My favorite lore tidbit about the Ivory King is how he basically knew of Alsanna's inherit Dark nature, that she sought him ought for her own selfish desire to sustain her frail self and quell her fears, yet he still loved her and gave her sanctuary. He was a true king who put the lives of his subjects before his very own, acting as the first line of defense against the Old Chaos. And when you arrive, all Alsanna wants is for you to free him from the Old Chaos. To put an end to his suffering and let him finally have his rest as she continues to watch over the old Chaos til the end of time.
I'm glad we have Dark Souls 2. I had a shit ton of fun playing it, even if it's not the finest dark souls, the variety is incredible and will forever have a place on my heart.
The Crystal Caves is one of the most infamous areas in DS1, but if it were an area in DS2, the invisible pathways would be twisty instead of straight, they'd be full of holes, and there would be no snowflakes indicating their location. DS2 is more interested in fucking with you than challenging you. I beat damn near half the bosses on my first attempt because the devs apparently did not know how to implement genuine difficulty. I died more to Blood-Starved Beast alone than all the bosses in DS2 combined.
Many aspects of the game can be explained by balancing issues - ADP, health items, stamina, hit boxes, ganks, cheap deaths. Over the course of development, they had to implement a bunch of weird stuff in order to make the game challenging at all.
Why does no one talk about how the small white soap stone lets you be summoned in an area where the boss has been defeated already in exchange for only having a small limited time to help. It is super nice for helping someone through their first time in the game.
the best mechanic along with the name engraved ring (which increases summon times by 40 or 50%) are the 2 best features that are missing from all the future souls games.
Rock solid DS2 analysis my guy, but you forgot to mention a few things: -Enemy players can invade you when you're hollow -Enemy players can invade you even after the area boss is defeated -Non-boss enemies stop spawning after you kill them a certain number of times, turning the levels into lifeless empty voids
@@nicolasleal5644 with how much people whine about them I expected a lot more difficulty. I did all of the runbacks people complain about by just walking in a casual pace without running. The enemies don't even follow you to the fog gate for the vast majority of runbacks even though so many people whine how unfair it is that you can get hit out of the animation.
I feel like people are too harsh on the start of the game. The fire keepers are jaded old hags at this point, they've seen countless people come and go, and have seen the world chew and spit them out. The Emerald Herald says everyone goes hollow, but still encourages you to become stronger and overcome a world that doesn't care about you. The story is you exploring all of the destroyed and dying civilizations and being the exception to the hollowing, your will superceding a destiny of madness and death. If you do the aldia ending you even go about your own way and live outside the cycle of light and dark (which I interpreted finding peace within yourself and not in any grand position). I don't think the theming is always perfect, and the game definitely isn't, but thats one part I've never understood
I agree with you, it didnt come off as "remember dying? lol dark souls" and more that they were going for a more nihilistic approach and angle where even if everyone around you and the world itself tries to stop you and bring you down, its up to you as the player to decide to perservere anyway and prove everyone wrong. Also the intro cinematic exploring the loss of memories/self in its imagery is just striking and sick to me, i love the faces melting away as they get more and more hollow.
Yes, I didn't get it either why he was harping on about the old firekeepers for ten f$%§ing minutes. "Talk about a bad first impression", indeed. But his reproach that DS2 didn't set up Drangleic in the beginning got a chuckle out of me. Yeah, because DS1 went all in in that regard, right? 😁 There's certainly enough to criticize about DS2, but *this* level of grasping at straws made it tough to sit through the rest of the video.
I know you addressed this already, but think you'd do well to look into the changes made from vanilla Dark Souls 2 compared to Scholar, they both solved as well as created problems in that transition. Monster spam is probably the biggest one, they added more and larger groups of enemies in Scholar but they also adjusted the AI to designate "one aggressor" while the other enemies have a much lower chance to perform an attack. DS1 and Demon Souls didn't have that AI adjustment so enemies in groups didn't hold back, they'd all attack as often as they could. Its important to note that Fromsoft used that same AI adjustment for all of their following games. As a critique for the video itself. Far too many times you stuck onto one topic so long it overstayed its welcome; while other segments you skimed over so quickly but could have been more important points to make to help solidify your argument. The issues of Dark Souls 2 draw attention to themselves in every case. The positives aren't as consistent. I do like that you included compliments as well as detriments. It shows that you didn't lean too much into hate for the sake of hate which is very common towards this game. A very balanced mentality, and is necessary for discussing a game like this. I've noticed that theres been a resurgence of attention toward Dark Souls 2 lately. In the past couple of months there have been new reviews (mainly negative) as well as data miners defending the game with visuals (with data) debunking many of the early misconceptions about the game. My theory about Dark Souls 2 is that it's a game take sticks with you. Similar but also not similar to the first Dark Souls. People want to like it because of where it came from, but also what it is by itself. There will never be another experience like Dark Souls 1. I knew this going into the Sequel. Not even Elden Ring comes close.
I think it's interesting that people read so much into that opening and the firekeepers talking about the undead curse and how you're going to die repeatedly as a mean spirited thesis statement or something and not just some characters who don't believe you will overcome something they've seen probably hundreds of people fail attempting. The 1st guy you talk to in Lordran laughs at you for trying to ring the bells and calls it suicide. Asks you why you don't just give up. He's not seen as the devs directly mocking you...because I guess that guy is allowed to be a character and not a way to reinforce a bias about the game being hard for the wrong reasons.
And hyperfocusing on the old ladies laughing at you also ignores how the mood quickly changes as soon as you leave the tutorial and enter Majula and suddenly all the people are hyping you up.
It's funny, the ds2 Reddit page is full of people who say 'I just finished Dark Souls 2 having been told for years how bad it is but it's kinda awesome'. I'm one of those people and very happy with it. Ds2 is a stunning piece of gaming that tried a lot of things that the series would be better today for having kept.
Having a sequel unlike any other game in the series that tries new weird and unique things even with mixed results is so much more interesting and appealing to me than just "dark souls, again"
5:00 Well yeah that’s kind of the point. Because your goal in the game is to find a way to escape the curse. Also it’s not like the old ladies aren’t lying you will die over and over again. Besides don’t take this as the devs laughing. Also I’d say DS2 treats Hallowing the best. I mean look at Lucatiel. You see her slow decent into hollowing. Everyone’s just being realistic.
It's crazy how Gravelord Nito not only got one of the worst areas in the game once, but twice. (I might be a bit iffy on the lore but I'm pretty sure the Rotten is like his reincarnation or something)
Dark souls 2. A game where most hate it. I had two good friends argue with me how it’s the best game in the series, and why. I find out of all the games in the series I keep coming back to DS2 the most. Hoping to find some of the reasons they speak of. My experience with dark souls 2 is for every fun moment, for every aspect I like I find equal to or more moments of frustration and disdain. I’ve beaten it 6 times now and it’s clunky, it’s fun and it’s so frustrating. The level design is horrible, and the world disjointed. Deaths never feel fair but cheap. I keep coming back looking for a great game, I keep trying to find the game my friends and the defenders speak of. I just can’t find it but I’ve tried. I’ve honestly tried. I just cannot get over how terrible the levels are, how ganky the enemies and their placements are. This game really truly feels like the devs created a huge level of artificial difficulty for the sake of difficulty. There’s a reason why Miyazaki made DS3 to rewrite the wrongs of DS2. It’s not a horrible game, just a really frustrating one. The devs missed what made the previous games so special. Each time I’ve beaten it, it’s a huge relief that I don’t have to play it again, yet somehow I come back it. Just a glutton for punishment.
@@Kamawan0 no it’s not smooth Falcon Knights? Movements and speeds are slow and “off” for most enemies and your character. I’ve played it enough times with the other games in the series and it’s not smooth at all lol comparing it to a ps1 game is just silly. It’s easy to get stun locked in combos because of how clunky your character is. This is the only game in the series I have to completely change my character build and play style to offset the slow clunky combat compared to the other games in the series. When not compared to the other games it’s a okay game but like I said it’s frustrating. Like incredibly frustrating.
@@Kamawan0 you might be the small minority on this man, universally everyone feels ds2 is clunky, ganky and has terrible level design. Again I’ve had fun with it, I keep coming back to it to try and find a good game in it. There’s zero skill issues with these games lol I’ve platinum BB and DS3 and DeS on ps3 might be my favourite game ever made, I had a Japanese import copy of it before it came to the states. I would consider myself a connoisseur of souls games and DS2 just fundamentally plays unfinished and in some parts is just broken.
@@Kamawan0 again if you enjoy it don’t let me or the others opinions take that from you. I see the defenders of the game and every time they seem so blinded by their own opinions instead of objectively looking at the game and its flaws. It’s easy to deflect because the truth hurts.
@@Kamawan0 man you’re triggered over a game that the majority of the community and rightfully so calls mid. Every time you and others like you try and defend the game you don’t use actually facts about the game just talk about how you feel everyone is wrong and you’re right. I can name actually reasons why I enjoy DS2 and I can name a lot more reasons why it’s clunky, ganky and frustrating. Let’s separate our feelings from the facts and be objective. The game went through development hell, wasn’t given enough time to be fully realized from the original promises made. It’s disjointed for a reason, and feels very incomplete because of how rushed the developers were during its development. It’s wildly unbalanced because it didn’t have the time to tweak and make those necessary changes followed by a smaller team that missed the original understanding of the games that predate it and it’s easy to see why it’s the weakest game in the series. Again I’ve played and beaten DS2 multiple times, and each and every playthrough I have moments I thoroughly enjoy accompanied by more moments of frustration. It deserved better, the reveal trailer was straight up fire and the devs didn’t deliver on what they promised and it’s all known fact about the game. Sorry you’re triggered, sorry the vast majority of the community disagrees with you, and it bothers you so much. Enjoy it, I’ve enjoyed it for what it is and I still come back to it. I consider BB a masterpiece but have only been compelled to play it a couple times since I get so much out of it I don’t need to replay it. DS2 is the one game I go back to try and actively prove myself wrong. I keep trying to find a better game in there and every playthrough I’m thankful it’s over. I do miss the pvp in DS2 though that is one aspect of the game that doesn’t get enough love and attention.
Man, 15 minutes in and you've only listed changes I enjoyed. Even ADP. I relied on shields and never understood the purpose of the roll until Dark Souls 3 when shields were nerfed into the dirt and I had to look up what was going on. I agree about Heide's Tower. That area was absolutely ruined compared to the original release. You spent a lot of time talking about enemy placement and aggro, but I took it as a lesson to get an AoE. I liked the focus on making the game as hard as possible because it's Dark Souls. At the time, I didn't think there was anything further to think about than to be the hardest games. And then I found the discourse... As for the healing system, you explained it perfectly and found it bad? I'll never understand. It makes healing more risky and more dynamic to me. One thing people never talk about is the sheer variety of equipment and overall customization. And extra features like the Skeptic's and Simpleton's Spices. There is no negative to those and yet they never game back. DS2 is my favorite for the things it does differently because I think it does them well. DS3 felt like a super cheap rehash of DS1. Elden Ring felt like a cheap rehash of DS3. It couldn't even get Powerstancing right. But 2 dared to be different and experimental and I found those experimental bits to be fun.
