Dark Souls II: 7 Years Later

Essay on Dark Souls II (SOFTS Edition). Mostly PVE discussed - the PVP is also great, prob the best in the series. 51 hours played, mostly solo (summoned for help on 5-6 bosses out of the 40ish). Totally stoked for Elden Ring btw.
0:01 Intro
0:58 World/Level Design & Structure
12:55 Combat & Bosses
25:11 Final Thoughts
Video available in 1440p.
Thumbnail Credit:
www.deviantart.com/enigmarez/...
#darksouls
#fromsoftware

[@DownwardThrust]

Sup 'yall hit me up with some recommendations for 'Years Later' in this comment string. This is the SOTFS version. Captured in 1440p on PC. No mods were used. 13:54 When I say healing animation, I mean the time it takes from when you press the heal button to when you can move again. Not how long it takes to heal you, which is longer. I zoomed in on the health bar to give you an idea of what the latter looks like.

[@artierupinen5192]

Chrono Trigger? Gee. Final Fantasy?

[@archerinhoo6832]

Thanks for the great content! -the OG CRYSIS -Half Life 2 -Far Cry 2 -No Mans Sky -Downward Thrust ( you and your chanel, recap )

[@psyched.shelby5391]

Im just gonna name a bunch of my favorite older games. You may have already covered some of these idk Skyrim DayZ one of the earlier Assassins Creed games Bioshock(any of them) Darksiders Any of the Batman Arkham games Any of the Borderlands games Deadrising 1 or 2 would be sick Dragon Age The evil Within Older Fallout games Just Cause 2 Mafia 2 Nioh Portal Red Faction Saints Row!!!(any of them) Splinter Cell

[@LiamKennedyYT]

Plants vs Zombies (for the nostalgia)

[@OneTapsRainbowSixSiege]

Good

[@evanparrafx]

In many ways Dark Souls 2 is my favorite but it's hard to describe why. It almost feels like a dream where parts are beautiful, frightening, forgettable, memorable, disjointed, but it all makes sense in a way. It's all surreal too. You go into ancient memories, see a grave in gorgeous Majula where it says billions have died, the NPCs are all becoming forgetful, and you never know what it all means. It's just a fascinating game.

[@fssxxa4440]

Да - да, то, что я не мог выразить своими словами

[@andrewmiller8410]

When you learn about the original context/story setup for the game, things like area transitions are more forgiven. I forget the content creator, but there is a solid video on YT about this cut content, with some visuals he pieced together himself. The dream quality is pretty cool, but it can be scapegoat to some.

[@wababiba4181]

I agree with you. I loved this game. Once I amped up my adp I was good. I can’t enough say how much I think this game is o good.

[@ThyMotherInSpirit]

Described my feelings for the game perfectly.

[@hihowrya370]

Same and I also don’t know exactly why. But I think I have some idea, personally. I think DS2 is my favorite simply because it was my first ever Souls game. Much like any other Souls-like fans, the reason why we love the Souls games is simply because of the struggle and how we overcome those struggled. Be it because we’re getting better at the game or we found strategies to overcome certain obstacles, and the satisfaction of finding solutions for solving said obstacles is why we keep moving on. DS2 is my first Souls game and it’s the game that made me realize that “philosophy” and I think because of that, DS2 is my favorite. That might sound like a biased opinion but I guess that’s my point. Sorry for including too many words that made me sound doubtful of my own opinion but as I said, I have an idea why I love DS2. Not saying that I know exactly why.

[@psyched.shelby5391]

"We all seem to circle back to things we left unfinished" That's a great quote Mr. Thrust. very true.

[@szilveszterforgo8776]

I was reading your comment the exact same time he said this sentence 😀

[@TheSoundofTanay]

*shouts in toxic exes*

[@TheAquarius87]

A great quote indeed

[@Noxes13]

Mr. Thrust is my new favorite porn star name.

[@Death_Incarnate]

Except it’s not true. Plenty of things I’ve picked up and just stopped, very much including games.

[@terma117]

“Cool ranch smelter demon” lmao I agree that was horrible

[@finmat95]

Reasons to buy and/or replay Dark Souls II: -Torches -Estus Flask taste -Flower Skirt on male character

[@D.H.1082]

You fekkin know it, m8

[@oreosmith69420]

In ds2 the estus tastes better

[@donogoodatgames]

You forgot the most ridiculous use for the torches, setting the windmill in Earthen Peak on fire to get rid of the poison in the Mytha boss fight

[@flamerobbe5972]

It is not only ridiculous, but more or less required unless you are really good at the game. Fighting a boss while rolling around in a pool of poison is tough. Yet you have to burn an obviously metal part of the windmill, while nothing in the area encourages you to even have the torch in use, which is the only way to have the prompt pop up. So both simple logic and level design stand in your way of discovering this, which is a huge failure on the developers' part.

[@ButterscotchPenguin]

@@flamerobbe5972 It is not required at all what? My first playthrough going in blind I did it with the posion, use of life gems and posion moss alone got me through it without too much time. Messages exist as well as the npcs you summon in the area will point at the windmill drawing it to your attention. I do agree though that they should’ve implemented some way to incentivize using a torch in the area, but it was also their first time with something like this and there are times where it is done right like with Lost Sinner.

[@Battleguild]

The windmill was dredging up the poisonous liquid, when the windmill stops working, the poison drains away.

[@Achivus]

yo i played through the scholar edition after the original, and i thought they decided to remove the poison. just found out now burning that windmill removed it lmao

[@sernoddicusthegallant6986]

@@flamerobbe5972 I agree with you that its rediculous how the game expects you to burn a metal thing to remove poison but its not required, Im not a DS pro and I did it with the poison when I first played it, sure I died a bunch but no more than I did with any other tough DS boss fight. Honestly I still found Mytha with poison easier than Fume Knight or the really challenging boss fights from DS1 and 3

[@krulzvain8933]

I loved this game because of the shit ton of armors and weapons also bonfire ascetic

[@Perceval777]

The knight and elite knight armours looked bad, though, compared to DS1 and Demon's Souls.

[@AngelosRitter]

IT has the most badass dragon looking form in all souls tho

[@metalhead3568]

Bloodborne is so much better tho . Darksousl just has more weapons and armor

[@finmat95]

Nooooooooooooooooo you must level your character by killing bosses, going into NG+, farming souls through areas Hahahahahaha Giant Lord bonfire ascetic goes brrrrrrrrrrrrr

[@ramrodbldm9876]

@@finmat95 brrrrrrr? 👉🏻🤡 brrr like your favorite rapper that just got indicted by the feds? 👉🏻🤡 wannabes

[@euancampbell4759]

This was one of the most fair ds2 videos I’ve seen. Most either praise the game or completely destroy it. It was nice to see you point out issues but still think it’s an enjoyable game

[@zzodysseuszz]

But not even. Most videos praising it just kinda acknowledge it’s alright but never outright praise it. They just go “yeah it was hated unfairly but like it’s alright”

[@pepsifrog420]

@@BBQcheese It's not broken though? All the Souls games suffer the same issues, some suffer them worse than others, for example. All of the Souls games suffer from enemies being able to straight up hit through walls, but the player is unable to do the same. This applies doubly so to Bloodborne in some areas, where larger enemies can hit you through staircases and walls as well. (I love Bloodborne though, no hate.) I do agree that it had a lot of lost potential, as in, I think it could've easily been the best Souls game. Right now, even though it's my favorite, it's hard to say it's objectively better than any of the other games. I think it does group combat the best, and the healing system is clearly built around it. I also think it has the best build variety, and in general some of the best gameplay, but also some of the worst level design and coherency in the base game. Of course, this doesn't apply to the DLC, lol. The DLC are the best in the series, and I'll die on that hill.

[@tamernashef8379]

@@BBQcheese As broken as it is, it’s still more enjoyable than Ds3.

[@crocodileman94]

@@BBQcheese Someone's been watching too much Mauler.

[@feedme7673]

@@pepsifrog420 I would disagree with a lot of what you said. I find mainly the bosses to be a big let down along with some of the bs level design. Too many gank bosses like gargoyle’s and ruin sentinel and while currently I have yet to do the whole dlc’s which I’m expecting to be much better because I find them better then the base game already no boss really sticks out to me. The looking glass knight was good but it was far to short for me and lasted no time. A boss like vendrick was kinda cool at first but not when it insta kills you and boils down to stick to the back and smack a few times. Another thing is the game is definitely broken. I have experienced quite a few broken things like major input lag or eaten inputs. So much so ive died several times because my character wouldn’t run or wouldn’t attack. I had to hold the mouse button down to hit an enemy. To top it off I can’t access an entire memory even after several tries because it will without fail crash my game so i wasn’t able to get a giant soul making vendrick less fun. Even the credits were broken and seizure inducing for me with them flashing in and out of existence every few seconds or just not existing at all. I can’t find much I actually enjoy about the game the combat is to turn based for me and is way to slow in my opinion. The main thing that turns me away from combat is that if you want to heal you either use a life crystal or run away ten miles use and use an estus. But bosses seem to make estus pointless with them immediately getting rid of what you just healed. I would honestly put it in my least favorite spot out of the souls games I’ve played and I think my opinion is slightly biased due to me perfecting fast paced combat like in sekiro and bloodborne. But to me combat is in turns not methodical or calculated just hey this guy did this attack your good to hit instead of hey I can sneak in an attack here if I dove quickly and time it right. But I hope I enjoy the dlc more and get maybe my opinion will change some with the better designed bosses to come!

[@easy8077]

What I loved about Dks2 the most and increased the replay ability by a lot is how "sandboxy" it feels, everything seems viable, every playstyle is an option and NG+ is actually worth playing so you can really test out your build with new challenges except just enemies hitting harder

[@justanotherblackwhitemicke7817]

For real, Dark Souls is still a more consistent game, but after replaying it 3 times, it becomes soo boring, Dark Souls 2 however, have in my opinion the most beautiful and interesting areas and with a lot no f content, I can keep replaying this game for a long time

[@glowerworm]

This is what I always loved about DkS2, now Elden Ring has brought that feeling back.

[@Leotheleprachaun]

"Every playstyle is viable" *cries in Hex build*

[@glowerworm]

@@Leotheleprachaun ironic because I actually did a hex build in DS2 and it went fine

[@Leotheleprachaun]

@@glowerworm get an old patch of DS2 without Scholar. Hexes used to actually do damage. I have 40 int and faith, my +2 shortsword does more damage than my dark orb....I have base sorcerer strength. The stat investment isn't nearly worth it.

