DARK SOULS™ II: Scholar of the First Sin Reviews

love the build variety, DLC's, and the level design, very great game

Dark Souls II, the neglected and horribly beaten kid of my favorite series. I guess people are still hating on this game even without giving it a chance. Storytelling and lore are great, you couldn't expect any less from this series. Gameplay effortlessly seperates itself from other games and even from it's siblings. It has a experimental mechanic called power stancing, and it's a fun addition that changes your gameplay experience completely. Play around with it, try it with weapons that are completely different from each other. Great fashion, armor and weapon variety, Dark Souls II still has the best fashion in the series. This game has over 40 bosses and many of it's bosses and secret enemies greatly influenced how Elden Ring bosses behave in a combat. We can say Dark Souls II walked so Elden Ring could run. Parries and ripostes are a lot slower but they look incredibly cinematic, sound effect after a well timed parry is simply ♥♥♥♥♥♥ orgasmic, there is no better way to describe it. Gives you a huge dopamine spike for sure. All of the bosses are fun to fight, with a few exceptions of course. Some don't provide any kind of challenge, which makes them pointless to beat unless they are mandatory for overall game progression. Enemy variety is a plus, and you can add even more variety and new content by starting NG+, the limit is probably NG+7 if i remember correctly. The best part is, you don't even need to start a new game, you can simply use Bonfire Ascetics. Being a hollow and cursed actually matters in Dark Souls II, game gradually reduces your maximum HP each time you die. I am a huge fan of this, wish other souls games had done the same. Music is great, One of the best example is the Majula theme. It's not epical or dark like most Souls tracks, it's quiet and soft but it will definitely stay with you for a lifetime. People don't like the fact that enemies are trying to "gank" them all the time, you're in enemy territory, of course they will attack in large groups and take advantage of everything they have. Nobody is going to wait for you to drop their friend so they can attack you one on one. That's not how fighting works. If you are outnumbered, people will jump you. How you will react is up to you. Just try to space them a bit, wait for them to make mistakes, just carefully observe them before acting. Your items aren't just accessories, use them to distract and surprise them. You can even throw horizontal big swings out of desperation, it will most likely work. Honestly hitboxes are bad, yeah. I can't defend that. Leveling adp is kind of a solution but i would dump my points to other stats if i were you. Pvp is fun, a lot of sweaty players in this game. Twinkies, cheaters and unpluggers are my favorite people for sure, you can use your favorite words on them, mine starts with Fa- It's the kind of game that after playing it, you just fall in love with it too difficult to explain. I'm tired of typing and also hungry, so give it a try and have fun.

I've seen a lot of negative reviews about this game, but after finally experiencing it for the first time, I can definitely recommend it. It's such an innovative title that brings many new ideas and features to the genre. If you enjoyed DS1 and DS3, this is a must-play, especially considering all the references and inspirations shared between these games. However, it clearly has its flaws. Enemy placements can sometimes feel really unfair, the base game bosses aren't particularly memorable with the rat king bosses(optional) being atrocious, and the gameplay can be a bit clunky, with Estus taking ages to drink. But to me, those downsides are insignificant compared to what the game has to offer. The build variety is incredible, with many unique weapons to experiment with. The areas feel refreshing and feature some beautiful panoramas, and I found the level design in several locations to be genuinely good. The story and lore are solid, the NPCs are memorable, the fashion soul is great and while the enemy variety can feel a bit underwhelming at times, it's nothing too serious. Overall, I think this game clearly doesn't deserve its reputation. Its biggest flaw is simply being in the middle of two amazing games that overshadow it. But taken individually, DS2 is a masterpiece.

even though the controls were a little bit clunky, i would say this game is so under appreciated. yall can try it once if you have time.

