"Oh my God, royal knights residing in the forest of fallen giant! Clearly lazy copy and paste, who cares what the lore says!" Also: "Well you see it makes lore sense to copy and paste all the demons in the demon area since its DS1"
Lol. Thanks for giving me a good laugh "Having a BUNCH of dragon butts everywhere in LOST IZALITH makes sense for LORE reasons but putting a whole army of knights in a CASTLE is LAZY game design"
@@RavenGamingOverLordHeard this somewhere else: Obviously the dragon torso in Valley of the Drakes is constantly growing new butts, that all fall off and down into Lost Izalith
@@PauperoftheFishies Would have been great if there was only 1 dragon butt. Then you could have it guarding an astora set (elite knights I think? Call it ancient or charred if you want it extra unique) And it would be like some kinda poetry or something. "The knight that wore this armor was said to have been able to cleave a young wyvern in half with a single strike, but unfortunately fell from the valley cliffside, leaving behind only their sword and the decaying torso of their prey."
To me at least it was really fun discovering this dude again and again. And instead of complete lazyness he even got new moves. And then it was even better when I MYSELF became the Pursuer, tracked down his locations and milked him for his sweet, sweet twinkling titanite.
Mauler: "Actually, it's part of my build of being a sigma chad who edge walks in front of enemies to show dominance, the fact it didn't work once again shows the ds2 is OBJECTIVELY a bad game"
I don't know what game in the series started this trend of people only wanting to do boss fights. In DS2 and DS1, getting to the boss is very often as hard or harder than the boss itself. I genuinely don't know what started this trend lmao
@@pempotfoy6206 As a jolly co-operator (and occasional red) I kinda feel that. [I mix it up between honorable duelist, ambusher, and surprise ally when I invade depending on the vibes I get from the host and their friends] Legacy dungeons in elden ring were fun to help guide players through to hidden areas and such, but it kinda sucks to get summoned to help someone explore for 30 minutes just for them to get bonked when I was hoping for a quick 3-5 minute boss battle for an rune arc. Honestly there should be summon signs that are specific to exploration and then summon signs that are specific for bossing so that summons can always get the reward for assisting, and hosts dont have to summon people that rush levels when they want to explore but still want assistance...(oh hey! ds2 kinda did that with small white soapstones)
It's genuinely hard to get over just how _stupid_ Mauler is in his Dark Souls series - not even getting into dishonest and whining about objectivity. I've never seen someone complain that they can't climb a ladder because it's being physically blocked before, or charging at a cliff and then complaining their momentum carries them off the edge. Imagine calling a game bad because you think the vaguest hint of a functioning physics system means it's 'objectively broken', or deliberately aggroing every enemy in an entire area and then complaining you died? I hadn't thought about Mauler for years before your videos reminded me he existed, but I kind of want to go back to his The Last Jedi video and see if he was as dishonest about it as he was about Dark Souls 2.
Most Soulsborne "Critiques" are braindead. Players don't know what they want. Thats the nature of Souls games, a world that dosnt care about the player. If Miyazaki just listened to these people every level would just be back to back 1v1s against Silver Knights until a bonfire before a boss. Players beat DS1 or DS3 or however many Souls games and get so far up their own arse that they are a "Souls Vet" that anything that actually challenges them to play better or differently, or just pay attention is unfair bullshit.
Couldn't agree more with your last point. So many Souls players do not want to be challenged to play differently. I think part of the problem with a lot of critiques (besides people not understanding what "objective" and "subjective" mean) is that so many players make self-imposed restrictions that they then use as their default perspective for the game. They limit themselves and their perspective, which often makes it harder for them to view the full picture.
@@ReelBigFan The self imposed challenge must come from comfort and that most other games reward min maxing and mastering your basic set. When you tell someone there's an easier way to do something or just different, it makes them feel like they took the easy way out. But it's a solution to a problem, take it and use it! If you choose not to, then it's on you for making it harder. Also I can't agree more about the OP's comment about people beating souls game and considering themselves vets. Like you beat the game in a certain way, now try something else..
Oh my god, YES. A lot of Souls players, especially those who brag about being vets for no other reason than to brag, will play every Souls game the exact same way they play their first. If one of these idiots played DS first, he'll go through every game sword-and-boarding and he will H A T E Bloodborne and Sekiro because he can't do that there whatsoever, not even a little bit. If their first game is Bloodborne (my first and fav but I'm not beyond friendly fire for the sake of fairness) I've seen a shocking amount of people not understand the weight mechanic or actually putting some thought in your armor beyond looks - Bloodborne fanboys in particular were the ones bitching when Bloodhound's Step got nerfed even though it was a reasonable nerf for the purposes of reducing spam. Sekiro fans... Nah to be honest they're all chill, at least in my experience. Sekiro fans just love living their life bro. Mad respect. So what happens when the community builds this awful rep for DS2? Nobody plays DS2 first. Then eventually they go into DS2, try playing it like any other game *BUT* DS2 and then bitch and moan how DS2 doesn't play the exact same way their favorite SoulsBorne game does.
I think the fundamental misunderstanding is that the WORLD of Dark Souls doesn't care about you but the GAME Dark Souls is extremely invested in your success and people don't get it It's been like this all the way since Demon's Souls and increasingly so. Messages from players and devs helping and encouraging you all the way. Multiple ways to exploit the game mechanics and get one over on this world that thought they could get you down. Direct cooperation with other players and later NPCs to help you along,,, Heck, if you're in Quelaag's Domain or the Undead Parish and a random player in the internet defeats the boss, the game will let you hear them ringing the bells just to encourage you forward! To make sure you believe that you too can do it! But these people are trapped by the silly marketing of "Prepare to die" and created an entire identity and culture around pretending Dark Souls is the hardest thing ever when... pfft, I suck at these games and have platted them all. It takes patience and knowledge, sure, but anyone can do it. THAT'S the actual point, to suffer AND triumph. The games WANT you to triumph But yeah, nah, all of these fly over the heads of everyone of these people. Elden Ring made all their bosses super aggressive and then gave the player 40 different pokemons to choose from. Then they added a pokemon summon area in almost every boss arena in the game but that was somehow an accident, it's not really part of the game because... uuuhhhh.... As someone who deeply loves these games, it's sad seeing how hard a parcel of "the fanbase" actively refuses to engage with them
@@orxy5316That's literally his purpose. Sure, gameplay has him spawn in set locations, but thematicly it's supposed to be him ambushing you when you least expect it.
@@orxy5316not that lazy actually. The encounters against him are pretty well set-up ambushes but at the same time, literally all of them are optional (even the first official fights) and you can always just walk out of his range to make him leave.
I cannot imagine why people dislikes ds2 so far as to make it look bad or poorly designed. Probably they never got gud or always refused to level adp. But to me it seems they didnt want ds2, they wanted COD:Solaire mission or fifa: Siegmayers revenge. Ridiculous arguments, ridiculous ideas and expectations and overall ridiculous people
It's a coping mechanism. A mental defense mechanism. For people with narcissistic tendencies it's a lot easier to just call the game objectively unfair instead of admitting to themselves that they are just incredibly bad at the game.
I really don't get it as well. DS2 is way more similar in gameplay to ds1 than ds3, ds3 is more of a combination of ds2 and bloodborne than anything close to ds1 other than the references. I also don't get why people refuse to use a shield and not rush trough the game, I legit think they dislike ds2 because it is the hardest to just run and ignore all enemies.
Mauler literally calls himself a "video essay analyticalyst" in his channel description. Analyticalyst isn't a word. He literally made up a word to try and make himself seem smarter.
MauLer does this thing throughout his series where he analyzes Hombomberguy’s statements line-by-line. If Hbomb prefaces a critique with “I think that…”, MauLer acknowledges that whatever he’s saying is fine because it’s his opinion. If Hbomb makes a statement without such a preface, MauLer attacks it as if Hbomb is making an “objective” argument. It is gross and tiring. One does not have to say “In my opinion…” or “I think that…” for anyone listening to know what they are saying is their opinion. They are the one speaking, of course it’s their opinion. MauLer is so obsessed with objectivity that he’s insufferable. He wants to be “right” and “correct” more than anything else. That’s not the point. Sharing arguments about art with others, and even disagreeing with them, can be fun and illuminating and is a part of the human experience. No one is above it. No one gets to say they are “right” in such matters. Not even MauLer. This is singular, fantastic work, Domo. No one approaches Best Souls 2 quite like you. I wish you the absolute best.
Honestly, just imagining that you can be "objective" and still say anything of value should automatically disqualify one from any sort of conversation, especially reviews of any sort "No, you see, MY opinions are concrete verifiable truth, just put them through the calculator"
Mauler also uses the idea of 'objectivity' and 'being objectively correct' as a shield, presenting his own subjective opinions as facts and declaring himself objectively correct on things that - with how he played in his Dark Souls series - he likely _knows_ he's factually wrong about.
He doesn't even get what objectivity MEANS. When he says "There are too many enemies here" that's an OPINION. An objective fact would only be purely objective if he said something like "This part of the area contains such and such enemies with these numbers" and then list each one.
@@YTDariuS-my6dg Those guys are always like this. It's the same mindset as believing things can be apolitical, that one doesn't have an ideology or that an unbiased opinion exists Those words just mean "deviating from the position I take" which betrays how little thought they put into the positions they take and the things they believe in to begin with "When I say this is bad, there is no bias". Indeed, an observation (not an opinion) completely dissociated from his feelings and previous experiences, sure
Anyone who says the Pursuer refights in Lost Bastille are just lazy copy-and-paste game design is either a crazy liar or a huge idiot. Pursuer popping up where you least expect him is so cool. Definitely a top 10 FromSoft enemy
He's the Pursuer, of course he should pursue you throughout the game. It could only be better than it is in Scholar if some encounters with him were random.