[@yerivalpolanco1448]

DS II was the first souls I played. And at the start it felt so disgustingly unfair. I remember dying to the persuer, the first one, like 30 times. I even had to go farm human effigies. But when I finally defeated him. I started loving the game. I know this is not a deep analysis but it is the way I began to love Dark Souls when I was 13.

[@zantos4853]

Cool. I started with Dark Souls 3. Totally got destroyed by Gundyr. I gave up and tried Bloodborne. Don't think I got even threw the first area xD. Then one day I came back to Dark Souls 3 and understood the rolling mechanic. I killed Gundyr, became addicted to the game and finished it in few days. Then I played Dark Souls 1, Bloodborne Dark Souls 2 and Demon's Souls. Also tried Sekiro but that didn't go very well xD. Never actually finished Dark Souls 2. So I just started playing it again.

[@stocksh9961]

I also started with ds2 and had the same problem

[@bonkusdonkus3743]

Same story with me but different game. Honestly I think everyone experiences this some times, it just depends on which souls game you start with.

[@lunch_trey]

2 was my first Souls game, too. I was both curious and apprehensive about the series so one day I just pulled the trigger and bought 2. Now with more experience with the series, I do see some of the flaws everyone has with it but it also serves a pretty good entry point for the series.

[@mariorurouni]

Yeah, my first Souls as well, I spent 3h just to get the second bonfire on the forest of fallen giants. So much pain, but it eventually started clicking

[@SearingSeratil]

The best feature in DS2 is the power-stance mechanic imo. I would love to see it return in Elden Ring, but I ain't too optimistic about that.

[@Edgariki]

Powerstance with bone fists and with Artorias sword is my favorite.

[@SearingSeratil]

@@Edgariki Heck yeah! Majestic greatsword was a cool addition to the game.

[@DropoutJerome]

Powerstance lances and you've got a permanent stunlock beedrill build

[@SearingSeratil]

@@DropoutJerome It sounds awful, and I love it.

[@sikic996]

I predict ER will have dedicated dual weapons not unlike DS3

[@berrystapp9450]

I loved exploring all the areas in Dark Soul II, they're so diverse I never got bored because there was always something new with a unique theme to explore.

[@julianpischler9378]

There's a melancholic ambience that sits all throughout 2 that feels so unique and gives it such an amazing atmosphere; I love it. The Majula theme captures it *exactly*, just a sense of beautiful, calm, resigned, nihilistic futility. To me Dark Souls 1 and 3 feel as if you're involved in the facade of important yet unknown events and it slowly becomes revealed that even if it's a fruitless struggle you're still a major part of it. There's a cycle and despite it's inevitability you could argue there's meaning to be found in at least participating in it which gives you a purpose even if that purpose is built on sand. The tension between their narrative and your phenomenological experience of them felt like sport; sport is ultimately meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but if you're on the field/court you're 100% immersed in it, engaged in the present and focused on winning so you have the moment-to-moment feeling of purpose even if it's ultimately false. It's like pushing a boulder up a mountain with the veiled unspoken promise that victory comes from reaching the peak, only to discover that you're Sisyphus and no matter you do what the cycle will repeat. 2 feels different to me, as if it's completely and utterly open about how empty the purpose of your journey is. It's like pushing a boulder around an endless flat plane; there's no purpose or even a geological landmark that provides the phenomenological semblance of one, but you continue to push it because you're alive, so what else are you gonna do? It's like it cuts to the bone of the human condition. We use narratives to push, justify and motivate our need to act in pursuit of a goal, when really we'll continue to act in the absence of all goals and purpose because we're driven to act. It's like an out of body experience, you're watching yourself move and interact while feeling totally numb to the outcome of your actions because you understand no true outcome exists. You feel like a wanderer in a lucid dream of a dead world and nothing you do matters. Even during boss fights and exploration it feels like Majula is always humming just beneath your awareness, colouring the entire game with that calm sense of futility. This is all feeling based, I've finished all 3 multiple times but I've never really dug into all the lore, so if I've got it wrong feel free to let me know. This is just my sense of how it all feels while you experience it.

[@TheKitehh]

Yes DS2 feels like pointless, dreamy and empty journey that's why I love it. This game is underestimated compared to other souls games (valid reasons ofc) but still when you play it it feels different, you perfectly described feelings about it, plus I enjoyed slow paced combat, it tested your patience in a way . Too bad people will miss your comment but it caught my eye, thank you for sharing your input.

[@TheChomoon]

My first Souls game. It will forever hold a place in my heart.

[@lil-zeed8871]

same. compared to the other souls it’s not the best looking or feeling. but as the game who brought me into the world of souls and sekiro. i will forever love it

[@meruem6106]

Same here, and I think I made the best desition starting from here. I've played and loved every Dark Souls game, but this one really challenges you in a lot of aspects that the others don't and kinda prepares you for a lot of stuff.

[@ProjektBurn]

Same here! Lol. I guess I can get the hate if I stretch my imagination but being the door to this world for me, it'll forever have a special spot and be my go to for replays Edit: plus anything positive I'd want to say about the game has already been said better by this vid and hbomerguy's vid on why DS2 is a masterpiece which if you haven't seen yet, do yourself the favor and go watch that next

[@vro7537]

This is also my first too and I just started playing it a week ago im now on sanctum city. I had so many questions like why am I getting ugly everytime I die, why is there a cyclops hippopotamus thing I hate it so much and where do I go after I kill a boss there is so many routes and stuff. Im loving it and after I kill the King Ill be playing more souls games.

[@ProjektBurn]

@@vro7537 welcome new child of the fire and ash. Praise the Sun! And may your journeys reap rewards and souls to fill your own alike.

[@nixregis280]

I feel the darks souls trilogy all nailed the true dragon fights. Midir, Sinh and Kalamet were all fun to fight

[@MundMoriginal]

If only they now perfected the Drake/ Wyrm fights. DS1 on bridge, and DS3s one hit wonder.

[@this19suffering]

I have to disagree on Sinh. He has too much downtime were you have to stand there and watch him while he flys around. Midir is a masterpiece of a bossfight and Kalamet is alright. Just my opinion.

[@nixregis280]

@@this19suffering might be due to rng but my sinh fights experience was very different. It stayed on the floor more often for me.

[@this19suffering]

@@nixregis280 it was the same every time I fought Sinh, at least when I fought him a few months back. I had to sprint at him to get 1 or 2 hits in before he flew away again. On NG+3 he has so much HP that I had to Switch weapons bc it was about to break. Alltogether not a fun experience for me.

[@oldshoes4290]

@@this19suffering Tbf, he's a dragon, he should be flying around like mad. It's a fair fight imo, his aerial attacks aren't too dangerous anyways.

[@MrMonklad]

dont forget the hell this game went through during development.

[@petkofuchalski9809]

Well, it's really obvious for everyone that played the game.

[@appleyanimator6541]

Such a shame it became so despised, I don't think anyone at From will want to take another look into the original design docs

[@Shpooptypants13]

@@petkofuchalski9809 doubt you played it much.

[@gu3z185]

@@Shpooptypants13 The development was a clusterfuck and you can tell because there are some ideas that directly counteract others, like how the lighting downgrade removed the need for torches, how they start reusing the Pursuer literally 10 minutes after you beat him and get flown to Lost Bastille, or how the runback to Nashandra is a straight line that goes on for so long. It's just clear that the game would have been much more refined if they actually had time to fix some areas instead of just going "that's fine." I hope Elden Ring is Dark Souls II 2, because it had the most potential and it could be your favorite depending on how many strange design sensibilities you tolerate.

[@petkofuchalski9809]

@@Shpooptypants13 didn't play much, just defeated all bosses including the DLC's.

[@sspah6870]

I disagree with what you said about the duke's archives, that place was incredible in my eyes.

[@gerritdeman6410]

I agree with you, but I do also agree with the main point he was trying to make. Most of the endgame areas (mainly Lost Izalith and the Tomb of the Giants imo) are very lackluster compared to the areas in the first half of Dark Souls 1. The Duke's Archives is the only endgame area that I really like.

[@sspah6870]

@@gerritdeman6410 true but I wish he didn't use the duke's archives as an example there.

[@gerritdeman6410]

@@sspah6870 Yeah in the end it's all just a matter of opinion. I also don't think Sinh should be among the bad bosses he mentioned but as with a lot of things in life you often just have to agree to disagree. :)

[@joshuakim5240]

The thing about the Duke's Archive is that while it is visually appealing, you can actually see quite a lot of copy-paste work going on. Most of the bookshelves are the same one reused and looking at the outer courtyard grass reveals one square tile with specific dark markings copy-pasted countless times. It uses level-design and lighting MUCH better to hide its shortcomings than the other 2nd-half areas of DkS1, but those mostly hide the shortcomings rather than remove them.

[@muhammadhidayat5678]

The only shit area in ds1 lost izalith and crystal cave other than that still the level design in gaming for me

[@GuardianOwl]

One of the reasons enemies have such great tracking with large weapons is because it mimics an ability we have as well, aftertouch. 20:19 It's not related to rolling, it's related to the direction the left stick is pressed while attacking. After the attack button is pressed, during the wind-up phase you can redirect the angle of your weapon by using the left stick. So if you roll to the left or right, release the left stick (or push the stick toward your target), and then press the attack button, it should travel in the direction of the lock-on. The reason it went off in that direction is you were likely still holding the stick to the side when / after you pressed the attack button. Fast weapons you can only change the angle to the left or right about 45 degrees. The slower the wind-up on our attack, the more degrees of freedom you have to change the direction of the attack. So things like halberds and greatswords can go about 100 degrees to the left or right. UGSs, Greataxes, and Greathammers have 360 degrees of freedom due to aftertouch. So in the wind-up phase, whichever direction you point the left stick is where the weapon is going to impact, even directly behind you if you point the left stick down. Manually aiming slower weapons makes them more viable in PvP and against fast enemies in PvE, and is also why they are very effective in the hands of enemies as well.

[@asdergold1]

Technically they tend to do that because someone rolled early. Because they react to poorly timed rolls and all that.

