random games

[Youef]

good luck without a shield bro

[ganonfloyd]

...beasts all over the shop...

[Random]

a shaggy dog killed me

I took the cane and the pistol because I picked Professional, so those weapons scaled well with my high starting "Skill."

[Random]

this feels like a very different game

[Youef]

I could never use the cane for some reason. Did you fight the Cleric Beast yet?

[Random]

I have not. I've had a hell of a time just getting past the initial mob of dudes. Once I finally did I got killed by some more shaggy dogs up on top of a bridge.

The cane feels like a mistake. Not a lot of stopping power.

[Youef]

Well, you're still pretty early enough in the game where you could always restart. I loved the Hunter's Axe as a starter weapon personally. I used it for my entire playthrough, until I got the Whirligig Saw in the DLC.

[Random]

I'm on the verge of accomplishing nothing tonight, so I'm probably gonna start over tomorrow. Getting a bit of a wakeup call.

[Youef]

welcome to bloodborne lol

[Random]

I managed to get a little bit further by walking past the big dogs. Dropped down into a sewer-ish area, fought some gnarly dudes and some big rats. Found the Hunter's Garb, so I know where that is now. Climbed out of the sewer, opened a shortcut, and then I was back at the dogs, and they killed me.

So tomorrow I'll take that axe instead and maybe get somewhere.

I really haven't seen any of what I'd assume are "friendly" people to talk to, aside from knocking on doors. Like I'm assuming there's someone or something at the Hunter's Dream that will let me level up?

Other basic knowledge I've gathered is that I shouldn't worry about "wasting" blood vials. They seem plentiful. Same with bullets, though I'm nowhere near to getting the timing for the gun. I kinda stuck to the torch once I got that.

But yeah, the cane just doesn't have the stopping power I really enjoy. Feels like the falchion all over again. Definitely going to start over tomorrow with the axe, but what's the cleaver like?

[Youef]

The cleaver is also pretty good, and it's a pretty popular starting weapon. It has some weight to it, and it's faster than the axe. However, I didn't think it's transformed state was much different aside from having a little more reach. I preferred the axe, because it doubles as a halberd, so there's quite a bit of moveset variety. I'd say go with the axe if you want Strength. The cleaver might be useful if you want to try for Skill, but I think you could even start off with the axe if you decide to go for Skill, since the Axe's scaling between Strength and Skill isn't that different until you start to reach like +3 or +4 or something.

You'll find NPCs, but they aren't as plentiful as in Dark Souls, nor do they stop by in the Hunter's Dream. They have their own little place where you can send them later on. It's not too far off from where you are. However, you can find Eileen in the beginning of the game. I'd recommend looking up where to find her since she's kind of hidden (or just explore yourself), because her quest line is fun and gives you a really amazing Skill-based weapon by the end.

Also, shoot the dogs. Guns are extremely effective at knocking them away. It's just a good way to give yourself some space...I agree that they're horrible enemies, but the hunter's pistol made them much more manageable for me.

that's just my beginner's advice i guess

[ganonfloyd]

I had a hell of a time starting out as well (I had a hell of hell of a time in general actually.) For what it's worth, I picked the cleaver because the serrations do extra damage against the shaggy dog guys (I think just in its shorter form.)

also if you find an item called madman's knowledge use it asap

[Random]

I did find one of those, so at least I know where one is now.

Also remembered that I hadn't bought Old Hunters yet, so I've done that now.

I've looked at a few "tips" guides and I'm kinda torn between the axe and the cleaver. Think I'll probably just start with the axe and buy the cleaver as soon as I can.

What was your starting build?

[ganonfloyd]

I did Cleaver and Blunderbuss at the start with I want to say Violent Past or Military Veteran? Or maybe even Lone Survivor. I can't recall right away but I mostly did strength this time around since I never quite got the hang of parrying and there were just more strength weapons available (outside of the DLC I think.) I ended up using Ludwig's Holy Blade through the entirety of the game once I got it.

Old Hunters is (unsurprisingly) really great through most of it so be glad you got it. There's one boss that was literally my waking nightmare and among my most loathed bosses in the series but otherwise its mostly uniformly great even when I was considering giving up.

[Random]

At one point last night I foolishly thought "Well since there's no shields, at least there's no parrying," but then reading stuff today I realize "oops no parrying is still everything." Also I don't think I would have figured out how to backstab without looking it up.

Heard good things about LHB, so I guess I'll look out for that.