I decided to revisit Dark Souls II for this year's Return to Drangleic event, and having completed another playthrough, I find myself torn on my opinions of it. Some of the content, particularly in the DLCs, stands among the my personal favorite for the souls series. On the other hand, the low points are the lowest in the franchise, and I understand why many people do not like the game.
To first discuss the positives, Dark Souls II has some really good souls content. Although the world isn't as interconnected as the first game, many of the levels have intricate layouts and shortcuts that stand the test of time, even after multiple playthroughs. Since I'm rating SOTFS, I can also include the DLCs - Shulva and Brume Tower are absolutely fantastic levels, with amazing traps, puzzles, and secrets. The bosses, though not as good as the more recent games, are on par with Dark Souls I in my opinion. NPC quests are well-done in this game, and the lore is quite interesting, told in the series typical manner. Some experimental features, such as powerstancing and the more open nature of the early game, were executed very well.
One of my favorite aspects of the game is the online play, which had good activity over the past month. The Rat covenant is my all-time favorite, which has not been matched in any of the other entries, since I love having other players run the gauntlet of traps in my world. Bellkeepers PVP was also quite fun, and co-op on difficult bosses was a blast as usual for the series.
On the other hand, Dark Souls II tested new ground on a lot of aspects that fell flat. Soul Memory is a huge misstep and makes finding co-op and pvp substantially more difficult. Adaptability as a stat was an annoying choice, but not very noticeable past the early game.
The biggest sin for Dark Souls II, for me, is the mismatch between level difficulty and boss difficulty - boss runbacks are full of enemy "ganks" with unfair and cruel placements, and that dampens the fun of fighting against the actual boss of a level. Often, I'd die more times running back to a boss than to the boss itself. However, I'd forget my frustration when enjoying pvp or going through one of the more fair levels. SOTFS has made this worse in certain early game areas, such as Heide's Tower of Flame, compared to the original game.
Overall, I still love Dark Souls II, and I'll keep coming back every few years for another playthrough. However, the game has serious and very frustrating flaws, and I'm glad it served as a learning experience for future entries in the series.
To first discuss the positives, Dark Souls II has some really good souls content. Although the world isn't as interconnected as the first game, many of the levels have intricate layouts and shortcuts that stand the test of time, even after multiple playthroughs. Since I'm rating SOTFS, I can also include the DLCs - Shulva and Brume Tower are absolutely fantastic levels, with amazing traps, puzzles, and secrets. The bosses, though not as good as the more recent games, are on par with Dark Souls I in my opinion. NPC quests are well-done in this game, and the lore is quite interesting, told in the series typical manner. Some experimental features, such as powerstancing and the more open nature of the early game, were executed very well.
One of my favorite aspects of the game is the online play, which had good activity over the past month. The Rat covenant is my all-time favorite, which has not been matched in any of the other entries, since I love having other players run the gauntlet of traps in my world. Bellkeepers PVP was also quite fun, and co-op on difficult bosses was a blast as usual for the series.
On the other hand, Dark Souls II tested new ground on a lot of aspects that fell flat. Soul Memory is a huge misstep and makes finding co-op and pvp substantially more difficult. Adaptability as a stat was an annoying choice, but not very noticeable past the early game.
The biggest sin for Dark Souls II, for me, is the mismatch between level difficulty and boss difficulty - boss runbacks are full of enemy "ganks" with unfair and cruel placements, and that dampens the fun of fighting against the actual boss of a level. Often, I'd die more times running back to a boss than to the boss itself. However, I'd forget my frustration when enjoying pvp or going through one of the more fair levels. SOTFS has made this worse in certain early game areas, such as Heide's Tower of Flame, compared to the original game.
Overall, I still love Dark Souls II, and I'll keep coming back every few years for another playthrough. However, the game has serious and very frustrating flaws, and I'm glad it served as a learning experience for future entries in the series.