Отличная игра. Да, она отличается от первой части. Да, во многом проигрывает ей. Но у неё есть свои особенности. К примеру, ограниченное число возрождений соперников, что может напрячь тех, кто любит фармить души. Однако после оригинала играть было довольно-так просто. Я прокачался за одно прохождение до 160 уровня, не начиная ни одно DLC и толком не пытаясь нафармить душ. Вам может не понравиться медленный темп ведения боя, использования предметов, лёгкость боссов, копирование их с оригинала, попытка взять количеством, а не качеством, однако, честно, лично я не мог оторваться до финальных титров. Необычный эксперимент From Software, если так можно сказать, который кому-то не придётся. И это нормально. Если вам понравится, то вы вряд ли соскучитесь

I only really started this game as a joke with a friend and told myself I didn't see myself playing this one because I really fucking hated Dark Souls 1. I heard this game was a bit different but I figured if people that loved Dark Souls 1 even often say this game is terrible there was no chance I'd like it! I was surprised to find out it was completely fine! Didn't love it or anything, the world was much less connected and interesting as a world than Dark Souls 1, it makes up for it, to me at least, by being much less obnoxious and designed to make you miserable. I heard problems with I frames and stuff being a stat, which is kind of stupid don't get me wrong, but I was surprised at much I didn't care about this. This game gives you levels like candy so I just got my stat to the average Dark Souls I frame level and moved on. I also found this game to to be like really fucking easy compared to the others though, you do so much damage and bosses are so bad at understanding if you're behind them. The Pursuer was pretty cool though, I generally liked the more Duel esque fights, like the Dragonrider or the Old Dragonslayer. Most of the big monsters were too slow/stupid to really be interesting or fun though unfortunately. They did do another shitty gargoyle fight and fights with 2 or more bosses are still as poorly designed and unfun as always but even the dumber bosses like that were just so much easier to handle and felt much less stupid and overwhelming compared to DS1.

To be fair, there's a very solid chance I'm just much more used to the bullshit of this series so I had a bit of a tolerance here but I do think DS1 is still by far the most frustrating and annoyingly designed of all the Fromsoft games I've played. I understand finding a charm in that, I like plenty of insane bullshit, I'm a Sonic fan! I just think every other soulsbourne (not counting demon souls which I haven't beaten) does everything so much better and doesn't make me miserable the entire way through. That being said I'm glad this game surprised me like it did, and after playing all of these games I have a much larger appreciation for what these games are. I'm still not as in love with them as a lot of people are, and a lot of that is an unwillingness to care about the lore of it all and get as invested in the world and I just wanna play silly game and kill big bosses, but I've evolved from thinking Souls games were dogshit 5 years ago to thinking only Dark Souls 1 is dogshit and the rest are actually pretty fun worthwhile experiences! Yay for growth!

ever since i played my first fromsoftware game (dark souls 3 by the way) back in 2020 and getting more into the fandom, i've been led to believe that dark souls 2 was absolutely the worst game on the face of the earth. either that, or that it was the best souls game ever. the thing is, the truth is far from that. ds2 is... the worst souls game, but it is not a bad game, per se. this dark souls lacks a soul (hehe) in terms of being a souls game. you can see why hidetaka miyazaki is one of the most influential people in the videogame industry because without him, even a title like dark souls feels dull and lacks many things that make other ds games stand out.

the thing with ds games is that how many tries it takes, if the design of a boss is great (which they usually are), the feeling of self-accomplishment just after beating one is an amazing feeling. however, i finished this game just about 15 minutes ago as of writing this review, and i'm pretty sure i'll forget about every boss there is (even now, i can't count more than three). none of them are memorable, challenging, or exciting. gameplay is a bit better than the first game but nowhere near as good as it could, or as it will be with the third installment (heck, bloodborne is a better choice for me at 30 frames per second, and I'm not too fond of that framerate). this game focuses more on the cinematics and visuals which are nice touches. even though the scenery looks good, the level design of this game is horrendous. i remember playing ds1 and having my mind absolutely blown away every single time a new shortcut made its way to the firelink shrine, it was such a good designed map for the caliber of the first game. honestly, it didn't have to be that good and should be taught in classes for my fellows majoring in game design.

overall enjoyable experience, if you can make yourself forget it's a soulsborne (and that's a big if because otherwise this one is a chore to play).

