Ben-DutkaOn the surface, one could easily conclude that Bloodborne 's steep difficulty is a huge turn-off for a large portion of the gaming community.
After all, this isn't 1990. Long gone are the days when video games were actually hard ; for the most part, these days, they're far more accessible because they have to be. In order to appeal to a much larger audience, you must be more accommodating. It's the same rule in all markets.
There are some who will complain that games have gotten too easy but I'm not in that group. As far as I'm concerned, they were always too hard and I'm not interested in frustration and defeat when I'm sitting down to relax. I actually think the average difficulty today feels just about right for the average gamer. That being said, I believe we're all drawn to what Bloodborne has to offer.
It's that innate desire to overcome and conquer. In a lot of ways, it's what we left behind. It's the unquenchable thirst for a victory that feels earned, that drive to best the competition, even when we feel outmatched. All humans have it (even if it's buried beneath mounds of lethargy and indifference for some), and Bloodborne tries to tap into it. Even for me, who has made it plain that From Software's games simply aren't my bag, felt it strongly when I was playing.
Therefore, I'm actually inclined to think that the title attracted quite a few new players simply because of this challenge. Instinctively, we don't like to shy away from challenges. Yes, the difficulty still puts off a great many but for many others, they might wish to rekindle their indomitable spirit.
Related Game(s): Bloodborne
When a game is likely to sell millions I'm sure it's safe to say there's a whole lot of reasons people will be drawn to games like Bloodborne. Games that rate so well consistently across the board tend to draw in the sales. With that said, I'm sure there's plenty who will play Bloodborne to stroke their ego along with those who want to see what the hype is about and with those willing to sample and feel premium gaming experiences.
Last edited by Temjin001 on 4/7/2015 10:28:00 PM
Can we just get over the difficulty thing with Bloodborne. With that said, no game is really this hard anymore and that's a good thing because one every year or two is fine. Nerves cant take this lol Most sense of accomplishment in games today are only produced by competitive online experiences. I sure feel good about myself after I win 3 races in a row on Driveclub online.
But in all honesty, Dark Souls, Demon Souls or Bloodborne aren't "cheap" hard. AI rubberbanding is cheap, unlimited foot soldiers is cheap, etc. From Software productions are not in my opinion. Planning and execution is the game!
So yes, the difficulty curve is both turn off and a lure.
I like this article. I'll probably try Bloodborne when I don't have any more games to play. It's good to play this type of games at least once per gen. Last gen's ps3, I've played and beaten Demon's Souls. For ps4, I'll try to play Bloodborne. ^_^
I always thought only 1/5 of purchasers actually know what the series is about. They want the difficulty, the immersion etc. These are the peeps who frequent gaming news, websites, forums and post comments on articles.
The rest are casual who like the look or hype of a game, or hear of its sickness. Is this not the case?
If I didn't care about challenges, Bloodborne and such would delicious to me. Until I die ~10 times in 15mins or something.
Does Sony even advertise it for the elite? Don't remember the trailers.
Sorry if this was redundant. It does feel obvious.
I was skeptical about Bloodborne as I never played any From Software game before. Now, I wanted to feel this difficulty myself. At beginning it was a turn-off for me and I was angry that i bought this game. I was stuck on Cleric Beast for like 10 tries. But the more I played, the more I learned about the mechanics of this game. And it became easier. It is stil hard but at least I can progress now.
So yeah it is a turn-off… at the beginning. But once you now your s**t, thing will go easier.
I think people enjoy it because the developer gave us a fully fleshed out game that doesn't compromise what it is.
I have to admit to being biased when it comes to Bloodborne and the Souls games. They're my favourite franchise's (I'm lumping them all into one neat category as a franchise). So I try to encourage anyone who is daunted by the difficulty in these games to try change how they play these games and to really utilise the online component to bolster their stat's.
What I suggest is that anyone who finds them difficult, instead of going in blind into a new area, use a soapstone (in the Souls games) or the small Summoning Bell (Bloodborne) and let other people bring you into their game for a risk free way to farm Souls/Blood Echoes and to figure out all the nooks and crannys before going ahead in your own campaign.
