An Over-Analysis of From Software Boss Design: Dark Souls II

Ever since I played Dark Souls, I've wanted to toss my opinions in the great all-consuming void that is Dark Souls Video Essays - and here we finally are, analyzing the bosses of Dark Souls II!
This is the second part of a series going through all of FROM Software's bosses, analyzing what each of them attempt to do, how they attempt to do it, and how well they succeed (or how it is they fail).
I'm not a huge Dark Souls II fan, so I tried to analyze the bosses from their design within the game's framework as much as possible, but this is definitely going to have some of the most personal bias in this series. On the plus side, you're watching the video of a man who will never fight Lud & Zallen again.
0:00:00 - Introduction
0:01:34 - The Last Giant
0:04:13 - The Pursuer
0:06:05 - Dragonrider
0:06:54 - Old Dragonslayer
0:08:39 - Flexile Sentry
0:10:37 - Ruin Sentinels
0:13:20 - Belfry Gargoyles
0:15:30 - The Lost Sinner
0:18:57 - Skeleton Lords
0:20:32 - Executioner's Chariot
0:22:51 - Covetous Demon
0:24:22 - Mytha, the Baneful Queen
0:26:50 - Smelter Demon
0:29:33 - Old Iron King
0:32:17 - Scorpioness Najka
0:34:25 - Royal Rat Authority
0:36:26 - Prowling Magus & Congregation
0:37:59 - Duke's Dear Freja
0:41:42 - Royal Rat Vanguard
0:42:02 - The Rotten
0:43:22 - Twin Dragonriders
0:44:32 - Looking Glass Knight
0:46:23 - Demon of Song
0:48:47 - Velstadt, the Royal Aegis
0:50:11 - Guardian Dragon
0:51:13 - Ancient Dragon
0:53:07 - Giant Lord
0:54:54 - Darklurker
0:57:33 - King Vendrick
1:00:03 - Afflicted Graverobbers
1:01:22 - Elena, the Squalid Queen
1:03:30 - Sinh, the Slumbering Dragon
1:06:40 - Blue Smelter Demon
1:08:22 - Sir Alonne
1:11:41 - Fume Knight
1:14:26 - Aava, the King's Pet
1:15:52 - Lud & Zallen, the King's Pets
1:18:44 - Burnt Ivory King
1:21:50 - Throne Watcher & Defender
1:24:20 - Nashandra
1:27:59 - Aldia, Scholar of the First Sin
1:30:11 - Epilogue
#darksouls #darksouls2 #videoessay #bossfight #eldenring

[@peppermintyfreshness]

The Lost Sinner sconce mechanic is a worthwhile reward if you don't have your brightness so high that Solaire is literally on a pilgrimage to find your monitor because it is so grossly incandescent

[@HaronYoungerBro]

Funniest shit all day xD

[@__-be1gk]

When it's been so long you've just forgotten how shitty Ds2 looks

[@Charnel_Heart]

"Freja has a bite I'm surprised wasn't grandfathered into Elden Ring" Astel would like to know your location

[@TheAkasharose]

I immediately pulled up my Astel footage on this - I don't know why I never noticed that was the same bite!

[@Kurai_69420]

On the topic of demons, demons in DS2 are not demons like in the first game. Because of the absolute gigachaddery of the Ivory King, the flame of Chaos has no presence in Drangleic, and he's also probably the reason they're almost extinct in Dark Souls 3. In 2 the word "demon" is more synonymous with "monster" and given how varied they are (smelter demon is literally just a rogue golem and Jabba is just fat) I don't think there is any lore significance for a boss to be called a demon.

[@__Man_]

Smelter demon is a golem imbued with the soul of a demon

[@JellyJman]

Yeah they kinda just misused demon in the base game and I don’t know if it was intentional since it’s been thousands or so many years since the first game and they just monsters “demons”, or if they just were just wrong and didn’t understand the significance of “demon” and just threw that on everything and then course corrected with the DLC.

[@faizaanbray2039]

I love that fact, knowing that the so called black sheep of the game is maybe the reason there is an end of the demon race, well I mean the killing of the bed chaos is the main reason on why the demon race was so futile in ds3, its good to know tnat ds2 had something to do with it as well.

[@TECTONICSMASH]

It's funny how you mention you can run away from the old iron king without mentioning that if you do that he will shoot a laser which GOES THROUGH WALLS sending you into the lava lmao

[@robertoburkes817]

You can just run and hide behind the corner of the building by the door to the primal bonfire. I've never seen or knew he had a laser? I might have sensory gank overload tho because I just got the ds2 platinum and still trying to convince myself that I had fun and it was worth it😅

[@TECTONICSMASH]

@@robertoburkes817 I played OG DS2 so maybe they patched it out in Scholar? But if you don't believe me you can read about it on the wiki lol

[@Squilurple]

@@TECTONICSMASH Oh, it's still there on Scholar. It's my favourite attack of his because of how easy it is to punish.

[@whodatismeishe]

52:25 in sotfs they actually won't aggro to you if you fight the drakekeepers instead of running through, they don't care if you attack the dragon. The aggro of the dragon knights is based on a honor system, as long as you don't run away from a fight they'll leave you alone.

[@TheAkasharose]

That's actually really neat! Never knew that one.

[@Doudoussin]

Also, I'm pretty sure that once you've gotten the ashen mist heart, they stop aggroing even if you run past the Drakekeepers. At least I remember doing the ancient dragon runback again and again without killing anything and without getting aggroed by those guys on the stairs

[@whodatismeishe]

@@TheAkasharose I was so glad when I found out about it, those dragon knights don't play around in a fight

[@Rinjo_TER]

I know that the battle against Sir Alonne is something simple, but I would still give it an A for everything that represents it, its music, setting and design,They make him one of the most memorable bosses in the saga and that is why he has so much appreciation, for me he more than deserves it, without a doubt for me he is a great boss

[@johncodyhawkins880]

I cant believe you said the old iron king looks unique. Hes literally what a generative ai would make if you asked for a demon

[@xtcarnagerocks8915]

The frozen reindeer actually do stop respawning after you kill a certain amount of them, the same as every other enemy. The difference is that their spawn is based on the blizzard rather than sitting at the bonfire so it feels endless. The area is still easily the worst thing ever regardless.

