You know a game has a stigma attached to it when the writers here at D-Pad were reluctant to take on Dark Souls II for review. I would like to think I’m made of stronger stuff, but the truth is that I drew the short straw. Don’t get me wrong, I love games that are challenging, as they often offer the most satisfaction and reward but the Souls series so far has been in an entire league of its own (I know a guy who snapped two discs in sheer frustration). For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Souls experience, it’s a grueling and challenging affair which requires the utmost patience.
As difficult and frustrating as it is, people should consider reliving the Dark Souls 2 experience, especially because of what's coming to the game.
Many of those who hate Dark Souls II hate it because it's not Dark Souls. The same people love Dark Souls III because it isn't Dark Souls II.
And so many of the issues at the centre of common complaints about DS2 are present in DS3 and sometimes even DS1. The hatred and bile spewed over this perfectly decent game is ludicrous.
I don’t think it’s a terrible game, but like a movie sequel by a different director, for me, it does NOT capture any of the “magic” felt from the Miyazaki entries. Boss battles don’t feel epic, environments don’t have the same sense of awe, the enemy variety isn’t particularly interesting, the art direction just feels bland, about the only thing I can give it praise for is some of the music.
Now, again, this is only how I feel about it, so I’m not trying to invalidate his you feel about the game, but it is the worst entry in the series due to those factors and it’s the least re-visited entry, for me.
Is it decent as a game on its own? Sure. But in comparison to the Miyazaki entries, it does not stack up and I believe that’s where many were disappointed with it.
You can also play it in VR flawlessly on PC & controller with the LukeRoss mod so… another reason to jump back in with extra immersion.
The controls felt very clunky to me, I tried playing it after beating Darksouls 3 and it didn’t feel fluid, obviously the hit detection is less superior for been an older game.
Dr. Serkan Toto says: While things do not look great for many studios in the West, things are very different in Japan – and I was shocked how little people in the industry still know and understand about the third biggest gaming market in the world (which is a probably a positive for a Japan game industry consultant like myself).
Honestly, it looks about the same if we are measuring a company's success on their all time high stock price. It has nothing to do with the sentiments some in the industry have.
Objectively the two biggest problems are cost cutting and consolidation.
"The more I learned about Nightreign, the more my concerns started to grow that FromSoftware might lean too hard into chasing more mainstream success." - Ethan Krieger
Eh we'll have to see. Elden Ring was/ is very good, I'd personally still put Sekiro and Bloodborne at the top but really FS seem to nail it every time.
