Having to farm vials was what killed the game for me the first time as well. Gave it a few months and came back, worked out well. Then there was a few bosses that roadblocked me. Fun times. Don't let it frustrate you too much, but don't slam your head in to the wall for the sake of it, take a break if needs be
Vials were never a problem for me past the first area. I would just make a habit every time i went to level up before i did something dangerous to spend all the 'left over' currency on buying blood vials, no matter if i needed them or not. it adds up very nicely sitting in the bank until i die and need them. once you get multiple levels and xp costs are very high you will have even more to spend on vials.
Stercus, Stercus, Stercus, Morituri Sum
+4
KlatuAussie Aussie AussieOi Oi OiRegistered Userregular
Having to farm vials was what killed the game for me the first time as well. Gave it a few months and came back, worked out well. Then there was a few bosses that roadblocked me. Fun times. Don't let it frustrate you too much, but don't slam your head in to the wall for the sake of it, take a break if needs be
Vials were never a problem for me past the first area. I would just make a habit every time i went to level up before i did something dangerous to spend all the 'left over' currency on buying blood vials, no matter if i needed them or not. it adds up very nicely sitting in the bank until i die and need them. once you get multiple levels and xp costs are very high you will have even more to spend on vials.
As I said here though, this was the first time I played and took a break, the thought at the time of spending my excess souls on vials never occurred to me back then.
My 2c is that while the Blood Vial system is interesting, and the way that enemies drop vials can let you explore way longer, the Estus system from Dark Souls is ultimately better due to never leaving you without any resources after a loss to a boss. Maybe a combination of the two, where you have a certain stock on respawn, but you can spend resources to increase that respawn amount, and you can sometimes get recharges off of enemies, would be best?
that last one is actually what nioh does, and it works pretty well
i'm pretty neutral on blood vials. they're not so onerous now that you can stock up a lot of them (it was a nightmare at launch when storage capped at 99), but i also don't feel like they add much. you can go longer between lamps, it's not like a big deal, especially if they'd added resting at lamps to reset the stock and not required the loads to the dream and back. all three dark souls games had adequate healing systems that were less punishing to new players i think.
DS2 had a good idea with the Estus plus gems. They just messed up by starting you with only one Estus.
Start you with 5 Estus equivalents that you can upgrade to 10/15/20 as you progress, but have vials/grass/gems you can farm or purchase, but give them a low cap on what you can hold at one time as well. Maybe it starts at 5 as well but never increases, so you don't just also farm up 20 for every run. Also encourages you to keep using them since you'll find more, keeping you topped up as you go.
0
KlatuAussie Aussie AussieOi Oi OiRegistered Userregular
DS2 had a good idea with the Estus plus gems. They just messed up by starting you with only one Estus.
Start you with 5 Estus equivalents that you can upgrade to 10/15/20 as you progress, but have vials/grass/gems you can farm or purchase, but give them a low cap on what you can hold at one time as well. Maybe it starts at 5 as well but never increases, so you don't just also farm up 20 for every run. Also encourages you to keep using them since you'll find more, keeping you topped up as you go.
I could agree with that, but change it to 5 rather than 1. Otherwise you run the risk of having a similar issue to the special blood in Bloodborne. I've only ever used Iosefkas blood or prostitutes blood once and I was in an emergency, and I had to dive in to my inv to get it, because why waste an item slot on them?
Besides, you already have 1 use heal items in souls games with the divine blessings?
I hate the Nightmare of Mensis. Nothing like fighting snake-infested wolves, in an area where stepping out from cover means constant damage, and having invasions enforced when I'm straight-up garbage at the PVP; never won a fight when invaded, ever.
I'd go back to the DLC areas, but 3 too many deaths from nearly full health to his fastest-startup attack has put me off of that for a while.
0
Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
I hate the Nightmare of Mensis. Nothing like fighting snake-infested wolves, in an area where stepping out from cover means constant damage, and having invasions enforced when I'm straight-up garbage at the PVP; never won a fight when invaded, ever.