[@FurtiveCutless]

One note regarding Sinh: his body is corrosive and massively drains your durability but that doesn't apply to his head. While it's very possible to fight him as you did in your footage, he's fundamentally designed to be a head snipe boss. During pretty much every opening you're taking advantage of in the video, his head is also exposed for a good amount of time. Going primarily for the head also helps mitigate the camera issues a little bit because you'll have his fully body infront of you.

[@TheAkasharose]

I had no idea of this - if I'm thinking correctly, that means Sinh is the first boss build around a limb with a specific weakness - I'm really sad I didn't know this before talking about Midir in my DS3 video tomorrow, Sinh was even more important in that development chain then I thought.

[@iamdoom9810]

​@@TheAkasharoseWith this newfound knowledge, where would you rank Sinh now?

[@TheAkasharose]

​@@iamdoom9810 It's tough to say, namely because I haven't replayed to try to fight him while focusing on his head. I imagine he'll get a boost (Watchdog in the Bloodborne video might get a similar treatment).

[@iamdoom9810]

@@TheAkasharose Perhaps once you're done with this boss analysis video series, you can make a bonus video reevaluating certain bosses based on what you learned from commenters. Even if the video itself is less than 15 minutes long, I think people already invested in this video series would be interested in seeing it.

[@TheAkasharose]

@@iamdoom9810 That was actually my intent before I hit Elden Ring! There were things I learned, things I admittedly got wrong, and just some general cool details that ought to be said. I figure I'll release Sekiro & Demon's Souls first, though, so that I can include everything prior to Elden Ring in the corrections video.

[@colbychampagne4867]

Smelter Demon is man made, Covetous Demon is a man who was so gluttonous he transformed into a slug monster (demon could be just because he’s scary looking, demon-esque, not actually part of the species) And Demon of song i’m pretty sure is a transformed hollow or something, so similar to covetous

[@highlightermarca-texto3281]

Would've been cool to see you go into more details into the soundtracks, since you covered the DS1 sountracks pretty extensively. DS2 has some of my favorite themes as standalone musical pieces, even if they aren't as context appropriate. Ruin Sentinels/Smelter Demon theme is incredible. Regarding your lore question, the Smelter Demon is either a creation of the Old Iron King or his top pyromancer, after unearthing the Golem magic from the butthole Giants, the same magic Vendrick later used to make his golems. So it doesn't really seem like any of the Demons in DS2 are tied to the Bed of Chaos (though the DS2 Giants should also be Golems, and item description of magic pine resin states dragons are weak to Magic, instead of Lightning damage, so what even is continuity anyway).

[@TheAkasharose]

I'd never thought of considering Dark Souls 2 Demons as a wholly unique type of Demon, but that definitely puts the Smelter and Covetous Demon in a lot more interesting of a light. Aspects of sin rather than connected to Izalith kinda thing. And yeah - Dark Souls II is a weird musical soundtrack for me. I mentioned my adoration for the quiet pieces (Majula, Vendrick, & Longing Especially), but a lot of the other music kinda just feels present in the game. With that said, I really like how experimental it comparatively gets. There's a lot of unique, percussive orchestration the other games lack - and it really leads to a unique atmosphere. Doesn't capture me in game in the same way, but definitely makes it way onto a lot of my work playlists.

[@leonardo9259]

Your footnote on Sir Alonne is I think why I love DS2 so much and why people can't stop regurgitating the "is a good game but a bad souls game" sentence. All the characters in the world have been going over and over the same cycle, that nobody really remembers why they're there, where they come from. Everyone (and every place for that matter) was once full of unique characteristics, but they've been for so long on the cycle that little of that remains and they know it. Its hollowing. It happens to Lucatiel, to the map dude, to the ladder dude, to the crestfallen dude, to the mage and pyromancer, it even happens to places too, the wharf becoming a caricature of a port, the castle becoming empty So it makes a lot of sense that alao happens to bosses too, they hang on to their main unique characteristics because outside of that they are... Unremarkable, its like the entire world is suffering drom Alzheimer's, everyone is going hollow. And for that i think its beautiful, its definitely more interesting and charming world design that "bwaaaa the world is so over broooo the entire world is in ashes brooo doesnt it look so dead ans decrepit bro" that plaged the other two dark souls (and even elden ring) But all that atmosphere wouldnt fit with the live movesets of bloodborne, or the bombastic music of DS3, or the sense of wonder of DS1, it needs to have that uncharacteristic moveset to work, i think

[@leonardo9259]

Thanks for making me think bro

[@zacrichards5031]

​@@leonardo9259Everything is going hollow, not just the people. Gwyn trapped the land in a perpetual cycle of slow agonizing death. Fire will fade, flesh will rot, and darkness will creep back in, over and over. We play unimportant characters because all the powerful ones fell already, and we're always given a choice to do so as well. Then there's a 3rd option for our path with the dlc. We can ignore the choice, and stave off the curse. This doesn't fix anything, you don't know why you came to this land, there's no resolution, and you essentially just remove yourself from the cycle.

[@lifeonmars4088]

Nobody cares about DS2

[@leonardo9259]

@@lifeonmars4088 commented in a ds2 video, weak ass bait lol

[@user-rd3rf3ft8e]

could this video series be even more grossly incandescent? what an amazing watch! tho i don't agree with some opinions you share, it is good to learn of them. makes me wanna play again. thanks for adding to the souls community

[@irisdaniels2318]

the rotten's butcher knife arm can be cut off. he'll then plunge his arm into himself to regenerate it.

