We are not mincing with details for Bloodborne. Today ,we have a near-definitive rundown of the details of the recent Dengeki interview. For the most part, we're passing over details that have been covered before. Get a tall drink, this will be a doozy.
Bloodborne is the spiritual successor to the Souls games in the same way that the Souls games are spiritual successors to the King's Field series. Mainly, From wants toe emphasize two things: the darkness and fearsomeness of enemeis, and the darkness and fearsomeness of the game world.
However, this is not a horror game, in the sense that it eschews typical horror game conventions. Rather, it is a game in the gothic Victorian era, with some steampunk added in for good measure. From makes pointed reference to Jack the Ripper for a feel of the game's setting. This is definitely a clear departure from the high fantasy themes that date as far back as the King's Field games.
Similarly, you will get a feel of how big the city, Yarnum, itself will be. There will be chances to go to places outside of Yarnum, such as other locales, although these will be smaller parts of the game.
The changes in the battle system reflect this switch from medieval to Victorian era. For one, From is eschewing metal armor for cloth armor, which feels lighter, but also makes the player feel more vulnerable in combat. In this historical era, people weren't wearing impractically heavy pieces of armor anymore, in favor of better mobility and use of different weapons.
In general, there will be a lot of variety in weapons, and depth in each one. There are new, gimmicky, transforming style weapons, as well as guns. Weapon transformations serve actual functions, and are not just for show. Changing a weapon's shape alters its attack speed, output, and characteristics. A single weapon can be used in different ways and opens up different tactical and offensive options. From wants players to master using individual weapons, as opposed to building up a group of single use weapons for different purposes. Some element of character progressions will also be tied in to your weapons. Weapons upgrades were in the Souls games, so this isn't a huge surprise.
The addition of Victorian era, steampunk style guns adds to that gothic feel. Again, getting back to the time period, guns were already in wide use, and were just starting to get refined. These guns are intended for close combat, like shotguns. You can snipe enemies, but this will greatly reduce its effectiveness. It's not intended to be used in range, but more as a crowd control weapon. Rather than cutting edge rifles, the guns fire out buckshot that spread around. This will create burst damage, spread in close range. It could possibly stun or stagger enemies, counterattack, and maybe even counterdamage.
The gun's real strength will be handling groups of enemies. The developers are still in the process of fine tuning these mechanics. Howeverm the gun is not a weapon to be overusedm turning the game into a shooter. It will only be useful in specific situations.
The guns tie in to the biggest shift in the battle system. Rather than waiting for tells like in the Souls games, in Bloodborne, you kill them before you kill you. With the gun, you shoot first, ask questions later. As you can imagine, strategy will be more important here than in previous From games.
There will be a sense of foredboding markedly different from high fantasy, even the dark fantasy of the Souls series. This fantasy theme places emphasis on people, players and NPCs alike. In fact, people are the center of Bloodborne's dark world.
In Bloodborne, the people are suffering from a disease that turns them into these beasts, and this beast disease is endemic to Yarnum. A person who catches it is similar to a Hollowed from the Souls games, transforming into beasts completely in the advance stages of the disease. The player also has a disease, particularly nasty and incurable, and he/ she also came into the city looking for a cure.
There are normal, non-cursed NPCs, but they come few and far between. Because the beast disease is so rampant, they hide during the day, and only come out at night, to hunt said beasts. These normals happen to be using the same weapons the players will, but they aren't necessarily on the player's side, and you won't necessarily want to run across them.
All the player are outsiders from the city, and this is relevant to the game's design. See, Yarnum has a reputation as an ancient city of medicine, with its own 'Panacea'. The player heard far and wide that the city had a cure for his/her illness, and so he/she was compelled to go here. This cure is described as a shady medical practice. However, it is not magical. Sticking with the Victorian era theme, it's closer to a medical / technological cure.
Because of the new hardware, Bloodborne will be a very different game from the Souls games. The tremendous improvements will be a great differentiator, but some elements will stay unchanged from as far back as Demon's Souls. From wants to make a really awesome game for game lovers, with an immersive experience that evokes fear and desperation as you are forced to think while exploring the unknown. There will be a wide variation in animations for the models. This is because the PS4's power allows for more intricate movements for player characters.
From did confirm playable female characters. Character creation is one of the more fundamental elements of a tactical RPG. From wants to add everything regarding character creation possible without removing anything that was in any Souls games. From also wants the game to revolve around online, without screwing over offline players. They have noticed the shift towards online play and DLC, which they themselves also do.
To sum, From knows that people want experiences like in Demon's Souls and Darks Souls. The implication here is they know people didn't like Dark Souls 2. From wants to assure fans that they won't be disappointed with Bloodborne.
As an aside, the lead dev candidly talked about researching the setting in Czech Republic and Romania. It was a frightening but also exciting experience, because he went slipshod about it, roughing it in a shoestring budget and basically going on vacation on the spur of the moment. Sounds like fun, eh?
Bloodborne is coming Spring 2015 to Playstation 4.
