So I played a bit of vanilla DS2 back when it first released and just wasn't feeling the game so I dropped it. If I recall correctly I never even made it to the first boss. I was never going to touch the game again but I had some left over X-mas money in gift cards after getting Hitman and Shantae so I figured why not give it another shot? After all even if I still end up disliking it, I'm not wasting my own money.
Playing it now, it's not hard to see why I dropped it. The opening areas of the game are just awful. The layout of the Forest of Fallen Giants is pretty good with lots of side areas leading to some nice items, but the enemies are pretty boring. The bandit and soldier hollows are fine as your basic early game mooks just like their equivalents in the first game, but the turtle men and the cyclops monsters are dreadfully dull to fight. Then there's the boss. Oh boy was that thing awful. If it really is the last of the giants then it's no wonder they went extinct. The first real bosses of Demon's Souls and Dark Souls both taught the player something about the combat that they might not have known but I'm struggling to think of anything the first boss of DS2 could teach a player. Hit the big slow thing until it dies? That's not really something you have to teach people.
The combat wasn't all bad though. Oddly enough it truly shone during moments that I absolutely hated in Dark Souls and Demon's Souls, fighting multiple enemies at once. I hated it at first as I'm more accustomed to only fighting one or two enemies unless I fuck up, but once I learned how to fight this way it became a lot of fun. I think it also helps that I'm not using a shield. Spacing has become even more important and I have to keep a lot more in mind while attacking. It kinda reminds me of soloing multi monster arena missions in Monster Hunter.
This is pretty embarrassing, but I never figured out how to unhollow until after I beat the first boss. In hindsight it's super fucking obvious, but I thought you had to use an item at a bonfire to do it ala Dark Souls 1. I thought it was really weird that they would expect new players to get through the entirety of the Forest of Fallen Giants (Which is much harder than 1-1 in Demon's Souls before anyone brings that up) with half health. It turns out they didn't and I'm a dummy.
I'm actually not a fan of hollowing in this game. I get that they had to do something to make being human appealing as there was really no reason to reverse hollowing in the first Dark Souls (Hell I played the entire game as a hollow my first run through and as such I never knew NPC summons were a thing until after I went online to see what things I missed in order to do them in NG+) but I feel that the system in DS2 is too extreme. The people that are going to be effected by it the most are the ones that probably won't be able to get through an area at half health if/when they run out of human effigies. I feel like a system more similar to soul form in Demon' Souls would have been better. A health reduction down to 75% would still give new and bad players an incentive to become human again, but the increase to their damage and higher stealth would give them a better fighting chance than if they ran out of effigies.
So after I beat the first boss I used the key only to find out that I need a different item to continue that way and had to teleport back to Majula. That's another problem I have with this game. In Dark Souls the way the world was connected greatly added to the sense of adventure. I'll never forget my first time activating the elevator in the Undead Parish that led back to Firelink, or opening the aqueduct gate via the depths and realizing where I was. Just like with hollow form, it feels like DS2 2 is trying to combine Demon's Souls and Dark Souls but it hasn't really worked very well so far (with one exception that I'll get to later).
So the next area I tackled was Heide's Tower of Flame and I can't believe how shit it was. The "level" was literally a pretty hallway with only like 6-7 enemies. Said enemies were also incredibly dull to fight one on one. This is where fighting multiple enemies finally clicked with me. The area near the and where you had to fight two enemies at once was really fun. It's a shame the rest of the encounters weren't like that. I was really shocked when I went through the fog door and saw that I was at the boss. Now you might think that the developers would use the fact that the level is incredibly short and that all of the enemies are easily avoidable to make the boss difficult. They didn't. To the Dragon Rider's credit I do think it could have been great as the first boss. The presence of easily avoidable bottomless pits is a great way to teach players to keep their surroundings in mind at all times kinda like the crossbowmen in the Taurus Demon fight. Now this could theoretically be someone's first boss, but what player new to the series isn't going to immediately turn around at the first sight of the big enemies in the area?
