Darksiders 2 review/rant/vent

[The Human Torch]

After enjoying Darksiders 1, I was ready to sink my teeth deep into Darksiders 2, boy, was I surprised at how terrible it is.

Separate from all the crap textures and lack of graphical settings in the PC version that everybody is reporting, the game itself just rubs me the wrong way. After a lackluster spreadsheet intro that explains the plot of Darksiders 1 and your role in this new part, you are plopped down in a non-de-script world, hunting a man called the Crow-Lord because he knows how to resurrect humanity (how? why?).
Seeing as proving War's innocence starts with Death resurrecting humanity for some reason (how? why? what?). Also, at one point in the past you collected a million dead souls, stuffed them into a talisman, and forced the Crow Lord to wear it, torturing him because all those souls never stop whispering in the Crow Lord's ears, because of....reasons...

As you fight the Crow Lord to force him to open a portal to a world where you can start resurrecting humanity, he turns into War (Death is completely un-phased by this) but you kick the snot out of him regardless and with the Crow-Lord literally choking on your scythe, he opens the portal and throws the talisman at you, causing it to break and Death absorbs it into his right pec. Again, because of reasons.
Yeah, if you are looking for a story that makes sense, do not play Darksiders 2.

Regardless of the plot, as soon as you enter the next world, my biggest gripe with this game becomes evident. It's freaking World of Warcraft, only then as a single player game. There are loot drops from chests and mobs that are either upgrades or vendor trash, there are NPC's who send you all over the place to do their dirty work and there are even two talenttrees to pick from. I am sorry, but NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, if I want to play World of Warcraft or any other kind of MMO, I will play those games. I want to play as Death, a fucking force of nature. The Jack Bauer of video games. The Chuck Norris of the underworld. I do not want to spend time comparing gear stats and ponder about talents.

Darksiders 1 was hardly original with green/red/yellow souls coming out of chests and mobs, but I prefer that system over gear and gold. And now we shall delve into the mosh pit that is the combat: it's fast (sometimes so fast that you can't even see where Death is), it's fluent and it flows very nicely...

SO WHY THE FUCK DID THEY ATTACH SUCH A WORTHLESS CAMERA TO IT!
I love getting hit by mobs that are off-screen, because that adds such a fantastic strategic layer to the game. There is no PoV option for this game in the PC-mode, so that only adds to the headache that you get from playing Darksiders 2 for longer than an hour.

I was so looking forward to this, I was counting down the hours until launch, but Vigil studios just took my hopes and dreams, grinded it into a pulp, mixed it with pig meat and squeezed it into sausages ready to be sold at the next Oktoberfest in Germany, to feed the great, drunken, unwashed masses.
I normally buy my games from the bargain bin, only with very rare occassions do I purchase at full-price, and I felt that my 50 bucks would be justified in this case, especially as THQ is suffering financially. I wanted to help them out. Now I just want to see them burn.

My advice would be to stay away from this game, and if you really feel the need to play this, get it on console, because the PC port is just abysmally bad and we shouldn't take this kind of travesty.

My apologies if this came over as too much of a rant, but I was in desperate need of venting my frustrations.

 

[Blarkuntvhite]

Personally I'm enjoying this game, just on a "mindless action" level, but I know exactly where you're coming from.

I had to roll my eyes when you start the game in a frozen mountainous wasteland riding a skeletal glowy-eyed horse, trying to find a dude who's sitting on a throne.

I actually like the environment design, but the character design is just wrong. I took one look at those those "Maker" guys whose hands were bigger than their heads and just cringed.

I don't think Death, one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, really fits into that sunny medieval fantasy setting without looking very strange... I mean he literally looks EVIL AS HELL.

Also the platforming feels entirely pointless, and is so similar to Prince of Persia it's comical.

I still haven't finished it yet, so I can't say whether it's good overall or not. These annoyances aren't really that grand for me.

