The Dark Souls 2 Non-Problems

Debunking some questionable claims in @ZeroLenny 's poorly researched DS2 review
#darksouls #darksouls2 #fromsoftware
Intro 0:00
Powerstancing 0:46
Adaptability 3:41
Rolling i-frames 6:13
Resetting Stats 7:48
Strafing 9:11
You will lose your Souls 16:11
Artifical Difficulty 22:40
Resistances 29:06
Emerald Herald 30:20

[@Domo3000]

I've made a blunder. When I was making fun of him for being confidently wrong about DS1 having only one kind of roll animation with one set of s, I was being confidently wrong myself. Turns out the 9/11/13/15 s that are mentioned on some wikis and that chart on reddit are outdated information. And that my fire test was way too inaccurate, but I didn't recheck because it randomly kind of aligned with that wrong data. In the Anim Studio you can look at the animations themselves and see the exact amount of s. Fat/Mid/Fast all have 11 s and Ninja Flip has 13 Additionally the wikis are also wrong about DS2 s. They usually show 5 for 85 agility and 8 for 86, but there's actually no sudden jump. It's 7 s for the Bandit who starts with the lowest ATN/ADP I always thought that you need 105 agility for a fast roll and 114 for a ninja flip, but it's actually 96 agility for a fast roll and 105 for a ninja flip. So sorry for spreading misinformation myself and going so hard on him while relying on bad data myself.

[@michaelcarroll5801]

Hi Domo, thanks for clarifying. I felt like that section was a bit misconstrued just in general, in terms of genuinely representing what ZeroLenny was saying. I don't think his point stands either way, especially considering how DS2 generally improved on a lot of things regarding hit detection and how viable the game is even without scaling AGL, but the right thing to do is to always represent your opponent in the best way possible. Personally I would love more videos where instead of defending DS2, you criticise it from a fan's perspective. It might help positively influence that whole stereotype of "DS2 fanboys try so hard to make this game look good!!1!". Anyway, your videos are great and the fact that you are being so transparent shows how you indeed want to present your case honestly.

[@BunnyChannel918]

Respect

[@rosodudersd260]

WHOA, please make a video clarifying this! Would be good to see for all three Dark Souls games. I've seen those i-frame numbers spread around like the gospel truth, this is the first time I've ever seen it challenged.

[@derstehwahn6094]

​@michaelcarroll5801 definitely. Especially as, at least for me, at times, it feels like a lot of "debunking" is done by making fun of the person that made the argument - not by adressing the argument itself. For me, in this video it felt like nearly all of the arguments of Lenny where taken out of context or by attacking personal taste by presenting the own opinion as fact. And completely leaving out the fact, that Lenny himself said in his original video, that the aspects he dislikes, others might enjoy.

[@JellyJman]

@@rosodudersd260yes you do in fact get the same s for 3 of the 4 roll types in Dark Souls 1, only with the ninja flip do you get more s. What changes is your recovery and instability frames

[@Synthenoid_]

him being that annoyed by Emerald Herald and calling her a "mary sue" is confusing for one, but pretty eyeroll worthy

[@MRXrayfire]

This guy clearly has no idea what a mary sue is

[@Isaiah-jm5fn]

@@MRXrayfire a mary sue is when woman does anything other than cook and clean to him

[@ThickRedPaste]

​@@Isaiah-jm5fnhe gets his mummy to make him tea still. Like exclusively her tea. He's such a baby

[@owlgoddess8534]

real “oh, he just hates women” moment lmfao

[@taham33]

He just hates women

[@bee4210]

The powerstancing part of his review was a really weird take. Elden Ring’s dual wielding is completely gutted compared to Ds2’s table of weapon class combinations and overall attack combos, saying it added nothing to playstyles is wild.

[@davidmingle5910]

Let's not forget straight sword + offhand lance w/ the lance running attacks, dual stabs, quick slashes, and roll slashes, one of my favorite pairings

[@scarfaceone-phoenix3474]

Elden Ring also went back to holding offhand large weapons like straight swords even tho DS2 had the unique stance

[@supesmin446]

Elden Ring as a game felt like it knew DS2 had really good mechanics but was too ashamed to copy them outright. Either that or they were terrified to make the game look like anything but DS3-2

[@NoahToledo-xo5pj]

@@supesmin446 The game was trying to mix a lot of elements, it also has weapon arts from 3 (which let's be real was a dog shit mechanic until DLC weapons had good attacks) it is not surprising that they gutted a good mechanic in order to fix a terrible one.

[@asdergold1]

It's just an extension of their shitty twin weapons.

[@YEY0806]

Well, you see Domo. Here's the issue, you see "role-playing game", they see "roll-playing game" so thats why its a big deal for them

[@Domo3000]

That explains so much

[@edbane1656]

You broke the souls like formula, congratulations

[@robertoaltuve4145]

Exactly, JAJAJA great conceptualization.

[@umutalicoskun1096]

Souls games aren't really role playing games though. Just because there is leveling up doesn't mean they are an rpg. They are more like character action games such as revengence or devil may cry (which also has these "rpg" mechanics like leveling but you wouldn't call them rpgs right?).

[@godzillazfriction]

​@@umutalicoskun1096Souls games are more than just 'leveling up' when ppl pinpoint a genre to souls games such as 'RPG' - also by its initials... any game is a 'Role-Playing-Game'... so there's that.

[@Stangrex]

I like how you're singlehandedly defending DS2 from the internet

[@pessolano461]

And Yazmania is busting out challenge run videos where he constantly leaves his adp low until later into his runs

[@milanesadecactus8722]

It's like that one image of a knight shielding a princess from a crowd

[@alessandroofthemediterranean]

The Hero we need

[@vizotzyz]

@@pessolano461 Yazmania doesn't even know DS2 bad so he is having so much fun.

[@kronosthecactus1654]

@@pessolano461yaz the goat

[@doyga5977]

I love how one of Lenny's points is "ds2 has bad hitboxes" then later goes "you can just walk around most attacks, it's so easy"

[@michaelcarroll5801]

Like poetry

[@unoriginalperson72]

DS1 would never have bad hitboxes EVER... bed of what? Iron who?

[@youtubefan5786]

both can be true though?

[@JadeHarley-yx5lm]

@@youtubefan5786 Okay but both are true of the franchise? It's not fair to pin this on DS2, I'm saying this as someone who has played the entire series extensively

[@youtubefan5786]

@@JadeHarley-yx5lm what are you talking about?

[@UnbreakingStar]

At this point, even the text-to-speech app itself is getting angry

[@Shyguymask]

I did Powerstanced straight swords on my playthrough, optimizing right hand attacks & powerstance attacks to optimize one-shots & two-shots on enemies made it pretty interesting, additionally I learned that right hand attacks have faster startup so I could combo right hand into powerstance attack for a quicker way to two-shot mobs.

[@pucciraskolnikov7266]

wait you're not supposed to have fun

[@charlieking7600]

And then came DS3, which reduced power-stances to strictly predefined pairs of blades. And, probably, you could have used bleed infused weapons with a knife, which has a fast moveset, to speed up two-shots even more.

[@Blazingfury64]

Oh hey Shyguy, didn't expect to see you here. Hope you are doing well!

[@Domo3000]

That's why I feel that the Wakizashi and Uchigatana combo in Elden Ring had a lot of missed potential by only allowing you to powerstance the faster smaller weapon in the left hand.

[@coolcreeper9414]

Ayo? My goat shyguymask plays dark souls massive W keep enjoying the series my dude 🙏🙏

[@Swuh]

If there are no Domo fans, then I am dead 🦾🦾🦾🦾🦾

[@ryancliff-singleton7347]

same

[@oye6124]

so real

[@revolt_4588]

If there are no ds2 fans

[@A_d_e_k]

Same.

[@Apoxiosis]

as long as we live there will always be domo fans

[@pucciraskolnikov7266]

how can someone who actually knows these games not go fucking insane from all this slander

[@janehrahan5116]

We can't, there is a reason im such a ~~bitch~~ passionate person.

[@seldomsweet]

I learned that the casual opinion on literally anything is worth less than dirt

[@zhmyh6599]

​@@seldomsweet democracy is a mistake

[@Graysett]

@@seldomsweet On top of this, I learned that the more "hardcore" fans are also morons largely parroting the same dumb stuff they can't actually justify or defend. Took me a looong time though. People are people everywhere, and if there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that people aren't too good at thinking for themselves.

[@seldomsweet]

@@Graysett word

[@lumethecrow]

A lot of people do this thing where they dumb down their expectations, then dumb down their gameplay to meet those expectations. They make the game bad for themselves to validate their opinions

[@deathtoraiden2080]

It's some psychotic shit if you think about it.

[@UltravioletNomad]

I guarantee you that a LOT of long time Souls players got to Heides Tower of flame, saw all the big knights, and then subconsciously gave up trying to engage with the game right then and there. After a dozen playthrough of DkS1 they learned how to run through to get to the boss, and after one failed attempt at Heides they asked themselves "so I really want to fight these guys everytime" so they rushed like they learned, and they didn't stop, they continued rushing through Warf and Bastille, and every time they were punished for rushing they merely saw the failed attempts as more reason to rush cause engaging would be wasted times on attempts anyway. It's a vicious cycle that doesn't give the level design any credit.