>name an enemy/boss "Pursuer" >fans complain when the Pursuer pursues them Any western AAA gamedev would be SEETHING but Chadzaki (in this case it's actually Shibuya and Tanimura who directed it but shush) just smiles cryptically at the apes flinging shit in their own baseless rage and keeps making his games however he damn well pleases.
The whole criticism of "humanoid" enemies and bosses is probably the one that grinds my gears the most. All thanks to the legacy of that one shitty mathewmatosis review. I hope you tackle it some time in the future.
Eh, I could do with more weird enemies. The goofy ah stone caterpillars and flame tanks of Elden Ring are so entertaining. Not that humanoid fights are necessarily worse.
@StainlessPot with Elden Ring, I felt like the game had too many humanoids, honestly. Most interesting areas are the ones that don't have a large majority of humanoids like Calied. I understand time constraints, but for an open world game, it could have afforded more animalistic enemies
@@YEY0806 Well, humans are everywhere, but it has wolves, octopuses, birds, snails, dogs, mega dogs, ants, jellyfish, lions, crows, crabs, flowers, dragonflies, dragons, giant worms, and I'm just tired of listing them at this point, so I don't feel the same way.
Mauler for some reason, held MatthewMatosis in high regard, someone important to the souls series. When in reality he's a below average player who simply stated his own perspective in a remarkably thorough and ultimately useless video. Video game journalism hasn't gotten better since. No one knows how to actually talk about a video game in a thorough and technical way because they are just regular gamers.
I love the vids dude. Keep it up, Ds2 is a fav of mine and I love the breakdowns of mechanics and made me appreciate the game more when looking at it from a different POV.
13:48 is my favorite part that perfectly encapsulates just how poor MauLer's arguments are. MauLer leaves out the context of hbomberguy talking about Heide's Tower in Scholar to falsely accuse him of not knowing how the Heide Knights work in that version, and then when MauLer does address that part he just lies about the amount of Heide Knights in Vanilla to falsely accuse hbomberguy of not knowing the game very well. MauLer evidently does not care about objective facts and just wants to make hbomberguy and DS2 look bad by making things up.
After watching all the takes on this game Domo, you are the most truthful to the actual game. I think it's fair to say TH-camrs are just bad at the game. I mean people do challenge runs if ds2 because of how easy it is and there's still an active community around ds2. It is really bizarre that Mauler or any of these critics never mention that actual player base that enjoy the game.
The most annoying thing about MauLer is that he's fairly charismatic and puts *juuuust* enough effort in for it to look like he's reputable. I'm sure most Souls fans have a "I hate DS2" phase in their lives, and in my own time I actually liked MauLer's arguments. God, I'm glad for videos like yours.
God, it annoys me so much when people go out of their way to aggro 50 hollows in the Forest of Fallen Giants at once and then complain about how ganky it is.
Mauler? Being biased in his objective critiques? No, I would 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 have guessed. Sarcasm aside, I am so glad I saw your channel get mentioned on the DS2 subreddit. Literally binged through all these videos today, and it makes me so damned happy seeing someone finally call Mauler out on his disingenuous and downright malicious "critiques", especially with DS2. He's like this with most, if not all of his videos, and I wish we'd get more people calling him out on his bs. He's not objective. He's not apolitical. And he's not a good critic. No matter how much he and his audience claim otherwise.
Dude. I recently played ds 2 again and Shrine of Amana was so easy. I was suprised why anyone, including me in the past, ever thought this area was hard.
Vanilla Shrine is harder, but was even harder on release as the Priestesses had more range and their spells had better tracking. It got nerfed a short time after release and again with the Scholar version, but the impression people got from the unpatched Shrine still stuck around.
Shrine of Amana never was difficult if you know what you're doing like with me I bring a bow and bait the archdrake knights(guess they're basically knights) away from the healers and the ones that hit you with sorceries and take out the archdrake knights. Something as simple as this will make the experience better and easier, it's not cheating it's strategy.
It's actually really unfair if you don't roll, sprint, block, use bows, use crossbows, use magic, use consumables, move horizontally, and ignore but still aggro every single enemy. I don't know what C-team was thinking.
No literally same. I struggled so much with it first time around, and now it was just a breeze. I was playing a pure bonk melee build too, didn't even need to bring out a bow or something
@@quinnsine1650 I got this: "You see, bed of chaos can be considered a gimmick fight, a concept that is fairly rare in later games. It is always nice to see Fromsoft heading back to their roots, something that, frankly, DS2 lacks. The Gimmick of most of the bosses in DS2 is just some bullshit mechanic such as water rising to force you into speed running the game's slow combat and punishing the player for attempting to even fight the boss ( Cut to Flexile with full hp and the water almost all the way up while he complains), the Smelter Demon that punishes player for getting close for a 1v1 melee fight (Enter Clip of him running away from it, whiffing attacks, and missing rolls. Also no defense so it does max damage). At least with the bed of chaos it engages the player with something that was generally underutilized in DS1, Jumping. Now that Jumping in DS2 is so busted, any leap in the game just feels forced as the developers couldn't claw their way out of their horrible level layouts. It also serves as a means to soften up the player with mandatory fall damage, not to mention the clunky controls causing you to miss seemingly impossible jumps (Enter clip of that jump in the Things Betwixt and jumping perpendicular to the tiny gap and dying). " Took me like 3mins to think this up, bullshitting and dishing out excuses to protect a fragile ego is just part of being a true gamer :p
This series shows how poor most TH-cam critiques (and "analyses" in general) really are. It's nearly impossible to find someone who's actually interested in analyzing the subject matter. In reality, people like Mauler just want to totally freaking own the things they dislike and use their favorites as examples of 'doing it right.' There's no real goal, no deeper interest. And it's obvious after watching this that he couldn't make a genuine critique even if he tried.
Whats tragic about DS2 is that it is so unfairly maligned that anyone who plays it goes in with predisposed negative opinions on it. So when they do play through it, any sense of difficulty or any mistake they make is chalked up to being the game's fault instead of their own. Its astounding how many comments in MauLer's series are people who don't even play Souls, let alone DS2, agreeing with him simply due to the way he presents his arguments. I myself encountered this during my own playthrough. During my first on vanilla, I disliked it because the changes made to the way the game functions caused me to believe it was worse. I even put the game down (though due to life events rather than giving up.) I didnt pick it up again for years, and let those disingenuous opinions taint my overall view of the game. I even supported my opinion by seeking out criticism that aligned with it. Years later when i returned to the game just to say id played it through, my preconceived opinions were heavily shaped by that first experience and years if being told i was right in thinking it was bad. So when I struggled, I chalked it up to bullshit and the game being bad or needlessly difficult. However, the more i played, and the better I got and the mkre I adapted, i began to realize that the game teuly is good, just not for the same reasons as the original or its sequel. It was good on its own merits. Honeslty, if this game had been released under a different title or developer, it would never have been as maligned as it was. This idea of preconceived opinions tainting your experience is actually something Souls has to grapple with as a whole. Many people shun Souls and refuse to play simply due to its reputation of difficulty, even though that difficulty is extremely easy to surmount.
The concept of Heide's Tower switching to a midgame area upon beating the Dragonrider is something I've never heard before, that's a very interesting analysis. I usually hate the Heide Knights, but with this in mind it makes sense why it's hard to fight them so early.
I think with that idea in mind there should have been other changes, like the ornstein boss room being locked before killing the dragon rider and making him stronger, plus changing the area slightly. It is a cool idea but execution could have been better if that was the intent
@@sinelacico823exactly, like maybe it shifts to night time or something like with Anor Londo. Or after you reload the area new platforms rise up from the sea to show you things have shifted.
Oh my god, thank you so much. Finally, someone who has something to say about DS2 that isn't entirely braindead. God, I love this video, you really deserve much more attention from the algorithm. For me, people complaining about Shrine of Amana has always been a pet peeve and the area has always been easy for me to go through, even the first time I played it, because I'm not a monkey that just rushes into every situation with zero situational awareness. Glad to see it pointed out here, even if it's easy to understand that the point you already made about how "spam" complaints are fake is logically applicable to Amana, too. All around, well thought out video, short and to the point, no excessive gloating, smartassery or unnecessary elements.
I rly love how people make fun of ds2 for many boss reskins (which is 100% fair) but when i say that in elden ring which is a “flawless masterpiece” 95 fking % of ALLLLL bosses are reskins people are saying the most random bs just to justify them. My 2 most favorites are: 1) “but they are fUn” and second: “This game is big soo of course they reused their bosses over and over, did you wanted them all to be unique bosses?” Yes! i wanted them to be unique bosses. I much rather play smaller game in which there are many unique bosses than a huge half empty open world game in which when i fight bosses my reaction is: oh again you? Oh again you for the 8 time or oh now you are a boss of this location? Cool
@@Yo_Vuzzen777 yea elden ring is sooooo goood. 95% of bosses are reskins, weapon variety only works if you use trust me bro source, 90% of alll bosses are garbage tier list. absolutely uninteresting bosses that can't do anything with 99% of their moves but they have one red instakill button, nearly identical dungeons, half empty open world in which most of the time you just ride your horse and are searching content, late game is absolutely unbalanced, summons, ashes of wars and bleed weapons just negate any interest or difficulty vs bosses, but if you wont use them you will do pathetically low amount of dmg unless you use ugs and many many more. yea it has 2-3 good thing but er has waaaaay to many problem
@@Yo_Vuzzen777 Elden Ring also has the same 8 directional movement system that people supposedly really, really hated in DS2, but with Elden Ring they never mention it, for some reason :^)
So you’re comparing optional content to mandatory content. There’s not a single time in ER where I felt it lazy other than the godskin duo, and compared to ds2 which puts literal rats in a room calls it a boss and it’s also mandatory there’s 0 competition.
