I found Dark Souls 2 to be pretty inconsistent all things considered, many people consider it to be the 'black sheep' of the series or so I understand, owing to its somewhat patchy development, 'unique' approach to staple mechanics and of course, the fact that it was not directed by the series' primary director now turned Fromsoft President, Hidetaka Miyazaki - who was busy with DS1's DLC at the time.
There's definitely signs of a troubled development in the game and I think the end result is a title that I would describe as 'inelegant'. But despite this, I do think Dark Souls 2 gets far too much hate, and while its flaws are apparent and its criticisms usually quite valid, when you look at the whole picture there's so much to like about this game. Its certainly very unique and experimental for better or worse, and perhaps not the dark souls sequel many people expected, but when viewed for what it is, its still a very fun, creative game with many great moments and stunning artistic direction.
In terms of Dark Souls 2's flaws, of which there are a number, there's only a few that regularly bothered me. I'll get these out of the way before I talk about what this game has going for it. There's the obvious flaws that everyone points out like i-frames on your roll being linked to a new stat which is never explained and not done in any other souls title, I feel for anyone that didn't level ADP. There's also the fact that enemy placements are headache inducing, aggro ranges are highly inconsistent and the game's difficulty feels quite artificial at times, with some areas equating high difficulty with bad level design and swarms of enemies that just bound their way over to you on sight and rarely ever give up the chase. The iconic and acclaimed interconnectivity of DS1's world is also not here in the same way, and on occassions where the world IS connected, it sometimes feels jarring and doesn't make sense - such as when you first arrive at the Iron Keep, via an elevator that goes up from Earthen Peak, like, what? Some stuff such as the so called 'npc questlines' and accessing the dlc are as cryptic and unbelievable as ever too.
While I feel like these are all valid points I think the thing that bothered me the most is something that not a lot of people bring up because on the whole this game's artistic direction is fantastic - and that is the presentation and overall 'feel' of dark souls 2. I find the game to be quite stiff and slow even when compared to its predeccesor, with animations feeling sort of inorganic and quite robotic. Attacking enemies also feels like hitting one big metal pole, this is a weird thing to point out but I felt like enemies didn't really flinch or react to attacks except when their poise / guard was broken. The presentation of bosses was also a let down, but in fairness I have been spoiled by some simply amazing boss fights in future titles. Regardless the bosses in DS2 pale in comparison to DS1, with only a few exceptions I found them to be pretty uninteresting and a bit pathetic to fight, with very little atmosphere or accompaniment to leverage them. A good portion of DS2's bosses, particularly in the base game, are just big dudes in armor in small circular or rectangular arenas, or a bunch of random regular enemies that they threw a health bar on - lacking the kind of impact and stellar presentation that I've kinda grown to love in this series. Some of them don't even feel thematically tied to an area and some barely even deserve the reputation of being a 'souls boss'. The royal rat vanguard truly is shit. There are smaller changes that I really like, such as being able to fast travel from the very beginning of the game, and ones that aren't good or bad necessarily but made the game 'different', such as the large variety of different healing options and consumable resources, which are greatly valued early on but become kind of op once you get further into the game. For better or worse, dark souls 2 takes some risks and tries new things and I really do respect that about it, but I also never want to go to black gulch, the shrine of amana or the frigid outskirts ever again.
As for the good in dark souls 2, lots of the praise I gave to Dark Souls 1 obviously applies here, it being a sequel and all - an unparalelled feeling of achievement and progression, a vast, visually oustanding interconnected world and endless build and playstyle oppurtunities to name a few. Artistically, the individual areas in DS2 might even be a step up from DS1. Are they all fun to play? No. But places like Hiede's Tower of Flame, Lost Bastille, Dragon's Aerie / Shrine & Drangleic Castle are absolute visual marvels and for a game developed in the early 2010s, DS2 is just at the top of its game. There are a handful of areas in DS2 that are perhaps a bit too repetitive or dark or gimmicky which i'm no longer surprised by with this series, but when the world in this game hits, it fucking hits. The DLCs also have some of the best content in the game, with a handful of the coolest boss fights in the game being featured here. Each offers something uniquely different too, with the Sunken King DLC being more puzzle oriented, the Iron King DLC being a significant test of combat and the Ivory King DLC feeling like one big questline. The Iron King DLC was my personal favouite, I love how its basically all in one hugely realised area in Brume Tower (with a few short branching paths), and all 3 of the bosses were fantastic. Despite a fair overabundance of 'guys in armor', Fume Knight & Sir Alonne are the best of the bunch, being the perfect 'fair yet challenging' fights with some amazing setpieces (though Sir Alonne's grab attack made me grind my teeth a bit, that hitbox is jank). Lastly I do think its cool how DS2 makes all of its areas feel relevant, often having new secrets to find if you backtrack, and also how the areas massively reward exploration and observational skills (not my strong point though lol).
Dark, lonely, still very unforgiving and packed with content, the 'jank' in this game doesn't hinder the dark souls experience as much as some would have you believe. For all of its jank and wank, there's lots to like in DS2 and I still got addicted and had a great time playing it (at least when I wasn't getting soaked with poison in black gulch or rammed into by horses in a frozen wasteland where I can't fucking see anything hahaha). If this is the 'worst' the souls series has to offer, then its still a bar that many developers could only hope to reach, and I think that says a lot about how crazy consistent these games are overall.