[@hisdudeness4537]

Then explain why it's so much better animated for the player than it is for literally any other enemy.

[@b-d9099]

@@hisdudeness4537 B-team shenanigans

[@Felipemelazzi]

I took a print screen of this comment so I shall never forget this

[@asdergold1]

@@b-d9099 there is no B-team, that was just nonsensical bullshit some random idiots came up with.

[@threeoutchange669]

My favorite souls game. I don't even care about what people say, in my eyes it's a masterpiece.

[@neilbezuidenhout9284]

Totally agree man. My favourite and I have put 1000 hours plus in all 3 titles

[@Nancygertu]

Same here

[@naijo82]

the same man, a true gem

[@doomsday6372]

Too many good times to not be my favorite!

[@russian_knight]

I agree strongly

[@elia0162]

The most fashion soul

[@bannedmann4469]

Not with those graphics.

[@usermarongoany5616]

@@bannedmann4469 the texture on those armors look pretty slick, specially cloth. But the level design and textures? Ooof

[@ButterscotchPenguin]

@@bannedmann4469 The armours look better even with, artstyle and design > graphics

[@finmat95]

True

[@andryuu_2000]

Objectively

[@FUJIIDEW]

I found Estus entirely useless in DS2 once I had made enough progress to easily cap out healing gems, they were so easy to spam any time I took any amount of damage.

[@shadowjoey777]

I don't know if he knew that Life gem healing stacked with each other while being spammable and cheap to buy. The regen actually works well when stacked to make yourself nearly unkillable, which in my opinion hurts the balance too much. Of course, restricting yourself does help, but you can feel that the nerfed Estus was supposed to help push you to use lifegems in some way.

[@Leotheleprachaun]

@@shadowjoey777 they balanced the healing system around the "no deaths" and "no bonfire" rings.

[@shadowjoey777]

@@Leotheleprachaun even if that's the case, that doesn't really matter. The vast majority of players would never play with no bonfire or estus so balancing around those two rings is absolutely stupid game design. It also doesn't dispute the fact that it makes the standard game experience vastly easier than the previous game and Dark souls 3.

[@Leotheleprachaun]

@@shadowjoey777 you forget this came out at a time when platinum-ing/getting all achievements was a huge thing.

[@shadowjoey777]

@@Leotheleprachaun That doesn't excuse the bad design though. It may give more context and an idea why they may have done it, but it doesn't make it good. Its objectively bad design for what the main design of the game is about.

[@trevorstone9060]

I must admit, dark souls 2 is my favorite. It is how I was introduced to the franchise. I loved the variety of environments and aesthetics. It was a joy to finally beat it about 2 years ago.

[@realkingofantarctica]

As somebody who played Dark Souls II for the first time seven years after it released, I can essentially sum up the sequel as "One step forwards, Two steps backwards, And one leap to the side."

[@duckthemightyknight364]

genius

[@ironrose6]

5:20 the devs cover this in the design works book and many interviews- things are disconnected (especially Earthen Peak/Iron Keep) because of the change of directors and even game direction when the game was over 50% complete. This led to a lot of asset/area repurposing. It's like being told you have 2 hours to create and put together a puzzle that looks a certain way and then after an hour of that you're told the puzzle actually has to look different; now you have to choose between making an entirely new puzzle or reusing as many pieces as you can in different formations and making custom, time-consuming connections and entirely new pieces to fill in the gaps. It has very little, if anything at all, to do with fast travel. I mean, ds3 did the exact same thing with fast travel but it's still coherent and connected- so why would that be the reason ds2 is disconnected?

[@Godslayer5656]

Mhm. In fact, I you look carefully after you defeat Vordt, and look out to the view, you can see most of the areas you’ll be exploring up until you’re return to the castle.

[@Mzee1084]

Is that also why there were so many brazers to light with a torch, but not needed cause it wasn't dark enough for it? I remember some of the pre-release footage showed the game much darker, and more like The Gutter with an even shorter range of vision.

[@DungeonMasterElite]

Actually firelink does not link to anywhere.

[@pepsifrog420]

I would argue Dark Souls 3 feels more connected because of how linear it is comapred to Dark Souls 2. That's just a theory though.

[@zaneongames7362]

I also loved the torch lighting mechanic. Lighting up No-man's Wharf is extremely satisfying. I'm hoping they'll bring it back in Elden Ring. There were so many interesting mechanics in DS2: dual wielding, bonfire ascetic, having to find your Estus Shards, ADP, etc. Lots of good things to balance out the bad.

[@bartoszbartosiewicz1123]

@get set It's understandable to some degree, but it also made you use your torch, personaly i really like The Gutter for that reason, coming back to see your entire progress marked by the braziers is such a good feeling.

[@OmegaTKB]

For every thing DS2 did good, it did another in return badly. For the most part of what you said I agree with, was done in a interesting way, but the Estus Amount, way of usage and affected by agility I personally think was completely unnecessary and made things particularly more annoying and harder than they should have been, even with lifegems. This made it to be very punishing for those starting off and getting shards as soon as possible is a must. Made it even more punishing to those new to the game and Souls in General.

[@Authanatik]

Investing 20 levels in ADP just to get normal roll frames and then never touching the stat again ≠ interesting mechanic

[@MultiWolfstorm]

@@Authanatik Right? How in God's name is ADP a good thing

[@ehrtdaz7186]

ADP is awful.

[@sernoddicusthegallant6986]

Im glad to see how much the fanbase has come around on DS2. I remember the times when you would get so many angry replies just from saying you personally enjoyed it. I wont pretend it dosent have flaws but too many people hyperfixiate on a handful of problems, pretend they completely ruin the game and ignore all its strengths while pretending DS1 and 3 dont have any flaws themselves. Its incredible what fromsoft managed to get done given the very troubled development they had with this title.

[@asdergold1]

Pretty much. Besides most of those can be applied to Bandai Namco rushing the game while ramming a barbed steel pole up its ass.

[@Talking_Ed]

I live for the day when people will appreciate DS2 and start noticing that half the stuff in DS3 is bullshit. I enjoy that game but man, half the boss fights are pushover half of them have 10 hp bars and can one shot you. I think DS2 has such a great balance of challenges, builds, areas. And also, it doesn't have a poison swamp level, if I remember right.

[@sernoddicusthegallant6986]

@@Talking_Ed Well it does have black gulch which may not be a swamp but it has all the poison bullshittery of a classic fromsoft swamp level. Fortunately you can get through it in a matter if minutes if you know what youre doing but the first time is always a nightmare.

[@Talking_Ed]

@@sernoddicusthegallant6986 But you're not slowed, so, best from soft game 10/10 would play again, right now.

[@biellion80]

@@Talking_Ed ds3 does not need to be bad for ds2 to be good. We can all enjoy and respect what we like, I love ds3 and I really like ds2, and as such, never understood the hate that the game got. However, acting like that just makes you part of the problem, because you end up being just like them Comparing the games and saying "see? This game good, nos this game bad! Don't like this!" Obviously you can have a game you prefer, and games you dislike more, but, try to understand that, if you feel sad because ds2 gets unappreciated, maybe just pointing out the flaws of the other games, is not going to help, after all, that's what everyone does to ds2, compares, compares and compares

[@ra.n9482]

Sinh the dragon isn't a bad boss at all ! In fact it is a beloved boss .

[@finmat95]

Sinh is good

[@andryuu_2000]

Sinh is a great boss

[@joeking6972]

DS2's PvE is my least favorite in From's entire souls catalogue, but I agree Sinh is a great boss.

[@EllaKarhu]

He's the second best dragon boss in the series. Which isn't saying much considering there are only two good dragon bosses, but hey, he's one of them.

[@Mericlen]

Lets not forget the amazing backstab animations for all the different weapons, the standard longsword for example was one of my favorites. Also, the dragon bone knucks made me feel like i was bruce lee.

[@basementthing1862]

Except you get hit while backstabbing

[@bombingburrito]

My head-cannon for the geographical discrepancies is that it is a means of creating empathy for the hollowing character. Certain quotes seem to allude to the significance of hollows being lost as they wonder towards their destiny, knowing not where they are, how they got there, or what they're doing. Distant landmarks are suddenly arrived at without recollection of the journey, and I imagine the character would be equally as shocked as the player to exit an elevator into a landscape which cannot be reconciled with where they thought they were just moments before.

[@LINKchris87]

I have always thought the same.

[@bananewtf5326]

Not gonna lie, I never thought this idea was convincing and always saw it as a convenient excuse for messy world desing, mainly because it would be the only example of memory loss. Besides, if we take the elevator to the iron keep as an example, are we supposed to believe that our character forgets the same exact part of his journey every time he goes up that elevator? If it was fromsoftwares intent, there are a few ways they could have convinced me. One would be having a zone between two sets of similar elevators that would be skipped the first time through, thus setting a precedent for the whole amnesia thing thus making the rest of them feel more believable. This however seems complicated to add so the simpler alternative would be to secretly add a few objects in your inventory as you go through these zones and maybe adding a small bit of souls memory, giving the impression that your character has been doing stuff in between. This would also have the benefit of making the players question their own memory as they would not be able to remember were they got those items, thus reinforcing the theme on a more meta level on top.

[@brohvakiindova4452]

@@bananewtf5326 yeah sounds similar to the classical "the protagonist is in a coma and only dreamt the whole story" as a cheap excuse for plot holes

[@jeanrushmer8192]

I shall now adopt this headcannon, thank you

[@rogue_0314]

I agree, and also it helps reinforce the idea that the world is collapsing in on itself

[@NCR_Ranger23]

I feel like he never found the second bonfire in the Gutter....

[@tomwaits9027]

i never even finished the gutter

[@NCR_Ranger23]

@@tomwaits9027 Sad.....😑

[@ezotheripe7340]

There's... There's a second...?

[@BotsHateMe]

He definitely didn't, and he's blaming the developers for his own ignorance. Such a clown.

[@NCR_Ranger23]

@@BotsHateMe As do most people when playing these games I've noticed.....a bunch of Scrubs IMO.....

[@jarltrippin]

I keep coming back to this game because it feels the most like a classic adventure. The world has a more homely feel than the other games imo and it has a lot of cool art design. There's just something oddly welcoming and warm about the whole game.

