Ds2 is the only game in my steam library that doesn't support cloud save. Thanks to that I lost my first run where I was near the end. Also coming from dsr the movement felt very soapy if it makes sense. I had the impression that my character is very light but also slide on the ground.
It totally makes sense. It's the black sheep of the franchise for a reason, but I still love it.
It's a good game. It's just unfair to compare it to the masterpieces, that it's siblings are.
It even feels like that, coming from the prepare to die edition.
DS2 is my favorite of the Souls games. Its got so many diverse locations and build types. I LOVE that its so different from all the other games, it really feels like they put a lot more emphasis on the RPG elements. Its the one that feels most like an adventure to me and its got such a uniquely lonely atmosphere in a different way compared to the others.
I also love how distant it feels from DS1, like you are eons in the future of DS1, and everything from DS1 is just ancient legend. I kind of dont like how DS3 feels so direct as a sequel, and I kind of wished they had taken the distant approach of 2, minus the final boss, who I feel was very appropriate for what he is.
That being said, I do think DS1 is a better gane overall. If I had to rank the games as I enjoyed them, it would be: BB, DS2, DS1, ER, DeS, DS3
I dont get the hype around DS3. I really really dont. The game feels like such a boring slog, and it feels like your options to approach a situation are so limited. I think my biggest issue with DS3 is the roll. In DS1 and DS2, the roll was a tactical tool that you should use in some situations, though general movement could be a better way to avoid damage, or using a sheild, tanking, or dealing enough damage. In DS3, rolling is almost the only way to really avoid damage. Due to the fact so many enemies in 3 have very fast and long combos, it boils a lot of fights down to pure reflexes, which, imo, is kinda boring. I WANT to use my brain and position myself tactically in a fight, avoiding slashes by actually moving out of the way, rather than rely on i-frames.
Now, I am in the vast vast minority of players who play souls games and dislikes DS3. So at the end of the day, DS3 is just not for me. I understand that its considered a great game, but I simply do not like it. Elden Ring, however, I enjoy very much. I think the tactical options of Ashes of war, jumping, and the ease of changing builds makes the game a whole lot more interesting to play. Still too much rolling imo, but at least a super heavy build is very fun and viable!
I havent beaten Sekiro, but I really enjoy it so far! Sorry for the essay!
No apology needed for the essay. I enjoyed reading it!
I feel very similarly about DS2. Playing it feels very rpg-heavy, as if I've been dropped into a tabletop game and am trying to survive. The stats and strategies are varied, and the atmosphere is amazing.
I hope you enjoy Sekiro! It's hard as hell, but is probably my favorite game of all time.
I agree with the DS3 take. I like it more than DS2 just because DS2 feels so clunky in how it plays but the vibes feel much better.
DS3 is pretty underwhelming when compared to the other games given they each do something unique.
That said, gundyr champion, nameless king, sister friede, and Gael are all unreal fights and might be worth playing through everything just to get to imo
Best cat, best hub, best lore, best hexes, best my little ponies.
Introduced power stance, has really cool weapons.
Estus wasn't instant though, as far as I remember?
As it should be. The only issue with estus not being instant is enemies input reading and punishing drinking. Which is in every fromsoft game tho
I get your point, but I kind of prefer the instant estus. Just for those times you drink it right before getting hit. I suppose the solution is to not get hit though. Guess I better git gud.
DS1 has the nostalgia advantage from a time where I rarely ever bought games because I was a kid and money was appropriately tight.
But I'll forever assert that DS2 is my favourite DS. The build system, the fact that stamina allocation matters, that - TPM may recognise this sentiment from another conversation we just had - healing is a tactical choice due to the time it takes to be effective, even the "ganking" was more an exercise in managing multiple opponents to me.
Controversially, I even like the way it reduces your HP slightly when you die. It really gives that feeling of desperation that you're "going hollow" and have to either embrace it or keep restoring your humanity, which fits the theme of the game.
Live's hard and short for us dried prunes. Best not to get hit then. Speaking of:
I'm ambivalent on whether having to level iframes is a good thing. I like the idea of improving your agility like the rest of your abilities. On the other hand, that raises the entry barrier since your dodges have to be more precise at the start of the game, and the idea of using positioning instead of dodging for some attacks isn't intuitive to a lot of people.
Then again, part of the appeal of these games is trying and finding out what works and what doesn't.