[@lumethecrow]

@@UltravioletNomad I have no clue why so many people just try to run through enemies. I started in 2018 with ds1 remastered and played all of them sans bloodborne, so I wouldn't say I'm a veteran, but it's still such a stupid idea to me

[@meyes1098]

@@lumethecrow arrogance mainly. The idea that they're way too good at these games, so spending time on the enemies (or even spending time properly avoiding them without aggroing everything) is a "waste of time" for them, or is below them.

[@lumethecrow]

@@meyes1098 Arrogance and a lack of patience, to be sure

[@abhilashmaddali7158]

I look at all these DS2 hate bandwagon videos and I'm like Tobey from Spider man 3 " Where do these guys come from?"

[@Zero_Tester]

Yup,while DS2 definitely very flawed and somewhat problematic child of the series,most of the hate come from bandwagoner that followed whatever suit them most or wanted to look good(aka joining the herd minsdest) DS2 has great idea but fail short on execution and it troubled production phase DS2 has introduced one of best thing in Souls series like Powerstance system,along it has best PVP till these days with more linear and easily understandable storyline

[@zzodysseuszz]

@@Zero_Tester it’s not even remotely problematic and it has the average amount of flaws and missed opportunities that all games have. People massively exaggerate its issues. None of the things you said about its ideas or development problems are unique to ds2 and I’d argue ds2 didn’t even really do it all that much. Lost in translation website shows the kinds of things ds2 actually failed in execution on in reference to lore describing things which never made it into the game. But the game sought out to do things which it did. And had much more polish post launch than any other fromsoft game.

[@THEMRCHESTERR]

It’s the morons that started with DS3. It’s the morons that jumped on ELDEN RING hypewagon. Sometimes gatekeeping is a good thing lmfao. Back then the prime reason to hate DS2 was simply that it wasn’t like DS1, soul memory, hitboxes, and ADP. But now? Boohoo Dee Es tuuh won’t allow me to run through the whole level. Baaad gaem

[@dragonheart967]

​@@zzodysseuszzI'd disagree, it's not that they did such terrible execution on any single thing, sure, but it's design choices that unfortunately have compounding effects. If you're interested, I can go into more detail, but I just wanna ask that this be a discussion, this isn't meant to be a "no you're wrong" means of discussion. The guy you replied to has a point, and it's disingenuous to dismiss his argument without even listening to what he has to say (he didn't specify any details, you're dismissing his argument while never giving him the chance to explain anything).

[@zzodysseuszz]

@@dragonheart967 he doesn’t have a point at all. Of all the things ds2 did wrong, execution was not one of them. Ds2 is the only game in the series where all its ideas were executed the best it could. Ds2’s biggest problems are all in the cut content. He can elaborate all he wants but he’s still objectively wrong.

[@ecchi4196]

The "You will lose your souls" section really drives home DS2's strongest quality: the story. It's always so heartwarming when other people see it too. And you'll seldom hear anyone bring it up in their rants

[@IvyDoll-jf3gm]

I never considered that the Emerald Herald is the old Lady from the intro

[@unoriginalperson72]

​@@IvyDoll-jf3gm I don't think she is, we were probably gonna get a lot more backstory on her seeing how there is an unused child model of her, most likely to be used in a memory or something. I think the old woman in the intro is the missing 4th firekeeper sister

[@asdergold1]

​@@IvyDoll-jf3gm She isn't, she is another experiment of Aldia's.

[@Toralian89]

I like it's story the best out of 3. It's just about humans and humanity. Cursed, struggling, overcoming, trying to fight against Gwyn's curse and all succumbing to it all the same in the end. Even so there is still road to hope paved by previous lords and stored with their memories.

[@Carsonist]

"There's meant to be all this mystery... in this world... How did she get here?!" She's part of the mystery, Lenny! Jesus Christ.

[@pucciraskolnikov7266]

27:21, as a fake dark souls fan who never quits out out of a fight to reset enemy placement, I didn't know this game is SO good

[@TonyTonyRedgrave]

Really funny, I never tried it in Dark Souls 2 either. It's the one game that stops you from load scumming and that's...bad, somehow.

[@vanilla.icescream]

@@pucciraskolnikov7266 cheeser got cheesed 😹

[@zzodysseuszz]

@@TonyTonyRedgrave pretty much ANY time dark souls 2 punishes players trying to be scummy or cheat the game they use it as a criticism of the game Edit: it’s extremely cathartic to see people all agreeing with points I’ve been making for 4-5 even 6 years on my channel and elsewhere yet kept getting dogpiled for as if I was wildly wrong.

[@Zapdos7471]

@@zzodysseuszzbUt mY FoGwaLL iFraMeS!!!

[@UltravioletNomad]

But remember, a pause button would make the game too easy

[@pliskin101]

The main problem of DS2 was expecting it’s players to adapt and play creatively. You know, like people did in DS1.

[@basilbasil3629]

Completely unrelated, DS2 game had my favorite final boss fight, especially if you max out the summon count. One boss tries to defend the throne with their lives, the other tries every underhanded tactic to seize it, and the last one has no interest at all. All of that fighting over nothing but a dusty old throne is very interesting to me, yet scenic for a final fight.

[@Zapdos7471]

@@basilbasil3629 I think watcher & defender could be better than O&S if they just had a defense buff while healing each other. Realizing you have to take them down at the same time, the Defender ditching his shield mid fight to make that easier… it’s good stuff that’s too easily skipped. I can’t get behind the other fights, though, they’re only good for lore and thematic stuff like you pointed out.

[@zzodysseuszz]

@@Zapdos7471 they already are better as the fight never devolves into a merry-go-round time waster where their ai freaks out and struggles to path find to you.

[@dragonheart967]

​@@zzodysseuszzis that better when the ai doesn't seem to have any depth to it compared to O&S? They have some serious down time that leaves them open for massive chunks of damage, and without much of a dynamic between them other than slightly different animations. The flight could have been more interesting if the team had more time to work on that fight, like so many others, but it kind of shows that a lot of bosses were rushed due to development.

[@YEY0806]

I swear it's like there this "dumbing effect" souls creators have when they pick up DS2. They just make completely dumb, petty takes to convince the game is somehow "broken." Yet they will suddenly not be this stupid when talking about other souls' games

[@charlieking7600]

People have made up terms "hypocrisy" and "cult". It's all about Miyazaki's cult. If he did DS2, no matter how bad it would be, fans would've praised game. Miyazaki did Bloodborne after DS1, a completely uninspired, less variative, monotonous game. Yet it's praised.

[@garrettdixon9563]

@@charlieking7600 bruh I love ds2, but let's not lie about other from games, that makes you a hypocrite as well.

[@godzillazfriction]

​@@charlieking7600i definitely feel like you're the inverse to what the reception around DS2 is... which is in favor of preaching the same polarized mindset that a 'cult' has in regards to being against DS2, & pinpoint that towards Bloodborne to support your inversed mindset of being against Bloodborne.

[@charlieking7600]

@@godzillazfriction I love DS1 and DS2 very much. But Bloodborne isn't that good. It killed variety, what we loved in Souls series. E.g. Sekiro also has no variety, but it did gameplay very well. It's not downgraded Souls gameplay, but something mew.

[@shirothr5384]

​@@charlieking7600 it killed variety? Bloodborne has the most amount of unique weapons in the series?

[@antkeeper1779]

DS2's strongest soldier Very good videos. Good work!

[@Domo3000]

@@antkeeper1779 oh wow damn, that's a huge donation! Thank you very much 🤗😊

[@MaskedDragon]

DS2 Bad Faith review checklist: -ignore central and clearly presented game mechanics -aggro every enemy for convenient evidence of "ganking" -never check your surroundings for traps (that you yourself could utilize) or enemies -complain about lore you didn't bother looking up Feel free to expand this list.

[@Slender_Man_186]

-Abuse double standards like they're a red headed step child. -"muh snap points" that literally don't exist

[@commandergame]

-get hit because you mistimed your role then blame hitboxes for your skill issue. -use naked greatsword or a tseldora set + estoc build -if using the naked greatsword build complain a lot about the enemies hitting hard -if using the tseldora set + estoc build complain (even more) about ganks you created and supposidly not having a way to deal whit them

[@bee4210]

- wearing the full Tseldora Set - gameplay footage using only rapiers, fire longsword, or two handing a Greatsword - quirky montage of "bad hitboxes" - Miyazaki worship despite ds1 or ds3 having the same or worse problems - smug/snobby tone

[@bigdumbfatcat2869]

-claim Scholar made the game more ganky (it didn't), while never actually making a direct comparison to the original version

[@Battleguild]

-AtTuNmEnT doesn't make sense that it increases Cast Speed and not Dexterity. -Weapon Durability forces me to use multiple weapons. -My weapon's R1 can't hit a small enemy, why is it forcing me to use other forms of attacking?

