Bloodborne and H.P. Lovecraft (Spoilers!)
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- Опубликовано: 5 сен 2024
- Shoggoths, tentacles and sanity meters. Let's see how much Lovecraft there is in Bloodborne!
Warning: this video spoils pretty much everything. Almost all the endings, optional bosses, monsters, item descriptions. Everything.
A free anthology of Lovecraft stories can be found here. I reccomend starting with Call of Cthulhu, then Innsmouth, then the Mountains of Madness: gutenberg.net.a...
Taking Dark Souls' extreme difficulty and putting it with gothic and Lovecraftian horror was like putting chocolate with peanut butter
mmm reese's
bug fighter what's wrong with chocalate and peanut butter?
Jackson Lasley lethal for some?
Captain Fordo absolutely nothing :,)
@@Nuibuddy more for me lol
"Lovecraft was horribly racist. Bloodborne has horrible frame drops. We can't all be perfect."
Love it.
***** Though I've never experienced a framerate drop as bad as the one he showed. The game definitely stutters, but I'd say it's never worse than TLoZ:OoT was. At least in my experience. Audio does occasionally have problems, though.
***** Yes Lovecraft needed to be more racist and Bloodborne should have 0 frame drops. That would be better.
***** haha the framedrops weren't that bad, tbf, the load times is what kills it from being a perfect 10 in my book. I wish they had loading screens with item descriptions.
It's lines like that which remind me why I love this channel so much.
aresdotexe Ever had 1v3 pvp or even 1v2 pvp? The fps drop is definitely bad. With that unstable netcode, the fps is a severe problem in this game, especially during the co-op or pvp online playthrough.
Aaaah, Kos, or as some say, Kosm...
No one care about your prayer
Nate Richards ooh, majestic. A hunter is a hunter, even in a dream. Alas, but not too fast.
Ooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Like you did for the vacous Rom..grant us eyes. Grant us eyes!
AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! NOW IM WAKIN UP! ILL FORGET... EVERYTHIIING!!
This fucking game, never stops to impress me
Why are you so good at this, George?
***** I suspect he's in contact with Hastur. Or perhaps George is the Yellow King himself.
Thade don't say his name... Idiot
Thade IA IA! NYARLATHOTEP!
*****
>Why are you so good at this, George?
That's what I was thinking. I facepalmed after he showed the obvious connection between Resident Evil 4 and Shadow over Innsmouth. I just never even thought of comparing the two.
***** Because he is the Gate.
Mate, you're giving me the shivers.
I want this game so bad, it seems like the almost perfect came to me. I love the Souls gameplay, but find that sometimes the slow reactions can be frustrating and Bloodborne seems to remove that.
Plus, I'm infamously known among my friends for my love of eldritch style narrative, so Bloodborne seems to fuse all the things I want into one. God damn expensive ps4.
Dyp100 What do you mean by slow reactions?
Zac Frazier
Well, wrong wording. It's more that Dark Souls was clearly designed with micro-seconds pauses in the combat, you know like when you make an attack and try to roll, but you can clearly feel that small gap between it all happening. Bloodborne seems to smoth that over, since movement seems much more of a focus on the combat, rather than Dark Souls more shield based stuff.
Dyp100 Oh okay, I see now. Yeah, for me Dark Souls' game feel was very heavy, even when you were playing someone with light armor and a rapier. It made the combat's timing extremely deliberate and easier to read. I liked it, but I feel Bloodborne's new promotion of fast and agile combat will be really fun as well.
Zac Frazier
Saying it's heavy is a good way to put it. Dark Souls always had a really weighted feel, probably more "realistic" for all the heavy armour you use. I mean, considering Demon Souls and then Dark Souls 1 and 2, a change in pace I think is needed. As you said, seems fun, plus the trick weapons seem really cool.
There are rumours it coming to PC
This was fantastic. Really well made video, thank you!
I'd been wondering why I recognized your voice, and I realized I'd seen your Critical Close-up on Metal Gear Solid 2. (Also very well done).
Keep up the great work! :D
DaveControlLive Surprised you didnt remember him from his Dark Souls review.
DaveControlLive
His a relic from a bygone era and is known as a video game journalists
DaveControlLive The discovery that you loved both videos as well is both creepy and awesome at the same time!
Bravo!
In Call of Cthulhu the titular Cthulhu eats 1d3 sailors and is then knocked out by a boat. In Dunwich Horror the three wise men use magic and shotguns and a dog to kill the spawn of Yog-Sothoth dead. In Lovecraft's stories it was impossible to _permanently_ defeat the Great Old Ones - eventually they'll just win because they are immortal and can wait forever for humanity to die out. But a temporary victory was absolutely feasible.
Cthulhu isn't directly in call of Cthulhu that was Dagon and that game is largely considered non cannon just before the Dagon scene in any case. But you are right about the Dunwich Horror though.
The novel "Call of Cthulhu", dumbass.
Oh... Sorry I jumped to conclusions with them having the same name there
No need to be rude. Reece was just trying to counter your point.
To be fair, Cthulhu was less knocked out and more not really in the mood. I mean the ships just pops through him and he had nearly reformed by the time they were out the other side. It's more like when a pet tries to wake you up early so you get up to shoo it out of your room and then go back to bed.
how is Gascoigne considered a vampire heck he turns into a werewolf
dracula could turn into a wolf
+Robo361 i know that but dracula isnt part of lovecraft i think
+dee string oh yeah this video was about lovecraft =P completely slipped my mind
+Robo361 it happens
+dee string You could say that Dracula is a slight offshoot to Eldritch Horror in general, he is this unfathomable being with all of these powers, that he gained from an ancient god. It's said that he made a deal with the devil himself, the only being that rivals god. One can not really tell if these two greater beings are good or evil in one way or another, yet insanity is bred between both of them.
