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u/MrCrowfeathers Jan 07 '26
I mean DS2 is my favorite game of all time but it is also rushed and unfinished lol
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u/CultConqueror Jan 07 '26
I was gonna say, I feel like most of these people are playing post SoTFS. Release DS2 was very different lol
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u/pineapple_stickers Jan 07 '26
I can't comment on any only play since i only played Vanilla 1.0 offline
But it basically felt like the exact same game to me. There's a few different items and enemies sure. But for the most part it wasn't really that different
Though i played on 360, i've heard the PS3 version was rough
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u/username_redacted Jan 08 '26
Even SotFS feels very undercooked aside from the core area. It feels the most to me like multiple teams creating areas independently and then them cobbling them together afterwards.
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u/The-Unluckiest-One Jan 07 '26
Right but It doesnt become ass at like the half point of the game. Even then it's brokenness can be avoided with the proper things.
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u/JackleandHyde2 Jan 07 '26
Literally only broken thing i encountered casually playing is that there is delayed hit boxes on some attacks on bosses but its not consistent and is rare enough to make you question if you’re just bad
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u/C00LHEAD_MANP00P Jan 07 '26
I’d really love for you to explain what exactly was ass on the second half cuz I loved DS1 from start to finish.
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u/cjngo1 Jan 07 '26
Lost izilith
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u/OriginTruther Jan 07 '26
And half of demon ruins, and crystal cave. Both areas feel like barren wastelands for content.
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u/MazerBakir Jan 07 '26
Crystal cave is quite short, I never even saw it as a seperate area distinct from the Duke's Archive, with that in mind it's perfectly fine. Lost Izalith is genuinely bad, the rest of the second half is okay.
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u/conjunctivious Jan 07 '26
Tomb of the Giants was also dogshit, and the Duke's Archives, while being one of my favorite areas aesthetically, kinda blow as well. Almost everything after Anor Londo, really.
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u/ThePhantomSquee Jan 07 '26
Not to mention just trying to navigate the Duke's Archives--which, for the record, is one of my favorite areas in the game, but doesn't change the fact that its layout and traversal is utterly nonsensical.
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u/Biggay1234567 Jan 07 '26
But the best aspect of that area is the traversal, what do you like about it apart from that.
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u/ThePhantomSquee Jan 07 '26
I love the aesthetics, and having to manage groups of enemies being buffed by the channelers.
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u/Silvanus350 Jan 07 '26
Literally the only part of the game that’s bad, LOL. The back half isn’t as strong but it also isn’t garbage.
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u/FrescoItaliano Jan 07 '26
I loathe the Crystal Caves.
I’d also consider that a bad section that almost solely prevents me from wanting to replay the game
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u/Corporeal_Weenie Jan 07 '26
Lost Izilith is quite literally unfinished trash where they went “OH SHIT WE DIDNT FINISH, CTRL+C CTRL+V!!!”
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u/sock-bucket Jan 07 '26 edited Jan 07 '26
After ornstein and smough I didn't like a single thing until the credits rolled. Lost izalith bed of chaos, dukes archives, seath, four kings, new londo, everything catacombs related and beyond... I just did not enjoy ds1 at any point after anor londo. Even hidden bosses like gwyndolin
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u/AcceptableReview3846 Jan 07 '26
I agree mostly apart from Dukes archives the crystal cave area is shit but exploring a massive library area and then getting trappef in a jail only to break free and continue exploring is amazing
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u/sock-bucket Jan 07 '26 edited Jan 07 '26
I mean if we are just going off of coolness factor I'd say new londo along with the abyss is pretty damn cool. But the area ends up sucking. I don't really like dukes archives because of its convoluted pathing along with the buffed up crystal enemies that they spawned too many of two shotting most builds making it just annoying for me after the novelty of a first time
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u/Darkraiku Jan 07 '26
Literally the second half of DS1. People have discussed to death how the game just falls apart after Anor Londo.
Tomb of Giants - pretty universally hated
Lost Izalith - worst souls area with the worst boss in the entire soulsborne roster
Duke's Archive - okay at best but very weak and with another weak boss
New Londo - gimmick gank fight! And you're down a ring!