[@cctz_1]

I feel like it shouldnt be so hard to say ‘*I* just dont like the game/its not for *ME*’ but instead the internet has to try to justify and video essayify every opinion they have making DS2 haters just blabber abt nonsense

[@alexeychubarov5875]

As a person whose DS2 was the first game of this genre, who completed it without increasing adaptability, I want to make a statement. Imagine that you need to REALLY dodge the attack itself, and not rely on magical i-frames that allow you to roll into the enemy himself without any damage. Crazy, isn't it?

[@shanecoyle8053]

If you have low adaptability you can get clipped after the attack visibly misses you.

[@vanilla.icescream]

​@@shanecoyle8053 uh no

[@alexeychubarov5875]

@@shanecoyle8053 pizdish like Trotsky

[@Kervixon]

Um no​@@shanecoyle8053

[@MateuszKulejewski]

Yeah, except shitty enemy and weapon tracking mixed with bad hitboxes wont let you do that. Keep coping

[@oskarszile4372]

Damn ds 2 story just hits different

[@filmfreak1994]

Also Shanalotte is a Mary Sue now? Nice to see the internet still has no idea how to use that term and just has it as a catch-all for "woman I don't like"

[@ThePhantomSquee]

Some things never change.

[@davidnewhart2533]

Yeah, I was surprised hearing that. The guy clearly doesn't know what the term, "Mary Sue" even means.

[@Xeno_Solarus]

You're not going to claim that characters like Rey aren't Mary Sues? Are you? Because you're treading that particular brand of rhetoric of claiming people are sexist with no evidence.

[@TwixtheFox]

@@Xeno_Solarus Correct. She's not. I dislike the new starwars movies. But it's not because Rey is a "mary sue" or something. It's because they're not very good. Luke Skywalker is as much of a Mary Sue as Rey is. And who tf cares about "Mary Sue's" when it comes to a galactic si-fi fantasy, that's ridiculous. You're watching a movie that is expecting you to suspend your disbelief, but you only have disbelief and are bothered by a woman doing things well??? Okay buddy. Luke Skywalker was a farmboy who ended up saving the entire galaxy. How is that not a Mary Sue lmao. The concept as a whole is stupid anyway because it's a movie, it's not meant to be realistic, it's meant to be ENTERTAINING, and TELL A STORY. You know, like a movie does? Are only men allowed to be good at things now? Your brain is poisoned by idiots who are scared of everything that isn't cishet normalcy. They're some of the weirdest cretins on this planet, but you can't realize that because you're locked into their cycle of hate too much to see that. You can just dislike a movie without blaming women, you know.

[@BunnyChannel918]

Trueee, that part felt super icky

[@meyes1098]

The thing about "just strafe the boss bro" is that it's just a completely disingenuous argument. First of all because as Domo said, it's literally just as viable with the majority of ds1 bosses and enemies as well. And secondly (and more importantly) because NOBODY knew about it at game's launch. Seriously, just watch most people's first playthrough of ds2. You'll see that nobody is just strafing around enemies and bosses, because that takes knowledge that most people don't have. And finding it out is risky too, it's not like you can just test it out forever until you find the perfect places to strafe the boss. Even nowadays if you watch streamers play ds2 for the first time, you'll see that NONE of them are casually strafing bosses, unless the chat tells them to. Because it's not an obvious thing in the game. This is like me saying that ds1 is piss easy because there's this super easy way to get one of the best weapons in the game very early, and also use it very early (gravelord sword), or because you can just use the master key and pick up 3 firekeeper souls at literally the start of the game and boost your estus to full heal for the first half of the game. Or hey, how about it's easy because you can completely skip the dragon bridge (if you don't trigger the cutscene where it lands on the little place in undead burg, he won't show up on the bridge), Taurus demon, Capra demon, Gaping dragon (and the entirety of the depths) and 90% of blighttown and go straight to Quelaag, without missing anything if you're using non-standard weapons (so where you don't need the large ember). How about completely negating the second half of the game by getting dark bead? In fact you can negate ng+ and ng+2 because you'll one shot everything xD only about ng+3 you will stop oneshotting, and move to 2shotting :))) In fact ds1 has the most cheese available in any souls game. With prior knowledge, it's quite literally the easiest game in the entire series. If you start ds1 in new game plus from level 1, it's an easier game than a regular start of ds2, if you know all the ds1 cheese...

[@thatgamingkiwi1630]

As someone who's played DS1 more times than they can count I completely agree. DS1 can be cracked wide open but nobody's going to know how to do it on their first playthrough. Neither will anyone know how to strafe the bosses in DS2 on their first time around, doing this stuff takes practice and prior knowledge of the game.

[@meyes1098]

@@thatgamingkiwi1630 exactly, that's why I think it's a bad argument to make.

[@janehrahan5116]

More notably, being able to actually dodge is good design, if you need i frames to avoid attacks then the fight is bad or you have skill issue (usually the latter)

[@satiz7800]

I've seen some people really upset that DS2's Lv1 challenge run wasn't just "One shot bosses with Fire Tempest" and you had to actually learn the game.

[@thatgamingkiwi1630]

@@satiz7800 I did a level 1 run of DS1 as deprived and specifically avoided using pyromancy (outside of power within) for that reason. It's much more fun to actually learn the bosses than just cheesing them with pyromancy.

[@StainlessPot]

Somehow the robot voice pulled off sarcasm.

[@unoriginalperson72]

First person to use the tone function of tts

[@atharvadeshpande4749]

Bloody hell! The voice is so fucking good for the Crestfallen Merchant I mean the way he sort of stops himself from laughing and then laughs anyway at 21:02 is incredible stuff.

[@Domo3000]

I also like how the Undead Merchant sounds like Roger from American Dead when he talks about the Goat Demon

[@Swuh]

amazing vocal performance for such a hidden dude ikr!

[@unoriginalperson72]

Ds1 has great voice acting, the two hollow merchants are voiced perfectly

[@minespatch]

@@Domo3000 That's Seigmeyer's voice actor 😆

[@vanilla.icescream]

1:00 THIS ✨️ IS ✨️ SPECTACULAR 👏

[@unoriginalperson72]

"I smell pie" type attack

[@rosodudersd260]

After replaying the first Dark Souls for the first time in 7 years, I have to say that its equip load system is subpar and Dark Souls 2's handling of rolling and i-frames was ACTUALLY better. I came to this realization when fighting Ornstein and Smough again. I was wearing the Elite Knight set and wielding a +2 Black Knight Halberd. With Havel's Ring and 26 Endurance I was mid-rolling. O&S had killed me 30 times. I had a 20% success rate getting to phase 2, but mega Ornstein would easily put me down (I got him to a sliver once). Why was I trying to kill Smough first? Well, I killed Ornstein in my original playthrough and I wanted to go the other way for this one. But the difficulty I was having was perplexing. I took down O&S on my THIRD attempt originally. Did I just suck now? Was I better on M+KB (I have played all 3 Souls games on M+KB and gamepad and prefer the former)? On my first playthrough I had stumbled onto the Dark Wood Grain Ring (long story) which gives you a fast ninja flip roll. Maybe that was the difference? So I dropped my heavy armor and put on a light Wanderer set for a change. Now I had a 100% success rate getting to phase 2. Mega Ornstein still killed me 3 times, so in my exhausted frustration I relented and went for Ornstein first on my next attempt. Lightning Smough went down on my first try. It wasn't that I was worse at the game, it's that killing O, then S in light armor is actually 30x easier. The issue wasn't that mid-rolls only get 11 i-frames and fast rolls get 13. The problem is that mid rolls have double the recovery time and don't go as far. If you're above 25% equip load, there will be moments when O attacks right after S and you cannot dodge it. You might say, well just do a better job spacing them out! That's the whole challenge of the fight! Sure, but if you're above 25% encumbrance, you also run about 10% slower too, making it impossible to outrun O&S if you get unlucky with their choices of attack. The problem is that there are basically three ways to play the game (fast roll, mid-rolls, fat roll), but only fast rolls are viable for this boss (and others?) if you're not willing to go full Havel's set and tank through hits. The 25% equip load breakpoint is all that matters. Dark Souls 2 made strides to address this: -Equip load below 70% has a linear effect on roll speed/distance and stamina recovery -Equip load has no effect on sprinting speed -Invincibility frames are governed by the Agility attribute, increased by the ADP (and ATN) stat This allows a wider range of equipment loads to be viable. 20% equip load gives you some tactical benefits over 30%, but not to such a drastic degree that it invalidates the latter. And if you're struggling to dodge, you can increase i-frames without going light on gear! Choices! Adaptability (ADP) was widely hated, but I think for the wrong reasons. People complain that i-frames were decoupled from the effects of equip load on rolling, but as I've stated I think this was actually a positive. The problem is that ADP is super opaque and the balance is off. ADP affects the Agility attribute, which states that it boosts "ease of evasion and other actions" [e.g. estus]. Investing one point into ADP in most starting classes gives you 86 AGL, which increases i-frames from 5 to 8. After that you get +1 increments further apart. I suspect they had this lopsided utility to initial increases to make it more obvious to players what the stat did. This makes ADP something that every build should put a few points in, with diminishing returns as you invest more. More than 11 i-frames is overkill to me, personally. ADP also grants natural poise and status resistances. It really does too much. If I were redesigning the system, I would rename ADP to AGL, move the poise/resistances to VIT, and explicitly indicate your number of i-frames with an "Evasion" attribute, with smoother scaling. AGL would be something you invest in to make your dodges better (no matter how heavy you choose to gear up!). Builds focused on blocking and defense would invest in VIT instead, or you could mix the two. The concept of an evasion stat in an action RPG is sound. But frankly, I still prefer what we got in DS2 over DS1. After Bloodborne, DS3 halved stamina costs and gave everyone 13 i-frames fast rolls up to 70% equip load, so combat shifted towards reaction dodging. Elden Ring seems to follow suit. Stamina-centric Souls died with DS2.

