Ballad Of A Bad Game: Dark Souls 2 Still Sucks
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- Опубліковано 8 жов 2024
- Ds2 has had a resurgence in positive feedback over the past year or two. Is it because it was judged unfairly or is it something else? Today I'm gonna look into why this is occurring and explain the fundamental flaws I see in the game's design.
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Extra clips from::
AGRcactus
Adam Barker
goTha83
Keith Ballard .
Hbomberguy's smugness might be endearing when you agree, but when I disagree with him, his smugness makes me turn off the video.
Yea I really dislike creators who speak in a smug tone their entire videos. Like i get it i do it for a scene at the end of this video, but the whole thing? That's to condescending and even when I agree with the person it's rather annoying.
His smugness is his most negative trait.
I enjoy his videos and most of the time they are damn well constructed but by lord can he ruin them by being overly obnoxious.
Hbomb needs to take notes from James Rolfe. That man almost *never* sounds smug at all. He is very humble when he speaks, even when giving an unpopular opinion. Same for SomeCallmeJohnny.
I think what happens with hbomberguy is that his tone can be all over the place, at one video coming off as smug, another video being analytical and making a serious point. I feel like his "smugness" gets confused with his more serious tone at times. I've watched a decent amount of him, but I don't think he means to come off as ass-ish.
Even when I agree with him, the smugness is really obnoxious and over the top. It's like watching Bill Maher, but somehow worse.
Interesting take, it seems we are bothered by similar contradictory design. Oh hey, I see some of the most egregious hitbox's from my experience got in the video, good ol DS 2. Can always rely on it for some en-ragingly bad experiences. But let's be fair, you only REALLY hated it because you used a shield.
I was expecting you would show up xD
@@clicliw Me too! the moment I saw Mauler's hit box footage I immediately went to see if he had commented. I was not disappointed.
No!!! They hated it because they didn't take full advantage of the healing mechanics. That's where the game truly shines.
Cough, healing gems.
@@lastmanstanding7155 They pretty much took the demons souls approach to consumable healing items while still trying to reconcile with the improvements made in ds1 when it comes to estus and the whole reason for it's existence, suffice to say...it didn't work out.
Also mauler, found your content through your ds2 series after playing through ds2...because I saw hbombs vid. Doing gods work my man, deus vult!
Dark Souls 2 summary: Fearing the boss run more than the boss. Almost every single boss can be beaten by unlocking & walking to their side during an attack. Try it. Completely breaks every boss fight.
it seriously is almost every boss that has this problem. It is so easy to manipulate the enemy AI and they just cannot account for your relative position to them and also how your proximity in that position is a unique threat to be dealt with in some way. Dark souls 1 wasn't perfect in this respect, but far better, and DS3 had the player reconditioned to not try any of that within the first couple hours of gameplay
@@rondobrondo I love how Lothric (also Black/Silver) knights can half turn and guard late attempts.
Dark Souls 1 Summary: Almost any invader can by beaten by using Remote Code Execution and executing malicious code. Try it. Completely breaks every invasion
You can just choose not to intentionally abuse mechanics if you find that intentionally abusing mechanics makes a game broken/unfun lmfao why would you choose to go out of your way to play the game in a way that is less satisfying
Have you tried the original version of ds2 or just scholar of the first sin
I like the bosses in DS2, but every single run for every boss is DREADFUL.
the funny thing about Humanities in Dark Souls 1 is that I never felt the need to use them in most cases because if I'm struggling, I'd just rather use 2-4 of them to kindle the bonfire rather than use one in the fight.
The difficulty in these fights, for me at least, didn't have to do with having enough healing items, but getting the time to use them. I can't think of a single boss fight I did where I beat it with zero estus. most scenarios, I have about 4 to 7 left out of 10.
The only times I used them were to summon allies, and used them yo heal against manus
I didn't even pop any Humanity at all during New Game in Dark Souls 1, because I had leveled Vitality to 50 and wore the best armor sets in the game, so I could take a whole boatload of damage before I even needed to drink an Estus Flask.
7:49
My typo is now forever immortalized
I will never recover
I made this entire video just to own you for that.
Rest in Rip ;~;
It’s sad that people can’t just leave misspelled comments alone nowadays
You stupid chuck. Got hit by the oldest truck in the book.
@BMO spelling correctly and proper grammer portrays your message better. If its poorly made and has bad wording or typos it can be hard to understand, your message can go from clear to straight jibberish.
But DS 2 is meant to be played without shields
But DS 2 is meant to be played without lock on
But DS 2 is meant to be played without rolling
But DS 2 is meant to be played without the controller
But DS 2 is meant to be played without DS 2
"You know this mechanic that was programmed into the game? You shouldn't be using it, so all of your criticism is invalid"
Did people really said that? Never heard of it or have forgotten because it is bullshit defence (yes I know. That's the purpose of your comment, and the reason why I propably have forgotten it)
@@Superschokokeks
Hbomberguy gave most of those. But the lock on in that game is rubbish. But the movement is jagged making uou want to use the lock on. Terrible game design.
@@lastmanstanding7155 then I forgot that. His video was pretty bad and something like that is rather to be left forgotten. Not sure how bad lock on is compare to the other games.. well I think I remember something from MauLers video. Well.
Anyway, I'm not really defending. If anything it bothers me if people call it a bad game.
Fallout 76 is a bad game. Road to Retribution is a bad game. Dark souls 2 is average. There a lot of good things and there are a lot of bad things.
To me it seems people have only two perspective: Either good or bad. See that very often and that annoys me.
@@Superschokokeks
Well, it's a bad DS game. Which is what I think most people qualify it as. For me it's a bad game. Only just tho. It's at the tip of bad. Almost average. But I can see how it could be considered average. I take off points only because of the game design and mechanics. Let alone it's other short comings.
@@lastmanstanding7155 almost average/tip of bad I can get behind that. Bad DS game, I kinda agree. Hard to tell, since I hadnt the chance to play Bloodborne, Ds3 and demons souls, only tooooo many reviews, analysis and stuff. Oh boy I really like to play the last one.
most of all things that bothers me is critique against DS2, which flaws can be also found in other games of the series.
Or that Dark Souls is a "masterpiece" with a average to bad second half and sadly more bad hitboxes than people want to admit. Still better than DS2, but there's enough. And the performance in blight town. sigh.
Oh boy, before I get hate: DS is the sum of its part. When everything comes together it is good, but each on it's own it's rather lucklaster( except one or two aspects like world building or the writing (of the lore)) . That's one of many reason why DS2 failed as DS game. Things don't come together very often and each mechanic or part on its own flaws and some critical flaws.
Matthewmatosis went in more detail with that and I don't necasserily agree with everything.
After several attempts on trying to play this game all the way through, i just couldn't. It feels like a fan made game than a game made by a group of professional game designers and there are so many annoying mechanics that just kill any enjoyment for me. It's sadly the only Dark Souls game i can't bring myself to finish.
Stfu you know nothing about games if you say that is a fanmade you piece of shit
@@fabiomartins4262 ooooh someone's mad 😠 🤣
@@fabiomartins4262 Mad? Salty? 🤪😂
@@fabiomartins4262 Salty fanboy
@@aliquetm6668 I mean this video literally exists to wank of ds1 fanboys so what’s your point?
Spot on. I still hate the fact that I never even knew about agility and its effects on rolling during my entire first play-through because I prefer a blind first run. I just figured rolling was nerfed and played more shield heavy. But some clowns still try to say the game teaches you not to rely on shields.
To be fair, DS2 could be just a really bad teacher ^^
@@nathanjora7627 Maybe. But even if the game explained it I still don't like the fact that the animation doesn't change whether you have 5 iFrames or 16 so it's hard to account for in muscle memory. If they made it more obvious when the invulnerability was happening then I could get on board with it.
MysticMarbles My « DS2 could be a bad teacher » joke was toward Hbomberguy and his idea that DS2 allegedly teaches to discard shield, not toward ADP.
And it was a joke (because although it’s true that DS2 is a bad teacher, DS2 is still probably not against shields).
But I completely agree that having ADP being linked to the effectiveness of your rolls yet not showing it during your rolls is one striking instance of DS2 being bad at communicating its mechanics.
@@nathanjora7627 Gotcha. It's been a while since I watched that Hbomberguy vid. He made so many sophisms that it's hard to remember them all.
I didn't rely on a shield in all the souls games and came up fine
I’ve done several runs in sekiro, ds3,ds1 and bloodborne and I love them. I keep playing them to this day. Only recently did I try ds2 though and I can’t say I m liking it. These games are designed to beat the shit out of you until you learn how get in control. They are tough but reasonably fair and you don’t feel like you’ve been cheated most of the time. You actually GIT GUD with practice and it feels damn good when you play. Ds2 is hard in an annoying way. Bosses are easy (up until now, did the flying knight dude, the pissed giant, double face pirate dude and the dragon rider) but the hit boxes In this game! What the fuck!
there are some bosses worth playing ds2 for. fume knight in the dlc is debatably one of the best bosses in all of souls games. hes up there with like artorias and gael for me.
