Bloodborne - Chalice Dungeons, and The Old Hunters

Patreon: / josephanderson
Twitter: / jph_anderson
Books: www.amazon.com/Joseph-Anderson...
Chalice Dungeons - 0:22 (super useful bookmark here)
The Hunter's Nightmare - 12:39
The Astral Clock Tower - 18:52
Fishing Hamlet - 23:27

[@acidicspecter]

""Bloodborne 2"" The innocence in his voice is so pure.

[@TheRubberMatch]

I truly believe it will happen… one day 🤣

[@babalovesyou]

​@@TheRubberMatch maybe after armored core

[@galax12370]

I think miyazaki would want to make something new with the souls series after elden ring I feel like its the perfect time to end but who knows

[@galax12370]

​@@TheRubberMatch when there is bloodborne 2 there must be bloodborne 3 like w dark souls too much commitment imo

[@r3gret2079]

Oh that sweet summer child. So innocent, so pure. Welp, get fucked.

[@purvdragon-sensei]

Oh man, you would've loved the double sharknado gank in the well.

[@bl0ndi550]

The WHAT

[@wymarsane7305]

@@bl0ndi550 There's a side area that has two of the shark giants. Hilariously though that fight is possibly easier because there's an item that you can use to turn them against each other, which can kill one and severely weaken the other.

[@CharlieHankey]

I literally came back to this video to hear him complain about the giant fish cause I'm mad trying to get the rakuyo

[@prxnce6588]

Charlie Hankey rakuyo best weapon

[@dashman8499]

Charlie Hankey just be patient and relax, I believe in you

[@SinclairLocke]

"The enemies in the Research Hall aren't very dangerous" what

[@harryg1826]

He was about 50 levels above the recommended, with the best weapon in the game in terms of pure dps. I’m not shocked he found the enemies in the research hall easy.

[@RocksRealNice523]

@@harryg1826 > pure dps The Holy Blade kills things quite a bit slower than the Saw Cleaver, or Spear.

[@SorowFame]

They don't have much health so as long as you kill them quick they aren't a problem.

[@nicke5801]

CLEARLY never been there on NG+7 because holy fuck it is cancer.

[@raredash6057]

Enemies in the research hall: "aaaaaAAAAaaAAAAAAAaaa"

[@Aurongel]

23:15 The water level makes sense because it's supposed to represent a shift to a higher plane of existence/consciousness. This is actually foreshadowed earlier on in a pretty major lore detail I believe you missed where a snail woman falls from the sky. It's also worth noting that you can see Yharnam below the ocean at the fishing hamlet which further demonstrates that you're now in a higher dream plane. It would have been worth mentioning that tying the multiple DLC areas together in this way is actually a super neat, cohesive touch that isn't seen in previous DLCs.

[@tranduyhung7770]

He only judges gameplay on these series and leans more towards the "logical" aspect of environmental design instead of seeing what it means. Hence no lore discussions in his videos, it's just not part of his review.

[@Zandeyninja]

Ya i love Joseph Anderson's reviews/analysis but he will often focus on game design/ gameplay mechanics and completely ignore the story. Imo he completely missed or didn't get the souls story so he thinks all souls games have no story. Atleast he is not saying the story is shit anymore like he said at the end of the Dark Souls 1 series. Which he got flamed hard for and rightfully for once. He just says he won't talk about the lore.

[@picklepum_the_crow5001]

True. At some, he critized the lack of content by citing that the first part of the DLC is a re-use of the Cathedral Ward. Well, first it is not entirely true, because only the big place and the way to the grand cathedral are kind of re-used, but the rest is new - yah maybe the layout of the house- I found the re-use gives a coherence in the world, there is a interconnection between the present and the past, there is at least one small area that you know in the present that you can a little explore at the time of the old hunter. By the way, this is a bit cheap, because there are videos in which he critized DS2 for its lack of coherence in the world. So, the time they did not spend to make an entire new area at the beginning of the DLC was used to make the world coherent, which is work as well. And yah, the water level makes absolutely sense, once you read the HP Lovecraft novel.

[@pickleadaykeepsthedoctoraw5542]

Haha, I love people who defend the shit story in these games. Mistranslations, never answered questions, MASSIVE headcannon that people treat as tr00f (VaatiVidya = Headcannon).

[@Jacrispy223]

Don't forget he can't be bothered to understand a single bit of the lore because he's too fucking stupid to understand it.

[@Dante3085]

About Ludwig's jump. You see where he is by looking at the blood that is coming from above.

[@aliceinwonderland4395]

I don't know why people don't consider this but arguably the best way to dodge that move is to keep walking casually, wait until you hear that "roar" at the end of his jump and THEN hit circle I've followed that strategy every single time and every single time I've NEVER gotten hit by it

[@togil1151]

Just roll all the time when he`s up in the air. Works in 9/10 cases

[@aliceinwonderland4395]

Teostra Roll when you hear the roar, works 10/10 times

[@benschlaff9203]

You can also just run in a straight line. I've never been hit by the attack since I discovered that

[@aliceinwonderland4395]

Anthony Schlaff It's not guaranteed 100% but yeah it works Sometimes though it can glitch and clip you

[@VladDascaliuc]

11:11 "I would love to do my favourite fights over and over again with different modifiers, like extra damage or different boss arenas". Hollow Knight: Gotcha, mate.

[@adaptorperish1322]

They caught up in Sekiro, too.

[@commanderleo]

Hollow Knight is superior to these games for giving content that the players actually want

[@penguinwolf3330]

@@commanderleo hollow knight is inferior overall though and the godhome was poorly executed

[@yhavinmiles]

I would say that’s basically chalice dungeons, I just had to beat a maneater boar buffed ass boss at like 50 hp which made me one shot, so would definitely say that’s a modifier esc arena. Same thing with defiled Amygdala

[@commanderleo]

@@yhavinmiles but that only applies to a select few bosses. It would have been cool if we could fight all bosses with all kinds of crazy modifiers like vial limits or changed arenas

[@salamagogo]

Orphan's second phase easier than the first? Laurence easier than the other bosses? U wot? Joking aside, I know everyone struggles with different bosses and aspects. I just feel the complete opposite on those two things. Laurence and orphan's second phase gave me conniptions.

[@alessiomasala9417]

judging by the damage i see in the video, i think he completed the game on game plus 1. I was on game plus 9 and every single time i got killed in 1 or 2 hits.

[@denizozen3288]

man Laurence was the hardest boss for me in the entire game (didnt play much of dungeons). i had to try him more than the other DLC bosses COMBINED and i hated it. felt very bullshit to me, all the AoE.

[@dashman8499]

I think he played with an overpowered character, he said he was well over level 100 and he’s using the best weapon in the game that has borderline op damage. Then he complains when he dies because some hit boxes didn’t hit him when they did. Idk I love Joseph’s vids but I think he complains too much.

[@plugshirt1684]

I felt the same way he does orphan phase two was much easier because he had way less moves and would practically stand still for a few seconds. Laurence was easy because he is basically the cleric beast but stronger

[@Username-wj8pz]

@@plugshirt1684 I think your Orphan was broken lol. His second phase is literally the most erratic shit in the entire Soulsborne.

[@Reliken]

18:10 "for some reason, it's one of the rare giant enemies where, for the most part, you can actually see what attacks he's doing" - yeah, because the camera pulls out a bit!! I don't know why this doesn't happen for other giant bosses in this series.

[@daelaenor]

Especially since it sometimes happens seemingly for no reason at all. Like in the area where you can find the beasthunter saif and proceed to Ludwig, it just zooms out. It also happens (consistently) when you run past larger enemies that are in an attack animation.