I will just say this small thing AGAIN... I have noticed a pattern, of all the people shitting on Ds2, doing the exact same thing, Trying to run through the whole area ignoring bosses, and then crying about ganks, about the black gulch poison, about hidden worms, or the Darkness and having to use a torch... That's all I'm going to say
At this point ive accepted that people will invent reasons to hate this game, but ill still keep being surprised how petty these people are while showing direct footage of them being flat out bad at the game as "proof"
@@danielh96sto be fair it’s hella annoying and kinda difficult to move the camera around with a controller while fighting a boss, you lose access to dodging, two handing, and using items unless you claw grip which is hard to do. That doesn’t sound like a lot but usually when I need to move the camera it’s because I need to know where to dodge / if it’s safe to heal. I still think most of the criticism is overblown but I’ll die on the hill that the camera movement is unnecessarily difficult for unlocked play
He was doing fine, I don't know what you are smoking but you need to smoke it less. His points are all valids because they are the same I also experienced, as someone that also spent 200 hours on this game. Maybe you are just delusional?
So you're openly admitting to opening a door, letting enemies pour out of the room and doing nothing to stop them from swarming you while carrying a weapon that can stunlock them? And IM the delusional one? Might I suggest professional help before you get hit by a car when you have to choose between crossing the street and just standing in traffic?
Okay im at the 9 minute mark and I had to pause to say this. I think YOU are the one who didn't get Dark Souls. DS2 had sooooo many problems but the opening sequence is NOT one of them. In fact I think its the more poignant and interesting one. Its not celebrating killing the player and congratulating itself on being hard. Its establishing the human condition: nobody gives a shit about you and everything is hopeless. This is the reality of life. And selling it as anything other would undermine the message. Dark Souls doesnt try to tell you things arent so bad. Because some people are in that absolute hell. Try telling someone in a concentration camp that there is hope. Realism is knowing that the world is cruel, but it takes courage to find meaning and hope IN SPITE of it. This is the battle against going hollow. Going hollow is losing your purpose. Dying/failing them rising up to try again is the catharsis. Getting comfortable with failure and disappointment (which are realities of life) and trying again anyway. It doesnt focus on the history and lore of Drangleic because that was never the point. The quest is meaningless. Its just a temporary purpose. Much like life, meaning is derived from whatever we value. Thats how we maintain our humanity. Lucatiel's purpose was to find her brother. And the more she despaired the more she went hollow. And she gave up literal steps before she reached her brother. If only she would have persisted a little longer. We dont know thay we'll ever succeed. We dont know that we'll ever beat that boss. The only way we can fail is by giving up. Lucatiel is a parallel for the player that quit. He didnt know that maybe it would only have taken him one more attempt to beat the boss. Meaning it seems, is found in the journey not in the destination it seems.
I always saw the 3 fire keepers as the 3 fates or weavers from various mythologies, and they were reading our (the characters not the players) fate, which us as the player know to be false. We won't go hollow, we can't go hollow, this won't be our fate like so many before us as we have the knowledge (as players) to persevere though even the toughest of challenges. They maybe taunting us, but it's not an insult, it's as a challenge. Will you perceiver and finish the game, just as so many have done before you and so many will after you.
I like how you pointed out the intro roasting the living out our purpose as a character but that’s the whole point and foreshadowing of what kind of game we’re going ourselves into. I still like the game with an overhaul gameplay mod though not that much to its SOTFS vanilla version.
5:38 unpopular take, but with the exception of the old Fire Keepers telling you that you're going to lose your souls a lot, i like that the opening cut scene and the game as a whole, takes a closer look at a person that is going through the undead curse. And that at some point they are drawn to the land of Drangleic without them knowing why. It's more about your character going there to find a cure for the curse. And i really really like that. It could have been executed better for sure but there's a lot there to like. In my opinion. Also when you find out that Drangleic is Lordran, you understand why it was kept from the opening cut scene. Bit of a surprise but i do understand the frustration that we don't at least get a broad back story of what happened to Drangleic. And to be fair, we weren't given a back story on Lordran either, just a broad explanation of how the Age of Fire began.
Dude I'm sorry but you don't get the intro at all, DS2 is a depressing game, the world is ending and there's absolutely no happiness left. No sh*t the NPC's are not gonna surgarcoat it for you, what did you expect?
46:12 Questionable hitbox? Watch at x0.25 speed, and at 46:13, you are CLEARLY pimp slapped in the face by the back of his free hand. You can argue his empty fist shouldn't be doing such a significant amount of damage, but not that you weren't hit lmao
DS2 had so much build variety. And some of the coolest covenants in the series. Half of the people who shit on this game never played it because of the narrative that it's ass. It's not ass, it's just not Dark Souls 1.
24:30 the heide knights' little side swipe attack where they draw a 7 with their sword and do a little dance, that DOES have a telegraph, it's just an unusual telegraph. instead of opening their body and reeling back like a normal telegraph, since the first stroke is backhand, they close their body. to a normal souls player it doesn't LOOK like a telegraph because he's moving the wrong way, but once you start to see it, it becomes almost trivial to dodge it. it's kinda like DS1's black knights, how they do that weird super slow floor swipe charged attack thing, and it always hits you because you panic roll when you see them start up the attack, but its charge time is lined up so they'll smack you right when your roll ends, it's the same thing here, i can go to heide's tower first thing and fight some of these guys to get some souls right out the bat. once you fight like 20 or 50 of them you will also easily be able to 1v1 them at SL1. same as fighting a black knight, you dodge the attack, you parry and riposte, you fish for a backstab, or you do a normal fight where you roll through their attack and smack them. the telegraph is super weird but it definitely exists, maybe you can spend some time developing a feeling for it instead of just dismissing it as impossible. like for example, i thought nameless king's fire breath attack was impossible to dodge, it turns out i was just missing the telegraph of the dragon rearing up, or running in the wrong direction because of lessons i learned from the dragons in DS1 and DS2, and the man-serpents in DS3, where you need to get behind them to dodge the fire attacks, but i really just needed to experiment and die to that fight another 10 times to figure that out. there's nothing wrong with that imo. at first it feels unfair but really the only advice i have is to get good and overcome the barrier. i promise it's not impossible, nothing in these games is impossible to dodge. people do damageless runs of this game, every fromsoft game, people have beaten this game without rolling, it definitely is possible to do whatever it is that you think isn't possible. also even if it didn't have a telegraph, you can just stay out of the range of that attack whenever they're capable of doing that attack (so punish them during their end lag and then back off)
now the SPEAR bastards, on the other hand... they are definitely way overtuned, no enemy should be able to true combo / stagger chain 90% of your health bar with a single move. but they're also not unbeatable, you can lock on and roll about 30° right of forwards when they start that attack, go straight through their triple poke, and then easily backstab them. or grab a buckler/dagger and practice your parry timing!
18:37 why are people not ashamed of having such severe skill issues and instead of getting good just blame the game? Imagine greedily running towards the items without paying any attention to your surroundings and then accusing the game of being unfair. You wouldn't get bombarded with enemies if you simply kept your eyes open instead of blindly rushing through levels. At 19:02 you complain that they have no idea how to make interesting and complex enemies - while showing the fog area in Shaded Woods. Those invisible enemies are blind and they react to sound instead. You can distract them by hitting the face trees and then sneak through this area. How is that not interesting? Afterwards we see you getting attacked by those Goblins when you unpetrify Rosabeth. You see them in their cells and can kill them before you pull the lever. It's a pretty obvious trap, but you just blame the game instead of acknowledging that you didn't pay any attention to your surroundings. Also, spiders are afraid of the torch. The first time you encounter spiders is in a dark cave so you should have learned that lesson long before you encounter more further down in Tseldora. At 20:25 this arena is also very interesting. The Old Knights are related to honorful duels (here and later in Dragon Shrine). If you try to run past them or back out of this arena again they will gang up on you, but if you stand your ground and fight fairly they let you fight them one vs one while the others just watch. At 24:06 you complain that they aren't placed strategically, but we can clearly see in all your footage that you aren't using any strategy. Running blindly through an area to wake up every single sleeping hollow isn't a strategy - it's the lack of a strategy. You could have just aggroed them one on one or simply ignored a few of them. You missed so many mechanics and ways to deal with enemies by rushing instead of paying attention.
@@sryu3878 i mean insulting the guy without actually engaging with his arguments is the definiyion of a low iq move ngl... or could also be straight up dishonesty.
@@vitorvena No, you see it makes perfect sense. Paying attention, learning from your mistakes and using the various mechanics the game provides you with = low IQ Just trying to speedrun through new areas without engaging with them at all and then complaining how unfair it is that you ran into an obvious trap = high IQ
@@Domo3000 i still to this day hate how you can run through areas and use all sorts of interactables lile levers, doors, fog walls etc and not be interrupted... specially in PvP, Ds2 fixed that by not giving you s and people crucified the game for it even though youre not suposed to be running and ignoring everything in the level but try telling that to someone who would legit look for reasobs to hate something.
@@vitorvena "it's so unfair that I can't just easily cheese the game" Lots of people really think that the fact that they have skill issues means that the game is objectively bad. I would have never thought of just opening a chest with enemies standing next to it. But apparently the fact that you can get hurt during these actions is one of the biggest issues people have with DS2. DS2 haters are really angry that they didn't just get a participation trophy for having beaten a difficult game without putting any effort into it. The game punishes poor cheesing attempts, and somehow the fact that you can't easily cheat the system is seen as unfair - even though it would have been fair if they tried to beat it fairly.
I really feel sad that from software decided to make SOTFS the default DS2, Vanilla ds2 was my first souls after demons souls and I've loved it. SOTFS is a huge pile of mess
I really like your sense of humor and goofy jokes they make me smile, especially 23:17 thank you! also i think its a shame that scholar of the first sin is the only version a lot of folk play since I think it does a very poor job of reflecting what dark souls 2 is with its overtuned area design in my opinion, though I enjoy it well enough as a coop experience after playing the OG. The OG felt a little more fair and reasonable in its enemy density, though I do want to give credit to some of the cool changes like the crawling hollows in the poison gas pits of harvest valley and heide knights actually populating heides tower. LEVIOSUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHH forbidden memory unlocked
Funny thing is it didn't even have an aggro problem until SOTFS, and many of the ganks were added there too. IIRC it was pitched as the 'even harder' version of the game but then became the standard release on PS4. They should've made it the NG+2 transformation imo.
@@jonathanb30212 Considering that the rotten would most likely not be your first lord soul (since you have to buy a ring first and that ain't cheap), they would have a branch to spare.
On sotfs you get a branch literally right before entering the black gulch from the corpse by the last sconce in the gutter so it kinda is a moot point@@jonathanb30212
I wish Elden Ring had Dark Souls 2's Power Stancing. More specifically the cross-class compatibility. In Elden Ring the only weapons of different classes that could Power Stance is the Katana and Wakizashi (which is a Dagger Class). Dark Souls 2 there was tons of compatibility like Straight Sword/Axe.
