In Defense of Dark Souls 2

In this video we explore Dark Souls 2 and its differences from the previous games in design and execution and the ways, on inspection, it actually proves to be better.
We also watch, in real time, as all my subscribers melt away and a dunce's hat descends from the heavens directly onto my balding head, and I start to go mad from the realisation that I'm still not sure whether to spell it Defense or Defence and words lose all meaning.
My Twitter: / hbomberguy
My Patreon: / hbomb

[@SMSmith]

Good guy timestamps 00:00 INTRO 1:29 Part 1: HEALING 9:27 Part 2: ENEMY DESIGN 24:12 Part 3A: WORLD DESIGN (Interconnectedness) 32:30 Part 3B: WORLD DESIGN (Non-Linearity) 43:54 Part 4: PLAY CONDITIONING 50:22 Part 5: STORY COMPARISON 1:06:02 Part 6: THE DLC & SCHOLAR OF THE FIRST SIN 1:10:45 CONCLUSION

[@slaveknightgael8900]

screw the both of you

[@Elric_]

Dark soul Gael Why so angry? And there's only one person

[@phantombigboss8429]

The Bright Lord hes mad because Hbomb won't give him any attention awwww.

[@Milkra]

The Bright Lord he didnt finish the part in his special ed class where the teacher discusses proper arguments and having common sense in general

[@soulsemblance3163]

Siba Smith do you use Bots why the fuck do you have 2.3 Million subs and only 8 views per video

[@ascendedchairmanofthelemur9711]

ok harris well if dark souls II is so great how come there isn't a dark souls II 2?

[@inkaf225]

Because by that logic it's tu tu and we cant have cultural marxist femboys in a darksouls game.

[@ascendedchairmanofthelemur9711]

@@inkaf225 but gwyndolin tho

[@lithiumalt3434]

Ok but if dark souls is so good why isn't there a dark souls 2? Checkmate.

[@ascendedchairmanofthelemur9711]

@@lithiumalt3434 🤔🤔🤔😳😳😳

[@cerineko7984]

Spud Lord DESTROYS blond guy

[@bigrigjoe5130]

"It's almost like this game was made for people who don't want to run in circles for hours." ~ Man who spent 60+ hours in Pathologic

[@logicalwren8061]

Congrats, I somehow found you in top comments

[@Meese12]

Its also funny considering how you fight so many enemies in this game, even in his footage

[@logicalwren8061]

@@liamfackelman6582 Yeah it did

[@reintael4287]

Lol, I think Harris made it pretty clear that he didn't want to run in circles for hours while playing Pathologic.

[@mylespelea1262]

what you said would be ironic if hbomberguy had said that pathologic was a fun game instead of a pain simulator and more of an artsy game

[@purple-flowers]

H-bomb 5 years ago: I cut this out of my video bc it would be too long H-bomb now: I made a 3.5 hour long video about a pretty alright game

[@Boppercat]

Don’t forget Tommy talaricos mother is proud of him!

[@Guile_The_Exile]

*Character development*

[@caolanmoore4027]

And he still won't leave the stalker dark sky rant in

[@forgot7en]

It's a shit video about a shit game, he doesn't even defend it in the least convincing way possible, almost everything he says is objectively wrong lmao

[@appleseedtrees7512]

​@@caolanmoore4027or any of the Phantom Menace rants

[@ELFudgeOreos]

The poison dart guys in Blight Town felt like a mini boss. I was relieved they didn't respawn. Killing them felt like an achievement.

[@Bliss467]

as Joseph Anderson likes to point out, they're a kind of shortcut you unlock.

[@Sapeidra]

Almost all areas have some permadeath enemies. But somehow the poisonguys are treated as they are an admission of error by the developers. going by that logic the gargoyles in Arnor Londo are a mistake? Or the necromancers in the catacombs? Or maybe put some poison resist on and the poison guys are not a real trouble. And as you slay them you make a testament on how you conquered the area. like all other permadeath enemies.

[@Ornithopter470]

​@@Sapeidra its toxic you need to resist, and they will overwhelm pretty much any toxic resist you can get before them. Doesn't help that their toxic is way worse than any other toxic.

[@SheheenFans]

@@Ornithopter470 Poison and toxic are different status conditions, but your poison resistance stat governs your toxic resistance and your normal poison resistance. If you explore you can find enough clothing to tank more than 1 dart without the bar filling up, or find the spider shield if you didn't start bandit class.

[@Ornithopter470]

@@SheheenFans didn't know that both checked poison resist. And you can tank one dart with naked, I think. Would have to check that. Issue is that you normally get at least 2.

[@user-is9nm4vw8j]

“He roll and dodge like normal people “ Artorias: *Does a frontflip and jump 15 feet high*

[@daringdarius5686]

He said he *is* a larger than life character who was corrupted by the abyss, and I do see your point. But just like his point, and I realize you're probably joking, but he isn't a Dragon that just takes off, does fire or toxic breath attack, who also destroys your armor. He doesn't summon other bosses like the BITC- I mean Elana infinitely like some hoe or slu-, nor does he stand as tall and have as great a reach as the Giant Lord. He ain't floating around spamming spells like the Darklurker. He jumps, and leaps, albeit greater distances than the player, he swings and hurls his body around but still maintains "human" motions. He is a proper Dark Souls "knight fight". And yes, my last name is Obvious, you may refer to me as Captain or Sir.

[@user-is9nm4vw8j]

Ayay Captain

[@bigbear5767]

@@daringdarius5686 so "equal footing" is based on how the fight looks? Not taking into account the fact that mechanically, he does not share ANYTHING with you. If you remove textures and graphics from the artorias fight, till you're left with just the hitboxes. He would function(mechanically) the same way that a dragon or any giant boss would. Because harris points make no sense and he hasn't defined them at all. What does "equal footing" mean to him? I dunno I'm left to guess.

[@daringdarius5686]

@@bigbear5767 Firstly... I don't think I mentioned "equal footing" anywhere, not sure if you're quoting me or the video, don't even think it's been said in the thread. Secondly, it's not equal footing. Didn't even remotely claim this..IT'S A BOSS FIGHT! Of course the odds are in the boss' favor! You have to use skill, intelligence, cunning, tricks or all of the above! It ISN'T on equal footing. Someone who has specced into a pyromancer has a different moveset than a faith/dex build. Or a greatshield vigor build. Or an UGS build. Different mechanics, doesn't mean other players are any less human. (Subtle nod to farrong UGS and the flaming dual Ultra-Cheese great sword in DS3) BUT! If you were to consider if it's more "fair" or *more equal* to fight artorias, a humanoid grounded, who can't hit you from afar (he must lunge at you), doesn't have access to poison, doesn't breathe fire, doesn't use sorceries or miracles, can't swim in poison unaffected or have a posse to back him up, doesn't fly or heal himself or summon other monsters, and instead just has a big o'le sword, some high stats and some big movements and swings, yea. I'd definitely say fighting artorias is more fair than sinh, or midir, or the ancient dragon, or the dark lurker, or Elana (seriously FUCK Elana) or *name 50%+ boss fights of any dark souls game*. It is more "equal" than *other bosses*. Ya both got big shanking tools, somebody to shank and a reason not to get shanked. Lastly on the topic of hitboxes: Ummm... If you think a giant in the game is capable of the dexterity and flexibility required to jump up, do front flips and land, at that speed I mean okay. Ditto goes for the dragons. They could be flying in loop de loops, but their turning circle wouldn't be as compact and quick nor anything like this. If you scale a dragon that large, they would be moving at speeds, in a circle, upwards of 100 mph, meaning they can easily charge you at probably 300mph+. Hint: you don't want that in a game. That's, uhh, kinda fast. I think they move at 30mph->60mph at most in the games.

[@bigbear5767]

@@daringdarius5686 sorry, I thought you were up to date. Yes harris absolutely said "equal footing" to describe the artorias fight, many times if I remember correctly. I'm saying that that makes absolutely no sense. My hitbox argument still stands. Take any large or fast moving boss and his rules also apply to them and he doesn't have anything that you have other than armor and a sword. Harris must do anything to push this narrative that ds2 is simply better. But there is a problem, he also liked the artorias fight, so how can he make an exception for him? Easy create this baseless idea that artorias somehow has something in common with ds2s design. Just watch maulers series for Christ sakes. He literally goes over word for word why he's wrong. Have you looked at the artorias fight? Have you seen his moves? He has an insane gap closer. He has an arial attack were he jumps 10 feet in the air, extremely fast swings with very short tells unlike the player. And the way he dodges is absolute insanity. Harris does a very bad job explaining what he actually means by him being your "equal". I think he means any humanoid with limbs and a head. But even that doesn't really make sense since, again, you two have very different mechanics and his fighting style is absolutely nuts.

[@Bhazor]

I enjoy the fact this video stirs up more controversy than Hbomber's political videos.

[@moredetonation3755]

Hbomberguy makes a video about gay representation and HP Lovecraft: I sleep Hbomberguy makes a video defending Dark Souls 2: *GAMERS RISE UP*

[@stevencleere4912]

Probably because Hbomb's political views aren't really that controversial.

[@Arkayjiya]

​@@stevencleere4912 "Probably because Hbomb's political views aren't really that controversial. " They kind of are in the gaming's community at least sadly.

[@SocBeefBoi]

@@Arkayjiya That's because he's wildly flailing about trying to justify Dark Souls 2, which he does by constantly lying about Dark Souls 1 and saying that 2 is better than 1.

[@Arkayjiya]

​@@SocBeefBoi I don't think you have any idea what we were talking about because it has nothing to do with Dark Souls xD

[@dootmarine1140]

"Artorias isn't ridiculous" queue footage of Artorias spin-jumping with a big fuckoff sword before doing a superhero landing that creates a small crater

[@fau3058]

Yeah it's easy boss fight!! Fairly malaynd

[@Cartoonjellywolf]

Boss post-Bloodborne bosses jumping everywhere like a madman. "Yep all good" :) Dark Souls 1 Artorias "So hard, why this happen" >:(

[@Eshiay]

Tbf that's actually something the player can do if you use his weapon. An invader in full Artorius gear could do the same thing. Given we can use 500 lb Ultra Greatswords that isn't surprising.

[@Leo_Prideful]

​​@@fau3058 Yeah sure big tough guy

[@fau3058]

@@Leo_Prideful it was sarcasm

[@divinecomedy7311]

Tommy Tallarico spent 5 years creating this game

[@franklinbadge1215]

His mother is very proud

[@fairsaa7975]

He was the first American to ever be hired by Fromsoft

[@noodlekeeper5150]

This is my new favorite hbomberguy meme

[@Ratharaine]

​@@franklinbadge1215most underared comment comment in youtube history

[@brovid-19]

NO, IT WAS JOEY. IT'S ALWAYS JOEY!

[@Soulanguish]

Dark Souls 1 doens't need to be bad for Dark souls 2 to be good.

[@jasonkillbourn]

so?

[@intrepidmatter8165]

That's true

[@RAFMnBgaming]

I think he's not so much talking about it being bad as much as taking it off its pedestal a little.

[@lucebelmont]

@@RAFMnBgaming By proving he A.) doesn't know his own game, and B.) tearing it down despite being an objectively better game... Dark Souls 1 was put a pedestal for a reason... Meanwhile Dark Souls 2 was mostly forgotten amongst the games for a reason as well.

[@RAFMnBgaming]

@@lucebelmont You're missing what i'm saying. Just because DS1 is a great game, doesn't mean it doesn't have flaws that he thinks DS2 addresses in a satisfying way. That's the point here.