 

[Wado Rhyu]

human torch, the game isnt for you.

i am loving the game alot. the points about the plot you mention are explain at the start and serve as backstory. later you will understand it better.

it isnt the same game as 1. the have said that a thousand times already. if you dident bother to read posts about the game then its your fault. the changed alot and i am still in the middel about what was good and what is bad.

i have to give you the camera problem but you can focus on a enemy it helps.

all in all i have to say its your own fault you dont like it. there isnt anything in the game the haven't told you before it launched.

 

[General Twinkletoes]

Come on, singleplayer WoW?

Huh? The games are nothing alike. If you describe the way that the inventory works, sure you can say it's singleplayer WoW. But in practice, and actually playing is totally different. You barely talked about the gameplay at all here, which is the most important part of a hack and slash game.

 

[Offworlder_v1legacy]

My biggest gripe with the whole series is that the four horsemen are War, Death, Strife and Fury. What the fuck are strife and fury doing there?
What happened to Conquest? That would be a badass character name. And them you have famine, but just swap that out for Pestilence and switch the focus to ranged combat.

But if you were expecting anything more out of a hack n' slash you will always be sadly mistaken.

 

[Don Savik]

Come on, singleplayer WoW?

Huh? The games are nothing alike. If you describe the way that the inventory works, sure you can say it's singleplayer WoW. But in practice, and actually playing is totally different. You barely talked about the gameplay at all here, which is the most important part of a hack and slash game.

Because he would rather have no context to mindless going from point A to point B killing things. Any perceived "work" that gamers might think their doing is GRINDY and LIKE WOW. We're in the age of instant gratification where games like Call of Duty are popular because KILLSTREAKKKKKKZKZKZKZZZK!!!!111 Obviously this game has a bit too many RPG elements and his patience isn't long enough to enjoy the game.

Also OP, why are you trying to make logical sense of the plot elements? Resurrect humanity? ITS GODS AND DEMONS WITH MYTHICAL POWERS. ITS THE 4 HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE. Of course there are going to be magical macguffins in a high fantasy mythos! The derp is strong in you.

 

[Zhukov]

I found it better in every way than the original.

Granted, that's saying very little.

Not sure what you were expecting with the plot. Of course it's drivel. Playing a Darksiders game for the story is like playing Pokemon for the story.

As for the rest... well, I played it on console (didn't finish it mind you, gave it back to guy who lent it to me after about four hours) so I can't say much about PC textures. I didn't have any trouble with the camera.

 

[ramboondiea]

so your complaining because the entire games plot isn't told to you in the first 15 minutes?........................yeah not a very convincing argument. the story is explained later in the game, and a lot of back story is explained in the tie-in comics but isn't required reading to know what's going on, all that is required is a bit of patience.

the Pc port is not abysmal, its basically the same game as console, camera and all , and some of the texture issues are being worked on for the next patch (not hd just clipping and AA stuff)

also you are not "death" the embodiment. you are Death the nephilim warrior, its just the guys name and keep with the judo-Christian angle the game playes, they are just mainly named after the horsemen. but yeah your are not the grim-reaper type death so much as just a killer with magic.

tl;dr, you cant judge a story by the first 15 minutes, camera is the same for both platforms, its not that bad deal with it. death is just a name.

 

[Maeshone]

After enjoying Darksiders 1, I was ready to sink my teeth deep into Darksiders 2, boy, was I surprised at how terrible it is.

Separate from all the crap textures and lack of graphical settings in the PC version that everybody is reporting, the game itself just rubs me the wrong way. After a lackluster spreadsheet intro that explains the plot of Darksiders 1 and your role in this new part, you are plopped down in a non-de-script world, hunting a man called the Crow-Lord because he knows how to resurrect humanity (how? why?).
Seeing as proving War's innocence starts with Death resurrecting humanity for some reason (how? why? what?). Also, at one point in the past you collected a million dead souls, stuffed them into a talisman, and forced the Crow Lord to wear it, torturing him because all those souls never stop whispering in the Crow Lord's ears, because of....reasons...