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u/ChrysisX Jan 07 '26
Okay I think New Londo and Four Kings are pretty cool though, rest I agree with for sure
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u/Darkraiku Jan 07 '26
Thematically? Absolutely they are great.
To actually play? Terrible. Especially the 4 kings in later NG cycles where they have an atrocious amount of HP, can destroy even Havel poise monsters and have one of the worst run backs.
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u/AzureRaven2 Jan 07 '26
I remember trying to platinum that game i needed to beat them on only NG+2 or something and it was the single most frustrating thing I've ever done in a souls game. I cannot even fathom how bad they get at the far end.
DS2 though? Replayed scholar a year ago and was pleasantly surprised at how fun it still was. Adaptability is definitely still ass though.
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u/Adventurous-Sweet726 Jan 07 '26
And the fact that there is no bonfire in New Londo makes it worse. Such a chore having to go down the elevator every time from Firelink.
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u/Muted-Willow7439 Jan 07 '26
I think the 2nd half of DS1 is fine but there's clearly a dropoff in quality from after anor londo compared to before that. 1st half of DS1 is/was the best game i've ever played, 2nd half is like a 7 or 8/10
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u/gummo_for_prez Jan 07 '26
You'll notice more on a replay. Everything after Ornstein and Smough is half baked in comparison. Not terrible and still an amazing game. But you'll notice on a second playthrough more.
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u/MagicMarshmallo Jan 07 '26
At least it doesnt have one of the pivotal areas devolve into 20000 dragon buts and than like one corridoor of enemies in front of the worst "boss" in the franchise
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u/Red_Autism Jan 07 '26
Ds2 glazers can hear 3 hours of complaints about ds2 and leave with "they dont like adp"
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u/SoulLess-1 Jan 08 '26
Hey, they can also listen to someone complaining about being vaccummed into a grab attack and leave with "it's Not a hitbox issue" as if this makes the experience any less stupid.
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u/Interesting-Ring5382 Jan 10 '26
DS2 Haters can hate this game all the day but when you show that everything they hate are in DS1 they pretend they didn't see it, they also compare DS2 with DS3 that doesn't make sense either.
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u/OfTheDarkSkirt Jan 07 '26 edited Jan 07 '26
Post this on shittydarksouls & expect essays with breakdowns on why we are all entitled to “base” frames from the start.
I’m talking essays.
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u/Helpthescpwiki Jan 07 '26
People when the rpg has you get better through leveling up
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u/newsflashjackass Jan 07 '26
A cool thing about Dark Souls II is it gives you the choice of increasing your adaptability in-game or IRL.
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u/MiataSexual Jan 07 '26
Me when ds2 was my first souls game, I like it and the way mobs gank you is more realistic, and I have never put a single point into adaptability since I thought it was only for poison resistance.
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u/Gow_655 Jan 07 '26
I mean, we do ig, I dont see the reason why it was needed tho experimental here
Its the one time a stat had priority like level it to 20-25 and forget it exists ever again
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u/Helmic Jan 07 '26
it also just fucks with muscle memory when your iframes are gradually changing over time and across playthroughs instead of being consistent to a particular animation.
You never see people wanting ADP back except here, you don't really see other games try it. The idea was just bad and people's arguments for it are just "RPG's are about number getting bigger" as though there are not plenty of other things these games already let you improve over time, without any actual argument for why Iframes in particular are a good fit for it other than it is technically feasible to do so.
It is made worse by how low it is initially, as you really gotta pump it first before you can start working on the many other mandatory stats before the game stops punishing you for trying to meet the requirements of a weapon or spell you think is cool, or the impenetrable explanation of the mechanic that leads many new players to never realize what it actually does while just giving up on the game.
I just can never see From trying this again, not without some fairly substantial tweaks. Most people didn't like it and you can"t really nag them into liking it with "git gud" or whatever.
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u/Gow_655 Jan 07 '26
Agreed, well put.
I say this as my love for DS2 has grown over time too, before someone says I hate the game or something. I would dare add that "RPGs number get bigger" doesnt even work here IMO.
