So last year I played through my first ever FromSoftware game Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. I had stayed away from their games cause of their reputation for being so difficult (I suck at video games) but the style and setting of Sekiro really appealed to me a lot so I bought it at launch and played through it to completion. It was the first game I've ever got 100% achievements/all trophies for (I typically dgaf about achievements) and is my favorite game of all time or at the very least the last decade or so.
So with Sekiro down, I decided I would work through FromSoftware's back catalog of the SoulsBourne series starting with Dark Souls Remastererd. I even made a thread about it here
https://www.resetera.com/threads/er...rk-souls-give-me-all-the-tips-you-got.115027/
I didn't really like the game at first, I nearly dropped it after around 5 hours but I stuck with it and eventually beat it while taking out every boss in the game (including any optional and DLC bosses).
A few weeks ago I saw both Dark Souks II Scholar of the First Sin and Dark Souls III Deluxe Edition available on sale on the Microsoft store so I finally picked them up.
Dark Souls II has quite the reputation for being "the worst Souls game" and even being a bad game outright in some fans eyes. It also seems to be a common opinion that Scholar of the First Sin is seen as a downgrade from the vanilla version. Well I can't speak to that, since I've never played the original but I wound up loving this game and absolutely consider it an upgrade over the original game.
The first thing I noticed was stepping out into Majula after the tutorial area. It was gorgeous. It looked so much better than every area in the original Dark Souls to me. I really didn't think the areas in the original Dark Souls were much to write home about aesthetically outside of Anor London and the Archives but right away in the sequel you get this gorgeous hub and I think overall the areas in the entire game look really great. Heide's Tower is another one that is really breathtaking when you arrive for me.
No onto the gameplay, it is mostly the same as the first game. Which is why I'm a little surprised so many people seem to hold it in such low regard as I don't feel like they really reinvented the wheel here. It feels a lot like the original game. Weighty combat that punishes you hard for mistakes and greed and rewards patience, timing and pattern recognition.
I do agree with the sentiment that the bosses aren't as cool looking as the original game. Like, there is nothing here that looks as cool as the Gaping Dragon or Seath the Scaleless but there sure are way more of them. There are 41 bosses in this game compared to 26 in the original (this is including the DLC). I know people will immediately start with "quality over quanitiy" but Dark Souls 1 had it's share of stinker bosses too and I actually think the quality of the bosses in 2 is pretty high for the most part.
Does the game have its share of bullshit? Of course it does, it's a Souls game. This game appears to specialize in large groups of enemies ganging up on you so you learn early to take it a bit slow when first exploring an area till you learn the enemy layout. The mobs can be infuriating at times but they're far from impossible to deal with.
I will also say I hated the optional areas of the DLC. The Iron Passage, Cave of the Dead and Frigid Outskirts are all short, annoying and the boss fights are uninspired re-skins or basically a fight against 3 invaders. Of all the bosses to re-skin, they had to do Smelter Demon too. That boss gave me such a hard time.
The main areas of the DLC were quite good though. With some of the bosses being the best in the game. Fume Knight took me forever to beat but was an epic battle. Sir Alonne was another awesome boss. Burnt Ivory King was somewhat cool but he feels a bit too easy after dealing with the Loyce Knight gauntlet prior (I had to do NPC summons for this, it's so hard solo even with finding all the Loyce Knight allies (their AI sucks)).
Favorite boss was Fume Knight.
Favorite area is Majula or Frozen Eleum Loyce.
Also the game has a crazy amount of content. Is this the biggest Souls game overall in terms of content? It took me 100 hours to finish (keep in mind I suck and died a lot)
So with Sekiro down, I decided I would work through FromSoftware's back catalog of the SoulsBourne series starting with Dark Souls Remastererd. I even made a thread about it here
https://www.resetera.com/threads/er...rk-souls-give-me-all-the-tips-you-got.115027/
I didn't really like the game at first, I nearly dropped it after around 5 hours but I stuck with it and eventually beat it while taking out every boss in the game (including any optional and DLC bosses).
A few weeks ago I saw both Dark Souks II Scholar of the First Sin and Dark Souls III Deluxe Edition available on sale on the Microsoft store so I finally picked them up.
Dark Souls II has quite the reputation for being "the worst Souls game" and even being a bad game outright in some fans eyes. It also seems to be a common opinion that Scholar of the First Sin is seen as a downgrade from the vanilla version. Well I can't speak to that, since I've never played the original but I wound up loving this game and absolutely consider it an upgrade over the original game.
The first thing I noticed was stepping out into Majula after the tutorial area. It was gorgeous. It looked so much better than every area in the original Dark Souls to me. I really didn't think the areas in the original Dark Souls were much to write home about aesthetically outside of Anor London and the Archives but right away in the sequel you get this gorgeous hub and I think overall the areas in the entire game look really great. Heide's Tower is another one that is really breathtaking when you arrive for me.
No onto the gameplay, it is mostly the same as the first game. Which is why I'm a little surprised so many people seem to hold it in such low regard as I don't feel like they really reinvented the wheel here. It feels a lot like the original game. Weighty combat that punishes you hard for mistakes and greed and rewards patience, timing and pattern recognition.
I do agree with the sentiment that the bosses aren't as cool looking as the original game. Like, there is nothing here that looks as cool as the Gaping Dragon or Seath the Scaleless but there sure are way more of them. There are 41 bosses in this game compared to 26 in the original (this is including the DLC). I know people will immediately start with "quality over quanitiy" but Dark Souls 1 had it's share of stinker bosses too and I actually think the quality of the bosses in 2 is pretty high for the most part.
Does the game have its share of bullshit? Of course it does, it's a Souls game. This game appears to specialize in large groups of enemies ganging up on you so you learn early to take it a bit slow when first exploring an area till you learn the enemy layout. The mobs can be infuriating at times but they're far from impossible to deal with.
I will also say I hated the optional areas of the DLC. The Iron Passage, Cave of the Dead and Frigid Outskirts are all short, annoying and the boss fights are uninspired re-skins or basically a fight against 3 invaders. Of all the bosses to re-skin, they had to do Smelter Demon too. That boss gave me such a hard time.
The main areas of the DLC were quite good though. With some of the bosses being the best in the game. Fume Knight took me forever to beat but was an epic battle. Sir Alonne was another awesome boss. Burnt Ivory King was somewhat cool but he feels a bit too easy after dealing with the Loyce Knight gauntlet prior (I had to do NPC summons for this, it's so hard solo even with finding all the Loyce Knight allies (their AI sucks)).
Favorite boss was Fume Knight.
Favorite area is Majula or Frozen Eleum Loyce.
Also the game has a crazy amount of content. Is this the biggest Souls game overall in terms of content? It took me 100 hours to finish (keep in mind I suck and died a lot)