I absolutely love DS2. Sure. There are some valid criticisms, as with any FS game. Or any work of art with a budget and time frame for that matter. I think it just feels different than the other games therefore it's fun to hate on for a lot of internet people. They probably wouldn't say the same thing about King's Field games without Miyazaki would they? Check mate DS2 haters. Your opinion is objectively bad lol.
good thing MauLer capitalized the L in his name to emphasize how many he takes. It is amazing how much a person has to cope with his lack of ability in all respects.
Congratulations, Domo. You've just given me an incredible urge to replay DS2 i watches Mauler's series through several years ago, and while i did take some issue with certain parts, i didn't think too hard on much of what he said (mostly cause i was a dumb teenager and wasn't super paying attention) despite really liking DS2. But after watching your series up to this point, which i can vividly recall every argument from mauler that you brought up, it's quite satisfying to see you (mostly) respectfully dismantle his arguments with actual facts (i can forgive the slight condescension and fun-making, being that mauler is so full of himself 😂), particularly in the hitbox segment where you undeniably proved that the majority of complaints are unfounded, while also being honest and showing us the few bad hitboxes in ds2. Overall, this has been a fantastic series to watch and i can't wait to see what else you come out with. The only recommendation I'd make is to maybe pull back on the fun-making a bit since some people will use that to try and discredit your videos. Otherwise though, 10/10 content!!
Dark Souls 2's negative reputation is so ridiculously unwarranted that I genuinely TRY to see something wrong with the game that isn't based on regurgitated nitpicks. I can only find 2. Soul Memory and the design intention for Frigid Outskirts. Those 2 issues are *HEAVILY* outweighed by the sheer amount of improvements it has than in DS1. A MUCH better upgrade system, certain characters have their names displayed for once, a jump button that actually functions, movement is smooth as ever, 2 more ring slots, more consumables to passively heal AND restore spells; sometimes simultaneously, items to boost resistances, THE SPICES, more element resins, the lockstone mechanic, the torch, dual wielding and power stancing further enhancing gameplay (even though the latter isn't taught), shorter soul yield to level up, TONS of new spells to use, SO MANY unique ways to customize and build your character and even REBUILD IT DURING THE ADVENTURE whenever you feel like it, several environmental interactions, an overall great selection of fun and entertaining boss fights (obviously not all of them), a REALLY GOOD yet underrated soundtrack, NG+ has actual depth now, large and expansive worlds that may or may not have influenced Elden Ring's with it's sheer amount of content to uncover, a fantastic PVP, and a beautifully poetic story. Am I missing something? I rest my case. Dark Souls 2 is awesome and people are just crazy for literally all the wrong reasons Keep doing God's work, man.
6:04 not to mention, this area that leads to capra demon introduces the dog really poorly, the dog will run and damage you the first time before you even get out of the stairs, and to make it even worse, the fire on the left makes it almost impossible to see the dog coming
That whole path to Capra Demon would be complained about so much if it was in DS2. The runback is long and annoying. There's several ganks and ambushes of two enemy types that are hard to deal with. But it's not in DS2 so it gets a pass and people will still consider everything in DS1 as hard but never unfair, while calling much fairer parts in DS2 unfair.
@@Domo3000 exactly, they not only do that, but also pretend to be experts on level design by using definist fallacies to make ds2 look worse. They present the level design of the souls series as being based on interconectvity, seeing areas from distance, walking between areas instead of teleporting an thes list goes on, but in reality, DS1 is the only game that REALLY does that stuff. You will never see these guys talking about REAL enemy placement, learning experiences, teaching elements, raising difficulty through the levels or anything like that, and guess why? Because they don't know about what they are talking
Ngl, you picked probably the one part of the area I never complained (to myself ) about. It's a perfect introduction for how much of a pain dogs are lmao
Mauler always struck me as a weirdo obsessed with the sound of his own voice and his own interpretation of objectivity ie. everything he says is correct and everyone else is wrong. I'm just surprised it took this long for anyone to point out exactly why his DS2 """response""" videos felt off. DS2 is nowhere near a perfect game but Maulers video series was made out of spite towards both the game and a person daring to highlight the good parts of said game
Ok, let's say you die the first time in the hollow pit in Forest of the fallen Giants, right? You gank yourself because it surprises you and you get hollow'd. **WHY DID YOU RUN HEAD FIRST A SECOND TIME?** Edit: In my almost 10 years playing this game, i *NEVER* ever saw that Nashandra dialogue talking about the Ancient Dragon. This game has such a deep lore hidden on a lot of areas... That is why i love it so much.
@NobleAbsinthe, the only death I had on my first playthrough was accidentally falling in the pool. Besides that, I didn't end up with nightmarish trauma that SOA has supposedly given to the community 😂
I remember dreading Amana back in the day. Went through it again the other day in my current playthrough while using a basic-bitch bow and I think I only died three times in the entire area - once to the ogre and once getting distracted by an archdrake priest before I could kill a distant mage.
It's hard to argue with someone who is smart, but it's impossible to argue with an idiot. MauLer seems to suffer from being a," run and kill the boss" type of player. MauLers opinions are presented as facts like you've said before and honestly he may have given dark souls 2 a bad rep, but at this point if you want to biasly misrepresented the game and shit on the many great and bad things that are presents it's self in all three dark souls games then keep making these videos till they blow up. I've said it before and I'll say it again, dark souls 2 is more of an rpg then the other games imo. You have to actually use multiple tools to get through the game making everything you find very important. All in all, MauLer took as big of an L as in his name 😑
new domo3000 video? I'm eating good tonight seriously, thanks for making these videos. they're well put together and are very informative on both DS2 and the way people have perceived it throughout the past ten years. I always loved DS2 more than the other installments and it felt bad hearing people unfairly criticize the game for issues that weren't there for me playing it for the first time.
The additional pursuer fights are awesome to me. The fact he's following you isn't just good for his lore, it's cool, and the fact he drops different items each time just reminds me of RE3: Nemesis. Besides, once you beat him, you know how to again. What's the issue? (I know the issue for Mauler is "dying on stream", I'm just asking)
when I was a kid I used to lie to my mother, and by doing so I used repeat the same lie over and over again because obviously, the more you repeat the same thing, the more other people will agree with you ("he's saying the same thing over and over again, he must be telling the truth"), that's why Mauler made so many videos saying that DS2 is terrible, because obviously people will think he's right, but no, he's just a crybaby
As a pedant myself, I find the re:hbomberguy series incredibly relaxing and interesting. His points SOUND right which is perfect for me to doze off to. I broadly agree with the content of his critique, though he undoubtedly misrepresents the evidence for some of his points.
Its one of the most unique places in souls series, since its memory before Age of Fire(aka Gwyn uprising at the ds1 cinematic). Also cool eerie ambient sounds.
Shrine of Amana is my favorite area In all of the souls games and i get why so many people don't like this area,but mauler is just playing like a... Oh my god i hate him so much,he didn't even try to roll through the projectiles,he just said*if enemies hit me,this game is bad*
Shrine of Amana is seriously overhated and underrated just because casuals don't like that they actually have to play the game instead of just rushing from bonfire to bonfire. The Souls community when they have to overcome a challenging boss: that's amazing The Souls community when they have to overcome a challenging area: that's unfair This double standard just feels so weird to me. I would love to have more areas that require you to use strategies and that punish just trying to speedrun through them on first try.
@@Domo3000sadly, that's actually the same case with iron keep, people hate it just because they want to run through it without killing any enemies,which they can actually do that but they just complain without getting gud
Tbf the first time going through those areas it felt like hell but on my second time playing through em it was an absolute cakewalk The thing is most people are just gonna go through it once by running through like a madman or sniping everything once and walking through And then complain about it being hard rather than learning how to do it with a high success rate of getting through
I love the sections where you explore lore, I find that these more niche lore details about DS2 is barely explored by even lore youtubers. They will explore DS2 in broad strokes, but rarely explore implications of enemy placements like you did
I feel like MauLer (and a bunch of other people, me included) went in "knowing" DS2 is bad, and that is why he rushes through areas and so on. I know I did that for my first few hours. Then I got tired of getting swamped, decided to kill all enemies until they stopped respawning, and suddenly the areas started making sense, because I took the time to fight the enemies as the game expected me to instead of pretending I was running through Undead Burg for the Nth time.
i truly value your time, effort and courage to stand up to these goobers. I'm not alone anymore debunking false claims about one of my favorite games of all time. love your videos❤😊
"The shrine of amana is actually fun if you take your time to fight enemies." I took my time to fight enemies, and IMO the shrine of amana can go burn in a fire. it and black gulch where my least favorite area's. And I again took my time going through didn't agroo to many enemies and killed them similar to how you showed in the video. Though, I'll agree maulur is wrong in saying it's OBJECTIVLY terrible. and if you had fun with the area, That's good. I just didn't.
What level is your character when you show the damage? Just curious. I tend to have light armor so the heide knight do slightly more damage than seen here when I usually fight them
21:09 I've been saying for years how hypocritical it is to complain abt reused bosses in ds2 when all pre OnS bosses are reused except for quelaag and the gaping dragon
22:06 Incel DS lore explorers: "This is one of the greatest misunderstandings about DS 2!!! The Blue Demon is magical, instead of Orange Demon, who is made by Chaos Fire!!! We cannot explain it!!!" Chud Domo3000: "So, we know Old Iron King produced Smelter Demon. Why can't he produce else one?"
Kinda funny to hear Pursuer being used as a case of lazy enemy duplication, even though, you know, chasing and killing you is LITERALLY what the pursuer does? Pursuer is cool, though, ig the only bad thing is the gank fight in ng+, and if you don't know the trick to despawn one of them it's just genuinely awful to fight.
I dare Mauler and his crew to play your videos live on EFAP and see what their responses would be to all your points. At this point, I don't see anything that can refute your videos.
There’s few things more obnoxious than people who pride themselves on being ‘logical and objective’; without the self awareness to recognise they’re actually extremely biased.