[@kellygraves4189]

.................warm yes. Welcoming? Not gonna lie, not the first word I'd use to describe Dark Souls 2

[@jarltrippin]

@@kellygraves4189 Haha yeah, that word can be debated but it still feels right to me. Dark Souls 2 feels like home.

[@aryabratsahoo7474]

@@jarltrippin 2 feels like a breath of fresh air after Elden Ring. Sometimes I appreciate the slower combat which rewarded you for proper positioning and tactics instead of roll spam.

[@isaaclong6085]

​@@aryabratsahoo7474after playing all the soulsbornes and sekiro, save for demon's souls, I can say without a doubt elden rings combat balancing has shortened my lifespan by 10 years

[@GoldenLeaves13]

I bought this game for the 5th time on 5 separate consoles a few days ago. It's one of my favourites of all time and that'll never change. Flawed? Absolutely. But you can fall in love with something that's flawed.

[@Northerncantaim]

The only things for me that go along with what you’re saying is sonic 06 and the ghost rider movies, I’ve never played dark souls ll so I cant make a judgement on it without even playing it

[@louieb2563]

I agree completely. Honestly i think it’s one of the greatest games ever. The story the atmosphere the freedom the music the design it’s truly world class (my opinion of course)

[@JohnDoe-pu5gk]

@@louieb2563 what story??

[@louieb2563]

@@JohnDoe-pu5gk perhaps i worded it slightly wrong. I meant the progression of the game opposed to the "story"

[@MiiMagus93]

@@JohnDoe-pu5gk there is a story it's just from soft are dick heads and like to keep it scattered 90% of the time so it's extremely vague unless you read all the pieces of descriptions on armor/weapons as well as exhaust all dialogue with npcs

[@sliphstream4927]

I liked DS2. It was fine. A few things I found hindered my enjoyment tho: 1. Losing max health with each death. Had to waste a ring spot to minimize it. 2. Clunky turning radius. You would abruptly change direction when turning sometimes. 3. Stopping progression to hunt down those dumb branches to unpretrify something in my path. 4. Needing a psychic premonition to burn thr windmill

[@ftorididk4198]

Just don't die lol. You can enough fragrant branches to unlock all you need without really getting off track. And yeah, turning is bullshit

[@michaelcollins4534]

I'm curious if you were bothered in ds3 about losing 1/4 of your health immediately after a death. One of my friends had the same issue with ds2's hollowing mechanic but didn't care about the ember system in 3

[@sliphstream4927]

@@michaelcollins4534 Great point. I disliked DS2's system because it felt like the points I had been putting into my HP were being taken away, so when I was using an effigy I was regaining what I lost. In DS3, it felt like the HP you got from embering was "extra" HP you got in addition to the points you put into it so it felt like less of a punishment when it was taken away. I only embered in the game for some bosses and was able to clear most areas without it. In DS2, I felt that I needed my whole health bar.

[@charly1711]

For some reason DS2 used focal points instead of full 360 degrees for movement. So you can only move in 8 directions total, making turning around or even walking in a straight line very weird. I didn't play SOTFS so i don't know if this version changed that.

[@sliphstream4927]

@@charly1711 I played SOTFS and it's still there from what i can tell

[@audricburris1487]

See, the slow "cluckyness" wouldnt be a total issue if enemies and encounters were properly designed around it and if every hit didn't feel floaty and impactless

[@DesertBoxTurtle]

He even mentions bullshit Iron Keep enemies, that never helps his point.

[@lutherheggs451]

thats IF the game even registers that you hit the enemy.....The game has piss poor hit boxes and piss poor hit detection....You could be standing a pubic hair length away from a boss and blatantly hit it with anything and its possible the game might not register that you hit it.

[@audricburris1487]

@@lutherheggs451 see, idk if Ds2 hit detection is really much worse than the other games (at least up till BB and Ds3). I think the issue is more of the game feels awkward in general so it sticks out more when there's a shitbox

[@theatheistbear3117]

What would be proper design for enemies and encounters?

[@audricburris1487]

@@theatheistbear3117 Less reskins (as much as I love the DLCs, the basic enemiesbetween them are mostlythe same as an example), better clues for mechanics (like the spiders being afraid of fire, cool, but the game doesn't tell you that at all), less "jank" enemies with poor tells and dumb attack patterns (like the Heide Knights and Falconers), and less gank encounters. The last point I hate to make because I don't think it affects most of the game, and usually not too much worse than the other Souls games, but some of the areas just aren't fun because of it, levels that are otherwise fairly well designed (like lava castle place who's name I forget for no good reason)

[@LORDRYKARD]

Currently playing ng+ 3 and i love it its extremely underrated 😭 i fw the channel and how genuine u were with the review definitely subbed now 🙏🏽

[@filipelopes99]

One mechanic that's very important is the fact that once you deplete your stamina you can't attack or roll for a bit and when you attack it is slower than normal, that alone makes the other souls games look like a tutorial

[@shadowhunter1429]

You also get a small touch where your character will heavily breath until their stamina reached a certain point as it recharged from zero. A small touch that I honestly love

[@filipelopes99]

@@shadowhunter1429 yup, although I barely notice it as I don't usually let my stamina deplete, when the stamina does deplete I'm too focused killing the enemies xd

[@shadowhunter1429]

@@filipelopes99 same in all honesty, still though. Very nice touch

[@user-sd6zz2hm2u]

Well yeah thats the point of stamina. Once it runs out it cant be used lol

[@D.H.1082]

@@user-sd6zz2hm2u OP means after it starts regenerating again. Fully depleted, you need to wait till your stamina regens about 75% before being able to use it.

[@siddharth846]

Played ds3, ds2, ds1 in that order. My favourite one is ds1, it's a masterpiece!

[@sandroguzelj1234]

problem is it has bullshit like the capra demon, the path to nitos bossfight and the entirety of fucking lost izalith. i genuinely think the game would be better without all the izalith stuff. i mean these days i often just quit my runs once i reach izalith lol

[@Mericlen]

@@sandroguzelj1234 I dont mind the area so much as the boss. Even knowing the path for how the floor breaks and the cheat way to beat it, by loading back in after each side is destroyed, it is still miserable.

[@SkyCloudSilence]

Awesome! Now do Demon's Souls Original!

[@darkhaven9119]

I love the first half of dark souls 1, but after anor Londo the game goes to shit and sucks ass.

[@tobixd7]

Soooooo can i give you an award, because this is the best dark souls 2 review that i have ever seen and i love you for it.

[@TGDarkClaw]

Amazing quality bro, feels like a professional documentary. Your definitely deserve more subs

[@leon-zt7wu]

24:40 this is an interesting argument and there's some truth to it. most people, when talking about ds1 boss fights, have O&S in mind. its probably dark souls most famous boss fight. so when they looked back at what the predecessor got right, they looked at O&S and tried experimenting

[@idlemindedmage6925]

I feel like DSII gets a lot of flak for things, when the devs were obviously trying to iterate on what people really liked about DSI. The difficulty/loss system of souls, well lets crank it up and make your HP go down with each death. (Which, while painful is WAY more understandable that whatever humanity does). O&S was one of the most (in)famous bosses, well lets add some more like that, Dragonriders, Throne Watcher/Defender etc. And yeah sure, it has flaws, Covetous Demon is bad, but is Capra Demon any better? Old Iron King isn't great. But he's not as much of a irritating and un-obvious fight as Ceaseless Discharge.

[@idlemindedmage6925]

@@BBQcheese Very valid points. And a good way to describe DS1. I'm just happy to be able to play all the amazing games FromSoft has made in the last 10 years or so. When rven the worst among them can still be a blast to play, it says something about the talent of the creative teams they have at the company.

[@Godslayer5656]

@@idlemindedmage6925 I would say Ds2, main game wise, could never reach the highs of Ds1, but never reached it’s Low points either(Outside of the Gulch.)

[@plugshirt1762]

Ds1 honestly has some of the worst bosses in the series and it’s ratio of good to bad is about the same as ds2 but with ds2 it just has so many bosses that it becomes more apparent how bad they are

[@shadowjoey777]

@@plugshirt1762 I feel like that is a fair point. There were too many bosses in DS2 that you really felt some of the worse designs, and especially if they were repeated or reused. Though I would also say that the majority of very wonky bosses in DS1 come from the rushed later half of the game where you are usually decently strong and capable, and the lesser bosses are usually fewer and farther between the better bosses. In DS2, the rapid fire so many that it grates on you a lot more especially in areas where the run-ups are really bad coupled with a lack luster or poorly made boss.

[@theoriganalxldub]

DT: "Cool ranch Smelter Demon." Me: *looks at my dual Smelter Demon swords and two backups in inventory.*......... "I regret nothing."

[@soulofadeadman1082]

Fr powerstancing the 2 different smelter blades in PvP was my favourite thing

[@coliver0]

One thing I heard was that the reason environments are weird, like how you can’t see certain areas that should be easily visible or how they seem really far away but it’s really a short jog from where you are. Someone theorized that the reason for this is because of the process of hollowing, when you hollow you sometimes start to lose track of time and you could travel extremely large distances in what feels like only a matter of seconds. It’s pretty cool if you ask me.

[@eldritchtoilets210]

I remember watching some of your vids a couple years ago. Your script writing has definitely improved since then, kudos to you!

[@keshav3479]

I am on board with almost everything you say but did you say that Sinh was a BAD boss and talk about it in the same breath as the last giant? How so? It's personally my favourite dragon fight in the series.

[@ButterscotchPenguin]

I don’t really understand either, only time I see people have problem with him is when they say he flies around a decent amount, but midir does the same and has a long ass thrash attack as well as his head being the only real source of damage yet he is a lot of peoples favorite? Not shitting on midir but I don’t understand the logic

[@kartikayysola]

Depends on the run. Sometimes he stays on the ground and uses primarily melee attacks and it's good fun to dodge in and around, other times, he'll fly away, breathe fire, land, and then when I catch up to him, he'll fly away AGAIN before I can even get a hit in. Also I didn't like how fast my weapons degraded against him (yeah yeah, he's a poison dragon, I get it, but it still isn't very fun), so I'm kinda split. Definitely the best dragon fight in DS2 by a lot but I still find Kalameet more fun personally (haven't fought Midir yet so I can't judge him as of this time).