[@MrTibequadoor]

Really interesting seeing this video years later and after beating Sekiro and noticing how the bloodletting beast seems like a precursor to the Ape fight, even down to the worm growing out of the place its head used to be

[@jockturner1547]

Was just about to write this. Interesting, it's clear that Myasaki (is that how you spell his name?) Expanded on that idea for Sekiro. Pretty cool!

[@fuq_anncoulter4036]

@@jockturner1547 miyazaki :)

[@adaptorperish1322]

These videos also made me realise how many issues from previous games they mostly fixed in Sekiro and how primitive the combat was in their previous games and how much of a step up Sekiro was.

[@arbiter-]

I think the biggest problem with Chalice dungeons are how they're presented. If it was explained that some of the dungeons were set "story" content without randomly generated rooms a lot more people would have played them. I just went back and beat the game to get the final ending trophy and realized I was still missing the trophy for beating the Queen, so I looked up a guide on what was required to get there. I had so much fun going through the required dungeons this time around compared to the first time I played them when the game came out. I think the biggest factor that contributed to my enjoyment was the fact that I actually understood how they worked. I understand these games can be ambiguous but that's not always a good thing.

[@randyronald]

Nitpick: The Research Hall doesn't take place in the same cathedral where you fought Ebrietas, it's a completely separate one which only exists in The Hunter's Nightmare - hence why you traverse from one to the other :)

[@oldcowbb]

it sure exist in the waking world, but just in a building that we cannot enter, just like the clock tower.

[@lettuceprime4922]

@@oldcowbb Or is it somewhere on Bergynwerth? I'd always assumed it was in some inaccessible piece of the college grounds.

[@oldcowbb]

@@lettuceprime4922 simon said it is the church

[@lettuceprime4922]

@@oldcowbb - Shiiiiit. I wrote this before watching the video and completely forgot there's a difference between the research hall and the _Lecture Hall._ Yeah, the research hall is definitely inside the clocktower.

[@JosephAndersonChannel]

(More rambling here. Feel free to ignore) So that's the end of this series. It's really difficult to go in and change something after the script is recorded, so I often have to let some things go that I notice while making the video. Overall, I'm happy with how these three videos turned out. I think this last one is the weakest of the three, but it continues the tour-like look at the game that the end of the Commentary video turned into. I'm being completely honest at the end of this one when I say I can't tell if I'm doing a good job or not until the video is live. This can make me anxious when I'm over a hundred hours into a project. For this video, I wish I had spent more time going through The Hunter's Nightmare and shown more reasons for why I like the Clock Tower so much--maybe a couple more of the hidden areas there. Doing a runthrough of one of the chalice dungeons as an example of what an entire layer looks like might not have been a bad idea either. But then the video grows even more and would have pushed toward the Commentary one in length. I also had to cut some comments on Ludwig because I lost some of the attempts I recorded. No idea how that happened and it's 100% my fault. Splitting the videos up like I did here is different than the five uploads that I did for the Dark Souls Critique--which was primarily done because I thought the length of them all together would be scary. For these ones, they're meant to function as three videos that could potentially be watched in any order by someone who knows the game. This is the third game in the Soulsborne Series that I've done this for now and I can't help but think that the best time I did was the first time. The audio quality is pretty bad on the Dark Souls One videos but by only having a longer "tour" section, there's a lot more to say and opportunities to pause in the middle of a level and speak about something. Pretty much everything I said in the Series Strengths and Sequel Changes could have worked better as a way of breaking up the guide through each level in the Commentary part. Having a continual stream of observations can, I think, be exhausting. At least it is when I write it. Which leads to me skipping over some parts because I feel like it's taking too long to get to some of the more interesting parts. Anyway, what I'm getting at is that there might be a better way to do this for Dark Souls 3, or Bloodborne 2 if we're talking years from now. The channel is growing steadily and approaching that big 10k sub milestone--and will probably hit it at the end of Summer if I'm lucky. I don't think I'll need to squeeze three videos out of what should be one better one next time. I think that way I'll be able to better pace things out. The amount of people that watched the Commentary in chunks over multiple sessions also helps a lot in justifying one large, long video. Either way the next five or so games won't need these 2+ hour commentaries. I just want to make sure I'm improving in any way that I can for next time.

[@SyndicateProjectFan1]

I've obviously not watched this one yet, but your other two videos were great! I thought you did a solid job articulating how you felt about specific parts of the game, and justifying why you felt that way. Keep up the good work!

[@Poyui482]

+Joseph Anderson Hey i am here to share a game with you, nothing to do with Souls games and may not be your cup of tea, but i really like it and hey, the more people knowing the game the more i can discuss it. The Name is The legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky First and Second Chapter,. It is story heavy and it is a lot about building a world instead of focusing on one history, there is more games being translated and there even is another game of the same universe called Trails of Cold Steel, the gameplay is fine, not really the best but i always find every type of turn based combat exploitable to some degree.

[@DecoyBlackMage]

+Joseph Anderson I cannot help but applaud you for this amazing work, these videos are utterly fantastic in every way possible and your opinions are great even if I did not agree 100% with you on every point, you still made these videos extremely enjoyable in every way possible. Thank you so much for this, and while it will likely not happen it would be wonderful to hear your views on the games the franchise came from before DeS came out, Kings Field 4 especially is something I would gladly recommend you play one day just to experience the seed that ended up becoming such a beloved franchise for so many of us. Again thank you so much for some of the most enjoyable videos on the franchise and especially Bloodborne.

[@SuperSonicSoundwave]

+Joseph Anderson To give some constructive criticism, I think it'd be good to make a closing statement to collect your thoughts on whatever you've been talking about in any given video. This video is kind of like "...and that's what I have to say about Lawrence. Onward to the youtube channel housekeeping matters!" Of course, I have no issue with a channel update at the end, but there's often no definitive end point or closing sentence to cap everything off, and I think that can do a lot to remind the viewer of the previous 30+ minutes of video they just absorbed. Keep up the good work man, having done similar but smaller stuff like this myself I can't imagine what it must be like to spend 100 hours on a project before releasing any part of it!

[@liamfrancis1991]

+Joseph Anderson I just finished this after finally getting around to playing this game, congratulations on finishing the series. Really entertaining and thought provoking videos.

[@PomPomegrenade]

You really do need to usually go to the "optional areas" if you want to be able to get to the next dungeon.

[@xshullaw]

Optional areas = optional content? Sounds fair to me.

[@xshullaw]

@Genocide is fun I don't know. CDs literally only exist for the same purpose as the Painted World: Cut content. It shouldn't be connecting directly to the main world unless you're doing some serious lore digging.

[@xshullaw]

@Genocide is fun Well yeah, it's _optional._ As in, only loosely connected to the main game or not at all. I treat CDs and optional areas as post-game content OR a way to get some EZ blood echoes on specific runs going after specific weapons or attire.

[@xshullaw]

Chalice dungeons are (and I quote the Devs) completely separate from the main game. How you progress through them is the optional part. You can literally do it at any time _even though_ it is _intended_ to be done as you progress through the main game. Edit: Thanks for not blending our other discussion into this one.

[@meathir4921]

@@xshullaw Not quite correct; two of the endgame chalices are hidden behind optional fights in the base game. This signalled to me that they specifically were meant to be found much later; Ailing/Lower Loran is Depth 3/4 iirc, and Great Isz in Depth 5 and both are locked behind a mid to late game and very close to the end boss respectively.

