Bloodborne Retrospective | It's a Great One
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- čas přidán 15. 06. 2024
- Folks, it's my favorite of all Soulsborne games: Bloodborne.
It may not have had quite the effect on the industry that Dark Souls did, or sell as many copies as Elden Ring, but the tightness and speed of the combat mechanics; the deliciously dark setting; the stellar soundtrack; the complex and layered horror elements; the outstanding voice acting; and all the countless other smaller elements of Bloodborne’s brilliance add up to one of the greatest games of all time. Hope ya enjoy the vid.
00:00 - Intro
05:56 - Introduction to Yharnam
09:48 - Build Variety
11:48 - Gestures
12:17 - Early Moments/Hunter's Dream
17:14 - Central Yharnam/Combat Aggression/Cleric Beast
25:08 - Insight
28:18 - Sewers/Father Gascoigne/Stagger Mechanic
35:51 - Oedon Chapel & Iosefka's Clinic
38:10 - Cathedral Wards/Vicar Amelia
42:22 - Blood Vials
44:30 - Old Yharnam/Blood-Starved Beast
47:57 - Chalice Dungeons
53:33 - Hemwick Charnel Lane
54:58 - Forbidden Woods/Shadows of Yharnam
59:30 - Byrgenwerth/Rom
01:04:58 - Blood Moon Phase
01:07:55 - Trick Weapons
01:11:58 - Blood Shards & Blood Gems
01:14:00 - Nightmares
01:16:30 - Yahar'gul/The One Reborn
01:18:39 - Nightmare of Mensis/Micolash/Mergo's Wet Nurse
01:28:15 - Upper Cathedral Ward/Celestial Emissary/Ebrietas
01:32:35 - Cainhurst/Martyr Logarius
01:38:46 - The Hunter's Nightmare/Laurence
01:43:20 - Ludwig
01:46:59 - Research Hall/Living Failures/Lady Maria
01:51:57 - Fishing Hamlet/Orphan of Kos
01:59:13 - Gehrman/Moon Presence
02:02:11 - Conclusion/Closing Remarks - Hry
I saw a great theory on why Gehrman whispers that doll line. The gist is that he’s grown ashamed of it, since he made a doll to resemble Lady Maria. He even seems to avoid her. Odds are, after entering the Hunter’s Dream and seeing her walk and talk, it frightened him. He made a creepy effigy of his student to play pretend and dress-up but now it’s alive and has its own autonomy and asks questions. Basically, Gehrman is a dark version of Geppetto from Pinocchio.
I have a theory that if she had been with Gehrman he would've wanted her to be submissive and kind like the doll, losing all her passion and personal greatness.
Maria never could've found true purpose within the world she was born in and that in itself is quite tragic. She was simply pulled in too many directions.
@@masquerader101I heard a theory from someone that it could have been yes him wanting that but mistakenly thinking that Maria would aswell. How she talks easily conveys how much she disliked her life as a hunter so in making the doll he removed all aspects he considered tk be part of her due to being a hunter. Leaving her this stereotypical delicate reflection of a lady. Which is twisted because Maria's personality amd traits for the most part likely wouldn't have been different at all if she weren't a hunter cause she regretted her actions as a hunter not who she was. So gherman didn't even achieve anything with the doll like he wanted I think
@@ross8093 And that serves to make their story even more tragic. Sad to think that we had the comfort of the doll and even the joy of the hunt, but Gehrman actually was just a lonesome, broken man.
Dont make your own Hell, kids.
I know the lyrics of his theme don't line up with this, but listening to the song I imagine him recalling all the trials and sacrifices he's made for the sake of the hunt, crying out and begging for the Great Ones to hear his plea to return Maria to him, and as the music builds, there is a single note that chines before the chorus kicks in, I see that note as Gehrman finally making contact, the voices that rise changing the song much like the madness of the Great Ones changed Gehrman's mind, and when they fulfill his plea, the voices fade from the song, it plays his tune, but with more instruments, is different, added to, but I feel like something is missing, an amazing melody, but I can't help but feel it's not perfect (on purpose), like there's 1 more instrument that could've been added, and I feel that is how Gehrman sees the doll, an answer to his plea, but it's not what he thought he would get, it's a companion in her image, but it's not Maria
I have a theory there's a hole in the back
Fun fact about the fishing hamlet: on the path into the hamlet just after beating Maria, if you look over the sides of the path where you'd normally fall off, you'll see that you're actually above Yharnam.