I'd go back to the DLC areas, but 3 too many deaths from nearly full health to his fastest-startup attack has put me off of that for a while.
Just employ the classic Souls exploration strategy: run your ass off to the next bonfire and ignore everything else.
I've actually never had had an issue with the Nightmare, simply because I just skip the part that's obnoxious.
0
knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
Play offline, never get invaded
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
Hello, thread. So as a Souls fan without a PS4, I kind of resigned myself to never playing Bloodborne. But then PSNow comes along and it actually works pretty well so I've been able to play it! I've been reading some spoiler things so I would know how to get to Cainhurst and such but mostly avoiding this thread, but I have a story I feel I need to share.
]One of the things I read about was how to be friends with Djura, which I wanted to do. So I fight Darkbeast Paarl and I had a lot of trouble with him, he keeps jumping around makes it hard and my main weapon is the Tontius which isn't effective against him, so I have to use an alternate. I spend probably 40 or so Blood vials to kill him, trying a couple different times until I level up, but I finally do it.
So then I go through the back door, run around Old Yharnam getting chased by beasts to get to Djura. But I accidently miss going up his ladder and walk in front him so he starts shooting at me, and he accidentally hurt one of the beasts. Oh well, I find the ladder and go up thinking maybe we can still be friends, but he just shoots me with his shotgun and i let him kill me hoping I can try again and befriend him. So I go the same way, run from the beasts again and go up the ladder without getting shot at. I get to the top hoping he'll be friendly but instead of Djura I just see an item. I pick it up and it's the Poder Keg Hunters badge. He must have accidently jumped off the tower after killing me! I just wanted to be your friend Djura!
Overall I'm really enjoying the game. As a souls fan who also likes Gothic and Cosmic Horror the game was pretty much made for me. PSNow has also worked surprisingly well, I have died due to lag sometimes but it is impressive that it can handle this.
Hello, thread. So as a Souls fan without a PS4, I kind of resigned myself to never playing Bloodborne. But then PSNow comes along and it actually works pretty well so I've been able to play it! I've been reading some spoiler things so I would know how to get to Cainhurst and such but mostly avoiding this thread, but I have a story I feel I need to share.
]One of the things I read about was how to be friends with Djura, which I wanted to do. So I fight Darkbeast Paarl and I had a lot of trouble with him, he keeps jumping around makes it hard and my main weapon is the Tontius which isn't effective against him, so I have to use an alternate. I spend probably 40 or so Blood vials to kill him, trying a couple different times until I level up, but I finally do it.
So then I go through the back door, run around Old Yharnam getting chased by beasts to get to Djura. But I accidently miss going up his ladder and walk in front him so he starts shooting at me, and he accidentally hurt one of the beasts. Oh well, I find the ladder and go up thinking maybe we can still be friends, but he just shoots me with his shotgun and i let him kill me hoping I can try again and befriend him. So I go the same way, run from the beasts again and go up the ladder without getting shot at. I get to the top hoping he'll be friendly but instead of Djura I just see an item. I pick it up and it's the Poder Keg Hunters badge. He must have accidently jumped off the tower after killing me! I just wanted to be your friend Djura!
Overall I'm really enjoying the game. As a souls fan who also likes Gothic and Cosmic Horror the game was pretty much made for me. PSNow has also worked surprisingly well, I have died due to lag sometimes but it is impressive that it can handle this.
Dang.
That's exactly how I killed him, except when I did it I meant for him to die.
0
Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
Reviving deleted enemies is all fun and games until he accidentally activates the eldritch rituals buried in the code, putting the world at the mercy of Snek Ball.
Picked this up again after getting to the last fight but not actually completing it. I started the DLC, didn't have much trouble against Maria, but Orphan? Oh boy, that was a pain, but once you get the hang of it, it actually becomes a pretty cool and intense fight.
