Awesome / Bloodborne

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

• Anytime you slay a boss is awesome. Instead of YOU DEFEATED or VICTORY ACHIEVED like its predecessors, Bloodborne uses PREY SLAUGHTERED. That's right; all the giant horrors and abominations that roam Yharnam are merely things meant to be hunted and killed by you.
  • The premise of the game is basically FromSoftware going "Let's take all of the classic horror monsters, vampires, wolfmen, Frankenstein's monster, zombies, Frankenstein zombies, and Cthulhuoid abominations, crank them up, and you, yes you, go have fun killing them." Once you get past the initial, universal terror of facing these creatures, through gameplay, you learn to become a Hunter of these beasts, and it is glorious.
  • It can only happen thrice in a playthrough, one of those times being with the True Final Boss and another for slaying the (phantom form of the) Final Boss of the DLC, but that just makes it all the sweeter when you see those two wonderful words: NIGHTMARE SLAIN.
• The visceral attack animation is aptly named and simply awesome; upon opening up the enemy's defense, instead of attacking them with your weapon, the Hunter plunges their hand through the unfortunate adversary, before ripping it back out in a gargantuan shower of blood and gore.
• Darkbeast Paarl is simply awesome looking — everything from its terrifyingly awesome design with a horrific human face and crackling with electricity, to the way the electricity looks and moves on its body.
• At first, it may be difficult to take Old Hunter Djura seriously. Although a Hunter, he is still more-or less human, and after the fight with the altered Father Gascoigne, another old man doesn't seem like a dire threat. As you make your way through Old Yharnam, dismissing or outright ignoring his warnings to turn back, you round a corner only to be immediately pasted by a hellishly lethal Gatling cannon, courtesy of mister Djura.
  • You may also expect him to be a Glass Cannon, due to his age and his reliance on heavy weapons. Yet if you finally manage to reach him, he averts that trope with a vengeance.
• You gotta give credit where credit is due; the fact that your character went from being some poor schlub trying to find a cure for their illness and getting in way over their head with the Yharnam Hunt to the most badass Hunter in the city is certainly a nice feather in their cap to have. They're basically an Action Survivor. And this goes double if you chose the "Waste of Skin" origin. Even more so when you get the secret ending by defeating Gehrman and the Moon Presence, probably the most powerful entity in the game, and turn into an infant Great One. And that's after killing several creatures that are basically alien gods before ever getting that far.
• Just five words: "Tonight, Gehrman joins the Hunt ..."
  • This really warrants further explanation. At different points throughout the game, this man has been your cryptic guidance, and one of the only Hunters that truly knows what you're going through, having been a great Hunter himself once upon a time. But now, for the first time since he trained Lady Maria, he's facing down another Hunter who equals him in power and skill. So what does he do? He stands up, revealing that he didn't even need the wheelchair, and whips out a huge and absolutely badass-looking scythe. After saying the above line, the fight begins, and it's made abundantly clear that he's lost none of his edge.
  • Not only is the fight an awesome boss battle, it's also a Last Dance upon a Last Dance. You've been to hell and back conquering everything that tried to stop you, and you've become the most skilled, powerful, and unstoppable Hunter since Lady Maria and Gehrman himself. This battle is a test of all you've accomplished, against the only foe left that could give you a challenge, and the only obstacle standing between you and the end of the journey. And the boss himself? After seeing Hunter after Hunter die in droves, none ever managing to reach his level, the old man finally has met a Worthy Opponent in his own pupil, one who can free him from the Nightmare, if they can prove themselves capable of surpassing the greatest Hunter of all time. It's the end of the journey for both of you, and what better way for two warriors to go out than in an epic duel to the death.
