Dark Souls 2 is a terrible game in my opinion. Demon's Souls is a average to mediocre RPG and as for Dark Souls 1, I like it, but to an extent. Dark Souls 2, on the other hand, is complete garbage! My brother and a friend of ours were talking about this came and how hyped they were since November 2013 and have been trying to get me into the hype. I tried to ignore them because I was sick of Dark Souls 1, but they managed to get me into the hype and anticipation around January 2014, but when that day game when Dark Souls 2 was released, it was all for nothing. I was betrayed and disappointed beyond belief. I will share with you my personal reasons as to why I claim Dark Souls 2 the worst game of 2014.
1.) They added Lifegems as heal units: This only adds to your inventory. Whatever happened to Estus Flasks like in the previous game? Well there are Estus Flasks, but here's the dumb catch: YOU HAVE TO FIND THEM YOURSELF!They're called Estus Shards and you are supposed to give them to the Emerald Herald which is located in Majula (which is the Firelink Shrine of Dark Souls 2). Wanna know the maximum amount of Estus Flasks you can carry in the game? 12. That's right, only 12 Estus Flasks, where in Dark Souls 1 the maximum amount was 20 depending if the bonfire was kindled as far as it can be kindled. On top of this, the Lifegems and Estus Flasks heal you at a slow pace. It's not like Demon's Souls and Dark Souls where you get healed really fast. This DOES NOT add any kind of challenge to the game, it only makes the game frustrating and annoying.
2.) Adaptability. What?!: This higher the Adaptability, the faster you can use your Estus Flasks. That is one of the most annoying aspects about the game. Which means you need to increase this from time to time. Why? Why?! WHY?! This is a stupid perk, no one should be this slow trying to heal themselves! Imagine doing that in real life. I just don't know what From Software was thinking or smoking when they thought this was a good idea.
3.) The mechanics are horrible: The combat and damage in the game is botched beyond repair. The game itself is slow and monotonous. From Software made the game more "difficult" by making enemies hit you for 1/3 of your HP from time to time. Don't you love it when you can't deal a fair amount of damage to a pig that can inflict over 1/4 of your health upon you? Also, the poise is very bad. If you get poise-broken, you're frozen there for like a freaking Ice Age and then the enemies gang rape you and just destroy your face. And when you die, and this will be very, very often, your max health decreases for each death until you regain your humanity back. So basically, the game is punishing you for each death. It's From Software's way of saying, "Try not to die as much". There's a better chance of me winning the lottery than that ever happening. I don't play like that! That is so unfair!
4.) The Vendrick boss battle was cryptic!: How was anyone supposed to know that you were supposed to collect 4 of the Giant's Souls to decrease Vendrick's defenses by 4 for each one you collect?! If you played this part your first time around, you'd be baffled to see that your attacks do absolutely NOTHING to this guy, but this guy can kill you in one hit! That is very cryptic and annoying!
5.) From Software programmed the game so that you have to keep moving forward: In Dark Souls 1, I enjoyed staying behind to level myself up. I remember, I'd stay in the first part of Anor Lando and kill the giants to gain experience to level up. However in Dark Souls 2, From Software made it so that you have to keep moving forward by making it if you kill the same enemies 15 times, they will not respawn until you use a Bonfire Aesthetic. This is what ruined the experience for me! I hate this mechanic so much! I like to take RPG's slowly, thank you very much! Imagine Pokemon where after you've battle the same wild Pokemon a set number of times then they stop appearing. Won't you hate that? Or imagine if you've battled the same Pokemon trainer a set number of times and they they say that they don't want a rematch anymore? What's the point of this? It only makes the game less fun and exhilarating if I can't stop to level up a couple of times. There are places that I'm not ready to take on yet because I'm not strong enough, so that's why I stay behind and gain experience and level myself up. Again, this DOES NOT make the game fun if I have to move on!
6.) The map layout in Dark Souls 2 is non-linear.: Like Demon's Souls, a much better game somewhat, Dark Souls 2's layout in non-linear. I hate it when games are non-linear because I will never know where to start first. This is why Dark Souls 1 is the best of the trilogy because the game was linear and that way I will know where to go first. On here, I have no clue as to where to go or what to do next. Sometimes it just railroads me into somewhere I'd get my ass kicked. From Software, What the **** were you thinking?!
7.) Majula is the only place where you can Level up.: They did the whole Demon's Souls thing again, where only one place in the entire game is where you can level up. The Emerald Herald is the basically just like the Maiden in Black from Demon's Souls, you can level up from her. I liked the Level up system from Dark Souls 1 where you can level up from the Bonfire not from a certain person. WTF? Just WTF?!
8.) According to many people who have played this, the game is easy: This is something that many people have complained about with this "game". The game is very easy. The difficulty comes from the enemies and not the bosses like in Dark Souls 1.
However there are some good things I can add about Dark Souls 2 like how the PvP was greatly improved because in Dark Souls 1 PvP was nothing but a backstab fishing game. Nobody does real sword play, just invade with a Knife with a high critical hit ratio while equipped with the Hornet Ring. In Dark Souls 2 however, there's an actual animation before you can back stab meaning you can just dodge being backstabbed and get in some free hits. Another thing they improved on was the resistance to magic and physical attacks. This was the number one thing about Dark Souls that many people complained about. Resistance was non-existant, you can add 9001 points on Resistance and you'll still take the same amount of damage from enemies. Another cool thing about Dark Souls 2 is the fact you can reallocate your skill points and place them on other skill to test new things. Another great thing about Dark Souls 2 is that Strength weapons are better then they were on Dark Souls 1. The only good Strength weapon on Dark Souls 1 was the Zweihander, just turn into a Chaos Zweihander with 10 loose Humanity and that weapon will be powerful. That's not saying much though, Dark Souls 2 is still inferior to Dark Souls 1.
In the end, Dark Souls 2 was nothing but a poorly executed RPG. It's a lame disappointment and it the worst of the Demon Souls/Dark Souls trilogy, it's without a doubt the absolute worst RPG I have ever played, and is a HUGE step down from Dark Souls 1 and is easily the worst game of 2014 to me. This game is not worth my time and don't even try and argue with me about me giving this game a second chance or why these things were added. You can't tell me that I'm a scrub because I have beaten Dark Souls few times and got all the trophies for the game.
If I were to rate this game, I'd give it a 2/10. My brother and my friend better not try and get me pumped for anymore of these kind of games again, I just want to stick with casual games from here on out. I didn't beat the game, nor I am I going to try and beat it. This game is nothing but bad news and I urge the many of you reading this to never EVER play this game!
Say what you want to me, I won't care! I hate this game