[@michaelcarroll5801]

A noticeably well written comment. And I have to agree that if the mechanic was presented more clearly then it wouldn't be so much of an issue. Just in general, DS2 really did do so much to refine and expand the systems of DS1, while also being the last "slow" game where actions are more deliberate than all future soulslikes.

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

Also, vitally Attunement also influences Agility. You actually don't NEED to level ADP for rolls, since Attunement can do it, too. I actually think DS2 has the best overall stat balance in the series. There's rarely more than one stat you really want to hard dump, a character leveling up probably actually has at least 3 or 4 immediate things they want and need to consider, and there is often at least two ways to approach a particular need. Strength doubling when two handing instead of going 1.5 also massively expands the weapons available to most characters if you're willing to commit to it.

[@josephk.2554]

You still heavily underestimate how much spacing has value even in following souls games. The main allure of no rolling is not stamina. It's "frames investment". By that I mean you would still be in rolling animation while there is no longer a hurtbox to i-frames preventing you from from fully investing in your punish. By sprinting or even walking you optimized your punish to an extend that even now in Elden Ring, you might be able to kill a boss faster by not using the roll than indulging in the privilege. Pretending past game had it more is true but also meaningless as it does not mention what kind of forces, enemies, levels are antagonising these systems. Talking of frame datas in a void is just strange imo. I'd argue that, more than ever, IA manipulation in souls games incentives no roll more than in past games. (Elden Ring did lean toward "big move" that checks other facets of your kit, roll and jump specifically and can be restrictive at times, but well, pros and cons to it all)

[@ashen-one--x]

30:31 he is joking right? The times she shows up were some of my favorite moments of the game... im stunned

[@AtreyusNinja]

"you can't win with people who just want to complain"

[@hankk3239]

at this point its hard to watch how much false information these ds2 haters are spreading. I sometimes wonder if they even played the game?

[@sirfijoe450]

Him complaining about SPACING of all things is the most stupid fucking thing I have ever heard. It’s literally THE most important mechanic in the souls trilogy. The fact that you CAN out space attacks without resorting to rolling is one of the coolest things in these game.

[@Domo3000]

Back when Demon Souls was released using s to dodge was a completely novel concept for a lot of people, so I bet most relied on shields and spacing. It really took a while until the No Shield, No Armor, Dodge Only, Final Destination mentality kicked in.

[@deathtoraiden2080]

@@Domo3000 "Back when Demon Souls was released using s to dodge was a completely novel concept for a lot of people" That never played a video game before you mean?

[@Domo3000]

@@deathtoraiden2080 I always felt like it was more of a fighting game and not RPG thing Like if I remember correctly Skyrim required a mod for dodge roll s

[@deathtoraiden2080]

@@Domo3000 Why look to the RPG part instead of the Action part where the mechanic was ubiquitous? Finding a 3D fighting game with a full one invincibility frame dodge roll would actually be extremely rare. 3D Fighting games do not like I-frames, they usually stick to the high, mid, low crushing properties, something that can also make it's way into action games and to my surprise a fair amount into the Souls series (as you exemplify many times in your videos).

[@Domo3000]

​@@deathtoraiden2080I had Smash Bros in mind. That was my first introduction to dodges

[@LarryWalker-l2t]

"You'd hope that a new player would transition from a block build to a dodge build..." And why do we hope that? It seems like ever since Hbomb's bloodborne video the souls community has this idea that blocking is a crutch or an inferior playstyles. The later games may have discouraged it by giving you powerful rolls with no trade-off, but that's not how DS2 works. Both blocking and rolling are viable forms of damage negation, as well as spacing with range and reach. All of these are weak at the start and require stat investment and equipment consideration to improve. This idea that rolling is something you should ultimately graduate to is just not how the game is designed so its a weird angle for him to attack ADP with.

[@janehrahan5116]

that wasn't his bloodborne video, that was his "defense" of ds2, one of many reasons that that video despite having the accidentally right conclusion (ds2 good) is the worst ds2 video out there. Its arguments are so calamitously bad I for a while was convinced ds2 was bad, then I learned he's just consistently an idiot.

[@NoahToledo-xo5pj]

I just used both, my main build is the guts sword, the raime shield, the pyromancer hand and a giant bow (because is nice to have range in this game) I never saw a point of staying on a singular play style when I have more buttons, the game feels more balanced for players willing to use as many tools as possible rather than "2 hand big weapon, then roll hurr durr"

[@asdergold1]

That was the case way before his video. It was already like that since DS1 at the very least.

[@Xeno_Solarus]

I hate the idea that "sword and board" is somehow a bad play style. It's sad to me, especially as someone who loves that archetype in various RPGs (Dragon Quest MCs typically wield swords and shields, and I love that aesthetic).

[@prodius3767]

I mean I feel like hbombs point was that ds1 encouraged it’s over use and didn’t tell you that rolling was really an option

[@stargazer6556]

Fighting back Dark Souls 2 misinformation. One video at a time.

[@navarre2142]

With information that requires you to play through the game at least 3 times, and THEN you can start finding enjoyment in this mess 👍👍👍

[@A_d_e_k]

U only play souls games once? Are u done crying?​@@navarre2142

[@supesmin446]

@@navarre2142Ah yes, power stancing, the highest of skill ceilings

[@IvyDoll-jf3gm]

⁠​⁠@@supesmin446or like listening to NPCs. Just for veterans

[@deathtoraiden2080]

@@navarre2142 First playthrough i learned how to hold the controller. Second playthrough i uncovered the mysteries of the R1 button. Third playthrough i mastered the circle button. I am now Souls Veteran. I am gamer.

[@AtreyusNinja]

Domo, you should stop making such beautiful videos, I'm already adding all your videos to my favorites! ( never stop )

[@unoriginalperson72]

Only stop when people truly appreciate DS2

[@AtreyusNinja]

@@unoriginalperson72 there will always be hate for the game cuz it's too deep too complex for ignorants to understand it

[@zed60k47]

I played DS2 for the first time only recently (same with DS1), I came with very low expectation into the game since all I've heard about it is negative things ever since I got on the internet and my playthroughs of both games were completely blind. The lever room gank is probably the first gank I've experienced in the game, a message on the ground told me to roll into the barrels when I first started the game and they exploded in my face, immediately afterwards a bunch of enemies attacked me, when I came back later with a branch of yore and ended up dying to a 6 on 1 fight in a closed room I realized that I didn't need to activate the lever to clear the encounter, I can just trigger their aggro from outside with that barrel and then kill them easily through the easy choke point that is the door to the room, the game rewarded me for utilizing the environment to my advantage and it made me happy to realize I can just strategize around encounters. The game was full of similar things where I fall into a trap then something clicks with me and I try out something different and I get rewarded for figuring out an easier way at solving an issue, very few places in the game left me frustrated in a way where it felt like it was the game's fault and not mine (and even then often it was my fault I just never realized until later, like the lost bastille's prison cells area where I didn't realize I can blow up the explosive barrels without going inside even after being blown up by them like 15 times before). After I finished the game I went to youtube to see what reasons people came out with a much worse impressions of the game than I did and every time it's someone sprinting through 15 enemies, aggroing them, and then complaining about getting ganked. That lever room came up multiple times and every time it was them activating a lever then trying to fend off a wave of enemies that they didn't even bother to plan out for or strategize how to deal with. I was starting to think that maybe I'm crazy or wrong for thinking using a bow or other tools available to me is in someway playing the game incorrectly, as if it was cheating. This was kinda made worse by the fact that the majority of the things people used to justify calling this game bad were just as common in DS1, ganks, long boss run backs, bad hitboxes, enemies being a complete cheese by hugging them or strafing to the side they're not holding the weapon in. I really appreciate these videos, I do feel like DS2 gets unfairly criticized for things DS1 would be slammed if people were consistent.

[@fakekomeil4084]

These really are nonproblems He's just yapping away

[@Valivictus]

The Shanalote's one is pretty funny, considering the tendency of NPCs in Soulborne to travel everywhere: i mean, for example... We have the rescued civilians in Bloodborne (can't reach Odeon's church without encountering enemies, how the f%ck did a grandma managed to pass?!). Or the merchant knight of Sen's Fortress (how did he managed to get in considering we're supposed to be the first one to ring the bells?!).

