Bloodborne + Dark Souls 3

Felt like blogging about these two games that I've been playing recently. More after the break!

About a month ago now, I purchased a used copy of Bloodborne from GameStop. I had heard a lot about it but always felt somewhat intimidated by how it was very similar to Dark Souls in terms of combat. But GameStop has this policy where if you buy a used game, you've got a week to decide if you like it or not. If you decide you don't like it and you bring it back within that week, you get a full refund. I figured that a week was plenty enough time to decide if I liked it or not, so I bought it.

My first few attempts were pretty terrible failures, and I went through the whole phases of getting upset at a game. I mean, I'm by no means some sort of rage-filled gamer who starts shouting at the television screen, but I'm not above getting frustrated, and my first few days of Bloodborne were pretty chock-full of me deciding that I didn't really like the game that much and that I should probably take it back. As the first sentence of the previous paragraph may have implied, I never did.

Something kept drawing me back into Bloodborne and now I actually really, really like the game. The combat, probably the game's main selling point, is a lot of fun. Bloodborne's combat has my adrenaline pumping like no other games can manage, and it's probably because of its incredible responsiveness, fast pace, and high stakes. Pressing a button has pretty immediate effects on the gameplay, and it doesn't feel like there's any downtime between pressing a button and your character executing their attack. Bloodborne's combat is also highly dodge-focused, as there are only two shields in the game and neither of them are particularly effective. It's all about timing your actions as precisely as possible to avoid damage or deal it, and it's really, really exciting.

Also worthy of note is that dying means that you lose all your currency at the spot of your death, and you've got one chance to get it back. Part of the thrill is trying not to lose, but even when you do, the treacherous trek back to the spot of your death is tense. And even once you get there, it's possible that your currency has been absorbed by one enemy that you have to kill if you want them back, instead of lying on the ground able to be immediately picked up. It's all very tense, but it's very rewarding if you get a particularly large stash of blood echoes back (blood echoes being the currency; it's used to level up or buy new items from the shop).

Also, the aesthetic direction of Bloodborne deserves special attention. The game draws hugely from Lovecraftian horror in all areas: plot, visual design, sound design, you name it. Part of the reason that I love Bloodborne so much is because of the aesthetic; Yharnam, for how horribly fucked up it is as a city (it's a pretty fucked up place), has captivated and intrigued me like no other game world has before. I can't do it justice via just describing it, so I'd recommend at least watching a playthrough of it to see what I mean (though there really is no substitute for playing it yourself).

So, I really fucking like Bloodborne. And, since Bloodborne is very similar to Dark Souls, I figured that I would try out its recently-released cousin Dark Souls 3. Turns out, I don't like DS3 nearly as much as I do Bloodborne.

The most significant thing that I dislike about DS3 is the pacing of the combat. I mentioned earlier about how Bloodborne has very fast-paced, precise combat, mostly due to the lack of significant shielding options. You're always dodging out of the way, trying to find the perfect window of attack. With Dark Souls, it's much more standoffish. I find myself locked onto an enemy, circling around with a sword and shield, waiting for them to attack so I can try and counter. It's a lot slower, and as a result I find it a lot less exciting and a lot less rewarding than Bloodborne.

I also don't think the actual world of Dark Souls is particularly captivating, either. It's a much more traditional fantasy setting, and while there are some parts of the world I enjoy, a lot of it is pretty unappealing and nondescript. A lot of the world design feels cookie-cutter to me, and I don't like it particularly much at all. It's still got a pretty good soundtrack, though.

So, yeah. I love Bloodborne, but I don't like DS3 that much. That's all I had, just wanted to get it out of my system.