Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin

 PC
User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 751 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 487 out of 751
  2. Mixed: 164 out of 751
  3. Negative: 100 out of 751

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. Gian_the_guy
    Jan 28, 2018
    10
    Better than DS1 for sure. Some people will think i'm crazy, but everyone likes to say ''artifical difficulty'', ''bland maps'' and bla bla bla, but DS1 had worse problems like:

    Terrible PvP - A bunch of people praises DS2 for it's PvP, even after that mess that people call PvP on DS3 has come. Because it's way better balanced, more dynamic, more build diversity. DS1 PvP was a stupid    Better than DS1 for sure. Some people will think i'm crazy, but everyone likes to say ''artifical difficulty'', ''bland maps'' and bla bla bla, but DS1 had worse problems like:

    Terrible PvP - A bunch of people praises DS2 for it's PvP, even after that mess that people call PvP on DS3 has come. Because it's way better balanced, more dynamic, more build diversity. DS1 PvP was a stupid backstab fiesta with a **** ton of glitches (do you remember backstab chain? NO!!!?? never felt it on your skin right little kid!!???), not to mention the twinks. Everyone thinks Giant Dad is hilarious, but being invaded by dudes with fully upgraded items while you have a stupid +0 weapon isn't funny.

    Terrible second half - The second half of DS1 is the most cringey thing in the entire series, seriously? the same **** Asylum Demon with another skin? an entire field of Taurus Demons? Pinwheel being recycled, should i be impressed? Anor Londo...i don't even need to say anything, just remember those stupid archers, Anor Londo isn't even difficult if you don't count those archers, phantom gank fiesta on New Londo? YAYYYYYYYY

    Broken Poise System - I don't even need to explain. Just search for poise backstab on Youtube, or watch people facetanking Four Kings to death.

    Weapons Balance - Like, some weapons are so useless you shouldn't even bother with them even on PvE, like Stone Greataxe (from the DLC, like you even need to pay more to get that, and that's not the only useless weapon from the DLC).

    FPS - Blighttown maybe the worst place in the game when it comes to FPS, but it's not like the entire game wasn't a mess with it, even DS3 has FPS problems, something you won't suffer with DS2: SotFS (at least if you're on PS4/Xbox One, fixed 60 FPS)    … Expand
  2. PappyBakesCakes
    Jan 17, 2018
    8
    My favorite part of this game is the replayability that the other Souls games hold. Although this game does have some beautiful moments it fails a bit in the environmental storytelling and design. There is little evidence of an interconnecting world like in 1 and that follows suite for the enemies. Each area has its own little story which can be very interesting but this feels more like aMy favorite part of this game is the replayability that the other Souls games hold. Although this game does have some beautiful moments it fails a bit in the environmental storytelling and design. There is little evidence of an interconnecting world like in 1 and that follows suite for the enemies. Each area has its own little story which can be very interesting but this feels more like a well-designed AAA than a Souls game. The combat and diversity of spell, weapons and armor is very generous and interesting and this is what really keeps the game alive. The Souls combat style is still there, if not reigned in a bit in some areas that were a bit unpolished. All together a great game and a decent Souls game.

    Also, if for some reason it is still possible to get the original version of 2, don't even if this is more expensive as this has the DLC and Scholar came out with a recoordinated enemy layout, which was great btw, so this version is a lot less "artificially difficult". (and has some NG+ enemy changes too)    … Expand
  3. Nicko_Hard
    Sep 18, 2017
    0
    Плохое управление и геймплей в целом, сложность игры зависит не от проворности и силы противника, а от тупняков главного героя и плохого управления - это бред.
  4. AkumaJack
    Sep 17, 2017
    9
    Rating it 9/10 while Dark Souls 1 was a 10/10 although i think ds2 is better.

    I think is better because it is more replayable, has more content, is less linear. The gameplay is imo the bes in the saga thanks to dual wielding, the agility stats and the all the weapons and spells you can use. The story is good. The lore is meh. The level design is on par with the first game    Rating it 9/10 while Dark Souls 1 was a 10/10 although i think ds2 is better.

    I think is better because it is more replayable, has more content, is less linear.
    The gameplay is imo the bes in the saga thanks to dual wielding, the agility stats and the all the weapons and spells you can use.

    The story is good. The lore is meh.

    The level design is on par with the first game probably, but the world design is way worst.

    Is a good game. You should try it and make your own opinion.    … Expand
  5. Mileswithaz
    Jul 22, 2017
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game really hurt to finish. Really really hurt. At first, I was having a lot of fun with it. I didn't understand why it had so many negative reviews, and even though I had watched a lot of videos critiquing it, I had also heard as many reviews saying that the game isn't as bad as many had made it out to be, and that it was even good. So, I went into it with an open mind. I should have saved myself from playing it. The beginning of the game is strong, and I really liked it--or at least I thought I did. I would think to myself that the developers were trying to make an experience that's hard just to be hard. This would be fine for a casual player who probably wouldn't even beat it, but for the "hardcore" type who need to explore everything and put hundreds of hours into it (especially those who played through the first game), it will be a disappointing experience. Many areas have a very linear design with dozens of enemies placed in the player's way just to give them a hard time. In some Dark Souls I areas this is a problem too. One of the best, or worst, examples of this is in Lost Izalith, This area is extremely linear with many enemies in the way, and the area is just ugly. Lost Izalith is one of the worst areas of Dark Souls I, but most of the areas in Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin are similar to this. One complaint that many people share is that too many enemies are just humanoids in armor, but they don't explain that the reason for this issue is because the movesets are boring and unoriginal. You only need to learn the attack patterns of those in the first few areas to learn how to defeat most of the enemies, so to remedy this, the developers put many, many enemies in the levels so it wouldn't be helpful learning to defeat just one at a time. Luring them out one at a time might seem like the obvious choice, but this becomes tedious as it would take a much longer time to clear the area and if you died towards the end, you would have to do it over again. And again. And again. This isn't a difficult experience, it's an unfair experience, and those who praise Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin just because it is a "difficult experience" need to go through the game again, no matter how many hours it takes. (I put 88 hours into the game, even though I strongly dislike it).… Expand
  6. lhmtgame
    Jun 4, 2017
    2
    2 points for Dark Souls 2 graphics, its content is junk.
    - A PC version with "controller button" display... so good, hah..! Character creation is ugly, also item graphics design.
    - No object/quest tab to follow. Leveling does not improve anything much to character.
    I love adventure game, but this bullsh*t waste time and money.
  7. Cech
    May 16, 2017
    7
    Продолжение серии соулс под порядковым номером 3

    Почитав многие обзоры, у меня складывается ощущение, что существует много людей, которым эта часть ДС нравится больше, чем первая. Нет, у этой игры большое количество минусов Техническая часть Лучше: в отличии от 1ой части можно запустить без бубна и плясок. Но у неё проблемы с разрешением.. при его номинальном Full HD система    Продолжение серии соулс под порядковым номером 3

    Почитав многие обзоры, у меня складывается ощущение, что существует много людей, которым эта часть ДС нравится больше, чем первая. Нет, у этой игры большое количество минусов

