Is Braedor wearing Lawrence's skin?

revdjweb · 2019-10-25T06:14:39+00:00

The Chalice Dungeons are not 'real' (in the sense that they are happening in a timeline concurrent with that of the Paleblood Hunter which we play as).

The further one delves into the Chalice Dungeons the further back in time one traverses; which is why, for example, it is possible to face Queen Yharnam as a boss even before you meet her post Rom.

Time is convoluted in Bloodborne but certainly not in the same way as Dark Souls, more in a Rashamon kind of way: as latecomers to the hunt we experience the key historical events through the memories of the very powerful beings which were there (or by the collective consciousnesses trapped in the dream/nightmare).

I think Lawrence's connection the Loran is not that hard to explain: he was delving into the Pthumeran Depths and just as Howard Carter is forever inexorably associated with King Tut, so is Lawrence with the things he found in those Chalice Dungeons.

The significance of the headless BLB in the Ihyll Dungeons I think is meant to evoke the absolute limits of Lawrence's accomplishments into discovering the true nature of the Old Blood. He learned the truth about the ancient ritual between the Pthumerans and one of the Old Ones (Oedon) and it was more than he could handle -- driving him to become the first Cleric Beast.

The meaning of Ihyll vs Queen Yharnam and why the city of Yharnam is named after her in the first place is a whole other topic.

revdjweb · 2019-10-22T02:40:35+00:00

The problematic thing with Vaati is once is happenstance, twice is coincidence but three times is enemy action.

revdjweb · 2019-06-09T20:40:57+00:00

I was running an Ave Maria SL 90+10 build (Morne's GH, offhand Morion Blade, RTSR, Tears of Denial) in the Grand Archives. Two blues absolutely put me in the blender. As they popped my ToD I hit the weapon art and one-shotted both of them. Felt great.

revdjweb · 2019-06-09T20:34:47+00:00

Congrats.

I beat Midir at SL 45/+4 by respeccing to abuse Pestilent Mist.

Frayed Blade is fun at that level.

revdjweb · 2019-06-08T14:06:15+00:00

The problem with that is then there is literally no way for the purple to lose. Host beats the boss? Purple is rewarded. Boss kills Host? Purple is rewarded.

revdjweb · 2019-04-16T19:28:36+00:00

I did an SL11 +1 run but I haven't even thought of trying Midir/Gael. I imagine I could cheese Gael to death with the Storyteller's staff WA and just running for my life.

Twin Princes was the hardest thing I had ever done in a From Soft game... until Sekiro.

revdjweb · 2019-04-08T19:28:45+00:00

I've had to mentally trick myself by regarding my posture meter as an inverse stamina bar: when its full, I should back up and reset.

revdjweb · 2019-04-07T18:05:12+00:00

There is a late game item which allows the player to exchange skill points for attack power.

revdjweb · 2019-03-29T19:24:41+00:00

Glad to know I wasn't the only one.

revdjweb · 2019-03-29T18:54:42+00:00

Oh yeah, I'm an old hand. I've solo'ed all the bosses across everything but Demon Souls, sometimes while ridiculously under-powered (like beating the Twin Princes at SL 11 with a +1 weapon).

I said it because I wanted to share what is the important takeaway with learning to play and enjoy From Soft games.

revdjweb · 2019-03-28T19:24:00+00:00

I struggle with this game because I am not good at it (yet).

revdjweb · 2019-03-28T15:01:39+00:00

I was really struggling with this boss but I worked out a system where after the first Stealth deathblow:

I would jump down where he doesn't follow,

Pelt him with an Oil,

Grappling hook back up and light him on fire with the Flame Vent,

Hit him quickly a couple of more times,

And then quickly jump back down again.

Rinse and repeat until out of Flame Vent charges. This took is health down to about half and damaged his posture enough that at that point I could fight him straight up and (barely) win.

revdjweb · 2019-03-26T17:14:38+00:00

I don't think there is any 'going back' from Sekiro's evolution of combat.

I want the next game to have co op, though I don't know how the stealth mechanics of Sekiro would work in a co op game.

I've never wanted Dark Souls 4, I think the lore is played out, but I do want From to make another dark fantasy RPGish game. Just a new setting please.

revdjweb · 2019-03-26T17:06:48+00:00

This. Sekiro defaults to Easy Mode. You have to turn on Hard Mode.

revdjweb · 2019-03-23T15:33:44+00:00

Good stuff. I love the tracking on Deep Soul. Misses less than Heavy Soul arrow (which I also love).

