I understand what the reviews were talking about. This is the worst game Fromsoft has made. I recommend skipping Dark Souls 2.
As someone who just 100%'d and LOVED Dark Souls 1, this game is a truly jarring experience in so many ways, some good, the rest Dreadfully awful, I can see why people like it, I can understand and relate to those who hate it. I will keep playing through it and 100% this one as well, because that is my mission with this franchise and developer. I will get better at this, and I will update as I go along. However here are my thoughts so far:
The Positives:
The Areas:
The areas so far are pretty, not super confusing (although the worlds layout is non-sensical) and fun to explore, find new NPCs and learn subtle lore about places. Not as strong as the first game but it is there.
The Music:
The music is great (albeit a bit loud even on the lowest setting next to mute), everywhere has a fitting soundtrack whether it's calming for Majula or dread filled for Forest of Fallen Giants and Heide's Tower of Flame (among others but I won't dwell on spoiler territory)
NPCS:
The NPCs are interesting for a bit, they have nice simple side missions, quests, lore, though some are actually just annoying to talk to.
The Story:
I really do love how this follows the story of a lost undead just following some calling, trying to be the one to break the curse, and free everyone, again.
Bosses, Mini-bosses, and Fodder Enemies:
Bosses are cool, and so are the mini-bosses, they are balanced and have good attack patterns and lore attatched, they have actual meaning behind them most of the time! They also have second phases that are more noticable from the first game! Very nice :), and I do take comfort in knowing if you kill an enemy enough (12 times I believe) they stay gone until you recall them. So progress is slow but it's there.
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My Complaints:
Controls:
Stepping from Dark Souls 1 to this one is truly daunting, I should have listened to everyone's warnings. The controls are catered to controllers and not keyboard and mouse, so it is very unstable and attacks, defencive moves, etc are completely different from Dark Souls 1 or are completely gone. IE the parry, you can lo longer go from blocking to parrying with right click and shift, you must hold shift then right click by default, this is a MASSIVE negative change. Also there's "phantom settings" things not listed in the settings but they exist, like the slow attack burst, if you hold attack for longer than 1/2 a second you take this long charge up shot, which can easily get you killed so I don't know why this was even an idea. With changing the controls ou have to change everything bit by bit very slowly because the settings don't save properly. The first half hour of gameplay is setting up an intelligent control scheme.
NPC's and Core DS mechanics:
The NPCS don't shut up and say the same line over and over again whenever you engage to speak to them, especially the Emerald Herald, speaking of her she is the ONLY way to level up, say goodbye to the main reason for bonfire usage because they're only good for teleporting.
Earning souls is so slow too, you could farm for a half hour to level up but only level up maybe 1 time, getting maybe 2-3 thousand souls in that time. Also everything is so expensive.
DYING:
When you die you lose 5% of your max health until you use a human effigy, now this wouldn't be an issue if it stacked only 4 maybe 5 times, but it stacks until you lose 50% of your max health, that plus the curse effect well, that's your health bar. Additionally the effigies are expensive as well as being semi-rare. I do like the connection between going hollow when you die so many times but it should stay a story point, not an annoyance of a game mechanic.
My problem with the enemies:
The enemies are annoying, they have very small windows when you can attack back and they can break through your shield almost instantly, leaving no chance of taking no damage. Weapons swing so slowly, they take barely any damage, and they throw many enemies at you during gameplay. Not a fun amount, no, but an irritating, unfun, unbalanced amount. Especially the dark spirits, no cooldown on their attacks either, woof.
Animations:
Animations take too long for important actions, like drinking from the Estus flask, using a Life crystal, getting up from a Bonfire, getting up from being in a downed state, so on. The Estus flask one is a major change from the 1st installment too, usually taking about a second to take effect, now taking 3-4. As well as it not being an instant heal but a slow ramp up in health.
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I will, again, update as I go through it, but heavens does this game just feel.... wrong, so far.