    Техническая часть
    Лучше: в отличии от 1ой части можно запустить без бубна и плясок. Но у неё проблемы с разрешением.. при его номинальном Full HD система воспринимает его как HD, отсюда все иконки рабочего стола и окна разлетаются туда, где им не место. Также у неё проблемы с запоминанием графических настроек

    Графика
    Для ремастера в 2015 году средне. На дальних дистанциях от пейзажей могут вытечь глаза, но.. это рост относительно ДС 1
    UPD. DLC Ivory King делали другие люди и глаза не вытекают от фона

    Сюжет
    В первой части его нет, тут можно даже проследить, но нет

    Мультиплеер/Ко-оп
    Из-за "относительной старости" игры я не ощутил этот экспириенс в ДС 1, тут это было здорово, особенно когда оставил знак призыва и помогал человеку, общение через жесты забавно и очень атмосферно

    Главная проблема игры - это самокопирование

    Боссы
    Нужен больший уровень прокачки, отсюда рост сложности, но уникальности в боссфайте 0 - десяток одинаковых боссов - большое разочарование, но бо'льшая проблема - это 90% копирование боссов из ДС 1
    UPD. DLC делали другие люди (2), тут хоть сложный босс есть Сэр Алонн

    Локации
    Что-то новое в плане локаций игра не превнесла, и, опять же, самокопирование. НО.. локации имеют ещё большую проблему.. ДС 1 был почти цельным миром с парой ответвлений, здесь же это куча ответвлений, без цельности. За прохождение ни разу не было ВАУ эффекта от шортката, возвращение в некоторые места в ДС 1 просто разрывало шаблоны, а тут куча срезов, которыми вы даже не воспользуетесь.. Очередной перебор с анусами подземелий, но тут хоть с наличием света проще. Одно радует - перемещение между кострами есть изначально и вам не нужно бегать 30 часов для получения такой возможности.

    Персонажи
    Колоритные NPC и забавные враги - забудьте, я был влюблён в людей-грибочков, из-за которых я когда-то купил ДС 1. Колоритом ни от боссов, ни от NPC тут и не пахнет, запомнился только Вождь Венгарл, но остальные..

    Ачивменты
    Очень расстроило то, что я не знал, что нужно было обязательно призывать NPC фантомов на бои с боссами для получения пары ачивментов. Ну етить, серьёзно?    … Expand
  8. Steeldude
    May 1, 2017
    8
    + Longer
    + More bosses
    + Bigger variety in areas + Harder + You have to find Estus Shards to get Flasks - Still a bad port showing xbox buttons - The **** delay between pressing a button and blocking/attacking (this warrants at LEAST -2 points) - Similarily to DS1, target switch is horrible - there is none - Sometimes the difficulty is plain insane, definitely the hardest game    + Longer
    + More bosses
    + Bigger variety in areas
    + Harder
    + You have to find Estus Shards to get Flasks

    - Still a bad port showing xbox buttons
    - The **** delay between pressing a button and blocking/attacking (this warrants at LEAST -2 points)
    - Similarily to DS1, target switch is horrible - there is none
    - Sometimes the difficulty is plain insane, definitely the hardest game I've played yet
    - gave up, way too difficult...

    This would have been a 10/10 game for me if it wasn't for the **** DELAY that makes some parts downright stupid, unfair, impossible and makes the game million times harder.
    Situations that XBOX players would be able to deal with without serious problems will murder you because you have to wait 2 seconds for your character to block or attack. You'll get
    used to the crappiness after some time, but that does not mean that you will not die because of it. You will die because of it, you will die lots.
    It's better than DS1 in practically everything, but the stupid delay makes this game fall to the same level as DS1. There is no official fix for that, unfortunately. 8/10
    A 10/10 game ruined by stupid delay and artificial difficulty in many places.    … Expand
  9. DariushL
    Apr 28, 2017
    6
    single player review: 6/10
    It manages to be both boring and grippy..
    One good aspect is this game has a TON of contents and areas, but it's uninspired under every aspect and mechanically behind the original. Not a terrible game by any standard, but not brilliant either. Locations are plenty and goes from just pretty to mostly predictable and unoriginal. The genious in the level    single player review: 6/10
    It manages to be both boring and grippy..
    One good aspect is this game has a TON of contents and areas, but it's uninspired under every aspect and mechanically behind the original.
    Not a terrible game by any standard, but not brilliant either.

    Locations are plenty and goes from just pretty to mostly predictable and unoriginal. The genious in the level design of DS1(the connection from the undead parish to firelink shrine through elevator, for example) is nowhere to be found, or its a mere pale attempt of imitating of it.

    Bosses are really the worst in the series with no need for tactic or learning their attack pattern. You will kill many of them at the fist try. And like most NPC are ugly as the environment they inhabit(the colour palette is generally terrible and just too bright/vibrant for a Souls game) and are just scattered around the game with no real buildup to them.
    Enemies animations are terrible, most of the time ridiculous.

    The combat system feels slower than DS1 and just not as responsive; you'll get often swarmed by hordes of brainless, badly animated enemies and fight them in the same way over and over.
    Some design decisions are plain STUPID and BAD. Explosive barrels and poisonous vases(wich you cant recognize from normal barrels/vases)means the first playthrough will put you in situations where what matters is luck and even a perfect fight might get ruined by these objects placement.

    The game isn't bad and somehow still manages to keep you coming back; i wanted to love this... but as it is, it's just average. Also, the worst of all the Souls games.

    6/10    … Expand
  10. newrandomage
    Mar 17, 2017
    5
    Good ideas executed very poorly. I've played all Dark Souls and this is the worst so far, weak areas in terms of design, unmemorable bosses, bad weapon/armor system and the most stupid, unnecessary traps in the entire saga. It's a must if you are interested in Dark Souls mechanics, but you won't want to go back after you finish the game on your first try.
  11. moonlight_shado
    Mar 9, 2017
    10
    Waaay better than slashy Dark Borne 3. I didn't enjoy original DkS2 that much, but SotFS improves the gameplay on every level. The dlc areas are so good... They are incredibly difficult too. Honestly can recommend this game to any Souls fan. Way better than DkS3 (in my opinion), the amount of weapons and detailed setting makes this game as good as DkS1.
  12. SolidCenturio
    Jan 27, 2017
    8
    Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin is a difficult game and I appreciate the new challenges that FromSoftware presented before me but the overall experience from someone who played the previous title can only be described as lacking. Don't get me wrong, this game is good but bearing the Souls name and its status as a follow-up to a very phenomenal video game probably didn't help withDark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin is a difficult game and I appreciate the new challenges that FromSoftware presented before me but the overall experience from someone who played the previous title can only be described as lacking. Don't get me wrong, this game is good but bearing the Souls name and its status as a follow-up to a very phenomenal video game probably didn't help with the overall reception. There's just too many retreads which may make the game a bit too familiar with longtime players and a change in design philosophy believing that "more is harder" instead of "less is more" like in the first game. The changes that they've introduced gave me a polarizing reaction especially on how they handled poise and some RPG elements. If you've adored the first game's consistency and how FromSoftware made Lordran's crumbling and desolated locales look lived in, prepare to be disappointed because the kingdom of Drangleic is a hodgepodge of geography and terrain locations. I know that suspension of disbelief is a necessity when playing video games but you've got to admit that placing an iron castle surrounded by a sea of lava above a windmill is kind of silly. Simply put, Dark Souls II is a game made to punish its players and will do anything to achieve that goal instead of inviting them to a land of strafe that's inhabited by seasoned warriors and brutal monsters.