• The Amygdala boss fight is pretty awesome; you are fighting a "God" of Fear and Nightmares, but when you bring it down to 1/3rd of its health it rips off its back arms and starts using them as weapons. You managed to piss off a "God" so much that it mutilates itself in an effort to kill you. Very awesome.
  • Also a moment of awesome for the Amygdala herself. It really doesn't want to lose.
  • Bonus points if you do it with the cannon. The God of Fear is no match for a few light artillery shells to the face.
  • A moment of awesome for the players. The small chamber after the Amygdala fight is full of notes basically shit-talking it as a false god. It's one thing to slay an eldritch deity; it's another to spit on its grave afterwards.
• Befriending Eileen the Crow and getting her badge. Considering her occupation (hunting other Hunters who have lost their minds), being given her badge is a great honor, a badass acknowledging another. Taking out her final target is also a Moment of Awesome by itself, considering he is by far the single most powerful NPC in the game.
• In Cainhurst Castle, you will encounter a number of tough enemies. They are among the most skilled swordsmen you will ever encounter in a game, wielding rapiers with deadly precision. If you're not on your guard, they can kill you in seconds. Are they the queen's Praetorian Guard? No, they're the castle's cleaning staff!
  • This also says a lot about the actual knights of Cainhurst, armored and otherwise; the fact they were lead badasses in a staff full of them implies that they would be seriously dangerous if actually faced down in battle ingame. You can encounter one of them (the Bloody Crow at the end of Eileen's questline) and he's in the running for the hardest enemy in the game.
• While the idea of versatile transforming weapons is awesome already, transformation animations deserve a separate mention. To be specific:
  • The Saw Cleaver and the Saw Spear just open and close with a satisfying shink.
  • The Hunter Axe will extend and shorten rapidly.
  • The Threaded Cane will transform with the flick of a wrist into reverse grip.
  • The Kirkhammer and Holy Blade will 'click' to signify the blades are locked and unlock in place.
  • The Blade of Mercy will twirl to separate.
  • The Beast Claw will transform your arms into sharp wolf talons.
    • Especially if Beast's Embrace is equipped in tandem.
  • The Whirlgig Saw will spin for a while on your back.
  • The Wheel of Logarius has the weapon become seeped in a crimson mist as the Hunter revs the wheel, unleashing the spirits trapped inside with a ghastly roar. Special mention goes to the transforming attack, in which the Hunter raises the wheel overhead before ripping it open and slamming it down on their foe with a satisfying crunch.
  • The Beast Cutter is the Threaded Cane on steroids, functioning in much the same way... except instead of flicking your wrist, to transform it you swing it around above your head and then lock it into its transformed state. And to realign it, you slam the tip on the ground like the Threaded Cane.
  • The Holy Moonlight Sword will gain its signature blue aura. The transformation attack back into the regular form is particularly spectacular, as the Hunter raises the weapon above their head dramatically before bringing it down in an explosion of light.
• The Hunter transformations introduced in the DLC are pretty badass.
  • The first changes you into a beast, specifically a wolfman. Not only does this give you bonus Beasthood and a greatly improved Beast Claw moveset, but also great visual effects, such as changing your rolls to pounces and giving you a wicked looking head.
  • The second changes you into a cosmic entity known as a Lumenwood (think of a human with a blue cauliflower for a head). Originally, it just looks goofy, changing your rolls to faceplants, with the only passive seemingly the boosted item discovery. However, with the Kos Parasite weapon, you gain Combat Tentacles and a powerful arcane explosion. Beware the Silly Ones indeed!
• The sheer fact Ludwig's humanity was able to wrestle down his beasthood, and temporarily restore himself, right before he dies after being defeated by the player.

  • It goes beyond that: the Holy Moonlight Sword itself saw that Ludwig was close to death, so it transformed itself and helped him wrest his humanity back from the beast he'd become. The supposed in-universe reason you can't do any of the amazing attacks Ludwig can (besides the obvious one) is because Ludwig still has the sword's loyalty, and it's theorized that the Guidance rune dropped from Ludwig was inscribed into his memory by the sword. Is it any wonder he refers to the sword as his "guiding moonlight"?

  • The fight itself is no slouch, and perfectly shows what to expect from the rest of the DLC. You see a horrific beast-abomination come towards you snarling, eyes in a second mouth, limbs all the places they shouldn't be, and it begins to attack you like most of the frenzied beast monsters like Cleric Beast or Paarl. Then you get it to half HP, it collapses and catches sight of its sword; then Ludwig wrestles his humanity back and takes his sword in hand, using those hooves that shouldn't be there to stand tall, and begins to bombard you with celestial sword beams and magic attacks that wouldn't look out of place in an anime.
  • Ludwig stops taking extra damage from serrated weapons in his second phase. Even the game acknowledges that he has conquered his beasthood and no longer considers him one.
• In comparison to the Dark Souls series, Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower. In a series known for, among other things, usually having a humanoid opponent for either an ultimate or penultimate boss, she manages to be far more badass than any of them. Counting the ways: she's incredibly fast, uses well honed swordplay against you, and while you gradually whittle down her HP, she starts to use blood to increase her range and make approaching her require precise dodging and an intuitive understanding of her attack rhythms, and even lights her extended slashes on fire. Throughout the fight, every single skill you've learned during the course of the game is put to the test, and never gives you even a small bit of breathing room.
  • Adding to the above, every comparable boss from the Dark Souls series can be cheesed in some way: False King Allant of Demon's Souls can actually be poisoned to death without even being aggro'd (hint: you need the Thief's ring, and a certain spell), you can literally just stand there and parry Gwyn of Dark Souls to death, and the Throne Watcher and Throne Defender of Dark Souls II can easily be separated and dealt with if you bring along two human players. Even Gehrman can be parried regularly – though he is comparatively easy to dodge – and the Moon Presence is child's play compared to those that came before it (continuing a trend in the Souls games where the final boss is usually either easier or far more manageable than the ones preceding it). Even Sister Friede, Maria's Spiritual Successor in Dark Souls III and SNK Boss, exists in a game with the Storyteller's Staff, which can let any player use poison against her that scales viciously with her health pool during her most dangerous phase. But Maria? None of these strategies work on her AT ALL, and while you CAN visceral attack her to death, she mixes up her attacks and dodges so well you'll probably miss the timing and get sliced up and Visceral'd yourself, thanks to all her attacks having a different parry window which CHANGES as the fight goes on to different stages. And while it's possible to stunlock her for a little while in the beginning, all it does is leave you with no bullets and a boss in her second phase of the battle, and if your partners aren't careful, she'll tear right through them like a sword through rice paper. So far, the only weapon that can almost trivialize her is the Whirligig Saw (you can stunlock her with the special attack as long as you have stamina), and she can dodge out of that too if she wants. It is also a case of Difficult, but Awesome, as you have to land the attack just right in order to make full use of the Saw; if you can use it well, you deserve to waltz through the fight.
  • Also take special note: Your character faces down eldritch horrors, monstrous beasts, and armies of madmen and they never once show much more emotion than mild caution. When you see Lady Maria's face, your character meekly backs away in visible shock. Whether this hesitation is due to whom she resembles or fear is open to interpretation, but out of everything in the game this lone woman is the only thing that ever makes your character back down even if only for a moment.
  • On one final note, until you force her to her desperate last legs, Lady Maria fights you with pure SKILL. Most bosses have to resort to using the power of Great Ones, or using insane amounts of force, or simply ganging up on you. But Lady Maria? Give her an opening, and you're dead.
• Most of the Old Hunter weapons from the DLC ramp up the trick weaponry. Whirligig Saw is a buzzsaw spear that sends sparks everywhere, the Beast Cutter is a heavy sword version of the whip-cane for Strength users, the Moonlight Greatsword makes its reappearance and so on.
• The Butchers in the Fishing Hamlet have a nasty grab attack where they pin you to the ground and repeatedly chop into your head with their cleavers, dealing an insane amount of damage. If you struggle out of it, however, you stop the cleaver on your wrist and then throw them off of you. It's small, but the sight of it is badass.
• If you listen closely (if you can hear over all the beasts screaming bloody murder), you may notice that certain tracks, such as The Cleric Beast, Ludwig, the Holy Blade, or Laurence, the First Vicar actually have lyrics being sung in Latin. Unsurprisingly, the word 'Sanguine' (Blood) is one of the most common words. Even though few players will notice it, and probably fewer make out the lyrics, it's amazing to see the amount of detail they put into even the music.
• The intro cutscene for the Moon Presence after consuming three Umbilical Cords is incredibly badass. The Moon Presence attempts to grab you in its hands, presumably to either kill you or make you Gehrman's replacement, but you emit a wave of raw energy that throws the noticeably larger being backwards by several feet. It hunches over, seeming almost afraid. That's right; you haven't even harmed it and you've already managed to scare a Lovecraftian moon monster. Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu? indeed.
• While the fight with Mergo's Wet Nurse is generally considered disappointingly easy (especially considering it's one of three contenders for being the Final Boss), when it uses its power to darken the arena and you're surrounded by multiple clones of the Wet Nurse appearing all around you and lunging out of the shadows, their multiple blade-wielding arms reaching out to catch you in a whirlwind of blades, illuminated only by a sinister purple glow, it's an incredible visual spectacle that will send a shiver down your spine.

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