Most horror elements are Eldritch in some way or another, but sure just because something is based in Eldritch Horror doesn't mean that it is Lovecraftian Horror, even though they share the same route.
Bloodborne is the Castlevania game Konami denied us!!
You say that, even though Castlevania tried multiple times to have a great 3D game and failed pretty miserably on all four occasions. No one expected Konami to make a great 3D Castlevania after that. It was one of those series where fans bickered over whether it could even be done.
The One True Nobody! Lords of shadow was an ok game, just not a good Castlevania game?
I was talking about the four 3D Castlevania games before that. Two on the N64, two on the PS2. None of them good.
oh ok
+The One True Nobody! I really liked the first Castlevania Lords of Shadow. LoS2 was disgustingly bad. But the first one was great. And yes, I know it didn't feel like Castlevania and that it ripped of God of War to an extent.... It was tons of fun regardless. And I loved the looks and the music.
Frenzy is way more effective at conveying cosmic horror than just showing us a tentacle monster. As you collect Insight, you don't even realize you're making yourself vulnerable. Then after that first frenzy hit, you genuinely panic when you see the brains and the meter appear. It really conveys that knowledge is dangerous while forcing the player to look away from the horrors, which no other Cthulhu game manages.
What's depressing is that Lovecraft wrote so many good books yet the only thing most people have knowledge of is Cthulu.
Seeing little plush dolls of a other worldly nightmare god is surreal and it almost feels satirical
true dat but ı lıke hım as a underground writer he was soooo poor in his 20s to 30s when he got a job offer he refused because he taught that books should not be sold yes he was racist and all but it was the fucking 1920s what do you expect for him to be a lgbt supporter
Lovecraft wasn't just racist, though, is the thing. Like, he was a contemporary of tolkien and Robert E. Howards, who were able to go more than two pages before ranting about degenerate mixed races. Hell, Robert E. Howard, a friend of Lovecraft, grew less racist because of Lovecraft absurd rants.
Lovecraft's work can only be classified as "derpy horror" nowadays. Today's humans are far more scary than anything he wrote about a century ago.
Edgy.
Self-replicating whatnot uh no, i call bullshit, humans, however scary they can get to be, will never be able to equal an Eldritch Abomination in potential horror
Sure, you can make the argument that humans being real makes them scarier, still doesnt beat the terror of the unknown and/or the unknowable, imagine something that is infinitely beyond a serial killer and so far beyond your understanding that it drives you to madness and you'll realize that the Unknowable is still scarier than any human could ever be
It always kinda bums me out Lovecraft died when he did :T cause like, if you follow him from his youth to adulthood, you see a genuinely massive increase in the quality of his writing, and you see him slowly opening his mind and changing his opinions about race and all that crap. Slowly, but if you obsess you do see a very tangible change...and then he died XD Like, fuckin irony, guy released At the Mountains of Madness and the Color out of Space and some of his other best works while slowly coming out of his shell and realizing that maybe being a racist is actually a little awful, and then suddenly cancer XD
It is weirdly fitting that he died like that though. So unceremoniously. When his works focus on the futility of humanity.
Also his entire life was one big depressing pile of shit and he lived in squalor, and probably would have continued to live as such even if he didn't die. He only gained fame and acclaim wayyyyyyyy after he died, so personally I'm glad he died at such a young age. I hate the idea of him being miserable like that.
@@castonadams3147 actually he saw one of his books get (poorly) printed, and was steadily printed into (shitty) magazines, and by late life he had a massive network of friends and correspondents that really loved his work and were enthusiastic about it and about bringing it to the world. He would eventually be recognized and found fame, ofc not as today, but certainly enough to make a decent living.
I deeply miss a "late" Lovecraft phase, imagine an even bigger and better At the Mountains of Madness, or Whisperers in the Darkness...as well as a less bigoted man.
@d Doesn't Nyarlathotep play a sort of secondary role in one of the stories? Unless I'm wrong, it's been a very long time. But I wont disagree that that's one of his better stories :)
@@coralinekozun7325 Well the guy who tricked Nyarlathotep escaped into the dream world.
There's something about this video, I just keep rewatching jt. I don't know why :)
same!
I highly recommend buying the Cthulhu Mythos collection, and then comparing the stories to this video, it's so god damn interesting.
happend to me with his critical close up of mgs3
same here! something about my favourite kind of horror and favourite game I guess
this is my 4th time 😊
This game definitely turns 180 degrees in later half of the game. The beginning of this game reminds me of Castlevania/Bram Stoker's Dracula and Van Hellsing with all the werewolves, people wanting bloods, etc... then the game mind-fucks you with the Great Old Ones with creatures that severely resemble Cthulhu mythos creatures.
MyLostTemple What is a man?
Chris Nichols A miserable little pile of secrets!
@@chrisnichols5572 Is this going to be a documentary? xD
I think Bloodborne is what the world would look like if all the lovecraftian lore were actually real; our ignorance and notions of normalcy could not survive
It would be awesome to turn into a superhuman hunter powered by blood echoes though.
+Jonathan Morgan berserk
Imagine if there actually are creatures that defy reason exist.
+speterson085 I could buy. Like dark matter, we don't really know what it is but it has weight. The difficulty in just observing the existence of the Higgs Boson. Is it so insane that a being of some sort exists made of matter that isn't recognised by current science? Nothing more chilling than cosmic fear
If Lovecraftian Lore were real, we literally wouldn't have a fighting chance. The entire premise of Lovecraft's work is that humanity is utterly insignificant to these beings. They are so far beyond our power that most of the time, they barely recognize that we exist.
