This is the greatest game of all time.
[UPDATE]: Most of my playtime is on Playstation and vanilla Dark Souls 2, and I still prefer Scholar!
It rewards careful, methodical mid-combat decision making while punishing R1 spam and backstab fishing, and is loaded with clever tricks up the player's sleeve. Traps hurt enemies just like the player, explosives are hidden everywhere to put to your use, careful and precise positioning - while walking, not rolling! - creates the most beautiful displays of ducking in and out of combat without even needing to retreat, finding harmony in chaos for the skilled swordsman (or swordswoman, or swordsenby).
It's got a fantastic story, way crazier than the other FromSoft games, and you experience the story firsthand as your character does, as you, both player and in-game character, slowly lose your mind and memory. That's why nothing makes sense. You are going crazy. And it's supposed to be that way. When you go up a really long elevator at the top of a tower and arrive at sea level in a lava lake, that's your character not remembering how their memories fit together, and YOU get to experience that confusion for yourself!
Everything is viable. Every class of weapons, every build archetype, even the Broken Sword is good. The amount of weapons and builds and rings and character styles that are considered "good" is higher than in any other FromSoft game. And not just for the pros, even amateur players can beat the game "their way," without needing to watch build videos or powerful-item guides.
ADP is very divisive but let me say that it's totally fine as a game mechanic. If you want safer rolls (and backsteps, this game has invulnerable backsteps, and they rock!) as well as faster item usage, level ADP until you feel comfortable with it and stop there. The game gives the player loads of resources to work with, so leveling an extra stat to 12 or 15 is not ever a concern. Or you can forgo ADP entirely and use a big shield, or just position yourself very carefully! Everything is viable, even low ADP builds. Even overweight tank builds can clear all bosses without wanting to roll.
The animations were mostly motion-captured from live fencers. So, in other words, these are the most realistic movement and weapon attack animations in the whole series. FromSoft took extra time and budget to cover two or three real trained human fencers in motion-trackers and record their bodies as they swung actual maces and swords around. (You can even find their names in the credits after the end boss!) This makes the game more "sluggish," but in fairness, none of us reading this are trained in wielding darkness-imbued ancient steel swords retrieved from the primordial souls of big bad evil guys. So neither is our character until you practice!
Play this game! The critics are just an echo chamber! You will enjoy this game as much as all the others! FromSoft doesn't make bad games! I have been playing DS2 since launch day on both PC and Playstation, and this would be my forever-game if only new blood kept signing up and servers kept running.
This game forever changed my life for the better. This is my equivalent of a home in the digital world. And all of you are invited for a stay. <3