I'm currently trying to platinum the game, already got all DLC related trophies, right now I just need to beat the game again for the other ending, and finish 2 more Chalice dungeons.
BTW, I love the dungeons, I have heard people dislike them but the whole setting, items and such, is incredibly sinister, I love it.
Picked this up again after getting to the last fight but not actually completing it. I started the DLC, didn't have much trouble against Maria, but Orphan? Oh boy, that was a pain, but once you get the hang of it, it actually becomes a pretty cool and intense fight.
I'm currently trying to platinum the game, already got all DLC related trophies, right now I just need to beat the game again for the other ending, and finish 2 more Chalice dungeons.
BTW, I love the dungeons, I have heard people dislike them but the whole setting, items and such, is incredibly sinister, I love it.
I am really grateful for the trophy making me go in and try the dungeons out. I completely skipped them when I was just playing the game normally and I wound up loving them.
Well... the ogre type enemies that kept one-shotting me. I could have lived without those. And maybe the red spiders.
Also going through all of the Chalice dungeons before playing the DLC meant that I was ridiculously over level and one-shot Orphan of Kos without realizing he was supposed to be hard.
Picked this up again after getting to the last fight but not actually completing it. I started the DLC, didn't have much trouble against Maria, but Orphan? Oh boy, that was a pain, but once you get the hang of it, it actually becomes a pretty cool and intense fight.
I'm currently trying to platinum the game, already got all DLC related trophies, right now I just need to beat the game again for the other ending, and finish 2 more Chalice dungeons.
BTW, I love the dungeons, I have heard people dislike them but the whole setting, items and such, is incredibly sinister, I love it.
Also going through all of the Chalice dungeons before playing the DLC meant that I was ridiculously over level and one-shot Orphan of Kos without realizing he was supposed to be hard.
I was the opposite; dungeons were the last thing I did, which meant I was going through non-scaling areas at level 180 or so. It was a good time.
Picked this up again after getting to the last fight but not actually completing it. I started the DLC, didn't have much trouble against Maria, but Orphan? Oh boy, that was a pain, but once you get the hang of it, it actually becomes a pretty cool and intense fight.
I'm currently trying to platinum the game, already got all DLC related trophies, right now I just need to beat the game again for the other ending, and finish 2 more Chalice dungeons.
BTW, I love the dungeons, I have heard people dislike them but the whole setting, items and such, is incredibly sinister, I love it.
Also going through all of the Chalice dungeons before playing the DLC meant that I was ridiculously over level and one-shot Orphan of Kos without realizing he was supposed to be hard.
I was the opposite; dungeons were the last thing I did, which meant I was going through non-scaling areas at level 180 or so. It was a good time.
That might be the better order of things. I must have bounced off defiled amy a good twenty times before leaving and grinding HP until I could survive him landing a single hit. Even with that, he would occasionally kill me so fast that my bloodstain would be in the hallway before his room.
I know some people play strictly offline, but some of my fondest memories of this game involve running a three-man train on every god-damn dungeon I remembered to queue up for.
I’m suddenly reminded about the time I ran multiple levels with some guy who named his character Simon Belmont and used nothing but the threaded cane. :heartbeat:
Honestly playing through the first time offline was the right move IMO.
There are people (like me) who just want to rush to the boss or show you every little thing that can ruin the sense of exploration and killing bosses on your own always feels rad.
I liked the design of the chalice dungeons more than most of the stuff in the main game. Although Cainhurst, late game stuff and the last 2/3 of the DLC wound up better. I just wish the dungeons were better integrated into the main game, I also started grinding through them a bit too late, making the first half way too easy. I loved the enemy variety, traps and general weirdness of them compared to the first 2/3 or so of the main game and DLC. The only bits I disliked were reused bosses and the cursed half HP dungeons. Those were bullshit.
Honestly playing through the first time offline was the right move IMO.
