One of the biggest things people miss in DS2 is how incredibly good NG+ is. New red phantom enemies, new boss souls, some of the findable loot changes/increases quantities etc. It is the only game in the series + elden ring + BB that has any additional changes to NG+. The scaling is also nearly perfect for subsequent runs on your level to keep it challenging. I think the game truly shines on further playthroughs. It's the game that I always return to and still find out new things using, especially powerstancing combos and chains.
I think UA-cam shadow-blocked my comment, so I'll say it with less cussing Good sir, I've met and died to you. I encourage you with much jubilation to check over a ledge for secret treasures. I was the guy with the Caestus and no chest armor
14:55 In the example footage, those enemies pretend to be corpses and only aggro when you get super close, they’re also spread out over that giant room. You must’ve literally ignored the 3 dudes who get up at the entrance, and ran to pick up every item in the room without once looking behind you to end up in that situation.
Guess that was my bad. Like I said, this is a "first thoughts" type deal, so I'm not married to any of this and also absolutely open to being totally wrong in some areas. Yeah I suppose that was an instance of not paying close attention, going through on autopilot the same as DS1, whereas DS2 requires more thought and meditation on areas to progress. I want to add I've only fallen more in love with what DS2 does since making this. Once day I'll revisit it in a proper scripted video to do it greater justice.
Vials arent the most ideal, but i kind of consider them a non issue after a while. I just made a habit of always dumping my left over echos into bullets and vials after leveling up and by the time youre past Rom you literally never run out.
I don't know how much you looked up about the troubled development of DS2, but if you know anything about it, then you will understand why the game feels like a bunch of good ideas, taped together to push out a product that had a troubled development. Obviously this is the reason for why the world feels so disconnected and a number of other issues with the game. Some people say that Dark Souls 2 was From's attempt at making Elden Ring before they had the technology or the experience to make a game like that, and I think I agree with that. Many mechanics in Elden Ring are failed mechanics from Dark Souls 2, but this time done well, in a game with a less chaotic development. You can see that they were partly still figuring out what exactly Souls was supposed to be. Even just the achievement: "This is Dark Souls", that you get for dying for the first time feels like they forgot the game is difficult as a result of it's design and not just for the sake of being difficult. As you said in the video, some things in the game don't feel fair and I believe this is them forgeting what made the difficulty of the first game and Demon's souls good. Just to add to it, part of the dissapointment for the OG fans also comes from the downgrade that the game suffered. It's not a bad game. It's still an okay time, but it's definitely not their best work, which is not surprising given the troubles they had with it.
@@UchihaG but he wasnt absent, & ds2 really isnt that different to the other games. I dont get this being constantly brought up like it's a huge thing. Itd be like saying todd howard had no involvement in fallout 4 just because emil lead the project as a whole. Or the inverse, thatd be like acting as if emil was absent on skyrim just because todd led it. Even if i took that sentiment seriously, that miyazaki really wouldve had ds2 turn out different if he had more say, the mf himself obviously cant let ds2 go. It was already joked about elden ring being dark souls 2 II but now with it's dlc, there's too many of ds2's concepts & ideas repurposed to deny even he saw the potential present. A bummer too cause even he doesnt seem to get why ds2 is so beloved, with how it handled stuff from basic attacks to ng+ & bonfire aestetics. Also a bummer in how the fans themselves cant actually seperate the forest from the trees with ds2, the good & the bad
id argue the whole "this is darks souls" & similar things thru out ds2 was just fromsoft embracing that "difficult game" branding, & it obviously paid back in spades. Elden ring kinda half assed some of ds2's better stuff as well. Powerstancing for instance? It only brought back basic l1s. Only paired weapons like fists & claws make use of both weapons for heavy attacks, everything else defaults to the 1hand r2. Radahn's sword being a prime example. Same with left hand attacks, in what should be the most fluid game, i cant roll/step/sprint or jump attack with my left hand weapon, youre stuck to neutral & with very goofy idle animations to boot. Theyre both tied as my favorite souls games, almost like 2 incomplete halves
I do think ds2 is one of the weakest in the trilogy but not the weakest in the entire fromsoft line up. I'll take DS2 over any modern Ubisoft, EA, or Activision game.
Well tbh the level design is pretty bland in comparison to dark souls 1 or even dark souls 2. And some people may not like the more aggressive and faster paced combat of dark souls 3. So I can see why they feel that way. @@tbrown5836
It was my first souls game. I loved it to no end. It's a bit clunky to go back to after playing 3 and BB. But the game especially the dlcs are some of the best times I've had with gaming in general
oh the reason the rapier worked better is because its hitbox in DS2 is significantly wider than in DS1, i think it was mostly just for balancing purposes. the hitbox is like a big, slightly disjoint pill shape that handily covers the entire sword, whereas in DS1 it's like a little sphere at the front of the sword, in DS2 you can hit people with the butt of the sword and they'll still get hit
DS2 is an interesting one because the quality and what you expect out of it varies dramatically with when you picked it up. The launch left this huge shadow over the game because the pre release stuff showed things that never came about, like a huge change in the lighting system, we never got the lighting system that was promised and it made the torch system really weird because you never needed one to see. Systems like the adaptability level weren't known about going into the game either, so day one all we knew about the dodge was that it felt bad, not that it could be improved. Coming to it without those expectations does huge favours for the game, as does having a complete wiki to work with, but scholar did put in a lot of the weird enemy placements that people have issues with. It's had such a bizarre life cycle. I really like it, it's not my favourite but I do find myself keep coming back to it. It has a certain charm that I can't get anywhere else and I appreciate it.
I've been watching a few vids about ds2 on computer, with graphics and lighting mods and also tweaks the movement towards ds3 and a few other tweaks that outshine the original press release for the game and the final product and they look awesome. I've played consol all my life. But I think this year I'm gonna go through the souls series on a good PC. Everything I see looks awesome with the graphics and lighting mods for all the games, check it out if you havent
this is so accurate. i dont know what it is about ds2. it plays so jank, has so many problems yet i cant really get the same feel anywhere else. its such a mess but somehow i still like it
@@feircy Scholar's changes to enemy positions are so bad and anti-fun. It's like they were made with the sole purpose of making the game as unenjoyable as possible, and a lot of them don't even feel like they make sense.
One note I'll make on what you said. "The game throws so many enemies at you." I have to say, if you play it slowly and pay attention, you genuinely will never have to face more than 2-3 enemies at a time. And if you unlock the camera, those enemies aren't all that difficult to deal with more often than not. The game will often give you clues. Like the example you gave in Forest of Fallen Giants. The game shows you that the hollows are sleeping. The one right infront of the ladder is asleep. When you approach him, he wakes up. Knowing that, when you scale the ladder and see a field littered with sleeping hollows, your instinct should be to approach them 1 at a time and deal with them 1 at a time. Not to run through, wake them all up, and then try to fight 8 of them as a level 12 character. Similarly with lost bastile, which you also showed. The walkway outside the door is narrow, which allows you to funnel the enemies in 1 by 1. Then you can either fight them 1 or 2 at a time or you can run back out to the balcony area, and use a firebomb to detonate the explosive barrels and eliminate all of them at once. You can even shoot a burning arrow into one of the chambers from outside to kill 3 of them with explosive barrels. This is what Dark Souls 2 does better than every single souls game, including elden ring and bloodborne. The game isn't a mad dash to fight 1 enemy after another. You have to stop, take it slowly, observe and think about how you're gonna tackle a challenge. You might die to it once or twice and you WILL learn from it if that's the mindset you have. Because the game offers ample opportunities to tackle every problem in a smart way. If you're really good at the game you can play reckless and just tackle the problems in a brute force manner. But if you aren't, you're incentivized to take it slowly and find creative solutions. I wish this mentality carried over onto other souls games. But by and large it didn't outside of the starting areas in Bloodborne and Sekiro.
Exactly this, people just want to run through everything. At least in ds2 you remember the 'ganks' because they were memorable. Its the journey not the destination. Ds2 is just another cycle in cycles that have gone for thousands of years
@@Ecco_The_Dolphin I remember them, not because they are memorable, but because the 6th or 7th time in a row I grew tired and irritated by them. If it had been done in moderation it would be fine, but it was so often that I grew angry at it after awhile.
@@DarkLordReturnedI have to do the regular skill issue qoute because as the OP says you can easily avoid ganks if you take it slow and besides enemies despawn if you killed them enough times. If it really made you that angry it leads me to believe you died multiple times without killing the enemies so they never despawn for you. So in other words you are under serious skill issue allegations right now.
@@NoahToledo-xo5pj yes the spiders coming down from above behind me where you can't see them were MY fault. Mind you ganking and spambushes aren't even the top of why I dislike 2 more than the others, but there were a lot of moments where you couldn't see them coming. Or the game discouraged from "taking it slow" with just so many snipers. Or when it drops a pursuer on you.
@@DarkLordReturned yes those spiders are your fault. They are clearly visible specially with a torch which btw scares them off. Not only that but those spiders are on Tseldora. By that point you must have been in forest of fallen giants or Heide/No Man Warf. By that point you should be aware ambushes are a thing so if you are just not looking around yes, it is your fault. The archer claim is also a massive exaggeration, archers are slow, easy to dodge and if they are such a problem to you, get your own bow. You are not beating the skill issue allegations sir. If this keeps going I will have to declare that you have skill issues.
The adp was an attempt at adding more rpg mechanics by tying s to a stat so you can dump levels into it and become more agile than in ds1. So in their head they were thinking of a dex type character to have high adp and dex and strength type character would have high strength and stamina for shields. They couldnt keep the base s at the same levels as ds1 because if you leveled up adp AND had ds1 base s the game would be too easy.
