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[jacksepticeye]

I guess I'll chime in and say what I think of the sequel.

- Architecture

Architecture is nowhere near that of the previous game. In DkS, discovering that Parish/Graveyard/New Londo/Burg was a great thing. Discovering that you could skip the entirety of Blighttown by the way of the Valley was also a great thing. Here, at most, I noticed that various parts of Bastille attach to each other and that's it. And how does the ship from No Man's Wharf connect to Bastille? Logically, how does Iron Keep connect to Earthen Peak? Why is the Sunlight covenant in Earthern Peak? What happened to things like, people having to run the gauntlet of the Sen's Fortress in order to reach Anor Londo? And the various methods used to give players non-linearity are done by things like.. a fork road with three paths? And it isn't even that linear, considering there's no alternative at the beginning of the game than to go to the Forest of Giants. I guess that brings me to my second point.

- Linearity

Dark Souls 2 is the most linear game in the series thanks to the way they've implemented petrified areas and their required items in order to progress. Can't get down the well without a relatively expensive ring or certain amount of souls for HP? Well, I guess you'd better trot off elsewhere and grind for souls! Can't get to the forest area because a petrified woman is blocking the area? Well, go find that item! What we have here is a ton of people progressing through the Forest of Giants and Bastille, hitting a wall at Ruin Sentinels.

- Bosses

There is a boss behind practically every fog wall and that's a huge disappointment because it makes the game hilariously boring and predictable. As for the bosses themselves, I have to wonder what they were thinking with some of them. Covetous comes to mind, as does gimmick bosses which are affected by the environment's surroundings. Having difficulty with Mytha? Don't worry, there's a gimmick which trivializes the entire fight. You've probably found it, though, thanks to the way orange signs are implemented (in such a way which can literally spoonfeed a player). I guess that brings me to another point! Also, a fair portion of these bosses seem to be rushed or simply not thought out or made in poor taste (Vendrick, Ancient Dragon, Covetous, Flexile, etc).

.

This is really well written and I agree with it. Especially all your talk about world and level design not being connected or being more linear. The biggest wow factor for me in DS1 was going around in a big adventure feeling so far from home (firelink) and then opening that one door and realising it connected to such a place, which made it easier to get back to this place etc. I wasn't just warping between bonfires willy nilly and I knew when they announced that fast travel from the start that the world design would suffer from it, it always does in games. It trivialises things

Also they gave you FAR too many bonfires. The black gulch became a redundant area because there were bonfires at either end.

I really hated the fog walls too. I said out loud many times "there's a boss behind this isn't there?" because almost all of them were. I think there's like 4-5 walls I found that weren't boss fights.

 

[Schweinehund]

I played DS2 for a few hours at a friends house, cannot wait for PC version.

It seems they tried to abolish a lot of the tedium (travel time) and improved many things (UI layout, more interesting covenants, better story telling, animations, respecializing, better enemy variety, better tuned combat options like power stance/dual wielding)

I'll have to beat the game in order to say what I liked better, but so far this brings back memories of playing Demon's Souls for the first time. Seems much better balanced out of the gate than Dark Souls was (Oh my god, like no souls from bosses, humanities scarce as hell, crap weapon scaling, and curing curse was a pain in the ass on the initial release).

 

[tokkun]

PVP was better in Dark Souls 1, imo. When they made medium poise worthless they made it so any short weapon is worthless in pvp. You need to be able to take at least one hit without stagger or else the guy with the higher damage weapon will just trade blow with you till he wins. The way they made the roll speed the same from 0-70%(Even if there are distance differences) also messed with the dynamic. Shield users used to be on the medium roll on average, now they can dodge the same blows that light 2-handers can dodge with ease.

I think the problem here is just that people haven't adapted their build strategies to the balance changes yet.

In Dark Souls, the fact that END controlled both equip load and stamina meant that pretty much everyone had the same max equip load, and the difference with light characters is that they would have lower equip load %. It doesn't work like that anymore. In DS2, both heavy and light builds will likely be around 70% equip load, but the max equip loads will be different. This means that heavies are spending points on VIT that lights can be spending on other stats.

-Put them into VIG if you want to be able to survive trading blows with people with more powerful weapons
-Put them into ATN, and you can mix pyromancy with your melee
-My personal suggestion: Put them into END.

Where poise has been nerfed, staggering an opponent who is out of stamina has replaced it. And one of the key changes you didn't mention is that shields are a lot less effective at absorbing blows in PvP than they were in DS. In DS, you could just turtle behind a greatshield all day; in DS2, attacks from other players can do enough stamina damage to break your guard. Then they can hit you with a combo or front critical.

My heavy character has something like 20 levels invested in increasing VIT so I can use heavy weapons and armor and get under 70%. 20 levels is a lot of difference if invested in other stats. If you have 20 more END than your opponent, that's a big advantage for melee.

Also, in order to compensate for how poise has been nerfed, everyone is wandering around in a mixture of Vengarl and havel armor, and they're still able to roll like pros.

That's how it was in DS with Havel's Ring and Dark Wood Grain Ring.

 

[Tiops]

I guess I'll chime in and say what I think of the sequel.

.

I agree with everything you said. And lol at taiko runs.

 

[v4skunk84]

DS2 looks and plays better than DS1.
DS1 has better level design.
I would also like to point out that the only good looking area in DS1 was Firelink, every thing else looked bland,flat and washed out.

 

[Kusagari]

I guess I'll chime in and say what I think of the sequel.

- Architecture

Architecture is nowhere near that of the previous game. In DkS, discovering that Parish/Graveyard/New Londo/Burg was a great thing. Discovering that you could skip the entirety of Blighttown by the way of the Valley was also a great thing. Here, at most, I noticed that various parts of Bastille attach to each other and that's it. And how does the ship from No Man's Wharf connect to Bastille? Logically, how does Iron Keep connect to Earthen Peak? Why is the Sunlight covenant in Earthern Peak? What happened to things like, people having to run the gauntlet of the Sen's Fortress in order to reach Anor Londo? And the various methods used to give players non-linearity are done by things like.. a fork road with three paths? And it isn't even that linear, considering there's no alternative at the beginning of the game than to go to the Forest of Giants. I guess that brings me to my second point.

