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[RevenWolf]

If you're spamming blood vials faster than you're farming them, it's a none-too-subtle message that you're struggling. Considering the game is only going to get harder, maybe you should take the hint and try levelling up elsewhere.

It would be a design flaw only if you didn't have that option.

Let's say you're stuck on gascone (something that plenty of beanies relate to.

You've already killed cleric beast and gone literally everywhere you can go.

In that situation levelling up will only get you so far, and the farming forces you away from the boss and slowing down your process of getting good enough to beat him.

 

[SmartWaffles]

The first problem can be somewhat mitigated by buying vials with your leftover blood echoes, so it's not really that bad. Second though is yeah, a little bit unconvenient.

 

[Neoweee]

It's not optional. I'm in Ailing Loral Chalice Dungeon. It's 100% mandatory for the Platinum Trophy. I need to beat this dungeon.

I have 44 Blood.

I just beat this boss just then. On my first try this morning lmao. So weird.

Oh, sorry. I thought you were talking about regular BSB. I need to read better.


Anyhow, congrats. Blood Vials are such a weird regression. Meager Life Gems were such a reviled part of DS2 that it was weird seeing them double-down on consumables, but I'm glad they decided to roll with DS2's Estus mechanics for DS3.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

From's games are full of bad design decisions, that seems to be why people like them.

If you want good, intelligent, modern design play a different game.

 

[ZangBa]

They had a guy right before ludwig that basically exists as a little refill. Even From knew farming for vials was dumb.

 

[TheWorthyEdge]

Agree with the Bloodvial thing that annoyed me in some parts for sure, but it also made me wonder: do I go and try and fight on? Or do I just go back and farm?

Made for some intense moments, but for the most part I do agree with you.

 

[Azzanadra]

To answer the one with the blood vials, in keeping with a face-paced game, I believe the whole idea was to not have to return to the lantern just because you ran out of healing items. rather, by having a consumable item, you could re-stock as you play and not be forced to restart, thus slowing the pace of the game.

As for the second one... that is an issue in all Souls games except Dark Souls 1, even Dark Souls 3 has this problem. The emphasis of a detached hub and a female character who you NEED to interact with in order to level up is frankly stupid IMO.

 

[splattered]

What are you talking about? There is no such thing as default difficulty ,easy, hard, etc.. in Dark Souls and Bloodborne.

Ahhh ok yeah wasn't sure couldn't remember. Maybe was just the way I played then? I did take it very slow and level up as much as possible. Beat the game as a like 120 or 130 something? Either way need had a problem running out of blood vials

 

[zerokoolpsx]

You can buy vials, just like you can buy herbs in Demon's Souls. Yeah, it sucks to farm, but what can you do besides to get good?

 

[CMojicaAce]

Those really are the only problems I have with the game.

 

[Soyongdori]

Those really are the only problems I have with the game.

Among others things, really. BB is the poor man's Dark Souls. Pretty to look at, pain in the ass to play and finish.

 

[RevenWolf]

Really i just think that if they let you reset the world by sitting it would fix most people's gripes with the farming.

It's getting sent through 2 loading screens which sucks, (or using a limited consumable)

 

[Instro]

Yeah I felt that it was kind of a pointless decision. Probably shouldn't have been able to carry 20 on hand from the start either.

 

[tookhster]

This is one of the reasons I gave up on Bloodborne about 2/3 of the way through, and it's the only Souls game I haven't beaten yet. Although farming didn't take that long and wasn't always necessary, it was still dreadful for me and broke the pace of the game. Attempting a boss for a couple of times and realizing "oh shit, I need more blood vials" completely ruined my flow. And this was coupled with the atrocious load times before the patch, which only made me hate the game even more once I had to go farm.

I just want to attempt a boss again, why do I have to go through so much bullshit just to have another fair shot.

 

[Griss]

Damn, I wasn't particularly good at the game, but I never had to farm anything. I can see how that would be seriously frustrating, but I never even knew it was an issue.

Chalice Dungeons, on the other hand - yeah, they brought the overall quality level down.

