All over the internet, I would constantly hear how bad of a game Dark Souls 2 is. I was reluctant to play it myself because of this but after finishing it, I'm quite glad I tried it out for myself. This game is very overhated and absolutely has problems, but I'm starting to realize that most of the criticism that's posted so loudly is not from regular fans of the series but rather Dark Souls veterans that are crazy deep into the series and have the highest of expectations.
This game made quite a few unnecessary changes from the first like removing the humanity count, tampering with the weapon degradation system, adding the adaptability stat, and many others, all of which felt unnecessary and just weren't improvements from the first. This game in general is basically more Dark Souls 1 with worse quality of life additions, I don't think there's anything this game does that's unique or stands out in a positive way from the rest. I also found it a bit too long, some areas were a bit bland and could have easily been removed. I've only played Demon Souls and DS1 so I'm not sure how hard the series gets but I found this game very challenging. Most bosses I could eventually get the hang of but there were areas that had a frustrating amount of difficult enemies, like Heide's tower as an example. I think I've created irreversible anger management issues from when I was trying to traverse from the bonfire to the dragon fight and then the Ornstein 2.0 boss fight. The amount of enemies you have to go through all in close proximity to each other so they all gangbang you is just not fun game design. This is a problem I found constantly in areas. Eventually, I popped in a Human Effigy and got through it by summoning an NPC which is another issue I have with this game. DS1 had such a nice balanced difficulty in almost every way including NPC summons. In this game; however, you can either struggle to the point of insanity as a non hollow (if you're not a DS sweat) or mow down everything in your overpowered human form, there's no in between.
Despite all these negatives, I had a lot of fun with it. Maybe it is the worst in the series, I couldn't say at the moment, but it definitely is not a bad game. It would hit me sometimes with it's beautiful scenery and music and gave me a few "damn" moments. Although Majula's theme isn't as good as Firelink Shrines, I gotta say, leaving that beginning cave and entering Majula for the first time with its permanent sunsets was certainly a "damn" moment. The DLC was also enjoyable with quite an amount of content, and some of the hardest bosses I've fought in Soulsborne's this far, them being Fume Knight and Sir Alonne. Personally, I still found the DS1 DLC superior due to liking the world more and the Artorias fight but I can see why people praise this games DLC specifically.
I would definitely recommend giving this game a chance.
This game made quite a few unnecessary changes from the first like removing the humanity count, tampering with the weapon degradation system, adding the adaptability stat, and many others, all of which felt unnecessary and just weren't improvements from the first. This game in general is basically more Dark Souls 1 with worse quality of life additions, I don't think there's anything this game does that's unique or stands out in a positive way from the rest. I also found it a bit too long, some areas were a bit bland and could have easily been removed. I've only played Demon Souls and DS1 so I'm not sure how hard the series gets but I found this game very challenging. Most bosses I could eventually get the hang of but there were areas that had a frustrating amount of difficult enemies, like Heide's tower as an example. I think I've created irreversible anger management issues from when I was trying to traverse from the bonfire to the dragon fight and then the Ornstein 2.0 boss fight. The amount of enemies you have to go through all in close proximity to each other so they all gangbang you is just not fun game design. This is a problem I found constantly in areas. Eventually, I popped in a Human Effigy and got through it by summoning an NPC which is another issue I have with this game. DS1 had such a nice balanced difficulty in almost every way including NPC summons. In this game; however, you can either struggle to the point of insanity as a non hollow (if you're not a DS sweat) or mow down everything in your overpowered human form, there's no in between.
Despite all these negatives, I had a lot of fun with it. Maybe it is the worst in the series, I couldn't say at the moment, but it definitely is not a bad game. It would hit me sometimes with it's beautiful scenery and music and gave me a few "damn" moments. Although Majula's theme isn't as good as Firelink Shrines, I gotta say, leaving that beginning cave and entering Majula for the first time with its permanent sunsets was certainly a "damn" moment. The DLC was also enjoyable with quite an amount of content, and some of the hardest bosses I've fought in Soulsborne's this far, them being Fume Knight and Sir Alonne. Personally, I still found the DS1 DLC superior due to liking the world more and the Artorias fight but I can see why people praise this games DLC specifically.
I would definitely recommend giving this game a chance.