Dark Souls II

 PlayStation 3
User Score
8.2

Generally favorable reviews- based on 1483 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,133 out of 1483
  2. Mixed: 182 out of 1483
  3. Negative: 168 out of 1483
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  1. Jerg4n
    Apr 7, 2023
    7
    Some questionable design choices make this an... interesting game. Most bosses feel lacking, the world design is weird, it is WAY more bs than it's predecessor and so on. I would've wanted to enjoy this game more, but it just felt llke an inferior Dark Souls 1 in every way. Being inferior to a masterpiece still makes it good, but doesn't make it less disappointing.
  2. 3ls0ul
    Mar 7, 2023
    9
    Este juego aún no lo eh jugado o completado, así que pondré una reseña y nota diferentes cuando lo haga.
  3. shenkenhigh
    Feb 14, 2023
    9
    Keeps up with atmospheric aspect of the game, that's a big yes. But adaptability stat and mechanics overall...it's just baldly stupid
  4. AnderzinhoLoko
    Feb 12, 2023
    10
    Mudou Muito do Primeiro Dark Souls para esse, Eu Amei esse Jogo assim como amei o Primeiro, eu acho o primeiro mais Redondinho, Mais Perfeito, esse jogo é um milagre da Direção de Yui Tanimura. Salvou o Game.
  5. Ragenx12
    Jan 28, 2023
    10
    Me pillo cuando pase un año con depresión y me rescato de las tinieblas. 10/10 aunque me perdí y no supe donde ir y nunca lo termine pero Dios juegazo. Jefes dificiles, entorno interactivo y un desafío que decidí tomar.
  6. Joe2539
    Jan 2, 2023
    10
    Very Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good Good
  7. hector_bcn98
    Nov 11, 2022
    8
    No, no está al nivel de la leyenda del primero, pero... podría haberlo estado de alguna forma? No. Sigue siendo un juegazo.
  8. Gabitoxico
    Nov 10, 2022
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. DEMASIADO BUENO. Realmente me encantó el juego. FASCINANTE LA AMBIENTACIÓN Y LA JUGABILIDAD… Expand
  9. dr-kenobi
    Sep 6, 2022
    8
    A lot of players hate it, but I think it still offers loads of fun. Sure, the mechanics feel very different from those that were made by Miyazaki, but still, it's pretty good. And of course, you don't suffer less
  10. SilentLev
    Aug 31, 2022
    8
    В ретроспективе отсутствие Миядзаки в проекте, как мне кажется, пошло сиквелу только на пользу. Продолжение великой первой части в конечной трилогии выглядит подобно сиквелу Silent Hill. То есть, наиболее отличной от остальных частей, что и делает эту игру более самобытной и от того более интересной.В ретроспективе отсутствие Миядзаки в проекте, как мне кажется, пошло сиквелу только на пользу. Продолжение великой первой части в конечной трилогии выглядит подобно сиквелу Silent Hill. То есть, наиболее отличной от остальных частей, что и делает эту игру более самобытной и от того более интересной.
  11. CnPx98
    Aug 18, 2022
    7
    This game is alright but it's probably my least favourite of the souls games I have played. Health supplies are basically never seen and every time you die you loose 5% of health making the part you got stuck on even harder the next time. It really doesn't make sense to have a mechanic like this in a game. How do you expect players to overcome something by making it worse. You get a stoneThis game is alright but it's probably my least favourite of the souls games I have played. Health supplies are basically never seen and every time you die you loose 5% of health making the part you got stuck on even harder the next time. It really doesn't make sense to have a mechanic like this in a game. How do you expect players to overcome something by making it worse. You get a stone that makes you human again but these are like hen's teeth. You get character creation but you'll just spend most of the game looking like Frankenstein.
    The graphics aren't amazing even for PS3 but I think from software wasn't huge at this point so fair enough. This game is clearly more for the die hard fans of the souls games otherwise you mite aswell just skip over it and play the newer better ones.    … Expand
  12. Ygs
    Jul 14, 2022
    7
    91 out of 100 unbelievable, this game is nothing but a copy of the previous version, it is much worse, lol, the design has completely regressed, a forgettable experience, fake souls fans, you keep buying the same game again and again, on the contrary, dark souls 1 was great
  13. DarkwingSchmuck
    Mar 14, 2022
    8
    With a different director at the helm, Dark Souls II isn't quite as expertly crafted as its predecessor, though it is still a deep, challenging action RPG in its own right. It's bigger, longer, messier, and at times more frustrating than fun; opting for quantity over quality with the most bosses in a FromSoft game, as well as the most generic. There are also times when it mistakesWith a different director at the helm, Dark Souls II isn't quite as expertly crafted as its predecessor, though it is still a deep, challenging action RPG in its own right. It's bigger, longer, messier, and at times more frustrating than fun; opting for quantity over quality with the most bosses in a FromSoft game, as well as the most generic. There are also times when it mistakes throwing as many enemies at you at once as it can for "difficulty."… Expand
  14. darksoulskorean
    Feb 6, 2022
    0
    This game is not bad. It has its own pros and cons. But this is by no means worthy of such a high score. Higher than DS1 and DS3? Come on, critics. You guys are suck and just spoiled it. Now no one will pay any attention to what you flirt with.
  15. Kumasimc
    Dec 28, 2021
    10
    While often criticized for its departure from Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, Dark Souls 2 is one of the most brilliantly conceived sequels in ages. Rather than try to mimic the first entry, or create excess lore where none existed (or was needed), Dark Souls 2 looks at the actual universe it resides in and thoughtfully creates a unique space. In the world of Dark Souls there are endlessWhile often criticized for its departure from Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, Dark Souls 2 is one of the most brilliantly conceived sequels in ages. Rather than try to mimic the first entry, or create excess lore where none existed (or was needed), Dark Souls 2 looks at the actual universe it resides in and thoughtfully creates a unique space. In the world of Dark Souls there are endless cycles, civilizations rising and falling, each cycle likely thousands of years (if not more). Rather than try to “follow up” directly from the end of the first entry, Dark Souls 2 launches many cycles into the future, and tells a more personal story of King Vendrick, the land of Drangleic, Lady Nashandra and an ill considered war with the Giants (not too mention Vendrick’s mad brother Aldia, though he is more elaborated upon in the Scholar update). While traversing the world, unraveling the story of this dying land and your place in it, bits of the existing universe are expanded upon, making it both a fresh new story, and exciting for those looking for more answers from the first game. Mechanically, DS2 changed quite a few things, they created a new parry/riposte, updated multiplayer and the requisite new stats and balancing. In addition to minor adjustments, they also added the brilliant new Bonfire Ascetic mechanic, effectively allowing you to put certain areas of the game into a forced “New Game Plus” for extra challenge, as well as hidden benefits. The “New Game Plus” also received extra love, and is not just “more difficult with some stronger versions of old rings” like the first entry. There are real changes to the world that I won’t spoil here. The game is also massive. Even without the DLC, Dark Souls 2 is large in scope and well worth price of admission, but adding on the 3 huge DLCs just makes this one of the best gaming packages ever. Also to note, the Scholar of the First Sin and the original Dark Souls 2 have completely different item/enemy layouts, that create different pacing and routing. Most prefer the Scholar version (which also has the DLC packed in) so that should be the obvious choice, however for those who can’t get enough, playing through both versions makes for a fascinating replay that will keep you on your toes. All in all, Dark Souls 2 has often been on the receiving end of a lot of hate (criticism, fair enough, but also hate, absurdly). Many joked it was the “B” team (despite most of the original development team working on it), which is an insult to the talent at From Software. Ever since, it seems they’ve been scared to release a game that didn’t say “Directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki” for fear of undue backlash. If you read the credits, however, their subsequent games always actually list multiple directors. And since Miyazaki is the president of the company, I would hazard a guess that he mainly oversees most games, while others “direct” them (much like he did here). It’s unfortunate that not having his name on Dark Souls 2, front & center, seemed to set so many people off, considering how From Software has proven as a whole to be an utterly formidable talent, and a groundbreaking game developer. All told, if you’ve been curious about this entry, but have been turned off by tales of it being “garbage” and not a real “Souls” game, I would kindly insist you reconsider. There are groups of people who aren’t fans surely, but there are many, many of us who unabashedly call it an utter masterpiece.… Expand
  16. nurfedx
    Oct 30, 2021
    10
    One of the best Games known to mankind.
    From Software is a safe heaven for the Gaming community.
    Especially in times where big Developers dissapiont us with theyr fraudulent intent.
    Praise the sun!
  17. SolaireMengao
    Sep 16, 2021
    10
    Escaping the "god fighting" system, Dark Souls II brings a more human experience, with a vast word and even surpassing the original game.
  18. Elkiolo
    Aug 21, 2021
    10
    El juego es una obra maestra. El problema con el mapeado es lo de menos tomando encuenta lo perfecto que es el resto del juego.
  19. Meme-City-Mayor
    Jun 21, 2021
    8
    Pretty good, although way too hard and easy in several areas. It's got a pretty good story and it's got some pretty cool concepts within the areas, so I feel like 8/10 is a good score for the game.
  20. CFMCritic
    May 15, 2021
    7
    Dark Souls II is the godfather part III of the franchise, it has some very good moments, boss fights, areas and a story that is so dark and fascinating yet it's messy in its designs and denies the discovery aspect of demon's souls and dark souls. Dark souls 2 is overlong and filles with unnecessary areas with bas design and boss fights. I wish I could give it a higher score.
  21. G0jiman
    Mar 12, 2021
    9
    I must admit I was a little edgy at first about the feel of the new engine that was made for this game when I first played it back in 2014 but I think that may have been a good thing. It meant that I had to rethink everything I knew about how Dark Souls generally felt when I played it i.e. a new challenge for me, which kept things from going stale by averting my expectations. Also theI must admit I was a little edgy at first about the feel of the new engine that was made for this game when I first played it back in 2014 but I think that may have been a good thing. It meant that I had to rethink everything I knew about how Dark Souls generally felt when I played it i.e. a new challenge for me, which kept things from going stale by averting my expectations. Also the game's Three Crowns of Kings dlc's are pretty good with the amount of content they each offer.… Expand
  22. michealmyles
    Jan 20, 2021
    8
    This game is a Dark Souls game, yes. But keep in mind that its from Studio B, A different studio that From Soft, the developers of the original series. I suppose they pawned this game to a different studio so they could work on the seminal masterpiece which is Dark Souls III. The experience coming from Dark souls I to II seems foreign. The colour palate is more bright and vibrant, overallThis game is a Dark Souls game, yes. But keep in mind that its from Studio B, A different studio that From Soft, the developers of the original series. I suppose they pawned this game to a different studio so they could work on the seminal masterpiece which is Dark Souls III. The experience coming from Dark souls I to II seems foreign. The colour palate is more bright and vibrant, overall its a lighter experience visually. The combat system and summoning system is the main flaw of this game. It greatly disappointed me, yet I persisted, because well - its Dark Souls! It has to be good. And that it was - in its own unique way. I think the game was meant to appeal to the more casual audience. The world is HUGE, I mean huge, especially with the DLC. There is an incredible amount of content in the game. I don't think the story is very interesting. I don't think the sound is on par to the other souls series games. With all that said, I'd would still recommend. Its a good game and for what you pay you have a fun and rewarding experience, which is the whole point.… Expand
  23. soahknam
    Jan 18, 2021
    10
    This game is a master piece, again fromsoftware show us a perfect work, you need play this.

    Story: 8
    Game play: 10
    Music; 10
    Visuals: 10

    Personal score: 10 A master piece !!
  24. prussii
    Dec 31, 2020
    10
    Despite the hate on this game, this is my favourite. I have so many memorable moments with this game. This is a big leap in comparison to the 1st game.
  25. TheFr0st
    Dec 22, 2020
    8
    This an absolutely beautiful game. My 150 hours in Dark Souls 2 was amazing. It has some frame rate issues on ps3, and not graphically advanced as other games in 2014. But it's still one of the best games I've ever played, 8 out of 10.
  26. Wineneeder
    Dec 20, 2020
    7
    Having now beat the game, I can say this is really just a pale imitation of the first. Aping it with no skill or understanding.

