I'll be honest with you, I liked the first game, but I never finished it. I hopped on that bandwagon a little too late, and before I knew it the second game was hot off the press and on my hard drive. Nevertheless, I played enough of the first one to get the idea, and Dark Souls II is a remarkable improvement over it's predecessor. Everything I didn't like about the first game has been fixed, and in more ways than I expected. I don't understand why some people say the graphics aren't that great either -- the game runs on the highest settings quite easily, and I haven't seen anything that really stood out to me as far as bad graphics go.

The only thing I don't like about the Souls series, on a big picture scale, is the PvP. Nobody ever fights honorably when you encounter an invader. Everyone wants to be a roguish type or a magic user, and they almost always circle around you like a noob and this is Call of Duty or something, totally negating all of the same tactics you've used to previously. Then there's the times when you find messages on the ground and people intentially mislead you or block your ability to use whatever you need the "use" button for. I understand it's a joke, and that it's the nature of the game, but it's those kind of things that deter me from playing the game at all. It's bittersweet. I accidentally killed an NPC because someone left a message saying it was a "Sniper Spot". After aggro'ing the NPC, I was forced to murder him, and that really upset me highly. Plus, I have never been invaded outside of an, erhm, "designated invasion area", and I'm wondering if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Apart from its flaws, I have to recommend it because it's such an addictive and mesmerizing game. The environments, the subtle and intuitive design, the combat....it's all so perfect. It's loads of fun and you won't be able to put it down, especially since they took all of the flaws of the first game and flipped them around quite literally, turning them into strengths in this title. I can't ignore the fact though that some flaws of the series are deeply rooted, and how much they matter depends on what kind of gamer you are, if an honorable one at all.

I'll be honest with you, I liked the first game, but I never finished it. I hopped on that bandwagon a little too late, and before I knew it the second game was hot off the press and on my hard drive. Nevertheless, I played enough of the first one to get the idea, and Dark Souls II is a remarkable improvement over it's predecessor. Everything I didn't like about the first game has been fixed, and in more ways than I expected. I don't understand why some people say the graphics aren't that great either -- the game runs on the highest settings quite easily, and I haven't seen anything that really stood out to me as far as bad graphics go. The only thing I don't like about the Souls series, on a big picture scale, is the PvP. Nobody ever fights honorably when you encounter an invader. Everyone wants to be a roguish type or a magic user, and they almost always circle around you like a noob and this is Call of Duty or something, totally negating all of the same tactics you've used to previously. Then there's the times when you find messages on the ground and people intentially mislead you or block your ability to use whatever you need the "use" button for. I understand it's a joke, and that it's the nature of the game, but it's those kind of things that deter me from playing the game at all. It's bittersweet. I accidentally killed an NPC because someone left a message saying it was a "Sniper Spot". After aggro'ing the NPC, I was forced to murder him, and that really upset me highly. Plus, I have never been invaded outside of an, erhm, "designated invasion area", and I'm wondering if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Apart from its flaws, I have to recommend it because it's such an addictive and mesmerizing game. The environments, the subtle and intuitive design, the combat....it's all so perfect. It's loads of fun and you won't be able to put it down, especially since they took all of the flaws of the first game and flipped them around quite literally, turning them into strengths in this title. I can't ignore the fact though that some flaws of the series are deeply rooted, and how much they matter depends on what kind of gamer you are, if an honorable one at all.