Bloodborne - GOTD edition

[DC]

In a cave to the right of the fork where the two singing brains are.

[Polmon]

So, I finished my run yesterday - all bosses, including DLC and chalice dungeons, completed as a level 4 character.

 

Bizarrely, in the end, doing all the chalices made things easier, as it meant I had access to the top end runes for basically everything.

 

I think overall the hardest bosses were Loran Darkbeast (partly due to the camera), LM and then LtFV. Headless BLB gets an honourable mention as it has the same camera problems as Loran Darkbeast, but with a much smaller arena.

 

I just needed to keep my cool with Loran DB - I had the timing down for his AOE, I knew where to stand to get hits in, and knew when and where I could heal safely (although I still instinctively would back off to heal!). It was just a matter of not panicking, and staying away from the walls, as even without lock on, the camera would freak out if I got too close to a wall with the boss nearby.

 

Once that was done, it was just a straight run to the end - all bosses I had done before, and I was quite confident I knew what to do with them. MP is still a bit of a rubbish boss.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Roll on Dark Souls 3. My body is ready!

 

edit - I've updated my previous post with the fights against Brador and OoK too.

[JohnnyRyall]

Amazing stuff!
 

Loran Darkbeast looks excruciatingly tough. I can't imagine that was a fun fight at all.

[noob]

got into the dlc a few days ago. ive met ludwig...

 

he is one aggressive arsehole indeed.

 

 

[robdood]

Ludwig's music is second only to Pappa G's theme, so good

 

it is good, played Gerhmen's music on this weeks DorkTunes actually. That i really like. 

[noob]

On 3/30/2016 at 7:17 PM, D.C. said:

It's so fucking good. Did you check a wiki to see if you missed any areas, noob? It's easily done.

It's so fucking good. Did you check a wiki to see if you missed any areas, noob? It's easily done.

 

On 3/30/2016 at 7:55 PM, Qazimod said:

 

We talked about one or two of them on twitter - I asked if he'd taken the detour to IC where you pick up the CS, and he also found the UCW door and asked me what was behind it.

 

I might have put him off UCW by mentioning how hard I found it though... 

 

 

yeah, ive missed a few so going through them now. or at least trying to. i did manage to kill paarl, who was surprisingly easy tbh. it just sat in a corner and let me whack it until dead. on my list are;

 

Amygdala, Logarius, Ebriatas, The Celestial Emissary and the Moon Presence to do next.

 

 

[DC]

Ebriatas...

 

Have you been soloing or mixing it up with CPU / human summons?

 

Ive spent an hour with a lifelong friend and another with a brother in law trying to convince them of this games virtues. Neither has come around to my point of view, sadly, but each to their own.

[Qazimod]

I think noob's been summoning whenever possible. I hopped onto one or two of his earlier streams and wondered what happened to his insight.

[noob]

1 hour ago, D.C. said:

Ebriatas...

 

Have you been soloing or mixing it up with CPU / human summons?

 

Ive spent an hour with a lifelong friend and another with a brother in law trying to convince them of this games virtues. Neither has come around to my point of view, sadly, but each to their own.

 

some cpu, but mostly summon a friend who helps out.  

[John0]

I recently went back to this after originally getting stuck at Darkbeast Paarl and never bothering to find another route. I think I was a bit over levelled due to getting through it quite slowly, getting lost, practicing a lot on the enemies in and around the jail, and being obsessive about not wasting/losing echos. So I haven't majorly struggled on any of the bosses to be honest. The hunter before Rom and the 2 hunters and the beast you meet when you returned to the Chapel did cause me some issues, but they're all (eventually) dead. I'm up to The One Reborn now, having met him/her once by sprinting there. But having a little more of an explore before I go back again as I'm sure I've missed 1 or 2 two shortcuts and it seemed pretty impossible anyway. Is this the final boss (in a manor of speaking)? Feels like it, or the penultimate at least.

 

I'm not the biggest fan of Souls games to be honest. I get their strengths but I find it way too easy to get stuck or find myself in areas I'm under-leveled for. The atmosphere in BB is incredible though, and I've found as long as I level up enough, the bosses aren't stupidly impossible enough to die hundreds of times on. So have been enjoying it quite a lot. Maybe I'll take the plunge on DS III after all .

 

Edit: Oh almost forgot, I uploaded my SoY fight, partly because I spontaneously found a sort of cheese technique in the final stage and was totally proud of myself

 

 

[Polmon]

I think a couple of people asked this (I know one of my RL buddies was curious), my Waste of Skin run doing everything took 126hrs.

