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Bloodborne feels like an hardcore version of Dark Souls

zma1013 said:
DS3 has a progression of a very easy and very short tutorial area, followed by the first real area that I would consider the hardest start of any Souls game, but then immediately afterwards the game becomes substantially easier until much, much later in the game where there is a shift back up in difficulty.
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Hmm, thats interesting to hear. My buddy is playing it now and is letting me borrow it when done.
 
I think it depends on your playstyle. If you typically rely on a shield instead of rolling around in DS then I'm sure Bloodborne would take some time to get used to. I find the areas easier to get through in Bloodborne, but I think the bosses are harder for the most part than Dark Souls bosses, especially the DLC bosses. This seems very apparent with DS3 as I felt quite a few of the bosses weren't too challenging.
 
I played Bloofborne first and no. I finished that in 30 hours or so. I am already 27 hours in DS3 and got fuck all achiever. One boss took me 4 hours or so.
 
Bloodborne was the hardest Souls game for me (played all of them). Even though I was used to going shield-less and relying on dodging everything, BB's bosses just annihilated me.

Fuck you
Ludwig
 
Imperfected said:
Bloodborne's difficulty is more "consistent". The difficulty in DS3 is often avoidable or highly variable based on equipment use and build. Are you using ranged weapons heavily? Most of the hard zones are suddenly pretty trivial. Are you using a shield? Some of the bosses are now trivial. Conversely, if you're using some of the worse weapons or a really sub-optimal build, everything can become a trial.

So, you're going to have people who find any given Dark Souls game easier or harder than any other given game in the series, and they aren't necessarily wrong. It comes down entirely to how they played the games in question. There's a little of this in Bloodborne, but not nearly to the same degree; the difficulty is just more reliable.
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The reliable difficulty in Bloodborne is often due to the lack of variety in builds. Dark Souls 3 has a range of builds that can make certain parts harder or easier, as you say. You're right that ranged builds can make some of the harder areas trivial. I struggled a bit in Lothric Castle on my LCK/DEX build but sorcery blitzed through with ease. On the other hand, up to Irithyll sorcery is absolutely brutal to play as, especially in Catacombs.
 
The chalice dungeon bosses are only hard when you're stacking a bunch of negative penalties on the dungeon. When you fight them vanilla they are easy peasy.
 
BB is awesome (I just love the aggressive combat). After DS2 I was kinda bored of DS and BB and it's DLC are fantastic. Now harder? hmm I'd say no it's just the controls feel more fleshed out and smooth so less of the game working against you.

However I haven't played DS3 so I can't really say anything on that front...just waiting for BB 2 and Sci-fi DS.
 
BRocknRolla said:
Start as Deprived or a Waste of Skin. There is no other way... But seriously, I always do. Makes me get good at the basics early on and I feel like items pickups are way more meaningful that way too.
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I did Deprived for sorcery since I knew that I would only be putting points into INT/ATT through the entire thing. It's not too bad after the first boss. You can summon two phantoms for High Wall of Lothric and you get enough gear drops to not be naked by the time you hit that second boss :P
 
I personally had a much, much easier time with each Dark Souls game than with Bloodborne, but I wouldn't say it is a "hardcore" version. They are each different in their own right and attempt different things.
 
ApharmdX said:
The reliable difficulty in Bloodborne is often due to the lack of variety in builds. Dark Souls 3 has a range of builds that can make certain parts harder or easier, as you say. You're right that ranged builds can make some of the harder areas trivial. I struggled a bit in Lothric Castle on my LCK/DEX build but sorcery blitzed through with ease. On the other hand, up to Irithyll sorcery is absolutely brutal to play as, especially in Catacombs.
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If you want true comedy, get an Onislayer Greatbow and Onislayer Arrows.

I started using it on some of the more obnoxious encounters in NG+++ because I just didn't want to deal with an obvious Thrall Ambush for the millionth time, and quickly realized that it's back to DS1 levels of enemies having absolutely no useful recourse for dealing with ranged weapons.