I hecking love DS2. I avoided it like the plague because the internet told me it was a bad game. But I had such a fun time with the game. After beating all the other souls games I still had the itch to play a souls game, gave DS2 a try and was pleasently surprised by how good it is.
thats my plan, i started with ds1, and im now playing ds3, i already have bloodborne because of ps+, so thats next, and after that i'll play sekiro and elden ring, after the two goty's, there will be only ds2 (and DeS) to play, and thats what i'll do, play ds2 (and after that DeS)
Tbh I really enjoyed DS2 and I’m always happy to see people praising it. But also one of the things I feel people never talk about but I loved was the opening cinematic! Just beautiful
It's refreshing to see a more positive leaning look at Dark Souls 2. I've always been told that it's the one you can skip as it has nothing really going for it, but clearly it has some quality even if it's not quite as good as the others. I enjoy these more unscripted looks at the souls games, it'd be interesting to see once you've finished them all what you think of, what is arguably the best souls-like, Lies of P which is probably the most fun I've ever had with a souls game although I'm yet to give Sekiro a go!
I definitely want to play Lies of P, I bought it when it came out and just never played it, will likely do so soon enough... hopefully. I did play the demo though, on stream to if you wanted to see my time with that, the VOD is here ua-cam.com/video/hty-yiIa-1Q/v-deo.html&t
@@LazerzZ I actually watched this live, that Starfield direct really set me up for some disappointment with the full game. With Elden Ring being the last souls game I played before Lies, it was a nice change of pace to play a more tight linear experience, the whole open world thing was really starting to get stale for me. It has some great bosses, especially the final one which has to be one of the most satisfying bosses I’ve fought in a souls game. I enjoyed it so much I started a new game plus run straight after, which is rare for me. Hope you get the time to go through it after your playthrough the Fromsoft catalogue.
This isn't a positive look at all. It's filled with the same BS you find in any DS2 slander video, complete with classic disingenuous lies. Didn't even bother to play 1/3rd of the game. Footage is literally of the least engaging "let's get this over with" way to play through the game to boot. There's so little effort in this "review" that i am not convinced half of it is not copy pasted from rebbit.
Literally just being aware saved me from gank fights left and right. Peek a corner. Throw an alluring skull. So many alternatives to just runnnng into a room and accepting your demise. Instead of interacting with the world.
Yeah, this is the second “I tried DS2, but skipped the DLC’s” video I’ve watched in a week. Snow area does suck, and it ends in a boss fight that also sucks. But other than that, they are my favorite parts of the whole game.
I'll definitely go back and check them out, I just skipped them because I didn't want to burn myself out or force myself, if I'm gonna give them a go, I want to go in because I want to, otherwise I just won't be fair to them.
@@Astrophobia88 probably hardest section in any souls game ever imo. Especially if playing solo. That duo boss sabretooths I remember being though too.
For me: DS1 has the best world design, DS2 has the best customization and you can power stance, DS3 has the best bosses, Bloodborne has the best atmosphere, Sekiro has the best combat system and Elden Ring is the most epic. They’re all amazing games it just depends on what mood I’m in.
That's my argument for the un-connectedness and confusing-ness of the map; it's like a dream so it doesn't necessarily have to make sense. Also the fire keeper in the beginning says you will end up at the castle and won't really know why which makes me think memory loss/confusion is a side effect of the curse
FromSoft games definitely are community games, I personally never understood people playing offline without the messages and shadows and all these cool mechanics. I remember Elden Ring launch, it was almost like if MMO just launched, everybody communicating all over internet, sharing new knowledge, it was amazing.
I personally hate playing online, due to all the shit on my screen- ghosts, messages etc. I understand some people like the community aspect, but I prefer the feeling of loneliness in their games, especially in Elden Ring. Also, I hate when someone spoils some surprise for me via the messages, but the worst thing are the ghosts of other players.
I love playing offline. The multiplayer elements just don’t interest me. U soon get bored with the messages and invasions can get annoying if ur not in the mood
@@j0nnyism I mean I did not get invaded a single time in ER while playing online, it is up to you if you want invasions. But sure, play your way, I just feel like the game looses part of it´s charm without messages and shadows.
20:52 the whole idea where areas connect in awkward incomprehensible ways is because the map had to be reshuffled late in development, during an interview one of the developers clarified on the exact elevator you used to get to iron keep, that many of the long elevators were placed in as a stand in for a large journey, dark souls 2 was planned to be larger, think closer to elden ring in the spaces between locations , but that big, but more open, and large areas existing to facilitate pathways, tons of evidence is still in the map, just above your view, like a path way up high in the shaded woods that connects to a back door on the undead purgatory, while the game doesn’t explain it, that elevator ride previously mentioned would be that scene in the trailer, when he’s crossing the lava scorched landscape, as much as I would’ve loved to play that, some things aren’t meant to be
30:59 I’ve only played Scholar of the First Sin, but from what I’ve heard, you are correct about the number of enemies in SOTFS being higher than in OG Dark Souls 2. Some people think the OG DS2 is better than SOTFS bc of this. Remember one person who played SOTFS hated DS2 until he played the OG version. Also, you can still get the OG DS2 on Steam. In fact, I think it+DLCs are the same price as SOTFS. And go try out the DS2 DLC areas. On average has some of the best parts of DS2 (especially the bosses)
Love the vid and super glad yo hear you enjoyed Dark Souls 2. I think it's interesting that you consider Dark Souls 2 to be bleaker than the first game. I always found DS2 to be over all far more hopeful, especially considering the 'walk away ending.' and out of the three is probably the only one that offers this sense of hope. In DS 2, while some NPCs have tragic endings the hub of Majula slowly but surely grows as you gather more undead to settle there safely. I think it's telling that this games version of the crestfallen warrior is the only one across the three games that doesn't lose himself to despair and go hollow, and is truly inspired by your actions to keep living.
@@AtreyusNinja so you don’t learn how to read I see. I beat the game and all the dlc. Why play mediocrity when I can play any of fromsoft’s other games and have a better time?
You're gonna like DS3. It takes a lot of the best stuff from previous games and brings them together. Much like a smaller, more focused Elden Ring, without the Sekiro elements.
DS3 is my favorite Soulsborne game. I know this a bit controversial but I really like the linearity of it. Don’t get me wrong I love Elden Rings open world design and it’s definitely its biggest strength but I’ve always just loved entering an area, discovering everything and fight the enemies in it and lastly fight the boss that sort of represents that area, to then entering a new area. Not to mention it has the best boss roster of the games by far in my opinion
@thijmen5295 I agree. I think the map design in DS3 is pretty good. Lots of shortcuts, loops, and ereas leading to multiple paths. While maintaining a tight structure. I like the novelty of Elden Ring's open world, but I wouldn't want it to become a trend for From.
Plus after awhile it starts to feel non linear. You have certain paths and sub-areas that seem too tough and not worth the risk of souls, so you pass on them and go towards the boss, beat it and then get a new area with another place to go back to when you feel like it. That happens a lot and they add up into feeling like you have different options for where to go
@@thijmen5295I wish elden ring had more big linear legacy dungeons… I love exploring the big open world, but I wished it had been more tied together with legacy dungeons…
Dark Souls 2 is unfortunately a massive kick in the teeth. You know that line from 'The Social Network'? "'You're not an asshole mark, you're just trying so hard to be.", that is Dark Souls 2. At it's best it is wonderful, but this game goes out of it's way to drop a big bag of dicks on your head at the most stupid moments. Honestly, the design choices are beyond baffling at times and the whole experience is a slog. Overall, it is a fun time but I never want to play this game again.
Sekiro will be a hit or miss for a lot of players who click or dont with the combat, so im hella interested on your views on it. DS3 is a banger all around
It seems to mess with people who are used to the Dark Souls combat approach and takes a long time to click. Once it does though... Wow. It's definitely one of the greatest games I've ever played, personally.
I really wanted to like sekiro. It just didn’t jive with me. I think it’s because you can’t make any builds which I adore of the soulsborne games. I didn’t enjoy the combat that much either.
@@jpthedrummer4258 I've seen some pretty incredible fights with people using different prosthetics. Not quite the same build variety, but can be pretty flashy and unique for sure. But it all comes once you have the basics down solid.
I think adaptability was added to try and address the superiority of dodging over everything else, making shields and armor more useful by proxy. Not necessarily the best system but given you can actually get more i-frames if you really go into adaptability, has some value for sure. And of course, if you want to "git gud" as DS1 fans like to say, you can learn the tighter timing surely.
Cant wait to see your DS3 video after listening to your thoughts on this one. Especially on one specific topic which im choosing not to highlight for now because it would run the risk of contaminating the sample so to speak. Hope you enjoy the game!
I just realized the possible reason thematically for the estus to heal much less than the first game and the reason for the other healing items... Just like this game constantly suggests, there's always a better choice, outside of relying on a dying flame. Thanks for helping me with noticing these details
You skipped the dlc? Those were the best parts of ds2. Its what pushes the game above ds3 for me. Level design is tight and well made unlike the linear maps of ds3.
My biggest gripe with the game is that the level design and enemy placement forces you to play in a playstyle for multiple enemies but the combat is just not designed around that in the slightest. The only weapons that are good for crowds and are too slow to deal with having to hit them multiple times which you will need to do is the greatswords and maybe the rapiers. I don't really like games forcing to play a certain way to be able to beat it, I chose to use Artorias sword(Majestic Greatsword) as well and I know for lore reasons its left handed but I don't know who decided that the one redeeming quality of this game for me which is that sword to deal crowds because of its special ability is locked behind the sword needing to be in your left hand to use it.
