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I like Dark Souls 2, and its DLC, and its bosses... and... yeah, this is going to be a fun review to write, for me at least. The Dark Souls 2 haters however are probably going to despise me, so let's begin!
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Premise:
Dark Souls 2 follows an independent sword within the Kingdom of Drangleic, that was once ruled by King Vendrick and Queen Nassandra. The Kingdom began to fall apart due to Nassandra manipulating her husband to commit a lot of bad acts which involve the attack against the Giants that would later start a war between the two factions. Vendrick would win, but the Kingdom of Drangleic began to fall due to the fading First Flame, and the curse of the Undead, or the curse of Hollowing depending on the situation. Vendrick tried all he could to help his Kingdom, but all attempts failed and he would not want to see an Age of Fire or an Age of Dark, he would search for a third path to break the curse of the Undead, but failed when he realized Nassandra was in fact one of the four children of the Dark specifically Manus, Father of the Abyss. He later discarded his soul and exiled himself to the Undead Crypt preventing Nassandra from accessing the First Flame.
The story then follows our character: The Bearer of the Curse, as he/she came to Drangleic to find a cure, and hoping that Vendrick has it or someone else does. This, of course, would have failed regardless since Vendrick had already fallen to the Curse, and became a Hollow. The Bearer of the Curse would then have to find someway to save themselves, and several others who are suffering from the same curse by finding Four Great Souls to enter Drangleic Castle and find the Throne of Want where they would access the First Flame.
When Dark Souls 2 began the creation of its DLC's, they were going to be a part of a trilogy. The DLC's were called: The Crown of the Sunken King, The Crown of the Old Iron King, and the Crown of the Ivory King (The last one is my most favorite). The DLC's each showed the Kingdoms of other Kings, along with there Queens playing a more prominent role, since each of them were a children of Manus, with each child represent a fragment of Manus. Nashandra (Want) was the wife for Vendrick, Elana (Wrath) was the wife of the Sunken King, Nadalia (Despair/Desperation) was the wife of the Iron King, Alsana (Fear) was the wife of the Ivory King. Each of them had there own journeys and only Nashandra came the closest to succeeding. Elana fell into despair when her King died, Nadalia was too late to claim the Iron Kings heart and instead took over a part of his fallen Kingdom and recruited a knight for her uses, and Alsana was freed of the dark by the Ivory King.
The game each has tales of Kings and there fall, while also focusing on identity, purpose, and self fulfillment within its bosses, characters, and the main character themself.
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Gameplay:
The gameplay of Dark Souls 2 is a copy and paste to the gameplay of Dark Souls 2... except with a couple differences.
For one thing, the humanity stat is gone. But the Hollowing System is still there, except its worse, it is so much worse. When you die and go hollow, you lose about 5% of your maximum HP. That's right, when you die, 5% of your maximum HP is gone until your Humanity is restored, and this stacks when you die over and over again, and only stops when you have 50% of your maximum HP left.
Another thing that's different is the HP healing system. Instead of an instant heal like in Dark Souls 1 and Bloodborne, it is a gradual heal, meaning that your health bar slowly goes up from the Healing, and it doesn't stop until its duration is gone. Honestly, I prefer this system, since if I do get hit and I used an item before that happened, my health is still healing so I prefer it.
The third thing is the Adaptability Stat... which is the most stupid and most bullshit stat in existence. So here loves dodging, and who loves the i-frames (Invincibility Frames) when you dodge? Imagine thats a stat now. If that stat isn't high enough, you can still get hit when you dodge... thats the adaptability stat, and its bs. But despite that, it has only been an issue like... 5 times.
Besides that everything is mostly the same... but now I think its time I explained why I like Dark Souls 2.
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Why I like Dark Souls 2
The world of Drangleic surprised me. I came into this game with low expectations but instead I found a fun world. The characters of Dark Souls 2: Pate, Lucatiel, Shanalotte, Straid, Grave Warden Agdayne, Rat King, Drummond, and Aldia were all so interesting to me and doing there side quests was fun as well. It was clear that Fromsoftware cared about this game and did there best since Drangleic is located far away from Anor Londo, and has several different themes and areas compared to the first game. Aldia was the best character in my opinion, a very intelligent character who knew about the events of the first game, knows all the legends, and is asking us 'What do you want?' he's not trying to tell us to bring about an Age of Fire or an Age of Dark, he wants to know what we want, and questions us about it a lot.
The second thing that I loved about this game are the boss fights, except the Blue Smelter Demon. FUCK YOU AND YOUR RUN BACK! Dark Souls 1 had some annoying boss fights: The Bell Gargoyles, Ceaseless Discharge, Four Kings, Pinwheel, and Seath the Scaleless. Dark Souls 2 has a lot of fun boss fights that I can still remember and love: The Lost Sinner, The Pursuer, Looking Glass Knight, Old Dragonslayer, Old Iron King, Sir Alonne, Fume Knight, and the Burnt Iron King. All those bosses were fun, enjoyable to watch, play, and learn.
The third are the themes that the game wants to show us. Certain bosses each have a theme on identity. The Rotten being a group of people mushed together, The Dukes Dear Freja having two faces, the gender theme between the Throne Watcher and the Throne Defender, the Old Iron King becoming basically Satan after all the things he had done. It was so clever to see and witness.
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However...
This will be quick. I am aware of the criticism this game gets. The lazy enemy place met design, the not so well done level design that Bloodborne and Dark Souls 1 had, the lack of hard bosses which was fixed thanks to the DLC Bosses (Looking at you Fume Knight for being one of the top 10 or top 20 hardest Soulsborne bosses). The Adaptability Stat and the Hollowing effect were both annoying but I still found enjoyment within the game.
I can understand how some people see the game as very easy. The Dragonriders, Last Giant, Covetous Demon, Royal Rat Vanguard, and the Executioners Chariot coming to mind, but despite that it still feels fun. Most of the time.
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Ending Thoughts
Dark Souls 2 has definitely improved on some of the stuff that happened in Dark Souls 1, but in some instances it is definitely a downgrade. But I would rate this game a 9/10! I would definitely play it again and do New Game+, it is very fun for me.
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Video Game Reviews
Fiksi PenggemarThis is just me reviewing the video games I played and think deserve a quick review.