 

Here's a grab of all my characters and their playtimes (there's a bit of dead time on all the saves where I'd often go off and do something else and leave the game running - but not that much):

 

 

From top to bottom (iirc):

 

First playthrough (ended up with Ludwigs) - all chalices

Skill build - all chalices

Saw Cleaver only

Waste of Skin (main game only)

Strength build (Kirkhammer and Tonitrus)

First DLC run

2nd DLC run (using Whirligig)

NG+ speedrun (Saw Cleaver)

Waste of Skin v2

 

I haven't actually done as many playthroughs as I thought I had. I know there are a few characters that I deleted (ones doing the FG challenge, for example), but I thought I did more different character build.

[RareBirds]

And Platinum done - two days to try and play something else before Dark Souls 3. 

[LongHairStu]

Had the Platinum before, need to (kind of) regain it by offing LtFV... Anyone care to chime in and assist? I'm there now, can set a password if there's any guaranteed help...

 

Pretty please?

[Qazimod]

I'm (hopefully) on my way after seeing your tweets...

[LongHairStu]

My hero! Thanks, man.

 

Was going to polish off MWN, GtFH, and MP, but instead I think I'll leave this character where she is, so I can go back and help folk out with bosses if they need it and I fancy it.

[John0]

Well, one day until DS III comes out and I'm on the final boss, this evening will be stressful .

 

I think the bosses have taken a steady decline in quality (not sure if this happens with all Souls games, as I've never got this far before). SoY was OK, but the 3v1 combined with AOE felt a bit cheap, but beating them was still fun and felt good at the end. Rom got a bit more tedious with having to kill spiders and deal with AOE at the same time, but at least it taught patience and had you stick to a method. But TOR was just an awful boss imo. Having to go up and kill the witches first was annoying and pointless as it's so easily done. Then it turns out the way that you beat the thing is to just run towards it and flail wildly about 3-4 times until its dead. Felt super unsatisfying to me. Micolash took me way longer then he should have as well, figuring out the kind-of-puzzle element... it seemed so unnecessary. And then when you finally face him it's so underwhelming and straightforward. Though I did like his David Tennant impression.

 

That's all very negative obviously, but I don't feel at all like not bothering to finish it at all. I still really love the feel of the game, and the design of the enemies in general. It's just the bosses that I've really thought we're gradually more unsatisfying. BSB was easily my favourite, as you could reliably avoid the attacks and get in behind him. The whole poison mechanic was really nice as well, as you then had to balance aggression and distance. When I beat it, I really felt like I'd beaten it. Like I had the measure of its attacks and hadn't just worn its health bar down before I ran out of vials.

 

Edit: On a sidenote, not sure if this has been linked to before, but I watched some guy on youtube beat Gascoigne with just torch last night and it was pretty epic: link (best to jump in around the 25 minute mark, or a bit later as obviously it takes a while!).

[Davros sock drawer]

Sounds like you might have missed quite a few bosses if you've gone straight from TOR to the final boss. Some of the most memorable ones perhaps.

 

[John0]

Oh, it's perhaps possible that I'm not at the final boss then . I went from TOR straight to Micolash, and understood that he was the prelude to the final boss? But I've half been avoiding spoilers so I don't really know.

 

Edit: I just looked it up actually. It's made a bit confusing that most of the bosses are optional. But MWN does appear to be the last manditory boss, right? And the game does lead you in this direction.

[Broker]

MY girlfriend beat Father Gascoine! 

 

 

[Davros sock drawer]

56 minutes ago, John0 said:

Oh, it's perhaps possible that I'm not at the final boss then . I went from TOR straight to Micolash, and understood that he was the prelude to the final boss? But I've half been avoiding spoilers so I don't really know.

 

Edit: I just looked it up actually. It's made a bit confusing that most of the bosses are optional. But MWN does appear to be the last manditory boss, right? And the game does lead you in this direction.

 

There is one more mandatory boss after MWN. Then an optional one after that which is the final final boss.

 

But yeah, lots of semi-secret ones, although I didn't have any trouble running into any of them on my first playthrough just by exploring normally. They're at the end of pretty big areas too.

[John0]

20 minutes ago, Davros sock drawer said:

There is one more mandatory boss after MWN. Then an optional one after that which is the final final boss.

 

But yeah, lots of semi-secret ones, although I didn't have any trouble running into any of them on my first playthrough just by exploring normally. They're at the end of pretty big areas too.