DS2 is my favorite Dark Souls, it's just so weird and unique in conparison to the other 2 games, it mostly wins by elimination but i really love it, i think i have a soft spot for janky games.
hi i hope this isn't unwelcome but i've noticed some high frequency mouth noises when listening through headphones. this can be reduced by a pop filter or piece of fabric between your mouth and the mic, or a pop filter. you could also use an eq plugin to make cuts in the 5-9khz range.
They bomb you with mobs while having specific number of swings for a weapon before it breaks. And then when you do get to a boss you'll just have like 10 swings left...
The overall lesson from the ambushes is to pay attention to your environment. Unfortunately Scholar arguably does this in a far worse, more aggressive way that's usually intended to play off people who went through the original game and deliver them a more challenge experience that just feels cheap without that experience, even for me, someone who really liked DS2 on release.
I've always said that while DS1 is the story of the world DS2 is the story of the people who inhabit it. It always felt a lot more personal to me as it's inception is not some prophecy but your character trying to find a cure for the curse to not lose themselves and seeing the people around you whom you meet and who are in the process of losing themselves or have forgotten what they once were and chosen to brave a new path or despair it's very interesting. And yeah Scholar of The First Sin adding to it by giving you the choice to remake the world like all the previous cycles or brave a completely uncharted path outside the broken system started by the well The First Sin of Gwyn linking the fire and rejecting the flow of the world to extend his age and the rule of his people is very interestingbso as a middle part of a trilogy in terms of story I absolutely adore DS2 and feel people don't give it nearly enough credit for the messaging and the way it tackles it's themes. It's different from DS1 or 3 which are grandiose stories of world ending proportions, it's smaller, personal and in the end inconsequential as it's just one of the hundreds or thousands of cycles that happened but that's what makes it beautiful in my mind.
The ending choices of the game are still to continue the age of fire, or walk away and start an age of dark. Its just that now after so much time passed that multiple kingdoms have risen and fallen, the primordial serpents are gone. So you arent some king of new king of a new age... just another undead in this new age. Dark Souls 3 is the grand finale of the trilogy. Dark Souls 2 is more like a detour that explores one particular age in this cycle.
The truly tragic part about Vendrick is that he became desperate due to the curse, listened to Nashandra, fought an entire war and stole what is speculated to be the Ashen Mist Heart, let a whole other kingdom and race of beings (the giants) fall into ruin due to this, collected all of the ancient powerful souls, was nearly going to open up the throne, only to realize that Nashandra had tricked him and was almost close to her victory due to his actions… so where you find him is where he chose to go willingly, knowing he would succumb to the curse and lose himself. And Aldia never tried to rescue his brother from this. Aldia canonically took the AMH and experimented with it, and even figured out how to break the curse. At a cost, of course, he still lost his humanity even if he kept his mind. Yet he never went back to save his brother, and I think that was BECAUSE he lost his humanity. He maybe could’ve even taken the throne if he wanted, but he lost his purpose too, just in a different way.
As for how DS2 is received and spoken of, I think it’s because we all feel like it had some serious potential to be the best, but time crunches and intentional gameplay element changes kept it back. Considering Dark Souls got a proper full blown remaster, I feel like DS2 needs one, only in this case they need to make some serious alterations: 1) Remove the I-frame feature from ADP and make the I-frames equal to DS1 2) Similarly, Estus drinking speed needs to be boosted to where it is when ADP is leveled to around 40 or so, but by default and remove it from being affected by the ADP stat. Seriously, I hate drinking Estus and the animation takes so long it kills me, but if ADP is at 40, it’s just fine. 3) Weapons need to maintain consistent aim when locked on. 4) 360 full degrees of movement rotation and less sliding 5) Item durability needs to be closer to DS3 levels 6) Many enemies need to have less poise, I hate how you need to hit certain enemies like 3-4 times just to break their poise once, and in return, the player needs to have a bit more poise because I don’t think I ever got to tank a hit while maintaining poise until the late game, and even then it was rare. 7) Just do passwords, no need for a ring. I’m sure there are more, but I think these are the “critical” changes that are necessary if they do actually choose to remaster the game again. There are definitely changes I want past this, but those are more for the “Quality of life” section and wouldn’t be deal breaking if they didn’t show up. Things like making torches relevant past two spots in the game, things like that
>I didnt touch the DLC MADMAN, THE DLC IS THE BEST PART LITERALLY HOLY COW YOU GOTTA GET IN THERE Some of the best (and maybe worst) fights are in it but it's super worth it!
11:49 you should play the original please it’s got way better enemy placement and is also available on steam I was debating on wether to buy sotfs or original but from what I know now I am glad I got the original. It is better in my opinion
Care to elaborate? Love the from soft games. But ds2 I hated. The feel of the game and unnerving direction of aesthetics honestly. Why do you love it ?
@@fredricvonbromsen9047 What didnt you like about it? ive played the souls games for thousands of hours and they all have their ups and downs but to go so far as to say i hate it? not even close it did quite alot that i liked compared to ds1 and some things i didnt like but nowhere near close to hating it
I think you’ll love DS3. It’s the smoothness of Elden Ring combat (minus a jump button) in a world that’s actually fun instead of 90% fields to kill birds and pick flowers in lol
I enjoyed DS2 SOTFS and I think it's rather interesting game but in no way I'd call the game masterpiece. It has loads of issues but in all this shit there is something resembeling a gem.
You can heal fast with the healing items cause they stack, so you can actually use two or three faster than you can estus and make it go up faster, it’s legit broken.
I always use this game as an example of what happens to a title of the original creator is not involved. Most of entertainment media succeed when the creator is part of the team. DS1 will be remembered throughout gaming history people always paying it and playing it even after 13 years
Idk if you'll see this, I'm probably gonna comment it on the DS3 video as well, depending on if you notice or not, but you should watch "pieces of the past" by the youtuber Honored Madman. DS3 has a *lot* more from DS3 than people think
I loved Dark Souls 2 even though it wasn't widely appreciated enough. Some run backs were a bit dodgy, but the DLC for me is where it shines the most. Fume Knight, Blue Smelter Demon, Sir Alonne. Amazing bosses. (well except the run back to sir alonne and blue smelter demon). Timeline wise, I can see why people dislike it. It's just so random when it's set.
A lot of the issues you mentioned are exclusive to Scholar of the First Sin. For some reason, they added a bunch of extra enemies around and made the game 10x more ganky and unfair. The original DS2 is purchasable on steam, it and its dlc are usually the same price as SotFS, but unfortunately for console players, it’s just SotFS. I’ve been playing the original DS2 lately after only having played SotFS and the difference is night and day I’m telling you now, it’s crazy
The story of DS2 is what really makes it shine for me. I'm glad that you have such a good grasp of it. Although you are missing out by not also playing the DLCs.
DS2 was my first souls game so it holds a special place in my heart even with some flaws. I think people shit on it a little too hard especially with a lot of cool things the game did. DS2 release time pvp was the best in the series imo and the covenant system had some really cool experimental ideas I wish they stuck with. All hail the rat brothers
6 місяців тому
DS2 is not my favorite game in the trilogy (or the soulslike series in general) but it is my favorite narrative (or second best, again, if we count Bloodborne). Just the fact that this game says: "no, there's no chosen undead actually, that's al bs, this world is dying and lighting the flame is just a pathetic attempt at preventing the natural flow on the world" is so good and interesting to me.
14:55 why do people need to trick the footage to say DS2 is unfair? Also I know summons are part of the game, but plezse don't say "I finished ds2" when you played with permanent summons and like probably only one playthrough (when DS2 is like higly replayable).
Even though I never played the Dark Souls games, I often enjoy retrospectives on games that I haven't played as much as for the ones I have. I follow several really good content creators who do a lot of gaming content. Each of them feels unique, some are more comedic, some more clinical and some exercise a level of creative style. Being more spontaneous and showing your personality adds so much warmth to your retrospectives. It's part of the enjoyment.
I love dark souls 2, it just connected with me in a way that 1 and 3 didn’t, it’s world is stunning and it’s lore is genuinely captivating and thought provoking, I played the souls series in order from demon souls to 1, 2, 3 then Elden ring and dark souls 2 just stuck out, I went in without knowing anything about it and didn’t have my view tainted by the community. I feel as if a lot of the problems Dark souls 2 have, Ds1 (and to a lesser extent) ds3 also have, but because dark souls 1 was the first souls game for many it holds a lot of nostalgia, people generously over look most of its flaws, I think people just wanted it to be Dark souls 1 again and when it wasn’t it turned a lot of people off. I’m not saying it doesn’t have problems, I hate shrine of Amana as much as the next guy but when compared the the whole second half of ds1 sucking straight balls I don’t think the criticism is completely fair, people being mad about adp really doesn’t make sense when you think about it, they made leveling up easier specifically so people could afford it, and story wise it makes sense, it doesn’t make sense for some half rotting corpse/ beef jerky man to just show up and immediately be able to dodge with the skill and prowess of a martial arts master, so your ability going up with your progress I’ve never had a problem with, and the admittedly bad enemy placement in some areas is because of sotfs and wasn’t present in the original game, and even so, it’s not like it ruins the game because it doesn’t. Anyway yeah, I love dark souls
For anyone looking for a fresh DS2 experience and Scholar just isn't cutting it or the thought of it makes you cringe I recommend the "Seeker of Fire" mod
The problem with going into ds2 in current year is that its had less attention than any of its franchise and its slowly breaking. the game used to run much more smooth and things happened predictably every time but now enemies break and timing for traps are off... Also for the past year mimics are turned diagonal and are easily spotted lol
Wow, I am currently replaying Dark Souls 2, how ironic. Oh, and good news, Dark Souls 3 has a decent bit of challenging and amazing boss fights, so you probably won't find yourself having too easy of a time with them.