    The situation's a lot different for newcomers though. If you're looking to get into the Souls series, this is a good entry point because it's more accessible than its two older brothers. A cleaner and better UI than the previous game, a more straightforward progression system, and an easier time to connect and cooperate with stronger people should get the going a lot more tolerable.

    Overall, I recommend this game because I enjoyed it and the difficulty is as good as ever. A lot of things didn't bode well with me but the prospect of finding new discoveries kept me playing for hours. Veterans of the Souls series might not get the same satisying experience as with the last two games, but it's still worth a try if you're meaning to test your wits once more against a cast of larger and more powerful enemies.

    And there you have it.    … Expand
  13. GuiFzord
    Dec 24, 2016
    10
    Funny, Nice and much better than buy all the DLCs.
    DS2 SoFTS its a nice idea i hope the Fromsoftware do something looks like this for DS3.
    the only problem its the servers leg.
  14. fludziom
    Dec 18, 2016
    6
    Having platinumed the game I think it's trash. Not even closely as good as the original Dark Souls. The atmosphere of the orginal is gone. Replaced by uninspired yellow grayish setting. 90% of the game's locations are deadly boring. In the orginal I loved to parry. In DS2 parry sucks all the way. Enemy placement cheap annoying frustrating. Poor knock off
  15. jsizzle
    Dec 10, 2016
    8
    Newly found appreciation for Dark Souls II has been acquired with this re-work called 'Scholar of the First Sin'. Approximately two years having not played Dark Souls II and after I had moved on to Bloodborne and Dark Souls III - finally, I decided to go back to see how it has changed and hopefully improved. I have come to realise the new placement of items and enemies works way betterNewly found appreciation for Dark Souls II has been acquired with this re-work called 'Scholar of the First Sin'. Approximately two years having not played Dark Souls II and after I had moved on to Bloodborne and Dark Souls III - finally, I decided to go back to see how it has changed and hopefully improved. I have come to realise the new placement of items and enemies works way better than how it originally did. For example, I really loved the new placements for the Suspicious Shadow enemies. They were only featured in New Game+(almost certain) and that, in my opinion, was a waste. They are really fun to fight and obtaining their gear was pretty satisfying. Also, the addition of the Forlorn Dark Spirit is a good one - he has an interesting background albeit not much is known. I've been invaded five times and received his gear and scythe. I think he is fun to fight but Drangleic Castle is by far his toughest encounter; try to move to a more open room. As for The Pursuer haters, are they not meant to pursue you? It is silly to think they only have a small handful. They aren't that tough, anyway.
    The new NPC antagonist is really cool, won't spoil too much but it raises just as many questions as it gives answers. Well, maybe not even so. PvP is still pretty great besides the ridiculous lag backstabs but I don't get that so often. I am pretty surprised that I still get summoned a lot - getting the Sun Sword was easy! The DLC still remains to be the best part of this package but I'll admit that I really started enjoying this game after the halfway point - just before Drangleic Castle and onwards.

    I will keep my gripes with this game such gripes being the 'Agility' attribute - I need to phase through every attack nonsense. Not smart design. Also, 'Soul Memory' still continues to just be horrible. All in all, this is a great game and I think all Souls fans should get this and doubly so if you've still yet to play Dark Souls II in general. I bought this as a $12 upgrade from the original a while back - I don't think that's so bad. $50 is fair for full price if you've yet to play, in my opinion. However, it has been significantly discounted many times throughout the past year and a half. I would just wait a few months.    … Expand
  16. digga123
    Oct 19, 2016
    9
    I didn't play the original game as it first came out, so I rate scholar of the first sin as what it is and not as what I expected it to be compared to the original version. After nearly 30 hours I can say that I like it a lot! In comparison to DS1 it seems more self-contained and accessible without losing all of its complexity, what I think is a good thing.
  17. Lauw
    Aug 22, 2016
    6
    Don't get me wrong i love all Dark souls series but for Dark souls 2: Scholar of the first sin not really, why? one of the biggest problem for me is with the hit boxes, one example when i fought smelter demon. i often successfully dodged all his attack but somehow the game decided it still hit me, i know his sword is big as hell but i still can see clearly which hit that i dodge and whichDon't get me wrong i love all Dark souls series but for Dark souls 2: Scholar of the first sin not really, why? one of the biggest problem for me is with the hit boxes, one example when i fought smelter demon. i often successfully dodged all his attack but somehow the game decided it still hit me, i know his sword is big as hell but i still can see clearly which hit that i dodge and which one is not. my other problem is with the lock on mode, when i lock on the enemy and then i roll tried to hit them but a lot of times it failed. either i hit on the side or behind them and in the end i'm the one who got hit. the lock on mode in this game is a joke. compare with the first the Dark souls, Dark souls 2: Scholar of the first sin kinda sucks.… Expand
  18. GAGMR
    Jul 13, 2016
    2
    After playing it for more than 100+ hours combined through Steam & other means of playing it I can safely say that it is terrible & it will always be terrible. The game itself griefs you in its overall design. It's like, that **** at a party who's just there to be an **** He wants to make you have a bad time, piss you off & **** your girlfriend while you're tied down forced to watch.After playing it for more than 100+ hours combined through Steam & other means of playing it I can safely say that it is terrible & it will always be terrible. The game itself griefs you in its overall design. It's like, that **** at a party who's just there to be an **** He wants to make you have a bad time, piss you off & **** your girlfriend while you're tied down forced to watch. That's pretty much DS2 in a nutshell. A hard game for the sake of being hard & an **** for the sake of being an **** **** this game in its entirety… Expand
  19. Captain_Chaos
    Jun 22, 2016
    4
    My first unfortunate brush with the Dark Souls series, and one that almost turned me off it for good. The controls in this PC version are terrible. I felt consistently hamstringed and useless, and relied heavily on my friends to carry me through the game. And frankly, I dislike several of the series' core mechanics, most notably the invasion system. The idea of a game where someone canMy first unfortunate brush with the Dark Souls series, and one that almost turned me off it for good. The controls in this PC version are terrible. I felt consistently hamstringed and useless, and relied heavily on my friends to carry me through the game. And frankly, I dislike several of the series' core mechanics, most notably the invasion system. The idea of a game where someone can come into your story and deliberately **** you over is completely asinine to me. I felt underpowered and underwhelmed through out this game and honestly, I'm amazed I even bothered to buy Dark Souls III after this. Do yourself favor and skip this game.… Expand
  20. Hack
    Apr 29, 2016
    7
    After finishing Dark Souls III I wanted a little more so when I saw Dark Souls II: SotFS up for sale I jumped on it and for the most part I'm glad I did.

    First I want to talk about the port, which is great this time, the complete opposite of Dark Souls I: Prepare To Die on PC which we all know has a laundry list of issues and is only made somewhat playable by DSFix but I'm happy to say    After finishing Dark Souls III I wanted a little more so when I saw Dark Souls II: SotFS up for sale I jumped on it and for the most part I'm glad I did.