There are people (like me) who just want to rush to the boss or show you every little thing that can ruin the sense of exploration and killing bosses on your own always feels rad.
Yeah those dungeons were you have 3 summoners getting something like 18 red spiders chasing you around are really something.
Edit:
I think one of the best things about the dungeons is that they just make you better at the game. There's no memorization and there's some really difficult sections. I got tired of face planting against the Orphan so I went and did a bunch of dungeons (Which also helped me level up) but I got so much better at just reading what he was about to do and react accordingly.
Satsumomo on
0
KalnaurI See Rain . . .Centralia, WARegistered Userregular
Okay, so I finally beat the Bloodstarved Beast. The key for me was summoning Alfred so I could sort of go buck wild behind the beast constantly while Alfred more or less tanked it, up until it had it's poison aura where Alfred lasted just long enough for me to more or less obliterate it from afar with the fire bomb item.
But now I don't know where to go or what to do.
I make art things! deviantART:Kalnaur ::: Origin: Kalnaur ::: UPlay: Kalnaur
Go back to the church's safe place, where you warp in, and carefully examine the room.
+2
KlatuAussie Aussie AussieOi Oi OiRegistered Userregular
A lot of my frustration with my first time through chalice dungeons came down to my weapon choice I reckon, coupled with the fact that I didn't want to change it up. I ran with Ludwigs Holy Blade, and didn't like the fact that the 1h version didn't hit like a truck like the 2h variant of it does, so I stayed 2h the entire time. I was handicapping myself with stupidity (yay hindsight). Anyway, all the trash was super easy in 2h mode, but it made the bosses harder than they needed to be imo, although hitting something with a fully charged R2 in 2h mode and watching 1/4 of the lifebar disappear is what kept me going.
Having done chalice dungeons a few more times, and using saw blade/saw spear, it's a lot less painful, but I still don't like them that much.
I'd love to see a cheap or F2P online only stand alone chalice dungeon thing. Charge money for clothing and accessories, or to unlock weapons immediately. Maybe to auto-grab your souls after you die. Basically Let It Die but way better.
+1
KlatuAussie Aussie AussieOi Oi OiRegistered Userregular
Let it die without the INSANE spikes in level damage? Think back to when you transitioned in to the low 20s for floors, 21, 22, eh this is hard but not unbearable, 23 and 24!! Ok, guess I'm farming for 100hrs or spending $$$$$$$$$ to progress due to deathmetals etc.
Yeah I got to a certain point and stopped and did a bunch more reading about the later floors. The cost of dying became ridiculously high, and the playstyle changes completely. Spending two minutes eating an inventory full of buff mushrooms before every fight is not my kind of fun. Especially when you have to spend a few hours grinding out the gathering of those mushrooms first.
With how random it is there's a good chance someone could get amazingly lucky drops and map setups and everything and not have many problems until pretty deep, sure. And possibly not even realize. Especially if you naturally fell into a mushroom-based playstyle without needing it pointed out.
Also let me say that the music in that game is incredible, before we possibly move on.
+3
KoopahTroopahThe koopas, the troopas.Philadelphia, PARegistered Userregular
I restarted Bloodborne before Smash came out, and now that Smash is out it's hard to go back. I do want to finish my replay and start the DLC, I never got to The Old Hunters even though I got it around release.
Posts
Vials were never a problem for me past the first area. I would just make a habit every time i went to level up before i did something dangerous to spend all the 'left over' currency on buying blood vials, no matter if i needed them or not. it adds up very nicely sitting in the bank until i die and need them. once you get multiple levels and xp costs are very high you will have even more to spend on vials.
As I said here though, this was the first time I played and took a break, the thought at the time of spending my excess souls on vials never occurred to me back then.
i'm pretty neutral on blood vials. they're not so onerous now that you can stock up a lot of them (it was a nightmare at launch when storage capped at 99), but i also don't feel like they add much. you can go longer between lamps, it's not like a big deal, especially if they'd added resting at lamps to reset the stock and not required the loads to the dream and back. all three dark souls games had adequate healing systems that were less punishing to new players i think.
