I've felt completely mixed on this game ever since playing it a few years ago. On one hand its the souls formula that I really love and on the other its a mess of game that feels like it can never combine its elements into a meaningful whole. Replaying this game on sl1 made me realize just how much I don't care for this game. I've heard countless times that this version is miles better than sotfs so I went in hoping to see the light, and while it is better with the obvious things like enemy placements. The core of what's here just doesn't appeal to me. Every other game in the series gets even better on a low level but in ds2 it only serves to exacerbate the issues present. I get evaluating this version off of a challenge run isn't totally fair but having played through sotfs multiple times I'm pretty familiar with the ds2 experience and this version doesn't do much to change my overwhelming indifference for what its trying to offer. I'm not huge on things on the narrative side of things either though i do I like vendrick and aldia even if its all really frontloaded. Also the run backs in this game need to be studied as a potential torture method.