I don't really like dark souls 2 either
The game is painfuly slow
I honestly can't say I enjoy the game without employing an OP tactic that counters the game's bullshit. The game does have good bosses like Smelter Demon and Sir Alonne, but their respective areas take whatever fun you might've had with the game.
I would also include annoying ganks that can chase you from all fuckin location
Something I'd like to add (three years late to the party) is that a lot of people defending Dark Souls 2 seem to have some sort of twisted superiority complex for liking it. I make no joke when I say I've had people defending it tell me that I hate the game because I'm bad at it when I point that that maybe a new player shouldn't be subjected to a melee ambush on narrow scaffolding with three or five archers pinging away at them with remarkable accuracy in the Forest of Fallen Giants. People said that you can easily dodge it with stuttered steps, but asking a new player to dodge arrows while fighting a spear guy and an axe guy from two sides on a narrow walkway with death falls on either side is a bit much.
Building on this, during my first complete playthrough (at this point I'd beaten Dark Souls 1 and 3, as well as Bloodborne, and all DLCs except maybe DS1's), I was struggling for human effigies. This is fairly normal. On my first DS1 playthrough I ran out of humanity, on my first DS3 playthrough I ran out of embers. However, running out of humanity in DS1 and embers in DS3 PROTECTS you from getting invaded. You lose the benefits, but you lose the risks as well. When I pointed out that running around at half health doesn't stop you from getting invaded, some people pointed out that you can burn an effigy to stop invasions, and mocked me for running out as a new player. I don't doubt that, had I been asking for help during my whole playthrough, they'd be offering every bit of advice they can offer, but it's hard to reconcile "new players welcome" with "if you ran out of the game's premium resource, had trouble fending off a dozen enemies with faster attacks and more mobility than you, or fucked yourself over with Soul Memory, and think that's bad game design, you just need to git gud because you hate the game for the sole reason that you're bad at it"
DS1 and its fans built their entire reputation around being superior to everyone else. And git gud.
@@duedah837 not really but ok.
I absolutely love the souls franchise, and I consider myself to be pretty good at them. I've put hundreds of hours into DS3 alone playing multiple characters with varying builds from full strength and full faith to quality and bleed builds. I've played through DS1 3 times in total but i still very much enjoy, as well as Sekiro. But just to hammer home my gamer credentials and my love of a challenge, I've also played through all the Halo campaigns on legendary, at least 3 times, because I'm a masochist unfortunately.
But DS2 is just another breed of difficulty, but in no way shape or form is it a good kind of difficulty. It was type of difficulty that annoyed and exhausted me and i knew for a fact that it wasn't because the enemies or game itself were hard. I played through about half way and the enemies and bosses I fought weren't really difficult themselves. Plus if you had a rapier and broadsword offhand killing them made it quick work. The difficulty came from things like huge enemy aggro ranges, the absolute spamming of ambushes, the swarms of enemies you fight in one area, the distance you need to run to get to bosses etc. I felt like the game was trying to kill me with each area, not challenge me, if that makes sense. Killing the enemies is easy, but surviving a literal swarm of common enemies mixed with some elites who are all rushing you at the exact same time with 0 breathing room which forces you to run away which either triggers more enemies to chase you or just corners you and attack you all at once? yeah nah I'm good. I unfortunately don't have the patience or passion for this game to bait out and fight every hiding enemy 20 times per area just to get to a bonfire. I don't find it fun, I find it tedious, annoying and energy draining.
Btw, did you guys know this game was made in 2014? and Bloodborne came out a year later? Why does DS2 look so garbage looking graphics wise in comparison to Bloodborne? My guess would be the "B team" curse
DS1 got capra demon.
Yea which kinda sucks because ds2 had a lot of things going for it in a good way if it would have been done right it could of been the best in the series if not for it’s faults.
@@Gwyn770 Correct, and Capra is not good. But most people won't cite Capra as good game design
FYI they built an entirely new game engine for ds2, after sinking months into development it was realised that the current (at the time) console generation couldn't handle the lighting effects and better resolution etc so it was all toned down to get a steadier fps, Pre release footage confirms this.
Lost izalith
only 5 mins in so far thank you for putting into words how bad the game feel is. not only your own movement but the animations and lack of feedback is HUGE
dark soul apologists apparently forget to mention how this game lacks the basics of any third person game and have the balls to say how it's better then most games on the market
DS2 had so many things going for it like lore and settings and enemies and just cool ideas, but when it comes to actual feel the game just falls apart to me, it always felt slow and clunky and kinda weightless
@@storm5ds68 they tried using motion capture instead of doing all the animations by hand and it really shows. The weapons the characters in ds2 swing around are made of styrofoam and tape
Yep. And Ds2 fanboys don't understand that (or they don't want to see it).
They keep taking about build variety, powerstance and content.
But dude, I don't care about any of that when everything feels the same anyways.
I'll take a game like Ds3 with actual feedback, that still has big replay ability and variety any day.
I don't care that I can't powerstance in Ds3. Dual wielding sellsword twinblades give me more satisfaction than anything Ds2 has to offer anyway.
@@godefroiddebouillon7769 build variety? Haha, ADP is a joke. Also the level design feels lazy when the combat hallways are just filled with copy pasted enemies
What's funny is that Demon's Souls had a healing item which would stack to 99. They replaced it(pretty well imo) with estus flasks, but they added it back in for Dark Souls II. Kinda back-pedaling, no?
@ValkyrieMoonfire true.
@ValkyrieMoonfire On the whole Bloodborne's healing mechanics are great aside from the fact that you have to farm them. But careful usage of it and spending extra Blood Echoes on vials can help mitigate that problem. Still an issue for sure but not nearly as bad as DS2.
@MasterMoonfire how? Bloodborne healing is overpowered asf you can outlive every boss because of the 20+ blood vials you have also you have pretty huge lifesteal so tell me why does bloodborne healing feel worse? Also the blood vials are as fast the estus in ds3 maybe even faster
@@twistedgwazi5727 if you are getting to the point we're you running out frequently then just buy them they are really cheap
Estus is best
Every hammer thrown on H.Bomberguy's Dark Souls 2 video makes me happy
It was honestly a garbage video.
Well the youtuber Mauler made a 10 Hour + video series looking at H bomberguy's video then making his own Dark Souls 2 video. It's pretty much this over the span of 10 hours, I'd check it out if you have the time.
MauLer's videos on H.Bomberguy are more like a "gang rape" rather than a simple hammer being thrown...
I like H and Dark Souls 2 and even I thought that video was garbage. Find it hard to believe he wasn't trying to parody anything with how undercooked all of his points were.
@@megasoniczxx at least people like you make me feel solace in the fact we can be able to actually communicate, because it's going to take a ton of excuse making arguments to defend that mess of a video Harris made back then. I'm not even a fan of mathewmatosis in any case and I think his own HBomber moment was the Demon's Souls lost art video, because god damn, talk about DeS pretentiousness getting over fans heads! It is a cool fucking game, but these people need to take it down at least 10 notches with the dick sucking of DeS and worshipping going on there.
For real, if I can name a couple of shit parts in DeS, 1, VoD, 2, Those Fucking DRAGONS! Although, not as bad as killing that piece of fucking shit Helkite Drake! And maybe a 3rd one there with Maneaters, at ng+.
There's still a couple of bs, like Shrine of Storms part 2, the laser ghosts and those narrow paths. Fuck that place. Also fuck those Fucking Bonewheel inspiration skeletons! those fucking mana wraiths too.
Yeah, looks like it's not all peachy in DeS either. Some people will have problems with other things too, like the pickaxe miners, or the rock worms, oh fuck, the Bearbugs. oh fucking hell those things.. or the giant club assholes, or the fat ministers, or any of the red knights.
Very controversial but I agree 100%. The experience of DS1 was lifechanging, so I was seriously excited about DS2. I enjoyed the fresh shift to a dreamy high fantasy atmosphere as a creative choice, but as you progress through the game, the differences in gameplay pile-up to an unbearable amount. First the artificial difficulty, including the highly level relied combat, mob/ gank bosses, lack of even subtle hints rewarding observant players, and the massive step backwards in maneuverability from DS1. There were more flawed hitboxes than any singleplayer game I can currently think of, and just agonizingly apparent less attention to detail in level design. This is more what I would expect from a "souls-like" game, and I would put it right below something on the tier of The Surge. The appeal here is more familiar to the typical gamer. You can "git gud" by grinding levels into your character, rather than learning what Souls games before and since have taught, which is patience, observability, and rhythm/ timing.
git gud
I just started playing DS2 after completing DS3 and BB multiple times (4/5) and I really notice the difference between the games
Same here. SoulsBorne is usually such a golden example of well-thought-out game design, that as I'm playing through SotFS right now, I am genuinely shocked at how they managed to screw up so bad from a design standpoint. They really must have scrapped and last-ditched so many things in this game for it to turn out in this state, even with the benefit of being bloody remade... There's still fun to be had here, but it feels like I'm squinting to see the good despite the flaws, whereas the rest of the games are impressively coherent with some flaws here and there.
