One of the reasons why the PlayStation 4 was such a huge success was the vast wealth of exclusives that accompanied this console, basically turning it into a must-have for any gamer who wished to play the latest Triple-A titles. Out of all the exclusives released on this platform, one game that received critical and commercial acclaim across the board has to be Bloodborne.
Miyazaki ended up using his genius to help develop what is easily one of the greatest action-adventure titles of all time, but Bloodborne is definitely not a game for the weak-willed or faint-hearted. The hard-as-nails nature of the game's combat, coupled with some truly horrific imagery, makes Bloodborne an oppressive yet satisfying experience from start to end. Players should definitely avoid the following mistakes if they wish to have the best time possible with this masterpiece.
Updated February 12, 2022 by Ritwik Mitra: Bloodborne is a brilliant action-adventure title that served as a stark departure from the Dark Souls formula, while retaining a somewhat familiar feeling at the same time. The game is full to the brim with amazing bosses, breathtaking environments, bone-chilling horrors, and fast-paced combat that all feel absolutely amazing. That being said, players are prone to making mistakes while playing this title. With that in mind, this list has been updated to include some more of the common pitfalls that players should avoid.
15 Forgetting To Use Transformation Attacks
For the most part, the R1 combo is all that most players will need to get through the game with their weapon of choice. However, in doing so, they're missing out on some of the most potent attacks in the game.
By hitting L1 during an R1 combo, players trigger a transformation attack that hits for serious damage. It's pretty fast and is a great way to transform the weapon mid-combat as well, adding more flair to the fight.
14 Accidentally Aggroing Friendly NPCs
There are several NPC questlines that players can engage with in Bloodborne. However, they can miss out on these if they accidentally end up aggroing these friendly NPCs.
A great example of this is during Eileen's battle against Henryk. Players who try to help her might unwittingly hit her instead, causing her to lash out at the player as well. This mistake can cost players time and story.
13 Not Using The Move To Get Extra Bullets At The Cost Of Health
Given the emphasis on staggering and visceral attacks in the game, it's only a given that players will start running through their Quicksilver Bullets sooner rather than later. This can be quite frustrating in the middle of a run, when players have no bullets to attack their enemies with.
What most people don't realize is that pressing Up on the D-pad lets them use their own life force for three Quicksilver Bullets. It's a small but useful move when the player has run out of bullets completely.
12 Leveling Stats After Their Hard Cap
Just like Dark Souls, Bloodborne also has soft and hard caps for its stats. While progressing past the soft cap is fine, the same can't be said for the hard cap.
Past the 50 mark, most stats — except for Arcane — give minimal return on player investment. So, players should invest in other stats after reaching this number in order to maximize their benefits.
11 Ignoring The Messengers In The Hunter's Dream
The Messengers are oddly cute, but most players tend to ignore them after a point. For a beginner, however, this is akin to a death sentence. Paying attention could save a player's life.
This is especially true for the Messengers in the Hunter's Dream, who have valuable information to share with the player. Players should roam around the Hunter's Dream and read as many messages as possible to get a basic understanding of Bloodborne's systems.
10 Getting Greedy With Landing Hits
One of the worst things that people can do in Bloodborne — or any FromSoftware game, for that matter — is getting greedy in combat and failing to account for self-preservation.
Without being patient in combat, it goes without saying that the player will get frustrated sooner rather than later. So, the player needs to read enemy movesets and be familiar with their own in order to maximize the damage they deal in combat.
9 Playing The Game Like Dark Souls
One major thing that people will notice in Bloodborne, especially during the Father Gascoigne boss, is that the game's combat is extremely fast-paced. It leaves no room for a defensive player to get their bearings.
Trying to equip a useless shield, which is pretty much a joke item of sorts, or staying away from enemies like one would do in Dark Souls will only work for so long. The player will soon need to adapt to the fast combat of Bloodborne, lest they wish to become the hunted over and over again.
8 Failing To Rally After Taking Damage
Bloodborne introduces a brilliant rally mechanic that allows players to get back some of their lost health after taking damage. It's a mechanic that encourages aggressive gameplay and rewards the player for the same.
Failing to make the most of this mechanic implies that the player is not aggressive enough, something that needs to change if they wish to get to the end of the game without pulling their hair out in the process.
7 Ignoring The Countershot Mechanic
The visceral countershot attack in Bloodborne is easily one of the coolest and most damaging attacks in the entire game. Players should definitely get acquainted with it if they don't want to get frustrated by the aggressiveness of most enemies.
Getting a visceral attack mandates that the player shoots an enemy just when they're about to land an attack. Given the fact that most enemies in the game can be countered like this, it's imperative that the player master the timing of their shot so that they can send most enemies to an early grave without facing too many problems.
6 Making A Random Build Without Any Research
As is the case with most From Software games, the act of creating a new character in Bloodborne and choosing a background isn't that big of a deal. However, the part where players need to start paying attention is when they used their hard-earned Blood Echoes to level up.
Strength and Skill are two sides of the same coin, and the player should ideally only invest in one of these attributes — unless they want to make a quality build, that is. Stamina and health are governed by Endurance and Vitality, while Bloodtinge and Arcane are generally reserved for more special builds that require way more thought and preparation. If all of this sounds alien to the player, then they definitely need to do their homework when it comes to the various attributes present in Bloodborne.
5 Chugging Blood Vials Like It's Nobody's Business
It might seem tempting to use up a Blood Vial every single time the player gets even slightly damaged. However, using this valuable health resource so flippantly will definitely lead to some dire negative repercussions further down the line.
The idea of having to farm Blood Vials after losing to a boss over and over again is one of the biggest grievances in Bloodborne. Players would ideally want to avoid this problem altogether by using Blood Vials in a limited quantity and farming as many of them as possible.
4 Trying To Fight The Winter Lanterns Without Any Strategy
The Winter Lanterns are easily one of the worst enemies in the game. They're pretty much guaranteed to kill the player if they end up grabbing and frenzying them at the same time.
Without either being ultra-aggressive, having decent frenzy resistance, or anything else along the same lines, it goes without saying that the Winter Lanterns will waste no time in completely decimating the player with ease. Be sure to have a strategy going in.
3 Hoarding Insight For No Reason Whatsoever
Insight might be one of the more unique aspects of Bloodborne, but it should only be hoarded to a limit. That is, unless the player wants to make the game intentionally hard for themselves.
After all, higher Insight reduces Frenzy resistance, adds more enemies to the game, and will generally prove to be a massive hindrance to the player. Instead, the player should just buy useful items at the Insight Shop in order to make their time with the game easier.
2 Not Paying Attention To The Story
As is the case with most Miyazaki titles, Bloodborne has some truly brilliant lore and an engrossing story that is never shoved in the player's face. This means that the player can go through the entire game without having a clue as to what they're trying to accomplish.
However, by talking with the people around them, reading the lore of the items they collect, and paying close attention to their surroundings, they will slowly uncover the mystery of the nightmarish hellscape they're trapped in.
1 Failing To Consume Three Umbilical Cords Before Fighting Gehrman
There are three endings in Bloodborne. While two of them are fairly easy to get, the same can't be said for the true ending of the game, which sees the player turning into an infantile Great One.
In order to get the third ending, the player must consume three parts of an item called "One Third of Umbilical Cord" before fighting Gehrman. Only by doing so will they be able to fight the true final boss of the game and definitively finish Bloodborne once and for all.
Bloodborne was released on March 24th, 2015 and is available for PS4.