Ahhh... finally. Checked the date of my order: Dec 9, 2012 but the wait is over. And, after three days of playing Dark Souls 2, the verdict is in: DS2 is, in fact HARDER than the original Dark Souls or Demon's Souls. And it appears to be more fun too. But, again, harder doesn't not mean 'impossible' or 'unplayable'. It only means that planning, preparation and some practice involving a lot of dying is going to be part of your gaming experience. I will add some notes at the bottom of this review for anyone thinking to try DS2 but afraid of its impossible difficulty and for anyone who started to play the game and then abandoned it in frustration.
GAME SO FAR
To say that I'm impressed it would be an understatement. This third Souls title was not dumbed down or simplified in any significant way it seems. My first few hours were as good an experience as my first few hours of the first Dark Souls. Play is challenging and interesting in ways that got us to love Demon's Souls and Dark Souls in the first place. It's so... Dark Souls to experience the relief and joy of finally mastering the moves and tactics to beat your first significant enemy only... to see yourself confronted by THREE of them around the next corner. In a few words, I love it.
Getting a little into details and still under first impressions, the game plays in many ways like its predecessors. Most controls will get your toon to do what you'd expect it but there are changes, some subtle, some more obvious. So, here's what I've noticed so far:
- Improved graphics: it's the first thing I noticed. Everything looks sharper, the color palette is a lot richer and... a couple NPCs actually move their lips while talking but that's only on cut scenes
- No frame rate issues yet but let's see how this holds true throughout the rest of the game
- New menus: everything appears to be better organized. But it's different from what we were used to so it will take a while
- New items, some quite interesting. One of the starting gifts would allow you to raise the difficulty level of a specific bone fire area with the corresponding increase in rewards.
- Non-boss enemies stop respawning after a while so you can't farm the same ones forever
- Fast travel from the beginning: can teleport to any bonfire once it's discovered or this was the case with the couple I've got to so far.
- More lore revealed explicitly but not a lot more at the very start of the game.
- Loose central hub concept: not quite the Demon's Souls Nexus but,so far, there's only one place to level up so it's a hub
- Hybrid healing: there is one Estus in the beginning but there are other healing items that heal in different ways. I expect to find some healing miracles as well at some point.
- Classes: wanderer, hunter, pyromancer and thief are gone. DS2 classes are warrior, knight, swordsman (dual wielding), bandit, cleric, sorcerer, explorer, and deprived
- Attributes: resistance is gone and won't be missed. Current attribute are adaptability, vigor, endurance, vitality, attunement, strength, dexterity, intelligence, faith
- Max health: decreases as you keep dying and is fully restored as you regain humanity. One of the starting gifts is a ring that will increase your max health points when worn, not unlike the Demon's Souls Cling ring
- Humanity: you no longer need to be at a fire to regain your humanity, not unlike old Demon's Souls.
I can't say much about invasions, covenants and co-op play yet because I didn't go through these yet but I will update my review once I do. I suppose everyone is busy with early progress in the game so there's not much time for messing up with other people's games yet but I'm sure this is going to change soon, probably within hours. I also have no comments on the bonus pack because I decided that I will not take advantage of it because I am after the full game experience, as hard as it may turn out to be.
IF YOU DIDN'T PLAY THE ORIGINAL DARK SOULS
First of all, don't worry about it. You do NOT need any Dark Souls experience in order to play Dark Souls 2 so... enjoy. However, if you get a hold of the old Dark Souls, give it a try because it's worth it. Try Demon's Souls too. It's a PS3 exclusive and can be had almost literally for pennies these days.
Also, do not believe anyone who claims that the Souls games are impossibly hard. They are not. I mean, they are difficult but not 'impossibly' so. Yes, they are different and to me they are unlike any other games but what that means is that patience, persistence and the willingness to learn from past mistakes will take you through the game because the game will make you get better every day while, true, quickly punishing you for your mistake or for getting too self-confident.