    I don't want to particularly go into my reasons, so I will say that the Matthewmatosis "Dark Souls 2 Critique" youtube video really sums it up and coalesces my thoughts and raw feelings into something more tangible. Long, but worth the watch, even if you like    Having now beat the game, I can say this is really just a pale imitation of the first. Aping it with no skill or understanding.

    I don't want to particularly go into my reasons, so I will say that the Matthewmatosis
    "Dark Souls 2 Critique" youtube video really sums it up and coalesces my thoughts and raw feelings into something more tangible. Long, but worth the watch, even if you like the game.

    (mild optional boss spoilers)
    Some areas I must mention, that really stood out to me (well or stunk) were the -gauntlets- to the boss fights Ancient Dragon and Smelter Demon 2: This time he's Blue. Oh and Frigid Outskirts.. ugh.
    (mild optional boss spoilers)

    Anyway, there are some good ideas in this sequel, pretty areas, but a whole lot of bad, terrible ideas and retreads from the last game. A shame because I find the quality never quite dips to the rush job that the lord souls were in the first game, mostly, but is overall just weak.

    I did enjoy the game, I found some areas to be of good quality and I did like some of it.. just really, really hated the bad parts and poor design decisions w/r/t game systems, specifically the total souls level/multiplayer matchmaking

    I can recommend this, most of the truly horrible gauntlet sections are optional, the multiplayer is probably not a factor at this time.    … Expand
  27. mythiiix
    Dec 17, 2020
    10
    FromSoftware are masterminds for making this game, Thank You Hidetaka Miyazaki for this masterpiece!
  28. Siralfon
    Nov 16, 2020
    8
    Un gran juego de la saga souls . Odiado por la mayoría por la ausencia de miyazaki . Aunque tiene algunos fallo en el diseño de niveles , es el souls con mejor comunidad online . Y eso se nota
  29. Afrinecks
    Nov 4, 2020
    10
    This is the besto Dark Souls - Why?

    First of all - It's different from the other ones, makes an outstanding work driving you nuts through the new mechanics of game play and game menú, it feels fresh and brings things that DS1 and DS3 doesnt have like enemies disappear after you reach the time beaten them - this makes farm for souls even harder and makes you twink twice the way you are    This is the besto Dark Souls - Why?

    First of all - It's different from the other ones, makes an outstanding work driving you nuts through the new mechanics of game play and game menú, it feels fresh and brings things that DS1 and DS3 doesnt have like enemies disappear after you reach the time beaten them - this makes farm for souls even harder and makes you twink twice the way you are going to spend those souls

    makes even hard and painful to die and loss souls - i love this    … Expand
  30. AlexvaderII
    Sep 16, 2020
    9
    Dark Souls 2 cuenta con un gran combate estratégico en el cual tendremos que enfrentar enemigos difíciles. Desde el inicio hay que ir con cuidado para no morir aunque si morimos no hay problema este es un juego de probar nuevas maneras de afrontar el reto aunque a diferencia del primero creo que mejoraron los combates jugador vs jugador por consiguiente jugador vs NPC.

    La ambientación y    Dark Souls 2 cuenta con un gran combate estratégico en el cual tendremos que enfrentar enemigos difíciles. Desde el inicio hay que ir con cuidado para no morir aunque si morimos no hay problema este es un juego de probar nuevas maneras de afrontar el reto aunque a diferencia del primero creo que mejoraron los combates jugador vs jugador por consiguiente jugador vs NPC.

    La ambientación y diseño de niveles esta bien pero lo pudieron mejorar ya que algunos escenarios podremos observar algunas incongruencias que no nos dejaran indiferentes, el juego cuenta con muchas trampas en todo el mapa y esto hará que estemos muy alerta a lo que se avecina siempre. Hay gran cantidad de enemigos y todos son diferentes y agresivos pero tendremos una gran variedad de escudos para protegernos y armas que podremos mejorar bastante y de diferentes maneras para que las adecuemos según creamos que sea lo mejor para derrotar a tal enemigo. Adicionalmente obtendremos hechizos, magia oscura que es una novedad en esta entrega y piromancias que básicamente lo resumo en magia estos se obtienen de diferentes maneras los mas fáciles son de pago con almas dentro del juego pero serán los mas básicos, al final de cuentas esto hará los combates muy divertidos y variados.

    Algo que hace especial a este juego es que desde que encontremos nuestro primer ítem nos revelara partes de la historia del juego como un gigantesco rompecabezas, ya que la misma se narra atreves de los NPC´s que nos encontremos en el camino las pocas cinemáticas y los ítems así que aquí todo es importante.

    Al final el juego tiene buenos combates contra jefes muy espectaculares, gran historia, pero la ambientación no llega a las cuotas de la primera entrega. Es divertido a mas no poder, y con componentes online y como el primero aunque ya no innova tanto en este aspecto siempre podremos ayudar a jugadores que ni siquiera conocemos o podremos quedar de acuerdo con nuestros amigos o podremos estropearle la aventura a otros jugadores invadiéndolos y estropeando su avance, esto se escucha sencillo pero hay unos "PACTOS" que haremos dentro del juego con NPC´s que nos darán recompensas según lo que decidamos hacer o ayudar o eliminar a la persona online.

    Al final esta es una buena entrega pero algunos defectos mencionados hacen que no sea perfecto aun así es un gran video juego.    … Expand
  31. storygamer
    Sep 2, 2020
    9
    Dark Souls II is an epic experience and follows the path of its predecessor. You get a rock heavy gameplay, challenging but always fair. The atmosphere is brilliant dark and intensifies the mystic story. Modern classic, must play!
  32. MasterMoonfire
    Aug 28, 2020
    7
    Dark Souls II may have had many new ideas but not all of them were executed too well in this game, Dark Souls II is a good game overall but not a good Souls game, it is the least enjoyable game in the series and a pretty big disappointment overall, awkward gameplay, artificial difficulty, and questionable control feel are the major problems. Dark Souls II does have really good thingsDark Souls II may have had many new ideas but not all of them were executed too well in this game, Dark Souls II is a good game overall but not a good Souls game, it is the least enjoyable game in the series and a pretty big disappointment overall, awkward gameplay, artificial difficulty, and questionable control feel are the major problems. Dark Souls II does have really good things though that keep the game from being bad, the world of Drangleic is amazing and visually stunning, the combat works, the soundtrack is really good, NPCs are interesting and memorable, interesting new mechanics like power stance and stat reallocation, it has a good new game plus, and build variety, but that's it, while it's not the worst video game sequel out there, it's definitely the weakest of the Souls series.… Expand
  33. Dachman
    Aug 12, 2020
    10
    At first I didn't like the game. But after I completed it two times I can say, it's not as good as the first part, but still it's a great game. It denies some ideas of the original game, but at the same time deepens some other. It widens the game world and moves the story to another place, still connected to Lordran. Anyway I can recommend the game to anyone no matter whether you playedAt first I didn't like the game. But after I completed it two times I can say, it's not as good as the first part, but still it's a great game. It denies some ideas of the original game, but at the same time deepens some other. It widens the game world and moves the story to another place, still connected to Lordran. Anyway I can recommend the game to anyone no matter whether you played the original game or not.… Expand
  34. LOTHRIC
    Aug 8, 2020
    9
    الجزء الثاني كان ممتازا كلعبة وكان متوسطا كسلسلة له قصة مبدعة لأبعد الحدود وعالم جميل ونظام قتال متقن ومتنوع ولكن كان يعيبه الزعماء الكثيرين بلا فائدة ولايظل سوى زعيم او اثنان في الذاكرة
  35. sabaothkelly
    Jul 30, 2020
    0
    Demon Souls 1? Legendary.
    Dark Souls 1? Masterpiece.
    Light Souls 2? What a PIECE of TVRD, ¡seriously!? There are too many enemies and bosses doing s**t that is just just random, absurd or jank. Honestly, it's just barely above "Lords of the Fallen" trash mechanics.
    Dark Souls 3? Amazing.
  36. Sus1216
    Jul 16, 2020
    4
    Tras jugar al primero, tenía muchas ganas de esta segunda parte. En este caso, me llevé una decepción enorme. No voy a molestarme en comentar lo que tiene el juego porque es lo mismo que el primero. ¿Qué ocurre? Que es todo más cutre y, lo más importante, no sentí ni la sorpresa, ni la presión, ni el agobio que era enfrentarse a los jefes. Algunos ni llegaron a impresionarme en cuanto alTras jugar al primero, tenía muchas ganas de esta segunda parte. En este caso, me llevé una decepción enorme. No voy a molestarme en comentar lo que tiene el juego porque es lo mismo que el primero. ¿Qué ocurre? Que es todo más cutre y, lo más importante, no sentí ni la sorpresa, ni la presión, ni el agobio que era enfrentarse a los jefes. Algunos ni llegaron a impresionarme en cuanto al diseño. Lo mismo en cuanto a los escenarios, ya que a día de hoy sigo recordando los del primer juego, pero los de esta segunda parte son totalmente olvidables. Conforme iba jugando, me gustaba menos. En esta segunda parte, introdujeron que las armas tenían desgaste y se podían romper, un aspecto que a mi me revienta y no aguanto.En mi caso, no me resultó nada complicado terminar el juego, al contrario que el primero que en algunas ocasiones hay zonas y jefes bastante exigentes. Aquí eso no ocurre. No ocurre, pero llega el DLC y suben la dificultad a unos niveles que te quedas flipando, con unos jefes finales que son una locura, como los dos tigres blancos gigantes o le caballero negro con la espada de fuego. Un juego para olvidar.… Expand
  37. DouchebagUncle
    Jun 26, 2020
    9
    (Mar 2, 2017)

    This was one of my weirdest yet greatest experiences on PlayStation 3. My first 7 hours were terrible since it was something new for me and the weakest enemies kept killing me. I even thought about regretting my purchase. After two weeks, I played it again and started to understand its mechanics. My deaths were less frequent and I was able to defeat the first bosses and    (Mar 2, 2017)

    This was one of my weirdest yet greatest experiences on PlayStation 3. My first 7 hours were terrible since it was something new for me and the weakest enemies kept killing me. I even thought about regretting my purchase. After two weeks, I played it again and started to understand its mechanics. My deaths were less frequent and I was able to defeat the first bosses and continue with the game.

    I like the way it tells its story by separating it between most of the land's NPCs. The visuals and artistic design are amazing and the gameplay is very good. If you did not play the previous Souls installments like me, you are going to have a rough time during your first hours, but you will eventually start to advance and enjoy it.

    Dark Souls II is hard, demanding and sometimes unfair. Most bosses are great but there are too many, some of them are a joke and two can one-shot you. The satisfaction for defeating a hard boss or area its fantastic. I also like being able to revive bosses (and make them harder) to get new items or more souls. Some areas can be very challenging but I like exploring them to find weapons, armor and items. Sometimes it can be a horror game because of the tension of dying when you have to recover your souls. I love Majula as the hub world because it feels like a small town in which you are safe and can rest. I also prefer that DSII lets you decide when you want to start New Game+ after beating the final boss.

    Probably the worst thing about this game is the incoherence between some areas. For example, Earthen Peak has a big windmill whose top is completely destroyed. After defeating the boss, you access an elevator that takes you to the Iron Keep, which is surrounded by lava. Also, in Shrine of Winter there's a long tunnel that leads you to Drangleic Castle and suddenly it's nighttime and is raining. It seems that the level designers were split into various teams with no communication between them.

    I didn't play co-op or PVP that much but the only thing I'll say is that the matchmaking system is dumb. Soul Memory, really? Despite that, it's quite fun to humiliate bosses with a friend when both of you are OP after dozens of hours.

    The three DLCs and its bosses are good, but the main problem with them is that there's a lot of recycled enemies, which is also an issue with the base game's bosses turned mini-bosses. The DLCs' areas are also harder, which is fine except for the frozen hell of Frigid Outskirts.

