dark souls 2 is a pretty cool game with some distinctive highs and some super rough lows. i love from software, and this is imo last decade's equivalent to the evergraces of the '00s, deeply imperfect yet alluring games overshadowed by stronger offerings like king's field 4 and shadow tower: abyss (or, you know, dark souls and bloodborne, with respect).

dark souls 2 in any form has profound problems with pathing, ai, hitboxes, controls, planning, writing, etc. which aren't present in most of the better fromsoft games—certainly not to the same degree. i'm one of those who feel 3 is absolutely the better game and i think the notion that this is the normcore gamer view is wrong and ridiculous. still, there's a lot of wonderful art design in this game, and some of its uniquely eerie or awesome locations are unlike anything else in from's recent output. i don't even think that the pure chaos realm nature of its world's structure is inherently a flaw in this series. there's really quite a lot to appreciate about this game's tumultuousness.

i'm playing (replaying, kinda, though this will be my first time completing scholar of the first sin specifically) while this year's return to drangleic event is happening and i just love that there's this ongoing dedication to keeping some blood in these games. even those i find to be a bit less great than the others.