Having Lovecraft inspiration in a video game is fine, but the moment you give the characters the ability to defeat them, you stop being faithful to the source material. We can't defeat them, that's the whole point.
Actually, H.P. Lovecraft was very scared of people in general, and spent half his time staying in doors, so that cause large parts of his Xenophobia in his stories. It isn't just another time period. Also, for me and depending on the video games, spoilers are more what makes me want to play a game more. For something like Dark Souls or Bloodbourne with their ambiguity, I don't mind spoilers. :D
And also important to mention: Lovecraft realized later in his life that he was a stupid racist and apologized.
He had a lot of friends out of different cultures at that time.
Nyarlathothep Isenhøst As a Black man the racism of H.P. Lovecraft never really bugged me, even though it definitely didn't not go unnoticed. I guess this is another time such ignorance and xenophobia spawned something fantastical. Hell the irony is that Japan is horribly xenophobic, yet this series of games explore's fantasy settings that are foreign to the country.
Nastuf
That's not ironic, not even by the internet definition where it means whatever. Even if I agreed with your statement - and as someone who actually lived there for a time, I don't - it's not ironic or even surprising that a country of over a hundred million isn't walking in lockstep, especially when it comes to attitudes. I also don't treat every American as a fat homophobic religious gun nut just because that's a prevalent image.
Nyarlathothep Isenhøst He did? God, I'm a great Lovecraft fan and I always treated his xenofobia like a little nasty secret to keep in the closet. That's kinda reassuring.
Elegant Cat yup. I read in one of his letters he wrote in his last couple of years that he wishes no one would ever read "The Conservative" which he published and wrote for and that he was stupid for being that racist early in his life and that he has now many friends out of different cultures.. but honestly I just searched for 15 minutes and didnt find the specific letter anymore.. if youre really interested you should read some of the publicly available letters he wrote in his last years.
Seriously, if anyone reading this comment has never read Lovecraft's stuff and likes horror, you need to do so. It can be challenging at first but you'll get used to his style pretty quickly. He's one of my favorite writers of all time. You can get compilations of all his work for cheap online. Stories I'd recommend include "At the Mountains of Madness", "The Shadow over Innsmouth", "The Dunwich Horror", "The Call of Cthulu", "The Colour Out of Space", and "The Horror at Red Hook".
EDIT: I forgot that Lovecraft was also public domain now. You can read all his stuff online for free.
Decaying Reverie should i have a dictionary with me? A lot of old words? Trying to prep myself
SkidRacket probably want a search engine open. Some of these words might not even be in most dictionaries anymore.
sigh... ok.. i can do this ha.
SkidRacket If you have an e-reader or smart phone I recommend downloading the lovecraft collection to one of those, as they should allow you to search any word you come across directly.
Nicholas Knudson I like reading on paper, but thanks for the suggestion! This is going to be a project ha. If i can beat 2nd boss of defiled chalice, i can do this.
@10:00
I remember playing spore at 2 in the morning and when I got to the space stage I zoomed all the way out to the galaxy and I flipped out and started crying
thanks for reminding me by the way
The Great Ones Are Sympathetic
"in nature". But what one might call sympathy, another might call cruelty. Maybe to one of them, with their unknowable thoughts, they believe that your death is better than living. You see it is an act of aggression or simple blind hate, they see it as a mercy killing.
The only truly antagonistic Great Ones I can think of is the Amygdala in the Nightmare Frontier and the ones in Yahar'Gul.
Rom is docile until attacked. So is Ebrietas. Wet Nurse is protecting Mergo, Orphan of Kos is mad with grief over its mother, and Kos herself was a protective deity of the Fishing Hamlet until slaughtered by Byrgenwerth scholars.
The two Amygdala in the Cathedral ward are only trying to send you places, and any damage you take is due to frenzy exposure, so just your mind not coping.
The Great Ones are quite liteally sympathetic, for the most part.
I believe it was Gehrman killing Kos. At least from the trailer of the DLC you could see a man walking a bit weird as if having a wooden stoke for a leg and whaddayaknow Gehrman happens to fit that bill.
But indeed, most Great One's are sympathetic by nature.
The beasts aren't though, they want your booty like a grilled human steak at a cannibal feast.
The first guy you meet in Fishing Hamlet explicitly states it was Byrgenwerth scholars, tho, and Gehrman's affilliation at the time was with the Workshop, not the school.
Gehrman has a long standing affiliation with Byrgenwerth as he was part of their hunts into the chalice dungeons. You can also hear how close to Laurence he was in his dialogue, something that wouldn't make sense if it was supposed to be based from Laurence church era and instead makes more sense referring to his scholar era.
Personally I've always interpreted the Wetnurse as the true antagonist having actually kidnapped Mergo in cohorts with Mensis, acting as a link that they pulled from the void. Mensis was trying to call the moon presence but instead got the Wetnurse, a horror without the sympathy of the Great Ones who traps Mensis in a nightmare and spits out it's scholars in the form of the One Reborn. So the whole task for the player character was actually to be employed by the Moon Presence to rescue Mergo (potentially the Moon Presences child with Queen Yharnham) from the nightmare, thus why Mergo stops crying at the end of the battle.
PS: I don't think Amygdala are Great Ones, I think they are basically space parasites from the nightmares.
I love this game with all my heart and soul.
Heather Holt
Your DARK soul? *budum csssh* .......... I’ll see myself out.....
Sir Fijoe huh, i was really Bloodborne to experience this game
Ah I see what you did there
disappointment, that's what at the bottom of the chalice dungens
True story
At the bottom of it, at the center of it and even at the start of it. The Chalice dungeons and lacking deep replay value gained from level design and different build paths is what keeps Bloodborne to be less than Dark Souls for me.
