I haven’t played any of its successors yet so I can’t really make a grand comparison, but I can see why this would be a lot of people’s least favourite in the series. There are a few nagging flaws here and there that definitely make it imperfect, but overall it’s still a Soulsborne game at the end of the day, so I still had an absolute blast playing it.
My reservations with this game actually started right off the bat; the decision to not only remove a starting supply of Estus Flasks but to also make the healing time gradual rather than instantaneous really irked me during the first few hours of the game.
The map and level design, whilst still looking incredible and maintaining that foreboding atmosphere, didn’t feel as satisfying as the level design of the first game. Where in that game you often looped back around to a previous area after exploring a new one, usually finding a shortcut or two and experiencing that eureka moment, this game’s map has more linear and branching paths. I also often found myself feeling lost and wondering where to go next after reaching a dead end or beating a boss.
The bosses I also thought were mostly a joke and often forgettable. I’d say 80% of them (particularly in the first half) I managed to easily beat on the first try and then stood there afterwards thinking “That was it? That was the whole boss!?” I noticed a lot of them are of a similar design; often boasting the armoured knight with a shield and weapon look. Compare this to the first Dark Souls where each boss was vastly different from the last and I remember every single one of them and how I felt after I beat each of them.
But again, I still very much enjoyed my time playing it. The moment to moment combat and exploration is still what makes this such a superb game and the bosses definitely get more challenging as it goes on; Vendrick was a particular highlight.
It’s addictive and the best games usually are.
My reservations with this game actually started right off the bat; the decision to not only remove a starting supply of Estus Flasks but to also make the healing time gradual rather than instantaneous really irked me during the first few hours of the game.
The map and level design, whilst still looking incredible and maintaining that foreboding atmosphere, didn’t feel as satisfying as the level design of the first game. Where in that game you often looped back around to a previous area after exploring a new one, usually finding a shortcut or two and experiencing that eureka moment, this game’s map has more linear and branching paths. I also often found myself feeling lost and wondering where to go next after reaching a dead end or beating a boss.
The bosses I also thought were mostly a joke and often forgettable. I’d say 80% of them (particularly in the first half) I managed to easily beat on the first try and then stood there afterwards thinking “That was it? That was the whole boss!?” I noticed a lot of them are of a similar design; often boasting the armoured knight with a shield and weapon look. Compare this to the first Dark Souls where each boss was vastly different from the last and I remember every single one of them and how I felt after I beat each of them.
But again, I still very much enjoyed my time playing it. The moment to moment combat and exploration is still what makes this such a superb game and the bosses definitely get more challenging as it goes on; Vendrick was a particular highlight.
It’s addictive and the best games usually are.