I finished Bloodborne!
Gaming PTSD aside, it’s an extraordinary game that has changed me somewhat. I’ve never really played games for the challenge, but for fun and relaxation, or a more laid-back slow challenge like with grand strategy games. After bouncing hard off Dark Souls several times, Demon’s Souls eventually showed me that I could handle this sort of challenge and that I could enjoy it. Elden Ring has so far shown me that FromSoft’s rich worlds and complex, esoteric stories are worth the effort. Bloodborne, though, has made me not simply tolerate the difficulty but absolutely love it and appreciate it in a totally new way.
I think what Bloodborne does so well (at least more effectively than other Soulsbourne games) is teach you why failure is good, for a few reasons. Failure is built into the design - the game expects you to die and to learn why you died, and so you improve. But also thematically the game wants you to experience the nightmare you’re in, to feel the hopelessness of what you’re facing and yet persevere anyway, because the end result is that every victory, large or small, is pure elation. It’s the failure that makes the eventual success so rewarding, but the most important thing is that the failure never became a slog for me. I was clamouring to get a few minutes in the game whenever I could.
So it’s back to Elden Ring next, and then I’m determined to punch the daylights out of Dark Souls once and for all, newly-armed with a shred of skill and an appreciation of getting my arse handed to me.