I think the opening cinematic is meant to imply that drangleic exists in a state of purgatory at the end of time. Vendrick, being a king who served gwin, is falling to the abyss. I like how hollowing is treated in ds2 it subverts the expectation of hope. Idk i think people miss interpret this game cause it's not a note for a note copy of the Dark Souls story. Anor londo, dragleic these places are important back drops but theyve never been there to convey the whole theme. Cause by the time youve finished they will all be the same thing, hollow forgotten kingdoms, waiting for a chosen undead to link the fire. To burn the old worlds to ash, to make way for whats to come.
I watched some DS elitists videos on why they hate DS2 long time ago, most of their complaints are about: - they can't parry properly - they can't backstab properly - they got hit when rolling - enemy too many - soul memory It is actually they suck at the game and they're too ego to admit. They used to bully DS noobs by invasions, they can't do that anymore..
I think Agility as a stat is completely fair to criticize. Tying your ability to dodge through attacks to a stat is objectively poor design. Even Explorer, the class with the highest starting Agility (due to starting with the most ADP) has less s on a roll than a fat roll gives on DS1. In order to get equivalent s to a DWG Ring roll in DS1 you need almost 80 ADP, and even for equivalent to a DS1 mid roll requires over 30 ADP (usually around 35 but it depends on starting ATN). I'll concede that a lot of criticisms this game receives are not completely fair to the game or the devs but that one absolutely is.
34:51 Its funny you say that because thats exactly what I thought after defeating Lost Sinner in my first playthough back then lol. "Wait... That was one of the Great Souls?!"
Bro is bad at this game "bruh mah, NO I HAVE TO THINK ABOUT ENCOUNTERS BEFORE I GET INTO THEM NOOOOOOO! healing isn't completely busted!" "Bruh my health is lower" idk bro DS3 did the same shit and they both work fine. ADP is kinda bullshit but every mf who complains about this wouldn't be caught dead with a fucking shield let alone it being held in front of them. Git gud.
The aggro is worse when you join the covenant of champions. It increases the enemies aggro by a large amount. My experience is walking past the first bridge in iron keep and all the enemies on the other side already are coming my way.
If DS2 wasn't an official Dark Souls game, we never would have let it live down that Ubisoft-level downgrade from what was advertised. Defenders always conveniently omit that whole "# you lied" outrage, and how if you wanted what the devs considered to be the ACTUAL finished product, you had to buy the game again?? 😂 It deserves the title for worst Souls game based on that alone.
Unpopular opinion - ds2 is still my favourite from software game, i have platinum on every single one of them but ds2 bloodborne and elden ring are the only ones i tend to go back to, mostly ds2
Great video, thanks. But I gotta ask this question about the spiders in Brightstone. You know that spiders don't attack you AT ALL if you have a torch equipped, right? They will quite literally ignore you.
everything was well said expect the "not suppose to fight more than one enemy at once" part. Their is lot of instances in the souls series where you fight more than one enemy. Players are just to use to locking onto their target and get punished for doing so. This game is suppose to teach u that locking on is not always the option... and with that in mind it should teach you how to lock on less in general when you play other souls games'😊 edit: SOME things were well said 😅
He also ignored so many mechanics that prevent getting ganked. At 2:05 he walked way too far into a new room without checking around the corner (which used to be a staple of the series in DeS and DS1). The two on the bottom floor trigger when you open the door, but those 3 on the left only trigger once you walk several feet inside. At 18:37 he greedily ran towards the items without paying any attention to his surroundings and then accusing the game of being unfair because he woke up every sleeping hollow at the same time. That's not any different than getting ganked in DS1 by hollows that climb up from ladders when you pick up an item - which happens several times throughout that game - but in this case the enemies are clearly visible. He wouldn't get bombarded with enemies so much if he simply kept his eyes open instead of blindly rushing through levels. At 19:02 he complains that they have no idea how to make interesting and complex enemies - while showing the fog area in Shaded Woods. Those invisible enemies are blind and they react to sound instead. You can distract them by hitting the face trees and then sneak through this area. How is that not interesting? Afterwards we see him getting attacked by those Goblins when you unpetrify Rosabeth. You see them in their cells and can kill them before you pull the lever. It's a pretty obvious trap, but he just blames the game instead of acknowledging that he didn't pay any attention to hissurroundings. Also, spiders are afraid of the torch. The first time you encounter spiders is in a dark cave so he should have learned that lesson long before he encounter more further down in Tseldora. But apparently the game is unfair and bad because he decided to ignore a basic gameplay mechanic. At 20:25 this arena is also very interesting. The Old Knights are related to honorful duels (here and later in Dragon Shrine). If you try to run past them or back out of this arena again they will gang up on you, but if you stand your ground and fight fairly they let you fight them one vs one while the others just watch. He of course uses it as an example of bad enemy design, even though it's interesting and unique. At 24:06 he complains that they aren't placed strategically, but we can clearly see in all of his footage that he isn't using any strategy. Running blindly through an area to wake up every single sleeping hollow isn't a strategy - it's the lack of a strategy. He could have just aggroed them one on one or simply ignored a few of them, but no the game is bad because he didn't pay any attention. He missed so many mechanics and ways to deal with enemies by rushing instead of paying attention.
@@Domo3000 "At 18:37 he greedily ran towards the items without paying any attention to his surroundings and then accusing the game of being unfair because he woke up every sleeping hollow at the same time. That's not any different than getting ganked in DS1 by hollows that climb up from ladders when you pick up an item - which happens several times throughout that game - but in this case the enemies are clearly visible." Anyone that shows that gank off is intentionally trying to make the game look bad, maliciously. If you are not new to the game, then you KNOW how that area works an you KNOW how to avoid that gank, it's super easy and nobody should be falling for it past his first playthrough. He intentionally activated that gank for the video. From now on, anyone showing that off, outside of a "First time playing" video, is full of crap.
@@bigdumbfatcat2869 even a new player should have already learned not to wake up sleeping enemies. Before this bonfire they already had one wake up after they came out of the tunnel. And then they had another one sleeping on the ground right before they climbed up this ladder. The game has already taught them a couple of times to pay attention to sleeping enemies. In any other Souls game they would get told to get good and pay attention, but as it's DS2 the community decided that it's unfair that you get punished for blindly rushing through new areas.
@@Domo3000 I understand your point, but i can still see a new player nevertheless get himself in that situation, despite the various subtle or not so subtle sign posts FROM gives them. These guys have all played this game multiple times, they have no excuse, they all do this for the video, and the blatant dishonesty is telling
Couple points to make: 1) you missed a golden opportunity to say "Dark Souls 2, for all its faults, is still a nice game. Therefore, I'm rating it a 6.9/10." 2) any game that inspires Happy Souls CANNOT be a bad game 3) yes, Dark Souls 2 is one of the games of all time
This had everything shit takes, shit acting, shit sketches, lack of any understanding of both the game and the series and game development as a whole, and enough narcissism to make the whole thing believable. It's beautiful
The biggest problem with DS2 is the controls. Mechanics, direction, and experience are still great. But the feel is the most confronting difference. Control of (gang fest) your character is different. Still loved the challenge 👍
DS2 defenders gotta mald and seeth. I agree with pretty much most of his point, I personally think that Alonne is an incredibly overrated boss with one of the worst runback in souls games, but the rest was pretty much spot on.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Dark Souls 2. I played scholar and not the regular version. There was some moments that did annoy me a bit due to tedium more than anything. A couple areas where i literally had to run the areas until the enemies stopped respawning. The story itself (not the premise or lore, the story) was probably the best told in the series. Something about the narrative I truly enjoyed. Majula is amazing. Thats it though.
One point I'd like to make that to me makes the Demon's Souls Soul Form actually better than DS2's Hollowing system is that at least there are *advantages* to being in Soul Form vs Body Form. In Soul Form you get various benefits based on your Character Tendency, including dealing more damage. In addition, dying in Soul Form does not lower World Tendency, while dying in Body Form does. There is *no* advantage to being Hollowed in DS2. It is strictly a debuff.
@@NoahToledo-xo5pj There doesn't need to be an additional penalty to death, dropping your Souls plus whatever the games multiplayer enabling system is is plenty since there's always been the extra penalty that if you die before reaching your bloodstain it's gone forever. Systems like Demon's and Dark Souls 2 just disproportionately punish players for being bad at the game. Healing items being single use consumables is another issue that Demon's Souls and Bloodborne have that do the same thing. Embers are balanced as a buff, your base health in DS2 is balanced as the base and anything lower is a debuff. I swear people forget that difficulty was never the main point of the Souls games, it was a biproduct of Miyazaki's design philosophy.
@@765craven4 .... you do know Embers are not a buff right? It just looks like a buff because the bar is so long but in reality you actually have way less hit points in DS3 and you don't get to a regular amount unless you use embers. Is just the effigy system but worst and you got tricked by a long bar.
@@NoahToledo-xo5pj The game literally treats being Embered as a buff mechanically. I don't know where you get the idea that DS3 gives you low amounts of HP per level. DS3 is balanced where 27 Vigor is plenty for the majority of the game, giving you 1000 HP with no Ember, which is enough even for Ringed City.
26:16 I'm confused about this criticism? What do you mean forced to wrap around Belfry Sol every time you get to the second bonfire? Just don't go to the Belfry Sol bonfire...?? That's literally the least efficient path through this level and you're just doing that to yourself. Not at all the game's fault on that one
I agree but I can see why a new player who's only played the game once would think that. Especially since the ladder that leads to the other bonfire is almost camouflaged into the wall. Personally, I didn't know that bonfire even existed until I saw some random video that brought it up and at the time, I had already beaten the game twice. This problem could've easily been fixed by just looking it up though
yup so much of it doesn't make sense. It isn't necessary to draw out each enemy, multi fights are great in DS2 not easy but fun. If he ran through DS1 like how he ran through black gulch the outcome would be the same. I kind of zoned out in between watching this because I was remembering how fun DS2 was. The gargoyle fight doesn't start with all of them attacking at once they go one by one but if you don't take em out in time they gang up on you much like the four kings fight. I have more to say but looks like he glazed over the game by trying run through every place. The game isn't perfect, it has its flaws like the DS1 and 3 but DS2 is a great fun game and it is hard the game tells you that over and over again.
@@Soapy-chan I literally didn’t find the Belfrey Sol until my third play-through, I was too busy rushing through the mobs to the ladder toward the boss and it was definitely way better than trying to run through the pvp zone. You’re just misrepresenting the level design. The game has legitimate problem but this was not one of them.