 

[Mechazawa]

As others have said, eventually, blood vials are inconsequential to buy. You'll have more than what you'll even know to do with.

Early game though, it's a massive pace killer and at the end of the day, they didn't really add anything to the game. Mechanic was trash from my ass.

 

[RexNovis]

I completely agree that Estus is a better system but for the life of me I do not understand why people insist on farming for vials instead of just buying them. It seriously baffles me every time someone complains about having to go back to central yharnam to FARM vials. Just... why? Use your souls to buy a heap of them then go back to beating whatever boss/area you were on

 

[RevenWolf]

I completely agree that Estus is a better system but for the life of me I do not understand why people insist on farming for vials instead of just buying them. It seriously baffles me every time someone complains about having to go back to central yharnam to FARM vials. Just... why?

Might not have the echoes to spend, if they died running out, they might not have much choice, especially early game where the amount of echoes you receive isn't great.

 

[Instro]

I completely agree that Estus is a better system but for the life of me I do not understand why people insist on farming for vials instead of just buying them. It seriously baffles me every time someone complains about having to go back to central yharnam to FARM vials. Just... why?

I mean it's not exactly cheap to buy them in bulk unless you are relatively far in the game.

 

[SmartWaffles]

I completely agree that Estus is a better system but for the life of me I do not understand why people insist on farming for vials instead of just buying them. It seriously baffles me every time someone complains about having to go back to central yharnam to FARM vials. Just... why? Use your souls to buy a heap of them then go back to beating whatever boss/area you were on

Yeah you can by tons of them with whatever echoes you leftover from leveling up, even if you run out of echos, farming enough of them to buy vials is still way faster than directly farming vials.

 

[plasmawave]

As others have said, eventually, blood vials are inconsequential to buy. You'll have more than what you'll even know to do with.

Early game though, it's a massive pace killer and at the end of the day, they didn't really add anything to the game. Mechanic was trash from my ass.

Just like estus flask in DS2 and DS3 where you start off with 1 or 2 only.

 

[HeelPower]

Legit complaints.Can't really argue with these points ESPECIALLY when they were already solved in DS1.

 

[Zackat]

My favorite game ever. These are the 2 worst parts about it and you will hear no complaints from me. It was worse when the load screens were about twice as long.

Edit: Eventually you get so many echoes and vials that you rarely have to farm for them. But the loading back and forth to respawn mobs and such was the worst.

 

[pupcoffee]

Limited potions have been a thing in RPG's since the beginning. They're not a massive design flaw. If you are running out of blood vials, it means you aren't managing your resources well and should be investing more of your echoes into vials.

Sometimes instead of levelling up you should buy 40 vials. Sometimes you should buy vials with the 12,000 echoes you get from a boss.

Having to "backtrack and grind for vials" is your own fault for focussing so much on levelling up.

I usually have more than enough vials. I don't breeze through bosses, I die to them many, many times.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

I mean it's not exactly cheap to buy them in bulk unless you are relatively far in the game.

You get tons of echoes super fast when you're relatively far in the game, though. And later-depth chalice dungeons give you more echoes than you'll know what to do with.

 

[Neoweee]

You get tons of echoes super fast when you're relatively far in the game, though. And later-depth chalice dungeons give you more echoes than you'll know what to do with.

Yeah, late in the game they're nothing. The Loran Chalices give freaking insane echoes.

 

[Fitts]

I started Bloodborne chugging vials like estus. However, watching that number near zero made me learn to embrace the regain system. This forced me to play the game counterintuitively to how I played Souls (judiciously going in instead of backing off when taking damage) and thought it was an excellent way to establish the fact that this game is very much its own beast.

After learning this lesson vials were no longer an issue. In fact, for most of my time with the game it was a rarity to be able to pick them up at all because I was most often at capacity. It all seems very much intentional to me and in no way a flaw.

In addition, I'm sure others have already pointed out the design similarities between Bloodborne and Demon's Souls.

 

[SonicXtreme]

you are leveling too much if you are running out of vials (only exception is prior to the first boss). don't bother with attack stats outside of your weapon's minimum until you have an insane amount of vials and vitality.