Sorry for spamming, hope the algorithm likes it. ADP was a mistake and FromSoft has learnt that it isn't a good idea to have a stat that everyone feels they need to pump until they get to 99 agility. Enemy spam was also not liked by a big part of the fan base (even though I love it, more enemies pls) but was clearly put there to incentives a more varied play style. DS2 has some underwhelming boss fights but I think at least some of them are deliberate. If you think about the boss in Shrine of Amana or the bosses in Harvest Valley and Peak those are quite underwhelming. Sure the Medusa Queen Boss can be a really bad fight unless you burn the windmill and for that reason she's mainly a gimmick boss with a gimmick that many people miss. Looking at another bad area, the lava place, that area has really challenging boss that is optional while the main boss is a simple fight. The Rotten in the gutter is also very easy probably because the challenge was getting there. Most times people die to The Rotten because of the smoldering tar puddles. I also agree that boss fights with another person-like entity that's not to big are the best fights for a one-on-one challenge mainly because the in game camera is so much better at handling those types of fights. The underwhelming Ohrnstein fight was "fixed" in Scholar of the First Sin by making the run to it much harder with a dragon guarding the thing you need to pull without relying on i-frames. If you haven't played 3 and you think DS2 is dark your in for some depressing stuff, that game will make you look differently on what a wedding in this world of Hollows, cursed, chosen or unkindled truly entails. About the endless cycle and what DS2 tried to convey with the end is that you, as the character act as the final boss because Nashandra enters the boss room through the fog gate. So I've always felt that if you leave you choose not to be the one that keeps the cycle going but you've cleared every obstacle so someone is bound to stumble down there and just take the throne. From all these games, every ending or choice given ultimately boils down to the fact that whatever you choose to do the cycles will continue. Even to the point that when it runs out of good hollows to recycle it starts to use second hand stock to revive until someone, however likely, can make the cycle start all over again. It doesn't matter what we choose, it is only temporary.
It's a good review and i agree with a lot of points you make, DS2 is a nice game on it's own, that gets overhated due to people being overly critical towards it, like it absolutely has problems, there being places where they just have 5+ enemies waiting for you to turn the corner and die However your take on iron keep not being trash is absolutely 0/10 lmao goddamn did that area almost make me quit the first time around
I finished DS2 recently and glad that I put it last for my souls entry, if I had start with DS2 early I would absolutely hate soullike genre for sure. Somehow the game is feeling janky than DS1 despite supposed to be a sequel, sure there are some QoL being introduced but overall doesn't help with general core gameplay just tedious all the time. Level design wise definitely weakest (or on same level as DS3 but that game has really good gameplay carry all the way) the only souls game that I didn't bother start NG+ with these reason
I played the launch version and absolutely loathed every second of it. I dont know why because there is a lot there to like, but it felt like the evil twin of Dark Souls 1.
Me too, I got as far as Shrine of Amara and in the original version those spells fuckin tracked. DS2 changed everything I liked about 1, and From games in general: a world rich in lore where the difficulty is produced as a side effect of the design. DS2 is hard for the sake of it with a very dull world. Why are so many areas just like, PS2 corridors lmao
The worst thing to ever happen to the Souls community is the absolutely ridiculous gatekeeping around the fact that you need to play the game a certain way or you're not allowed to play it, like it or call yourself a true fan. Those people all need to chill! They are probably the biggest detriment to the fandom. I mean the true brilliance of the souls games comes from the fact that you can decide how you want to enjoy the game. No one should play any other way than the way that makes you have fun with the game. If summons or anything else in these games makes you enjoy your time more then you are playing the game as it was intended. So if soloing bosses gives you the sweetest victory or is the only way to enjoy the game then that is your best way of experiencing it, that doesn't mean that any other way of playing is less. Your achievement isn't worth less, in fact, if you are able to ignore those trying to tell you so and manage to enjoy the game then you are truly gaming right in my book.
We have a great quote from Miyazaki now about how he uses absolutely every bit of help the game gives in order to beat these games because he sucks at video games. The people in the community that talk about a true or "intended" way to play souls games can be ignored and maybe chalked off as delusional. But even without Miyazaki it was always obvious since souls 1 when, I think, Solaire talks about jolly cooperation. If they didn't want coop or community built into these games, they wouldn't do it, like Sekiro.
Also speak your truth, speak your heresy! What's the point of the video otherwise right? Especially because I think you're being exceptionally fair and even-handed, even with things you don't like you're able to highlight (some) of the merits in it.
Dark Souls taught me to be weary of everything, played the first and third game before DS2 because everyone at the time said to not bother. So when I finally played the game and formed my own opinion it turned out that I love it. FromSoft tried so many new things in DS2, stuff that would come back and define large parts of Elden Ring that it's way more interesting than DS3. They absolutely played it safe with DS3, I still love the game for catering to a faster, more reactive play style but the level design felt so linear and the world and lore was a mess in comparison to DS1. I still love the third installment but I think DS2 allows for far more interesting ways of playing and has the most replay value out of all the souls games, at least when it comes to the more casual fan base that don't only care for the boss fights like that is the only thing that has value.
I love the huge groupings in dark souls 2, ok hear me out, you’re literally tackling an entire kingdom, that fell mid siege, as one guy, they had to repel giants, and they all died and hollowed out in the service of defending these lands, it makes sense for soldiers to be clustered in units, and I will make my case with the ancient dragon, I LOVE the ancient dragon, but why? Do I hate myself? No, but in the lore the ancient dragons are described as taking scores of silver knights with them (a score is 20) and you can just fight them without breaking a sweat, dark souls 2’s ancient dragon feels like what the stories talk about, they feel truly intimidating, and the fact that some people say “nah fuck that, don’t need the soul” speaks volumes to my point, dark souls 2 characters more often than not in gameplay represent their own lore, hence why navlaan casts without a staff or chime HE IS magic
i feel like your complaints about enemy placement are valid, but when showing footage of points in the game where the enemy placement can easily be avoided (forest of the giants) it comes off as nit picky as you couldve easily gone through the area without 5+ enemies following you, its user error, also the SOTFS edition of the game changed enemy spawns/placements, making it worse.
Kinda sad you didn’t play the DLC’s… You missed out on the best 2 - 3 min boss runback, while blinded, no knowledge of where to go and angry magical unicorns chasing after you. All that for a copy paste boss… God I love ds2 😂
In my opinion, dark souls 1&3 feel like you exist in a world that would exist regardless of your being there. Dark souls 2 feels like everything is just waiting for you. Saying that 3 is my favourite souls game
I'm sorry to hear about your massive stroke between the Ragnarok video and this one. I'm sure you can still live a fulfilling life with half your brain functions missing. DS1 fanboys do it all the time. Also: >no guides :) >*majority of the footage is him two handing a rapier* lol
One of the biggest things people miss in DS2 is how incredibly good NG+ is. New red phantom enemies, new boss souls, some of the findable loot changes/increases quantities etc. It is the only game in the series + elden ring + BB that has any additional changes to NG+.
The scaling is also nearly perfect for subsequent runs on your level to keep it challenging. I think the game truly shines on further playthroughs. It's the game that I always return to and still find out new things using, especially powerstancing combos and chains.
if you get invaded in the Gutter by a fat rolling Havel wielding a Bastard sword, its me ... ❤
you absolute monster mad respect
YOU F**K, I'VE MET YOU!
I think UA-cam shadow-blocked my comment, so I'll say it with less cussing
Good sir, I've met and died to you. I encourage you with much jubilation to check over a ledge for secret treasures.
I was the guy with the Caestus and no chest armor
14:55 In the example footage, those enemies pretend to be corpses and only aggro when you get super close, they’re also spread out over that giant room.
You must’ve literally ignored the 3 dudes who get up at the entrance, and ran to pick up every item in the room without once looking behind you to end up in that situation.
Common ds2 slander tactic
The British Accent Makes a Video Review of Dark Souls 2 maneuver. Certified classic.
@@MidnightSvshirealest shit
@@MidnightSvshi I wasn't trying to slander the game. I like this game a lot.
Guess that was my bad. Like I said, this is a "first thoughts" type deal, so I'm not married to any of this and also absolutely open to being totally wrong in some areas. Yeah I suppose that was an instance of not paying close attention, going through on autopilot the same as DS1, whereas DS2 requires more thought and meditation on areas to progress. I want to add I've only fallen more in love with what DS2 does since making this. Once day I'll revisit it in a proper scripted video to do it greater justice.
Of all the dark souls takes I've heard Blood Vials being a better healing system is certainly one of them
Blood vials was ass 😭
I liked it. Felt kind of like old school survival horror. Definitely made me consider if healing was worth it in certain spots.
Vials arent the most ideal, but i kind of consider them a non issue after a while.
I just made a habit of always dumping my left over echos into bullets and vials after leveling up and by the time youre past Rom you literally never run out.
hbomberguy and his consequences
I don't know how much you looked up about the troubled development of DS2, but if you know anything about it, then you will understand why the game feels like a bunch of good ideas, taped together to push out a product that had a troubled development. Obviously this is the reason for why the world feels so disconnected and a number of other issues with the game.