[@DavidLins0]

I think you sell the fight with Gwyn really short by saying the best they could do was put some sad music over it. A lot of the things you praise about Vendrick apply to Gwyn as well. Gwyn is hyped up for the entire game as a literal god among men, with a title like "The Lord of Sunlight" that can shoot Zeus-style lightning bolts powerful enough to rip the scales off of dragons. When you finally get there he doesn't even get an intro cutscene like 99% of the bosses do; you enter the fog gate and this withered old man just mindlessly charges you. His name is changed to "Lord of Cinder" and it's implied that his power, over the long course of guarding the first flame, dwindled tremendously. You go in expecting this huge final boss but instead it's a rather simple one-on-one duel against a "god" so weak you can parry his ass and riposte him into oblivion. Don't get me wrong, I love Dark Souls 2 and I really like what they did with Vendrick, but let's not act like Gwyn's presentation wasn't just as good, if for different reasons.

[@damp2269]

give this guy/gal a prize. yep he absurdly reduced a really good lore and praised a very derivative one.

[@theepicguy13]

>that can shoot Zeus-style lightning bolts powerful enough to rip the scales off of dragons you're greatly overbloating the implication of his power, probably because you've watched copious amounts of lore videos providing ideas or interpretations of it. However, nothing we see in the intro cutscene implies he was uniquely powerful at all; literally every lightning bolt launched at the dragon does as much damage as his. His bossfight doesn't have a cutscene, and is extremely streamlined is because the second half of the game was notoriously rushed, not because of some deeper reason theorists desperately use mental gymnastics to try and claim.

[@Chance57]

jerkin off you're tripping. loreists are what I hate most about DS because they rarely agree and they all swear they're right, but he was still a lord. we're meant to have high expectations to get there and be let down. he's a husk now. he split his lord soul and burned the rest fighting off entropy for his whole universe. there's no gymnastics necessary. it's laid out for you plain as day.

[@psevdhome]

I would've enjoyed the story elements of Vendrick's hollowed state if he were actually a hollow, who's weak and killing him would be like putting down a suffering pet. But instead he's a super-powered gank-machine with a stupid gimmick, unless you hunt down extremely out of place items that make it so that your attacks can damage him. TL;DR if you're going to connect story and gameplay, do it, don't just talk about it.

[@Anonymous00616]

+A Spooky Dog funny how people like to act like Gwyn was supposed to be unstoppable but was a joke, in reality he was the hardest boss unless you mastered parrying. He didn't seem like the ultimate personification of one of the two central themes of Dark Souls, one being duality and the other which Gwyn supposedly is the incarnation of, being entropy. The sad music was good but he didn't seem withered, he was relentless and you had to hold him back using the stupid pillars in his boss room, trash design. Really Vendrick was a much better iteration on everything people value about Gwyn.

[@jochem6292]

"deus ex lets do that one" did that one take FIVE YEARS?

[@dethblak13]

Worth it, best Three Hours Thirty Three Minutes Thirty Three Seconds spent in AGES

[@NEKO-mw9id]

The way I’ve barely heard the name of most of these games but I’ve spent critical hours of my life watching every single 65 hour essay on all of them… this guy can talk.

[@thomasnussbaumer1556]

i know the feeling :-)

[@Motley-Croo]

Bro fr

[@liamrodgers48]

Play them

[@oak7741]

play the games immediately

[@DuckReconMajor]

play them now

[@queenthinng4822]

I can’t believe how uncontroversial this video is! No dislikes!

[@GentleIceZ]

Truly is a breath of fresh air. I have high hopes for the inevitable "difficulty debate" we'll see as soon as elden ring drops

[@kigurumii]

thank you susan! no, you guys really should use that extension before they ban it for "misconduct of terms or conditions" or some shite like that

[@Renteks-]

ok but actually the anti dislike plugin says it only has 285 dislikes which is incredibly surprising

[@Tototoo88]

@@Renteks- 21k dislike according to me

[@Renteks-]

@@Tototoo88 weird

[@FireDarkNinja]

Dark Souls 2 is objectively better due to the introduction of Tongue but Hole.

[@TheMasterHeisup]

I totally agree, man.

[@Phoenix-mn8qp]

Okay what's that?

[@alizard7617]

RED Phoenix ingame messages

[@Phoenix-mn8qp]

@@alizard7617 for what. I am really confused. Is that for a boss. Maybe Last Gaint?

[@alizard7617]

RED Phoenix no as in the messages players leave on the ground

[@glowerworm]

Watching this now, in 2022, all I can think is how much hbomberguy must *love* Elden Ring.

[@thedarkroom6416]

Lol

[@fuucaran]

You'll have to wait a decade and a half for the video though. We're still waiting for the ds3 vid and ds3 came out 7 years ago.

[@Terminated_Account]

​@@fuucaran7 YEARS AGO? 2016 WAS 7 YEARS AGO? damn...

[@hybridpheonix6343]

​@@thedarkroom6416is this lol because you also believe elden ring to be kinda mid? Like it's super accessible but......

[@CH4R10T_TV]

​@@hybridpheonix6343probably more because hbomb can take a while between uploads and also he doesn't like shields in previous games, whereas Elden Ring caters to them in a number of ways.

[@codypagels1598]

Start playing this game sober and get progressively more drunk as you play to get the full progressive hollowing experience. When you get good and drunk you end up in places in the game with no idea how you got there or how to get back. It’s meta as fuck.

[@pablolarrain385]

😂

[@vyersreaver1749]

"I like having friends" - shows footage of an NPC summon Forever Alonne.

[@1WEareBUFO1]

Vyers Reaver. 😄

[@qassim1233]

felicia the brave is my friend..

[@johnjustjohn5866]

Nice pun.

[@help8939]

Haha I get it it’s like knight alonne right?? Hahah!!!1!

[@ornifexx3046]

you mean forever "sir alonne"

[@bjarkijonsson5653]

12:09 "he never comes off as ridiculous" *front* *flip* *1-hand* *greatsword* *slam 3 times in a row*

[@martijnp]

He probably refers to the fact that all his attacks are straightforward and easy to dodge when you get the hang of it. He's not ridiculous like he jumps up in the air and does a 6 attack combo like slave knight gael

[@bjarkijonsson5653]

@@martijnp yeah the timing was just funny :)

[@draelos8570]

@@bjarkijonsson5653 to be fair, everything looks a little clunky in ds1-2

[@nonaw2555]

martijn p woah it's almost like artorias isn't the final boss for like the whole souls series excluding bloodborne. Gee I wonder why the series known for difficulty has a hard final boss which does have patterns that can be understood just people would rather complain...

[@mpme11509]

Aaron Mizener i don’t think they meant it as an insult to gael, nobody is denying that his fight is great, but it’s certainly nothing you’d ever have seen a player doing, for instance, as a weapon art (excluding gael’s executioner blade, which, let’s face it, has a much more watered down version of what gael does)

[@giliansterckx]

I kind of feel like pointing out that I played through DS1 for the first time with a dex build on a friend's advice. I had little health and even less armor, so taking a hit was pretty devastating. However, I did carry a shield around. I had a light roll, lots of I-frames, but also constantly blocked. Because shields in dark souls can be incorporated in many kinds of builds, not just "hit-trade" builds like high-poise slow-roll builds. A light shield in DS1 means you have the ability to parry, a very cool and dynamic ability to use. And even a small shield blocked considerable amounts of damage, while dropping it to attack took no time at all. TL;DR: shields aren't that bad in DS1, and don't lock you in a passive playstyle. However, I can see how they insentivise you to play that way.

[@Paper323]

Went through the whole of dark souls 1 role-playing as a knight with a sword and shield and I gotta say using a shield to beat the game is totally viable apart from a few times where two handing and dodging is better.

[@sleepinbelle9627]

I also played through with a light dex build. I think I ended the game with a vitality of, like, 16-18? basically all bosses could 2 shot me. My main shield was the grass crest because of the stamina buff and I spent most fights balancing keeping my shield up to give me time to think, dropping it to recover stamina and dodging to give an opening to attack. It's a fun gameplay loop, and I think it's closer to the intent behind the design of shields.

[@carrops]

Ds1 is probably the most unbalanced in the series, strength builds were sooo crazy

[@drewarnett3180]

@@carrops black knight weapons

[@hydrasent563]

Thats why I've heard that deprived is the best starting class for new players, since you start with a weak shield, so it encourages you to not rely on it too much

[@brainbirdtm]

4:17 - "A lot of early players die while mashing the heal button. That's not fun." This argument confuses me. Of course a lot of new players die while mashing the heal button, they also die while mashing the dodge and attack buttons. A lot of new players die walking off cliffs. Is any of it fun? No, of course not, dying isn't fun. Dying was never meant to be fun. Dying is meant to teach you a lesson, in this case that you tried to heal when you didn't have the space for it. Healing in souls games has always been about picking your moment very carefully, being rewarded for picking the right moment and getting punished when you didn't.

[@alexrandell5559]

Bearing in mind I haven't played a souls game so I have no idea if this is the actual experience of it or not, but I think the point Hbomb is making here is that there are fun ways to die or lose, and that's more emotional than logical. If you lose because you didn't dodge correctly or you attacked at the wrong time, that might feel like a satisfying way to lose, you made a mistake, one you can get better at and learn from. Logically yes the same applies to healing, but I can see it being the case that emotionally it's just not a fun way to die, it feels more like you being bad, rather than the enemy being better than you. To take an example I am familiar with, in a game of Warhammer 40k, if I lose because I played the best I could, made a few mistakes and lost because they were just better than me, that's a fun way to lose. If I lost because my dice kept rolling 1's every time I try to cast a psychic power, that feels like a bad way to lose which isn't fun. It's not exactly the same situation, but I just wanted to illustrate the point that not all ways to lose are equal, and good game design can involve minimising players losing in ways that aren't fun, while allowing them to lose in ways that are.

[@Ornithopter470]

​@@alexrandell5559 the issue with that comparison is that one of those is on you as a player, and the other is just RNG. Dying while healing is on you as a player. It's not RNG based. Making mistakes and being smacked for it is a perfectly reasonable thing. And it serves to reinforce that you as a player need to improve.

[@LogicGated]

This video is more controversial than a marxist video essay.

[@sakurakasugano5748]

thats because it talks about things that actually matter!!!1

[@2k2techmodifiedM2B]

"in his opinion"

[@JohanKylander]

@@Jacob-zk1jy You've got that backwards! Dark Souls II _is_ the key to world peace, we just need to see the Emerald Heralds feet.

[@Poopmannn]

@Charles Wetherspoon damn that’s crazy tell me more

[@Poopmannn]

@Charles Wetherspoon beep boop beep beep

[@hollycox4390]

this video was the biggest drama the souls borne community ever had and i refuse to believe it was 3 years ago

[@mikeexits]

Why is this video so controversial?

[@NenaWednesdays]

@@mikeexits Because of how wrong hbomberguy is and how he shits on a youtuber that makes better arguments and is smarter than him

[@aaronbennett4767]

@@NenaWednesdays "I can't accept a different and correct perspective"

[@NenaWednesdays]

@@aaronbennett4767 I could if it's properly supported. You realize he contradicts himself in this video several times? And that's not even getting into the deceptive editing and constant strawmanning re: Matthewmatosis.

[@solidor5313]

@@NenaWednesdays Nah Hbomber guy is right. :) DS2 is better.

[@Buttnutts_]

59:46 "the weakest part of the games is when i got handed a whole heap of names roles and backstory" Elden Ring: AND SIR GIDEON, THE AAAAAAAAAAAAAALL KNOWWWWWWWWWING

[@leonardo9259]

THE LOATHSOME DUNG EATER

[@theandromedaeffect979]

Something tells me he’s not gonna like Elden Ring too much LOL

[@storm5ds68]

idk what this guy was on about, when I got with the "THE EVER BRRRRILLIANT GOLD MASK" I was so fucking pumped lmao, I didn't even care the guy was just a weird naked man who moved his finger while stating at a tree sometimes the intro made me love him

[@mogscugg2639]

Margit Simpson

[@NoSignofSanity]

That's my problem with Souls games in general. They're very cookie cutter/been there, done that. Though still fantastic.

