Bloodborne: Fixing a Game Mechanic

photo from http://www.playstation.com

I don’t know about all of you, but I am super hyped for Bloodborne that is scheduled for release on 3/24/15.  Bloodborne is the spiritual successor for demons souls and the dark souls franchise.  It seems there is going to be a lot of changes to the feel of this game in comparison to the other previously mentioned ones.  For instance the setting seems to take place during the Victorian era.  It has a very Van Helsing vibe to it that I can’t help but feel very excited about.

All of this is nice and all, however, I have a theory that Bloodborne is going to fix something that has always bothered me about the Souls franchise.  And that is the mechanic of blocking.  Shields in that game  were too overpowered.  All the player needed to was get a shield that had 100% to physical defense, circle strafe an enemy and then back stab.  This simplified a lot of the battles that took place during the main story.  As for the multiplayer battles,  whoever had a better internet connection was the victor.

Bloodborne is going to try and remedy this problem by throwing away the whole concept of shields and replacing it with faster and more agile combat.  The game rewards the player when he/she plays strategically offensive.  For example if the player is hit by an enemy, then the player has a few seconds to counter attack to regain some fraction of the health lost.  This adds faster combat with a strategic twist.  I believe this will fix the shield problem

This adds a nice new flavor to the combat and I am really looking forward to it.  Unfortunately I don’t have a PS4 yet, but this will be the one reason for getting one.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoctlJAauCU

Site: http://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/bloodborne-ps4/?smcid=pssocial:fb:game:bloodborne_30s:3_2_15

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One Response to Bloodborne: Fixing a Game Mechanic

  1. aks5378 says:

    I am also really excited to play Bloodborne when it comes out. I have been a huge fan of Dark Souls 1 and 2, having beaten each numerous times. I haven’t played demon souls, though. The art style and overall feel of the game are much different than what we have seen in the past from From Software, so I especially looking forward to that. I do have to disagree about shields in the past games being overpowered. Even though there are 100 percent block shields in the games, they are for only one damage type. For example, if a shield has 100 percent physical block, it might only have 40 percent fire block, 30 percent lighting block, etc. This leads to careful strategy on the part of the player when considering the current enemy. If facing a magic type enemy/player, that 100 percent physical block shield will stop almost none of the incoming damage. I feel that From Software did a pretty good job in balancing the defense options of the game. I also wanted to say that the game is very possible without shields. Dark Souls 2 made this very interesting by perfecting the dual weapon system, and making that type of combat really fluid. A fair number of people play like this, so even if the shields break the game, it is possible to have a good experience.

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