Revisiting Bloodborne: The Board Game - This Hunter's Dream is a frustrating one

I agree, the game is frustrating, we find the same with Gloomhaven. They both are puzzle games for us. They are not dungeon crawlers. Playing with a 4 or even 5 card hand, may make it feel more fun. Great video.

Hmm you got me thinking again... I decided to go Allin on this one (2nd hand game) as I really like DS Board game, the world, the atmosphere etc. And now I am thinking again, should I get this or expand DS with new core sets...

Love Bloodborne video game. Wanted to get this but like all CMON Kickstarters I end up skipping it as I don't trust them when it comes to getting the full experience with the core game. The amount of expansions they usually add means I don't trust that the expansions aren't actually critical to the overall experience.

Having not played the game your criticisms make sense to me with respect to how the video game plays and wanting to see that in the boardgame. I feel the hunter in the video game always has the advantage with respect to movement and initiating combat. I wonder if Hunter movement by tile , 1 movement cost to anywhere in the current/adjacent tile, would make the hunter feel more dynamic like the game.

Something unrelated, what camera do you use for your recordings?

I love this one I think they did a great job! I do think it has its faults so I house rule it to a permanent death mode on last red spawn point, so no hunters dream , no fast travel and no respawn.
I do think replayablity is an issue after you been through a chapter a few times as I'm in it for the story as love bloodborne lore but I sold mine after I played it all and got my money bk in full.

This game has been described by Eric Lang as PTSD loop. Do you think it lives up to his description?

We lost many times playing but kept trying until we realize the strategy required to defeat the bosses. We basically git gud, as per videogame slang. Also the random tiles will make a difference on the time tracker.

I love it! Yes it can be intense but without the tracker it would be too easy. I finished the first Chapter solo (one character) and without upgrading (waste of skin run)

Our house rule which made it alot better was the hunter track advances only on going to the hunters dream by choice or by death, rather than at the end of every turn. It made the game much more adventure like

I've never played the board game or video game but I have played other souls-like games and I think if I wanted to play a game like this, I'd stick to a video game. I have played and enjoyed Gloomhaven, which this seems similar to, and I like puzzly games but that respawning of enemies that is outside your control is a real turn off.

Too much nitpicking, too much stress. Bloodborne is easily one of the best game from CMON. They got the mood and the theme perfectly. Everything oozes atmosphere and thrill. Not to mention the little stories told via the cards. I love it. Spent a little over 1000 hours in the original PS game and close to 70 hours playing the board game.

Double-vid day! woah, you've been crushing it lately

I had a bit of trouble and didn't really enjoy it solo. Too much to figure out playing two characters. Like you, I'm generally bad at games. I tried it again with a friend and we had a lot more fun. We could both plan our turns out and figure out the puzzle together. I'm the type of person who benefits from talking out a problem and bouncing ideas around. We had a lot of "AH-HA!" moments that felt great when we came up with a solution. Definitely a different experience not having to usually roll dice for this type of game.

I'm really glad I watched this video. I had a lot more fun playing this board game when I was playing the game incorrectly (and didn't know it). Whenever I ran out of three cards, I just drew three more because I thought it didn't make sense that I could be put into situations where I wasn't allowed to have cards in my hand. I didn't play the video game, so hearing you say that the video game rewards offensive play makes me think I should just play this game the way I "incorrectly" did or just move up to using 5 cards instead of 3. I'm okay with just playing it the way I did though. Once I play my three cards, I just pick three more to get ready for the enemy attack. Thanks again!

I cried for an hour after watching this video. After trying and selling many DC'ers, this is the one that hooked me and has a place in my collection. I'm personally offended you don't feel the same.

When house rule the time track. If we kill a monster the track goes back a space. But you can’t go back further than the last red point.

It is a puzzle, one I find very engaging. The way you can plan for enemy activations also mirrors how timing is the most important aspect of combat in the video game.

I would disagree with your assessment of the game requiring you to be defensive, and not rewarding you for being offensive. After playing 3 of the 4 base campaigns I would say the exact opposite.

It doesn't reward you for being defensive or passive because you'll run out of time on the hunters track, so you have to be offensive but you have to be smart about your offense, it's best to explore the map (which is a thing in the video games) find the missions tiles 1st..don't fight unless you have to. Once you have a mission now you can go do your mission.
Each action you do whether it's moving/revealing a tile/placing the tile a specfic way/ refreshing your weapon/making an attack/predicting your enemies movements all come into play and are important decisions.

So infact the game rewards you for making smart decisions, attacking quickly and effectively when you have to.
I know the game isn't for everyone, but as far as I can tell, this was truly a great adaptation from video game to table top.

Sorry you didn't feel the same way.

I am interested in purchasing Bloodborne, and appreciate your honesty regarding games which don't vibe with you, that feedback is a positive! I enjoyed and respected Robinson Crusoe, but it gave me analysis paralysis from being so hard, I became stressed at even setting it up--life's too short to dwell on the negatives when there are so many wonderful games to suit individual needs!

Honestly? I feel you on this one. I haven't played this game because, well, price, and I have a very slight preference to DS over BB, though I do think both games are just plain EXCELLENT! And, well, the other nail for me is that I haven't enjoyed many CMON games, aside from probably Zombicide (and that is a love/hate relationship) and Ethnos, a little card game so few remember that is unsoloable. Still, I enjoyed the revisit, and it's something I just concluded with a few games of mine as well, and I'm going to be getting rid of some of them. Yeah, there are great games I'm getting rid of, but they just don't click for me, and they never did. May as well sell them off so someone else can potentially enjoy them, yeah? Anyway, keep up the good work man, I'll keep watching as long as you keep making videos! :D

Love the video game to death. Got a bunch of stuff from the Kickstarter. Didn't love the board game... but I use the minis for mork borg and dnd.

Thanks for saving me money on this one. A lot of bundle sales going on with this franchise right now and I almost pulled the trigger being a From Software fan. 👍

i just was intrigued by a really good discount on the base game and the expansions... and luckily watched your video again. So thank you that i could save some money🤣 normally ist the other way round when i am attracted by a game you like... so i am happy you don't like it😂

Did you sleeve the character sheets? What sleeve did you use?

I found it very difficult initially (true solo). So I tried a house rule from BGG: draw 4 cards instead of 3. This made a huge difference. It became a bit too easy, but it helped me get a feel for the game and more importantly it was FUN. Now to try again while only drawing 3 cards...