- Linearity

Dark Souls 2 is the most linear game in the series thanks to the way they've implemented petrified areas and their required items in order to progress. Can't get down the well without a relatively expensive ring or certain amount of souls for HP? Well, I guess you'd better trot off elsewhere and grind for souls! Can't get to the forest area because a petrified woman is blocking the area? Well, go find that item! What we have here is a ton of people progressing through the Forest of Giants and Bastille, hitting a wall at Ruin Sentinels.

Your talk about linearity is just factually incorrect. You could go through 70-75% of the game before ever stepping foot in the Forest of Giants.

 

[Persona7]

Yeah, I also did not get down the well using a ring or having a high HP.

 

[gaugebozo]

...

Each game has its lows and highs.

Demons

• Terrible design for boss weapons, and terrible drops on stones to upgrade weapons.
• Armor didnt matter
• world tendency was a pain

Dark1

• terrible end game zones
• Reskinned bosses
• laggy and unresponsive online play

Dark2

• Disconnected world, some areas seem out of place
• The worlds lore depended too much on Dark1 instead of reinventing itself
• Some poor visuals in the beginning of the game.

Even with their flaws, each game stands above everything else out there. I also like that each game has very different layouts and mechanics, it leaves a lot to explore and figure out.

I see a lot of complaints about easy circle strafe bosses in dark2, but those were common in both games.
...
I like the lore in Dark Souls 1 the best. Piecing together the gods, wondering about the abyss and the serpents, discovering the four legendary knights, and each world had its own flavor and story to tell.

I like the PvP in Dark Souls 2 the best. Lots of good covenants supply lots of ways to play against each other, very little lag, and tons of varied options for combat.

All in all, all the games do the above 3 things very well, but to different degrees of success. I dont think i could choose just one, I must have all of them and all the ones that have yet to come. I Need Souls.

Pretty much this. I think my favorite overall is still Dark Souls 1, but I'm really enjoying the PvP and many choices of spells in this one.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

One thing I don't think has been mentioned is the sound flaws. Sound played a HUGE part in the first two, louder and/or speeding enemies, arrows, breathing, etc could would did clue one in on an enemies movements (and made quiet enemies all the more dangerous). Here in DS2, not only is your footsteps CLONK CLONK CLONK SWISH SWISH SWISH like the mics are on your ankles, but the constant footshuffling in animations mask any and all enemies in the area.

Then there's the laggy sound effects, which don't so much harm gameplay as just sound bad.

This, like DK1's on-line-late game area, and my previous mark against bad hitboxes and samey correcting bosses should not have happened and drag on the game pretty bad.

Personally I think Dark Souls 2 is the best game in the series. I never finished Dark Souls or Demon's Souls. I found they weren't very approachable, and I never felt like I had a good grasp of what I was doing. It seemed unfairly frustrating in many parts, requiring you to memorise patterns and areas rather than actually be good.

Dark Souls 2 so far has really grabbed me, I think it's a lot more accessible, it is much easier but not in a bad way. I always feel powerful but not too powerful. The gameplay feels smoother and I like a number of the changes they've made. There are some things that suck (the lag in opening the start menu at times for example) but for the most part it's a really solid game and feels well put together.

I don't know how this is completely backwards from me with DS2. I guess I don't wait for help and set off in search of it while making due.

 

[Sakura]

I don't know how this is completely backwards from me with DS2. I guess I don't wait for help and set off in search of it while making due.

I don't wait for help either, but stuff like lifegems, being able to respec, better explanation of stats, bosses that don't just one shot you out of the gate, fast travel from the get-go, etc make the game feel a lot more approachable to me. But maybe it's just me.

 

[Error]

I'm rolling my eyes at the linearity complaint.

How's Rosabeth blocking Shaded Woods any different from the key you need to access the Depths or the item you need to buy from Andre to get into the Forest covenant area and Sif?

Only area that's mandatory at the beginning is the Forest of Giants after that game opens up in the same way Dark Souls opened up after Undead Burg and the Minotaur.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

I don't wait for help either, but stuff like lifegems, being able to respec, better explanation of stats, bosses that don't just one shot you out of the gate, fast travel from the get-go, etc make the game feel a lot more approachable to me. But maybe it's just me.

There it is again!

 

[Y2Kev]

I'm rolling my eyes at the linearity complaint.

How's Rosabeth blocking Shaded Woods any different from the key you need to access the Depths or the item you need to buy from Andre to get into the Forest covenant area and Sif?

Only area that's mandatory at the beginning is the Forest of Giants after that game opens up in the same way Dark Souls opened up after Undead Burg and the Minotaur.

Lots of people started with the master key, but I don't think you have to so the forest of Fallen giants first either.

I think criticism and praise is probably too strong in both directions.

 

[SargerusBR]

Only area that's mandatory at the beginning is the Forest of Giants after that game opens up in the same way Dark Souls opened up after Undead Burg and the Minotaur.

Not really, you can go to Heide's Tower and progress the game normally as well.

Here's a map on how the areas in DaS 2 are connected

 

[HeelPower]

There it is again!

I hope this is sarcastic...


RRA , Vendrick, Ancient Dragon are three of many bosses based on one shot kills.

 

[Error]

Not really, you can go to Heide's Tower and progress the game normally as well.

I take it back, it's not mandatory but it's the 'first' area because of the level of the enemies there.

But I rest my case, game is not really linear at all. You can get to The Gutter without the ladder too, via Silvercat Ring and I guess a bit of HP to withstand the drops.

all of that without even entering forest of giants. where's the linearity?

 

[The Xtortionist]

Lots of people started with the master key, but I don't think you have to so the forest of Fallen giants first either.

You don't. Completing Heide's first opens up three paths

Spoiler

(No-Man's Wharf, Huntsman's Copse, The Pit)

and completing/progressing in any of those paths will provide a

Spoiler

Fragrant Branch of Yore to unlock Shaded Woods

. FoFG can be skipped entirely until endgame, though I'd recommend spending five minutes getting to the Cardinal Tower bonfire and purchasing the blacksmith's key from the merchant there.

 

[njean777]

Personally I think Dark Souls 2 is the best game in the series. I never finished Dark Souls or Demon's Souls. I found they weren't very approachable, and I never felt like I had a good grasp of what I was doing. It seemed unfairly frustrating in many parts, requiring you to memorise patterns and areas rather than actually be good.

Dark Souls 2 so far has really grabbed me, I think it's a lot more accessible, it is much easier but not in a bad way. I always feel powerful but not too powerful. The gameplay feels smoother and I like a number of the changes they've made. There are some things that suck (the lag in opening the start menu at times for example) but for the most part it's a really solid game and feels well put together.