[@Domo3000]

I just assumed they heard the bells and went into Sen's Fortress while we climbed back out of Blighttown

[@Valivictus]

@@Domo3000 I thought so but, the dialogue actually make me think he was here way before. I mean, exiting Blightown can take a long time but not that long.

[@Jon-dn8iz]

Especially if you ring Blightown's bell first

[@michaelcarroll5801]

​@@Valivictus from what I remember of his dialogue, I seem to recall it being implied he was there for a long time.

[@saysalla]

That guy in sen's fortress is a bigger mary sue than shanalotte

[@Thomas.c4647]

Not related but i saw someone on elden ring reddit say the erdtree dlc is the worst dlc since the dark souls 2 dlcs. Ds 2 haters are just pulling statements out of their ass at this point. All ds2 dlcs were amongst the highest rated content of all time on the xbox 360 store and were the best part of ds2.

[@JoseViktor4099]

For me the worst DLC always was Ashes of Ariandel. I feel pity for the people Who choosed this one over Ringed City.

[@Thomas.c4647]

@@JoseViktor4099 I feel you. Even the ds3 subreddit agrees it is the worst dlc of all souls games. Boringest time of my life, aside from sister Friede.

[@osvaldoprado9906]

@@JoseViktor4099 I would like to know your opinion if you have time to write it. Often, people see more things than I can and with more depth, that's why I asking you (and other users here aswell).

[@JoseViktor4099]

@@osvaldoprado9906 Of course. I have to say that Friede is a fantastic Boss and definetly one of the highlights of DS3 endgame content. That said. I feel that there are another aspects on this DLC that also says the absolute worst of DS3. Specially the level design. Its is not just that visually as mechanically is extremely uninteresting almost all the way trough, but It really lacks exploration incentive for how "Big" these zones are supposed to be, as It mainly have enemies scattered around, seems like Elden Ring Liurnia lake, but without a Horse. The secret Boss is extremely mediocre and other Secrets on the world are not only scarce, but overly uninteresting. Thats why I consider It the worst DLC, as I felt that this one on specific was extremely uninteresting.

[@joshwenn989]

I'd literally never heard a single bad word about the DS2 DLCs until Elden Ring fans suddenly decided that they _had_ to be worse in an attempt to excuse the woeful launch state of Shadow of The Erdtree.

[@dificulttocure]

"You know how many times Dark Souls 1 told you that you were going to die? Zero!" Ehmm... it is literally called Dark Souls Prepare to Die edition...

[@riplix20]

I was going to comment about how that came out after DS2 But yeah prepare to die edition is 2 years older than ds2

[@NoahToledo-xo5pj]

@@riplix20 I mean there is still all those NPCs that constantly tell you that you are gonna get fucked in DS1. If anything they are more aggressive than the DS2 ones, everyone in DS1 is an asshole while in DS2 they just have depression.

[@unoriginalperson72]

Dont tell this guy the crestfallen warrior exists in the first area of lordran

[@thebigdork8030]

@@unoriginalperson72 And the crestfallen merchant who's like "this guy died, this guy died, this army died, hell even Tarkus died, what are you gonna do chump?"

[@ilikevideogames4331]

​@@thebigdork8030 And the undead merchant who says he's gonna loot your corpse after you die.

[@StygTac]

It's funny, because ZeroLenny is actually the guy who helped me understand DS2 and how to enjoy it 😂

[@Lost1ntheSauc3]

Indeed, he has his qualms with the game, but Lenny isn't a true hater.

[@NightStar4701]

Yeah, as someone who regularly watches ZeroLenny, I know that he actually loves DS2. Also, Domo is cherry picking the issues, and also cherry picks the counter arguments in other Souls games. Like, some of the DS2 arguments are valid, but on the other side, the arguments against the other Souls games are valid as well. DS2 is definitely not a perfect game, but Domo points out things that more experienced players will be able to combat against, but he tries to argue that “new players” will learn this, which is entirely untrue.

[@Xeno_Solarus]

​@@NightStar4701Lol, lies

[@rohansensei5708]

Elden Ring's powerstance is extremely inferior to Ds2 and it's so sad. Wish we could use different weapons together also all having their own strong attack. The ultimate Isshin cosplay we never had...

[@AtreyusNinja]

but also, your weapon on the left, in ds2, make sense even w/o power stance, and u can ALSO power stance them, so ds2 even have more movesets than elden ring

[@strelok3746]

The moment i see the tseldora set on a video i just know the guy is about to say the single dumbest shit ever for minutes on end At this point if i see that set i just discard the opinions immediately

[@AtreyusNinja]

"adp is objectively bad" "ds2 gives away too many souls, this is objectively bad" (i don't think lenny ever said so but many ppl complain about that) *wearing the tseldora set*

[@unrefinedmorosis5546]

The lore comment is simultaneously so funny and so infuriating to me. The average Dark Souls fan loves to yap on and on and on about how good the lore is, but they don't actually pay any attention to dialogue, cutscenes, or really put any critical thought into the game. They just watch VaatiVidya and call themselves a lore expert.

[@M0ONCommander]

ZeroLenny recently did a 24 hours DS2 stream and talked in a much more appreciative light about the game. Still clowned on it a bit, but conceded that his lack of appreciation might have stemmed from not paying attention to details in the story. Like being able to interact with Nashandra after the twin dragonriders fight and preambling the final encounter, which also connects to the theme of falling kingdoms that gets further explored in the DLC.

[@deathtoraiden2080]

Video of him performing Dogeza to a copy of Dark Souls 2 or no dice.

[@chromasus9983]

Lenny has been pretty good in recent times, he's really leaning into trying to be more relaxed and positive about things, and that's never a bad thing for anyone. Heck, if he saw (or sees) this video, I think he'd largely understand Domo's points and agree with most of them, or agree to disagree on some.

[@zugzwang8761]

he should do a react to this video haha, content​@@chromasus9983

[@Passageofsky]

How did he miss Queen Nashandra... they literally rolled out the red carpet. Dark Souls 3 learning the older games were about stratigic positioning and slow pathing not running around spamming attacks and panic rolling.

[@hue_lord_4208]

I was entranced by the hopeful messages of DS2 until I was snapped back to reality by ZeroLenny's complaining

[@breadslayer7987]

In dark souls 3 there are character Eygon of Carim. He have a particular line, then you meet him. "You’ll face death, and it won’t be pretty. Enough death to leave you broken, time after time.” The last part of this line you can actually hear in one of DS3 trailers. So ds3 continued to tell players about game been hard. I think Lenny didn't even listened to every npc, with his fist playthrough. That or he's lying.

[@xSilentZeroXx]

Comparing a mandatory early game cutscene (the first even, disregarding the intro cinematic) that harps on the point to one line of throwaway dialogue from an optional NPC is a take so insincere that I can see your nose growing.

[@breadslayer7987]

Doesn't matter. Lenny said, that there are no similar lines in other games, but they do. Still, that line WAS in main trailer of the game, so don't notice it means that you don't interested in such notions in those games (that makes argument agains ds2 irrelevant), or just turned a deaf ear to it. Btw, you can skip that cutscene.

[@unoriginalperson72]

Every single souls game tells you the message, even DEMON'S SOULS does it, but you don't see people complaining about it

[@kixakii436]

Ds2 literally got a whole achievement called "this is dark souls" when you die like get it guys? Dark souls hard hahahah you casuls welcome to the hardest game ever here take this achievement for dying lmao get ownndd

[@breadslayer7987]

Mostly all those decisions probably were from Namco Bandai, not developers themselves. And I prefer to have a little harmless achievement in game, then play overrated tedium like ds1.

[@zoomspilo6798]

The section on strafing bosses felt really weird to me cuz learning what attacks you can strafe just felt like another layer of expression and was genuinely some of the most fun I had when playing Elden Ring (the number of tracking attacks that make no sense in that game is actually one of my main criticisms of the bossfights)

[@shindrac]

I find it so funny how people decided that "Speedrun method that coincidently is easy to pull of in DS1" is the correct way to play an action RPG.

[@MarkerMurker]

One thing I don't think you've mentioned in favor of ADP is that DS2 has the best shields in the series. So the idea that people should transition from blocking to dodging is just a flawed premise. It's an RPG, you want to roll, you level ADP. You want to block, you level STR. It's not a flaw, it's a feature

[@PierreLucSex]

Exactly. Also armors scale with stats too. DS2 understands specialization like no other in the series. So well, in fact, that you even have Mundane infusions for those who defy it.

[@AH-vm8yo]

Dark souls 2 is still the souls game I replay the most.