I like DS2 and played it at launch for PS3, but it's easily the game in the series that would get the most out of me if someone asked if I liked it It makes me wonder how many of the issues with the game would feel less weighty if ADP didn't exist, not that the other issues would instantly vaporize, but how much would it feel more like Lost Izalith did for DS1 instead of feeling like Shrine of Amala Ivory King's DLC was one of the bigger highlights of the series at the time, besides the place we don't talk about, and it really embodies that 'sky high highs and pits of hell lows' vibe
Also... Having ADP problems??? Get FUCKING GOOD...On my first ever run of the game I had no idea about levelling it, and I beat the game with 8 ADP... It's supposed to make your life a bit easier, it's not even close to being necessary. Don't get me even started on the premise of the game, but people have already explained that in the comments so I won't bother
Same here. ADP is a largely optional. I regularly beat the game AND did PvP with very low amounts of ADP, because I learned real quick that if you can have good timing, you can put all the points you were going to spend on ADP into other things instead.
Base ADP+ATN for all starting classes, even Explorer and Sorcerer, provide such low Agility that you have less s on rolls than a DS1 fat roll. That's blatantly terrible, there are many attacks you literally cannot through with that amount, which is a large part of what makes this in many people's opinions the worst game to do SL1 runs in. In order to comfortably play this game in a way that at all resembles its predecessors and sequels ADP is a requirement, not optional. I beat the game on my first playthrough not knowing about how Agility worked either (this was before the DLCs had even come out, so the original version) but I'm not even going to pretend that I never noticed how unreliable my rolls felt. Not to mention that Estus consumption speed was horribly low. I enjoy DS2 but that's a perfectly valid criticism. Edit: I mentioned it elsewhere, but if you aren't a caster and want enough Agility to reach reasonable s on your rolls (comparable to DS1 Mid Rolls, for example) you need over 30 ADP, usually around 35, varying slightly in either direction based on starting ATN
@@765craven4 SL1 is fun, you should try it if you haven’t yet! You can through moves by spending less time in the active hit detection. I plan on doing a video tutorial so people can get the gist. Hard to explain here. That being said, it is noticeably difficult having less s when you are new. Luckily, the game throws souls at you so getting adp to 19-20 is really easy, without gimping your character
I'd say all of it... except Frigid Outskirts. And Iron Passage. These two areas I did not enjoy playing through at all. Everything else holds nothing but fond memories to me.
@@GraaD-87 Remember that those areas are designed with co-op in mind. Each one gives you 2-3 summon signs at the start. Personally, I love them because of how much of a challenge it is to go through solo, but keep in mind that even while offline, that's a choice you make.
The enemy placement in dark souls 2 has always been weird to me. Like I don't remember any of these areas being that bad and the it's like oh... They actually changed a lot of the placements with scholar of the first sin and retroactively made them worse. So the version that most people will play is somehow the worst version
My favorite one of the trilogy hands down. Added so much as a sequel after playing the Dark Souls 1. Best PvP of the 3. It ain’t perfect but you take the time to learn the systems and respect the slow paced combat that is just like 1 it really does so many things better than 1 did. Checks all the boxes of a great sequel, it’s also pretty meta in a lot of ways. 3 I’m not a big fan of, mostly became a boss rush with Bloodborne combat featuring a lot of fanservice of 1. But 3 had an even shorter development time than 2 so I’ll give its shortcomings a pass and blame Bamco Nandi
I played ds2 a bunch before and after the update. I enjoyed it. They let you be summoned in the dlc if you didn’t buy it as well. Sotfs was a FREE update as well. Tons of value.
Enemies are slugish as hell, healings take too many god damn long time to heal, adaptabiity is the dumbest stat ever, and I dont even know how you managed to play this more than 200 minutes, great video my friend
@@GraaD-87 Yes but in souls games the rolling s are a core mechanic that have always been tied to equip load. DS2’s janky movement and the playerbase’s blame of bad hitboxes, which there are but not as many as people say, can all be attributed to the existence of adp fucking with your rolls.
I'm pretty sure that the ADP was meant as a challenge for all those "GIT GUD" tough guys, together with other changes some consider questionable. Low ADP run to show you need no I-frames.. Also, the spiders in tseldora fear fire. And you can set those tar puddles in Black gulch on fire and break those statues. And most of those ganks you showed could be avoided by bit slower aproach, even shrine of Amana. And while I have to agree the game can be infuriating, I really fell in love with it.. Leveled up ADP, turned off double-clicks (on PC) and the combat feels like DS1. Only bigger with more tools for the chalenge.
I've come to mostly appreciate this game mainly for the story and the question it provides. Do we have the right to bring down the veil that is the age of fire? The warmth of the world. And the story of how the Daughters of Manis really screwed the world. The gameplay is frustrating in many many ways. But i was able to get through it all. I do wannt to go back to it at some point to get more of the npc quests and find the rest of the game that I missed.
20:24 "boo hoo two knights ganked me because i drag out the main knight who does an 1vs1 outside to set up a gank" 20:51 "boo hoo i purposefully set up a gank entering a room and exiting it for no reason when the enemies can be taken easily using the narrow corridor from where they came from" Not only bad takes and skill issue, nitpicking that adds nothing "boo hoo im going to spend 10 min to whine about the fictional characters in the game laughing at my depression boo hoo!"
People overthink the intro. It's not that deep that some literal npcs make fun of you lol. And emerald herald says that in the beginning because to her, you're just another dude walking through majula, one that may eventually turn hollow. Eventually as you beat more and more bosses, she believes in you more. The same happens with the one depressed knight in majula.
Hey, this is Dark Souls, not Hurt Souls! I will not stand to be mocked, because words hurt harder than death. Slice me up, beat me up, but don't you DARE mock me. My ego is too fragile.
@@Domo3000 you bring up another good point. On your first playthrough, if you spend some time in things betwixt, the entire area is bleak and gloomy, with all the npcs mocking you, but as soon as you leave the area, you're greater by beautiful radiant sunshine and friendly npcs. Maybe that contrast between the first two areas was done on purpose.
@@ElCorrupto0013 on my next ds2 playthrough, I'll be sure to shed a few tears for the hurtful things they said to me in order to get a more immersive experience.
@@sociallyawkwardweeabootras1450 I also think that Things Betwixt is a sort of Purgatory for Hollows and walking through the light to Majula is like a rebirth as a Human.
those runbacks are bs but what did there is to despawn the enemies so i dont have to deal with the runbacks enemies for a fight that takes only 1 or 2 attemps cuz im lvling up doing it so😂😂
9:29 and onwards is pretty disingenious Plenty of other NPCs laughed gleefully at your death in DS1 like the Undead Merchant and Crestfallen Merchant The Emeral Herald dialog was cut perfectly to suit your argument, as it would have debunked you in the very next dialoge. "The sign you bear will drain your very souls… And without souls, you will turn Hollow. Stay strong, do not lose hope." The Crestfallen Saulden wishes you peace on your journey if you leave and also has several encourages words if you talk with him.
Bro why are you showing the run back to the fire smelter demon when the hell run for magic smelter exists? 😂😂😂. You don’t know dark souls 2 till you’ve spent 20 hours on magic smelter because devs said what if we made the atroshish run to smelter worse by adding an upper level of ranged enemies with a lower level of mobs . Oh and smelter now does twice the damage and has twice the health, yaaaay 😂😅
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My favorite lore tidbit about the Ivory King is how he basically knew of Alsanna's inherit Dark nature, that she sought him ought for her own selfish desire to sustain her frail self and quell her fears, yet he still loved her and gave her sanctuary. He was a true king who put the lives of his subjects before his very own, acting as the first line of defense against the Old Chaos. And when you arrive, all Alsanna wants is for you to free him from the Old Chaos. To put an end to his suffering and let him finally have his rest as she continues to watch over the old Chaos til the end of time.
"I don't care if she's a spawn of the Abyss, I can fix her!"
@@Zitiboiand then he did 🙂↕️
I'm glad we have Dark Souls 2. I had a shit ton of fun playing it, even if it's not the finest dark souls, the variety is incredible and will forever have a place on my heart.
The Crystal Caves is one of the most infamous areas in DS1, but if it were an area in DS2, the invisible pathways would be twisty instead of straight, they'd be full of holes, and there would be no snowflakes indicating their location.
DS2 is more interested in fucking with you than challenging you. I beat damn near half the bosses on my first attempt because the devs apparently did not know how to implement genuine difficulty.
I died more to Blood-Starved Beast alone than all the bosses in DS2 combined.
Many aspects of the game can be explained by balancing issues - ADP, health items, stamina, hit boxes, ganks, cheap deaths. Over the course of development, they had to implement a bunch of weird stuff in order to make the game challenging at all.
i die more to bed of chaos than any boss in ds2
Why does no one talk about how the small white soap stone lets you be summoned in an area where the boss has been defeated already in exchange for only having a small limited time to help. It is super nice for helping someone through their first time in the game.
Yes! Great mechanic
And also nullify effigies
the best mechanic along with the name engraved ring (which increases summon times by 40 or 50%) are the 2 best features that are missing from all the future souls games.
@@A_N1nei mean they just did password coop after this so it's actually a better thing imo
@@JellyJman You mean super duper easy mode via max level phantoms?
Rock solid DS2 analysis my guy, but you forgot to mention a few things:
-Enemy players can invade you when you're hollow
-Enemy players can invade you even after the area boss is defeated
-Non-boss enemies stop spawning after you kill them a certain number of times, turning the levels into lifeless empty voids
-New game plus adds even MORE enemies to slug you down, and they are even tankier and stronger than the normal enemies.
Dark Souls 2 is a game I played - My review
Definitely ones of the souls games of all time
Definitely a game
A game you probably suck at
Dark souls 2 is a game I played for a little bit - my review
Shrine of Amana was def the worst area in the game for me.
weird, is my favorite place of the base game. maybe because i'm good and i know how to play
The pitch black area at the bottom of the well was the “highlight” for me
Yeah, at least you can sorta cheese alonnes runback area, and if your lucky you can get through the blue smelter demons runback.
@@nicolasleal5644 with how much people whine about them I expected a lot more difficulty.
I did all of the runbacks people complain about by just walking in a casual pace without running.
The enemies don't even follow you to the fog gate for the vast majority of runbacks even though so many people whine how unfair it is that you can get hit out of the animation.
@@AtreyusNinja iTS ATROCIOUS IN BOTH GAMES AND IM TIRED OF PEOPLE PRETENDING ITS NOT.
I feel like people are too harsh on the start of the game. The fire keepers are jaded old hags at this point, they've seen countless people come and go, and have seen the world chew and spit them out. The Emerald Herald says everyone goes hollow, but still encourages you to become stronger and overcome a world that doesn't care about you. The story is you exploring all of the destroyed and dying civilizations and being the exception to the hollowing, your will superceding a destiny of madness and death. If you do the aldia ending you even go about your own way and live outside the cycle of light and dark (which I interpreted finding peace within yourself and not in any grand position).
I don't think the theming is always perfect, and the game definitely isn't, but thats one part I've never understood
Hyperfocusing on the old ladies laughing at you also ignores how the mood quickly changes as soon as you leave the tutorial and enter Majula.
Yeah…. That begging part made no sense idk why he spent 10 minutes on that
I agree with you, it didnt come off as "remember dying? lol dark souls" and more that they were going for a more nihilistic approach and angle where even if everyone around you and the world itself tries to stop you and bring you down, its up to you as the player to decide to perservere anyway and prove everyone wrong. Also the intro cinematic exploring the loss of memories/self in its imagery is just striking and sick to me, i love the faces melting away as they get more and more hollow.