Dark Souls 2 is easier, maybe that is why you completed it. Not trying to sound mean, but that could be a reason why.

 

[Sakura]

Dark Souls 2 is easier, maybe that is why you completed it. Not trying to sound mean, but that could be a reason why.

I know. I said that in my post. I also said it was more accessible as well. Otherwise they play quite similarly.

 

[SargerusBR]

all of that without even entering forest of giants. where's the linearity?

I'm with you, in terms of linearity DaS 2 works the same as the first one, what changes is that in DaS 2 the world isnt as interconnected


In DS1 to complete the game you need to do this:

Undead Asylum --> Ring the 2 bells --> Sen's Fortress --> Anor Londo(Lordvessel) --> Grab the Covenant of Artorias(Needed to take one of the main 4 Lord Souls) --> Take the 4 Lord Souls --> Kiln of First Flame (Final boss)


In DS2 it works like this:

Spoiler

Things Betwixt --> Grab a Fragment of Yore (Needed to open the path to defeat one of the 4 Old Ones) --> Defeat the 4 Old Ones (You don't even need to kill all four, only two of them) --> Drangleic Castle --> Shrine of Amana --> Undead Crypt (King's Ring) --> Dragon Shrine --> Giant Memories --> Throne of Want (Final boss)

 

[tokkun]

I hope this is sarcastic...


RRA , Vendrick, Ancient Dragon are three of many bosses based on one shot kills.

I doubt someone who is talking about the game's accessibility is concerned about optional end-game bosses. And you must have a glass character if RRA is a one-hit kill. I survived hits in that fight with 20 vitality.

I do think a fair complaint could be made about the fact that you can get one-shotted with a backstab critical from the invisible guys in the shaded woods or from the bite attack of the ogres in Aldia's keep, even with 30+ vitality and heavy armor.

 

[daman824]

Dark Souls 2 is easier, maybe that is why you completed it. Not trying to sound mean, but that could be a reason why.

No it's not. And if it is, it's not by a significant amount.

 

[blackflag]

I like the game. I'll replay it a ton just like the previous Souls games, but it was very easy. I dunno why it just seemed much easier. The only things I found somewhat challenging were the 3 sentries and sinner.sinner only because I fought her probably before I should. It was still a great journey though.

 

[Servbot24]

I like the game. I'll replay it a ton just like the previous Souls games, but it was very easy. I dunno why it just seemed much easier. The only things I found somewhat challenging were the 3 sentries and sinner.sinner only because I fought her probably before I should. It was still a great journey though.

Sinner I beat first try, didn't even use a flask.

Pursuer took me several tries, once I gave up and explored a different area I came back and beat him first try. The toxic dog rat boss is giving me issues right now. Everything else has been easy so far.

 

[tokkun]

I think the reason people find DS2 easier really has to do with the fact that they are better players than they were when they started DS1, both in terms of familiarity with the mechanics and in knowing tactics for dealing with difficult situations.

A number of boss battles in DS2 are harder versions of bosses that were in DS1.

Royal Rat Authority is basically Sif + the dogs from Capra
There are more gargoyles
Najka is Queelag with stronger magic and better mobility
There are multiple S&O type fights where you are taking on more than one boss at once

 

[Sakura]

I think the reason people find DS2 easier really has to do with the fact that they are better players than they were when they started DS1, both in terms of familiarity with the mechanics and in knowing tactics for dealing with difficult situations.

A number of boss battles in DS2 are harder versions of bosses that were in DS1.

Royal Rat Authority is basically Sif + the dogs from Capra
There are more gargoyles
Najka is Queelag with stronger magic and better mobility
There are multiple S&O type fights where you are taking on more than one boss at once

I don't really know about that. I never even fought Sif in Dark Souls, yet I beat the RRA on my second try and found them quite easy. It's just a bunch of slow rats that are like, 2 hit kills each, and the boss rat guy you can just hit a couple times and run away for stam/heal if needed.
In Dark Souls I felt like I needed to find ways to cheese bosses to win, but in Dark Souls 2, it's mostly just keep my shield up and attack when there is an opening. Maybe it's just easier for my play style than Dark Souls 1 was, and not that the bosses themselves are easier. The fact that I can still run around when my equip load is at 100% might make things easier for me. It seemed like rolling was essential for most bosses last time, but now I just block every thing.

edit: I think I'm confused

 

[Morrigan Stark]

So many people wrong on the Internet...

Demons

• Terrible design for boss weapons, and terrible drops on stones to upgrade weapons.
• Armor didnt matter
• world tendency was a pain

Wat. The boss souls weapons were far, far better in Demon's than Dark. In Dark, there was the Chaos Blade, that's it. The rest was mediocre at best (Quelaag's) or straight out garbage. Demon's had Northern Regalia (the strongest weapon of the game), Meat Cleaver, Blueblood Sword, Insanity Catalyst, not to mention all the awesome spells. Dark Souls had 1 boss spell and it was from the DLC and you traded it to... the crow? Wot.

Dark2

• Disconnected world, some areas seem out of place
• The worlds lore depended too much on Dark1 instead of reinventing itself
• Some poor visuals in the beginning of the game.

Silliness. The connections to Dark 1 are loose and rather subtle. It has a few tributes (

Spoiler

Ornstein, the Gargoyles)

and that's it.

Dark2 absolutely isn't double the length.In my case, Dark Souls took me 70 hours the first time where as 2 took me 59 hours.

Well I beat Dark 1 in about half the time it took me for Dark 2, so w/e. I took my time and explored everything.

srsly, nothing is worse than Shaded Woods..

It's pretty ugly graphically but it's a well designed level otherwise.

And it isn't even that linear, considering there's no alternative at the beginning of the game than to go to the Forest of Giants. I guess that brings me to my second point.

- Linearity

Others did a much better job than I would at refuting this, but yeah, you're just flat out wrong here.

Another issue with the orange signs is: people are putting these spoilers in front of illusory walls. Since it isn't possible to "toggle" between a wall and an orange hint, you can't open the wall which is now activated not by attacking them, but by pressing X.

Once again: completely, factually wrong. Hidden paths will appear when pressing X even if there's a message. You got trolled, and blame the game for failing to realize it. Hilarious.