    I had a great time with this game. It's very replayable, most bosses are great and defeating the hard ones is very satisfying. It took me a while to beat the game (54 hours) but I replayed it instantly to get more powerful and experience the challenge of NG+. It's probably the worst -or less good- Souls but it introduced me to one of my favorite franchises and that's what makes it special.    … Expand
  38. Leandro5an
    Jun 20, 2020
    9
    Gran cambio de Dark Souls 1 al 2. Los DLC son espectaculares. Ese juego no debería tener DLC pagados. Este juego debió ser como Sekiro, un juego completo.
  39. WoW1
    May 27, 2020
    5
    Игра, в которой кухарка убивает рыцаря, закованного в латы двумя ударами поварёшкой.
    ---------------
    A game in which a cook kills a knight chained in armor with two strokes of a ladle.
  40. AlvaroK95
    Jan 2, 2020
    9
    El mejor Dark Souls, solo por debajo del padre Demon's Souls, que aun con sus fallos brinda una aventura memorable.
  41. Kiatzu
    Dec 5, 2019
    9
    Beat the game several times and still love it. Some changes that were made are just not as good as they were in Dark Souls 1. For example enemies respawning only up to ten times ( except using a Bonfire Ascetic, which makes the game harder) and the worst pvp system I've ever seen in a game like this. Just to mention two things. Still an awesome game though.
  42. Dingytheman
    Dec 1, 2019
    5
    On it's own maybe a 7/10, compared to previous titles it's a 5 at most. The game drops all elements that made the previous games masterpieces and does difficulty all wrong, I guess that's what happens when the director changes and you have somebody at the wheel that didn't bother to study what made DaS/DeS excellent. The level design on those games, enemy and item placement all workedOn it's own maybe a 7/10, compared to previous titles it's a 5 at most. The game drops all elements that made the previous games masterpieces and does difficulty all wrong, I guess that's what happens when the director changes and you have somebody at the wheel that didn't bother to study what made DaS/DeS excellent. The level design on those games, enemy and item placement all worked together to provide a cohesive experience with challenge and reward.

    In DaS 2 it seems like not much planning went into the crafting of the areas, the game world feels disjointed and transitions often don't make much sense, shortcuts are almost non existent and overabundance of bonfires replace them, non sensical level design left and right, downright lazy skyboxes and rooms that look early PS2 gen (no exaggeration).
    Most enemies aren't even challenging either, they simply come in large numbers throughout the whole game, as for boss fights they are mostly poor and lack challenging movesets, specially considering it's a lot easier to roll and move around your enemies, so much so that at times you can just circle around them without getting hit.
    And last but not least, the massive graphical downgrade which is actually dwarfed by the amount of steps back this game took gameplay wise.
    It's still an enjoyable game but constantly leaves you feeling disappointed.    … Expand
  43. nsroehl
    Feb 15, 2019
    8
    Good game, the weakest of all the Souls games in my opinion. Very similar to other games, just something is missing. I think it could have been better if it had a stronger connection to the first Dark Souls game. Don't get me wrong, it is still fun to play and DLC has some great worlds to explore, but the story is meh. The only interesting part is the big reveal of the end boss andGood game, the weakest of all the Souls games in my opinion. Very similar to other games, just something is missing. I think it could have been better if it had a stronger connection to the first Dark Souls game. Don't get me wrong, it is still fun to play and DLC has some great worlds to explore, but the story is meh. The only interesting part is the big reveal of the end boss and where they came from. Combat, enemies, and bosses are still great. Check it out.… Expand
  44. Leontorres7
    Nov 15, 2018
    10
    Legendary game, play it, this game changed my life for good, all I have for this game is LOVE.
  45. Jvbcdtm3
    Nov 4, 2018
    7
    Lore:7
    Graphics:7
    Gameplay:7
    Mechanics:8
    Sounds:8
    Style:8
    Details:6
    The worst souls
  46. ViniciusBrito
    Aug 8, 2018
    8
    Three years after the first dark souls game, the so expected sequel finally came out. The story is one more time about the fire, that can extinguish and your journey will make you choose between that one more time, the throne or the life and fire. The lore of this game is very nice, but it definely not so rich as it's predecessor, it is way less interesting as the other but not even by farThree years after the first dark souls game, the so expected sequel finally came out. The story is one more time about the fire, that can extinguish and your journey will make you choose between that one more time, the throne or the life and fire. The lore of this game is very nice, but it definely not so rich as it's predecessor, it is way less interesting as the other but not even by far it is bad, it is actually pretty good. I really like how these games keeping telling the story by it's details, like items descriptions or npc conversations, that really like it makes the story be detailed like in a book, and that is definely a point of appreciate, even that it isn't original here, but it is here.
    The gameplay in this game had a little change up, dark souls 1 was more of a tough movement, in this one it is way more faster, the response of the commands work better, as they supposed to, but generally it didn't had much new aspects, it is pretty much the same but improved, there isn't new commands or new stuff to do. But they are very functionals, they don't fail.
    The artificial intelligence in this game was kind of lame, like in some moments the enemies do some really dumb moviments.
    There is one thing that i loved and for me that really make a big difference and a unique aspect for the game, wich is that all the places were connected, it had a wonderful map, in this one it actually isn't anything like that, you don't have those shortcuts anymore, it feels way more like a straight place to go, but you can choose wich one to go first, also are some places that you can only acess using the bonfires.
    Bonfires that now have way to much of them, from very nearby places, wich makes the game very easier.
    This game have way to many bosses as well, it is not a problem a game to have a lot of bosses, the thing is that almost none of them are memorable, some of them felt to be just like from dark souls 1 game and not very innovating, don't get me wrong, they aren't all bad, mostly of them are pretty cool and definely have some nice battles, but there are some that just not even feel like they are bosses. One thing that i liked abou the boss fights, is that in some of them, you can do some things in the scenario before the fight, for example, in a place full of poison, you can cut it off before the fight to make it more simple, that was a pretty good implement. One thing that they romoved wich i didn't liked very much, was the tails arms, when you cut a tail and you get a weapon, this was a nice challenge.
    The scenarios still pretty good, i gotta say that some of them didn't felt very detailed as it could, maybe some of the are way to dark, but generally it does have some pretty places.
    One thing that i liked very much, is that when you moved to the new game +, now the game change, it does have new enemies and that surely is a good thing, there is a item now that can make one specific place get to the new game +, just to get a soul or some item, that makes the difference.
    Another thing i'm not so sure as well, is that they changed the online aspect, for people be able to summon, it ain't with the level anymore, now it is with the amount of souls that you got during the whole game, that really is a bad thing, because it makes things harder to manage for them you be able to play with friends.]
    But even with a lot of flaws the game certainly have a big universe and a very diversity of enemies, with different ways to work against them, there are several different ways to play this game, you can complete it oftentimes and each one be different, using different ways, and that is great. There are different ways to use weapons now, there are very more creatives move sets than dark souls 1, and you have more ways to play than the first one as well, in the sense of what to do.
    There are some quests that are pretty cool, some of the npcs are memorable.    … Expand
  47. Ricardsouza
    May 31, 2018
    10
    Ignore the obnoxious part of the fanbase. This game is the best DS so far, almost as good as Bloodborne.

    It brings so much variety: different viable build options, interesting new mechanics, map secrets, sidequests, beautifully designed gear and equips with hidden effects, beautiful locations... the list of perks goes on and on. Listen to the gaming critics on this one, not the dumb    Ignore the obnoxious part of the fanbase. This game is the best DS so far, almost as good as Bloodborne.

    It brings so much variety: different viable build options, interesting new mechanics, map secrets, sidequests, beautifully designed gear and equips with hidden effects, beautiful locations... the list of perks goes on and on.

    Listen to the gaming critics on this one, not the dumb fanboys who apparently wanted a murky ass pitch-black darky screen with no gameplay clarity.    … Expand
  48. badgerryan19
    Jun 19, 2017
    9
    A continuation of Dark Souls. Another well crafted game from From Software. They are easily making themselves as one of the best companies working today. With challenging combat, intriguing story, and superb bosses this game will last you hours upon hours.
  49. JuanLuisGG14
    Mar 23, 2017
    7
    Truly a great game, when I started it i foond it to be extremely difficult, but after some hours i beat the first boss, and discovered the rewarding experience of it.
    Although that, many things aren't as memorable or cleverly designed as in the first t¿Dark Souls
    Bosses are kinda boring and the world feels generally lifeless. Lore is not as strong as in the first one, too. Gameplay is    Truly a great game, when I started it i foond it to be extremely difficult, but after some hours i beat the first boss, and discovered the rewarding experience of it.
    Although that, many things aren't as memorable or cleverly designed as in the first t¿Dark Souls
    Bosses are kinda boring and the world feels generally lifeless. Lore is not as strong as in the first one, too.
    Gameplay is better than in the first Dark Souls, but AI destroys it and makes it more as a rolling simulator or a "go to enemies back" one.
    7/10    … Expand
  50. Juras
    Mar 14, 2017
    7
    Good game but worst souls. Few things was nice like hex magic or visualization of breaking equipments. Others no, design was mostly boring, only few selected areas like Shrine of Amana has atmosphere, Too westernish in my opinion. And final version of game looks worse than beta (both played on PS3).
  51. Ishi123
    Feb 17, 2017
    8
    Dark Souls 2 was my first Souls game, so keep that in mind as you read this. As a person who had avoided the Souls series at all costs due to the seemingly rabid fanbase it had acquired over the years, I was skeptical about delving into what was supposedly only for "harcore" gamers. And the marketing campaign certainly didn't help. However, one day I chinned up and went "screw it", andDark Souls 2 was my first Souls game, so keep that in mind as you read this. As a person who had avoided the Souls series at all costs due to the seemingly rabid fanbase it had acquired over the years, I was skeptical about delving into what was supposedly only for "harcore" gamers. And the marketing campaign certainly didn't help. However, one day I chinned up and went "screw it", and picked up Dark Souls 2, and I never went back.

    Dark Souls 2 isn't as good as the original Dark Souls, I'll put that right out there just to be completely uncontroversial, however, in and of itself, it is still a fantastic game overall. I could go on and on about how I took my first tentative and frightened steps into the Dark Souls world, facing death at every turn, dying over and over again and wanting to give up all the time. But that's the thing. I never did. I didn't give up, even though at times I wanted to. The game is just as gripping as the first, refusing to let me go and telling me that I'm better than that. It'll gut punch me then say "you can take it", because I damn well could, even when I thought I couldn't, and it took me taking it to prove it, time and time again.

    The game's level design is... lacking. They're basically straight lines, let's not kid ourselves, here. But they still do look rather nice. Some places look downright gorgeous, so much so that I didn't really mind the fact that they were just straight gauntlets of enemies. Despite that, Dark Souls definitely did have better level design. Larger, open ended, and shortcuts abound. You won't get that here.

    Combat is more refined, that's for sure, for better or for worse. Dark Souls combat worked in a way, and Dark Souls 2's combat works as well, just in a different way. Veterans of the first game will say it feels awkward and someone like me, who went from 2 to 1, will say that Dark Souls's combat feels awkward. However, I do prefer 1's combat to 2. It feels more refined for what it's made for. It works better for what it's built around than 2's is for what it's built around... if that makes any sense. Also, PARRYING IS POSSIBLE IN 1.

    Bosses are... forgettable. If I had a dollar for every dude in armor boss in the game, I'd have at least 13 bucks or so. There is just one boss in the main game that I can remember off the top of my head. Even the final boss wasn't anything special. And the boss music is just as forgettable. I don't even hear the boss music in most cases... all cases, because it's just so boring and generic. Dark Souls 1 had amazing boss music that I can just listen to even when I'm on wikia or, oh, I don't know, writing a review for Dark Souls 2 on Metacritic, just to give a purely hypothetical example.

    Mechanically the game is fine, save for the two points I'm bringing up the mechanics for, and that's the completely broken hitboxes and the auto-tracking overheads. They say Dark Souls also has terrible hitboxes, but if that's true I didn't notice them nearly as much as I did here. Some enemies will hit you from the next room over a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. I'd get flattened by a sword the size of a double-decker bus and I'd clearly see the sword a good 3 in-game feet away from me. If you're playing without a shield, God help you. And then there's the auto-tracking overheads, which approximately 100% of enemies, including bosses, have. When an enemy raises their huge impractical stick to whack you with, they will swivel like they're on a turntable in order to hit you while you're strafing, something I though was physically impossible because by then you'd just be performing a horizontal swipe, wouldn't you, turtle knight? But nooooo. It's actually not possible to strafe to avoid attacks in this game like it was in 1. You HAVE to dodge. No exceptions, they will hit you even if they have to spin right round, baby, right round to do it.