7.5/10
There's definitely signs of a troubled development in the game and I think the end result is a title that I would describe as 'inelegant'. But despite this, I do think Dark Souls 2 gets far too much hate, and while its flaws are apparent and its criticisms usually quite valid, when you look at the whole picture there's so much to like about this game. Its certainly very unique and experimental for better or worse, and perhaps not the dark souls sequel many people expected, but when viewed for what it is, its still a very fun, creative game with many great moments and stunning artistic direction.
In terms of Dark Souls 2's flaws, of which there are a number, there's only a few that regularly bothered me. I'll get these out of the way before I talk about what this game has going for it. There's the obvious flaws that everyone points out like i-frames on your roll being linked to a new stat which is never explained and not done in any other souls title, I feel for anyone that didn't level ADP. There's also the fact that enemy placements are headache inducing, aggro ranges are highly inconsistent and the game's difficulty feels quite artificial at times, with some areas equating high difficulty with bad level design and swarms of enemies that just bound their way over to you on sight and rarely ever give up the chase. The iconic and acclaimed interconnectivity of DS1's world is also not here in the same way, and on occassions where the world IS connected, it sometimes feels jarring and doesn't make sense - such as when you first arrive at the Iron Keep, via an elevator that goes up from Earthen Peak, like, what? Some stuff such as the so called 'npc questlines' and accessing the dlc are as cryptic and unbelievable as ever too.
While I feel like these are all valid points I think the thing that bothered me the most is something that not a lot of people bring up because on the whole this game's artistic direction is fantastic - and that is the presentation and overall 'feel' of dark souls 2. I find the game to be quite stiff and slow even when compared to its predeccesor, with animations feeling sort of inorganic and quite robotic. Attacking enemies also feels like hitting one big metal pole, this is a weird thing to point out but I felt like enemies didn't really flinch or react to attacks except when their poise / guard was broken. The presentation of bosses was also a let down, but in fairness I have been spoiled by some simply amazing boss fights in future titles. Regardless the bosses in DS2 pale in comparison to DS1, with only a few exceptions I found them to be pretty uninteresting and a bit pathetic to fight, with very little atmosphere or accompaniment to leverage them. A good portion of DS2's bosses, particularly in the base game, are just big dudes in armor in small circular or rectangular arenas, or a bunch of random regular enemies that they threw a health bar on - lacking the kind of impact and stellar presentation that I've kinda grown to love in this series. Some of them don't even feel thematically tied to an area and some barely even deserve the reputation of being a 'souls boss'. The royal rat vanguard truly is shit. There are smaller changes that I really like, such as being able to fast travel from the very beginning of the game, and ones that aren't good or bad necessarily but made the game 'different', such as the large variety of different healing options and consumable resources, which are greatly valued early on but become kind of op once you get further into the game. For better or worse, dark souls 2 takes some risks and tries new things and I really do respect that about it, but I also never want to go to black gulch, the shrine of amana or the frigid outskirts ever again.
As for the good in dark souls 2, lots of the praise I gave to Dark Souls 1 obviously applies here, it being a sequel and all - an unparalelled feeling of achievement and progression, a vast, visually oustanding interconnected world and endless build and playstyle oppurtunities to name a few. Artistically, the individual areas in DS2 might even be a step up from DS1. Are they all fun to play? No. But places like Hiede's Tower of Flame, Lost Bastille, Dragon's Aerie / Shrine & Drangleic Castle are absolute visual marvels and for a game developed in the early 2010s, DS2 is just at the top of its game. There are a handful of areas in DS2 that are perhaps a bit too repetitive or dark or gimmicky which i'm no longer surprised by with this series, but when the world in this game hits, it fucking hits. The DLCs also have some of the best content in the game, with a handful of the coolest boss fights in the game being featured here. Each offers something uniquely different too, with the Sunken King DLC being more puzzle oriented, the Iron King DLC being a significant test of combat and the Ivory King DLC feeling like one big questline. The Iron King DLC was my personal favouite, I love how its basically all in one hugely realised area in Brume Tower (with a few short branching paths), and all 3 of the bosses were fantastic. Despite a fair overabundance of 'guys in armor', Fume Knight & Sir Alonne are the best of the bunch, being the perfect 'fair yet challenging' fights with some amazing setpieces (though Sir Alonne's grab attack made me grind my teeth a bit, that hitbox is jank). Lastly I do think its cool how DS2 makes all of its areas feel relevant, often having new secrets to find if you backtrack, and also how the areas massively reward exploration and observational skills (not my strong point though lol).
Dark, lonely, still very unforgiving and packed with content, the 'jank' in this game doesn't hinder the dark souls experience as much as some would have you believe. For all of its jank and wank, there's lots to like in DS2 and I still got addicted and had a great time playing it (at least when I wasn't getting soaked with poison in black gulch or rammed into by horses in a frozen wasteland where I can't fucking see anything hahaha). If this is the 'worst' the souls series has to offer, then its still a bar that many developers could only hope to reach, and I think that says a lot about how crazy consistent these games are overall.
7.5/10