I kinda like that every weapon is actually viable and different in its own right in Bloodborne.
in DaS2 practically any weapon short of intentionally shitty weapons like a broken sword, are viable if used right.
of course, this DOES come at the expense of your second point. many weapons in DaS2 have the same moveset, which is party of why 90% of them are viable. But the point still stands that DaS2 had far more equipment variety than Bloodborne, with the balance as well. because the same goes for outfits. outfit stats really dont matter all that much in Bloodborne aside from something like frenzy res. in DaS2, they also dont matter much outside of hyperarmor. yet it has far more.
particularly in the PVP aspect of the game where the majority of people tend to gravitate towards the same items anyways.
To be fair, the PvP is never the main focus of a souls game, nor should it be, as DaS2 has shown with its many patches and nerfs just for PvP. Though of course DaS2 PVP is also a different beast from DaS1 PVP
As far as random drops... you liked grinding the same enemies over and over just to get a specific weapon or to complete a set?
Yeah. Nobody likes grinding for an hour to get a balder shield, of course, but the fact is the option is there. If you want, you can stick with your starting shield, or, take the time to get a different shield from an enemy. Or you might think that one enemy's set looks mighty fly, so you can take the time to obtain it. Bloodborne gives you no such option. The Cathedral Ward guys have a pretty cool set with their wide brimmed hats. You can't get it. The townsfolk in the forst have a nice white set. can't get that. You can't even get that handcannon that one wheelchair dude in upper cathedral uses. There's no element of surprise from enemy drops therefore. in Souls games, you might be pleasantly surprised when you killed an enemy, by his weapon or shield, or a part of his set you can mix and match with. Bloodborne has no such thing, making killing enemies just unrewarding and boringly static outside of getting souls or blood vials.
Or in Dark Souls 2's case, having to up the difficulty of an area with a Bonfire Ascetic just so that you can continue grinding said enemies some more for the potential chance of getting a random item drop?
Different strokes for different folks, but that's how I got the Heide Knight set in vanilla DaS2. I never regretted it. [parasitic bomb] was worth it. currently they fixed that though. You can join the company of champions and enemies dont despawn.
And again, it was still an option for those who were willing to take the time to do so. Bloodborne just doesnt give you the option, period, making item progression very linear. You can't take a detour to kill an enemy or bunch of enemies for their sets, you have to reach specific areas in specific parts of the game to get a specific set or specific weapon. It's just boring and makes making new characters a chore when the starting game is identical for every single one down to the [parasitic bomb] I can choose to wear.
I'm more inclined to go through Bloodborne again than trudging through Dark Souls 2, that's for sure.
See, this is where my problem lies with Bloodborne. Due to the lack of content and lack of gameplay variety, I just have very little inclination to replay it. I tried making a skill character and got bored of it very quickly. And theres not much else for me to try to freshen things up, considering if I plan a character I have to trudge and speedrun through everything to get to the specific place where I can get the specific item i want.
like arcane items. Those are so late game it's ridiculous. So if i want to make a hybrid character with arcane, I lose interest when i remember that until I reach the point I get the items I want, it will be just another generic strength or skill build like my last one. Dark Souls 2 at least lets me do whatever the hell i want and build however I please enough to make for some variety. Youve even got your choice of 2 starting stages, with 3 starting bosses, and unique gear and weapons to get from each of those areas to customize with so no 2 playthroughs will ever be entirely alike after the first area I try.
The areas are designed well and are fun to play through
Eh, id disagree. I feel the level design sort of goes downhill after Cathedral ward and old yharnam. The Nightmare Frontier/of mensis areas are terrible, areas like Lecture Hall and Bergenwyrth are blatantly unfinished chunks of level, and Mergo's Loft becomes a gauntlet the likes of Demon Ruins after Micolash, complete with a rehashed boss as the stage enemy. Forest was good but drags on and is mazelike for all the wrong reasons, and the giant snakes are not very fun enemies. Unseen Village was good, but post-Rom becomes a slog with the terrible gimmick of the buffed ressurrecting enemies who 2 shot you, AND move in groups.
Feels like they dumped all their effort into Central Yharnam and Cathedral Ward
The weakest link for me in Bloodborne is the Chalice dungeons. They clearly put a lot of effort into them, but due to their random nature they lose all the atmosphere and tight level design that the main game has. The unique boss fights in them just doesn't make up for the rest of the stuff in there.
no argument there. the concept was good, the execution was horrible. They should have just been another pre-designed level under yharnam that tied into the story more than they do, which is not at all.
Anways, I'm looking forward to the DLC for Bloodborne, as well as Dark Souls 3. The Stance stuff they have going in Dark Souls 3 looks like it borrows aspects from the Trick weapons of Bloodborne, which makes me look forward to the melee fighting. I might use a spell here or there like in the other Souls games, but unless they do something more interesting with it I'm most likely not ever going to have a mage.
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