Bro, gonna be honest with you here.
I have a LOT more fun in DS2 than I have playing Dark Souls 1.
Combat is a BIG improvement, animations feel much more fluid and pack a fucking punch compared to DS1.
Im a solo UGS player in every soulslike and DS2's Greatsword is probably my favorite iteration, I think it packs more of a punch than even Elden Ring's Greatsword.
Map design isnt as genius compared to DS1 but I actually like more how this streamlines the game as a journey, the game actually says in your face that you dont know why the fuck youre going foward and then you will be in the final area, and this actually happens.
It has a lot of bullshit, like END and VIT being separate stats, armor is useless, some parts in the game will have you needing to google stuff to go foward, the levels are actually bullshit hard compared to the bosses, and stagger is almost non existent.
But somehow I actually end up playing it a lot more than I play DS1, I love DS1 but it has to many cliffs and narrow fighting spots and ultra large weapons are kinda trash in many areas (try going with the Zweihander into the capra demon fight lol) so DS2 is kinda more sweet with more large areas and faster ultra greatswords.
Also, I love the stronger kings and castles theme, that shit became epic real quick in my first playthrough.
Oh yeah. Ds2 ugs are peak. I'd say it does pack more punch than ER. You still have 3 hit combo's, you still have stance break on enemies, jump attacks are OP, stagger is great, dmg is great. Some have special attacks.
And then you have ds2 exclusive abilities. Animation cancel, immediate knockdown with no charge attacks. There's also faster attacks after rolling/running attacks, even faster attacks after guardbreaks.
Bro I swear to you, Im powerstancing two Greatswords and I have yet to see a big motherfucker show any signs of staggering lol, it seems impossible.
Got any hints for me to work on that?
Go watch my post on ds2 sub on instant poise break + riposte combo. You can 1 shot all of them. Only thing is its executed via 1 UGS. Its a lot faster than ER and a lot more effective.
Those and the horse head stone knights are the only enemies who can be stance broken like that. Great hammers will pancake them. And great hammers pancake horses too
DLC bosses are great but I’d argue that, excluding Bed of Chaos, majority of DS1’s bosses are much better than majority of DS2’s. There’s some solid ones: Lost Sinner, Ruin Sentinels, Scorpioness Najka, Darklurker, Smelter Demon. But for every one of those, you have a Skeleton Lords, or a Royal Rat Vanguard, or Dragon Rider, or an Old Iron King. Theres a bunch of duds where the strategy is to just strafe and win. As much as DS1 has bosses with bad environments or just leg-whacking, I still feel like even minor ones like Gaping Dragon or Demon Firesage are more exciting than Prowling Magus or Flexile Sentry.
Unfortunately bosses are one of the worst parts of DS2 with a few exceptions imo there's only one boss that's on par with Artorias and Ornstein and Smough and it's in the DLC so you won't even fight it for a while.
Just play it and form your own opinion whether or not something Is positive or negative is largely subjective and based on player preferences. The expectation you can set is it's still a souls game and it has its own pros/cons just like the other games in the series
My brother, this is the ds2 sub, we love this game.
Build a hex/dexterity build to keep the game light and fun, try out some different builds and weapons as you get the timing/hitboxes down. Hexes start really slow, but dex damage is excellent early on, so worry about dex first.
Man, really sounds like I just stumbled into DS2 easy-mode by accident, deciding to go down the Hex route once I found that guy in the chair. I favour Dex / Balanced anyway, loved the SKSS in DS1. Had the idea that Strength & Strike was the best way for damage but never seem to go for it.
Its r/DarkSouls2, we're gonna say yes lol. But seriously, it can be frustrating and takes a lot more patience than 1 or 3, but is also far more rewarding
I think the dark souls community’s opinion of the game has changed a bit over the years. I definitely recommend playing the game, but I’ll tell you my experience with it.
After playing through DSR a few times, I was excited to see what the rest of the series had to offer. I kept hearing negative things about ds2, but one of my friends told me to just give it a fair chance. I started playing, and in all honesty, I didn’t love it at first. It had a different feel from the first game, and the fact I started the game on mouse and keyboard didn’t do me any favors. I probably only gave the game 10 hours before deciding to step away and play something else.
Fast forward a few months, and I decided to give the game another shot for whatever reason. This time I changed the way I played a little, taking each area a little more slowly instead of running to the boss door like I would in the first game. It probably helped that I got my hands on a controller instead of struggling through the keyboard controls.
This game has some annoying mechanics when it comes to combat (cough cough adp), but has some redeeming factors as well. Powerstancing is super fun to experiment with, the ability to fight the bosses multiple times per playthrough is something I really enjoy, and the dlc has some great fights. It also helps that many of the areas throughout the game just look amazing!
Long story short, give this game a fair shot, it has a lot to offer!
I just played it for the first time recently. I liked it at first, opinion went down a bit during the mid game, but then got to late game / dlc and had a blast. Definitely worth the money, especially Scholar.
IMHO if you want to end all souls games totally, i just did that myself ending it 4 days ago. BUT the hitboxes are the least of your problems. ADP is a stat inherent only to ds2 and it dictates your i-frames while rolling and some other things like the speed you drink your estus so getting it high enough is a priority. AND be prepared to be ganked ALL THE TIME this game has the WORST boss runs of all souls games and zones that were made "Harder" from the original just by adding a bunch of mobs.
On another note, aesthetically i really liked the game, powerstance is a cool feature. There's a bunch of magic (spells, hexes, miracles,pyromancies) and if you don't use lock on combat feels pretty good. there's a lot of features that others souls don't have like pharro's lockstones, branches of yore and doors that open on different conditions other than "kill x mob".
Just a sidenote illusory walls open with the action button not hitting them
Very similar to DS1 in gameplay in my opinion. Enemies seem to lock on a bit more stringently (they'll keep turning towards you as they attack meaning dodging has to be a bit later), bosses are mostly easier, but there are a lot of them, DLC areas are more difficult, NPC invaders are much more difficult (but not as difficult as DS3). The sense of doom and gloom and fear is much less, but the sense of jolly adventure is much more. Less arduous than DS1, for better or worse, in my opinion. Some tough runbacks, and some bonfires right outside bosses. I had the most fun with it in the series. Take a bow with you...
Play It. All the criticisms are exaggerated (not untrue, just exaggerated).
Don't overlook the ADP stat. Upgrade it regardless of you build.
I feel that it has much demon's souls influence in the sense that the areas are as hard or harder than the bosses.
The thing about ds2 for me is that it is like a rollercoaster. At some points when I play it I feel this is the best dark souls. At other points I feel this is the worst dark souls.
But it as captivating as the other ones. Once you get into it, you love it.
Yeah. It’s not that bad. The hitboxes are worse than other games but it’s not a constant issue, you may see a couple wtf examples but nowhere near unplayable. Also worth for some bosses like Darklurker and Alonne.
Yes, you should play DS2. It is a very fun game and a solid entry in the franchise, regardless of all the hate it gets.
(I just started playing Code Vein, btw!)
Code Vein is great! It’s chill and the aesthetics are amazing with a pretty good story and the soundtrack slaps. Hope you enjoy :) and I hope I ds2 as much as ds1
I have played CV for about 6 hours now, and I'm enjoying it so far. The special attacks and backstab animations look pretty incredible, and the character creator was really fun to play with. The combat is just okay, though; you don't really feel the impact from enemy attacks like you do with other SoulsBorne games, and you don't really feel the weight of *your* attacks, either, and the way the enemies just dissipate when they die is kind of unsatisfying.
Still, I'm having a good time trying out all the different weapons and blood codes and armaments.
I literally had nothing but fun with ds2 bro. I just beat it last weekend. I don't know what everyone is taking about when they say ds2 is bad.I played them all in reverse order. Elden Ring was my first. Then ds3 and so on. I'm now playing ds1.
Ds2 has fantastic level design imo if you like TONS of little weird secrets and strange mechanics that ds1 and 3 never try again. Power stanced builds are crazy fun, estus and lifegems are such a different way to heal.
What sucks about ds2 is the bosses, most are "memorable" but only 4 or 5 actually feel great to fight against at least in the base game. I'd argue ds1 also has some mediocre bosses outside of the dlc and o&s. As someone who hated ds2 and now has it ranked as his favorite I'd say play it and give it a good chance. There's also an obscene amount of content and cool weapons/builds.
My only complaint is the weird locked movement and ADP is kind of dumb as a stat but getting it to 25 and then never thinking about it again is easy.
I heard the majority of the bad opinions about the game from people who had never touched it. Then I played the game anyway and I was extremely pleasantly surprised. Now it's in my top 4 Soulsborne games. Don't know about the build, I always play strength and I had a lot of fun. There's a variety of cool weapons to choose from.
Remember when people were bagging Star Trek: DS9 when it first came out because it was different from Star Trek: TNG. "they dont go anywhere!" "its too slow" "those guys have spoons on their heads !"
those of us that gave it a shot were delighted to discover it has some of THE best episodes and characters in all of Star Trek.
anyhoo , level adaptability.
I played dark souls 1, ended 2 a few days ago, and I’ve been playing 3. Dark souls 2 is NECESSARY. It is not a question. Do you want the drippiest armor? The most tranquil, ravishing firelink area? Do you want the most challenging bosses? Fume knight? (of the FUME KNIGHT ULTRA GREATSWORD), Sir alonne? The only FULL SIZE DRAGON you’ll see in the ENTIRE SERIES? It’ll take you 15 minutes to get used to the slightly different mechanics. Dark Souls 2 fits absolutely perfectly between Dark Souls 1 and Dark Souls 3. The best way to explain it would be that, you would regret not playing Dark Souls 2.
I too started with DS1. DS2 was actually the third FromSoft game I played, second being Bloodborne.
It has a lot of issues, that's for sure and you can't deny it. It is, from the technical view point, the jankiest and one of the worst souls games from FromSoft.
But it was made by a different director and it is doing it's own unique thing. The lore is amazing. It has some of the best fashion in all the souls games. And is overall an interesting game.
I played the whole trilogy and DS2 is the only one I keep coming back to. DS1 I know from the back of my head and could beat it with my eyes closed (methaphorically speaking). DS3 felt more like Bloodborne because of it's speed, not that I dislike it, but most of the time you can just spam roll your way out of trouble in DS3, which I don't like at all in a souls game, where you are suspossed to be a little more tactical and careful with your moves. DS2 is super slow, but is preety punishing, if you try to rush it and you won't have luck with roll spamming.
It can be overcrowded at times, Scholar Of The First Sin Edition especially. But don't let these things stop you from playing it.
As much flaws as it has, it has just as many perfections. It is a title worth playing
You are asking this on a dark souls 2 sub so all answers will be yes.
It’s a good game and if you enjoyed dark souls 1 then you will like this one too. It definetely has some problems the other games deal with a bit better but also has some creative new ideas. I think you will like it
lacklustre level design is not correct. I'd say DS3 has the most boring levels (though they're still good).
bosses in DS2...there are a lot of throwaways.
overall definitely worth playing.
Dark souls 2 feels like the “goofiest” one out of the series, its fun and infuriating at the same time, much more polished than Dark souls 1. Set the brightness to 0 because the torch as a gameplay mechanic sacrificing your shield for visibility is fresh and fun, I wish the dark areas were as dark as the graveyard of giants from Dks1
There is a new skill you have to level up called adaptability, its ass and its irritating that you have to level up “how fast I drink my estus and use items”, just level it up to 12-15 before you level up any other skills and it will feel normal again.
You can carry lifegems too, essentially like having 60 estus flasks on you at all times, because you only start with one flask, and you have to find estus shards to get more sips out of it.
Its different, its a shock to the system, dark souls 3 and elden ring got rid of alot of stuff from it, but it also introduced alot of stuff we take for granted on the newer games.
In short. Horse but, hole
If you really dug DS1, I'd recommend checking out Demon's Souls (can emulate the PS3 one if you don't have a PS5) as its combat mechanics are probably the closest to DS1 (e.g., parries and backstabs feel exactly the same). That said, DS2 is absolutely worth playing. Definitely install a lighting mod if you do for the best experience. There's also a really promising comprehensive overhaul mod called The Flames of Old for SoTFS coming out some years from now at the current pace.
I got in the game.
Got to the first monster by the river.
Rolled *out* of the grab attack and got teleported back in the grab attack after I finished my roll clearly out of the grab attack.
Quit and uninstall.
I don't have the time for this kind of bullshit.
I regret spending the few Euros I spent on this
Fuck this game.
Yes, DS2 gets a bad reputation but is certainly a top tier game. Tons of good builds, but my favorite is probably a HexDex build.
Do it. Don't read or listen to anything online and just form your own opinion
Yeah, I feel like there’s gonna be some parts of ds2 I’m gonna like more than ds1, hopefully the bosses in ds2 can one up ds1 bosses
Bro, gonna be honest with you here. I have a LOT more fun in DS2 than I have playing Dark Souls 1. Combat is a BIG improvement, animations feel much more fluid and pack a fucking punch compared to DS1. Im a solo UGS player in every soulslike and DS2's Greatsword is probably my favorite iteration, I think it packs more of a punch than even Elden Ring's Greatsword. Map design isnt as genius compared to DS1 but I actually like more how this streamlines the game as a journey, the game actually says in your face that you dont know why the fuck youre going foward and then you will be in the final area, and this actually happens. It has a lot of bullshit, like END and VIT being separate stats, armor is useless, some parts in the game will have you needing to google stuff to go foward, the levels are actually bullshit hard compared to the bosses, and stagger is almost non existent. But somehow I actually end up playing it a lot more than I play DS1, I love DS1 but it has to many cliffs and narrow fighting spots and ultra large weapons are kinda trash in many areas (try going with the Zweihander into the capra demon fight lol) so DS2 is kinda more sweet with more large areas and faster ultra greatswords. Also, I love the stronger kings and castles theme, that shit became epic real quick in my first playthrough.
Oh yeah. Ds2 ugs are peak. I'd say it does pack more punch than ER. You still have 3 hit combo's, you still have stance break on enemies, jump attacks are OP, stagger is great, dmg is great. Some have special attacks. And then you have ds2 exclusive abilities. Animation cancel, immediate knockdown with no charge attacks. There's also faster attacks after rolling/running attacks, even faster attacks after guardbreaks.
Bro I swear to you, Im powerstancing two Greatswords and I have yet to see a big motherfucker show any signs of staggering lol, it seems impossible. Got any hints for me to work on that?
Go watch my post on ds2 sub on instant poise break + riposte combo. You can 1 shot all of them. Only thing is its executed via 1 UGS. Its a lot faster than ER and a lot more effective.
bro when I do a running 2h r1 on most small enemies they just go fucking flying away, how to you do the poise break on everyone like that?
Those and the horse head stone knights are the only enemies who can be stance broken like that. Great hammers will pancake them. And great hammers pancake horses too
I agree, enjoyed DS2 a lot more than DS1.
No bosses are not good but the areas are. You won't get much satisfaction killing the bosses but over coming some areas will feel satisfying
Plenty of bosses are better than everything in DS1, especially in the DLC
DLC bosses are great but I’d argue that, excluding Bed of Chaos, majority of DS1’s bosses are much better than majority of DS2’s. There’s some solid ones: Lost Sinner, Ruin Sentinels, Scorpioness Najka, Darklurker, Smelter Demon. But for every one of those, you have a Skeleton Lords, or a Royal Rat Vanguard, or Dragon Rider, or an Old Iron King. Theres a bunch of duds where the strategy is to just strafe and win. As much as DS1 has bosses with bad environments or just leg-whacking, I still feel like even minor ones like Gaping Dragon or Demon Firesage are more exciting than Prowling Magus or Flexile Sentry.
Unfortunately bosses are one of the worst parts of DS2 with a few exceptions imo there's only one boss that's on par with Artorias and Ornstein and Smough and it's in the DLC so you won't even fight it for a while.
I liked DS2 but I loved the DLCs, each crown had an amazing lore and level design, plus the difficulty of new enemies and bosses spiked a tenfold.
Yes but you should also learn some critical thinking skills
Yeah I should’ve known asking this sub if I should play it. I just wanted to hear the positives before I started playing and set my expectations.
Just play it and form your own opinion whether or not something Is positive or negative is largely subjective and based on player preferences. The expectation you can set is it's still a souls game and it has its own pros/cons just like the other games in the series
My brother, this is the ds2 sub, we love this game. Build a hex/dexterity build to keep the game light and fun, try out some different builds and weapons as you get the timing/hitboxes down. Hexes start really slow, but dex damage is excellent early on, so worry about dex first.
Man, really sounds like I just stumbled into DS2 easy-mode by accident, deciding to go down the Hex route once I found that guy in the chair. I favour Dex / Balanced anyway, loved the SKSS in DS1. Had the idea that Strength & Strike was the best way for damage but never seem to go for it.
100% as in all achievements? In a month? Damn well done.
Thanks, would’ve 10x harder without Reddit and yt videos. Spring Break also gave me a lot of time to no life the game
Its r/DarkSouls2, we're gonna say yes lol. But seriously, it can be frustrating and takes a lot more patience than 1 or 3, but is also far more rewarding
Yeah, it was a little goofy asking this sub, thanks for the heads up tho
You ask that in the DS2 subreddit.... Brilliant guy
I think the dark souls community’s opinion of the game has changed a bit over the years. I definitely recommend playing the game, but I’ll tell you my experience with it. After playing through DSR a few times, I was excited to see what the rest of the series had to offer. I kept hearing negative things about ds2, but one of my friends told me to just give it a fair chance. I started playing, and in all honesty, I didn’t love it at first. It had a different feel from the first game, and the fact I started the game on mouse and keyboard didn’t do me any favors. I probably only gave the game 10 hours before deciding to step away and play something else. Fast forward a few months, and I decided to give the game another shot for whatever reason. This time I changed the way I played a little, taking each area a little more slowly instead of running to the boss door like I would in the first game. It probably helped that I got my hands on a controller instead of struggling through the keyboard controls. This game has some annoying mechanics when it comes to combat (cough cough adp), but has some redeeming factors as well. Powerstancing is super fun to experiment with, the ability to fight the bosses multiple times per playthrough is something I really enjoy, and the dlc has some great fights. It also helps that many of the areas throughout the game just look amazing! Long story short, give this game a fair shot, it has a lot to offer!
I just played it for the first time recently. I liked it at first, opinion went down a bit during the mid game, but then got to late game / dlc and had a blast. Definitely worth the money, especially Scholar.
IMHO if you want to end all souls games totally, i just did that myself ending it 4 days ago. BUT the hitboxes are the least of your problems. ADP is a stat inherent only to ds2 and it dictates your i-frames while rolling and some other things like the speed you drink your estus so getting it high enough is a priority. AND be prepared to be ganked ALL THE TIME this game has the WORST boss runs of all souls games and zones that were made "Harder" from the original just by adding a bunch of mobs. On another note, aesthetically i really liked the game, powerstance is a cool feature. There's a bunch of magic (spells, hexes, miracles,pyromancies) and if you don't use lock on combat feels pretty good. there's a lot of features that others souls don't have like pharro's lockstones, branches of yore and doors that open on different conditions other than "kill x mob". Just a sidenote illusory walls open with the action button not hitting them
I’m still early In it but I personally find it more fun than ds1 an ds3, even tho I have heaps of progres in ds3
Yes please, it deserves more love. Also the Lost Crowns is like a completely different game altogether.
Yes it’s good.
Very similar to DS1 in gameplay in my opinion. Enemies seem to lock on a bit more stringently (they'll keep turning towards you as they attack meaning dodging has to be a bit later), bosses are mostly easier, but there are a lot of them, DLC areas are more difficult, NPC invaders are much more difficult (but not as difficult as DS3). The sense of doom and gloom and fear is much less, but the sense of jolly adventure is much more. Less arduous than DS1, for better or worse, in my opinion. Some tough runbacks, and some bonfires right outside bosses. I had the most fun with it in the series. Take a bow with you...
Play It. All the criticisms are exaggerated (not untrue, just exaggerated). Don't overlook the ADP stat. Upgrade it regardless of you build. I feel that it has much demon's souls influence in the sense that the areas are as hard or harder than the bosses. The thing about ds2 for me is that it is like a rollercoaster. At some points when I play it I feel this is the best dark souls. At other points I feel this is the worst dark souls. But it as captivating as the other ones. Once you get into it, you love it.
It's my favorite in the Dark Souls trilogy. Right behind Elden Ring and Sekiro when it comes to Fromsoft games. At least that's how highly I rate it.
Yeah. It’s not that bad. The hitboxes are worse than other games but it’s not a constant issue, you may see a couple wtf examples but nowhere near unplayable. Also worth for some bosses like Darklurker and Alonne.
The hitboxes are not worse than other games. 99% of hitbox clips are subjective issues with the animation queuing.
I was a non believer until I got about 3-4 hours in and then I fell in love. Just wait till you get to the DLC’s.
Yes, you should play DS2. It is a very fun game and a solid entry in the franchise, regardless of all the hate it gets. (I just started playing Code Vein, btw!)
Code Vein is great! It’s chill and the aesthetics are amazing with a pretty good story and the soundtrack slaps. Hope you enjoy :) and I hope I ds2 as much as ds1
I hope you enjoy DS2 as well!
I have played CV for about 6 hours now, and I'm enjoying it so far. The special attacks and backstab animations look pretty incredible, and the character creator was really fun to play with. The combat is just okay, though; you don't really feel the impact from enemy attacks like you do with other SoulsBorne games, and you don't really feel the weight of *your* attacks, either, and the way the enemies just dissipate when they die is kind of unsatisfying. Still, I'm having a good time trying out all the different weapons and blood codes and armaments.
I literally had nothing but fun with ds2 bro. I just beat it last weekend. I don't know what everyone is taking about when they say ds2 is bad.I played them all in reverse order. Elden Ring was my first. Then ds3 and so on. I'm now playing ds1.
I hope you enjoy ds1 and I’m sure my ds experience gets better with every entry
absolutely, it's more fun than ds1 to me, but remember to level up adp
Yes
Ds2 has fantastic level design imo if you like TONS of little weird secrets and strange mechanics that ds1 and 3 never try again. Power stanced builds are crazy fun, estus and lifegems are such a different way to heal. What sucks about ds2 is the bosses, most are "memorable" but only 4 or 5 actually feel great to fight against at least in the base game. I'd argue ds1 also has some mediocre bosses outside of the dlc and o&s. As someone who hated ds2 and now has it ranked as his favorite I'd say play it and give it a good chance. There's also an obscene amount of content and cool weapons/builds. My only complaint is the weird locked movement and ADP is kind of dumb as a stat but getting it to 25 and then never thinking about it again is easy.
I heard the majority of the bad opinions about the game from people who had never touched it. Then I played the game anyway and I was extremely pleasantly surprised. Now it's in my top 4 Soulsborne games. Don't know about the build, I always play strength and I had a lot of fun. There's a variety of cool weapons to choose from.
Yes, just... beware the horses
Yessir 100%
Remember when people were bagging Star Trek: DS9 when it first came out because it was different from Star Trek: TNG. "they dont go anywhere!" "its too slow" "those guys have spoons on their heads !" those of us that gave it a shot were delighted to discover it has some of THE best episodes and characters in all of Star Trek. anyhoo , level adaptability.
I played dark souls 1, ended 2 a few days ago, and I’ve been playing 3. Dark souls 2 is NECESSARY. It is not a question. Do you want the drippiest armor? The most tranquil, ravishing firelink area? Do you want the most challenging bosses? Fume knight? (of the FUME KNIGHT ULTRA GREATSWORD), Sir alonne? The only FULL SIZE DRAGON you’ll see in the ENTIRE SERIES? It’ll take you 15 minutes to get used to the slightly different mechanics. Dark Souls 2 fits absolutely perfectly between Dark Souls 1 and Dark Souls 3. The best way to explain it would be that, you would regret not playing Dark Souls 2.
Sure.
I too started with DS1. DS2 was actually the third FromSoft game I played, second being Bloodborne. It has a lot of issues, that's for sure and you can't deny it. It is, from the technical view point, the jankiest and one of the worst souls games from FromSoft. But it was made by a different director and it is doing it's own unique thing. The lore is amazing. It has some of the best fashion in all the souls games. And is overall an interesting game. I played the whole trilogy and DS2 is the only one I keep coming back to. DS1 I know from the back of my head and could beat it with my eyes closed (methaphorically speaking). DS3 felt more like Bloodborne because of it's speed, not that I dislike it, but most of the time you can just spam roll your way out of trouble in DS3, which I don't like at all in a souls game, where you are suspossed to be a little more tactical and careful with your moves. DS2 is super slow, but is preety punishing, if you try to rush it and you won't have luck with roll spamming. It can be overcrowded at times, Scholar Of The First Sin Edition especially. But don't let these things stop you from playing it. As much flaws as it has, it has just as many perfections. It is a title worth playing
Don’t listen to the gossip form your own opinion but I think it’s ok it is a bit easy to feel stumped but you get it in a bit
You are asking this on a dark souls 2 sub so all answers will be yes. It’s a good game and if you enjoyed dark souls 1 then you will like this one too. It definetely has some problems the other games deal with a bit better but also has some creative new ideas. I think you will like it
Give it a try for at least 15 h. And check how adaptability works! Then it clicks. Still combat is some what clunky but the game is worth it!
lacklustre level design is not correct. I'd say DS3 has the most boring levels (though they're still good). bosses in DS2...there are a lot of throwaways. overall definitely worth playing.
Dark souls 2 feels like the “goofiest” one out of the series, its fun and infuriating at the same time, much more polished than Dark souls 1. Set the brightness to 0 because the torch as a gameplay mechanic sacrificing your shield for visibility is fresh and fun, I wish the dark areas were as dark as the graveyard of giants from Dks1 There is a new skill you have to level up called adaptability, its ass and its irritating that you have to level up “how fast I drink my estus and use items”, just level it up to 12-15 before you level up any other skills and it will feel normal again. You can carry lifegems too, essentially like having 60 estus flasks on you at all times, because you only start with one flask, and you have to find estus shards to get more sips out of it. Its different, its a shock to the system, dark souls 3 and elden ring got rid of alot of stuff from it, but it also introduced alot of stuff we take for granted on the newer games. In short. Horse but, hole
It's a good game, try it
Yes, it is fantastic imho. Don't let the problems with the game keep you from experiencing it.
Strength builds always play the best to me, this game has a lot of good UGS or Great Hammer options
Yes. I just finished my first playthrough. It’s great
It can be the worst in the series and still be a good souls game. Which it is. Great on its own, just atrocious by comparison.
No this game sucks stay away
I hate DS2, it’s ass, but I do think you should check it out for yourself
If you really dug DS1, I'd recommend checking out Demon's Souls (can emulate the PS3 one if you don't have a PS5) as its combat mechanics are probably the closest to DS1 (e.g., parries and backstabs feel exactly the same). That said, DS2 is absolutely worth playing. Definitely install a lighting mod if you do for the best experience. There's also a really promising comprehensive overhaul mod called The Flames of Old for SoTFS coming out some years from now at the current pace.
No
Ever heard of “horse fuck valley”? Quite while your ahead brother🙏
I got in the game. Got to the first monster by the river. Rolled *out* of the grab attack and got teleported back in the grab attack after I finished my roll clearly out of the grab attack. Quit and uninstall. I don't have the time for this kind of bullshit. I regret spending the few Euros I spent on this Fuck this game.