@@jackwelchel3210 I believe the team from DS1 outsourced DS2 halfway through development and moved on to Bloodborne instead. Hopefully that explains a few things. Miyazaki has explained himself that he hates making sequels and that Dark Souls 3 was mostly "a love letter" to those who enjoyed the first game.
Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne were the only ones that were great to me
@@Lgliam20 It wasn’t outsourced, but it wasn’t handled by the same team that made Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls. It was worked on by a “B” team while the “A” team worked on Bloodborne. A similar situation would be Capcom’s remakes of Resident Evil 2 & 3. Resident Evil 2 was developed by the same team who made Resident Evil 7 and at the same time a separate team was working on Resident Evil 3. That’s why the games are of two different qualities.
@@skatemo100 is that true about Capcom? Because that's exactly what they did with DMC 2 and, you know what happened to that game..
Man, Gwyndolin's speaking facts.
Underated comment
Gwendolin passed
Seriously tho is this a woman or a bloke? Or a trans not that it matters I just wanna know🤣
@charleyfirminger9229 he's a femboy
3 years later we have 3 new souls games: Sekiro, Demon's Remake, and _Motherfucking_ *Elden Ring* and its now seen as "cool" on twitter to like ds2 and even go so far as to call it the best souls game. I swear people on that fucking site are contrarians just to seem quirky or original.
it's cringe really.
its called dick riding, and its a fucking meme that ds2 is the best souls game. ds2 had some of the greatest souls mechanics tho, it was just not properly executed
Sekiro, Demons's Remake & Elden Ring all truly exposes how disappointing DS2 will always be.
It came out just before fucking Bloodborne.
Hey now, I like dark souls 2 on release, and I certainly wasn't riding some contraian wave
i dont think its that big of a deal if someone likes a game
bros mad that people have opinions
Good review very well said. Personally, I find it difficult to talk about DS2 without getting angry, yelling and cursing the fuck out of it. I put 80+ hours into that game and the only reason it got that high is because I thought to myself: "It'll be fun soon, I just need to get used to it". I had some trouble getting into the first game so I really thought if I just put up with it I would understand it better. But no it never got any better. Not one bit of fun was had throughout that.
so essentially u r the crest fallen knight..stay in majula :D 80 hours lmfao
I'm surprised Human effigies weren't mentioned. I disposed that the game basically punishes you for dying. Decreasing your max health EVERYTIME is just ridiculous.
GIT GUD CASUL
@@PapaSouzas_TheHoly git original
@@PapaSouzas_TheHoly ds3 is good, ds1 is good, ds2 is bad, for A LOT of reasons
u get like 10 everytime, but like, why the hell do i need them half the time? there's a fuckin ring that can help me with hollowing.
@@thewretch4081 ds2 actually is good but it had flaws like the other games but its flaws is mostly gameplay
Also fun fact Dark Souls 2 actually does have one of Most Punishing Death System in the Dark Souls Series if you dare try to Murder too many Innocent in NPC or something that will increase your Sin Meter.
Your Hollow Penalty will become worse, instead of your Health only going to half when you die too many times.
You only leave your Health a really small amount left!
Not sure if that's true but sin meter is for blue invaders to invade people who invade or have sinned by killing npcs and is used as a mechanic for some weapons
@@Nutt_lemmings It's true it changes the 50% to 1% health
@@sirgentlebread7302 Thas... Weird
One of the good things about DS2 is this
Well in order to get that increased hollow penalty you have to get 100 sin. So not a big deal unless you like killing npcs in ng+ or invading
Honestly I can't understand at all why people get the impression that the game is "trying to teach you not to use a shield" lol! I have heard this so many times, but I've always shared your opinion that, contrary to popular belief, the game actually WANTS YOU to use shields. I've always used shields in Souls games (probably why I hate Bloodborne with a passion), but never did a shield feel MORE useful than in the early stages of Dark Souls 2. Even lategame, I end up switching my medium shield out for a Greatshield as soon as my stats will allow me to.
I'm only 9 minutes into this video, but I absolutely love it already. I'll finish it, then share my thoughts.
Pretty much the entire game is designed around using a shield, whereas DS1/3 are designed more around dodging.
@@ThisOneGoes211 lol
@@ThisOneGoes211 not necessarily, DS3 is the only really dodge focused game in DS series. DS1 and 2 have slower bosses with much shorter combos.
The amount of Dark Souls II fan unable to form an argument and simply fall into prejudice is huge, says a lot about the fucking community.
Hey!
I just recently finished my first souls game (Demon's Souls remake) after dabbling in Bloodborne, DS3, and Sekiro. I immediately started and finished Dark Souls Remastered. Both of these games were marvelous. Then I started DS2. Immediately felt like shit. Plays like shit. Absolutely crushing difficulty that doesn't even seem reasonable, much less "fair". Stats are stupid and overly-complicated. And now I'm watching videos on youtube about why it was so bad, so I can justify skipping this POS and moving on to DS3. lol
Literally me right now😂
this game feels like nioh to me idk why and I don't like nioh. I fucking dread coming back to them.
I recommend finishing Bloodborne and its DLC. It's an amazing experience. Imo Fromsoft's best game.
I feel the exact same way. I leveled up Health/Item Load, Strength, and Equip Load/Endurance all to 50 when I played Demon's Souls, DS1, and Bloodborne, and the difficulty magically changed from being kinda hard to being really reasonable and fair. I did the same thing for DS2, and it always felt like I was just barely keeping my head above water the entire time. It always felt like the game was maliciously trying to screw you over every step of the way, and every time I thought it couldn't get any worse, I was constantly proven wrong.
I still remember vividly watching you go through the ivory king dlc, then crying as you wrote a bad review for it on stream. Good times ;-;
I’ll still love you dark souls 2.
Despite disliking the game those streams made for some good memories I admit.
@@DimitriMonroe You will never be a real women btw
The way you talked about getting hit is exactly how I felt when I took damage something felt off and you put it into words
Robin: "But life gems make the healing system more dynamic--"
Bat Man: "No they DON'T!"
*Slap*
Nobody moaned about crescent moon grass or what ever It was called in demon souls people just love to trash on this game. Shit hit boxes aside and not all ways the best bosses this game is fantastic. The combat in particular is great especially pvp and the art design was some of the best in the series. I just don't see the problem. I play sotfs on my xbox one x and it's great and og ds2 on my friends pc again runs and plays fine none of these werid bugs with sound missing.
@@stolenname94 not saying I agree or disagree, but that was the starting point. Nobody is gonna bitch about a mechanic in a new game, because it's new and that's how it works. But when you release a new game, it's popularity increases, and implement an arguably better system, going back seems asinine. That being said, I loved Bloodborne, and you needed to gather healing items in that as well. So it's probably a bit of both
I wish I could slap everyone who defends this game by comparing it to the flaws in Ds1
@@stolenname94 so you're suggesting people to ignore an issue that could impact the gaming experience badly and one of the core experience of Soulsborne series just to make DS2 feels like a good game. Ok
@@stolenname94 "Nobody moaned about crescent moon grass" Ohhh yes they did. If you've seen Demon's Souls PvP, you know exactly how broken the healing mechanics are in that one. And that's not to say it doesn't negatively impact PvE as well. Dark Souls 1 solved this issue damn near perfectly, only for DS2 to bring the problem back, but technically worse by not having item burden to balance out carrying around a bunch of gear. (Which I'm glad about-- item burden is a garbage mechanic in souls which again, DS1 got rid of.) I would argue DS3 has so far had the best healing mechanics. I like that embering fully heals & expands your health bar with the counter-balance that you can be invaded, and most importantly, you can only do it once per life, allowing the spaces between bonfires to have a level of challenge that the developers could hone, knowing exactly what resources the player would have access to. That's a prime example of a well-balanced healing system.
I like all the Souls games, but there's a reason DS2 gets criticized for being incoherently designed. It is, at least in terms of its mechanics. DS1's design accomplishments only serve to show how much DS2 dropped the ball, but DS2 is still flawed even without being compared to the others. If you don't see the problems it has, that's good for you because you'll probably enjoy it a lot more. No ill will meant, like what you like :)
Totally agree. Also lmao to HBomber and his stupid hypocrisy with dodge rolling when adaptability is a thing.
When I started ds2 for the first time I already played through 1, 3, sekiro, and bloodborne. I knew that a lot of people hated the game but I went in with a open mind and still left disappointed. I didn't hate it, some parts were good but overall even if it is my least favorite souls game it's still ok.
It's my favourite sotfs edition I play it alot more than 1 or 3
Playing it right now After getting 100% achievments on EVERY other from game except demon souls. Ds2 sucks. By far the worst designed souls game, just killed the second Story important boss and till now every boss was just boring
TIMMEH! Still better than ds2
@@stolenname94 something wrong with your brain
Honestly the unskippable credits at the end of the joke of a game were the biggest slap to the face for me
I'm actually convinced Ds2 was purposefully made to suck
@@legendarykills8735 no it's not.