By allowing yourself to be summoned, when you die, you don't lose your hard earned progress. If you're going through an area with someone who's experienced in the area, you might find things you'd never of known about on your own. This isn't cheating, they're game mechanics, tools given to you the player to use to help you reach your goals.
Some enemies are tough. Some of the bosses are tough. When it comes your turn, bring another player into your game to help out. There's no shame in this or the facilities to do so wouldn't be put in the game.
And remember, when the official tagline for a game is 'Prepare to Die', expect to die a lot and don't take it to heart. Give yourself time and you'll get good. A lot of people give up at the very start of these games because of the difficulty. This difficulty is only temporary, a baptismal in fire to switch your way of thinking in the game into being more cautious. Just remember, at the start of the game you're not leveled up. You've not got the advantages you'll have later in the game, even the advantages you'll have probably an hour after you may have decided to quit.
You don't have to be 'Hardcore' to enjoy these games. That's complete nonsense.
Last edited by frostface on 4/8/2015 5:57:22 AM
Yes Frost….speak the truth.
Yes the coop it's a optional huge help that for whatever the reason people forget it's there.
The "difficulty" is really exaggerated, and much like frost said above the game challenges you to think differently.
I wasn't a fan of the Souls game and gave up on Demons Souls quite early on. Never tried the other 2 because of this. The change in play style, moving to a fast paced hack and slash felt more my speed, so I gave Bloodborne a go.
I died a lot the first few hours, in that mob section, so much so that it was a struggle, had to turn the game off or I was going to break something. The next day when I picked it up I noticed that there were tools at my disposal to help ease the pain. I also realized that I am going to die a lot more, so rather than face the enemies empty handed. A good idea would be to run back to the fountain and buy more tools. These ideas changed my thinking of the game. It started to feel like an old school jrpg from my child hood, spending hours in an area grinding for XP. Instead of gaining levels, I (the player) was gaining experience.
No lie that first section to the Cleric took me up to 6 hours to complete, after my thinking had become realigned it was an enjoyable 6 hours and beyond.
I am not a hardcore gamer, if I'm lucky to have maybe an hour or 2 a day now to sit back and dig into a game. Age, life, and the like take far more time than they ever did in the past. Yet I am able to enjoy BB for all that it is and truly appreciate the game From Software has delivered.
I have a similar story. The first 4 hours for me were the hardest the game ever has been. I also can commit only about 1-2 hours on most nights. Each session has been satisfying and I feel good progress each time.I beat the spider boss last night.
I really think if you are a core gamer who likes playing what's new and hot this is a must play no matter what. The experience and rich gameplay makes such a lasting impression its a good reminder what games can be when they think outside the norm.
On the other side of the spectrum I see Journey similarly. It's a game that never let you die. It was an idiot proof game but most will agree that it was an experience worth playing, even if just once.
Last edited by Temjin001 on 4/8/2015 11:13:50 AM
I believe I died a few times in Journey lol.
Still need to get to the 3rd boss, when I can get on it's just to farm echoes and level up. Father Gascoigne was a muther, needed to call for help on him. I know it's part of the game mechanics, it's just that, there is something extremely rewarding about taking down a boss by yourself.
I sort of cheated on Father G. My long battle axe swings through grave stones. There's times he'd be trying to attack me but the stones blocked all of his attacks. All the while I was able to R2 charge swing him, my weapon passing straight through the stones.
The whole battle didn't go that way but I was able to get a few really good hits in like that. The same thing works with big trees.
I agree about doing it solo.
I did call for summoning help on the 3 cleric guys, a fight much later in the game. You're outnumbered big time with a trio of guys who behave similar to hunters. It makes a huge difference having some partners.
That's the great thing about it. If a boss is too hard just chime for help and usually people come a running to your aid. Once I did it experimentally for the witch boss. But I did want the help another time for the trio of clerics. I'll look to pat myself on the back some other time taking them solo.
