I am completely stoked for Bloodborne. Millions of gamers have followed it since its leak as Project Beast, and it's so neat to see footage of it in its' earlier stages and see the leak come full circle. Hidetaka Miyazaki reiterated and revealed a lot of information this week, and this is what stood out for me:
-Takes place in the 19th Century, in a desolate mountain region called Yharnam
-Yharnam is renowned for its medicine, but is also a place of prejudice
-The 'plague of the beast' is ravaging the region, feeding prejudice and fear
-Every night, bleary-eyed and confused citizens take to the streets in a daily 'beast hunt' (shown in cgi and early alpha trailers). The streets reek of blood, death and beasts
-Level design will be like Dark Souls (1), with interconnecting areas with shortcuts in open-world
-Combat is faster with less reliance on blocking (blocking still exists but much less effective). Speed, agility, diversity through duel-wielding and timing, more then ever, will drive combat.
-Blood is everywhere. Your weapons and apparel get blood-soaked as you fight
-There is an entire class of transforming weapons, with secrets about them and special moves that can be performed only when they are transforming
-Miyazaki's goal is to make exploration terrifying, and exploration is a cornerstone of the game. There are secrets scattered everywhere, too. And loot.
-When asked if an easy mode will exist for new players, the only answer was "no".
-The games' penalty for dying is being adjusted and is a big focus currently. As it currently stands, the penalty for dying won't be as severe as Demon's/Dark Souls, but...you will die more. Difficulty is comparable to Demon's Souls if not slightly more challenging and Bloodborne is a direct spiritual successor to Demon's Souls
-Multiplayer is a massive focus and they want to add in fresh and new things to the innovative formula they already created in Souls. Big group discussions on the topic as devs and will be revealed soon to gamers
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