So hey, back from gamescom, and here are my impressions on BloodBorne so far.
I was lucky enough to have a trade pass which means I got in early before most people and got to try it without too much wait. I say this, because you get to play only 5 minutes. And if you know what 5 minutes means for a souls games (as in being absolutely piss poor), you understand why I didn't have to wait 2 hours and why I probably wouldn't have.
With that in mind, do consider that with such a short time, I believe it's almost impossible to formulate what the game will actually be like. I noted a few cool stuff (and some less cool) but if anything, it just made me curious of what's behind the rest of the game.
So by now you people know the locale where the demo took place. What I noticed is that the world seems already way more detailed. There's lots of little touches here and there which made the world pop a little bit more.
Graphically, it's pretty. It's not the most visually impressive thing like the order and whatnot but it certainly does a very very good job at what's it's trying to convey (damp, sinister victorian-type town).
Funny enough, a lot of the sounds and sometimes effect were just straight off taken from the souls games. Ladders and the "molotov cocktail" make the exact same sound. The effect for the molotov itself is very similar. Animations are also reused sometimes like climbing and whatnot.
The thing I liked the most is when I got to that first big alley after climbing the ladder. You're kind of on this double level street and below you, you see these villagers roaming about with torches, prowling in the night, obviously looking for someone, or probably you. I really liked that and it kinda falls in line with, i guess, what the devs said about npcs actively looking for you across the city. You'll have to pay more attention to ennemies as it'll be easier for them to sneak up on you.
Combat is very similar to Souls yet has that one little difference in that you have no shield, and the shotgun instead. Meaning that instead of the usual block/dodge, wait, attack, you can go for a much more aggressive playstyle of sidestepping (that sidestep by the way, really cool. It replaces the lateral dodge and you have a nice control over it), shooting mid range ennemies and slashing away close ones.
Other than that, the combat and control scheme is pretty much like a souls game. Lock on with R3, attack and such, use items. I didn't manage to make my machete in a badass scythe like in the trailer.
I did notice that if you press left and right on the pad, my left hand would switch between the gun and a torch, and my right would switch between the machete and bare-handed, so that pretty much confirms an inventory and multiple weapons and whatnot.
By the time I got a grip of how to fight the enemies though, it was already over. I was really disappointed by not being able to try more. But that's gamescom for you.
My BIGGEST worry so far though is the framerate. The game is struggling to keep it around 20 fps most of the time (I don't think it ever really reached 30 while i was playing) while there weren't a lot of stuff happening. It was almost too low sometimes for me to be able to play properly, especially considering now that the combat is much more aggressive. If they don't optimize this, it's gonna be very bad when it releases. And From doesn't exactly have a track record in that departement and I dunno how much Japan studio is helping them on that so fingers crossed.
A minor complain, on the other side, but which I feel can be almost more important, is that so far what i've played made it almost too much like a souls game. A good souls game, mind you, a very good one. But the amount of reused sounds and sometimes animations, you'd think "Dark souls 3/Demon souls 2/Whatever souls" could easily be a subtitle but they called it bloodborne just to make it sound less repetitive.
If anything, pleased with what I saw with some reservation. Honestly, I just want to see more gameplay and new ennemies that aren't humanoids