I gave my PS3 away to a friend years ago and don't have a PS5 to play the remake, so at the moment I can't record any gameplay of that game. Maybe I'll be able to emulate it, but last time I checked it had a poor frame rate on my PC
@@Domo3000 I played it using the rpcs3 emulator. I think today the emulator is well optimized, so if you can play DS3 I think the frame rate will be fine if have to guess.
Another thing, at 27:24 the titanite demon being there has an actual reason. The titanite demons spawned from iirc slabs after the blacksmith of the gods left so there was a slab in that room that transformed
@@YEY0806 not necessarily, could've been planted there or just left there, I mean by that logic we should find smithing tools near every slab and chunk etc. devs probably didn't think that deep into it
The point is that in DS1 people will look deep into the lore to justify enemy placement that feels out of place, but do not apply the same logic to enemy placement in DS2.
It's the one fight in the series that basically no one ever mentions because the community wants to collectively forget about how awfully unbalanced it felt.
Okay this series is starting to make me want to try out ds2. Ive been making my way through the fromsoftware catalog was going to completely skip the game because of the reviews or just get vanilla as i heard sotfs was so "horrible" but listening to these videos wants me to give it a try. I did want to play another slow ds game after playing one anyway (loved the slower combat of that game)
people really hate ds2 just because it actually forces you to play the game, rather than letting you just run past most of the non-boss content like other souls games.
3:30 Any real ds2 fan knows how peak that jump was. Practically the most difficult 'intended' jump in the game (isn't the item like 5 poison knives? lol, at the very least I remember being bummed that it was a normal consumable)
This is why i never had issues with Dark Souls 2. Not on launch and not with Scholar of the First Sin. Because, in a lot of ways, it's not any different from the first Dark Souls. Issues and everything. Seeing a lot of people dunking on the game around the time it came out made me think that i was crazy for not noticing all these "glaring" issues that they were experiencing. What i've learned from this, is that what people have to say negatively about a FromSoftware game on release, doesn't really matter or hold much weight. Because a few years later, Dark Souls 3 came out and they did the exact same thing as with Dark Souls 2. Complain and pointing at empty air, claiming that there are glaring issues with the game and how (suddenly) Dark Souls 2 was not that bad after all. Even when we went from Demon's Souls to the first Dark Souls, same thing happened. Same thing happened with Elden Ring on release. They made a laundry list of complaints and claimed that [insert previous FromSoftware game] wasn't that bad. And i'm willing to bet my left testicle that the same thing will happen with the next Souls-like by FromSoftware. And the next. And so on and so forth.
Despite what some people believe, the soulsborne community is fine with pointing out problems. The problem with pointing out problems is to ACTUALLY bring up objective issues then just complaining about your skill issue or making a problem out of nothing. Believe me, if you play these games enough you’ll inevitably see shortcomings in all of them. But that doesn’t make the games lesser than or devalue your adoration for them - but makes you appreciate them more. Ds2 and the community that surrounds it is no different. We just get to deal with alot more salty people for a myriad of exaggerated/misinformed claims.
I doubt he will. But it would be interesting to see if he acknowledges the parts where he was flat out wrong, or if he would just nitpick some minor details I got wrong and complains that it's just whataboutism to point out that DS2 isn't any more broken than the other Souls games.
@@Domo3000 what's crazy to me is that he intentionally does it in a malicious way to paint dark souls 2 in the worst light possible. The fact that he purposely aggros so many enemies to show ganks is so disingenuous.
@@Domo3000 He's much too busy dealing with crap on the movies/tv show front with his buddies at the moment. What's funny is that this isn't the first time he's been blatantly wrong about something. He's still getting a ton of flak for saying Avatar the Last Airbender was objectively bad as well as his takes on Bladerunner 2049. Not to mention he has been accused for being biased by giving movies like Captain American Civil War WAY too much charity for it's contrivances, plot holes, etc while not doing the same for The Winter Soldier(a much more beloved film). He hasn't talked about Souls in a long time, and I doubt he's really as passionate about them anymore as he used to be(if at all). And oh God their Elden Ring panel discussion was just awful. I know that one was just an off-the-cuff podcast, and while most of them loved the game(except for Theo), they had some weird critiques such as calling that one part with the putrid tree sentinel in Elphaim(not to say that part isn't total aids although I do like the idea of luring the avatar to get killed by the ballistas) a "spam bush" cause enemies were taking them out from behind. Something that would never have happened if they had progressed through that extremely narrow and straightforward area with super obvious enemy placement normally. Edit: I rewatched that part of the podcast. Hot damn it's even worse than I initially gave it credit for. they basically rag on that encounter for just being "stuff" and Theo(aka the smart guy that isn't even really as smart as the fans give him credit for) chimes in saying that running around will trigger more stuff, and Mauler chimes in saying that was his biggest issue with Ds2. Congratulations. He has basically conceded to your characterization of him(ie, someone who just runs past things without engaging with the material and this is for a game which he stated HE LOVES or at least likes).
![ผัวเถื่อน - ยูริ โตเกียวมิวสิค [ OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/P08ORRVDGl8/mqdefault.jpg)
"Capra DEMON and Taurus DEMON should be here! It's the home of demons!"
but
"Why are Heide Knights in Heide's Tower now"
"Oh my God, royal knights residing in the forest of fallen giant! Clearly lazy copy and paste, who cares what the lore says!"
Also: "Well you see it makes lore sense to copy and paste all the demons in the demon area since its DS1"
Lol. Thanks for giving me a good laugh
"Having a BUNCH of dragon butts everywhere in LOST IZALITH makes sense for LORE reasons but putting a whole army of knights in a CASTLE is LAZY game design"
@@RavenGamingOverLordHeard this somewhere else:
Obviously the dragon torso in Valley of the Drakes is constantly growing new butts, that all fall off and down into Lost Izalith
@@PauperoftheFishiesObviously 😂. They should have that on an ítem description or something
@@PauperoftheFishies
Would have been great if there was only 1 dragon butt.
Then you could have it guarding an astora set (elite knights I think? Call it ancient or charred if you want it extra unique) And it would be like some kinda poetry or something.
"The knight that wore this armor was said to have been able to cleave a young wyvern in half with a single strike, but unfortunately fell from the valley cliffside, leaving behind only their sword and the decaying torso of their prey."
Did he really complain that an enemy called the the pursuer shows up multiple times in game.
yes lol
It's an interesting idea, but as it's in DS2 it's by default just lazy
Yup he did exactly that lmao.
To me at least it was really fun discovering this dude again and again. And instead of complete lazyness he even got new moves. And then it was even better when I MYSELF became the Pursuer, tracked down his locations and milked him for his sweet, sweet twinkling titanite.
I like it but I can understand why people think it’s lazy
The Pursuer is pursuing you?😮 No way.
can't believe...
I wish he showed up more, if anything.
Whoa that’s a crazy realization
HE doesn’t. THEY do.
okay, but if you killed him, is he still pursuing you like from the dead ? or these other guys like buddies of his?
is it like a league of pursuers?
This is my favorite response by far. Does the most to prove Mauler is just lying constantly in his video. Not just wrong, but also lying
33:36 *walking straight into a priestess' attacks*
"damn this game is unfair"
Mauler: "Actually, it's part of my build of being a sigma chad who edge walks in front of enemies to show dominance, the fact it didn't work once again shows the ds2 is OBJECTIVELY a bad game"
I still dont get why people try to rush the game just running to the whole level bonfire to boss and so on. Like bro, play the game.
They only want to play the boss fight part of the game and not the rest of it
Thats why I dont summon other players anymore
I don't know what game in the series started this trend of people only wanting to do boss fights. In DS2 and DS1, getting to the boss is very often as hard or harder than the boss itself. I genuinely don't know what started this trend lmao
@@valeopvaleopprobably the casuals and newbies from ds3
@@pempotfoy6206
As a jolly co-operator (and occasional red) I kinda feel that. [I mix it up between honorable duelist, ambusher, and surprise ally when I invade depending on the vibes I get from the host and their friends]
Legacy dungeons in elden ring were fun to help guide players through to hidden areas and such, but it kinda sucks to get summoned to help someone explore for 30 minutes just for them to get bonked when I was hoping for a quick 3-5 minute boss battle for an rune arc.
Honestly there should be summon signs that are specific to exploration and then summon signs that are specific for bossing so that summons can always get the reward for assisting, and hosts dont have to summon people that rush levels when they want to explore but still want assistance...(oh hey! ds2 kinda did that with small white soapstones)
I never noticed the heide knights slowly raise their weapons. That's really cool.
It looks like they clutch it, thinking "oooh, I'm so gonna get that undead!" 😂
@@StainlessPothonestly its probably the most funny attack I seen
It's genuinely hard to get over just how _stupid_ Mauler is in his Dark Souls series - not even getting into dishonest and whining about objectivity. I've never seen someone complain that they can't climb a ladder because it's being physically blocked before, or charging at a cliff and then complaining their momentum carries them off the edge. Imagine calling a game bad because you think the vaguest hint of a functioning physics system means it's 'objectively broken', or deliberately aggroing every enemy in an entire area and then complaining you died?
I hadn't thought about Mauler for years before your videos reminded me he existed, but I kind of want to go back to his The Last Jedi video and see if he was as dishonest about it as he was about Dark Souls 2.
It probably is.
People like Mauler just think every game should behave the same and have the same mechanics as their personal favorite and it's so damn tiring
He was a bit, but the movie was shit anyway.
Easy targets and all that. He just picked a ton of those.
He absolutely is. Every instance of "skill issue" in these videos translates to his his TLJ videos as "comprehension issue."