[@mogo-wc7xw]

nothing will ever excuse iron keep

[@AtreyusNinja]

skill issues

[@henrit1902]

Harris: Don't play Dark Souls II: Scholars of the First Sin as your first Dark Souls game Me, whose already sunk in 50 hours: Uh...

[@strangeclaims]

Im looking through the comments to see if anyone mentions this too cuz i started playing the scholars edition and trying not to feel dumb about it

[@KillItAndBurnIt]

Same here, DSII: SotFS was the game Dark Souls game to really hook me, which is why I go to bat for it ^_^

[@monkey__feet___]

@@KillItAndBurnIt i only have access to scholar of the first sin and really wanna give DS2 a try, is it worth?

[@KillItAndBurnIt]

@@monkey__feet___ For me, personally, it was the game that made me like Dark Souls, so I'd say go for it! Lemme know what you think if you do!

[@raioh4747]

hu, yeah I only played scholar edition and it was one my first souls game (previously beat demons and reached bloodmoon in bloodborne), loved it and I don't think its a problem to recomend this version, it's hard yeah but thats the point if you are buying this game. It might actually be harder for people who played the normal OG version first bc it messes with expectations maybe?

[@ratzeflummi6372]

the geography of dark souls 2 makes no sense!! me (bad memory, no sense of direction): huh?

[@stevenlafever955]

Same

[@Jekyllstein_Gray]

Me, a pretentious game design student: IMMERSIVE FALLACY!!!

[@xfrobie9773]

In a game with such a focus on every character suffering from dementia that leaves them wondering where they are and what they're doing, no one thinks to wonder whether asking "Wait, how did I get here from there?" is the entire freaking point, lol

[@sarahs8371]

@@Jekyllstein_Gray Its not an open world anyway lol. I was not bothered.

[@christopheryanez]

💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀

[@limb-o7180]

The thing I think many players should learn is that they should nly heal during a punish opportunity, for example, the best time to heal during a fight against gael is after he does the leaping attack since that has a long recovery animation

[@kylemenos]

Frankly you shouldnt have to heal at all if you never get hit unless your playing dks2 where you take damage for no reason at all. I'm looking at you smelter 0.0

[@namarie.2289]

@@kylemenosbro said “just don’t get hit”

[@ambmamb8370]

@@namarie.2289 true tho

[@limb-o7180]

@@kylemenos tbf I did no-hit 2 bosses so far, Midir and Maliketh. I know fairly well how these games work

[@kylemenos]

@@limb-o7180 Never said you didnt know anything about the bosses. Just saying I dont think you should take damage for being close to an enemy. thats some bs

[@compassionatecurmudgeon7025]

Wait, holdup. So the scholar of the first sin version is harder? This was not made clear to me when I got it, no wonder I had more trouble than my homies and they didn't know what I was talking about. Thanks for the new cope for an old wound lol.

[@ZeludeRose]

it redid a bunch of enemy placements, generally with the goal of making a replay rewarding & still challenging to those who already played the original. this kind of inherently makes it harder, as its a response to it's own original design. scholar also has way more enemies in general, as in the amount of bodies on screen at any given point.

[@slytouge764]

Sotfs isn’t that hard

[@JHawke1]

I'd say some areas are easier in vanilla, some harder in Scholar. Scholar made the path to the Ancient Dragon a cakewalk and if you have a torch equipped for the Duke's Dear Freja she becomes a complete joke. Other areas, I wouldn't call difficult but they were certainly tedious to get through, particularly with enemies being able to cancel the fog wall animation.

[@backslash153]

I just love hearing you gush about "honorable duel" kind of fights vs enemies on equal footing knowing 2 years later Sekiro would come out being essentially a whole game about that.

[@Mozgodrobil]

until you reach a moment of "here is a giant enemy crab"

[@rekiu1314]

Sekiro isn't that at all

[@TheNapster153]

Then how does one explain Gun Saint Isshin Ashina?

[@notaspider4084]

@@rekiu1314 what? that is literally the whole point of sekiro, to be fighting enemies on actual 1-on-1 sword fights instead of the weird dodge-and-hit dance you do in soulsborne. literally the only exception to this is demon of hatred

[@rekiu1314]

@@notaspider4084 gardian ape

[@thnkr-jl7hw]

Talks about balanced npc fights Shows Jester Thomas

[@justsomeguy6841]

Though to be fair, a player invasion is leagues less balanced

[@_doop8257]

@@justsomeguy6841 depends

[@HeavenlyHavoc]

Honestly I didn't think Jester Thomas was all that hard. The dude has no poise so you can use a decently fast weapon to just cheese him if you want to, no pyromancy comes out fast enough to avoid stunlock. Power stancing with a straight sword in the left and a thrusting sword in the right and doing a basic L1+R1 combo annihilated him pretty efficiently for me

[@user-vy4dh6mh2s]

One thing that I absolutely hate about the npc encounters is that when I hit the enemy npc with my greatsword he does not budge at all and keeps hitting me like a little bitch with 4000hp and I even with 120 poise still get staggered. Using the slam of ultra greatswords and clubs & shit is for pussies.

[@raulparrado1547]

You didn"t fight npcs in demon souls xd, that was truly a hell, specially the one in the poison swamp aginst a specter with a sword that ignore shields

[@milkycannon444]

shocked that you think ds1s map design requiring a lot of back tracking is bad. Personally my favorite game in the bunch due to the map design.

[@hoonter3293]

My sentiments exactly despite Bloodborne being my favorite game in the series Dark Souls 1 is my favorite with how the world was put together.

[@unadulterated]

it's a terrible opinion and he should go to jail

[@t.d.3803]

I never got the "backtracking is bad" criticism. Why is it bad? It just is okay?! *disregards the entire metroidvania genre*

[@darragholeary8653]

@@t.d.3803 Because it's annoying

[@braddelachampe7073]

@@darragholeary8653 imo in dark souls 1 specifically it was really fun plotting out my journeys and weighing out the pros and cons of setting out to get something. i.e. i got cursed in the depths, so do i spend 6000 souls getting the purging stone from the sewer lady, or make the risk of trekking all the way to the top of undead parish to get it from oswald in order to get it for half the price

[@avatarkc]

I would love to see an update or retrospective from Hbomb on this game. Be interesting to see what a fresh take from him would be considering how much better his video game analysis has gotten in the last 5 years.

[@JohnSmith-ot4hq]

May the weirdly myopic section about shields being an inferior way of playing be culled

[@Kevindejavue]

"there is no difficulty setting in dark souls 2" Laughs in sorcerer

[@furryferret111]

I looked all through the comments to find someone to say this. Thank you. I've found the one other person who understands.

[@Ackelope]

sorceries make the game a bit of a joke in DS1 and DS3 as well tbh.

[@mobiusone6994]

laughs in the DLC

[@tonyramirez5707]

Laughs in ADP

[@mobiusone6994]

@@tonyramirez5707 I've never understood why people put so much worth in ADP, I've never put any points into it in any of my builds, can you explain it for me?

[@thealexfish4480]

beginning January 1st I played through, for the first time, DS1, DS2, DS3, Bloodborne and the Demon's Souls remake, and I can say with confidence that Dark Souls 2 is a video game.

[@googleuser9013]

That's a bold claim. But I must agree.

[@IamJakeToo]

its one of the games ever

[@senseweaver01]

I wasn't sure at first, but the more I think about it... yeah, you might be right

[@ryancliff-singleton7347]

@@nerfytheclown bro you probly searched up Polybius by accident

[@LtSprinkulz]

Faction neutral npc moment

[@bulwark7840]

"that's a nice argument, unfortunately, adaptability"

[@philbuttler3427]

Guard Counters in Elden Ring was a really elegant way to encourage action with a shield that i used a great shield the whole game and it felt so much more kinetic than DS1 and ostensibly parries being a way to encourage action with a shield

[@SpoonyBard88]

Because you need to know what attacks are good to block counter, which you should not to avoid being punished, and which you should not try to block at all to conserve your stamina so that you can keep up the pressure.

[@shumishumi2059]

"Humanity is a rare resource in dark souls 1" Laughs in darkwraith

[@saltyshishio]

Laughs in the depths.

[@dduuddeechil]

omg its like he never played the DLC its not like theirs an enemy that's literally humanity

[@TotallyCluelessGamer]

Laughs in small mountain of rat corpses.

[@_Salok]

Laughs in fire keeper soul duplication glitch.

[@ArtyoumPlays]

Laughs in the knowledge of pressing B

[@calincampbell5637]

Complains about walking to the bosses in ds1 *Frigid outskirts has entered the chat*

[@anjshaw4898]

See MauLer for analysis. 😂

[@WeskAlber]

One boss does not speak for a wider trend though. It IS the worst area of the game, but luckily that's a DLC thing that's not even required. Izalith is an entire third of the Lordsoul quest (feels more like half) that you can only skip most of if you max out spider covenant and know the shortcut.

[@calincampbell5637]

@@WeskAlber yeah I enjoy dark souls 2 and it is my favorite in the series. I just think the frigid outskirts deserves to be mentioned.

[@TheStraightestWhitest]

@@WeskAlber Nashandra is an 80 second walk. Longer than any in DS1. Velstadt is a 60 second walk. As long as the longest run in DS1. Lud & Zallen is about a 300 second run, and that's if you know which way to go as a very experienced player. That's about four times the longest boss run of DS1. Those three are just off the top of my head. See MauLer's response videos for some more examples, he lists about five DS2 boss runs that are longer than any of DS1. In other words, no the one boss doesn't speak for a wider trend. But the five bosses or so definitely do.

[@WeskAlber]

@@TheStraightestWhitest Capra is NOT a 60 second walk. There's no way. That trip always took like 2 mins at best. Izalith, no way that's 60 seconds either. Trip to the fire asylum demon too. Even the close bonfire to Quelagg... No way that's a single minute. The Kiln is also no way shorter than the trip to Nash. Walks in the series have always been pretty bad because they're meant to be full levels not walks. I think DS2 feels way better about it due to stupidly generous checkpointing for most of the game. Only a few places starve you where DS1 starving was a feature while DS2 most bosses have a bonfire what feels like super close. Maybe a lot of it is thanks to my skill level increasing in the years between DS1 and today, but I didn't get sick of the walks nearly as quickly as I did to Capra and Quelagg

[@andretti10]

Finally completed all Soulsborne games (minus Elden Ring). You def made me appreciate Dark Souls 2 a lot more. You're spot on about the whole knowing when to lock-on bit. However I strongly disagree with the criticism of Dark Souls 1 for having a feasible interconnected world. That feeling of going through a new section and seeing it lead back to somewhere familiar was amazing and encouraged exploration. I thought that was one of the strongest points.

[@ateenwholikesvideogames303]

And I love that they brought that interconnection back in the DLCs

[@Anglerbe]

@@scandalouspanda7489 Makes me wish that Dark Souls Remastered had taken more liberties, like making Blighttown a one-way trip, giving access to teleportation to all accessible bonfires from the start, and ofc actually turning Demon Ruins into a finished proper level.

[@sekiro_the_one-armed_wolf]

@@AnglerbeI mean it’s remastered, not remade

[@akiraigarashi2874]

​@@Anglerbe Teleportation from the start would completely invalidate the interconnected world

[@rat9041]

i think his take on lifegems is kinda strange. there are plenty of bossfights that you can use lifegems as your main heal for due to how quickly you move whilst using them, that speed allowing you to dodge attacks to make a healing window

[@AtreyusNinja]

U talk Like u can run while using a gem. Its still slow act, still slow healing, and u walk.