    The multiplayer is the Souls multiplayer. You know what that's all about, and the story is just as cryptic as ever, and does offer a different take on the Dark Souls lore. However, it's not quite as gripping as the first game's plot was, and I never really found myself engrossed in the lore when a lot of it just felt... forgettable. How forgettable? I'VE FORGOTTEN!

    All-in-all, the game is flawed, yes, but did I still have a ton of fun with it? Oh, Lord, yes, I did. For a Souls newbie, this game was the perfect entry point. It introduced me to the world, the combat, the nature of the game itself, the brutal bosses, and though not as complex as Dark Souls in any regard that I can think of off the top of my head or given several hours to come up with one, I'm still grateful to it for what it taught me, and giving me the confidence to go to Dark Souls 1 and give that a try. Without it, I would've never gotten into the Souls series and I would never have gotten to experience some of the best gaming moments I have ever had.    … Expand
  52. bkeny2idie
    Feb 5, 2017
    1
    Very huge disappointment for a souls game. Graphics aren't well done, changes from the core game were made without giving the community notice of the huge graphical differences, pve story and lore feels nonsensical even for a souls game, characters feel floaty and very different form either previous souls game in a negative way, pvp is corralled to a separate mechanic like arenas forcingVery huge disappointment for a souls game. Graphics aren't well done, changes from the core game were made without giving the community notice of the huge graphical differences, pve story and lore feels nonsensical even for a souls game, characters feel floaty and very different form either previous souls game in a negative way, pvp is corralled to a separate mechanic like arenas forcing duels while invasions are nearly non existent until you hit a certain tier much later in the games cycle, allowing new players an easy playthrough. Soul Memory makes multiplayer extremely frustrating for all involved. Overall a really disappointing game more so a disappointing souls game. if it were called anything else it would be a good game but doesn't meet the standards previous souls games have set.… Expand
  53. HopelessVoice
    Jun 2, 2016
    8
    I don't think it's as bad as some Souls purists like to say. Sure, the bosses are way too many and way too easy at times, but the levels for the most part still kept me entertained to the end. Also, it was the only Souls game that kept me interested in the PvP side of things, but that might just be me. It's also a really good entry point for those who think the first Dark Souls is tooI don't think it's as bad as some Souls purists like to say. Sure, the bosses are way too many and way too easy at times, but the levels for the most part still kept me entertained to the end. Also, it was the only Souls game that kept me interested in the PvP side of things, but that might just be me. It's also a really good entry point for those who think the first Dark Souls is too brutal in its delivery, as the game is in many ways a lot easier and traditional in its level design. I know of at least one who decided to give the first Dark Souls another whirl after actually beating DS2, so there's that. I found the sunset atmosphere in Majula particuarly pleasing as well, probably the most pleasing hub area in the whole series. A few major flaws, but still a fantastic game.… Expand
  54. amateurcritic2
    May 30, 2016
    9
    an amzing game by any tandards and the only reason this is getting a 9 is because i played dark souls 1 and demons souls before this and they were better in my opinion. There is still so much to do and its massive fun once you get into but i found that the little story there is was less interesting and i wa unhappy at not being able to chose my ending even thogh it was possible in the lastan amzing game by any tandards and the only reason this is getting a 9 is because i played dark souls 1 and demons souls before this and they were better in my opinion. There is still so much to do and its massive fun once you get into but i found that the little story there is was less interesting and i wa unhappy at not being able to chose my ending even thogh it was possible in the last 2 games. Once again though there is a not fun area to go through which they have done in all the games through the valley of defilement, Blighttown, and this time the gutter. If you have played all three games you will also know how bad these areas are and also that they are all the same. The main reason i did not enjoy it as the other games is that the bosse where less original and memorable and the game was easier which is the games main appeal. There are some improvements like more ring slots and power stance but theyre not much else compare to what dark souls 1 brought to the table from demons souls that ws the improvement i was hoping… Expand
  55. Nefastus
    Apr 6, 2016
    10
    Dark Souls 2 is probably one of the best games I have played in the last years. It has all the things that made Dark Souls 1 good and improved over it. It has better control mechanics, what made the character more responsive than in the first game. The areas are vast and well developed, very distinct from each other. Some might say the world isn't interconnected as in the first Dark SoulsDark Souls 2 is probably one of the best games I have played in the last years. It has all the things that made Dark Souls 1 good and improved over it. It has better control mechanics, what made the character more responsive than in the first game. The areas are vast and well developed, very distinct from each other. Some might say the world isn't interconnected as in the first Dark Souls but I rather well done and unique areas. There are a lot of bosses and sub bosses all along the game and they never get to the point of being unfair or too easy.

    The PvP in the game is great, easily the best of all soul series, including Demon's souls and Bloodborne. It is more friendly to learn and also allows you to start doing it after you are done with the game story, as you don't get locked out of invasions after a boss is dead, that was the case in the first dark souls. The mechanics are vastly improved in the pvp area as well, with more weapon options and spells and a lot of the weapons have special attacks that make them unique. It also features arenas for the players that rather avoid invading/being invaded but still want to engage in pvp.

    Its a must have game.    … Expand
  56. Zidane_Mina
    Apr 5, 2016
    9
    The Sequel to one of the Best Action RPG's ever made, Dark Souls II Welcomes you to the ancient kingdom of Drangleic, quite a change of scenery compared to the abandoned Lordran from the previous game. Dark Souls II polishes its gameplay with propper care, and overhauls its user interface in smart ways to help players keep a good eye on its items and weapons. Combat is pretty much the sameThe Sequel to one of the Best Action RPG's ever made, Dark Souls II Welcomes you to the ancient kingdom of Drangleic, quite a change of scenery compared to the abandoned Lordran from the previous game. Dark Souls II polishes its gameplay with propper care, and overhauls its user interface in smart ways to help players keep a good eye on its items and weapons. Combat is pretty much the same as its predecesor, and so it's difficulty.

    Boss encounters are still the stars of this game, but i would be lying if i said i did not come across some dissapointing Boss dessign, or easy push-over of a boss from time to time, but the epic scale of the game, and its lengthy ride ultimately left me with a really good impresion. Level design, though, the game feels a little bit more linear than its predecesor: whereas the 1st Dark Souls presented its world in a closed well-thought intricate design, Dark Souls 2's Drangleic is more of an extended and spread out design, with some breaching paths: but nowhere as near as complex and thoght out as the first game.

    In the end, Dark Souls II is a worthy succesor to the series, even if its lore is a hit and miss, but stil falls behind the greatness of the 1st game.    … Expand
  57. Schuback
    Mar 26, 2016
    2
    Not sure why everybody is calling this a true RPG experience.... There is a very weak or non-existent storyline. There is absolutely no immersion and no NPCs, no towns, and no interactions besides fighting. It's ultra linear and while props should be given to how challenging the game is, most of the time it's just a timing thing. You study how the enemy works by dying a few times, thenNot sure why everybody is calling this a true RPG experience.... There is a very weak or non-existent storyline. There is absolutely no immersion and no NPCs, no towns, and no interactions besides fighting. It's ultra linear and while props should be given to how challenging the game is, most of the time it's just a timing thing. You study how the enemy works by dying a few times, then time yourself to dodge, block and strike. Different enemies, different approach. It will be the same from start to finish. Boss fights will take alot of time but feel so satisfied after bringing one down. The combat is not fluid. It's just doesn't feel natural. Your character is like a skeleton. Without any meat. I dunno.... Something like that..

    The world is boring and you will feel alone all the time. Online component, almost non-existent besides some hints dropped by other players here and there. No co-op. So forget it, Your character doesn't talk. The music is like it's not there. And the graphics are quite bad to be honest.

    Not the worst game I've played. But it's just same same same. From start to finish. Demon Souls, Dark Souls 1 and 2, Bloodbourne.... All the same with little to no innovation.. The new Dark Souls 3 is going to be same thing I bet. But hopefully I'm wrong. Hopefully. So to sum up, one word - boring.    … Expand
  58. Vashtor
    Jul 13, 2015
    10
    Best game of playstation 3, playing it for more than 160 hours and still enjoy...
    Nice gameplay, when you fight the Pursuer (boss) its easy to make you /quit. (tip!?) xD
  59. vlankton
    Jul 11, 2015
    7
    This game is such a disappointment compared to demons' souls and dark souls. The combat is slow and boring. the colors are very brown and boring.I liked majula it was a very much like the nexus. The healing is slow and the estus flask was pushed aside. I'm not saying this is a bad game its a disappointing game.
  60. aadms
    Jul 6, 2015
    5
    Let's be honest here. The difficulty level in this game is mostly the clunky combat. And even when you have that done to a fine art of clunkyness, you have to go to your campfire and reset the whole level while you rest your weapon. Yes, your weapon isn't very good for a while so you have to take your time, attack the same enemies, rinse and repeat. It has its moments of satisfaction,Let's be honest here. The difficulty level in this game is mostly the clunky combat. And even when you have that done to a fine art of clunkyness, you have to go to your campfire and reset the whole level while you rest your weapon. Yes, your weapon isn't very good for a while so you have to take your time, attack the same enemies, rinse and repeat. It has its moments of satisfaction, but those time are literally few and far in between. Plus, the Japanese have a very strange sense of story telling. Not bad, just strange. It's like watching one of their commercials. Not a bad game overall, but I just don't have the patience to go through hours of boredom to finish this game.… Expand
  61. Aelvir
    May 31, 2015
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game gets alot of needless praise. I'm sorry, but, it doesn't deserve it at all. But in short. I played it out of recommendation from good friends, However, what I found was a game that didn't live out to its praise. For one. You get to choose your class and items and whatnot. The item you can start with that claims it can give gradual health-regen, is a FLAT out lie, all it does is increase your max-health slightly. The dual-wielding swordsman (official name that was given in the game escapes me) class has this parry-move. It works less than a 'one-in-a-bluemoon' moment. Making it really pointless. However, my biggest two problems with this game is this: Swordsmen or Knight/Paladin-type players cannot prosper, or let alone, SURVIVE, in this game. And the one I detest the most. It's bosses and enemies. They are created to be blatantly broken. This is the only game in existance to do this. They are made to frustrate the player, and nothing more. The Maw-BastardSwordwielding Wolf. Dark Souls need to take a advice from the .hack conglomerate, EndofEternity, and Endless Frontier. Utilize your unique monster's design to reflect its power. But more importantly, I looked around online for what weapon I would go for in the game. I eventually (initially) sent my sights towards Zweihander. However, I eventually came to realize that spells and archery are the most effective matters of surviving in this game, making the sword-wielders, in essence, unfavorable. And now, I do love a good challenge, but come on, look at the sword choreography. IT's way too hacky, way too outwardly-angled it's too overexxagerated. Look at that new socalled great game, Bloodbourne. It does the same thing.… Expand
  62. superdonkey
    May 27, 2015
    10
    i consumed this game like a hungry ant and it consumed me whilst hitting me over the head and we both loved each other. its great, i love the changes from ds1, i love the fast travel and the same so satisfying combat and the warm glow of beating a boss. i also sat in awe and watched two other player far beyond my ability beat some bosses for me whilst i cowered in the corner.
  63. MaxPayneIsGod
    May 21, 2015
    5
    I see what they're trying to do here I really do, problem for me is that I've seen it all before. Being a Souls veteran, as veteran as one can be, after putting well over 100 hours into DS1 I just simply fail to see any significant forward progress in DS2. The best way to put is is DS2 lacks the atmosphere of DS1, the exploration is gone and the horror of encountering a new enemy or bossI see what they're trying to do here I really do, problem for me is that I've seen it all before. Being a Souls veteran, as veteran as one can be, after putting well over 100 hours into DS1 I just simply fail to see any significant forward progress in DS2. The best way to put is is DS2 lacks the atmosphere of DS1, the exploration is gone and the horror of encountering a new enemy or boss is lost, because I've seen it all before. Technically DS2 is marginally better than DS1, and so it should be, but these things do not interest me, core gameplay does, problem here is, I've seen it all before. I thought, I thought and I tried to get into DS2 but I couldn't, because I've been there and seen it all before. I did get that same Souls buzz after offing the bosses but sadly its just not enough any more. It is apparent that there is a new genre of game being pioneered by the Souls style of hardcore difficulty and grinding. Its just not for me. Dark Souls 1 was a masterpiece in every way, Dark Souls 2 is like it's younger brother, trying to live up to what big brother achieved. To summarize Dark Souls 2 is ONLY for gamers who play and enjoy this type of game and who're die hard fans of the franchise or new to it and want something to push their limits of gaming. Lastly Dark Souls 2 is NOT too hard, it is about learning patterns and upgrading stats.. Not my idea of enjoyment, any m.ore… Expand
  64. Gatchaman49
    May 5, 2015
    10
    Dark Souls 2 is the Greatest RPG ever made. Everything that was wrong with Dark Souls was perfected in the sequel. Tons of bosses, pvp covenants, best looking armor, enhanced dual wielding. 10 out of 10. I probably have more than 500 hours of play time. Music is dope, graphics are sick. If I had to choose one game for the rest of my life, it'd be Dark Souls 2.
  65. Caestus
    Apr 23, 2015
    7
    While it is a good game compared to its predecessors it is a disappoitment. The riposte system is akward and the level design is not anywhere near Dark Souls.
  66. AlienSpaceBats
    Apr 10, 2015
    5
    To preface, I've played Demon's and Dark souls extensively, have finished both as numerous classes, and would rate them as two of the best games ever made. It's pretty telling that 4 hours into my first game of DaS II, I ejected the disc and started playing Demon's Souls again.