I don't really agree when people say Dark Souls 2 is a good game, but not a good souls game. I think Dark Souls treads a very fine line between frustrating difficulty and rewarding difficulty. Dark Souls 2 crossed the line into frustrating difficulty because of poor game design. People also like to say the DLCs and/or the remaster "fixed" the game, but to me it only exacerbated the issues that were already there from the start. It's a shame because DS2 does have some redeeming qualities, but they are overshadowed by some fundamental problems with the base game mechanics and level design.
I remember how back when DS2 first released nobody rolled, most players just used a good shield all the way through. Playing any other DS game gets you into the mindset that your main way of defense is rolling I guess? From a perspective of somebody completely new to the series, rolling was really not needed. And I kind of like that. You can't really block or walk out of combos in DS3 or ER like you can in 2. I do felt we've lost that variety now that the emphasis is on rolling.
Shields ruin the game
@@garbageshore9683 I had different types of fun with both playstyles, I'm just glad the choice was there and viable
but shields are very strong in every souls game besides bloodborne? people just dont use shields because its more fun not too
@@ZaReGFX I'm just speaking from personal experience, but blocking in DS3 and ER seems to sap stamina way more heavily if youre just using an average medium shield.
But it could also just be, rolling is such a cost effective method for damage evasion, that blocking just feels like an unnecessary risk.
I have fun using a shield in souls games depending on the pace of the entry
yea I like shields too if not for a different playstyle at least for the fashion but they definitely carried me on my first ds1 and ds3 playthrough lol @@bummedmachinist7483
Imo the janky animations and design choices killed this game for me as a singleplayer experience. Parrying someone and they fall flat on their ass begging for mercy looks comically dumb, so does pistol whipping the enemy from behind and striking a pose before actually backstabbing them. The stage designs feel like a school project where each person just worked on their stuff individually and mashing them together at the end. Earthen Peak to Iron Keep is the most obvious example and the fandom has to resort to mental gymnastic "time is convoluted" to try and make sense of it.
I dont think DS2 is a bad game.
However, i do think its easily the weakest souls game, and honestly, i 100%-ed it once, and that was enough. Nowadays when i replay the franchise i usually just skip DS2.
I personally think Dark Souls 3 is the weakest souls game. It pretty much took the feeling of Dark Souls 1 and 2 and threw it out the trash. Its literally just Bloodborne with a Dark Souls skin. Dont get me wrong i love Dark Souls 3 but i find myself wanting to rather play Dark Souls 1 or 2 instead of it.
@@banuner_ Eh, dark souls 3 is not bad, but it feels more like more of the same, without adding anything new really.
@@nemtudom5074 I feel like they went a bit too “anime” with it too. Almost every tough fight has to be this crazy cinematic thing where the boss is flying through the air half the time it’s just dumb after a certain point.
@@banuner_ DS3 had great bosses tho, the linear world killed my mood.
@@bruh-sz3wy I would appreciate Dark souls 3’s bosses more if they didn’t just feel like Bloodborne bosses with a fantasy skin over them.
Dark Souls 2 is the only game in the SoulsBorne series I haven't platinumed because I just don't like playing it as much as the rest, and I think you've summed up perfectly why that is.
This video and Mathewmatosis’ video summed this piece of crap of a sequel perfectly
I wish I could say the same here, but I guilt-tripped myself into getting my money's worth with it. It was still wasted money I'll never be able to get back.
I did kill every NPC I could find after my final playthrough though, that was a great note to end the horrible game on after I got my Platinum Trophy.
Many people have proved that Dark Souls 2 really is a bad game, yet the fanboys are blind...
Bufudyne ... What ?! You killed Lucatiel, Benhardt and Gavland ?!! You monster !!!
The fact that these are pretty much the only three salvageable NPCs in the game is pretty telling I think :|
Not that every other is bad, just that most of them are extremely mediocre, at best.
Nathan Jora Those npcs weren't even interesting
I agree. It's a caricature that relies on hoards.
Overall, when I played this game, I couldn't really word why I didn't like it. It just...wasn't fun.
@alguien So to translate your comment, you disagree. Sorry I hurt you.
@@isetmfriendsofire or you just suck.
Another example of bullshit is in the Old Iron King dlc. At one point an enemy literally jumps out of a wall to ambush you. The wall doesn't break or anything, he literally just phases through it to hit you.
When did that happen?
It's after the area with the two spell casters, you go down a ladder and go back. If you walk too far and too close to the wall you get jumpscared. I had that happen to me about yesterday and it nearly gave me a heart attack. There's no warning sound or animation it just hits you.
UGH FINE I'LL BOOT IT UP AND POST A VID
Look at my most recent video to see it.
My complaints with Dark Souls 2 are as follows,
1: This game changed the way healing and using estrogen works.
2: The tutorial is very lack luster and wasn’t a proper Dark Souls tutorial.
3: This game has a lot more cheap bullshit in it’s levels than other games that is there just for difficulty sake. Look at Aldia’s Keep, Dragon’s Aerie, and some of the dlc areas.
4: There are more lackluster or easier bosses than in other games.
5: Some areas in later parts of the game just put enemies in where ever they want.
6: Stuff just being hidden with little to no hints on how to get to it.
7: Level design is either boring or nonsensical.
8: Poison kills you quicker than in other games
9: the humanity system. Fuck me.
10: Lack of any cool gimmicks. Not saying there are any cool gimmick, just not enough gimmicks.
Listening to your voice makes me feel like I'm drinking tea instead of a 1 liter bottle of mountain dew.
HBomberguy getting hit by hotdogs is something I needed today, Thanks!
Also great vid!!
I remember smacking every wall marked as illusory not knowing I was supposed to use the interact button.
DS2 is the ONLY game in the Soulsborne series that teleports you into a bosses weapon/grab attack as if they’re a hacker invading your game. I revisit every FROMSOFT game time-to-time and DS2 forever remains uninstalled collecting cyber dust 😄.
ahh yes I too respect my time
what you said is objectively wrong ua-cam.com/video/1uruA2RjMYk/v-deo.htmlsi=ihbkahnR_imR59mC
darksouls 2 has janky grabs but its definitely in the other games.
Bait used to be believable smh
Technically, not true. The Iron Golems grab attack can occasionally teleport you into its hand if the game registers your model within the vicinity of the hitbox, even if your character model wasn't directly in his hand.
However, it happens far more commonly in Dark Souls 2, and it's not even close.
This video sums up all my problems with Dark Souls 2 and while I still enjoy the game every so often for stuff like power stance and the sheer amount of build variety, the game still pisses me off to this day and challenges I overcame before aren't any less frustrating due to their design.
It's so obvious that this is a dude lmao, jesus christ look at the chin and the shrill voice. not even trying!
The hitboxes aren't bad, they are HORRIBLE. I really hate this game, out of all the soulsborne, this has to be the only one i can call "trash" without feeling remorse. I am currently stuck at the Fume Knight and previously on the Smelter Demon 2.0 and here these bosses helped me realize what is wrong with this game. It's the hitboxes and the impossibly slow recovery time after every god damn move, not to mention that attempting to heal is literally asking to get killed. And more so than that, why does it take 5 fucking seconds of animation to show your character realize his flask is empty and casually turns the bottle upside down as if in a comedy in a situation where you re about to get killed?
I really hate this game. I went through DS1, DS3 and Bloodborne without complaining about ANYTHING except how easy some bosses were in Bloodborne, it all felt fair, steady, balanced and enjoyable.
I literally play a mini game everytime i want to double heal because i have to smash the heal button to 1) make sure it got registered and 2) make sure i stroke the key at the precise microsecond to perform the action.
DS2 is GARBAGE. And never forget the input that gets ignored from time to time.
You just need to git gud
never had much issues with hitboxes
@@manmanboyboydudedudeguyguy2800 Did you put points in the ADP stat? Apparently the i-frames are tied to that stat and you need to have it cranked up to 25+ or something to be able to dodge properly. I didn't put a SINGLE point in it and honestly, its a miracle that i' ve made it this far and even got past Aava who until now has had the most retarded hitbox collision i have ever seen.
Also, so much praise for Fume Knight, unfortunately even he couldn't make up for that shitty animation. It just looks so fucking terrible.
@@stalker6482 you need to stop being a fucking idiot
STALKER Git gud at what, tolerating a shitty game?
Dark Souls 2 for multiplayer and community is a gold yet dead gem
It was more of a journey for me rather than just another game
So u think this gonna start a great comment war 4?
Couldn't agree more with this. It's kinda hard to properly put into words, but the whole experience of DS2 felt like an adventure with friends. DS1 was more of a lonely quest which worked brilliantly with the excellently oppressive atmosphere of the game. DS2 makes things a touch brighter, and keeps its own interesting lore while never relying on DS1 for it. This is something DS3 failed at miserably. The lore and events in DS3 just feel like rehashes of concepts already done in the series (some of them LITERALLY ARE) and it spends so long paying fanservice to DS1 that it doesn't properly establish a foundation for its own lore to stand on, as a result it feels lacking and frankly I couldn't bring myself to finish it because of how boring it felt to play. Doesn't even feel like you've really reached a different area until Irithyll.
