The term "guilty pleasure" defines our relationship best

Apr 10, 2015 14:41 GMT  ·  By

In spite of the fact that I didn’t really like Dark Souls, and for very good reasons, Bloodborne managed to capture my attention in a manner that I would have never envisioned.

Apart from the fact that it’s a lot faster and much more responsive than Dark Souls 2 when it comes to the combat system, it’s also a lot more dynamic. In Dark Souls 2 I died to a certain trio of bosses time and time again, until I got over my initial stubbornness and equipped with a shield.

I was mystified by how easy the game got from that point on, when compared to my previous struggles to time my dodges and side steps. Granted, I was also playing completely naked in order to maximize my rolling speed and distance, because even the heaviest of armor failed to provide satisfying damage mitigation.

In Bloodborne, on the other hand, you don’t hide behind a shield, patiently waiting for your enemy to expend its allotted quota of attacks, before stepping in to deliver your own slashing or thrusting attacks ration.

Instead, you have to always be on your toes, mindful of any nearby enemies and their arsenal and reach, because there is nothing to stop any incoming assaults. You have to get out of the way using quicksteps and, when the situation is more severe, dodge rolls.

More than the sum of its parts

It all comes together very well and starts feeling natural after a while, and even boss fights become more exciting than menacing and tedious once you get accustomed to the way From Software designs encounters.

What’s more, I started craving the same level of engagement in other games that now seem somewhat trivial and lackluster by comparison. And I even got back to Dark Souls 2, trying to push further with the campaign.

Unfortunately, Dark Souls 2 still doesn’t click for me. Bloodborne has the advantage of its great setting and atmosphere, and I’m not the kind of person to sift through sand hoping to find gold.

I appreciate what science and knowledge do for us and I still loathe the wild speculation surrounding the mysterious world of Drangleic. Someone created it, therefore, they know all its ins and outs, which means that there isn’t any mystery involved, just a serious design flaw that everybody seems to be praising for some arcane reason.

But back to Bloodborne. The tie-ins with a sort of Lovecraftian mythos and the great Victorian setting of Yharnam do a lot to make the action feel immersive, but I think it’s the action itself that makes me like the game.

It’s very elegant and simple. It works well, and once you get enough practice, you can start predicting the outcome of your engagements. You can get bolder. And you eventually start mastering each level, just like in the days of yore, with arcade platformers.

Other people did it better

On paper, I shouldn’t like this. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings has a much more complex combat system. You have skill points, traps, a ton of consumables, spells, in short, it should feel much better.

Maybe it’s the relentless slashing, the fact that you don’t have to retreat in order to catch your breath, or the fact that everything feels so scripted, when opposed to the feeling of freedom and exploration you get in Bloodborne.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’s combat system feels similarly lackluster, in spite of having a stamina bar that limits your mobility on the field and doesn’t make you feel like a superhuman marathon runner, always busily fighting the next mob, jumping head first into rooms full of enemies.

I think its magical grip on me is due to its pacing, to the fact that there are less open areas and that you constantly have to dive in for a burst of damage, and then retreat, introducing a feeling of tension and making you feel very vulnerable, while at the same time making your goal attainable.

I distinctly remember always laughing at the fact that you can pause the game for a copious meal in Skyrim, making almost any enemy approachable not through skill and determination, but by bringing enough food and potions to the fight.

Bloodborne, on the contrary, offers you this illusion that it's much more approachable. You don't need to prepare for combat, you don't have to restock on consumables, you don't need to use a dozen different skills and switch between weapons and spells.

You just run in and start hacking and slashing. That's how I feel about it, when I compare it to the aforementioned role-playing games. And yet I know that it's a lie, or better yet, in Admiral Ackbar's words, "It's a trap!"

Bloodborne and even Dark Souls 2 have this elegance about them, where you stumble upon enemies that you can easily take out even with your bare hands, as long as you follow the rules. Sure, it’s tedious, but it’s attainable, or at least so it seems at a glance.

An authentic sense of danger

Conversely, even the lowliest enemy grunt can finish you off in about four hits if you’re careless, which means that there is much more tension, that the threat is very real, and you don’t have to endure endless waves of filler enemies that pose no real danger.

In traditional, story-driven games, many of the encounters are scripted, and you usually only go through a certain section once. After having defeated everyone and progressed through the narrative, you don’t return to that section.

In Bloodborne, it seems like the goal is the opposite. Almost none of the areas you’re exploring is easy enough for you to finish from the first try, and most of the time you can repeat the same routine over and over, until the enemies that initially seemed inhuman are now farmed for souls or blood echoes.

This should infuriate me. It’s an alienating kind of design that feels punitive for no good reason, and I still think that you need crisp controls if you’re asking nothing but mechanical perfection from your players, but somehow I find myself drawn to Bloodborne time and time again.

In Dark Souls 2, the controls were a mess compared to Bloodborne, especially when you try playing the game using a mouse and keyboard. Bloodborne moves faster, it doesn’t feel like it takes forever to wind up for a blow, and you’re stuck in attack animations far less than in From Software’s previous games.

You’re supposed to repeat a certain sequence over and over until you memorize its every nook and cranny, which is unbelievably obtuse in this day and age. Yet somehow that’s exactly what I end up doing.

I keep hearing that quote in my head, over and over again. “I believe they called it Drangleic. Perhaps you're familiar. No, how could you be. But one day, you will stand before its decrepit gate. Without really knowing why.”

There are still a ton of minor flaws and I have a lot of gripes with Bloodborne, but its allure is something that I both cannot explain and cannot resist. I have all the reasons to stay away, but I’m drawn ever closer.

My rational mind keeps telling me why I should dislike it, yet I find myself yearning for its punishing and cruel touch. This is the kind of thing that used to lead men to believe in the devil.