    This sequel has nothing that the previous games did that made them great, none of the tone and atmosphere is    To preface, I've played Demon's and Dark souls extensively, have finished both as numerous classes, and would rate them as two of the best games ever made. It's pretty telling that 4 hours into my first game of DaS II, I ejected the disc and started playing Demon's Souls again.

    This sequel has nothing that the previous games did that made them great, none of the tone and atmosphere is present, the lucid, elegant design is gone and it looks like a dull, generic, "dark (derp) fantasy" RPG which happens to have the words "Dark Souls" on the box. It's more Dark Souls for the sake of Dark Souls, and it feels like it was made by people who didn't 'get' why the original game(s) were so good. It doesn't feel like a Souls game, and it doesn't really look like one. So as if it could get any more unoriginal, the player is dragged through yet further iterations of the Valley of Defilement/Blighttown and Lost Izalith/Demon Ruins.

    Somehow parry/riposte and backstab has been ruined, enemies have the most ridiculous, insulting tracking, even when landing an overhead blow (they can literally follow you 360 degrees), hitboxes are an absolute joke, weapons and armoured characters act as though don't carry any weight and world progression is catastrophically obtuse. A lot of the time I had no idea where I was going, why I was going there, or what was going on. The game is constantly wanting me to guess what it's thinking which results in my most hated solution: boring and systematic elimination of possibilities. I constantly had to refer to a guide because there are so many leaps in logic/impasses I felt stunned into disbelief. Contrast with DaS, which subtly and economically keeps the player informed of where they need to be going next, either by means of a short cutscene, or talking with a certain NPC.

    AI is incredibly stupid, especially on NPC summons, who are borderline useless and seem to just crane their necks to watch whatever 30ft tall monster we're fighting smash them into a Drangleic pancake. You could never accuse DeS or DaS of cheap, artificial difficulty, but this game has loads of it, introducing awkward mobs of enemies (even in bossfights) instead of actual challenge. Most bosses are unimaginative and repeated (Gargoyles, Ornstein, Queelag's Scorpion cousin) and some, like the Iron King and Royal Rat Authority verge on cheap bullsh*t. FromSoft obviously heard everyone loved the Ornstein & Smough fight, so every other bossfight is a fu*king tag-team, also, most of them seem to have the exact same moveset. Do not get me started on the latency, lag filled puddle of watery faecal matter that is PVP.

    So the first 5-10 hours were most offputting, just awful bland areas and dull enemies. However in places it does become a semi-enjoyable dungeon crawler. Co-op is still good, in fact I had the most fun helping others defeat bosses, except where the game forbids you from dropping your sign because 'f**k you, you're doing this one solo". If it had a different name on the box, reception would be completely different. Dark Souls II does NOTHING better than the first game(s), and gets most of what it should get right, wrong. Bad design, bland, forgettable, most irritating game I played in 2014/15. Thankfully, this one has high resale value, I have no desire to ever touch or even finish it ever again.    … Expand
  67. MeKrika
    Mar 31, 2015
    8
    I've been meaning to re-do a reveiw for this game for a long time.The first time i reviewed it was when i played on PC and, well i don't really regret the score i gave it because it was such a shi**y port .So a few months after i was done with dark souls 2 on PC,i decided to pick up dark souls 1 on the ps3 since i heard it was leaps and bounds above dks 2,and the first time i played it iI've been meaning to re-do a reveiw for this game for a long time.The first time i reviewed it was when i played on PC and, well i don't really regret the score i gave it because it was such a shi**y port .So a few months after i was done with dark souls 2 on PC,i decided to pick up dark souls 1 on the ps3 since i heard it was leaps and bounds above dks 2,and the first time i played it i thought so too,i loved the game,so after a month or two after i finished dark souls 1 i said ''well screw it,i'm going to give dark souls 2 another chance'',and i'm extremely glad i did.Only that this time i was playing on ps3 with online mode,although invaders screwed up my progress a few times it wasn't really an issue i even made a few psn friends while playing coop,it was a joy.The hit detection problems are still an issue though,but having a ps3 controller and not some crappy third party one helps a bit.I even managed to finish the game this time around...4 times.Overall i initially gave it a low score because of the platform i was playing on and my lack of experience with the souls series.(excuse me for any grammatical errors)… Expand
  68. Nus
    Mar 24, 2015
    10
    Great game, well worth getting the wholly redone DS2 Remaster for PS4 as it changes the whole game making it so much better which they couldn't before.
  69. jamstu
    Feb 16, 2015
    9
    Awesome game! Tons of fun and the best way to get into the souls series. Exciting game-play interesting environments and enemies. An awesome game through and through.
  70. Dionysus777
    Jan 30, 2015
    7
    If you guys would remove this please i thought i clicked on the first game i have not played this 1 ill get back to you if i ever get it connect the dots lalalalaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
  71. Muzzle131
    Jan 28, 2015
    9
    Alright so let's get this done. Is the game good? Yes. Is it better than DS1? Well that's your overall view on it and depends on you. So far from a gameplay view they improved many mechanics and smoothed gameplay ones, story is still pretty interesting sticking to the "You are an undead, forever without hope" as you helplessly try to find answers that may or may not be there. Another thingAlright so let's get this done. Is the game good? Yes. Is it better than DS1? Well that's your overall view on it and depends on you. So far from a gameplay view they improved many mechanics and smoothed gameplay ones, story is still pretty interesting sticking to the "You are an undead, forever without hope" as you helplessly try to find answers that may or may not be there. Another thing is the difficulty, however this is difficult to say it is difficult or not, if you've played Demon's souls than everything is pretty easy from that point, so basically if you've played other souls games than you already know how to approach this one at this point, still people still have difficulty and the community is also there to add more to this with their invasions.

    Even with all of these in mind the game may not be as good as DS1 in many eyes, as DS2 changes many things that was loved in DS1 such as going in circles finding interesting shortcuts and exploring. DS2 decides to be very different by being semi-linear (you get to choose how to go about this but you'll still end up in the same place) and many areas not really being creative and the ones that are don't necessarily make sense.

    Even with these in mind though the game is great! Not fantastic but still good. Add the DLCs and the game can hold up a torch with DS1. If you are a fan of RPGs than it's up to you to get this game, as it is one of the best and still challenging out there.    … Expand
  72. KRAZYKID85
    Dec 26, 2014
    3
    This game would be good if it was not enraging to the point where it is no longer fun. The game consists of more trial and error than any game should. OP enemies (Not bosses, regular enemies that can kill you in 2 hits). Unfair combat, and by that I mean you are dropped into the game with crappy weapons and some of the first enemies you encounter can destroy you in 2 hits while your weaponThis game would be good if it was not enraging to the point where it is no longer fun. The game consists of more trial and error than any game should. OP enemies (Not bosses, regular enemies that can kill you in 2 hits). Unfair combat, and by that I mean you are dropped into the game with crappy weapons and some of the first enemies you encounter can destroy you in 2 hits while your weapon barely scratches them. You will end up saying "Screw it" and sprinting past all the enemies just to get to the first boss fight, in which you will not get any souls and now cant buy anything because you must kill enemies to get souls, and souls are used as currency. The first boss will overwhelm you with the fact that like the standard enemies, can kill you in 2 hits, along with the fact that at times you will not be able to dodge his attacks. I give this game a bad review because of the fact that the good RPG elements, decent combat and atmosphere, is ruined by the fact that you may be yelling at the screen within the first 10 minutes. By all means, if that is what you kind of games you like.… Expand
  73. mrnice
    Dec 1, 2014
    6
    Update: Having now played the predecessor, I found much of the lore, visuals, and even level concepts to be reused in DSII. It makes way less sense in terms of world design, and everything that seemed carefully thought out in Dark Souls seems thrown into II as "hey this idea could be pretty cool too!". Ultimately, Dark Souls is a more artful game. For this, I subtract one point from theUpdate: Having now played the predecessor, I found much of the lore, visuals, and even level concepts to be reused in DSII. It makes way less sense in terms of world design, and everything that seemed carefully thought out in Dark Souls seems thrown into II as "hey this idea could be pretty cool too!". Ultimately, Dark Souls is a more artful game. For this, I subtract one point from the score.

    ( written July 2014: )
    Even after nearly 50 hours, there were still a few optional areas to beat, plus multiplayer battles. That kind of longevity is impressive in such an intense action game. The areas are varied and offers many surprises. The game rarely moves focus from the action, however, and there are loads of action games for PS3, so I'm not sure DS2 is a standout. In terms of artwork and scope, it's phenomenal, but the story and the non-action gameplay could have been more expertly crafted and brought more into focus.

    One optional but significant puzzle was so unintuitive that I feel inclined to subtract a whole point for it. The whole non-combat part exists in the background and only pops up when you interact with the environment, or when the story takes a subtle turn. The game ended abruptly, beautifully but without much closure. There's a Youtube critique done by 'Matthewmatosis' which explains very well how DS2 is far from perfect. It contains spoilers, so I'm just gonna tell you that there are lots of little things, and that the story doesn't really make any sense apart from the very broad strokes. Oh yeah, and the bosses are similar, and pretty much all enemies require the same approach in melee, no strategies or variations required. Just dodge, strike and repeat, with an occasional healing item thrown in.

    Overall, the game is a pretty, bombastic, fantastic spectacle. But is that all we should expect from visual media, eye candy?... When it could be a problem-simulator, a laboratory, a true playground. Instead, it forces you through hours of slashing and bashing on similar objects. It pretends to be more serious and deeper than a CoD game, but in the end, it plays on the same strengths, which is to impress with spectacle. There could be a deep message in there, as well as some playful and curious mechanics. Maybe that stuff is just reserved for other genres    … Expand
  74. MetaRogue
    Nov 11, 2014
    9
    I'm new to the Souls games, Dark Souls 2 being the first of which I played, mostly because I couldn't get a hold of Demon's Souls or Dark Souls beforehand.

    The first 2 hours were unforgiving. I died many times and, foolishly, used too many Human Effgies. As time progressed I began to understand the game and found it to be, strangely, rewarding. I'm a huge fan of RPG's and this is a    I'm new to the Souls games, Dark Souls 2 being the first of which I played, mostly because I couldn't get a hold of Demon's Souls or Dark Souls beforehand.

    The first 2 hours were unforgiving. I died many times and, foolishly, used too many Human Effgies. As time progressed I began to understand the game and found it to be, strangely, rewarding. I'm a huge fan of RPG's and this is a savage beast. I didn't even know how to level up which didn't help. WHAT A NOOB!!!

