[Super long Review ahead]

I find it funny that this game gets called overhated by 85% of the people who talk about it, while 15% are the ones who actually hate it, but I guess it's not surprising considering that any clip calling something out in this game gets angry comments calling the guy a hater despite them liking the game.
So... where do I start? Ngl, I don't really give a lot of shit about the hitboxes, Estus speed, ADP, and boss runbacks in this game, I just think the areas and bosses aren't good? why does every "negative" review list those 4 everywhere?
Sure, ADP is dumb but the game isn't unplayable without it, you just have to time your rolls better but sometimes it's a bit too precise, why make a long roll animation if most of it doesn't have I-frames, why not at least make the animation match the I-frames, ADP isn't as bad as people say but still a dumb thing to exist.

Hitboxes are also not as bad as people say, sometimes they're funky but people complain about it like they're bad all the time, they aren't.

Boss runbacks... I wouldn't say they're bad, it's mostly the areas that are bad, but I'll get to them later. I half prefer DS2 runbacks over DS1, because DS1 runbacks were mostly a boring walking simulator that felt like a waste of time, at least in DS2, even though they can be frustrating, at least you do more than walking, you learn neat ways to get past enemies and time when to run and roll, I feel like I need to play more of these games to have an opinion on these but for now I feel like you should be punished for dying to a boss rather than spawning right next to it, but that can also depend on the boss. Most runbacks are easy if you know what you're doing, some of them like THAT ONE fire or ice area are very frustrating for no reason, but most of them aren't.

Ok, Estus speed, this one I get the least, I think it's fine. Maybe it should be a few frames faster, but it's good enough imo, most enemies give you time to heal (other than that one enemy in that one goddamn fire area), you just have to position yourself well rather than mindlessly drinking before taking a hit because it heals better than the enemy damages you, it only really sucks when you're fighting a boss that sometimes gives you time to heal after an attack, but sometimes they do another attack instantly for no reason.

With those 4 out of the way, let's talk about what matters the most, Areas and bosses. The areas just aren't good, most of them are a bit below average, some are bad, and a few are good. First impressions were a solid 7.5; the tutorial was boring, but then you have that amazing hub area. The first "intentional" area was also pretty solid, the second one is eh but it lasts short enough not to be insulting, after that, you have probably the best area in the base game, you can take different routes, the enemies are well placed, there are small houses to explore, and the torch gets some use, it also has a few secrets including one that lights most of the area, and you can even unlock a shortcut for the boss, after that you have the Bastille, it's an alright area, there are like 4 spots with enemy spam or bad placements, but the area is acceptable. After that, the game falls off, subpar area after subpar area, there are like... 2 non-dlc areas that are decent but if you don't count them and the dlcs, the Bastille is the last decent area. It's not just enemy placements but also the variety, they try to get you with the same trick over and over with the "haha this enemy is hidden behind a corne- oh you killed it, now walk 10 steps and HAHA got you agai- oh wait, another Estus?". It feels like most areas get 3 enemies but they milk one of them 90% of the time (especially for spamming) and the other 2 are used just a few times (sometimes reused in another area), the first few areas had some of the same enemies too but some of them had different weapons than others that made them slightly different, you don't see much of that later. Even the level layout isn't as interesting, in DS1 they all felt unique in a way, in this game, it's either corridors or flat open areas with or without enemies, or a few stairs, and unironically, feels soulless. People seem to complain about it in DS3 but here it feels like most of the bonfires are so close to one another, especially when I was in NG++ where I blazed through the game, the areas are way smaller than they seem but they feel average-sized by motivating you to kill the same 2 enemies again and again. The game also gives the player a lot more Estus than you need, while I have to explore to get them, they're not hard to get at all; when I get a third of the game done I simply don't mind tanking a few hits because I never run out of them other than a few bosses. The areas feel like they were designed out of order, so they connected them with little effort and added bonfires later. Resulting in some frustrating runbacks; again, most of them are easy if you know what you're doing (some bonfires are hidden in secret walls next to bosses which is a nice reward) people always use the frustrating ones to say that they're all like that because "bad easy better than bad hard" I guess.
Oh, the bosses? what can I say, they suck. So many of them feel like regular enemies because they have very few attacks or feel like they have 3 attacks because you kill them so quickly that they don't use the other ones or they're just too similar. A lot of them have the same generic 3-attack combo which is the attack they use for 80% of the fight while the others can be rarer, some of them show up as enemies later in the game and funnily enough are harder than the times they were bosses. Not a lot to say about them, they're mostly super underwhelming, they either die super quickly or are a damage sponge that repeats the same boring attacks over and over again; this game has like what? 40 of them if you count DLCs? I made a tier list and 12 of them are at least B tier, (4 in each tier better than C).