[@rat9041]

@@AtreyusNinja that walking is more than enough to make windows by dodging certain attacks. if you struggle with doing that its not my fault

[@AtreyusNinja]

@@rat9041 i was not complaining At all, saying gems > estus is Just right, but the way u Said that was like insinuation that gems are actually the best way of healing ever. I play since day 1 vanilla preorder Edition, i dont have to use any healing At all.

[@rat9041]

@@AtreyusNinja lifegems are significantly better than estus in most scenarios though

[@qwertyasdf4081]

I think estus is better if you know how to use it. The only bossfight I used lifegems as my main source of healing was Dukes Dear Freja, and I only did that because I spent all my estus in Brightstone Cove Tseldora. They are good but they require you to not get hit after using them because they heal so slow. Estus is much faster and not too hard to use when you are only fighting 1 enemy.

[@mammamiaculpa]

few things in the souls series devastated me as much as fighting all the way to the bottom of the tomb of the giants before having placed the lordvessel (as i was struggling with smough and ornstein and wanted to level my character more to help improve my odds) only to find that fucking golden mist, THEN realising i had to climb all the way back out again

[@zedoctor3724]

Holy shit, same kinda thing happened during my first playthrough. There was a point where I didn't know where I was supposed to go next, so I thought, "Oh, maybe I'm supposed to go further and further down into the pitch-black skeleton pit." Through much suffering, I finally hit a roadblock when I found that wall of piss mist, and then a horrific realization set in that I can't teleport back to the surface and have to run all the way back up.

[@uberdwarf6539]

I just restarted when it happened to me, I couldn't find the way back up

[@dalgusmaximus4557]

The thing that kills me about that is you can see the bed of chaos and ash lake from deep in the tomb, why the fuck didn't they just connect these areas.

[@SuperLotus]

"But Dark Souls 1 is so great - it's like a Metroidvania where you can go anywhere and then everything just comes together brilliantly" 😂 (except when it doesn't)

[@leonardo9259]

@@SuperLotus It comes back together tbh, but only for the first half of the game, all the lord souls are pretty much dead ends lmao

[@aquanecromancer5776]

It's really odd that I absolutely adore DS2, but for almost none of the reasons Harry does.

[@Christian-vq3lr]

Aqua Necromancer probably

[@Nix-nb3zn]

so true

[@Nix-nb3zn]

he didnt do this game justice even though he was trying his best, somehow 😂😂

[@lexort4204]

Welcome to the subjectivity of Art!

[@TheStraightestWhitest]

Same here. I still like it the least of all Souls games though. It's just a nice goofy adventure for me.

[@Spark31Gaming]

The section where you talk about monster hunter's lack of lock in is really funny because it does have one. It just is, as you put it, used sparingly. It doesn't just put your camera on the target, it just makes it so when you press the "center camera" button it goes to the monster without tracking it. Really useful designed such that you're encouraged to use the camera as well.

[@sams7068]

Have you played older monster hunters? I’ve only played rise but I was under the (possibly mistaken) impression it was a somewhat new thing in the series, that’s what someone said

[@Spark31Gaming]

@@sams7068 I've been playing since 3 Ultimate which I think came out over ten years ago. That game also had the same lock on feature if I'm not mistaken. I think in those games how you pick which monster you're targeting is a little different (instead of using L3 you use the 3DS touch screen). I don't think those games would be playable without the lock on since the 3DS doesn't have a second stick to control the camera.

[@Sirfortune881]

Its ben sence i was a kid but I belive mh1 had it to lock on then hit a button to recenter on the monster I could be wrong thou my memory is a little hazie I do remeber you attacked with the right analog stick

I was not particularly good at analysing the media I consume at the time I played DkS2, but despite that, it struck me then how many ways the game outright tells you that it can't be DkS1. So many item descriptions for example make reference to trying to recapture the glory of a bygone age, or just being a pale imitation of the original. How did people not see that

[@leviamaya2787]

The game sucks so it's not very endearing to notice those things when the whole product is rubbish overall

@@leviamaya2787 lmao

[@gordonslamsay8074]

That point is all well and good, but falls somewhat flat in hindsight. While for the purposes of a video essay breaking down the story elements and themes, that's fine. But when playing the game it just feels way worse to actually do anything in 2 than 1. So the reaction to those item descriptions just make it feel like they made a worse game on purpose. Especially considering that DS3 pretty well recaptured how DS1 felt to play. (Obviously it's much faster than 1 but the feel is much closer)

@@gordonslamsay8074 nah. I enjoyed the game on its own merits, noticed these aspects while I was playing, and thought, "Hah, neat that they're drawing attention to how this game is, and has to be, different."

[@gordonslamsay8074]

@ fair enough, to each their own and all that. Personally though, with the critical mass of design choices that just feel worse to me and the fact that 2 is very much the odd one out in terms of game feel, I'm less inclined to enjoy those nods.

[@staudinga]

"Let's say there was no healing at all" As someone who missed the Estus Flask in DS1 I can imagine that quite easily.

[@fernandofaria2872]

How is that possible? you need to get it to get the key to progress :/

[@staudinga]

@@fernandofaria2872 I don't think so. I only got it on my second visit to the Asylum, after I talked to a friend how ridiculous it was that only Humanity could heal you, and he pointed the Estus Flask out. Had to google how to do that though

[@QwertyUiop-bs2zr]

​@@staudinga it is a glitch that happens if you miss some important stuff but I don´t think you can get them if you visit the asylum again, you just lose the estus forever

[@staudinga]

@@QwertyUiop-bs2zr Maybe I remember it wrong and I actually restarted my game from the beginning, but I'm pretty sure I got the Estus Flask on the second visit to the Asylum that playthrough.

[@staudinga]

@@bradleyhandsonjoehallschro5419 that I definitely didn't. You guys almost want to make me reinstall to check. ^^

[@ballingdrums1644]

Elden ring was my first souls game. After beating it I went back and played the others from the first one onto the second and I remember a comment I saw about elden ring from someone online who said if you can learn how to fight without the lock on always being on then you will be better at the game. And in DS 2 that advice really helped me out

[@metalsludge8205]

playing without lock-on is fine for melee, but free-aiming spells rarely works out. seems like even when your camera is positioned completely straight ahead, the projectile always travels either way over your aim point, or directly to your feet. wish they had a crosshair-based aim for spells like they do for bows/crossbows.

[@hyper0505]

for me, lock-on is suitable for humanoid bosses. But for larger size bosses, without lock-on is better.

[@Matt-fe6wu]

Noted you just said about the mages in the Shrine area is fine because you can hit back. Not realising people don't want to sit there with binoculars or a bow scoped in on one mage for several minutes, then move onto the next one, and the 5 after that, spending a long time to take out the mages. Then you die to a phantom not long after, so yet again you have to spend far to long boringly sniping these mages. It is simply not a good level, along with many others such as black gulch, designed not for enjoyment but to make it as irritating as possible.

[@frost7842]

I think you missunderstand the argument a bit, it's not that the area is fine because you can shoot at the mages, it's fine because it gives you options how you aproach it. You can shoot at them yes, but their projectiles are slow, are very visible and have a loud, distinct sound that lets you know when they are close so running is also a valid option. The Shrine also has a lot of clutter for you to hide behind in case you need a breather for healing etc. Imo Shrine is still annoying but that's mostly because of my playstyle and lack of patience, but still will run through it over Underbaked Izalith or Smouldering "Skip the whole location and go to the boss" Lake. Also Black Gulch isn't that bad, it's very small, mostly a straight line, the bonfire is close to the boss and the visual design is cool.

[@Matt-fe6wu]

@@frost7842 my comment was a response to what was said in the video, I wasn’t commenting as a generic thought. The only ways to go about it is to stand there and fire back in an incredibly slow shooting match, keep running over one by one where you keep being pushed back by spells, and there is a lot of mages you have to go to since they’ve been copied and pasted one after the other all doing the same thing. Black gulch is one of the worst areas in the game. It’s designed to be annoying. You have to one by one take out the pillars to avoid being poisoned or rush through it and be poisoned and caught in a stun position, die and re do it. On top of that, they put two or three NPC phantoms to deal with. The boss itself I thought was a fair boss however where you’re punished by your mistakes rather than anything else.

[@manofcrazy2245]

"Dark Souls 2 doesn't place roadblocks in the most obvious gateways of progression" laughs in statue

[@giannieditsvideos]

Laughs in pile of rubble

[@ZeronFXL]

To be fair, it was a lot better before Scholar of the First SIn saw fit to make it 5.67x worse.

[@Soter94]

*laughs in a meter and a half of debree stopping every living being from entering the mighty castle of drangleic just because the the Shrine of Winter looks sexier and everyone wants to pass through that*

[@xuanathan]

Hbomberguy: The story in Dark Souls 2 is actually kind of genius The story: “Welp, looks like theres a bit of rubble where I’m trying to go, better just kill every living creature in Drangleic!”

[@benhardwiesner6963]

4x the rotten is basically easier than fixing the doorway.....

[@kizuuwu7563]

"In Defense of In Defense of Dark Souls 2" when, Harris?

[@adnandelic9093]

When dark souls 2 stops being a dead game

[@simpletonapollo9723]

Never, because DS2 is a trash game.

[@maceopearson8879]

@@simpletonapollo9723 tell me about it. You know, it had so many cool ideas, but got so lost because of how incompetant the team who made it was. It could have been great, but it was not good, and I feel really bad.

[@nozomashii821]

@@simpletonapollo9723 And yet I still go back to play it more than dark souls 1, despite it's numerous problems. There's just something very charming and fun about it that the first game doesn't hit for me

[@trollerblack]

@@nozomashii821 Whether DS2 is good or bad is purely subjective and those who preach about how bad it was are either trolling or are trying to shove their opinions down people's throat's. I for one enjoyed DS3 the most purely because mechanically it was the most responsive and fun, whereas DS2 hit me with interesting areas, ideas, fun PvP and the best NG on them all. DS on the other hand, was the last game I played and frankly, aside from some feels, it did not feel all that fun or interesting. Perhaps it was because I played in a different order? I would rank BB - DS3 - DS2 - DS from best to worst. Am I wrong? No. Are others who say DS2 is the worst? No. It's all subjective and there is no point in arguement.

[@danielgilbert8338]

The hidey knights getting up and going for you works even if scholar is your first taste of 2. They wait until you're just used to them not getting up before they start getting up. Scholar is the only way I ever played 2, And I loved it

[@maynardwayward12]

In DS1 you're intended to be a minor character. You're a "chosen undead" but it's made apparent you aren't the only one. That's one aspect I found refreshing about it...you don't have a huge impact on events, you have to fight your way up from being completely insignificant, though you never become a godlike, influential character. You're more or less the everyman in this dark fantasy universe. It makes the world that much more horrifying and depressing and...Lovecraftian?

[@ChickenJoe-tq6xd]

This

[@TheMarkFlanagan]

felt that in two too. honestly my favorite part of the series

[@maynardwayward12]

@@TheMarkFlanagan same!

[@thinhhoang3338]

Very late here, but I would like to add that it's the exact same thing with DS3. And it feels a lot more realistic, weirdly enough. You are literally a nobody, working your way up.

[@TheGameVerse]

​@@thinhhoang3338i mean, thats how it is in all DS games, Elden Ring does the same thing as well

[@moonlight-qr6px]

"I like having friends" *shows npc summon*

[@evilpub]

Are you saying lucatiel Isn't my friend?

[@moonlight-qr6px]

@@evilpub damn now i feel bad

[@Ara_Arasaka]

He was talking about the NPCs though? Like Solarie is your friend.

