Dark Souls 2 [360, PS3, PC] Review

[Golgo]

Mundane cannot bring a weapon back to its original status because in the infusion menu you have both options available

So the item description etc are BS. This is all too confusing for my brain. So much for the interim director's pledge to make the game systems less asisine and obscure.

[briareos_kerensky]

Aren't you confusing the Mundane stone with the Palestone? The Palestone does exactly what you mean.

[Golgo]

Yep! / exits thread in disgrace...

[briareos_kerensky]

Just beaten the game...a longer post will come later, the only thing I can say now is "was that the last boss?"

[DANGEROUS-3]

Finished the game last night, final stats-

Lvl 182
84 hrs
Deaths 369
18/38 achievements 410/1000 gamerscore

I won't be starting NG+ as I have no interest in that. DS for me is about the adventure once I've already done it, nah. This was a great game but to echo the statements of others not as good as the first. The reasons for this imo were that the level design was not as awesomely intricate and interconnected as DS1 and the since the game was brighter and more colourful (which I actually think was a good idea for DS2 as it gave it it's own style) this meant it was not as 'dark' and as such did not provide the same feeling of dread throughout. Anyway, shame about the screen tearing. I rate DS2 9/10.

The first game I completed offline but with this one after the free gold weekend I signed back up to XBL since DS2 was so much fun in co-op. The downside to this fun is that it removes any challenge whatsoever from the game. But I did not want to spend 8 weeks playing DS again, playing co-op you can blast through the game in a few weeks without the grinding.

Next up is The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and then it's time for my 360 to retire and join the console museum in my wardrobe.

[briareos_kerensky]

Rather than writing a "review" post, I spent some time pursuing optional paths (like the Pilgrims of the Dark covenant) and then in NG+.

First, NG+ impressions:

->Open Spoiler<-

are those enemies a step after the game's starting location? And why are there so many black phantoms? Why is the Pursuer so easy with a stable shield?
The idea developers had with NG is to cram as many black phantoms as possible were before there was no or not that many enemies, which is essentially a very cheap and once-per-playthrough way to increase the difficulty.

This solution isn't particularly good because it ties directly into what I've found is one of the main problems with Dark Souls II...but let's proceed with shields raised and quiet steps.

I think that Dark Souls II has two main problems: level and boss design.

Levels feel very "videogamey", as they were designed with enemy placement in mind, rather than being functional structures that got filled with enemies. There's also very little to no tension coming from the environments, something that made Demon's and DS1 so compelling. The number of dangerous pathways and jumps to great rewards (or great delusions) is drastically lower, with the game world feeling less consistend than before, and not explored because it's fun and rewarding to do so, but because you have to do it.
One thing I didn't particularly like is that the bow can be used to bait enemies like in Demon's, and hitting something with an arrow often causes just the target to become active, rather scrambling all enemies in close proximity; there's also a lot of places where enemy snipers (either archers or mages) seem to be there just be just sniped off with minimum effort, and even stronger enemies (black phantoms and the

->Open Spoiler<-

Dragon Remnants warriors before the Ancient Dragon

) aren't particularly smart...sure, they put up a better fight than most, but they surely are no Satsuki from Demon's, although "easier" black phantoms is something shared by DS1 as well.
On the graphical side, environments are very similar to each other, with an abundance of castle and ruined castles. Not particularly against it, but it would be nice if castles were a bit more than some rooms and corridors put together, everything kinda feels small, even if the size of the architecture suggests otherwise.

Bosses are the biggest pitfall, as they are less memorable than the levels. Most of them are dudes with swords, and for a melee build, they are always approache by strafing and countering while they recover. Tricky areans aren't that many, and way too many resort on 2-on-1 to make the battle meaningful. However, these battles aren't anything like Ornstein and Smough in DS1, and it soon becomes apparent how to herd enemies around as you want. The only exception is probably the Darklurker, an optional boss, that's still an humanoid figure.
Not much has gone into boss design, and this weights down the game a lot, because it also straightens approach to them, and the pleasure of finding out a particular tactic to defeat a boss is completely lost. It can be said that the many boss knights fit in the game's story, but what about bosses like the

->Open Spoiler<-

Demon of Song

or

->Open Spoiler<-

the Rotten

? Those could have been something much wilder, and the only boss that really stands out is the

->Open Spoiler<-

Executioner's Chariot

, but even that pales in comparison to what was found in Demon's and DS1.
About DS1, not much in design (Demon's is still the best for that), but for the fereocity of the bosses. As a melee build, I've found bosses increasingly easy, and now with a bit of NG+, I feel that bosses were difficult due to the lack of proper equipment (stable, 100% physical protection shield) more than anything else. All bosses past the

->Open Spoiler<-

Lost Sinner

are laughably easy, and require only a couple of attempts to clear while soloing.

This is not to say that DS2 is a bad game...it's more Dark Souls, and there's nothing wrong with it, but the game did lose a lot of shine in this sequel.

[Golgo]

I've clocked about 18-20 bosses including two primal bonfires. Getting bored now is there much left?

[hudson]

New Game plus. Brilliant game.

[briareos_kerensky]

I've clocked about 18-20 bosses including two primal bonfires. Getting bored now is there much left?

Mhmmm...hours? Anyway, I've done it in 50 hours, including some grinding at the end for one optional boss.

[hudson]

I think he meant 18-20 bosses killed. 'Clocked' can also mean 'completed'.

[Golgo]

Beg pardon, yes, I meant - in the somewhat archaic sense - "bashed".

[S3M]

There's 31 bosses (including extra bosses) in total so you should be near the end, got bored myself as I can't be arsed to beat the final boss as I've seen pictures of it and know how rubbish it is, I just need to walk to the fight.

Not a patch on the previous two games, anyone who gave this a 10 needs to play better video games as there is a lot of them out there.

I'll finish this in a day or two, then finally get around to doing the DLC for the first game.

[hudson]

I love this game. Well worthy of my ten. Can't think of any recent game that come close apart from the other Souls games and Sword of Sodan.

[Golgo]

Got to the end of

->Open Spoiler<-

Black Gulch

. Loved that whole descent, including the Blightownesque area, as - although not massively hard - it felt unpredictable and creepy. Brilliantly gross boss too, with echoes of Castlevania's

->Open Spoiler<-

Legion

, I think

[briareos_kerensky]

There's 31 bosses (including extra bosses)

Ah, never realised there were that many bosses. I guess the lack of an animated intro realy hurts what you percieve as "boss".