Its not. He's right about tlj
Most Soulsborne "Critiques" are braindead. Players don't know what they want. Thats the nature of Souls games, a world that dosnt care about the player. If Miyazaki just listened to these people every level would just be back to back 1v1s against Silver Knights until a bonfire before a boss. Players beat DS1 or DS3 or however many Souls games and get so far up their own arse that they are a "Souls Vet" that anything that actually challenges them to play better or differently, or just pay attention is unfair bullshit.
Couldn't agree more with your last point. So many Souls players do not want to be challenged to play differently. I think part of the problem with a lot of critiques (besides people not understanding what "objective" and "subjective" mean) is that so many players make self-imposed restrictions that they then use as their default perspective for the game. They limit themselves and their perspective, which often makes it harder for them to view the full picture.
@@ReelBigFan The self imposed challenge must come from comfort and that most other games reward min maxing and mastering your basic set.
When you tell someone there's an easier way to do something or just different, it makes them feel like they took the easy way out. But it's a solution to a problem, take it and use it! If you choose not to, then it's on you for making it harder.
Also I can't agree more about the OP's comment about people beating souls game and considering themselves vets. Like you beat the game in a certain way, now try something else..
Oh my god, YES. A lot of Souls players, especially those who brag about being vets for no other reason than to brag, will play every Souls game the exact same way they play their first. If one of these idiots played DS first, he'll go through every game sword-and-boarding and he will H A T E Bloodborne and Sekiro because he can't do that there whatsoever, not even a little bit. If their first game is Bloodborne (my first and fav but I'm not beyond friendly fire for the sake of fairness) I've seen a shocking amount of people not understand the weight mechanic or actually putting some thought in your armor beyond looks - Bloodborne fanboys in particular were the ones bitching when Bloodhound's Step got nerfed even though it was a reasonable nerf for the purposes of reducing spam. Sekiro fans... Nah to be honest they're all chill, at least in my experience. Sekiro fans just love living their life bro. Mad respect.
So what happens when the community builds this awful rep for DS2? Nobody plays DS2 first. Then eventually they go into DS2, try playing it like any other game *BUT* DS2 and then bitch and moan how DS2 doesn't play the exact same way their favorite SoulsBorne game does.
"The difficulty is bullshit, but summoning is cheating"
I think the fundamental misunderstanding is that the WORLD of Dark Souls doesn't care about you but the GAME Dark Souls is extremely invested in your success and people don't get it
It's been like this all the way since Demon's Souls and increasingly so. Messages from players and devs helping and encouraging you all the way. Multiple ways to exploit the game mechanics and get one over on this world that thought they could get you down. Direct cooperation with other players and later NPCs to help you along,,,
Heck, if you're in Quelaag's Domain or the Undead Parish and a random player in the internet defeats the boss, the game will let you hear them ringing the bells just to encourage you forward! To make sure you believe that you too can do it!
But these people are trapped by the silly marketing of "Prepare to die" and created an entire identity and culture around pretending Dark Souls is the hardest thing ever when... pfft, I suck at these games and have platted them all. It takes patience and knowledge, sure, but anyone can do it. THAT'S the actual point, to suffer AND triumph. The games WANT you to triumph
But yeah, nah, all of these fly over the heads of everyone of these people. Elden Ring made all their bosses super aggressive and then gave the player 40 different pokemons to choose from. Then they added a pokemon summon area in almost every boss arena in the game but that was somehow an accident, it's not really part of the game because... uuuhhhh....
As someone who deeply loves these games, it's sad seeing how hard a parcel of "the fanbase" actively refuses to engage with them
How could he seriously complain about the pursuer....pursuing you. lol
Mauler is like a teenage girl who gets surprised when having unsafe sex results in pregnancy
I mean it is kind of lazy how much times they bring him back
Because he’s bad at the game and wants to complain about his skill issues
@@orxy5316That's literally his purpose. Sure, gameplay has him spawn in set locations, but thematicly it's supposed to be him ambushing you when you least expect it.
@@orxy5316not that lazy actually. The encounters against him are pretty well set-up ambushes but at the same time, literally all of them are optional (even the first official fights) and you can always just walk out of his range to make him leave.
I was just thinking about you today Domo, I was worried my notifications were turned off. Glad to see you back
Same here lol
I cannot imagine why people dislikes ds2 so far as to make it look bad or poorly designed. Probably they never got gud or always refused to level adp. But to me it seems they didnt want ds2, they wanted COD:Solaire mission or fifa: Siegmayers revenge.
Ridiculous arguments, ridiculous ideas and expectations and overall ridiculous people
It's a coping mechanism. A mental defense mechanism.
For people with narcissistic tendencies it's a lot easier to just call the game objectively unfair instead of admitting to themselves that they are just incredibly bad at the game.
I really don't get it as well.
DS2 is way more similar in gameplay to ds1 than ds3, ds3 is more of a combination of ds2 and bloodborne than anything close to ds1 other than the references.
I also don't get why people refuse to use a shield and not rush trough the game, I legit think they dislike ds2 because it is the hardest to just run and ignore all enemies.
DS2 is the 2nd weakeast souls game, but it gets very unfairly maligned A LOT
Mauler literally calls himself a "video essay analyticalyst" in his channel description. Analyticalyst isn't a word. He literally made up a word to try and make himself seem smarter.
that's crazy XD
or he just made a joke , like a lot of the rest of his description but sure , go on with the ad hominem attacks
MauLer does this thing throughout his series where he analyzes Hombomberguy’s statements line-by-line. If Hbomb prefaces a critique with “I think that…”, MauLer acknowledges that whatever he’s saying is fine because it’s his opinion. If Hbomb makes a statement without such a preface, MauLer attacks it as if Hbomb is making an “objective” argument. It is gross and tiring.
One does not have to say “In my opinion…” or “I think that…” for anyone listening to know what they are saying is their opinion. They are the one speaking, of course it’s their opinion.
MauLer is so obsessed with objectivity that he’s insufferable. He wants to be “right” and “correct” more than anything else. That’s not the point. Sharing arguments about art with others, and even disagreeing with them, can be fun and illuminating and is a part of the human experience. No one is above it. No one gets to say they are “right” in such matters. Not even MauLer.
This is singular, fantastic work, Domo. No one approaches Best Souls 2 quite like you. I wish you the absolute best.
Thanks again very much for your strong support!
Honestly, just imagining that you can be "objective" and still say anything of value should automatically disqualify one from any sort of conversation, especially reviews of any sort
"No, you see, MY opinions are concrete verifiable truth, just put them through the calculator"
Mauler also uses the idea of 'objectivity' and 'being objectively correct' as a shield, presenting his own subjective opinions as facts and declaring himself objectively correct on things that - with how he played in his Dark Souls series - he likely _knows_ he's factually wrong about.
He doesn't even get what objectivity MEANS. When he says "There are too many enemies here" that's an OPINION. An objective fact would only be purely objective if he said something like "This part of the area contains such and such enemies with these numbers" and then list each one.
@@YTDariuS-my6dg Those guys are always like this. It's the same mindset as believing things can be apolitical, that one doesn't have an ideology or that an unbiased opinion exists
Those words just mean "deviating from the position I take" which betrays how little thought they put into the positions they take and the things they believe in to begin with
"When I say this is bad, there is no bias". Indeed, an observation (not an opinion) completely dissociated from his feelings and previous experiences, sure
Anyone who says the Pursuer refights in Lost Bastille are just lazy copy-and-paste game design is either a crazy liar or a huge idiot. Pursuer popping up where you least expect him is so cool. Definitely a top 10 FromSoft enemy
So true ds2 better than ds3
He's the Pursuer, of course he should pursue you throughout the game. It could only be better than it is in Scholar if some encounters with him were random.
Also he has new moves and has a different health pool
>name an enemy/boss "Pursuer"
>fans complain when the Pursuer pursues them
Any western AAA gamedev would be SEETHING but Chadzaki (in this case it's actually Shibuya and Tanimura who directed it but shush) just smiles cryptically at the apes flinging shit in their own baseless rage and keeps making his games however he damn well pleases.
@@StainlessPot Like how it is with Forlorn invasions, yeah?
The whole criticism of "humanoid" enemies and bosses is probably the one that grinds my gears the most.
All thanks to the legacy of that one shitty mathewmatosis review.
I hope you tackle it some time in the future.
Eh, I could do with more weird enemies. The goofy ah stone caterpillars and flame tanks of Elden Ring are so entertaining.
Not that humanoid fights are necessarily worse.
@StainlessPot with Elden Ring, I felt like the game had too many humanoids, honestly. Most interesting areas are the ones that don't have a large majority of humanoids like Calied. I understand time constraints, but for an open world game, it could have afforded more animalistic enemies
@@YEY0806 Well, humans are everywhere, but it has wolves, octopuses, birds, snails, dogs, mega dogs, ants, jellyfish, lions, crows, crabs, flowers, dragonflies, dragons, giant worms, and I'm just tired of listing them at this point, so I don't feel the same way.
@@StainlessPot maybe I'm not further into the game yet, but so far it's just been mostly dudes from my perspective
Mauler for some reason, held MatthewMatosis in high regard, someone important to the souls series. When in reality he's a below average player who simply stated his own perspective in a remarkably thorough and ultimately useless video.
Video game journalism hasn't gotten better since. No one knows how to actually talk about a video game in a thorough and technical way because they are just regular gamers.
I love the vids dude. Keep it up, Ds2 is a fav of mine and I love the breakdowns of mechanics and made me appreciate the game more when looking at it from a different POV.
Thanks a lot for that generous donation!
@@Domo3000 of course brotha, keep up with the videos king.
I completely agree. Mauler doesn't know a thing about dark souls 2. great video, concise and relevant arguments and footage.
13:48 is my favorite part that perfectly encapsulates just how poor MauLer's arguments are.
MauLer leaves out the context of hbomberguy talking about Heide's Tower in Scholar to falsely accuse him of not knowing how the Heide Knights work in that version, and then when MauLer does address that part he just lies about the amount of Heide Knights in Vanilla to falsely accuse hbomberguy of not knowing the game very well.