    First I want to talk about the port, which is great this time, the complete opposite of Dark Souls I: Prepare To Die on PC which we all know has a laundry list of issues and is only made somewhat playable by DSFix but I'm happy to say that's not the case here, I was getting a locked 60fps throughout on max settings and I didn't have a single technical issue in over 40 hours. The game looks, sounds and runs really nicely.

    Content wise it's a big game with the included DLC, I actually still have two optional bosses left to kill and I've sunk 43 hours into it already so you're getting plenty of bang for your buck (I'd highly recommend shopping around, I picked it up for £9.59). On the whole the game is enjoyable in a Dark Souls sort of way, but there were a few areas that went past "Dark Souls" and just ended up being extremely tedious, not hard or challenging just plain boring and those areas did tarnish the overall game for me a bit, but thankfully there's only a few truly poorly designed areas in the game so in the grand scheme of things it's not too bad.

    I found the bosses to be on the whole too easy, the base game bosses especially. I killed every boss in under 5 tries apart from a select few. The DLC bosses are much harder in general though, and the final boss of part II is currently kicking my ass after many tries, he's by far the hardest boss in the game and one of the hardest I've faced in the "Soulsborne" universe. I haven't been using phantoms or summons either, so I imagine if you do get truly stuck using these options will help you out a lot.

    For me it's worth playing if you enjoy these types of games, I actually put it above Dark Souls I purely because of the quality of the port, it was just more enjoyable to play without all the issues, but it's a few pegs behind both Bloodborne and Dark Souls III which is the top of the pile IMO.    … Expand
  21. Silentwalker
    Apr 14, 2016
    6
    Big improvement over the last game, the game runs smoothly and game is fun to play. This is my favourite Dark Souls game out of them all.

    I don't know why people dislike this one, it's the best one I've play so far.
  22. shootidodge
    Mar 14, 2016
    9
    For me this game takes you to places that everyone needs to discover, and i dont speak about how visually the game is great but emotionally it feels amaaaaazing, i had fun every nanosecond spent in a world full of fantasy, i got to the point that i wanted not to finish it.
    TBH i played it a bit late but it was worth it because i didnt encounter any problem on my PC ,    For me this game takes you to places that everyone needs to discover, and i dont speak about how visually the game is great but emotionally it feels amaaaaazing, i had fun every nanosecond spent in a world full of fantasy, i got to the point that i wanted not to finish it.
    TBH i played it a bit late but it was worth it because i didnt encounter any problem on my PC , raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarely the FPS dropped but it was not a big deal it didnt affect my immersion. i was a happy child the whole playthrough ( im not a child though).
    9/10    … Expand
  23. Phoenixxl
    Mar 2, 2016
    10
    The weapon durability bug at 60fps has been fixed in a patch. It was indeed an issue for a while when the game came out but this is no longer the case.
    Enemies seeming to attack faster at 60 fps was a perception option.

    This is a fantastic game with a steep learning curve that levels out quite fast too. Some people just want a "press A to win" game.
  24. tomh
    Jan 18, 2016
    0
    Co-op for the game is useless, which was the only reason I bought it. Add to that the fact it's a poor console port with major control and interface issues, and there's just no reason to put yourself through this kind of disappointment. I can deal with hard games, but they'd better be hard because of worthwhile challenges and not because of frustrating gameplay issues.

    Heartily NOT recommended.
  25. AthanasiosT
    Jan 14, 2016
    0
    WARNING : Bad console adaptation on PC. Controls : What are "X" and "A" buttons ? Why can't I calibrate my controls ? Camera : Where is my character and where are my enemies ? etc.etc. As I've said in previous texts, all bad PC adaptations deserve a zero and that's what I'm giving now.
  26. saxo27
    Jan 5, 2016
    9
    I just finished Dark Souls 1 and moved onto Dark Souls 2. One--this game is easier than the first one. The reason is not because it is an easy game, but because Dark Souls 1 was hard because it was artificially hard (cheap deaths, cheap bosses, cheap level design, etc.). DS2 is a challenging and fun game--not hard, as gamers make it sound. I have yet to experience any cheap deaths (peopleI just finished Dark Souls 1 and moved onto Dark Souls 2. One--this game is easier than the first one. The reason is not because it is an easy game, but because Dark Souls 1 was hard because it was artificially hard (cheap deaths, cheap bosses, cheap level design, etc.). DS2 is a challenging and fun game--not hard, as gamers make it sound. I have yet to experience any cheap deaths (people complain about mobs--"pull them," play slower and more methodical). In short, DK2 is better--no doubt. Better enviornments, quick travel, extra slots for items and weapons, smoother animations and quite a lot more over DK1.

    I played (am still playing) on a laptop intel hd 4000 with an xbox360 controller. Game looks great and plays great. I am very pleased with DK2 over DSK1. Enjoy!    … Expand
  27. tswizzles
    Oct 25, 2015
    5
    a disgusting milking of the fanbase and moneygrubbing practice. These improvements should have been provided through content updates and patches, only a triple A developer can get away with this kind of nonsense.
  28. CntrlAltDel101
    Sep 29, 2015
    10
    My favourite game of all time. An amazing campaign, rounded of nicely by the perfect DLC.

    The game is fun on its own but is complemented beautifuly by the multi player.

    The DLC does make the main game feel like a walk in the park, but it is perfect for any gaming masochist out there.
  29. Silatuyok
    Sep 2, 2015
    0
    So I downloaded this game having heard that all the concerns about the last port where fixed and that I could genuinely enjoy this game that everyone is losing their **** over. Oh boy, was that a mistake.

    So apparently FROM Software doesn't have a single person who is capable of reading who also has access to the internet, because it would seem that it was never brought up that THIS IS    So I downloaded this game having heard that all the concerns about the last port where fixed and that I could genuinely enjoy this game that everyone is losing their **** over. Oh boy, was that a mistake.

    So apparently FROM Software doesn't have a single person who is capable of reading who also has access to the internet, because it would seem that it was never brought up that THIS IS A PC GAME. I mean, I tried to do it their way, but no matter how many times I press A on my keyboard it just wouldn't work. Its almost like I am not playing on an Xbox or something when I decided to try the PC version of the game. Crazy right?