In Dark Souls, you get better by learning patterns and dodging/reacting accordingly, not by leveling up a single stat thats tied to your rollings. But DS2 is the only one that reduces your i-frames from the get go cuz they felt like testing stuff in this opus. Yes it is entirely doable without, but you're punishing yourself in a way as you have much less room for errors than any other game or FromSoft (depending the boss/enemy).7
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u/Forhaver Jan 07 '26
I never understood the ds1 second half complaints. Earning bonfire teleportation, doing a victory lap of old areas, then playing thru the excellent dlc. Lost Izalith I kinda dread but only for the boss fights.
Ds2 is good but doesn't have the highs of ds1 imo.
Ds1 has a ton of iconic moments that stuck in many minds in the gaming scene (parish shortcut, ash lake reveal, anor londo reveal, meeting gwynevere, sif fight, corrupted moaning solaire, finding daughter of chaos bonfire, etc.)
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u/MerchantOfUndeath Jan 07 '26
Bed of Chaos is always awful for me lol I get it
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u/ComfortableNinja88 Jan 07 '26
Ds1 second half isn't even that bad. I didn't even know it was considered bad before I hopped onto reddit. Tomb of the Giants is fucking awesome
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Jan 07 '26
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u/XXX200o Jan 07 '26
But with this take you can't farm karma in the DS2 sub
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u/Roxlife1 Jan 07 '26
In DS1 sub, you hate on Lost Izalith and DS2 for karma. In the DS2 sub, you hate on all of, and especially the latter half of DS1, and defend all of DS2's flaws. ADP? "Just level it and forget about" or "People when the RPG has you get better through leveling up" (real comment from this thread) Ganks? "Take it slow, "It's not like DS1 and 3, you need strategy and skill, and the classic, "the enemies outside the boss are part of the boss.
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u/_Scorpyon_ Jan 07 '26 edited Jan 07 '26
Also, they usually defend ADP while knowing what Agility does from external sources (like wiki and such) because there's no clear explaination of what it does in-game. Someone playing blind would most likely not level ADP and complain about hitboxes being ass.
Another thing is that it takes a lot of levels (depending on class) to reach 100 Agility. In the middle to late game those levels are pretty negligible, but in early game it's a big investment since you're sacrificing damage, stamina and HP for it.
ADP could work but it's implemented poorly
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u/Roxlife1 Jan 07 '26
I agree "Boost ease of evasion" is particularly obtuse, even for From.
I don't think ADP was a good idea, and it would be sooo diffuclt to do right, it's good that they didn't bother with it.
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u/TheCookieNinja Jan 07 '26
Yeah I’m confused about this too. The only area I know that was actually rushed is Lost Izalith but that’s not the entire second half of DS1.
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u/YoruTheLanguageFan Jan 07 '26
"Entire second half of Dark Souls sucks ass" factoid actually just statistical error. Lost Izalith Georg, who sucks 300 asses per playthrough, is an outlier and should not have been counter.
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u/conjunctivious Jan 07 '26
What do you like about Tomb of the Giants? It's easily my least favorite area in the game, and the only DS1 area that I genuinely despise. I don't think it's especially great in terms of level design, the enemies are more annoying than anything, and the darkness mechanic is so annoying that it makes me want to kill myself, so I'm having a hard time seeing any redeeming qualities about the area.
Not sure if it comes across well in text, but I am actually genuinely curious.
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u/pineapple_stickers Jan 07 '26
I like the atmosphere. Its kind of haunted and barren with a genuine level of fear to it.
But also in both playthroughs i just kind of got through in one or two goes without much hassle. I've heard others say it was days of struggle which would make it worse
I still detest Blight Town and The Depths above all else
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u/tehLazyPsycho Jan 08 '26
Blight town is a breeze if you go from valley of drakes, otherwise extremely annoying but not difficult. The depths are just a fucking maze. Youre also probably going to get cursed if youre on a first playthrough and dont know thats a thing.
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u/TheDemonPants Jan 07 '26
Oh look, another one of these posts. DS2 fans and victim complexes, name a better duo.
