T.A.G's Bloodborne Review!!!

*There's a TL;DR section at the end for those who want it*

There will be BLOOD (and sweat and tears)!!! 

Bloodborne... the latest release from developers Fromsoftware, famous for their "Souls" series which includes Demon Souls, Dark Souls and Dark Souls II (ALL of which I have played on PS3 *proud smile*). Their games tend to be VERY VERY DIFFICULT, but not difficult in a "That's so cheap / I'm never gonna beat this boss / Forget that shit" type of  way. It's more like an "OK, I finally figured out what to do / Fingers don't fail me now / Maybe I shouldn't have done that" type of way!!! I mean the tag line for their last game was "Prepare to die," and die you will (well I did... A LOT).

You'll be frustrated enough to wanna throw your controller at the screen, drop your console in the pool, and go read a good book. Then... you'll channel that rage into razor sharp reflexes and use the adrenaline heightened senses as your weapon to defeat the foe that stands in the way of your progress (be it actual progression of the story or the progression of your character stats). Bloodborne, which was released on March 24th 2015 as a PS4 exclusive *sigh*, falls into the same vein as its predecessors. It has many similarities, which is to be expected,  but it also has its own identity that sets it apart from the other installments (I'm gonna be saying this a few more times so get used to it. There's also gonna be major comparison with the other "Souls" games because... why not). You will meet with items and aspects that are reminiscent of the older "Souls" games, but have been re-invented, re-imagined and in some cases renamed, but there are also brand new ideas and systems in place that resonate well with the older stuff.  So, let's proceed with why we're all here... T.A.G's Bloodborne Review!!!

N.B if you come across a term that bewilders you, just keep reading. ALL will be made clear! *suggestive wink*

AUDIO :- Bloody Good

The audio in Bloodborne is lovely and does an excellent job of creating atmosphere. The orchestral sounds used in the BGM (Background Music) and ambiance are entrancing. The guttural grunts and moans of enemies are impactful, and the voices of  the NPCs (Non-Playable Characters) are a glee to listen to (especially if you like British/Australian accents... I do).

The pace and placing of the music is also well done. Sometimes the music is calm and promotes relaxation; sometimes its haunting, encouraging you forward with trepidation. At other times, it's loud, upbeat and rhythmic, heightening the tension helping you to hone in on the task at hand (usually beating that giant monstrosity standing in front of you) followed by being peaceful, helping relieve some of the built up adrenaline.

I especially love the way the game uses subtle yet distinct sound effects as cues. Best example would be the tell tale DING sound that occurs when you successfully counter/parry an enemy. It gives such a satisfying feeling when you here that sound (Visceral attack? Yes Please!) and it also indicates when you should use the "I better roll away or back step since I didn't hear the DING" technique (which will save your ass on numerous occasions). There are many visual cues as well but they're kinda hard to see when you're focused on the creature that's trying to tear your head off. So audio cues come in handy, and are GREATLY appreciated!!!

VISUALS :- To Die For

Bloodborne has an incredible amount of detail in the visuals. Details that leave me wondering "Who the HELL thinks of that let alone has the time to ACTUALLY implement it?" (KUDOS to you, whoever you are) Prime example is the doll in the Hunter's Dream. She has cracks in her porcelain... CRACKS!!! I was amazed! (Look at the rocks in the image... JUST LOOK AT THEM!!!)

Feast your eyes

At one point I found myself staring at a bit of wall that was reflected in a puddle. I spent a good two minutes marveling at the way the reflection changed as my viewing angle did and then I spent another minute or so looking at the wall itself examining the moss eaten deterioration that was expertly portrayed. (YOU GUYS ROCK)

Another major accolade is given to the lighting effects in game. The shadows that play on the floor and morph when you run past a light source were a joy to see. You know that little circle that is normally used for shadows in games? That is NOWHERE to be found in Bloodborne (thankfully).
The Victorian architecture and Gothic feel featured in the town of Yarhnam also lend themselves well to the atmosphere of the game. You always feel like "so much has happened here" just from taking in the sprawling backgrounds that are present in the game (even without hearing so from the NPCs).
In terms of frame rates, I'm at a loss for specific values. In my opinion, they maintained a standard that I have come to expect and I was never disappointed by the game's graphical performance. Also, I was never one to take such trivialities into consideration. (Translation: I have NO IDEA how to measure frame rates so I didn't. As long as character doesn't start running in slow motion and stuff... I'M GOOD lol)

GAMEPLAY :- Beastly

Bloodborne is a third-person action role-playing game. This simply means that you play looking over your character's shoulder (unless you move the camera... obviously) as you stab and shoot your way through. As such, gameplay is fast paced, gory, exhilarating, satisfying and down right EPIC FUN.