(You can do it with a regular bow, too, but the Onislayer is for the hilarity of launching Cathedral Knights off the rafters.)
 
kobu said:
I don't know if hardcore is the word I would use but the boss fights in BB felt way more tense and engaging than anything in DS3.
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This right here. It's not even a fair fight in my eyes. Bloodborne's bosses were way more intense and nerve wracking than Dark Souls 3. The chalice dungeon bosses just by themselves were way more challenging than anything in DS3.
 
Iva Demilcol said:
Funny because I think BB is easier than any of the souls games.
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Once you've mastered evasion both are easy. The thing with bloodborne is that it forces to learn evasion, while Dark Souls doesnt as it gives you options with shields, at least in some way.
 
BB is different from Souls. But also similar. It's not more hardcore or more casual. Those are misleading ways to describe the differences.
 
I thought Bloodborne was really fucking challenging even after having beat DS1 and DeS multiple times prior to it. I always played with a shield, like many do, so taking that away was a cool move by From to really fuck me over and make it feel really dangerous again for players like me I think.

Everything gets easier with practice obviously but at first Father G. had me thinking 'are they fucking serious? I must've skipped an easier boss somewhere' again like I did when first getting into the Souls games.

If one thing has been established it's that each game in that franchise is harder/easier for everyone apparently.
 
I had an easier time in Bloodborne than all the others actually and beat it in like 25 hours. My first playthroughs in all the Souls games took me 50+ hours.
 
Granted I played Bloodborne first, but I found it to be much more challenging than Dark Souls 1, especially the boss fights (which were mostly a joke in DS1).
 
It has the most challenging opening area of any "Souls" game and the DLC is harder than almost anything in the other titles, but overall, I'd say it's a tad easier than the other games. Still very difficult, of course.
 
I found Old Hunters much harder than anything in the other Souls Games (though I was on NG+4). O
rphan
or L
aurence
alone killed me more than every single Dark Souls 3 boss combined. I also found the base game harder than what I played of 2 and all of 3.
 
I've found BB to be so much easier than the Souls series and I've played them all, inside and out.

The biggest reason I think BB is easier is because of the health system. You can get health back on hits (of course there's a window of opportunity), and then you have blood vials, which is just ridiculous. You can carry a f-k ton of them and farm them from enemies. Just that aspect alone made the game immensely easier. If BB had a estus flask system then I'd probably say it's harder, but that's not the case.
 
Then play Dark Souls again and it'll seem like a hardcore version of Bloodborne. Each game punishes you for using habits from the other.
 
TheBigG753 said:
Granted I played Bloodborne first, but I found it to be much more challenging than Dark Souls 1, especially the boss fights (which were mostly a joke in DS1).
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The hardest game is the first one you play. That's why you see people claiming Demon's is the hardest even though it's by far the easiest. Once you understand how to play the series nothing is really that hard.
 
The guns are a nice shield for the beginning of the game, but eventually they become near useless against many enemies.

I really like it, though DS3 has made me appreciate build diversity.

I definitely prefer the faster combat, and using quick dodges over shields.

That being said, I think DS1 and Demon’s Souls are much more difficult than BB. I still haven’t played DS2, so I can’t comment on that.
 
LOL I'm having so much more trouble with Dark Souls after going through Bloodborne and Demon's Souls this year. Finally getting my footing, but man, the first 5-10 hours have been tough.

Edit: These threads always bring out folks who say all of these games are easy. I would love to know what games are difficult/challenging for these players. :P
 
Bloodborne Vanilla < Dark Souls 3
Bloodborne DLC >>>>>> Dark Souls 3

Adjusting to Bloodborne took some time, but after that the game gets a tad to easy except for optional stuff which is sadly missing a bit in Dark Souls 3. DLC could fuck everything up though
 
I found BB challenging at the start, particularly because I started out using the threaded cane which was a difficult starting weapon to use. Other than that, I found it easier than DS1 or DS3. I never play with a shield anyway so going to a shield-less BB didn't matter to me, especially since dodging seems to cost less stamina than it does in Dark Souls.
 
