Bloodborne

[Alex79]

Brilliant, thanks all I cannot wait to get back in to this tonight. I'm itching to play it!

[Alex79]

Beat the Cleric Beast thing, but Father Gascoigne is a pain in the ass >_< Can get him down to about a third health. And yeah, I have the special item!

[Todinho]

Im just gonna say that this fight is there to nail parrying into you, so start to get good with that gun and keep calm because his third form can feel overwhelming but you can keep up with him,

[Alex79]

Argh Father Gascoigne can suck my balls!!! I can get his health so low but when he transforms I can't parry him any more. The parrying seems really hit and miss, too. Sometimes it works and sometimes I get my ass kicked. And worst of all, I keep having to go and grind for bullets!

[Todinho]

When he's about to transform you can stand behind him to instantly backstab him to get an early critical hit,when he's on the ground you can use the music box to further stun him when he gets up so you'll have another opening,go get him!

[Stanshall]

Tips below which you may want to ignore, they're not actually spoilers, nor are they 'the only way to do it' but it's how I approach him.

Spoiler: show

Don't try to parry the final form, it's just fluke if you manage it. If you use the grave stones to stay safe for the first two forms and parry sensibly, you can reach the final form with full health. When he's transforming, hit him with a charged R2 from behind to stagger for another visceral attack, then back off. Dodge, dodge, dodge. He will tend to rush you down into a wall, and then pause to recover. Couple of slashes and bugger off. Use the music box and do the R2 stagger & visceral again. I've only ever been able to use it once per fight something don't get too carried away, it's just a little reward. Stay at full health and if he knocks you down, roll as quickly as possible as he can finish you on the ground.

In general, the parry timing does feel a little inconsistent because the window is much smaller than it appears. It's like, the enemy raises their weapon for thirty frames, say, but it's only the middle ten frames of that stance which are parryable. Obviously, they're not exact numbers but that's the principle.

[Alex79]

Woohoo! Finally beat that old bastard Gascoigne!

Spoiler: show

Video above

Good times! Took a bit longer than I'd have liked, my heart was actually pounding by the end! That's awesome when a game has that effect on you.

Thanks for the tips, guys.

[KSubzero1000]

Awesome, congrats! Now keep at it, game's far from over.

Quick question: Did you record and edit the video by using the PS4's built-in functionality? And then just uploaded to YouTube afterwards?

[Alex79]

Yeah, exactly that. After I beat him I just pressed the share button, then uploaded it straight to YouTube (after setting the start and end point).

[Todinho]

Woohoo! Finally beat that old bastard Gascoigne!

Spoiler: show

Video above

Good times! Took a bit longer than I'd have liked, my heart was actually pounding by the end! That's awesome when a game has that effect on you.

Thanks for the tips, guys.

oh yeah boy!You were parrying him like a pro! I think it will be smooth sailing from now on Gascoigne is like that initial wall in souls games that people just need to go over for the game to fully click

[Alex79]

I needed to grind some blood to buy the emblem to open the gate in the Cathedral Ward last night, so went wandering down in to Old Yharnam. It wasn't too tricky a place, the enemies were falling easily enough, then some bastard with a great big machine gun started firing at me willy nilly! I hot-tailed it out of there and retreated back to the Hunters Dream to buy the gate key ready for my next session.

[Alex79]

Further exploration of the Cathedral Ward took place last night. I think I'm getting closer to the boss since I've unlocked a couple of shortcuts which is usually a good sign you've made progress! I found myself ascending a wide, long stair case with lots of branching off to the left and right. Exploration down one of these revealed a cave tunnel leading to an open grassy area. I turned around back to the stairs and explored down the right side instead. I came upon another more open grassy area where there were two really hard enemies! One who was armed with some sort of electricity weapon and one with a blunderbuss gun. I literally managed to kill them by the skin of my teeth. Both dropped over 3000 bloods each though so worth doing. I wonder if they respawn? Then I headed back to the Hunters Dream for some much needed recuperation and upgrading!

[Alex79]

Ah ok, they're the first ones I've come across, I didn't even know that was a thing! They were tricky though, the electricity guy was parried easy enough but my weapon was barely hurting him on normal attacks. The gun guy took longer and he was so quick I didn't get a single parry in.

[Alex79]

Came across Vicar Amelia (if that's right?) tonight. Got her about half down but she kicked my ass basically. Question - is there a much better weapon than the extendable hunters axe thing I got at the start? Only I've been piling all my upgrades in to that, think it's on +5 now, and I'm worried I'm wasting them if there's something much better to use later on?

[KSubzero1000]

1. The Hunter Axe is one of the better weapons that are available to you at this stage of the game. Try to land some nicely charged two-handed R2s.

2. Don't worry, Amelia is notorious for her large amount of health. Learn her moveset and be patient. Fire Paper or other buffs can come in handy as well.

3. Any upgrade materials that you use up until +6 will become fairly common and can even be purchased later on. Bloodborne is much more forgiving than the Souls game in that regard. So don't worry about wasting them. It's only the later ones (Blood Stone Chunks and Blood Rocks) which are rare and should be used strategically. But I suppose you will have found "your" weapon by that point.

4. Just keep on trying out any new weapon that might be a good fit for your build. Keep in mind that a moveset you're comfortable with is usually preferable to slightly higher stats. (I recommend the Kirkhammer for a Strength-oriented build and the Rakuyo for a Skill-oriented build, for example.)

Have fun!

[ratsoalbion]

She nasty.

[KSubzero1000]

[KSubzero1000]

So Alex, did you finally manage to beat Amelia? Or is she still giving you trouble? Keeping us in suspense, man!

[Alex79]

Yes! I just beat her tonight!

Spoiler: show

I thought it was a pretty decent win, haha. That was probably about my sixth attempt. I ran out of the thing to block her healing as I'd been using it wrong, throwing it any old time rather than when she was actually healing, but got there in the end.

Any tips on where to go next? I've explored quite deep in to both Old Yharnam and Henwick Charnel Lane or whatever it's called. Not sure which area to do next though. I went back to the Hunters Dream and the old man in the wheelchair kept babbling something about a tomb..?

[KSubzero1000]

Congrats!

Well, did you beat any of the bosses at the end of Old Yharnam and Henwick Charnel Lane? Because I would recommend to do that if you haven't already before tackling on any new area. Afterwards, you might want to explore Cathedral Ward for any newly opened pathways. Hint: "password".

Did the tips help regarding weapon upgrades and such?