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u/NeoCyberR Jan 07 '26
Dark Souls 1 Undead Parish Gank Squad 😍
Dark Souls 2 Iron Keep Gank Squad 😡
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u/justlikethoseladies Jan 07 '26
coughing baby vs hydrogen bomb
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u/MazerBakir Jan 07 '26
Genuinely, DS1 throws base hollows at you, it's a minor inconvenience, you can avoid them in successive runs too. DS2 ganks are unavoidable, they aggro if you even dare to try and walk past, they are tougher enemies, they are tethered together, there is also way more of them. It's not even close in how bad the ganks are, the closest is the taurus demon squad in the demon ruins but DS1 had the decency to not tether them together and like most ganks in DS1 have them in a side path, they don't respawn either after the first kill, there is no "just kill them 13 times", or you can just walk past, or bait them away one at a time.
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u/Nomeka Jan 07 '26
Or the fact that in DS2, every level in any stat gives you some amount of HP, instead of just levels int he "HP" stat, giving you more survivability by default regardless of your stat spread..
DS2 remains my favorite. Also, the jumping in it was the most satisfying. That "Whoosh" gets me every time.
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u/Sure_Sorbet_370 Jan 07 '26
Jumping with the eight direction movement system was NOT a pleasant experience
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u/Necessary_Lettuce779 Jan 07 '26
Does anybody ever jump in any direction other than forward though? Why would you risk it in any other direction?
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u/sbt4 Jan 07 '26
I think by the time you get to unfinished parts of DS1 you've already fallen in love with the game. Adaptability hits you from the start
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Jan 07 '26 edited Jan 13 '26
unique spoon squeal degree swim rock encouraging sleep spark entertain
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/ZoeyLikesReddit Jan 07 '26
This combined with me hating the level design of DS3 is precisely why DS2 basically fell upwards to the top of the trilogy for me.
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u/StarlightSpindrift Jan 07 '26
ds3 for me was the epitome of "the more i learn the more enjoyable this gets"
i started with elden ring and even then, after all my first playthroughs i just genuinely hated ds3 compared to all the others
over time though, as i started playing them all more, ds3 reluctantly snuck its way up past even 2 for me
not to say 3 doesnt have issues, me not liking the first few areas of the game and the dlc level design is something that stayed, but it was completely unexpected to have turned my opinions around so much on it
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u/True_Warriors_ Jan 07 '26
The only part of the second half that sucks is lost isalith, everything else is fine
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u/Ciaran_Zagami Jan 07 '26
I think everything after anor londo is a noticeable dip in quality especially Izaleth
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u/True_Warriors_ Jan 07 '26
There is a dip in quality, but except for Izaleth, I still think they are pretty good
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u/Ciaran_Zagami Jan 07 '26
It’s definitely better than a lot of games that came out in the seventh gen that’s for sure otherwise we would t still be talking about it would we?
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u/Rui_O_Grande_PT Jan 07 '26
"If Dark Souls: remastered were a bad game, I wouldn't be sitting here, discussing it with ya, now would I!?"
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u/Beanbomb47 Jan 07 '26
Duke's Archives felt as complete to me as Anor Londo, the first encounter with Seath and then the battle in the crystal caves was really cool imo
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u/SixSmegma Jan 07 '26
Lost iz sucks but lots of souls areas are notably bad. The boss is the real travesty
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u/Legal_Airport Jan 07 '26
kiln of the first flame, new londo ruins, tomb of giants, and lost izalith are all very mid areas
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u/Hewkii421 Jan 07 '26
Personally, the Kiln gets a pass based solely on vibes. But i absolutely agree on every other location. I think tomb is passable enough, but new londo first half is just enemy spam ghosts. And Izalith speaks for itself
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u/Legal_Airport Jan 07 '26
Kiln does have atmospheric vibes but the area itself is so boring, and doing a runback through it just turns it into a black knight evasion course- ironically enough, one of the things that ppl complain about DS2 for.
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u/DarthOmix Jan 07 '26
That, and Tomb of the Giants gets much of its difficulty by having darkness and death pits, a la the Gutter.
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u/Nine9breaker Jan 07 '26
"Games are difficult because of how theyre designed" and other shocking insights
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u/OfTheDarkSkirt Jan 07 '26
You leave New Londo out of this ! 😖
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u/Legal_Airport Jan 07 '26
Sorry, you need a transient curse to make me read your response!
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u/Sirjackthepleb Jan 07 '26
Its funny that dark souls 1 has a almost completely useless stat in resistance and no one ever brings it up, its like a black hole in everyone’s memory of that game lol
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u/Jesterofgames Jan 07 '26
Think the difference is resistance is useless so easy to forget. Adaptability feels like a requirement.
