of "beating" an encounter, but from the very high skill ceiling of beating any given encounter in a very stylish way. It's not an experience made for everyone, just like how the soul series is not made for everybody.

I really love having proper closed captions on such long-form content ❤

The voice acting on this game is just 👌👌. Never heard as much maniacal laughing and people going crazy on anything than Bloodborne hahah. This game has one of the best atmospheres in all of gaming, I swear.

Made me realize i was conditioned into playing life in the least fun way

Another issue in dark souls 1 with the shield is in undeadburg with the crossbow skeletons. They teach you that the best way to progress through complex’s areas is to keep the shield up. Most beginners may try to dodge arrows, run into the other enemies, die then learn to keep shield up.

Can’t believe bloodborne is this old and still totally playable. Aged like fine wine

"you're never going to feel like an unbeatable badass" Me: *laughs in 99 arcane whilst spamming a call beyond*

8:18 “a sense of paranoia” what no that’s not true *goes on to stab every chest before trying to open it*

For me this happened with Sekiro. Part of what was overwhelming for me in Souls games was that I never know whether I sucked or had the wrong gear. Removing some of the RPG stuff in Sekiro let me focus on the mechanics purely, then I took that back to other Souls games and, confident in my gameplay ability, I could find my way through all the gear better

I love the juxtaposition of "other 3rd person action games like Devil may cry or Drakengard..." DMC is one of the most flashy style action games while Drakengard was called Drag-On Dragoon originally because it's gameplay was made intentionally mashy tedious and very un-flashy in order to drive home the point that only insane people would enjoy killing thousands of people. It's bare bones in terms of combat but I enjoyed it. Best square game ever made.

It's incredible how he specifically attacks everything I love about Souls games as bad (Shields, lots of weapons to experiment with), and yet we both still love souls games

"dealing with them require thought and is much more engaging" as he circles a black knight for a backstab

The paperwork permission thing after a button press is incredibly accurate and funny at the same time.

1:01:11 Something that I noticed is that you can only faintly hear the ominous chanting in the Hypogean Gaol when you're in the underground jail area, and it reaches full volume when you go outside. It's like some unseen choir is belting out this unholy hymn from one of the nearby chapel towers. You can imagine coming to in the jail cell and faintly hearing the singing, only to leave the building out into the street and it's this deafening cacophony of sound which fills the whole area. There is a distinct lack of background music in almost all areas of the game except that one, and it really stands out as a piece of music as a result. Genius environmental sound design.

Keep in mind with OoT, it was one of the very first 3d adventure games, so it actually did need to explain a lot

9:40 that trap literally blew my mind. shit myself and dodged at the last second. "heh, nice try. you think I haven't played aSouls game before?" *spiky log of death flies off and sends me plummeting to my doom*

Don't worry King's Field, some of us still like you.

I can't disagree more with your point about shields. Shields are there as a safety so that you can experiment more. Want to just dodge? Go for it, that's still allowed. Want to try and parry? Why not, you've got a shield that can still reduce some damage while you figure out the timing. Want to just be a tank and soak up as much damage as you can? Please do, here's Havel's set. Bloodborne not having a shield doesn't make it "more fun" or "easier to learn." It just reduces your options and forces you into the dodge and parry playstyle. That's good for some and clearly you find it more fun. By that same token, plenty of people like playing as a hulking suit of armor who can shrug off huge hits. That's fun to them. Dark Souls doesn't force anyone to play a turtle, it just says "Here's a shield, use it how you please." If someone things hiding behind a shield the whole game is boring and doesn't think to set aside their shield and use the dodging mechanic instead or trade their shield for a parrying buckler that incentivizes agile movement more is the source of their problem with the game, not the game itself.

In your Play Conditioning discussion, I feel I understand what it was the developers were trying to teach with giving you the shield. The lesson wasn't "You're going to die a lot, turtle behind your shield and pray you'll survive", but rather "You're going to encounter situations where enemies attack from a distance, so use a shield so you can close the distance and get in their face." It was meant to teach you that there are scenarios where dodging was not optimal, so a shield is useful.