As you fight the Crow Lord to force him to open a portal to a world where you can start resurrecting humanity, he turns into War (Death is completely un-phased by this) but you kick the snot out of him regardless and with the Crow-Lord literally choking on your scythe, he opens the portal and throws the talisman at you, causing it to break and Death absorbs it into his right pec. Again, because of reasons.
Yeah, if you are looking for a story that makes sense, do not play Darksiders 2.

The Crowfather knows how to resurrect humanity because he is a keeper of all manner of different kinds of secrets, they even say that at the start of the game.

Also, Death explicitly states that he's not out to prove his Wars innocence, but out to undo his crime. The crime in question being the annihilation of humanity. Again, this is stated outright in the game.

The Horsemen murdered their entire race (The Nephilim) in order to protect the balance of the universe, since the Nephilim where trying to eradicate both heaven and hell. Deaths duty was to utterly destroy even the souls of the Nephilim, but he couldn't (probably due to feeling guilt about murdering his own race) and so had them locked up in the amulet the crowfather had. That's how he got all his knowledge by the way.

As for the souls of the Nephilim searing Death I would guess that they're trying to excert some manner of revenge for the brutal murder of their race, but I can't say for sure. Maybe it gets explained later in the game, I haven't gotten very far.

Regardless of the plot, as soon as you enter the next world, my biggest gripe with this game becomes evident. It's freaking World of Warcraft, only then as a single player game. There are loot drops from chests and mobs that are either upgrades or vendor trash, there are NPC's who send you all over the place to do their dirty work and there are even two talenttrees to pick from. I am sorry, but NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, if I want to play World of Warcraft or any other kind of MMO, I will play those games. I want to play as Death, a fucking force of nature. The Jack Bauer of video games. The Chuck Norris of the underworld. I do not want to spend time comparing gear stats and ponder about talents.

Opinions. I like the new loot system, especially the whole deal about possessed weapons that you can level up. It's fine if you don't though

Darksiders 1 was hardly original with green/red/yellow souls coming out of chests and mobs, but I prefer that system over gear and gold. And now we shall delve into the mosh pit that is the combat: it's fast (sometimes so fast that you can't even see where Death is), it's fluent and it flows very nicely...

SO WHY THE FUCK DID THEY ATTACH SUCH A WORTHLESS CAMERA TO IT!
I love getting hit by mobs that are off-screen, because that adds such a fantastic strategic layer to the game. There is no PoV option for this game in the PC-mode, so that only adds to the headache that you get from playing Darksiders 2 for longer than an hour.

Can't say I have experienced this problem, but I'm playing it on console, so that might have something to do with it. If that is the case for the PC version though, that's definately an issue.

I was so looking forward to this, I was counting down the hours until launch, but Vigil studios just took my hopes and dreams, grinded it into a pulp, mixed it with pig meat and squeezed it into sausages ready to be sold at the next Oktoberfest in Germany, to feed the great, drunken, unwashed masses.
I normally buy my games from the bargain bin, only with very rare occassions do I purchase at full-price, and I felt that my 50 bucks would be justified in this case, especially as THQ is suffering financially. I wanted to help them out. Now I just want to see them burn.

My advice would be to stay away from this game, and if you really feel the need to play this, get it on console, because the PC port is just abysmally bad and we shouldn't take this kind of travesty.

My apologies if this came over as too much of a rant, but I was in desperate need of venting my frustrations.

I've heard a lot about the shittyness of the PC port, and I feel bad for you guys, I really do. It's a shame that they couldn't take the extra time to optimize the PC version. However, I will throw in my full endorsment for the console version IF you enjoy action-RPGs with awesome combat mechanics and a gorgeously designed world.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Seems like a dingo ate your babies, and his name was Darksiders 2.
Honestly with all those complaints you wouldn't have enjoyed Darksiders in the first place, for some reason you just feel offended by everything this game does... which is after all your choice.