Some people say that Dark Souls 2 was From's attempt at making Elden Ring before they had the technology or the experience to make a game like that, and I think I agree with that. Many mechanics in Elden Ring are failed mechanics from Dark Souls 2, but this time done well, in a game with a less chaotic development. You can see that they were partly still figuring out what exactly Souls was supposed to be. Even just the achievement: "This is Dark Souls", that you get for dying for the first time feels like they forgot the game is difficult as a result of it's design and not just for the sake of being difficult. As you said in the video, some things in the game don't feel fair and I believe this is them forgeting what made the difficulty of the first game and Demon's souls good. Just to add to it, part of the dissapointment for the OG fans also comes from the downgrade that the game suffered.
It's not a bad game. It's still an okay time, but it's definitely not their best work, which is not surprising given the troubles they had with it.
They kind of never forgot tho, I blame the change in game directors, Miyazaki's design is quite unique and is sorely missing in most of dks2
@@UchihaG but he wasnt absent, & ds2 really isnt that different to the other games. I dont get this being constantly brought up like it's a huge thing. Itd be like saying todd howard had no involvement in fallout 4 just because emil lead the project as a whole. Or the inverse, thatd be like acting as if emil was absent on skyrim just because todd led it. Even if i took that sentiment seriously, that miyazaki really wouldve had ds2 turn out different if he had more say, the mf himself obviously cant let ds2 go. It was already joked about elden ring being dark souls 2 II but now with it's dlc, there's too many of ds2's concepts & ideas repurposed to deny even he saw the potential present. A bummer too cause even he doesnt seem to get why ds2 is so beloved, with how it handled stuff from basic attacks to ng+ & bonfire aestetics. Also a bummer in how the fans themselves cant actually seperate the forest from the trees with ds2, the good & the bad
id argue the whole "this is darks souls" & similar things thru out ds2 was just fromsoft embracing that "difficult game" branding, & it obviously paid back in spades. Elden ring kinda half assed some of ds2's better stuff as well. Powerstancing for instance? It only brought back basic l1s. Only paired weapons like fists & claws make use of both weapons for heavy attacks, everything else defaults to the 1hand r2. Radahn's sword being a prime example. Same with left hand attacks, in what should be the most fluid game, i cant roll/step/sprint or jump attack with my left hand weapon, youre stuck to neutral & with very goofy idle animations to boot. Theyre both tied as my favorite souls games, almost like 2 incomplete halves
I do think ds2 is one of the weakest in the trilogy but not the weakest in the entire fromsoft line up. I'll take DS2 over any modern Ubisoft, EA, or Activision game.
Okay but what is the weakest fromsoft to you then?
@@donkeenum302lol was gonna ask the same thing
@@donkeenum302For me it is Dark Souls 3.
@@hymen2393bru what?
Well tbh the level design is pretty bland in comparison to dark souls 1 or even dark souls 2. And some people may not like the more aggressive and faster paced combat of dark souls 3. So I can see why they feel that way. @@tbrown5836
It was my first souls game. I loved it to no end. It's a bit clunky to go back to after playing 3 and BB. But the game especially the dlcs are some of the best times I've had with gaming in general
oh the reason the rapier worked better is because its hitbox in DS2 is significantly wider than in DS1, i think it was mostly just for balancing purposes.
the hitbox is like a big, slightly disjoint pill shape that handily covers the entire sword, whereas in DS1 it's like a little sphere at the front of the sword, in DS2 you can hit people with the butt of the sword and they'll still get hit
Dark souls 2 dlc are incredible, their must play
DS2 is an interesting one because the quality and what you expect out of it varies dramatically with when you picked it up. The launch left this huge shadow over the game because the pre release stuff showed things that never came about, like a huge change in the lighting system, we never got the lighting system that was promised and it made the torch system really weird because you never needed one to see. Systems like the adaptability level weren't known about going into the game either, so day one all we knew about the dodge was that it felt bad, not that it could be improved.
Coming to it without those expectations does huge favours for the game, as does having a complete wiki to work with, but scholar did put in a lot of the weird enemy placements that people have issues with. It's had such a bizarre life cycle.
I really like it, it's not my favourite but I do find myself keep coming back to it. It has a certain charm that I can't get anywhere else and I appreciate it.
I've been watching a few vids about ds2 on computer, with graphics and lighting mods and also tweaks the movement towards ds3 and a few other tweaks that outshine the original press release for the game and the final product and they look awesome. I've played consol all my life. But I think this year I'm gonna go through the souls series on a good PC. Everything I see looks awesome with the graphics and lighting mods for all the games, check it out if you havent
Honestly I find scholar's changes to be generally worse 😂. Aside from the actual new content
this is so accurate. i dont know what it is about ds2. it plays so jank, has so many problems yet i cant really get the same feel anywhere else. its such a mess but somehow i still like it
@@feircy Scholar's changes to enemy positions are so bad and anti-fun. It's like they were made with the sole purpose of making the game as unenjoyable as possible, and a lot of them don't even feel like they make sense.
One note I'll make on what you said. "The game throws so many enemies at you."
I have to say, if you play it slowly and pay attention, you genuinely will never have to face more than 2-3 enemies at a time. And if you unlock the camera, those enemies aren't all that difficult to deal with more often than not. The game will often give you clues. Like the example you gave in Forest of Fallen Giants. The game shows you that the hollows are sleeping. The one right infront of the ladder is asleep. When you approach him, he wakes up. Knowing that, when you scale the ladder and see a field littered with sleeping hollows, your instinct should be to approach them 1 at a time and deal with them 1 at a time. Not to run through, wake them all up, and then try to fight 8 of them as a level 12 character.
Similarly with lost bastile, which you also showed. The walkway outside the door is narrow, which allows you to funnel the enemies in 1 by 1. Then you can either fight them 1 or 2 at a time or you can run back out to the balcony area, and use a firebomb to detonate the explosive barrels and eliminate all of them at once. You can even shoot a burning arrow into one of the chambers from outside to kill 3 of them with explosive barrels.
This is what Dark Souls 2 does better than every single souls game, including elden ring and bloodborne. The game isn't a mad dash to fight 1 enemy after another. You have to stop, take it slowly, observe and think about how you're gonna tackle a challenge. You might die to it once or twice and you WILL learn from it if that's the mindset you have. Because the game offers ample opportunities to tackle every problem in a smart way. If you're really good at the game you can play reckless and just tackle the problems in a brute force manner. But if you aren't, you're incentivized to take it slowly and find creative solutions.
I wish this mentality carried over onto other souls games. But by and large it didn't outside of the starting areas in Bloodborne and Sekiro.
Exactly this, people just want to run through everything. At least in ds2 you remember the 'ganks' because they were memorable. Its the journey not the destination. Ds2 is just another cycle in cycles that have gone for thousands of years
@@Ecco_The_Dolphin I remember them, not because they are memorable, but because the 6th or 7th time in a row I grew tired and irritated by them. If it had been done in moderation it would be fine, but it was so often that I grew angry at it after awhile.
@@DarkLordReturnedI have to do the regular skill issue qoute because as the OP says you can easily avoid ganks if you take it slow and besides enemies despawn if you killed them enough times.
If it really made you that angry it leads me to believe you died multiple times without killing the enemies so they never despawn for you.
So in other words you are under serious skill issue allegations right now.
@@NoahToledo-xo5pj yes the spiders coming down from above behind me where you can't see them were MY fault. Mind you ganking and spambushes aren't even the top of why I dislike 2 more than the others, but there were a lot of moments where you couldn't see them coming. Or the game discouraged from "taking it slow" with just so many snipers. Or when it drops a pursuer on you.
@@DarkLordReturned yes those spiders are your fault. They are clearly visible specially with a torch which btw scares them off. Not only that but those spiders are on Tseldora. By that point you must have been in forest of fallen giants or Heide/No Man Warf. By that point you should be aware ambushes are a thing so if you are just not looking around yes, it is your fault. The archer claim is also a massive exaggeration, archers are slow, easy to dodge and if they are such a problem to you, get your own bow.
You are not beating the skill issue allegations sir. If this keeps going I will have to declare that you have skill issues.
Man terrified of DS2 discourse for 50 minutes
The adp was an attempt at adding more rpg mechanics by tying s to a stat so you can dump levels into it and become more agile than in ds1.
So in their head they were thinking of a dex type character to have high adp and dex and strength type character would have high strength and stamina for shields. They couldnt keep the base s at the same levels as ds1 because if you leveled up adp AND had ds1 base s the game would be too easy.
I hecking love DS2. I avoided it like the plague because the internet told me it was a bad game. But I had such a fun time with the game. After beating all the other souls games I still had the itch to play a souls game, gave DS2 a try and was pleasently surprised by how good it is.
thats my plan, i started with ds1, and im now playing ds3, i already have bloodborne because of ps+, so thats next, and after that i'll play sekiro and elden ring, after the two goty's, there will be only ds2 (and DeS) to play, and thats what i'll do, play ds2 (and after that DeS)
Never listen to Reddit, try out games for yourself
A lazzerzz video that’s under 2 hours is a rare sight lol.
Tbh I really enjoyed DS2 and I’m always happy to see people praising it. But also one of the things I feel people never talk about but I loved was the opening cinematic! Just beautiful
It's refreshing to see a more positive leaning look at Dark Souls 2. I've always been told that it's the one you can skip as it has nothing really going for it, but clearly it has some quality even if it's not quite as good as the others. I enjoy these more unscripted looks at the souls games, it'd be interesting to see once you've finished them all what you think of, what is arguably the best souls-like, Lies of P which is probably the most fun I've ever had with a souls game although I'm yet to give Sekiro a go!