[@anicepop]

It's crazy being like "you need to level ADP to be able to dodge" and then state that you never need to dodge as you can just strafe around every enemy

[@AtreyusNinja]

"u can't win with people who just want to complain"

[@minespatch]

I just used ring of restoration for most of my playthrough. Free heals. 😆

[@AtreyusNinja]

@@minespatch that ring suck so much, go Watch the video from Eddiel Olivares that talk about ds2 Rings

[@minespatch]

@@AtreyusNinja I accidentally only had 10 vigor until Elana squalid queen, so the ring carried me through my playthrough. My mind was so obsessed with getting the str/dex stats for the gyrm greatshield and yorgh spear, I forgot my Vitality 🥴

[@AtreyusNinja]

@@minespatch dang 🥹

[@Haariroy]

The idea that dark souls 1 bosses are meticulously crafted around a specific number of i-frames is hilarious. There's so many attacks with more than 14 active frames, or giant hitboxes that are impossible to dodge through, and when that isn't the case, it's usually because it's a standard sweep that passes through you in 2-3 frames anyway. Honestly I think the area where ds2 improved over ds1 the most is boss fights, they're so much more polished and better suited to the general mechanics compared to the giant unreadable enemies with 4 moves that made up half of ds1's bosses. It's an area where they clearly looked closely at what worked and didn't work in their previous games and designed accordingly. Meanwhile "the fact that I can dodge attacks without rolling is bad design" is such a bizarre opinion... as if making you care about positioning and movement somehow makes the fights worse? Especially in a game that demands you care about stamina more than any other, so finding opportunities to avoid attacks without spending stamina feels almost necessary in some fights, and always satisfying to figure out. Ds2 haters will truly pick out a random feature and call it an egregious flaw. I also really appreciate you highlighting the tonal differences between the games. I can't understand how you can look at Majula and think the game is trying to be excessively dark and cynical to sell some hardcore reputation. At the risk of sounding presumptuous, I really feel like a lot of the critiques of the narrative/lore of ds2 comes from people who don't actually care to think about dark souls story and just watch lore channels. Excellent video as always

[@thatgamingkiwi1630]

People who say DS1 is built around a specific amount of I-frames when I show them the Titanite Demons and Kalameet: Seriously, you can roll through those guys with perfect timing and they still find a way to hit you.

[@riplix20]

@@thatgamingkiwi1630 hell even asylum demon. If you roll into his buttslam you dodge the hit, but get caught by the shockwave.

[@thatgamingkiwi1630]

@@riplix20 I noticed a lot of the hitbox jank with the bosses occurs if you try to roll into them instead of away from them, like if you try to roll into a Titanite Demon's 3 swipe combo then you'll end up being hit by it despite you being right up in his face.

[@unoriginalperson72]

I wonder how many frames the bed of chaos was designed around

[@zzodysseuszz]

@@unoriginalperson72 whatever Ds3’s was lmao

[@LarryWalker-l2t]

I'll never forgive MatthewMatosis for convincing the souls community that DS2's opening sequence is just the developers mocking you. Do they know that entire teams handle lore and scriptwriting? And that perhaps the dialogue has a point to it and its not just "HAHA GAME IS HARD YOU'RE GONNA DIE LOL". I mean I can't help but find this dismissal a little disrespectful to the people that worked on it.

[@SLAMTUCKER]

I know... the intro is so great. Communicates all the major themes for the game so well. Just people not engaging with it.

[@Zapdos7471]

I love how antithetical the opening is to the first game. Instead of being told you’re special and destined, a bunch of old ladies laugh at you. It immediately sets itself apart but is still very much Dark Souls.

[@unrefinedmorosis5546]

@@Zapdos7471 Even that in itself is a communication of the thematic differences in the games. In Dark Souls 1 you're going on a fated quest ordained by the gods to give your hollow undead life purpose, but in Dark Souls 2... you're nobody. You're just a random person coming to Drangleic in the vain hope of finding a cure for the curse. You don't have fate or the gods or a prophecy on your side. Just a hollow who can hardly remember their own name but dreams of a better life. The first people who see you think your plans are ridiculous, and mock you. And that makes it much more impactful when the Emerald Herald chooses to help you regardless, jaded by years of failure but holding out hope that you have what it takes to succeed.

[@asdergold1]

​@@Zapdos7471 A lot of the most braindead fans are obsessed with the "Chosen" Undead. Even though that was utter bullshit. They still think it was actually a thing. Seriously.

[@SLAMTUCKER]

@@asdergold1 It's funny because Oscar explains this completely. "Thou who art undead, thou art chosen." Every single undead is 'chosen'.

[@Vidaxer]

The worst part about ZeroLennys ds2 video is infuriatingly smug tone when he points out perceived issues he has with the game

[@thatlonzoguy]

The accent doesnt help

[@Zythryl]

Being smug really is the worst thing in videos about these games. It doesn’t matter how right someone is while having such a tone, it’s the easiest way to no longer be taken seriously. It’s difficult to listen to someone who has no respect.

[@Jinseng]

Holy shit domo please keep cooking ‼️ ds2 became my second favorite souls after going in with horrible expectations from listening to guys like Lenny and Mauler, it’s so nice to see someone finally put into words exactly why these guys are wrong

[@AtreyusNinja]

yep, mauler especially is an *****

[@michaelcarroll5801]

2nd? Tsk tsk

[@Jinseng]

@@michaelcarroll5801 in terms of souls series it’s behind ds3 for me just cause that’s the one I started with. I’d rank elden ring above both tho I’m a slave to that game

[@ChristianTheChicken]

Mom wake up new Domo video just dropped.

[@VileLasagna]

@24:17 I REALLY hate that if you pick up that soul, those shrubs are permanently uprooted and you can't just make it past them without having to stop and fight any more

[@magnus4945]

side note, in his video he talks about how the shield eventually becomes bad and you have to start putting points into ADP... which is just false. and then seconds later he says how great and useful sidestepping attacks is. does he have no idea that the shield is the easiest way for new players to sidestep attacks? it lets them gamble by holding the shield up while they perform the sidestep.

[@davict97br]

People who complain about DS 2 simply dont know how to play the game

[@OH-uh4pc]

I actually can't fathom how the player being rewarded for good positioning and opting to predict and understand how to walk around attacks is a bad thing.

[@UltravioletNomad]

I love Lenny, but he's the perfect example of how some of the best Souls players keep insisting and pushing the "No Block" rhetoric that ended up coming full fucking circle with SOTE. Because they found it most fun to treat it like an action game 90% of the time, because back in the day early adopters havel shielded DkS1 and said the game was boring and now they're in constant damage control. And their own expertise causes them to make disingenuous rhetoric about what works and what doesn't work, or how the first time experience is, because they aren't even fully cognizant of how they learned things, or the subconscious actions they reflectively make from thousands of hours of playing.

[@JoseViktor4099]

My objetively correct reaction: 😠

[@francissebastiansamson8561]

zerolenny's issue with powerstancing is quite ridiculous. If each pair from all 175 ds2 weapons has a unique animation, there will be 30K+ unique animations! The game will be several terrabytes in size!

[@WyattStrange]

All DS2 criticism can be boiled down to this statement. "This game isn't DS1 and I hate it!" God forbid a sequel try to innovate and distinguish itself from the previous entries. No just make dark souls the new call of duty where they just put out a new game every year that is Identical to the previous one. Because leaving your confort zone is scary.

[@meyes1098]

That's what I hated the most about ds3. It just looks like bloodborne, with dark souls slapped on top of it. Seems like they just tried to appeal to fanboys. It innovated the least... - it gave us the "weapon arts", even though we had them before, but they were just parts of specific weapons - it ruined the magic system, since in des, ds1, ds2 they had the relatively unique system where it was based on nr of casts, ds2 even goes as far as having a stat help with nr of casts, but then they just slapped "generic RPG mechanic nr. 4" by just using a mana pool... - It made durability a useless non issue again - It brought frost... YAY? The only true innovations ds3 made were in the QoL category, like the item slots when you open the menu.

[@uegeywcewhdvsdge318]

​@@meyes1098demon souls uses the same system as ds3 and elden ring with a mana bar using for spells you refill using items. The slot spell system was just terribly balanced having too many casts amd ds2 effectively gave you infinite casting

[@AtreyusNinja]

i learned to play ds1 once in 1985, why do i have to relearn again another game? too hard for me smh. (sarcastic)

[@meyes1098]

@@AtreyusNinja what a fking troll, ds1 didn't even exist in 1985, everybody knows it was released in 1988...

[@AtreyusNinja]

@@meyes1098 i'm sorry

[@owlgoddess8534]

i feel like a lot of ds2 haters go into it with a negative mind expecting to dislike it and just immediately assume every problem they have is a game design problem. it’s so weird watching dark souls players of all people struggle with something once and immediately declare that it is designed badly and don’t try and solve the problem in any other way.

[@GameBooAdvancePlus]

I think the part of Agility as a stat is more expectation vs reality, but thats really getting into the weeds of an argument. Honestly, my main problem and will always be a problem to me is that Agility has no feedback for what its doing for you. You have to be savvy in DS2's paticular quirks to know how much you want. Level Up health/stamina? The bar gets bigger. Level up a damage stat? The damage number gets bigger. Level up Attunement? You get more magic slots. Agility gives you more s but that is practically invisible to an average player, its not like weighted rolls where you actually see the distance and speed its giving you.