Oh, God.
Talking about Dark Souls 2 is always a tricky topic. Talking about the Director's Cut, complete of all DLCs, known as "Scholar of the First Sin" is even harder.
The community of this game is divided into three overall groups:
1st: think the game is trash
2nd: thinks is perfect and the underdog of the series
3rd: ignores this game completely and sees it as not canon - although in DkS3 it’s made canon
So trying not to get into any of these groups is very difficult.
This game is both the glass half full and the glass half empty.
The thing is, not many people know of the messy development of this title. From most of the budget being wasted on motion capture animations, to the first director being laid off after they saw where the game was going. It was saved by Shibuya, who wasn’t given more time to work on it. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to fix someone else’s work enough to make it ready, but not enough to make it good.


GAMEPLAY

The gameplay is a LOT different than all the other From Software titles. It's slower than DkS1 and also more punishing - albeit for the wrong reasons. Parries have become over-complicated with a tighter window, making them less viable than backstabs, especially when the latter is so easy to perform. The vast variety of healing options, like infinite vital gems, unfortunately, make the Estus almost useless. Although considering the level design, I can see why they went this way. The introduction of the Effigies is an interesting evolution from the Humanities, and while they don't cure anymore, they are more convenient because they can be used anywhere. The goal was to punish behaviors players had from DkS1, like healing with Humanities, rush, or farming. It goes the extra mile and removes many of the comforts that DkS1 offered; in fact, every action, like going through a boss fog or pulling a lever, can be interrupted by an enemy. It is also possible to be invaded even if you are not human, and after 15 kills the enemies do not respawn unless you are in the Covenant of Champions, which increases the difficulty but makes the spawns infinite. But, the limited spawn is useful for the way the game works, since the enemy placement is not as curated. It's just a lot of enemies in one room. The equipment's durability is extremely annoying, especially when it's often not enough to go from one bonfire to the next.

For people like me who play with a mouse and keyboard, the experience has improved a LOT, but not perfect. For example, the double-click setting must be disabled at every game start even when already off, otherwise, it activates sneakily making a lot of actions like shield bashing or jump attacking not work.

Some really good additions return later in the genre, like being able to use many objects together, more equip slots and various "levels" of improvement for the rings, or the environment affecting the defenses. A welcome addition is the removal of the slower animation of mid-rolling, having now less distance when heavier until 70%, after that, fat roll.

The best part of this game, I think is the PVP, not perfectly balanced and competitive, but fun. Soul Memory is a limiting and annoying mechanic, but it's more problematic for coop than PvP. Covenants are at their best, lots of them, and all very fun! For the first time the PVE gets covenants as well thanks to the Covenant of Champions, and Pilgrims of Darkness, the latter having 3 dungeons and a unique boss.


"SOUL"

This game lacks when it comes to lore, depth, and detail but not innovation. Not enough to ignore the rest, tho.
Every boss in DkS1 was unique, beautiful, and challenging, and this is something the series only improved going forward with DkS3 being the first to have ALL technically different bosses. In DkS2, unfortunately, it is enough to walk around EVERY enemy due to the very aggressive tracking and simple movesets.
Bosses lose being challenging and useful after the three Sentries. They're EASY, with very few attack patterns, and high damage.
The Bosses are trivial, they lack depth both in lore and in design: Bosses like Covetous Demon or Mytha the Baneful Queen are neither difficult nor interesting. The Gaping Dragon wasn't challenging either, but the Lore behind it or the design made it awesome.
Covetous Demon is just Jabba the Hutt, and Mytha the Baneful Queen is just another gorgon, but she holds her head.
The weapon and boss Movesets are absent, Velstadt the Royal Aegis should be extremely strong being the king's guard, yet he has the basic moveset of any enemy with a mace.
But going beyond the design/moveset of the bosses, is the lack of lore about them. Some descriptions say NOTHING other than that you can use the soul or use it for "something special".
When it comes to the level design the first places have a good feeling: Majula, Fallen Giants, or the Lost Bastille, but after these areas, it’s all a straight corridor; one room connected to another filled with enemies. There aren’t even internal connections inside the map, often it’s just going straight, and when the objective is completed you hit a wall and teleport back to Majula, the central hub. Not that there is much choice, as there are levels that don’t even allow the player to go back on their steps. Level design reaches its glory in Earthen Peak with an elevator that brings the player up in the clouds in a map SUNK IN THE LAVA. Makes sense.
The game is FULL of hordes, with no real difficulty in individual enemies, it's just a lot of them with positioning that often doesn’t make sense in the lore, even.
And I won't dwell much on the AI of the invaders/summons that is SO STUPID that they have 4-6k HP each because otherwise, they would die extremely quickly. It's so nice to deal 1600 damage, and yet see not even 1/4 of life decrease.
This game is sadly soulless, which is interesting for a Dark Souls game.

