The status of the Dark Souls series is legendary, and its influence can be seen in hundreds of games we play today.
It essentially took the RPG formula and turned it into an entirely new genre, soulslikes. This eventually blossomed into other FromSoftware titles likeBloodborne, and of courseElden Ring, which will receive a major expansion in June,Shadow Of The Erdtree.
Check out the gameplay trailer forElden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtreebelow
That being said whileElden Ringis the shiny new toy FromSoftware fans can’t seem to put down, many still fondly look back on where it all began, and while the Dark Souls trilogy gets a lot of praise the middle child,Dark Souls 2, is often overlooked or thrown to the wayside. This is bizarre considering out of all of them,Dark Souls 2is the highest rated game on Metacritic with a score of 91, somehow beatingDark Souls 3which is often considered the best out of all of them for being the most modern entry.
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Despite this the game has been notoriously downplayed as the worst game in the trilogy, but after recently replaying it, theScholar Of The First Sinversion to be precise, I genuinely think it’s ludicrous this game is so passionately hated, considering it arguably provides the definitive soulslike experience.
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Dark Souls 2does this in spades, as it can be absolutely brutal sometimes with its game mechanics and enemy placement, but just as rewarding as the other games in the series when you overcome the challenge, after all that’s why we play soulslike games right? To overcome obstacles and feel good about it.
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If that’s true thenDark Souls 2must be the definitive souls game, as it’s arguably the hardest one to date. When developing the sequel a number of changes were made compared to the previous game. These include taking a chunk of your health bar away when you die, making the Estus Flask a slower, stationary healing item, decreasing invisibility frames after being hit or rolling and more. Enemy placement was also increased, and items that help the player become stronger such as Estus Shards and Titanite felt less common in the open world. This made the game a significantly harder challenge than the originalDark Souls, so much so that things were dumbed down forDark Souls 3for a more accessible experience. Yet despite the idea that souls games are good because they challenge the player,Dark Souls 2is often slated as the worst in the series for beingtoohard.
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These are the kind of games that test your patience more than anything else. If you give up, you put the controller down, uninstall the game and play something else. If you’re determined, you’ll keep trying until you win all so you can feel that little sense of pride and accomplishment when overcoming a challenge which spurs on to keep playing.
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SometimesDark Souls 2borders on unfair, and looking back on it in the year of 2024 it’s obvious it hasn’t aged gracefully. That being said it has to be one of the most satisfying games in the series to overcome, which, again, is why you play a soulslike.
Topics:Dark Souls,Fromsoftware,PC,Xbox,PlayStation