[@BARMN89]

Im glad you defended the chalice dungeons, i saw a lot of hate for them, and now that I have played them, i find them pretty interesting. I do think the numbers game is a bit much though. I have to admit, i have some issue the way you refer to some of the less difficult bosses in these games as being annoying or a sidetrack. I dont want to argue about your own experiences, but I have to admit there really is a funny feeling to the living failures that I find charming. It also seems that you tend to equal difficulty with quality, which I dont think is entirely mutually exclusive. I dont know, agree to disagree I guess

[@JosephAndersonChannel]

Now that you've pointed it out it does really seem like I equate difficulty with quality. I certainly don't think that's a distinction that I make consciously but... hmm. See Living Failures is okay as an enemy encounter but not as a boss. I like the arena and the flower pillar. But a boss in my head should be some struggle against a difficult adversary. But then bosses that are *interesting* but not necessarily difficult can be good too. I think Sinh is incredible for this in Dark Souls 2. Same with the undead chariot. I don't know. Maybe I should be more exacting in how I describe bosses in future videos. Thank you for saying this.

[@BARMN89]

Joseph Anderson Thank you, I am someone who has never really liked difficulty for difficulty sake in these games, but rather the way bosses can use their difficulties to say more about them as an encounter. Its why I have an affection for bosses like Micolash, who does foil well with both the player and Gehrman. Micolash is meant to be pitiable, since he has gone insane and has no way of squaring up to you. The second half of his fight begins most times with him fist fighting, which will basically do no damage to the player. So there is a bit more to how From uses difficulty then just making things hard. Its why Gwyn works so well as an anticlimax. (not to say its perfect, i dont think pinwheel gets much out of his easy fight, or as you pointed out, Cleric Beast and Gascoign get from frontloading difficulty)

[@xshullaw]

When I go into Chalice Dungeons I call it Plumbing, because I like to think of it as a grimdark version of Mario.

[@Robert399]

The way I see it, difficulty and quality should be completely orthogonal. In fact, they only interact for me when the boss is bad. If it's bad and easy (e.g. Jabba the Hut), it may as well not exist. If it's bad and difficult (e.g. Smelter Demon or Royal Rat), it actively reduces the quality of the area and potentially the entire game.

[@faketoddhoward7280]

I think what makes them bad is most of the people wont even use these About 80% of the people will just go beat the game without even realising these things are there

[@globox123456789]

It feels like everyone who talks about The Old Hunters on the Internet has rose-tinted glasses for Artorias of the Abyss. I mean, it was great but The Old Hunters blows it out of the water in every regard, honestly. Saying it doesn't hold up as well compared to the other DLCs because of "recycled content" is silly when the first area in AotA is just Dark Root Garden and every DS2 DLC has one COMPLETELY recycled boss while Laurence is at least 50% unique.

[@JosephAndersonChannel]

All of the bosses in AotA are fantastic imo. Whereas only 3 of them are good in Old Hunters. You are right that it reuses the first area. But AotA also cost less. Likewise, Dark Souls DLC costs half as much. If you want to make a fair comparison it would be two of the DLC packs vs Old Hunters.

[@globox123456789]

Joseph Anderson You're right, AotA's bosses are all great but I feel like the actual areas in the DLC aren't so great compared to The Old Hunters' areas. And The Old Hunters also has three great bosses and two that are serviceable as a fight and pretty cool lore-wise. I didn't really think about the price, though. And I don't know how I could compare two (out of three) DLCs with one. lol I do like all DS2 DLCs but still, The Old Hunters is just my favourite. Maybe you could make a vid in which you talk about and compare all Soulsborne DLCs and how they all evolved or devolved?

[@eneiban6503]

+Joseph Anderson In my opinion, the price is only something that can be considered at the time of release. It's not a long- standing point, as the dlc for bloodborne is now pretty cheap at 20 dollars, and it's subject to go down or up. Same for the Artorias dlc. IT's been out longer, so of course it's cheaper. I'll have to go with Old hunters as the better DLC, but either way, it doesn't really matter. They're both great anyways.

[@mrgaudy1954]

globox123456789 DS1 DLC: bosses 10/10, rest of DLC 5/10 Bloodborne DLC: Bosses 8/10, rest of DLC 8/10 (in my opinion). People only remember the boss fights in these games after a while and despite being a stronger DLC overall, Bloodborne's DLC bosses are beaten slightly by DS1.

[@Graysett]

Laurence actually isn't 50% unique either. I used to think he was, but i realized something while playing BB again a few months ago. Laurence's first phase is Cleric Beast on fire as anyone with eyes can tell you. But his second phase? It's those crawling guys you first see grouped together in the sewers of Central Yharnam, right near the tunnel with the pig in it. Except now they're bigger and on fire! The lava spit? Those guys have a poison one (or at least i assume it's poison, i've never been hit by it) with the exact same animation. The crawling thing he does to close gaps? They do it too, exact same animation, only difference is that Laurence can loop the animation until he gets within range to hit you. I'm honestly impressed by how well FROM covered it up tbh.

[@thewingedserpent5823]

The chalice dungeons are actually pretty significant when it comes to the lore because it is where the old blood was found and what the church investigates

[@WitherSnow]

The Orphan of Kos fight looks really frantic and cool. Your awesome commentary, so calmly stated put next to the most frantic souls fight to date meshes super well. I wish you covered the other boss before hand so that could be the end.

[@TTHStuff]

The huge monster camera problem might be solved if, after the character enters a certain distance from where the monster is standing, the camera starts to zoom out proportional to how close the character is to the monster.

[@UncleLowbrow]

Gonna have to disagree on Living Failures, but then again it comes down to that argument of level range. When I do the dlc, I typically go in at around level 50-60 and while that makes some bosses like Ludwig or Laurence frustrating sometimes, it makes Living Failures really shine in my opinion. You have to really be aware of your surroundings with two casters and two melee fighters, in fact it was that fight that showed how enjoyable that inter-weaving tactic you talked about in Dark Souls 2 was. It really felt like an apology boss for how bad Celestial Emissary was. Bonus is that it also has the best track in the ost. With Ludwig, he has two different jump attacks to stop them from being too predictable, you have to time a dodge roll for the short one, and the long one has blood pouring from the ceiling to show where his position is so you can sprint away. Both have different sound cues so you know which is which. Speaking of sound cues, you're not supposed to sprint away from Nito's attack, you're supposed to time a dodge-roll when the screaming ends. I'm also surprised you didn't mention how you can change camera focus on bigger bosses from their heads, to their torsos, to their legs etc. I'm not convinced that it fixes the issue with bigger enemies, but it certainly helps. Overall though, this video series was great, Bloodborne is my favorite Souls game too and it's nice to see such thorough analysis on it and while I can't say I'm as confident as you when it comes to a potential sequel, I do hope to see it again soon. Absolutely majestic job.

[@JosephAndersonChannel]

> Speaking of sound cues, you're not supposed to sprint away from Nito's attack, you're supposed to time a dodge-roll when the screaming ends. I respectfully disagree. Sprinting works more than it doesn't. About 1/4 times it'll still hit you. I don't quite think the timing from the scream is consistent either but I'd have to test it. Either way, let's assume you're right, there's still an issue with it that sprinting should *never* work, which I'd also accept as fixing it. Consistency is really important to me. > I'm also surprised you didn't mention how you can change camera focus on bigger bosses from their heads, to their torsos, to their legs etc. I'm not convinced that it fixes the issue with bigger enemies, but it certainly helps. I probably should have mentioned it, yeah. I think the reason it doesn't work is that your character will then target that higher lock-on for attacks, which can make things awkward in another way. I'll have to look at Ludwig some more in the future to really see what they did to the camera so you could see him. The guy is practically Seathe in that phase. > Overall though, this video series was great, Bloodborne is my favorite Souls game too and it's nice to see such thorough analysis on it and while I can't say I'm as confident as you when it comes to a potential sequel, I do hope to see it again soon. Absolutely majestic job. Thanks a lot! I hope you enjoy the future videos. Thank you for the thoughtful response.

[@Jacrispy223]

Good post but Ludwigs track is the best in the series.