Game isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination but it is the best Zelda game I played in years, I just wish they didn't put the UI together in the last couple of days and have it ported to PC by someone who gives a damn.

 

[Sonicron]

- Complains about strange occurrences in a fantasy plot while getting facts wrong and obviously not having come even close to finishing the game because... reasons.
- Rags on camera which worked perfectly for me the whole game because... reasons.
- Denounces much-increased depth of RPG elements as crap because... reasons.
- Compares DS2 to WoW, making no sense whatsoever, because... reasons.
- Bitches about stylized aesthetics in a game visually designed by a notorious comic book artists because... reasons.
- Wishes doom upon a publisher because of a game developed by a completely different company because... reasons.

Don't like the game? Fine, that's your prerogative. Spouting hatred and bile like someone raped your poodle without even getting basic facts right is a different story.
Salvage what's left of your dignity and let it rest.

 

[Palademon]

I think it's much better than the first. The combat in the first took forever for no good reason, and it felt like it didn't properly have it's own personality, but there were a few moments when it shone through.

All the points that you've complained that "it's all jsut because reaosns" are pretty much explained as they happened. Infact, you said the epxlanation then just applied random confusion to that aswell.

The Crow father knows because he was given a way to know many secrets by death, as you've said. This obviously seems like a plausible "deal with the Devil" type of situation, and the Crow Father doesn't like it because the voices bother him. Death needs to know secrets in order to undo the apocalypse. In a game where the apocalypse is ominously started for some reaosn why some seals are broken, this seems like a plausible idea.

I'm pretty sure the talisman in the pec is supposed come as a later plot point.

- Complains about strange occurrences in a fantasy plot while getting facts wrong and obviously not having come even close to finishing the game because... reasons.
- Rags on camera which worked perfectly for me the whole game because... reasons.
- Denounces much-increased depth of RPG elements as crap because... reasons.
- Compares DS2 to WoW, making no sense whatsoever, because... reasons.
- Bitches about stylized aesthetics in a game visually designed by a notorious comic book artists because... reasons.
- Wishes doom upon a publisher because of a game developed by a completely different company because... reasons.

Pretty much this.

Also

My biggest gripe with the whole series is that the four horsemen are War, Death, Strife and Fury. What the fuck are strife and fury doing there?
What happened to Conquest? That would be a badass character name. And them you have famine, but just swap that out for Pestilence and switch the focus to ranged combat.

But if you were expecting anything more out of a hack n' slash you will always be sadly mistaken.

I always thought it was originally War, death, Famine and Pestilence, but wikipedia apparently proves me wrong.
I thought their changes made sense since how the hell would Pestilence fight?
Pestilence sounds like nothing but a debuffer, which would be slightly unuseful in direct combat. And Conquest just seems a bit redundant.
Fury and Strife make somewhat sense, but probably won't have as much obvious character as war or Death. I'm mostly annoyed that the silhouette for Death in Darksiders 1 was clearly a skeletal figure, but instead they went for gothic style War, with less clothes on.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I think it's awesome. And the soundtrack is unbelievably good. The only thing is, it reminds too much of Assassin's Creed 2 soundtrack. Jesper Kyd composed of course. To some that might be a bad thing. To me it's a good thing.

 

[shrekfan246]

I've heard a lot about the shittyness of the PC port, and I feel bad for you guys, I really do. It's a shame that they couldn't take the extra time to optimize the PC version. However, I will throw in my full endorsment for the console version IF you enjoy action-RPGs with awesome combat mechanics and a gorgeously designed world.

