For me, a lot of the reason I love DS2 so much is because it nailed most of what it tried.
Bloodborne tried to make the game around dodging. It did a mostly good job of that (even if it made bullshit hitboxes a lot more apparent) but it took away that sense of "power" and, more importantly, most of the boss variety. Basically every boss ended up becoming an Iaido master who goes neutral, charges an attack, and covers the entire screen so you need to i-frames through to land a few hits. Which is fun but that is just one enemy style with a very clear counter. In large part because in Bloodborne you only HAVE one counter (except parrying which even From knows to not make players rely on).
Sekiro I need to finish my blog post/crazy manifesto on it eventually but, at a high level: That was not a game about parrying. it was a game about turtling up with a Silver Knight Shield and feathering the block button. And you move like a fat rolling Havel.
Dark Souls 1 and 3 I kind of consider equals. Both NAIL the world design and have amazing variety but both also feel "basic". Kind of reminds me of Super Metroid in that it is an amazing game that I always love to play but... I would generally prefer something "more"
Which gets to Dark Souls 2. It goes even farther than Dark Souls 1 in a lot of ways. It isn't afraid to be an asshole in ways that remind me of Demon Souls but a lot more polished.
In Dark 1, almost every boss can be handled in every way and enemies like Artorias are god tier because it is a radically different boss fight with each "style" of play. But there was still that focus on making sure everyone can be beat as everything. Dark Souls 2 has no problem saying "Fuck you". I already mentioned Ruin Sentinels but that is an OBNOXIOUS fight. You have the rushdown aspect of bosses like Capra but it just keeps going. And there are two (three?) of them so you need the DPS bursting that Four Kings needed. And this is like the fifth (?) boss. Ruin is very much designed around grabbing a tower shield and I love that. I mix up the rat bosses but one is Sif (always fun) and the other is a god damned horde mode (unless you have the miracle that wrecks undead). Skeleton Priests is a similar shitshow where you either need to tank a LOT of damage types or be good at dodging.
And same with being willing to force you to accept that health is a resource. Some of the bosses you can negate the area effect damage but most players will never realize that and will have to deal with constant poison or increasing AOE fire damage over time. It forces you to balance defensive and offensive play in ways that very few (if any) other mainline souls bosses do.
And as much as I hate the bullshit of places like Drangleic Castle Courtyard, I love that they were willing to pull that shit. For an earlier reference, Heide's Tower of Flame is like the first/second area after the tutorial and has a lot of very strong enemies. Initially you pull them and take them one at a time. Then you just have four of them all charge you on a narrow platform. You can run backward to time them out and try to only fight one at a time but you more or less get stuck with at least one two on one. And it is sheer and utter bullshit but it is also kind of nice that the game would allow it.
Dark 2 is flawed as hell. But I love what it tried and feel that most of it is either a success or "if you squint a bit".
And just because I am SURE people are curious: my all time favorite Souls game is Nioh 1 (haven't gotten around to 2 yet). Very similar design philosophies to Dark Souls 2 but with actually useful special moves and a much more entertaining aesthetic and story. And barring a few bullshit bosses, I feel they are generally a lot better balanced.
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