My favorite souls after playing it for so long. It's god awful at first , but if you get to know the game with time, it's starts to click and get fun.
I know this game isn't as good as 1 or 3. But hell, is the one I love most replaying. There is something that is present here that isn't in 1 and 3.
Adaptability is broken. Like, stupid broken. Make sure to level up that as soon as you start the game if you want a close-ranged build. This is a fundamental skill to keep in mind, always. Basically it's because invencibilty frames, an enemy can still damage you while rolling, total bullshit. But the more you level up Adaptability, the furthest your roll goes and you get more invinicibilty frames as well. It is very easy to do non-shield builds because of that too.
Let's talk about the map. Drangleic, Land of Dragons. It's a mess in terms of consistency. You get the impression most sections were made separate from one another then connected in the most frankestein way possible. That, didn't really affected me if I'm honest. Drangleic Castle transition was weird though.
Now, level design. It's...interesting. It can be unfair at first, but once you got over it you cheese your way through. Think the Iron Keep, you can just run over the enemies if enough stanima and go to the big boss of the area: Old Iron King without breaking much of a sweat with the right build. Some areas like Harvest Valley ain't as easy as that though, there you really need to take your time otherwise you are dead. And that's a level before Iron Keep. It's inconsistent.
The movement of our character is different from the likes of 1 and 3. In 1 you felt slower but you roll makes most of the difference since it's a faster animation than in 2 but it's not as scalable as 2 because adaptability, so there's that. In 3 you are basically faster and the roll is pretty much a Dark Souls 1 roll. In 2, your roll can affect distance depending on your weight and adaptability level. Weight can also affect the jump distance so you can jump further and even get to new areas that are unlocked at that point of the story. It's really fun to mess around.
Weapons. They are fun. For the first time in the series they introduced Dual Wielding, which is a mechanic were they let two weapons of the same type, at the same time. Say a Caestus in both hands. Nothing out of the ordinary though but to unlock the full power of dual weapons you need Power Stance which is new mechanic too that gives you the ability to perform an attack with both weapons. For that you need to level certain attributes, say Dexterity and Strength for the Caestus to is I think 1,5x the minimun required to use it. The possibilities are huge and even some NPC like in the Dragon Shrine use it with blades.
Bosses are alright, serviceable just not as spectacular as the ones in 1 or 3. The ones in the DLC do go hard though, specially the Ivory King and Sir Alonne.
In short, this game is good. But be patient, very patient. It won't be as good as Dark Souls 1. Learn from it and learn to trick it for your advantage. It gives you plenty.
I know this game isn't as good as 1 or 3. But hell, is the one I love most replaying. There is something that is present here that isn't in 1 and 3.
Adaptability is broken. Like, stupid broken. Make sure to level up that as soon as you start the game if you want a close-ranged build. This is a fundamental skill to keep in mind, always. Basically it's because invencibilty frames, an enemy can still damage you while rolling, total bullshit. But the more you level up Adaptability, the furthest your roll goes and you get more invinicibilty frames as well. It is very easy to do non-shield builds because of that too.
Let's talk about the map. Drangleic, Land of Dragons. It's a mess in terms of consistency. You get the impression most sections were made separate from one another then connected in the most frankestein way possible. That, didn't really affected me if I'm honest. Drangleic Castle transition was weird though.
Now, level design. It's...interesting. It can be unfair at first, but once you got over it you cheese your way through. Think the Iron Keep, you can just run over the enemies if enough stanima and go to the big boss of the area: Old Iron King without breaking much of a sweat with the right build. Some areas like Harvest Valley ain't as easy as that though, there you really need to take your time otherwise you are dead. And that's a level before Iron Keep. It's inconsistent.
The movement of our character is different from the likes of 1 and 3. In 1 you felt slower but you roll makes most of the difference since it's a faster animation than in 2 but it's not as scalable as 2 because adaptability, so there's that. In 3 you are basically faster and the roll is pretty much a Dark Souls 1 roll. In 2, your roll can affect distance depending on your weight and adaptability level. Weight can also affect the jump distance so you can jump further and even get to new areas that are unlocked at that point of the story. It's really fun to mess around.
Weapons. They are fun. For the first time in the series they introduced Dual Wielding, which is a mechanic were they let two weapons of the same type, at the same time. Say a Caestus in both hands. Nothing out of the ordinary though but to unlock the full power of dual weapons you need Power Stance which is new mechanic too that gives you the ability to perform an attack with both weapons. For that you need to level certain attributes, say Dexterity and Strength for the Caestus to is I think 1,5x the minimun required to use it. The possibilities are huge and even some NPC like in the Dragon Shrine use it with blades.
Bosses are alright, serviceable just not as spectacular as the ones in 1 or 3. The ones in the DLC do go hard though, specially the Ivory King and Sir Alonne.
In short, this game is good. But be patient, very patient. It won't be as good as Dark Souls 1. Learn from it and learn to trick it for your advantage. It gives you plenty.