Actually, the only issues I've had with the PC version of Darksiders 2 at all is the menus. They are absolutely terrible, everything else is miles better than what I saw of the PS3 version while my friend was playing it. The game controls much smoother, the textures are much clearer, and the camera is easier to control because you don't have the console system of trying to mash square while simultaneously moving the second control stick. I don't know what this guy is going on about with 'crap textures', because the game looks freaking beautiful to me. The soundtrack is amazing, the loot system is fun, the worlds are massive, and the voice acting is pretty good all things considered.

Well, okay, the PC port doesn't support anti-aliasing and doesn't have practically any graphical options, but if that's a deal-breaker for a PC gamer then I think they have bigger issues than a 'poor' port (which this isn't, because it plays perfectly and has minimal bugs, which are mostly in the menu screens).

The only reason I can see for the WoW comparison is the art style, which is ridiculous. At least people could semi-justify the comparison with Kingdoms of Amalur, this is stretching big time.

Also, yeah, the story takes backseat to everything else, but the story didn't exactly carry the first game either.

 

[Corax_1990]

You base an argument about the story of a game sucking because you didn't get massive plot points spoon fed to you in the first half hour of the game? Come on man, grow up. Every single one of those plot points is explained over the course of the game.

The point you make about the equipment is valid, if you wanted a game that has no challenge, you can't start the game as the destroyer of worlds, where is the fun in that? The addition of equipment makes it possible for players to tool Death to their play style (sorta).

I've been playing on console and had no issues with the camera in combat, maybe its a PC port issue (they do happen quite a lot).

I was enjoying the game until two things happened, the first thing, I picked up a secondary attack itme from a boss fight that just breaks the game. Achidna's fangs I think they are called, basically they give a % of damage dealt back as health, breaks combat totally, boss fights are still mildly challenging, until they send a mob of grunts at you and you refill your health with them. The second thing was the game introducing time travel. That's me done for a good while with this game.

Like the first game, I'll return to it when I get bored enough.

 

[piinyouri]

Wait..there is gear and gold and NPC's and levels in this one?

*puts on shoes, grabs keys and runs to Gamestop to pick it up*


Darksiders 1 was a fun Zelda clone reimagining with a few frustrating control issues, but overall I enjoyed it.

Upon seeing the early videos for the sequel I was incredibly disappointed to see that Death, with his slender frame and huge opportunity to make me feel like I'm not playing as War, moved and attacked almost exactly like War.

However all the afore mentioned RPG elements might be enough to make me forget about that.

 

[targren]

I have to admit, I kind of liked the aesthetic of the game. It gave me a very "Soul Reaver" vibe, and not just because Death looks like the bastard offspring of Raziel and an MMA fighter.

I'm with you on the story, OP. What... the... fuck? Regardless of what Zhukov said, Darksiders had a fun story. It was no Song of Ice and Fire, but at the end of the game, we've got War ready to kick some Council ass and his three bros coming in for backup. I was looking for a sequel to contain some of that promised ass-kicking.

This game starts and.. War is still chained by the council? Like, the situation that ended after the tutorial? So it's a prequel? And a suck one at that, since we already know war is innocent.

And the mechanics... ye gods, the horrible mechanics. That wall-scrabbling thing was cool and new through the first dungeon(ish) but dear gods, it got old once you got into that damn water dungeon (took me 20 minutes to find the one little wood block that meant I could finally get out of the damn water).

And that's not even getting into the flaws of the PC version, which have already been mentioned. I could deal with the lack of settings tweaks and the like, but audio glitches, quest markers in the wrong places...

Another disappointing 2012 sequel. =\ Torchlight II, you're my only hope.

 

[Palademon]

He should be called Kinslayer instead of Death. He should have one giant scythe instead of 2 little ones and or a hammer/axe.

Those are my gripes. The first one doesn't bother me since he's called Kinslayer multiple times early on.

*shrugs

I'm loving this game so far. Compared to the shit that was the original Darksiders opening, this game is better in every way.

But when doing heavy combos or when on horse or when in reaper form, it's one big scythe. It changes.