Gaf, why is Dark Souls 2 so bad?

General movement/combat feels so awkward with those hitboxes 90% of the time, seems like a steam greenlight title compared to the tight bb gameplay.
I'm 4 hours in, still enjoying it so far, setting and story will probably keep me playing.
 
OP, is this you first Souls game after Bloodborne? There's legitimate gripes to be had with DS2, but it's possible you just don't like the Dark Souls style of combat.
 
It's not bad, but I feel like it's the weakest of the soulsborne games. Something about its level design and enemy placement makes many areas feel kinda bland, like a weak Dark Souls 1 or Demon's Souls level. Bosses aren't as interesting or memorable. On top of that, its animations don't feel as weighty and meaty as the animations in Dark Souls 1 or Bloodborne. It's still fun, but it's not as satisfying.

I agree with you about the adds thing. While you can limit aggroing multiple enemies for the most part, DS2 definitely throws multi-enemy encounters at you a lot more than the other games. When you're picking your setup, you do have to keep in mind that you have to have some way to handle crowds.

Oh, and keep in mind that Bloodborne is generally a far faster game than any Souls game out so far (Dark Souls III seems sped up a lot to match up with Bloodborne). Your animations are generally slower, you heal slower, and so on. You have to be a lot more deliberate in Souls games.
 
Its easily the worst Souls game. But even then its still a good game.

I liked it enough to finish it to the end, but had no intention of replaying ever. The game felt like Dark Souls fanfiction. Basically because of Dark Souls 2, I've reeled my hype for Dark 3 backwards. I don't want to be disappointed again.
 
I wouldn't say it's bad, but it's far more flawed than the other games in the series, Bloodborne included. What possessed them to throw mobs at you in the name of 'difficulty' is just beyond me, for example.

That said, it's one of my Top 10 this year for sure. I'm a Souls fanboy.
 
Akuun said:
It's not bad, but I feel like it's the weakest of the soulsborne games. Something about its level design and enemy placement makes many areas feel kinda bland, like a weak Dark Souls 1 or Demon's Souls level. On top of that, its animations don't feel as weighty and meaty as the animations in Dark Souls 1 or Bloodborne. It's still fun, but it's not as satisfying.

I agree with you about the adds thing. While you can limit aggroing multiple enemies for the most part, DS2 definitely throws multi-enemy encounters at you a lot more than the other games. When you're picking your setup, you do have to keep in mind that you have to have some way to handle crowds.
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Because the game was balanced for co op and PVP a lot of things suffered

despite having huge amounts of weapons and armor it had a lot of repeated design all over the place

Otherwise the Souls DNA is all there. Just have to get the Bloodborne conditioning out of your head for a bit
 
JetSetRadio said:
General movement/combat feels so awkward with those hitboxes 90% of the time, seems like a steam greenlight title compared to the tight bb gameplay.
I'm 4 hours in, still enjoying it so far, setting and story will probably keep me playing.
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You haven't seen anything yet. DS2, unlike DS1, peaks with its second half and especially the DLC, which is much, much better than the base game.
 
The game isn't bad at all. It's just not as inspired as the other Souls games. And it has some really poor bosses, encounters and design choices.
 
Manu said:
You haven't seen anything yet. DS2, unlike DS1, peaks with its second half and especially the DLC, which is much, much better than the base game.
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Ehh but if the problems are in movement and atmosphere, I don't see how that can get better. That's stuff you need to get right from the start.

I did like No Man's Warf, but it seemed shallow once I got through it. It's just a place you know?
 
Inb4 20 page shitstorm.

You're wrong, OP! It's a great game with its own rhythm and will admittedly feel sluggish post bloodborne. It also gets a lot of shit for not living up to certain people's arbitrary expectations.
Personally, I loved it and completed it many, many times. I intend to buy it again on PS4 when I have more time to play.
 
not terrible but it has nothing on ds1 its like they said how can we try and make this harder oh i know lets just make you fight more dudes at once even a majority of the boss fights are you fighting two or more dudes at once
 
It isn't.. bad per se, but it really shown off so many production problems in many aspects in addition to questionable design decisions.
 
Just equip a greatsword, hordes of enemies will die instantly. STR is basically turning on easy mode for every Souls game.
 
TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared said:
I absolutely love bloodborne, I love it so much, its probably one of my favourite games ever by now. But I started Dark Souls 2 on PS4 the other day after getting it cheap from gamestop, played about 10 hours, and man its not good, I think I'm gonna quit. I mean, I don't know if sucks is exactly the right word for it, but its so fucking obtuse, frustrating, the combat is so dull and bullshit, drives me mad. Am I a peasant who doesn't understand good mechanics or what?

Here's 10 enemies to try and dodge that you could kill in two hits but you can't get them all before they get you isn't fun. Horde enemies just aren't fun like this.
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You have pinpointed the problem right there. You in fact do understand good mechanics and this is Dark Souls 2's biggest flaw. Compared not only to other Souls entries but to videogames all over, this game is poor mechanically. Running, attacking, and evading are too slow. Attacks and rolls start slow and are slow to recover. The camera is wobbly and has two turning speeds, one which is too fast and the other which is too slow. The lock-on mechanic is finicky, not locking to enemies when you want and switching when you would rather not. All of these things were apparent to me in seconds and never went away.