Just so you know, mimic chests have a different chain that hangs off the side of it, so theres actually a visible difference that exists to tell you whether a chest is safe or not

6:27 This bit reminded me of Egoraptor's Sequilitis video. I love how you say it's too fair and nice by clearly telegraphing the traps and enemy movements and he lost his mind about how nothing is easy to keep track of and things hit you out of nowhere.

6 years later, rewatching this with a sudden urge to replay the best Soulsborne.

'I have to put more thought into killing a red or black knight than every enemy in other similar games put together!' *footage of a person strafing around a black knight for a backstab, repeat*

the whole "shields make the game less fun because it's easier" reminds me of a point a game designer made once that I thought was really interesting. Humans will generally not do things the fun way, they'll optimise the fun out of things. Games often have to protect your from your own boring tendencies because you're avoiding failure a lot. It was an interesting thought because you'd assume people play games for fun so they'd TRY to have fun but you're actually trying to WIN and that can mean hanging back and playing as safely as possible. Zelda makes this ok because it's never hard enough for you to be hanging back 99% of the game but souls games are hard enough for you to end up doing that. I've never gotten into a souls game but I don't have anything against the style, I'm just not into this kind of commitment right now. Maybe someday lol.

Came back to this video years later for review. There's a couple of major issues I have with it, especially with half a decade of hindsight and experience, but mostly I disagree with the variety of weapons point. Having played all of these games many... _many_ times, using the same few weapons over and over again (bloodborne) gets old... fast. Really fast. I have my highest playtime in the games in this series which have the greatest weapon variety.

Noah Caldwell Gervais has an amazing video on this series also

Came for Bloodbourne - got mainly demon / dark souls

Lovely video! Just one thing, though. 1:30 I’d say the point of DMC series wasn’t to overcome challenges, or simply kill your enemies, but to kill your enemies in the most fabulous ways possible. The Style meter is a proof - you can’t just keep spamming the same attack that works to get a high style point. You need to have variation. But I guess it also depends on each and every person as to how or why they’d play the game.

This arguing reminds me a lot of why strategy games are out of fashion. Such great games, but peoples general approach to them ruins it for them.

Yeah, Thumper does remind me of salvia. I kinda miss salvia lol

Me: *watches any video ever on youtube Up Next: Bloodborne is Genius, And Here's Why

I didn't understand the effect of mimics until i started attacking chests in Sekiro

The thing is, Souls games ARE fair. They give you the tools you need, and let you explore - they don't artificially bloat a boss's health if you level up, and the enemy moves are balanced to such a point that a "no-hit" run of the entire series is possible (not that I could dream of doing that). In fact, it's even possible to run past almost every mob in the game - name me a non-FromSoft game that doesn't force you to take on mobs either all the time or at certain checkpoints... maybe Dishonored? I personally kind of suck at Souls games, but they are simultaneously my favorite games. I play for the lore, the setting, and the feeling, combine with the fluidity of the mechanics (Dark Souls 1 is still a bit rough gameplay-wise for me, but I did enjoy the original Demon's Souls).

I was ‘Play Conditioned’ earlier today while running through ancient Erdtree burial ruins! Those damn imps love to hide on walls or *just* around corners and after the first one annihilated me I always paid extra close attention! 🤯

"When we grapple with why we enjoy something, we're ultimately interrogating our own feelings." Brilliant

I've got like 250 hours in Dark Souls 3 and beaten it with pretty much every build you can think of, I can't say that fighting with a shield was "playing it wrong." Some people really enjoy that deliberate playstyle.

You know, I got to those witches in the woods, which is a dead end, and wasn't sure where to go to next. Then, I discovered the chalice dungeons, and I though that's what I needed to beat to progress the game. So I only played chalice dungeons for months, almost quitting the game dispite really enjoying the game until then, before going back to Yarnum just to feel something and then I found out where to go. Anyways, good game, great video, this was my 1st souls game and I'm very grateful for it. My buddy showed me Dark Souls 1 and it looked fun but I forgot about it until playing Bloodborne

I need it to be known that this video made me forget there’s a block button in DS1 I got heavily into dodging and parrying after watching this video, to the point where I never raised a shield. When I got to Anor Londo though, I died more times to the archers on the buttresses than I did any other enemy, because it didn’t occur to me that I could block their arrows I eventually figured that out and went on to beat the game for the first time after giving it up for years