Poll of the Day > So should I skip Dark Souls II

(+) Yeah! (+)

tell me

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Do you own 2?
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gonna buy one or the other today

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You have a lot of freedom with build in 2 cause they throw a lot of souls at you so you can specialize in two things instead of just going strength or dex or magic, you can go like strength and dex, or dex and faith, or whatever.

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2 is my favourite, but I like the multiplayer

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DSII is great fun. ignore the haters

They're all good in the their own way.

If playing I didnt bother you id say play II as well. Never played it but have met a decent amount that like it. Scholar of the First Sin supposedly the better version.

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Go III if you're willing to skip II.
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Even though 2 is my least favorite in the series it's still worth playing.

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But ds3 is the best though

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2 is the least memorable. I remember almost nothing about it.
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GanonsSpirit posted...

2 is the least memorable. I remember almost nothing about it.

I thought that once, then I remembered half of what I remembered of DkSIII was actually II.
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if you liked DS1 then give it a shot. it's not a bad game by any means. I actually don't really know why people hate it so much, all I can say is it was my least favorite in the trilogy, which isn't saying much. Favorite for me is DS3.

im downloading II right now

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2 just feels like a chore to play.

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sodium-chloride posted...

if you liked DS1 then give it a shot. it's not a bad game by any means. I actually don't really know why people hate it so much, all I can say is it was my least favorite in the trilogy, which isn't saying much. Favorite for me is DS3.

What DkSII did worst was what made DkS unique.
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2 is certainly the weakest but its still a solid game. Give it a go.

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i skipped 2 to go to 3 and went back to 2 recently

it's still a good game

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Bah 2 is a GREAT game, not just a good one. Three is actually easier through most of it, so 2 can take a bit more skill, and you have less fireshrines by far.

There are 2 versions of 2 as well, get the second version if you can, both were quite worth playing though.

All the Dark souls games (including the first on the ps2 I think it was) were very worth it.

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i thought 1 and 2 are good but not like super duper fantastic, though i see why some people consider them amazing

but i do think 3 is legit amazing

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It's so weird hearing people praise 3, they're all good - yes, but 3 is easily my least favourite.

It does have the best final boss though, and a few of the boss fights would make the top 10 for me

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Most of my gripes with DS2 are very minor things. Like the enemy placement is super annoying in some places. I can't tell you how many times I would run through an area, come up to a relatively tough enemy, only to be ass-attacked by like five little pieces of shit that came out of the woodwork somewhere behind me. Most of the bosses are lame and unimaginative and the final boss is a joke. And I'm not sure if it's only in DS2, but a lot of times it seems like enemy melee attacks are magnetized to you. Like, in the middle of an attack they'll do a 180 and hit you as you try to dodge.

It's still the best Fashion Souls game with way more options for builds and weapon combinations.

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kind9 posted...

And I'm not sure if it's only in DS2, but a lot of times it seems like enemy melee attacks are magnetized to you. Like, in the middle of an attack they'll do a 180 and hit you as you try to dodge.

This is true, and is only in DS2 and select enemies in DS1 - this is because in order to optimize multiplayer, almost all monsters in DS2 use the same lock-on and swing mechanics players have. The easiest way to see this in action is to lock on to an Abomination (in the sunken part of the prison) and then strafe left and right and you'll see the monster instantly pivot every time.

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Lokarin posted...

It's so weird hearing people praise 3, they're all good - yes, but 3 is easily my least favourite.

It does have the best final boss though, and a few of the boss fights would make the top 10 for me

I liked 3 a lot while I was playing it, but I definitely played through it far less than 2. I think I went through 2 the most of any souls game I've played

I wouldn't say any of them are really worth skipping. Given the lack of interconnectedness between the games, you won't really suffer for playing 2 after 3 if you want to go that route, but I wouldn't say it's at all necessary.

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funkyfritter posted...

Even though 2 is my least favorite in the series it's still worth playing.

Pretty much this. I recently replayed them all, and 2 is definitely the worst. But it's the worst in a series where I've beaten each game at least 3 times, so I certainly can't call it bad.

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funkyfritter posted...

Even though 2 is my least favorite in the series it's still worth playing.

Definitely. It still has some great moments.

It's worth playing for the DLC alone. The lost crowns is IMO the best stuff in the entire series. Just goes to show how great the series is. There really isn't a definitive "best game". All three (four if you count Demon's Souls) do their own little things that the others don't.

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wtf @ this harsh ass death penalty and having 1 estus flask lol

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wolfy42 posted...

All the Dark souls games (including the first on the ps2 I think it was) were very worth it.

You mean Demon's Souls on PS3?

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shit at 10 a piece just buy both.

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J_Dawg983 posted...

shit at 10 a piece just buy both.

I did lol

too good of a deal

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so is dark souls iis gimmick just being stupidly hard? cause im honestly hating it.

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yeah this one fuckin blows

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^ Probably everyone's first reaction to DS2.

You have to upgrade your estus with estus flask shards and sublime bone dust, which you find throughout the game. At least you get crunchberries to compensate for lack of estus early on. In case you were wondering the first area you should go to is Forest of the Fallen Giants.

