Dark Souls 2 [360, PS3, PC] Review

[kellog7]

Christ I am so bad at this game. Watching me play you'd never believe I actually cleared the first game. I ended up restarting as I was fed up running round with half my health bar gone.

[Tobal]

Not sure why he has his knickers in a twist, but from what I've played so far it and only having finished Dark Souls 2 months ago, this games only major difference (apart from longer delays for parry/block) is that you no longer need to grind, I've made it through 3 boss battles

->Open Spoiler<-

(tree giant(@lvl25), floating knight(@lvl28) and Mutli rat rumble(@lvl34)

with only a shield I found and the starter mace for cleric (upgraded twice so far), I can't really use my single healing spell in battle due to the wind up so all this talk about melee getting the shaft is complete crap, just dodge the swings and smack him and if you can't do that summon another player and use him to as bait for free hits.

As for game being linear is complete **** to, like the games before it a little adventuring in any direction will open up new paths, get stuck go another direction to level up abit or find new places. Next level progression increases only so slightly at the start (i think its 2500/3000 souls for lvl41) so you level up fast without the need to grind and boss fights give a ton of souls so you can either buy something expensive from the vendor like special rings or key items to allow more adventuring options to locked places or falls you couldn't survive before or level up 5/7 times in a row. And make sure to talk to npcs till they run out of dialogue and I've missed a few key item like that.

The lighting is just strange, they sort of built it so when you have a torch or torch light source from a wall/stand the shadows look fantastic and match the atmosphere of the first games but without that around most objects look like they don't have shadowing so it looks terrible..

[crocky-chocky]

Clicked with this massively today. It took longer than with the previous two games but yeah, I'm in.

I'd got a bit stuck and was starting to resent traipsing the same handful of bland corridors, but I returned fresh-faced this morning and managed a belter of a run where I covered loads of new ground, leveled up a bunch o' times and had an awesome realisation mid-boss fight that I actually managed to pull off. I was bebopping, riffing, absolutely smashing it, then I lost my souls by running off the sheer drop I told myself I'd never be dumb enough to fall down. Loved it.

I think there's a slight but noticeable dip in level design and setting so far. Every twist and turn in the first two felt like it had had equal time spent on its design, whereas DS2 is more sprawling and kinda messy in places. Locations haven't yet interconnected in cool ways like in Dark Souls, and instead the world seems to just fan outwards from the central hub. A weird abundance of bonfires so far too.

Still early days yet though, and I've every faith it'll get better and better.

I opted for the Traveller, based solely on him having a load of stuff already in his inventory. None of the items turned out to be rare or one-offs though, and his dagger and low dexterity made the first few hours a bit of a chuff.

[Sketcz]

So far I'd give it a 7/10 with Demon's on a 8/10 and Dark Souls one on a 9/10.

If I give Demon's Souls a 9/10 and Dark Souls 7/10, what do you think I'd give DSII?

[DANGEROUS-3]

Just finished my first go.
Mostly mincing about Majula admiring the scenery and taking in the lay of the land.

-How do I level up?
-Where can I get my crap sword fixed it's about to break?
-Where can I find a vendor that will have some decent noob weapons/armour?

I'm playing as a warrior with the healing gift.

[Tobal]

Just finished my first go.
Mostly mincing about Majula admiring the scenery and taking in the lay of the land.

-How do I level up?
-Where can I get my crap sword fixed it's about to break?
-Where can I find a vendor that will have some decent noob weapons/armour?

I'm playing as a warrior with the healing gift.

->Open Spoiler<-

1) a woman npc around the right side of the hill that leads up to the monument for the Blue Covenant, just past Majula bonfire. After that she appear near the bonfire

2) as long as you don't break them, you can restore damage bar to full resting at bonfires or finding/buying restore powder.

3) you can find weapons/armour by adventuring around, there is a npc that sells armour at the start in majula opposite the cat house, you can gain another one if you venture up the castle(forgot name, it's that path that if you where facing towards the mansion is to the left, near the path for the training area) full of hollows there will be npc at one of the bonfires, fully talking to her will make her move to Majula and she sells the key for the blacksmith.

[S3M]

Not sure why he has his knickers in a twist, but from what I've played so far it and only having finished Dark Souls 2 months ago, this games only major difference (apart from longer delays for parry/block) is that you no longer need to grind, I've made it through 3 boss battles

->Open Spoiler<-

(tree giant(@lvl25), floating knight(@lvl28) and Mutli rat rumble(@lvl34)

with only a shield I found and the starter mace for cleric (upgraded twice so far), I can't really use my single healing spell in battle due to the wind up so all this talk about melee getting the shaft is complete crap, just dodge the swings and smack him and if you can't do that summon another player and use him to as bait for free hits.

As for game being linear is complete **** to, like the games before it a little adventuring in any direction will open up new paths, get stuck go another direction to level up abit or find new places. Next level progression increases only so slightly at the start (i think its 2500/3000 souls for lvl41) so you level up fast without the need to grind and boss fights give a ton of souls so you can either buy something expensive from the vendor like special rings or key items to allow more adventuring options to locked places or falls you couldn't survive before or level up 5/7 times in a row. And make sure to talk to npcs till they run out of dialogue and I've missed a few key item like that.