As with all "Souls" games, you (the player) are dropped into a cryptic derelict landscape where you are...
left to your own devices as you try to piece together the goings on of the place and where you should go to get those pieces. In Bloodborne, you awaken in the Victorian town of Yarhnam, the city of blood ministration. You, who are an outsider, have joined the ranks of the Hunters in your search for Paleblood. The story plays out as your adventure in carrying out this task. You meet some very interesting people along the way and formulate your interpretations as you go, but I don't wanna give out too many spoilers so I'll leave it here. However, I can tell you that numerous DEATHS await. (Be ready and try not to swear too much lol)

You have at your disposal two types of weapons. First, there is a "Trick Weapon" that is held in the right hand and used for melee combat. The starters are a Saw Cleaver (balanced), a Hunter's Axe (strength type) and a Threaded Cane (skill type). Trick Weapons are peculiar and referred to as "Trick" because they can switch between two states when you press L1. The first state is used in aggressive, close ranged flurries, (better for one on one fights) while the extended state gives a bit more range at the cost of attack speed (great for crowd control). You attack normally by hitting R1 and you can chain attacks together by repeated presses. R2 is for strong attacks which are slower than normals but have higher damage output. These can be chained as well. Strong attacks can even be charged which increases damage but requires about two seconds of start up time. After a bit of play time, you can mix and match your button presses and create your own combos that incorporate both normal and strong attacks. Hell... you can even have the trick weapon switch states mid-combo going from close range to the extended state and back. (Youtuber TheDiG3 demonstrates).

Bloodborne favours aggression and thought (either beat enemies to death or avoid them, no bow and arrows/spell cheesing or sitting behind a shield) and in order to keep this theme at the forefront of the gameplay, Fromsoftware did two things.

• They removed most of the shields, ALL bow and arrows and long ranged spells (I have seen 1 shield in the game (IT SUCKS) and the spells are limited range or weapon buffs) 
• They implemented their new "Regain/Rally" system. This system encourages the player to "fight for their life" LITERALLY! 

When you take damage from an enemy you lose HP (Hit Points). This can be seen by the transparent red section of your HP bar (the section to the right of the white line). There is a small window of opportunity (about two seconds) for you to regain that lost HP... IF... you can successfully damage the enemy while the transparent section is still visible. The transparent section refills proportionally to the damage you dish out! (I tried for DAYS to find a short video to show this in action but I couldn't.). I'm betwixt with the regain system. On one hand, I like that I can regain my lost HP but on the other hand, MANY of my death have been in an attempt to get back said HP instead of backing off and just healing.

Your second weapon is a Firearm. The initial being a choice between a pistol (quick shot, single target gun) and a blunderbuss (think old school shotgun). Firearms are held in the left hand, fired with L2 and can be used in a variety of ways. They can be used to damage enemies albeit a ridiculously SMALL amount of damage. They can be used to aggro/pull enemies towards you for one on one battle (fighting groups is a BAD IDEA and the pistol is better for pulling) and, most importantly, they can be used to counter/parry enemies. This is one of the new systems put in place for Bloodborne.

In other "Souls" games, parrying was done with a shield or parrying dagger. Now, you will have to time your Firearms shots (about halfway through enemy attack animation) to interrupt the enemy's attack. This places them in a stagger state that opens them up to a Visceral attack. Visceral attacks replace the old Riposte and Backstab systems. They do major damage to enemies but can only be done on staggered enemies! (Youtuber Syafiq Momo shows us how).

Another way to do Visceral attacks is to "sneak" up behind an enemy and execute a fully charged strong attack. This triggers the stagger state leading to a Visceral attack. (Youtuber Max Parker has that covered.)

I say "sneak" because you really don't have to sneak. You can run up to an enemy, bait an attack, dodge behind, do the charged strong attack and still get the stagger. Your on screen character is very responsive with  little to no input lag. (No blaming your controller for that death...sorry) Your character carries out the actions that you tell them to (whether you meant it or not) sometimes to their detriment! I have tried, on numerous occasions, to roll/dash out of an attack that I launched when I realised that said attack was a bad idea but my character just attacked anyway. (O_O Y U NO roll/dash?!!) This is a bit different from Dark Souls II where I could essentially roll mid-swing but I guess Miyazaki (President of Fromsoftware) decided that I should choose my attacks wisely rather than bailing at the last second just because the enemy was gonna hit me.

