Dark Souls II

So you'll all know how much I love the first Dark Souls and how much it means to me if you've read my review of it, but going back to Dark Souls 2, I suddenly remembered the rather copious amounts of hate this game gets, especially from fans of the first. And do I agree with it? Well, yes and no.

The basic gameplay loop is still the same, and still really great, and the combat has received some tweaks for the better, including backstabs no longer being an instant lock animation, so they're no longer as ridiculously powerful as they were in the first game, magic and miracle builds are now much more viable, there's a huge increase in weapons, shields, items, spells, armor, basically everything really, and poise has received a much needed nerf.

So gameplay wise, there's really not much to complain about. It's just Dark Souls but made better. The big bugbears mostly come in with the areas and the bosses. Most of them, especially compared to the first game, are just not that memorable or well designed. There's also a fairly decent amount of them that are just a flat out pain. Not challenging but enjoyably so, like most areas in the first game, just a pain. There are of course a few stand-outs, but it remains sorely lacking compared to the first. This also applies to the world design as a whole, which is nowhere near as tight or interesting as the interconnected world of the first game, largely because areas don't tend to lead into each other the way they did in the first game.

The presentation is...so-so. Somehow it looks graphically worse than DS1 despite coming out three years later, and although sound effects are still great, the music is, again, sorely lacking compared to the amazing score from before. The UI has improved a ton, but other than that there's not much to say about the presentation. Most enemies and characters still have really nice designs, even if the areas unfortunately don't as much.

As for the story, while I still enjoy the lore a lot, the narrative of the game as you're playing it really isn't as well paced as the first game. It starts off fine and the middle is still good, but by the end, it just starts to feel like it's sagging across the finish line with the lack of any stakes being raised.

But as you can tell from my rating, I do still really enjoy this game, even if it's not as much as DS1, and I would recommend that you not let the more negative opinions on it discouraging you from playing it if you liked the first one.

Dark Souls 2 is one of those games I have played so many times I have put hundreds and hundreds of our into it and I enjoyed very much.

For me Dark Souls 2 is a world of collapse and Decay but it's so far gone that there is almost nothing to save, every place you go that's only hollow shell of what was before.

The atmosphere is so dead, but beautiful and the item descriptions are mostly just I think this happens hundreds of years ago because the history is so far gone that it just memories now and those are almost gone.

My favorite line of Dark Souls because it's talked to me.

There is no path, beyond the scope of light, beyond the reach of dark.

What could possibly await us?

And yet we seek it, insatiably.

Gameplay still very strong I enjoyed it has a weird feeling of floatiness and doesn't really feel good to play before you have the adaptability that at least add 39, but that moment you do that it feels fun. I enjoy this game as boss even if most of them are just defeated and get out of there. It's not really the most memorable boss fight game, but the world is certainly memorable for how destointed it is.

The more I played the more I enjoy this game. It's the opposite of Dark Souls 3 where I enjoyed more on a gameplay level but less and less on the story Level From the more I play it.

Waiting for the 2nd DLC of Dark Souls 3, I felt like going back to the previous entry for some extra experience, but was kind of worrying that after the phenomenal final chapter, this sequel wouldn't seem as great as the first impression. I was wrong. I had one helluva fun. It's certainly completely different from master Miyazaki's vision, but Yui Tanimura has nevertheless done an excellent job. No wonder that so many people simply become addicted to this franchise. While other games you play, Souls' games you have to survive, but for the time and patience they take, you'll get the unforgettably rewarding gameplay you'll be proud of for the rest of your life and will want for more.

First off, if you have played DS1, you know what you're in for. It's not going to be an easy ride. It will test your resolve and your patience, it will demand that you learn from your mistakes and find an angle, it will punish you for being lazy, it will teach you a thing or two about tenacity. But perhaps most of all, it will create an unforgettable, rewarding experience that will stay with you for the rest of your days. This sequel is everything you could hope for and more. It retains the original's mean spirit but somehow becomes more accessible and less tedious. Enemies respawn a set number of times, the bonfires are closer together so you don't have to walk 5 miles to get back to that boss that has murdered you 50 times over. The combat is refined and more polished and this time around, you are encouraged rather than discouraged to be versatile in combat. While in DS1 you had to pick your class and stick to it, and being a mage was pretty much an invitation to suffer horribly through the game, this time around being a mage is a viable option. Cast times are faster, spells do more damage and have more variants and more enemies are weak to them. However, it's always good to have a trusty halberd or greataxe in hand too, as well as a greatbow and shortbow and your trusty pyromancy flame. Being versatile means you can handle anything. The only class that I have found underwhelming is the faith build, or perhaps I just don't know how to use it? While I did love the realm of Lordran, Drangleic is more vast and has a more Gothic feel to it, where Lordran had a more medieval, enclosed vibe going for it. I am somewhat on the fence about the bosses. I did appreciate that they were more numerous, I think there are twice as many in DS2 than its predecessor, but they weren't as unforgettable as the bosses in DS1 were, nor as challenging. Besides the optional bosses, which border on unfair, most bosses could be breezed through in two or three tries where in the last game each one was worth at least a dozen death sentences, and thus immortalized them in your mind. The areas you visit range from downright ugly and unpleasant (the Gutter, the Crypt and Harvest Valley) to eerily beautiful (Huntsman's Copse, Shaded Woods, Iron Keep and Lost Bastille) to simply breathtaking (Dragon Aerie, Castle Drangleic, Heide's Tower of Flame and Shrine of Amana). Character customization has improved, with more attire to be found and worn to great effect, most carrying special properties that help immensely. The story is still ambiguous, as has become custom, but that is part of what makes it so unique. Dark Souls' lore and story is a topic that could be discussed and debated for hours upon hours, and this time isn't any different. If you're a fan, you're in for a treat. If you're not, after this you certainly will be.

I tried playing this game maybe 3-4 times, always sequentially (after DS1 & demon's souls, and before DS3 & Bloodborne), always for about 10-20 hours.. and then I quit every time.

My complaint back then (when I would've rated it a 5 or a 6 out of 10) was pretty much just "this doesn't feel like dark souls", and in a way I still stand by this quote... but no longer view it as a bad thing.

DS2 actually excels above the other games in a number of ways. It is the largest/longest game in the series by FAR, it has the most variety of playstyles/classes, which are actually better balanced in comparison to the other Souls games. Hexer class & dual-wielding any weapon are a massive addition to the series, and the PvP is the most balanced I've seen out of any of the games, with little capacity for twinking.

DS2 is definitely a different kind of world from the others. But if you look past the stylistic difference of this game and immerse yourself in the new world, you might find yourself loving it just as much-- or perhaps even more, than the other games in the Soulsborne universe.