As for the game's design, this world is forgettable and uninteresting - the complete opposite of Dark Souls. I do not want to be there. I do not care what more there is to see. Enemies are bland and have one boring attack. You fight every enemy and boss the same way - make them whiff, attack a few times, roll away and retreat until your stamina recovers. There is no custom style to fighting like you could create in Dark Souls because there is no difference between fighting each enemy. The game is about progression in character level and gathering treasure, not about exploring and overcoming strong enemies and treacherous levels. They completely lost everything that was magical about the experience of playing the first game and ruined everything about it mechanically. You should not have to explain to yourself why a game is on paper "good" and justify tolerating poor control schemes and cameras. The game flops mechanically and fails to hold one's interest. It is bad. Some people just keep playing bad games.

The bright side to this is that many people chose not to keep playing a bad game and complained. I started DS2 in the middle of Bloodborne and can see how a number of levels and some of the stat elements influences Bloodborne for the best. Also, the team behind Dark Souls 3 is determined to release a sequel for the best of the series, addressing and avoiding what folks did not like about DS2. It was a necessary failure but do not feel bad calling DS2 what it is.
 
Juxo said:
Inb4 20 page shitstorm.

You're wrong, OP! It's a great game with its own rhythm and will admittedly feel sluggish post bloodborne. It also gets a lot of shit for not living up to certain people's arbitrary expectations.
Personally, I loved it and completed it many, many times. I intend to buy it again on PS4 when I have more time to play.
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How are the expectations arbitrary when this is the third game in a series?
 
Only time where I've even had 10 enemies after me was in Scholar of the First Sin where I baited all the sleeping hollows by up the ladder in Forest of Fallen Giants.

Went down the ladder and picked them off one at a time, ez. Rat Vanguard kinda counts too I guess, but it's ez too. Best game in the series.

KittenMaster said:
It isn't.. bad per se, but it really shown off so many production problems in many aspects in addition to questionable design decisions.
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The two aren't mutually exclusive, the design issues are a direct result of the production issues. I wish the final director (Who was it again?) had taken over much earlier in the dev cycle, the DLC is so damn good and cohesive. I hope the DLC level designers are heavily involved with 3.

Despite all its issues, I still prefer DS2 over 1. 1 is a better world and experience, but 2 is the better game.
 
TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared said:
I absolutely love bloodborne, I love it so much, its probably one of my favourite games ever by now. But I started Dark Souls 2 on PS4 the other day after getting it cheap from gamestop, played about 10 hours, and man its not good, I think I'm gonna quit. I mean, I don't know if sucks is exactly the right word for it, but its so fucking obtuse, frustrating, the combat is so dull and bullshit, drives me mad. Am I a peasant who doesn't understand good mechanics or what?
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Yes.

Here's 10 enemies to try and dodge that you could kill in two hits but you can't get them all before they get you isn't fun. Horde enemies just aren't fun like this.
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But somehow it's fun in Bloodborne?
 
I love Dark Souls 2 and consider it to be the worst souls game, but still a great game. Dark Souls 2 has lots of stuff around the periphery of the game that is better than its predecessors, stuff that you go back to Demon's and Dark souls and you're like "oh damn, using multiple souls isn't in this one".

I personally don't think there's any solid thing that draws it down, and I think the DLC for Dark Souls 2 is some of the best content in any souls game (Bloodborne included). But in the main game, I feel like the level design is just not as good. It's not as fun, not as clever, and not as rewarding. Trying to put that articulation in words is really difficult, though.

I also think if you're calling it bad because it's difficult, then you should go back and try again if you haven't already. Try a different playstyle or different stats, because it really isn't that hard.
 
this is like reading early impressions of dark souls, play game badly get destroyed then rather than feeling bad that you may be bad at games rationalize that the game must be bad and you're good at games.
 
I liked Dark Souls 2. Scholar of the First Sin, on the other hand, had less of an impact on me. The remixed enemy placement kinda fucked with the flow of the game, and there were way more instances of the game simply throwing shit-tons of enemies at you at once over something more methodical. Also, what was up with that dragon?
 
I was mostly disappointed with the hub world and the early bonfire teleportation: exploration was a BIG part of what made Dark Souls 1 so good! Discovering new areas, slowly advancing to your goal.

Remember Blighttown? You couldn't just teleport out of there: you had to fight your way out!

So when the game constantly forces you to teleport when you want to level up or buy new items, it just feels disjointed. In Dark Souls 1 you had to walk to get from A to B and while some feel that it's frustrating, in my opinion it was the reason why I fell in love with the game.

Here's hoping that DK3 will have that same feeling of relief when you arrive to a familiar location after many hours of searching through the dark and unknown. Simply teleporting to a familiar location after you defeat a boss is jarring: at least use some sort of an elevator.
 
Weaker level design, stiff combat with low-dopamine producing sound effects and visual feedback when hitting enemies.

But, there's a lot of build variety. Arguably has the strongest RPG elements in the souls series.
 
It's a great game, but just a fine Souls game. I didn't even bother to finish it, I spent a week that I was bedridden playing PvP, and that was it. The worst part was patching the deadzones because they were gigantic, it made the game feel even more sluggish.
 
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