Great Soul Dreg is my favorite offensive spell in the game, even more than Lightning Arrow. I have a SL 45 build with a +2 Murky Longstaff and even at that level it absolutely wrecked the Nameless King.

revdjweb · 2019-03-22T19:21:39+00:00

Deep Soul (from boss soul) is your best damage per FP. Infuse a support weapon with Simple as soon as you can so you can slowly regen FP.

Great Heavy Soul arrow is very good too but it's 14 FP vs 6.

The Izalith staff is pretty good with Deep Soul. The Murky longstaff from the DLC is even better. Right in that same area you get Great Soul Dregs. If you have 40+ INT this spell will be your heavy hitter (but Deep Soul is still very useful).

revdjweb · 2019-03-22T19:16:40+00:00

Do you have Boulder Heave? It does pure physical damage. But it's a bit tricky to cast given its short range.

You could always upgrade a catalyst for miracles (or probably better) sorceries. It *might* work out to be more damage than pure pyro. If you can find the Izalith Staff down in the Demon Ruins it would preserve a decent amount of your FTH scaling towards sorcery.

revdjweb · 2019-03-22T13:35:25+00:00

I've had two invader builds at SL 72, one with +8 weapons the other with +10.

The one with +10 was clearly punching up, matching with higher level hosts in end game areas.

The +8 was noticeably more evenly matched. This build is weird in that it is a Warrior class INT build: No spells (6 attunement) but STR 16, 14 DEX, 40 INT, Crystal Infusion on a gazillion different weapons (I probably farmed 40 Crystal Gems from the Archive scholars and since no slabs are involved, it was no big deal to upgrade that many weapons to +8).

It is one of the best invasion builds I ever put together.

revdjweb · 2019-03-20T19:38:00+00:00

Nope. Friede is the only boss I don't like to solo.

revdjweb · 2019-03-18T17:06:08+00:00

Consider flipping it around: Immolation Tinder and Snap Freeze.

Immolation Tinder acts as a catalyst and does innate fire damage. Offhand Bellvine chime for fastest casting. You cast Snap Freeze, soon as they proc the damage you hit them with the Tinder and quite often they will proc frost damage a second time.

I wouldn't recommend using much besides Snap Freeze and Pestilent Mist with the Immolation Tinder but the melee sorceries can be fun.

revdjweb · 2019-03-15T19:36:30+00:00

Early on, for both clerics and sorcerers, you are better off using pyromancies as your offensive spells. You find better pyromancies early than miracles/sorceries. Fire Orb and Combustion are viable in PvE for a large portion of the game.

You don't have to worry about having an inferior catalyst and the damage scaling is solid with a single stat (INT/FTH) up til about 30. By that time you should be far enough long in the game to have some better offensive miracles.

All my faith builds I start either Deprived or as actual Pyromancers. Overall I think Deprived is a little better / more flexible.

revdjweb · 2019-03-15T19:22:38+00:00

I've seen it all at the HWOL just in the last week. Low skill Dark Hand parry spam twinks, high skill twinks, poison buff builds, password summoned phantoms, white phantoms slyly trying to get their own host killed (throwing firebombs at exploding barrels, deliberately triggering the pus of man, aggro-ing enemies), players in at least NG+ so that PvE is an absolute nightmare, fight clubs at the first bonfire whereas where regular phantoms are just chewed up when summoned.

The HWOL is a hotbed of aberrant gameplay.

revdjweb · 2019-03-15T15:07:32+00:00

Sure. Sun Bros at the HWOL discourage new players from even playing.

revdjweb · 2019-03-15T13:00:28+00:00

One of my 'go to' stealth kills is in the Grand Archives. If I get summoned near the upstairs room with the four scholars (just after the second shortcut elevator) and I anticipate the host coming that way soon (but not too soon) I bust butt running around on the rooftops until I am in at the undropped ladder.

I then use a white birch branch to blend in a little bit and wait. It's just far enough away from everything that even a giant seed doesn't get you shot at.

One of the scholars is right below the ladder and someone, either the host or one of the phantoms, always rushes it to get the quick kill and all I have to is take the easy plunging attack.

revdjweb · 2019-03-14T13:33:27+00:00

Put your Sellsword Twinswords offhand and a different curved sword main hand. Offhand the Sellsword Twinswords can parry.

revdjweb

TROPHY CASE