Important Life Lessons I Learned From Playing Bloodborne
Anyone who tells you you're wasting your time playing video games is completely wrong. As I mentioned earlier, video games can teach us important life lessons.
For example, even Bloodborne, a horror action-RPG set against a backdrop of terrifying man-beasts and unknowable, uncaring godlike entities, can teach us valuable skills for becoming better human beings. Below are some tips for mastering Bloodborne and, by extension, mastering life.
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Lesson 1: Looks Matter
As you might expect from an RPG, Bloodborne has a large selection of equipment for your character to wear, with varying stats to provide defenses and resistances against all the cruel ways the world will hurt you. The difference in this game is that those stats largely do not matter -- A one-shot kill will still end you no matter what you're wearing.
Knowing that the stats are basically meaningless instead emphasizes how important your outfit looks. This game lets you dress your hunter up like a dapper beast-slayer, a slovenly hobo, or a crazy person with a metal cage on their head. Certain NPCs will react differently depending on the threads you're rocking.
Just as in real life, it's important to dress the part. Different outfits convey different messages. Whether you come off as classy and composed or drunk with bloodlust (or just regular drunk) can affect whether you nail that job interview.
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Lesson 2: Do Not Lock On
Like in many 3D action games, Bloodborne lets you lock on to a target to focus your attacks (and the camera) on that one enemy. The problem comes when this mechanic actually makes certain fights more difficult.
Lock-on, like the various weapons and consumables at your disposal, must be handled like a tool. Locking the camera to a giant beast that is four times your height while you're right under it greatly narrows your field of vision, or even obscures your character entirely. Contrarily, scoring hits with thrusting weapons and guns requires the level of precision that only lock-on offers.
We are taught that unerring focus and agonizing over details constitutes good work ethic, but that's really just another tool for getting stuff done. Being able to see the bigger picture is just as important. Oftentimes, many of our mistakes in life come from only doing one and not enough of the other.
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Lesson 3: You are Insignificant
Most first-timers to Bloodborne treat it as though your player character is some badass action hero who is protected by plot armor and destined to win in the end. Even I tried to karate chop the first werewolf to death on my first playthrough.
Realizing you're not the protagonist of your own personal epic and coming to terms with your insignificance is what separates functional adults from edgy teenagers. Even a high-level character can be killed in one or two hits from certain attacks or stunlocked by a group of trash mobs.
It's no surprise, then, that you can outrun nearly every non-boss monster in the game, and a majority of the boss fights are optional. The game, by design, gives you the tools to cope with your weakness. Whether you use them to complete your objective and wake from this awful nightmare or continue to fight endlessly as though it proves some sort of point is up to you.
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Lesson 4: Try Everything
The game isn't just perfectly timing attacks and dodges learned from careful observation or trial and error. Sometimes, you have to go against your instincts to get results.
It might go against all logic and intuition to dodge toward your enemy to avoid attacks, but that's actually the secret to beating many of the bosses. Additionally, you can avoid all of the Blood-Starved Beast's attacks simply by strafing left and duck under some of Pthumerian Elder and Orphan of Kos's attacks using the Deep Respect or Beg For Life gestures.
If it weren't for people trying seemingly random crap, we likely wouldn't have discovered the use of the Make Contact gesture. Also, we wouldn't have as many amusing Youtube videos for this game, or in general. Point is, you don't know what works, so you might as well try everything.
Even if it kills you.
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Lesson 5: Do Not Fear Failure
Bloodborne is known for its high difficulty. Unless you are a veteran of the Souls series made by this game's developer, you can expect to die a lot.
Yet, the game is rarely outright unfair. Whether it was due to a poorly timed dodge or over-aggression, each death is a mistake on your part. Your punishment is you lose all the Blood Echoes you had, you're warped back to the last save point, and all the non-boss enemies respawn.
But, more importantly, it is not the end. You have the opportunity to retrieve your lost Echoes by returning to the spot where you last died. Armed with the knowledge of your previous mistake, you are better-equipped for overcoming whatever challenge felled you in the first place.
This teaches you that you should not be afraid to make mistakes. Rather, you should be afraid of not learning from them. Nothing in this game is insurmountable, unless you refuse to change and continually make the same errors over and over. Each death is an opportunity to grow, but only if you seize it as such.