[@ftorididk4198]

Screw Sihn. Always flying around with his bullshit hitboxes and a billion hp. You wanna attack? He flyes away. I've seen him not landing properly for several MINUTES. It was a nightmare to beat him on ng+6. But I've beaten him first try ng+7 cuz he stayed on the ground most of the time. Sometimes lucky, I guess

[@yum9918]

The NPC summons even, they make such a varied and fun party if you summon them all, easily the boss fight that best gives the feeling of fighting a dragon, to me.

[@kartikayysola]

@@yum9918 yeah that's not what I personally want out of a dragon fight. While I haven't gotten to him yet, Midir honestly sounds like the most fun to me as a dragon fight. I love the idea of having to stare down and square up with a massive dragon like what people are saying.

[@apdarkness905]

I love Dark Souls 2. It was a beautiful game in terms of the great and diverse environments, weapons and armour and the amazing and deliberate combat and play mechanics. At first I wasn't really sold on DS 2 and left it, but then when I came back and gave my time to it I really enjoyed a lot of it.

[@adels666]

@No WAY Nice joke man, you have circus potencial.

[@poi1612]

Same , at first i hate it play it for a while then left it, come back 3 year later cus i got bored and enjoy the shiet out of it 9/10 more memorable than ds1 4 me

[@joeking6972]

Personally I thought the game was pretty ugly aside from a few exceptions such as Majula, with environmental themes becoming repetitive such as being poison or fire based. The textbook Fromsoft "soul" was vacant from most of the environment and enemy designs in my eyes. I'd be fine with the graphics if the lighting was better.

[@CaptBlamESO]

There’s so many things about this game that makes it worse than the others yet it somehow encapsulates me like none of the others have except maybe my first Dark Souls 1 play through

[@petkofuchalski9809]

If only this game was released as intended. If only....

[@nomanshell2529]

@@petkofuchalski9809 For real dude! The game was literally rushed and released 2 years before its *actual* release date (basically the managers didn't want more bullshit and released it way earlier than it should have). Imagine all the cool features they could have added in those 2 years...

[@ramrodbldm9876]

@@nomanshell2529 you absolutely have no idea what you're talking about now begone liar 🤡 rushed 2 years before its release really? That must of been a youtuber trolling and you being the follower you are believed it. Cause if it's on the internet it's TRUE right? Lmao 🤡🤡🤡 I actually know a whole whole whole lot more than you when it comes to that and it wasnt rushed 1 year early, Let alone 2. So no one needs a gossiping fanboy telling lies. Now, you're excused, dont comment again

[@spookzer16]

@@ramrodbldm9876 I genuinely believe you could not have said that in a cringier way.

[@danielhakushi]

More than 2000 Hours in and it's still a great Game imo.

[@Mericlen]

thats me with DS1. Only a few hundred in ds2 but still love it.

[@skyviking349]

Pretty good video, I think. I had a completely different experience with lifegems, however. I found them to be extremely useful before, after, and in the middle of combat. I never had a problem getting one off in the middle of battle, and combined with their extremely small purchase price, led me to having dozens of healing items that I could use at almost any time. Regarding the lock on system, I think it's important to note that ds2 lock on is based on where your character is looking, while in 1 and 3 it's based on where your camera is looking. Overall I agree with or at the very least understand most of your points, though personally I dislike the issues with DS2 more.

[@fantasyviolence1618]

I think there is one thing we can all agree here, when it comes to fashion DS2 definitely takes the #1 spot in the series.

[@advanced8998]

No

[@amberhernandez]

Bloodborne outclasses it, but if you're keeping only to Souls, I'd say 2 and 3 are contenders for first.

[@gypsyofthebard]

DS2 got that fashion on point

[@SkyCloudSilence]

@@amberhernandez I understand why you might *think* Bloodborne has better "fashion". But c'mon, that "fashion" is limited to literally ONE narrow historical genre of clothing that only fits into the very narrow and specific world setting that is Bloodborne. It's pretty boring, tbh. Everything looks "good", sure. But it's all the same "good" styles just repeated in different variations. There's no Role Playing element. You don't get to *create* a character. Bland and blah.

[@T34RG45]

Be wary of equipment breakage Rating: 69 Nice

[@flamerobbe5972]

Yeah, that system is somewhat overdone in DS2. I often had my weapon break simply by progressing through an area. It's a hard feature to implement - it is often either so irrelevant, that the player doesnt even notice it or so strict, that it is annoying. I don't think it is a necessary feature for a more action-oriented game like Dark Souls 2. It doesn't add to the game and only serves as an annoyance by forcing you to warp back to a blacksmith...

[@petkofuchalski9809]

@@flamerobbe5972 i personally like the way it was implemented in DS 1. Because in that one your equipment was only repeatable by the blacksmith or by the repair tools that he sells. Bonfires didn't repair your weapons, so you had to keep in mind the condition of your equipment during your expiration. In DS 2 and 3 the durability system is completely pointless because the world is filled with bonfires and all of the repair your whole set FOR FREE. I wonder why even bothered.

[@AS-rh7mg]

First off, let me say that DS2 is my favorite of the Dark Souls trilogy. That being said, I think you miss the point of why lifegems are so unbalanced. You're right that they're most useful for between-fight healing. You have what amounts to an unlimited source of healing you can use after every fight. This extends your range to explore away from bonfires, but more importantly makes combat easier by allowing you to use more estus during the fight since you won't need it to heal after you've killed the enemy. In Dark Souls 1 you had to be far more careful with using your estus, at least until you started kindling the bonfires. The unlimited lifegem healing also lets you get to bosses with more estus available.

[@kuro_kishi]

Believe or not, even Sekiro actually implemented that feature of DS2's healing system, and Sekiro did prove that it worked well. To be fair, Sekiro did cap out the maximum of carrying pellets up to 3, which was not the case for the lifegems in DS2. But it was not until Bloodborne that From decided to cap out on the maximum healing items that players were allowed to carry with them at a time.

[@jprec5174]

I always thought life gems were put in for the no bonefire challenges. I hardly ever used them unless i was pushing far without refilling on estus. There’s a lot of hidden areas that require backtracking and resting would reset all that crud and that’s annoying.

[@supergastonh]

But estus in DS2 is way more shitty. In DS1 if your life is at stake and an enemy hits u while chugging u can save your life from a letal hit, while in DS2 no matter u chugged if that slow bar does not full enough u are dead. And lets be honest: DS2 does not lets u begin with 10 estus at max like DS1, only 2, and u are reinforcing them and incresing them while u avdvance. U really need those lifegems until lategame when u have allá the 12, and not 20 like DS1

[@DownwardThrust]

I can agree with your last point about freeing up estus for in combat use. Didn’t think about that one. Thanks for the comment.

[@Daedalus4]

@@supergastonh You just explained why the system works. Estus (and extremely rare items like Divine Blessing) are the only form of quick healing you have. In DS2, its use was made slower for two reasons: You now have to invest in Adaptability if you want a more agile character as a tradeoff for other advantanges, AND now that you have lifegems at your disposal, you can choose between taking the time to become immobile to heal quickly or pop a lifegem which only reduces your mobility slightly but heals you at an extremely slow rate. If Estus was as quick as it was in DS1 the choice would always be obvious.

[@AtreyusNinja]

Man, thx so much for this video.

[@GameOverScy7he]

Hope you're doing well, DT!

[@JonathanTacoman]

One of my favorite video essay channels doing Dark Souls 2 literally as I’m preparing to start it for this first time ! Lol crazy I just beat DS1 last week for the very first time as I’m new to the genre and series and I’m planning on doing the trilogy and then hop on to Sekiro cuz I’ve heard nothing but love for FromSoft games

[@T34RG45]

Dude congratulations on playing one of the pillars of the modern action rpg "souls-like" namesake. Every game in the soulsborne series / souls franchise by FromSoftware has something to teach you about playing games. Wish you luck

[@mykelmellen2378]

@@T34RG45 honestly, it made me a better person on top of being better at games. 😂

[@T34RG45]

@@mykelmellen2378 Bloodborne honestly made every game that came before it feel lack luster because it made me so good at souls games and therefore games in general. Everything that requires knowledge about game mechanics and what they are trying to achieve is the sole reason behind the experience. For me it made every other game pale in comparison to [Bloodborne's] risk vs reward gimmick but i also found a new kind of respect for what other games' gimmicks and entire aspect of what games as a form of entertainment are trying to achieve. I know that just because a game looks good or looks hard or easy doesnt limit what you can get to know about yourself while going through the game as it was intended. Learning about game design and how games are made really helps get into the mindset of what the developers intended you to experience. Bloodborne is fantastic but if OP cant play it, dark souls 3 has enough bloodborne dna to kick your ass into the right mindset about shields vs dodging and dancing with twin swords. Its pure art and im really jealous of anyone who gets to experience it for the first time, aware of their inexperience and limitations and still fighting the game as it moulds you to be great. Praise the sun.

[@JonathanTacoman]

Game was difficult af The wife was cheering me on while fighting Lord of Cinder 😂 she hyped me up to get through it

[@T34RG45]

@@JonathanTacoman f***ing epic

[@RetardEd001]

Love your video, it made me smile. Dark souls 2 was my first Souls game in the series and it has a special place in my heart, haven't played SoTFS yet though. Say, have you watched Illusory wall's Dark Souls 2 dissected? It shows a bit about what Ds2 could've been if FromSoft's fantastic ideas for the game went as planned.

[@LoganHallard]

I played ds2 for the first time just recently. Some things were incredibly impressive and enjoyable: The overall size was pretty mind boggling; some of the more unique elements/mechanics (like how the torch is used) were genuinely intriguing; the level design was typically solid, and I found the hardest/most complex regions to ultimately be my favorites (no man's wharf, The gutter, Earthen peak). However, there were many problems: the unresponsive/sluggish controls were nightmarishly infuriating especially in contrast to more recent games like ds3 and Sekiro; the graphics and general art direction wavers between competent at best and horribly unappealing at worst (was surprised given that graphical fidelity by 2014 was generally getting pretty good); the boss design was generally unimpressive; the enemy aggro range was frequently remarkably longer than seemed necessary; the combat feels weightless as hell, which in an otherwise slow game feels really off putting. Overall a solid souls like, but felt more like an attempt by an indie studio to capture FromSoft's magic, rather than a real outing for the company itself. Regarding narrative and setting. I think the basic set up for the narrative is intriguing enough, but yeah, as with most souls likes, it goes wildly under developed, and doesn't really try to work around whether or not the player actually cares. In that sense, I don't think its presentation is dramatically better or worse than other games in the genre which present their lore/narrative by similar, highly indirect means. In terms of setting, I both like and dislike ds2's style: on the one hand, I love the idea that regions in the ds series are separated by both time and space, hence why two regions directly conjoined may have dramatically different appearances, or one may not even be visible from the other (because perhaps, within the time period of the first, the second one no longer, or doesn't yet, exist). But, I love how in ds3, you can see each region from the others, which adds to the feeling of connectedness to the game's world, as well as providing a sense of scale and significance., which ds2 severely lacks, directly contradicting it's technical massive size (at any given moment, the game feels kind of small).