[@AtreyusNinja]

I mean, maybe he had no video recorded with friends on his oc and he rushed an entire run recording it for the video? Some ppl think utubers are Magic creature able to do everything in this world :). Srsly Your comment is a bit dumb :'D And also, whats wrong with npc lol

[@aidenwright845]

video games friend simulator

[@mizcs]

the falconer armor doesn't let you have a falcon companion 0/100

[@GrassPokeKing]

But the SHOES are ASYMMETRIC....... 2/100

[@TheRoxDen]

Yo I paid 40 bucks for a game that doesn't let me have a falcon companion! 0/10 bruh, give me my birb

[@pandorisagaming8745]

That would have been sweet or the rapid arrow bow would have been cool o3o

[@peculiarchangeling7100]

This is a late reply to a tiny point in an oversaturated comment section, but: Matthewmatosis was arguing that the turtle enemies had good design because you *couldn't* circle strafe them, except that this interesting design choice was ruined by the fact that the turtle enemies track you so much that you almost never see their back slam attack. The clip of him getting hit by the attack was one he recorded to show off the interesting attack and highlight it. (And during his clips of the Pursuer fight, he was talking about Agility and inconsistent I-frames, not tracking.)

[@8-bitblues]

I've tried watching this video twice and I've always quit at 23:36 when hbomberguy accuses Matthewmatosis of incorrectly doging while showing Matthewmatosis correctly doging and still getting hit because he didn't level adaptability

[@mrbrochacho2494]

Yea, it's a very disingenuous video. Matthew even talks about it in that clip and Harris conveniently leaves that out, just so he can call him bad.

[@Thomas.c4647]

"correctly dodging" is not dodging into the direction of the swing. Would he have rolled away from the boss or into the direction of the sword, he wouldn't have gotten hit. The pursuer is one of the few bosses that can be dodged with low agility. So not a good dodge, even with a bit more agility, this would have been a hit.

[@dragonheart967]

​@@Thomas.c4647what you failed to realize is that this isn't a "bad dodge", it's an example to showcase the issue that Matt is pointing out can happen because for attacks like these, you have to be conscious of your ADP level and s. He is showcasing that you can get hit midroll, then provides an example of how you would get hit midroll, then you're complaining that he isn't dodging in a way to not get hit midroll.

[@OXY187]

There is one thing I still admire of DKS2; Fashion Souls. Clothes and armors are well designed, they look so good.

[@beanieguitarguy4070]

Literally the only reason to play a game.

[@sphealingit222]

Ah, I see you're an undead of culture as well

[@KRIMZONMEKANISM]

@@beanieguitarguy4070 that and the fact that any build you can think of is viable with the right gear. And you can then rock the sickest outfit to boot. :)

[@supergoodadvice853]

@@KRIMZONMEKANISM Exactly. The only game with both Sorcery, and even FAITH as a viable option for PvP.

[@victorbitencourt9481]

@@supergoodadvice853 except pure sorcery. that one sucks. much much better on ds3

[@aaaaaahhh9537]

This is the Dark Souls 2 of Hbomberguy videos.

[@VladDascaliuc]

I genuinly doubt that. DS2 was done by the B team. This video was done by the guy himself.

[@c.b.5104]

You mean it's bad?

[@VladDascaliuc]

@@c.b.5104 It obviously is. Saying otherwise would be a flat out lie.

[@gymnopedieno.2925]

@@c.b.5104 it is really bad

[@c.b.5104]

@@gymnopedieno.2925 Indeed

[@kyletrout3828]

If you're struggling, just summon someone. Whether it's an NPC or another person. We're all adults here. You don't need to prove something to people on the internet unless you really want to. Summon and don't let some guy with a brain for attack patterns make you feel some type of way about it.

[@mojojogio6031]

yeah but thats boring

[@kyletrout3828]

@@mojojogio6031 it does cripple the challenge. I really wish there was some sort of medium option. It's either wild difficult or broken fight.

[@certifiedbetas1238]

People who don't have Xbox live gold or ps plus for multiplayer:

[@kyletrout3828]

@@certifiedbetas1238 I covered that with the NPC portion of the statement.

[@Artemito91sk8]

@@kyletrout3828 are you describing elden ring´s gameplay?

[@mitchellpecord9587]

Man, you really should have talked about ADP. My first playthrough I knew nothing about it and had a terrible time, but my second time I did and took advantage of the stat. For all the talk you do about how a game teaches you, it's conspicuous that you don't mention this flaw in the design of the game.

[@chipbutty3645]

He tip tows over all the flaws of the games to make a shitty point and takes points from others out of content or cuts their points to make them seem worse to build himself up

[@kys1453]

@@chipbutty3645 how abt giving specifc examples?

[@Mustang_Click]

@@kys1453 ADP, hitboxes, bad movement in Scholar, needless emphasis on difficulty resulting in it being unfair, some of the shittest bosses in the series, etc

[@ayneeldesu2221]

@@kys1453 He does this the entire video.

[@kingnro1]

@@kys1453 If you watch Matthewmatosis' vid, you'll see his points are misrepresented here

[@tristanseaver9054]

A critique on your critique around the 41 minute mark: It could easily be argued that anyone that was able to make their way through the first Dark Souls would have an advantage in trying to make it through Dark Souls 2. Your friend not asking questions on how to get through the game is possibly attributed to their growth as a player, not the level design of Dark Souls 2.

[@Ravielsk]

There was also a fully established community and forums where he could seek out help or get straightforward answers when DS2 came out. DS1 had none of that safe for a few Demons Souls enthusiasts but that was really only a spec compared to what came into existence after DS1.

[@ArtyoumPlays]

Is nobody going to cover how easy DS2 was or how linear it is? Sure, you get to choose WHICH linear path you get to go down, but there's little branching off at all. Sure, linearity isn't all that bad but it makes things easy. Piss easy. With 4 areas just HANGING AROUND at the beginning of DS2, none of them were really allowed to bring up the difficulty. Maybe Freja's area (can't remember the name since the atmosphere is so pitifully unremarkable) turns up the damage numbers on the spider hollows but if you even get hit by one of them, I consider you bad. Seriously, they move at like 2km/h. Just like, go around them and get to the boss. Boss souls are the only ones that matter in the long run anyways. Trash mobs give like 500 souls max in NG so thankfully, grinding is pretty ineffectual compared to actually playing the game. Since most, if not all, of the mobs are these painfully slow enemies that always group up in threes or fours, it's a lot easier to just run past em. They can't catch up to you because if three or four FAST monsters constantly attacked you, then the game would be seen as unfair. Not only all this, but with SO MANY HUMAN ENEMIES, telegraphing on enemy attacks is ridiculously, hilariously, pitifully, saddeningly, punishingly.... easy to read. Enemy raises arm? Stop holding forward on control stick. Now hold left until you're close to behind them. Press R1. There, you just beat all but like 2 bosses in this entire game. Off the top of my head, those two would the Throne Watcher/Defender and Freja. Everyone else in the entire game can be beaten by backstab fishing. Since they're so fixed on homing in on you via rotating and not... idk... having AOE attacks or moving, or being well programmed, you can easily get at least 2 big attacks in before the enemy has full spun around. Took me about an afternoon to beat DS2 after I figured out how vulnerable everything is in this game to backstabs compared to 1. At least they put up a shield or had an animation to back away from you. Dark Souls 2 is so easy and sloppy, it can't even prevent me from cheesing it through 8 hours of backstabs. Not that I needed to. About 15 minutes in DS1 can prepare you for #2. Imagine what 150 hours got me

[@diosrightcalfmuscle4090]

Everytime I watch that bit after actually going away and playing the game, I like to think that its because his friend gave up on the game because of how unintuative the progression is, how broken the healing is, how stiff and glitchy the fighting it and how there are areas filled with ganks despite his lies in this video.

[@timmothyjames7876]

@@ArtyoumPlays I know it's been 3 years, but I felt the need to make this reply. if you really try to give DS2 a chance to be enjoyed, you will enjoy it. That I can guarantee. Speaking as someone who played and loved DS1 and DS3 long before DS2, I can still honestly say I enjoyed experiencing DS2 the most of the trio. I never found the game easier or more linear than any of the others. To respond to your first paragraph, the game isn't linear. Objectively speaking it isn't. It grants so many different paths and ways to reach the castle in the first section that has already been brought up in the video. Each path is close enough to the same difficulty that while each person will typically take certain paths first, it could be challenged in any order and still feel legitimate. When I first played, I remember walking into the room with the petrified pyromancer on the switch and found that so interesting. I found it interesting enough that I searched up how to free her and got a fragrant branch from the merchant in the forest. Freja ended up being the first old one's soul that I got in my first ever playthrough of the game, and it's become my habit to go that way because I got used to that path. Every time I tried to explore and enjoy the world in the first game, I was punished for it. Not only was I was punished, I got through it after a long time, and then reached a massive wall that told me what I did was wrong. It told me that what I did lacked value. The first game didn't permit me to enjoy the game outside of a set path and even if that path looped around and intersected itself, it didn't feel nonlinear. The first game felt, to me, interconnected but bland. It was a game that forced me to go in circles getting keys and ringing bells to go to new branches of the world, and it was tedious. I didn't feel that in DS2. Don't misunderstand me, I loved my time playing DS1, but the way DS2 was made brought more enjoyment to me. It made me feel more important as a player than DS1 ever did, and that's why I enjoyed it more than the other games. For your next point about enemies being too easy to cheese, I'd say that's your fault. I got the black knight halberd on my first run of DS1 and I didn't enjoy most of the bosses as a result. I used an OP weapon, and I got severely disappointed when I finally reached Ornstien and Smough. My build killed them in 10-12 hits total and I had a moment after the fight when I thought "really? This fight is what was leading up to getting this magic relic that lets me literally teleport? DS1 is, to a degree, easier to trivialize even if not every method is through backstabs. Maybe it's because of the mindset I adopted when I began playing, but I don't think I backstabbed very much at all when I played. Every fight was a different method of exploring how fights could be done. DS1 lacked that. Encounters in DS1 could always be calculated down into a different type of block, dodge, hit, repeat. By the time that becomes even remotely viable in DS2, it feels foreign to you because you were taught to take more risks and do more with what you had. If you didn't enjoy DS2 because you thought it was too easy through backstabs, then maybe you should have done something else. In my later runs that didn't have the black knight halberd, I learned why everyone else seemed to love the O and S fight in DS1. I changed the way I played that part, and my experience improved as a result. Playing a game in one unenjoyable way and ignoring the countless other, more fun methods you were given to choose from doesn't make the game a bad game. It makes you a bad player for not choosing the way that would have brought you more enjoyment. Games are made to be enjoyed. If you can't enjoy it no matter what you do, then maybe it's the fault of the developer, but if you dislike one method and never change from that method you know you dislike, you don't have the right to say the game is at fault. The game gave you every chance and incentive to change, but it was you who chose to rebuke it. All in all, you're allowed to have your opinion. I honestly believe what you say was your honest experience. The thing that I find disappointing with your comment is that you decided that your experience meant the game itself was bad when you didn't go in intending to find an enjoyable game. Maybe it's true that the way the game is made makes it unfun for you, but there's a good reason that DS2 is the Dark Souls game I return to when I find myself wanting to play the series again even if it was the third souls game I played. The reason no one is talking about those aspects of the game you find problematic is because other people adapted. Any game has flaws, and the player's job is to at least attempt to find a fun experience despite those flaws. That's what every player did with DS1, and that's what every player did with DS2. The only difference was the set of flaws people had to adapt to. The reason you maybe didn't enjoy the game as much and think it's far more poorly designed is because you didn't try to adapt to the newer set of flaws. You went into a new game and tried to play it like a previous game, and that's not possible even within franchises. Not trying to adapt to a new game is your fault, not the game's. You need to accept that and either move to a different game or try to enjoy the game in a new way. What you don't need to do is continue spending time disliking a game that you dislike. Find a way to enjoy it, or forget it. There's no need for something else.