Base game is amazing, Iron and Ivory king DLC are atrocious. Unless you want all achievements - don't even go there: you'll vomit your guts out. Devs were seemingly trying to create the most annoying places possible that reliably force you to bow/X-bow enemies from a mile away/from the ledge, because facing them would be simply dumb

Overview: The obvious best souls game (Peak Souls 2). Demon Souls, Ds1, Ds3, Bloodborne, Sekiro and Elden Ring all cower in fear of its brilliant divine light of ultimate holiness. It is literally every game ever made and actively appeals to every human on planet earth. If for some reason you do not like this game or it did not appeal to you in more ways than one, please contact your local therapist for help and or join rehab for further assistance. Those of sound mind should realistically consider buying at least four separate copies of the game (full price) to ensure you are doing your part and supporting these beautiful game developers. Buying even more copies of Peak Souls 2 is greatly appreciated, but four should be enough to show your true faith in this game. I was unfortunately lost before playing this genuinely perfect masterpiece and now I personally own twenty-three separate copies of the game across all consoles and platforms. (REMINDER: If you are on the fringe about buying this game or not, remember to allocate at least 500$ USD in order to pay for the three extra copies you will need to buy after the first purchase. The remaining money will be used to buy extra copies on top of the four main copies you have already purchased. If you cannot allocate the funds to buy the copies, please pawn off anything you are able to sell in your house in order to make the purchases. Remember: A car or your prized possessions will eventually wear down and break, while Peak Souls 2 is eternal, consider your options carefully). Review: The PvE is unmatched in both progression and mechanics, and I do not even have to comment on the PvP as, just like everything else in the game, it is the best it has ever been and will be for the rest of the foreseeable future in modern gaming. Conclusion: This concludes the objectively best review of Peak Souls 2. A wise man once said, "One must first understand the why, before the how, when faced with an ultimatum of choice." - Sun Tzu The Art of War

this is literally the best souls game, no one knows what they're talkig about. especially this one guy i know, he's just wrong as ♥♥♥♥. its easily - and i mean easily - the greatest designed game of all time. you can burn the windmill, it's made of metal. how does that work? only dark souls 2 could make that work.

this is the best game ever made. i got dropped on my head as a child and ever since then i have not been able to enjoy video games. until this game came along. thank you shinzo abe for taking one for the team.

Underrated game, Cant say anything bad about it except adaptability, sometimes a lot of enemies and character being clunky and slow. Tho a lot of enemies in original game is manageable because most of the times they're weak, but in dlc it becomes a real problem. Also it has best net code

I remember when it used to be considered cool in the souls community to ♥♥♥♥ on this game. I never agreed. Most criticisms that DS1 fanboys have are through a rose-tinted glasses view of the first game. I'm saying this as someone who started with Dark Souls 1 and has played every Souls game except for Demon Souls. People criticize the gank squads - it's almost like Dark Souls 2 is more about managing multiple enemies at once than Dark Souls 1, and you can't just jog through ignoring enemies. That's not a weakness, it's a difference in gameplay. There are always ways and strategies to deal with it. People criticize that Dark Souls 2 isn't interconnected like Dark Souls 1. Yeah, the randomass firelake below the poison lake below a sewer below a "kingdom" that is weirdly only one castle big is REALLY immersive and well connected. It's just shorcuts, which means backtracking through Undead Burg about 10 times per playthrough. Dark Souls 2 may be less cohesive between level designs, but I'll take the multitude of interesting environments in Dark Souls 2 over generic castle number four in Dark Souls 1 any day. Lastly, people complain that Dark Souls 2 bosses are just "dudes in armor". Sure, Dark Souls 2 has plenty of those, but it has almost twice as many bosses in the first place. And beyond that, I ask any Dark Souls 1 fanboy to actually name the good Dark Souls 1 bosses, without resorting to DLC. Ornstein and Smough, sure. Beyond that? What, you're telling me Bed of Chaos, Centipede Demon, Ceaseless Discharge or Capra Demon are such great bosses that you look forward to? Dark Souls 2 bosses are easier overall, but at least I look forward to them all, because even in cases where they aren't that interesting to fight, they are amusing. I look forward to finding new ways to embarass the congregation every playthrough. If it sounds like my recommendation for Dark Souls 2 is just dunking on Dark Souls 1, I'm sorry, but that's because I am beyond sick of the souls community uncritically parroting the same tired, poorly thought out points about Dark Souls 2. Even people who have never played Dark Souls 2 will regurgitate it. In my view, Dark Souls 1 is simply seen as so ubiquitously influential that to criticize it is blasphemy, and people don't even give Dark Souls 2 a chance. It's a great game in its own right, if you would just stop sucking Dark Souls 1's metaphorical teat for one second. TL;DR: Dark Souls 2 is great, and I'm tired of pretending it's not.