MauLer evidently does not care about objective facts and just wants to make hbomberguy and DS2 look bad by making things up.
its so amazing to see a dark souls 2 defender, you're gonna singlehandedly bring ds2 up to #1 in the communities eyes
After watching all the takes on this game Domo, you are the most truthful to the actual game. I think it's fair to say TH-camrs are just bad at the game. I mean people do challenge runs if ds2 because of how easy it is and there's still an active community around ds2. It is really bizarre that Mauler or any of these critics never mention that actual player base that enjoy the game.
The most annoying thing about MauLer is that he's fairly charismatic and puts *juuuust* enough effort in for it to look like he's reputable. I'm sure most Souls fans have a "I hate DS2" phase in their lives, and in my own time I actually liked MauLer's arguments. God, I'm glad for videos like yours.
it really is such a good microcasm
MauLerSydePhil 😂33:13
God, it annoys me so much when people go out of their way to aggro 50 hollows in the Forest of Fallen Giants at once and then complain about how ganky it is.
Mauler? Being biased in his objective critiques? No, I would 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 have guessed.
Sarcasm aside, I am so glad I saw your channel get mentioned on the DS2 subreddit. Literally binged through all these videos today, and it makes me so damned happy seeing someone finally call Mauler out on his disingenuous and downright malicious "critiques", especially with DS2. He's like this with most, if not all of his videos, and I wish we'd get more people calling him out on his bs. He's not objective. He's not apolitical. And he's not a good critic. No matter how much he and his audience claim otherwise.
the king is back
Dude. I recently played ds 2 again and Shrine of Amana was so easy. I was suprised why anyone, including me in the past, ever thought this area was hard.
Vanilla Shrine is harder, but was even harder on release as the Priestesses had more range and their spells had better tracking.
It got nerfed a short time after release and again with the Scholar version, but the impression people got from the unpatched Shrine still stuck around.
@@Domo3000 may be an unpopular opinion, but I still like release patch DaS2 vanilla, I prefer SotFS as it is currently though.
Shrine of Amana never was difficult if you know what you're doing like with me I bring a bow and bait the archdrake knights(guess they're basically knights) away from the healers and the ones that hit you with sorceries and take out the archdrake knights. Something as simple as this will make the experience better and easier, it's not cheating it's strategy.
It's actually really unfair if you don't roll, sprint, block, use bows, use crossbows, use magic, use consumables, move horizontally, and ignore but still aggro every single enemy. I don't know what C-team was thinking.
No literally same. I struggled so much with it first time around, and now it was just a breeze. I was playing a pure bonk melee build too, didn't even need to bring out a bow or something
Defending lost Izalith 💀
Even better: using the area that's always called the laziest in DS1 and which is known to be unfinished as an example for acceptable enemy reuse
@@Domo3000 Next he’s gonna argue that the inventive boss design of the bed of chaos exemplifies a creativity in fromsoft games that DS2 simply lacks
@quinnsine1650 honestly, I'm not sure which of his takes are worse, that or saying ds2 is more linear than ds3
@@quinnsine1650 I got this:
"You see, bed of chaos can be considered a gimmick fight, a concept that is fairly rare in later games. It is always nice to see Fromsoft heading back to their roots, something that, frankly, DS2 lacks. The Gimmick of most of the bosses in DS2 is just some bullshit mechanic such as water rising to force you into speed running the game's slow combat and punishing the player for attempting to even fight the boss ( Cut to Flexile with full hp and the water almost all the way up while he complains), the Smelter Demon that punishes player for getting close for a 1v1 melee fight (Enter Clip of him running away from it, whiffing attacks, and missing rolls. Also no defense so it does max damage).
At least with the bed of chaos it engages the player with something that was generally underutilized in DS1, Jumping. Now that Jumping in DS2 is so busted, any leap in the game just feels forced as the developers couldn't claw their way out of their horrible level layouts. It also serves as a means to soften up the player with mandatory fall damage, not to mention the clunky controls causing you to miss seemingly impossible jumps (Enter clip of that jump in the Things Betwixt and jumping perpendicular to the tiny gap and dying). "
Took me like 3mins to think this up, bullshitting and dishing out excuses to protect a fragile ego is just part of being a true gamer :p
@@Domo3000 nope he said ''at least'' , in neither case is it good but at least there it made more outwardly sense
This series shows how poor most TH-cam critiques (and "analyses" in general) really are. It's nearly impossible to find someone who's actually interested in analyzing the subject matter.
In reality, people like Mauler just want to totally freaking own the things they dislike and use their favorites as examples of 'doing it right.' There's no real goal, no deeper interest. And it's obvious after watching this that he couldn't make a genuine critique even if he tried.
Whats tragic about DS2 is that it is so unfairly maligned that anyone who plays it goes in with predisposed negative opinions on it. So when they do play through it, any sense of difficulty or any mistake they make is chalked up to being the game's fault instead of their own. Its astounding how many comments in MauLer's series are people who don't even play Souls, let alone DS2, agreeing with him simply due to the way he presents his arguments.
I myself encountered this during my own playthrough. During my first on vanilla, I disliked it because the changes made to the way the game functions caused me to believe it was worse. I even put the game down (though due to life events rather than giving up.) I didnt pick it up again for years, and let those disingenuous opinions taint my overall view of the game. I even supported my opinion by seeking out criticism that aligned with it. Years later when i returned to the game just to say id played it through, my preconceived opinions were heavily shaped by that first experience and years if being told i was right in thinking it was bad. So when I struggled, I chalked it up to bullshit and the game being bad or needlessly difficult.
However, the more i played, and the better I got and the mkre I adapted, i began to realize that the game teuly is good, just not for the same reasons as the original or its sequel. It was good on its own merits.
Honeslty, if this game had been released under a different title or developer, it would never have been as maligned as it was.
This idea of preconceived opinions tainting your experience is actually something Souls has to grapple with as a whole. Many people shun Souls and refuse to play simply due to its reputation of difficulty, even though that difficulty is extremely easy to surmount.
The concept of Heide's Tower switching to a midgame area upon beating the Dragonrider is something I've never heard before, that's a very interesting analysis. I usually hate the Heide Knights, but with this in mind it makes sense why it's hard to fight them so early.
I think with that idea in mind there should have been other changes, like the ornstein boss room being locked before killing the dragon rider and making him stronger, plus changing the area slightly. It is a cool idea but execution could have been better if that was the intent
@@sinelacico823dark souls 2: the fire fades edition
@@sinelacico823exactly, like maybe it shifts to night time or something like with Anor Londo. Or after you reload the area new platforms rise up from the sea to show you things have shifted.
Oh my god, thank you so much. Finally, someone who has something to say about DS2 that isn't entirely braindead. God, I love this video, you really deserve much more attention from the algorithm.
For me, people complaining about Shrine of Amana has always been a pet peeve and the area has always been easy for me to go through, even the first time I played it, because I'm not a monkey that just rushes into every situation with zero situational awareness. Glad to see it pointed out here, even if it's easy to understand that the point you already made about how "spam" complaints are fake is logically applicable to Amana, too.
All around, well thought out video, short and to the point, no excessive gloating, smartassery or unnecessary elements.
let's go bois ! new video !!!
I rly love how people make fun of ds2 for many boss reskins (which is 100% fair) but when i say that in elden ring which is a “flawless masterpiece” 95 fking % of ALLLLL bosses are reskins people are saying the most random bs just to justify them. My 2 most favorites are: 1) “but they are fUn” and second: “This game is big soo of course they reused their bosses over and over, did you wanted them all to be unique bosses?”
Yes! i wanted them to be unique bosses. I much rather play smaller game in which there are many unique bosses than a huge half empty open world game in which when i fight bosses my reaction is: oh again you? Oh again you for the 8 time or oh now you are a boss of this location? Cool
Valid point but like... Elden ring is actually good lol
@@Yo_Vuzzen777 yea elden ring is sooooo goood. 95% of bosses are reskins, weapon variety only works if you use trust me bro source, 90% of alll bosses are garbage tier list. absolutely uninteresting bosses that can't do anything with 99% of their moves but they have one red instakill button, nearly identical dungeons, half empty open world in which most of the time you just ride your horse and are searching content, late game is absolutely unbalanced, summons, ashes of wars and bleed weapons just negate any interest or difficulty vs bosses, but if you wont use them you will do pathetically low amount of dmg unless you use ugs and many many more. yea it has 2-3 good thing but er has waaaaay to many problem
@@Yo_Vuzzen777 Elden Ring also has the same 8 directional movement system that people supposedly really, really hated in DS2, but with Elden Ring they never mention it, for some reason :^)
So you’re comparing optional content to mandatory content.
There’s not a single time in ER where I felt it lazy other than the godskin duo, and compared to ds2 which puts literal rats in a room calls it a boss and it’s also mandatory there’s 0 competition.
@@bigdumbfatcat2869it only has a single dead zone facing the front of where the camera is pointed.
18:23 holy hitboxes batman
I absolutely love DS2. Sure. There are some valid criticisms, as with any FS game. Or any work of art with a budget and time frame for that matter.
I think it just feels different than the other games therefore it's fun to hate on for a lot of internet people. They probably wouldn't say the same thing about King's Field games without Miyazaki would they?
Check mate DS2 haters. Your opinion is objectively bad lol.
good thing MauLer capitalized the L in his name to emphasize how many he takes. It is amazing how much a person has to cope with his lack of ability in all respects.
Yo you need to tackle asmongolds opinion it might give you alot of traffic
Congratulations, Domo. You've just given me an incredible urge to replay DS2
i watches Mauler's series through several years ago, and while i did take some issue with certain parts, i didn't think too hard on much of what he said (mostly cause i was a dumb teenager and wasn't super paying attention) despite really liking DS2.