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You should lets play, I want to see you hating what I hate lol
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ReggieTheReckless posted...

DSII is great fun. ignore the haters

It's fun, I think I like it more than 3 which is too hard for me (I know, I know).
Part 2 has its share of problems but it has some real strengths like way way better sorceries.

Part 1 is still the best, for the world design alone.

Worst parts of 2 IMO would be: The Adaptability stat, the whole 'reduce your max HP when you die' thing, and the Soul Matching mechanic. When I first played the game I loved helping others with jolly co-op on the starter bosses, only to eventually have the game phase me out of being able to help. Mind you, I had no idea about why this happened as IIRC it's never explained to you in-game.

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Kyuubi4269 posted...

Do you own 2?

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Im slowly adjusting and liking it more but fuck the adaptability/agility stats.

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DirtBasedSoap posted...

so is dark souls iis gimmick just being stupidly hard? cause im honestly hating it.

pretty sure I've already said it in one of your or someone's other "how is Dark Souls 2" threads, but yeah, the game acts as if the whole point of Dark Souls is that you're supposed to die, and it kind of has that baked into its gameplay.

you get used to it after a half-dozen playthroughs or so 8)

the worst part is that there are a couple ambushes where the enemies actually have infinite stamina, and they can run at you forever and attack forever. it's hard to survive those when you know about them, nevermind your first playthrough.

basically, it ends up being hard in a bad way instead of in a good way. it can be incredibly frustrating if you let it, but it's not too bad if you can get used to it. (that's true for all of them actually, but maybe this one the most.)

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Sahuagin posted...

pretty sure I've already said it in one of your or someone's other "how is Dark Souls 2" threads, but yeah, the game acts as if the whole point of Dark Souls is that you're supposed to die, and it kind of has that baked into its gameplay.

you get used to it after a half-dozen playthroughs or so 8)

the worst part is that there are a couple ambushes where the enemies actually have infinite stamina, and they can run at you forever and attack forever. it's hard to survive those when you know about them, nevermind your first playthrough.

basically, it ends up being hard in a bad way instead of in a good way. it can be incredibly frustrating if you let it, but it's not too bad if you can get used to it. (that's true for all of them actually, but maybe this one the most.)

Pretty sure every Dark Souls game acts like you're supposed to die.
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Revelation34 posted...

Pretty sure every Dark Souls game acts like you're supposed to die.

not like 2. 2 actually tells you you're "gonna die and die and die" as if it was a good thing, and you can feel it in the design.

1 and 3 are maybe hard games, but they're not obsessed with the idea that the player has to die a lot and that that's what the point of the game is.

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Sahuagin posted...

not like 2. 2 actually tells you you're "gonna die and die and die" as if it was a good thing, and you can feel it in the design.

1 and 3 are maybe hard games, but they're not obsessed with the idea that the player has to die a lot and that that's what the point of the game is.

It's funny because I also consistently see people saying that it's one of the easiest Souls games (and that that's a bad thing)... so... *shrug*

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Gaawa_chan posted...

It's funny because I also consistently see people saying that it's one of the easiest Souls games (and that that's a bad thing)... so... *shrug*

it's not so much that it's "hard" as that it's designed unnecessarily frustrating. a game can be hard without being frustrating, but DS2 is in ways specifically made to feel frustrating rather than enjoyably challenging.

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The weird thing about dark souls 2 in terms of difficulty is that the bosses are mostly easy, it's the ambushes and certain regular enemies that are perplexingly hard. People complain about the game not because it's too challenging or too easy, but because you end up struggling against stuff that shouldn't be frustrating and then the boss fight at the end of the same area is a pushover.

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Get original DkS 2. DO NOT get scholar of the first sin. At least not for your first experience.
Its like a second quest in classic Zelda. Everything is strategically placed to be the sneakiest, gankiest, trollish shit ever.

in my opinion it completely undermines what makes Dark Souls fun.

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ZBug_ posted...

Get original DkS 2. DO NOT get scholar of the first sin.

ah, yes, I should really clarify all my statements as being about SotFS not vanilla DS2. I haven't played vanilla DS2 and always forget it exists. I don't know the actual differences; some people say they're not very different.

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ZBug_ posted...

Get original DkS 2. DO NOT get scholar of the first sin

Im playing it on PS4 so unfortunately my only option is SotFS but Ive heard that its better than vanilla DkSII.

anyway, I got tlou part ii today so dark souls II is on hold for a few weeks

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Sahuagin posted...

ah, yes, I should really clarify all my statements as being about SotFS not vanilla DS2. I haven't played vanilla DS2 and always forget it exists. I don't know the actual differences; some people say they're not very different.

Honestly the changes are subtle at first, like all the enemy placements are different, the thing is their new placements are intended to maximize frustration.
also theres a crap ton of the petrified statues in SotFS and most of them are useless. And you only get enough of the Branch of Yore to de-petrify about 2/3rds of them. So if you arent careful you can miss out on one-time items.

I feel like vanilla DkS2 is more like DkS 1 in terms of balancing and SotFS was just like fuck it. And fuck all of you

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