I wrote an old review for this, here it is. https://pastebin.com/NKrkhuMP
Man, I used to hate this game, huh?
I'll be the first to admit, this game is not the best. Not even close. It's still my least favorite game in the series, and by a pretty large margin. The bosses are 2/3 of the time lame, some of the areas are so spammy and annoying (Iron Keep and Shrine of Amana will give me PTSD for the rest of my life), and some of the game design choices are kinda undefendable, specifically Soul Memory matchmaking and tying I-frames to a stat. Now that that's all out of the way...
I love this game.
For every misstep it has, it really does continue to pick itself up and carry itself to the finish line. There's never a point where you can pinpoint where effort started to dwindle, it really does feel like the devs tried their damnedest to really make something all throughout. Obviously, they had massive shoes to fill (and, if I remember correctly, some rather quick deadlines), but they tried, and that effort is what makes me admire this game, even in its lowest moments.
My favorite thing in this game, as many people also agree with, is powerstancing. It is just so much fun, and it feels like a genuine reward for leveling up your damage stat of your choice rather than just seeing numbers go up. In fact, my replay was done completely powerstancing between rapiers and maces, it makes for a super enjoyable experience.
Another thing that this game has that I honestly don't know if the other Souls games have is the art style. I think DS1's style fits its mood, and DS3 has higher highs, but DS2 is so consistently pretty in every area. Majula has a beautiful look and theme music to it, Heide's Tower of Flame might be the best looking area in the Souls games, and Frozen Eleum Loyce has great atmosphere. Pretty much every area just looks and/or feels amazing, to a level that I don't think the other Souls games get to. I also love the much more apparent sombre atmosphere, with characters like Maughlin and Lucatiel (the latter of which I think is the best written character in the trilogy) going through dementia-like symptoms of this unseen "curse" that everyone is said to go through.
I don't have too much to say about this game, since I'm still kinda love/hate with it, but it has grown on me tremendously and I appreciate the game for what it is. Give it a try, just make sure to not view in through the lens of DS1 or DS3. It's its own beast, and I love it for that reason.
Man, I used to hate this game, huh?
I'll be the first to admit, this game is not the best. Not even close. It's still my least favorite game in the series, and by a pretty large margin. The bosses are 2/3 of the time lame, some of the areas are so spammy and annoying (Iron Keep and Shrine of Amana will give me PTSD for the rest of my life), and some of the game design choices are kinda undefendable, specifically Soul Memory matchmaking and tying I-frames to a stat. Now that that's all out of the way...
I love this game.
For every misstep it has, it really does continue to pick itself up and carry itself to the finish line. There's never a point where you can pinpoint where effort started to dwindle, it really does feel like the devs tried their damnedest to really make something all throughout. Obviously, they had massive shoes to fill (and, if I remember correctly, some rather quick deadlines), but they tried, and that effort is what makes me admire this game, even in its lowest moments.
My favorite thing in this game, as many people also agree with, is powerstancing. It is just so much fun, and it feels like a genuine reward for leveling up your damage stat of your choice rather than just seeing numbers go up. In fact, my replay was done completely powerstancing between rapiers and maces, it makes for a super enjoyable experience.
Another thing that this game has that I honestly don't know if the other Souls games have is the art style. I think DS1's style fits its mood, and DS3 has higher highs, but DS2 is so consistently pretty in every area. Majula has a beautiful look and theme music to it, Heide's Tower of Flame might be the best looking area in the Souls games, and Frozen Eleum Loyce has great atmosphere. Pretty much every area just looks and/or feels amazing, to a level that I don't think the other Souls games get to. I also love the much more apparent sombre atmosphere, with characters like Maughlin and Lucatiel (the latter of which I think is the best written character in the trilogy) going through dementia-like symptoms of this unseen "curse" that everyone is said to go through.
I don't have too much to say about this game, since I'm still kinda love/hate with it, but it has grown on me tremendously and I appreciate the game for what it is. Give it a try, just make sure to not view in through the lens of DS1 or DS3. It's its own beast, and I love it for that reason.