I love the setting, story, lore, design etc. in Bloodborne but Dark Souls just adds that insane replay value that lacked in Bloodborne. And the chalice dungeons sucked ass...
+Paladin Leeroy Agreed! I'm playing my first Dark Souls 3 playthrough and i'm done with the Catacombs now and i'm enjoying my first playthrough of Dark Souls 3 more than i enjoyed my first playthrough of Bloodborne. Bloodborne is an awesome game (Better than Dark Souls 2 IMO) but it lacks build variety. The game's "Builds" are nothing but melee weapons and guns, that's it. And that can be boring. After i complete my first playthrough of Dark Souls 3, i might go back and play Bloodborne again, but i'm sure i won't play it for that long, compared to Dark Souls 1 or Dark Souls 3.
What makes Bloodborne more than Dark Souls to me is its much more interesting lore and world, tighter gameplay and the real uniqueness of well, everything. And also the fact that quality vs quantity is a thing to me.
Bloodborne's gameplay is tighter than Dark Souls, but it's world and lore is completely subjective. I like Dark Souls world and lore more than Bloodborne, but again, that's just me.
Man, this *really* makes me want to play this game.
What's stopping you? This game is bloody amazing dude :D
bob I don't have a Playstation.
+nordic fatcheese i feel you pain same here ;(
+bob Heh. BLOODY amazing.
As a die-hard Lovecraft "fan", I am more than happy with this kind of analysis. Well done, George! Good work!
Pretty sure the "blackest of african voodoo cults" refers to black magic and not to black people.
***** He's still referring specifically to african cults, so it's still unquestionably racist.
Yeah, african voodoo cults. I don't recall too many european voodoo cults.
***** Voodoo is a religion and you can't say "preferred worst things" as if killing in the name of one belief is any worse than killing in the name of another. Even today Albino Africans in Tanzania live in fear of being murdered as their body parts are said to have healing powers. If that's better than being sacrificed in an Aztec ceremony or stoned in an Islamic one, I don't see it.
Jakub Grygiel crusades was a peaceful meeting i supouse
Jakub Grygiel Wasn't there a thing called the Crusades?
If you like Lovecraft and these games I recommend reading Berserk.
+Lat3ksi The Atari one?
BatmanNoir No, not the games, but the comic/manga.
+Lat3ksi
Berserk is great, in fact From Software have been known to be inspired by Berserk in much of their work in Dark Souls and Bloodborne.
+BatmanNoir if you DO get to it, go with manga.
The rest, anime and movie, removes much infomation of it, and it's still not complete so yea
+manu m yep, for the full experience of Berserk, read the manga.
Nice video but to note, Gascoigne is not a vampire, it's part of the Plague of Beasts he is becoming bestial which is signified by the larger canine teeth. In fact I'm pretty certain there are no vampire like creatures at all in Bloodborne. Other then that which yes I'll admit is nitpicking, the video is great.
argetlam350 Hm, you're right, even at Cainhurst which completely screamed Dracula and Castlevania.
Cainhurst castle is very vampiric though, the Vilebloid Queen doesn't die properly and shares blood to make you one of her covenant
Majestic McLoaf
Ah, good point, guess I didn't pay attention since Logarius drove me nuts, I like that they didn't standout, its kinda neat by being more subtle about it.
argetlam350 The Blood-starved Beast has a grab attack where he sucks your blood from the neck.
I found the "conventional" horror in Bloodborne still pretty effective. That mad screams coming from the women of Hemwick (and all the throat-slitting in general in that area), the disturbing brutality Alfred commits on the blood queen and how he revels in it (which clashes completely with the friendly disposition he had all his previous appearances), and anguished/bestial screams coming from the few lit houses left in Yharnam all disturbed me more than anything in the Souls games.
vopop30
I thought the purpose of that was to infect you with poison like a snake, I'll pay closer attention when I fight it next time.
Don't forget Alfred taking himself out after killing Annalise, that was painful to see.
Amazing Video! Loved It!
I'm a huge Lovecraft Fan and a junky over the concepts and stories that have expanded through Cosmic Horror, and I was generally surprised when I heard that Bloodborne had taken this route literally.
I mean I already loved the Soul Games as they were and they already a very hopeless story and dripped with an atmosphere that bred despair. Practically a Dark Fantasy Story with Lovecraftians tones all over it, with no happy endings being achieved and everything ending in misery.
But Bloodborne simply took the cake with this one. With obvious Anit-Religious Overtones that Lovecraft expressed in his writings and actual Eldritch Abominations coming around, fucking things up, and being worshiped as Gods... This managed to do something I thought was impossible. It managed to make the action game in the style I've always love with From Software... and it blended perfectly with the Lovecraft Style Mythos without getting in the way of its gameplay.
That is something I've wanted for years now but felt like I have never gotten, now I have and I am REALLY happy about that. I mean with a style like this, the possibilities are just ENDLESS!
Bloodborne looks like Nightmare Creatures.
John Doe Bloodborne was homage to the nightmare creatures.
Search "Bloodborne Graphics" on RUclips - and the first result is pretty funny comparison ("Alpha vs Retail") which shows side-by-sides of Nightmare Creatures & Bloodborne
Klaus Funhauser This is completely made up, and you people have clearly never actually played nightmare creatures nor a souls game
Klaus Funhauser what? thats completely untrue haha. Bloodborne was a homage to Lovecraft and Bram stoker as well as his previous souls games. Nightmare creatures was probably a homage to Bram stoker's themes. That's probably why you think that its a homage to nightmare creatures. Also nightmare creatures doesn't even have the same scope as Bloodborne. I don't remember seeing aliens in nightmare creatures.
dude i actually played nightmare creatures back in the 90's, it's a crap game with tank controls which is the only way in which it is difficult it's nothing like a souls game, and just because they're both set in victorian style london-esque setting and have werewolfs(which is a staple of victorian era fiction anyways) doesn't mean it's a hommage the order 1886 has those too!