The lighting is just strange, they sort of built it so when you have a torch or torch light source from a wall/stand the shadows look fantastic and match the atmosphere of the first games but without that around most objects look like they don't have shadowing so it looks terrible..

Reading the thread from the start might help... sigh. We already discussed the light but it looks **** unless you carry a torch and light the lamps through each level. You didn't need to grind in the first game, but this one is far more grindy from what I've seen I'll like to know you opinion when you just cleared the boss I did as I seem to be quite ahead of you, assuming you're not playing online. So suspect you're talking some **** there too.

The game's pretty linear up to the third boss battle now it's starting to split up but it's a poor start. Dark Souls let you branch from the start really quickly only now had a chance to use the second item I was given by a vendor, but all of the key items given by the vendors so far have just opened up bonus rooms and not much else.

Balancing is still all over the place and I fought two boss battles were you

->Open Spoiler<-

have to fight 3+ enemies at once. More concerned about the boss battle I just met as it's a rehash from Dark Souls and it's a rematch with the bell tower gargoyles only now it's throwing three+ of them at you, feels like From Software are just retreading old ground and have run out of ideas. Their idea of increasing the difficult is chucking more enemies at you in a boss fight, which is just poor, the fight with the three slim knight was just as bad, boss fights are far harder than Dark Souls so far

.

On the plus side there are still some some nice secret to be found

->Open Spoiler<-

As I found a secret blacksmith in the Lost Bastille

Not sure about the direction this game is going in it feels like there isn't much point to the quest in this and I just keep pushing ahead for no reason.

If I give Demon's Souls a 9/10 and Dark Souls 7/10, what do you think I'd give DSII?

Knowing you Sketcz I'm guessing a 5/10, plain average, that said I think I might knock my score down to a 6.

[Sketcz]

Knowing you Sketcz I'm guessing a 5/10, plain average, that said I think I might knock my score down to a 6.

I wish they'd release a Demon's Souls 2.

[Darwock]

Is it fair to say everyone has been underwhelmed by this so far? I'm trying not to read the thread due to subtle spoilers, but that's the impression I'm getting. I am a huge Demon's Souls fanboy and Dark Souls kept the torch lit, but I was worried about the change in project staff here and was also concerned that they may be starting to milk it. Dark Souls was a little broken already in comparison to Demons, plus I read stuff about even more PvP (which was the best aspect of Demons yet the worst aspect of Dark) that has put me off a bit. I'm not in a rush to play this one... Should I be?

[J0e Musashi]

I kinda feel the same. Dark wasn't anywhere near as good as Demon's for me, though I still hammered it.

[hudson]

Enjoying this lots. I just love the combat!

[Silvergun X]

Personally I'm loving this in exactly the same way as I was with the first Dark Souls. That said, I never played Demons Souls at all.

I don't understand why people would be finding this either disappointing or linear at all. I'm fully aware of the graphics downgrade issue myself and that's not affected my enjoyment in the slightest.

The linearity part is especially confusing to me, as I appear to have gone a completely different route at the start to everybody else. The first two bosses I ended up taking on were

->Open Spoiler<-

Dragonrider

and

->Open Spoiler<-

Old Dragonslayer

in the

->Open Spoiler<-

tower of flame

. Did nobody else make that mistake? I thought the initial area you're supposed to go in was very well hidden personally, as was the silly woman who gives you the Estus Flask and helps you level up. I did those two bosses without having levelled up at all!

This ties in with the grind aspect as well - If you're having to grind to defeat stuff, you're doing it wrong.

I think the main problem is unfamiliarity. I can boot up Dark Souls, start up a new character, and I know everything about the game right up to Ornstein and Smough off the top of my head. I don't have that luxury with Dark Souls 2. It's completely new territory and things have changed. Levelling up has changed. The durability on weapons has changed. Teleporting from bonfire to bonfire has changed. The initial 'meh' i'm willing to bet is 90% a result of going from the super familiar grounds of Dark Souls, to the complete unknown of Dark Souls 2.

The more familiar you get, the better it becomes, and for me it's on par with Dark Souls only far less frustrating.

[SUMIRE]

I loved the previous games because of their brutal but fair challenge, this seems more of the same for the first hour I have played. I love the atmosphere, the music, everything.

[Supergoal]

Anyone here waiting for the PC version instead of getting a console version?

[Golgo]

You know that bit after you meet Peter Serafinowiczczxxz,

->Open Spoiler<-

where gate closes and you get locked in? Spotted some signs on floor by stairs 'illusion wall' or somesuch, darned if I can find it though

. Any ideas? Or are these troll messages?

Really enjoying this now, turning my cleric into a badass evil cleric, got to first boss which was creepily impressive and was nicely splatted. The urge to thread a path to light up the place/sconces is curiously compelling too, and not just because it makes the lighting properly amazing.