God, I had no idea what I was doing with my build the first time I played that game. I don't think I put any levels into ADP. The struggle and confusion was part of the fun for me, but I get that not everyone wants to put up with that.
The best part is it isn't even ADP. It is AGI which was governed by ADP and ATN. And it was really a tight scaling window too: like 96 AGI slashed your iframes and anything past like 102 AGI was imperceptible.
Controversially, I even like the way it reduces your HP slightly when you die. It really gives that feeling of desperation that you’re “going hollow” and have to either embrace it or keep restoring your humanity, which fits the theme of the game.
It's also contrary to one of the most important lessons from the first game: that death doesn't matter. Experimenting is okay. There's nothing to lose. Achieving that calm in ds1 was memorable.
DS2 fucks that up by rather harshly penalizing you for every death.
That's a very good point too. I understand why they didn't keep that idea.
I love them all and could never pick a favorite but DS2 has the most hours by far
DS2 will always have a special place in my heart.
After dying 13-15 times to the Fume Knight and giving up in the lone wolf strategy and inviting some strangers to help me to 1 year later replaying the game winning the fight in the first try barely tooking damage was the most exciting gamer moment ever.
The only thing that come closer to me is the final boss in Sekiro.
DaS2 is a great game that happens to be in the unfortunate position of being situated in between the game that defined the genre and the game that perfected it.
It's the weakest of the series of perfect 10s. Which makes it like a 9 for me!
People be like "Errr, the elevator to the lava castle."
Okay, sorry the game took you somewhere interesting. Go to DS3 if you want the brown village to take you to the brown swamp that leads to the brown catacombs.
The problem isn't that the game took you somewhere interesting. The problem is that the game completely forgoes any geographical consistency by having you take an elevator at the top of an windmill that goes up and you exit inside a lava crater. The brown village with the brown swamp and brown catacombs in DS3 may look visually less interesting but they're at least geographically consistent.
And that example in DS2 isn't the only one, it's just the most blatant one. It's also a significant difference DS2 has over other DS1 and onward titles. Other From titles try to keep the geography of locations consistent. DS3 is an excellent example of that because it doesn't matter what area you're in, if you look into the distance and see something of interest in the distance you can be 99% sure it's a different area you will visit. For instance if I'm not misremembering I'm sure you can see irithyll from the undead settlement. In DS2 if you see something in the distance it might be an area you'll visit but it also might be just something in the distance. For example in the Iron Keep (the lava castle) if you get to the boss area you can see a temple or a village or something of the sorts in the distance, I don't really remember what was in the distance because you never get to visit it anyway. And that's assuming there is something to see in the distance, a lot of the areas in DS2 you can't even see into the distance.
The ability to recognize your surroundings is what made DS1 world interesting. I still have a fond memory from looking into the distance in the Tomb of Giants and recognizing Lost Izalith. I have similar memories for DS3, Sekiro and Elden Ring. I don't have such memories for DS2.
Dark Souls 2 is definitely better than the general consensus thinks.
This would be my rating of the souls games. Sekiro > DS1 > Bloodborne > DS2 > DeS > DS3 > Elden Ring
Out of interest, why is 3 so low in your ranking?
Level design and exploration is the weakest and the bosses start having the Elden Ring issue of damage sponges and animation manipulation, like heal counters and roll catches.
For me a ds3 run just feels very quick and you cannot take as much optional and different routes as in the previous games, it's more linear. But also ds3 bosses are peak, only topped by sekiro, and imo everyone crying about artificial difficulty (e.g. the guy above) has skill issues. Like, demons souls, ds1, ds2 (except the snowy outskirts, fuck that area) are pretty easy to beat in comparison.
Wait why do people hate Elden ring? For context I've only played 3/4 of DS1 and 1/2 of DS2.
I hate directional attacking and I can't turn it off in this game.
I have a physical copy of this game, but I don't plan on playing it anytime soon, and that's 100% of the reason why.
Dark Souls 2 is mid and I’m tired of pretending it’s not. It’s good that from soft experimented, but there is a reason that they haven’t brought back a lot of the mechanics that people generally didn’t like from that game.
I love Dark Souls 2 and I don't care what anyone thinks otherwise. It was a joy from start to finish.
100% of the few good ideas DS2 had were utilized better in their other games, and without any of the numerous issues that DS2 introduced.
Let's start up the meme factory again, FromSluts!
For trashposting and memes about Souls games developed by FromSoft.
Be civil and don't make me write rules here.
