Dark Souls 2: YOU DIED HARDER

My local pub, they like to run From playthroughs on the TVs there

The perfect bar doesn't exi--

Seriously, that rules.

I think it would be enjoyable to replay this with the benefit of hindsight, instead of being all excited about The Sequel to Dark Souls.

Things I remember - it feels better after you level adaptability and get a normal amount of i-frames for your roll (still can't believe there was a stat for this), parry timing is super weird, and it was fun to fight the Pursuer and the chariot boss (similar to the chariots in the Hero's Graves in Elden Ring, except you can actually dodge under the spiky axles).

There were a lot of interesting & wacky mechanics, like being able to respawn a boss and put an individual area into a higher NG cycle by using an item.

DS2's nature as a miserable wrong-feeling off-brand janky imitation is part of its strange appeal imo

Fuck the DLC tho

I was thinking today about how the Souls series is a key example of "not a bug but a feature", or rather "leaning into the jankiness and making it a key part of the game".

e.g. the way even as late on as Elden Ring the NPCs stand stock-still like mannequins with very little body or facial movement even when they're speaking is by now part of the whole experience. They could easily have gone full Horizon Forbidden West, but you can tell they kidn of went "nope, people would hate that"

I appreciate that they don't spend their dev time & resources on stupid bullshit like moving mouths.

The generally excellent voice casting/direction/performances are sort of the non-jank glue that hold that aspect of it all together, can't imagine it'd work as well if it was like Steve Blum or whoever being all [bafflingly inappropriate intonation for the line] "I'VE GAHT TO USE MY HEAD AND THINK"

Peter Serafinowicz did some voice work on DS2 iirc

The little bit I played of Lords of the Fallen (still meaning to give it another chance) reaaallly made me appreciate how great the voice acting is in From games.

I think all these quirky From traits that we know and love really show how much time and resources other studios spend/waste on things like cut scenes and facial animations.

My impression of this game so far is that it's really not that far the first game, save for a few obvious differences. The Way people talk about it, you'd think it would be like Super Mario 2 in that it's a totally different game, but no not really

to me it feels like a whole game with the finish of Lost Izalith, though there are undoubtedly some memorable things about it

When you mean the "finish", do you mean the graphics or more the level design?

a bit of both I suppose, it lacks the puzzle-box design of DS1 and the graphics and design seem a bit muddy and dull, but of course it is a game that is ten years old, it wouldn't be fair to judge it by the standard of Elden Ring

No, it wouldn't. I didn't play DS1 at the time; I went back to it after playing Bloodborne, Elden Ring and Demon's Souls.

This is going to sound sacrilegious, but while there's a lot to like about it, it's the one i love least out of all those. Perhaps that's just down to the graphics: there's a grubby patina all over it that I don't really like. I also think, of all the games, it's really unforgiving and obfuscated in what you're meant to be doing and how to do it. It feels egregiously cruel in ways the other games don't for some reason

you mean DS1 right? I think DS2 has a similar but if anything more muddy graphical style, and some of the same "what next?" issues. There's one particularly egregious example of this that springs to mind in DS2.

I'm only a short way into DS2 so it's too early to say. Going into the tutorial I was a bit "I dunno if I can cope with these grotty tunnels, they all look pretty lo-fi and samey" but then I emerged into Majula and thought "Oh this is like the First Step or Anor Londo, it's really pretty!"

I don't really play Souls games for the graphics, mind you, much as there have been some beautiful updates to Elden Ring lately. It's part of that "accepted jank" I get from these games. Plus, I mean, it's a PS3 game that was polished up a little later for the next gen, I don't expect it to be amazing-looking.

I was talking about this with a friend yesterday actually, about how some games *cough God Of War Ragnarok* are beautiful masterpieces with amazing visuals, sound and acting. But ultimately the story was a bit directionless and the game itself was a repetitive sequence of gamey puzzles and tappa-tappa battle sequences. So often I would see an item in an inaccessible place and think "hmm, I wonder how to get to it? there must be a secret path or a hidden door or something", when the solution was almost always to keep walking and you'll get to it in a minute or two.

I think that's the big appeal of the Fromsoft games for me: not just the convoluted lore (which I love), or the difficult battles (which I'm also very into), but the way the levels build on each other, the dopamine hit of working out how to get to a certain place or unlocking a shortcut or a new area. That's largely why Stormveil Castle is my favourite level of any game, it's just full of secrets. I really hope DS2 isn't bereft of all that

Dark Souls 2 is a good video game and the shit it gets is a bit out of proportion. It is the wonky little brother of the group, but it’s still probably better than 95% of whatever else came out for your console in 2014.