I hope DS 4 would be like DS 2, a another country with its own stories..would be interrest to know what's happen´d to Astora and where are the other shards of manus?
@@KailReborn One could say that the feeling of redundancy in Dark Souls 3 is an important part of it's narrative. You ARE always going back to the places you had been in Dark Souls, but they are more degraded now.
On a side note, watching how the Dark Root ages, from the time of Oolicile in Artorias of the Abyss to the time of the Forest Watchers and then the last time we see it... the trees gone... the mushroom people dead... it's become a literal poison swamp. It makes me feel feelings.
@@guanyu8539 I'm just not sure if narrative is worth making your game feel less fun, less interesting, less mysterious. The foreboding nature of DS1's atmosphere came from the fact that we _didn't_ know this world, and DS2, while it lacked that same atmosphere, created its own. DS3 failed to do either. Very little has stood out or made an impact to me thus far, it just feels like it lacks its own identity. I am certainly glad plenty of people were able to thoroughly enjoy it, I just truly wish I could have been one of them.
The thing that kills Dank Soulz 2 for me is the soul memory. It's so weird that this thing exist in the game. I mean, they introduced Hexers in the game, where you need souls to cast your stuff. Other than that, I actually really like it. Don't know, the slow paced gameplay was nice imo.
Soul memory is the absolute worst thing to ever be put into this franchise and anyone that thinks otherwise is wrong.
At least it made it harder to twink
@Manek Iridius What a ridiculous thing to say, DS3 invaders are at the biggest disadvantage the series has ever seen already, taking Estus away from them would make invasions nearly unwinnable.
@Manek Iridius Are you aware of how DS3 matchmaking works?
The vast majority of times, invaders will be matched up against hosts that have one or more summons, all of them able to heal and attack without friendly fire.
On top of that, hosts have the way of blue, which very frequently will give them an additional summon, they have 30% more health and, again due to matchmaking, they are very likely a higher level than the invader.
Does a lone host with no knowledge of the game get sometimes thrown under the bus?
Sure! But the vast majority of times, having access to some amount of healing is the only way invaders have any chance at all.
@Manek Iridius I agree that the invader should be downed a bit because they're fresh while the host is going through a level but at least i can mf fight someone instead of sitting on the Iron Bridge for 10 minutes slowly going blind to every colour other than orange
@@Nutt_lemmings the agape ring would like to have words with you
I just started playing this game yesterday as of Jan 19 2020 and I’m hating it so much. I love ds1, Bloodborne and Sekiro but this game feels like shit. So different from the others I mentioned. I’m glad I’m not the only one who has issues with this game. I thought it was just me.
fr ive played all the other souls games so many times over and enjoyed all of them but this one. honestly just thinking of just putting this one to the side it sucks
I feel ds2 is a good game, but you have to treat it as it's own thing. As a dark souls game it sucks, and honestly I never liked it. It's sad that from literally devolved because ds1s mechanics were better
@RayneMoonfireyeah So many hate it because most players are from ds1 think the mechanics of the game is garbage since they got used to ds1
but for me ds2 is good maybe because its my entrance to the souls series but i gotta admit the hitboxes are shit but once you get used to it it gets easy. I have beaten it so many times now
I played this game a few months back cause it wasn’t the only dark souls game I didn’t complete, after i started playing the entire game just felt completely off, like there’s a good game there but the controls make it horrible
Ds2 went straight into the garbage after playing Ds3
dark souls 2 hater: 🤓
dark souls 2 enjoyer: 😎
There is one thing good about DS 2, customes. You get soo many cloths, armors and dresses its insane.
I’m suffering through this right now and just gave up. This video is 100% right on. It’s like LJN designed it broken.
Dark Souls 2 is basically Dark Souls Lite
Woah don't insult LJN like that, ds2 is no where near as good as the games LJN made
If AVGN ever makes an episode of Dark Souls 2 then you know the game is bad
13:27 as someone who loved the last jedi, I never considered it this way.
I think i've just been on an originality kick since my undertale video.
Oh hey.
Heathen!!!!
Its ok I still love you even if you make mistakes :^)
If with this comment I threatened to toilet paper your house, but then instead I burn it down, does that make it okay because I subverted your expectations?
Just messing with you of course nothing personal.
sssshhh! You can't say that around here! If you say that you enjoy The Last Jedi millions of angry Star Wars fans will call you a Disney Shill and attempt to revoke your right to being a fan of the series! Turn back, before it's too late!
Ah this reminds me of Mauler’s response to Hbomerguy. I enjoyed that series as much as I love this video, very much
I prefer this video, as Mauler is boring and just as smug as Hbomb.
Aku Fan that’s fine by me
how can you survive 10 hours of that. HBG's video was long enough.
Rodeen I just enjoy long videos but I do understand that not everyone isn’t into it
Thank you! I did like what I watched of mauler's video but admittedly I couldn't bring myself to finish the series. I don't really think you need 10 hrs to explain why ds2 is bad or why hbomber is silly, though conceptionally it's kind of funny.
I also wanted to create a video that existed outside of this sphere, while I do ref bomber's video because he brings up A LOT of points I see in defense of the game, I feel like a lot of ds2 at least form looking into it, exists in a bubble. Each video on it seems to be a direct response and I kind of just wanted to give my opinion from own experiences with this series without needing to follow any sort of narrative but my own.
Your vioce is so freaking relaxing, you could read a phonebook and i would listen for hours
I know, right? I feel like he could make some really good asmr. I'd watch the shit out of The ASMonRoeshow
I like dark souls 2 because Ng+ is actually Ng+
The npc black phantoms are a great addition!
gamers really are the most oppressed in this society
Gamers are some of the most toxic people out there. What a bunch of retards.
@@neildrunkmaam7040 This is why gamers must rise up to stop this abuse against us.
@@neildrunkmaam7040 dont mix gamers whit mad kids
Ds2 fans are the dumbest people ever
Dark Souls 2 needs a Demon Souls 2020 remake :P the graphics we were promised all those many years ago could be mended on next gen :3
I second this
Dark Souls 2 needs a fucking retcon and ridicule
I agreed with some of hbomberguy's points, and I agreed with a few of yours. Ultimately, I liked the game and the way it played, and continue to enjoy it, but that doesn't mean you're incorrect or that I am correct, and I am glad you put this out. The discourse on this game is better with you in it, and I liked your video. Thank you for adding to the conversation.
I love how polite you are.
But DS2 is still ass.
@@rafael471992 DS 2 is not a bad game. It just happens for many to be the worst in the series. For me it is still a good game, but I just can not put it higher than DS 1, because it makes more things right for me, and it has a special place in my heart. And I also want to quote some dude from UA-cam that I have forgotten, "Worst of the best is still a very solid and good game".
Personally I think anything is better than Dark Souls 3. Thats how opinions work outside of this comment section, anyways.
It is objectively a bad game, but don't believe me, Mauler made a 10 part video essay about it, look it up, is fantastic, and is a response to the same guy that appears in this video that goes by the name of Harris bomberguy.
@@Thegeobot - From my experience, the game was functional.
DS3, my first souls game, was fantastic, and basically shot up to one of my favorite games of all time. I was so exited to play DS2, and had what I thought was realistic expectations for somewhat of a downgrade, but I am pretty disappointed and don't think ill be finishing it.
I've finished it a couple times but I just don't think it's worth it. I'm suffering in a Use What You Can See Randomizer in Dark Souls III and walking like a turtle and I'm having more fun with that slog than Dark Souls II.
Play Bloodborne and Sekiro
@@manavbhalla2861 both great
The reason Darl Souls 2 is so bad, because Fromsoft's "B-Team" worked on it. Miyazaki went on with his A-Team to create Bloodborne at the same time and it really shows since they are worlds apart in terms of quality. Bloodborne turned out to have best souls-style combat in the series while Ds2 feels like unresponsive shit. Thank god Ds3 followed in the footsteps of BB and became the masterpiece it is.
Casul
4/10 franchise. character customization is trash. can't make cute femboi waifus.
Another reason BB is the best in the series is because you can make a cute twink
@@DimitriMonroe ...this is probably the closest I've ever been to buying one of sony's toys.
@grey wait...you can make a cutie femboi in MonHon?
@@DimitriMonroe BB is one of the worst wtf
@Lain it is right tho
I came away from all of the other Souls games feeling like I just survived an epic adventure and wanting more. I came away from DS2 happy it was over and wanting to toss it in the trash.
I would rather play Demon's Souls, DS1, and Bloodborne from start to finish back-to-back than even think about touching DS2 again.
Finished sekiro, 100% ds3, couldn’t stand the first 60min in ds2.
Statues straight up blocking entrances, mobs just gang up on you, wouldn’t give you a chance to observe the area, random holes hidden under shallow water that kill you.