[@petkofuchalski9809]

The only gameplay mechanic i really loved was the dual wielding. Using a dex weapon like the falcon and a utra greatsword in the off hand worked surprisingly well. Other than that, the game felt like a downgrade compared to the other two.

[@troy8420]

You nailed it

[@TheConspiratorist]

I find many of your complaints to be backwards. DS2 had more movement control of your character. You can snap into position, and it doesn’t waste time adding “realistic” movement as in DS3. On top of that, DS2’s movement and weapon swing speed is much quicker than DS3, as DS3 emphasizes “wind-up time” while DS2 does not. As for art design, I’m not sure how you could say DS3 had better design. Most locations in DS3 are claustrophobic dungeons with little to nothing to see (irythil dungeon/profane city) or they’re unappealing ruins (demon ruins, undead settlement)-don’t get me started on the main area of Lothric. In contrast, DS2 has a plethora of interesting and diverse biomes: Heide’s Tower of Flame, Forest of the Giants, Drangleic Castle, Iron Keep, Earthen Peak, Undead Bastille, dragon aerie, aldia’s keep etc. etc. If you’d like to delve deeper into DS2’s superiority, look no further than the gear and weapons. Lucatiel’s set, king set, alonne’s set, black knight set, Drangleic knight set, velstadt’s set, looking glass Knight’s set, black knight sword, Iron king’s hammer, pursuer’s ultra great sword, flume sword, etc. etc. And boss design-boy oh boy are you wrong. Looking glass knight, the pursuer, the last giant, vendrick, old Iron king, neshandra, velstadt, gargoyles, lost sinner, dragon guardian etc. etc. In contrast the most visually appealing and fun boss in the entirety of DS3 comes near the end of the game in Archdragon Peak. Every other boss in DS3 is painfully boring and uninteresting, including their boss arenas. DS3 has zero flair. The Looking Glass Knight fight is probably the best fight in all of Dark Souls. Boy it was fun!

[@ButterscotchPenguin]

@@TheConspiratorist I want to add to this as well with the mechanics of bosses a lot of which are well above the previous games in terms of how important they are to the fight and variety between bosses.

[@LoganHallard]

@@TheConspiratorist I'm not sure you actually read my comment. I only made two comparisons to ds3, and one was about game speed and the other was about how to present setting/an sense of scale. You're lying to yourself if you genuinely think ds2 bosses are great: the arenas are largely bland, most of the bosses are a joke in terms of difficulty, and too many feel like copy pasted big armored enemies. Also, just listing regions/bosses does nothing to further your point. When i talked about design, i meant graphical quality, not art direction. The art direction of ds2 is more or less on par with other from soft games. The graphics however, for 2014, are pretty lacking. I would also add, I actually spent a majority of my comment essentially saying I enjoyed the game. We're in agreement in saying it's a good game. It's utterly re playable. Just that I hade problems with it. This is also my opinion, which is primarily subjective. Both of our opinions can be valid simultaneously.

[@phrozac]

The environmental layout of DS2 never bothered me. The Souls games are all presented in a dreamlike way, so I feel like the sometimes nonsensical nature of how some areas link up is kind of fitting. That said, DS2 is my least favorite Souls game. Not a bad game at all, just the last on my list of best SoulsBorne games.

[@themrrental2509]

Dark Souls 2 is a fairly fun action-adventure RPG. It's a very bad soulslike. That's how I look at it.

[@lucascarracedo7421]

Yeah. I don't even know why it draws that much attention really. It's like people just can't leave it alone. It strikes a nerve or something. I am currently replaying it after several years and after the initial moments (coming from a ds1 sl1 no pyro run) I can say it's been a good time overall. Still can't get over there being no shadows most of the time. And ADP will be horrible forever

[@loomingmoon4682]

I think it's fair that you think that, but I personally disagree. Souls can often feel sort of dreamlike in the way it presents these mystical areas to you, but I think they're much better known for the way their worlds feel so authentic and real, the way a lot of areas link back to each other, and the way you can see clearly where you've come from and where you're yet to go, it really makes you feel like you're exploring an actual world, and not just some levels a game developer put together. Dark Souls 2 not only didn't really have much of that beyond the starting areas, but it also just downright had no idea what to do with its geography, which really takes me out of the experience personally.

[@Sercroc]

yeah it's subjective, i never really gave a shit about the "beautifully interconnected world" of ds1, it was like "oh i'm here again, ok... moving on"

[@pasticle]

@@loomingmoon4682 but leaving ds1 aside, basically the begging of the end. dark souls in general is a complete mess, how do you deal that after 10 min of a catacomb you end up in anor londo in ds3, and you cant even see that thing before in farron swamp, or that gwyn's grave is on the wrong side, you see, the time warping/convolute stuff is an excuse to make this kind of stuff, and we cant forget that miyazaki was in still in charge of ds2 although as an "advisor" we could say. but yeah, for me its just as stupid taking an elevator to a lava sea, that hitting a wall and going to a past version of the firelink shrine, and for some reason, there's artorias' girl ring, and his sword. but that's the point of it, after all, linking the flame alters everything, or atleast that is what i imagine someone who worked on the game will say. i quote the 'errors' on ds3 because ds2 is always the black sheep of the saga but come on. dark souls 1 was the only who had sense (although i still can understand where exactly is the first flame, it looks more like where you fight gael more than anything)

[@CptDuck]

DS2 SOFTS is my best friend, thanks DS2 for making DS and DS3 felt really easy.

[@kevincubillas6093]

YES, I remember the hype for Ornstein and Smough and then I beat it in my first try and said "Meh, I'll come back to DS2" hahahah Pd. Neh I finished DS1 two times but never got me like DS2 :p

[@lutherheggs451]

thats because DS and DS3 actually had proper hit detection....While DS2 is nowhere near as bad as some people claim it to be, its not amazing....Things like the garbage trash hit boxes, garbage trash hit detection, encouragement of spell spam, poor level design, lazy boss design make it a more frustrating, poorly designed game than a terrible game.

[@theatheistbear3117]

@@lutherheggs451 The hitboxes and hit detection aren’t a problem, the animations are. Magic sucks in the other souls games besides *Demon’s Souls* so it’s a good thing that magic is viable. And the level design and bosses are both great, primarily in the DLC.

[@kuro_kishi]

I love your vids, man. And I am happy to hear that more ppl like ourselves are starting to appreciate DS2 for what it is. Keep up the good work.

[@Jaden-Ring]

Your battlemage in this video looks really awesome.

[@michaeljohnlee8036]

With Elden Ring releasing ive never felt more vindicated as a DS2 fan. its been actually amazing seeing what DS2 was striving for finally being realised in a way that the fans appreciate DS2 is shoddy but theres just something about it that the other souls games dont have and Yui finally brought it back with Elden Ring and im excited to see what him and Myazaki get up too next

[@BigBoySloan]

I'm glad nothing from this game made it into elden ring

[@churro5322]

​@@BigBoySloanit's why elden ring does nothing new after 5 games and is repetitive and boring 😂😂😂

[@theronware]

All the co-op potential in Iron Bridge back in the day!

[@Mericlen]

Jolly Co-operation!

[@ochocinco1535]

You had to be there man ....

[@oilyanalleakage]

Before my dad passed away ,we d sit /smoke and jam all 3 dark souls games ,2 was always different with the karate fist weapon,but i remember he had 7 or 8 characters all gear and level 300 to 400 each guy ...aww good times

[@lordsabre66]

I really love this game. It has such an intimate feeling after a while.

[@harvest3166]

I feel like i finally found somebody, who i can 100% agree with about Dark Souls II

[@chrisreynolds1202]

I certainly enjoyed my 5 playthroughs years ago. Thinking of doing a 6th after I finish my second demon souls remake run.

[@DainLaguna]

Lovely vid! I always interpreted the environmental change on the way up to drangleic castle as reflective of the nature of what condition the castle had fallen into; everything is black and sick and nothing is really alive, its all animated or brought back to life, sans the soldiers; it just feels like a true abyssal aura surrounds it, which is on point from a story perspective. Def think it has the overall best art style of any fromsoft game aside from bloodborne. Also: shoutout to the best targeting reticle from any of their library.

[@Synchro-tq1mo]

I m glad you enjoyed the replay

[@Kaiji...]

If it's your first Dark Souls game, you come to appreciate it a lot more than other fans.

[@tigrovica8417]

Facts

[@joedatius]

isn't that more due to ignorance of actual quality rather then the games quality?

[@QwertyUiop-bs2zr]

It was my last and it’s my favorite

[@SimonRobeyns]

why would you play the second one first. It's like watching the second movie first, no? Sounds so weird

[@Kaiji...]

@@SimonRobeyns Horrible take. They're not even connected. That's like saying you gotta play Dragon Quest 1, Monster Hunter 1, GTA 1 (you get the idea, thousands of examples)... over the new games. Why didn't you play King's Field first? FromSoft released that like 40 years ago before Dark Souls!? Idiot.

[@notanimufailzone]

After playing Demon's Souls (original) in the PS3 emulator DS2 kinda feels like Demon's Souls 2.0 to me. There's so much DeS that reminded me of ideas explored in DS2. The Grass is Life Gems. Often times there can be large swarms of enemies that can be unfair feeling. The level design. Majula/The Nexus. Etc.

[@alansvartr]

DS2 was my first (because ds1 was not available on PS4 by the time I came to the series). I tried demon's back on PS3 and absolutely hated how long it took to reset upon each death and bounced right off it. I played every other game in the series before coming back to demon's souls (PS3 and then ps5) and yeah, ds2 feels so much like a demon's 2. it's really heart warming.

