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Forums - Gaming Discussion - The defining factor to discerning and understanding Bloodbornes story is binary.

 

I am a..

Cosmic horror fan. Understood BB's story. 6 66.67%
 
Not a cosmic horror fan. ... 1 11.11%
 
Cosmic horror fan. Didn't... 0 0%
 
Not a cosmic horror fan. ... 2 22.22%
 
I had someone explain the story to me. 0 0%
 
Other/comments/middle america... 0 0%
 
Total:9

Haven't read Lovecraft before but I understand BB. Though the game has made me want to pick up the books.



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Bloodborne dun fucked it up in the story department as far as I am concerned: I have not read the aforementioned novels, but I should not need to: Demon's Souls and Dark Souls presented an engaging story without any prior knowledge of anything, Bloodborne fails to do so for me.

I have finished the game, but doubt that I'll be returning to it upon - if, I ever read those works.



Xen said:
Bloodborne dun fucked it up in the story department as far as I am concerned: I have not read the aforementioned novels, but I should not need to: Demon's Souls and Dark Souls presented an engaging story without any prior knowledge of anything, Bloodborne fails to do so for me.

I have finished the game, but doubt that I'll be returning to it upon - if, I ever read those works.

See I am the opposite.  I invested heavily into beaying and learning the mythos surrounding Bloodborne.  Hell I beat the game 7 times connecting the dots.  However, I have NEVER read any of the fiction novels that inspired it.

 

I will say this though, I was so captivated by the depth of the plot, that I did do a little research towards lovecraft after the fact.  I did not need to do that to understand everything, but it did deepen my overall understanding of it all.



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I would say that familiarity with Berserk would also be a big plus to more closely relate to the story in Bloodborne.

In my case Bloodborne was my introduction to some of HPL mythos. Ever since finishing it I was curious to get some audiobooks and definitely started appreciating more the cosmic horror genre.

So I guess it can go both ways.



I would say that the appreciation for BB stems from your enjoyment of cosmic horror, whether you have encountered it before or not. ] remember loving 'Event Horizon' back in 97 without having a clue as to what this 'new genre' of horror should be called. Years later through D&D I discovered Lovecraft and, well, finding a new subgenre is fairly exciting.

Beyond all that, digging for the story is also not everyone's cuppa. BB was my first real attempt at a Souls game, and much like in Silent Hill I found myself annoyed, irritated, frustrated, and ultimately angered by how nobody acts like a human being. I found myself asking "why is EVERYBODY taciturn and lifeless, reminiscent of filler one-line town NPCs from 8-bit RPGs? Nobody has written a journal or taken decent notes?" I personally found it difficult to get invested in the setting when the entire cast of characters act like lizard people.



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Haven't read Lovecraft, but I had no trouble understanding the story in Bloodborne.  Of course your enjoyment of that particular type of story and setting helps, but in my opinion Bloodborne just requires some patience from the player as it takes time for the game's lore and narrative to properly open up and unveil itself.



John2290 said:
setsunatenshi said:
I would say that familiarity with Berserk would also be a big plus to more closely relate to the story in Bloodborne.

In my case Bloodborne was my introduction to some of HPL mythos. Ever since finishing it I was curious to get some audiobooks and definitely started appreciating more the cosmic horror genre.

So I guess it can go both ways.

I can see how bloodborne would spark that llve, yeah. Didn't think of it working im the other direction tbh, I guess I'm fixating on the terminology more than anything on reflection yet I forget people could still pick up the story through extra attentiveness without having the terms and imagery used evoke a wider understanding of lovecraft and Cosmic horror lore. It does seem a lot of people out there say BB  little or no story which is so wrong it pains, haha.

What I did realize after was how few good adaptations of this theme exist in modern media.

The movie adaptations of the Lovecraft books all seem like low budget type B-movies. I went through some audiobooks, but the pacing of the stories was really made for a different time. The slow build up can be a bit of a chore for more modern audiences.

I really think the ideal format for a modern take on cosmic horror should be in an episodic form (series, anime, etc).

Berserk was really good, especially the manga, and did evoke a lot of the more gruesome aspects of cosmic horror. I wish there was more stuff like this to consume nowadays.



John2290 said:
setsunatenshi said:

What I did realize after was how few good adaptations of this theme exist in modern media.

The movie adaptations of the Lovecraft books all seem like low budget type B-movies. I went through some audiobooks, but the pacing of the stories was really made for a different time. The slow build up can be a bit of a chore for more modern audiences.

I really think the ideal format for a modern take on cosmic horror should be in an episodic form (series, anime, etc).

Berserk was really good, especially the manga, and did evoke a lot of the more gruesome aspects of cosmic horror. I wish there was more stuff like this to consume nowadays.

I'll have to check Berserk out, looks interesting. Agreed though, some anime has handled to themes so well I've been wildly impressed. In fact it looks as if Japan have taken lovecraftian themes and crafted it better than anyone else, even taking it up a notch and expanding on it and mixing it with other genres. I can't stand most continuations or imitations of lovecraft for the most part apart from a few writers, but in Japanese games and anime they really get it and take it up a notch. Devil man cry baby and Steins gate, even though the latter is wacky off the wall stuff have that distinct feel of dread and awe more so than A shadow out of time, innsmouth or the like. 

Ah so if you haven't yet read through (and I mean the manga rather than the anime) I absolutely recommend Berserk.

Just to be sure, there are 2 main arcs to it which before a certain event and after this same event.

In the pre-event (and I'm being vague on purpose here) the cosmic horror / gore elements are slowly introduced to the story.

In the post-event it goes 100% into what I assume a Lovecraftian nightmare could look like.

 

The anime (the old one) only deals with the story up until this specific event, the new one might go past it but I haven't seen it yet, so the recommendation goes to the manga from my side.

 

Check it out, I think you'll see a LOT of connections to Bloodborne in specific



John2290 said:
setsunatenshi said:

Ah so if you haven't yet read through (and I mean the manga rather than the anime) I absolutely recommend Berserk.

Just to be sure, there are 2 main arcs to it which before a certain event and after this same event.

In the pre-event (and I'm being vague on purpose here) the cosmic horror / gore elements are slowly introduced to the story.

In the post-event it goes 100% into what I assume a Lovecraftian nightmare could look like.

 

The anime (the old one) only deals with the story up until this specific event, the new one might go past it but I haven't seen it yet, so the recommendation goes to the manga from my side.

 

Check it out, I think you'll see a LOT of connections to Bloodborne in specific

This might sound ignorant but what's the difference between manga and anime? Is Manga a novel as opposed to animation?

Anime is animation while manga are comics. Manga is distinct from other types of comics in that they are often written & drawn by one person, are often black & white, and they often have actual endings rather than continue on forever under different creators.



Xen said:
Bloodborne dun fucked it up in the story department as far as I am concerned: I have not read the aforementioned novels, but I should not need to: Demon's Souls and Dark Souls presented an engaging story without any prior knowledge of anything, Bloodborne fails to do so for me.

I have finished the game, but doubt that I'll be returning to it upon - if, I ever read those works.

Except it's not about establishing a story, it's about understanding a genre.



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