[@MikeHesk742]

Also i think he technically does have a 2nd phase? But maybe that's only in NG+? I've never seen him do his explodey slam-forward blast thingy above 50% hp

[@rollernkg68]

A note on the Lost Sinner: in SotFS, the switched the location of the key from the gargoyles to be after Ruin Sentinels instead

[@BabikBalint]

I wanna preface this with saying that this is not meant to be a criticism but this video really illustrates why ds2 requires so much of a buy-in. Half the bosses you gave Fs and Ds to are actually horrible but the other half are these intricate puzzles that require precise camera handling, no lock on, really tight pathing etc. that noone in their right mind would think to do if they were looking at this as more Dark Souls(TM). A lot of times you were expressing frustrations with gank mechanics and the inability to separate bosses, I was looking at your footage not using the tools I used to do the same thing by baiting out attacks, not locking on, edgeclipping attack hitboxes etc. Imo the game's worst fault is that you have to find out the fun way to play the game by either watching the one hbomberguy video on youtube or by playing it completely unintuitively and finding out that its actuall, secretly the best thing to do if ypu want to have fun. I wanna end this ramble with an illustration. Last thing, the runbacks in this game suck ass, Lud and Zallen is the worst boss in all of soulsborne, the royal rat assholes are a vlose second.

[@TheAkasharose]

I think this is a great point. As you might have noticed in this footage, bosses you don't lock onto are usually a personal struggle of mine - it's why Sekiro is one of the games I excel at the most, since almost everything expects that lock-on to be present. I've already seen a couple of impassioned comments defending bosses like Ruin Sentinels, which is fascinating to see. I feel the runbacks take a lot away from the game for me. The worse a runback, the less risks I take in gameplay. I play safer, and sometimes, safer is less fun.

[@blacklung7474]

I don't like ds2 , but i have to agree with you aside from hbomber guy, that video is horrible.

[@auellaitaela8035]

I'm surprised you didn't mention being able to roll in the fountain outside smelter demon's arena to get massively buffed fire resistance to nearly nullify the forced chip damage. In your other videos you seem to really put a high value on that kind of environmental interaction and how the world interacts with boss fights, so I'm surprised it wasn't mentioned and instead lifegems were mentioned as the lifegems are more general and that fountain is specific to the boss.

[@TheAkasharose]

Well... that's because I just learned something new today! I need to love into that some more!

[@ABurntMuffin]

covetous demon is *supposed* to be the saddest sack to exist in the game. You're encouraged to laugh at him as you drop poison on him. Kick him while he's down. He IS after all a demon of covetous desire! But wait, what are we chasing after again? The Throne of Want? Greed is the game of the land, this dude eating himself silly in order to impress somebody in this land isn't that far-fetched and yeah his fight sucks he's nearly harmless. (by design)

[@EinSilverRose]

Honestly, after you've played Dark Souls 2 a few times or get used to it enough you can just cheese The Pursuer and the Dragonrider for enough souls to boost you ADP to 25 for 95 agility. Upgrading weapons is much more cost effective early on than boosting offense stats. ADP may be a bad idea but it's easily remedied. Once you defeat The Rotten you can just farm it for a bit of level ups you need to get your build rearing to go.

[@OllixTV]

This is why I struggle so hard with the sheer scope of the rage about the mechanic. ADP isn't a fun stat - and the insistence on Soulsborne games to never properly explain mechanics makes it unlikely an average newcomer will realize what is holding them back - but it's so quickly and easily remedied that it seems excessive how much ink has been spilled portraying it as the cardinal sin of the game. It does gimp SL1 runs in a way that is a shame. But given speed-running and challenge runs weren't as prolific in 2014 as they are today, hard to see it as devs being spiteful.

[@Trails3rdFanboy]

​​​@@OllixTV "so quickly and easily remedied" -> literally nothing in the game tells you it affects your rolls/item animation unless you use a guide --> defending obfuscation of game mechanics, couldn't be you 😅

[@EinSilverRose]

@@Trails3rdFanboy All of the soulsborne games have mechanics that aren't properly explained like how spell cast speed is tied to Dex. Adaptability may be the most egregious but if someone bothers to look up any kind of info about it they can plan their build around it.

[@Trails3rdFanboy]

@@EinSilverRose ADP matters much much much more than some cast speed thing when ds1 is already broken with sorcery so no it's not comparable

[@yeahright8700]

Feel like I’m jumping in early on this channel, you’ve got some great content!

[@lawyerxsinxdarkky]

I love these videos. Perf balance of like background video but still interesting. Keep up the good work ashen one

[@willh9104]

Fantastic video man. Hope to see your channel blow up soon!

[@lightmist101]

Can't wait to see the next one!

[@anglevet]

Came late to this but I really, really super appreciate what you had to say about Nashandra here. I feel like I've been alone in appreciating her and what she means, what she stands for, from a thematic standpoint in her own fight. The entire game you've been fighting against the curse and finally here is the witch responsible wielding that very same curse as a weapon against YOU, it's just brilliant. I'm not about to say she's the best final boss ever, she's piss easy, but there's just a lot to like about her I think. Like she is very tangibly the person responsible for nearly everything wrong in the game, and unlike a lot of other final Souls/Borne/Ring final bosses, she's still very much lucid, which sets her apart from the hollow/mindless final bosses otherwise on display. You're not putting an empty shell out of its misery, you are making a vile monster PAY for what she's done! Feels like something right out of the pages of a heroic legend. Dark Souls II has a boatload of issues but Nashandra, from a lore and thematic perspective at least, isn't really one of them. It's nice to see someone who agrees.

[@lucasbueno5720]

Oh, and another nice thing to add about Nashandra The entire DLC is framed as a quest for the crows of the fallen kings, as a quest for the answer that Vendrick never reached: what means to be a king and give enough hope to the people that the threat of hollowing will not break their spirit Once Vendrick sees that you reached your answer and gives you his blessing, the curse immunity for the crows, theres nothing to fear about Nashandra anymore Because you have your hope, hollowing is not a threat anymore.