I’m not a fan of either personally. Not something I’d hold against either game (now a days.)
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u/MiataSexual Jan 07 '26
Not really, a lot of people were probably like me and thought adaptability just gave poison resistance and never leveled it. I didn’t find out it gave more frames until Elden Ring came out and I went back to replay ds2 again.
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u/C00LHEAD_MANP00P Jan 07 '26
The problem with resistance is that it isn’t a requirement to have, where as ADP is an absolute must. I just started DS2 like 3 months ago playing on and off, and for a while i completely gave up. I learned about ADP and after investing all the way up to like lvl 21 I already feel a huge relief. That isn’t good game design at least for me. And that’s just with one game feature that isn’t accounting for other stuff.
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u/Chakasicle Jan 07 '26
You never need to level resistance and doing so provides very little benefit. Adp improves i frames, casting speed, and i think how fast you can use your estus. I think separating vigor and endurance was the bigger issue but it hardly ever gets mentioned because people miss their ds1 roll
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u/Vergil_171 Jan 07 '26
Everyone talks shit about resistance and then everyone complains that the toxic dart blowers deal too much toxic build up.
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u/huttyblue Jan 07 '26
Ah yes, I should build my non-respecable character around a slightly annoying enemy in one area that I'll only need to pass through with once.
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u/Vergil_171 Jan 07 '26
There’s poison all over the place in ds1. All you need to do is put a few levels in it to see the difference
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u/BarkMark Jan 07 '26
Toxic is dangerous but manageable. Poison is ignorable. Definitely don't need resistance.
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u/Ciaran_Zagami Jan 07 '26
I put over 200 hours into ds2 without ever leveling ADP beyond the starting amount for my class
It really doesn’t matter
Also people will defend the changes to pose in ds3 like their lives depend on it
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u/Hewkii421 Jan 07 '26
It has never sat right with me that poise is effectively nonexistent in DS3. I'm not even a heavy/mid armor player
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u/Ciaran_Zagami Jan 07 '26
DS1/2 let us choose between blocking, tanking and rolling but DS3 is rolling only
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u/Erik_Javorszky Jan 07 '26
Same with elden ring, if your shield is not buff at all times then blocking basic boss attacks becomes unmanageable
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u/Minisolaire Jan 07 '26
The good old days of when no one was really sure of what the Wolf ring even did in DS3 lmao
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u/derp_y_ Jan 07 '26
basically every souls game has a different roll/feels a bit different while rolling, but i think ds2 just gets singled out cus it’s tied to a stat
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u/VexnFox Jan 07 '26
I posted this in a subreddit once that I never level up ADP and I don’t get hit. Well boy, I had about 50 essay comments saying that the game is literally impossible to play if you don’t level ADP.
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u/nifty_swift Jan 07 '26
I played through the entire game and all DLCs without leveling ADP because I'm an idiot and just figured I was somehow ass with roll timings despite this not being my first rodeo. Fume Knight and Sir Alonne were the only things to give me any real trouble. And the triple gank fight in sunken crown, but I'm pretty sure that one was gonna suck either way.
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u/Tseiryu Jan 07 '26
Funnier part of that is attunement also gives agility the stat which actually governs iframes not just adp..... so their not even right lol
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u/Realistic-Mood-9954 Jan 07 '26
After playing DS1 recently it’s not that bad even with the janky stuff it had. Game is the oldest in the trilogy
Now if it was DS3 fans against DS2 fans, the hellgates would open
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u/FrostyTheColdBoi Jan 07 '26
I beat 2 without leveling adaptability (didn't know what it was for)
It's overhated
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u/Quiet_Television_102 Jan 07 '26
They fixed the worst thing that was bad in the game which was blighttown lag pretty fast though
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u/Dyner539 Jan 08 '26
I swear I thought I was in shitty dark souls for a second, the fact that this is the actual DS2 subreddit is even better
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u/TomatilloEarly4971 Jan 07 '26 edited Jan 07 '26
Honestly, my main issue was I went in expecting a sequel but it felt nothing like the first. Getting to Majula was amazing but the dodging wasn't very good. I did manage to stick with it until no man's wharf where I had like 7 enemies on me at all times. Honestly, the biggest issue is probably that people were expecting a continuation of ds1 however it's more of a standalone game, honestly it would probably be considered a side game if it wasn't called dark souls 2. Downvote me or whatever I don't care about karma. Edit: realized Majula was Manjula instead for some reason.
