okay so my background:
1) didn't care about souls game when there were coming out
2) last year played Dark Souls 1 and enjoyed it
3) went pretty blind with this one
4) but knew that it was considered "shitty" and a lot of players has skipped it
So how's the game? Pretty fucking good. I understand some of the frustrations that people are experiencing but honestly, it wasn't that crucial for me.
So I will be discussing this game by also comparing it to the first one cuz I think they are quite similar.
What I liked:
1) Armour, weapons, and builds - what I really love about Dark Souls is how you build your character based on the weapon you choose, cuz every weapon gives you a different move set. It's not a big one(just like 5 different moves) but god damn, spears feel insanely different from big axes. I love this shit, and in dark souls 2 there is even more variety in this regard. More weapons, more weapons types and you can choose any weapon and finish the game. Also you probably be experimenting throughout the game and switching weapons cuz THEY FEEL COOL, not necessarily cuz this sword gives you +45 crit chance, or cuz it's just PURPLE RARITY. Always feels so fresh with these movements.
2) Twinblades - they kinda suck but god damn they look cool
3) Powerstance - Kinda useless but god damn looks cool
4) You can wear heavier armor and still fast roll. I was surprised that you can fast roll even at 50% of weight. Yeah, the roll is not as far as the 30% but at least it's fast. Gives me more room to play with different armor.
5) Amount of bosses and locations is insane. Yeah some of them are pretty meh, but damn, some of the locations are so cool looking
6) Power fantasy- I love power fantasy games, and dark souls are pretty good at this, but this one god damn. It gives you so many levels and badass weapons that by the end of the game you feel like a powerful powerfuck.
7) 4 rings. 4 Rings are cool af.
8) Exploration is still rewarding af. I love souls game for that. If you see a waterfall, there will be a cool as weapon behind it. And cuz in dark souls the weapons and armour is so much more important and fun, it's just like good ol times, and not just changing the "rarity" of your weapon.
9) Despawning enemies. Honestly, I think that is a pretty good mechanic. If you are stuck with a boss run you can clear the run and also level up at the same time. But if you wanna grind them, you also have options to spawn them again. On some of the bosses, this saved my mind(especially in the begging)
Okay, now what I didn't like:
1) Aimlock is fucked up. That's the only technical issue I have with the game. Cuz I was playing a strength build this shit pissed me off quite a lot. I got used to that and played it safer with the attacks, but god damn this is bs.
2) Yeap, some of the boss runs are pretty shitty
3) Too many fucking invaders. It's okay to fight them and whatnot, but they are mostly just annoying obsticales. They are pretty easy to fight against, but holy shit there are lots of them and they don't give you a lot of reward for killing them.
4) Majula. Yeah Ik, a lot of ppl liked it and i see why. The location is peaceful, the NPCs are quite interesting, the music is nice, and overall I love hub locations like this one. But it just felt so out of this world. Like the connections to different locations felt too far away.
5) Didn't like some of the locations
6) Zwei got nerfed :(
7) Healing with stones. I dunno, not a fan
8) ADP
And that's pretty much it. For me, it feels like an upgraded version of Dark Souls 1. Just more of dark souls, with some different directions here and there but overall I feel like it's the same game. It's true that it didn't make me feel so in love as the first game, but still a great game.
Now quickly about other criticism that I heard about it:
1) Hitboxes/hurtboxes - yeah, on some of the enemies they are pretty junky, but honestly, I don't think it's a big deal
2) Deathzone movement - also not a big deal tbh. I didn't even notice that
3) Aimlock - yeah, this one is fucked up
4) Enemy placement - also I didn't feel too much of a difference with dark souls 1.
5) Boss runs - yeah, some of the are fucked, but with the help of despawning it's not that big(without it yeah some of them are fucked up)
6) ADP and iframes - yeah it sucked
7) Bad bosses - nah I don't think so. I liked pretty much the majority of them.
And I think there are all major criticisms. I think all of them are fair, but also I think it's not a big deal.
Great game, great dark souls game, I liked it.