TBH the one I felt the most cold on was Dark Souls 3. Some “The Force Awakens” corrective vibes to that one that felt kinda hollow to me.

I've heard people rep for DS2 while saying that DS3 is let down by nonsensical fan service

DS3 is much better than 2. Probably my fave of the series. The coolest areas, the smoothest combat, great atmosphere. Closest to the feel of ER.

agreed. not sure what those people you mention mean tbh dl.

in other news i fancied some old school “crunchy” DS1 vibes so relaunched it for a go round.

rage quit after trying to return and collect a lot of souls and mobs just rng’d the fuck out of me.

agreed. not sure what those people you mention mean tbh dl.

It's the hard opinion of the Bonfireside Chat podcasters I listen to (who are generally very good and OTM and know so much about Souls games). They're fans of DS2 but felt that stuff happened in DS3 that didn't make sense beyond "look, here is a reference from the first game for no apparent reason", to the extent that characters and items turn up that shouldn't exist. They had some mechanical qualms too, but I haven't played enough DS3 to really make my own judgement

That is a crazy opinion. DS2’s crow trader, instead of being tucked away mid-game, shows up in the tutorial section to scream fan service at you

Ah bit that's in the tutorial section where you might totally forget to go back to later. I quite like the crow being there as opposed to having to parkour up a complicated series of walls, then get taken to another area entirely (actually, also the tutorial area of DS1 now I come to think of it) before I can swap a few trinkets and items

Plus, I think there's perfectly cromulent lore for the crows to be there in DS2. The argument doesn't seem to be about rhe fan service itself, rather the fact there are things inserted I to DS3 "just because" and this doesn't always make sense to the story- the reaction is "Oh hoh! That's very cool, i recognise this thing... but why?"

Ha, as if DS2 is innocent in that respect. Ornstein as an early boss, just because? Also 'fuck it, we're going to six gargoyles.'

Ha, forgot about them. I forget about everything in these games, despite spending so much timr immersed in their worlds.

I thought the relentless enemy aggro range in the game was a real challenge.

I'm maybe what around 50 hours in, and only killed Fake Ornstein and got to that pirate ship area but I can't say I'm not really enjoying this game so far - possibly more than even DS1 which I found unnecessarily fussy in its cruelty in the first half, then a bit empty in the second.

I really loved Forest Of The Fallen Giants. Love how the first level of every Fromsoft game (Boletaria, Undead Burg, Central Yarnham, Stormveil Castle) is always this gurt overlapping thing with loads of secret little hidden bits and shortcuts and paths that crisscross each other - they're my favourite kinds of levels. It's great to just work through these meticulously and figure out what you're meant to do and where. I beat both bosses and I think I found most of the items before progressing.

Heide's Tower Of Flame felt trivial at first, eerily familiar compared to Anor Londo. But I made the mistake of just running up to the Dragonrider and beating him before realising this would aggro the sedentary Heide Knights who made my life a serious issue when trying to fight the red dragon there. I spent most of yesterday night trying to clear them all out, then I summoned the NPC and beat the Old Dragonslayer (Ornstein). It took a long time, but I was determined and it was very satisfying.

So far, every area has required a unique logical approach, even compared to DS1. So with the pirate bay level I'm on now, it's clearly all about making sure you light the sconces so that when you inevitably die and reset, you have advantage over your enemies in the next run

Other things I generally enjoy about the game:

- Perma-deaths of certain enemies. I thought I wouldn't be into this, but considering how many runs I often have to do fighting the same dude over and over again, it's kind of cool that FromSoft included an "I GET IT" feature. Anyone know how many times you need to kill an enemy before it stops respawning?

- Adaptability. Controversial, but I'm into it. You feel your character get better at dodging and rolling as you level this up; it's pretty satisfying

- Levelling up. Speaking of which, I'm impressed at how quickly I've managed to level up my character and some of my weapons without really having to grind. My first Souls game was Bloodborne, and I couldn't imagine getting through that without farming those bridge hounds a few times. This feels fairly balanced. Plus you get the re-spec item pretty early on

- It's a big big game (I realise I'm still at the start 50 hours in), but the levels are pretty short and manageable, so I feel like I'm progressing even if I can spend a whole night on just one area.