Plus, the fucking gate that takes forever to open, no fk bon fire when you reach a new area, you have to wait for the whole 10 sec for the gate to roll up everytime you die
Fucking waste of money and time
Agreed, love FromSoft but this game is pure ass, threw the game away because of how shit it was.
i am currently playing it with cheat engine and i can tell you the game is way better as a hack and slash than as a dark souls per sé lol
@@StallionFernando bruh I started playing soulslike games about a year ago and I've beaten CodeVien which I believed to be better in terms of combat and build variety and obviously customization, I beat sekiro which is one of my favorite games of all time, I beat the Demon Souls remake which was pretty good although I hated the entire 5th archstone, and i recently beat Dark Souls 1 remaster which i don't consider to be a masterpiece but I can see why it Put Fromsoftware on the map, so going off on all this I can say I have some experience with these type of games, so imagine my surprise when I Played Dark Souls 2 and I've been stuck on the first area with the big knights for 2 HOURS!!! My dodging is completely fucked I swear I'm dodging at the perfect moment but I get hit by the knights hammer no matter what, moving feels so tight and not in a good way, I feel like I have to literally turn my controller like a steering wheel just to make a right or left turn, I've died more times trying to get to the FIRST boss in ds2 than my entire playthrough of all the games I just mentioned I beat, I decided to skip it for now, I am currently playing Dark souls 3 and OMG the combat system has never felt so reliable , I feel like my dodges are perfect and when I die I feel like it's my fault, the inclusion of special weapon attacks using the blue par is so useful especially against certain enemies that don't like putting there shields down, enemies are more vicious and attack faster and more aggressive so I went for a Dexterity build so I can rely on quick dodges and faster weapon attacks rather than the strength build I used in Demon souls and Dark souls 1, it feels good switching my combat style, I will go back and try to beat ds2 in the future or maybe even after I beat ds3 but as I of right now I am very disappointed with ds2, I'm excited for eldin ring though
@@boxerheadninja4281 yes, Dark Souls 3 combat is so fluid and precise (except for the camera). You can really see the improvements from the previous Dark Souls games, it seems that DS2 went backwards and make the gameplay somehow worse than DS1 instead of improving, it has alot of content but most of it is bland/boring/forgettable. The main gripes I had were the obvious gank areas (which they use so much throughout the game to make it more difficult), and the how slow and late the input and character movements are, specially how it takes like 10 hours too drink Estus or to get back off the floor when you get knocked down giving your enemy a chance to load up an attack before you get back up. I'm currently playing Dem Souls and agree that past archstone is such garbage and the world tendecy stuff sucks as well. But it's still better than DS2. DS3 and BB are my fav in terms of how awesome the combat is, Sekiro I like the combat but lack of weapons ajd character customization and the setting kinda turned me off.
@@StallionFernando I agree with you on the camera angles in ds3, some bosses require you to literally lock on and lock off, sekiro does lack weapon variety but is in my opinion it has the most rewarding combat system to learn in any video game, once you become good at sekiro that's it, enemies won't be able to stand a chance, but dark souls can still kill you even if you think you know it all, I think I've died more times to those enemies holding torches in ds1 than any if the bosses lol, I think ima beat bloodbourne once I beat dark souls 3, I really don't wanna go back to dark souls 2
I just hate that the game punishes you for its own bad design. I already don’t like the aesthetics of being hallow, but I loathe having my health bar crippled because I died in an unfair spot multiple times. This game makes me really respect the crisp design of DS3
Average dark souls 3 fan
@@dragonslayerornstien5254 yeah I guess. I’m playing through coop summoning ds2 with a friend and I’m having some fun. It’s just too bad the game doesn’t feel near as fun to play solo. My favorite souls is ds1 though
@@dragonslayerornstien5254
Dark Souls3 is Objectively better in every way that matters. Seethe harder.
@@dragonslayerornstien5254 ds3 is million times better than ds2.
Skill issue
I bought Dark Souls day one immediately out of Dark souls 1 and was thrown off massively by the feel of the combat. The weapons felt light and lacked impact, the backstabs and shitty hit boxes. But the biggest difference I feel is that Dark souls 2 deliberately tries to trick the player, placing items in places that will near insta kill you if you try to get them and cannot acquire them until some other item or some bullshit (particularly in the iron keep). This difference in design philosophy make DS2 a frustrating parody of a tough but fair (although not without faults) game.
Ever Dark Souls game has traps yes, the bolder rolling down the Stair case in undead asylum, pit falls in the depths etc. etc. But all of these are avoidable are survivable for the most part and, most importantly, they do not tempt you with items just laying around. In Darkroot garden, sure, there are shrubs that will jump you if you go for an item out in the open, but by that point you have already seen shrubs that pop out of the ground and even if you don't know to watch out for those, they are still avoidable. The biggest issue withe DS2 is that it will essentially force you to die in order to understand you can't go somewhere even though it looks like you could. Dark Souls I does not punish the player in the same way as DS2: in DS I exploration can result in your death if you are overconfident or not careful, however, DS2 seems to go out of its way to lure you into dangerous situations with the promise of items. The shrubs jumping you in Darkroot garden are a rare occurrence while, literally in the second area, there is an item on a narrow platforms that, once you get it, an enemy will drop down and block your path, running past him is difficult and can result in you dying and fighting him is equally frustrating given the small space if you don't have a shield (which ties into the point that DS2's level design seems to discourage dodging and promote using shields given how many narrow corridors the game has). I could go on and on and on about instances where death traps, Ogres jumping out of walls, dead end drops that are isnta-kills, lava traps that you think you could survive in order to get an item (which actually isn't worth it in the end) that kills you near instantly and makes souls recovery nearly impossible. But the biggest sin here is that DS2 has these traps with greater frequency, less warning, and higher consequences: dying in DS2 means losing a portion of your health bar. Death traps and tricking the player are sometimes an aspect of souls level design but they do not appear nearly as frequently in other entries as they do in DS2, nor do they have as much consequence as in DS2.
Scholar of the first sin literally pushed the ''randomize loot'' button, so they are not even worth picking up lol. Also, adaptability, soul memory, clunky navigation, enemies x3 just because even bosses, nonexisting shortcuts, linear hallway level design, zero world consistency, etc, makes extremely hard to appreciate the couple things that it did better than ds1. PvE was a shitshow and took away the enthusiasm to partake in PvP, which I heard was a huge improvement over ds1, and that being about it. And yes, I finished the game, several times on ng and ng+ cycles.
Edit: manek iridius you are in almost every comment on this video, it looks like it really cut close to the bone lol
What I was and am saying is that yes BOTH games do that, DS2's surprises are dick moves because they have more consequence and less warning. Ogres jumping out from behind doors, doors that literally lead to an insta-death are MORE common in DS2 and are more costly. DS2's traps are not intelligently placed, they are traps for traps sake. My complaint was not that there are traps, I enjoy DS I and I have stated there ARE traps in that game, so clearly I am not complaining about that. My complaint is that the traps in DS2 are an inconvenience more than ever. All the games do place items in hazardous places but only DS2 would put an item in the middle of something that is GUARANTEED to kill you, the lava in Iron keep, etc. etc. The game knicks a portion of your health bar just because you hadn't been through there before, not because you weren't careful. And if you want to insist that you read through the entirety of this text too and state that "DSI has plenty of insta-death traps as well" then maybe re-read and see that the traps piss me off in DS II because they chop off a portion of your health bar each time and force you to go back and trek all the way through the level again. Moreover, you state that a core principle of soul's level design is to trick the player? I never once complained about being caught off guard, that happens everytime you enter a new enviroment. The complaint is not that "I am caught off guard" it's that they are poorly designed surprises, subverting expectation doesn't work when what you have subverted for is just a frustrating set back not a legitimate challenge. I was under the impression that a legitimate soul's level design principle was challenge and using the knowledge you had acquired from multiple runs to overcome an obstacle. If The entire franchise is built around catching the player off-guard, then shouldn't we just have a game with invisible enemies that just backstab you out of nowhere? Or how about just placing a shit tonne of enemies right before a boss gate and then have another enemy span even more enemies in? All these are in DS2 and are not challenging, once you know they are there, they are avoidable, timing the rolls on the arrows in Sen's fortress was a trap that required skill to overcome, the shaded woods just require you to run fast, the elevator that leads to a death trap in Sen's fortress requires you to fin another way around, the ogre in Aldia's keep just requires you to bait him to smash the wall and run around him. The traps do not require much skill to circumvent and are just there for a cheap death.
@Manek Iridius >no traps in dark souls require skill to circumvent and they're all there to be cheap deaths.
Wow I didn't realize the pendulums, boulder pathways, and dart traps in Sens fortress were all unfair, impossible to see coming, instant death traps meant to instantly kill all new players who don't know any better.
Nothing in DS1 was as unfair and cheap as Aldia's ogre or shaded woods and you know it.
Provide examples
@Manek Iridius
Dude do you have brain damage? Because all your arguments got destroyed yet you keep on instisting that ds2 is fair. You seem like a complete masochist when I look at how you defend the sadistic shit they have added. I bet you never actually played any other souls game.
It would be nice if it actually told you about more of the stat effects, didnt know about the adaptability effecting rolls like that until this
DS/2 Conspiracies
FACT: Torch fuel burns at 800° to 1500°F, not hot enough to melt steel.
also the game is just "you know what would be hard? if we put ANOTHER enemy/ boss in the same area? "
All 3 have this but it is very present in DS2.