1) didn't care about souls game when there were coming out
2) last year played Dark Souls 1 and enjoyed it
3) went pretty blind with this one
4) but knew that it was considered "shitty" and a lot of players has skipped it
So how's the game? Pretty fucking good. I understand some of the frustrations that people are experiencing but honestly, it wasn't that crucial for me.
So I will be discussing this game by also comparing it to the first one cuz I think they are quite similar.
What I liked:
1) Armour, weapons, and builds - what I really love about Dark Souls is how you build your character based on the weapon you choose, cuz every weapon gives you a different move set. It's not a big one(just like 5 different moves) but god damn, spears feel insanely different from big axes. I love this shit, and in dark souls 2 there is even more variety in this regard. More weapons, more weapons types and you can choose any weapon and finish the game. Also you probably be experimenting throughout the game and switching weapons cuz THEY FEEL COOL, not necessarily cuz this sword gives you +45 crit chance, or cuz it's just PURPLE RARITY. Always feels so fresh with these movements.
2) Twinblades - they kinda suck but god damn they look cool
3) Powerstance - Kinda useless but god damn looks cool
4) You can wear heavier armor and still fast roll. I was surprised that you can fast roll even at 50% of weight. Yeah, the roll is not as far as the 30% but at least it's fast. Gives me more room to play with different armor.
5) Amount of bosses and locations is insane. Yeah some of them are pretty meh, but damn, some of the locations are so cool looking
6) Power fantasy- I love power fantasy games, and dark souls are pretty good at this, but this one god damn. It gives you so many levels and badass weapons that by the end of the game you feel like a powerful powerfuck.
7) 4 rings. 4 Rings are cool af.
8) Exploration is still rewarding af. I love souls game for that. If you see a waterfall, there will be a cool as weapon behind it. And cuz in dark souls the weapons and armour is so much more important and fun, it's just like good ol times, and not just changing the "rarity" of your weapon.
9) Despawning enemies. Honestly, I think that is a pretty good mechanic. If you are stuck with a boss run you can clear the run and also level up at the same time. But if you wanna grind them, you also have options to spawn them again. On some of the bosses, this saved my mind(especially in the begging)
Okay, now what I didn't like:
1) Aimlock is fucked up. That's the only technical issue I have with the game. Cuz I was playing a strength build this shit pissed me off quite a lot. I got used to that and played it safer with the attacks, but god damn this is bs.
2) Yeap, some of the boss runs are pretty shitty
3) Too many fucking invaders. It's okay to fight them and whatnot, but they are mostly just annoying obsticales. They are pretty easy to fight against, but holy shit there are lots of them and they don't give you a lot of reward for killing them.
4) Majula. Yeah Ik, a lot of ppl liked it and i see why. The location is peaceful, the NPCs are quite interesting, the music is nice, and overall I love hub locations like this one. But it just felt so out of this world. Like the connections to different locations felt too far away.
5) Didn't like some of the locations
6) Zwei got nerfed :(
7) Healing with stones. I dunno, not a fan
8) ADP
And that's pretty much it. For me, it feels like an upgraded version of Dark Souls 1. Just more of dark souls, with some different directions here and there but overall I feel like it's the same game. It's true that it didn't make me feel so in love as the first game, but still a great game.
Now quickly about other criticism that I heard about it:
1) Hitboxes/hurtboxes - yeah, on some of the enemies they are pretty junky, but honestly, I don't think it's a big deal
2) Deathzone movement - also not a big deal tbh. I didn't even notice that
3) Aimlock - yeah, this one is fucked up
4) Enemy placement - also I didn't feel too much of a difference with dark souls 1.
5) Boss runs - yeah, some of the are fucked, but with the help of despawning it's not that big(without it yeah some of them are fucked up)
6) ADP and iframes - yeah it sucked
7) Bad bosses - nah I don't think so. I liked pretty much the majority of them.
And I think there are all major criticisms. I think all of them are fair, but also I think it's not a big deal.
Great game, great dark souls game, I liked it.