- Weapon scaling

I don't know about you guys, but I made two dexiterty oriented builds and found them to be utterly disappointing. My first was one using a +10 Falchion (which is awful and constantly left me open for attack) and even late game, my +10 Fire Longsword was doing comparable damage. I also remember doing some entry-level PvP after unlocking the Brotherhood covenant only to find that I was winning basically every fight thanks to the Fire Longsword. My second dex build used a combination of dual wielding the Berserker Blade and Manslayer (Uchigatana and Blacksteel prior), which did pathetic amounts of damage to most bosses. Most weapons out of the weapon library are based around Strength as far as melee goes.

- Everything is weak to Strike

Nicovideo residents are calling speedruns "taiko runs" because everything is weak to strike damage and dual wielding clubs is the best way of progressing through the game. They could have probably worked on what bosses are weak to what and not have everything so all over the place. I really have no idea how I would have made it through Smelter on my first run (at that point I didn't realize he was optional) when my dex build (with 40 dexterity) was doing less than 80 damage to him per hit.

WTF? You're doing it wrong. My dex is very strong even in NG+. At 40 dex, using the Ring of Blades (currently at +2 yay), powerstancing a

Spoiler

Chaos Blade

and an Uchi+10, I 2hko most mobs. Two L1s and they die for the most part. Just now, using only charcoal resin, I was taking out huge, huge chunks of health from the Mirror Knight and Demon Song in NG+ with just one L1 swing. Hell in NG I was doing 200+ damage with a 1h blacksteel katana r1 (not even powerstancing) and lightning resin to Smelter. Certainly not 80, lol. Although... did do about 87 per r1 when I was a phantom with two more players. Maybe you should try soloing bosses?

There are tons of awesome dex weapons. The only time I really struggled as a dex was in NG+ Drangleic, those knight statues are highly resistant to slashing damage and don't get staggered easily. But then, as a dex I also have a hunter blackbow+10 and a shit ton of poison arrows, which is extremely handy and powerful.

Who knows, maybe strength and magic builds are so damn strong that dex looks gimped in comparison... in which case it'd be a fair criticism to say the game is too easy, but not that dex is bad. XD

Hexes are overpowered, I don't think anyone who has used them is going to disagree.

Probably, but don't they require massive stat investments and require the player to be some sort of glass canon?

- For a game set thousands of years after DkS, technology has diminished

You're really complaining about that? lol... welcome to every Japanese game ever featuring the "cycles of collapsing civilizations".

- Incentive to PvP

There really is no incentive to invade and kill someone any more.

I am rather surprised that people actually think those incentives are meaningful. The "incentive" to invade in Demon's Souls was to regain your body back, gain black character tendency, or to gain lots of souls (by dropping or summoning a red soul sign).

I have hundreds of hours of PvP in Demon's. Guess what, I never, ever did it to regain my body. I did it... for the PvP. Hell, I found it annoying that you could only invade while in soul form and had to constantly suicide to PvP (or coop, for that matter).

I dare say that locking OP miracles behind a covenant was actually a very poor design decision. Maybe if other covenants offered equally good perks, but... dragon scales? lol no thanks.

- Soft caps, stats in general

Is everyone expected to have 20 Vigor, 20 Vitality, 20 Endurance with 40 in Strength or Dexterity or Int, or a mix of Strength/Faith or Strength/Int? It feels like the caps on VGR/VIT/END seriously limit people to what they're capable of doing with their character. As a result, a lot of people are saying that the PvP range should be raised to 150 or so, just because there's so many caps and so many spells/hexes which require a high level of them.

What are you even complaining about here? All the games have diminishing returns on stats... and soft caps is for PvP only and are generally agreed upon by the community. Take it up with them if you don't like SL 120 caps. -_-

PVP was better in Dark Souls 1, imo. When they made medium poise worthless they made it so any short weapon is worthless in pvp. You need to be able to take at least one hit without stagger or else the guy with the higher damage weapon will just trade blow with you till he wins.

There was no poise in Demon's Souls, yet... it worked fine, and it was not imbalanced in favour of big weapons. Poise sucked ass for PvP to be honest. The new stunlock in DkS2 is crap too, though.

Also, in order to compensate for how poise has been nerfed, everyone is wandering around in a mixture of Vengarl and havel armor, and they're still able to roll like pros.

As opposed to the ninja-flipping Giant-MoM or Havel wearers in Dark (pre-patch) or GiantDad (post-patch)?

I really hated the fog walls too. I said out loud many times "there's a boss behind this isn't there?" because almost all of them were. I think there's like 4-5 walls I found that weren't boss fights.

Preposterous. Play the game again and you'll see that's wrong. Non-boss fogs disappear once cleared, so if you die or revisit areas you don't see them anymore. Maybe you just forgot all about them.

RRA , Vendrick, Ancient Dragon are three of many bosses based on one shot kills.

Wat. RRA doesn't 1-shot me in NG+ (he does kinda 2HKO me though ). I can also survive the dragon's breath. And all of those bosses are optional. (I agree the Ancient Dragon sucks as a boss though).

 

[TurboLibre]

In general I didn't really care for the design philosophy in DS2. In DS, things got rough but it always felt pretty fair. Even when things get stacked against you. DS II just threw everything together making it an annoying experience at times. Bodies of water covering pitfalls, enemies shooting homing magic from long distances, large enemies that can kill you in one hit, and hell, lets throw in a red phantom too. I just found the game filled with moments like that where I stopped caring about winning and started focusing on ways I can "break" the game to my advantage.

Then there were a lot of other issues I kept running into, like my guy constantly attacking over smaller enemies. Enemies that can turn mid attack making rolling pretty unreliable. Most enemies being strong enough to kill you in one hit (even at a high vitality and medium armor). The whole game just didn't feel balanced to me.

But it was the only one I've actually finished. So there was something about it that kept me trucking.

 

[Soriku]

I guess I'll chime in and say what I think of the sequel.

- Linearity

Dark Souls 2 is the most linear game in the series thanks to the way they've implemented petrified areas and their required items in order to progress. Can't get down the well without a relatively expensive ring or certain amount of souls for HP? Well, I guess you'd better trot off elsewhere and grind for souls! Can't get to the forest area because a petrified woman is blocking the area? Well, go find that item! What we have here is a ton of people progressing through the Forest of Giants and Bastille, hitting a wall at Ruin Sentinels.

- Orange signs

I can't believe I'm actually complaining about orange soapstone signs in this, but here I am. It's one of the unique features that I really liked back when I first discovered Demon's Souls. There's two problems with this. Firstly, they've given the player far more freedom to indirectly tell you "something <therefore/in short/by the way of/if that's the case>". In the previous games, it was far more limited and made it difficult for players to leave hints which other people could understand. Rather than a "hint", which is their purpose, they've now become indirect spoilers. Another issue with the orange signs is: people are putting these spoilers in front of illusory walls. Since it isn't possible to "toggle" between a wall and an orange hint, you can't open the wall which is now activated not by attacking them, but by pressing X.

- Weapon scaling

I don't know about you guys, but I made two dexiterty oriented builds and found them to be utterly disappointing. My first was one using a +10 Falchion (which is awful and constantly left me open for attack) and even late game, my +10 Fire Longsword was doing comparable damage. I also remember doing some entry-level PvP after unlocking the Brotherhood covenant only to find that I was winning basically every fight thanks to the Fire Longsword. My second dex build used a combination of dual wielding the Berserker Blade and Manslayer (Uchigatana and Blacksteel prior), which did pathetic amounts of damage to most bosses. Most weapons out of the weapon library are based around Strength as far as melee goes.

- Soul Memory

I understand that SM's purpose is to keep players on an even playing field in PvP, but everything about it is terrible and actually impedes people from progressing throughout the game if they wish to continue to PvP at such an area with such an audience. What if I'm a level 120 sunbro wanting to help people with the Ancient Dragon that only have a SM of 2-3 million, yet I have one of 5 million? I can't.

- Hexes

Hexes are overpowered, I don't think anyone who has used them is going to disagree. Especially Great Resonant Soul, which I one-shot people with for 1450 damage. Out of 80 or so people that I have invaded, I have killed possibly over 80%. Why even bother making a melee build? There is no etiquette in this game as of yet, so why bother?

- For a game set thousands of years after DkS, technology has diminished

Movesets. I'm talking the Murakumo's moveset, katanas, rapiers, Zweihander, scythes, you name it. All of them have different movesets now which feel awkward and inferior to the previous game. It's likely FROM didn't want people breezing through DkS2 with the same thing a player's grown accustomed to in Dark Souls, but a lot of these weapons are no longer useful because of their adjustments. A lot of these weapons (Murakumo, for instance) can completely miss enemies at close range, which was a problem in the original Dark Souls but is even more of a problem now in the sequel. There are a few exceptions but they shouldn't be punishing the player for picking (dexterity) if the mass majority of the movesets are inferior to the previous game or bad in some way.

- Incentive to PvP

There really is no incentive to invade and kill someone any more. Most of the incentives from covenants aren't worth the time and effort (1000+ fights for the Ring of Thorns +2?), especially things like "a shiny glowy aurea if you're in the Brotherhood covenant". Maybe if I was 14 and still wanted that ridiculously bright aura obtained only after reaching level 99 in Ragnarok Online, I'd care. Everyone just uses the Ring of Life Protection so it's not like you're even affecting them in any way. Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that a lot of the covenant upgrades for your "loyalty" aren't worthwhile, especially in comparison to DkS where things like the Sunlight blade and Darkmoon Blade were covenant upgrades. Darkmoon Blade and Sunlight Blade, among other things like obtaining the infinite Red Eye Orb, were significant things. I will agree that covenants are generally better than DkS though.

- Soft caps, stats in general

Is everyone expected to have 20 Vigor, 20 Vitality, 20 Endurance with 40 in Strength or Dexterity or Int, or a mix of Strength/Faith or Strength/Int? It feels like the caps on VGR/VIT/END seriously limit people to what they're capable of doing with their character. As a result, a lot of people are saying that the PvP range should be raised to 150 or so, just because there's so many caps and so many spells/hexes which require a high level of them.

I'm going to stop here, but I do have other finer issues with the game. In short: better PvE excluding bosses, worse everything else. Seriously, I think this game was rushed. I expect 10+ patches within the next year.

Where to even begin...

Linearity: Why would you grind souls for the Silvercat Ring? This game gives you souls out the ass. In Dark Souls 1 I had to grind for a while to get to lvl 125. In this game I got to lvl 150 rather easily. I could've accessed the well near the beginning, except I just decided to spend my souls on leveling up instead. The unpetrify item comes after playing for a while, but regardless you can still access several areas. In the beginning you can go the Forest or Heide's Tower. Heide's Tower leads you to the Wharf, and it also lets you unlock the miracle lady, who lets you go to Huntsman's Copse and several other areas afterwards rather easily.

Orange signs: The signs in the previous games were "indirect spoilers" too. There is more freedom in Dark Souls 2, but the signs in the previous games never left me confused. Also, you got trolled by the illusory wall signs. You can open up a wall even if a sign is right next to it. The wall will take precedence. However, many people often leave troll signs next to walls that aren't actually illusory.

Weapon scaling: Many weapons scale with Dex. Strength weapons are pretty powerful in PvE, but I wouldn't say those katanas do pathetic damage at all. Especially when dual wielding.

-Soul memory: I'm lvl 150 and have done a lot of PvP at the Iron Keep in NG with no issues. I can always find someone. Can't speak much about co-op since I never do it, but if you go to NG+, soul memory is a lot more lax.

-Hexes: They are pretty OP, they should definitely be nerfed, but I at least have a Magic Havel's Greatshield and I can tank Hexes really well. I'm a melee build and have killed several mages.

-Movesets: There are a lot of weapons and you should be able to find several with movesets you like. I actually didn't like the feel of the Uchigatana at first, but I got used it and started using it really well. For Murakumo, here's a good PvP video to show that it can be good a weapon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-H0bZBChpQ

-Incentive: Personally, the incentive to PvP should really be because it's fun to fight other people. That's why I did PvP in Dark Souls 1, that's why I'm doing PvP in Dark Souls 2.

-Soft caps: No, not everyone is expected to leave their stats at the soft cap. 20 Vigor doesn't give you much HP to work with. I have 45 Vigor which is awesome and have 2200+ HP with Third Dragon Ring and Life Ring. It totally helps for PVP. 20 Vigor in PvP will get you slaughtered. Ditto for PvE. After 20, Vigor gives you 20 HP instead of 30, which is still a lot. I also have 38 Endurance, and with Third Dragon ring I have 155 stamina. This allows me to do a lot of actions in PvP and PvE, and is very useful, even if the diminishing returns are worse compared to Vigor. 20 Vit is fine, though 29 is also nice when wanting to use heavier equipment. There is a ring that gives you a higher equip load, but it takes up a ring slot that can be used for something else.