 

[Mechazawa]

Just like estus flask in DS2 and DS3 where you start off with 1 or 2 only.

Estus flasks are not a finite consumable. When you die in the early game of a Souls game, you do not have to juggle between putting souls otherwise used for stats on replenshing your estus, lest you have to go and grind out more estus flasks.

 

[Cracklox]

From's games are full of bad design decisions, that seems to be why people like them.

If you want good, intelligent, modern design play a different game.

I'm not sure people like/love the games they do for bad design decisions. Some very odd logic.

In your opinion games with good, intelligent, modern design are?.....

Genuinely curious

 

[zashga]

Agreed. I hated farming for blood vials, especially since it only ever became necessary when I was learning a new boss and died a few times in a row. That's the worst possible time to interrupt the game with 20 minutes of busywork. This problem may have slipped through playtesting because it's less impactful the more familiar you are with the game. Or the better you are at the game. Stealth brags abound every time this gets discussed.

Having to warp back to Hunter's Dream all the time was more annoying than it should have been because of the load times.

 

[pupcoffee]

Agreed. I hated farming for blood vials, especially since it only ever became necessary when I was learning a new boss and died a few times in a row. That's the worst possible time to interrupt the game with 20 minutes of busywork. This problem may have slipped through playtesting because it's less impactful the more familiar you are with the game. Or the better you are at the game. Stealth brags abound every time this gets discussed.

You should be conservatively using your vials when learning a boss .I often allow myself only 5 or so vials for the first half a boss. Only start chugging them once you're feeling confident.

 

[Hypron]

You should be conservatively using your vials when learning a boss .I often allow myself only 5 or so vials for the first half a boss. Only start chugging them once you're feeling confident.

But you'll need to use more of them when you don't know the boss' attack patterns yet. The more confident you are the less you'll need to rely on them, not the other way around.

 

[Crzy1]

Yeah, blood vials really pissed me off as well. In later playthroughs I spent hundreds of thousands of echoes on just making sure I had a shitload of vials in storage so I wouldn't have to go and farm them. But yeah, farming/grinding just doesn't feel good in these games, Dark Souls has found a way around a lot of it unless you're just looking for a particular drop, hopefully it gets addressed in the next Bloodborne if they decide to make it.

 

[Jawbreaker]

I would recommend putting echoes into your vitality stat and buying vials with your leftover echoes as well. I prefer the Estus system myself, but not significantly. With blood vials, you don't have to reset the enemies in a level to refill because there's always the chance that you'll find more lying around or from enemy drops. Granted, I felt like Dark Souls II sort of mitigated that and struck a nice balance by making Lifegems abundant. In a potential Bloodborne II, I'd like to see something akin to how it was handled in DS II.

As for your second point, the Bold Hunter's Mark helps alleviate it a bit. They're pretty common too, so you'll always have enough.

 

[LeeRoyBrown]

What? It's true. I did this, after levelling up I'd spend the remainder of my echoes on supplies and never ran out.


...What? At the most, in NG+, a blood vial is 900 echoes.


It's worth it if you keep dying and running out. LOL


Huh? That's what I said. If you pick up a blood vial and you're at max, it sends it to storage automatically.

Christ, how can you play the game for so long and not realize this??


What. All chalice dungeons are optional.


No you don't. You don't need to get the Platinum Trophy. What the hell.

I'm not sorry I enjoy the game and want a platinum. Which is something I said in the OP. Learn to read.

I don't use guides so I'm sure I've missed a lot.

In total I died to this boss 4 times and spent more timing farming blood then I did fighting him.

EDIT: What you said doesn't solve anything. Farm longer or spend money that could be spent on upgrades instead fixing a design flaw isn't a solution. Why are you such an apologist shill for From?

 

[nailbombxx]

I literally never "farmed" for vials past the first few hours of playing the game. After a while running out of them isn't even an issue because you'll be able to hoard copious amounts of them from the souls you'll be getting just by progressing through levels.

