Ｏｎｌｉｎｅ Ｐｒｅｍｉｕｍ VVIP+++ Bloodborne Official Artworks by FromSoftware

Udon Entertainment (July 4, 2017)

Bloodborne Official Artworks by FromSoftware

Bloodborne Official Artworks by FromSoftware is I preordered this over 2 months ago. The artwork and print quality is phenomenal, and any fan of Bloodborne will love the content. But in all honesty... this really should have been a hardcover. It's very similar to a Prima 'strategy guide' in terms of quality. For a $40 book, it was shipped in a yellow envelope and stuffed in my mailbox. It has several minor dents and curled corners. It deserves a proper hardcover release. Grumble.

Bloodborne Official Artworks by FromSoftware is Only Negative thing I have to say that there wasn't a HARD BACK option and the lack of DLC Artwork. Also slightly disappointed not much commentary from the Creators was included. Over all the art was beautiful(and horrifying <3 )

Bloodborne Official Artworks by FromSoftware is I know a lot of people want to back up Udon and FromSoftware with the fact that this is paperback and it's its own book, but I can see why people would be displeased with the fact this isn't a hard cover nor is there an option for that also. The art is amazing and I still fully recommend the buy. However, it's clear that they knew this would sell like hot cakes and because it's a smaller publisher they went cheap to maximize profit. That's the problem I have. It's not a reflection of the quality of Bloodborne. If I was Hidetaki Miyazaki (I don't know if I spelled that right) I'd make sure to go with Dark Horse next time. The final thing about the physical quality is that a lot of people say it's not fun to compare, but in one sense you have to in order to gauge what a good, long lasting, and readable book is. In another you have to understand art books are collector's pieces. Do I want to collect a fat magazine that may not hold up after 3-4 reads? Or would you like the lesser priced (for what I paid) Fallout 4 art book that is so thick and heavy you need a crane to read it? (Obviously that's rhetorical for perspective) It is rather on par with some text books that could cost triple its price.About the art, sadly I have the least to say here because you can only write so much about art from a game many of us have beaten repeatedly. Obviously the book has content we've never seen until now. So for the alternate designs of the weapons, characters, architecture, and maybe most importantly, the beasts, I'm extremely impressed. I could expect nothing less from the Japanese artists who took so much time exploring Arthurian Lore and taking the time to interpret old legends of western culture. All you really need to know is this book is worth it if all you want to see is the art and you don't care that a great deal of other books on the market (for some games that aren't even AAA titles) have much better physical quality.

Bloodborne Official Artworks by FromSoftware is While the artworks allows for some neat insights into the creation of Bloodborne, with a close look at the original character designs and rich, painted environments, the book itself leaves a lot to be desired. It simply feels like Udon cut corners when it came to putting this book out on the market.While the pages are highly glossy they're also quite thin, and feel almost magazine quality. This is softcover, which is astounding for the price it charges, where most if not all comparable artbooks are hard cover.Finally the print layout doesn't do the game any favors. Some of the locations and monsters are truly breathtaking, but the publisher saw fit to stuff these into half page, even quarter page boxes, rather than dedicating full page spreads to do the artwork justice. There's a lot of real estate left to empty, white spaces, and it's frankly frustrating that I can find higher quality images of the same artwork online.The only reason I don't rate this lower is that the game's original artists put a lot of tender loving care into bringing their world to life, and it's not their fault Sony and Udon saw fit to bring us a glorified, overpriced magazine special.