It's Time I Talked About DARK SOULS II

If you've read many of my articles over the past 18 months, you'll have seen my newfound obsession with FromSoftware's games in full bloom.

It all began with the first DARK SOULS: REMASTERED, which, once I had gotten to grips with its difficult gameplay and obtuse controls, eventually became one of my favourite games of all time! It was damn hard, for sure, but it was a videogame like nothing I'd experienced before, and there is something to be said about that.

From there, I went on to complete Demon's Souls (2021), DARK SOULS III, and ELDEN RING, and I found each of them very enjoyable in their own ways. This then left only Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin remaining in the sextet of Miyazaki's high fantasy outings. I was ready, and I wanted to finally tick it off the list!

However, this little adventure of mine hasn't been the smoothest of rides because… well, DARK SOULS II: SotFS oftentimes makes itself very difficult to love (particularly in the early game). This issue, ultimately, stems from a principal design philosophy of something along the lines of: “what if DARK SOULS again, but more frustrating for new players?”. Hmm… a very strange take on videogame development, indeed.

Now, I intentionally avoided the use of “difficult” just above, as each of these games does come with many of its own balanced difficulties, and I did not want there to be a misunderstanding. No, frustrating is exactly what I'm getting at because the team at FromSoftware was on a mission to one-up themselves in the bastard department this time around.

Tedium is felt almost immediately upon starting a fresh save file, when you realise that character movement (and thus, combat) somehow feels even more sluggish than it did in its predecessor. Throw in some far less forgiving stamina management, and you then have a plodding game where deaths are abound. Genuinely, it all takes a solid bit of dedication from the player in order to power through and get used to.

On top of that, the devs decided to bring back and bake in two of Demon's Souls' worst gameplay mechanics (ones that Miyazaki abandoned): limited healing items and health reduction upon death.

The first of these isn't too offensive, as once you've learnt where to look, the process of collecting said healing items is easy; it's just unbalanced and doesn't really work in conjunction with the traditional Estus Flask also in play.

It's more so the second point that has real sting because punishing players for dying in a game that expects you to die a lot is egregious; I didn't like the 50% health reduction in Demon's Souls, and I don't like it here!

Lastly, we see the introduction of two new and truly heinous stats: Vitality and Adaptability. The former governs Equip Load, which is a system that determines how much your character can have equipped before being overencumbered. The latter stat, on the other hand, raises a character's agility, which in turn increases dodge-roll effectiveness.

Irritatingly, the core parts of both of these stats were once simply governed by Endurance. Now, in what I suspect is a purposeful effort to nerf this attribute, they must be levelled alongside it instead. In the early game — when you are desperately trying to find some nugget of enjoyment to cling to — it is particularly unfun to experience this cluttered upgrade system. And it's not until many, many hours later — at a point where you have plenty of upgrade points under your belt — that the burden is eased.

With all that said (major obligatory “but!” incoming), I cannot say this is a bad game. Far from it. Though many of its swings miss, most still score a hit overall, and in those moments, get ready for a great-looking game that plays well!

Gameplay mechanics are ultimately where this game shines the brightest, not storytelling (unlike the series-standard Miyazaki approach); it has way more of them in general (of which are more compelling, too) when compared to any of the other entries. Even by DARK SOULS standards, Drangleic is a strange place, and many of its nooks and crannies contain some of the most intriguing mechanics (which I wouldn't like to spoil here) that the series has to offer. As such, DARK SOULS II: SotFS has no trouble driving players to explore its numerous varied biomes.

Even mundane aspects, such as how torches work and how weapons are dual-wielded, received massive overhauls, which expanded their implementations in interesting ways.

The former, now a consumable resource, is used to not only light one’s way, but also for some light puzzle solving. The latter improvement, however, grants all weapons a full-fledged left-handed moveset, and death-dealers of the same class (no matter how big) can now be utilised in conjunction with one another to create whirlwinds of pain; this is known as “Power Stance” in-game, and was a mechanic so beloved that it made a return in ELDEN RING.

So sure, DARK SOULS II may not have had the legendary Miyazaki at its helm (and it shows), but it does still have the polish expected of a FromSoftware title. Thus, it remains an all-around decent bit of gaming for fantasy fans with higher-than-average patience. It's just not something that I foresee myself revisiting in the future.