People are also neglecting to consider how generous the game is with health straight out of the gate anyway. You are able to carry 20 vials by default (it would be towards the end-game that you would be able to do this with estus in the previous games) AND you are able to recover lost health by attacking AND you don't have to sacrifice defense for agility. So, with all things considered I think it is quite reasonable that the blood vials are a limited resource.



The not being able to travel between lanterns thing is pretty weird tho

 

[plasmawave]

Estus flasks are not a finite consumable. When you die in the early game of a Souls game, you do not have to juggle between putting souls otherwise used for stats on replenshing your estus, lest you have to go and grind out more estus flasks.

There are many ways to get blood vials other than buying them.

 

[Soul_Pie]

Yeah, this is one of my few gripes with the game and I don't really get why they needed to do this. Bloodborne is an amazing game but this always felt like an unnecessary inconvenience in what was otherwise quite a streamlined take on the Souls series. It also felt at odds with the fast, frenetic pace of the game; having these explosive battles often being followed up by a good session of farming for healing items and bullets.

There's already a limitation imposed on the player in terms of the amount of vials you can carry on your person, that's enough to ensure that a player can't just sit back, hit and heal ad finitum. That and the fact you are limited in terms of larger healing items or spells.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

I'm not sorry I enjoy the game and want a platinum. Which is something I said in the OP. Learn to read.

I can read just fine. You have yet to explain how trying for a trophy means that something isn't optional.

In total I died to this boss 4 times and spent more timing farming blood then I did fighting him.

Sounds like you're not spending your echoes or managing your resources correctly. *shrugs*

 

[RevenWolf]

I can read just fine. You have yet to explain how trying for a trophy means that something isn't optional.


Sounds like you're not spending your echoes or managing your resources correctly. *shrugs*

I have some friends who for the games are meant to be platinumed. For them getting all the trophies isn't an optimal thing, it's something they are compelled to do and so see that as necessary.

Now I personally feel my friends are crazy but I can at least see where they are coming from. What's optional to some isn't necessarily optional to others.

 

[LeeRoyBrown]

I can read just fine. You have yet to explain how trying for a trophy means that something isn't optional.


Sounds like you're not spending your echoes or managing your resources correctly. *shrugs*

How is the chalice dungeons being a 100% requirement for a platinum when I stated in the op I want platinum optional. Here is my goal here is my requirements... Its not optional. There isn't even an argument.

You're dead set yelling at clouds.

 

[jb1234]

I ended up going through an area, getting a lot of echoes and then buying all the vials I needed (which were a lot, especially for the DLC). It was still an unappreciated timesink.

 

[WhiskerFrisker]

If you're fighting the Blood-Starved Beast in a Chalice dungeon then you should have enough echoes to buy Blood Vials and QuickSilver bullets.

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

The farming thing in Bloodborne was pretty bad after a while.

 

[watdaeff4]

All this discussion wants me to try to play thru BB again one more time before I start DS3

 

[Morrigan Stark]

How is the chalice dungeons being a 100% requirement for a platinum when I stated in the op I want platinum optional. Here is my goal here is my requirements... Its not optional. There isn't even an argument.

You're dead set yelling at clouds.

lol, okay. I'm not the one making threads and posts bitching about things I don't find fun yet feel compelled to do anyway, but I'm the one "yelling at clouds".

Whatever you say.

If you're fighting the Blood-Starved Beast in a Chalice dungeon then you should have enough echoes to buy Blood Vials and QuickSilver bullets.

This. Ailing Loran vomits out more echoes than you'll know what to do with.

 

[Servbot24]

I don't get the first one. When you die your vials restock automatically from what you have in storage.

Second one I suppose is valid though it never bothered me while playing.

 

[sir_kevith]

I had the same issue with the same boss but never again since I would just but 20-30 vials every so often.

 

[Curufinwe]

Bloodborne has many design flaws: Broken matchmaking, just a few weapons, linear level design, repetitive dungeons, no replayability, no hidden walls/ secrets, awful multiplayer and pvp, loading times, etc, etc.

One of the most overhyped games on GAF (imo).

Linear levels and no secrets are ludicrous complaints. At lest try to be slightly believable.