I've been traveling, and I also needed a bit of a break from the game, so last night I was finally able to return.
I banged my head on Laurence for a WHILE. Pretty frustrating, that one, and I'm not sure why I'm struggling with it. I decided to explore the Research Hall, and opened a few shortcuts. But I was feeling a little demoralized from the DLC by that point, so after returning home I decided to poke my head into the Nightmare of Mensis and see how far I could get. While the initial area was a little bonkers, I was able to open up a shortcut, and I'll keep exploring there for a bit. I think I'd like to get my main weapon to +10 before returning to the DLC. I know it likely won't be the thing that suddenly makes the DLC "easy" but it'll at least make me feel better going forward. 
FYI you really only get one or two weapons to +10 on your first and possibly 2nd time through. So be very careful before upgrading.
Yep, I'll be upgrading the Kirkhammer to +10. The DLC also has the Blood Rock, so I may upgrade the Saw Cleaver to +10 as well, we'll see.
Alright, Nightmare of Mensis is complete, and Kirkhammer is at +10. I also got a trophy for finding all the Hunter Tools, though there are very few I can actually use. Cracked level 100 as well.
Micolash was certainly annoying, though not hard per se. Took me a few tries, and I was annoyed that I died right as I killed him (he said his final dialogue and everything) but it didn't count, so I had to do it again.
Mergo's Wet Nurse went down in one (messy) try. Queen Yharnam standing outside the arena was delightfully creepy. I now have 3 umbilical cords, and can return to the DLC, push forward in the Chalice Dungeons, or have a chat with Gherman.
I haven't decided yet if I'm gonna do save file shenanigans to try getting all the endings, or save them for a potential replay/NG+.
Oh, I also have 3 separate runes that boost Blood Echoes gained, so that makes farming more effective given my current level.
I haven't decided yet if I'm gonna do save file shenanigans to try getting all the endings, or save them for a potential replay/NG+.
From this past March:
merphle wrote:My first Soulsborne platinum. I abused PS+ cloud saving to get the three endings in NG, but I don't feel bad about it. :)
Congrats
There's nothing wrong with using cloud saves to cut down on busy work.
I don't have PS+ (been playing offline this whole time) so I assume I'd have to do things like copy files back and forth from a USB drive?
USB was the easiest. I did one ng+ and blasted through the game in no time with maxed out weapons. It took a few hours or less. You basically just sprint through what you need and defeat the bosses.
This is the only game I have ever platinumed. I usually don't care but this one got me.
d4m0 are you still playing? It felt like we were going through neck and neck together for a while, but haven't seen any updates from you in a while.
Sony was having a deal where you could get a month of PS Plus for a dollar, so I signed up. Maybe now I'll have some coop help on the DLC bosses?
For the Chalice Dungeons, and specifically the non-randomly generated ones, can you randomly summon players in like in the main game? Or can it only be done via a code?
What level are you? Per the internet it varies from within 10 to within 30-40 levels. So not a great answer. Ha I am at 177 so probably not this character. I wonder if there is a game editor that I can make up one to join. I'll need to look.
I'm around level 100 now. But my question is more about the mechanics of summoning help in Chalice Dungeons. Does it work the same as the main game where you ring a bell in the dungeon and eventually someone might show up?
Banged my head against Laurence a few more times. Still haven’t vested him. I tried summoning another player, but no one seemed to be around.
After that I returned to the Research Hall and took out the first boss there. Took a couple tries because I got greedy, but not really too hard as long as you’re patient. Next up is Maria, I guess!
Maria is the most fun duel in the game. Enjoy. Have fun learning her.
I still need to finish off Laurence, but thanks to the help of some jolly cooperators, I’ve defeated both Lady Maria and the Orphan of Kos. I took a couple stabs at both myself, but wanted to take advantage of the blind functionality I currently have. Unsurprisingly, it trivialized those bosses. By myself, Maria’s first phase was pretty easy to keep parrying her over and over, which was fun. Things got dicier in later phases of course. But once I summoned help, it was pretty easy.
Kos was tougher, of course. The first time I summoned someone, they got one shorted somehow, but we made decent progress before I died as well. The second time, two people showed up, which I didn’t realize was possible! That included the person who showed up on the first attempt, which was neat. Sadly, they died again right before Kos fell. Still pretty cool experience, including the note before the boss door that basically said “don’t be afraid to summon help.” It speaks well to the community that someone thought to out that note there, and that there were multiple people available to help out.
With only three bosses left, maybe I’ll actually finish the game this weekend??