Yes, I didn't get it either why he was harping on about the old firekeepers for ten f$%§ing minutes. "Talk about a bad first impression", indeed. But his reproach that DS2 didn't set up Drangleic in the beginning got a chuckle out of me. Yeah, because DS1 went all in in that regard, right? 😁
There's certainly enough to criticize about DS2, but *this* level of grasping at straws made it tough to sit through the rest of the video.
Pursuer was a good boss
yes
Pursuer gets unfailry hated because most people dont have much agility when they fight him, so dodging seems impossible
I know you addressed this already, but think you'd do well to look into the changes made from vanilla Dark Souls 2 compared to Scholar, they both solved as well as created problems in that transition.
Monster spam is probably the biggest one, they added more and larger groups of enemies in Scholar but they also adjusted the AI to designate "one aggressor" while the other enemies have a much lower chance to perform an attack. DS1 and Demon Souls didn't have that AI adjustment so enemies in groups didn't hold back, they'd all attack as often as they could. Its important to note that Fromsoft used that same AI adjustment for all of their following games.
As a critique for the video itself. Far too many times you stuck onto one topic so long it overstayed its welcome; while other segments you skimed over so quickly but could have been more important points to make to help solidify your argument.
The issues of Dark Souls 2 draw attention to themselves in every case. The positives aren't as consistent. I do like that you included compliments as well as detriments. It shows that you didn't lean too much into hate for the sake of hate which is very common towards this game. A very balanced mentality, and is necessary for discussing a game like this.
I've noticed that theres been a resurgence of attention toward Dark Souls 2 lately. In the past couple of months there have been new reviews (mainly negative) as well as data miners defending the game with visuals (with data) debunking many of the early misconceptions about the game.
My theory about Dark Souls 2 is that it's a game take sticks with you. Similar but also not similar to the first Dark Souls. People want to like it because of where it came from, but also what it is by itself. There will never be another experience like Dark Souls 1. I knew this going into the Sequel. Not even Elden Ring comes close.
DS2 has changed my view on souls games lol
Black Gulch as a Jackass skit was pretty pretty good 😂
I think it's interesting that people read so much into that opening and the firekeepers talking about the undead curse and how you're going to die repeatedly as a mean spirited thesis statement or something and not just some characters who don't believe you will overcome something they've seen probably hundreds of people fail attempting.
The 1st guy you talk to in Lordran laughs at you for trying to ring the bells and calls it suicide. Asks you why you don't just give up. He's not seen as the devs directly mocking you...because I guess that guy is allowed to be a character and not a way to reinforce a bias about the game being hard for the wrong reasons.
And hyperfocusing on the old ladies laughing at you also ignores how the mood quickly changes as soon as you leave the tutorial and enter Majula and suddenly all the people are hyping you up.
Seriously! Of all the problems DS2 has. The opening bit was not one of them
But the old ladies hurt my feefees and now I'm sad. 0/10. 😢
@@Domo3000You’re forgetting that the name for the ptde was not the original name but the name for the pc port sold by bandai namco
the presentation is the difference
I can't believe there isn't a Lords of the Fallen review on this channel!
It's funny, the ds2 Reddit page is full of people who say 'I just finished Dark Souls 2 having been told for years how bad it is but it's kinda awesome'.
I'm one of those people and very happy with it. Ds2 is a stunning piece of gaming that tried a lot of things that the series would be better today for having kept.
did you watch Happy Souls afterwards
Same bro I just got the plat and it was really fun
WOW you mean to tell us a subreddit full of Ds2 fanboys will tell us after their “first time” it’s good….you defined a circle jerk at its finest
Having a sequel unlike any other game in the series that tries new weird and unique things even with mixed results is so much more interesting and appealing to me than just "dark souls, again"
5:00 Well yeah that’s kind of the point. Because your goal in the game is to find a way to escape the curse. Also it’s not like the old ladies aren’t lying you will die over and over again. Besides don’t take this as the devs laughing. Also I’d say DS2 treats Hallowing the best. I mean look at Lucatiel. You see her slow decent into hollowing. Everyone’s just being realistic.
It's crazy how Gravelord Nito not only got one of the worst areas in the game once, but twice.
(I might be a bit iffy on the lore but I'm pretty sure the Rotten is like his reincarnation or something)
Dark souls 2 was not bad. Dark souls 1 was just too good.
OH Boy another Dark Soul 2 video Essay LETS GOOOO
Dark souls 2. A game where most hate it. I had two good friends argue with me how it’s the best game in the series, and why. I find out of all the games in the series I keep coming back to DS2 the most. Hoping to find some of the reasons they speak of. My experience with dark souls 2 is for every fun moment, for every aspect I like I find equal to or more moments of frustration and disdain. I’ve beaten it 6 times now and it’s clunky, it’s fun and it’s so frustrating. The level design is horrible, and the world disjointed. Deaths never feel fair but cheap. I keep coming back looking for a great game, I keep trying to find the game my friends and the defenders speak of. I just can’t find it but I’ve tried. I’ve honestly tried. I just cannot get over how terrible the levels are, how ganky the enemies and their placements are. This game really truly feels like the devs created a huge level of artificial difficulty for the sake of difficulty. There’s a reason why Miyazaki made DS3 to rewrite the wrongs of DS2. It’s not a horrible game, just a really frustrating one. The devs missed what made the previous games so special. Each time I’ve beaten it, it’s a huge relief that I don’t have to play it again, yet somehow I come back it. Just a glutton for punishment.
@@Kamawan0 no it’s not smooth Falcon Knights? Movements and speeds are slow and “off” for most enemies and your character. I’ve played it enough times with the other games in the series and it’s not smooth at all lol comparing it to a ps1 game is just silly. It’s easy to get stun locked in combos because of how clunky your character is. This is the only game in the series I have to completely change my character build and play style to offset the slow clunky combat compared to the other games in the series. When not compared to the other games it’s a okay game but like I said it’s frustrating. Like incredibly frustrating.
@@Kamawan0 you might be the small minority on this man, universally everyone feels ds2 is clunky, ganky and has terrible level design. Again I’ve had fun with it, I keep coming back to it to try and find a good game in it. There’s zero skill issues with these games lol I’ve platinum BB and DS3 and DeS on ps3 might be my favourite game ever made, I had a Japanese import copy of it before it came to the states. I would consider myself a connoisseur of souls games and DS2 just fundamentally plays unfinished and in some parts is just broken.
@@Kamawan0 again if you enjoy it don’t let me or the others opinions take that from you. I see the defenders of the game and every time they seem so blinded by their own opinions instead of objectively looking at the game and its flaws. It’s easy to deflect because the truth hurts.
@@Kamawan0 man you’re triggered over a game that the majority of the community and rightfully so calls mid. Every time you and others like you try and defend the game you don’t use actually facts about the game just talk about how you feel everyone is wrong and you’re right. I can name actually reasons why I enjoy DS2 and I can name a lot more reasons why it’s clunky, ganky and frustrating. Let’s separate our feelings from the facts and be objective. The game went through development hell, wasn’t given enough time to be fully realized from the original promises made. It’s disjointed for a reason, and feels very incomplete because of how rushed the developers were during its development. It’s wildly unbalanced because it didn’t have the time to tweak and make those necessary changes followed by a smaller team that missed the original understanding of the games that predate it and it’s easy to see why it’s the weakest game in the series. Again I’ve played and beaten DS2 multiple times, and each and every playthrough I have moments I thoroughly enjoy accompanied by more moments of frustration. It deserved better, the reveal trailer was straight up fire and the devs didn’t deliver on what they promised and it’s all known fact about the game. Sorry you’re triggered, sorry the vast majority of the community disagrees with you, and it bothers you so much. Enjoy it, I’ve enjoyed it for what it is and I still come back to it. I consider BB a masterpiece but have only been compelled to play it a couple times since I get so much out of it I don’t need to replay it. DS2 is the one game I go back to try and actively prove myself wrong. I keep trying to find a better game in there and every playthrough I’m thankful it’s over. I do miss the pvp in DS2 though that is one aspect of the game that doesn’t get enough love and attention.
@@Kamawan0 what a reach man 🤷♂️
you got me with the jackass black gulch moment xD
Man, 15 minutes in and you've only listed changes I enjoyed. Even ADP. I relied on shields and never understood the purpose of the roll until Dark Souls 3 when shields were nerfed into the dirt and I had to look up what was going on.
I agree about Heide's Tower. That area was absolutely ruined compared to the original release.
You spent a lot of time talking about enemy placement and aggro, but I took it as a lesson to get an AoE.
I liked the focus on making the game as hard as possible because it's Dark Souls. At the time, I didn't think there was anything further to think about than to be the hardest games. And then I found the discourse...
As for the healing system, you explained it perfectly and found it bad? I'll never understand. It makes healing more risky and more dynamic to me.
One thing people never talk about is the sheer variety of equipment and overall customization. And extra features like the Skeptic's and Simpleton's Spices. There is no negative to those and yet they never game back. DS2 is my favorite for the things it does differently because I think it does them well. DS3 felt like a super cheap rehash of DS1. Elden Ring felt like a cheap rehash of DS3. It couldn't even get Powerstancing right. But 2 dared to be different and experimental and I found those experimental bits to be fun.
I will just say this small thing AGAIN... I have noticed a pattern, of all the people shitting on Ds2, doing the exact same thing, Trying to run through the whole area ignoring bosses, and then crying about ganks, about the black gulch poison, about hidden worms, or the Darkness and having to use a torch... That's all I'm going to say
At this point ive accepted that people will invent reasons to hate this game, but ill still keep being surprised how petty these people are while showing direct footage of them being flat out bad at the game as "proof"
Ds2 is my least favorite from Fromsoft, but it is a great game but will always still a souls game
so true tf is this guy locking on for 90% of the vid, just play without lockon and move the camera manually
@@danielh96sto be fair it’s hella annoying and kinda difficult to move the camera around with a controller while fighting a boss, you lose access to dodging, two handing, and using items unless you claw grip which is hard to do. That doesn’t sound like a lot but usually when I need to move the camera it’s because I need to know where to dodge / if it’s safe to heal. I still think most of the criticism is overblown but I’ll die on the hill that the camera movement is unnecessarily difficult for unlocked play
He was doing fine, I don't know what you are smoking but you need to smoke it less. His points are all valids because they are the same I also experienced, as someone that also spent 200 hours on this game. Maybe you are just delusional?
So you're openly admitting to opening a door, letting enemies pour out of the room and doing nothing to stop them from swarming you while carrying a weapon that can stunlock them?
And IM the delusional one? Might I suggest professional help before you get hit by a car when you have to choose between crossing the street and just standing in traffic?