    I haven't finished the game yet, so this review may seem premature, but I'm confident in the belief that it is a game for gamers. The only complaints I have are the inability to sell items.    … Expand
  75. JanteB
    Nov 4, 2014
    4
    Don*`t be fooled by the title. Dark Souls 2 is not in the same league as Demon Souls or Dark Souls 1 – it`s no longer a game of dark beauty and finesse – but rather a wannabe sequel that doesn`t really get the essence of the former games.
    In Demon and Dark Souls you were never really stuck, as you could always farm more souls and eventually become strong enough to bruteforce your way    Don*`t be fooled by the title. Dark Souls 2 is not in the same league as Demon Souls or Dark Souls 1 – it`s no longer a game of dark beauty and finesse – but rather a wannabe sequel that doesn`t really get the essence of the former games.
    In Demon and Dark Souls you were never really stuck, as you could always farm more souls and eventually become strong enough to bruteforce your way through. You didn`t have to do it that way, you could clear it with skill or use a combination – the important bit here though– it was up to you. Unfortunately the developers decided to change that, so you can only “farm” monsters for a set number of turns – then they disappear, unless you make the game harder ofc. Unlike the former games where you`d progress a little bit every time and eventually beat the level - Dark Souls 2 robs you of that “triumph” or “revenge kill” – because – reasons.
    The lock on is worse than ever and if you`re a magic user, the range is set to whatever gets your opponent within striking range, so sometimes it`s 5 meters, other time`s it`s longer or shorter – what a joke.
    The game seems obsessed with your demise, so much so there`s even a monument that displays the numbers of deaths you`ve suffered so far. If you die a lot, then that`s good – right. If you die twice as much as Demon souls, then this game is twice as good – right? The combat is also severely unbalanced. You either destroy the enemy without a scratch or you`re likely dead – There´s no middle ground in this game. Dark Souls 2 desperately wants to be as cool as the former games, but doesn`t understand what made the former games modern classics.
    You`ve been warned.    … Expand
  76. JMD
    Oct 30, 2014
    7
    I see below someone describing the game as "easily one of the greatest RPGs of the generation" when the game isn't even the best game in the series. In fact, its the least good of the three.

    I should follow that by saying that Dark Souls II is a good game. If your expectations were low, it will meet them. But as a fan of the series I was disappointed by how little it innovated upon the    I see below someone describing the game as "easily one of the greatest RPGs of the generation" when the game isn't even the best game in the series. In fact, its the least good of the three.

    I should follow that by saying that Dark Souls II is a good game. If your expectations were low, it will meet them. But as a fan of the series I was disappointed by how little it innovated upon the franchise. It seems pointless to praise the game as its virtually just a carbon copy of Dark Souls with a new locale and new enemies to fight. I can't give the game any NEW praise that I haven't already given to the previous two entries which are both superior.

    The game ultimately fails in three key areas.
    1 - The graphics that were displayed prior to the game's release are not the graphics you will see in the game. There are countless side-by-side screenshots that depict this. It's something that's becoming more and more common sadly in the industry, but in my opinion this was the worst case of it ever. I noticed it from the very moment the game started.
    2 - The bosses are all serviceable but are nothing we haven't seen before. They are by far the weakest bunch in the series and I struggle to name one from the game that I would put amongst the Top 10 Bosses throughout the series.
    3 - I wore the same piece of armour the entire game. I really have nothing to add other than that. This pissed me off so much. Part of an RPG is finding loot and equipping it. A piece of armour I found very early in the game was statistically unbeatable for my character class throughout the whole game. This deprived of a huge slice of fun from the first two games.

    Dark Souls II is a good game. If you liked the first two, buy it. But I completely scoff at it's Metacritic of 91. I really don't understand how it achieved that score. If we are to go by Metascore, it is the highest of the three games. And yet it's user score is the lowest of the three games. Why the disparity? Perhaps the hardcore fans were the ones that noticed the minor flaws, and not the reviewers.    … Expand
  77. dj_cole
    Oct 24, 2014
    10
    To save you some time I'll start with this: if you enjoyed or didn't enjoy the first Dark Souls and, to a lesser extent, the spiritual progenitor of Demon's Souls you will probably feel the same way about Dark Souls 2. Dark Souls 2 is a little less punishing, a little less dreaery and slightly more upbeat at times but is the same basic experience of learning through trial and error.

    In    To save you some time I'll start with this: if you enjoyed or didn't enjoy the first Dark Souls and, to a lesser extent, the spiritual progenitor of Demon's Souls you will probably feel the same way about Dark Souls 2. Dark Souls 2 is a little less punishing, a little less dreaery and slightly more upbeat at times but is the same basic experience of learning through trial and error.

    In terms of presentation Dark Souls 2 falls under the good, not technically great category much like its two predecessors. The world is rich and fun to look at with varying landscapes that range from jagged cliffs overlooking a sea to half destroyed castles to cavernous harbors. The enemies, especially the bosses, are a delight to see during combat. The sound effects are for the most part well done, and the voice acting is, again, mostly well done. The cast of characters in the world are well acted but occasionally speaking to an NPC they don't quite sound right. The sound effects are the same, weighty and well done, but occasionally just won't sound right, such as when you hit your weapon against a wall. While stylistically the graphics are well done, they aren't technically amazing.

    But the Dark Souls games aren't about the technical prowess of the graphics or the sound effects, they are about the sharp, responsive combat and hostile world that it takes place in. I have never encountered a game with the same level of responsiveness to what you want to do, or more accurately what you press on the controller. The responsiveness makes the game feel fair and balanced despite the challenge the world presents. Enemies are powerful and varied, forcing you to learn to adapt to each one as you encounter them. While the enemies are challenging, none of them are hard enough to prove frustrating once you learn how to deal with them. The game does a good job of feeling difficult while rarely crossing over into feeling unfair, DLC aside. At a certain point you learn how to beat the enemies, you have the responsiveness in the controls to beat them, and enemies are generally not dense enough for you to be swarmed if you're smart. The game is challenging, but gives you all the tools to succeed if you learn as you go.

    There are a good variety of weapons, armors and spells at your disposal to figure out how you want to play the game. To me, this is the games greatest strength. You can play how you want and how fits you. There are a variety of weapons that all act differently, various armors and shields with different bonuses and a magic system broken into three categories. There is the more standard magical spell fair, miracles which are lightning based attacks or support spells powered by faith instead of intelligence and hexes which are black magic spells that focus on death and destruction. As you progress you can gain more powerful legendary, unique items and spells and upgrade those and the more basic and legendary items and spells. There are also various stones that you are able to imbue items with later on in the game that allow those items to gain certain properties. From the interactions I've had with various people online everyone ends up playing differently, with their own gear and combat style preferences

    Online is well done, but very atypically. You are able to both help or hinder other players by putting down soapstone markings to allow players to summon you to help them in combat or you are able to invade the worlds of other players in an attempt to kill them and steal their souls. Invasions are a duel style combat where you can possibly steal whatever souls the other player has on them. Cooperation is rewarded through gaining souls alongside the person you are helping, which can be a great way to gather a lot of souls quickly by helping another player slay bosses. The interactions are combat focused with little communication unless you send a message outside the game to the other person which is possible since you see their username. The communications are generally friendly ("Hey, thanks for helping me") but can occasionally be nasty, but it's nothing a block user can't solve. Online has been thinning out, as it does with each of these games, as time passes so it's not as easy to interact with other players online.

    The story is fairly barebones and mostly communicated by speaking to NPC's and reading descriptions, as the series always has been, and somewhere along the line the story dissipates. You start off with a vague task of returning back to the world you know, but along the way that is lost in "doing stuff" to try to survive and progress. By the end of the game the goal you had is different from what you do and really there is little cohesion to the plot, though you probably won't notice.

    The game has great replayability. After each game you can start over with the game changing a little, with slight changes in the world and carrying over gear and progress. The game is an immense value, worth a definite buy.    … Expand
  78. Miuku
    Oct 14, 2014
    8
    Challenging but fair game, which has unique online features, and high replay value.

    I had no experience from previous souls-titles, so this concept was really fresh for me. Game forces player to think for strategies to engage enemies, and rushing leads often to death. This is one of many things in the game, that may be surprising for beginners of genre. So prepare to play this game with    Challenging but fair game, which has unique online features, and high replay value.

    I had no experience from previous souls-titles, so this concept was really fresh for me. Game forces player to think for strategies to engage enemies, and rushing leads often to death. This is one of many things in the game, that may be surprising for beginners of genre. So prepare to play this game with lots of spare time, and patience.

    But each time when you defeat a challenging boss,obtain new abilities/gear, or discover new area, the rewarding feeling makes you return to this game many times.

    Lengthy +40h campaign has many different areas, countless bosses, and different enemy types and secrets to keep the adventure fresh for the duration of whole journey.

    Few reasons why i can't give this game rating of 10, are following:

    -Music
    It's only played during boss fights and very few areas of game. Of course, lack of music may keep you at the edge of action and exploration, but I seriously think, that added music would enhance the atmosphere and world of Drangleic.

    -Story
    There really aren't any cutscenes which involve dialogue or action to tell the story for players, and your only option is to keep reading the lore of your equipment, from inventory menu, which is really a shame, because this unique world could easily have been the next middle-earth or Hogwarts.

    -Graphics
    Game may look really pale when compared to another titles released at the same year.

    -Lack of options for game settings
    If you want help from other players in online mode, prepare yourself for being invaded by other players. It would've been nice to have an option to only have co-op, and turn of PVP. And even if you're playing this game offline, you can't actually pause the game. This may be frustrating when you're in middle of fight, and your phone rings, but the action can't be paused, and you may end up dying, and being sent to last checkpoint, because lack of pause-function.    … Expand
  79. lolcaked
    Oct 13, 2014
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game is easily one of the greatest games of all time, the combat system is great. Very smooth and easy to control. The difficulty of this game really adds to the experience of playing because once you defeat the final boss. You feel very accomplished, then you see the ending. The ending was a really good ending because of the way the story played out. You end up at the The Throne of Want, without really knowing why. To link the flame so the curse will stop for a period of time, only to happen again. Overall this game is AMAZING.… Expand
  80. nyquist75
    Oct 6, 2014
    10
    THE game for adults to play without feeling like an over-grown kid messing about with toys. Same goes for the rest of the series and hopefully upcoming Bloodborne!
  81. lenzkol
    Sep 27, 2014
    10
    When you pick up any Dark Souls games, make sure your girlfriend and your friends know you will be absent from any social engagement for at least a month. That's how addictive the game is. The graphics have improved but really who cares? We've had so much hype on "pretty" to look at games with not substance lately. Dark Souls delivers in the core game play and mechanics. Its been coined "AWhen you pick up any Dark Souls games, make sure your girlfriend and your friends know you will be absent from any social engagement for at least a month. That's how addictive the game is. The graphics have improved but really who cares? We've had so much hype on "pretty" to look at games with not substance lately. Dark Souls delivers in the core game play and mechanics. Its been coined "A Game for Gamers' and that's exactly what it is. The best to date RPG and delivers an adrenaline rush comparable to FPS games. The first time I've felt challenged in this genre and first game I've bought on multiple Platforms 10/10