[@solanumlycopersicum5594]

The attack where Ludwig jumps up and follows you on the ceiling fucked me hard, and killed me a dozen times (lvl 60), until I started dodging when I heard the scream, which made me survive it at least 9/10 times. That also allows for more attacks on that fuck. :D This was the same for Defiled Watchdog's AOE explosion attack, which was much harder to dodge closeranged with I-frames.

[@revfunk8823]

Damn. Why so high leveled???

[@xshullaw]

@@revfunk8823 What level are you when you hit the LF? I go into the DLC at 25-30, and after Ludwig I'll be at 33-45 depending on the grind or if I killed Laurence early.

[@Kaaniification]

Bloodborne is the Magnum Opus of the Soulsborne series (for now). Also if you're interested in the lore of BB you'll enjoy this DLC much, much more. One thing I have to critisize tho... not counting in bosses because you think they're too easy or partially reused is stupid. Laurence was a Cleric Beast because he was described to be the first fucking Cleric Beast. There was only so much they could've done with him and I think they did a good job. And not counting Living Failures as a boss is just wrong. They might've been easy for most people but so were the Deacons of the Deep or Pinwheel, Witches of Hemwick... the list could go on.

[@aliceinwonderland4395]

Yeah I just honestly think that they could've given him a brand new array of attack patterns instead of copypasted Cleric Beast moves SURE it makes sense and I might be nitpicky but not every Cleric Beast needs to attack the EXACT same way as each other Maybe they could've just expanded upon the moves or mixed them up, given it newer moves etc. I don't know The second phase was a nice change but it wasn't great, the stomping furiously move that just kept going until he got close to you a certain range was dumb as hell, the damage it does could REALLY have been nerfed to make the fact that he keeps slapping you more bearable and less frustrating, as if you get caught in it and can't get out, you'll most likely die before he even stops lol

[@Sassy_Witch]

but they did

[@slothrop9345]

Well, gameplay takes precedence over story/lore. Even if Laurence has a good lore role, doesn't change the fact that gameplay-wise he's just a second Cleric Beast and the lore around him was probably decided AFTER they chose to re-use Cleric Beast out of laziness.

[@MMMM-vq1yr]

I've heard lore described as the autistic, arbitrary cousin of everything else. 'Alright let's put an interesting boss with new move sets-' 'BUT HE DA CLERIC BEAST REEEEEEEEEE!' I'm not saying I don't like lore, in fact I'm heavily invested in a lot of lore in a lot of different games and media, it's just I can understand why some people find 'because lore' to be an obnoxious reason. It's an arbitrary part of the background that encourages laziness at times. I'll give an example, in Skyrim a lot of the dungeons puzzles are REALLY bad, like really simple stuff, and probably could've just been taken out of the game. Fans of that game justify it because the lore says they were made to be simple so that regular people could figure them out and undead couldn't. Does this justify it? Maybe to some, but to most it just seems like the game makers covering their butts so they can rush certain parts.

[@seancanttalk]

I agree with you that laurence should be considered a boss and hes like the cleric beast cause he was the first one. But I think the point that Joseph was trying to make is that he shouldn't be there at all. Lore-wise I guess it makes sense but From couldve made literally anything else (as long as it was new) and put it there. Instead, they CHOSE to put a boss there that was pretty much the exact same as one that was already used in the base game (except for his 2nd phase). And in Joseph eyes, they were essentially recycling the a boss already seen, and I agree with him on that point. From should have created something completely new like every other boss in the DLC but they chose to essentially recycle something old. In your defense, I still think hes a cool fight and hes also 100% optional so its not that big of a deal. He doesnt drop anything special so its not like you need to fight him. Hes there for lore purposes which is fine in my opinion. Im thinking From just added him to make their "total boss count" a higher number. If they added another boss to the DLC on top of laurence, then it would've been even more okay for him to be slightly recycled. Overall I love this DLC lol

[@Karasugou_]

the bloated head that says ive lost my eyes is meant to be Eileen the Crow. and maria was ghermans apprentice. the doll is based off of her because gherman became lonely. you will like the game a lot more if you read into the lore

[@MapleMooseMan]

Underrated comment!

[@Liu484]

I really wish he talked more abt the lore in this series. I'm very pleased at what he did with his series on the witcher and wish he'd figured something like it for bloodborne.

[@Spvrinnaeli]

why would that make him like the game more

[@Corrupted]

@@Spvrinnaeli because the story is REALLY good and most bosses have tragic backstories

[@Spvrinnaeli]

@@Corrupted knowing the backstories of characters doesnt change the gameplay, and the lore certainly did nothing for me

[@conorobrien4046]

23:36 “I don’t really like lovecraft’s stories all that much” alright I’m boutta head out

[@Mokgore]

About Ludwig: His music is a rendition of Ludwig Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. His weapon, and the weapon you can buy after obtaining his badge, the Moonlight Greatsword, also is a direct reference to the musical prodigy.

[@BOLPutube]

Laurence was one of the hardest bosses in the game in my opinion. He and Ludwig are ridiculously hard. I found Kos to be a joke compared to them.

[@dickheadrecs]

Same here. Kos was a pushover compared to these two

[@xshullaw]

Laurence is hard because the trailing fire. You dodge his physical attack but if your roll is literally anything but perfect the fire trail hits you for Counter damage (like 2.5x damage) which leads to one shots on low-vigor builds.

[@Username-wj8pz]

Defiled Amygdala shits on them both

[@craigjoiner08]

@@Username-wj8pz Struggled on that big time. Had to spawn the NPC Hunter to even stand a chance, even with decent all round bloodtinge/arcane

[@Username-wj8pz]

@@craigjoiner08 I swear, half of the difficulty comes from the cramped arena. I dread the Chalice Dungeons everytime I replay Bloodborne only because of Amygdala.

[@serxhio5006]

Saying that the DLC is not worth the money is plain wrong. You essentially double the weapons (keep in mind the weapons have 2 modes which are entirely different from one another), get 3 of the best areas in the entire game, get 5 new bosses, 3 of them (ludwig, orphan and maria) being some of the best bosses in the entire souls-like genre, id say laurence is a great fight if you know the lore and living failiures are cool for a gimmick boss, you get some of the best music in the entire souls genre AND story wise and acts as a sort of prequel to the events of the main game. The old hunters dlc is simply the best dlc ever made IMO.

[@ianvance1647]

Especially if you come late in the cycle and pick up the game+DLC for $18. Along with Witcher 3 and HZD, both under $20, I've never had so many hours of outstanding entertainment for so cheap. But looking at the content as a whole, not sure what the DLC released as price wise, but it's easily worth 20-25 on its own in terms of content.

[@DA-xe7fg]

Great dlc undoubtedly, however, the title of best belongs to shivering isles and likely always will, imo

[@faketoddhoward7280]

I'm sorry but the dlc story wasn't nearly as good as the base game

[@faketoddhoward7280]

@@CerealKiller I agree hehe

[@Gael-xp4fk]

@@DA-xe7fg blood and wine dlc is better

[@ledjon]

These are all really great videos, but I'm really surprised at how "easy" you talk about parts of bloodborne being. You are one of a very few that talk about beating these super hard bosses on your first try. I have played 500+ hours of bloodborne and still get hung up on some of them (ones that you found "very easy"). Example: Lawrence took me hours and hours to beat. I would put the game down for days at a time and come back just to try again. This was after I platinum'd the game! Come to think of it, maybe I was in ng+ the first time. Still, I found BB bosses to be the hardest in the whole series. I disagree with your note in the first video that BB is "way to easy for experienced souls players." I think that opinion is certainly in the minority.

