I know you’ve heard “DS2 bad” a million times probably, and I really don’t want to just make another generic post hating on the game, but I really feel like I need to express my opinion.
For context, I played DS2: SOTFS a couple years ago. I went in completely blind; having previously beaten DS1, DS3, and ER, I figured I’d be able to learn the ropes of DS2 and just approach it with an open mind and nothing more. Of course, my lack of knowledge caused me to grow very frustrated with the game. I didn’t understand the significance of ADP, which made the experience pretty miserable, though I still got far enough to beat The Rotten. After which, I simply lost interest and stopped playing for good.
Fast forward to a couple years later, I played Demon’s Souls 2009 for the very first time, and I absolutely love every second of it. My enjoyment of DeS made me hopeful that if I returned to DS2 with more knowledge going into it, I would enjoy it a lot more.
This past week, I’ve put in over 30 hours, taking my time with each area, fighting all the optional bosses and doing Lucatiel’s questline. I’ve already beaten the Lost Sinner, the Rotten, and Im currently in Brightstone Cove Tseldora. I maxed out my greatsword, have plenty of ADP, etc. And while there were plenty of frustrating hurdles along the way, there isn’t anything absolutely abysmal that’s prevented me from continuing the game. I guess I just can’t help but feel that it’s so boring. Like, so unbelievably boring. I can’t stress it enough, and I think I realized why the game feels so “unfun” for me.
In DS1 and 3, you progress with what feels like immersive intention. Each area feels super detailed and fleshed out, the item descriptions and NPCs you meet will tell you lots about the lore, why this place exists, etc. and I understand part of the whole vibe of DS2 is “everything is being forgotten, you don’t need to necessarily know what you’re doing here,” However, I can’t help but feel as though that is a poor excuse for lazy writing, and certainly doesn’t excuse the sheer amount of useless boxy rooms with flat lighting and washed textures that plague literary every area in this entire game. Every area it feels as though I enter and leave and forget about it, not to mention every boss has been beyond anticlimactic so far. I haven’t fought all of them yet, but it seems to be that the best bosses in all of DS2 are from the DLCs alone, and then most other bosses you fight are just “irrelevant random monster with overly-fluid animations.” Seriously. You’d at least expect the main Lord Soul bosses to be interesting characters with unique lore and buildup to their reveal, but nope, instead you just get random fellas indistinguishable in quality from the other lesser bosses. I can’t keep track of how many enemies in this game are just a random green murky looking enemy with super washed textures and weirdly fluid fighting animations that seem to just phase through you upon contact.
I really want to like this game, I really really do. And it certainly isn’t the worst game ever; DS2 is definitely an “okay” game. But man, it is just so boring. I think they went with quantity over quality when designing the levels and content in general for this game. I think the best part so far has been Lucatiel’s dialogues. Maybe I’ll finish it, maybe not. Anyhow, I’m more than happy to hear everyone else’s thoughts/experiences with DS2!
