Heeeeeello all! I'm back! And this time I am going through one of my favorite game series of all time.
Dark Souls...Anyways, this grim and challenging RPG has kept ahold of me for years, and as I have completed Dark Souls multiple times and have completed Dark Souls 2 Vanilla once, I thought why the heck not?
Well, Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin changes itself from vanilla Dark Souls 2 a LOT, to the point where I liked it much more than vanilla(my score for vanilla would be a 7/10.)
Now, what changes are made?
-Small graphical improvements(equipment mostly affected.)
-Item locations changed to better fit the world(DLC keys now scattered throughout the world.)
-60 fps(mainly for PC users.)
-1 new boss and NPC.
-Enemy placements almost completely redone, to the point where it felt like a whole new experience for me.
-DLC accesible without extra purchase.
Now, I love ALL of these changes, because they improve from the vanilla by a huge amount.
However, I do have to work go ahead and talk about everything, so I shall.
Story:
Now, I won't be discussing the story exactly, because you won't have a clue what's happening in your first playthrough. However once you become seasoned and know what to do in Souls games, you'll begin to understand piece by piece the whole entire story.
Begin to check item descriptions, pay close attention to dialogue and the world, and finally think. The more time you put into it, the more rewarding it is.
However, to ruin the experience of learning it would really suck. So I am going to refrain from speaking about the story here, as text truly does not do it well. I would give the hidden story an A.
Gameplay:
Okay...here is the big one...
As everyone knows, Dark Souls 2 is HARD. A challenge that promises you will die. And it pulls through everytime. Even the best players in the game will slip up at some point. However the whole point is to work your way forward, trying your hardest to take down the enemies that scatter the world. Working to the next bonfire or the next boss. You will find yourself holding your head time and time again in your first playthrough, however that feeling when you see the next bonfire or see that "You Defeated" pop on screen is so friggin good.
The gameplay in dark souls 2 is...very good. I love a bunch of it however there is things I have to address.
I'll get through the negative first...
Level design sucks...a lot.
The first area you go to, The Forest of Fallen Giants, makes sense, but how they attack is just...dumb.
However, level design is MUCH better in the enemies, in vanilla there would be an area in the forest that would completely gank you with axes, broken swords and firebombs, with it being frustrating only. SOTFS is much smarter that now in that area all the enemies are fake dead, and only if you run straight through will they gank you. However if you be careful you can take them out one by one. That is much better.
However, one thing that Dark Souls did well was connection, everything felt like it should be connected, and connected well.
Dark Souls 2 doesn't.
Here is a great example, you go to a place called Harvest Valley, a poisonous swamp that you work your way through. Then after you get through that area you get to [insert windmill area here, can't remember the name]. You work your way through there and.....you go up an elevator to...
((By the way, fuck.the.smelter.demon.))
Yeah....the fuck?
Then another is Heide's Tower of Flame, sunk into the water and as far as the eye can see. Then you work your way down INTO the water and somehow you end up here.
Yep...what.
Probably my least favorite thing is the level design.
HOWEVER, weaponry in Dark Souls 2 is great, with so much variety in magic, ultra weaponry and small sneaky weapons thatfacestabyoueveryfuckingtime.
Probably my favorite enemies are invaders, since you are almost always equal in capabilities and pure skill to win. That is more satisfying than even a boss fight to me.
Plus, the pure exploration of the game is so good. Even with the poor design just exploring can be...dangerous but rewarding if you're lucky. I enjoy checking every crevice even if it means death.
However, multiplayer was a mixed bag as well.
The biggest problem with multiplayer is something called Soul Memory, which is a new addition in Dark Souls 2 and a bad one.
A problem in DS1 was something called "Twinking" which is when a player runs through the game, without leveling up, working towards an end game weapon at early game. Which then they would invade and kill early game players just because they could one hit K/O them.
So Soul Memory was the fix in DS2, which would keep track of ALL souls you have collected, even ones you lost, and match you with players with similar soul memory. So if I had 100000 soul memory I would only match with people who were around 100000 soul memory....this became a problem for anyone who would try to continually assist players in cooperation for sunlight medals or for anyone trying to duel in pvp. The only way to control how much you can get is to take away a ring space for one that will stop soul memory.
I'm so glad DS3 changed this, it's a pain in the ASS to work with the soul memory, I was in The Iron Keep and fuck the Smelter Demon my melee build kept getting wrecked and because I kept collecting souls I would lose any chance to bring in help as I get past the average soul memory for the area. Without actually having those souls because I died. It indirectly punishes you.
I could go on and on, but one thing I like to do is keep discussion open, so i'm going to stop here and if you want me to add anything I will in another post. This is already quite long.
Anyways, I find that when you take the time to endure through the challenge and rage and take the time to learn the story it is a great game. However level design, limitations in multiplayer and other small things I haven't named hinder it from being as great as the original.
However, Scholar of the First Sin makes the changes that are more than capable of making this better than the 7/10 I would give vanilla. ESPECIALLY since the DLC areas that you can go to are SUPERB.
So in the end, I give Dark Souls 2 Scholar of the First Sin an....
8/10Go ahead and discuss below what you think. I would have made this DS3 but I don't have it yet. I enjoyed SOTFS and will recommend it to any dark souls fan.
Pip Reviews: Dark Souls 2 Scholar of the First Sin.