[@themalaphage673]

Was the Lost Sinner room changed for SotFS? I recently fought her with the room lit, but I just used a butterfly to light my torch and then lit the side rooms. Didn't have to fight the Gargoyles at all.

[@JellyJman]

No but the way to get was changed, in vanilla you had to beat the gargoyles in order to get the key to light up everything. In sotfs they put in right by the servant quarter bonfire

[@FraiseLK]

I feel like it's necessary to mention another of the Burnt Ivory King's flaws, which is the fact you have to go through the whole first phase of fighting the knights and closing the gates on every attempt. If you're struggling with the boss and having to repeat it multiple times, that first phase can very quickly feel very tedious

[@TheMrManjana]

I also did not know how to beat Mytha so I just brute forced it and beat her with the poison arena lol

[@TheAkasharose]

Your unmatched persistence is beyond admirable.

[@billythenarwhal1579]

I agree Blue Smelter's boss run isn't as bad as regular. DS2's DLC is also an absolute step up from the quality of the base game, but it wouldn't be DS2 without some obviously bad thing dragging it down, aka the Co-op areas.

[@blackbloom8552]

I think Aldia role in the story is simply to make you question the narrative itself. Is the hollowing curse truly a mere facet of life and its cure an impossibility, or is there some way, sowhere to reach immortality that just hasn't been found yet? Aldia cant answer that, because he himself doesnt know, but he still want you to ask the question, to truly choose wether you want to accept the end, or join him in the search for an alternative. Ultimately, it is your choice, and once he has made his point, Aldia doesnt try to stop you further. I wouldn't necessarily say he is wrong as nobody wants to go hollow...but is it really better to just keep going on, endlessly searching for a another way that may not even exist until you become nothing but a mind? Either way, it is your choice and your choice alone.

[@TheAkasharose]

I like this analysis, not just because it's a solid analysis that gives me even more respect for the fascinating narrative of Dark Souls II, but because I'm now envisioning Aldia doing one of Bill Nye's 'Consider the Following' transitions.

[@thosebloodybadgers8499]

I think Aldia is one of the most interesting characters in the franchise specifically because he's so enigmatic and interpretable, yet very much so involved on this almost personal level with the player character. Me? I interpret it as him both prodding for an alternative to the cycle and questioning whether the search itself is even worth it. Aldia is the Scholar of the First Sin - perhaps the only person besides Gwyn who peered deeply into the nature of the curse of humanity, of light and dark. What may have inspired him to do so? A compassion for those who suffer from this seemingly endless stagnation? A scholarly curiosity about such an everpresent law of reality? Like, you can make the case for both. In his various appearances, his manner of speech is generally almost amused, detached - like somebody observing an ant colony. But there are times where he seems to almost recall to a time when he did care deeply, so is his anger at the Gods of old when he invokes the "lie". But so much time had passed, his brother had raised a grand empire, was deceived and betrayed by his consort, hollowed within a crypt with nobody but his right hand to witness him now. Aldia himself had seemingly gained some form of more permanent immortality - a way of escaping the curse of undeath. But in doing so he had seemingly lost his own connection to his own humanity. He is no longer human, he has no body - just a metaphorical head and a mind residing within it. So, he simply exists in this perpetual state of observation, unable to change the larger cycle while himself being detached from it, until this promising young hollow arrives in Drangleic, at first as hopeless and lost as all the rest but they persevere and he decides to get involved in that playful manner of his. His constant questioning to me is a very interesting part of the narrative because it calls into question the genuine lack of direction and purpose that the player character has. They truly have arrived almost not by their own will into this land, guided purely by their longing for souls and some way of avoiding hollowing fully, and yet they have the potential to change once again the landscape of the world, just as Vendrick, just as Gwyn have. What will be their choice? Have they even the strength for that choice? Does Aldia himself have the answers? Is he actually guiding the player towards any conclusion, necessarily? He himself is beyond the cycle and sacrificed so much to get to that point, from horrific experiments to his own humanity. Is asking the question worth the answer or does he regret what he had done? He may have longed and may still long for a way to somehow escape this doomed existence but he never directs the player to anything aside from the strength to be able to make a choice. Will they follow in his footsteps, embrace the cycle, something else entirely? But then the endings themselves kinda suck and Dark Souls 3 then rolls around and everything still goes on as usual even if the fire is not linked nor the dark is allowed to flourish because nothing is right in this world. Anyway, there's a lot of great character design, well-paced appearances, interesting script and evocative voice acting there. The fact that it all comes together so well to me is kind of a miracle considering how troubled the development was and the story had seemingly changed drastically since the initial conception. People will sometimes say they wish Aldia was more involved or referenced in Dark Souls 3 but I fear he may have been a kind of lighting in a bottle. He's pretty special regardless. Just like Dark Souls II in general to me. Such a flawed, broken, ambitious, bizarre, isolated experience.

[@blackbloom8552]

@@thosebloodybadgers8499 while it doesnt have lasting impact, i do still appreciate Aldia ending as dark soul 2 is more about the character personal choice and journey than changing the world. In the end, do you take your place in the cycle or do you reject it to seek another path? Neither truly matter, but they are both pure expressions of what makes us human.

[@MikeHesk742]

I wonder if Aldia ended up having the opposite effect on the community though, rather than making everyone question what NPCs tell us now everyone believes we fully and comprehensively understand the narrative of these games, and it's simply to blindly accept what Aldia and followers of Kaathe in DS3 tell us

[@kofu1267]

Ima be real, I’ve played against and beaten the Flexile Sentry idk how many times and I never knew the room could flood.

[@JellyJman]

It’s cuz it takes so long…

[@marekkupiec9903]

I always found Skeleton Lords to be absolutely hillarious, one of my favourite bosses in the game.