Sumerians with a thick lisp.
Thertle crethent.
+Samuel Lacher I altho like the Athyrianth.
I was waiting for something like this about Bloodborne because I've always loved H.P. Lovecraft's stuff and eldritch/cosmic horror in general. I found it really strange but pretty awesome seeing how it went from a world of zombies, vampires and werewolves to a an even more messed up world about extra-terrestrial abominations, it just goes to show how fucked the world is on Bloodborne and it makes it feel almost like the ultimate fanservice game to fans of just about every type of horror (Especially cosmic) with a good hint of action for good measure. That being said, great video George!
DarkStarAngelo after putting 140 hours into this game i still want more. more lore, more game play. Is there any one lovecraft story that has the best elements of cosmic horror? I really like the idea of going from investigation, to occult groups, to cosmic horror... anything like that? Also will it be hard to read? I tried at the mountain of madness, but failed.
Goddamn just my luck a lovecraftian game not on the pc.
Guess i'll have to hunt down a LP for it.
Thank you so much for the video.
morcova Stupid console exclusives, always have to ruin everything.
morcova If you want a LP of it, I suggest a guy called ENB. He's currently going through one, and he goes indepth into the item descriptions, environment, and lore of stuff around him, but doesn't spoil beyond what the viewer could know at that point of the game. He's also one of the authors of the official strategy guide for Bloodborne, so he's spent a good deal amount of time with the game already and has some insight into the producers and other people who were part of Bloodborne.
Simon Luttrell
It sucks I have only one +1 to give to this comment. Thank you!
morcova You could watch MrAndersonLP's Let's Play of Bloodborne. Or Helloween4545's LP of Bloodborne.
morcova watch TearOfGrace, never enjoy any other RUclipsr again.
Most of the Great Ones and some other enemies are basically analogues to Lovecraftian creatures:
Brain of Mensis = Shoggoth
Ebrietas = Mi-go
Fishing Hamlet villagers = Deep Ones / hybrids
Lesser Amygdala = Cthulhu
Moon Presence = Nyarlathotep
I don't know, I always felt Ebrietas had more in common with Cthulhu. But then I'm not entirely sure what Amygdala is based on.
If we take all direct physical appearance aside (wich should be because most Cthulhu Mythos creatures have the capabilities to change form. And even if it isn't said in any literature that the specific Old one/Outer God can lets be honest they are so powerful they probably can if they really wanted to) I see Ebrietas more like Gol-goroth. Since of his distasteful obsession with humans and him being a forgotten and left behind being fits well i think. Cthulhu (From what we saw at least) is a much less tough full being when it comes to humans. He would turn this world to chaos and madness just like his father Azathoth would and then leave earth never thinking about it.
I AM Cthulhu in the end.......hopefully haha
More of this please, Mr Bunnyhop. I've longed to do a series tracing the inspirations of games outside of other games, but that requires, erm, knowledge, worldliness and the like. I'll just soak up yours, ta.
"You must accept charging forwards"
I always hate (yet appreciate) those types of messages in Souls games. Just makes me go, "Oh, not again..."
Its actually strongly implied that the Vilebloods of Cainhurst are vampires. The game doesnt directly tell you that theyre vampires (though the game neither tells you that werewolves are werewolves along with other things), but they do live in a cold, isolated castle, drink blood, are aristocratic, are kind of immortal, once had connections with normal people before messing around with Vile Blood, and the faces on those gargoyle creatures strongly resemble that of the vampire of the original Nosferatu movie.
+CrownieCrown your guy is vampiric
What saddens me a bit is the fact that The Order 1886 came out right before Bloodborne, thus giving classic horror elements, victorian settings, and dark games a terribly bad name. Add to that the fact that turd was more advertised than Bloodborne and you have a very plausible reason as to why more people aren't interested in this game at the moment. Everything about the "classic" vampire/werewolves horror seemed lackluster by the time Bloodborne came out, but it's so much more than just the classic aspect.
+Alexander I don't think it gave the setting a bad name, just to The Order 1886. Specially because no one remembers the game not even to make fun of it.
Woah, the order came out before Bloodborne? Coulda swore it came out like a year afterwards. I believe you, I'm just surprised at myself.
Alexander Bloodborne still sold heaps and is pretty much vocal even today.Sony itself stated that the game exceeded its expectations in commercial success.
I'm glad it did well. It was/is a good game.
Alexander its my favourite game of all time,to be honest.
Man... This is, by far, the most entertaining and smartest gaming show I've ever seen. Props to you, dude. Keep making these. You got 1 more subscriber.
**spoilers**
...ALIENS!
**end of spoilers**
ayy lmao
+David Michael Supernor as a huge Space Odyssey and Clarke fan I can't believe I never made this correlation while playing! Top marks dude
Mother of god
I beat the game. I tried to make sense of the story. I read item descriptions. I paid attention at everything: The scenery, the cutscenes, the enemies, everything that is said to you (Even what the enemies say to you when you kill them). I made up theories of stuff as I went through the game. I tried so hard not to feel what I felt when I beat Dark Souls for the first time...
And after all that, I had no idea what anything meant. Now I see this video. What a way of making me feel stupid and ignorant. I love it. What a great video. I think I'll pick up a Lovecraft book now.
Brilliant as always, George.