But after watching your series up to this point, which i can vividly recall every argument from mauler that you brought up, it's quite satisfying to see you (mostly) respectfully dismantle his arguments with actual facts (i can forgive the slight condescension and fun-making, being that mauler is so full of himself 😂), particularly in the hitbox segment where you undeniably proved that the majority of complaints are unfounded, while also being honest and showing us the few bad hitboxes in ds2.
Overall, this has been a fantastic series to watch and i can't wait to see what else you come out with. The only recommendation I'd make is to maybe pull back on the fun-making a bit since some people will use that to try and discredit your videos. Otherwise though, 10/10 content!!
This video just makes me love DS2 more
Just leaving a comment to help the algorithm out. Good video once again domo, keep 'em coming!
Dark Souls 2's negative reputation is so ridiculously unwarranted that I genuinely TRY to see something wrong with the game that isn't based on regurgitated nitpicks. I can only find 2. Soul Memory and the design intention for Frigid Outskirts. Those 2 issues are *HEAVILY* outweighed by the sheer amount of improvements it has than in DS1.
A MUCH better upgrade system,
certain characters have their names displayed for once,
a jump button that actually functions,
movement is smooth as ever,
2 more ring slots,
more consumables to passively heal AND restore spells; sometimes simultaneously,
items to boost resistances,
THE SPICES,
more element resins,
the lockstone mechanic,
the torch,
dual wielding and power stancing further enhancing gameplay (even though the latter isn't taught),
shorter soul yield to level up,
TONS of new spells to use,
SO MANY unique ways to customize and build your character and even REBUILD IT DURING THE ADVENTURE whenever you feel like it,
several environmental interactions,
an overall great selection of fun and entertaining boss fights (obviously not all of them),
a REALLY GOOD yet underrated soundtrack,
NG+ has actual depth now,
large and expansive worlds that may or may not have influenced Elden Ring's with it's sheer amount of content to uncover,
a fantastic PVP,
and a beautifully poetic story.
Am I missing something? I rest my case. Dark Souls 2 is awesome and people are just crazy for literally all the wrong reasons
Keep doing God's work, man.
DS2 was a major design inspiration for Elden Ring as confirmed by Miyazaki
“Major improvements in all aspects” the npc’s are garbage in this game when compared to any of the other souls games.
@@makia3 Sure bud. No one cares about a hollow opinion.
@@asdergold1 86 comments on this channel.
Yea I don’t care about a ds2 fanboys opinion either.
@@makia3okay then how are they worse? what are you even defining their quality by?
that last clip was savage
6:04 not to mention, this area that leads to capra demon introduces the dog really poorly, the dog will run and damage you the first time before you even get out of the stairs, and to make it even worse, the fire on the left makes it almost impossible to see the dog coming
And guess what, you will never see someone complaining about this
That whole path to Capra Demon would be complained about so much if it was in DS2.
The runback is long and annoying. There's several ganks and ambushes of two enemy types that are hard to deal with.
But it's not in DS2 so it gets a pass and people will still consider everything in DS1 as hard but never unfair, while calling much fairer parts in DS2 unfair.
@@Domo3000 exactly, they not only do that, but also pretend to be experts on level design by using definist fallacies to make ds2 look worse.
They present the level design of the souls series as being based on interconectvity, seeing areas from distance, walking between areas instead of teleporting an thes list goes on, but in reality, DS1 is the only game that REALLY does that stuff.
You will never see these guys talking about REAL enemy placement, learning experiences, teaching elements, raising difficulty through the levels or anything like that, and guess why? Because they don't know about what they are talking
@@Domo3000 To be fair, most DS1 Players don't even go to Capra Demon anymore, they all use blighttown backdoor.
Ngl, you picked probably the one part of the area I never complained (to myself ) about.
It's a perfect introduction for how much of a pain dogs are lmao
Mauler always struck me as a weirdo obsessed with the sound of his own voice and his own interpretation of objectivity ie. everything he says is correct and everyone else is wrong. I'm just surprised it took this long for anyone to point out exactly why his DS2 """response""" videos felt off. DS2 is nowhere near a perfect game but Maulers video series was made out of spite towards both the game and a person daring to highlight the good parts of said game
This is absolute gold and needs to be broadcast on the game's goddamn Steam page.
Are you gonna do mathewmatosis next
Domo3000 is a national treasure.
Ok, let's say you die the first time in the hollow pit in Forest of the fallen Giants, right? You gank yourself because it surprises you and you get hollow'd.
**WHY DID YOU RUN HEAD FIRST A SECOND TIME?**
Edit: In my almost 10 years playing this game, i *NEVER* ever saw that Nashandra dialogue talking about the Ancient Dragon. This game has such a deep lore hidden on a lot of areas... That is why i love it so much.
This man just straight up won't stop completely annihilating Maldler holy shit
I love people complaining about Shrine of Amana. If you have a problem with managing 2 slow projectiles at most than you my friend have an issue
I defend dS2 a lot but shrine of amana fucking sucks
There's a ring that deflects the shots and there's cover. Also bows.
But yeah the area is just not pleasant but not ungodly hard like people suggest.
@NobleAbsinthe, the only death I had on my first playthrough was accidentally falling in the pool. Besides that, I didn't end up with nightmarish trauma that SOA has supposedly given to the community 😂
I remember dreading Amana back in the day. Went through it again the other day in my current playthrough while using a basic-bitch bow and I think I only died three times in the entire area - once to the ogre and once getting distracted by an archdrake priest before I could kill a distant mage.
@@GilbertTheGilbertGuy I genuinely don't see how it could suck, let alone stand out as being one of the worst parts of the game.
It's hard to argue with someone who is smart, but it's impossible to argue with an idiot. MauLer seems to suffer from being a," run and kill the boss" type of player. MauLers opinions are presented as facts like you've said before and honestly he may have given dark souls 2 a bad rep, but at this point if you want to biasly misrepresented the game and shit on the many great and bad things that are presents it's self in all three dark souls games then keep making these videos till they blow up. I've said it before and I'll say it again, dark souls 2 is more of an rpg then the other games imo. You have to actually use multiple tools to get through the game making everything you find very important. All in all, MauLer took as big of an L as in his name 😑
Its curious than DS2 and ER received very similar complains of mixing genuine and well though complains with generally straight up misinformation.
It’s been two weeks
Been busy 🤷
new domo3000 video? I'm eating good tonight
seriously, thanks for making these videos. they're well put together and are very informative on both DS2 and the way people have perceived it throughout the past ten years. I always loved DS2 more than the other installments and it felt bad hearing people unfairly criticize the game for issues that weren't there for me playing it for the first time.
The additional pursuer fights are awesome to me. The fact he's following you isn't just good for his lore, it's cool, and the fact he drops different items each time just reminds me of RE3: Nemesis. Besides, once you beat him, you know how to again. What's the issue? (I know the issue for Mauler is "dying on stream", I'm just asking)
Heres my monthly contribution Domo! Keep it up Boss.
Thank you very much! This keeps me motivated to press on
@@Domo3000 Hell yeah! Never stop. I know I speak for others when I say your videos are highly appreciated.
youre doing the lords work my friend
Mauler made 20 hours worth of videos in response to an hour long video of someone saying they liked ds2 🤷♂️ who’s the crybaby?
when I was a kid I used to lie to my mother, and by doing so I used repeat the same lie over and over again because obviously, the more you repeat the same thing, the more other people will agree with you ("he's saying the same thing over and over again, he must be telling the truth"), that's why Mauler made so many videos saying that DS2 is terrible, because obviously people will think he's right, but no, he's just a crybaby
I'll say this, mauler was quite pedantic, but really, the HBomberguy video was terrible and begging to be picked apart.
As a pedant myself, I find the re:hbomberguy series incredibly relaxing and interesting. His points SOUND right which is perfect for me to doze off to. I broadly agree with the content of his critique, though he undoubtedly misrepresents the evidence for some of his points.
19:35 i didn't knew about this place, where is it located?
After killing Freja and obtaining the ashen most heart go back to her arena and you can go into that area it's right under the dragon in her arena.
@@GilbertTheGilbertGuythanks!
Its one of the most unique places in souls series, since its memory before Age of Fire(aka Gwyn uprising at the ds1 cinematic). Also cool eerie ambient sounds.
Shrine of Amana is my favorite area In all of the souls games and i get why so many people don't like this area,but mauler is just playing like a... Oh my god i hate him so much,he didn't even try to roll through the projectiles,he just said*if enemies hit me,this game is bad*
Shrine of Amana is seriously overhated and underrated just because casuals don't like that they actually have to play the game instead of just rushing from bonfire to bonfire.
The Souls community when they have to overcome a challenging boss: that's amazing
The Souls community when they have to overcome a challenging area: that's unfair
This double standard just feels so weird to me. I would love to have more areas that require you to use strategies and that punish just trying to speedrun through them on first try.
@@Domo3000sadly, that's actually the same case with iron keep, people hate it just because they want to run through it without killing any enemies,which they can actually do that but they just complain without getting gud
Tbf the first time going through those areas it felt like hell but on my second time playing through em it was an absolute cakewalk
The thing is most people are just gonna go through it once by running through like a madman or sniping everything once and walking through
And then complain about it being hard rather than learning how to do it with a high success rate of getting through
@@weirdemon_ exactly, they don't want to git gud
Shrine of Amama is just perfect.
I love the sections where you explore lore, I find that these more niche lore details about DS2 is barely explored by even lore youtubers. They will explore DS2 in broad strokes, but rarely explore implications of enemy placements like you did
16:30 had me dying, It's impossible not to notice how absolutely horrible he is at dark souls 2 throughout everything he makes😭
Him complaining about the pursuer is like if there was an enemy called "running away guy" and complaining that he runs away!
I feel like MauLer (and a bunch of other people, me included) went in "knowing" DS2 is bad, and that is why he rushes through areas and so on.