The First Sin

While Scholar of the First Sin might look at first glance like a simple GOTY rerelease, the truth is that it was an attempt at saving the game from its troubled development and its lore. Most importantly, it was a release on next-gen, which was clearly what the game was meant for, especially with all the graphical downgrades the game suffered. It started from being a patch for DkS2 that would change some descriptions to fix the lore and add a new NPC. But, also, an ending was added, because the original DkS2 gave no choice in the finale. Finally, with this rerelease, they repositioned a lot of enemies, items, etc. not better, but different, killing other parts of the progression in the meantime.
The DLCs are included in the game and the devs positioned the keys to them in the world making the DLCs more thought out in the game progression.
Overall the DLCs are good content, they all feature a “multiplayer area”, which was an experimental feature of DkS2 where people without the DLC could still access the entrance and place the sign down, and people with the DLC would see it only in that one area. Those areas are lazily designed, around co-op, with even more enemies and lazy or reused bosses from the game.
The other areas and bosses in DLCs are worth it, especially the Crown of Iron DLC. Best bosses and level design in the game!

CONCLUSION

The game offers a huge amount of content even if the quality of it is questionable. The real flaw of the title is having "Dark Souls" in the name and, with that, having a better track record. Had it been a new IP it would have been a really good game, which it nevertheless is. Even if Demon, DkS1, 3, and Bb are better video games, they don't convey some of the emotions that this title has. It's not that this title is better, it's just different.
That's why despite everything, although I know that the product is not up to what it could be, I also feel love for the product which, despite everything, although not perfect, is beautiful.

7.5/10

Lo que menos me gusta del juego:

- Diseño de niveles: Llenos de enemigos, trampas etc cuyo objetivo es que mueras y repitas toooda la zona, es increíble la cantidad de enemigos que tiene el juego, haciéndolo tedioso en muchas partes. Es tan absurdo que el juego elimina enemigos de zona según vas muriendo, si no te pondrá uno o dos npc que te ayuden a pasar la zona.
- La mayoría de bosses: Lo peor es que no te dejan disfrutar de las peleas, o bien serán bosses dobles, triples etc o bien harán que aparezcan bichitos pequeños a montones. Para colmo el camino a los bosses estará plagado de enemigos, haciendo que los intentos entre peleas sean pocos, porque te mataran por el camino...
- Historia: NPC poco emblemáticos, misiones de estos poco interesantes... Ningún npc me parece estar a la altura de los emblemáticos de dark souls 1, la mayoría de sus quest son hablar con ellos un par de veces, comprar/invocar y ya habrás acabado, apenas tendrá impacto o desarrollo en tu partida, muy triste.
- Adaptabilidad: No se a quien le pareció bien cambiar una mecánica del juego haciendo que debas invertir niveles en ella en vez de tu propia habilidad, osea quita la gracia de ir viendo como mejoras al enfrentarte a los enemigos al tener que subir esta estadística o si no recibirás daño, absurdo.

Lo que me gusta:

- Es un souls: Por absurdo que parezca su jugabilidad (a pesar de la adaptabilidad), ambientación, lore etc hace que disfrutes, si este juego no fuese un souls probablemente seria uno de los peores de la historia, pero gracias a ser un souls aun se hace disfrutable y entretenido.
- Algunos bosses de los dlc: Aunque sigue habiendo enfrentamientos con varios bosses a la vez o zonas llenas de enemigos los bosses principales te dan, por fin, esos enfrentamientos tan disfrutables de la saga. Mención especial al Rey de Marfil, que a pesar de ser un boss que no deja de hacer aparecer enemigos, podemos llevar unos cuantos npc que hagan dejar de aparecer a estos y nos otorgan una de las introducciones a una pelea de las mas épicas de los videojuegos.
- New game plus: Cambia cosas de la partida haciendo que revisitar el juego no sea lo mismo, aunque muchas veces peca de simplemente meter mas enemigos o invasiones los cambios me han acabado gustando.

Y seguramente me deje cosas tanto que me gustan como que no, pero no voy a mentir diciendo que no me lo he pasado muy bien, a la vez que estaba asqueado, sacando el platino.