 

Maybe I'm just bad at exploring then, I haven't deliberately missed anything, but I do feel like I'm getting lost in this kind of game quite a lot. But I ran into BSB, DP, WoH all very naturally. Taking ToR as an example, aren't you lead straight to Micolash? I struggle to remember exactly even though it was only yesterday  but don't you find yourself in the Nightmare directly after beating the boss, which leads straight to the area outside Margo's with the frenzy AOE? Would be surprised if I missed anything between the two that doesn't require returning to old lanterns.

[Davros sock drawer]

Well yes, the game does lead you along that route, but a thorough explore should mean you run into the other areas. The main areas you've missed would be:

 

 

 

Castle Cainhurst. You get here (eventually) after going through the poison cave in the Forbidden Woods, which is near the dog cages. Easy to miss I suppose, but not if you're looking in every corner.

 

The Nightmare Frontier. You can either let yourself get grabbed by the Amygdala outside the entrance to Yahar'ghul after receiving the Tonsil Stone, or you can get there via exploring the Lecture Hall, which you get to by interacting with the Mummy after TOR.

 

Upper Cathedral Ward. This is through the locked door at the top of the area after the lift in Oedon Chapel. The key is admittedly quite hard to find though. It's in Yahar'ghul.

 

 

There are other minor areas/rooms that are quite obscure, but those are the main large areas you might have missed. Lots of content, a good few hours of gameplay depending on how tough you find them.

[John0]

 

 

 

Ah, I was wondering why I haven't been to Castle Cainhurst yet! Thought it was a bit weird for it to get mentioned so much and then not be in the game . I know the dog cages you mean, iirc I saw messages about hidden paths up there but the only one I could find just had a couple of crows and an item in it, so I thought that was it. The Forbidden Woods really ground me down though to be honest, I felt so lost and stressed at one point I Hunters Marked back to the bonfire with 75k echos and just started over. So yeah, I probably missed one or two things there. I thought you'd meant that I skipped something quite obvious. I'm no completionist and am I'm happy to just go where the game leads me really.

 

I actually did go to the Lecture Hall though (must have been via the mummy), I think I've misremembered, because that's how you get to the Nightmare of Mensis. Bit confused. Oh well! I do feel like going back and doing a run with the Threaded Cane so may find all the bosses one day, but that may have to wait because DS III.

 

Edit: Just took a peek at a walkthrough. I did beat that giant thing in the Lecture Hall but must have missed the ladder to the first floor . I was right, I am just bad at exploring.

 

 

[Davros sock drawer]

You'd best get cracking!

[John0]

I should really stop playing Souls games exclusively in the run up to new Souls games.

[Qazimod]

Happily Stu and I both captured the LTFV battle so you get a nice opportunity to see a co-op boss fight from two perspectives

 

 

[John0]

Beat MWN. Loving the GtfH, he's exactly the kind of final boss I was hoping for. He's hard as nails though. I'm level 70 with a level 9 axe, but never learnt to parry. Currently just practicing him over and over (love that he's so quick to get to) without using up vials and just trying to learn to dodge him. Combat in this is glorious without multiple enemies or AOE bullshit.

 

Edit: Changed the boss name

[JohnnyRyall]

One of the best parry opportunities I find for GtFH is to jump back when he tries to grab you with his scythe and then immediately shoot. It sounds tricky but you'll nearly always catch him in his follow-up attack.

 

He's a right bastard, though when I first fought him it was at the end of a long run including all the chalices and DLC so I was a stupid high level. Fighting him for the first time at Lvl 70 would be really tough.

 

And, at the risk of sounding a bit precious, might want to spoiler the boss name.

[Qazimod]

When he first transforms his weapon and pulls out his gun, one of his moves is a forward roll into a shot. Much like FG, you can shoot him as he comes out of the roll for a parry fairly reliably.

[John0]

I did iiiiit! Wow, really never thought I would complete a Souls game to be honest (ignoring the fact I missed out quite a lot of bosses... still counts!). Did really, really like the final boss, and loved the combat overall, and the whole thing was beautifully atmospheric. Hated the blood vials and bullets system (with them being finite). But the game still let me play it my own way with lots of dodging and using the axe in transform mode for reach. Here's the fight should anyone be interested. It's quite lengthy as I take a strategy of just not getting hit as much as possible. Didn't even have a shield engendering my passivity. There's a bit around the 10m mark where I'm backed up against the fence and the camera goes nuts and I just panic dodge for a few seconds without being able to tell what the hell's going on. Was so tense!

 

Also I freakin nailed the timing of the gesture at the end

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh and thanks for the tips. I used Johnny's a little towards the start, but Qazimod's came in a few minutes too late . Roll on DS III.