izigame.me

Hi.
So, to start off, I wanna say that i started out as a Dark Souls 3 player that sunk over 400 hours into that game before I decided to stop playing it and start playing the previous two games, Dark Souls 1 and Dark Souls 2. Dark Souls 2 was the last entry in the series that I played, and it was a truly unique journey for me unlike anything Dark Souls 1 and Dark Souls 3 gave me. Here, I'll try listing the things I liked and didn't like about the game and you can come to your own conclusion on whether or not to buy it (duh). Also by the way, I do not recommend playing the trilogy in backwards order because DS3 can give you a lot of bad habits that'll make you suffer in the other two games.

Here's the things I liked:
The game has a LOT of content. One of my biggest complaints about DS1 and even DS3 was that it didn't have enough; I wanted more, and DS2 really did give me more.
- The game has a truly large number of locations.
- An absolutely fantastic variety in color palette across all the locations.
- The game gives you multiple paths that you go through right from the start just like in DS1.
- The levels are for the most part more well thought-out than its prequel.
- The game has a sequel-worthy number of armors, weapons, spells, and items.
- A FANTASTIC variety of VIABLE builds.
- A great deal of quality-of-life improvements over DS1 such as the ATN (attunement) stat granting increased casting speed, increased spell uses, and increased attunement slots- all in one stat finally!
- Many mechanics that actually innovate and make it an overall large improvement over DS1 (more than it seems).
- Hollowing is an actual mechanic that's surprisingly done pretty well and thankfully there's multiple ways of making it less annoying if the player wishes to do so.
- Durability is finally a proper mechanic that's more than just mere boss weapon ammo.
- DS1's issue of players being able to run past enemies largely without consequences is resolved by making enemies persistent.
- Great and interesting lore that's about drangleic and the various kingdoms that have come before it and the effects of hollowing for humans.
- Great story along with two of the most well-written characters in the trilogy who-shall-not-be-named-cus-it's-spoilers, and the best ending that one will ever see in the trilogy (you gotta beat all 3 DLC's to access it).
- The game has a consistent level of quality throughout the vast majority of its content and doesn't fall off halfway like how it did for DS1.
- Contrary to popular belief, the game actually overall has the tightest and most well-done hitboxes in the trilogy; the bad hitboxes problem is largely a myth.
- You can invade people regardless if they're hollow or not, and can disable invasions by burning a human effigy if you want.
- The game has the most balanced PvP experience.
- No shitty invasion priority system (fuck you that, DS3!).
- The combat requires more thought from the player.
- Successive rolls have a greater stamina cost.
- The LEVELS LEADING UP TO THE BOSSES are more of a challenge than the vast majority bosses themselves, meaning the devs put a greater priority on the actual meat of the game.
- The game has among the best DLC's in the trilogy.
- The game has lots of subtle charm and detail that they absolutely did not need to go through the effort to make, but I'm glad they did, such as your character huffing when you're low on stamina.
- And finally the game ACTUALLY DOES A LOT TO ITS NG+ such as more items, new items, more enemies, new enemies, some bosses get some changes, a new boss encounter, and new NG+ exclusive lore.
Many people like praising the addition the powerstance mechanic but I think the addition that is even more praise-worthy is the inclusion of proper dual-wielding that is never seen ever again after DS2; being able to have a weapon's full moveset in both the right AND left hand is a wonderful thing and I don't understand why it never returned. Oh and your left hand no longer holds all left hand weapons as if they're straight swords.

Here's the things I didn't like:
Right away I will tell you that you will not see "ganks" and "a million enemies" in this list, because those are not flaws of this game; it's not as bad as people make it seem if you actually think things through.
- Too many healing items. I especially dislike that Melentia sells an unlimited number of lifegems at such a low cost so early into the game.
- ADP. I do like this stat for its ability to make heavy-weight builds more viable, and while it IS somewhat communicated as to what it does in the stats menu, I still believe that it was not communicated well enough to the player as to what it does because this singular stat ON ITS OWN is responsible for all the false "bad hitboxes" claims that this game has received.
- Illusory walls (excluding Pharros walls) requiring you to press the interact button to uncover. The game makes NO effort to tell you how to uncover such walls, and I believe that DS1 and DS3's method of uncovering illusory walls is far more practical for a new player to figure out on their own.
- No password matchmaking for co-op.
- Soul Memory as a matchmaking system while a pretty neat idea, is awfully executed.
- The world isn't interconnected like how it was in DS1.
- A lot of level transitions don't make sense, although you could try explaining them by saying that they accurately follow one of the game's core themes.
- Some of the really cool levels are too short (this is personal nitpick).
- The vast majority of the base game bosses SUCK!
- The easiest-to-get ending sucks.
- The first half of Iron Keep is terrible if you're a new player that's trying to do the boss runback for that part of the location. (tip: wear armor with actual poise and jump onto the platform just before the bridge for a shorter runback). I've no idea why they couldn't just rework that first half for Scholar of the First Sin's release!
- The lighting isn't as atmospheric as DS1, although this is a personal taste thing.

This game has been an incredible journey for me and despite its flaws I still really enjoy it. I'm super sad that we will most likely never get a game like this again, as it seems that FromSoftware and Soulslikes in general are more interested in making speedy games nowadays and also there being no sign that Yui Tanimura (the creator of DS2) is interested in making another game, which is sad because I believe he's capable of making great games based on the overall quality of DS2 and the DLC's he's directed for this game and the fact that he somehow saved the game from being an entirely unplayable mess in less than a year after taking over mid-development; I'm glad he's been Miyazaki's co-director ever since, though! Good for him!
Thank you for reading my review. If you're confused as to which version of DS2 to get, then just know that DS2 Scholar of the First Sin is in many ways objectively the better version of the game; more lore-accurate enemy placements and some improved item descriptions, more quality-of-life changes, DS2 Scholar's lighting makes the areas' atmosphere stand out more, and although DS2 Scholar has way more enemies that does not mean that it's worse; you'd be surprised to see how much more polished & well thought-out the enemy encounters are in DS2 Scholar compared to DS2 Vanilla, and how much more empty and barren DS2 Vanilla's locations are- there's even some missing important lore in DS2 Vanilla if you care about that. Also, DS2 Scholar's AI enemies have anti-gank behaviour programmed into them- go search it up if you want to learn more. This is the conclusion I've come to after playing both versions of the game multiple times each: DS2 Scholar is better than DS2 Vanilla.
Also, I've written some new player advice incase anyone reading this wants some; It's contained in a screenshot HERE because I've ran out of writing space in this review.