Am I Good?

Friday! Yes it is here and we are all waiting for what the weekend has for us. Many of us will be playing a variety of games this weekend and some of us will be still be playing Bloodborne. A game which tests your limits as a gamer. For this week's Reader Post Gilly sent me in not only a review of Bloodborne, but also his take on if he is in fact good enough to play it. Have a read!

Am I "good" at games? I don't know.

I'm 30 years old: I've been playing video games for 25 of those years, give or take. I spent two weeks this year completing Mega Man 1 through 4. I've sunk hundreds of hours into Spelunky. Whether I'm "good" at games is up for debate; I love challenging games. Despite this, I've never loved the divisive, feverishly adored/hated Souls games. Their challenges felt too great to overcome, their systems too inscrutable, their technical issues too great in number. They felt frustrating instead of challenging.

Bloodborne -- the latest entry in the series and the first without a "Souls" moniker attached -- changes that. This is a game I love to hate. But I mostly just love it.

So, what makes Bloodborne different from previous series entries? It's not nearly as much of a dick as previous games. Yeah. Really.

I'm not trying to be flip -- that's a totally serious statement. While previous games punished players incessantly with compounding measures, Bloodborne encourages you to keep trying. That is a crucial difference in game design, and one that should make it more appealing to a much larger audience.

I used the word "inscrutable" earlier in reference to the systems of previous games. Bloodborne is, by contrast, concise and easily understood.

Also, maybe don't fight the electric beast first thing

In the first part of Bloodborne, you've got two main pathways to go: toward two different bosses. One is hard, but beatable. The other is nigh impossible in the early stages of character development.

Again, maybe I'm not very good at games.

Instead of pushing me down, Bloodborne forces me to play smarter. And it doesn't make me feel like a jerk when I don't. I don't know if I'm good enough for Bloodborne, but I'm trying to be.

I will agree it is much more forgiving then the Souls games, but not in a way which makes it easier. With that in mind enjoy your weekend no matter what you are playing!