[@dragonheart967]

@@timmothyjames7876 Kind of a lopsided argument there, isn't it? So it's the players fault if the game seems to actively downgrade it's mechanics and we don't like how it did that? Literally dumbing down AI to the point where it doesn't even have character left in it and not dumbing down our playstyle is our fault? I'm sorry if I'm coming off as a little aggressive here, but what you just wrote is a literate slap to the face. By your logic, it's your fault for not looking deeply enough into the world that is DS1 and picking out the well thought out the narrative is entwined with item drops and NPC locations. Like discovering the Black Iron set and realizing the the fate of Black Iron Tarkus. Simple, concise, and tells a story with only a few points. I would argue that DS1 did a far better job of building a world than DS2 building pretty sky boxes and video game levels back from the 80s. Did you even care to stop and compare Dranglaic castle with Lordran? At least Lordran put a couple bedrooms in like an actual castle would. Also, at the beginning of DS2, you only really have 2 pathways open at the beginning, 3 if you get the cats ring. Otherwise, you'll need to follow the two paths until to find the items needed to unlock the rest of the paths.

[@MrNegativeable]

Dear Hbomber, I genuinely got my feelings hurt, when you mentioned that the Adjudicator fight from Demon's Souls was "the most forgettable fight in the game"... It was my favorite boss... I hate you, please continue to make videos. Love, -Me

[@silversnail1413]

Agreed. Dirty Colossus was easily the lamest and least memorable fight in Demon's Souls. Adjudicator at least had a cool design and some interesting moves.

[@xourbo8734]

"My favourite boss was the super easy one with the attacks that almost never come close to hitting you" Maybe you should play a different game

[@aceisdead775]

@@xourbo8734 I like adjudicator because he looks cool as fuck

[@internetuser7399]

@@xourbo8734 I can't tell if you're in on the joke or seriously annoyed

[@braden_m]

@@silversnail1413 holy shit like I actually actually forgot about Dirty Colossus. So fair point

[@andrewgonzales6527]

The existence of a stat dedicated for i frames when you roll, and the fact that the default i frames for the said roll is about the same as a fat roll is reason enough to call it the worst souls game.

[@Darkvalentine333]

As someone whos favorite soulsborne game is Demon's Souls, i love Dark Souls 2. I think this video is, to a fairly large extent, ignorant and dismissive of many of the complaints people have about it, but it IS a great game and one i enjoy playing. I just dont like when people who defend it over correct and start pretending like its issues...arent issues lol

[@zoromax10]

you start by saying that herald is a best waifu than gwynevere, but fail to acknowledge the true best waifu Crossbreed Priscila

[@FishKiller_0]

Dude... Ornifex.

[@xfsoz2011]

Solaire

[@pls9128]

I think you mean Gwyndolin

[@Hopper_Arts]

No, the best waifu is the doll

[@FishKiller_0]

@@Hopper_Arts I find it funny that you can't remember their name.

[@LN.2233]

holy shit, I can't believe you actually missed the bonfire next to quelaag in Blighttown.

[@BloodyDIMISIS55]

what are you talking about? how the hell can you know the first time if the illusionary door was there? plus there is a bonfire in the entrance of the demon... place (wow cant believe i forgot the name) so you wont start looking for secrets in that room.

[@LN.2233]

BloodyDIMISIS55 not that one. The one next to the sewer before quelaag

[@glacim]

Tbh if you don't explore in dark souls you're gonna suffer, and that suffering is kinda well deserved.

[@ArtyoumPlays]

Sum up in this video in 2 seconds or less: "get gud"

[@sageofthepsychopaths341]

+BloodyDIMISIS55 lol the only reason i realised that that was an illusory wall was that i felt the level was missing something and the texture was a bit repetitive on that exact wall soooo hit it and booom bonfire.

[@majorghoul9017]

Completely unrelated to the video but I absolutely love how, at 47:56, you can practically see the excitement Hbomb has at getting lucky enough to roll a black knight sword as he immediately goes to equip it

[@chadthunder5068]

Should have titled this video In Attack of Dark Souls 1

[@richardthompson3798]

Alternate title: In Offense of Dark Souls 1

[@okagron]

Or: "I'm butthurt that a lot of people claim Dark Souls 1 is great and that Dark Souls 2 is the weakest in the series, so i'm gonna use Dark Souls 1 as a target and make it much worse than it is, while making Dark Souls 2 much better than it actually is". Long title but gets the job done. This is just like that Manyatruenerd video where he used terrible arguments to make Fallout 3 much better than it is, while making New Vegas a target and making that game much worse than it is. Only because the general consensus of the community is that New Vegas is a much better game than Fallout 3 and he's a Bethesda shill.

[@davidrafael2994]

Wow...

[@Belial-jv5tq]

@@okagron U mad bro? DS2 >>>>DS1

[@theprotopotato2531]

Really dont know why everyone in the dark souls community always has to pick and choose which dark souls is the worst or best

[@zyadzekri39]

@@theprotopotato2531 And be a prick about it

[@giorgoslykeridis2558]

whenever i talk about games, movies etc. i always have to second guess my opinions because are they my own, or did i just hear them in a review at some point

[@armored1033]

If you agree that's your opinion, but it is just that you couldn't express it before

[@marciamakesmusic]

@@armored1033 not necessarily true

[@josiahferrell5022]

@@marciamakesmusic How is it not true? If you agree with something, then it is your opinion that it is correct. It doesn't matter if you heard it from someone else, because it became your opinion, as well.

[@miragenite1]

@@josiahferrell5022 I'm pretty sure he just likes disagreeing with people for fun judging by his other comments on here.

[@thatpersonineverycommentse2195]

still an opinion you agree with so it's okay... or did i tell you that because someone told me it's okay?

[@duckmanbill7420]

The Beatles slander here is unforgivable

[@MrMerryFISTmas]

There’s a bonfire right at the beginning of the Demon Ruins. You can’t miss it.

[@WeirdTroll666]

you cant warp to it

[@rastyisanerd3686]

@@WeirdTroll666 you can warp to the bonfire next to Quelanaa though

[@WeirdTroll666]

@@rastyisanerd3686 yeah i know but people that dont find it are fcked

[@matteoar]

@@rastyisanerd3686 which is the one Harris talked about and the one hidden by an invisible wall that most people that don't know about it already will probably miss on their first run down, meaning they'll have to go through Blighttown again just to get down there, which was Harris' point.

[@sekiro_the_one-armed_wolf]

@@matteoarnot if you have messages on lmao. “Huh why are there six trillion messages on the ground?”

[@bagz8388]

Replaying the game, there was one major issue I had with 2. There were countless instances of invisible lines you crossed that scripted everyone in the room to gank you, and this included unreachable enemies in hidden spots that you couldnt flush out with a bow. These enemies often times would also sprint as fast as you did, and often had too much poise to be stunned. These fights were often just not fun, especially on repeated attempts.

[@McBonesJones]

especially bad on SotFS, flashbacks of iron keep

[@slytouge764]

Uhhh just kill the enemies on the way then

[@asgth6147]

"just kill the enemies on the way then" bit fucking hard when they aren't "on the way" but rather 50 fucking meters forwards with 1 or more walls between you until their sword is up your ass while you are trying to kill the 4 other dudes blocking your path to the boss.

[@abcdeika]

@Asgth I feel your pain

[@aryabratsahoo7474]

@@asgth6147 kill them until they despawn /s

[@CoryLottSucks]

I live in a constant state of fear, a constant looking over my shoulder. Always on the run. You see, I’m a person who enjoyed Dark Souls II more than Dark Souls. I remember telling many of my friends that this game is “what a sequel should be…” They remembered too.

[@colecrosier2271]

i relate, dark souls 1 is good but the end brings it down so hard for me

[@sans-gp1zm]

"I live in a constant state of fear" Were you talking about the game or your life bruh

[@chaoticdetectivepeach]

@@colecrosier2271 Ok but the ending is amazing, you can just kick Gwyn's ass cuz ur a parry god (unless ur one of those casuals, then ur still a god bc u played an beat DS) and just absolutely style on him, then leave, be like cool that was rad, cya, and just dip

[@colecrosier2271]

@@chaoticdetectivepeach lost izalath is probably the least fun ive had playing games

[@TuffMelon]

@@chaoticdetectivepeach I think he means the part where they ran out of money/time and many of the last areas were basically linear and unimaginative for the most part, especially in relation to the first majority of the game.

[@mreatboom1314]

Adaptability, how could you not mention it ?

[@TheColorUrple]

Probably because he didn't know about it. He doesn't strike me as an expert on the game, just a fan who isn't stupid.

[@grassblock7668]

@@TheColorUrple he also messed up a couple of names, so it is likely he hasn't played it in a long time and was going off by memory here, which still worked out perfectly.

[@Nyrkvennasogur]

Easy, because it's a video in *defense* of the game. Why bring up an annoying thing

[@jakemakarov9716]

Having only bought and played SOTFS, I can't help but wonder what the game used to be. I remember getting really frustrated in Forest of the Giants because of just how MANY enemies there were around some corners, but once I got a playstyle down that could handle it I quite enjoyed it. I cannot imagine the game with less fuckers trying to swarm you

[@7rhymes599]

Dark Souls II lets me play a character who's left handed by using the Falchion and that makes me happy. I saw I could use it in my let hand for normal swing, said that she was predominantly left handed, and she went through with a sword in the left hand, a staff in the right, and enough Soul Arrows to make a LMG feel insecure about it's magazine size.

[@nothingunusual7107]

you couldnt backstab or riposte with your left hand though which sucked

[@alieremainsalie6469]

there's a weapon in the second DLC that gets a unique moveset when wielded in the left hand!

[@icebrorottenmushroom1817]

@Sean it i think also deals more damage when using it with the left hand

[@SSIKBuLLeT]

@Sean doesn't even need to be two copies just another great sword works with it.

[@stevensubianto9862]

"to make an LMG feel insecure about its magazine size" is the best expression I've heard all week. :D

[@manofcrazy2245]

"Humanity is a rare resource" Rats: are we a joke to you?

[@xuanathan]

Humanity sprites: Yes you are.

[@_MaximusM_]

@@xuanathan 😂😂😂

[@YMSHighlights]

Skeleton Babies too.

[@urieluriel715]

Xuanathan, Both have to be farmed, so do skeleton babies. Then again, it's the same for Dark Souls 2.

[@Bluemarz9]

@@xuanathan Fire keeper soul glitch: *laughs in the distance*

[@matthewpinn4]

Monster hunter does have a lock on, it only ever allows you to lock on to big monsters and rather than sticking your camera to them perfectly it sets them as your camera reset position instead of right in front of you. That way you can quickly refocus but still able to maneuver the battlefield

[@aitismarka9483]

I'm willing to bet that the incoherent world design of DkS2 wasn't intentional but rather the result of an utterly fucked development cycle.

[@driguesbarcellos]

you would win that bet

[@madcashewnutjob3345]

I agree, but I did like that the world wasn’t predictable.

[@four-en-tee]

@@madcashewnutjob3345 Same, but its still badly designed. Still a pretty fun game though. Incredibly rough, but at least its not something awful like TLOU2. This is still, like, a 7-8 out of 10 game.

[@sapphire4310]

that's literally just a fact at this point lmao. they outright said in an interview that they had 1 year to piece together a new game from the assets they had already made for the previous version

[@prettyradhandle]

"utterly fucked cycle" just like linking a specific flame...

[@aliquidcow]

The game apparently wants to teach you to fight without a shield and rely on dodging and rolling, but then gives you extremely low iFrames during rolls, unless you built up the Adaptability stat quite a lot, and then doesn't tell you that...