[@marcosdheleno]

thats because easy is a relative therms, there are people capable of doing no damage runs in a few hours in bloodborne, and they make it look incredibly easy. however, because one person found something easy, doesnt actually mean it is. i found the sullivan fight in ds3 incredibly easy, first time dieing to him was on ng+3, and yet, i see alot of people calling the hardest boss in the game. so disregard when he says something was easy to do, it doesnt really mean anything.

[@TjderGeraet]

Alot of the soulsborns difficulty comes from your own head. If you look at bosses very analytically and really don‘t see them as scary 1 shotting monsters, the fights get alot easier. It just becomes a action and reaction game. Also dying is hugly important. Because most people are super underleveld when they get to higher bosses cuz they run through areas or just keep losing their souls/blood echos.

[@jeremyrodriguez1989]

Jon Coulter i was choked when he said that many of the bosses were easy. I platinumed the game and did two playthroughs of the game with two drifferent characters and still found some boss hard in the dlc. Specially orphan of kos and his las phase.

[@yorha9949]

Jon Coulter IDK buddy. To this day I find Bloodborne the easiest. Barely died on my first walkthrough. The most a boss took me is 3 tries, depends if the hitbox is just bad or probably change is phase.

[@chrisadams1438]

Bear in mind, he says multiple times that he did a lot of the Chalice Dungeon content. This means he was likely going into a lot of fights higher than the "recommended" level and with better Blood Gems than you'd normally acquire in the base game. From his footage, you can also see that he parryscums literally every fight in which that tactic is viable. I think that most people who feel that Bloodborne is "too easy" also use these methods to progress and defeat it.

[@Exigentable]

this entire series has been excellent. looking forward to the next upload.

[@Snug_ma]

Great video, splitting it up into chunks is a really great and welcome idea.

[@PauLtus_B]

"One hit kills and a lot of health" That just sounds tedious.

[@xshullaw]

Sounds like Bloodborne!

[@scottbecker4367]

*Spoiler* It is.

[@PauLtus_B]

Still haven't played this game.

[@jonathancummins6234]

Also I watch the longest videos in chunks too. Since youtube is so smart about remembering where I left off, it's never been any trouble especially since you so neatly prefaced each "chunk" of the video with a black screen and tittle. I watched the whole thing in the bus, 20 minutes or so at a time

[@user-nm2vf3lq6x]

Fantastic work, as always. Your videos are some of the highest caliber KZbin reviews around and I eagerly anticipate each new release.

[@Thebabybadass101]

Hey Joseph I really love your content and I'm glad I found your channel despite its small size at the moment. Keep pumping out great videos for me to watch please!

[@sama2086]

Why doesn't Joseph ever talk about music in any of his bloodborne videos? The score on this game is insane, the Ludwig score is perfection. Ah I see he did mention it for Maria's fight tbf

[@serxhio5006]

He only talks about gameplay, he completely dismisses the story and music, which are some of the best parts of the game, which make the review seem incomplete

[@uigoku4276]

@@serxhio5006 music and story is least aspect of the game these games are for gameplay not for forgettable lore or I just could play last of us for story or other games with superior storytelling

[@serxhio5006]

@@uigoku4276 Nah music and lore are sooo fucking important for any game but especially for souls games since they have unique takes on them. If darksouls of bloodborne had the gameplay they have now without the music and lore they would 10000% not be as popular.

[@uigoku4276]

@@serxhio5006 these games are still for game play Dark souls is not as popular as you think 3rd game only made 3 million compare to dark souls 1 which made 10 million and which was hyped for difficulty and the media still uses dark souls for difficulty only If you think dark souls is great for storytelling then fine they are interesting and vaatvidya made a lot of views in his story explained which most people will forgot about cause it was explained and has no attachment compare to great stories it is only interesting compare I mean witcher 3 won goty even though it was inferior in game play

[@commanderleo]

@@uigoku4276 forgettable lore? Your opinion is just invalid, man

[@budspudsy436]

I know this is an old video and this comment is completely pointless, but you know that there are like four different variations of the undead giant, right?

[@xshullaw]

I hate 3 of them

[@Flukyjoker]

Well done, as usual. I can honestly say I did not expect you to mention Street Sharks, but it was a welcome surprise.

[@aidanmcmanus8822]

This was a very enjoyable video series! This is impressive stuff man, keep it up.

[@Joseph_mother]

I know this is an old video, and I really enjoyed it, BUT I disagree with so much that was said about the DLC, I think the biggest problem here if your level, the description says level 40, so coming at level 100+ is without a doubt going to sour the experience. Ludwig first off is very balanced in the fact his jumping attack leaves a blood trail so you know where he is, he also gives a scream to when he’s going to land that tells you exactly when to dodge, and I personally having fought him on at least 5 different playthroughs have been hit by his bite attack once and it was undoubtedly my fault for the damage. Next the living failures have one of the best pieces of music ever and they are not meant to be hard, they have failure in the name so it implicates they are not very good at anything, they are a gimmick boss who has a shared health pool different from almost anything we’ve seen thus far (even though DS2 had mob bosses and Four kings was similar) and it is really about the lore and that the people of the astral clock tower we’re almost able to create beings on the level of the great ones. Lastly, I in no way see Laurence as a recycling of content. He does share the same model just with visual tweaks and about five of the moves, but the fire effect alone forces you to play him different than cleric who you can bum rush, but again with such a high level character you can just tank through him as well, and Laurence is shown to be brutish and stupid compared to cleric beast in the fact that as the fight progresses Laurence has many attacks that knock him down and in his first phase he spends a lot of time on the floor from his dive attacks indicating his imminent loss of legs, which brings me to his second phase which is in my opinion not only the best beast boss in the game but the best boss in all of soulsborne. This is for a few reasons, firstly his “snail trail” is so that you can’t hid behind him and r1 spam him to death like other bosses, secondly his attacks are telegraphed but extremely punishing. Finally he is extremely different from any other boss because in a later phase you expect a boss to power up but he literally loses his legs, and I remember a video I watched before this one where you said series bosses were too samey like a big dude with a sword theme. Anyways again I did enjoy this video I just think old Hunters is best DLC not worst :/ (Also the edit was for spelling errors and the like)

[@TheArisen]

Searched for a comment to mention his ridiculous lvl while doing the dlc. Of course it is easy to do it with a level like that. Orphan of Kos was the hardest boss in my opinion. (because he oneshots you normally)

[@adriatic.vineyards]

Thank youuuu

[@elien902]

> “Description level is 40” Yeah there is no way in hell 40 is anywhere near enough for DLC. The DLC is widely known to be the hardest levels of bloodborne (ignoring chalice dungeons). So you should probably do it before Wet Nurse (if you don’t want the dream to change) or Gherman. By that time if you did a reasonable amount of exploring you should be around 80-100. And personally I think 75+ is a good recommendation for DLC. Now Joseph did mention in his video that the chalice dungeons got him over 120. And I would guess he did the DLC after the chalice dungeons. And by how much damage he’s dealing with his LHB, I’d say he was well over 120 by the end of the DLC. Even then, I think 120 is not too high for the fishing hamlet since there are soft caps to stats. I’d say he had an easier time mostly because LHB is just a bit OP.

[@jaswanthvardireddy2243]

I agree however the bite attack is still kinda bs

[@B1aQQ]

For big enemies just move the camera further away from the PC. When fighting Yharnam - 3rd baby cry will stun you if you're close to her. Just need to jump away for a second. Ludwig gives you the sword if you talk to him while wearing a church attire and answer 'yes' to his question. Living Failures are a cool boss. I like how you need to lead them and manage their position since they are so slow that they won't just run after you, like Shadows of Yharnam. You need to position yourself and then you fish for an opening to attack. And after a few hits one of the dies a new one spawns and you have to re-position again. I find it really enjoyable. And Laurence is my favourite boss. It's just so cool. Even the music makes you feel sorry for him. He's only fighting because the skull brings back his memories of what he did. He's a beast so violence is the only way he can get rid of it. He doesn't oppose burning in the nightmare for all eternity for his sins. He's falling apart, he shouldn't be pushing himself so much but he despises even a reminder of his past that he's willing to suffer even more physically if only he'll forget again. Even the music gives the feeling of regret and grieve. Rehash, but somehow he's 10 times better than the Cleric beast.