[@kaschey6145]

I was always surprised when people say that there's a lot of big swarms of enemies. Do people just rush most areas and then get surprised they're swarmed? Usually, it's very rare when you're attacked more than by 1-2 enemies. And when it happens, these are usually trashy weak mobs that don't do much damage and die in 1-2 hits. So, it really feels weird to me where people find giant hordes in this game. And then I remember the bridge before Lotric boss fight in DS3 where you actually face a bunch of really tough enemies at the same time. Or when you fight three Millwood Knights in the first DLC. Or several groups of the ring city/harald knights. The situations seem quite unfair often yet it doesn't seem like people remember it.

[@asdergold1]

@@kaschey6145 they don't follow their own advice for this game. All sagey when it comes to ds1, and then blame the game for not using their brains in 2. They also go and rush in frequently. I think it's an ego thing for some of them.

[@ButterscotchPenguin]

It feels like demonsouls x kingsfield to me in a lot of ways

[@kartikayysola]

@@kaschey6145 For me, it's more the fact that in a lot of cases, I found the enemies more difficult to separate than in DS1, even when you're using a bow to aggro a specific one (and from what I've played of it thus far, DS3 kinda pulls this too to a lesser extent). The soldiers behind the petrified guy in the Lost Bastille, the "corpses" near that tree in the Forest of Fallen Giants that get up about one or two at a time while a dude is above pelting you with firebombs, the multiple spectral knights who you have to keep dodging around as you destroy their respective coffins/statues to make them corporeal in the Dragon's Sanctum, the room in Brume Tower where you drop down to five enemies and an ashen idol buffing them or the various areas outside where ashen warriors keep popping up from the ground as you step. I felt like DS1 gave you more options to either separate enemies, or in the case of ganks, give you ways of using the environment to your advantage (for example, luring the hollows before the Gargoyles into a small hallway and going to town with a weapon that can poke).

[@stephanodigiorgio1090]

ayo OG i luuuuuv yo channel one love fom VENEZUELA my bro sending mad vibes

[@unequaled_beef1521]

Found you through efap. Do more cooking shows! It's so good and the passion in that video was palpable. You have more than just one talent. Your gaming channel is very good, but your cooking is something special as well. I would love to see more!

[@wyldeman7]

I love the feeling the world and story of DS2. As much as any fromsoftware game. I just hate the analog control. Like how hard is it to update a game to have full 360 degree analog control when literally every other game from DS1 to sekiro has it. I mean I obviously made it through the game and love it, but damn that annoys me.

[@austinhawthorne6310]

??? No offense but are you trolling, DS2 and DS3 are the only souls games that have 360 analog mechanics. DS2 does have more of an octagonal input system, but it was still an evolution from dark souls 1 which 100% did not have 360 analog input along with demons souls. The remake for demons souls does however.

[@wyldeman7]

@@austinhawthorne6310 it literally only uses the 8 main directions. Your character cannot run in 360 different directions. Only 8. To try this simply move forward and very slowly rotate the stick left or right. It won't register the change in direction until you get to the diagonal.

[@Daedalus4]

@@wyldeman7 Which makes it way easier to move in one direction without drifting and possibly falling off small platforms. It was intentional. There is no real downside to the control scheme other than a small visual annoyance of snapping to certain directions when you stop. In DS1 you could also only dodge in 4 directions, which gets you killed more times than I can count. DS2 improved this tremendously. The controls are objectively better.

[@Leotheleprachaun]

@@Daedalus4 you are legit here trying to defend systems that are worse in comparison to what came before. The eight way movement was added in Scholar. Go try the drop in Majula and be slightly off. See how whenever you turn you also step forwards? Yeah, that's not a good decision. You say Mauler's video is poorly researched yet here you are saying there is no downside to not having full control over your character when making a simple walking around system shouldn't be difficult. See - original release of DS2 having 360 movement. There is more platforming in DS2 than in DS1 and they made it so your movement is stuck to 8 straight lines. Look at the lava jump in the iron keep. It's quite literally between two of the snap-points. What next, gonna defend the lock-on system not having your weapon go where it's locked on to? And don't use "objectively better" when it's literally provable they are worse.

[@Leotheleprachaun]

@@austinhawthorne6310 boot up DS1. Now spin around. Notice you stayed in place? Boot up DS2 and do the same. Notice you are walking? See the difference? Dark Souls and OG Demon Souls both have 360 degree movement, just not rolling though. Least you got one thing right.

[@Broadie25]

I want to finish this game , it’s the only one in the series I didn’t finish because it pissed me off so much. I’m willing to revisit it, and screw the I frames and tracking in this game although the atmosphere was beautiful!!

[@Lyka-clock]

I just did after putting it down and must say it's fantastic. The Darklurker side mission might be the most fun I've had in a Souls game besides say Ludwig in Bloodborne or the last few bosses in DS3. I'd also say that it feels more like a new type of souls game like Bloodborne was and that seems to have aged it very well. SOTFS is the best way to get back in, it really does a nice job.

[@asdergold1]

The tracking is because of your roll timing. If you roll a tiny bit later, it won't follow you. Just so you know, attunement increases agility, just like adaptability does. You level up faster, so remember to increase the one you need somewhat. When you get to 103 you will be fine. It can go up to 115 by raising those two stats to 99, just so you know. 110 is the hard cap. Also remember your feet have a hitbox, so mind where you are rolling to not end up grabbed like in the video. Always remember that you can retreat against an ambush or more than one enemy. And to not heal on their face as if it was instant. The number of literally everyone who has done this is fucking hilarious. Also you can farm bones in Aldia's Keep. Cheese Aslatiel with poison or parries. One outside another after the mirror hall. Hollow closest to the stairs drops 2 ascetics after being unpetrified every time. The game focuses on positioning and timing more then the other games, as a reminder. Also remember to not give up, skeleton!

[@groovstoov4717]

Every time I go back to the game, I eventually get hit by some attack that was clearly, inarguably, and obviously not even close to hitting my character's hitbox. I don't have time to put up with combat that is so sloppy you can't trust what you're seeing in-game. That's why it's my least favorite souls game, and basically the only one I completely quit playing out of boredom and annoyance.

[@More-Sauce-Man]

Do it! I still haven't beat Vendrick but everything else was so damn worth it. Id say my time with the game was a 90 hr fever dream fueled by agony and bliss.

[@alexsm3882]

I know this is a bit cliche but leveling ADP made rolling so much more feasible

[@Tressa_]

damn, never heard the word abstruse before. This was a great video analysis essay on a game series I wasn’t allowed to play when I was younger, but have always been fascinated with.

[@creatorfuyu]

absolutely loved your take and analysis. even with its sheer lack of polish and continuity, it will always be my favorite in the series, and i've gotten very tired of hearing other creators intensely bag on it with little consideration for the good that it offers. it was nice to see both sides explored in depth to present a very well rounded argument. cheers \o/

[@gradualpull2171]

I played ds2 but the scholar of the first sin edition and was really surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I know most people didn't like this game but it was more rewarding than ds3 in my opinion.

[@AlexAndriy1995]

Genuinely asking, how? Hitboxes are awful, easy worst in any game of this genre. Spammy enemy design is just boring. Level design visually is good, but structurally they are just hallways. Most of bosses go from awful to okay ones. DLC has best ones but even they are damaged by awful hitboxes. Because how cheap and effective are life gems its breaks healing system. Im fan of souls series. 1 and 3 are among my favorite games. I really liked Nioh and Mortal Shell, loving right now Sekiro. And Ilike darksouls 2 and beat it few times but It's janky to hell. Quality vise it was giant step down from 1

[@gradualpull2171]

@@AlexAndriy1995 The non spam friendly gameplay is really why I enjoyed it. The design of the enemies are in a way to screw you, even following enemies. It made me approach every area differently instead of a straight path. I can't imagine a non souls vet getting a handle on the game without some hard lessons. I did think the level design was a bit too expansive but it loosely fit together like ds1. I appreciate the more diverse lateral layout of the game more than any other souls game. The design flaws makes it difficult, no more predictable engagements. I will agree the bosses are a little rinse repeat but are genuinely not too predictable. The weapon choice and avaliable resource materials was a nice addition. I really liked the weapons and the amount of viability you had with every upgrade path. I suppose my draw to it was the challenge of the slow animations and janky hit boxes culminating in a challenge of being exceptionally good at combat. With such a wide variety of weapons it really works in making the character your own. The flaws make it good in my opinion. After playing all the other games it certainly was the hardest, as a testament to a trial by fire. Fromsoft wanted to expand ds1 and try a different strategies, going back to it now, I found it rewarding. As much as I enjoyed ds1 and 3, they became too predictable. The only things I think they did better was the boss selection for 1 and 3. DLC for ds2 was great, throughly had a good time and the work reminded me of bloodborne old hunters. Good luck with sekiro. When it finally clicks, combat starts to flow like water, and I loved how traditional it comes off but still ingeniously modern. The movement is really what makes sekiro devastatingly open-ended to your preferred style.

[@bennycaustic5102]

*A small pile of rocks blocks your way* "Well time to kill some gods."

[@drakebloodknight7981]

Part of my soul dies every time I look at that ‘obstacle’. Why can’t our character just climb over the rubble. Dude, you could probably jump over it. Oh, God...why...why...

[@monkeman5895]

@@drakebloodknight7981 For the same reason that it took us a crippled ninja samurai to finally be able to swim

[@dafulegend5905]

You underestimate my 99 lifegems

[@crabbypatty10fefrefe]

I'd love to see a Dark Souls 2 Remake.

[@petkofuchalski9809]

Yep, it needs it badly

[@finmat95]

Dark Souls 2 Remake --> SOTFS

[@darukan]

imagine one with the effort they did demon souls with. imagine how even more badass heide knights would look

[@db7314]

If they get rid of soul memory yes

[@solidsnake9898]

With Miyazaki yes

[@RoseOfSharyn18]

Put 200 hours into this game and I gotta agree. I wasn't a huge fan but as the game goes on it really does get better and better. The DLC is fantastic and it's probably my favorite DS game.

[@coredeadman5980]

Did you experience the FRIGID OUTSKIRTS???? This is the definition of hell. The worst experience i have ever had in any video game.

[@RoseOfSharyn18]

@@coredeadman5980 I did. Lol

[@coredeadman5980]

@@RoseOfSharyn18 yeah thats the reason i could never call the dlc fantastic.

