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.
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.