    Anyway, after finally getting into the game I found that they still haven't fixed the attack delay when using a mouse; you know, like a PC gamer. I suppose I could try all the third party fixes, but when paying about $30 for what fails to accomplish what should have been released as a hotfix the first week of the original dark souls 2 port I can't justify anyone buying this game for PC.    … Expand
  30. McSpaceyGaming
    Aug 25, 2015
    10
    I, along with my brothers, fully completed Dark Souls 2 along with the DLCs. Then when Scholar of the First Sin came out and we found out we could receive it for free due to us already owning the original we were pretty excited. An actual story line, even though we didn't really need it now that we already knew where to go, was implemented, slightly. But the best part was the increase inI, along with my brothers, fully completed Dark Souls 2 along with the DLCs. Then when Scholar of the First Sin came out and we found out we could receive it for free due to us already owning the original we were pretty excited. An actual story line, even though we didn't really need it now that we already knew where to go, was implemented, slightly. But the best part was the increase in monsters. And with only 128 deaths on it and way too many trolls I can fully say I enjoyed duel wielding great swords and bashing my way through groups of people. If you want a game that involves 1v1 like one of the user reviews said on here, then this is NOT your game. It's you versus, pretty much, the world. Except way too many enemies and multiple bosses versus just you. And if you use YouTube or common sense from DS1 and DS (Dark Souls 1 and Demon Souls) you can find the signs for summoning for help. I didn't need any though. I killed all the help as I went along.You will die a lot for that is the main purpose of the game. But if you're like me you will survive New Game +++ with only 2 deaths. And that is a HUGE accomplishment. You just have to time your blocks, attacks, and dodges perfectly and make sure you know EXACTLY what you want to upgrade and DON'T mess up. Extremely fun game though. Hours of content that will make you want more! Make sure to play Demon Souls, Dark Souls 1 (Demon was harder than DS1 and DS2 is harder than DS1.) and Bloodborne which is the hardest out of all of them.… Expand
  31. Reshish
    Aug 12, 2015
    7
    Just a note that as a PC gamer who does not own (and has no intention of owning) a console control pad, 'A' does not confirm, and 'B' does not take you back in menus. This is a PC game, a lot of effort has gone into making it run well on PCs, don't tarnish that by have Xbox button prompts.
  32. quake2th
    May 22, 2015
    2
    lol, wtf is this game?? Bad graphics, bad controls, mostly unplayable. I really don't understand what's all this hype for From Software games, they are BAD, it's amateurish stuff! Their games are full of bugs, mostly related to stupid camera controls, that makes them unplayable! Trying to avoid bug after bug is not gameplay, there isn't much gameplay here, it's just you against some verylol, wtf is this game?? Bad graphics, bad controls, mostly unplayable. I really don't understand what's all this hype for From Software games, they are BAD, it's amateurish stuff! Their games are full of bugs, mostly related to stupid camera controls, that makes them unplayable! Trying to avoid bug after bug is not gameplay, there isn't much gameplay here, it's just you against some very stupid bug. At least in Bloodborne you can choose to play offline, here you are forced to play online, which means you will be invaded by no-life kiddies that will one-shot you, again and again, basically halting your progress. So tell me, having to pull your network cable in order to play can be considered gameplay??? wtf is wrong with From Software? This is one of the worst game ever, don't believe the hype, it's bs.… Expand
  33. KeyMon
    May 12, 2015
    9
    Well, original DS 2 game was very good and this is even slightly better than that. Somewhere easier than before somewhere harder. Places that were like a walk through hell are still like that. Enemy placement is more logical. You should forgot placements from the original. There are some feelings after 60 hours of my travelling through newly ordered Drangleic.

    You can choose the "safe    Well, original DS 2 game was very good and this is even slightly better than that. Somewhere easier than before somewhere harder. Places that were like a walk through hell are still like that. Enemy placement is more logical. You should forgot placements from the original. There are some feelings after 60 hours of my travelling through newly ordered Drangleic.

    You can choose the "safe coward way" (shield + heavy armor + some light weapon) or you can be a "crazy naked flexible something" with huge heavy weapons or you can be anything you can dig up from your inventory (some fancy magics and miracles included ofc). First location is barely challenging for experienced players but there are worse, much worse. Sometimes a single mistake could cost you your souls. The game wouldn't tell you what to do or where to go. It is only up to you. You WILL rage and die at least in your first walk-through. But the feeling after killing a hard boss is awesome and addictive and you simply have to continue to other bosses and you die over and over again...

    Giving it 9/10 because too many Dragonriders and Pursuers and because first Dark souls was slightly better

    PLAY IT - FEEL THE PAIN - DIE - RAGEQUIT - PLAY AGAIN    … Expand
  34. R3NCZ
    Apr 26, 2015
    9
    I know, i know everyone can say that this game is only copy of Dark Souls 2 original, YES maybe thats true, but the game gives you as much as it can, as an old version Dark Souls 2, i like the new item places and Scholar's fire design, awesome graphics and a stunning optimalization increases the ammount of gameplay hours, that you want to play it again and again, all that i say is, thatI know, i know everyone can say that this game is only copy of Dark Souls 2 original, YES maybe thats true, but the game gives you as much as it can, as an old version Dark Souls 2, i like the new item places and Scholar's fire design, awesome graphics and a stunning optimalization increases the ammount of gameplay hours, that you want to play it again and again, all that i say is, that it's a diamond of RPG games! Support for 6 players is great and it's All in One, for whom that played this game before and bought it its bad, because you need to spend next 25€ for upgrade, thats the biggest dissapointment, but FromSoftware shows all that they are **** **** and want to leave boys and girls into the hospital 9/10… Expand
  35. Amfibios
    Apr 19, 2015
    8
    It's a great game that improves in many aspects over dark souls 1 but falls short when it comes to story, meaningful bosses, enemy placements etc. even though the gameplay is great, compared to dks1, it feels like it doesn't have a soul, if u know what i mean.
    I enjoyed scholar of the first sin more than the original and you're getting your money's worth since it includes all of the dlc    It's a great game that improves in many aspects over dark souls 1 but falls short when it comes to story, meaningful bosses, enemy placements etc. even though the gameplay is great, compared to dks1, it feels like it doesn't have a soul, if u know what i mean.
    I enjoyed scholar of the first sin more than the original and you're getting your money's worth since it includes all of the dlc content for a decent price. if u've played the original & dlcs though it's still the same game even after the enemy remix which is refreshing but it's not worth buying all over again.
    the dark areas are fixed and now the torch is actually useful!!!
    if u've never played a souls game before, this is the game you should begin with    … Expand
  36. LostAlone
    Apr 14, 2015
    6
    As a huge Souls fan, I'm genuinely sad to see much the game has changed through this expansion. That doesn't make Scholar bad, as such. It's still Dark Souls. But the most obvious changes in this version are almost entirely compounding mistakes and misunderstandings from Dark Souls 2.

    For most players the really obvious changes are to enemy placement and to their AI. In theory that    As a huge Souls fan, I'm genuinely sad to see much the game has changed through this expansion. That doesn't make Scholar bad, as such. It's still Dark Souls. But the most obvious changes in this version are almost entirely compounding mistakes and misunderstandings from Dark Souls 2.

    For most players the really obvious changes are to enemy placement and to their AI. In theory that should be good. The game certainly feels very different when you start playing. But quickly that stops being a good thing. DS2 already suffered from areas over-populated with enemies, and that's become even worse. And you'll handle them the exact same way, by pulling one or two guys at a time and dealing with them in manageable chunks. But now there's more of it and it's just busy work.

    Fighting multiple enemies has never been a strength of the series, but the new AI now makes almost every enemy substantially more aggressive, again, amplifying the existing problem. It's simply not practical to fight against three guys at once, that's just not how the game is really designed to work, but From seem to think that because these kind of fights are very hard they should throw them at you fairly frequently. Longer aggro ranges as well as a good number of additional ranged enemies placed so that they can be hard to spot or hard to reach before you get dog piled makes for a frustrating experience.