 

[Steel]

I think the problem here is just that people haven't adapted their build strategies to the balance changes yet.

No, in my experience it's quite the opposite: People are adapting. Light people have to use longer swords like spears and greatswords now, and they are.

In Dark Souls, the fact that END controlled both equip load and stamina meant that pretty much everyone had the same max equip load, and the difference with light characters is that they would have lower equip load %. It doesn't work like that anymore. In DS2, both heavy and light builds will likely be around 70% equip load, but the max equip loads will be different. This means that heavies are spending points on VIT that lights can be spending on other stats.

70% gives heavies a massive amount of wiggle room. They don't have to put all that many points into vit to wear havels unless they are going full on ultra greatsword; most of them just go with longswords or greatswords. What you see people in light armor using are the weapons that can stagger havel's in one shot or can reach. Ironically, the people in the lightest armor in this case are using the heaviest weapons because they can swing the extra weight easily enough.


As for the alternatives to vitality you pointed out:

-Put them into VIG if you want to be able to survive trading blows with people with more powerful weapons

Even with extremely high Vigor, a person with a falchion isn't going to be able to trade blows with someone that has a greatsword. Short ranged weapons have massive disadvantages if the opponent can stun you at the same time you stun them. Poise used to allow short range weapon users to get multiple hits off in the same time a large weapon user would only be able to get off one by allowing you to shrug off a hit.

-Put them into ATN, and you can mix pyromancy with your melee

... That doesn't require a huge amount of ATN, and beyond firestorm, pyromancy is laughably dodgable, especially now that heavies have the same roll as lights.

-My personal suggestion: Put them into END.

I don't see why anyone would avoid putting points into endurance in general, it's a must for all builds(Especially heavies that rely on shields). Endurance does not differentiate light builds from heavy builds.

Where poise has been nerfed, staggering an opponent who is out of stamina has replaced it. And one of the key changes you didn't mention is that shields are a lot less effective at absorbing blows in PvP than they were in DS. In DS, you could just turtle behind a greatshield all day; in DS2, attacks from other players can do enough stamina damage to break your guard. Then they can hit you with a combo or front critical.

First, I have to say, hiding behind a greatshield in dark Souls 1 in pvp wasn't nearly as effective as you make it out to be. Someone 2-handing an ultra greatsword, or even a falchion could crack them with swings to spare if built right. In fact, I'd argue the opposite of what you're saying here: A person with a greatshield is actually more effective at blocking in Dark Souls 2 because of the 70% barrier.

A person with a great sheild in Dark Souls 1 generally couldn't move very fast, so you'd be able to go to town with combos on his shield till his guard breaks. Now, you can get 1-2 hits depending on the weapon before you have to stop slashing and move up on the guy to eventually whittle down his stamina, in this case, you could hit the enemy more often with long range weapons and short range weapons have nothing but disadvantages.

Poise is not replaced by staggering opponents who are out of stamina, either. You get a nice little critical hit animation that does a reasonable amount of damage, but you would be able to get 2-3 slashes in the dark souls 1 stagger in its place.

My heavy character has something like 20 levels invested in increasing VIT so I can use heavy weapons and armor and get under 70%. 20 levels is a lot of difference if invested in other stats. If you have 20 more END than your opponent, that's a big advantage for melee.

You're thinking about this the wrong way. A light build cannot have 0 vitality, it's just not possible. In fact, 20 levels in vitality is a reasonable goal even for a light in this case(Who would still want the roll distance advantage lower percentages give for PvE), and it really doesn't drag down your other stats. Because of this light would need at least 15 points in vitality, which would give him, what, a 5 point advantage in the other stats you mentioned?


Overall I just feel the changes they've made basically splits PVP into two different builds:

Guy in Havels/Vengarls armor who can take a hit without being staggered using a medium-long range weapons.

Guy in light armor using a long range weapon that can stagger big guys in one hit.

There's some magic inbetween to catch the people who still don't understand how to dodge spells or haven't heard the Rebel greatshield also has a 100% magic resistance if you don't like dodging.

Spoiler

There's also the exception of the dual Caetus which more catches people offguard because its range is about 3 times its visible reach.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not completely hating Dark Souls 2 pvp. There's fun to be had here, and I hold my own in the light class, though I do far better using a long range weapon now than a short range one. My statement was that Dark Souls 1 pvp was superior and that the changes to how poise and weight percentage functions in Dark Souls 2 made a lot more people wear havel's and Vengarl's armor. If you play pvp for any length of time, you'd see what I mean.

 

[Violentine]

As for now, I like D1 better than D2.
but I think this question is more fair if it was asked a year from from now.

 

[See You Next Wednesday]

No, just no. I like DS1 more than 2, but theres no skill in the archers of Anor londo. Its just a troll section, like theres in DS2.

You're all trying so hard to hate on DS2. Theres no excuse on how shitty is Demon Ruins/Lost Izalith. All of it.

Where is all this hate for Demon Ruins coming from?
I can understand Lost Izalith, but not DR.

 

[Soriku]

Where is all this hate for Demon Ruins coming from?
I can understand Lost Izalith, but not DR.

For some reason I think people extrapolate Lost Izalith's (lack of) quality to the whole back half of Dark Souls 1, and make it seem worse than it is.

Demon Ruins isn't bad (outside of high contrast lava). New Londo isn't bad. Catacombs/Tomb of Giants aren't bad (get the Sunlight Maggot). Duke's Archives isn't bad. Crystal Cave can be annoying if you don't know how to get through it, but I didn't have a problem, plus it's not very long.

I don't think post-Anor Londo is a slog at all.

 

[pantsmith]

I would just like to say that there is no Souls game quite like your first Souls game, and that I think Dark Souls II will ultimately benefit from people giving it more time to sink in.

A lot of this thread reminds me of the transition from Demons to Dark.

Personally, Im really impressed. And I didnt want to be! It might not be as atmospheric or mechanically sublime as Demons Souls, or as meticulously hand crafted or "tight" as Dark Souls, but it stands as its own game and its own contribution to the series.

Its like an elaborate fanfiction to a classic videogame, and instead of outright replacing or failing to replace the original, it has its own focus and it goes with it. Which I admire. It is unapologetic and weird in the right ways.

