But one day, you will stand before its decrepit gate.
Without really knowing why…
I’ve never liked DS2 - I played SOTFS for the first time back in 2020, and had to drag myself kicking and screaming to the finish line. Forcing myself to level a dedicated stat to make my dodge roll feel like a dodge roll. Combat felt incredibly lethargic, enemies swinging with the enthusiasm of someone having to play DS2. And enemies poured out of every corner like the crushing tide of people come to tell me why this is the best Souls game actually.
But now, I like Demon’s Souls.
The game that, since DS2’s resurgence, feels like it has the worst rep of the Souls games - a foundation but nothing more, punishing without being particularly hard, with weird mechanics and bad bosses. And once you cut past the glaring issues, DS2 feels similar in the sense that both games are more haphazardly throwing a bunch of ideas at the wall to see what sticks.
Okay, but is DS2 actually good?
Well, it’s okay? There definitely is a lot to get attached to here. Aesthetically it’s really interesting as a hodgepodge of barely-related visual motifs that care a lot more about throwing wacky new vistas at you compared to the visual ‘progression’ you get in DS1; the inconsistency is fun once you take notice and feels thematically sound with nobody remembering what Drangleic is actually like. Lots of the levels have fun layouts and interesting means of soft progression as well, so it’s not just all looks. There’s a lot of generally cool items - Lockstones, Ascetics and Spices to name a few (and I even got some actual use out of one of those!). And build variety feels the most exciting this side of Elden Ring, with my brain storming up enough silly ideas that might just fuel a whole series replay.
Sadly the combat still sucks. It *is*, in fact, very lethargic, and it generally feels dissatisfying. I can count on one hand the amount of enemies that had any real force behind their weapon swings (two, the number is two). Lots of them have drawn-out combos that don’t mesh well with the two other enemies they’ve probably been put right next to in a classic Dark Souls 2 Enemy Placement Moment. AI is extremely temperamental, loving to either break aggro and awkwardly attempt to stumble back to their starting point, or sprint directly on top of you before starting a move (shoutouts to the overhead swing attacks that they prep, and *then* charge on top of you before swinging). Bosses have reached the ‘dodge-and-hit’ design that’ll dominate the rest of the series, but their simple movesets make them generally quite easy and unmemorable. And to cap it all off, the existence of lifegems made me pretty happy to just damage tank through enemies I couldn’t be bothered to deal with normally.
Dark Souls 2 would be so good if it was good. I’d usually say that as a joke, but it really is a bunch of cool stuff that's just being dragged down by one single but pivotal issue. I don’t hate the game any more at least, but I don’t think I can say I like it. It’s okay.
Without really knowing why…
I’ve never liked DS2 - I played SOTFS for the first time back in 2020, and had to drag myself kicking and screaming to the finish line. Forcing myself to level a dedicated stat to make my dodge roll feel like a dodge roll. Combat felt incredibly lethargic, enemies swinging with the enthusiasm of someone having to play DS2. And enemies poured out of every corner like the crushing tide of people come to tell me why this is the best Souls game actually.
But now, I like Demon’s Souls.
The game that, since DS2’s resurgence, feels like it has the worst rep of the Souls games - a foundation but nothing more, punishing without being particularly hard, with weird mechanics and bad bosses. And once you cut past the glaring issues, DS2 feels similar in the sense that both games are more haphazardly throwing a bunch of ideas at the wall to see what sticks.
Okay, but is DS2 actually good?
Well, it’s okay? There definitely is a lot to get attached to here. Aesthetically it’s really interesting as a hodgepodge of barely-related visual motifs that care a lot more about throwing wacky new vistas at you compared to the visual ‘progression’ you get in DS1; the inconsistency is fun once you take notice and feels thematically sound with nobody remembering what Drangleic is actually like. Lots of the levels have fun layouts and interesting means of soft progression as well, so it’s not just all looks. There’s a lot of generally cool items - Lockstones, Ascetics and Spices to name a few (and I even got some actual use out of one of those!). And build variety feels the most exciting this side of Elden Ring, with my brain storming up enough silly ideas that might just fuel a whole series replay.
Sadly the combat still sucks. It *is*, in fact, very lethargic, and it generally feels dissatisfying. I can count on one hand the amount of enemies that had any real force behind their weapon swings (two, the number is two). Lots of them have drawn-out combos that don’t mesh well with the two other enemies they’ve probably been put right next to in a classic Dark Souls 2 Enemy Placement Moment. AI is extremely temperamental, loving to either break aggro and awkwardly attempt to stumble back to their starting point, or sprint directly on top of you before starting a move (shoutouts to the overhead swing attacks that they prep, and *then* charge on top of you before swinging). Bosses have reached the ‘dodge-and-hit’ design that’ll dominate the rest of the series, but their simple movesets make them generally quite easy and unmemorable. And to cap it all off, the existence of lifegems made me pretty happy to just damage tank through enemies I couldn’t be bothered to deal with normally.
Dark Souls 2 would be so good if it was good. I’d usually say that as a joke, but it really is a bunch of cool stuff that's just being dragged down by one single but pivotal issue. I don’t hate the game any more at least, but I don’t think I can say I like it. It’s okay.
4 Comments
Dont worry, you're correct
Ds2 would be good if it was good but it really does feel like shit to play. I cut my hand open yesterday and id rather do that again than play ds2, no joke.
hey
faea
4 months ago