Nathir
Liturgist
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2017
- Messages
- 1,203
DS2 has mostly the same combat as DS1. Only clunkier and slower. Enemies have more tracking in their attacks, but you get used to it. There is a healing item you can buy in unlimited quantities that is faster than your flask for some reason. Has one of the worst difficulty curves, where it starts out really hard and gets easier and easier. Level design is fine for the most part, although there are some stinkers. The DLC areas especially are great to explore. There is no original or interesting story. If you thought DS1 had a cool world or characters, DS2 doesn't. It has no idea what it is about, and you are given no reason to care. There are some attempts in referencing DS1 lore for no reason but fanservice. It has some cool NPCs but that's about it. In the intro you are told by an NPC you will die over and over again as she starts to cackle for no reason. And indeed you will die a lot. As Dark Souls 2 makes it clear that killing the player is a top priority. You will get swarmed with a lot more enemies, even early. You will get ambushed or shot at by enemies you can't see. One of the things that stuck with me on my replay last summer was how in one level there is a door that opens into nothingness and you fall down a cliff. Why would there be a door like this? Oh, to kill the player. There are a lot of cool weapons and armor to try out though. As far as loot goes DS2 is pretty fun in collecting different items. But most importantly Dark Souls 2 is an ugly game. It received a major graphical downgrade that made certain areas look like from 2005. And the design of the enemies and the world itself is very clunky and boring. If you thought DS1 had a cool atmosphere and visual design, DS2 lost that aswell. Has the most forgettable bosses ever. The three DLCs are far better than anything in the base game.
DS3 changes the combat into something much faster. Bosses are faster and have more tracking, and longer combos. You have fewer opportunities to counterattack and heal. Generally even basic enemies can be harder than some bosses in DS1/DS2. Level design is the worst in the entire series. Most boring world to traverse and explore. If DS2 still had levels that wanted to kill you, DS3 losses this and the challenge become single enemies instead.The visuals are better this time, but for some reason everything is grey. Again, there is little actual story here. It tries hard to reference DS1 in everything it does. Has some non-story about cycles, most generic NPCs, nothing matters. Remember when I said levels are bad? There's a lore reason for it now. Multiple places are phasing into the same reality and everything becomes conjoined and cobbled together. Worst game for loot collecting and trying out different weapons/armor imo.
Play DS2 if you would like more of the same, except uglier and with less reason to care.
Play DS3 if you would like to try out a faster combat pace, with single enemies being harder than DS1 bosses, and with even less reason to care.
If you can't even finish DS1, I'm guessing you won't be able to finish the other 2 aswell. My suggestion? Try Demon souls or Elden ring.
The difference compared to something like Lost Izalith is day and night, even though the enemies are much less strong numerically, because of how placed they are, you always have to stay alert. Exploring it was also fun, probably best level overall, even if Blighttown feels more epic 