[@QuckHead]

aliquidcow Yeah. This video is only opinion and then occasional out of context nitpicking of Matthew's video. I do have to agree though that the example with the 2 dragon riders is a bit pathetic on Matthew as you can just lower the music volume a bit and hear the bow reloading absolutely fine.

[@aliquidcow]

@@QuckHead It always feels like a bad tactic to take one particular person's argument and pick it apart as if it shows that the viewpoint as a whole is wrong. Like Matthew may very well be making bad points about why DS2 sucks, but that doesn't mean that DS2 doesn't suck.

[@KingKongsFingers]

@@QuckHead so it was designed poorly and you have to fix it? Matthews point is still very valid then

[@QuckHead]

@@KingKongsFingers Then again he didn't know when he pulled off a succesful bunnyhop in Devil Daggers because the ocvious sound que and fov shift was apparently too hard to make out when the screen became cluttered.

[@Tenchigumi]

To be fair, if you develop the ability to dodge with DS2 shitty starting i-frames, you'll be able to dodge damn well anything with the proper i-frames. During my first run through DS2, I didn't even know what Agility/Adaptability were and just thought that the dodge in DS2 was garbage by default, but I stuck with it and when I got to DS3 I was basically invincible.

[@KTSamurai1]

"i know i speak authoritatively sometimes" *sometimes*

[@dontask8294]

S O M E T I M E S

[@crimsonlanceman7882]

I love hbomberguy but I'll admit, that made me smile.

[@MrTombombodil]

People have been conditioned to always pacify and mollify and qualify every word they say. We've been taught to not be confident on our own opinions, regardless of how much time we spent considering them or how well we establish and support them. It's telling that so many people (not you but other people in the comment section) get really salty just by the fact that someone states their opinion in a way that doesn't meekly offer concession to every other possible take on a game, movie or situation.

[@KTSamurai1]

you're in a comments section on youtube, mate; we're not in a subculture conditioned to be meek in any way hbomb's reading of controversial works like dark souls 2 or the star wars prequels or whatever very often has a dismissive tone to people who disagree with him. he genuinely believes that detractors have missed something, which is fine, but he often shares this belief in a belittling manner I remember seeing an exchange between him and the pop culture detective where PCD observes a particular scene in one of the prequels and points problems he sees with it. in response, hbomb sarcastically pointed out things like the lighting and framing in the scene like PCD was some kind of dense idiot, doing what he could to point out what he thought was obviously intentional by lucas but most of the rest of us saw as a glaring mistake (and he could be right. maybe). he came across as snooty dipshit and it left a bad taste in my mouth. when he has time to write and edit himself, however, hbomb is excellent at balancing between being a performative shit and making an excellent point but sometimes his pretentiousness slips even in his videos and he paints his detractors as witless morons i still find his critiques and observations interesting and useful but yeah he can be a butt sometimes and people can react poorly to it

[@nibblrrr7124]

KTSamurai1 [to the melody of "everybody hurts"]

[@BC21beats]

I think the lock on actually works well for multiple enemies you cna flick between them to switch your view faster then click off to attack in a different direction

[@jasper_the_ghost]

Yes! Exactly! Finally someone gets it! It’s not one or the other, it’s about skill and what you like to do. The “focus on one enemy” button can also be used to pick you targets of a horde that are more vulnerable. Like, if you’re being swamped by hollows, and one steps a bit more forward than the rest; you can focus on just them and pick them out of the pack.

[@willhproductions9048]

There's no way this guy defended shrine of Amana

[@elvedincatak9557]

Worst place in souls history

[@fafofafin]

Shrine of Amana is gorgeous, and a pretty interesting challenge gameplay-wise. Better than Fucktown Fuck Telsdora

[@Typhlan]

I usually like Hbomb's videos, and while I agree that Dark Souls 2 is good, I just can't agree with some of his takes on Dark Souls 1 here. Like for instance about the map; he finds it more interesting that it connects in ways that don't make sense, but that to me just seems like regular video game fair. The interconnectedness of Dark Souls 1 was much more impressive to me, as that takes more effort to pull off, and it's also a great feeling learning how to navigate the dangerous world in new and faster ways. It feels really memorable and rewarding finding a new path to the hub when you haven't unlocked warp yet and could really use that shortcut.

[@justmoody5797]

He instead of telling how Dark souls story is complex and deep and everything he said it like was saying to a child go bells then kill lords then link fire which he skipped over all the details that made DS 1 good in the first place then he starts in DS 2 saying the details like it is so biased which i don't like . He makes this thing on combat world and everything instead of comparing them fair he is just biased

[@Edhelvar]

Exactly, many things he's saying that he likes less in DS1 than in DS2 are things that are more generic in DS2. Dark Souls with its connectivity and focus to go through levels back and forth (and get to know them well) made it so unique. After playing each game once I could remember most of most DS1 areas, how they were constructed, and maybe 1 or 2 of DS2, the ones where I died the most...

[@RatchetandSly]

He is so needlessly antagonistic and passive aggressive towards MatthewMatosis' critique. He has this weird problem where he can't just argue a point. He has to affect this smug attitude to make himself feel like his position is just so clearly superior. Usually, in this video, it's clearly for the sake of humor ("This is treason, and I'll see you in hell"), but other times he's just being an ass. ("Matthew simply didn't like Dark Souls II as much because he failed to learn what the game was trying to teach him"). You can love Dark Souls II, but stop pretending people are simply dummies because they didn't.

[@realmarsastro]

Finding DS1 interconnectedness more impressive doesn't do anything to counter his point. He even said he loved the interconnectedness too, he found it really cool. What he did say was that that having to design areas such that they can be traversed both ways limits what you can do with the area in certain ways, which is just objectively true. This doesn't mean it's bad or unimpressive, it just means he thinks it could've had more interesting design and enemy placement if they didn't have to account for players having to go back the same way.

[@Edhelvar]

@@realmarsastro But that would make it have less interesting design since it would be more generic. If it lost that interconnectedness it wouldn't be as unique and we wouldn't be talking about the areas almost 10 years later.

[@bocaj708]

"Humanity is a rare resource in dark souls 1" *duplicator invades* *drops stackes of humanity*

[@zerochaotics1135]

Hey don't dis the omnipotent invaders now, I've made friends and gotten through boring slogs faster thanks to those guys.

[@bocaj708]

@UCLHgz4-EPeU98ZvX6Nrf9nw it's the best

[@julianreynoso3041]

Or H.bomberguy could just buy some from the lady in the tunnel with the rat

[@AleK0451]

>gold serpent ring >kill rat >HERE COMES THE MONEY

[@drageben145]

Plays undead burg part look at all this humanity Litterally first area after tutorial

[@Power-Mad]

I agree on a lot except for level design. Embracing inconsistency made me not care about what I saw. It was less an interesting built world I was traversing and more a buncha set pieces artificially slammed together for the sake of convenience. It was no longer the level designer's intent to make this all rope in and out of eachother in interesting ways, it was just make a cool vista when you arrive but which had no anticipating build up or foreshadowing.

[@Lurdiak]

Considering how Dark Souls 3 embraced unreal landscapes much more than 2 ever did, I don't think it was done "out of convenience", but rather like Hbomb posits, as a deliberate way to make the world feel like it's starting to not make sense anymore because so much time has passed and so much has been forgotten. Whether you find that interesting is up to you, but it's doing a disservice to the designers to imply it's some kind of shortcut they took.

[@darmansbar7900]

Which is the point of the story of the game, in a universe where space and time stops and convolutes itself when the First Flame dwindles

[@darmansbar7900]

@@Lurdiak God I remember my experience when I saw the Kin of the First flame, so fucking surreal

[@crishealingvtuber8626]

that's a lot of words when you could just say "the level design in DS1 is shit"

[@xenosbreed]

Lol so because it wasn't cohesive you just didn't pay attention to the environment anymore and not care? Do you do that with every game? Oh, this mission is taking me to a new spot and I didn't get to see how it connected with the last spot so now I'm just not gonna give a shit about what I see anymore

[@carsonroach-howell6945]

Watching through this video again, the part about how Dark Souls isn't non-linear because you have to fight all of the bosses is really befuddling me. Is being able to do the objectives in a different order not non-linear, as in different people would take a different "line" through the game? Or is a game only non-linear if there is no line and you can do anything at any time?

[@Alucard-dg1fo]

He probably means that you could go fight one boss and then go somewhere else and fight that boss instead. Where as in Dark souls you would need to ring both bells before you fight any of the four lords. it's linear because there isn't exactly much in the way of being able to come back when your ready feeling. I fought the executioner's chariot for fun and I was able to beat the lost sinner, meaning I didn't simply have to go and fight the skeleton lords if I wasn't up to it.

[@Zuwze]

@@Alucard-dg1fo Except it doesn't make any sense. In the first game you can fight the four lords in any order.

[@Topic69]

Really that part of the video is lacking nuance. A game is not linear nor is it non-linear. It isn't a binary matter. It's a spectrum (aka. a matter of degree). Dark Souls is overall a linear journey from point A (the asylum) to point B (the lord souls) to point C (Gwyn and the kiln) however the way you get from A to B and from B to C is non-linear. The game gives the player just enough choice to feel like they aren't going on an on-rails experience where their choices don't matter whilst also giving the game a rigid sense of focus that makes sure that the game delivers a complete and satisfying experience both from a gameplay standpoint and from a narrative standpoint.

[@FuckingLautrec]

Honestly the biggest appeal to me was the huge weapon variation Dark Souls 2 introduced. It also has some of the coolest looking armours and NPCs across the whole series

[@truedps8]

The weapons, the armor, the magic, the covenants. They were all absolutely amazing in Dark Souls 2, the best in the entire Soulsborne series.

[@matthewaskins664]

Sad that the level design and game mechanics ruin the experience

[@DisastrousCake]

@@pepsifrog420 I love the game mechanics and there are a lot of things they did well. Powerstances are fucking sick. Soul memory not so much, and I understand the hate against adaptability too. Two minor blemishes on the game mechanics in my opinion though.

[@pepsifrog420]

@@DisastrousCake Agreed, I never really noticed or cared about adp tho. The Game is also a lot more fun with friends. I beat the whole game with my friends. Good times.

[@DisastrousCake]

@@pepsifrog420 I loved the PVP of the game. It's definitely the best in the series in that regard. It's why I noticed adp because without it you pretty much can't win. It feels like 30 levels you are forced to dump.

[@LazyMaybe]

8:51 "...because dying while healing, or dying because you were unable to heal because tactically it would have killed you, is just never fun or interesting." This is the most incorrect thing I have ever heard anyone say about a Dark Souls game. The entire game is about managing your attacking, dodging, and healing-your whole moveset, as well as your positioning-relative to what your enemies are doing in order to not get hit. You have to time your dodges to not get hit and open up attack opportunities, you have to time your attacks in order to not get hit during your recovery time, and yes, you have to time your healing in order to not get punished. This creates tension-you are always looking for chances to get in damage, but always also at least a little scared of getting hit yourself! That is what makes Dark Souls both interesting and fun. ESPECIALLY when healing, because when your health is low and you are trying to get it back is when the stakes are highest... and thus, the tension the highest as well. This makes it very rewarding when you get a clutch heal off, and it would not feel nearly as good if it was easier to do. You even describe this very thing at 9:06 , I don't really see why you think it's a negative that healing is tantalizing but hard. You say that more players have trouble with it, but that certainly does not mean it's the worse system, unless the best system is simply the one that the most players can handle. And I say this all as one of the people who also likes ds2, for what it's worth. Also, it sounds like the only thing you like about Bloodborne's vials over Dark Soul's estus is the speed, but what about the downside of needing to buy or farm vials? It's just needless busywork. It sounds like what you really want is estus(healing that is restocked at each checkpoint), just faster.

