I gotta say that I feel very proud right now.  I beat both the Cleric Beast and Father Gascoigne on my second try.  Found an easy way to get Gascoigne trapped until the last few bits when he transforms.

The game is definitely easier than DS1, mostly because at least so far there aren't bosses with weird/obscure logic to make the fights easier...unless Gasoigne counts.  Seems like my knowledge of the Ornstein and Smough fight really paid off there.  If you're fighting a boss or an enemy that's  very dangerous, always see if you can use your surroundings to play merry go round.

Anybody else have such luck?

So, you've finished the tutorial area. Keep us updated once you get deeper into the game. If you're planning on buying the DLC (and I advise you to do that) then whatever you do DON'T beat the game, just get to the end and don't fight the final boss.

Can't wait to try this game out. How's the story in you opinion. Always wish DS had more of a story to it.

Oh don't you worry that difficulty will shoot right on up, those first bosses are cake compared to the rest of them.

I had a hard time to get used to the new pace, I took more time on first bosses. Started with the crane and didn't adapt very well. Everything changed for me when I got Ludwig's Holy Blade, after that it was a walk in the park until I got my Plat trophy.

Figures.  Why not fight the final boss?  Spoilers if you told me?

I heard Gasciogne was one of the hardest bosses in the game. 

It's not luck, it's widely recognized in the core community that Bloodborne is the easiest in the "series." Though 2 times for such a long abscence is a pretty good feat.

Once he beats 2 more bosses he's basically seen the hardest bosses in the game until either chalices or the optional boss (bar DLC).

The boss difficulty in BB kind of sucks to be honest. Very easy by comparison to Souls, mainly because of how lenient BB is on the player with things like rally, 20+ blood echoes, viserals, poor scaling, etc. Luckily the DLC fixed that!

Because you'd then have to play the DLC in NG+ AND have to get a certain way through the game before you can play it. The DLC works with the full game as if it's actually a part of the full game adding another good 15 hours to your playthrough. Don't look up how you get to the DLC until you've beaten a certain boss after you get to Cathedral Ward. I'm not going to spoil any more for you, just buy that DLC and play the game as if it's 'now' complete. There are other areas you can miss entirely so be sure to make sure you look for those too. These misable areas are HUGE.

Nice. I just last night finally opened BB after buying it months ago (bought it immediately after renting). Never played a demons or dark souls game before but I'm loving BB. I faced the graveyard dude very early on (before the cleric beast) before upgrading and I died. I fortunately beat the cleric beast on my first try. But it was so freakin intense! Heart was pounding ha. I found out after the cleric beast about the gunshot down technique, which works so well. And now that I'm upgraded I think i can beat the graveyard dude.

This game is so good. It's amazing how you can go from getting owned by certain creatures to being able to own them. It's so satisfying. I get the hype now.

For some people but I personally beat him on my first try. It's the 2nd form that gets most people but if you use your surroundings like you did it makes it much easier. The hardest boss in the main game is logarius in the optional area and a boss at the end that I don't want to spoil. Also that one beast enemy that is pretty much a boss but actually an npc. The main bosses are nothing compared to the chalice dungeons though and the dlc bosses. The chalice dungeons are a huge pain with the bloodletting beast, amy, Pthumerian king or w/e and the defile dungeon halfing your health. The chalice dungeon has a lot of unique bosses so you should play them and try to go for the platinum.