Damon from DJ Podcasts writes "In a dark fantasy world where death is no stranger to you, with dungeons and castle ruins filled with the undead and other mythical creatures whose only mission is to kill you over and over and over and over again! Yes you can probably already guess by now that I am talking about the latest sequel to the Dark Souls franchise, Dark Souls II developed by From Software and published by Namco Bandai. Do you have what it takes to go beyond death?"
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.
The Smelter Demon is a bombastic boss design that bolsters Dark Souls 2's roster with an experience that updates an older fight's form to function.
Man, I dunno about that. In fact, most boss fights in Dark Souls 2 were forgettable.
Dark Souls 2 remains a divisive entry in the landmark RPG franchise, but Hidetaka Miyazaki believes it led to the success of Elden Ring.
DS2 was fine. While there was a bit of recycling assets or ideas for bosses, it was a bigger more open Dark Souls. The Fume knight boss is one of the hardest bosses in the series until Sekiro and Elden Ring were released.
The problem with Dark Souls 2 was the same problem when a different director takes over for a sequel to an outstanding movie. It typically (there are exceptions) doesn’t have the feel and vision of the previous movie.
I wouldn’t say Dark Souls 2 is terrible. Had Dark Souls 1 never been a thing and we got this, I think it would have been praised more. The problem is it didn’t have the Miyazaki touch to it and felt pretty derivative. The soundtrack is a banger though.
And it will happen in the future when he doesn’t touch them as he is planning on.
I like DS 2, might even be my favorite of the 3. But it's a hard sell, there's so many obscure things you need to do to make it an enjoyable experience. So always find it hard to recommend, but it is worth the trouble.
"I certainly found Dark Souls II hard which made it far less enjoyable and it’s absolutely no fun to be continually stuck in the same place for hours on end. It would have been great to have a difficulty option, despite it being against the whole Dark Souls culture."
What a humongous asshole, saying all we need to make the game better is butcher everything that makes Dark Souls 2 a Souls game. Jesus, some people just don't get Souls games. They even put fast travel in the game to appealto new fans...
No, I never stated it would of made the game better in general. I said it 'would' have been great despite being Dark Souls true nature. Read again man it "Would" is the keyword in that sentence and not should. So I believe I do understand Dark Souls game, where as you dont understand the difference between Would and Should
"However such a difficulty option would have made the game far more accessible for newcomers to the Dark Souls series. Dark Souls II throws you in the deep end literally and you need to work out if you can swim or drown, it’s that brutal. The lack of a game map, quest log and help guide to push you along your journey made my experience quite unpleasant."
I would certainly agree that this is not a game for general everyday players and as a reviewer your quite right in pointing out its shortcomings. A game is reviewed for all gamers and for the majority of gamers, this game has been brutal in terms of difficulty, the way it doesn't aid you in any way, snd the relentless death and difficulty spike is insane. I do beleive he's said its recommended highly for fans of the genre, but may not be everyones cup of tea. I'd much rather have a review that covers all gamers than just a cross section of fans. I am sure a Dark Souls fan may give it a 9/10, but after the initial hype, this game doesn't tick all the boxes and I do agree with this position.