In the wake of all the gushing and praise for Bloodborne, in one of those rare instances a piece of entertainment is acclaimed by both fan and critic alike, there seems to be a ton of hullabulloo and theorycrafting about if Bloodborne’s barrier for entry is too high. If it’s being scored unfairly in the wrong direction because reviewers aren’t holding the hands of everyone like you’re all a bunch of fucking 2nd graders at the zoo.
Is the bar for entry high? Yes. Is it a problem? If it is for you, I’ve got a hugbox you can crawl into.
I’m not one of those hardcore gamers with the mentality that one needs to get good or die tryin’, but it is a bit absurd when we take a known successor to a known franchise that’s known for being hard and ask if it’s too hard. That’s kind of like asking if Terminator Genysis is going to have too much Terminator or if Jurassic World will have too much dinosaur. (Actually Jurassic World may not have enough dinosaur, but that’s a different article on a different website.)
So being fairly new to the Souls machinations of From Software and Hidetaka Miyazaki myself, always down for an RPG and always down to broh out with brohs, I decided to join every Enemy Slime editor and their mother in the Bloodborne experience. I never touched Demon Souls, even when presented with it for a 2 buck bargain. I’ve hard a cursory experience with Dark Souls, having gotten it for the PC and being wrecked by PC controls that gave it the same level of “challenge” tank controls gave Resident Evil. Lucio was kind enough to get it for me on Playstation 3, and while I did push through it a bit I’d been locked up in other games for the Slime. Having entirely avoided Dark Souls 2 for all intents and purposes Bloodborne is my first real “Souls” game.
So I die, straight away, which is what’s supposed to happen with the game nodding and saying “Get used to it chump.” I advance, I die again, it doesn’t feel like this one was ‘supposed’ to happen but I figured it all comes with the territory. I’m barely out of the game’s early town square with a big roarin’ kumbiyah bonfire when I’m on death number 4. Whatever, I’m memorizing the ambushes, the order enemies go down, I’m getting used to the dodges and the rolls and the visceral attacks and the shootin’ and everything I need to do. I’m getting the rhythm. I get out of the town square. I die again.
I’m not even aware at this point what a “Blood Echo” is or that losing them is costing me potential gear upgrades and leveling. Then I learn. Then I get frustrated. It’s funny how the more intimate you get with a game’s mechanics, the more they can crawl into your head, I swear I was having more fun when I didn’t know what I was doing. When I just died, learned and died some more.
But unlike a few of the buttmads out there, my frustrations didn’t last and dare I say I actually had fun. The online adds a lot, even the simple cheeky little notes left by other players in warning or in jesting or in trolling.
Though what makes it the most fun for me is the personal benchmarks, which is the type of fun I get out of most RPGs, especially of the Action variety. Yes if you’re like me you’re not going to find a new environment for ages, but it is fun figuring out each area’s little quirks and shortcuts, being taken by surprise by the ambushes and the small amount of items you uncover.
Look at it this way. Have you ever played a sport or been involved in some kind of other competition? Chances are you were never a division champion, but you probably have beaten an opponent that gave you more than a run for your money, scraped out that win when the odds were against you. Bloodborne hits that same area of the skull that draws something good when you achieve. I’m not a gambling man, but the one time I decided to play in Vegas I got 35 dollars. For me that was a personal achievement that made the gamble worth it. I later met a man, a doctor no less, that knocked my paltry win, all I could think was “Fuck you, did you win 35 dollars? No. It’s my 35 dollars. It’s my accomplishment.” I may take forever to beat Bloodborne’s final boss, but working out how to beat that group of werewolves? That’s my accomplishment.
These days video games are kind of what you make of them. I feel like ever since we left the golden age of the JRPG, the genre overall worked itself into one where the fun is yours by design. If dying and learning isn’t your idea of a good time, don’t play it. After fucking around in the character creator for what felt like ages I started creating little schemes and plots, telling myself I was going to do what I could in terms of the small adjustments in my stats and grinding up for a pittance of gear. It’s not all that different from end gaming an MMORPG, are you going to push yourself to go somewhere in the world you shouldn’t be? Are you going to farm and grind to min/max those stats and buy yourself a fancy new hat? Are you going to Push it to the Limit and test your own skill Apollo on Drago style?
Then of course there’s sharing your information with others and getting theirs and going “Huh, why didn’t I think of that.” I got immense pride in setting up a note that said “Hey, guys, guess what. Fire.” Then having it praised during the course of the rest of my run as good advice.
If you know you’re just an exploration whore, which I kind of am too, then no your eyes will not be opened up to new vistas every 10 minutes of gameplay how it is in say Skyrim, but what you do get is Victorian neat. There is a story I’m invested in, something along the lines of “At first everything wasn’t fucked up, and then it was. And then you showed up.” I do appreciate how one of my toon’s big blue eyes flutter out from under her tricorn hat and slowly solving how stats work and items work. It’s very, very reminiscent of the early days when I first got into RPGs, when I played Final Fantasy 6 and Final Fantasy tactics and everything was too difficult and I had no idea what the fuck was going on, but I was determined to figure it out.
It definitely hits in the nostalgia.
If you want a much easier time of things that’s not so grim and gritty, I’ll be reviewing episode 2 of this other title shortly.