Played bloodborne for the first time ever a few months again. One of my favorite games of all time easily
I bounced off the first hour of Bloodborne four times before I finally watched a beginners guide to combat. After that, I bounced off at progressively deeper points. At some point it finally fully clicked for me. There’s no other game that that I so consistently enjoy playing. There are lots of games that I absolutely love, but if I play them long enough, I eventually get bored of them. The only game that I can play forever and never get bored is Bloodborne.
Another Great One by you. Please don't stop after the souls series. Retrospectives in general long form are my favorite and you do it the best, fastest and most consistent. Favorite youtuber.
Aw, thank you so much for saying that! I'll keep going for sure after Souls though. Not exactly sure what my next game will be afterwards, but I am keen on getting back to Final Fantasy stuff, and I might even get into Soulslike territory!
Regarding the layers of the nightmare, the nightmare of Mensis is actually the highest, not the frontier. You can see the mensis tower/castle from the frontier, high upon the distant mountains and you can see the frontier from some of the balconies in mensis.
Ever notice the sky box in the multiple levels of reality? The Yharnam sky is normal.
The Hunter's Nightmare has a cursed and ailing sky.
The Nightmare Frontier is the same, but because it's a little higher on the planes of reality, it has a clear space between the raging clouds.
The Nightmare of Mensis is as clear as can be, with the moon so close one could swear they could almost touch it.
Base reality represents ignorance. One doesn't even know about the cosmic storm above, cant even perceive it. As you ascend higher, you pierce the clouds and get closer to space, the cosmos. Yet, you can't even see stars from the highest vantage point humans reached in their research. So close, and yet so far.
I 100% agree about Dark Souls changing my (gaming) life. I had heard it was super hard and shied away before giving it a try in December 2021 and I haven't been the same since. The "Soulsborne" games are such a wonderful gift
Haven't even listened to a minute of this yet, but I've already left a "like".
Bloodborne is in the top 5 of my favorite games I've ever played.....so anytime this game gets some shine, I'm all in. A great content creator just makes it even better.
It's incredible how fast you can pump out these couple hour long retrospectives. These videos are the best for getting through the work day. Keep up the great work!
The holy blades soundtrack is just cheating. The feeling it gives you while you dodge lasers from a greatsword weilding horse monster is just perfect
I could watch a Bloodborne retrospective every day of the week.
Hell yea my dude
Man, you're quickly becoming one of my favourite long-form content creators to listen to while at work. Never even played Bloodborne, but I appreciate your way of explanation and really enjoyed the Elden Ring video. It's good stuff man.
Oh my god good sir you HAVE to PLAY BLOODBORNE. Best Fromsoftware game to date man. Best combat, weapons and scenery/Lore hands down
Get back to work medlico! We need widgets made!
The elemental damage gems truly shine with an arcane build, for they change the weapons scaling to be arcane
That’s how I beat the game my first time, went an arcane route and had a fire saw spear
and the hunter tools that act as spells scale all the way to 99 without diminishing returns like weapon scaling. absolute blast
@snipagod11 some of them actually have their strongest scaling at the highest levels of arcane
@@Eric-md3mp oh ya and you get that +65 arcane scaling gem ontop
The minute you start hearing the fear and hunger soundtrack in the video... I think you just accept the fact that you are officially a lunatic
only option now is to take pride in it, of course
i have a theory about why the brain of mensis doesn't inflict frenzy on you when down in the pit. if you notice in the cutscene that plays when you drop it from the tower, it's wrapped in chains and also has some big metal spikes driven into it. when you find it down in the pit, the spikes and chains are all gone. i think its frenzy gaze was it lashing out in pain from those spikes. the chains come loose when its dropped from the tower, likely freeing up its hand and letting it pull the offending spikes from its body. now down in the pit, it's passive as it rests in relief from the pain that was being forced upon it. poor blobby thing!