    The heritage of the Souls series has always been 'tough but fair'. That spirit feels like it's leaked out of SotFS, like it was designed by people who don't understand that the game needs to be more than just hard. Handling large numbers of enemies is certainly very hard, but it's not especially fun or interesting. It's still Dark Souls. But it's Dark Souls designed to capitalize on it's super-hard image instead of any of the aspects that made the original games so fun and unique.

    Honestly, I'm disappointed. I'll play it, I mean, it's still Dark Souls, but it's very disappointing to see all the worst parts of the game amplified, with all the best parts (like boss fights) being mostly forgotten. Especially if you are a veteran of DS2, the hardest parts of this release will by far by the mobs of enemies, not the spectacular boss fights.    … Expand
  37. Panopticon
    Apr 13, 2015
    0
    Doesn't support PC controls, what a waste of my money.

    Looks very pretty with the waving grass and the toothless crones babbling gibberish at you but I'm not downloading third party scripts to fix it.
  38. Dartflight
    Apr 12, 2015
    7
    I've always been a huge fan of the souls series but this "add on" is not really what i expected.

    For me Demon Souls was great, Dark Souls as well and the prepare to die addition was ok. When finally dark souls 2 came out I played through it in around 30h but I rushed through the very end because I messed up a side quest-line. Anyways, the game took away the need, my need, to play it    I've always been a huge fan of the souls series but this "add on" is not really what i expected.

    For me Demon Souls was great, Dark Souls as well and the prepare to die addition was ok.
    When finally dark souls 2 came out I played through it in around 30h but I rushed through the very end because I messed up a side quest-line.
    Anyways, the game took away the need, my need, to play it again and to start all over because they included an item called "Soul Vessel". It allows you the relocate all your skillpoints!
    In the end, that was the reason why I did not purchase any dlc.

    Now i decided to upgrade my version to the "Scholar of the First sin" one.
    They changed the graphics, the mechanics and the environment.
    I like the design of the game but I am not going to judge the graphics because I just don't care.
    To the mechanics: They changed the backstab and the counter attack. Not the way they are executed but the way they work.You used to be invulnerable while the backstabbing animation is running. Now you take dmg! For me that completely destroys the flow of the game.
    My starting class is always the naked man... So my attributes just allow me to use a dagger at the beginning if im not lvling up. In dark souls 2 the normal version this weapon is enough make your way to the first boss and to kill him. After that I would normally lvl up with a decent amount of souls ( you need souls to lvl your character up).
    But now that i constantly take dmg when i parry and backstab enemies I can't do that anymore.

    To the environment:
    They decided to relocate half of the enemies... I have no idea why, it doesn't make the game harder, it doesn't make the game easier, they just did it.

    To conclude: Its still a good game eventhough you cant backstab and parry your way through it that easily anymore.. :( There is no way in a million years its as good as its prequel.
    The characters are still unique and the voiceacting is gorgeous. But I am not 100% convinced about upgrading when you already own ds2 + dlcs.

    Im well aware that my English lacks but since Im not a native I don't give a *** ;)    … Expand
  39. NewMenace
    Apr 8, 2015
    9
    For sure the best version of the game out there. I have to mention i already have DS II on Steam but with no DLC, so for me i think its worth it. Its a shame tho' since they could have released this version right from the start for PC users, since the hardware allowed it in terms of graphics.
  40. Ireland914
    Apr 7, 2015
    9
    Scholar improves upon the original game in nearly every way. And the original was a great game. The changes in enemy and item placement provide a new experience for those who have already played through Dark Souls 2. The challenge and learning curve is relatively the same if you're used to the style of gameplay already. The graphics have been improved noticeably. All around solid game,Scholar improves upon the original game in nearly every way. And the original was a great game. The changes in enemy and item placement provide a new experience for those who have already played through Dark Souls 2. The challenge and learning curve is relatively the same if you're used to the style of gameplay already. The graphics have been improved noticeably. All around solid game, though making owners of the complete DS2 collection pay for this re-release is lame. I only spent the money on it because I loved the original version and knew I would put the time into this one as well.… Expand
  41. krispintin
    Apr 7, 2015
    6
    By far the worst game From Software has produced in the "demons,souls,blood" games.

    After playing through the other games this one just feels awful and mediocre at best. The environments lack detail, the geography has no connection (area transitions are terrible). The story is even more vague than previous games and incredibly generic and lame once you understand it. Bosses are    By far the worst game From Software has produced in the "demons,souls,blood" games.

    After playing through the other games this one just feels awful and mediocre at best.

    The environments lack detail, the geography has no connection (area transitions are terrible).

    The story is even more vague than previous games and incredibly generic and lame once you understand it.

    Bosses are probably the biggest let down, very few are original and are mostly just reposts/reskins of previous bosses.
    for some reason in this game they are no more complex or difficult than strafing around them in circles and blocking, the hit boxes on many attacks are very strange so rolling is usually riskier, but even then the bosses can mostly be beaten on the first try with ease. The only idea of difficulty they add is by just adding mobs to the fights which really doesn't fix the fact that none of the bosses on their own are even remotely tough.

    Mobs are tougher than the bosses.

    to cut it short it blows my mind that people think this is a good souls game, let alone a good game.    … Expand
  42. adamacuo
    Apr 6, 2015
    10
    This remastered version is a masterpiece of gameplay design and story building. More than reskinned for the next generation, From added significant game play elements, incorporated all of the DLC that was released previously into the game systems, revamped the multiplayer elements and give tuned the event placements. This is a must pay for videogame enthusiasts, and represents From at their peak.
  43. Kamamura
    Apr 5, 2015
    4
    I was initially quite excited by the game until I found out the game is basically broken.

    If you do not run it on 30 fps, many things will be broken because the developers tie gameplay mechanics to frames, not to real time. Therefore: - weapons degrade faster - enemies move faster - some controls (guardbreak) do not work The only solution is to cap the game to the unaccpetable    I was initially quite excited by the game until I found out the game is basically broken.

    If you do not run it on 30 fps, many things will be broken because the developers tie gameplay mechanics to frames, not to real time. Therefore:

    - weapons degrade faster
    - enemies move faster
    - some controls (guardbreak) do not work

    The only solution is to cap the game to the unaccpetable 30fps. Hello, developers, I am not buying the game on PC only to cripple it afterwards.

    In its current state, the game cannot be recommended for purchase.    … Expand
  44. Jackitus
    Apr 5, 2015
    10
    Giving this game a 10/10 because of obviously incorrect hyper low (0-3) reviews. I enjoyed the base Dark Souls 2, but found it somewhat inferior to previous Souls games (not by as much as many did). I'm also a very experienced souls vet, so not going to offer much for those considering buying this game as an entry.

    If you enjoyed the base game, pretty much every addition/change they've    Giving this game a 10/10 because of obviously incorrect hyper low (0-3) reviews. I enjoyed the base Dark Souls 2, but found it somewhat inferior to previous Souls games (not by as much as many did). I'm also a very experienced souls vet, so not going to offer much for those considering buying this game as an entry.

    If you enjoyed the base game, pretty much every addition/change they've made is going to be positive and it'll be a fairly fresh experience (some new enemies, mostly enemy placement moved around, creating a few jump scares on my first playthrough). The community at launch for the moment is also very large/healthy, reminding me of playing the game back at launch. It seems very plausible the community for the other versions could die out to some degree, and so if you ever want to play dark souls 2 again, getting this edition will basically be a must.