2:59 - if the next words that popped in your head weren't, "To defeat the Hans!", then have you truly been living ;)
Okay im at the 9 minute mark and I had to pause to say this. I think YOU are the one who didn't get Dark Souls. DS2 had sooooo many problems but the opening sequence is NOT one of them. In fact I think its the more poignant and interesting one. Its not celebrating killing the player and congratulating itself on being hard. Its establishing the human condition: nobody gives a shit about you and everything is hopeless. This is the reality of life. And selling it as anything other would undermine the message. Dark Souls doesnt try to tell you things arent so bad. Because some people are in that absolute hell. Try telling someone in a concentration camp that there is hope. Realism is knowing that the world is cruel, but it takes courage to find meaning and hope IN SPITE of it. This is the battle against going hollow. Going hollow is losing your purpose. Dying/failing them rising up to try again is the catharsis. Getting comfortable with failure and disappointment (which are realities of life) and trying again anyway. It doesnt focus on the history and lore of Drangleic because that was never the point. The quest is meaningless. Its just a temporary purpose. Much like life, meaning is derived from whatever we value. Thats how we maintain our humanity. Lucatiel's purpose was to find her brother. And the more she despaired the more she went hollow. And she gave up literal steps before she reached her brother. If only she would have persisted a little longer. We dont know thay we'll ever succeed. We dont know that we'll ever beat that boss. The only way we can fail is by giving up. Lucatiel is a parallel for the player that quit. He didnt know that maybe it would only have taken him one more attempt to beat the boss. Meaning it seems, is found in the journey not in the destination it seems.
Well I'm glad I saw this. I was starting to think I was crazy for loving the opening.
I always saw the 3 fire keepers as the 3 fates or weavers from various mythologies, and they were reading our (the characters not the players) fate, which us as the player know to be false. We won't go hollow, we can't go hollow, this won't be our fate like so many before us as we have the knowledge (as players) to persevere though even the toughest of challenges. They maybe taunting us, but it's not an insult, it's as a challenge. Will you perceiver and finish the game, just as so many have done before you and so many will after you.
@Curly_Fried1At least I didnt pizza it at the end 😂
I love you
@@anthonycameron 😘
I like how you pointed out the intro roasting the living out our purpose as a character but that’s the whole point and foreshadowing of what kind of game we’re going ourselves into. I still like the game with an overhaul gameplay mod though not that much to its SOTFS vanilla version.
5:38 unpopular take, but with the exception of the old Fire Keepers telling you that you're going to lose your souls a lot, i like that the opening cut scene and the game as a whole, takes a closer look at a person that is going through the undead curse. And that at some point they are drawn to the land of Drangleic without them knowing why. It's more about your character going there to find a cure for the curse. And i really really like that. It could have been executed better for sure but there's a lot there to like. In my opinion. Also when you find out that Drangleic is Lordran, you understand why it was kept from the opening cut scene. Bit of a surprise but i do understand the frustration that we don't at least get a broad back story of what happened to Drangleic. And to be fair, we weren't given a back story on Lordran either, just a broad explanation of how the Age of Fire began.
Yeah, great lords pass unnoticed. Good point.
I died to the pigs the first time not even gonna lie lol
Spending 10 minute moaning about the least important things that give Dark Souls 2 it's controversial rating in the community is a hell of a choice...
Dark souls 2 was the best of the Trilogy. I don't care what anyone says
Dude I'm sorry but you don't get the intro at all, DS2 is a depressing game, the world is ending and there's absolutely no happiness left. No sh*t the NPC's are not gonna surgarcoat it for you, what did you expect?
46:12 Questionable hitbox? Watch at x0.25 speed, and at 46:13, you are CLEARLY pimp slapped in the face by the back of his free hand. You can argue his empty fist shouldn't be doing such a significant amount of damage, but not that you weren't hit lmao
DS2 hitboxes in general are ass, extra ass if you don't level up Adaptability.
I can't believe no one has said it, but if you have a torch in your offhand, the spiders completely leave you alone.
DS2 had so much build variety. And some of the coolest covenants in the series. Half of the people who shit on this game never played it because of the narrative that it's ass. It's not ass, it's just not Dark Souls 1.
its plain ass buddy
Skill issue@@zenmorte2793
I agree with you. Ds2 is actually unironically great, even with all its many flaws.
Build variety my butt cheeks
Build variety in Ds2 is nonexistent😂 Every build comes down to just leveling ADP to make it even playable.
24:30 the heide knights' little side swipe attack where they draw a 7 with their sword and do a little dance, that DOES have a telegraph, it's just an unusual telegraph.
instead of opening their body and reeling back like a normal telegraph, since the first stroke is backhand, they close their body.
to a normal souls player it doesn't LOOK like a telegraph because he's moving the wrong way, but once you start to see it, it becomes almost trivial to dodge it.
it's kinda like DS1's black knights, how they do that weird super slow floor swipe charged attack thing, and it always hits you because you panic roll when you see them start up the attack, but its charge time is lined up so they'll smack you right when your roll ends, it's the same thing here, i can go to heide's tower first thing and fight some of these guys to get some souls right out the bat. once you fight like 20 or 50 of them you will also easily be able to 1v1 them at SL1. same as fighting a black knight, you dodge the attack, you parry and riposte, you fish for a backstab, or you do a normal fight where you roll through their attack and smack them.
the telegraph is super weird but it definitely exists, maybe you can spend some time developing a feeling for it instead of just dismissing it as impossible.
like for example, i thought nameless king's fire breath attack was impossible to dodge, it turns out i was just missing the telegraph of the dragon rearing up, or running in the wrong direction because of lessons i learned from the dragons in DS1 and DS2, and the man-serpents in DS3, where you need to get behind them to dodge the fire attacks, but i really just needed to experiment and die to that fight another 10 times to figure that out. there's nothing wrong with that imo.
at first it feels unfair but really the only advice i have is to get good and overcome the barrier.
i promise it's not impossible, nothing in these games is impossible to dodge.
people do damageless runs of this game, every fromsoft game, people have beaten this game without rolling, it definitely is possible to do whatever it is that you think isn't possible.
also even if it didn't have a telegraph, you can just stay out of the range of that attack whenever they're capable of doing that attack (so punish them during their end lag and then back off)
now the SPEAR bastards, on the other hand...
they are definitely way overtuned, no enemy should be able to true combo / stagger chain 90% of your health bar with a single move. but they're also not unbeatable, you can lock on and roll about 30° right of forwards when they start that attack, go straight through their triple poke, and then easily backstab them. or grab a buckler/dagger and practice your parry timing!
That's a lot of words to defend a janky ass poorly thought out attack. What's next, are you going to the defend the Falconers?
18:37 why are people not ashamed of having such severe skill issues and instead of getting good just blame the game?
Imagine greedily running towards the items without paying any attention to your surroundings and then accusing the game of being unfair.
You wouldn't get bombarded with enemies if you simply kept your eyes open instead of blindly rushing through levels.
At 19:02 you complain that they have no idea how to make interesting and complex enemies - while showing the fog area in Shaded Woods.
Those invisible enemies are blind and they react to sound instead. You can distract them by hitting the face trees and then sneak through this area.
How is that not interesting?
Afterwards we see you getting attacked by those Goblins when you unpetrify Rosabeth.
You see them in their cells and can kill them before you pull the lever.
It's a pretty obvious trap, but you just blame the game instead of acknowledging that you didn't pay any attention to your surroundings.
Also, spiders are afraid of the torch. The first time you encounter spiders is in a dark cave so you should have learned that lesson long before you encounter more further down in Tseldora.
At 20:25 this arena is also very interesting. The Old Knights are related to honorful duels (here and later in Dragon Shrine). If you try to run past them or back out of this arena again they will gang up on you, but if you stand your ground and fight fairly they let you fight them one vs one while the others just watch.
At 24:06 you complain that they aren't placed strategically, but we can clearly see in all your footage that you aren't using any strategy. Running blindly through an area to wake up every single sleeping hollow isn't a strategy - it's the lack of a strategy. You could have just aggroed them one on one or simply ignored a few of them.
You missed so many mechanics and ways to deal with enemies by rushing instead of paying attention.
damn the 70iq ds2 fanboy has arrived
@@sryu3878 i mean insulting the guy without actually engaging with his arguments is the definiyion of a low iq move ngl... or could also be straight up dishonesty.
@@vitorvena
No, you see it makes perfect sense.
Paying attention, learning from your mistakes and using the various mechanics the game provides you with = low IQ
Just trying to speedrun through new areas without engaging with them at all and then complaining how unfair it is that you ran into an obvious trap = high IQ
@@Domo3000 i still to this day hate how you can run through areas and use all sorts of interactables lile levers, doors, fog walls etc and not be interrupted... specially in PvP, Ds2 fixed that by not giving you s and people crucified the game for it even though youre not suposed to be running and ignoring everything in the level but try telling that to someone who would legit look for reasobs to hate something.
@@vitorvena "it's so unfair that I can't just easily cheese the game"
Lots of people really think that the fact that they have skill issues means that the game is objectively bad.
I would have never thought of just opening a chest with enemies standing next to it. But apparently the fact that you can get hurt during these actions is one of the biggest issues people have with DS2.
DS2 haters are really angry that they didn't just get a participation trophy for having beaten a difficult game without putting any effort into it.
The game punishes poor cheesing attempts, and somehow the fact that you can't easily cheat the system is seen as unfair - even though it would have been fair if they tried to beat it fairly.
I really feel sad that from software decided to make SOTFS the default DS2, Vanilla ds2 was my first souls after demons souls and I've loved it. SOTFS is a huge pile of mess
Your editing is really good on this video (also a good video in general lol)
I love Dark Souls II
I finally got around to finishing your video. Bro you're funny as fuck 😂. Didnt agree with all your points but it was a good narration
I really like your sense of humor and goofy jokes they make me smile, especially 23:17 thank you! also i think its a shame that scholar of the first sin is the only version a lot of folk play since I think it does a very poor job of reflecting what dark souls 2 is with its overtuned area design in my opinion, though I enjoy it well enough as a coop experience after playing the OG. The OG felt a little more fair and reasonable in its enemy density, though I do want to give credit to some of the cool changes like the crawling hollows in the poison gas pits of harvest valley and heide knights actually populating heides tower.
LEVIOSUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHH forbidden memory unlocked
Funny thing is it didn't even have an aggro problem until SOTFS, and many of the ganks were added there too. IIRC it was pitched as the 'even harder' version of the game but then became the standard release on PS4. They should've made it the NG+2 transformation imo.
at 37:35 you missed smth. the runback to the rotten is pretty easy, cause theres a bonfire right in front of him. 200 hours where? :P
This chump is clearly just very bad at the game
True but you have to use a branch to unlock that bonfire which most new players won’t have at that time. Just purposefully annoying design
@@jonathanb30212 true, i forgot about the branch.
@@jonathanb30212 Considering that the rotten would most likely not be your first lord soul (since you have to buy a ring first and that ain't cheap), they would have a branch to spare.
On sotfs you get a branch literally right before entering the black gulch from the corpse by the last sconce in the gutter so it kinda is a moot point@@jonathanb30212
I wish Elden Ring had Dark Souls 2's Power Stancing. More specifically the cross-class compatibility. In Elden Ring the only weapons of different classes that could Power Stance is the Katana and Wakizashi (which is a Dagger Class).