[@TheAkasharose]

Skeletons are always incredible.

[@marekkupiec9903]

@@TheAkasharoseanother commentary I'd have on your commentary is the Ivory King. I may be more fragile but the sheer visual power of that fight made my cry out loud. By far, my favourite bossfight in the game, the series and even the whole genre of aRPGs

[@whiteninji352]

Another comment did bring it up but Demon of Song is not the same kind of demon as the ones from Izalith. Honestly I can’t remember if the game has an exact origin for it.

[@risottonero]

The dragon outside ornsteins fight is most likely there bc of the nameless king. He was a dragonslayer but he was incredibly loyal to gwyns first born even after his exile. If the king is rockin w the dragons then hes rockin w them

[@teiull9388]

your judgement of the ruin sentinels is the first time I disagree hard in your ranking series, i think having the chance to take 1 alone is a great concept that is also executed well, you acting like the entire fight agaist 2 is just the 2 ranged attacks is completely false, while they are threats they happen rarely enough that they feel like extra challenges rather then the entire fight, "turtling behind a shield" is barely a problem when they leave huge opportunities to punish after each attack, and their AI's in my experience complement each other very well, it is overall either a A or a S tier boss(in my own meaning of A and S, reminder my boss rankings also have a S+ and SS, so S doesn't mean what it means for others), I really enjoy them every playthrough, and once you understand them you can even take all 3 of them at once. the only other gripe ive had is you calling DS2 balance bad... while it is arguably the best in the trilogy at the very least, DS1 has dark bead, red tearstone ring, blacksmith giant hammer, the black knight weapons, the reinforced club, the most broken magic in the series maybe barring elden ring and etc, and you are telling me the game where every build is viable(even all miracle buids being as viable as pyromancy and sorcery) is the one with the worse balance? even Ds3 has shit like dragonslayer greathammer and sellsword twinblades, while DS2 has the rapier which is broken, i feel it is less broken then... 3 shotting ornstein... 1 shotting gwyn... killing gael in less then 2 minutes... and etc.

[@NeloBladeOfRanni]

It's the stereotypical dark souls 2 hate. Ironically I prefer DS2 SoTFS to elden ring atleast DS2 bosses are relatively balanced for the most part

[@TheAkasharose]

The Ruin Sentinels are strange, because I do like fighting them one on one - maybe I'm just not seeing the possibilities that arise after some of their attacks, or I'm kiting them in a way that is making their AI be so difficult. I also have to admit I neglected to mention that it's impossible to turtle behind shields especially after they throw away the shield - and I do enjoy the fight more after that. I remember hearing Dark Souls 2 described as turn-based; and with their shields, it pushes a bit towards that with the chance of losing your turn, and I think that was where my key frustration came from. I definitely want to seek out some more footage to see if I can find someone fighting all three, and see what gaps they use. I do wish the first one had his full moveset up above, though - strafing just makes him a complete joke with the limited moveset. And, yeah, I admit, just calling DS2 balance bad was a bit of a lazy shortcut. You're right that mechanically, DS2 has a much flatter player power level compared to DS & ER especially - one can debate whether that's good or bad in a single player game, but having so many equally viable options is DS2 does do really well. For me, it's how quickly the game switches between putting up very little resistance (strafing around a single Ruin Sentinel at the start of the fight) to an incredibly challenging experience (the Ruin Sentinels once the spins and jumps are being used).

[@MikeHesk742]

I dont think you touch on it, but each DLC has a boss that was designed with online coop in mind, basically trying to create a "raid boss" for each DLC (their areas are always preceeded by those statues that help you find other players). That's not saying the bosses are good, after all they do each seem to be the boss with the least amount of effort put into them (gank squad, smelter but blue, Avaa but 2), but for each of these bosses you mentioned you couldnt understand why the devs added areas/bosses like these, and that's why. It clearly didnt work as a concept because they never did it again, I think they should have realised even without trying it that obviously if there's a boss in the game then players are going to want/expect to be able to fight it and beat it solo. You could speculate that maybe this concept was pushed by the studio since like i said, each of these "raid boss" bosses seem to be an asset flip of existing bosses or enemies, with a painful linear path full of enemies leading up to them.

[@KnightAarant]

My sentiments largely echo yours in terms of which bosses do their jobs the best. Another thing that hampers boss encounters is character progression being largely stilted by needing ADP to be leveled before you really focus on any other stat. Every playthrough for me it's VIG/ADP focus before I start working on base requirements for things like the weapons I WANT to use. I feel like a lot of the early game is just spent trying to feel functionally comparable to a base stat character in every other FromSoft ARPG. Which brings to mind how you mention a lot of the bosses in DS2 lacks the narrative and cinematic flare put into their boss fights. The simple movesets with questionable hitboxes feels like an Agility check more than anything in most cases so I end up taking a very reductionist view of the boss designs of this game. It's why Velstadt, Vendrick, Alonne, Ivory King, Fume Knight, and Nashandra stand out. Their prevalence in that they're all very much tied to the lore surrounding them, that makes them some of the most enjoyable bosses to fight. For me at least.

[@TheAkasharose]

Perfectly stated. Though there are a few things in Dark Souls II that I do hate from a design perspective (Frigid Outskirts, Royal Rat Authority) there's no single action that causes so much negative consequences in the rest of the game as Agility. It hurts leveling, it hurts challenge runs, it makes the bosses feel worse than they are by making it seem like the hitboxes are the complete problem, and that's assuming the player even directly figures it out.

[@KnightAarant]

@@TheAkasharose Absolutely. I recently played DS2 with a parameter mod that effectively makes Agility at its cap for the sake of iFrames. I didn't have to level ADP at all and it's such a night and day difference how much more enjoyable the early game was. I could be way more aggressive, and roll into attacks and not be punished by the lingering hitboxes. Not to mention the breath of fresh air that was having Claymore stat requirements before even picking it up from Vengarl and still having levels to spare elsewhere. I don't really understand what the idea was behind Agility and wanting to gate iFrames behind a stat.