Start you with 5 Estus equivalents that you can upgrade to 10/15/20 as you progress, but have vials/grass/gems you can farm or purchase, but give them a low cap on what you can hold at one time as well. Maybe it starts at 5 as well but never increases, so you don't just also farm up 20 for every run. Also encourages you to keep using them since you'll find more, keeping you topped up as you go.
I could agree with that, but change it to 5 rather than 1. Otherwise you run the risk of having a similar issue to the special blood in Bloodborne. I've only ever used Iosefkas blood or prostitutes blood once and I was in an emergency, and I had to dive in to my inv to get it, because why waste an item slot on them?
Besides, you already have 1 use heal items in souls games with the divine blessings?
I'd go back to the DLC areas, but 3 too many deaths from nearly full health to his fastest-startup attack has put me off of that for a while.
Just employ the classic Souls exploration strategy: run your ass off to the next bonfire and ignore everything else.
I've actually never had had an issue with the Nightmare, simply because I just skip the part that's obnoxious.
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
More cut content datamined. Snek ball.
Or at least until you kill the bell maiden.
So then I go through the back door, run around Old Yharnam getting chased by beasts to get to Djura. But I accidently miss going up his ladder and walk in front him so he starts shooting at me, and he accidentally hurt one of the beasts. Oh well, I find the ladder and go up thinking maybe we can still be friends, but he just shoots me with his shotgun and i let him kill me hoping I can try again and befriend him. So I go the same way, run from the beasts again and go up the ladder without getting shot at. I get to the top hoping he'll be friendly but instead of Djura I just see an item. I pick it up and it's the Poder Keg Hunters badge. He must have accidently jumped off the tower after killing me! I just wanted to be your friend Djura!
Dang.
That's exactly how I killed him, except when I did it I meant for him to die.
Reviving deleted enemies is all fun and games until he accidentally activates the eldritch rituals buried in the code, putting the world at the mercy of Snek Ball.
I'm currently trying to platinum the game, already got all DLC related trophies, right now I just need to beat the game again for the other ending, and finish 2 more Chalice dungeons.
BTW, I love the dungeons, I have heard people dislike them but the whole setting, items and such, is incredibly sinister, I love it.
all the depth four and five chalices are fine
the option to skip to depth four would also have been appreciated
I am really grateful for the trophy making me go in and try the dungeons out. I completely skipped them when I was just playing the game normally and I wound up loving them.
Well... the ogre type enemies that kept one-shotting me. I could have lived without those. And maybe the red spiders.
Also going through all of the Chalice dungeons before playing the DLC meant that I was ridiculously over level and one-shot Orphan of Kos without realizing he was supposed to be hard.
I was the opposite; dungeons were the last thing I did, which meant I was going through non-scaling areas at level 180 or so. It was a good time.
That might be the better order of things. I must have bounced off defiled amy a good twenty times before leaving and grinding HP until I could survive him landing a single hit. Even with that, he would occasionally kill me so fast that my bloodstain would be in the hallway before his room.
There are people (like me) who just want to rush to the boss or show you every little thing that can ruin the sense of exploration and killing bosses on your own always feels rad.
And people like me who are too cheap to have PS+.
Edit:
I think one of the best things about the dungeons is that they just make you better at the game. There's no memorization and there's some really difficult sections. I got tired of face planting against the Orphan so I went and did a bunch of dungeons (Which also helped me level up) but I got so much better at just reading what he was about to do and react accordingly.
But now I don't know where to go or what to do.
Having done chalice dungeons a few more times, and using saw blade/saw spear, it's a lot less painful, but I still don't like them that much.
Also let me say that the music in that game is incredible, before we possibly move on.
Twitch: KoopahTroopah - Steam: Koopah