Nice work. Kos took me what felt like 100 attempts. Laurence I put down with the whirly gigs constant damage feature. Surely OP in that fight. Just need to dodge all the magma
Aaaand done. I decided to just go for the
three umbilical cords
ending and not worry about getting the other two. The difficulty of the DLC sapped my enthusiasm a bit, and I think I was just ready to wrap it up. Those last two fights only took a couple tries each. I finished at level 108, so probably a bit overleveled.
It’s an incredible game overall, of course. The atmosphere is what kept me coming back even when I was frustrated, and it’s what kept me thinking about the game 5 or 6 years after my initial attempt. Exploring, figuring out how to deal with particular enemies and crowds, and unlocking shortcuts were my favorite part of the experience. While there was some satisfaction in finishing bosses, I really really appreciate that you can simply outlevel them if you feel inclined, and that you’re able to summon help. In that sense, they really give you the options to play the way you want, despite the difficulty.
I think it’s likely I’ll play it again at some point, maybe with a more niche build around Bloodtinge or Arcane. Or maybe I’ll just fire up NG+ when the mood strikes and see how far I get. There are things I could quibble about, but at the end of the day I finished a Soulsborne for the first time, and that feels pretty awesome.
Congratulations! It's always nice to hear about someone working their way through this game.
d4m0 are you still playing? It felt like we were going through neck and neck together for a while, but haven't seen any updates from you in a while. :D
Still playing! I've slowed down quite a bit unfortunately, not due to the game itself, but just life in general. I've had essentially no time in the last two weeks straight to play, and the little time I do have lately has gone to learning guitar. But I still load up Bloodborne every once in a while!
I'm currently level 62 and I'm at the Celestial Emissary in Upper Cathedral Ward. As usual with bosses for me, I very nearly killed it on the first try and then failed to even get close a number of times after that. It doesn't seem like too tough of a boss though so I'm sure I'll take it down the next time I play. I'm still loving this game, just wish I had more free time.
I've got a dumptruck of salt for that.
Granted, my hopes would be for a remaster that's also on PC, but, we'll see.
Figures I finally finish this game just in time for a remaster.
Figures I finally finish this game just in time for a remaster.
Exactly what I was thinking beanman! I guess I also need to get a PS5 somehow eventually.
After some good playing over the weekend I'm all the way at the end of Nightmare of Mensis and at the boss. I got him almost all the way down but died in a stupid way (my own stupidity, as usual) then I ran out of time. I'll definitely have him down next time I play.
I also tried out the chalice dungeons for the first time and got through the first three levels of the Pthumerian Labyrinth pretty easily. It was a nice break from Nightmare of Mensis.
If I had a dollar for every Bloodborne rumor I've heard in the last few years, I could fund a Bloodborne remaster.
I will continue to assume they are all false until I see some concrete confirmation.
If I had a dollar for every Bloodborne rumor I've heard in the last few years, I could fund a Bloodborne remaster.
I will continue to assume they are all false until I see some concrete confirmation.
Yup. I only became a big fan of the game last summer and this is already the third or fourth rumor about a remaster or sequel I have seen in that short timeframe, and they are always about different developers or something working on it. I am firmly in "believe it when I see it" mode.
Turns out I was wrong about my progress on Nightmare of Mensis, and I still had half the level left to go! I got through all that and managed to take down Mergo's Wet Nurse in surprisingly few tries. I think I just got lucky on that one somehow. And then, to my surprise,
I found out that was basically the end of the game! I really thought there was more, but I guess not. I could just head to the Hunter's Dream and get the end credits. Or do a couple more boss fights for the other endings. I think I'm short one of the one-third umbilical cords though, so I must have missed that somewhere. But anyway I really just wanted to play more content anyway so...
I decided to pick up the The Old Hunters DLC and start on that, and everyone here is right - it's fantastic, especially the Research Hall. I'm now up to the boss fight with Lady Maria and she is just destroying me. In maybe 7 or 8 tries I got to her third stage only once. I'm not sure how I'm getting past her. At least she's got the shortest travel time from lamp to boss so far in the entire game.
She is a fun fun fight. Third stage takes a lot of learning new moves. Keep in mind I think most of her attacks you can parry.
And she's down! It took a bunch more tries and a couple rounds of farming to replenish my Blood Vials and bullets, but in the end it seemed like it just took constantly attacking and a lot of help from the Augur of Ebrietas.
I'm now partway through the Fishing Hamlet. So good.
I'm really tempted, if I do another build, to dump points into Arcane so I can use some of those wacky magic tools.
I only started doing that myself maybe halfway through, so even though I'm at level 90 my arcane is just at 25. It's enough to use most of the arcane items I have, but not the truly major ones. You're right, they are wacky! They can really drain your bullets quick though if you don't watch out.
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