You’re definitely right in my opinion that’s crazy!!! 👀 🧠
Goddamn, I love that theory!
Damn. Thinking about it like that, I just wanna give it a hug. The Mensis scholars are brutes.
Wowowow
I seriously started doubting reality when I was just thinking about fear and hunger right before watching your video and 5 Minutes into it, the title music started playing in the background. I felt my frenzy meter filling up rapidly that moment. Besides that, thank you for keeping bloodborne content relevant and not let it fade into a distant dream. Absolutely love the fact that after so many moons the fascination for this game still courses through the blood of many. Everything about bloodborne appeals to me on a whole different plane compared to most other games and the more eyes from the community gaze upon this game, the more insight we all gain into its seemingly bottomless sea of secrets, so thank you for contributing to it
Damn bro nice
I've watched 3 of your videos in a row. Just found you during my shift and man I gotta say I'm surprised at your subscriber count. Definitely deserve more. Keep up the good work.
I'm more of a MMORPG player, but every time I see a Bloodborne video I click, this game is amazing. Good video too mang
Holy shit the amount of hour plus long videos of Bloodborne analysis I've watched is insane. Especially since I've beaten the game multiple times. Anytime i see a new video of someone else who loves this game, i have to watch it. I'll never get tired of hearing peoples opinion about this masterpiece. Even through this game isn't perfect, we can all agree that its worth the time and effort to play through at least once. Bloodborne forever.
Lol my favorite enemy quote that I can’t stop sayin is “you plague ridden raaat” so funny
a recent playthrough thought they were saying "lesbian" instead of "plague ridden." hilarious line either way.
YEW PLY GRIDDEN RAT
Ive played and beaten this game so many times that basically the entire map is imprinted in my brain lol
After discovering the souls games, i bought a ps4 just to play bloodborne. It was my first souls platinum, and will always be my favorite. This game holds a special place in my heart. I was at my lowest point in my life after being in 2 car accidents back to back and being taken off work. I was depressed and lost in my own head, but bloodborne pulled me out of it.
Bloodborne and souls in general really changed my life and changed how id tackle problems in my life. The concept of death not being the end, but a chance to learn, grow and adapt to overcome the challenge(boss) in front of you. People think its unreal that a game like this could have such a massive, profound change on someone, but they really took me out of that place and changed my outlook on everything
found your channel through this and im now binging all your souls videos. So underrated! can't believe you only have 2k subs keep going man this suits you
I just finished my first playthrough of Bloodborne and all I can say is WOW, what a masterpiece. It’s my third FromSoftware game (first being DS3, second being Elden Ring), and I was worried that my experience with the later games would have a negative impact on my Bloodborne experience, but no.
These retrospectives are literally the best of their kind on youtube. Amazing for a smaller channel.
I agree
I love hearing Scottish people talk about games I love. And if you're not Scottish then my bad
Yeah, I am Scottish haha
the fear and hunger music in the background... this man knows his stuff.
I was waiting for you to make this video.
I only found your channel a couple of months ago and I was so sad to not see a Bloodborne video on your channel.
Just made my Sunday night at work that much better.
you're a great one :D i appreciate so many videos from you, but please take care and dont burn out! we've lost so many good longform videogame content creators :(
Truly one of THE games of all time, such an incredible masterpiece
I found The Paleblood Hunt by Redgrave to be pretty helpful in understanding Bloodborne's story and lore. It's a Google drive doc
Can you link it?
