DARK SOULS™ II: Scholar of the First Sin

Played dark souls II 15 times when it released on xbox 360 back in 2011 and really liked it back then because I didn't have any other souls game to compare it to. After playing elden ring for 15 times in the meantime I really couldn't go back for the simple reason of the adaptability stat that makes fighting feel pretty laggy. After 15 years I finally made myself play it again with a mod that removes the adaptability stat (or caps it?). The boss fights were build around the adaptability stat a bit too much so most fights were pretty easy, (I did almost all the dark souls 1 bosses first/second try as well, so might just be me) so you might want to install another mod that makes leveling harder or sth if u need an extra challenge. However, everything else about this game felt pretty peak especially after playing the very overglazed sekiro lately that had like 3 areas that looked distinct and every other area either looked the same or literally was the same area. This can't be said about Peak Souls II where you have like 20 areas that all feel and look very different from each other. I definitely had more fun playing this than dark souls I, sekiro and maybe dark souls III (I just remember the first half of the game feeling like work instead of fun and last 10-20% being pretty good). Dark Souls II has some great ideas and a lot of very interesting areas, if they ever remake this game, remove adapdability, make the bosses stronger in turn and work out the areas a little more this will be the best dark souls game by a long shot maybe even as good as elden ring if they really put work into the bosses. TLDR: The best Dark Souls without adapdability stat. A lot of great ideas, especially the amount of distinct areas. As good as elden ring if they ever rework the game and work on bosses moveset and flesh out the areas a little more.