I definitely want to play Lies of P, I bought it when it came out and just never played it, will likely do so soon enough... hopefully. I did play the demo though, on stream to if you wanted to see my time with that, the VOD is here ua-cam.com/video/hty-yiIa-1Q/v-deo.html&t
@@LazerzZ I actually watched this live, that Starfield direct really set me up for some disappointment with the full game. With Elden Ring being the last souls game I played before Lies, it was a nice change of pace to play a more tight linear experience, the whole open world thing was really starting to get stale for me. It has some great bosses, especially the final one which has to be one of the most satisfying bosses I’ve fought in a souls game. I enjoyed it so much I started a new game plus run straight after, which is rare for me. Hope you get the time to go through it after your playthrough the Fromsoft catalogue.
This isn't a positive look at all. It's filled with the same BS you find in any DS2 slander video, complete with classic disingenuous lies. Didn't even bother to play 1/3rd of the game. Footage is literally of the least engaging "let's get this over with" way to play through the game to boot. There's so little effort in this "review" that i am not convinced half of it is not copy pasted from rebbit.
Literally just finished watching multiple hours long dark souls 2 videos so this is a pleasant surprise
Literally just being aware saved me from gank fights left and right. Peek a corner. Throw an alluring skull. So many alternatives to just runnnng into a room and accepting your demise. Instead of interacting with the world.
Play DS2 DLCs.....they're definitely the highlight of the game specially in regards to boss fights
Sure except for the snow area......
@@Revealingstorm. Horse fuck valley?
Yeah, this is the second “I tried DS2, but skipped the DLC’s” video I’ve watched in a week.
Snow area does suck, and it ends in a boss fight that also sucks. But other than that, they are my favorite parts of the whole game.
I'll definitely go back and check them out, I just skipped them because I didn't want to burn myself out or force myself, if I'm gonna give them a go, I want to go in because I want to, otherwise I just won't be fair to them.
@@Astrophobia88 probably hardest section in any souls game ever imo. Especially if playing solo. That duo boss sabretooths I remember being though too.
You beat the bosses easily because you were using easily the top 3 weapons in the game which is the rapier
For me: DS1 has the best world design, DS2 has the best customization and you can power stance, DS3 has the best bosses, Bloodborne has the best atmosphere, Sekiro has the best combat system and Elden Ring is the most epic. They’re all amazing games it just depends on what mood I’m in.
And Demon’s Souls… exists (definitely the most mid game of the 7)
DS2 feels like a fever dream.
In a good way
That's my argument for the un-connectedness and confusing-ness of the map; it's like a dream so it doesn't necessarily have to make sense. Also the fire keeper in the beginning says you will end up at the castle and won't really know why which makes me think memory loss/confusion is a side effect of the curse
FromSoft games definitely are community games, I personally never understood people playing offline without the messages and shadows and all these cool mechanics. I remember Elden Ring launch, it was almost like if MMO just launched, everybody communicating all over internet, sharing new knowledge, it was amazing.
I personally hate playing online, due to all the shit on my screen- ghosts, messages etc. I understand some people like the community aspect, but I prefer the feeling of loneliness in their games, especially in Elden Ring. Also, I hate when someone spoils some surprise for me via the messages, but the worst thing are the ghosts of other players.
I love playing offline. The multiplayer elements just don’t interest me. U soon get bored with the messages and invasions can get annoying if ur not in the mood
@@j0nnyism I mean I did not get invaded a single time in ER while playing online, it is up to you if you want invasions. But sure, play your way, I just feel like the game looses part of it´s charm without messages and shadows.
20:52 the whole idea where areas connect in awkward incomprehensible ways is because the map had to be reshuffled late in development, during an interview one of the developers clarified on the exact elevator you used to get to iron keep, that many of the long elevators were placed in as a stand in for a large journey, dark souls 2 was planned to be larger, think closer to elden ring in the spaces between locations , but that big, but more open, and large areas existing to facilitate pathways, tons of evidence is still in the map, just above your view, like a path way up high in the shaded woods that connects to a back door on the undead purgatory, while the game doesn’t explain it, that elevator ride previously mentioned would be that scene in the trailer, when he’s crossing the lava scorched landscape, as much as I would’ve loved to play that, some things aren’t meant to be
Currently stuck on Ornstein & Smough, I feel ya brother…
You got this!
Build quality build. 30 str amd dex. Get claymore. Upgrade to +10. You will kill them like the bitch they are.
30:59 I’ve only played Scholar of the First Sin, but from what I’ve heard, you are correct about the number of enemies in SOTFS being higher than in OG Dark Souls 2. Some people think the OG DS2 is better than SOTFS bc of this. Remember one person who played SOTFS hated DS2 until he played the OG version.
Also, you can still get the OG DS2 on Steam. In fact, I think it+DLCs are the same price as SOTFS.
And go try out the DS2 DLC areas. On average has some of the best parts of DS2 (especially the bosses)
I was one of said people
sotfs is more balanced
I finished ds2 couple months ago and even I only just learnt about the dude ringing the bell under the staircase from thsi video 😭😭😭
I would not put it as the best dark souls game, but I am pleased that you enjoyed it to a point.
Love the vid and super glad yo hear you enjoyed Dark Souls 2. I think it's interesting that you consider Dark Souls 2 to be bleaker than the first game. I always found DS2 to be over all far more hopeful, especially considering the 'walk away ending.' and out of the three is probably the only one that offers this sense of hope. In DS 2, while some NPCs have tragic endings the hub of Majula slowly but surely grows as you gather more undead to settle there safely. I think it's telling that this games version of the crestfallen warrior is the only one across the three games that doesn't lose himself to despair and go hollow, and is truly inspired by your actions to keep living.
in terms of replay value: Ds2 > Ds1 > Ds3
I probably have double the playthroughs in 1 and 2 as I do in 3. Theres just so many different viable builds. So much variety
In terms of replay value, it has none for me. Unless I install a mod to fix its movement I’d never play it again.
@@callsignfatbeard2637 so u don't learn how to play the game i see
@@AtreyusNinja so you don’t learn how to read I see. I beat the game and all the dlc. Why play mediocrity when I can play any of fromsoft’s other games and have a better time?
nice troll
You're gonna like DS3. It takes a lot of the best stuff from previous games and brings them together. Much like a smaller, more focused Elden Ring, without the Sekiro elements.
DS3 is my favorite Soulsborne game. I know this a bit controversial but I really like the linearity of it. Don’t get me wrong I love Elden Rings open world design and it’s definitely its biggest strength but I’ve always just loved entering an area, discovering everything and fight the enemies in it and lastly fight the boss that sort of represents that area, to then entering a new area. Not to mention it has the best boss roster of the games by far in my opinion
@thijmen5295 I agree. I think the map design in DS3 is pretty good. Lots of shortcuts, loops, and ereas leading to multiple paths. While maintaining a tight structure. I like the novelty of Elden Ring's open world, but I wouldn't want it to become a trend for From.
Plus after awhile it starts to feel non linear. You have certain paths and sub-areas that seem too tough and not worth the risk of souls, so you pass on them and go towards the boss, beat it and then get a new area with another place to go back to when you feel like it. That happens a lot and they add up into feeling like you have different options for where to go
gameplay is also way sharper, faster and more responsive compared to DS1-2
@@thijmen5295I wish elden ring had more big linear legacy dungeons… I love exploring the big open world, but I wished it had been more tied together with legacy dungeons…
Dark Souls 2 is unfortunately a massive kick in the teeth. You know that line from 'The Social Network'? "'You're not an asshole mark, you're just trying so hard to be.", that is Dark Souls 2. At it's best it is wonderful, but this game goes out of it's way to drop a big bag of dicks on your head at the most stupid moments. Honestly, the design choices are beyond baffling at times and the whole experience is a slog. Overall, it is a fun time but I never want to play this game again.
6:55 to get to the point.
My first Dark Souls game, took many uninstalls and re-installs but then it clicked and I have a soft spot for it.
Sekiro will be a hit or miss for a lot of players who click or dont with the combat, so im hella interested on your views on it. DS3 is a banger all around
It seems to mess with people who are used to the Dark Souls combat approach and takes a long time to click. Once it does though... Wow. It's definitely one of the greatest games I've ever played, personally.
I really wanted to like sekiro. It just didn’t jive with me. I think it’s because you can’t make any builds which I adore of the soulsborne games. I didn’t enjoy the combat that much either.
@@jpthedrummer4258 I've seen some pretty incredible fights with people using different prosthetics. Not quite the same build variety, but can be pretty flashy and unique for sure. But it all comes once you have the basics down solid.
All i can say is, If you love spamming dodge roll and R1, you'll hate sekiro
I think adaptability was added to try and address the superiority of dodging over everything else, making shields and armor more useful by proxy. Not necessarily the best system but given you can actually get more i-frames if you really go into adaptability, has some value for sure.
And of course, if you want to "git gud" as DS1 fans like to say, you can learn the tighter timing surely.
Cant wait to see your DS3 video after listening to your thoughts on this one.
Especially on one specific topic which im choosing not to highlight for now because it would run the risk of contaminating the sample so to speak.
Hope you enjoy the game!
I just realized the possible reason thematically for the estus to heal much less than the first game and the reason for the other healing items... Just like this game constantly suggests, there's always a better choice, outside of relying on a dying flame. Thanks for helping me with noticing these details
Weirdly enough ds2 being so different from the other 2 games in the series gives it a special charm for me, love it as much as I love ds1 and 3
I can’t wait for your Dark Souls 3 video!
You skipped the dlc? Those were the best parts of ds2. Its what pushes the game above ds3 for me. Level design is tight and well made unlike the linear maps of ds3.
