Victory Game Center

http://www.jp.playstation.com/scej/title/bloodborne/
Launch trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKptPGvUhfQ

Not going to lie. Really enjoyed my time with the game so far. This may be the first FromSoft dungeon crawler I really get into.

Gotta love those transformable weapons and especially the handgun. Having a monster jump at you, only for you to pull your gun and shoot him in the face, staggering him, and then going in for the critical strike is always awesome.

The greatness of a game like this is in wrestling with the unknown. Should I go down there? Can I take on that monster? How much further can I press on? What's that noise? Will this work? Can I make it?

This is in contrast to other games, and playstyles, that really only lend themselves to the question, How long before I finish this game?

At the Character Creation screen, you can choose an origin, which effectively serves as your beginning class. Had a hard time choosing, and then I saw the option for Waste of Skin. I laughed, and that's when I knew that would be the one for me.

The review copy (not that I have one) comes with a message that says it "does not punish for the sake of punishing. It is challenging because it wants your focus."

Which is just another way of saying that challenge is one of the means by which immersion is enhanced. And of course, FromSoft are becoming masters at integrating this principle into their games. They're so good at it that gamers who may have forgotten what it means to be immersed in a game, or even those for whom immersion had become a severe difficulty, when they play a Souls game, it's as if they're seeing again for the first time after years upon years of blindness.

Even in a brightly lit room, playing with friends over and distractions a plenty, it still draws you in. In that respect, it reminds me of the greatness that was playing local co-op on Resident Evil 6.

Defeated the cleric beast on my second try, and will likely take down the second boss on my third. I nearly had him the last time.

I can see how this game has the reputation that it does, especially among gamers that have never had to retry anything more than once.

lol the second boss is no joke. As soon as he turns into a werewolf, it's a whole other story. I've lost count of how many times I've fought him now.

Making Bloodborne

Part 1 - Souls Evolved - http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/02/06/ ... -ign-first
Part 2 - A PS4 Exclusive - http://www.ign.com/videos/2015/02/23/ma ... -exclusive

I like the removal of ranged attacks and magic. There was nothing more maddening about the Souls games than struggling with a boss, asking a friend how he did it, having him show you, then see the guy run upstairs behind a pillar or something, and just throw ranged attacks all day until the boss falls over. That doesn't strike me as being very consistent with what the game's all about.

Even shields have been removed, and what we have now is a combat system that shares perhaps more than a little blood with the similarly-focused Metal Gear Rising, where parries are your best friend and aggression is the key to victory.

For your amusement, here's me struggling with the second boss - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx3bIm2JRWE