I think it's easier than the Souls series once you get passed the no blocking thing, which many don't rely on in the souls series. You have huge i frames, low lag weapons, and health regenerations. It's mechanics in general make it easier.
 
As always, the difficulty will vary. There is no objectively "easier" game between them. I thought Dark Souls III was the easiest of all the games, but someone else may think it's the hardest. That's okay. I don't know why people get so combative about this.
 
From what I've seen, the perception of higher difficulty in Bloodborne by most players comes from basically two things: not mastering dodging/iframes and not being aggressive.

Players such as myself, who came to Bloodborne from Dark Souls really used to having a shield all the time and rarely ever evading attacks definitely will have a lot more trouble since the pace is so much faster. Also, Bloodborne rewards aggressive gameplay to recover your health, so you really can't have the same mindset of waiting behind a shield or just not attacking for a long time. From the moment this is mastered and the player gets used to the rhythm of the game, it becomes a infinitely easier. That really is the only thing that might be "harder" in Bloodborne, and then only when you're just starting or if you refuse to learn.

Bloodborne did make me a lot better at reacting and not getting hit as opposed to just defending them; I mean, if you want to defeat Orphan of Kos, you either get really good at this or you'll never get through it lol. Returning to Dark Souls afterwards I've stopped relying on shields so much and the experience relatively easier. Dark Souls are nevertheless the harder games because of all the other mechanics and numbers on top of combat, as others have stated.
 
DarkConfidant said:
The guns are a nice shield for the beginning of the game, but eventually they become near useless against many enemies.
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I found them pretty useful in Old Hunters, where most of the early enemies are hunters that can be parried and the parry being useful against the last two bosses especially.
 
Shari said:
Casual version of dark souls.

·No weight management
·Way less unforgiving with stamina
·No multi-slot management (no dual wield)
·No mana/magic/faith

Bloodborne is the DMC wannabe test of FROM Software. Awesome game by its own right, but saying is harder than their older brothers is an indicator of low insight (see what I did there?) of the series.
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Wut? Almost all the bosses from DS2 or DS3 are barbie horse adventure level bosses compared to Loral BSB,Loran Darkbeast, OoK, and Defiled Amygdala.
 
Does that mean I'm hardcore if I never use shields or spells in Souls games? XD
 
I actually think BB is more casual than the DS games. They boiled down the mechanics to their purest, simplest form, attacking back after getting hit allowing you to regain health back made things a bit easier, more chances to heal up with the blood vials than you do with estus flasks makes long term survivability in boss fights much easier and having a max of 20 out the gate not really having to upgrade your capacity (even though you can by about 3) also helps make things simpler.

Still a fantastic game though, but yeah. easiest for me by far. Even "Orphan of Kos" which some people tout as one of the hardest bosses in all the games only killed me twice on my first playthrough. Logarius was more difficult than him!
 
Blizniak said:
Does that mean I'm hardcore if I never use shields or spells in Souls games? XD
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That's exactly what it means.

That, or you're a huge nerd and made Raiden and ran around naked using a Chaos Blade two-handed with the ninja flip ring on. Not that anyone would have done that, mind.
 
Carcetti said:
Wut? Almost all the bosses from DS2 or DS3 are barbie horse adventure level bosses compared to Loral BSB,Loran Darkbeast, OoK, and Defiled Amygdala.
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I disagree. You are pretty much going for extra content bosses in order to come with one good, not a single one from the "main" game, I'm sure you know what I mean, dismiss my comment if you have the need to.

Also OoK is hard but is not harder than the bosses (and levels) found in DS2 DLC.

I bet my ass DS3 DLC is going to be as hard as DS2 and BB, where the difficulty spike just going from main game to DLC is already steep.
 
The dlc was a test of patience.

I spent hours on ludwig and orphan...Orphan broke my spirit...The dlc in BB was a slaughter house..It almost made reconsider whether I really can tolerate difficulty.
 
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