@Desi_Kukkar69 docs.google.com/document/d/1JL5acskAT_2t062HILImBkV8eXAwaqOj611mSjK-vZ8/edit?usp=drivesdk
I love the paleblopd hunt such a good companion to BB
This was my first From game. I got stuck and put it down for two years until I forced myself to play it long enough to get to see the first boss, after that I just HAD to see what would happen it I beat it…long story short I just finished my third run of dark souls 3 and am about to start my fourth run of Dark Souls 1
Hell yeah I finally got dark souls one earlier this year because I kept seeing so many video essays on it and in so glad I did. I then got Bloodborne and dark souls 3 which I'm playing through now. These are quality sss games
The opening cutscene represents the dichotomy of the effects of blood ministration. You're receiving your first dose of the old blood, and in the post-op haze you see a vision of the beast growing within you threatening to consume you, but through your willpower or perhaps even cosmic intervention, your inner beasthood is quelled. Afterwards you are embraced by the messengers, emissaries of the paleblood. This represents your initiation into the dreaming. Once again, whether being chosen to dream by the Great ones is arbitrary or has something to do with the player character's unique resilience to the beast curse is up to interpretation. Either way, blood ministration in Yharnam is the gateway to both outcomes.
Don't know why I never thought of charge attacks with barehands to set up crits......thank you for the insight good hunter
Your videos have become such a source of comfort. Thank you!
I don't know you if you're aware of this (given you didn't mention it), but.... unique to Bloodborne is the fact we can summon Father Gascoigne to fight the Cleric Beast with us.
Nice video. One thing about blood gens. The elemental ones are working great with arcane builds. ARC scales up elemental damage.
Kos parasite can be used as an unarmed weapon without the milkweed rune if you put flat arcane gems on it! I used to have quite a good time confusing people with how my slaps could deal so much damage.
One time I beat the Blood Starved Beast without getting hit by accident, and didn't realize until I saw I had full health and all my blood vials 😂
Just finished Bloodborne again on my PS5. Still my favorite game of all time and a true masterpiece. I played the Lies of P demo and ill be picking that up cause it slightly reminds me of Bloodborne.
I just loved this one, honestly. As an Xbox user, I’ve never had firsthand experience with this game, but damn does it not perfectly translate to your style. The atmosphere, your little jokes to break tension, the utter absurdity that allows you to gawk along with us at some aspects, etc. This feels like THE bloodborne fan’s retrospective.
Im not going to lie i LOVE accidentally triggering a gesture in this game. It literally never fails to make me laugh. It is objectively a bad decision but i think i would be sad if I existed in a world where my character didnt decide to take a seat or cheer randomly once in a while, its like they have a mind of their own
Whew, Christmas is early this year!
Great video mate, top quality. I adore bloodborne but when I 1st tried it I got stuck on the blood starved beast and would attempt it now and again over a few months but when I beat it I played through and got the platinum trophy and have since finished the game many times, it just clicked with me after I beat that infernal beast! Bloodborne is a masterpiece
Even though I got totally lost in his labyrinth, and was running around like a fool with no idea what to do, I really enjoyed the Micolash fight.
Hey :)
I came back to this video today and I noticed this one should be hitting 100k in a few days. Congrats bro :)
Thanks man! Lookin forward to your first 100k vid this year too I'm sure!
To be fair to ds2, that was why that tiger boss was so intense, because you really had to work through the snow storm just to get to them.
Damn, dude. Excellent work! I could watch these vids all day everyday
Aw, thank you so much for the generosity, and cheers for liking my stuff!
Nice video, never regret a long format video praising Bloodborne thanks it was entertaining!!
Doing my first playthrough now. Not super far in the game. I got sent to yahar'gul very early by fighting that sack weilding enemy right outside cathedral ward. Ended up in yahargul and nearly crapped myself. I was getting 1 or 2 shot by everything and the music and atmosphere was crazy. I found the latern and picked up a few cold bloods before dipping. Maybe an area I would explore early in later playthroughs but I felt super under leveled and like i shouldn't be there yet lol
Great vid, liked and subbed :)
I almost posted a comment early when you said your not really a fan of the chalice dungeons but thankfully I waited and later you describe the point of them. The best blood gems in the game. Yes the dungeons could of been done better but as someone who has 3000 hours in the game (yes no life) most of those hours are spent in coop helping people get past the cursed and defiled dungeons. If this game gets a remake and they put a ton more effort into the chalice dungeons it will solidify itself even more as the greatest game ever made.