Sunken king is decent, Iron King is good, Ivory King is mediocre
Not playing the DLC is absolutely criminal for every single FromSoftware game I’m actually in shock
fair, I'll go back eventually
I enjoyed DS2, the levels had variety especially in color
My biggest gripe with the game is that the level design and enemy placement forces you to play in a playstyle for multiple enemies but the combat is just not designed around that in the slightest. The only weapons that are good for crowds and are too slow to deal with having to hit them multiple times which you will need to do is the greatswords and maybe the rapiers. I don't really like games forcing to play a certain way to be able to beat it, I chose to use Artorias sword(Majestic Greatsword) as well and I know for lore reasons its left handed but I don't know who decided that the one redeeming quality of this game for me which is that sword to deal crowds because of its special ability is locked behind the sword needing to be in your left hand to use it.
DS2 is my favorite Dark Souls, it's just so weird and unique in conparison to the other 2 games, it mostly wins by elimination but i really love it, i think i have a soft spot for janky games.
hi i hope this isn't unwelcome but i've noticed some high frequency mouth noises when listening through headphones. this can be reduced by a pop filter or piece of fabric between your mouth and the mic, or a pop filter. you could also use an eq plugin to make cuts in the 5-9khz range.
They bomb you with mobs while having specific number of swings for a weapon before it breaks. And then when you do get to a boss you'll just have like 10 swings left...
The overall lesson from the ambushes is to pay attention to your environment. Unfortunately Scholar arguably does this in a far worse, more aggressive way that's usually intended to play off people who went through the original game and deliver them a more challenge experience that just feels cheap without that experience, even for me, someone who really liked DS2 on release.
I've always said that while DS1 is the story of the world DS2 is the story of the people who inhabit it. It always felt a lot more personal to me as it's inception is not some prophecy but your character trying to find a cure for the curse to not lose themselves and seeing the people around you whom you meet and who are in the process of losing themselves or have forgotten what they once were and chosen to brave a new path or despair it's very interesting. And yeah Scholar of The First Sin adding to it by giving you the choice to remake the world like all the previous cycles or brave a completely uncharted path outside the broken system started by the well The First Sin of Gwyn linking the fire and rejecting the flow of the world to extend his age and the rule of his people is very interestingbso as a middle part of a trilogy in terms of story I absolutely adore DS2 and feel people don't give it nearly enough credit for the messaging and the way it tackles it's themes. It's different from DS1 or 3 which are grandiose stories of world ending proportions, it's smaller, personal and in the end inconsequential as it's just one of the hundreds or thousands of cycles that happened but that's what makes it beautiful in my mind.
Can't wait for the finale!
The ending choices of the game are still to continue the age of fire, or walk away and start an age of dark. Its just that now after so much time passed that multiple kingdoms have risen and fallen, the primordial serpents are gone. So you arent some king of new king of a new age... just another undead in this new age.
Dark Souls 3 is the grand finale of the trilogy.
Dark Souls 2 is more like a detour that explores one particular age in this cycle.
You mentioned that you didn't play the DLC for DS2.. highly recommend you play the DLC for DS3 when you go through it
The truly tragic part about Vendrick is that he became desperate due to the curse, listened to Nashandra, fought an entire war and stole what is speculated to be the Ashen Mist Heart, let a whole other kingdom and race of beings (the giants) fall into ruin due to this, collected all of the ancient powerful souls, was nearly going to open up the throne, only to realize that Nashandra had tricked him and was almost close to her victory due to his actions… so where you find him is where he chose to go willingly, knowing he would succumb to the curse and lose himself. And Aldia never tried to rescue his brother from this. Aldia canonically took the AMH and experimented with it, and even figured out how to break the curse. At a cost, of course, he still lost his humanity even if he kept his mind. Yet he never went back to save his brother, and I think that was BECAUSE he lost his humanity. He maybe could’ve even taken the throne if he wanted, but he lost his purpose too, just in a different way.
As for how DS2 is received and spoken of, I think it’s because we all feel like it had some serious potential to be the best, but time crunches and intentional gameplay element changes kept it back. Considering Dark Souls got a proper full blown remaster, I feel like DS2 needs one, only in this case they need to make some serious alterations:
1) Remove the I-frame feature from ADP and make the I-frames equal to DS1
2) Similarly, Estus drinking speed needs to be boosted to where it is when ADP is leveled to around 40 or so, but by default and remove it from being affected by the ADP stat. Seriously, I hate drinking Estus and the animation takes so long it kills me, but if ADP is at 40, it’s just fine.
3) Weapons need to maintain consistent aim when locked on.
4) 360 full degrees of movement rotation and less sliding
5) Item durability needs to be closer to DS3 levels
6) Many enemies need to have less poise, I hate how you need to hit certain enemies like 3-4 times just to break their poise once, and in return, the player needs to have a bit more poise because I don’t think I ever got to tank a hit while maintaining poise until the late game, and even then it was rare.
7) Just do passwords, no need for a ring.
I’m sure there are more, but I think these are the “critical” changes that are necessary if they do actually choose to remaster the game again. There are definitely changes I want past this, but those are more for the “Quality of life” section and wouldn’t be deal breaking if they didn’t show up. Things like making torches relevant past two spots in the game, things like that
>I didnt touch the DLC
MADMAN, THE DLC IS THE BEST PART LITERALLY HOLY COW YOU GOTTA GET IN THERE
Some of the best (and maybe worst) fights are in it but it's super worth it!
11:49 you should play the original please it’s got way better enemy placement and is also available on steam I was debating on wether to buy sotfs or original but from what I know now I am glad I got the original. It is better in my opinion
I know DS2 is far from perfect, but I truly love it
Care to elaborate? Love the from soft games. But ds2 I hated. The feel of the game and unnerving direction of aesthetics honestly. Why do you love it ?
@@fredricvonbromsen9047 What didnt you like about it? ive played the souls games for thousands of hours and they all have their ups and downs but to go so far as to say i hate it? not even close it did quite alot that i liked compared to ds1 and some things i didnt like but nowhere near close to hating it
@@fredricvonbromsen9047Our sense of " aesthetics" is different than yours. We appreciate what you consider " unnerving".
Big surprise, isn't it?
@@alyseleem2692 didn’t mean it a bad way, everyone has different taste. Just curious
@@randomgeneratedname6035 ye I know. Wish I liked it
I think you’ll love DS3. It’s the smoothness of Elden Ring combat (minus a jump button) in a world that’s actually fun instead of 90% fields to kill birds and pick flowers in lol
You didn't have to deal with horsefuck valley lucky you
I enjoyed DS2 SOTFS and I think it's rather interesting game but in no way I'd call the game masterpiece. It has loads of issues but in all this shit there is something resembeling a gem.
I appreciate this video
You can heal fast with the healing items cause they stack, so you can actually use two or three faster than you can estus and make it go up faster, it’s legit broken.
I always use this game as an example of what happens to a title of the original creator is not involved. Most of entertainment media succeed when the creator is part of the team. DS1 will be remembered throughout gaming history people always paying it and playing it even after 13 years
Idk if you'll see this, I'm probably gonna comment it on the DS3 video as well, depending on if you notice or not, but you should watch "pieces of the past" by the youtuber Honored Madman. DS3 has a *lot* more from DS3 than people think
You should really play the DLCs, best part of the game for sure
I know, I'll go back one of these days 😭
100% the dlc are at least 35% better then main game in my opinion
I loved Dark Souls 2 even though it wasn't widely appreciated enough. Some run backs were a bit dodgy, but the DLC for me is where it shines the most. Fume Knight, Blue Smelter Demon, Sir Alonne. Amazing bosses. (well except the run back to sir alonne and blue smelter demon). Timeline wise, I can see why people dislike it. It's just so random when it's set.
A lot of the issues you mentioned are exclusive to Scholar of the First Sin. For some reason, they added a bunch of extra enemies around and made the game 10x more ganky and unfair. The original DS2 is purchasable on steam, it and its dlc are usually the same price as SotFS, but unfortunately for console players, it’s just SotFS. I’ve been playing the original DS2 lately after only having played SotFS and the difference is night and day I’m telling you now, it’s crazy
The story of DS2 is what really makes it shine for me. I'm glad that you have such a good grasp of it. Although you are missing out by not also playing the DLCs.
The Rapier is one of the best weapons in DS2, my preferred weapon only appeared like 2/3 of the way through the game
DS2 was my first souls game so it holds a special place in my heart even with some flaws. I think people shit on it a little too hard especially with a lot of cool things the game did. DS2 release time pvp was the best in the series imo and the covenant system had some really cool experimental ideas I wish they stuck with. All hail the rat brothers
DS2 is not my favorite game in the trilogy (or the soulslike series in general) but it is my favorite narrative (or second best, again, if we count Bloodborne).
Just the fact that this game says: "no, there's no chosen undead actually, that's al bs, this world is dying and lighting the flame is just a pathetic attempt at preventing the natural flow on the world" is so good and interesting to me.
14:55 why do people need to trick the footage to say DS2 is unfair? Also I know summons are part of the game, but plezse don't say "I finished ds2" when you played with permanent summons and like probably only one playthrough (when DS2 is like higly replayable).
Even though I never played the Dark Souls games, I often enjoy retrospectives on games that I haven't played as much as for the ones I have. I follow several really good content creators who do a lot of gaming content. Each of them feels unique, some are more comedic, some more clinical and some exercise a level of creative style. Being more spontaneous and showing your personality adds so much warmth to your retrospectives. It's part of the enjoyment.