[@BunnyChannel918]

Now this feels like a fair argument, I like the ADP system but feedback in gamefeel or a non diegetic element to show the effect would be really good. I feel like this affects rolling the most because with estus I feel like the change is pretty noticeable at a glance...

[@josecriollo6976]

Just like old man said ds2 does a very poor job at explaining what some things actually do

[@GameBooAdvancePlus]

@@BunnyChannel918 Yeah, the estus sipping speed is a plus that can be noticed. I didnt really mention it because it's not the primary reason people level up the stat. Attunement raises cast speed too, but its not the main reason you level that either.

[@BunnyChannel918]

@@GameBooAdvancePlus That's fair!! I personally leveled it for the estus because I was struggling with the timing, but alas I got gud...

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

​@@GameBooAdvancePlus Only the real ones level Attunement for better rolls these days

[@FriedShrimp04]

When im in a Spreading misinformation contest, and my opponent is a DS2 hater

[@enzoauditore16]

Hey Domo! If you ever run out of content, there's a 3h "review" of DS2 from the ChaosSouls. Its THE WORST DS2 review I've seen. Keep up the good work! Love your videos

[@kaschey6145]

Unfortunately, it's rather difficult to run out of sh-tty DS2 slanders on YT to debunk...

[@Sneedseednfeed]

I'm being honest right now, watching that video for an hour raised my blood pressure and I began sweating uncontrollably. That's the first time that I got that angry watching a game review.

[@illusion8457]

@@kaschey6145 My favourite video to hate is MauLer's review on it. What an absolute dogshit pile of a video.

[@jasoniusthegreat5584]

@@illusion8457ain’t Mauler the dude who hated Outlast just because others liked it and it wasn’t his type of horror?

[@illusion8457]

@@jasoniusthegreat5584 yes, the dude has a habit of making absolutely ridiculous statements talking about “this is an objective truth” when in reality it’s just his opinion lol

[@lorscarbonferrite6964]

Criticizing DS2 because the firekeepers say that you'll die over and over again is an especially weird point to make, given that the PC version of DS1 is literally called the "Prepare to Die Edition'.

[@JellyJman]

Ehhh that was more Bandi Namco’s fault not Fromsoft, Miyazaki never wanted to make these games super hard, just challenging, plus Demon’s Souls really drove home the coop helping. It’s more like DS2’s team leaned into that marketing and the reputation that the games were hard.

[@JoseViktor4099]

Even on Sekiro one of the characters ask you "How many times you die on your way over here? Once? Twice? Or so many times that you aren't able to even count?" Saying that difficulty never was a priority/attractive is probably one of the most pretentious things anybody can say about Fromsoft games.

[@Domo3000]

​@@JellyJman that's actually rewriting history When they announced DS2 they mentioned in several interviews that they want to make it less cryptic, more approachable and fairer to appeal to a broader audience. For example, here is Lee Kirton from Namco: "We're going after people who love and adore Dark Souls, while hopefully widening the net a little. I'm not saying that every Skyrim player's going to be jumping on Dark Souls, but it would be nice if some of them did. It's a different game, sure."

[@lorscarbonferrite6964]

​@@JellyJmanMaybe, but the main thing that DS2 does that even reflects that is the Majula monument. The fire keepers say that you'll die over and over again and lose everything, but from looking at the rest of the Souls series, it's pretty clear what the purpose of them saying that is. All of the Souls games (plus Elden Ring, Bloodborne and even Sekiro) go out of their way to establish at the beginning that the player character is no hero. They're no chosen one (despite the whole Chosen Undead thing), and are little more than a worthless, nameless, vagabond who is destined to fail. The fire keepers saying that you'll lose everything is just part of DS2 doing that.

[@JellyJman]

@@Domo3000 that is also just PR speak from one guy from the publisher (not the developer) of the game. Of course he’s gonna say he wants as many people to play the game! And the interviews where they do mention they want to be less cryptic are back when Tomohiro Shibuya was director before he got the axe. You can see a lot of responses online from back in the day that didn’t like that Shibuya wanted to make the game easier. Tanimura himself said in interviews he wants to create a game where you did have to relay on the internet and other people to recreate that feeling he had at old Japanese arcades where you spoke to your friends about tips and tricks regarding how to beat stuff and what stuff actually meant. It’s not rewriting history, the people who actually were around when the game got finished and made the game leaned into the challenge. As for The Firekeepers, them mocking you is to show your growth and your ability to overcome adversity where everyone doubted you. It’s just a story device to show how far you rose above the haters. But some people think it’s the game devs mocking you directly which isn’t the case.

[@TheDevourerOfGods]

It's funny how they think running through a castle WOULDNT cause the guards to chase you.

[@xmallos493]

i find it crazy how lenny thinks that transitioning from a shield/tank build to a dodge focused one is somehow necessary or important. there's multiple ways to play these games. ignoring that fact ignores most of these games and their mechanics.

[@deathtoraiden2080]

You wouldn't understand because you are not a real Souls Veteran, you're just some casual scrub who has to play the game pressing three buttons LMAO. He can play the game only pressing TWO buttons. You can only dream of such skill play. Know your place, shield boy!

[@shanecoyle8053]

Well he is correctly identifying that blocking all the time is an inferior and passive gameplay experience compared to rolling. It also makes the game way easier, which also makes these games worse.

[@deathtoraiden2080]

@@shanecoyle8053 TEN-HUT! VETERAN ON DECK! 🏴🪖🎖

[@unoriginalperson72]

​@@deathtoraiden2080two buttons? TWO BUTTONS? HA HA HA HA, don't make me laugh! A true souls player only plays with ONE button, you're clearly the scrub here if you even think about using more than one button.

[@scringle2844]

the adp part blew my mind, never thought about it that way

[@AlphaOmega-jh6ll]

Domo is debunking so much ds2 misinformation that even his AI voice starts sounding more pissed off at some points lmao

[@AtreyusNinja]

lol xD

[@radagoon1]

I first played ds2 by watching tons of content hating on the game so my opinion was skewed from the start but actually sitting and playing the game made me realize its not so bad after all

[@AtreyusNinja]

try its ng+, its pvp too

[@Lanewreck]

I love Lenny. However, this video cooks. %100 agree. He basically argued power stance in bad faith by not talking about off hand main hand types dictates move set. Dude just uses lame brain weapons with limited move sets. The whole point of using "gimmick move" weapons, is to have good combo strings while still having another strong weapon equipped. Ds2 is different. It's not bad.

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

There's a lot of weapons with unique quirks that apply because of Power Stancing. One of the funniest things to me is that Dark Souls 2 gives a niche to the broken sword through power stancing. It has an astronomically low stamina cost associated with attacks, so can be paired with extremely stamina hungry weapons to reel their attacks in while power stanced. Or weapons with particular moves that become desirable for a different weapon to be power stanced with and benefit from.

[@DoctorThundah]

ZeroLenny and being confidently wrong about DS2. Name a more iconic duo.

[@JellyJman]

The big thing that people seem to forget that Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls 1, and Dark Souls 2 all have bosses where you can easily beat by circle strafing. Bosses before Dark Souls 3 were ALL about positioning. Dark Souls 3 made the game series all about just reflex tests and how well you can abuse s. But DeS, DS1, DS2 bosses weren’t just about iframing but MORE about how well you position yourself from the boss then attack and then reset position.

[@JoseViktor4099]

Even Elden Ring a lot of times does this. The main exceptions comes into the most despised boss fights as well, specially Consort Radahn.

[@groovyhoovy2606]

Except you literally can do the same against bosses in DS3

[@dimitrifake53]

I only have issues with some bosses, like rot woman boss and the likes. I don't think the issue is how the handling of bosses are but the sheer numbers of 'em and how many times they copied them. Which leads to very half baked bosses which gives more extreme felling on bosses.

[@umutalicoskun1096]

"abuse s" lmao

[@janehrahan5116]

@@umutalicoskun1096 cope harder, if you don't want to get hit by attacks try not being where the attack is.

[@Buttersaucee3]

There are so many “issues” with DS2 that these half baked e-critics think are entirely exclusive to DS2, when in reality they can be easily (and often times more poignantly) applied to other games in the series. I’m entirely convinced that if Miyazaki’s name was on DS2 people would love it.

[@meyes1098]

Indeed, the most hilarious one is the hitbox issue. Sure ds2 has some horrible hitboxes (like the giants with dual wielding axe things), but every souls game has them, including elden ring. In fact, on average ds3 has the worst hitboxes in the series xD it's hitboxes on average extend the most from the visual representation of the weapon/attack.