@Manek Iridius All 3 souls games have sections with ganks, I don't disagree that 2 has more than the others, i'm just saying it's always present.
@@MilkBloodTM wtf? But aren't there more bosses with ganks counting with percentages in ds1 than ds2?
I never beat DS1 so I can't say for sure.
@Manek Iridius dark souls 1 and 3 the bosses is the toughest enemy in the areas dark souls 2 the mobs of enemy are tougher than the bosses.
What's with all the dislikes? Literally everything said in this video was valid.
These dumbass dark souls 2 fanboys can’t accept the fact that there’s things wrong with this game
Ds2 fanboys crying because they can't take facts
They don’t like honest reviews on this garbage ass game
Almost none of them was valid what are you talking about?
@@tunaaydn3835 Maybe you should watch the fucking video before going ItS NoT vAliD
I stand by my stance that DS2 is a good game, but a bad dark souls game
I think the team behind dark souls 2 cared a lot more about player feedback than Miyazaki and his team. Also the game was far more balanced for PvP and had overall more interesting mechanics. As someone who plays those games mainly for the PvP i loved and still to this day love dark souls 2. Though i won't deny that the PvE and overall story of the game leaves a bit to be desired.
The lore is the main reason why I played it didn't wanna get behind on the souls series but the hitboxes almost made me quit also this game favors magic so much its ridicous
Fuck pvp in all soul games, all of those suck ass. Singleplayer always was the focus, and should stay that way... DS2 just proved that.
@@dionis6625 It is just insane how ANY sane person can say that the multiplayer in souls games is GOOD. No, how can anybody say it is even AVERAGE. It had a unique concept of connected, time-tied worlds and invasions, but other than that, PVP is a pure bullshit. It has so many glaring flaws that it is just insulting it exists in any state: an unbalanced circus of "who backstabs the first", riddled with ps2-era netcode and poor design decisions.
The PvP is why it's still my fav. That's long term appeal. Playing against AI just doesn't compare and all the others Souls games are broken as hell. DS2 is only a lil' broken. With bad netcode and regulation (as usual with every game in the series).
@@dionis6625 I can't believe you find fighting a bunch of AI monsters all that appealing after a few runs. PvP spices it up in ways that single player cannot. AI isn't as smart or mentally diverse as humans. It's also more fair against another human under the same restrictions.
Thanks for this.
As a (hopefully) future Game Dev, any deep and well thought out insight into a game's design - Whether it be good or bad - is really useful to me.
There’s actually idiots saying ds3 is the worst
It is
@@angellara7040 Except ds2 is shit and ds3 is actually good yet the dumbass ds2 fanboys are like “dS2 iS obJecTiVelY bEttEr thAn 3 huRdHgdhfhsgdbfjdhdnfjdbdnfnfjdjxncnfkdksjffjj”
ds3 is objectively best souls game
@@angellara7040 nah I think bloodborne is worst
@@alsnm1273 it's bad dude. Ds3 has zero anything compared to even kings field
@@angellara7040 Bloodborne is a garbage game
Something that I absolutely _loathed_ about DS2 was how utterly lazy the bosses were on multiple levels; the constant re-using and re-skinning of previous bosses, that 90% of them were just "big humanoid with a giant weapon", that fact that the majority of them had additional mobs or another boss to support them (either in their initial encounter or NG+) because the devs couldn't be assed to make them challenging in their own right...
How did we go from Demon's Souls, which had some of the most unique and memorable boss fights in gaming, to this dung heap?
Recently I tried giving ds2 an another chance
The game is still ASS
This game has one thing, one fucking thing, that drives me fucking crazy. I can beat Dark Souls 1 pretty well, but Dark Souls 2 has those fucking 180 spinning enemies from hell who apparently have frictionless feet. It fucking drives me crazy. This game fucking sucks.
It sucks to suck don't blame the game on your own incompetence.
@@Taco_Thief found the souls bro🤣🤣. I've never seen people simp so hard for bad games since I played smash ultimate
@@christianbaker3564 bro what
Dark souls 2 was great. I have played more than 2k hours in it and I don't regret a single one of them. I love this game for what kind of production struggles it had to pass through and yet it still managed to deliver enjoyable experience, it's Fromsoftware's unloved child, yet it got it's own charm. B-team was ambitious and wanted game to become big, yet so many things went wrong with finances, engine and people surrounding this product. Unlike Dark souls 1 and Dark souls 3, this game tried to be different, tried to deliver something fresh and unique to franchise. Dark souls 2 probably got the strongest PVP aspect and amount of builds you can try, outclassing every single souls entry. Not a single Souls game was flawless, but I guess hating on DKS2 just attracts more positive feedback.
I love you for this comment. Not many people are aware of the troubled development of DS2. There's a doc somewhere that lists it and it's quite an interesting read.
You are right, Demon's souls is indeed best souls game. It's fresh, it's original and got the most interesting world with very daring challenges, memories of my first visit of Tower of Latria still gives me chills. The most enjoyable PVE experience out of all souls games so far.
I agree with you 100%. Dark Souls 2 is my my favorite Dark Souls game and Demon's Souls is my favorite Soulsborne game. The genre is quite stagnant right now.
@@Akario3
The troubled development doesnt excuse it being shit and sadistic.
@@adradox Latria and the Palace are wicked but Stonefang, Valley and Storms are really shit, but who gives a fuck fluted set trumps any flaws
I was very hyped about this game when I first got it: after 5 hours of gameplay it just became boring
When it came out 2 friends and i organized a sleepover, we all took our PS3s to the friend's house we were staying and by the time we reached the ruin sentinels there was a weird taste in our mouths and the hype was pretty much dead.
This was the game that turned me off of the series in general, I didn't even bother trying ds3 because of how fucking awful ds2 was
@@nomadsgame4500 dark souls 3 is again more like the first game i loved it. Dark souls 2 i really don't want to finish it feels really bad
Ds2 fanboys are the stupidest people on the internet too
@@correctcritic9749 "You like Dark souls 2? Are you braindead?"
10:59 just gonna make it known that I worked out to knock that rock down the well all by myself, I am clearly a genius only comparable to Einstein.
TheBoagboy
Clearly.
Boagboy, just wanna let you know
good pfp
DS2 almost turned me off from the series entirely, while my little brother loves it (but probably just for nostalgia).
Nolstalgia...
fanboy hater detected
The first things that put me off DS2 when I first started it were the 8-directional movement, the robotic, amateurish animations and the completely boring high fantasy art direction that missed the style of DS1 completely.
Ds2 has good animations. The art looks very wierd at first like I hated it but after you play some hours you start to appreciate it. What i dont like are the bosses, but dark souls isnt a boss rush game. Ds2 has the most content of soul games, the dlcs are amazing. First when I played ds2 I thought like the iternet and I keep saying its bad ,but after 100 hours of playing its my fav. Every dark soul game is a masterpiece in my opinion.
@@vasilecusarmale7322 Ah yes the "amazing" DS2 DLC's that contain such thrilling experiences such as Frigid Outskirts with the bullshit Reindeers only to fight the shitty re skin cat boss fought earlier in the DLC except now you get ganked by two of them, the run to blue smelter demon which is abysmal and made even more shitty because you can get hit entering the fog gate just to fight a reskin from a vanilla game boss, the GOD AWFUL HORRIBLE RUN to the Cave of the Dead boss only for the boss to end up being 3 NPC's ganking you. Ah yes, amazing indeed.
I guess Sir Alonne, Fume Knight, and Sinh are pretty cool though.
Surprised you didn't mention the glass-like nature of weapons. Never had an issue with weapon durability in DS1. I would repair every time I sat at a bonfire or visited a blacksmith.
In DS2, I found it nearly impossible to explore an area without having to repeatedly revisit bonfires - no, not to refill estus - but because my weapon was as durable as a piece of toast, and I never had repair powder around. I avoided any weapon with durability lower than 70 because I knew it wouldn't last longer than like 20 fights.
Oh, and the *only* vendor of (unlimited) repair powder doesn't show up until you're about 70% through the game.
I managed to get the Old Whip from Dyna & Tillo and, checking its stats, saw it was way better than what I had been using. Switched over and had a jolly good time using it to power through early Huntsman's Copse... for about 5 minutes... when I get the "at risk of breaking" alert. That's when I took a look at the durability stat and saw: 40. Immediately switched back to my old weapon and never looked back. Durability became the first stat I checked before deciding to try a new weapon and that... sucks. You should be encouraged to find and use weapons that suit your playstyle, not be excluded from certain weapons because they're impractical to use.
Along with that - and something that _all_ Dark Souls games are guilty of - you shouldn't have to grind to get the materials you need to improve weapons. If you want to gate that off by making certain items inaccessible early? Fine. Gate it off until merchants can sell those items later. But forcing players to _grind_ to get the basic items they need to improve their weapons and armor? It makes me not want to engage with the upgrading process at all. It's just trading one waste of time (grinding) for another waste of time (repeatedly attempting areas with gear that's too weak). And if that's the choice, why include an upgrade system at all?