[@foxtaunt]

Agreed, hbomberguy seriously cherrypicks the things he likes and disregards actual flaws with the game. The first time I've watched one of his videos and felt like he was deliberately misrepresenting or ignoring actual facts. Might just be that I disagree with him however, who knows. He'll never have an actual discussion in the comments.

[@b0tster]

I think what he trying to get across is that the idea of 'never heal in a fight, it's too long and isn't a good idea' makes a combat system less complex than a system where you can heal in a fight. There's more options.

[@atreides213]

Steven Walther Except that is factually not the case in DS1. I can, have, and will continue to heal regularly and reliably in every boss fight in the game save the Capra Demon (the fight from which I assume the Deb's of 2 got their design philosophy.)

[@narutofan4545]

The point is that estus only ruins inital runs - forcing you to run back after you figure out the route. Bloodvials drop like crazy And DaS2 has lifegems And Das3 has estus charges Also DaS trivializes the WHOLE game when you get acess to 20 charges

[@casulitchy6469]

Shard1697 so essentially DS3

[@sourwitch2340]

Personally, I prefer abstract and ominous, seemingly impossible foes, but I can't say that I don't get your liking for a casual somebody wearing a piece of armour. Feel like it's just a different challenge. When dealing with a massively overpowered foe whose limits you really just don't know, the game is all about finding a trick to overcoming them, finding some workaround for their very peculiar qualities and the properties they have which you never could. And when you've beat them it's like the satisfaction of scaling a mountain, you find confirmed that you are capable of a feat that felt undoable when you started it. With a mostly human or otherwise "mundane" enemy, on the other hand, you know HOW you can kill them, the same way they could kill you, and it's more of a matter of applying what you know while avoiding their attacks, culminating in a victory that feels like beating a group of evenly matched athletes in a race. And further down on that axis is "foe you could turn into" when that athlete has a very cool partnership with a running shoe company, or wings that you can get constructed by the local blacksmith Icarus. Something like that.

[@MrIKnow-qk8cr]

This video feels so mean spirited

[@MmmDoggy]

The blightown criticism makes no sense because ur supposed to just take the elevator back up...

[@Firepowered]

It's a HB video. It's meant to be contrarian, not accurate.

[@Firepowered]

But that's exactly what being contrarian means. Hbomb likes giving off the impression of being this intelligent, witty critic with unconventional views that the unwashed masses don't understand, but scratch the paint just a little and he's just a smarter-than-thou strawman peddler.

[@Firepowered]

Yes and no. I think he's definitely self-aware, but I don't think he's putting on a persona. I think his being contrarian stems from wanting to explore positions that deviate from the cultural standard (in gaming as well as in politics), which isn't bad in itself - it's always good to keep an open mind. Unfortunately, he isn't a good enough critic to properly support his views, so he routinely punches down, uses strawmen, and mocks his adversaries in lieu of providing constructive critique.

[@CallofBear]

FirepoweredFireguy I'm kinda curious about this, if you take away the strawmen and the mocking would the analysis be better ,more convincing or would it feel a bit shallow like it doesn't have enough 'meat'? Or otherwise, in this instance how do you think he could have argued his point better? Maybe if he keeps this elements but toned down for instance I agree that he is a contrarian but I think this stems from him enjoying 'owning' people or otherwise ridiculing as an act in itself or maybe just to feed his ego. Obviously it's hard to know but I don't think it has to do with exploration mostly because... the positions he takes aren't really unpopular. I don't think this is like that article Ivan Karamazov wrote for instance through maybe an element of that goes into this. Like I don't see hbomberguy becoming friends with sargon to explore his worlview better for instance or trying to publicly argue in favour of things he was against yesterday

[@jasontodd2687]

holy shit firepowered that was spot on. Hbomberguy really retreats behind this indulgent "self-awareness" shtick that he uses to deflect critisism way too often.

[@S1mpski]

you know, after playing trough all of the 3 games just now, i enjoyed them all

[@mawichan]

Me too. I really wish the community would stop trying to rank them and pit them against each other all the time TBH.

[@finn488]

@@mawichan exactly. I prefer ds1 by far but I don't care if others don't share my opinion and all of the games can co exist. If people stoped trying to say why their favorite is better than my favoriteI wouldn't feel so required to say why their favorite game is bad

[@barkerbarks2537]

@@finn488 I agree, who cares about another's opinion, for instance, I enjoyed ds1 the least, but I KNOW it is a better game than What I think it is. (Which is still a decent game)

[@gecho5427]

After sinking at least 40 hours into every game(yet to finish 3 and 2) I can say that they are all equally good and share many issues as well the souls franchise is and should be known as a flawed masterpiece.

[@Zuwze]

@@gecho5427 "they are all equally good" No, please stop, DS2 is objectivley worst game in the series. If you enjoy it that's fine just don't pretend that it's as well made as the rest of the series.

[@mattn561]

The lock-on section is perfect. Imagine someone saying “Enemies will still attack you even when you’re trying to use your Estus flask. This poor design makes you feel like you’re being punished for healing in a fight, the time when you’re most likely to need healing.” I think everyone would understand what’s wrong with that statement.

[@lightbrand_]

He does kind of say that at the beginning of the video tho, unironically, so what’s your point?

[@soracool1234]

@@lightbrand_ pretty sure he's just agreeing with him. People found the lock on in 2 "poorly done" because of multi enemy encounters. Then hbomber disproves that being an issue with the mechanic itself.

[@lightbrand_]

@@soracool1234 no what I was saying is that Matt N complimented hbomber addressing the issues with the lock on by making a comparison with people complaining about getting hit while healing with estus, which would be a fine comparison except hbomber himself said in this very video that getting hit while healing with estus felt like shit therefore lifegems are good. Which is pretty ironic

[@barbosar6667]

@@lightbrand_ ​ it is irony. He is using what HB said about healing to criticize his defense of the lock on system and vice versa. Hb said that if locking on is making you not see every enemy and get hit more, you shouldn’t do it in fights against many foes. He also said that getting hit while healing was boring/unfair, but using the same logic as the lock on, if healing in certain moments is making you get hit and die, you shouldn’t be doing it

[@hrwise89]

I don't think that logic works fully though, "Lock bad? Don't lock." isn't comparable to "Estus in battle bad? Don't Estus in battle," because he's saying a system which eliminates "Estus in battle bad" in lieu of other healing mechanics is better, not that DS1 is bad because it has "Estus in battle bad." The logic behind comparing "Lock bad" and "Estus in battle bad" would work if there were some alternative lock system "Lock bad" was being compared to, and the argument was that this system is better. If you stretch the definition of "system" you could say DS1 has an alternative lock system in that there just aren't multiple enemy fights, but I wouldn't say that, and I don't think the two arguments don't contradict each other. That being said, I've never played a dark soul in my life, so I've got no dog in the fight. From the outside with my limited knowledge, the arguments don't seem comparable/contradictory however.

[@zeenoh5811]

the nonlinearity is a good point but I liked the master key and the fact that you could do quelaag first if you wanted to. it makes subsequent runs much more fun

[@lydiasteinebendiksen4269]

Drinking estus in combat is viable. All you do is either bait an attack or run for a bit. It helps to get your agility up.

[@blazaybla22]

It's a little bit like the concept of "turns" in the fighting game genre (which iirc Miyazaki has confirmed were an influence on the Souls formula.) Of course it's not the same as an actual turnbased game where turns are enforced explicitly, but implicitly the concept is there; the point is that if you want to heal, you need to use a "turn" that you otherwise could have used to attack, reposition etc. It's not that you can't drink estus in combat, it's that to do so, you need to use time and space that you could have used offensively, and if your enemy manages to put you in a position where you're always needing to use your turns to heal, then you're on your way back to the bonfire. Anyway just throwing in my two cents, I think it's an interesting aspect of the game design.

[@nssk7qu]

@@blazaybla22 yea I agree, I recently started play DS2 for the first time and I thought I would have a bigger problem with the time to heal like most other people did but it turns out im doing just fine, fine enough to not really upgrade adp as much as I thought I would. Mostly cause of what you said, most bosses and enemies have an attack animation that you can dodge out of, once dodged, you have about two or 3 seconds of the enemy just standing/walking/looking/regaining stance and so on. I use that time to heal immediately after I dodge even if I'm still next to the enemy(doing this with some enemies can be risky) but it works most of the time.

[@alieremainsalie6469]

I think it's just in comparison to 1 where you can absolutely quickdrink and tank a hit at the same time and come out ahead which is fun in its own way but it's nice to see the formula varied

[@Battleguild]

Better than DS3's Estus usage, where you basically punch yourself in the face due to how fast the effect takes place.

[@gu3z185]

@@Battleguild You still need discipline for DS3 healing, you know. You can move while estusing, but not much, and it still takes a long time considering the speed that DS3 enemies attack. If they added DS2 estus into DS3, that game would be a shitshow.

[@maxmurnik6546]

Imagine thinking Prowling Magus and the Congregation is a difficult fight

[@supershadey09]

A fight can be poorly-designed without being difficult.

[@babidibibidibibo5232]

I actually started with DS2 scholar of the first sin It was a very though start. I played it alone so after hours of searching I had to look up many things in Dark Souls Wiki but this expierience of learning it by my own was breathtaking. Im a huge Dark Souls fan now and Dark Souls 2 is still my favourite Dark Souls. This video just showed that there are reasons why Dark souls 2 CAN be better than Dark Souls 1 and i love it. I appreciate your work

[@johnhuysentruyt8310]

@@babidibibidibibo5232 If you count bloodborne, ds2 sotfs was my third dark souls game. It is by far my favorite, and my first play through was awesome, there is so much variety in how you play, which is why i love it so much.

[@byronkontou1759]

Its the pinwheel of ds2. If you have a greatsword, you can beat it in a few seconds.

[@soyborne.bornmadeandundone1342]

Imagine dying to that boss multiple times before winning lololol. If you're one of those people... Damn lol. Not to sound like a dick head but you're not doing it right lol.

[@chrisoconnor7894]

Its wild to me that people don't realize they shouldn't use lock on in some encounters and fights in these games.

[@cactusnarwhal8628]

I’m pretty sure dark souls I teaches this to you with the bell gargoyles being much harder when locked on to one of them so agree

[@elvickRULES]

Some weapons need it to hit enemies on the ground in this game. And it literally will lock onto things behind or above and behind you instead of something in front of you causing your movement to shift. A would be 1v1 is a time to use lock on, generally, and yet it can kill you see an enemy that isn’t even aggro’d to you or near you can be locked onto instead

[@fartohuluous]

​@@cactusnarwhal8628to be fair the main reason the gargoyles are so hard when locked on is that you can only roll in four directions when locked on in ds1 so if you stay locked you accidentally roll into their attacks or off the roof over and over again even when it's not your fault

[@robertmonroe7930]

​@@elvickRULESpretty much every single thrust weapon says hi.

[@huckmart2017]

The whole "just dont lock on" argument doesn't work for me. They added a lock on to the game because playing without it feels awkward and imprecise. Even just watching your gameplay footage seems awkward, like your fighting with the camera and struggling to position yourself. Sure, its probably a better strategy than locking on, but it has its own problems and feels clunky in its own right.

[@alejovila8842]

Git gud

[@huckmart2017]

@@alejovila8842 i would if it was fun

[@youare5907]

Would've loved if they actually focused on pc cause with proper mouse controls you really don't need lock on

[@addison_v_ertisement1678]

Also, many weapons can't attack smaller enemies if you don't lock onto them, as the basic weapin animations physically can't make contact with them.

[@addison_v_ertisement1678]

​@@alejovila8842Me about to invalidate a good criticism of the game just by saying "Git gud" instead of having basic logic: