As I sit here typing, my eyes hurt a bit. I feel tense and a bit stressed. Why, you might ask? Well, I just played my first two hours of Bloodborne. If this is your first time reading about my experience be sure to click here to read the prequel to this series which explains why I decided to take a dive into Bloodborne. Well, now that you have done that, let me detail my experience.
I died. Several times. I got my ass handed to me by several enemies at once, a huge dude with an axe, another pack of several enemies, and three or four more times by that damn big dude with the axe. Let me backtrack a bit. I started my adventure with no weapons and stumbled upon the game’s first enemy which is a wolf-like beast. It is hunched over a body, enjoying its meal, as I not so subtly crash into medical supplies in the room next to it. You can literally hear the sound of me putting off my first encounter. Accepting that I am doomed, with much reluctance and of course despair, I approached the wolf fists clenched, ready for death. Who’s death? Well, my own of course. I have no confidence in my abilities at all. Well, I manage to hold my own for a bit against this wolf. At one point I even thought, wow, I am dodging pretty well and I’ll have this bastard down after a few more swings of my fists. Shortly afterwards, by which I mean immediately afterwards, the wolf’s attacks sped up, throwing me off guard, quite literally, into a medical table. The wolf then went to town and I saw my first “YOU DIED” text. Didn’t go exactly as I planned but then again, isn’t that kind of the point?
I woke up at the Hunter’s Dream, grabbed my saw cleaver and pistol, and fast-traveled back to confront my nemesis. I am happy to say I made quick work of my nemesis and the next few enemies after him, taking a hit here or there, but nothing too substantial. Feeling confident, I decided to take on the huge dude with the axe, I mean hey, that’s what you do in these games, right? Well, sorry for the spoiler from earlier, but you know how this went. I failed a stagger attempt or two and was pummeled by the axe dude in all of his fast axe twirling fury. I tried this a few more times and it went about the same. I only stopped because I realized I was wasting my blood vials and ammunition. Vials are used to heal, and I obviously feel more comfortable with the more I have, so I had none to waste! After struggling to find my blood echoes several times due to my mild color-blindness, I moved on to a large group encounter.
This group encounter was daunting at first, but I got it on my fourth try, slowly getting better with each attempt. I try as hard as I can to avoid the urge to rush and stab, reminding myself this is as far from hack and slash as possible. I get the idea that I am supposed to learn from my encounters, I really do. In fact, I have learned small lessons here and there about what not to do. I have also learned how to bait enemies out of groups, considering I would rather fight one than five at a time. I have managed to stagger some enemies and land a few visceral hits, but my timing is still off for the most part. After clearing the large group, I felt great, and then not so great realizing that I would have to do it again every time I died.
My biggest frustration with this game so far has not been the many deaths. I brought those on myself. So far, nothing has felt unfair. In one instance, I was being too aggressive, in another I was not aware of my surroundings and got backed into a wall, in another I rushed a bit and had a pack chase me down. These are all my mistake. I enjoy that I have learned a little something from each death. What I do not like is having to replay the parts I have accomplished over and over. Granted, I have cleared the large group 3 times now with decreasing difficulty each time, but I am wasting my limited supplies on areas I have already beaten. It is very discouraging, though it does create a huge desire not to die. Maybe that’s the point.
After the group encounter, I whacked some birds and a larger enemy who had been banging on the gate. The ladder I beat on my first try, after being hit only once. That was a very satisfying victory. Shortly afterward, I learned my best lesson yet. The next area was inhabited by several enemies and I killed one and ran back, to gather myself. I pressed the PS button, thinking that I could outsmart the unpausable game by pausing it. Take that, Bloodborne!! Well, no. Turns out, this game is unpausable and I “resumed” my game to a loading screen. Yea, I died. Yea, it was my fault. I deserved it.
With that, I learned my last lesson for the night and I decided to take a break. I may play more tonight, who knows? I enjoy the game so far but I am not used to this level of difficulty. I really hope I can stave off the frustration and build up my skills to progress. This game has proved extremely daunting, as expected, and I do not know where things will go from here. I haven’t been completely discouraged yet, just partially discouraged, embarrassed, frustrated, beaten, bloodied, destroyed, annihilated, and violated. You get the point. I suck at this game. I should though, and I will find as much comfort in that as I can.
Well, that sums up my first experience quite nicely. I will be playing more this week, so expect more updates. Thanks for reading!
~ExpvReal27
EVR 