Do yourself a favor and skip DS2 (for now). Return if you want to get fucked constantly and are into gank fights and other terrible mechanics. DS3 was genuinely fun and is a sequel to 1, can only recommend.
DS2 gets unfairly hated on, and to be fair, I do think it’s the worst Soulsborne, but that’s just because it’s a giant among titans. It’s still much better than most non-From Soulslikes and does have some excellent world building. (To you windmill critics out there, THAT is the POINT! They were not stupid or confused, it’s meant to evoke a dreamlike quality and this insistence that the vague, yet often connected lore NEEDS a strict interpretation is foolish. Get you some real media literacy, no shade to Vaati but things are open to many interpretations, don’t just watch a video.)
If you want more of the same, it certainly delivers, just with a few warty lumps. I’d be interested in hearing your eventual opinions on it as well. And you know, nothing but up from there.
Also, DS3 heavily relies on 2. Those who say set it aside don’t remember all the loving references in locations and items and themes. If they wanted to cut it and forget it, they certainly would have.
I love Dark Souls 2. I hate Dark Souls 2. Play it! /endrant
I am also looking forward to it. I am aware of it’s reputation, so I am curious to see how it actually holds up. Worst case scenario is I hit a wall so thick I have to look up a guide, but as a starting point I want to go into it blind.
I played DS2: SotFS a couple years after DS1, got my butt kicked very hard (as expected) but didn’t find it as bad as people said it was. I did think that DS1’s level design was better though (esp. the way areas are connected), but it still had a bunch of cool areas and interesting encounters. It’s been a couple years since DS2, and I’m currently playing DS3 for the first time now and, yeah, everything up to AW was surprisingly easy compared to what I expected… The area past that gave me some issues, but I made it to HLW. After backtracking a bit, I figured out I’d missed CS and consequently the entire CotD area which I was probably supposed to find first…
I think DS1’s level design is overrated within context. Don’t crucify me people, it’s still brilliant, but hear me out.
What makes DS1’s level design so spectacular is how intimate it is. It’s deeply layered because the areas are all largely, physically stacked on top of each other due to the lore implications. This creates such tight narrative and worldbuilding it is hands down AMAZING. But you can kind of really only do that once without too closely retreading a lot of the same narrative beats and I’d honestly argue that if people thought about it a bit more, they’d realize that’s not really what they want.
Now, CotD on the other hand is some of my favorite level design in any videogame ever. It’s the DS1 level design but packed into a singular area because it’s absolutely huge, but always wraps back around to that central bonfire somehow. Not to mention just the layout itself.
SPOILERS
The way you approach through the forest and then the graveyard, one of the rare places to use infinite enemy spawns. The lighting, then up across the rooftops to open the doors and discover the weird surprise inside. Worming your way back down and then across the rafters! And while Deacons may not be the most spectacular or difficult fight in the series, the vibes are amazing and that arena has such an aura to it.
SPOILERS
I’m not sure how common an opinion it is with the franchise, but I fucking love CotD. Amazing, amazing, amazing!
Do yourself a favor and skip DS2 (for now). Return if you want to get fucked constantly and are into gank fights and other terrible mechanics. DS3 was genuinely fun and is a sequel to 1, can only recommend.
Thanks for the advice, but I am pretty determined to play them in order. Then DS3 can be my sweet reward afterwards.
DS2 gets unfairly hated on, and to be fair, I do think it’s the worst Soulsborne, but that’s just because it’s a giant among titans. It’s still much better than most non-From Soulslikes and does have some excellent world building. (To you windmill critics out there, THAT is the POINT! They were not stupid or confused, it’s meant to evoke a dreamlike quality and this insistence that the vague, yet often connected lore NEEDS a strict interpretation is foolish. Get you some real media literacy, no shade to Vaati but things are open to many interpretations, don’t just watch a video.)
If you want more of the same, it certainly delivers, just with a few warty lumps. I’d be interested in hearing your eventual opinions on it as well. And you know, nothing but up from there.
Also, DS3 heavily relies on 2. Those who say set it aside don’t remember all the loving references in locations and items and themes. If they wanted to cut it and forget it, they certainly would have.
I love Dark Souls 2. I hate Dark Souls 2. Play it! /endrant
I am also looking forward to it. I am aware of it’s reputation, so I am curious to see how it actually holds up. Worst case scenario is I hit a wall so thick I have to look up a guide, but as a starting point I want to go into it blind.
Nah, jump right into 2 so that way when you get to 3, it feels easy as fuck.
I played DS2: SotFS a couple years after DS1, got my butt kicked very hard (as expected) but didn’t find it as bad as people said it was. I did think that DS1’s level design was better though (esp. the way areas are connected), but it still had a bunch of cool areas and interesting encounters. It’s been a couple years since DS2, and I’m currently playing DS3 for the first time now and, yeah, everything up to AW was surprisingly easy compared to what I expected… The area past that gave me some issues, but I made it to HLW. After backtracking a bit, I figured out I’d missed CS and consequently the entire CotD area which I was probably supposed to find first…
I think DS1’s level design is overrated within context. Don’t crucify me people, it’s still brilliant, but hear me out.
What makes DS1’s level design so spectacular is how intimate it is. It’s deeply layered because the areas are all largely, physically stacked on top of each other due to the lore implications. This creates such tight narrative and worldbuilding it is hands down AMAZING. But you can kind of really only do that once without too closely retreading a lot of the same narrative beats and I’d honestly argue that if people thought about it a bit more, they’d realize that’s not really what they want.
Now, CotD on the other hand is some of my favorite level design in any videogame ever. It’s the DS1 level design but packed into a singular area because it’s absolutely huge, but always wraps back around to that central bonfire somehow. Not to mention just the layout itself.
SPOILERS The way you approach through the forest and then the graveyard, one of the rare places to use infinite enemy spawns. The lighting, then up across the rooftops to open the doors and discover the weird surprise inside. Worming your way back down and then across the rafters! And while Deacons may not be the most spectacular or difficult fight in the series, the vibes are amazing and that arena has such an aura to it. SPOILERS
I’m not sure how common an opinion it is with the franchise, but I fucking love CotD. Amazing, amazing, amazing!
Horrible advice.
Play DS2. It’s better than DS3
Said like 5 people ever who played it