    My overall thoughts: It's a fun mixing up of things for old veterans to return to and enjoy for another set of playthroughs. Ultimately, not all the changes make sense, nor are all of them good in the long run, but overall a large positive change for the game. For new players will be far more challenging than any previous Souls game.    … Expand
  45. kcotten
    Apr 4, 2015
    8
    TLDR: Scholar of the First Sin is much closer to the mark than vanilla Dark Souls II, and worth the upgrade or the initial investment.

    Better than the base game in every way imaginable. However, it does have some issues that spark annoyance such as the unfixed item durability problem. Compared to Demon's Souls or Dark Souls the world still feels lifeless and barren, the story too up    TLDR: Scholar of the First Sin is much closer to the mark than vanilla Dark Souls II, and worth the upgrade or the initial investment.

    Better than the base game in every way imaginable. However, it does have some issues that spark annoyance such as the unfixed item durability problem.

    Compared to Demon's Souls or Dark Souls the world still feels lifeless and barren, the story too up front, spelling events out. The mystique inherent in it's predecessors is just plain missing.

    Twenty dollars is a pittance, and if that is a problem might I suggest a career change? It's far better than the four hundred and fifty dollars chumps shelled out to play Bloodborne. And I can't recall a recent game other than Europa Universalis IV or Skyrim that will provide the amount of content Scholar of the First Sin will.    … Expand
  46. Blackdragon666
    Apr 4, 2015
    6
    The game is still a buggy mess when the framerate goes over 30 FPS. I don't understand how dare they charge anything from this update. They basically just added more mobs to f#!k you over and sweetfx.
  47. ThinkSamich
    Apr 3, 2015
    5
    Ehh.... Scholar of the First Sin starts off strong with better performance and some enemy placement that seems to make a bit more sense. Veterans of the series will be happy to find out the Heide Knights have found their way home and even seem to have gained some missing AI. Also, torches are finally necessary in some spots. For a moment, you start to feel as if this is the product weEhh.... Scholar of the First Sin starts off strong with better performance and some enemy placement that seems to make a bit more sense. Veterans of the series will be happy to find out the Heide Knights have found their way home and even seem to have gained some missing AI. Also, torches are finally necessary in some spots. For a moment, you start to feel as if this is the product we should have received during the original release, and From has come back to right all their wrongs.

    Unfortunately this "refinish" fails to take fight after the first few hours of the game. Some of the new enemy placement compliments the game, but a lot of it seems completely arbitrary, it left me saying to myself "what is this guy doing here, he doesn't fit here..." That's not the worst of it though, someone decided they would add in several more petrified statues to block your path, this probably doesn't seem like a big deal at first, but you soon realize all this does is cut your exploration options in half and leave you with a very strict path to follow early in the game.

    Finally, From decided to actually give us the Pursuer they promised from early game development. He's the same old guy though, just decides to pop in at the worst of times. Good luck fighting him with archers bearing down on you, and packs of dogs at your heels. This screams cheese, I don't think it's what anyone wanted from the fight.

    Verdict: This is still the formula I as a fan do not want the series taking. I firmly believe you should not "spice up" old encounters by dropping in 4-6 lesser enemies to stunlock me to death. For that reason the new pursuer feels cheap, as does quite a bit of the arbitrary NPC shuffling you guys did. Possibly the biggest disgrace here is deciding all of this was worth $50, even as a standalone it should have taken place of the $40 product at the very least. Players with existing copies of the game should have gotten this content for free, they should not be punished over the limitations a strict publisher caused the original game to suffer. I assume bundling the DLCs with this refinish is From's way of strategically circumventing that though.

    The majority of what you get with this product can and should have been pushed through with content patches. Players have been complaining about the hitboxes on the last giant since week one, so it's nice to know that From has finally responded by adjusting them and charging for the bug fix. While we're talking about what players shouldn't be charged for, they should not be paying for the lighting that was intended to be featured with the original product. The only thing that From could justify charging for at this point is the graphical upgrade, but even that is debatable after the massive downgrade the game suffered during the original launch. What can you do though? The bad decisions of From Software do not even surprise me anymore.    … Expand
  48. OneEarth2
    Apr 3, 2015
    10
    There are a few things that need to be cleared up.

    First, this game does not cost $50 to owners of Dark Souls 2, like some poorly informed people say. If you already own Dark Souls II, you can upgrade for $30 and then you also get the DLC included in that price. If you already have Dark Souls 2 plus all the DLC, then you can upgrade for just $20. This DOES include all the DLC. This is    There are a few things that need to be cleared up.

    First, this game does not cost $50 to owners of Dark Souls 2, like some poorly informed people say. If you already own Dark Souls II, you can upgrade for $30 and then you also get the DLC included in that price. If you already have Dark Souls 2 plus all the DLC, then you can upgrade for just $20. This DOES include all the DLC. This is actually a better deal than the console gamers are getting, oddly enough, probably because FromSoft knows how PC gamers tend to complain if they don't get special treatment. (Note: I'm a PC gamer and do not own a console)

    Second, the enemy placement is not random like some people say. The enemies are placed in lore-friendly locations, and the only time they're placed in new regions is when there's a sensible reason (like a couple Royal Swordsmen outside the Pursuer Arena, because the hawk carries people back and forth from the Lost Bastille.)

    Third, the game is not just brighter. It has more contrast than before. That means the dark areas are darker and the light areas are lighter. Additionally, the graphics improvement is very noticeable, and the only people dissatisfied with it seem to be complaining for the sake of complaining. No, it's not the best looking game in the world. However, it is one of the best optimized games in the world. It won't stress your GTX 970, but it will look beautiful and run great on your GTX 650 or equivalent, and it's not often that developers put in so much work to make their game run well on a variety of PCs, while still maintaining good graphics. For reference, this game runs flawlessly on ultra settings/1080p/45+ fps on my laptop with a GTX 860M. Yes, it's so well optimized that my mid-range laptop is matching Xbone/PS4 performance.

    Graphical changes I've noticed:
    -Improved sampling quality on ambient occlusion.
    -Light now acts upon textures based on the alpha channel (more realistic shading). This also means that the worst looking textures in normal Dark Souls II (the ones where the normal and diffuse are different) now react to lighting more realistically and look much better. This is probably how they intended the game to look to begin with.
    -More water reflections, including sky reflections.
    -More contrast (light areas can be truly white instead of light gray, and dark areas can be truly black instead of dark gray).
    -Certain areas of the game now have custom "pitch black" lighting templates, making torches actually necessary like the skull lantern from DKS1.
    -The antialiasing has been updated to FXAA3, so it now looks less blurry and does an even better job of reducing jaggies.
    -Object motion blur makes quick actions look more fluid, especially things like rolling.
    -Bokeh DoF is now used to make embers and other similar things look prettier.
    -Bloom has been increased around light sources like fires or the sun, adding that great "bright" look that light sources had in DKS1.
    -Large shadows have been added to the landscape, around things like pillars, mountains, etc. This gives the landscape more depth overall.
    -All spells now have light sources.
    -All light sources now actually cast light.
    -Texture filtering has been improved.