After I made it through there I naturally went forward (after a little detour to level up of course) to No Man's Wharf and holy shit this place is so damn good. The level design here was top notch. As soon as you enter that boat catches your eye and gives you both a destination as well as a way to reorient yourself if you get turned around. Intelligently placed traps and ambushes that really add to the level design. Coming down a flight of stairs and realizing I managed to sneak around an ambush to get the jump on the enemies was such a great feeling. I managed to take out three of the four vikings in the room before the last one was even alerted to my presence. It also had the perfect amount of time between the bonfire and the shortcut (unlike the one linking the second bonfire in the forest to the boss). When I kicked over the bridge to get back to the bonfire I was quite literally on my last legs. I had used up all five of my estus flasks and I only had about a quarter of my life left. Those moments are some of my favorite in the series so I'm glad DS2 finally gave it to me. There's also a second shortcut that serves no purpose other than to help people like me (I.E idiots) in case they miss the super fucking obvious chain they need to pull in order in order to get the ship to pull into the harbor. They didn't have to put that in there, but it just goes to show how well thought out this area is.
The combat in this area is great too. not only is there a nice variety of enemies, but they're all fun to fight. I just wish they game would have pitted you against one of the long arm enemies that are afraid of the light along with a different type of enemy instead of only having them grouped together. I also would have liked to see the assassins fight alongside some other enemies. Maybe early on in the area they could pit you against a single viking and then have an assassin drop in behind you. It would have served as a great introduction to the enemy type. Sadly the boss was incredibly easy just like the last two. I was expecting there to be a second form where they split apart like a reverse Ornstein and Smough, but it never came. At least this boss made me use an estus flask which is more than I can say for the other two bosses that I've fought.
After that I made it to the bonfire at the star of the Lost Bastille and stopped playing to write this.
I really hope that No Man's Wharf is indicative of the quality of the rest of the game.
There being a sex change coffin in the game is weird. I get why it's in ther but it's still weird.
The silvercat ring not letting me get down that giant hole in Majula sucks. I wasted all of those souls for nothing T_T.
I haven't decided what area I'm going to do next. Lost Bastille does sound interesting but I'm also incredibly curious about what's in that tower by Majula. The one you need to depetrify a woman to get into.
I'd appreciate it if no one spoiled areas that I haven't been to yet. I love not knowing what's coming up on my first playthrough of a Soulsborne game.
Playing it now, it's not hard to see why I dropped it. The opening areas of the game are just awful. The layout of the Forest of Fallen Giants is pretty good with lots of side areas leading to some nice items, but the enemies are pretty boring. The bandit and soldier hollows are fine as your basic early game mooks just like their equivalents in the first game, but the turtle men and the cyclops monsters are dreadfully dull to fight. Then there's the boss. Oh boy was that thing awful. If it really is the last of the giants then it's no wonder they went extinct. The first real bosses of Demon's Souls and Dark Souls both taught the player something about the combat that they might not have known but I'm struggling to think of anything the first boss of DS2 could teach a player. Hit the big slow thing until it dies? That's not really something you have to teach people.
The combat wasn't all bad though. Oddly enough it truly shone during moments that I absolutely hated in Dark Souls and Demon's Souls, fighting multiple enemies at once. I hated it at first as I'm more accustomed to only fighting one or two enemies unless I fuck up, but once I learned how to fight this way it became a lot of fun. I think it also helps that I'm not using a shield. Spacing has become even more important and I have to keep a lot more in mind while attacking. It kinda reminds me of soloing multi monster arena missions in Monster Hunter.
This is pretty embarrassing, but I never figured out how to unhollow until after I beat the first boss. In hindsight it's super fucking obvious, but I thought you had to use an item at a bonfire to do it ala Dark Souls 1. I thought it was really weird that they would expect new players to get through the entirety of the Forest of Fallen Giants (Which is much harder than 1-1 in Demon's Souls before anyone brings that up) with half health. It turns out they didn't and I'm a dummy.