So tragic HPL couldn't see his worlds reach a wide audience. Really sad.
I just wanted to say that I waited a full year to watch this video, because I knew I wanted to play this game with fresh eyes, and I'm glad I did. Your analysis of the ways this game pays homage to Lovecraftian horror without being beholden to it is frankly insightful. I consider myself a student of cosmic/lovecraftian horror, and I'm glad I kept myself ignorant to experience the game myself and form my own opinions. But watching this video gave me a more complete view of aspects of the game I was only slightly or subconsciously aware of.
In Call of Chuthlu, one of the sources the Narrator talks to says that Chuthlu and the Old Ones are sleeping until the stars align and allow them to awaken. It also says that they can't start to awaken without being 'triggered' by an outside source, which is why they came to the first humans and started the immortal cult.
Sounds like humans had a significant part to me. Especially when Chuthlu goes back to sleep at the end after being hit in the face by a Norwegian in a steamboat.
Wing0Alchemist Ha! I hate to sound patronizing, but, Norwegians did not only stop a horde of Nazi Zombies from invading the Southern countryside but they also put a fucking eldritch, cosmic god to sleep with a fucking boat! XD. No wonder Norway's my favorite European country.
On the other hand, though, there was this sort of catharsis that basically, according to the lore, the Elder Things or whichever one of the multitude of eldritch beings running around the universe that was Lovecraft's head planted human life on earth as a joke. Boy, what a joke, indeed...
I don't know why, but this is my favorite video of all time. Just something about it is so fun.
I'm starting to see Lovecraft even earlier in this game. I recently read _Dr. Herbert West: Reanimator,_ and the second chapter entitled "The Plague-Daemon" starts out by describing a typhoid epidemic hitting the town of Arkham. The disease is described as a "scourge" (akin to the "beastly scourge" in Bloodborne), and the chapter mentions "piles of coffins in the tombs of Christchurch Cemetery" which reminds me of all the coffins scattered around Yharnam. It's been suggested that those Yharnam coffins were to be transported to the Healing Church for experimentation on the bodies and then sent to Yahar'gul for ritualistic purposes (where they eventually turn into "Cramped Casket" enemies). In _Reanimator,_ Herbert West also experiments on some victims of the typhoid disease, and on one occasion accidently creates a horrifying creature that stalks Arkham for several nights, breaking into homes and ripping people to shreds with beastly claws. Perhaps this is how the "beastly scourge" was conceived?
I know I could be reading to much into these similarities between the novel and the game, but I can't help but think there is probably _some_ connection.
I'm pretty sure the developers read up on Lovecraft to a leveled degree before making the game.
Probably the best summary of BB in the context of LC ive seen
Bloodborne =
Dark Souls: Lovecraft Edition.
My interest in Lovecraft has been growing for so long, and I have finally purchased the complete collection of his stories - compiled into a beautifully presented book. Can't wait to dive into it.
Love the analysis and the insight into how Bloodborne takes inspiration from Lovecraft, and translates it into its storytelling and gameplay systems. Been trying to look for a video like this, post release - though it's not been too long since the game dropped.
It will be among the first games I get when I eventually get a PS4.
NASTAR01 Is it the knickerbocker classics one? I'm thinking of getting it
SkidRacket
It is, indeed, the Knickerbocker one.
You wouldn't be disappointed if you did make a purchase, especially at the price on offer. It both looks, and feels, lavish. My family guessed I paid a lot more for it.
I aim to get the Edger Allan Poe one next.
nozaj darkcaster Yup. If you're a fan, or are interested in his work, then you owe it to yourself to at least give it a look. Top result on Amazon, and a very good price.
Yeah, his views wasn't a pleasant surprise to me when I watched a documentary on his life - he did have it rough - but I won't let that stop me enjoying his great work.
Bloodborne is honestly a better Lovecraftian horror story than anything H.P. Lovecraft actually wrote
This is the most truthful and righteous analysis of bloodborne and lovecraft. It’s very similar to an article wrote. Great job man. You got a subscribe.
Ahh, Kos, or some say Kosm... Do you hear our prayers?
Why are you so amazing?
I would have wanted no other video than this on the matter of Bloodborne. God damn man. I havent even watched yet and I'm hyped as shit
Ok, you sold me on "The Shadow of Innsmouth"
Stumbled upon this video. Bloodborne and lovecraft are one of my favorite things in the world. Amazing video. Great job!
I love Lovecraft. He inspires me to make my own books about something called Hospital Nightmare ;) I'm working on it in Google Docs
that sound really cool, ii wish you the best luck maybe some day i can read it
I don't know why, but this is my favorite review of yours. I wouldn't even mind you covering exclusive Cthulhu mythos material. Just food for thought.
Bloodborne is love, Bloodborne is life
HonestMikeShow true dat. this is my second favorite game of all time. mgs still first. I'm biased though.
That zoom out is the best thing the internet ever gave me
Ow and keyboard cat ofcourse
"Victory. A hollow and ridiculous notion. We are born of this thing, made from it, and we will be returned to it in time."
DD?
Great video!!! I also was shocked when the game changed from a Val Helsing theme to a Lovecraft setting, I cannot stop playing this game.
Great video, but theres one thing I take a problem with: you make it a big point that the big twist of bloodborne is that the eldritch cult is practiced by the majority instead of by the minority like in lovecraft novels. But in innsmouth, the whole town does workship them. The only one that isnt in on the joke is the foreign shop owner. Other than that, great video!
+TheRainySky But isn't the religion in BloodBorne a major worldwide religion, where the one in innsmouth is kept to a single town?
Since people pilgrim to Yahrnam to receive their miracolous blood medicine, I'd say no but there isnt much information to go on so I see your point, yes.