Now for the smaller things that still have some importance

Stamina regens slower than men after sex. It gives them more importance, except it was already good enough in DS1? And I swear I feel 0 difference when I equip something that makes it regen faster. It didn't feel like the game got more strategic, it just felt like it was wasting my time. I give more of a fuck about END stat than ADP if I want to attack more than twice with a strength weapon without waiting for 10 seconds each time.
Something I forgot to mention and didn't pay much attention to without someone else saying it, the enemy progression is just not there, in DS1 you start off fighting weaker-looking enemies, as you progress they get more intimidating as you get more powerful yourself; in DS2 there is none of that other than the very first main area. (and only because it wants to be like DS1 Undead Burg so badly) You fight guys in armor 2.5 times taller than you in the very first few hours, and later you fight guys in armor that are smaller than you, and then they get reused in a much later area.
Also forgot to mention Life Gems, but what do you want me to say about them? They're good, I just wish you could select either Heal with Life Gems or Estus as they recover from bonfires, cuz both are already too much but the best way to get them is to buy at an okay price, still good for not being free; they're a nice risk VS reward healing, too slow for my taste but it's good.
Did DS1 have that many chests? every time I Found a chest in that game I would get excited, in this game they spam even the chests, you open them and you get like, this fruit thing that increases poison defense by 0.00fuckyou%. And since we mentioned chests, a lot of them give you torches and they're way too underused, I don't exactly want more dark areas, but the game makes the torch mechanic look more important than it is.
Power Stance is a little overrated, they look cool but they're very situational, you either use it to instakill an enemy that takes 99% damage against Normal Stance or because it has a different attack type that you normally don't have with that weapon, I always found normal stance more useful.
Weapon Variety is good, but Build Variety is a little overrated? idk...? At first, I thought it was good, but in NG+ I remember playing with a build where almost every stat was the same level (30 - 20 each), I was dealing damage like paper to a DLC boss so then decided to go 99 magic to see if it's op as ppl say and I felt no difference? I changed to 99 dex and it also felt the same. I had weapons that scale to those too, maybe I did something wrong, maybe that's just NG+, or maybe damage stats are not that great for damage and their purpose is to unlock weapons or magic rather than dealing damage with their scaling? no idea.
PvP and Weapon variety is probably the best two things about the game (other than that part I will get to), I thought DS1 PvP wasn't for me when in actuality it sucked, I fought people only like 10 times in the whole game, and Enjoyed 9 of the encounters (one of them was a tryhard), PvP in this game is just fun, I'm just not a fan of standing and waiting so I guess PvP and Co-op isn't for me after all (or maybe waiting isn't for me...). No, I am not gonna be talking about scripted invasions... those can be fun but holy shit they spam even those.
The Lore and Story aren't something I cared about so I didn't pay much attention, I hear it's good, and it seems alright, some of the areas and bosses seem to suck DS1's dick, they're either connected or just lazily built. I can't even remember the name of the NPCs despite 100%ting this game, they are not bad, they're just there (I have Platinum Trophy autism so don't wonder why I 100%ted this game).

Oh fuck, I forgot to mention that the final bosses are garbage, fucking shit...

So yeah the game falls off after Lost Bastille, barely anything fun happens afterward, right? Well no, iT taKEs 50 hOuRs tO gET goOd; the DLCs... that's when the game "gets good", especially the second one, the top 3 best bosses in the game are from the DLCs, they're absolutely amazing, FK might be my favorite Soulsborne boss so far (I only played 1 and 2). The areas are pretty solid too, but sometimes they remind you it's DS2 and they do DS2 stuff. But for the most part, I felt like I was back to DS1, which is a good thing.

But overall this is a very mediocre game, it has great DLC content but that isn't enough to make the game great when the rest of it isn't, the game can't get good in 50 hours (unless it was at least 120 without being bloated but you get it) and that's a dumb excuse because you are literally saying that the first 50 hours are worthless, when that's the majority of the game and the DLCs are still optional content, so you can fucking skip the "good part". I just kept missing DS1 when I played this, it's playable, but I can live without this game.

This is both 1 or 1.5 stars really. The first half can be beaten by a 4-year-old; the game only really starts in the second half. The first half is so... yawn... They start the first level with a cool gimmick, only to never use it again. Some guy once said this is the Mega Man 5 of Castlevania games yet he wasn't wrong at all, everything dies with ease with the whip, and the weapons are mostly useless. The diagonal whip isn't bad, the first half is yawn with or without it anyways, half the time you take damage is because they make the enemy blend in with the ambient or because you get lost sometimes.
The game is actually nice looking for once, what isn't nice are the bosses (again), I don't remember 100% of it because I have beaten the game the same day I started, what I remember is mindlessly mashing to kill the bosses, some of the last ones actually had pattern you had to learn, but they were either annoying or just plain out repetitive, but hey, gotta give it to this game for having the first good boss in the franchise after all the load of shit, it's the very last one and he's just okay, but a huge step up from the rest of them. The levels in the second half of the game are pretty average, their quality is very inconsistent, sometimes they have fun challenges then 2 seconds later, Simon gets jumpscared by a giant gear, or you wanna get past a pit, and they spawn an enemy the moment you get at the very ledge 0.001 seconds before you jump. Teaching elements can be questionable, sometimes they introduce an enemy with 2 other enemies, you get past a platforming gimmick and when ur forced to use it you die because you didn't know that this one platform would flip, or there is this weird thing spinning around then suddenly it kills you because you're meant to go up before it gets to you.
The major praise I have is the enemy variety, almost every level has a new enemy, even if some of them are from other games. Overall It has a boring first half, average second, bosses are still bad, hitboxes are funky sometimes, nice music I guess, and the diagonal whip and easier movement isn't something I cared a lot about, it fits the second half but doesn't make a difference at the first. Can these games get good already? before I get salty replies