[@esdave1240]

@@KnightAarant one point to consider is that the level up curve in DS2 is the lowest (in terms of cost increase) in the entire series, allowing for a lot more level ups for the same amount of souls. Doesn't make ADP a good design choice, but makes it more bearable none the less.

[@laughingman9574]

On a technical level, Bed of Chaos is the worst boss From ever delivered. However, imo, Ancient dragon is the worst boss in the series, by far. Bed is horrible, horrible boss, but at least you can finish it quickly. Bow/firebomb cheese, or normal, it is over fast. Ancient dragon looks derpy, hp is way overtuned, and there is only one mind numbing way to do it. Hug the leg and attack, follow the tail when it breathes fire. It is sooooo boring and overstays it's welcome in the first 20 seconds. And I don't have any problem with the long fights. One of my favs is Demifiend on hard in SMTV, that lasts around one hour, often more, but it is engaging. Ancient dragon is embarrasing.

[@JellyJman]

Definitely F tier boss, him and Vendrick and Royal Rat Authority are my least favorite bosses in the whole game.

[@laughingman9574]

@@JellyJman Yeah, Vendrick is kinda the same, loooong, boring fight. Rat Authority is crazy bad also.

[@willhorton7624]

Love your vids!

[@Sylph8141]

You got my respect for admitting your faults and having very respectful discussions within the comment section, not many KZbinrs have the guts for it

[@SerratedSkies]

I think the way the eleyum loyce knights work is that when they run out of health, they go close the portals, and the burnt ivory king comes in on a timer (again, I *think*.) So if you manage to keep the knights alive, your reward is... a harder fight because the adds keep spawning until one of the knights dies. Personally I wish once BIK spawned, the knight with the lowest health sacrificed themselves for a more consistent fight, but to some degree I also appreciate the strategy required of trying to get all 3 knights to die to make BIK easier

[@KittensLeftFoot]

DS2 is my favorite game of the trilogy but it's due to all the bullshit it throws at you. Most of the bosses and the game can be summarized as "Cool idea, shit execution" And I feel like Elden Ring took many cool ideas from DS2 but made them much better, proving the core idea was good, but was too rushed.

[@Sigdowner]

You know, Dark Souls 2 may be simple but looking at Aava I realize how fucking confusing have bosses got lately. Aava is large and mobile but has few camera issues and her tells and hitboxes are pretty clear. You know what the attack is and where not to be. Compare that to the red wolves or the fallingstar beasts of the modern world. Edit: Same with Alonne and Fume. Aggressive enough to not be able to heal safely all the time, but the fight feels like a back and forth rather than a chore, baiting out the one combo string where you can slip a hit or two.

[@irisdaniels2318]

do fights against multiple enemies make them not a boss?

[@MysteryMrE]

Don’t know if anyone else has mentioned this but if I’m right in lore the demons of ds2 are demons by name only, not by origins. Since the old iron king is keeping the demons at bay the world has forgot what the true demons besides what they are, chaotic creatures, thus the chaotic/grotesque monsters like demon of song is given the title of demon by how it looks and acts

[@BlazeStorm]

I instinctively wanted to give Burnt Ivory King an S rank because the presentation is *that* cool but as another commenter said, on repeated attempts the first phase can overstay its welcome. Also it's a unique mechanic that you can try the boss with only 1 helper Knight but you unlock more Knights by exploring. Just a shame that you gotta explore a nightmare of an area. I somehow never found the area to Lud & Zullen so the ice hedgehogs remain my least favourite enemy.

[@TheAkasharose]

If the area was more fun to explore, I'd be more excited to do the DLC - but getting all the knights is so frustrating.

[@frickerjohn]

OK. Imagine there isn't a cat here made me chortle. Well played 😂

[@mr.moonthegoon4178]

I know it might feel counter intuitive to burn the metal shaft on the windmill, but imagine how much grease is all over that thing, it would burn pretty easily. That said they could have conveyed it better

[@thatonediodude4904]

I’m always surprised about ruin sentinels hate, it’s one of the few fights I look forward to when i play ds2. The move sets are perfect and are are just simple enough to dodge two at once and the one at the beginning is fun to to demolish once you get used to it.

[@YureiOni]

I fought sinh for the first time last night. Beat him first try and my weapon didn’t break or show signs of breaking. I just stayed away from that mist

[@OldWinterKing]

Zallen and Lud is a raid boss. The walkback starts with a raid circle. Try bring 3 summons. I'm sure it's intended not to do solo

[@TalesZuliani]

Did you play DS2 on PC? iirc there's a durability issue when the game runs at 60+ fps

[@TheAkasharose]

I did - but another commenter mentioned Sihn actually has some unique mechanics with durability, so I'm not sure I triggered that one. Worth looking to for the errata video, though!

[@FunTimesAllNight]

@@TheAkasharose Yes, this is what I was thinking while I watched you talk about your weapons breaking on multiple bosses. Sihn is corrosive, but I feel like in all my ~450 hours of game time I've never had a weapon at risk mid-boss fight (except for maybe Sihn).