[@andeggbreaks]

Zooming the camera out could work but it might hurt the feeling of scale with the big bosses and could make controlling the character more difficult; it would have to be handled with care

[@TurboNemesis]

They do this for Vordt in DS3 and it works splendidly

[@Phurzt]

@@andeggbreaks bro, zooming the camera out is exactly what they did for ludwig.

[@Phurzt]

Thank you for defending living failures. I think not enough people give this boss the credit it deserves for one of 2 reasons. Reason 1: "OMFG ANOTHER GANK BOSS" or Reason 2: all the failures look the same so thematically I cam understand it being a lackluster boss. However, mechanically I think this fight is easily the best multi-enemy fight in all the souls games. Fight start against only one so you can see the speed of their melee attacks right away, but 2nd one comes a few seconds later to up the pressure from their slow attack times. Against all 4 enemies only 2 of them will actively try to melee you while the other 2 use range. The 2 different range attacks have unique properties so you know how to defend against them without having to actually see them. The 2 who will try to melee you also have unique properties. If you are far away from them, they will sprint for a short moment to get into attacking range, but if you're just outside their melee range they will never do this sprinting move. This is such a perfection of what made O&S from DkS1 so great. In that fight, you would always be withing orstien's attack range no matter what which made the majority of players back then rely on separating ornstein from smogh, but you dont have to do that against living failures. All of this put together means you have an exciting and tough gank boss like Orstien and Smogh, but fairness to it so you dont have to rely on cheese of getting one of them stuck on a pillar so you can solo the other.

[@uigoku4276]

@@Phurzt huh lol best mechanical you could use pillar to avoid meteor attacks your the first person I have seen defending this shit boss for lore most don't even come close damage that much

[@DKStreams]

Hi. This was a great series - thank you for taking the time to put it together. Your take on Bloodborne (and the other Souls games) has been refreshing for me because you have focused on areas I feel have been less explored by others. Most other videos/podcasts I listen to have been very lore heavy, which I have enjoyed, but less strong on mechanics. For me, both are equally important, and for neither have I taken the time to really dive in - I have let others do that for me. So, thank you!

[@adamventus]

This was a great series about my favorite game, thank you

[@BlackSheepDream]

I feel like he completely misses the lore and the implications of it when it comes to level and world design in bloodborne. The underlying story does affect a lot of the world building, and things like having to go back to the hunter's dream is integral to the story.

[@revfunk8823]

He's clueless

[@movement2contact]

@@revfunk8823 :'(

[@unbreakableroad9294]

BlackSheepDream blaming problems on the game on lore is bad game design

[@revfunk8823]

@@unbreakableroad9294 nope.

[@fumeister0992]

@@revfunk8823 if its in the lore, then the bad game design was intentionally bad for a reason

[@madamwinnifer4666]

I found Living Failures to be better versions of both Celestisl Emisseries and Four Kings. While not the hardest you still need to kite unless you can do high DPS. Meanwhile CE was too easy and Four Kings was a pure DPS check. Laurence felt justified to me. They scaled up the first boss for end game and the second phase felt completely different. Also the aoes made you change the "hit the butt" tactic that originally worked.

[@lucasvbx]

This was fantastic Joe, keep it up

[@thiagomuaythaiboxe21]

Great video. Actually, your series as a whole is great work. Keep it up

[@Er404ChannelNotFound]

Artorias of the Abyss was also a level from the base game though.

[@jockturner1547]

Artorias of The Abyss was not apart of the base game. It was DLC introduced later but has since been made a packaged deal with the release of "Prepare to Die" edition and any subsequent editions after it.

[@shark_vii]

@@jockturner1547 they're talking about how the Royal Wood is a recycled, albeit updated version of the Darkroot Garden.

[@TurboNemesis]

Weird that he seems to just ignore that given how strictly he applies his metric of recycled vs new content to everything else

[@megashark1013]

@Aboood165 Not to mention, Hunter's Nightmare completely changed the visual design, enemy design, and level design.

[@cirkleobserver3217]

Yeah but it makes more sense to point it out here because the city is at least half of bloodbourne, whereas darkroot is a small sliver of DS1, which has much more environment variety to begin with.

[@Perplexing_Enigma]

I know you only talked about gameplay in this series, but the thing that makes Bloodborne the best Souls game imo is the lore and the story and how it is presented to you, while you don't have to read into it, it gives you another perspective on a lot of the enemies, areas and how the areas connect with each other. And the reason that the story and lore work so well in this game is the DLC, it ties together a lot of loose ends from the main game and makes the atmosphere and experience of the overall world and especially the DLC that much more intense. While i had some issues with this game and i miss some things of the Dark Souls Series, the way that Bloodborne handles the PvE, the lore and the atmosphere justifies a lot of the issues for me. for example the Witches of Hemwick, while being a joke of a fight fit pretty well into the world of Bloodborne (and i don't mean to justify the fight, you can always make an interesting fight out of any character imo) Another thing that gave me another perspective on the enjoyment of playing Bloodborne is doing a Waste of Skin run, it showed me the flaws of the game ... a lot (upper cathedral ward brainsuckers with their one shot grab, which suprisingly added another element to the oppressive feeling this game sometimes has), but on the other hand it showed me how perfect the combat system of this game truly is, bosses like Ludwig became really challenging and an incredible experience (the fight took me 3 hours to finally bring him down on BL4, but somehow i really enjoyed just fighting him and soaking up, the atmosphere and perfect music of this fight). I liked this game so much that DS3 was pretty disappointing in many ways to me (even tho it's an amazing game, my 3rd favourite of the series). DS3 in comparison shoves all the things in your face and uses a lot of fan service (which was to be expected), but the subtle feel of Bloodborne really makes it kinda the hidden gem of the series in many ways. And even tho it's my favourite game i hope it stays without a sequel since the story of the game is pretty much over. Maybe a prequel would make sense but i hope they explore other types of settings in the future since there are a lot of possibilites for games with the Soulsborne formula. Wow this is way longer than i wanted it to be ... sorry. Not even sure if I got my point across.

[@MrDodgerdodson]

Great series, I love the amount of effort you put in. This channel must be up there on the effort to views spectrum. It really doesn't matter though, this kind of in depth look at strategy and content within games is brilliant. I have absolutely no intention of every playing this game but watched an hour of you reviewing it. I absolutely guarantee that if you keep this level of quality up it will hit a tipping point where you'll all of a sudden be super popular. Well done, and thanks for putting this type of OC on KZbin. Its stuff like this that makes me appreciate this medium.

[@BasementMinions]

Loved these videos. Being critical of something you love is doing a service. I appreciate all of the effort you put into these videos. :)

[@Morden97]

Great series! Very enjoyable... Personally I think BB was the best of the soulsborne games. Truly legendary game. And I agree in that the start of the Ludwig 2nd phase is insanely epic. I died dozens of times and let that cutscene play every time

[@odot2128]

Literally one of my Top 5 favorite uploaders, I've even watched some of your videos on games that I've never played and don't intend to. Wish more people valued your thoughtful and informative format. I know it will take some time but can't wait for DS3 analysis!

[@JosephAndersonChannel]

Thanks so much Asulra. It'll be out eventually. My current project ended up being five times larger than I planned so I'm a bit behind (Uncharted Series and The Last of Us). I'm hoping to get the first Dark Souls 3 video out sometime this month. Then some sort of larger commentary sometime in the future with the DLC.

