Knowing what I know now about DS2 and its famously troubled development, I'm amazed it came out so well put together. It might not reach the heights of its prequel, but it's still good. There are still plenty of highlights. I like the DLCs, they really show that the devs were learning and working on their strengths and weaknesses. Apparently build variety is really good, but I have yet to replay it. The only thing I'll say I really don't like about Scholar was the entire Shrine of Amana area. That was genuinely such a painful experience that makes me not want to play the thing through again

When I first played Dark Souls II, during my first "I need as much souls content I can possibly pump directly into my blood" back in 2020, the conclusion I came away with was "It's still a great game, but compared to the high quality standard set by DS1 and Bloodborne, I like this one a little bit less." I always seemed to separate Dark Souls 2 in my head from the rest as being comparatively subpar, but on this latest journey through From's history (this time with my friends) my opinions have changed a bit. Bloodborne is still a masterpiece, Dark Souls 1 isn't quite as great as I remember, and Dark Souls 2 is actually fantastic. I don't think it's a coincidence that Elden Ring seemed to pull from Dark Souls 2 the most when creating its synthesis of the series.

I think the most common words I said to my friends as we journeyed through Drangleic together was this game just has an incredible vibe to it. Dark Souls 1's interconnected world is really fun to think about on a conceptual level, and I'm enamored by Miyazaki's creativity, but I was rarely wowed in that game on a moment-to-moment basis about how fun it was to explore Lordran (with the exception of Anor Londo). But in Dark Souls 2, every time I entered a new, my first thought was - wow this level is beautiful or really neat, I can't wait to explore it again. Majula, Heide's Tower, No Man's Wharf (shout out an awesome pirate level), Lost Bastille, Earthen Peake, Iron Keep, Drangleic Castle, Shrine of Amana, Dragon's Sanctum are all gorgeous and sell the high fantasy vibe of Dark Souls 2 which I found myself preferring over the dark fantasy of DS1 or 3.

This goes doubly-so for the DLC areas of Shulva, Brume Tower, and Eleum Loyce. In the base game, you get the sense that this was the game most inspired by the classic Zeldas, that inspiration is even more apparent in this game's fantastic DLCs. Aside from being beautiful, these are the levels with the most creative methods of traversal, interesting puzzles (woah! Dark Souls levels that you get through not just by killing all the enemies on the way to the next bonfire?), and complicated level designs. Shooting switches to move elevators and doors in Shulva, or turning on the big furnace to move old immobile elevators in Brume Tower allowing you to explore secret rooms (including hiding the best boss in the game), and quelling the blizzard in Eleum Loyce radically changing the level and going around to free allies for the final boss. Truly, I think these might be my favorite levels in the series (before Elden Ring).

Don't even get me started on some of the really cool (and ambitious) mechanical ideas here that never made a return. Aside from having the most amount of viable weapons and coolest armor sets, you also had lifegems and bonfire ascetics which gave the player even more freedom in how they approached the game and I wish they made a return in later entries.

This game however does have its problems. 41 bosses are simply too many. There are so many lackluster bosses that I wish From didn't even bother working on in order to make it's really great bosses shine even more (darklurker, fume knight, alonne, queen elana). This game when it wants to challenge you, throws a million enemies in your path - I understand it's so that you can play more strategically with position and such. In concept it would be cool, but sucks to have to kill all the enemies methodically just to attempt the boss that's been killing you again.

Maybe that's why Elden Ring works so good. It took everything that made Dark Souls 2 really special and mostly fixed the things that didn't work here.

Surpreendentemente o melhor da franquia
Foi o único que não tinha nenhum spoiler acredito que isso fez ser a melhor experiência

Herde o fogo, e aproveite a Escuridão.
Esse é o chamado de um verdadeiro líder...


O que você procura?
Nem você é capaz de dizer isso.
Nos encontraremos novamente, jovem Hollow.

This game is a little hard to judge as it has both its ups and downs, and you can tell the team at FromSoft wanted to try something a little bit different from the first Dark Souls. There was definitely a lot more jank than the first game, but there were enjoyable moments too. However, since I played the first one right before I started this, I couldn’t help but compare the two, making me rate this one lower. I beat every boss in the game, and plan on going into NG+ and NG++ to get the few achievements I’m missing, but I would say that between the first two Dark Souls games there is a definite difficulty spike, and this one requires you to seriously get good.

Pode-se considerar que Dark Souls 2 é uma espécie de "ovelha negra" da família. Enquanto peca em várias mecânicas, consegue inovar em outras. Infelizmente, a versão "Scholar of the First Sin" tanto melhora quanto piora certos aspectos em relação ao Dark Souls 2 original. Em comparação com seus irmãos da franquia, sua abordagem para aumentar a dificuldade pode ser considerada um tanto estúpida, pois sobrecarrega cenas com uma grande quantidade de inimigos, tornando o jogo frustrante. No entanto, apesar desses pontos negativos, ainda é possível reconhecer que é um bom jogo.

Wow... Warra journey.

بعد 4 سنين غياب ختمت المظلومة بالتجربة الاصلية
يا جماعة الفرق بين الاصلية و الريماستر شي شي مو طبيعي

مثال: الاغراض اماكنها مو زي اماكن الريماستر, زي الامبر دول بالريماستر بتلقاها ببداية اللعبة, لكن بالاصلية تحتاج تروح للايرون كيب عشان تحصلها.

هذا اعطى اللاعب انه يلعب و يستكشف لين يصير فعلا op للاند قيم.

طبعا استمتعت جدا جدا خلال ال30 ساعة, القصة عجبتني مره مره رغم ان العالم مو ذاك الزود.

الساوندتراك منسي الصراحة لكن فيه اوست ماجولا ولا فيندريك لمار او حتى الديا.

و طبعا ما انسى الشي اللي خلى اللعبة تنلعب واللي هو البونفاير اسيتك اللي خلاني افرم.
و اشكر ال Rapier انه كان معي طول اللعبة.

اصعب بوس بالنسبة لي كان الروتن بسبب التفريم مو عشانه صعب, عانيت مره خاصة انه وصل لنيو قيم بلس 6 و صار ون هيت, بس احسن شي انه اختبرني اني اهزمه نو هيت و سويتها مرتين.

لكن اللي صدق كان تحدي هو فيندريك لمار, بسبب انه تانكي و تو هيت.

عموما انتهى الريفيو الظالم للمظلومة مع انتهاء الكريدتس, سيتم راحة الان الى ان ارجع للاضافات.

Thank you Dark "My beloved" Souls II,
and the journey continues…