Dark Souls 2 there was tons of compatibility like Straight Sword/Axe.
Wait what, that's a THING! I'm gonna redownload it RIGHT NOW! That sounds awesome!
I think the opening cinematic is meant to imply that drangleic exists in a state of purgatory at the end of time. Vendrick, being a king who served gwin, is falling to the abyss. I like how hollowing is treated in ds2 it subverts the expectation of hope. Idk i think people miss interpret this game cause it's not a note for a note copy of the Dark Souls story. Anor londo, dragleic these places are important back drops but theyve never been there to convey the whole theme. Cause by the time youve finished they will all be the same thing, hollow forgotten kingdoms, waiting for a chosen undead to link the fire. To burn the old worlds to ash, to make way for whats to come.
The kings pets were my fav bosses said no one ever
I saw one comment where some dude defended kings pets. To this day I have never heard of another person willing to defend that boss.
I watched some DS elitists videos on why they hate DS2 long time ago, most of their complaints are about:
- they can't parry properly
- they can't backstab properly
- they got hit when rolling
- enemy too many
- soul memory
It is actually they suck at the game and they're too ego to admit. They used to bully DS noobs by invasions, they can't do that anymore..
why you lying?
I think Agility as a stat is completely fair to criticize. Tying your ability to dodge through attacks to a stat is objectively poor design. Even Explorer, the class with the highest starting Agility (due to starting with the most ADP) has less s on a roll than a fat roll gives on DS1. In order to get equivalent s to a DWG Ring roll in DS1 you need almost 80 ADP, and even for equivalent to a DS1 mid roll requires over 30 ADP (usually around 35 but it depends on starting ATN).
I'll concede that a lot of criticisms this game receives are not completely fair to the game or the devs but that one absolutely is.
34:51 Its funny you say that because thats exactly what I thought after defeating Lost Sinner in my first playthough back then lol. "Wait... That was one of the Great Souls?!"
Hey bro I loved the video, keep up the good work
Bro is bad at this game "bruh mah, NO I HAVE TO THINK ABOUT ENCOUNTERS BEFORE I GET INTO THEM NOOOOOOO! healing isn't completely busted!" "Bruh my health is lower" idk bro DS3 did the same shit and they both work fine. ADP is kinda bullshit but every mf who complains about this wouldn't be caught dead with a fucking shield let alone it being held in front of them. Git gud.
My opinion sits firmly in camp 'vanilla dark souls 2 is good, not great but good. Scholar of the First Sin is garbage and ruins it.'
I like it better than DS3.
The aggro is worse when you join the covenant of champions. It increases the enemies aggro by a large amount. My experience is walking past the first bridge in iron keep and all the enemies on the other side already are coming my way.
If DS2 wasn't an official Dark Souls game, we never would have let it live down that Ubisoft-level downgrade from what was advertised.
Defenders always conveniently omit that whole "# you lied" outrage, and how if you wanted what the devs considered to be the ACTUAL finished product, you had to buy the game again?? 😂 It deserves the title for worst Souls game based on that alone.
Unpopular opinion - ds2 is still my favourite from software game, i have platinum on every single one of them but ds2 bloodborne and elden ring are the only ones i tend to go back to, mostly ds2
Great video, thanks. But I gotta ask this question about the spiders in Brightstone. You know that spiders don't attack you AT ALL if you have a torch equipped, right? They will quite literally ignore you.
"waaah the old ladies laughed at me at the beginning and hurt my feelings therefore game bad"
You clearly missed his fucking point, dumbass.
DS2 has a 10/10 atmosphere and lore like all the other souls games, which is all I care about, so DS2 is 10/10
NEXT question
Trash/10*
@@blackvalio4060 I mean, your comment is trash, yes.
@@Kamawan0 nah my comment is perfectly fine. The game is dogshit
@@blackvalio4060 Your comment is dogshit.
everything was well said expect the "not suppose to fight more than one enemy at once" part. Their is lot of instances in the souls series where you fight more than one enemy. Players are just to use to locking onto their target and get punished for doing so. This game is suppose to teach u that locking on is not always the option... and with that in mind it should teach you how to lock on less in general when you play other souls games'😊
edit: SOME things were well said 😅
He also ignored so many mechanics that prevent getting ganked.
At 2:05 he walked way too far into a new room without checking around the corner (which used to be a staple of the series in DeS and DS1).
The two on the bottom floor trigger when you open the door, but those 3 on the left only trigger once you walk several feet inside.
At 18:37 he greedily ran towards the items without paying any attention to his surroundings and then accusing the game of being unfair because he woke up every sleeping hollow at the same time. That's not any different than getting ganked in DS1 by hollows that climb up from ladders when you pick up an item - which happens several times throughout that game - but in this case the enemies are clearly visible.
He wouldn't get bombarded with enemies so much if he simply kept his eyes open instead of blindly rushing through levels.
At 19:02 he complains that they have no idea how to make interesting and complex enemies - while showing the fog area in Shaded Woods.
Those invisible enemies are blind and they react to sound instead. You can distract them by hitting the face trees and then sneak through this area.
How is that not interesting?
Afterwards we see him getting attacked by those Goblins when you unpetrify Rosabeth.
You see them in their cells and can kill them before you pull the lever.
It's a pretty obvious trap, but he just blames the game instead of acknowledging that he didn't pay any attention to hissurroundings.
Also, spiders are afraid of the torch. The first time you encounter spiders is in a dark cave so he should have learned that lesson long before he encounter more further down in Tseldora.
But apparently the game is unfair and bad because he decided to ignore a basic gameplay mechanic.
At 20:25 this arena is also very interesting. The Old Knights are related to honorful duels (here and later in Dragon Shrine). If you try to run past them or back out of this arena again they will gang up on you, but if you stand your ground and fight fairly they let you fight them one vs one while the others just watch. He of course uses it as an example of bad enemy design, even though it's interesting and unique.
At 24:06 he complains that they aren't placed strategically, but we can clearly see in all of his footage that he isn't using any strategy.
Running blindly through an area to wake up every single sleeping hollow isn't a strategy - it's the lack of a strategy. He could have just aggroed them one on one or simply ignored a few of them, but no the game is bad because he didn't pay any attention.
He missed so many mechanics and ways to deal with enemies by rushing instead of paying attention.
@@Domo3000 "Dark Souls 2 critic not misrepresenting the game challenge (IMPOSSIBLE)"
@@Domo3000 "At 18:37 he greedily ran towards the items without paying any attention to his surroundings and then accusing the game of being unfair because he woke up every sleeping hollow at the same time. That's not any different than getting ganked in DS1 by hollows that climb up from ladders when you pick up an item - which happens several times throughout that game - but in this case the enemies are clearly visible."
Anyone that shows that gank off is intentionally trying to make the game look bad, maliciously. If you are not new to the game, then you KNOW how that area works an you KNOW how to avoid that gank, it's super easy and nobody should be falling for it past his first playthrough. He intentionally activated that gank for the video. From now on, anyone showing that off, outside of a "First time playing" video, is full of crap.
@@bigdumbfatcat2869 even a new player should have already learned not to wake up sleeping enemies.
Before this bonfire they already had one wake up after they came out of the tunnel. And then they had another one sleeping on the ground right before they climbed up this ladder.
The game has already taught them a couple of times to pay attention to sleeping enemies.
In any other Souls game they would get told to get good and pay attention, but as it's DS2 the community decided that it's unfair that you get punished for blindly rushing through new areas.
@@Domo3000 I understand your point, but i can still see a new player nevertheless get himself in that situation, despite the various subtle or not so subtle sign posts FROM gives them. These guys have all played this game multiple times, they have no excuse, they all do this for the video, and the blatant dishonesty is telling
Couple points to make:
1) you missed a golden opportunity to say "Dark Souls 2, for all its faults, is still a nice game. Therefore, I'm rating it a 6.9/10."
2) any game that inspires Happy Souls CANNOT be a bad game
3) yes, Dark Souls 2 is one of the games of all time
This had everything shit takes, shit acting, shit sketches, lack of any understanding of both the game and the series and game development as a whole, and enough narcissism to make the whole thing believable. It's beautiful
Dark souls 2 hate video: 😍
Stupid dark souls 2 hate video: 😔
funny how he talks about you overcoming depression with ds1 and getting pissed off from ds2, but ds2 is the one that helped me
ds2 Sotfs is somehow doubled down on the bad, hyde knight for example isnt supposed to be at the hyde knight tower as they was ran off the castle.
Frigid outskirts was my fav area fr fr hmph 😤
The biggest problem with DS2 is the controls. Mechanics, direction, and experience are still great. But the feel is the most confronting difference. Control of (gang fest) your character is different. Still loved the challenge 👍
wtf the dislikes, you said nothing wrong!
I do love this game as much as I hate it too!
DS2 defenders gotta mald and seeth. I agree with pretty much most of his point, I personally think that Alonne is an incredibly overrated boss with one of the worst runback in souls games, but the rest was pretty much spot on.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Dark Souls 2. I played scholar and not the regular version. There was some moments that did annoy me a bit due to tedium more than anything. A couple areas where i literally had to run the areas until the enemies stopped respawning. The story itself (not the premise or lore, the story) was probably the best told in the series. Something about the narrative I truly enjoyed. Majula is amazing. Thats it though.
One point I'd like to make that to me makes the Demon's Souls Soul Form actually better than DS2's Hollowing system is that at least there are *advantages* to being in Soul Form vs Body Form. In Soul Form you get various benefits based on your Character Tendency, including dealing more damage. In addition, dying in Soul Form does not lower World Tendency, while dying in Body Form does. There is *no* advantage to being Hollowed in DS2. It is strictly a debuff.
Yes, cuz is a punishment, that's the point. Is way better than the DS3 system because at least the debuff starts at minimal.
@@NoahToledo-xo5pj There doesn't need to be an additional penalty to death, dropping your Souls plus whatever the games multiplayer enabling system is is plenty since there's always been the extra penalty that if you die before reaching your bloodstain it's gone forever. Systems like Demon's and Dark Souls 2 just disproportionately punish players for being bad at the game. Healing items being single use consumables is another issue that Demon's Souls and Bloodborne have that do the same thing. Embers are balanced as a buff, your base health in DS2 is balanced as the base and anything lower is a debuff.
I swear people forget that difficulty was never the main point of the Souls games, it was a biproduct of Miyazaki's design philosophy.
@@765craven4 .... you do know Embers are not a buff right? It just looks like a buff because the bar is so long but in reality you actually have way less hit points in DS3 and you don't get to a regular amount unless you use embers.
Is just the effigy system but worst and you got tricked by a long bar.
@@NoahToledo-xo5pj The game literally treats being Embered as a buff mechanically. I don't know where you get the idea that DS3 gives you low amounts of HP per level. DS3 is balanced where 27 Vigor is plenty for the majority of the game, giving you 1000 HP with no Ember, which is enough even for Ringed City.