[@crysknife007]

This series was so great dude.

[@Vladimir007smart]

Great videos on Bloodborne, really enjoyed all your videos on SoulBorne games, and I really liked your Fallout 4 critique. Keep 'em coming!

[@kristianandreev4337]

Chalices are something I was talking about as early as DeS, having a nice, robust, slow action system is just begging for repeatable dungeon content.

[@funcounting]

+The Thracian Why would you want repeatable dungeon content though?

[@kristianandreev4337]

+funcounting Because some times you just want a short dose of a specific type of gameplay and the structured nature of the areas in Souls and the progression means it's impossible to just jump in and do one dungeon run. The Souls games are all full experiences and none of the areas stand on their own.

[@TheVixalazio]

I think the repeatable dungeon content is the worst approach for a souls game. It just feels and looks so lazy. It is not Diablo after all. In the souls games every area is unique and has some backstory to it or at least atmosphere. The dungeons are as far away from this as possible. Recycled bosses, boring level design, unfair enemies, cheap bosses etc. And I think that instead of those shitty dungeons they could have worked on the NG cycles more, to make them more interesting and balanced.

[@funcounting]

TheVixalazio Not even NG+, they shoyld have started with NPC and covenants, fleshing them out better, or adding a couple of actual levels.

[@CoreyLaddo]

Words cannot express how hard my eyes rolled when you said "Orphan of Kos, or some say Kosm..." Great breakdown of the DLC and dungeons though; I find it interesting that you almost never bring up the game's plot or lore, considering it's such a staple of the Soulsborne series.

[@seancanttalk]

Corey Balsom I agree. He mentioned how the Laurence fight was in the same arena as the Amelia fight, as if it was a bad thing/design flaw. In reality, there's a lore/story reason behind it, so it makes sense and I appreciated it

[@arlosteiner8382]

Because he doesn't actually analyse if you watch he just narrates what you already know and can see. His breakdown of how chalices work is just what the game tells you. Anderson can't do story or lore because he's a bad critic

[@LVoidtheEndless]

He puts more emphasis on gameplay elements than the plot or lore because those don’t matter as much in comparison to gameplay This doesn’t mean that JA is a bad critic or that lore is garbage, he just knows what is more informative to talk about in terms of quality

[@Rc3651]

There's definitely a reason he prefers the chalice dungeons. It's infinite gameplay variety with zero story or lore 'fluff' getting in the way

[@soleo2783]

@@LVoidtheEndless thats like reviewing a book and only talking about the structure of the text lol, narrative is a big part of the quality of a game

[@steve9893]

Great analysis as usual. Looking forward to a lore series.

[@choco-hot-coco]

I'm picking this game back up after not playing past the beginning and the chalice dungeons are my favourite parts so far. They're like a condensed experience and have a more laid back feeling that make playing more enjoyable

[@macisr]

I've always wanted a boss rush in the souls series. That would be amazing.

[@chroniccynic8459]

What you were saying about the Orphan reminds me of how I felt the first time fighting champion Gundyr, I beat him first try by being aggressive, then I died 20 times on another character because I was more passive.

[@trickynumber7]

Just found your channel. Quality work. Keep it up

[@Milkolash]

I binge-watched your trilogy of episodes on Bloodborne. I share your love for this game as it's also my favourite of the 'Souls' games, from the ones that I've played. Thank you for going so in depth into the mechanics, bosses, weapons, secret areas, the atmosphere - everything; not many people would be comfortable talking for hours about a game but fortunately for you that's second nature. It's clear that you're not shy of stating things you straight up didn't like about the game and I praise you for that, these games aren't perfect and it's best to address all issues, subjective or not. You obviously want to keep your videos unbiased and I respect that. Maintain this level of quality and superbly structured, coherent videos and I can see your content rising to the top of the genre.

[@kirkbupkis]

Laurence was one of my favorite boss fights out of the DLC, because I found him more challenging than Ludwig or Orphan, and the music that plays during his fight is some of the best in any boss fight ever. I know he's a reskin but at least they added a different phase and completely different animations for it, it didn't come off as lazy as Demon Firesage to me personally.

[@deepakandrews3425]

You didn't get the rakuyo I guess. You fight TWO shark giants for that. JOY!!! XD Great content btw :)

[@nooberus9241]

Amazing video! Not just this but all of yours. Please keep doing what you are doing! Because it doesnt matter if I played the game or not that you talk about, its always pretty entertaining, even when I dont agree on everything.

[@RiffSlider]

Only recently found your channel, you're doing great! I'll also have to commend you for not falling into the pretentious pit with your critiques and insights, it's reasonably constructed and you're not flinging shit from some moral high ground, subscribed!

[@Mryscher]

Damn love these things

[@Rikortez]

Subscribed. Glad I found you, you know your shit.

[@Xoneris]

Loved the Series! Keep up the Awesome Work!

[@Cracyflo1]

DUUUUUUUUUUUDE! why haven't I found you till now. Instasub your perspectives and way of reviewing games is awesome, keep up the good work!

[@Ettrix]

Orphan of Kos, is such a great fight ... because it is like fighting another hunter , without the fear of the BS counter shot. (Compared with Crow of Cainhurst mission)

[@TheMandanga]

If you want to solve the overleveling problem, get rid of levels. Every enemy can then be perfectly balanced because the devs know what every player will be capable of.

[@PatFagan]

I completely agree. Leveling also discourages you from using new weapons since you have to farm to get materials to upgrade them.

[@user-ip3fs9sc5b]

Exactly

[@legrasmartin200]

Yup, couldn't agree more. I find it really frustrating that when people think "RPG" they necessarily mean "levelling system". The only problem is that if you get rid of it in souls game, you also loose the whole "souls retrieval" thing, that is an important tool to build tension ; whether or not it's worth it is open to debate...

[@juamibenito2558]

Glad From Software sorta figured this out and are removing leveling for Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, so excited for exploring things in a balanced manner

[@outfield243]

Yeah, I was just thinking that. Blood borne would’ve been the perfect game to try out no levels

[@Liberator130]

Another awesome video! Keep up the great work. As soon as I get more financially stable, I'll be happy to be a patreon supporter.

[@ronkariessenpai2231]

i think you capture the essence and the core of bloodborne. Im a fan that his 1st soulsborne game was bloodborne and i see how you stand out of the others who critique bloodborne or dark souls. In your words we can see you love those games as much as we do but you expose the flaws in a fair way. Im glad i found this amazing channel and i only regret i didn´t find you before.

[@roddygonzalez2017]

9:20 Simple. Make the Camera zoom out, that's at least what I think would help with large boss enemies

[@atleastinthetop50transnerds]

The problem with this is, what happens when you go under the boss? You wouldn’t be able to see yourself, and going under to attack is a popular strategy against the beast bosses in this game. If the camera were to follow you down there, you wouldn’t be able to see the boss again and we’d be back to square one.

[@Uppernorwood976]

"Lawrence is not hard" Dude, fuck that. You must be really good at the game, so good you lose perspective. I found lawrence many, many times harder than Maria. In fact I never beat him in about 30 attempts. Maria took me 3.

[@Shlankyman545]

He’s over-leveled with one of the best pure DPS weapons.

[@RoyalBabble]

YOU WERE TOO NEGATIVE!!!!!! (In all seriousness, great job! I really enjoy your videos and am looking forward to what you choose to make next!)

[@factordeficient3415]

I'm a little behind on your content due to the fact that I just recently discovered your channel but man I feel like you are able to articulate everything I think about games. Keep up the amazing work!

