First of all I have to say I am kind of a Souls-virgin. I have started playing Dark Souls 2 and quit after about 4 hours of dying. I have sold the game without a second glance.
That was one of the reasons I had my doubts about Bloodborne. I didn't buy it at launch, but got my hands on it when its price started to drop. I have been playing it for a couple of hours now and I must say, so far it has been great! It's one of the most immersive games I have ever played. It looks gorgeous, its atmosphere is Gothic and its attention to detail is astonishing.
I didn't start out this positive, though. My first attempt at the game had me killed 5 times in about as many minutes. I couldn't get past the first lycanthrope, even after I got my hand on my first weapon! This lead me to believe this game was just like DS2: not for me. Nevertheless, I couldn't just stop here, could I? So I pushed on, killed me a couple of henchmen and started to get the hang of the combat system. What's more, I started to like killing henchmen in different ways and got thrilled by the challenge of new, bigger monsters. That is - according to me - one of the incentives of the game: there aren't a lot of weak enemies in Bloodborne. Each enemy needs to be treated with respect as you engage in a lethal dance of dodge and attack. You need to be on your guard the entire time, as the smallest mistake can cost you your hard-earned blood echoes - well, not really, as you can retrieve them afterwards, but then you have to fight your way back to where you lost them.
The game also encourages you to attack instead of cringing fearfully into a corner. If you do the latter - as I did at the start - you'll die a lot. Once I let go of my fear and started hacking valiantly into my enemies, I discovered I died a lot less. Skill comes with time, but it does come. I got a lot better over time and even killed the Cleric Beast on my second go. The feeling of accomplishment after the first boss kill is overwhelming!
As you need to work hard to acquire them, spending blood echoes is something worth deliberating. Should you spend them on vitality, receiving more HP, or on strength, making enemies a little bit easier to kill? As the price of each perk rises with time, it gets harder to choose which stat you want to raise to make your journey a bit easier.
If you are having trouble at the start, I can only give you one advice: don NOT give up on the game. I didn't and now I am a real fan of Bloodborne. If you are looking for an easy game, this is not for you. But if you are willing to take the time, you'll start to enjoy it, I'm sure. The game is hard and unforgiving and you will die a lot, but it is not impossible to beat. It can be frustrating at times, but it will lift your spirits to unknown levels at others. A must-play, as far as I'm concerned.