- I like how many NPCs I'm running into. There are so many! And whenever I see one I'm like "Oh boy!" Love this.

- The "fan servicey" stuff is just right for me here. I like the fact Heide's Tower Of Flame is kind of an Anor Londo tribute, and there's some lore speculation as to whether the Dragonslayer Knight is literally an old and diminished Ornstein or whether it's some sort of imposter. Then there are more subtle things, like the pirate area feeling a tiny bit like Archstone 5 in Demon's Souls.

Stuff I'm not sure about:

- The NPCs are strangely cheery and I'm just not used to that. The Crestfallen Knight is especially chatty. Not sure how I feel about this.

Anyone know how many times you need to kill an enemy before it stops respawning?

12, I think? Glad you're enjoying it, love to see it.

Something thst is getting my goat a little is the sheer range of aggro and how far enemies will kite you before giving up. I'm not asking it to be easy, but meticulously clearing an area over and over again before moving on can get pretty tedious after a while

I do kind of "like" it in that enemies hitting their range limits is a little immersion-breaking, and it feels more realistic to have them trod (or run) after you as long as they can see you. Of course it's annoying af.

I was thinking about this while playing Elden Ring last night, how hilarious it would be to run across the open world and gather a small army of animals and enemies chasing after you.

Oh the aggro/de-aggro range in ER is tiny by comparison.

This pirate level is super annoying because its such tight spaces and there are so many enemies. Plus some of them are lying down / barely visible so unless you tread really carefully each time, stopping to check no one's after you, you can get ganged up on so easily. It's fine, until you have to do it a dozen times

And I swear there are some enemies (like dogs) who can hit you after you've clearly killed them. Like, they jump at you, miss, you hit and kill them mid air, half your health bar disappears. That feels unfair

Maybe the dogs have bad internet connections

my ds1 playthrough (sorry for derail) has been characterised by me going “oh *yeah*, everyone follows you forever” (just before succumbing to a weakling mob, while dodge rolling to futility, as they go absolutely rng on my ass after several blameless runbacks)

lol xpost

In an attempt to save estus, I
have taken to equipping the restoration ring, killing a few enemies, running to safety, waiting for ages for my health bar to refill, then relaying back.

If I do push ups while I'm waiting I guess it's a health plan?

I beat Old Man's Wharf or whatever it's called. The pirate level. Man, it was tough, but I think that has to be one of my favourite levels from any of the Souls games. Then I find out that it was largely optional because I could have got to the same destination via Forest of Fallen Giants(?!) Dark SOUUUULS!!!!!!

Was expecting to have terrible trouble with rhe Belfry Gargoyles but I mashed them all up first go in under a couple of minutes. Wahoooo!

Good soapstone jokes are very far between, but I had a proper LOL moment yesterday.

After beating the gargoyles, I walked cautiously into the next area, a dark windowless room with incredibly noisy floorboards that made a loud clomping sound when I walked on them. In the middle of the room is a soapstone that simply reads: "horse"

Haha. Enjoying these vague memories of DS2 being jarred loose.

Lost Bastille was EXCELLENT too - even better than Old Man's Wharf. I'm enjoying the fact there are a lot of "Stormveil"-style levels in DS2 where you're crawling around a castle with loads of ramparts and towers and you'll come out somewhere and look around and think "Huh, I was over there a minute ago!"

It's definitely one of my favourite things about all these games. Elden Ring really capitalised on that. Like when you're at the Chapel of Anticipation, you can use binoculars to look out at that whole section of Stormveil with the knife eagles and the path leading down where you crash through several platforms.

The bit in Lost Bastille where you need to roll a barrel and then blow it up felt very non-Souls in a fun way. More like a Mario reference or something.

haha yeah. i wouldn't have guessed you need to do that without a hint. there's a bit in Fallen Giants area that's a bit like that. The Pursuers are nails though. I had to literally clear a whole courtyard of enemies until they stopped respawning to make that even close to a fair fight

Skeleton Lords toppled on second try (although I got a bit of help from Creighton and the Large Club). Man that was a fun boss fight! And I enjoyed the Huntsman's Copse even though it was VERY SCARY! More than once, I thought I'd totally cleared an area when one of those hooded thieves would sneak up behind me - and they hit hard!