    The next big thing for FromSoftware is to venture into a MMORPG with this gameplay and you will snatch all the constituency from WoW, Skyrim & the very promising Dragon Age.    … Expand
  82. SimonEl
    Sep 25, 2014
    10
    They are all tens, but playing this made me realize that demons souls is a 12. Hardcore, and penalizing, but so we'll integrated that it becomes part of the game. The atmosphere is like nothing else you've ever played. If you haven't played demons souls play it first, but the entire series is worth it.
  83. aspentitan
    Aug 21, 2014
    8
    Dark Souls 2 is a fantastic game but is starting to morph out of the Demon's Souls concept and trending towards more tradition rpg gaming. It seems that Dark Souls is commercializing away from its original fans -This game reminds me of the original Diablo in a lot of ways....and that was a great game so I can understand some love hate depending what types of rpgs you like. What I wouldDark Souls 2 is a fantastic game but is starting to morph out of the Demon's Souls concept and trending towards more tradition rpg gaming. It seems that Dark Souls is commercializing away from its original fans -This game reminds me of the original Diablo in a lot of ways....and that was a great game so I can understand some love hate depending what types of rpgs you like. What I would like to say is that the Dark Souls series must evolve into something different, there is only so much combat to learn then the game would get stale so I do like many of the directions the developers took. In Dark Souls 2 there are a lot of changes to keep players from cheating and leveling up and backstab criticals seem fixed. I like a lot of the ways they are keeping cheating minimized: lore is really improving (as per players requests) and now we see various choices in using limited looted treasures. Farming has been hindered by having enemies only respawn so many times. Although this kills the toughness eventually I think its a good idea because you have only a limited amount of chance at certain rare drops then. I like the randomness the drops make and therefore this would cause different player builds which translates to more variety pvp. What is terrible in this game however is the programming. I really should not say terrible but the open world is fantastic, absolutely but some areas the enemies can hit through walls ect and that totally kills all immersion instantly. Target lock is still extremely broken. Magic is overpowed PvE but dreadfully weak PvP. Coop and invasions still reign in this game and many of the invasion aspects are fun however I find the spawn areas of the invasions are rediculously too close to yourself. If you are a magic user you have no time to change anything. As I said PvP and PvE is completely different and so invasions create a broken gaming concept without some time to change equipment or spells. The largest dislike of this game I have is the game is made harder by so much cheap and cheesy attacks and enemy ambushes it is almost comical. This ruins immersion as well and this game is dreadfully planned to cheese hard. Thankfully the large scope of the world, the puzzles, the loot and variety of enemies keeps it interesting enough to continue. Another broken area is summoning a friend, I don't know why but its harder to hook up with a friend, I presume so you can't cheat but then thats why people buy games I'd rather co-op than play with randoms so this is a problem. Cheating shouldn't be proactive in this sense, the game should be built to have everything remain fair and give the players tools how to deal with known cheats. For example the game already has stones to leave worlds and also send back phantoms so the problems of Dark Souls 2 on 1's were only broken because how close you spawned. Better spawn points giving the players choice to battle or not would have fixed this cheat through player intelligence. Two different types of White Stones in this game are therefore bad developer choices to limit friends playing together because of their own speculative natures and thats it So they killed a good concept because players are not using their stones but only because the spawn areas were to close, in sum bad developmental oversights.. Ok all said this is a fabulous game but it is heading in a different direction than Demon's souls. It is no longer linear and cruel but fair, it is more open and cheesy with lesser combat and more puzzling and randomness. One other thing I really don't like is this game is catering to a co-op initiative sure some people like this others don't want it. Choices!!! The bosses should all be beatable in every level alone some don't seem like they will be in ng+ or ng++. I think co-op bosses should be left to DLC as I want to own this game and play it 5 years from now as well and maybe that kills the 5th playthough for me. All in all a change I think had to happen and the result is still good but please lets fix the sloppy programming. Where could Dark Souls 3 go? How about bring back the theif and if he kills players he can win loots and if he loses he could drop loots and theifs job is to sell stuff to venders and accumilate score. How about mages and sorceries improve and they find their spells through puzzling into new hidden areas. How about mages find areas through teleportation that other classes without those spells cant get to and the only way in for other classes is invasion? And knights jobs could stay the same. You know if they improve lore and improve coventants and separate the immerive role of the characters you choose this game could be so much better...anyway, luv the game but still has areas to improve.… Expand
  84. Makaveli
    Aug 18, 2014
    7
    Changing my review based on the hype train that I was on before.. I beat the game many many times.
    I will say that it isn't nearly as good as the first Dark Souls in my opinion..
    The world itself is really linear and some of which does not make sense ( elevator up to a volcano) It lacks the creative excellence of the world design from Dark Souls 1.. Dark Souls 1s world was expertly    Changing my review based on the hype train that I was on before.. I beat the game many many times.
    I will say that it isn't nearly as good as the first Dark Souls in my opinion..

    The world itself is really linear and some of which does not make sense ( elevator up to a volcano)
    It lacks the creative excellence of the world design from Dark Souls 1.. Dark Souls 1s world was expertly crafted so everything interconnected with each other and actually comparing the map viewer of these two games, you can clearly see that Dark Souls 1 was well thought out while Dark Souls 2 was not.

    The bosses do not compare to the first Dark Souls either. Most bosses are boring to fight, you can circle almost every boss without consequence . All bosses pretty well have the same move-set if you pay attention.

    Hitboxes are worse in this game than the first, and a game that is centered around its combat it has to be good, and in Dark Souls. Also, enemies spin/track you without moving their feet, it looks pretty bad.

    The game was just fan-service, I am also tired of people talking about difficulty as if that was the thing that made the series good... NO!.. Veterans of the series who watched interviews from Miyazaki would know that the series was never suppose to be about its difficulty, it was about overcoming a challenge and then being rewarded for it. They were very challenging games, but Dark Souls 2 tries too hard to be difficult just for the sake of being difficult. It is not a difficult game but you can clearly see that they tried to make it hard just by adding hoards of enemies that you have to fight, and most people will not fight them with melee so they cheese the hell out of these enemies, making it boring...
    In Dark Souls 1 you could cheese everything too, but you actually wanted to fight stuff int hat game, not like Dark Souls 2 where you either cheese an enemy or you just run passed everything.

    For people who like to manage their soul level ( which was a big part of Dark Souls and Demon Souls) are forced to level up or try and run from all enemies in the game because they do not want to increase their soul memory. For these people there is little to no reason to fight any of the enemies, or even help people with bosses.
    They broke their own mechanic of hollowing, you can now have a ring that if you die, you will not lose anything, Dark SOuls had this too but once it broke it was gone forever, Dark Souls 2 you could just keep repairing the ring which most people do and thus ruining the effigy system.

    There is no fear of losing your souls once you get that ring and as I said before, most people will use it , as you can tell because every time I invade someone you hear their ring break when they die.

    The duel wielding/ power stance weapons are very cool and I'm glad they finally implemented it.

    Now, don;t get me wrong it is still a good game but Dark Souls 2 lost its "soul" and I can go on and on about the faults of this game, but I will leave it there. I still like the game but it just feels like it has hit casual status( not talking a but difficulty)

    --- I will note that this has nothing to do with "Rose tinted glasses" I played Demon Souls 1st and I enjoyed the first Dark Souls slightly better. I fail to see how anyone can think Dark Souls 2 is better. Dark Souls 2 has more content but half the quality, and I take quality over quantity any day..    … Expand
  85. McWhalen
    Aug 11, 2014
    9
    The souls series never fails to wow me. These games are in a class all their own and while I would say this game is the weakest of the series so far I still really enjoyed. Beautiful worlds, punishing but fair gameplay, and hours of depth.

    The introduction of immediate fast travel took away from the experience of a souls game. I never felt like I was on the verge of loosing everything    The souls series never fails to wow me. These games are in a class all their own and while I would say this game is the weakest of the series so far I still really enjoyed. Beautiful worlds, punishing but fair gameplay, and hours of depth.

    The introduction of immediate fast travel took away from the experience of a souls game. I never felt like I was on the verge of loosing everything that I worked for. When you can jump between sections so easily right off the bat you can cash in your souls at any time and the pressure is off. I would love to see another souls game with this little change reverted back to its origins.    … Expand
  86. excelicious
    Aug 5, 2014
    10
    Thanks to this game, every other game out there looks amateurish and easy. Thanks to this game, I have experience the most amazing world of the souls series ever and the gameplay is to die for (pun intended). Sure you die A LOT, but death is used as a learning process and to think of different ways in order to win against your opponents. I love this game but at the same time hate it,Thanks to this game, every other game out there looks amateurish and easy. Thanks to this game, I have experience the most amazing world of the souls series ever and the gameplay is to die for (pun intended). Sure you die A LOT, but death is used as a learning process and to think of different ways in order to win against your opponents. I love this game but at the same time hate it, because once you play Dark Souls 2 or any of the souls series every other game will look easy and feel disappointing.… Expand
  87. chrisse989
    Aug 2, 2014
    9
    To start out, this game is a worthy successor in the DeS/DaS series.
    Ambiance of this game is amazing, as well as all surprises that are awaiting you when exploring the world.
    There have been some (very good) evolutions in the gameplay mechanic too, especially when it comes to dual wielding and jumping compared to DaS1. The whole player summoning/invading experience has also been    To start out, this game is a worthy successor in the DeS/DaS series.
    Ambiance of this game is amazing, as well as all surprises that are awaiting you when exploring the world.
    There have been some (very good) evolutions in the gameplay mechanic too, especially when it comes to dual wielding and jumping compared to DaS1. The whole player summoning/invading experience has also been streamlined to perfection, nearly no technical glitches (as was unfortunately the case in Demon's Souls).
    Only thing I did not favor was the story and characters. You meet characters but there's not really a lot of evolution in them through the storyline compared to previous games (Ostrava/Praise the Sun). And for the story, half the time you come out of an area beating up enemies but having no clue on the background of the area or the enemy. This was already the case in DaS1 but here's area for improvement.
    But still, it's a relatively minor note, the game is well worth the time you spend into it, so highly recommended.    … Expand
  88. Darkabisso664
    Aug 1, 2014
    7
    Dark Souls 2 is more of the first game when it comes to combat and feature; this adds more to different build through each playthrough as well as adding changes to new game plus. The narrative on the other on the hand is quiet shallow compare to the first. The game's story is hidden within item descriptions and NPC dialogue. It's a great way to tell a narrative but you won't understand theDark Souls 2 is more of the first game when it comes to combat and feature; this adds more to different build through each playthrough as well as adding changes to new game plus. The narrative on the other on the hand is quiet shallow compare to the first. The game's story is hidden within item descriptions and NPC dialogue. It's a great way to tell a narrative but you won't understand the settle hints the second game applies if you haven't played the first installment. Dark Souls 2 is also the easiest in the series and I suggest it for dark souls fans and new players.… Expand
  89. FyreMagi
    Jul 30, 2014
    10
    I enjoy the game, but I extremely dislike the spell (Hex) Affinity. It's extremely overpowered now, as i have over 2,000 health (2,533) and I get one-shot by it. If only FromSoftware would nerf it...
  90. DreadLordAvatar
    Jul 13, 2014
    7
    Absolutely interesting, fun, worth the $60 (or $119 I paid for the statue edition). I've played this series to death, a huge fan of Demon and Dark Souls. Does it live up to it's predecessors? Unfortunately no. The story just isn't as intriguing, the changes are odd, and overall not as memorable. I don't have any interest in playing it over again, however, should it be ported to the PS4 IAbsolutely interesting, fun, worth the $60 (or $119 I paid for the statue edition). I've played this series to death, a huge fan of Demon and Dark Souls. Does it live up to it's predecessors? Unfortunately no. The story just isn't as intriguing, the changes are odd, and overall not as memorable. I don't have any interest in playing it over again, however, should it be ported to the PS4 I may give it another chance but it would need a graphics improvement (dark lighting - should have been in the PC version for bloody sake) and better gameplay mechanics/features. As a die hard fan of this series I can only grant it sadly a 7/10. However, it is still worth playing and experiencing for the exploration thrills and RPG challenges, despite the frustrating char/gear build and battle headaches.… Expand
  91. kirkkh
    Jul 8, 2014
    4
    Not a Souls game, very easy, caters to watered down PVP. Magic is overpowered, shields are useless, melee weapons pointless, parries have no consistency. And, unlimited health potions (life gems). RIP souls. (and no it isn't a good game just for merit, that's like praising the Star Wars prequals).
  92. SoulsFan2014
    Jul 4, 2014
    6
    First i'd like to say that i am a huge fan of the Soul's games. I've played demon souls for over 200 hours of gameplay atleast and dark souls 2 over 300 hours. Demon souls had a story that drawed you in and made you feel alone and scared for every turn you make some dragon may swoop by and burn you to crisps, just to have you restart over in soul form etc.
    Now dark souls was easy in    First i'd like to say that i am a huge fan of the Soul's games. I've played demon souls for over 200 hours of gameplay atleast and dark souls 2 over 300 hours. Demon souls had a story that drawed you in and made you feel alone and scared for every turn you make some dragon may swoop by and burn you to crisps, just to have you restart over in soul form etc.
    Now dark souls was easy in comparison to demon souls as now pvp is a huge integrated part of defeating bosses etc.. Now we have this acclaimed sequel to dark souls that is... Sorry was suppose to have new gen graphics and lighting system, then release comes around and we find out that it looks just as good as dark souls 1 if not a little worse. With that being said i also think its gameplay is very unfair even for a souls game, but thats the least important thing that has failed in this sequel. What realy turned me off was its plain story that trys hard to get you into it but falls realy flat. Ohh well story may fail but multiplayer has to be suberb right? wrong!!! I sold dark souls 2 after 100 hours of gameplay after i got tired of magic spammers and realy got pissed when i got stunlocked with a dagger in heavy armor!! Ofc theres many other pvp and multiplayer flaws out there but i aint gonna list them all or i'll be here all day.
    Well heres the flaws in this game, average graphics compared to its advertised new gen graphics, poor-average story and lots of pvp flaws. I'll rate this 6.5 as a not worth buying at full retail price, just buy it used and suck some hours out of it as it has no lasting appeal unless you like broken pvp and a at best average story. I promise renting it for a week will get you all the fun you'll get out of this sequel.    … Expand
  93. Tirekyll
    Jun 25, 2014
    7
    A good game, not the greatest, but good.
    The start is a little rocky, you quickly learn that Dark Souls 2 is entirely linear and some areas can't be accessed early in the game. That's fine and dandy though annoying when compared to Dark Souls and Demon Souls which allowed the player to choose the path they wanted to take.
    As you can tell by the rating though, it isn't all bad, or even    A good game, not the greatest, but good.
    The start is a little rocky, you quickly learn that Dark Souls 2 is entirely linear and some areas can't be accessed early in the game. That's fine and dandy though annoying when compared to Dark Souls and Demon Souls which allowed the player to choose the path they wanted to take.

