Fans of the Souls series will be quick to compare Bloodborne to its older brothers Demon's Souls and Dark Souls. I know I did. The health meter and stamina bars, the quick equip system, and most of the way you go about fighting in the game is fairly similar. However, after playing a few hours of the game, I've noticed several key differences in the gameplay that make Bloodborne not only better than the previous games, but also easier to get into. The narrative I won't talk about because, as with the previous games, it's just as vague and mysterious as ever.
- Combat is highly aggressive now. No longer are you compelled to use a shield for most of the game, as the enemies in this game don't really give you enough time to dodge, let alone defend yourself. Instead, you have to cut through enemies as fiercely as possible. Attack them fast and hard, and you will succeed. The enemies will be attempting to do the same to you (and will succeed many, many times in ripping you apart). Instead of dodge-rolling, there's quick-stepping, and makes the strategy less about the counterattack and more about gaining better footing, learning to parry (which are what your guns are useful for), and being faster than your foes, much like a hack-n-slash game.
- The health regain system. After getting hit, you have a limited window during which, if you attack enemies, you can regain the health you just lost, up to a certain limit if you've been taking a lot of hits. This brings an interesting strategic factor in whether or not its wise to attack enemies to gain your health back, or if the damage inflicted on you is worth charging in only to get smacked around again.
- No one gameplay style is better than the other. Using magic is no longer the "easy mode" of the game. Everyone has a fair chance to be good at the game without resorting to specific builds or classes (there aren't even classes anymore, only backgrounds for base stats that don't vary much). However you want to play, that's your right.
- Dying no longer inflicts stat reductions or health penalties. That's right, gone are the cons of death seen in the Souls games. You die, you revive, and...well you're the same person. No stat reductions, no losing health, nothing like that. You just come back ready for more. This is likely due to the dream-like state of the world of Yharnam, narrative-wise, instead of a world in constant decay as seen in the Souls series.
- Stats themselves have been simplified. You only have six to work with for leveling: strength, vitality, endurance, skill (for using special weapons), arcane (for magic powers), and bloodtinge (how strong your guns are). Leveling is much like it is in the Souls series, but it's much easier due to the Hunter's Dream (similar to the Nexus in Demon's Souls).
- Until you die to (or somehow beat) your first boss, you don't get to level up at all. The majority of the first section of Bloodborne is basically there for you to get used to the new gameplay mechanics, such as the more aggressive style, the health regain system (which works beautifully), and learning how to quick-step.
- Fewer weapons this time around, but they all transform. I use the Saw Cleaver at the moment, which works as both a short saw sword and a heavier longsword. You can even used the transformation button as an attack to clear out enemies faster.
- Regaining health is also done through blood vials which are found almost everywhere, but only give you about a third of your health back. In the middle of battle, I would recommend using the regain system.
- No more equipment burden. Items no longer have a weight to them, so you no longer need to worry about certain armor pieces being too heavy for you to use at the moment. Any item you find that's better, just equip it (the same doesn't apply so much to weapons because they're based on your stats, but by the time you find new weapons, you'll be able to wield them easily if you've been leveling your character well enough).
- In order to summon people into co-op with you, you need insight, which are this game's version of humanity.
- You can now sell items for blood echoes (souls). That's right, you can FINALLY SELL ITEMS!
This is everything I've encountered so far, and I believe they learned a lot from how people played Dark Souls and even Demon's Souls. Even though the former games are excellent in their own rights, I firmly believe that Bloodborne has already surpassed them in terms of gameplay, narrative, accessibility, and challenge.
To those who are playing the game, what do you think?
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