In true "Souls" fashion, the story and lore of the game is very obscure. Nothing is ever really straightforward or said blatantly. There's always some hidden meaning or perversely indirect explanation that has to be gleaned from an in game item description or by reading notes found scattered throughout the game world or by visiting this one secluded NPC at a special time while holding a specific item etc etc. (I just wait for the lore summaries from EpicNameBro or VaatiVidya like normal people who want to maintain there sanity lol) However, this does not take away from the impact that the bits of story and lore that are right in-front of you have. They still tug at your heart strings or have you trek all the way back to that mentioned place or make you really HATE this one guy (I'm looking at you Gascoigne)!

TECHNICALITIES :- Skillful

The AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Pathing (the route enemies use to get to you) in Bloodborne has been tweaked a bit from the older "Souls" games. Enemies are very aggressive and many of them patrol specified areas rather than just staying in the same spot. They also chase you great distances. In Dark Souls II, you could run away a bit and have enemies back peddle to their point of origin. I'm sure this happens in Bloodborne but the distance they chase you has been greatly increased (in my opinion).

I also noticed that if you fall from a certain height, your character has an animation where they bend their knees (as if absorbing the landing impact) and must remain in position before you can move. This can be remedied by hitting the "O" button upon landing so that you roll.

Emotes (Gestures, as they're called) have returned and have been improved. They are now mapped to specified motions of the controller; for instance, if you want your character to wave, you can wiggle the controller from side to side as opposed to opening a menu and selecting the gesture you want done (which you can still do by the way) and you can move your character while the carry out the emotes now. So you can walk away while waving bye bye (kinda cool).

Sadly, technicality is also where I find my only peeve with Bloodborne. The game takes forever to load... FOREVER! I have sat through twenty-five second load screens. I have gone to the fridge to get a drink and didn't have to worry because I know, when I get back, the game will STILL be loading. To make matters worse there is only ONE load screen. It consists of the word "Bloodborne" on a black background. THAT'S IT.

The Load Screen in all its glory

Granted, the game only loads when you warp from one area to another or when you die but still... level loading lasts long.

Another issue I had, happened on two occasions. I died and the game didn't seem to know that I died and didn't send me to Hunter's Dream. The camera stayed where I died. I could move the camera around and look at the instrument of my demise (the damn enemy that killed me) but that was it. I had to manually exit the game and re-launch. This caused me to lose all my echoes (in-game currency and experience). I guess the game counted my exit as a second death or it assumed my exit as an end to my current gaming session and removed the data stored in the RAM... I don't know *shrugs*. To clear my conscience... I should also mention the weird way my character's eyes and lips twitched in the character creation menu but that was more funny than annoying.

T.A.G'd :- Of Course

If you're new to the "Souls" games, this is a good entry point for you. You may have heard how difficult they are but that's part of the allure (go play Bloodborne). If you liked the other "Souls" games, you'll like Bloodborne (Casters and Havel's build players will need to adjust their play styles). If you didn't like the other "Souls" games you won't like Bloodborne (but play it anyway because its a great game and because I asked you nicely).

Boodborne lives up to the hype and even goes above and beyond the CALL OF DUTY (see what I did there...)! It's a very brutal game that doesn't leave much room for error and YOU'RE GONNA DIE!

Bloodborne straddles the fine line between old and new, similar and different, trial and error and cause and effect very well and that's a good thing (in my opinion). That being said...I THOROUGHLY enjoyed it and I would recommend it to EVERYONE! P.S... Be prepared to DIE, over and over again!!!

FINAL THOUGHTS:

After doing some excessively complex calculations that involve quantifying immeasurable unreal numbers that supersede non-linear expressions (this is all mumbo-jumbo, just so you know). I have narrowed it down, to the best of my ability, and come up with a simple rating system with which to score the games I review. Stamped = GOOD. Tramped = NOT SO GOOD.

Bloodborne does exceptionally well in each of the categories. Even though it does has some very minor issues that I did not like (the load times and enemies that 1 hit kill me THEY are the worst and I HATE them with all my soul), these are negligible and vastly outweighed by the brilliance that is Bloodborne in its entirety!

1. Audio:- Stamped
2. Gameplay:- Stamped
3. Visuals:- Stamped
4. Technicalities:- Stamped
5. T.A.G'd:- Stamped

Bloodbourne => 5 / 5 Tags