[@JellyJman]

⁠@@TheAkasharosethe durability thing got fixed on the most up to date patches. Sihn does have the mechanic that breaks your weapons faster as well as Lud and Zullen

[@MikeHesk742]

I'm curious about the number of design elements that made their way from DS2 into Bloodborne, despite DS2 being done by "the B team". - The Undead Jailers in Lost Bastile have the same appearance (and audio!) as the bandage-wrapped enemies in Bloodborne. - At low health, Amygdala rips their arms off to use as clubs. Just like the Last Giant does. - Shadows of Yharnam share the same concept as the Skeleton Lords, 3 bosses where 1 is a caster, 1 aggressively pursues you in melee and 1 is a hybrid melee/caster. - Bewitching Alonne Sword functions like the Bloodletter in Bloodborne (or Lady Maria in her bossfight), with the stabbing yourself in the stomach to infuse blood into the weapon. - DS2 intro cinematic, you pan up to a giant blood moon as the music wails, the protagonist's pupil ruptures (blood-drunk?) and then you get sucked into Drangleic. It's such a random pair of events that have no bearing on the DS2 story, but are hugely prominent Bloodborne concepts. And I dont know if it counts, but the slight move towards consumable health items rather than flasks. DS2 added lifegems and gave you fewer flasks. Bloodborne opted for entirely single-use heals. So it makes me wonder about the shared design philosophy happening at Fromsoft HQ at the time both games were being developed. Did they see DS1 post-launch and go "15+ flasks makes the game a joke"?

[@NoirKirbi]

I think like 2-3 of those aren't very good claims but the rest now that you mention it feel pretty realistic to have been shared concepts

[@JellyJman]

Most of the people who worked on 2 also worked on Bloodborne. Check the credits, the big difference was just the Director and Executive Producers. Which goes to show how much people at the top can change a whole game

[@thewalkingash101]

Yeah I’m never replaying this game

[@zacrichards5031]

Duke's Dear Freyja makes me angry. Not for the boss, but the fact that early players figured out that there's a healing spell that works on enemies. So I had to do my first run solo because everyone I summoned kept healing the boss. Fun fact, both heads have health bars independent of the boss bar. So, if the boss health regenerates, you can end up cutting off both heads and being unable to damage the boss further.

[@CassGretch]

pretty well agreed to most of this but blue smelter is F tier imo due to having the literal worst runback in all of souls and being in the worst area. At least it's easy to run by the enemies in keep

[@TheAkasharose]

Out of the 3 'Raid Boss' areas in the DLCs, I somehow always found Blue Smelter to be the easiest one to run through, where I never really figured out how to avoid the knights in Old Iron Keep.

[@TitaRussellTrails]

“Where’s Pikachu?” Bro you’re fighting Pikachu you should be asking where’s snorlax.

[@christianbell8347]

It takes a high IQ to appreciate and understand Dark Souls 2.

[@NoirKirbi]

Not saying anything about DS2 or its fans, but in a vaccuum for situations like these just remember the golden rule "idiots always think they're smart" before making these kinds of claims about intelligence and IQ. For less reasonable people you'd just look even dumber

[@lotrfan4237]

I agree with most of those except Fume Knight and Sir Alonne. These are some of the best boss battles in the series imo

[@__-be1gk]

You gotta love how one of the only decent Ds2 bosses is literally half of a ds1 boss An additional note on the Belfry Gargoyles being worse in literally every way, one will note that their music is exactly the same as ds1, except for a long discordant section they added in the middle that's like, 2 tinnitus-inducing notes, it lasts like 20 full seconds and adds literally nothing to the song. TEN YEARS LATER AND I NOW SEE, IN THIS VIDEO, NASHANDRA HAS LEGS

[@horkusbork3594]

I’ve been playing through the game for the first time recently. I beat Mytha yesterday, completely unaware of the bullshit windmill gimmick, and I actually didnt find it that hard. As long as you can get decent dps before the poison takes effect, you can just stack lifegems to negate the poison. Her healing is still annoying, but it’s slow enough to be more than manageable.

[@theLINK7778]

Love the videos and more often than not I agree with the ratings. However there are two that I do mildly raise an eyebrow at, and neither are great but do deserve the credit that they did what the designers intended. Both Afflicted Graverobbers & the Avaa lion twins (along with their run up to it) were designed with co-op in mind, and as purely optional fights (including letting people without the DLC be summoned in) to let solo players ignore. As I said, neither are really great or outstanding, but they definatly change with co-op and are much more manageable and dare I say midly fun. Still would only give them a D, but as a co-op player with my best freind I appreciated the challange to overcome instead of team rofl-stomping the bosses.

[@spookylulz-ch9lo]

mfw scholar of the first sin keeps giving dark souls 2 a bad rep 💔

[@XxExtremeSamX]

1:00:28 ...I didn't know they could hurt each other.

[@TheAkasharose]

Holy cow - I never even noticed that, even editing. That's... actually really neat.

[@Vareloso]

9:25 you just described Ryomen Sukuna from Nioh 2 lol

[@Damingo54]

Loved dark souls 2. Sure there is flaws but I was young back then and didn’t over analyze things like I do now.

[@anonecki]

To this day, the Covetous Demon is the only souls boss I've cleared hitless on my first ever attempt. It's the single most pathetic fight in the series.

[@edbane1656]

Yay, another video that boils down to it's not ds1 so worse.

[@BlahBlah-zb7es]

Ruin sentinels being f tier is the biggest skill issue I've ever heard LMAO

[@robertoburkes817]

People would complain so hard if dukes dear fredricka stalked you through the levels and sprayed acid venom breaking everyone's equipment. God that would be hilarious🤣🤣

[@stock6600]

Great list overall, but in a no world Veldstadt is an A tier boss, not even by DS2 standarts, let alone a whole series. The dude has like 2 attacks - smash or swing, thats his whole moveset. C tier at best, D if we being honest.

[@zefem]

4 da algo

[@btarczy5067]

I like Dark Souls 2 for its somber atmosphere and exploration but usually the bosses are what makes me want to replay Souls and there it just fails for me. The awkwardness of the combat is something I can live with while going through the areas but boss fights just don’t feel nearly as impactful as they do even in DS1, let alone 3, Sekiro or Elden Ring. There’s a floatiness to every move that makes the game feel as if we were submerged in water all the time… Going by the standard of all Souls games no DS2 boss surpasses the C grade for me even if I like their concept and themes.

[@birdfacemd]

You played Scholar before the base game didn't you?

