I finished Dark Souls 2 for all intents and purposes. I say this, because I didn’t actually kill all the possible bosses, nor do I really feel I’ve reached completion, but I don’t see the point of seeking out another three or four optional bosses that are probably not worth the trouble anyway.
Warning: wall of text ahead.
! A mess is the word I’d use to describe this game in a single word. I started it with the knowledge that this might be the worst out of the three installments and that it’s reception is very divisive to say the least. I tried to keep an open mindset and so I fired up the game and the first impression was…
That’s an awfully long and uninteresting cutscene that told me absolutely nothing of the world. It focused heavily on you, the character that’s very different from the other two games where the first cutscene aims to paint a picture of the world, give a bit of a backstory and offer a sneak-peak into who you’ll end up meeting/fighting. The problem with this is at this point, I haven’t even made my character, yet the cutscene implies a lot from the get-go with the picture of a wife and child. One could argue that it was just an example and not directly related to our character but even then it was unnecessary in my opinion.
! Fine, moving on, I could already feel the controls being a little more floaty than I’d like, but no worries, I’ll get used to it. I started as a cleric, so I had a mace and I instantly took a liking to how my character was wielding it. Felt much cooler than my pyromancer mechanichally hacking away with an axe in DS1.
! Forest of the Fallen giants goes by fine enough, and so we come to the second boss, the Pursuer. Big floaty armored dude with a lot of unused weapons on his back. My mace does a fine amount of damage to him, I can easily roll-dodge his attacks and where did half my HP go? Maybe his red visor is draining it? Do I have to beat him in a certain timeframe?
! No, it turns out, when I dodge-rolled one of his attacks, I didn’t really dodge it according to the game. Before going into the whole agility/iframes debate, this already presents a glaring gameplay issue, namely not clearly indicating that I took a hit. I honestly can’t remember ever wondering when I lost HP in the other two games. In DS2, I constantly had to be on the lookout, eyeing my healthbar to see if I had to heal or not.
! Now onto the agility thing… Whilst fighting the Lost Sinner, I became increasingly frustrated with not being able to dodge some of his attacks even though they were clearly telegraphed and I felt I reacted accordingly. My friend informed me to dump a few points into adaptability, because less than 105 agility (an attribute scaled by maxing adaptability) means less iframes than what was available from the get go in the other two games. Some people like this change, I think it’s horrible. One thing I like about Dark Souls is that you can technically beat the whole thing without levelling (SL1 runs). Leveling and updating your gear just makes it somewhat easier and it allows you to get by with a few mistakes instead of basically necessitating a perfect run. Dodge-roll is a big part of that. Someone argued that the introduction of agility makes it easier to distinguish between agile, quick assassin characters and heavily-armoured knight-like ones. Equip load already does that, since the heavier your gear, the slower your animation, the less your iframes and the shorter the distance your travel with rolling. Agility just forces you to dumb your early points into one stat unless you give up on rolling (like I did for the most part) and equip a shield because it’s much more reliable and easier to read.
Another problem I encountered fairly early on, is that I literally hit enemies out of reach with consecutive attacks. I would hammer away at a foe and realize my second, third and fourth hit only reached empty air, and then I’m out of endurance and the enemy pummels me back. It’s one thing having different reach with different weapons (which is a good thing btw), it’s something else to be forced to pause your attacks to move closer to the enemy between every attack.
On top of it all, I regularly found myself wrestling with the controls especially with my run button. I play with a fairly beat-up xbox controller so at first I thought it was just getting old and faulty, but I saw others having the same problems. Neither DS1 nor DS3 had these issues, at least not in these proportions (DS1 had some janky controls, but not outright unresponsive).
! NPC invasions broke me. It was in Iron Keep, with Armourer Denis where I seriously considered dropping the game altogether. Invasions in the other two games happened only when you either gained back your humanity (DS1) or were embered (DS3) so if you were having a rough time, the game didn’t punish you unnecessarily. DS2 seems to revel in punishment and fucking with the player, so even if you have reduced max health from dying a couple of times, you get ganked. And these npc-s are relentless and incredibly unfair. They come at you with infinite stamina, stunlocking attacks or hyper-armor ultra-greatswords that effectively oneshot you. All the while you’re probably already spammed with the regular enemies of the area and are trying desperately to survive.
After trying to beat Armourer Dennis at the Iron Bridge, I noticed that one of the regular enemies seemed to have disappeared. I asked my friend and he told me enemies disappear after you kill them 10 or so consecutive times. My first thought was, damn, I died that many times here? Then it hit me. So firstly, the game spams me a hundred enemies, adds in an npc that has infinite stamina and an arsenal of spells and a sword and shield, and then has the audacity to take away the enemies and simultaneously robbing me of getting over these insurmountable odds. I know this sounds very oxymoronic (or just moronic), but it truly made me feel utterly disrespected as a player. Each games had some unfair areas and challenges that tested my patience, but fighting through the bullshit at least left me satisfied to have beaten the obstacle put before me. DS2 takes it away from you while upping the ante on the bullshit factor by a hundred.
! These are my main gripes with the game and sadly, these define the whole experience for me.
! For the sake of not being all negative about it: the weapon variety is pretty great; some of the areas are beautifully done, as well as the animations; the Eleum Loyce dlc is well-done and only minimally frustrating and has the best moment of the entire game:
Maldron the Assassin. I explore a building and happen upon this white phantom looking guy who waves and beckons at me. I’m a little suspicious, but seeing as he behaves peacefully, I go on my merry way. I pull the lever and immediately get impaled on his lance. After respawning, I go back to where I first saw him, and sure enough, there he is, waving at me amicably. Having learnt my lesson, I take the chance to attack him first and get my revenge. He initiates turbo-mode and runs away. I follow close behind. I lose sight of him, but can hear the telltale sounds of estus-drinking, so I proceed. There he is, but not alone. A slightly whiter Covetous Demon emerges, and I find myself outnumbered. I focus on the demon, slowly chipping away his hp. At one point, it eats me and spits me out naked. I panic and start frantically punching the beast with my bare fists and manage to down it, but without any weapon, succumb to Maldron. I finally got him the third time, but boy, was the whole thing entertaining and funny.
That’s about it, really. Wouldn’t wholeheartedly recommend the game to anyone.
" then boy is this the game series for you. I played the first game a while back after watching Vinesauce play it and it was a dip in a pool of mind blending psychedelia. Hylics 2, though, submerges completely in those waters. It is such a huge jump up in terms of production and quality that it makes the original look like a prototype. The sensory experience of this game is bizarre, unique and beautiful. The game itself is a turn-based RPG with overworld exploration that has just enough twists to keep the formula fresh. It's mostly there to deliver the rest of the experience, though, which must be seen to be believed. The battles skew to the more difficult side and the exploration can sometimes be confusing (esp in the 2D platforming segments) but the style and experience of it all makes the flaws worth sitting through.