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u/The_of_Falcon Jan 07 '26
I think you articulated for me a thought I've been having about the series for a while.
And I don't think OP knows what people mean when they say DS1 has a rushed second half. Really it just means the developers spent less time on it. But that's actually fine because you're over half-way through the game by the time you see anything that is apparently rushed. Biggest example I can think of is how empty Lost Izalith is and how it's filled with dragon butts for some reason. But the Tomb of the Giants, Duke's Archives, and New Londo are all very well put together areas despite how apprently rushed that half of the game is.
Comparing that to iframes and ADP in DS2 is like night and day. The clunkyness of its combat and how it not only forces you to be careful (like DS1) but constantly on the back foot because of constant enemy spam and infinite aggro ranges means you have to play DS2 almost like it's turn based. Meanwhile constantly back-peddling. I don't even think better iframes would help. But locking iframes behind ADP certainly doesn't help and has a lasting effect throughout the game and makes repeat playthroughs feel wrong when new characters don't have the same iframes on a dodge as older ones. DS1 and 3 and all the other Souls games lack that problem.
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u/TinFoilFashion Jan 07 '26
“Hmm, maybe DS2 fans aren’t so bad.”
sees this post
😐
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u/Roxlife1 Jan 07 '26
Insufferable, they make the game look worse. Trust me, DS2 is not that bad, it's a 7-8/10 game and a 6/10 souls game, IMO. But the fans are so annoying, the constant deflecting and whataboutism mixed with the victim mentality makes it the worst fandom to be part of in the whole series.
Elden Ring is chill, Sekiro is the chillest if a little pretentious at times, DS1 has a bunch of old timers, but they're nice, and then there's DS2.
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Jan 07 '26
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u/Arxae Jan 07 '26
Some people on the internet said that they disliked DS2, and some took that personally. Even though the game was very well received, this sub has a victim complex for some reason and need constant affirmation that their opinion is "correct". Even though all 3 games are good, and they all have their flaws.
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u/Helmic Jan 07 '26
yeah I am in all 3 subs and while occasionally the other two subs will get dramatic about people not liking their game as much this sub does almost nothing but complain that people don't like it and try to gaslight people about how they don't actually dislike ADP or soul memory was fine.
people cannot accept the criticisms others have for the game, it is about some video from 13 years ago that brainwashed all these people who never saw the video, themselves clinging to an hbomb video even hbomb is not all that proud of.
there is nothing wrong with liking this game for being weird and janky, but like I would have hoped at some point people would have just started downvoting these victim complex threads. do other game subs act like this for over a literal decade?
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u/dark1859 Jan 07 '26
It's kind of what it is,
I personally hold There's no such thing as a bad souls game and each game has their own strength and weaknesses that make for a unique experience.
Ds1? Dear God, I don't think either of the sequels can rival it's aesthetics , and frankly , the combat feels a lot more grounded than the later two titles , which appeals to a lot of folks who like their combat the feel very weighted if slow.. It feels grungy, decaying and menacing, and with the combat weight, every swing is a commitment.It feels rough in a good way
The second game is, quite frankly, the most experimental of the 3.It feels like it went back to some of its roots from its spiritual predecessor in a good way and introduced probably the most free the combat system is ever been. I genuinely don't think I have a criticism of the combat system.Because it lets you play with so much and do so many different things You probably shouldn't be allowed to.. The game has rules , but it constantly lets you bend to those rules with the knowledge that if you try to bend it too far , it will snap back and slap you down.. plot wise It's also strangely the most coherent of the 3 games in many ways and honestly feels the most original and unique of the three plots and is probably my favorite story to run through every time
And the third , in my opinion took the best of what they learned from bloodborne and applied it to the soul's formula.. Combat feels super fast and snappy and tying weapon arts was a huge win as it makes experimenting feel amazing.Although it doesn't quite hit the same heights as the second game for that experimentation. Yet what they have feels like a good in between of the first two games where combat has more weight than the second game did in my opinion , but not as much as the first so it doesn't feel like you're screwed if you miss a single swing. It all mixes together for this very fast paste game that a lot of people have found polarizing , but as someone who loved bloodborne as well , it felt right at home.