I'm proud to say I took down Amelia Vicar and Rom the Spider all by my lonesome though.
I cheat a bit too with that boss but using the music box.
Last edited by Oxvial on 4/8/2015 4:36:30 PM
i think its more a lure than anything, and i think this ben that you said is hitting the nail on the head "That being said, I believe we're all drawn to what Bloodborne has to offer."
thats just it, i think that sums it up
happy gaming
Get married. Raise some kids. Then come back to me and see if you need to play a game to give your life a challenge.
I'll play pacman.
Hey, if you can do it, anyone can, right?
I've been really enjoying it. I like that you can now summon friends specifically with the use of a password.
As for the difficulty, next time I play tonight or tomorrow, I've got a whole lot of souls (or blood-whatever this game calls them) to retrieve from a boss.
Difficulty was a definite turn off for me on the Souls games. Mainly because I was told that you can't pause the game. I've got the wife/kids/house/pets thing going on. The ability to pause my game is essential to maintaining my sanity, especially for a game where I have to work so hard to make progress. If I can't pause I at least need the ability to save my game at any time so I can quit/reload.
Though, admittedly, I'm intrigued by Bloodborne. I find myself wanting to give it a try. Can anyone who's been playing it tell me if there is a way to protect my progress if 'life' happens and I must walk away from the tv for a bit? Are there save points, or can you save anytime? When you load the game does it pick up where it left off, or do you come back to the most recent 'checkpoint'? I'm not averse to quitting and reloading if I must.
PS4's new suspend and resume feature works wonders. I've used it several times. Literally picks up in the exact spot you leave off, if you exit the game though the system menu.
If you exit the game from the menu, it will save exactly where you are in the world.
When you load your file it spawns you where you exited the game. Easy peasy.
Currently, there's a known bug in Bloodborne, where if you use the suspend/resume feature, ringing summoning bells won't summon anyone. You have to restart.
They are patching that, though.
Suspend/Resume works! That's exactly what I was hoping to hear. Thanks folks!
It's homogay.
Finally defeated the cleric beast last night, i quite like the difficulty setting, the idea is to keep leveling up your stats,it makes things so much easier.
Don't forget to level your weapons too bro.
wait til you meet the shadows.
this games difficulty is not that hard when you actually grind and get a hang of everything, i beat a few bosses where i was like that was it? i guess my grinding is paying off. yes i know, i think i spent over 40 hrs already even though i died like a million time. every death was worth it.
Total lure. Now that the masses got exposed to easy games and learned how to handle a controller, they want a challenge.
So now all of us who suffered through this generation of easy mindless titles might have a chance to finally start to experience complexe games again.
Souls games are awesome and also got the chance to play Elite: Dangerous on PC 😀 damn this space sim is fun and also hard lol god yesterday I exited hyperspace on a giant sun and exploded T-T lol
when I play a game I just want to enjoy playing, be immersed in the story, have fun blowing stuff up or have, even the visuals. I'm the sort of gamer that can enjoy all genres and can play games that don't have to be triple A titles. I don't want to be playing a game for the first time only to be frustrated because of difficulty or spend too much restarting a level or checkpoint. Don't get me wrong I do like a challenge sometimes but it depends on the game. I think the last games I played on the hardest difficulty would be one of the COD's (I think advance warfighter?) and the dead space series. I first did them on normal to complete it then went for the platinum. The cod game was forgiving on the check points so dying after each hit you would almost start from where you died. Dead space one somehow I got the platinum. For me dead space 2 was more difficult and I started on hard so I lowered to normal difficult and still it was a pain. After completion in decided not to bother to finish on hard and dead space 3 I never tried the hard setting. I just didn't enjoy constant monsters around every corner, difficult to kill and no ammo or healt, to spend almost all my time dying and restart, dying and restart.
When I start a new game and I'm asked to choose a difficulty, I always pick normal now as I feel this will be the level the development team made the most balanced
It was cod mwf 3. I didn't plat that one just the hardest difficulty