------
Bonus Lesson: Babies are Gross
For example, even Bloodborne, a horror action-RPG set against a backdrop of terrifying man-beasts and unknowable, uncaring godlike entities, can teach us valuable skills for becoming better human beings. Below are some tips for mastering Bloodborne and, by extension, mastering life.
------
Lesson 1: Looks Matter
As you might expect from an RPG, Bloodborne has a large selection of equipment for your character to wear, with varying stats to provide defenses and resistances against all the cruel ways the world will hurt you. The difference in this game is that those stats largely do not matter -- A one-shot kill will still end you no matter what you're wearing.
Knowing that the stats are basically meaningless instead emphasizes how important your outfit looks. This game lets you dress your hunter up like a dapper beast-slayer, a slovenly hobo, or a crazy person with a metal cage on their head. Certain NPCs will react differently depending on the threads you're rocking.
 |
| No matter what you wear, you're still going to die. |
Just as in real life, it's important to dress the part. Different outfits convey different messages. Whether you come off as classy and composed or drunk with bloodlust (or just regular drunk) can affect whether you nail that job interview.
------
Lesson 2: Do Not Lock On
Like in many 3D action games, Bloodborne lets you lock on to a target to focus your attacks (and the camera) on that one enemy. The problem comes when this mechanic actually makes certain fights more difficult.
Lock-on, like the various weapons and consumables at your disposal, must be handled like a tool. Locking the camera to a giant beast that is four times your height while you're right under it greatly narrows your field of vision, or even obscures your character entirely. Contrarily, scoring hits with thrusting weapons and guns requires the level of precision that only lock-on offers.
We are taught that unerring focus and agonizing over details constitutes good work ethic, but that's really just another tool for getting stuff done. Being able to see the bigger picture is just as important. Oftentimes, many of our mistakes in life come from only doing one and not enough of the other.
 |
| The bigger picture |
Lesson 3: You are Insignificant
Most first-timers to Bloodborne treat it as though your player character is some badass action hero who is protected by plot armor and destined to win in the end. Even I tried to karate chop the first werewolf to death on my first playthrough.
Realizing you're not the protagonist of your own personal epic and coming to terms with your insignificance is what separates functional adults from edgy teenagers. Even a high-level character can be killed in one or two hits from certain attacks or stunlocked by a group of trash mobs.
 |
| Difficult no matter how strong you are. |
It's no surprise, then, that you can outrun nearly every non-boss monster in the game, and a majority of the boss fights are optional. The game, by design, gives you the tools to cope with your weakness. Whether you use them to complete your objective and wake from this awful nightmare or continue to fight endlessly as though it proves some sort of point is up to you.
------
Lesson 4: Try Everything
The game isn't just perfectly timing attacks and dodges learned from careful observation or trial and error. Sometimes, you have to go against your instincts to get results.
It might go against all logic and intuition to dodge toward your enemy to avoid attacks, but that's actually the secret to beating many of the bosses. Additionally, you can avoid all of the Blood-Starved Beast's attacks simply by strafing left and duck under some of Pthumerian Elder and Orphan of Kos's attacks using the Deep Respect or Beg For Life gestures.
If it weren't for people trying seemingly random crap, we likely wouldn't have discovered the use of the Make Contact gesture. Also, we wouldn't have as many amusing Youtube videos for this game, or in general. Point is, you don't know what works, so you might as well try everything.
Even if it kills you.
------
Lesson 5: Do Not Fear Failure
Bloodborne is known for its high difficulty. Unless you are a veteran of the Souls series made by this game's developer, you can expect to die a lot.
Yet, the game is rarely outright unfair. Whether it was due to a poorly timed dodge or over-aggression, each death is a mistake on your part. Your punishment is you lose all the Blood Echoes you had, you're warped back to the last save point, and all the non-boss enemies respawn.
But, more importantly, it is not the end. You have the opportunity to retrieve your lost Echoes by returning to the spot where you last died. Armed with the knowledge of your previous mistake, you are better-equipped for overcoming whatever challenge felled you in the first place.
 |
| Some people learn faster than others. |
This teaches you that you should not be afraid to make mistakes. Rather, you should be afraid of not learning from them. Nothing in this game is insurmountable, unless you refuse to change and continually make the same errors over and over. Each death is an opportunity to grow, but only if you seize it as such.
------
Bonus Lesson: Babies are Gross
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