GodzillaGuy92 said:
Valkrex said:
Bascially in my eyes: DS2 combat > DS1 combat.
Would you mind explaining why? I'm quite curious, because while just about no one is stupid enough to try claiming that
Dark Souls II's story or level and world design are superior to those of the first game, I hear plenty who share your sentiment that the gameplay is an improvement, yet always leave it at that and don't explain how. And speaking for myself, I can think of plenty of factors (the hugely lessened importance of equip load and poise combined with the nerfing of shields and dodge-rolling, enemy attacks with unfair homing or bad hitboxes - the latter magnified by the player's attacks sometimes not connecting when they clearly should be, hugely less vibrant character animations and sound design that gave the first
Dark Souls's combat so much of its kick, etc.) that make
Dark Souls II's gameplay far worse than its predecessor's outside of a few nice tangential additions, which is why I'm so keen to know what other people see in it.
Well to me it just feels more responsive, had more variety, and let you do more things while still forcing you to be careful. I personally like the new weight system, it feels more real and organic as your roll distance and stamina regeneration decrease with more weight as opposed to three flat tiers. And quite frankly in DS1 having 50% be the fatroll threshold felt too low, and if you wanted to be effective in PVP it was lightroll or nothing so your options in equipment felt very limited. Midroll word for PvE, but PVP was questionable. This system rewards lower equipment loads with stamina and mobility without making heavier builds worthless.
Movement in DS2's combat also just feels better. The first game feels very clunky in comparison, as in DS2 the controls respond better and you can roll and come out of the roll instantly into an attack or strafe without a delay. DS1 you could do roll into strafe, but there was a split-second delay that made it more difficult to keep up movement which is essential in souls games.
Powerstancing is an addition that I REALLY like that opens up a TON of build options centered around dual wielding weapons. Sacrifice some defense for extra damage and an expanded moveset? Hell yea I'll build a character around that.
Casters also have a lot more options this time around. There are some really cool spells to be used here. Variations on souls spears and weapon buffs for sorcerers, and there are a lot of new offensive and defensive spells that let you expand beyond homing soulmass/soul spear combos. Soul Greatsword? Hell yea that spell kicks ass.
Clerics have some new awesome buffs as well (thank god they patched out buff stacking, it was an issue) that give you plenty of options. Buffs for physical defense and damage, resistance to poison, bleed, curse and petrification, magic barriers, weapon buffs, and some pretty cool offensive spells. Emit force, and lightning spears are always awesome, but the addition of things like splintering lightning spear, blinding bolt, and heavenly thunder open up tons of ways to play.
Then there's the infamous dark path, and also some cool pyro abilities. Just the sheer additions to variety on top of the already staggering amount of options form DS1 is awesome.
Guardbreaking is cool. It just is, and makes countering turtle builds easier as you can do pull a guard break on someone who is hiding behind their shield and then land a critical hit, again something that just adds more strategies to the fight. Greatshields are still awesome and can tank damage for days, medium shields can still soak up damage and let you stay mobile, and light shields can block in a pinch and are still great for parrying. Speaking of which...
Criticals. I feel that DS2 vastly improved on the way critical damage is done. Parrying isn't as easy this time around as there is a delay on the parry start up, and there are many different implements that can allow one to parry at different times. Greatsword/ultragreatsword parries are also a thing of beauty.
Backstabs are now harder to achieve and chain backstabbing is pretty much eliminated. Yes lagstabs happen, but until FROM uses dedicated servers or improves their netcode (preferably both) they will be around.
The sweetspot system they use for certain weapon types I also really like. Its a bit more realistic as hitting an enemy with the tip of the halberd kills while hitting with the shaft just stuns. It rewards positioning and careful play with standard damage from weapons hitting in their main sweetspot, and extra damage on the very tip for weapons like halberds and reapers.
I keep hearing about the hitboxes... but after hopping between the games I can't find any major difference. Certainly there are spots in DS2 where a wonky hitbox will happen (looking at you mimics) but for the most part I haven't seen anything, or had any issues with attacks landing. DS1 had that issue as well in PVP, but that was because iframes and lag and the issue is certainly present in DS2's pvp, but its no better or worse. Enemy tracking is also brought up a lot. Again something that I myself haven't seen anything broken with. Enemies can track movement now, certainly more than the almost non-existent tracking in DS1, but aside from like one of my friends, I have NEVER seen the alleged 180 degree swing correction that is brought up from time to time. I will agree a couple of enemies had some ridiculously hard to dodge attacks, but nothing that really felt unfair to me. Except for the drake keepers with hammers. Fuck those guys.
I will definitely agree with you about poise however. Its wonky as hell this time around and only seems to work when swinging heavy weapons this time around, and only applies when you're mid animation. Not sure what the hell that's about, and makes building a tank harder than it needs to be.
All that said, I still love everything about the combat in DS1. Its an absolutely amazing system, and I just feel that DS2 took an already fantastic system and improved and refined it.