I love dark souls 2, it just connected with me in a way that 1 and 3 didn’t, it’s world is stunning and it’s lore is genuinely captivating and thought provoking, I played the souls series in order from demon souls to 1, 2, 3 then Elden ring and dark souls 2 just stuck out, I went in without knowing anything about it and didn’t have my view tainted by the community. I feel as if a lot of the problems Dark souls 2 have, Ds1 (and to a lesser extent) ds3 also have, but because dark souls 1 was the first souls game for many it holds a lot of nostalgia, people generously over look most of its flaws, I think people just wanted it to be Dark souls 1 again and when it wasn’t it turned a lot of people off. I’m not saying it doesn’t have problems, I hate shrine of Amana as much as the next guy but when compared the the whole second half of ds1 sucking straight balls I don’t think the criticism is completely fair, people being mad about adp really doesn’t make sense when you think about it, they made leveling up easier specifically so people could afford it, and story wise it makes sense, it doesn’t make sense for some half rotting corpse/ beef jerky man to just show up and immediately be able to dodge with the skill and prowess of a martial arts master, so your ability going up with your progress I’ve never had a problem with, and the admittedly bad enemy placement in some areas is because of sotfs and wasn’t present in the original game, and even so, it’s not like it ruins the game because it doesn’t. Anyway yeah, I love dark souls
Interesting, the word of the hour
I also like the boss fights against the "guy" more than the bigger monsters
The sponsorship I watched godzilla minus one on uk netflix, literally twenty minutes before this video
That's so fucking funny, it wasn't on there when I made this ad, what a fumble on my part 😭
For anyone looking for a fresh DS2 experience and Scholar just isn't cutting it or the thought of it makes you cringe I recommend the "Seeker of Fire" mod
Very good comentary
I liked it
The problem with going into ds2 in current year is that its had less attention than any of its franchise and its slowly breaking. the game used to run much more smooth and things happened predictably every time but now enemies break and timing for traps are off... Also for the past year mimics are turned diagonal and are easily spotted lol
Ganktastic mate!
Wow, I am currently replaying Dark Souls 2, how ironic.
Oh, and good news, Dark Souls 3 has a decent bit of challenging and amazing boss fights, so you probably won't find yourself having too easy of a time with them.
Dark Souls 2 has grown on me enormously.
Great game but the run-backs to some bosses were horrendous… esp. blue flame demon and gank squad
Sorry for spamming, hope the algorithm likes it.
ADP was a mistake and FromSoft has learnt that it isn't a good idea to have a stat that everyone feels they need to pump until they get to 99 agility. Enemy spam was also not liked by a big part of the fan base (even though I love it, more enemies pls) but was clearly put there to incentives a more varied play style. DS2 has some underwhelming boss fights but I think at least some of them are deliberate. If you think about the boss in Shrine of Amana or the bosses in Harvest Valley and Peak those are quite underwhelming. Sure the Medusa Queen Boss can be a really bad fight unless you burn the windmill and for that reason she's mainly a gimmick boss with a gimmick that many people miss. Looking at another bad area, the lava place, that area has really challenging boss that is optional while the main boss is a simple fight. The Rotten in the gutter is also very easy probably because the challenge was getting there. Most times people die to The Rotten because of the smoldering tar puddles. I also agree that boss fights with another person-like entity that's not to big are the best fights for a one-on-one challenge mainly because the in game camera is so much better at handling those types of fights. The underwhelming Ohrnstein fight was "fixed" in Scholar of the First Sin by making the run to it much harder with a dragon guarding the thing you need to pull without relying on i-frames.
If you haven't played 3 and you think DS2 is dark your in for some depressing stuff, that game will make you look differently on what a wedding in this world of Hollows, cursed, chosen or unkindled truly entails. About the endless cycle and what DS2 tried to convey with the end is that you, as the character act as the final boss because Nashandra enters the boss room through the fog gate. So I've always felt that if you leave you choose not to be the one that keeps the cycle going but you've cleared every obstacle so someone is bound to stumble down there and just take the throne. From all these games, every ending or choice given ultimately boils down to the fact that whatever you choose to do the cycles will continue. Even to the point that when it runs out of good hollows to recycle it starts to use second hand stock to revive until someone, however likely, can make the cycle start all over again. It doesn't matter what we choose, it is only temporary.
It's a good review and i agree with a lot of points you make, DS2 is a nice game on it's own, that gets overhated due to people being overly critical towards it, like it absolutely has problems, there being places where they just have 5+ enemies waiting for you to turn the corner and die
However your take on iron keep not being trash is absolutely 0/10 lmao goddamn did that area almost make me quit the first time around
I finished DS2 recently and glad that I put it last for my souls entry, if I had start with DS2 early I would absolutely hate soullike genre for sure.
Somehow the game is feeling janky than DS1 despite supposed to be a sequel, sure there are some QoL being introduced but overall doesn't help with general core gameplay just tedious all the time.
Level design wise definitely weakest (or on same level as DS3 but that game has really good gameplay carry all the way) the only souls game that I didn't bother start NG+ with these reason
I played the launch version and absolutely loathed every second of it. I dont know why because there is a lot there to like, but it felt like the evil twin of Dark Souls 1.
Me too, I got as far as Shrine of Amara and in the original version those spells fuckin tracked. DS2 changed everything I liked about 1, and From games in general: a world rich in lore where the difficulty is produced as a side effect of the design. DS2 is hard for the sake of it with a very dull world. Why are so many areas just like, PS2 corridors lmao
stahp it mate, I’ll come back if you played the dlc.
The worst thing to ever happen to the Souls community is the absolutely ridiculous gatekeeping around the fact that you need to play the game a certain way or you're not allowed to play it, like it or call yourself a true fan. Those people all need to chill! They are probably the biggest detriment to the fandom. I mean the true brilliance of the souls games comes from the fact that you can decide how you want to enjoy the game. No one should play any other way than the way that makes you have fun with the game. If summons or anything else in these games makes you enjoy your time more then you are playing the game as it was intended. So if soloing bosses gives you the sweetest victory or is the only way to enjoy the game then that is your best way of experiencing it, that doesn't mean that any other way of playing is less. Your achievement isn't worth less, in fact, if you are able to ignore those trying to tell you so and manage to enjoy the game then you are truly gaming right in my book.
We have a great quote from Miyazaki now about how he uses absolutely every bit of help the game gives in order to beat these games because he sucks at video games.
The people in the community that talk about a true or "intended" way to play souls games can be ignored and maybe chalked off as delusional.
But even without Miyazaki it was always obvious since souls 1 when, I think, Solaire talks about jolly cooperation.
If they didn't want coop or community built into these games, they wouldn't do it, like Sekiro.
Also speak your truth, speak your heresy! What's the point of the video otherwise right?
Especially because I think you're being exceptionally fair and even-handed, even with things you don't like you're able to highlight (some) of the merits in it.
Dark Souls taught me to be weary of everything, played the first and third game before DS2 because everyone at the time said to not bother. So when I finally played the game and formed my own opinion it turned out that I love it. FromSoft tried so many new things in DS2, stuff that would come back and define large parts of Elden Ring that it's way more interesting than DS3. They absolutely played it safe with DS3, I still love the game for catering to a faster, more reactive play style but the level design felt so linear and the world and lore was a mess in comparison to DS1. I still love the third installment but I think DS2 allows for far more interesting ways of playing and has the most replay value out of all the souls games, at least when it comes to the more casual fan base that don't only care for the boss fights like that is the only thing that has value.
I love the huge groupings in dark souls 2, ok hear me out, you’re literally tackling an entire kingdom, that fell mid siege, as one guy, they had to repel giants, and they all died and hollowed out in the service of defending these lands, it makes sense for soldiers to be clustered in units, and I will make my case with the ancient dragon, I LOVE the ancient dragon, but why? Do I hate myself? No, but in the lore the ancient dragons are described as taking scores of silver knights with them (a score is 20) and you can just fight them without breaking a sweat, dark souls 2’s ancient dragon feels like what the stories talk about, they feel truly intimidating, and the fact that some people say “nah fuck that, don’t need the soul” speaks volumes to my point, dark souls 2 characters more often than not in gameplay represent their own lore, hence why navlaan casts without a staff or chime HE IS magic
playing ds2 without going through the DLCs is like playing BB without going through its own DLC, missing out on the best content in the game honestly
i feel like your complaints about enemy placement are valid, but when showing footage of points in the game where the enemy placement can easily be avoided (forest of the giants) it comes off as nit picky as you couldve easily gone through the area without 5+ enemies following you, its user error, also the SOTFS edition of the game changed enemy spawns/placements, making it worse.
Kinda sad you didn’t play the DLC’s… You missed out on the best 2 - 3 min boss runback, while blinded, no knowledge of where to go and angry magical unicorns chasing after you. All that for a copy paste boss… God I love ds2 😂
22:14 YOU CAN ZIPLINE IN THIS GAME?!
There's another one in the Dragon Shrine
@@Domo3000 actually insane i played this for 40 hours and didnt even know
Dark Souls 2 deserves as much love as 1 and 3.
In my opinion, dark souls 1&3 feel like you exist in a world that would exist regardless of your being there. Dark souls 2 feels like everything is just waiting for you. Saying that 3 is my favourite souls game
The dlc is the best part bro :( play it and make a video. Fume knight and the samurai boss go so hard
I'm sorry to hear about your massive stroke between the Ragnarok video and this one. I'm sure you can still live a fulfilling life with half your brain functions missing. DS1 fanboys do it all the time.
Also:
>no guides :)
>*majority of the footage is him two handing a rapier*
lol