The Souls games are some of the most innovative releases in a long, long time. I don't remember being so wow'ed ever since playing Ultima II as a kid, back in the 80's (yes, I'm THAT old). My first time playing Demon's Souls after a long gaming hiatus triggered one 'aha' moment that hasn't left me as I completed it, then played it again then moved to Dark Souls when it was released and it's still there as I just started DS2 and I was still playing the old Dark Souls last night. There's so much to say about the Souls games but let me just mention some of the more innovative aspects:
- You are never alone, unless you play offline. You can see shadows or outlines of random other players as they progress through their world
- The 'blood stains' of players who died can hint at how they died as you can watch their last few seconds and that can hint at how to deal with dangers ahead
- You have the ability to leave messages to no one in particular that will pop up in other players worlds and it's up to you whether they are going to be helpful or misleading or just cries of frustration
- Other players can come into your world uninvited and try to kill you
- You can summon other willing players to help defend against invaders or beat a boss
- Things that happen to you or things that you do in your world have consequences in other players' worlds and vice-versa
- You can join any of several covenants which grants you some benefits and may strengthen bonds with fellow covenant members
- Most lore is to be discovered through various hints during gameplay - you talk to NPCs, read weapons and armor descriptions
- 'Beating' the game is only the beginning or your journey. As soon are you 'finished' the NG+ (new game plus) starts which sets you back at the the beginning but with the benefits of acquired skills and capabilities and weapons and with much tougher enemies to confront. And then there's NG++ and so forth.
Add to the above a most excellent combat system that from what I see has gotten even better in DS2, the freedom to grow your character almost any way you choose, regardless of your initial class, the most impressive and detailed art displayed on landscapes, architecture, armor, weapons. And that's not all. It's not only other players coming into your game world or you visiting or invading theirs. It's also the game invading our day to day reality through the several Wiki sites and us, real world players taking organized expeditions to fight in organized tournaments or join in some predetermined role playing scenario. The possibilities are limitless and it explains why I've been playing these games for so many years already.
Enjoy. And don't let the inevitable setbacks discourage you.
RATING
I'm not going to go pro-reviewer style and assign scores to graphics, replay value and what not. Playing Dark Souls 2 is pure joy to me thus far and that translates into "I love it" which means '5 stars' and that's that.
______________________________________________
NOTES ON PLAYING DS2
Yes, there is no 'easy mode' in DS2 but there are ways to survive even if your reflexes are not lightning fast. You will need some time and patience. So, here's what may help flattening the learning curve a little.
- Your initial class matters... initially. True, you can turn into whatever you want eventually, regardless of your starting class and there is one item that helps you rearrange your stats but if you started as a Warrior or Knight and can't make any progress, try a class that can do range attacks. Sorcerer is probably the best and you can develop your required sword-wielding stats as you level up and find some decent weapons too.
- Level up a little. The cost of leveling up is not that great in the beginning so if you identify some area where you can successfully deal with the enemies, clear it several times and use the souls gained to level up your favorite attribute such is INT if you go with Sorcerer.
- Bookmark the Wikis. There are several very good Wiki sites dedicated to the Souls games. They will eventually map the entire game, strategies, shortcuts and all. At this time you can learn a lot by lurking at the forums and don't be afraid to ask questions. Most people there are happy to help if they can.
- Get yourself the official
Dark Souls II Collector's Edition Strategy Guide
. It's been written by some of the better Dark Souls Youtube contributors and it's very detailed.
- Search Youtube for Dark Souls II videos that show you how to develop your character, where to go and what to do. EpicNameBro, ManufacturedOpinion, Lobos Jr, A German Spy are some of my favorite stars there and they all love Dark Souls.
You will find that, once you go past a sometime painful and frustrating beginning the games opens up and, while still frustrating and painful you will also begin to experience joy and pride in your accomplishments.
POST PLATINUM NOTES
I had a lot of fun taking the game through NG++ to earn the Platinum and I promptly started a new character after that but I am a little worried about the games Soul Memory implementation - gamers are matched in PvP based on the amount of souls they earned during their playthrough - because a certain 'cheat' site which hall remain unnamed allows gamers to basically have it all: weapons, armor, items by simply installing a fake 'save' onto their console. And, since Soul Memory maxes out at 15 million souls, gamers who actually earned their souls through play and reached, let's say, level 250, are now matched with those who did nothing but copy the cheat and reached level 500 or 600 or 700 with no effort on their part and, believe me, it's very, very hard to level up past 250 in a legitimate way.
For the first time, after playing Dark Souls and Demon's Souls for all these years, I am not often playing 'offline' because being invaded by super-high-level and practically indestructible characters that clearly cheated to get to that level is no fun and makes no sense whatsoever.
It would be nice if FROM rethought the Soul Memory feature because I have no problem with players at level 700 being PvP matched against other players at a similar level, whether they earned it or not but I do see a huge problem when I'm invaded by someone with everything maxed out when it took me a couple hundred hours to reach a level one third that high and it would probably require thousands or tens of thousands of hours to hit the 'max' legitimately.
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I love this game. it's a game to be playing so many times
At the beginning was a little bit like the first one but later it improve
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Mathieu Moreault
I haven't finished it yet but it is great. Almost as good as the first Dark Souls ...
Reviewed in Canada on July 19, 2014