[@NoirKirbi]

Sotfs barely changed the bosses if at all, what are you even implying with this

[@r863sa]

You know, I agree with most of your rankings in these videos... but I think you're honestly too generous to some of these DS2 bosses. Especially Old Iron King and Nashandra. Iron King on the same tier as Ivory King, Fume Knight, and Darklurker? Old Iron King 2 tiers over Pursuer? I personally can't see a world where I give Old Ironsides there higher than a C tier between a boring moveset, uninteractive fight, slow animations that make his attacks seem less powerful, and that fucking. hole. Not to mention the cheese method being so easy. Honestly, play the Seeker of Fire mod if you want to fight a halfway decent Iron King. As for Nashy? F tier to me. She is so boring to fight. My first playthrough I literally just walked up to her, started swinging, and didn't stop til she was dead like I was POISE BOISing Seath. Even in my hardest challenge run, she never killed me. Cool, it curses you... except the ring of binding exists (not to mention the curse immunity mask from the DLC)

[@karljohan2300]

oh spiders respawn in freyja fight? also demon of song has a grab attack? i hav eno idea how th efuck you could even get to melee sinh everytime i fight him he shoots at you and when you are clsoe to reaching him he flies off i only beat it with a bow and 600+ arrows. can agree to the aesthetics with ivory king and lore godamn not only didhe marry a shard of manus he didnt care he accepted her then when shit was going badly he went with a few knights with him into hell itself to take the fight to the enemy

[@venom66656]

God, I can't stand DS2 haters

[@cameronmyers2154]

I’m going to pretend you didn’t rank nashandra above sir Alonne Great video! (I don’t wanna be snarky, I genuinely am loving this series)

[@happykilljoyproductions]

Did I forgot how how I got into DS2 before I dropped the game because I hated it😂seeing all these bosses are bringing up memories

[@patrickapfelbeck7428]

But Royal Rat Vanguard is so cute!

[@ViciousVirusV2]

Surprised at how much you hated the Ruin Sentinels!

[@kamiwriterleonardo6345]

Ironically enough, I love the Sinh fight, and when I fought him... My weapon never broke XD

[@billythenarwhal1579]

Same, meanwhile Ludd and Zala... which I'll never finish cause when I died trying to equip new weapons cause the broke both of my katanas when the 2nd one was at 1/4 health... I wasn't running reindeer fuckland a 2nd time.

[@kamiwriterleonardo6345]

@@billythenarwhal1579 I never found the key to Reindeath park, and even if I did, I wouldn't dare going there XD The only one of the co-op area bosses I did were the Grave robbers, which ironically enough I loved fighting (I like moving around and running)

[@billythenarwhal1579]

@@kamiwriterleonardo6345 I'm ngl, I find most people exaggerate how bad things are a lot of times, but when it comes to this area, you can't understand how bad it is unless you go there and experience it yourself and it's better to just NOT.

[@sureokk]

I loathed Freja

[@thedankswordsmantm]

Your description of the Rat Vanguard sums up how I feel about DS2 in totality. It feels like a student trying to make Dark Souls. I love this game's story. I hate playing it. This is the Dark Souls game that could most easily and effectively turned into another form of media. Mechanically and in practice though, it is a pretty boring and crappy game. Maybe, if they ever did a true overhaul of DS1-3 on a newer engine, they could make this game actually fun to play.

[@Ranexer]

How bad did DS2 hurt you 😂even though you said all games are ranked individually you still didn't add single boss in S

[@NoirKirbi]

And in DS1 the only boss he put in S was artorias, and even though i'd disagree with that the general consensus is positive enough to make it clearly not unfair

[@Ranexer]

Oh yeah true Sif too is in S for whatever reason. I guess the conclusion is the videos are not much of an analysis and more his personal feelings

[@OllixTV]

Good review, even if I think you thoroughly underrate some of the bosses. This game is a lot like Doctors on Doctor Who - folks are starry-eyed for their first. Having started here and gone back to DS1, I found so many DS1 bosses to be overly simple and repetitive in comparison to the better bosses in 2. I will say, it's wild to see how low you rank Ruin Sentinels - they seem to rank significantly higher on streamers' lists and I don't find their attacks overlap that hard if you defeat the first one on the ledge as you're pushed to do.

[@JellyJman]

Dark Soul 2 is my favorite of the trilogy easily. It expanded on so much from the first game and really rewarded player exploration and experimentation that was present in the first game and was solely missing from the third game. The third game really felt like a boss rush at times and that’s something that never I felt in the first and second game. You do bring up a lot of good points and some I completely disagree with, I guess that is the beauty of these games, where so many people will have completely different experiences despite going through a lot of the same things. 😊

[@toze_2563]

"i dont like dark souls 2" i sense bias

[@NoirKirbi]

Uhm... DUH?

[@hombojimbo]

Everyone has bias

[@rowanl3059]

I always forget how bad DS2 is

[@johnnyflannigan136]

Sorry... I cant respect anyone who doesnt like dark souls 2. And of course you say its because it has some of the most frustrating areas in the series.. Get gud scrub

[@hardgay7537]

You know, I was thinking it during your Iron King footage and I was definitely thinking it during the Royal Rat Authority fight. Some of this stuff is designed around mages. The little hidey hole? Where you spam magic from. The swarm of rats and the bonfire near it? Have fun counting soul arrows. Seriously, the little staff twirl looks lame and sucks compared to a real weapon, but the damage is actually decent for what it is. RRA was a mage's hard counter. I still completely agree that R.O.U.S's are bottom tier enemies and that every RPG that considers them as an enemy should rethink the fight. DS2 gets a rare pass because I like how the rats come out of the walls and it fits the believable world design. A world where everyone is getting dementia and the world is going to shit for very human reasons. Trash heaps and trash pits and rotten piles of decay and vermin to eat it all.

[@bigdumbfatcat2869]

4:53 Why are so many people that criticize this game so aggressively dumb? It's there for CO-OP, you absolute BRICK