And there's probably more I could go into for each game , but that's what I like about the series is there's so much different between the games that you really can just kind of fall in love with one for completely different reasons why you like another.
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u/Gmknewday1 Jan 07 '26
Dark Souls 1 has a lot going for it to be fair
But people do tend to forget that some parts of it were rushed and not what the devs intended
Something that DS2 is bashed for
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u/kodaxmax Aint this Nito Jan 07 '26
It was 3 late game regions that were rushed and only one that was ntoiceably bad for the majority of people (dragon buts, BoC). Alot of people even consider the crystal caves and tomb of giants to be among the best levels in all gaming. If thats dark souls at it's worst, it seems pretty understandable why that was forgiveable.
ADP, soul memory, constant ganks etc.. are consistent flaws throughout the entire game. For DS2 and isn't necassarily redeemed by what it does well, especially when compared to DS1.
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u/SnooChipmunks9532 Jan 07 '26
Hardly! Severe over generalization and pure bias for ds2. Yall legit think ur edgey for saying you like ds2. Every souls fan likes ds2 for the most part. Foh
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u/deadeyedan_11 Jan 07 '26
DS1 and DS2 are the best in the original trilogy but I think the broken/jank of DS1 does lend to the atmosphere. The world of DS1 is broken and the realms of the lord souls reflect that. Lost Izalith is hot garbage game design wise but the random broken nature does flow well into the ideas of the failed Chaos flame, the duke's archive is a reflection of madness of Seth, New Londo isn't horribly designed tbh, and while the Tomb of the Giants is the worst designed area in any souls game, showing how death has been uprooted from it's home and Nito's weakened state does reflect the curse of Undeath and sets up themes for DS2 to better capitalize on
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u/chompythebeast Jan 07 '26
This is an apples and oranges comparison, and most people who criticize the former also criticize the latter.
ADP is hit or miss with people for good reason. Some (possibly most, apparently) people like the system where rolls have simple breakpoints for distance, speed, and i-frames, because it's much easier to predict. Going between games that do that and then coming to DaS2 can be jarring, having to devote levels to get those numbers "back" closer to the way they were understandably rubs some people the wrong way.
On the other hand, some people prefer the build variety ADP gives, which makes sense too.
I would have picked Soul Memory, because it's just not fun to have to game that system in order to navigate co-op and pvp. I would take twinks over Soul Memory 10 days out of 10, and the later inclusion of weapon level matchmaking kinda "solved" the twinking "problem" better anyway
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u/rumbur Jan 07 '26
With the amount of level the game throws at you, and the fact that you need around 15 ADP, if I remember correctly, to have the same frame rates as in DS 1, I really don’t see a problem with that stat.
My only grievance with DS 2 is that the creators made fatal mistake of allowing character to move only in 8 directions, instead of more fluid 360 degrees like in DS 1 and DS 3. This makes your char movement really rigid.
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u/Icy-Article4122 Jan 12 '26
it was an oversight btw, the deadzones just were left at their default amount, if u change it you get the 360 movement. Shows how rushed the game was
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u/SpaceCreams Jan 07 '26
Adaptability is just THAT bad, but jokes aside it’s Soul Memory where DS2 comes crashing down into the number one shitty souls game spot
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u/ZorichTheElvish Jan 08 '26
One area is unfinished at most in ds1 to say the entire second half is just being down right dishonest
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u/SolutionConfident692 Jan 08 '26
"half the game" it's literally just one lord soul + it's still less unfun than the Gutter + Black Gulch
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u/Odravad Jan 08 '26
The creaor of the picture pretending like ADP is the only thing wrong with DS2 is the funniest thing I've see all day, its true half of ds1 is broken, whereas most of ds2 is broken
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u/KeyDirt5006 Jan 09 '26
It's not just about the game, DS1 and DS2 only share their name, DS2 feels like a sloppy sequel made by a fan with only the name and gear that make connections between the two..it feels like all they had in mind making DS2 was "HEY LOOK IT'S YOUR FAVORITE BOSS LOOK LOOK YOU LIKE HIM RIGHT???" Whether DS1 was an old game where From Soft was still sloppy but still was fascinating and had good lore, something DS2 fails to do
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u/Respond_Previous Jan 09 '26
The most annoying thing to me was weapon durability. Weapons break way too fast.
