Reloading - Dark Souls 2

It took me damn near a month to complete the game… then I delayed posting this review a week because my schedule was entirely too full. But I’d rather have a full schedule than delay everything constantly. So here’s the review some of you have been waiting for… Dark Souls 2.

A little bit of perspective. I’ve never played the first Dark Souls game. I played this one first because I’ve heard from others that it is not only somewhat easier (or at least more approachable) than the first game. But it’s also supposedly not as good as the first game. So I figured, what the hell, let’s play the second game first so I can be one of the few reviews that examines Dark Souls 2 on its own merits. Plus I want to learn how to play before diving into the harder games of Dark Souls or even Demons Souls. I may very well review the earlier games in this “franchise” at some point, but I promise no guarantees.

Let’s start with the plot. Dark Souls is a series of games which the plot is rather concealed and you have to look for within character dialogue, item descriptions, and just seeing the various designs of the world around you. What you are told is the world is still ending and Dark Souls 2 takes place many years after Dark Souls. But the world was ending there too, so I guess the world is just taking its time because it’s in no major hurry. Perhaps their “world ending” problem is similar to our “global climate change” problem in that our world is also ending, it’s just taking a while before we actually notice anything really happening.

You are an undead, a bearer of some strange curse. You meet a woman who is called the Emerald Herald and she tells you that the land is slowly dying and that you must venture forth to collect the four great souls that can gain you access to Drangelaic Castle. Once there, you can find out where King Vendrick is and what he did to cause all of these problems. But once there, you find out there’s more sinister happenings on when you meet King Vendrick, Queen Nashandra, and explore Aldia’s Keep which reveals some of the darker secrets of both the King and Queen.

But the story isn’t the main crux of the game. I mean, yes, it’s interesting and worth looking into if you have the spare time to do so. But you don’t play a Dark Souls game to get engrossed in an epic story. You play because you want to experience the challenging gameplay and overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles to accomplish whatever mission you were sent out to do. Challenge is the main crux of the game and while fans of the series will argue it isn’t there, I’d still say it is. And the ability for this game to be more approachable is easily the best part about it.

It’s an idea that allows non-fans of the series to dip their toes into the world without feeling beaten down and completely alienated by this game’s offerings. And the game still isn’t a cake walk. On route to the first boss encounter (which I took the harder route like an idiot) I died so many times I unintentionally depopulated an idea, forcing the monsters I fought to slowly disappear after so many tries of just getting to the boss. It’s discouraging to lose so many souls, die so many times, and basically be an undead for so long.

But in defeat I learned from my mistakes. I eventually got better at dodging. I improved my damage output from my reliable, but weak little mace to my 1000-point-hit Ultra Great Sword, which allowed me to take down foes in one to three hits instead of needing five or six. I also became better at reading attacks and eventually started adding spells and magic to my repertoire to help give me more options for enemies I had trouble dealing with at close range. I forced myself in the early game to learn close-range combat because I wanted to know I could reliably fight at close range so if I ever ran out of spells I could still fight. Trust me, it’s tough, but it’s worth it.

Level design feels a bit wonky. Not bad, just sort of cluttered and unkempt. You’ll have sprawling maps that look complex and outlandish, but once you’ve sorted out whatever puzzles there are and deduced the one path to the boss or item of your quest it’s fairly simple to navigate. In fact, most of your alternate paths are really just alternate ways to get to the same place. Some are just longer, maybe have less or more enemies, or they have an item of note. Or, in the cases of Iron Keep, they allow you to get a vantage point on certain enemies to make progression a tad easier. It makes appearing in an area intimidating, but like beating a boss, learning your way around and using the landscape to your advantage feels great.

Enemies, from what I’ve been told, aren’t as well designed in this game over the other games. And I can sort of understand what they’re getting at from not having played the older games. The older games have a larger selection of big monsters. Here, we have a few big monsters, but most of your bosses are humanoid in nature, quite a number of them are just knights serving the king. There are a few designs I really enjoy like Smelter Demon or The Rotten, but I can certainly say that most of the enemies being generic-like monsters or just humanoid creatures is kind of boring in a fantasy-style game.

But you do (spoilers) eventually fight dragons (sort of… for a bit). The first dragon fight is easily the most impressive and interesting in terms of what the dragon does. But with my great sword, he wasn’t all that difficult to put down. Just a few swings and he was probably the fastest boss encounter I had. It’s just about avoiding the fire attacks he throws your way. But you also fight giant spiders and some weird looking frog monster that is cool in theory, but just looks rather bland in hindsight. This isn’t to say that the knights are designed poorly or anything. My only gripe is that fighting nothing but other people plagued by the curse is… kind of boring. I want to fight more monsters and demons and I’m hoping the other games in the series deliver on that a big better.

Another valuable lesson I learned that I recommend to any new players would be to summon help into bosses but also to throw down your summon-sign so you can be summoned into other games too. Don’t consider it giving up. By getting summoned into another player’s game and successfully helping them clear an area, you actually restore your humanity, which can help you going back to your game. So summoning other players and helping them out is a pretty sweet deal that works to everyone’s benefit. Granted, if you die, they gain nothing. But it’s better to try and fail than to never have tried at all.

And if you don’t want to summon other players, you may certainly summon NPCs to aid you in your fight. You’ll encounter many potential allies (and some enemies) on your journey who also seek answers in this cursed world. You’ll get stories told to you of a distant land called Mirrah and how the curse as affected the lives of others, such as losing their memories. You discover a lot of sad truths about the curse and how the world is falling apart, but it all helps enrich the story and expand the lore of this world even farther.

My parting thoughts are, yes, this game may have that more approachable feel in comparison to the predecessors of this series. But just because it’s more approachable doesn’t necessarily mean it’s friendly to everyone. You still have to put a major effort in to get a full scope of the story, meaning you have to want to be invested in what’s happening if you want the full picture. Combat options make the earlier stages of the game easier, but if you rely on long-range tactics without explore close-range, you may find yourself in a tough corner later without the experience to fight your way out.

In short, this was an excellent game worthy of praise, but I feel that there is certainly more out there worth looking at. I’m excited to try earlier games in the series. But first, let’s play some of that DLC and maybe even hit Shovel Knight, the 2-D equivalent of Dark Souls. That’s all for this today guys, I hope you enjoyed my take on Dark Souls 2. As always, we would appreciate a like, share, comment, or subscription to our blog or youtube channel. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next time.