@@765craven4 my guy, do you know how much HP you have in DS3 and in DS2 exactly?
26:16 I'm confused about this criticism? What do you mean forced to wrap around Belfry Sol every time you get to the second bonfire? Just don't go to the Belfry Sol bonfire...?? That's literally the least efficient path through this level and you're just doing that to yourself. Not at all the game's fault on that one
I agree but I can see why a new player who's only played the game once would think that. Especially since the ladder that leads to the other bonfire is almost camouflaged into the wall. Personally, I didn't know that bonfire even existed until I saw some random video that brought it up and at the time, I had already beaten the game twice.
This problem could've easily been fixed by just looking it up though
yup so much of it doesn't make sense. It isn't necessary to draw out each enemy, multi fights are great in DS2 not easy but fun. If he ran through DS1 like how he ran through black gulch the outcome would be the same. I kind of zoned out in between watching this because I was remembering how fun DS2 was. The gargoyle fight doesn't start with all of them attacking at once they go one by one but if you don't take em out in time they gang up on you much like the four kings fight. I have more to say but looks like he glazed over the game by trying run through every place. The game isn't perfect, it has its flaws like the DS1 and 3 but DS2 is a great fun game and it is hard the game tells you that over and over again.
"just don't make the mistake you're prone to make because of our bad game design"
@@Soapy-chan I literally didn’t find the Belfrey Sol until my third play-through, I was too busy rushing through the mobs to the ladder toward the boss and it was definitely way better than trying to run through the pvp zone. You’re just misrepresenting the level design. The game has legitimate problem but this was not one of them.
@@ToastUrbath And I literally found them every time, so that is irrelevant.
I am not misrepresenting anything.
I like DS2 and played it at launch for PS3, but it's easily the game in the series that would get the most out of me if someone asked if I liked it
It makes me wonder how many of the issues with the game would feel less weighty if ADP didn't exist, not that the other issues would instantly vaporize, but how much would it feel more like Lost Izalith did for DS1 instead of feeling like Shrine of Amala
Ivory King's DLC was one of the bigger highlights of the series at the time, besides the place we don't talk about, and it really embodies that 'sky high highs and pits of hell lows' vibe
Also... Having ADP problems??? Get FUCKING GOOD...On my first ever run of the game I had no idea about levelling it, and I beat the game with 8 ADP... It's supposed to make your life a bit easier, it's not even close to being necessary.
Don't get me even started on the premise of the game, but people have already explained that in the comments so I won't bother
Same here. ADP is a largely optional. I regularly beat the game AND did PvP with very low amounts of ADP, because I learned real quick that if you can have good timing, you can put all the points you were going to spend on ADP into other things instead.
Base ADP+ATN for all starting classes, even Explorer and Sorcerer, provide such low Agility that you have less s on rolls than a DS1 fat roll. That's blatantly terrible, there are many attacks you literally cannot through with that amount, which is a large part of what makes this in many people's opinions the worst game to do SL1 runs in. In order to comfortably play this game in a way that at all resembles its predecessors and sequels ADP is a requirement, not optional.
I beat the game on my first playthrough not knowing about how Agility worked either (this was before the DLCs had even come out, so the original version) but I'm not even going to pretend that I never noticed how unreliable my rolls felt. Not to mention that Estus consumption speed was horribly low.
I enjoy DS2 but that's a perfectly valid criticism.
Edit: I mentioned it elsewhere, but if you aren't a caster and want enough Agility to reach reasonable s on your rolls (comparable to DS1 Mid Rolls, for example) you need over 30 ADP, usually around 35, varying slightly in either direction based on starting ATN
@@765craven4 SL1 is fun, you should try it if you haven’t yet! You can through moves by spending less time in the active hit detection. I plan on doing a video tutorial so people can get the gist. Hard to explain here.
That being said, it is noticeably difficult having less s when you are new. Luckily, the game throws souls at you so getting adp to 19-20 is really easy, without gimping your character
I enjoyed gutter and black gulch. I enjoyed all of ds2 actually
I'd say all of it... except Frigid Outskirts. And Iron Passage. These two areas I did not enjoy playing through at all. Everything else holds nothing but fond memories to me.
@@GraaD-87 Remember that those areas are designed with co-op in mind. Each one gives you 2-3 summon signs at the start. Personally, I love them because of how much of a challenge it is to go through solo, but keep in mind that even while offline, that's a choice you make.
Dark Souls II is Dark Souls of Dark Souls, especially scholar of the first sin.
that game sucks balls to this day,truly impressive.
After you’ve played them all 10 times each you realize build variety means almost everything. It’s third only to Lore and Ambiance (in that order).
The enemy placement in dark souls 2 has always been weird to me. Like I don't remember any of these areas being that bad and the it's like oh... They actually changed a lot of the placements with scholar of the first sin and retroactively made them worse. So the version that most people will play is somehow the worst version
scholar didn't improve it, it made it worse
My favorite one of the trilogy hands down. Added so much as a sequel after playing the Dark Souls 1. Best PvP of the 3. It ain’t perfect but you take the time to learn the systems and respect the slow paced combat that is just like 1 it really does so many things better than 1 did. Checks all the boxes of a great sequel, it’s also pretty meta in a lot of ways. 3 I’m not a big fan of, mostly became a boss rush with Bloodborne combat featuring a lot of fanservice of 1. But 3 had an even shorter development time than 2 so I’ll give its shortcomings a pass and blame Bamco Nandi
I played ds2 a bunch before and after the update. I enjoyed it. They let you be summoned in the dlc if you didn’t buy it as well. Sotfs was a FREE update as well. Tons of value.
Enemies are slugish as hell, healings take too many god damn long time to heal, adaptabiity is the dumbest stat ever, and I dont even know how you managed to play this more than 200 minutes, great video my friend
What's so dumb about a stat that makes you more agile and grants extra s on your rolls? A pretty useful stat for no-shield players.
@@GraaD-87The stat shouldn’t exist period
@@rigorm136 But it's an RPG (unlike Sekiro). And RPG games are supposed to have stats, right?
@@GraaD-87 Yes but in souls games the rolling s are a core mechanic that have always been tied to equip load. DS2’s janky movement and the playerbase’s blame of bad hitboxes, which there are but not as many as people say, can all be attributed to the existence of adp fucking with your rolls.
It’s my favorite entry in the series,witness me
Weak.
@@Babadui 🐓 strong like your moms 💨 box
@@Babadui 🐓 strong like your moms 💨 box
@@Babadui 🐓 strong like your moms 💨 box
@@Babadui 🐓 strong like your moms box
The thing that wigs me out ab ds2 I don’t think I’ve seen talked ab is the lighting. It looks like a glitch
The Alonne run was so bad that I didn't bother trying to beat him.
I'm pretty sure that the ADP was meant as a challenge for all those "GIT GUD" tough guys, together with other changes some consider questionable. Low ADP run to show you need no I-frames..
Also, the spiders in tseldora fear fire. And you can set those tar puddles in Black gulch on fire and break those statues. And most of those ganks you showed could be avoided by bit slower aproach, even shrine of Amana. And while I have to agree the game can be infuriating, I really fell in love with it.. Leveled up ADP, turned off double-clicks (on PC) and the combat feels like DS1. Only bigger with more tools for the chalenge.
I've come to mostly appreciate this game mainly for the story and the question it provides. Do we have the right to bring down the veil that is the age of fire? The warmth of the world. And the story of how the Daughters of Manis really screwed the world. The gameplay is frustrating in many many ways. But i was able to get through it all. I do wannt to go back to it at some point to get more of the npc quests and find the rest of the game that I missed.
wait, did you never found the bonefire next to the roten?
banger video. i still love this game... and also hate it
20:24 "boo hoo two knights ganked me because i drag out the main knight who does an 1vs1 outside to set up a gank"
20:51 "boo hoo i purposefully set up a gank entering a room and exiting it for no reason when the enemies can be taken easily using the narrow corridor from where they came from"
Not only bad takes and skill issue, nitpicking that adds nothing "boo hoo im going to spend 10 min to whine about the fictional characters in the game laughing at my depression boo hoo!"
Bros mad he completely missed the entire point of both those clips lmao
@@NotXarex i saw skill issue
@@abrahamrangel2326 No lol you're having a fit over points being made over silly skits
Ahh frigid outskirts, the worse area in souls history, i'd rematch the bed of chaos anyday instead of playing through that map again
People overthink the intro. It's not that deep that some literal npcs make fun of you lol.
And emerald herald says that in the beginning because to her, you're just another dude walking through majula, one that may eventually turn hollow. Eventually as you beat more and more bosses, she believes in you more. The same happens with the one depressed knight in majula.
Hyperfocusing on the old ladies laughing at you also ignores how the mood quickly changes as soon as you leave the tutorial and enter Majula.
Hey, this is Dark Souls, not Hurt Souls! I will not stand to be mocked, because words hurt harder than death. Slice me up, beat me up, but don't you DARE mock me. My ego is too fragile.
@@Domo3000 you bring up another good point. On your first playthrough, if you spend some time in things betwixt, the entire area is bleak and gloomy, with all the npcs mocking you, but as soon as you leave the area, you're greater by beautiful radiant sunshine and friendly npcs. Maybe that contrast between the first two areas was done on purpose.
@@ElCorrupto0013 on my next ds2 playthrough, I'll be sure to shed a few tears for the hurtful things they said to me in order to get a more immersive experience.
@@sociallyawkwardweeabootras1450 I also think that Things Betwixt is a sort of Purgatory for Hollows and walking through the light to Majula is like a rebirth as a Human.
Mans fee-fees got a bit hurt from an NPC.
I never once leveled adaptability and I never had that much trouble dodging attacks I don't understand
Im not disagreeing with you but I love the game. 😂
Bro the commentary is too funny lol
Nooooooo I missed the return to drang
those runbacks are bs but what did there is to despawn the enemies so i dont have to deal with the runbacks enemies for a fight that takes only 1 or 2 attemps cuz im lvling up doing it so😂😂
It may be inferior to the original. But I still have more fun playing it than OG Dark Souls
9:29 and onwards is pretty disingenious
Plenty of other NPCs laughed gleefully at your death in DS1 like the Undead Merchant and Crestfallen Merchant
The Emeral Herald dialog was cut perfectly to suit your argument, as it would have debunked you in the very next dialoge.
"The sign you bear will drain your very souls… And without souls, you will turn Hollow. Stay strong, do not lose hope."
The Crestfallen Saulden wishes you peace on your journey if you leave and also has several encourages words if you talk with him.
7 boss ??? dude the only good boss only Fume Knight , Sir Alone , Burnt Ivory King and Dark Lurker 😂😂
You forgot Sinh and Gank Squad
Bro why are you showing the run back to the fire smelter demon when the hell run for magic smelter exists? 😂😂😂. You don’t know dark souls 2 till you’ve spent 20 hours on magic smelter because devs said what if we made the atroshish run to smelter worse by adding an upper level of ranged enemies with a lower level of mobs . Oh and smelter now does twice the damage and has twice the health, yaaaay 😂😅