I was scrolling by and saw the thumbnail and had to give you a like and comment for the pun.
You’ve got to get some more exposure, your essays and narration are fantastic.
New subscriber. I’ve listened to this video as a podcast while I work. It is abundantly brilliant and a real blast from the past. 👌🏻👌🏻
Bloodborne was my second soulsborne game after Elden ring and is honestly my favourite game period. Such a amazing game
Great work!! I’m on my firsts play through of Bloodborne now and it’s also my first souls borne experience and I’m really enjoying it! Be safe out there fellow hunters 🪓
5:20 fear and hunger sound track detected
Playing the chalice dungeon atm and having quite a bit of fun. I think altering between the campaign and chalice is the way to go to not get tired of em.
Yes this was a great video thank you brother
Excellent presentation! Love the game.
what actually tipped me off about iosefka's clinic was that when you first talk to her, at the very beginning of the game, she says she can't let you or anyone else in. she's extremely insistent and apologetic, but the safety of her current patients was too paramount to let anyone in. then suddenly, she's done a 180 and is fine with anyone coming by? something's up. the only person i sent to "her" clinic (i'm pretty sure it's not actually iosefka, as one of the aliens has her vial) was the beggar man in the forbidden woods.
Just found your channel and I love the content
Also hoping for a fear and hunger essay after hearing the theme early on!
The skill stat determining visceral damage is such a fucking boon in the later chalice dungeons
My wife sits next to me while I play Bloodborne. She plays her games on her phone and likes to watch Bloodborne and repeat what she thinks she hears. She hears the villagers say “no I don’t want it here” lol
Great video. One of my favorites games. Always wanted to play it and was a bit late to the party since I played Xbox 360 and PC up until 2018 😂 got this game and I have beaten it 9 times. Sank hundreds of hours into it.
1:10:20 My fellow hunter, the Boom Hammer goes ka-boom when transformed
Isn't that transformed enough?
Finally got to finish the video, spot on analysis/review - I wouldn't change a single thing. Thanks again my friend and don't mind me mentioning the Seeker of fire Dark Souls 2 mod again :) cheers! Looking forward to your next video!
Aw, man; you're too kind! Currently downloading DS2 right now on Steam again and I've downloaded that mod too, so I'll see what it's all about!
@@candletype1a447 nice :D eager to hear your opinion on it!!
I can't believe I suffered throught the entire game (DLC included) without knowing about the pistol staffer mechanic. I almost pulled my hair out at certain points ..
I haven't watched the whole retrospective yet but so far it is really good.
I suppose when you love something, it's easy to go on about
Edit: not to say what you do is easy, sorry, that came out wrong, I'm just excited lol
Great video 😊
Fun Fact: Ludwig loses his beast weaknesses in phase 2 (beast weaknesses being fire, the hidden Serration damage type that weapons like the saw cleaver or the Whirligig saw have, and the beast hunter gems)
I am a saw spear > saw cleaver type of person. Also, great video, this is one of From Software's games that I have never played and at this point I feel like there will be an emu for it before it ever comes to PC, if ever. Sekiro & this game are From Software's best games hands down to date.
October is almost here!
Return to Yharnam 👻
Love the title of the video. Perfectly describes Bloodborne.
Bloodborne came out a while ago. Now its a Great Old One
1:46:11 LMAO. This is a great video. didn't want it to finish
"Why did Blood Vials go back to being a consumable healing item when they had already invented the Estus Flask?"
This confused me too for the longest time. Recently it finally dawned on me.
It's because of Rally, which is unique to BB. Every design choice in BB is meant to encourage aggressive play, including Rally; when you take damage, Rally will encourage you to behave offensively rather than defensively as you would in Dark Souls.
And what better way to encourage this even further than to make the healing item consumable? Now, the player will REALLY prefer not to waste a consumable item, so they are even MORE likely to go on the offensive to get that health back for free.