[@Gungrave123]

Laurence killed me more times than OoK did :(

[@williamford4306]

Good shit, I really enjoyed the series. I do not agree with you on regards of the Old Hunter being not one the same level as the other DLC, atleast in terms of good content. You may dislike how they reused Yharnam, but it wasn't bad persay. I would do any part of the Old Hunter over any one of Cave of the Dead, Iron Passage, or the Outskirts. For Dark Souls 3 I really like the style you did for DS1, and I feel like it would lend itself to that series more so than how you did DS2. However, before DS3, I think a break on the Souls series might be due. Build up the hype, let DS3 settle.

[@anonymous01201]

Ludwig’s jumping attack is fine unlike Cleric Beast’s or the one Logarius does. If he does it away from you it’s the short one, if he does it when you’re near him it’s the long one, and you can see blood falling from the ceiling which is how you know when he’s going to fall and you should dodge. It’s awesome.

[@PaddyRoon7]

Orphan of Kos is one of my favourite combat encounters ever in single player gaming. I went with a Beast Claw+No Parrying build for my first playthrough for a change of pace from the usual quality builds. Made bosses much harder but it was a lot of fun. It took me over 30 attempts to bring down Kos. Almost every single one of those was overflowing with tension and excitement once he entered his last phase and went apeshit. I had so many 1% wipes before finally getting it done, and the pure triumph I felt when I landed that final hit has only been matched by WoW progression from when I used to raid hardcore.

[@dangerouslydubiousdoubleda9821]

how comes in bb the moon looks damn good and spooky

[@Outplayedqt]

Dangerously Dubious Double Davidson coz its bigger than our moon

[@Sunfror]

Wait what? There is a lamp nervy to Ludwig? Holy crap, I always ran throug the first iron door in the cathedral and always were damages by the same hunter.

[@bloomingteratoma]

I feel sorry for you.

[@Blancinnoir]

I was surprised you didn't talk about the bottom of the well, where 2 landsharks fight you at once more or less. I enjoyed this game so much that I got all the achievements, they drop a necessary weapon.

[@TheWhatheshizzle]

these videos are so fucking good, please post more

[@Galaxy40k]

I agree that the leveling in Bloodborne is a bit messed up. With the way that the Chalice Dungeons are presented to you and scaled, it makes it seem like the intent is for you to sprinkle in a Chalice into your main game every so often, but if you do that you will be way overleveled, since playing the base game only properly scales you to complete the base game. There's then a huge spike in difficulty for the DLC, which, even if you've been saving until the end of your run, will result in you needing to level a bit if you haven't been doing the Chalice Dungeons. If you have done too many Chalices though, then the DLC is too easy. And then after you beat the DLC, the final fight against Gehrman, which imo is one of the best fights in the game, will be ruined because you will be beyond overleveled. I dunno, its just so strange. The Chalice Dungeons seems to be a way to help players who feel underleveled grind a bit without standard grinding, but the base game is easy enough to where you will never need to grind. I don't really have a good solution - maybe make the base game harder to encourage Chalices, but at the same time allow more experienced players a harder experience?

[@COG2360]

I think levelling in Bloodborne is weird too. The game gives you so many blood echoes and you don't need all of them at all. In Bloodborne I usually level up just a little bit, I spend the rest of my echoes in blood vials and bullets or I don't spend them at all.

[@MrBumblepuss]

What I don't get is that you say that the bb dlc reuses assets while in dark souls 2 basically every enemy in the dlcs were literally copy and pasted with a slight different colour variation... the normal soldiers, the captains, sorcerers had very minor differences except for the ones in the eleyum loyce dlc where those mages were actually carbon copies of the ones in chasm of the abyss. The kings pets, blue smelter, elana also all have this problem. Or what about covetous 2.0 in eleyum? Not trying to be mean but I don't get how you can say this bout bb dlc while dark souls 2 is the worst offender of this.

[@errantvice7335]

“Aside from one boss…” Amygdala.

[@snapcount321]

Nicely done, Joe. Loved your comments.

[@existentialmoron6334]

Finally someone that actually appreciates the chalice dungeons

[@musiciacc1]

Great content as usual. I can't wait until you do some dark souls 3 stuff.

[@QuantumVTX]

+Mike the Man Lol he literally said it was the best, but in his OPINION he didn't like it as much as the others. Check the BB commentary video comments if you want proof.

[@zefie6040]

+Mike the Man Daily reminder it's worst in the series.

[@jeffreymaxson6216]

Its always fascinating to see others experiences with these games. Lawrence was the only boss in the DLC I liked, and also the only one I had a hard time with. Great analysis.

[@SirSoapyy]

Great series man

[@cr6458]

okay, I just have one thing to say: cleric beast, amelia, and lawrence are all repeated aesthetics because they are the same type of person. They're all cleric beasts. They transform in the same way. They're supposed to be linked like that, and I like that it builds the world by showing that "the cleric beast" is a scourge in the same way as the werewolves are. They're meant to be the same but a little different for theme. Also, I share the same allergy to items as you but I think it's unfair to take our aversion to a real mechanic as make it a criticism.

[@mommilph]

Oh wow, I thought it was just me on hating Defiled Watchdog. I've normally done everything in Souls games up to that point in which I just gave up out of fatigue when I ran into that version that killed me sometimes instantly.

[@jakeinator21]

Defiled Watchdog is the boss that made me stop playing the chalice dungeons for a while. With the halved health, almost every one of attacks his one-shots me, I can't deal. I'll probably just finish my ng+ and come back when I've leveled my vitality more.

[@meathir4921]

Strangely, only about 10% of my Defiled Watchdog attempts died to weird hitboxes. Obviously ideally it should be 0, but I beat Defiled Watchdog by rolling through his swipes from start to finish.

[@scottbecker4367]

The entire defiled chalice was a huge pain in the a**. Took me two years of on and off play to finally get through it for platinum.

[@monkeysk8er33]

Bro, I legit did not know Chalice Dungeons had unique bosses in them. Looks like I'll be doing them on my next playthrough lol. Thank you!

[@evancarroll6899]

I watch your content because it is relaxing. You don't change your tone or pitch very often and it makes it very easy to absorb your content when I'm looking to unwind. I enjoy watching reviews more then playing games. Don't get me wrong I love games but they take a long time. They also demand too much thought. Where as you provoke it.

[@TheNorilla]

Goes on about how great Chalice Dungeons are, then proceeds to complain that the DLC recycles too much just because of one or two things... Makes sense.

[@briansprague3427]

Norilla exactly

[@sealdogderp26]

The thing that he was complaining about was that u have to spend money for the dlc while u don't for the chalice dungeons

[@briansprague3427]

sealdog derp even then sometimes I really think he just reaches for complaints. Like always, it is his opinion so it’s fine just seems weird sometimes

[@sweedaal]

also he goes on about how disappointing the bosses in BB are compared to other soulsborne games and then asks for a boss rush in the next video...because he enjoys all this 'poor' boss design so much that he wants it without other gameplay in between

[@HumansFreshlyBorn]

sweedaal he was saying that about the boss variety

[@DoctorDex]

I think the chalice dungeons are the worst part of the entire souls series. Gone are the clever level design and interesting locales. Instead we get random boxes. The only reason I finished them is because I'm obsessed with beating all of the bosses. I would have rather seen a boss rush that sprinkles in those hidden chalice boss fights.

[@stringbreaker6829]

good job man ... nothing more to say .. thanks for your content

[@Dingus7696]

Logically the dream realm is above the city of Yarnham. The moment you enter the fishing hamlet, if you walk around the very first area and look into the distance (left or right) you'll see the city below. This also explains where the shell monster falls (child of kos) falls from before you get the whirligig saw. The reason you see it much later is because its a cosmic realm and "plot based insight" is required to see it. What i mean by plot based insight is best seen in the base game wherein after you beat Rom, you get to see the real form of the Amygdala around the Unseen Village. I really like how they incorporate various similar plot ideas to deliver levels.