I know I did that for my first few hours. Then I got tired of getting swamped, decided to kill all enemies until they stopped respawning, and suddenly the areas started making sense, because I took the time to fight the enemies as the game expected me to instead of pretending I was running through Undead Burg for the Nth time.
i truly value your time, effort and courage to stand up to these goobers. I'm not alone anymore debunking false claims about one of my favorite games of all time. love your videos❤😊
8:15 GAAAAHHH DAMN, that sound effect
Videos like these are peak TH-cam, they're like the platonic ideal of what this platform should be about
I can't wait for RE: '"RE: "RE: 'In Defense of Dark Souls 2'""'
"The shrine of amana is actually fun if you take your time to fight enemies."
I took my time to fight enemies, and IMO the shrine of amana can go burn in a fire. it and black gulch where my least favorite area's. And I again took my time going through didn't agroo to many enemies and killed them similar to how you showed in the video.
Though, I'll agree maulur is wrong in saying it's OBJECTIVLY terrible.
and if you had fun with the area, That's good. I just didn't.
those 2 r my favorite places in ds2, and iron keep. but this because i'm actually good at the game.
@@AtreyusNinja Or you know tastes differ.
I don't think skill should be the sole factor into wether one likes or dislikes an area.
For me, I always found Shrine of Amana extremely challenging, but it always felt extremely fun and fair. I don’t understand the hate tbh.
yeah man, you get it. thank you for the vids!
You should really try and get a more fluid voice or actually use your own voice, I think it would make the presentation much much better!
What level is your character when you show the damage? Just curious. I tend to have light armor so the heide knight do slightly more damage than seen here when I usually fight them
I'm showing the levels when I'm showing the inventory at the beginning of those clips.
@Domo3000 oh sorry I didn't see it
21:09 I've been saying for years how hypocritical it is to complain abt reused bosses in ds2 when all pre OnS bosses are reused except for quelaag and the gaping dragon
Another banger 🔥
At this point it's clear that Mauler is nitpicking at best, and just straight up making shit up at worse
keep doing gods work we will get the ds2 remake if we keep showing people that this game is actually good ❤
that would be amazing, especially for the pvp aspect of the game
how much did he complain about Elden Ring's reuse of enemies, I wonder? Or is it ok there because lore?
yeah the only problem is that, in dark souls 2 there is "dark souls 2" in the title, this is why is wrong in that game.
In the 8 hour Elden Ring stream they do complain about boss reuse for like 15 minutes starting at 23:16
Holy shit...
throwing holy water urns at enemies to reveal if they are actual living beings or constructs...!?
Les go!
22:06
Incel DS lore explorers: "This is one of the greatest misunderstandings about DS 2!!! The Blue Demon is magical, instead of Orange Demon, who is made by Chaos Fire!!! We cannot explain it!!!"
Chud Domo3000: "So, we know Old Iron King produced Smelter Demon. Why can't he produce else one?"
Kinda funny to hear Pursuer being used as a case of lazy enemy duplication, even though, you know, chasing and killing you is LITERALLY what the pursuer does?
Pursuer is cool, though, ig the only bad thing is the gank fight in ng+, and if you don't know the trick to despawn one of them it's just genuinely awful to fight.
I dare Mauler and his crew to play your videos live on EFAP and see what their responses would be to all your points. At this point, I don't see anything that can refute your videos.
I appreciate this series so much. DS2 gets way too much hate. It's probably the most "Fromsoftware" Dark Souls in the series
There’s few things more obnoxious than people who pride themselves on being ‘logical and objective’; without the self awareness to recognise they’re actually extremely biased.
Hey domo, what is your opinion on Demon's Souls? It think it would be cool having some content about it in your channel
I gave my PS3 away to a friend years ago and don't have a PS5 to play the remake, so at the moment I can't record any gameplay of that game.
Maybe I'll be able to emulate it, but last time I checked it had a poor frame rate on my PC
@@Domo3000 I played it using the rpcs3 emulator. I think today the emulator is well optimized, so if you can play DS3 I think the frame rate will be fine if have to guess.
I like to see that this series of videos continues, I will watch it tomorrow because I have to work today
I love how during each of the fight encounters you do. You dress your character in the outfit of an enemy in an area.
WHOAAA! At 27:09 did Nashandra just destroy her own curse orb by hitting it?
I destroyed it by just rolling through it
@@Domo3000 I did not know that it worked like that! That’s awesome!
Another thing, at 27:24 the titanite demon being there has an actual reason. The titanite demons spawned from iirc slabs after the blacksmith of the gods left so there was a slab in that room that transformed
But then shouldn't there be Smithing equipment in the room then?
@@YEY0806 not necessarily, could've been planted there or just left there, I mean by that logic we should find smithing tools near every slab and chunk etc. devs probably didn't think that deep into it
@alexberube5269 All right, it's just that the room doesn't seem to be a place for a smith and more like a Sunday church outing
@@YEY0806 I definitely agree but we do at least have an actual in game answer as to how it's there. Not why
The point is that in DS1 people will look deep into the lore to justify enemy placement that feels out of place, but do not apply the same logic to enemy placement in DS2.
Holy shit I never knew you could fight two sanctuary guardians at once lol
It's the one fight in the series that basically no one ever mentions because the community wants to collectively forget about how awfully unbalanced it felt.
Okay this series is starting to make me want to try out ds2. Ive been making my way through the fromsoftware catalog was going to completely skip the game because of the reviews or just get vanilla as i heard sotfs was so "horrible" but listening to these videos wants me to give it a try. I did want to play another slow ds game after playing one anyway (loved the slower combat of that game)
people really hate ds2 just because it actually forces you to play the game, rather than letting you just run past most of the non-boss content like other souls games.
3:30
Any real ds2 fan knows how peak that jump was.
Practically the most difficult 'intended' jump in the game (isn't the item like 5 poison knives? lol, at the very least I remember being bummed that it was a normal consumable)
I think they are normal throwable knives, actually they do a lot of damage in ds2 XD
Yes im so excited for more! Always gets me to load up ds2 and beat another boss
This is why i never had issues with Dark Souls 2. Not on launch and not with Scholar of the First Sin.
Because, in a lot of ways, it's not any different from the first Dark Souls. Issues and everything.
Seeing a lot of people dunking on the game around the time it came out made me think that i was crazy for not noticing all these "glaring" issues that they were experiencing.
What i've learned from this, is that what people have to say negatively about a FromSoftware game on release, doesn't really matter or hold much weight. Because a few years later, Dark Souls 3 came out and they did the exact same thing as with Dark Souls 2. Complain and pointing at empty air, claiming that there are glaring issues with the game and how (suddenly) Dark Souls 2 was not that bad after all. Even when we went from Demon's Souls to the first Dark Souls, same thing happened.
Same thing happened with Elden Ring on release. They made a laundry list of complaints and claimed that [insert previous FromSoftware game] wasn't that bad.
And i'm willing to bet my left testicle that the same thing will happen with the next Souls-like by FromSoftware. And the next. And so on and so forth.
23:16 I would love if you good do some videos that go on a deep dive that explains more about the lore of dark souls 2
8:14 bro crushed his balls so hard
I had no idea about the whole golem creation lore part thats super cool honestly.
Despite what some people believe, the soulsborne community is fine with pointing out problems. The problem with pointing out problems is to ACTUALLY bring up objective issues then just complaining about your skill issue or making a problem out of nothing.
Believe me, if you play these games enough you’ll inevitably see shortcomings in all of them. But that doesn’t make the games lesser than or devalue your adoration for them - but makes you appreciate them more.
Ds2 and the community that surrounds it is no different. We just get to deal with alot more salty people for a myriad of exaggerated/misinformed claims.
Wow it's really embarrassing that Mauler even made these videos. Do you think he'll ever respond to your videos?
I doubt he will.
But it would be interesting to see if he acknowledges the parts where he was flat out wrong, or if he would just nitpick some minor details I got wrong and complains that it's just whataboutism to point out that DS2 isn't any more broken than the other Souls games.
@@Domo3000 what's crazy to me is that he intentionally does it in a malicious way to paint dark souls 2 in the worst light possible. The fact that he purposely aggros so many enemies to show ganks is so disingenuous.
@@Domo3000 He's much too busy dealing with crap on the movies/tv show front with his buddies at the moment. What's funny is that this isn't the first time he's been blatantly wrong about something. He's still getting a ton of flak for saying Avatar the Last Airbender was objectively bad as well as his takes on Bladerunner 2049. Not to mention he has been accused for being biased by giving movies like Captain American Civil War WAY too much charity for it's contrivances, plot holes, etc while not doing the same for The Winter Soldier(a much more beloved film). He hasn't talked about Souls in a long time, and I doubt he's really as passionate about them anymore as he used to be(if at all).
And oh God their Elden Ring panel discussion was just awful. I know that one was just an off-the-cuff podcast, and while most of them loved the game(except for Theo), they had some weird critiques such as calling that one part with the putrid tree sentinel in Elphaim(not to say that part isn't total aids although I do like the idea of luring the avatar to get killed by the ballistas) a "spam bush" cause enemies were taking them out from behind. Something that would never have happened if they had progressed through that extremely narrow and straightforward area with super obvious enemy placement normally.
Edit: I rewatched that part of the podcast. Hot damn it's even worse than I initially gave it credit for. they basically rag on that encounter for just being "stuff" and Theo(aka the smart guy that isn't even really as smart as the fans give him credit for) chimes in saying that running around will trigger more stuff, and Mauler chimes in saying that was his biggest issue with Ds2. Congratulations. He has basically conceded to your characterization of him(ie, someone who just runs past things without engaging with the material and this is for a game which he stated HE LOVES or at least likes).
Really cool how you dressed up as the enemies from the areas you're adressing lol. Shows the effort and passion that goes into these videos