Dark Souls 2 plays very, very good. It has probably the worst hitboxes of the series, but that doesn’t undermine a combat system that expanded on what were already some pretty solid foundations and vastly improved each aspect. You can even wear four rings now, thank the Lord for that.
Unfortunately, if I had to recommend a Dark Souls game, I’d rather emphasize how much better the previous and the later chapter did every thing this game did well: Dark Souls 2 suffers from a lore which, overall, always feel more like a spin-off than a main chapter. Nothing major is added or explained regarding the Cycles except the fact that they exist, the characters inhabiting the world receive mostly the same build-up and contextualization of the first game but their feats and their importance is much less impressive compared to the first title; the environment shows some pretty variegated dungeons, especially in the DLCs, but still not as well thought and designed as the other two titles. Even the combat, the one thing it undoubtedly does better than the previous title, still doesn’t hold up to what came next in Dark Souls 3.
Dark Souls 2 doesn’t suffer for being an uninspired rehash of discarded idea for the first title (which is the only conceivable explanation for some pretty abhorrent encounter in the game), it still is a good game on its own but as a Dark Souls title it is unavoidable to compare make a comparison with the other iterations of the series and notice how it comes out utterly defeated. Those who want to play the game for the sake of completeness though should probably go for the Scholar of the First Sin, it has some improvement over the base game and it already includes the three DLCs, which by far had way more thought put into them than the main locations, in regards of bosses, maps, exploration and story.
Unfortunately, if I had to recommend a Dark Souls game, I’d rather emphasize how much better the previous and the later chapter did every thing this game did well: Dark Souls 2 suffers from a lore which, overall, always feel more like a spin-off than a main chapter. Nothing major is added or explained regarding the Cycles except the fact that they exist, the characters inhabiting the world receive mostly the same build-up and contextualization of the first game but their feats and their importance is much less impressive compared to the first title; the environment shows some pretty variegated dungeons, especially in the DLCs, but still not as well thought and designed as the other two titles. Even the combat, the one thing it undoubtedly does better than the previous title, still doesn’t hold up to what came next in Dark Souls 3.
Dark Souls 2 doesn’t suffer for being an uninspired rehash of discarded idea for the first title (which is the only conceivable explanation for some pretty abhorrent encounter in the game), it still is a good game on its own but as a Dark Souls title it is unavoidable to compare make a comparison with the other iterations of the series and notice how it comes out utterly defeated. Those who want to play the game for the sake of completeness though should probably go for the Scholar of the First Sin, it has some improvement over the base game and it already includes the three DLCs, which by far had way more thought put into them than the main locations, in regards of bosses, maps, exploration and story.