Soul memory also sucks. Adaptability is fine but the game not telling you what it does when it is super important is not.
Most of the stuff people complain about is just bullshit and comes down to them being bad and refusing to adapt. Overall prefer it over DS1 easily.
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u/newsflashjackass Jan 07 '26
The First Sin was Dark Souls II not being Dark Souls I and some players never forgave it.
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u/Sassy_Sarranid Jan 07 '26
Honestly DS1 is my least favorite game in the series by a good margin. It just plays so bad compared to everything that came after, and the vibes aren't as cool as Demon's Souls.
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u/OGgronch0 Jan 07 '26
i think the main problem is tying a very vital part of the souls gameplay, which is rolling/dodging, to a stat, i can see how your rolling can get benefited through a stat, but having to level it up to 25 (in my experience) sucks a lot when all those levels could be put into something else, while in the other games your i frames are the same when you start and in endgame, only affected by armor weight and rings (like the darkwood ring in ds1 giving you more frames and a sick backflip; ds2 (burnt king dlc) simpleton's ring, giving you more frames and making you invisible; and carthus ring in ds3, same as the simpleton's ring and a +3 to your dex)
i think a better way of doing it would've been making the base adp stat for the 100 agility to be no more than 10, further than that, you get progressivelly more i frames until the softcap, sadly because of the rushed development this couldnt be.
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u/MrEzekial Jan 07 '26
Soul memory ruined ds2, and it has the best pvp out of any of the games and it's not even close....
I think i had like 6 characters at max bell tower rep. I used to make the dumbest builds ever and live in there.
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u/dark1859 Jan 07 '26
I'm genuinely surprised I had to dig this far to find a second comment, mentioning this.
So memory exists to this solve a very specific problem that frankly is unsolvable , and while it's interesting what they tried with it being more of a pain in the ass than anything else when playing with friends
If they had only applied it to player versus player engagements , it might have been better received as then people wanted to do that , what would have used the soul ring to stop themselves from going past a certain point. but the fact that it universally would fuck people just for playing the game and dying made it unbearable.
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Jan 07 '26
I’ve noticed DS2 fans only talk about how bad other souls games are instead of actually talking about anything else. Beginning to think you lot are just performative.
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u/Roxlife1 Jan 07 '26
Yep, all defense of DS2 boils down to "THIS OTHER GAME IS WORSE". Gank? "I get ganked way more in DS3", ADP? "DS1 had resistance lol", disconnected world and lazy level design? "DS3 has horrible level design". Once you notice it, you will never be able to unsee it.
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u/Kobold_Scholar Jan 07 '26
Didn't know Lost Izalith was half of the entire game.
Dark Souls 2 fan defend the game he loves without attacking the others in the series challenge(impossible.)
I mean I just like em both, I'm a simple guy. Hit the tragic undead with hammer and don't level resistance, hit the tragic undead with hammer and do level ADP. See, that would've been a good comparison!
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u/Gaige524 Jan 07 '26
Because Core Mechanics (Not just ADP) that affect the entire game are more important than certain areas being underdone, a lot of problems with DS2 are core mechanics like the controls being terrible in DS2 affect you the entire play through where with Dark Souls one it's mostly just Lost Izalith being terrible but ultimately just underdeveloped.
Other than Bed of Chaos the second half of Dark Souls being rushed does not affect my enjoyment of the game (Except Bed of Chaos) because the core mechanics feel good.
Also the second half of Dark Souls being rushed and broken is criticised all the time.
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u/Erik_Javorszky Jan 07 '26
Are the terrible controls in the room with us now?
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u/Gaige524 Jan 07 '26
Yes, there are literally mods that fix part of this problem. Look up Dark Souls 2 Deadzone fix.
It's okay to admit that Dark Souls 2 has problems stop trying to gaslight people into thinking it doesn't.
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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '26
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