[@Hououin818]

DS2 enjoyer strongest soldier strike again 🗿

[@deathtoraiden2080]

This experience can be applied to practically every game released between 2012 and 2014. It was the time when word of mouth on video games died the same death video game press did in the early 2000s and the birth of the hot take irate gamer, main character syndrome personality with a one hour analyses on why this game he totally cares so much about is the worst thing to ever happen to the medium. Ever since these people started controlling the narrative it's been game over for word of mouth on video games. That era is filled with great games being treated like dirt and look at the absolute state of video games today. As someone who's been dealing with and experiencing this kind of misinformation surrounding a series i love since like 2007 i can say it's a fruitless, ultimately worthless battle. You can't fight the endlessly parroting drone hordes. Video games are actually one of the mediums more prone to misinformation because, let's face it, how many children are involved in the process. Nowadays the average adult social media addict is no different to a child to boot. I always like citing the "don't shoot enemies in Resident Evil" example. That playground lie has been around for almost 30 YEARS and it simply refuses to die. It's here forever. Uh, anyway. Yeah, Dark Souls 2 is pretty cool. Only game in the series i had fun doing multiple playthroughs besides Demon's Souls.

[@saysalla]

If you don't like dark souls 2 you have main character syndrome

[@giovannisiani2656]

The ending of this gave me shivers. Goat souls 2 does not deserve all the absurd hate, it is a gem, a beautiful progect with so so so much passion. These fakes could never understand. I cannot a day in my life stop glazing this game

[@theinternetsworst7860]

It's incredibly weird how people who've played every souls game just absolutely lose their mind about 2. I think there are plenty of valid criticisms about the game but every take on it is complaining about things that are in every souls game and aggroing every enemy on a level to complain about ganks. Need the world's top psychologists on this.

[@michaelcarroll5801]

It is an interesting phenomenon

[@saysalla]

Dark souls 2 is completely alien to those people because it's the only good game fromsoft ever made and they are used to bland ubisoft-tier open world games like dark souls 1 and elden ring

[@michaelcarroll5801]

@@saysalla how is ds1 first half ubisoft tier? It's legendary

[@Ecco_The_Dolphin]

"The easy rolls in ds3 took away the challenge, and i prefer the difficulty slider" I agree with this. The spam rolls in ds3 and the amount of stamina makes it super easy. Ds2 forces you to play slower and plan things out a little more

[@shanecoyle8053]

Dark Souls 3 had a minor problem with spam rolls, sure. But the game is significantly harder than 95% of base game Dark Souls 2. It is cope to suggest anything different.

[@Domo3000]

​@@shanecoyle8053to me it often feels like I panic dodged too early, but still made it Similarly the default deflect in Sekiro is too forgiving and that's why I like that you can use Charm and Bell to increase the difficulty. Having fewer s would force me to play better, which would be more fun to me. Like on SL1 I first tried Gael, which felt too easy for me.

[@NoahToledo-xo5pj]

@@shanecoyle8053 Is it though? I mean it depends what you considered difficulty, you die way easier in 3 but the game is way simpler than the previous games. Is Bloodborne without the cool combat mechanics.

[@zaguldo]

I love Lenny but he was definitely being unfair to DS2 here. I think a lot of people really just have issue with how different the game feels, and a lot of their complaints are just born from not trying to fully understand the way DS2 wants you to play. Oddly enough DS3 is just as different in a lot of ways, but maybe having Bloodborne out first got people more used to the idea that each FromSoft game can play very differently even if they share the same basic combat mechanics. For the hollows in the Forest, while it's true that you don't have to wake them all up at once I think you need to also consider how boring it is to fight so many of the same enemy 1 by 1 in the same area. Unlike most "ganks" people complain about, I think this one is actually poor design.

[@riplix20]

I started with Sekiro, played Elden ring quite a bit and have now gone back to the souls trilogy. Ds1 is very slow compared to ds3/ER and is missing a bunch of QoL Ds2 improves almost all aspects of ds1 mechanically, feels very very similar. Ds3 felt like a departure the first time I picked it up, and was able to see their design philosophy change from slow and methodical, to fast reflex based fights.

[@Revision-Harrowed]

Ah, but you see, expecting a dark souls youtuber to ever press the strong / heavy attack button is where you went wrong Domo! Clearly, when all I do is press light attack seven billion times in a row, every weapon plays the exact same way!

[@josecriollo6976]

Theres like these little buttons right below the r1/l1 buttons in my ps4 controller...never figured out what they do...

[@unoriginalperson72]

They need to save that stamina to roll directly into attacks

[@elijahfyffe5176]

I never noticed the different voiced for the EH. Neat

[@Lamrock93]

The debate rages on... I think the game is pretty good, but the main problem with ADP is that it isn't properly explained. It's hard to imagine anyone intuitively figuring out that agility dictates your s. The ganks aren't very difficult since you can kite enemies. It is just a bit tedious. Most of the bosses are pretty easy but so many of them force you to replay several minutes of fighting the same enemies over and over to get back to them. I totally agree with you about the brume tower room though. That whole DLC really is a blast with all the traps you can lure enemies into.

[@vanilla.icescream]

You don't really have to fight every enemies in the runback, you can just learn the AI behavior and when to dodge their attack. Treat it like a skill check just like you fight the bosses, then the runback will be earned. But then again, this is my opinion and how i approach every fromsoft game in general bc obviously their games aren't just about boss and bosses

[@michaelcarroll5801]

There's only a couple bosses that are hard to avoid enemies on though, specifically the two iron keep bosses. The vast majority you can run back relatively easily

[@ashen-one--x]

I rememeber the first time i went through Black Gulch. the acid spitting statues were so frustrating for me. At first I would spend 10 minutes breaking them all, but of course that takes forever. Then you can get the bonfire halfway. Then I noticed you can drop down to the areas below. Then i noticed you can roll when you hear the statue spit, and easily avoid them. Its like, yeah, the game hard when you visit areas teh first time, and you will die, but if you try a few times, areas become no big deal!

[@kazueglassheardt7185]

I actually really like ZeroLenny's content and forgot he made this video. Oh well, I guess everyone makes mistakes

[@solairemyboy]

Imma voice my subjective opinion on this but I personally liked his vids when he WAS ZeroLenny and especially when he started to combine robo-voice with his IRL persona, it's some of the best skit-like vids he ever done. Nowadays it's all about "Steve" the guy and not ZeroLenny the character and frankly I find Steve a bit annoying and repeptitive in his reactions and such. Doesn't help that most of his YT videos now are compiled from recordings of his Twitch streams, unlike his older vids So all in all Imo ZeroLenny fell off as a KZbinr big time, but I mean, if focusing on Twitch is more fun to him and nets him better profits who am I to judge. I can only do what's in my control which I already did - unsubscribed (his unfair criticism of DS2 and constant overuse of jokes "haha ds2 bad" even when he's not playing DS2 weren't also helping)

[@kazueglassheardt7185]

@@solairemyboy but,,,,,, it floats down

[@magnus4945]

ds2 haters truly enter a sort of hysteria or trance of some sort when they play ds2 that makes them ignore all facts and logic, it really is incredible somehow.

[@a_blue_guitar5209]

Given that Lenny played ds2 for 24 hours straight on stream, I don't think he's a ds2 hater, he's just trying to convince himself that he hates it. After all, you're not allowed to simply like things that are unpopular

[@vanilla.icescream]

this

[@Master_of_Letters]

I love the idea of powerstancing with a longsword MH and ultra greatsword OH like Fume Knight. Definitely going to try that on a new character. Maybe mix it with some hexes. I didn't touch powerstancing in my first playthrough because I knew nothing about it at the time.

[@nutandhakal5289]

As a Caestus powerstance user smashing through bosses I really don't care about what anyone has to say. Much of the normal gameplay is either levelling the rapier or using some handy brute weapon like caestus or a mace or even a blacksmith hammer to smash through the armored enemies that usually go down in 3 to 4 shots at most. Dark Souls 2 is an easy game. I don't understand why everybody keeps complaining

[@victorsouza8351]

Ds2 is a good game. It's sad that people who didn't know much about the game spread misinformation about it all these years. Domo is helping to make people see that it's a good game 💪.

[@pauloarthur8656]

Achei o homem

[@AH-vm8yo]

Best hub in the series.

[@saysalla]

Yeah when I first played the game a decade ago I thought it was kind of shit but now that someone on the internet has scientifically proved that it's actually a good game I played it again and now it's a masterpiece.

[@psychonamedjerry8181]

I think it would be funny if you made a bait video criticizing ds1 or 3 like an average ds2 hater.

[@AlbertoGarciaPrieto-jn3yt]

Finally someone addresses this problems with the community, the flaws of DS2 are over criticized but the ones in the other 2 games are somehow always forgived. I don't understand how people can be so double-moralist when comparing this games. You have a new sub friend, keep this up :))))

[@janehrahan5116]

Reminder to everyone. If you don't get hit I frames don't matter. This isn't ds3/er. Every attack is dodgeable by position.

[@CamiciaRossa]

Proudly beaten DS2 Without any Adaptability. DS2 haters are mostly a bunch of crybabies

[@AtreyusNinja]

yes, they are.

[@ashen-one--x]

power stancing is such a fantastic feature i completely agree. thanks for the upload! and youre so right about ADP and agility. not to mention, if you have high stats in other things, youre still gonna be a powerful character. oh and of course, you can always re spec! never ceases to amaze me how wrong so many people are about DS2. always appreciate you correcting them!