Bloodborne, according to my friend

[NerfedFalcon]

So, I don't have a PS4, but a friend of mine just got one and he's been playing Bloodborne a lot to prepare for Dark Souls 3. He came over recently and I showed him Resident Evil 4 on Steam, and he suddenly realised something interesting:

In Bloodborne, you mainly use a blade and a gun, and the game begins in a village with a bonfire burning someone in the centre, filled with people who, upon approach, will attempt to chop your head off, and who can be dispatched easily unless they get you surrounded. You will also encounter a very strong enemy who can and will kill you in one hit until you realise you're not supposed to fight him right away.

In Resident Evil 4, you mainly use a blade and a gun, and the game begins in a village with a bonfire burning someone in the centre, filled with people who, upon approach, will attempt to chop your head off, and who can be dispatched easily unless they get you surrounded. You will also encounter a very strong enemy who can and will kill you in one hit until you realise you're not supposed to fight him right away.

Discussion value: Other influences that entire segments of Bloodborne, one of 2015's most original games, may have taken from non-Souls games; or other games that totally ripped off RE4.

 

[DefunctTheory]

...Are you serious?

Guns, blades and burning people aren't just staples of video games, they're key themes and tools of virtually every medium of entertainment and story telling ever devised.

You haven't stumbled upon an influence, you've discovered the concept of tropes.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

This isn't even a trope, unless natural, obvious things existing makes them a trope. Those elements are more akin to there being a sky when you look up and things bleeding when slashed or shot. You wouldn't call a game akin to another because both have a sky now, would you. Nor if people in both games walked upright, and saw using their eyes, and did many other obvious normal things.


To draw paralels based on such things is to be shallow in ones analysis.

 

[Evonisia]

I got very "Resident Evil 4" vibes when I seen the flames - but is that aspect really all that original to RE4? Not at all.

It's pretty shallow observations - trivia, at best.

But for other games that ripped off RE4 - hmm. I'm fairly certain the Brumak fight from the original "Gears of War" is based on the grey giant boss fight from RE4, but I wouldn't call it a ripoff.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

The only game that I would accuse of ripping off Resident Evil 4 is Resident Evil 5. Well, maybe Dead Space too.

 

[josemlopes]

I loled, like, no, using a weapon to kill enemies is not ripping off another specific game.

And the rest has been around in the other Souls games (and in fact plenty other games) with other things added and removed from the mix

 

[Fox12]

...Are you serious?

Guns, blades and burning people aren't just staples of video games, they're key themes and tools of virtually every medium of entertainment and story telling ever devised.

You haven't stumbled upon an influence, you've discovered the concept of tropes.

Let's be honest, there's no way you saw that snake burst out of that guy's head, and you didn't think of RE4. There were definitely some homages to Resident Evil in that game, just like there were homages to Berserk in Dark Soul's.

 

[DefunctTheory]

...Are you serious?

Guns, blades and burning people aren't just staples of video games, they're key themes and tools of virtually every medium of entertainment and story telling ever devised.

You haven't stumbled upon an influence, you've discovered the concept of tropes.

Let's be honest, there's no way you saw that snake burst out of that guy's head, and you didn't think of RE4. There were definitely some homages to Resident Evil in that game, just like there were homages to Berserk in Dark Soul's.

I can say there is no way, because I don't own a PS4 (And after DS3, which I'm told is like Bloodborne, I no longer want one). /whee

As described to me though, I don't really see anything unique to RE4.

 

[Remus]

Less RE4, more Salem, Mass circa 1692. Fire, guns, axes and knives have been around for literally hundreds of years. This does not make their use a trope.

 

[JagermanXcell]

Hardly. Maybe for the first 10% of the game, and that one section with the "Snake head=Las Plagas" comparison most people I know made.

Then we hop a few hours into the realm of Bram Stroker, Miyazaki's never ending love for Berserk referencing and

Spoiler

literally AAAAAAAAAAAALIENS

At that point the comparison becomes shallow.

 

[CaitSeith]

It sounds like a huge coincidence to me (specially since the strong enemy in Bloodborne is killable, and the one in RE4 isn't). They both seem to have the same source of inspiration:

Spoiler: Click to play video

 

[shrekfan246]

If Bloodborne "ripped off" anything, it was a graphic novel called The Marquis - Inferno [https://www.google.com/search?q=the+marquis+-+inferno&biw=1366&bih=666&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiQo8rgm5TMAhUD8z4KHfARAq0Q_AUIBigB] and the aforementioned Berserk.

(I mostly just wanted to take the excuse to post about The Marquis, because what I've read of it so far is actually pretty good.)