When you think about it, the only people actually worshipping the Great Ones, are the members of the healing church. That's counting the school of mensis as well. Its not necessarily a religion practiced by the majority, when the whole yharnam population itself is completely unaware of anything going on or what happens behind the closed doors of the church, other than the recruited yharnamite hunters of course, but other than that, its all a pretty hush hush situation. A sinister one at that.
+TankBus not sure if u kno ( and yes I kno its a bit late post) but wait till you see the dlc MAJOR lovecraftian reference
Manuel Diaz
Havent played it yet myself cause Im not at home these months but it seems Fishing Hamlet is like the first, actual Innsmouth and then came Yharnams hunters, raiding and adopting their secrets. I just want to know whether they first found Pthumeria or Fishing Hamlet?
thank you for making this video I used it as a reference along with Uzumaki to show how big of an influence Call of Cthulhu was
Great vid this week!
Love Games and Lovecraft, by far one of the most interesting game videos of the last months to me by far. Thumbs up my friend!
A very good description of Lovecraft, why we love it and why it's so hard to put into a game. The horror is that you and I are meaningless in the face of an indifferent universe, how do you get that in a game? Got me, but if someone works it out it will be great.
+Nguroa
Another important element is the horror of the realization. So much could have been avoided if the protagonists weren't so overcome by their curiosity. Had they trusted their fear, they could at least continue to live ignorant and happy.
I recommend that you give the old horror game "Scratches" a try, It won't fulfill everything you want but if you don't mind slow phase, problem solving, point and click its a great experience, The only horror game that have ever gotten to me out side of the game.
dude. this was greatness. i never realized all the similarities,even downright blatant references to lovecraft in this game. just goes to show how the creator (of dark souls) makes such interesting mythologies/lore.
This video make me buy the game. It is so good and I have no idea what I am doing haha :D
Assuming you have not already done it..DO IT!
It's so fun, but ARRRGHHH so frustrating!
So, How did it go?
Eragon Freedman PS4 overheated :/ Need to wait til I get a new one now :(
Okay but how about NOW?
After watching a H.P. Lovecraft Documentary and then watching this video made sense. Great video. Bloodborne and Love Craft a perfect union.
Racism as bad as frame drop? This is why you're awesome
wooow, duude! amazing work. being an old lovecraft fan i never made or noticed a lot of the connections. Thanks a LOOOT!!! mindblowing!
Ah, H. P.'s racism.. If I remember correctly, in one short story the terrifying reveal at the end is our heroe's mysterious lost mother being black (the horror :).. Yeah, definitelly different times.
UsmevavyPanacek LMAO this is golden!
I got really giddy too when the game starting going into lovecraft territory. awesome video! Glad you made this
wow that was good man.
Great video. I had no idea that the Lovecraft inspiration was so prevalent in this game. You've increased my appreciation for the game so much more.
Damn ... now i want to experience Bloodborne myself even more. What a shame, that a PC port isnt in sight so soon, if at all. I'm a huge fan of Lovecraft since i read his stories as a teen. And after all those years, they still give me the creeps. Also, i love the Dark Souls series and already sunk 1000 hours in both Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2. Well, maybe i'll get a used PS3 in a few years and can play Bloodborne when everyone else already has.
Ps3? I thought this game was on the Sega Genesis
TheDustyMuffinsss He's confused. It's for the Nintendo Gamecube.
Aiyumu HG i have a virtual boy, is there any chance they will port it?
Guys c'mon, he just made a mistake, no need to trash him!
So listen *GamerGate Deutsch*, as it has been announced even before the game was launched, Bloodborne is solely for the PS4. In other words, there are no versions of Bloodborne for the PS3, so you'll be wasting your time if you buy one just to play this game.
TheDustyMuffinsss OH! ...okay. Damn, I'm slow! XP
Congrats! Must be really exciting to have your work highlighted on Kotaku.
"Pits and pendulums"
>not mentioning Poe.
Your best work in a long while.
I was expecting a Mass Effect reference, though -- the 'Lovecraftian' underpinnings of that series is also unmistakable.
um that vampire is not a vampire father gascoin was turning into a beast
shadow strike
cainhurst is the cloest thing though
to castle dracula i get that but father gasqouin is not a vampire *sorry for the misspell*
Father G isn't but the inhabitants of Castle Cainhurst are the closest things to vampires in the game. The feed off other people's blood for their own nourishment/pleasure.
ok got it um how fast can the top hate set be got before the boss fight with father g
shadow strike Not sure if i am late answering this, but you can't get the top hat before gascoigne, it is right after him...unless you are in new game+ which means you fought him once=) also there is no top hat set, just a lot of sets that go really good with it=)
And just so it's out there, the sound track in this game is so awesome it send chills down my spine and it also set the mood perfectly
I think that if they are from outer space, that automatically makes them... extraterrestrials... just saying.
+Davito Malak I'm just super sayan.
CABBAGE! LIES!! You are a Cabbage
+Davito Malak
The answer is YES!
+Davito Malak in the stories some elder ones were out side of reality.
Got directed here from Dan Recommends over at Extra Credits. Totally worth it. Have my like!
It's getting a bit tiresome that we can't talk about Lovecraft anymore before first addressing his racism. It's basically becoming a cliche on it's own. Where some strawman will accuse you haven't been looking deep enough into his works if you haven't mentioned it. "Look people I really know what I'm talking about because I noticed he wrote racist things!".
Let's just assume that everyone before the 1950's was inherently more racist than we can stomach today and keep it at that. Unless that said person made it his lifework to be some kind of discriminating prick like grand wizard Nathan Forrest or, let's say Adolf Hitler, there really is no reason to make some kind of disclaimer EVERY time you speak of them.