 

[Parallacs]

Dark Souls 1 (Played PC when it came out):
+Extreme Difficulty
+Outstanding Level Design (I was always impressed how everything fit together)
+Memorable Bosses
+Ran well on PC
+Enjoy crafting system, humanity system, bonfire leveling, upgrade system
+Good story / lore
+Long (It took me more than 70 hours to beat it the first time)
-Anor Londo archer
-Getting cursed (or double cursed) is mind numbingly soul crushing
-Second half locations are a little too dreary. I usually just run through them now.

Demon Souls (Bought a PS3 Nov 2013 to play it)
+Love the variety of locations
+Character base stats helped me get into magic easily, encouraging me to play differently
+I liked the story despite it being simple
+/- leveling up is very easy. Ammo is very cheap.
-Bosses are too easy
-Most mobs can be cheesed with Thief's Ring and some arrows
-Short (I beat it in 22 hours)
-Dislike the nexus and having to kill myself every time i turned human
-Gear requirements. I couldn't even wear my starting gear by the end of the game without being slow rolled.
-Disliked the play at half health thing
-World instance just felt like an artificial way of lengthening the game

Dark Souls II (PS3 on release)
+Large variety of weapons and fighting styles
+4 rings is fun. I didn't even realize I could use 4 until like 20 hours in.
+Long (took me 52 hours to beat)
+PVP is much more focused. Co-op works well.
+Liked the balance of estus and healing gems
-World layout is too simple. Spider legs going outward with no inter-connectivity.
-Base stats. I would have had to put 7 levels into int and then 7 into attunement just to cast the most basic spell. I never was really sure what Adaptability was doing. Ended up putting 25 into it and stopping. I hated having to level Vitality.
-Disliked the humanity aspect. I hated summoning help for Smelter Demon and seeing the other player die in a few seconds. I decided to do every boss on my own and not go human.
-Hate how everything is limited now including upgrade metals (till the end), effigies, souls, pharros stones
-It felt like every boss was weak to lightning and every boss strat was roll to the right or the left. The only one I had real trouble with on NG was ancient dragon (which was also the most fun).
-The only lore I hear about is where the game is supposed to take place.

Personally:
Dark Souls: 10/10
Demon Souls: 7/10
Dark Souls 2: 5/10

 

[Styles]

Wrong thread..

 

[MormaPope]

Dark Souls 2 has drastically better weapon balancing and stat adjustments compared to Dark Souls 1. In Dark Souls 1 a lot of the weapons felt pretty lackluster, once you got a OP weapon there was no reason to use anything else. That hasn't been the case for Dark Souls 2. In Dark Souls 2, some weapons are much better for clearing out smaller enemies that crowd around the player, some weapons are better for bigger enemies and boss fights in general.

 

[MrCookiepants]

Dark Souls II is probably a 6.5 out of 10. Most disappointing game in recent memory. Lame bosses, bland level design, garbage hitboxes, recycled content, terrible performance on PS3 and it feels cheap at times.

Then there's the annoying/pointless changes that I personally don't like. Can only level up at HUB, you lose health everytime you die and enemies stop respawning (plus whatever the fuck they did to the rolling mechanic). I'm at Drangleic Castle and at this point I'm not sure whether it's worth finishing.

Dark Souls was a solid 9.

 

[Gabriel_Logan]

It feels like they dropped the ball regarding the lore in DS2 which is the most disappointing aspect to me, especially if everything in the game has already been discovered. It's way to cryptic and obtuse while not committing fully enough in either direction on being a sequel to DS1 or being its own thing. The reliance on the cycle trope (this has all happened before and will happen again) is most definitely a bummer as all games seem to be incorporating this, why is that? I wish there was more emphasis on the old fire keepers in the beginning, I thought they were the coolest characters in the game.

The bosses, as has already been mentioned, were completely unmemorable except for a couple. I had the most fun with the Chariot's Executioner and the Looking Glass Knight, even if he didn't work as expected. The final boss was extremely underwhelming and easy. The Four Lord bosses were pale imitations to their Dark Souls counterparts like Nito, Seath, and Gwyn. It felt way less epic and vital to be killing the DS2 lord bosses compared to the original game.

The Soundtrack was the worst in the series, though honestly not that much worst than Dark Souls which besides from the excellent Gwyn theme is also kinda lackluster. Demon's Souls is still definitely the soundtrack king with pieces like; Phalanx, Tower Knight, Maiden Astraea, and so on it is undisputedly the best soundtrack in the series.

PVP was undoubtedly better than Dark Souls. It worked almost every time I engaged it and the people I encountered were using a variety of armor, weapons, and builds. I'm glad poise is less effective, although stun locking can be annoying sometimes, I rarely became frustrated in my online dealings. Covenants were ok but could have been implemented better, i.e blue sentinels and brotherhood of blood. The doors of Pharos Rat covenant PVP arena is bullshit, but I liked the Grave of Sinners Rat covenant and the bell keeper covenant as well as the two PVE covenants. Gaining rank in the covenants is too tedious however and I didn't want to get hundreds of kills to level up.

The inclusion of the soul vessel I thought was a great addition to the game as it allowed me to vary up my playing style ranging from a melee only warrior to a hexer. Since I am probably not going to play this game again, it was nice not being locked into a single play style for the whole game and being given the opportunity to try out more of the builds which were available to me. The bonfire warping did make the world feel more disconnected and disjointed than Dark Souls but in the end it didn't bother me that much. The levels were unique and varied enough to satisfy me, Dragon Aerie being the standout of course.

Overall I preferred some things about Dark Souls (lore being the big one) but I'm glad they tried something different from Dark Souls 2. As mentioned I think the soul vessel was a worthwhile addition and the upgrading system was more streamlined and less obtuse than previous entries, which is a good thing. However, this game has left me with the question of whether or not I want another Souls game at all, or if the series has run its course.

 

[Arcayne]

DSII = DSI for me right now. These two games are simply exceptional in every right and deserve unanimous praise.

 

[Hypron]

I think the reason people find DS2 easier really has to do with the fact that they are better players than they were when they started DS1, both in terms of familiarity with the mechanics and in knowing tactics for dealing with difficult situations.

A number of boss battles in DS2 are harder versions of bosses that were in DS1.