I'm actually not a fan of hollowing in this game. I get that they had to do something to make being human appealing as there was really no reason to reverse hollowing in the first Dark Souls (Hell I played the entire game as a hollow my first run through and as such I never knew NPC summons were a thing until after I went online to see what things I missed in order to do them in NG+) but I feel that the system in DS2 is too extreme. The people that are going to be effected by it the most are the ones that probably won't be able to get through an area at half health if/when they run out of human effigies. I feel like a system more similar to soul form in Demon' Souls would have been better. A health reduction down to 75% would still give new and bad players an incentive to become human again, but the increase to their damage and higher stealth would give them a better fighting chance than if they ran out of effigies.
So after I beat the first boss I used the key only to find out that I need a different item to continue that way and had to teleport back to Majula. That's another problem I have with this game. In Dark Souls the way the world was connected greatly added to the sense of adventure. I'll never forget my first time activating the elevator in the Undead Parish that led back to Firelink, or opening the aqueduct gate via the depths and realizing where I was. Just like with hollow form, it feels like DS2 2 is trying to combine Demon's Souls and Dark Souls but it hasn't really worked very well so far (with one exception that I'll get to later).
So the next area I tackled was Heide's Tower of Flame and I can't believe how shit it was. The "level" was literally a pretty hallway with only like 6-7 enemies. Said enemies were also incredibly dull to fight one on one. This is where fighting multiple enemies finally clicked with me. The area near the and where you had to fight two enemies at once was really fun. It's a shame the rest of the encounters weren't like that. I was really shocked when I went through the fog door and saw that I was at the boss. Now you might think that the developers would use the fact that the level is incredibly short and that all of the enemies are easily avoidable to make the boss difficult. They didn't. To the Dragon Rider's credit I do think it could have been great as the first boss. The presence of easily avoidable bottomless pits is a great way to teach players to keep their surroundings in mind at all times kinda like the crossbowmen in the Taurus Demon fight. Now this could theoretically be someone's first boss, but what player new to the series isn't going to immediately turn around at the first sight of the big enemies in the area?
After I made it through there I naturally went forward (after a little detour to level up of course) to No Man's Wharf and holy shit this place is so damn good. The level design here was top notch. As soon as you enter that boat catches your eye and gives you both a destination as well as a way to reorient yourself if you get turned around. Intelligently placed traps and ambushes that really add to the level design. Coming down a flight of stairs and realizing I managed to sneak around an ambush to get the jump on the enemies was such a great feeling. I managed to take out three of the four vikings in the room before the last one was even alerted to my presence. It also had the perfect amount of time between the bonfire and the shortcut (unlike the one linking the second bonfire in the forest to the boss). When I kicked over the bridge to get back to the bonfire I was quite literally on my last legs. I had used up all five of my estus flasks and I only had about a quarter of my life left. Those moments are some of my favorite in the series so I'm glad DS2 finally gave it to me. There's also a second shortcut that serves no purpose other than to help people like me (I.E idiots) in case they miss the super fucking obvious chain they need to pull in order in order to get the ship to pull into the harbor. They didn't have to put that in there, but it just goes to show how well thought out this area is.
The combat in this area is great too. not only is there a nice variety of enemies, but they're all fun to fight. I just wish they game would have pitted you against one of the long arm enemies that are afraid of the light along with a different type of enemy instead of only having them grouped together. I also would have liked to see the assassins fight alongside some other enemies. Maybe early on in the area they could pit you against a single viking and then have an assassin drop in behind you. It would have served as a great introduction to the enemy type. Sadly the boss was incredibly easy just like the last two. I was expecting there to be a second form where they split apart like a reverse Ornstein and Smough, but it never came. At least this boss made me use an estus flask which is more than I can say for the other two bosses that I've fought.
After that I made it to the bonfire at the star of the Lost Bastille and stopped playing to write this.
I really hope that No Man's Wharf is indicative of the quality of the rest of the game.
There being a sex change coffin in the game is weird. I get why it's in ther but it's still weird.
The silvercat ring not letting me get down that giant hole in Majula sucks. I wasted all of those souls for nothing T_T.
I haven't decided what area I'm going to do next. Lost Bastille does sound interesting but I'm also incredibly curious about what's in that tower by Majula. The one you need to depetrify a woman to get into.
I'd appreciate it if no one spoiled areas that I haven't been to yet. I love not knowing what's coming up on my first playthrough of a Soulsborne game.