[@sirtoxic5147]

@@coredeadman5980 Sunken King is great

[@MrSillMann]

My theory as to why the areas don't really make sense is because Drangleic is a sort of limbo or dream word of sorts, a place where the undead go to forget and be forgotten. At the start of the game your character drops down a big whirlpool as memories of their past melt away and before you know it they're in Drangleic. There are plenty of things that hint at this throughout the game, most obvious being that you enter the memories of giants and you're able to bring objects back with you like some sort of pseudo-time travel, but you've really got to go digging for the rest. It could also just be due to the troubled development cycle of the game (the team had to start over when their first director was replaced and they were given a very strict release window thereafter) the devs had to staple together what areas they had finished in time for the games release. This is also why there are many box-like rooms and areas with not much detail to them. There is however some behind the scenes stuff and long forgotten files that were found that suggest the original story was supposed to focus wholly on subjects of dreams and time travel, which gives credence to my theory in a sort of meta way. Or I'm making excuses for my favorite game in the series due to bias who can say.

[@caos024]

Great video. Subbed. DS2: SotFS was my first souls game and it's the game that made me a huge fan of these types of games so when I see some people act like it's a blasphemy of a game, I'm left confused bc I loved it. Your video is on point and basically summed of what I liked about the game. Guess it's like the saying goes "different strokes for different folks". Me personally, I loved the grounded-ness of the game.

[@vortexmdk6776]

This is a truly excellent video

[@ChosenChicken]

its always awesome seeing people return to my favorite souls game, and enjoying it.

[@benireges]

Enjoyable and not enjoyable at the same time xD

[@asdergold1]

Eh, yeah. Honestly most of the things people complain about can be worked around by using their brain, like luring, retreating, spacing, positioning, timing. And being careful. Also not trying to bypass attunement with those rings, since it increases agility and you level faster. The faster leveling is there to compensate for that. Honestly, the agape range is best around 500k to 600k SM if you are interested. Under 10M works, but the buffed infused chaos blades are even worse. You can technically farm all the consumables you need as well. Also Aslatiel is the best source of awestone in the game. Awestone, ascetic and bone and soul consumable farming all in one. How? Poison.

[@mrconnacht3017]

@@asdergold1 Most people know how to manage a crowd of enemies. The problem is that this form of combat scenario is used way too often in the game so it becomes repetitive and boring.

[@asdergold1]

@@mrconnacht3017 This form of scenario. Crowd of enemies. Stop painting it as if the enemy encounters were numbered like Dynasty Warriors. That's disingenuous. You barely ever need to ever fight more than a very easy 1v3 unless you fight an easy mob boss or mess up pretty bad. Or the optional DPS check gargoyles.

[@mrconnacht3017]

@@asdergold1 When I say crowd, I just mean a group of enemies (in reference to the term "crowd control"). The game has a lot of instances where it just clogs a group of copy pasted enemies together regardless of how you play. (The area with the big tree in forest of fallen giants, the spiders that drop from the ceiling in the mine level, the rooms full of explosive dudes in the Bastille, the entirety of Iron keep etc.) I think I'm pretty good at those games and thus rarely run past enemies. I very often kill them right where they spawned and despite this I often find myself having to run back and find a choking point to contain the crowds that the Devs lovingly placed in their levels before having to just press light attack repeatedly and die of boredom. People complain about the game because they had similar experiences.

[@up4discussion660]

Love your breakdown. My favorite in the series, if for no other reason, they tried something different. With ample production time this easily would’ve been the best in the trilogy, and I still think it competes for that even with some of its downsides. Miyazaki wanted to do something different, ie. Bloodborne, and it still makes no sense to me how he came back and essentially remade DS1 with new mechanics and stats. Anyway, From is easily my favorite developer of sorts and every souls game is great. Don’t you dare go hollow.

[@LuM4rex]

Look at the DS3 concept that wasn't implemented, if they had the time, it would be one of the best games ever, probably much better than DS1. hopefully the development time of ER will give him the opportunity to do everything at the level of god.

[@joshjonson2368]

@@LuM4rex elden ring is more or less ds3.5, yeahh... they brought back powerstancing and there are possibly more weapons than any souls game ever but is that worth having less unique weapon combos overall? Felt like ds3 had more unique weapons just moveset wise alone

[@ochocinco1535]

My favorite dark souls and honestly the fight clubbing and the pvp in general was some of the most fun I've had gaming. You just had to be there man. :')

[@JS_III]

Yeah, that DS2 pvp hayday was the best. Thankful to have been a part of it.

[@kizuma4269]

nice vid I am really excited for a video about ds3

[@TyphonNeuron]

Played all the games in the order of release and DkS2 is still my favorite, followed by Sekiro and DkS1. Can't wait for Elden Ring.

[@plugshirt1762]

Lol my order is nearly the opposite of yours going bloodborne then ds3 then ds1. Though I prefer ds2 over sekiro as I didn’t enjoy sekiro combat very much

[@MartinMigeot]

Dark souls 2 7 years later Video is 27 minutes 27 seconds long No thats dedication

[@_doop8257]

HOLY SHIT I DIDN'T NOTICE THAT

[@phrysma]

Beatifull video

[@lamborghinicentenario2497]

Love the different point of view

[@zidanelionheart]

I could expand this thought endlessly, but I'll keep it simple: after playing the rest including Bloodborne, having seen King's Field, knowing the development history....Dark Souls II is a necessary departure that pays homage to From's older games. It feels distinctly different from DS1 which is why DS3 being so similar is still interesting. Of course, the original release of DS2 without the SotFS changes and the DLC was a vastly inferior product. My only real gripe these days is the geographical arrangement, of course most of it makes sense which is why the Earthen Peak elevator into lava kills me. I will spend my life thinking about that elevator. Still do. Why? It's a great game though.

[@andryuu_2000]

The Earthen Peak elevator wasn't meant to be like that.

[@andryuu_2000]

they cut out the level that was shown in the trailer.. like wtf it was cool and logical

[@JS-tl7jp]

@@andryuu_2000 I mean, it’s pretty clearly thematic. In the game it’s ambiguous what’s going on exactly, but in terms of story you’re seeing these different sites of rulers who tried to control the land. In effect you’re travelling through the history of that world, and a spatially inconsistent world implied to me that you’re in some way travelling through time. Maybe the iron keep is in the distant past, or distant future of that realm, made by kings who’d come after the player’s undead and the cycle continued. Either way, I found it pretty darn cool how it feels a bit unsettlingly broken in places.

[@andryuu_2000]

@@JS-tl7jp nah they officially cut out a place that should've connected the Peak to the Keep. It's in the trailers too. They could've least made the elevator go down

[@Ghorda9]

@@andryuu_2000 that also wouldn't make sense because iron keep is above ground in a field/basin of molten iron, just look at the background of brume tower.

[@tamamsyaifullah4294]

Ds 1 gargoyle : 2 vs 1 Ds 2 gargoyle: is a fucking gangbang

[@celiafrostborn]

It was DS2 trying to pander to the fans of the better game and make them forget about the stupid mechanics imo XD.

[@jebbushu711]

I see a lot of people say they love this as their first souls game which is interesting as it was not my first souls game (i played the first before 2 came out) but it still has such a unique feeling and mechanics that keep my interest for 10+ playthroughs. Every other game i have 3 or 4 runs at most, but ds2 is just so fun to replay to me.

[@onlyorion3440]

Your commentary about the torch seemingly being a more integral mechanic earlier on makes me think that they might've had a later abandoned plotline wherein your job as the Hollowed was to "Return the Light" to Drangleic. Which honestly would be a fascinating take on the usual formula for the Souls games, choosing to show us the Age of Darkness referenced in the games and maybe an effort to bring about a new Age of Light. Honestly that would be cool to see one day. Not that I believe we'll ever get a Dark Souls 4, but if we did...

[@Sneakythepanda]

"ADP is a stat you shouldn't focus on but look at how it marginally makes me heal faster, I won't talk about how it's a fundamental stat to any build so have fun, clearing forests and heides to get a better dodge and healing animation instead of acquiring new stats for weapons or casting."

[@monkeman5895]

Wish there was an item/armor piece that boosted ADP. Also leveling up attunement boosts agility too so it’s a nonissue for magic based players

[@lolzasouruhm179]

I’m just playing through dark souls 2 for the first time as well I started a play through got about 12 hours in got confused on where to go and what to do and gave up. Granted I got dark souls two after beat ds1 and put about 500+ hours into ds3. Now that I’m playing dark souls 2 completely I think it’s a very good game with very shitty parts to it. For instance I was searching for 2 hours on where to go… the only area left for me to go was huntsmans corpse. As you can assume since warping is a key aspect of the game I had no idea I had to head back down the path to heides tower to get to huntsmans corpse. And now having beaten every other boss I was way over leveled for this area basicly making it a cake walk even smelter demon was easy on my first time ever fighting him (no summons). Im excited to get to the later areas of the game since I thought a lot of the mid game zones were to short, too gimmicky or just bad level design. I have a growing admiration for dark souls 2 and it’s really interesting from a game design perspective to see them testing out ideas in this game almost trying to perfect the genre. I think Elden ring is gonna be the map they wanted to creat for dark souls 2 but they didn’t have the skills or capabilities at the time.

[@hotelmarioenjoyer3752]

I love DS2 because it feels the most like old fromsoft, specifically king's field. demon's souls and dark souls were definitely heavily inspired by king's field and shadow tower, but miyazaki is creative enough that they really had a lot of their own identity. I think it was ironically his lack of influence on 2 that makes it cool, since, without his vision, they were forced to retread old ground, resulting in a lot of similarities that are satisfying for fans of older fromsoft games.

[@jprec5174]

Exactly my thoughts too

[@angar_9714]

Miyazaki was DS2s co-director, just sayin... he had a good chunk of influence in the project but not as much as tanimura obviously

[@iwanttodiebutimtoobigofacoward]

what does king's field have in common in ds2, that isn't also in ds1 and DeS?

[@Fourside__]

I loved DS2, especially the DLCs. Was my first and only DS game where i finished a no death / bonfire run, and it awarded you with 2 rings only obtainable that way, if i remember its the only Soulsborne game rewarding you for this feat

[@ScrodumHat]

you remembered correctly