Bloodborne Design Diary (Part 6)

Bringing Trick Weapons to the Table

“Ok, I think that’s everything… Looped down into the sewers, handled everything before Gascoigne, and cleared out all the Huntsman’s Minions in the back alleys. Central Yharnam should be completely empty.

Ah Hell… Bridge… Scourge Beasts… Sigh… Ok, let’s get to it then…”

It’s my sixth venture into New Game+, the final time the game increases its difficulty. Bloodborne is already a challenging game, and the difficulty has been ramping up each time I’ve chosen to complete it. Of course, I could have merely stopped near the end of the first or second run, capping the difficulty there and doing what I needed to then, but where was the sport in that? The game still had challenges to offer, and how could I turn that down?

… Sometimes I make poor life choice.

This run is specifically dedicated to learning the ins-and-outs of the Threaded Cane Trick Weapon, technically one of the “Starter Option” weapons available, but as with all the Trick Weapons in Bloodborne, none are really better than the rest, so “starter weapon” or not, it’s just a matter of preference and play-style. That being said, I longingly look at my +10 Ludwig’s Holy Greatsword in my inventory, my favorite and primary weapon in previous runs. It turns out that, while I like to think the grace and finesse of using a sword-cane that transforms into a serrated whip would be more my style, in reality, smashing things with a giant greatsword felt much more rewarding to me.

Still, the point of this run wasn’t just to complete the game, it was research. In transitioning the Trick Weapons, arguably the most iconic part of Bloodborne, into the boardgame, they had to feel right. They had to feel like their proper representation in the game. Sure, I could have gone online, read about them, seen their stats, what players have said about the weapon, all that… But to really understand it, I felt I needed to experience it- devote actual time to it.

It turns out that in this particular case I really, really missed my Greatsword.