Especially because in this video it is completely irrelevant to the comparison you are trying to make between his fiction and Bloodborne. You might as well mention if he smokes, beat his wife or missed church more than twice a month.
There's also a Lovecraft inspired book re-telling one of his stories called, "The Ballad of Black Tom," from an african american author Victor LaValle. I still haven't had time to pick it up, but it is interesting how Lovecraft has drawn so much attention. I think the issue with early Mormons and black people should be remembered and brought up to light more, but religion and cults have a way of allowing real racism to be excused in doctrine and spiritual zeal. I can't see a skinhead reading an H.P. Lovecraft novel and being empowered by it though. lol.
Do you... do you think the Spanish Inquisition burned books? They just used ineffective bureaucracy to enact censorship. Where are you getting this information, a Monty Python sketch?
"or the nazis in that Indiana Jones film"
...
got to have Ron Perlman put on the Hellboy suit and all is good.
The fascists and the Inquisition are not synonymous amigo.
i am not a big fan of dark souls type of games and have never read anything by Lovecraft, but now i just want to consume everything written by him. keep the good work and thanks George. You Rock.
Bloodborne for the win.
nah man... bloodborne for winDOWS.... i wish i could play it too :-(
What a strong video. 3 Minutes in and I'm like ''never thought of it that way''. Good stuff!
Has vaatividya seen this? I think he would find this fascinating
Very inspiring video! After playing Bloodborne I now have a thriving interest to read some of Lovecraft's works!
1:26 Hey I know that game. That's that Yahtzee game.
This is probably one of the best written videos yet, George. Good work!
Bloodborne... yet another reason I own consoles.
I waited until I had finished the game before I watched this video. What a great pay off! Thanks man!
"Lovecraft was racist" So a normal person then during that period? I don't see how that's relevant to even mention.
Lovecraft was notably more racist than his contemporaries, to the point where we’ve found letters from his friends being like “Woah dude, that’s a little far...”. The guy used to fantasize about dropping cyanide on Chinatown ffs. It’s relevant to discussions of his work because it shaped his worldview, and is therefore pervasive throughout his stories. It’s not just as simple as the quotes mentioned in this video. Lovecraft’s horror drew heavily from gothic horror, including the use of “the other” as a source of horror. For Lovecraft, this element took on an explicitly racial/xenophobic tone, as seen in works such as Innsmouth, which deals with anxieties over racemixing, and the recurring theme of “tainted bloodlines”.
You really know how to keep my eyes glued to the screen, great video George!
being racist isnt a flaw. its just his opinion. A flaw would be him being physically disabled or just a bad writer.
It might've been an opinion within his time period as it was common but in today's world it's viewed as a flaw because of this multicultural generation. Today racism is viewed as a flaw because it poisons your judgement towards people. This is especially true with homophobia as it can literally destroy good friendships between people as I've seen happen. But I'm in no way saying you're wrong for being this way as I've found no definitive answer to whether racism is beneficial or not to the way we behave with other humans.
racism is by definition the holding of views based on preconceptions of others solely on the non-merit of their ethnic or racial makeup.
Being racist is not just belonging to a different school of thought. It's a symptom of someone who doesn't know better. It's less forgivable now than ever, but even in Lovecraft's time it was not impossible to rise above the notions of racial worth established by the ruling class.
You forget that Lovecraft was xenophobic; he would've never "risen above" it, as his fiction clearly shows, he let his fear run away with his imagination.
As someone who owns a PC and does not intend to purchase a PS4... well, you've certainly made me envious, George. Excellent synopsis.
Hmm, it seems that all the Souls games (Bloodborne included!) all borrow from Lovecraft.
Demon's souls: Old One (a being of unfathomable power). So powerful that it is more a force of nature
Dark Souls 1/2: The slow and gradual decay of the world around you. You can try your hardest to stop it, but it doesnt really matter in the end as humanity is always fucked. Felt kind of nihilistic, which i love compared to many modern games that always make you the ultimate badass
Bloodborne: Yea, you already said everything
About Dark Souls 1 and 2, Dark Souls 2 ruins the inevitable decay of the world, or what i would like to call, a new age for new life (age of ancients was the dragon age while age of fire was the gods), it goes down to the generic cycle theme of the fire relighting itself ( even though it doesnt make sense since the age of ancients didnt have a mcguffin to repeat itself)
Suwat Saksri No, you don't get it.
Dark Souls 2 is about breaking the cycle of Life and Death, Dark and Light, and rather than rekindle the flame or unleash an age of dark, you can simply refuse and walk away and find a different path.
gold pyro you are totally right, i just played through the 3 DLC and i know its late but i always tried to stay away from Spoilers like the new ending with Aldia but wait a minute, doesnt that mean that the flames are going to be kindled anyway no matter what you do? Just like in DS1, it doesnt matter what you choose, there is always going to be a powerful undead who is going to rekindle the flame, the DS2 character may choose to walk away but that changes nothing about the cycle, the DS2 character is just simply immune against hollowing and curses while also being immortal
Suwat Saksri
Yes, a chosen one always appears, but I believe there can't be two chosen ones at the same time. This one managed to live outside the cycle since he is now immune to the curse, but the rest of the world is still fucked. It's a bit like Bloodborne where you can become a Great One yourself but the rest of Yharnam are still doomed.
+Xenos369 Dark Souls has Lovecraft in it? Pretty sure the "Gods" there were just really powerful humans.
Noticed allot of this myself. Great video.
Can't wait for all the lore videos people are going to make.
George is like VSauce for games, but better!
I do love the subtlety of your writing George.