Dark Souls 2: Not as hard as people claim?

[sanquin]

Dark souls 1, the only one I've played so far, wasn't as hard as the hype claimed it to be. Yes the initial learning curve was killer, but that's about it. The rest of the game is challenging, not hard. The challenge seems to come more from learning attack patterns and weak spots so you don't get hit, and being patient with attacking yourself.

From what I've gathered so far, DS2 is less difficult. But instead it has a lot more cheap shots in it. Being unable to pull 1~2 enemies as a whole group will always be pulled together. Enemies sticky-following you while they're telegraphing a big attack, as if they're standing on a turning table. Enemies that you had no way of knowing were there so they get a hit off on you first time you run by. DS1 was much better in that. You could generally pull 1~2 enemies if you were careful. Telegraphed attacks had proper animation, and part of the challenge was finding the weaknesses in them to get attacks off. And I can't recall a single enemy being in a place where you got no hint at all that he was there.

I could be wrong of course as I haven't played DS2 myself yet. But it seems like DS1 was about challenging but fair combat. While DS2 seems to give enemies an unfair advantage, or even multiple unfair advantages.

 

[Sleepy Sol]

I'd say some people just have the patience to adapt if they're new to the series so the lauded difficulty isn't as noticeable, and others have already played other Souls games so they know what to expect.

I guess I'd call 2 the easiest Souls game, but there's not really any way to know how I'd react to it if it were my first. I'd still agree with the sentiment that there is some dumb as hell enemy and bonfire placement, and level design can be very haphazard to the point where situations are just plain unfair, but it just hasn't given me as much trouble as the first Dark Souls did.

 

[Skin]

I guess I'd call 2 the easiest Souls game, but there's not really any way to know how I'd react to it if it were my first. I'd still agree with the sentiment that there is some dumb as hell enemy and bonfire placement, and level design can be very haphazard to the point where situations are just plain unfair, but it just hasn't given me as much trouble as the first Dark Souls did.

I have no issue with people calling DS2 the most difficult Souls game, because difficulty is not the point. Instead of asking "is it difficult?", the question should be "why is it difficult", and this is where falls completely flat and makes a complete mess of itself. The MatthewMatosis critique is spot on when he says the game tries to be more difficult for difficulties sake. The game may not be difficult at all for Souls veterans, because we have our work arounds (for example, I straight up just ran past alot of enemies this game. This made the game easy for me, but makes the game incredibly difficult for someone who is playing a Souls game for their first time and wants to be slow and patient).

In my opinion, the game lacks vision, direction and has way too much pandering than what should have been. Making the game accessible should have NEVER been a priority, because it compromises alot on the vision of a Souls game. This game has not shipped a single unit more than it would have even if had not been as "accessible". Word of mouth advertising was the name of the game for Souls series and instead the developers have reverted to stupid modern day AAA mindset and dumbed down the game play. This video sums up alot of my thoughts on this:


On top of this, the developers wanted to make it hard because as we all know that's all the Souls series is about /sarcasm. So what did they do? MOAR ENEMIES. MOAR TRACKING. MOAR TRAPS. MOAR DEATHS. DEATH COUNTER.

The joys I had in playing Dark Souls and Demons Souls was learning about the game and its mechanics and never once having the game try and teach me a damn thing. For the most part, I was free to do whatever I wanted. The bosses and areas having a sense of relief or joy when completing them was a good feeling, but it wasn't what made the game so great. It was the larger picture. Things like me deciding whether to invest in a repair box or get an extra level of endurance with my last 1000 souls before making my next journey, things like trying to discover the difference between raw weapons and normal upgrading, things like discovering there was an alternate path to Blighttown and that same path could take me to the forest.

Dark Souls 2 to me feels like Dark Souls: Electric Boogaloo, Prepare to Die edition.