Another great thing. If you're good enough at playing the game and using the rally mechanic, it gives you just enough blood vials to where you never have to rest or grind for more healing items. Something you can't get away with in Dark Souls or Elden Ring (or Demon's Souls, for that matter) unless you've completely mastered them. It makes repeat playthroughs/NG+ runs really satisfying.
I sucked at these games till my mate bought elden ring I got it via game share and now I've beaten every soft game platinumed most.
That Fear and hunger music caught me off guard xD
Great work
as soon as i heard him say the thing abt the doll i destroyed him on site every time i went back 💀
18:49 I do that too! Except what I say most is “you plague-ridden rat!” but I definitely say your line too. So, maybe you’re not crazy… or we both are
The Fear & Hunger title screen soundtrack!
1:20:40 JSF, over on the Sinclair Lore channel, actually ported all of the bloodborne assets and models into the dark souls 1 model viewer.
😮 Cheers for the info m8, had no idea!
Let's go!!!
Hahahahaha swear
@@LeylandFoizey let's fucking go!!!
Shout out to the fear and hunger music in the video
This video made me try Bloodborne for the first time. Finished the game yesterday (took me about a week). It was decent for a DMC clone... :D
Just kidding, put your pitchforks down.
Man oh man want an unique exerience. Although I have died a lot, it was (almost) never rage-inducing. I actually felt more confident and better prepared for the next attempt.
And the bosses... I will forever remember the heartbraking fight with Amelia or the beautiful dance of death with Gherman. Or Rom, whom in my frantic button mashing managed to stagger before teleport and killed during 1st phase. I though "oh wow, what an uncharacteristically easy boss" not realising how lucky I got in my noobness.
Sorry for the long comment, it has been eons since a game got me this excited.
Love your videos and I wish you all the best! Take care :)
Fun fact.
If your having trouble with orphans lightning attack fight on the water. When you see him scream look at the strike and walk around the incoming shockwave.
I love Rom the vacuuming spider lol
lmao
I love Forbidden Woods, partially because even veterans can still get lost in it.
The greatest game ever made. It cant be matched.
For Gascoigne, I thought her wife died from the beasts or soon to be beasts and that's how he lost it. And the music box was not around to bring him back from insanity.
I can’t decide between BB and Sekiro which is my favorite. Sekiro combat is just the best of all time, BB combat is great as well plus it’s dripping atmosphere. Another great video, thanks!
44:35 Lecture Hall is not optional. You have to go there to get from Yahar'gul to Nightmare of Mensis. Although I'm sure you'll mention it, you can get there earlier via patches handing you the tonsil stone in the Forbidden Woods and getting grabbed by the Amygdala at the future entrance to Yahar'gul, which allows you access to half of the Lecture Hall aswell as the Nightmare Frontier where you fight an Amygdala.
Great video btw, sorry for the correction I just really can't help myself, keep up the awesome work man :)
This game can actually be really easaly cheesed by loading up a certain custom Chalice Dungeon and standing in a hallway, while an enemy on the other side of the wall dies, resulting in you getting a shit ton of blood echos.
the fear and hunger menue music giving me ptsd ...... i mean kinda music good vid bud
Played all the souls Bourne except for demons soul. But Bloodborne is the best and one of best games ever created. Part of my top 3 games of all time. Dark Souls 1-3 were amazing. Some of the best experiences ever. Sekiro had a learning curve but once you learned it. Incredible game. And Elden Ring was just amazing as well. But something about Bloodborne is just so amazing.
That slug is the rarest enemy in the game.
Much appreciate that you didn't went into lore explanation, because I really don't like "lore experts". In soulborne games, and especially Bloodborne and Elden Ring, lore is meant to be interpreted by a player. People who "ah yeah I watched 1-hour video of some random youtuber abput Elden Ring lore and now I know everything" - they just don't understand what are they missing out on. There are so many unansewered questions in both Bloodborne and Elden Ring (while Dark Souls and Sekiro having a bit more full stories without much missing parts) - it's one of the most amazing things in Bloodborne - trying to figure out your own version of what's happening.
On my first playthrough i killed Ebrietas first try, threaded cane arcane build.