Its because you never carry any repair powder
@@dragonslayerornstien5254 Gosh, it's almost like I addressed that in what I said.
"The only vendor of (unlimited) repair powder doesn't show up until you're about 70% through the game."
@@OuroborosChoked ok that was never a problem just git gud bro
@@OuroborosChoked and there's a repair tree in shulva
That was probably the biggest issue I had with DS2 out of everything else. It's literally so bad that actually fighting other enemies on the way to a boss is a liability, because your weapon could completely break before you actually manage to kill the boss. The Bracing Knuckle Ring became one of the most invaluable rings that I always kept on, just because the weapon durability was that awful.
I love FromSoftware and the Soulsborne games, with the exception of Dark Souls II.
Dark Souls II is worst of the souls games, the nauseating levels of mechanical and conceptual they had the audacity to release that garbage is outrageous.
The game lacks any and all imagination, phantom hitboxes that put Sekiro to absolute shame, boss fights that have absolutely no thought put into them and all that discerns them from any mob you come across is the extremely bad hitboxes and in some cases, the extremely OP instakill damage.
Also, the idea that this game is meant to teach you to not use a shield is quite ridiculous, because using a shield makes the game very easy, it goes from having to dodge and time properly (which is frequently impossible because of phantom ranges) to simply holding up a greatshield and managing stamina. Dodging isn`t even required, just move constantly to the side.
Dark Souls II isn`t a Souls game to me, it`s really just a badly designed, cheapshot-happy pile of mechanical deficit that contradicts the Soulsborne idea of skill-based gameplay to function-based. IF and WHEN the game functions properly, it`s skill-based. When it doesn`t, you`ll just have to cheese the living soul out of it.
Dark Souls 2 is so depressing to play. No architecture, everything is flat, boxy, dark and miserable.
at least it has colors, not like ds3
Ds2 wasnt lazy
The team wasnt able to optimase the game couse bandai rushed them
They originally meant to release the game in 2016
Finally someone saying it out loud. Honestly, fuck this "game".
Hot take. I don’t think darksouls 2 is just trash and is actually a pretty good game
The thing that pisses me off the most about this game is how the hardcore fans will either pretend like it's issues don't exist, or they'll say that the other games have the exact same issues and are just as bad. "Yeah, Dark Souls 2 has an innumerable amount of unforgivably bad hitboxes, but muh Dark Souls 1 has a small handful of questionable hitboxes so they're the same."
When I was first playing Dark Souls 2 I noticed that the lock-on mechanic was really unreliable. Like 20% of my attacks my character would just turn around and stab the ground in a random direction. When I asked around on reddit about this, they all told me that they'd never heard of that and that my controller was probably broken. Turns out my controller was fine and this is just a demonstrable flaw in the game. This would happen for literally every bug or issue I had with the game. The fans would just try to gaslight me about it almost every time. I have no problem with people enjoying this game, but it pisses me off that so many people will flat out lie about serious issues the game has or try and drag the good games in the series down to its level. It just makes me not like the game even more.
No... There is an option that you can turn your character while locked on in ds2. You probably just didnt disable it... Also ds2 hitboxes are perfectly fine???? The examples of grab hitboxes you see are people actually getting clipped fair and square during a mistimed roll, but since the animation priority in the game is kinda wonky (the enemy actually has to finish the whole grab attack animation before it plays out, so if you get hit, let's say during the beginning of the pursuer thrust grab, you will see your character still being able to move momentarily before you get teleported in the middle of the sword so the animation can play out) people attribute it to bad hitboxes.
I'm not even joking it's so sad for ds2 that so many people have just no idea how hitboxes work and animation priority works so they think it's bad game design.
Also example of bad thrust attack hitbox from ds3 ua-cam.com/video/JrrNiQ01rkQ/v-deo.html&ab_channel=aziz
I think yall are gonna have to understand that thrust attack hitboxes in soul game will always have the problem that they are a lot wider than they seem to be. They usually start actually behind the boss and they are big cylinder shaped
@@ynsmdd8678 A single example of a bad hitbox in Dark Souls 3 doesn't compare the the literal mountains of examples of bad hitboxes in Dark Souls 2. In the other games, bad hitboxes are the exception, not the rule.
There are a handful of boss type enemies with shoddy hitboxes.
It's the same as ds1.
@@rswindol bro, there are plenty of bad hitboxes. There are compilation you can look up
I hate that this game is long as hell, if it was shorter id probaly like it way more,and the levels and bosses are shit
You can make it shorter by using bonfire aestetics at a bonfire with a boss that gives a lord soul. They use that in speedruning
....why do you both have the same profile picture?
Thing that bugged me in soul memory is how much it ruined coop, lvls in dark souls were already a bad thing for scaling (why they put it in the remaster is fucking beyond me) but if you want to play with your friends in dark souls 2 you need similar lvl AND similar soul memory... it's just so unwieldy
Speaking of Sonic R, what's your guilty pleasure game?
Dark Souls 1.
I'm lying, that game's bad
Roblox
Killing Floor 2. On top of playing all the big games that I take time to hack away at, I sometimes hop into KF2 to mindlessly kill shit.
Call of Duty Zombies
I finished Sonic R with 100% half a year ago. I unironically enjoyed the game and I don't why. The controls were so shitty, being good in the game felt like a huge reward.
I decided to refresh my soul games and do all achievements in all of them. After Dks1 remastered I moved into Dks2 sotf. I didn't remember this game being as bad as it actually is. It is so fucking shit, I can't get over this level and enemy design and controls. Thanks for this video it helped me cope.
Same. TBH DS2 SotFS was my first DS game. So I initially appreciated it. But recently I got back to it after almost a year of not playing any DS games (and after finishing DS1 and DS3) and I can't believe how clunky the controls are (seems like I only got used to them). Also, the areas tend to be pretty dull and boring. It had so much potential because I saw that the Gutter and Grave of Saints were supposed to contain way more areas (link for that video I am referring to: ua-cam.com/video/t_YcEvpAafE/v-deo.html ). It's just the time constraints that they had to cut lots of things off which really sucks. The graphics feel like some sort of plastic or something. that are just painted over. It also gives me some claustrophobic feeling since most areas are too narrow.
DS2 could have been a master piece without the time constraints. Although it did make up for the DLC's at least. DLC bosses of DS2 are its best assets.
@@akizaizayoi4763 It was exactly the same for me
i love that they came up with a system as weird and conveluted as soul memory and the name engraved ring. only to have the next game come up with a simple password system thats 100X better
Matthew Price maybe it’s better but it sticks like a sore thumb imo, that’s if they instead of creating soapstones just added “multiplayer” button in the main menu
The best thing I can say about 2 is that it doesn't feel anything like Dark Souls 1, and that I can keep it separate from it in my mind. Dark Souls 3 is worse in the sense that it gave me hope for a proper successor for Dark Souls 1, but it ended up trying to be both Bloodborne and Dark Souls yet failing to be either and just being mediocre instead of great like its inspirations.
Also the multiplayer in 2 was passable compared to 1, but that's barely a positive in a series with aggressively mediocre multiplayer implementation.
Ds3 is still better than ds2. Also isn’t bloodborne this so called “masterpiece” if so then why is it bad that ds3 is like bloodborne
Because Bloodborne is supposed to be different from Dark Souls. So basing a Dark Souls game from Bloodborne is odd.
Average Dark Souls 2 hater phenotype. Many such cases!
Me and my best friend have been playing through all the soils games together for the first time we have played them all and left DS2 for last. You vocalized everything we have hated about this game! Great video
‘a caricature of the series’- yes this. Barely through the video and I already agree. Dark Souls 2 is essentially a bad caricature of Dark Souls 1 and to lesser extent Demon Souls.
It sucks because the game doesn't hold up well when revisited but it still has my favorite atmosphere in the series. Level design took a nosedive but the art and ambiance of the game was at its peak for me. I know a lot of people would disagree with this.
Why did the first few seconds of this video get cut? Was this deliberate or UA-cam being weird?
Every other Soulsborne game i continued to play after getting the platinum trophy.
For this one, it was such a drag just getting the platinum. (Not saying it was hard, it is by far the easiest, but I was super bored playing through this mess)
Is that so
More like Dark shit 2
while the game had its flaws, I dont understand the part you complained about the dodge, you showed an example and in that example you dodged when his weapon was behind his back still, what did you expect? the whole roll animation to have i-frames?
“Whay did you expect? A dodge roll to work like a dodge roll?”
@@littlemoth4956 you dont even know how these games work don't you?
To hitbox to be accurate he didnt roll through the weapon like you would when your in weapon range he dodged cause he knew my looking at weapon that if hitbox were made correctly he would have been out of range. Or maybe he selected the wrong clip to represent the problem just one clip doesnt diminishes his poin
True!
Imagine expecting dodging to work in ds2
This video's so damn replayable.
@xAkame I like seeing people flame something but you literally burnt this game to a crisp.