    General Gameplay Improvements that I've personally noticed.
    -A few hitboxes seem more precise, especially noticeable during dodges.
    -Enemies have been set up in places that complement their abilities (ie, turtle knights are now sometimes found in narrow spaces where their crushing attacks are most effective).
    -Skeletons like dark places.
    -Lore has been expanded in subtle ways, especially around boss fights which previously had little or no explanation.
    -Some sound effects that previously sounded muffled have been dramatically improved, making it easier to identify certain nearby objects and enemies, if you have decent ears and decent speakers/headphones.

    Overall, graphically and in terms of gameplay, this is a serious improvement over Dark Souls 2. I liked Dark Souls 2 at launch, but thought Dark Souls 1 was a little better. Scholar of the First Sin has made me decide that I like Dark Souls 2 more than Dark Souls 1.

    Many of the people criticizing it haven't even played the game, but rather are simply upset because of the rumors surrounding the launch (like the incorrect rumor that people would have to pay $50 to upgrade). It's like Dark Souls 1 all over again, where **** and random elitist forums rallied to rate this game a 0 just because they didn't play it and didn't even properly research it, but just wanted a scapegoat to hate.

    Keep in mind, however, this is a bigger upgrade for the PS4 owners and Xbone owners than PC owners. Mostly this upgrade was aimed at them, we simply get it because it'd be stupid if we didn't.    … Expand
  49. Avadon
    Apr 2, 2015
    3
    Note: The score reflects the "upgraded" version, and not the quality of the game itself.

    There are 2 improvements that require a lot of work and would upgrade the game significantly enough to warrant the price of this: 1) Implementing the full dynamic lighting system that they showed on previews some years ago. 2) Fixing the durability issue, which they say would require a    Note: The score reflects the "upgraded" version, and not the quality of the game itself.

    There are 2 improvements that require a lot of work and would upgrade the game significantly enough to warrant the price of this:

    1) Implementing the full dynamic lighting system that they showed on previews some years ago.
    2) Fixing the durability issue, which they say would require a significant engine rewrite (I believe them).

    Even one of those things would be enough for me to pay for the game again. Unfortunately, they did neither. It doesn't matter if From or N/B are responsible, what matters is that they are charging a premium price for virtually nothing. Why? The Shadow Warrior devs offered more of an upgrade on their game than From just a few days ago, for free. They added a brand new DX11 client, which looks significantly better and is ridiculously well optimized, to the point where I can max it out and play at downscaled 4k at 80+ FPS on a single GPU. I was floored. And it was a FREE patch.

    DS2 is a good game. Not a great one, but good. It suffers from some repetition occasionally, and the world design feels a bit out of whack, but it's definitely enjoyable. The DLC is also excellent. If you already own the base game and not the DLC, this is probably worth getting. If you own both, it's definitely not worth it. If you don't own it at all, again it's worth getting, but you might want to consider limiting it to 30 FPS, so your weapons don't blow up if you accidentally touch a wall. Absolutely ridiculous.    … Expand
  50. Woodencoins
    Apr 2, 2015
    1
    In as few a word as possible:
    Graphically, i have not noticed much of a difference than the first iteration of the game, played for several hours so far and the only real difference is that everything is much brighter than before, other than certain areas which although bright and perfectly visible while looking in from outside the relevant area (i.e. through a door way) as soon as you    In as few a word as possible:
    Graphically, i have not noticed much of a difference than the first iteration of the game, played for several hours so far and the only real difference is that everything is much brighter than before, other than certain areas which although bright and perfectly visible while looking in from outside the relevant area (i.e. through a door way) as soon as you enter the area/ room all light inexplicably vanishes forcing the necessity of torches where as before torches were pretty much useless.
    Enemy placement: it seems that From Software have just increased the concentration of enemies and placed higher level enemies in lower level areas (a lot of them hidden which is no doubt going to be considered very cheap tactics but From have sort of developed a reputation for being cheap so i suppose this was to be expected)
    Pricing: The fact that From have charged anything for this (pc version) is an insult but, as more and more people are realising, these game developers don't create games to please, they develop games to make money and that is what they have and are doing.
    Ultimately, we have all been played. (people who have bought Scholar of the first Sin after buying the first version of the game.)
    Do not buy this unless you have not already purchased the original, otherwise you might as well open wide and accept almost fascist capitalism.... maybe not quite that harsh but you get the message..... hopefully.    … Expand
  51. arnolddanko
    Apr 2, 2015
    0
    They tweaked lighting effects, placed enemies in new spots, and expect me to buy this game again? The new placements are lazy - you even have the dull ember in the starting location (originally mid-late game)!! Where are the graphics from beta? Where is the darkness? Where is new content? This is ridiculous, they managed to make the game even worse. Don't buy this, original DSII withThey tweaked lighting effects, placed enemies in new spots, and expect me to buy this game again? The new placements are lazy - you even have the dull ember in the starting location (originally mid-late game)!! Where are the graphics from beta? Where is the darkness? Where is new content? This is ridiculous, they managed to make the game even worse. Don't buy this, original DSII with season pass is MUCH better. Don't let these greedy slackers get money for a 10 hour work.… Expand
  52. Masterhummel
    Apr 2, 2015
    7
    The pricing policy aside, Scholar of the First Sin sucesfully attempts to fix some of the originals shortcomings like uninspired enemy placement, simple ai and behavior. For the most part, it succeeds. The new placement probably won't challenge veteran players too much but the slightly altered encounters will be very enjoyable for the regular player.

    So, why just a seven you may ask?    The pricing policy aside, Scholar of the First Sin sucesfully attempts to fix some of the originals shortcomings like uninspired enemy placement, simple ai and behavior. For the most part, it succeeds. The new placement probably won't challenge veteran players too much but the slightly altered encounters will be very enjoyable for the regular player.

    So, why just a seven you may ask? It's because of the graphical sidegrade. While it is true that certain areas or encounters in the game look much better now (especially dark areas where a torch now is a viable option), there overhelming majority of the exterior just looks... off. Sometimes it even looks like you just loaded some low-effort SweetFX config. Colors are burned, shadows have the wrong saturation, textures are far too bright and washed out. Majula for example is so bright, you feel like you're on the surface of the moon (not kidding). I'm not really sure what to make of this, but it makes the game look far worse then the Original in some areas.    … Expand
next
Page:

Awards & Rankings

76
#76 Best PC Game of 2015
29
#29 Most Discussed PC Game of 2015
87
#87 Most Shared PC Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 8 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. RPG Fan
    Feb 20, 2017
    72
    Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin offers only minor tweaks to serious gameplay issues of the original game. Nonetheless, it still remains a wholly enjoyable online experience, just don't expect much from the singleplayer experience.
    Read full review
  2. CD-Action
    Jun 29, 2015
    95
    It’s a freaking masterpiece! Do yourself a favor and experience it if you haven’t done it yet. [06/2015, p.68]
  3. Games.cz
    May 4, 2015
    80
    A pleasant combination of revised version of Dark Souls II with excellent DLCs offers a brutal difficulty and a fantastic atmosphere - even more intense than ever. Although the Scholar of the First Sin is not a purchase for everyone, if you try you will not be disappointed.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »