ATTENTION: THIS IS NOT ALL ENCOMPASSING. The purpose here is to showcase what would be considered a "normal" path through each area, and compare enemy and some item placement throughout! Back to back comparison of Scholar and Vanilla. The results may surprise you! The purpose of this series is to compare the differences between Dark Souls 2's Scholar of the First Sin edition vs the standard, vanilla release.
I mainly want to focus on enemy placement in this series, but some item placement comparison was inevitable.
Overall, I would say I really like both versions, and having them both in my library just feels like I have an extra Fromsoft game.
Besides the specific enemy placement, some other changes present in Scholar:
1) Almost all enemy aggro has been nerfed. You'll notice in Scholar, enemies are "polite" like they are in Elden Ring. Instead of the entire group attacking you at once like in Vanilla, you will notice that in Scholar, groups of enemies will back off and attack you in turns.
2) Almost all enemy damage has been nerfed in Scholar. A notable example is the Ancient Dragon in vanilla, which was a guaranteed oneshot. It's damage has been nerfed by around 40% in Scholar!
3) Almost all enemy aggro RANGE has been nerfed, so most enemies will notice you SOONER in Vanilla, and will notice you LATER in Scholar.
Other specific changes can be seen in the videos. I hope you enjoy this series! Each new section will be released on Saturday morning every week until it's done!