    As you can tell by the rating though, it isn't all bad, or even close. The game maintains its difficulty from the previous two incarnations by FromSoft even though at times to a more casual gamer, some deaths seem cheap. The new menu layout is a huge upgrade from DS/DkS, however I personally find it a bit less twitchy.

    I don't really want to give much away, but I will say having friends for this game will make it a lot more enjoyable. If you can, do yourself a favor and get the limited edition of the game for some extra equipment that will save you a lot of frustration at the beginning of Dark Souls 2.

    Overall, my ratings are
    Gameplay: 7/10 I never had the issues most people seemed to, but it still felt a bit clunky on PS3
    Graphics: 9/10 The game looks really good compared to its predecessors
    Sound: 6/10
    Fun: 9/10 If you have friends, 6/10 if you don't
    Replayability: 2/10 I can't see playing this game again, beating it once alone is enough for me    … Expand
  94. Vanpire73
    Jun 25, 2014
    9
    Takes a little of each from the first 2 entries (yes, 2) and puts them together to form another gem. It's essentially just more of the same with more **** to do. It is certainly more accessible, but not from a difficulty standpoint. Weapon crafting, side quests, bonfire hopping are all made "easier" to accommodate all the **** that didn't buy the first ones because they only got a 8.9Takes a little of each from the first 2 entries (yes, 2) and puts them together to form another gem. It's essentially just more of the same with more **** to do. It is certainly more accessible, but not from a difficulty standpoint. Weapon crafting, side quests, bonfire hopping are all made "easier" to accommodate all the **** that didn't buy the first ones because they only got a 8.9 on Metacritic instead of a 9.1. Now go back and start at Demon's Souls if this is your first stop into the trilogy.… Expand
  95. hsapin
    Jun 18, 2014
    9
    Honestly, the game is not a good as the previous one, but it's still a fantastic game in its own right! Dark Souls 2 could have been something just as if not more special than Dark Souls 1 was, but I believe that due to the limited hardware they were working on, FROM SOFTWARE had to cut corners wherever possible which leads to some seemingly sloppy level design. The all too frequentHonestly, the game is not a good as the previous one, but it's still a fantastic game in its own right! Dark Souls 2 could have been something just as if not more special than Dark Souls 1 was, but I believe that due to the limited hardware they were working on, FROM SOFTWARE had to cut corners wherever possible which leads to some seemingly sloppy level design. The all too frequent bonfires that can be warped to at any time make the game far too easy, and soul memory based match making plagues the online... It feels like the game has too many half baked, or poorly executed, design problems.… Expand
  96. nonchalantgamer
    Jun 17, 2014
    9
    A great successor to Dark souls 1, Dark souls 2 improved upon an already great game. its still as tough as ever(in a good way) and the story had a bit more narrative but still had a piece it together approach to it. the visuals are stunning as always and the combat which is the heart and soul of the game is refined slightly making it even better. i love the new system they put in placeA great successor to Dark souls 1, Dark souls 2 improved upon an already great game. its still as tough as ever(in a good way) and the story had a bit more narrative but still had a piece it together approach to it. the visuals are stunning as always and the combat which is the heart and soul of the game is refined slightly making it even better. i love the new system they put in place with the estus flasks and the inventory IMO a better design finding shards and bone dust to build up your flask uses. the amount of content in this game is incredible ive out over 90 Hrs into this game and am still playing it. their is a lot to do and the NG+ is definitely worth a run through. the only thing i thought was better in DS 1 was the bosses had more scale to them and fights with them felt a little more grander then they did in this game and also there's not as much map continuity in DS2. in 1 it felt abit more connected with all the short cuts and different ways to enter an area. overall Dark souls 2 is a great sequel to DS 1....prepare to die again!… Expand
  97. Ramiro1992
    Jun 3, 2014
    1
    This game is terrible. is even more bad than the first one, abysmal gameplay, i will not recommend this garbage, please stay away, the graphics look like a ps2 game, this game is a disaster, the combat is very REPETITIVE, the enemies attack and moves always in similar ways, people who like this game are 40 years old virgins who can't even beat it because it's extremely difficulty, thisThis game is terrible. is even more bad than the first one, abysmal gameplay, i will not recommend this garbage, please stay away, the graphics look like a ps2 game, this game is a disaster, the combat is very REPETITIVE, the enemies attack and moves always in similar ways, people who like this game are 40 years old virgins who can't even beat it because it's extremely difficulty, this game is not even worth try it.
    One of the worst games of 2014.    … Expand
  98. Iluvatar21
    May 31, 2014
    3
    Re-review: Dark Souls 2 is by far the best in terms of content and PvP but where it suffers (at the cost of the soul of the entire series) is in the enemies. Basically they are the same and to compensate for this the devs have added more of them, twisting the original Souls formula from 'fair because you learn' to 'overwhelming until you break through the wall or run away'.

    Dark Souls 2    Re-review: Dark Souls 2 is by far the best in terms of content and PvP but where it suffers (at the cost of the soul of the entire series) is in the enemies. Basically they are the same and to compensate for this the devs have added more of them, twisting the original Souls formula from 'fair because you learn' to 'overwhelming until you break through the wall or run away'.

    Dark Souls 2 is not a worthy sequel to the series and the hardship is not worth the time.

    =========
    HOW I RATE: 10-9 score: perfect or near-perfect don't exist; 8 score: one of the best games ever. Top score; 7-6 score: great but not one of the best; 5-below score: serious flaws.    … Expand
  99. Glowguy
    May 30, 2014
    9
    From had some pretty high expectations to live up to with this title and they delivered. I'm a big fan of the series and this game is a very worthwhile addition. I was a little worried they would dumb the game down too much but this very much preserves the spirit of the previous titles. For me these games are all about perserverance and discovery. I never play with a walkthough theFrom had some pretty high expectations to live up to with this title and they delivered. I'm a big fan of the series and this game is a very worthwhile addition. I was a little worried they would dumb the game down too much but this very much preserves the spirit of the previous titles. For me these games are all about perserverance and discovery. I never play with a walkthough the first time through and I always miss some major things, but it just makes the next playthrough that much more enjoyable.

    And there is a lot to play here. The game is massive and easily took me over 100 hours to complete. I think the amount of content here more than makes up for any lack of connectivity between locations. That was one of the major strenghts of Dark Souls but I think From just went in a different direction here and stressed additional content over an interconnected level design. I think the game looks fantastic so I was surprised to see so many complaining about the graphics.

    Most of the changes that From made for DaS 2 are a welcome addition. Dual Wielding was really nice touch and improves what was far and away the best action combat system in the RPG genre (although I wish they had put that in the tutorial because I was well over halfway though my playthrough before I even noticed you could attack with both weapons simulateously). Some of the bosses are a little lackluster (probably because there are more of them) but this game for sure has it's share of memorable and terrifying monsters - in fact that is one of the more noticable improvements over dark. souls where I felt they just recycled a bunch of bosses from Demons Souls. I've always been more of a PVE player but the multiplayer is a lot more fun for me now. The nerfed the backstab which was really infuriating in Dark Souls and I get invaded far less often in Dark Souls2. There are plenty of opportunities for PvP and it is more now covenant driven which is a direction I agree with completely. The voice acting and music are once again top notch.

    There are a few changes which I didn't care for. The major one was the ease with which you can warp between bonfires. I can see some need for it because the world is really large and there are less connection points, but they easily could have limited this in some way. I think you lose a little bit of the immersion when you can just warp anywhere you want at any time. The lore and mystery is a bit lacking compared to the prior games but let's face it - this series is pretty heavy on obsurity and story has never been a huge component of the game as it is more about piecing things together on your own. That element still remains but has been toned down.

    Demons Souls is still my personal favorite in the series but Darks Souls 2 is a very close second. I hope they add on a DLC pack at some point because I will probably still be playing this by the time it comes around.    … Expand
  100. mmrventricle
    May 29, 2014
    9
    You probably already know how notorious this franchise is for being hard. True, Dark Souls is not very enjoyable to ppl who can only handle cakewalk or even moderate difficulty. Bosses will most likely kill you in 1 to 3 hits depending on how tanky you are (and no that doesnt mean they only hit once each attack. take a full combo and you are dead), and lesser foes are also able to take offYou probably already know how notorious this franchise is for being hard. True, Dark Souls is not very enjoyable to ppl who can only handle cakewalk or even moderate difficulty. Bosses will most likely kill you in 1 to 3 hits depending on how tanky you are (and no that doesnt mean they only hit once each attack. take a full combo and you are dead), and lesser foes are also able to take off significant proportions of your health with their attacks. If you cannot utilize invincibility frames that comes with your dodge, Dark Souls 2 will most likely be punishing to you. But it is for the same reason that Dark Souls 2 gives so much sense of accomplishment when you do overcome the difficulty.
    Dark Souls 2 introduces a comprehensive customization system. Not only can you equip each piece of armor and weapon (left and right hand) separately, but there is actually a reason for ppl to try different setup rather than taking the biggest swords: heavy equipments make you slow moving and your stamina regen slower, and vice versa. There is a whopping amount of weapon types in the game, all of which are versatile depending on what play style you use. Dark Souls 2 also introduces the ability to respec skill points, which makes it possible to try out every weapon and play style.
    Dark Souls 2 is made to last. A single playthrough will easily take 100 to 150 hours depending how good you are at the game and how much farming you do, and because the gameplay is solid and can vary greatly with the use of different setups, there is actually reason to replay the campaign again in NG+ and I do recommend you do so should you go that far.
    Online play is integrated into the game, as you can find soapstones in the world other players have put down that you can interact with to summon them to fight with or against you.
    The world of Dark Souls 2 is frankly... quite dark and sufficiently interesting. The kingdom of Drangleic loses all its glory and tranquility as the undead curse falls upon this land. Map designs are pretty good, and the world feels alive.
    A few things Dark Souls 2 doesnt do so well in are its plot (it doesnt have much) and the mediocre character models and graphics. Other than that Dark Souls 2 is an absolutely amazing game every hardcore gamer must play.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

1
#1 Best PS3 Game of 2014
2
#2 Most Discussed PS3 Game of 2014
1
#1 Most Shared PS3 Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
91

Universal acclaim - based on 69 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 67 out of 69
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 69
  3. Negative: 0 out of 69
  1. Pelit (Finland)
    May 11, 2014
    92
    Dark Souls 2 bears the torch of Dark Souls with honor. No mean feat! [Apr 2014]
  2. Gamers' Temple
    Apr 16, 2014
    96
    Even more amazing, and difficult, than Dark Souls.
    Read full review
  3. RPGamer
    Apr 16, 2014
    100
    At the end of the day, Dark Souls II uses more subtle changes to find its own flavor and place in the series as a whole, rather than reinventing the wheel.
    Read full review
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