Bloodborne: The Old Hunters – An Interview with Yasuhiro Kitao
Home » Articles » Game Articles » Bloodborne: The Old Hunters – An Interview with Yasuhiro Kitao

Bloodborne: The Old Hunters – An Interview with Yasuhiro Kitao

More Bloodborne! More, more, more!! That’s right, after all the info we’ve cranked out over the past 36 or so hours, we have even more!

We were incredibly lucky to get an interview with the awesome Yasuhiro Kitao (head of Marketing for Sony Japan, who Fex beat the Watchdog with) and asked him some questions about the game:

1) How many Weapons will the The Old Hunters bring?

Including Main and off-hand weapons, there will be more than 10 weapons added to the game.

2) How many new Attire?

There will be several new attires added, but we cannot tell you the number at this time.

Fex’s Note: We know of the “Disguise Hood” and other bits of this attire worn by the Harrowed Hunter. Check details and soon more images here.

3) How many new Bosses? Ludwig was a notable Boss announced recently, will there be other notable ones that will surprise the player based on the lore of the game?

There are more bosses, but we cannot tell you the number. You will see things that reinforce or shake theories and expand on the story, so look forward to familiar names.

Fex’s Note: Ludwig may thus not be the only lore-impacting surprise. You can see his movesets on the video below. The demo was made easier to account for the conditions of the floor.

3B) Will we see any notable figures from the lore make an appearance as an NPCs? Will we get to see younger versions of existing NPCs?

We can’t confirm this at the time, look forward to it.

Fex’s note: There are new NPC summons such as Old Hunter Yamamura. To summon him, you need a new item, an “Old/Elder summoning Bell”. I will be adding translations of the Japanese flavor text (description) in the morning here.

4) How many new areas, and how will they be implemented into the game? Where will you enter the DLC from?

There is more than one area, and the demo is showing only a small section of one of those areas. The areas have varying styles (not just the style shown in the demo) and when asked about a frozen landscape, he answered with a laugh and a “we’ll see”.

The DLC will be accessed after a certain amount of progression, using a specific method. Players should be able to enter the DLC using their current saves and characters. I can’t quite tell you if it would be possible to progress to a point where the DLC cannot be entered.

Fex’s Note: Word on the street is 3 areas, comprising about 25% of the size of the total game. A sizeable addition!.

5) Is there any new Chalice Dungeons and Chalice Bosses? Will there be any changes to the Chalice system? If So, what are they?

The Old Hunters expansion will not bring new Chalice Dungeons or such, however a patch is planned to augment the replayability and the friendliness of the dungeons, separately from the expansion.

6) What about Gems? Will there be new Gem Types or higher tier gems?

We cannot comment on Gems at this time (laughs)

7) How about rebalancing? Will existing Weapons be patched to accommodate the new Weapons? Any Weapons specifically?

Before launching the expansion, we will consider player feedback and compare current trends to how we envision the game, and we plan a balancing patch before release if we deem it necessary. There should not be any major changes, however.

8) Will there be any changes to the multiplayer? If so, what are they?

Oh … (laughs) this we cannot say yet (laughs more). So many secrets!

9) Will there be new Runes? Covenant Runes?

Ohhh… this I cannot say either (laughs)… but look forward to it!

10) Are there any modifications to NG+?

There will be no core modifications to NG+

11) Have any of the core mechanics of the game changed? If so, how?

Core mechanics will not  change, however the whole game will change as the new NPCs will not only be within the expansion but instead be available, appear and affect other areas of the game.

12) Are there any plans for another Bloodborne Expansion next year? What about Bloodborne 2?

We don’t have any specific plans at this time.

Fex’s Note: Bloodborne’s producer, Masaaki Yamagiwa, said “The Old Hunters” was originally two separate DLCs that were merged into one large expansion.

13) Is there anything in particular you would like to say to the Bloodborne Community???

Miyazaki san has worked hard to make this expansion and Dark Souls 3 live up to From Software’s standards, and we hope you all enjoy it.

That is it for the interview, and although we are very tired from two long non-stop Gameshow days, we have some more bits and pieces regarding weapon names, lore and descriptions, as well as images of new items. Bookmark this page on the wiki to see new updates during the weekend after we’ve had a chance to sleep!

About the Author

Games

Comments

23 responses to “Bloodborne: The Old Hunters – An Interview with Yasuhiro Kitao”


  1. I would like it if it was free for those who preordered and got like the Collector’s Edition, but eh, I’ll be glad to shell out for this expansion :)

  2. >

    Will there be a Bloodborne 2?

    how many digits of pi do you know?

    Is the Souls series actually a test for humanity and all those who beat it will become super beings upon death?

  3. It was really great to meet and greet on behalf of the community, I will follow up with questions if you guys have more, just let me know. We certainly loved what we saw and it made us very excited to get back into the game

  4. Am excite.

    Love that the expansion is adding things to the main game too. Hopefully that means extra summons/NPCs scattered around. I know Yharnam is supposed to be dead but it just feels too dead.

  5. >

    You’re in NG + buddy, so it will be harder than in NG. I think you’ll still find it challenging.

  6. Any new talking NPCs and lore inspiring content is welcomed. I wonder if everywhere presenced sculptures will get some meaning. More gear is not important at all.

  7. Awesome!! More npc summon, attire, expanding lore and maybe some new convenant as well. :cheers: praise the oldblood!!

  8. I have only one character which is level 150+ and on NG+. From the above posts it seems the expansion is set around mid game and should be played with level ~75 character.

    So can I use my level 150 character to play the expansion? Wont the expansion become too easy this way?

  9. Welcome back :)

    I’m quite hyped for the dlc. The new weapons are likely to change the game radically and spice up co op and pvp in unexpected ways.

  10. I am back!!! DLC HYPEEEEEEEEEE!!! YEAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! TIME TO USE MY WHEEL AGAIN!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

  11. The hype is real!

    Seems like they’re gonna add elements to this game to make it more complete and replayable. That’s what I hope at least…

  12. “The DLC will be accessed after a certain amount of progression, “

    My bet is after VIcar Amelia. By then you’ve gotten you hands dirty, feet wet, and clothes soaked in blood, but you still haven’t seen anything yet. Plus, that’s when night starts.

  13. Thanks for the heads up @DS10 I made some additional notes. It is important for me to highlight that Kitao specifically said “more than 10 weapons” – so idk what the foreigner press got translated but if you read the article they call the bowblade a dagger too so perhaps it was not the best of translations… unless daggers now look like swords :P

  14. Woa. New bells? Wonder how they will impact us in Multiplayer….

    Omg, the sword of the Bowblade looks sick!

  15. An awful lot of “no comments” in that article :-S:

    There may be a wee bit more info here for anyone who hasn’t seen it.

    http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-09-18-bloodbornes-two-dlc-packs-have-been-combined-in-the-substantial-the-old-hunters

    3 new areas….25% of the size of the original game….No changes to dungeons…no plans for more DLC… accessible at some point in the first half of the game.

    “The demo on the show floor at Tokyo Game Show was de-fanged somewhat in order to be more approachable, with some of boss Ludwig’s moves being removed.”

    Whether it’s accurate or not??………

  16. They’re adding new summoning bells? Interesting. And maybe changes in multiplayer……even more interesting.

    Besides that, new weapons, new armor, new gems and runes and covenants (he says not sure, but we all know that means probably, especially if he laughs about it),

Log in to leave a Comment

Latest from Fextralife