Royal Rat Authority is basically Sif + the dogs from Capra
There are more gargoyles
Najka is Queelag with stronger magic and better mobility
There are multiple S&O type fights where you are taking on more than one boss at once

Definitely agree with that. Dark Souls 1 is very simple once you know how to play it and don't artificially limit yourself with arbitrary constraints like doing a SL1 run. Dark Souls 2 isn't harder but it isn't easier either. Dark Souls 2 is just really similar on a mechanical level so your DS1 skills transfer pretty well to DS2.

I find normal enemies stronger in DS2, especially in the starting areas. Bosses are on average about as hard as in Dark Souls 1, -ie. not really hard-. Both games have a couple of stand-out bosses difficulty wise (Ornstein & Smough in DS, Darklurker in DS2 for example).

 

[Mogwai]

DSII = DSI for me right now. These two games are simply exceptional in every right and deserve unanimous praise.

Same here. I'm not even through II yet but I like the changes. If any criticism it's that there are few too many bonfires for my taste.

 

[Leezard]

I think the reason people find DS2 easier really has to do with the fact that they are better players than they were when they started DS1, both in terms of familiarity with the mechanics and in knowing tactics for dealing with difficult situations.

A number of boss battles in DS2 are harder versions of bosses that were in DS1.

Royal Rat Authority is basically Sif + the dogs from Capra
There are more gargoyles
Najka is Queelag with stronger magic and better mobility
There are multiple S&O type fights where you are taking on more than one boss at once

Pretty much. It's the only reason people would think DS1 is longer than DS2 as well, because it was inflated by it being a first playthrough by being unfamiliar with the series.

I think I spent 50 hours or so on my first DS1 playthrough, then I bought Demon's Souls and finished it in 13 hours.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

For some reason I think people extrapolate Lost Izalith's (lack of) quality to the whole back half of Dark Souls 1, and make it seem worse than it is.

Demon Ruins isn't bad (outside of high contrast lava). New Londo isn't bad. Catacombs/Tomb of Giants aren't bad (get the Sunlight Maggot). Duke's Archives isn't bad. Crystal Cave can be annoying if you don't know how to get through it, but I didn't have a problem, plus it's not very long.

I don't think post-Anor Londo is a slog at all.

I agree. I think Tomb of the Giants is pretty badass actually, and Duke's Archives is great. Crystal Cave is very cool too.

 

[Randam]

DS2 looks and plays better than DS1.
DS1 has better level design.
I would also like to point out that the only good looking area in DS1 was Firelink, every thing else looked bland,flat and washed out.

not always and no.
yes.

Demon Souls (Bought a PS3 Nov 2013 to play it)
+Love the variety of locations
+Character base stats helped me get into magic easily, encouraging me to play differently
+I liked the story despite it being simple
+/- leveling up is very easy. Ammo is very cheap.
-Bosses are too easy
-Most mobs can be cheesed with Thief's Ring and some arrows
-Short (I beat it in 22 hours)
-Dislike the nexus and having to kill myself every time i turned human
-Gear requirements. I couldn't even wear my starting gear by the end of the game without being slow rolled.
-Disliked the play at half health thing
-World instance just felt like an artificial way of lengthening the game

so why did you kill yourself all the time?




and what were the one shot bosses in dark souls 1?

 

[raphanum]

Does anybody think it's possible that From added the fast travel as a way to expand beyond the niche-ish market of DeS and DaS1? Bring it to a bigger and more casual market? Fast travel sucks, to be honest. You don't feel immersed when you're fast travelling all the time. Don't feel like you're actually adventuring throughout the lands.

NB: there should be an option to disable fast travel and be allowed to level up at any bonfire.

 

[Zoggy]

yeah i'd still say dark souls 1 is the best out of the three.

and i played ds1 after demons souls.

for some reason even after beating ds2, i wanted to play ds1 again rather than do NG plus for ds2.

 

[raphanum]

My favorite souls games is Demon's.

This game is good but they make it so you cannot fail.

An absurd amount of restorative items and buffs. Everyone had a +10 weapon. Invasions are almost non-existentent in the first playthrough. Enemies stop re spawning after a while and there is a ring you can wear do you never lose anything ever!

I really enjoyed the optional bosses and bosses you cannot summon for.

Just tweaks could make this game better but as others have said it is still a great game.

If they can get rid of soul memory that would be a start. Have items for infinite invasions.

I mean with all the coop and buffs no one should have any issue fighting invaders.

I think they wanted to make the game more accessible and managed to do it subtly.

Bold/underlined section: Isn't that a one time use only ring though?

 

[Zoggy]

Does anybody think it's possible that From added the fast travel as a way to expand beyond the niche-ish market of DeS and DaS1? Bring it to a bigger and more casual market? Fast travel sucks, to be honest. You don't feel immersed when you're fast travelling all the time. Don't feel like you're actually adventuring throughout the lands.

NB: there should be an option to disable fast travel and be allowed to level up at any bonfire.

no, the fast travel is there to make the game a less of a drag (even if there were shortcuts ds1 style, once you got the lordvessel you'd warp to bonfires anyway)

there's nothing wrong with allowing the warping. if you really hate it just don't warp. its not that big of a deal. you want an option to disable warping, just don't do it, jesus christ.

the reason why i don't think they allowed warping to "appeal to da casuals" (god i hate dark souls purists) is because they returned back to the demons souls method of leveling up only at the nexus (firelink shrine/nexus).

why do you have to go back to the hubworld to level again instead of any bonfire? i don't know, maybe from just wanted to be a dick, it doesn't matter.

dark souls 2 WAS NOT nerfed to appeal to casuals (aka people who don't have the time to invest in video games as much as you), so stop reaching for that strawman

 

[raphanum]

no, the fast travel is there to make the game a less of a drag (even if there were shortcuts ds1 style, once you got the lordvessel you'd warp to bonfires anyway)

there's nothing wrong with allowing the warping. if you really hate it just don't warp. its not that big of a deal. you want an option to disable warping, just don't do it, jesus christ.

the reason why i don't think they allowed warping to "appeal to da casuals" (god i hate dark souls purists) is because they returned back to the demons souls method of leveling up only at the nexus (firelink shrine/nexus).

why do you have to go back to the hubworld to level again instead of any bonfire? i don't know, maybe from just wanted to be a dick, it doesn't matter.

dark souls 2 WAS NOT nerfed to appeal to casuals (aka people who don't have the time to invest in video games as much as you), so stop reaching for that strawman

Bloody hell. Calm down, mate.

Edit: just to add, I never implied there was anything wrong with From wanting to appeal to a broader market. Seriously, dark souls purists? They exist?