Prove you're not a contrarian

the feeling *of* combat

dodging without iframes is cool as hell, i like how much more smooth it is to control the character and all that... so basically fluidity/movement is way better
however, theres one specifically very bad part about movement, which is the jank when you turn repeatedly

even DS1 felt better

i havent played ds1 in a while, but i thought ds1 locked you in animations for much longer than 2?
ill play it again after im done with 2 so i can compare

Majula
The movement

I never played this trash. That's the good thing.

could be, to me it just feels like ds2 animation flow is less fluid somehow

yeah i dont know, i just went from playing ds1 as my first souls game to playing ds2. ds1 feels like the slow gritty rough game, ds2 feels a lot more smooth for everything specially for stuff like jumping

The armor looks cool
Completely changing the poise system is bad and lead to slop like ds3

amazing weapon and build variety

only bad thing is that it's not longer

bad

soul memory

good

No matter what kind of build I go for it feels fine and playable, can't say that about the other games

Majula.
Frigid Outskirts.

bad thing: shit combat, shit ai
good: some cool levels, ng+, amana filtering shitters who cant move

the ds2 defense force is here

1 gud

Power standing

1 bad

Harder to go to black gulch at the start

the good

Bonfire ascetics are the best way of making NG+ meaningful in any souls game. Also has the most interesting NG+ content in the form of new invasions/encounters and +2 rings from bosses that make the ascetics even more fun to find and use.
Most varied weapons. They mix and match a lot of movesets so most weapons are genuinely unique in ways beyond AR so its up to the player to find what suits their playstyle best.
Has gameplay mechanics beyond fighting enemies. Deciding whether to stealthily kill the zombies in the Crypt so they don't ring the bell to summon the spectres (while making sure you dont accidentally smack the bell) or to just charge through and try to dodge their pyromancies is more interesting than just killing dudes.

bad

Easily has the lowest lows of the series. Some of the bosses are just total dogshit and not fun to fight no matter what build you have to the point where the game would be better if they were not there at all (looking at you Ancient Dragon).
Some areas of SOTFS just vomit enemies at you and are the absolute least fun I have ever had in a souls game. The biggest offenders are Iron Keep and the runback to Sir Alonne. I've found the most reliable ways through those areas are just killing everyone enough times that they despawn and I hate every second of it.

I kneel gosha-sama...

good

I like the slow, weighty combat that it shares with Dark Souls 1. It's far more enjoyable than the gotta go fast anime combat from 3 and beyond.

bad

It just wasn't fun, it's the only FROM game I never wanted to replay.

good: peter serafinowicz
bad: limited romance options

Remember, you're supposed to believe that DS2 has magnetic tracking and movement doesn't matter...BUT at the same time believe you can just walk right against any enemy in the game...AND also, that you have to level adp 55 times otherwise le magnetic tracking gets you and then your head explodes from the schizophrenic ds2 deranged rambling hate from attempting to rationalize all these things being true all at the same time

Good

You could actually get convenient rewards from NPCs on later ng cycles.

Bad

Thinking more enemies everywhere is better, especially when you run out of stamina afi3 rolls

Good

Randomized invaders as you go through a level is a great idea

Bad

So, so many of the enemies' and even player animations are super slow, stiff, and lacking in energy that it males the whole game feel like some weird 90s eurojank RPG in a very bad way

these animations looks horrible

good

makes it easy to spot the newfag retards who can't think for their themselves who fell for Anon Babble's oldest troll

bad

duel wielding/power stancing is a half baked mechanic that was KIND OF improved in 3

Thinking more enemies everywhere is better,

More enemies is better, otherwise you run into the ds1 and ds3 problem where everything is just pressing the roll button at the right time or slowly circle strafing one enemy that can never hit you. More enemies puts greater emphasis on movement, spacing, awareness, items, enemy prioritization, strategy, patience. Fighting one enemy at a time is nothing more than pressing the iframe button at the right time.

especially when you run out of stamina afi3 rolls

ie you played at 69% equip load with zero stamina investment and fell for le adp meme

You can invest more into stamina than you could in ds1. It recharges faster than it did in ds1. You could have played a fast and loose character with a stamina bar reaching halfway across the screen, light equip load, powerstanced daggers, and rolled like a madman on crack if you wanted too but instead you put 55 points into str to powerstance clubs, wasted 45 points on adp, put nothing into vitality and ran around at 69% equip load and you wander why you cant roll.

the ds1 and ds3 problem

the problem of people actually liking the games?

Yeah no shit, most of them look like they mo-capped toddlers hopped up on apple juice. The swings have zero weight, half the hitboxes are vibes-based, and don’t even get me started on the rolling—it’s like your character is made out of pudding. Feels less like you're dodging attacks and more like you're spitefully flopping on the floor hoping the boss gives up.

reddit and youtube npcs maybe. If you want an actual hardcore adventure rpg game, with depth, they have glaring problems and 2 shits on them hard

hardcore

lol

the vendrick plot was pretty cool, and the themes of kingdoms becoming forgotten overtime relating to how that applies to the first flame is also really cool.

the bosses are piss easy and the red eye orb should be permanent. grinding those in the colloseum are a pain in the ass

2 is the only one where the roll has ever felt good. It's more like an actual roll and less like an iframe cheat button that just makes your character sonic spin.

the roll animation looks like shit

just the fucking worst feeling roll lol. It's so stiff and bad.

it's the only roll animation in the wholes series that doesn't look like shit

bad

soul memory

ps2 level textures in some spots

Good

almost everything else

Its actually my favourite souls game as its the only one i would be interested in replaying

How many times have you posted these? 500? 1000?

here's your gameplay bro

those animations are what birthed the souls-like genre
i wish from kept to the slow gameplay in the sequels but they catered to the zoomer adhd über-roll crowd instead

he's on a crusade to gasli- convince people that the one falsely-advertised game every fan of the original hated is actually good and the original that inspired the last 15 years of videogames is bad. he needs every little bit to make ds1 look bad that's why he's hard focused on the idle crystal golems in the archives that were put there just for the vibes

good

Lots of exploration

bad

Fucking ganks man

Wow you're so bad at this game.

those animations lack any weight, they look like something an AI would generate today
this is unique to ds2, very ahead of the curve

considering the game came out in 2011 i think theyre holding up well above average

Honestly, those are problems you can find in most soulslikes (non From), lack of weight and unresponsiveness.

not even 90% positive

the people have spoken

liking rollslop

Ds3 was a 0/10

look how bad i am

I like the crow with the nice bunda

good thing

Armor variety

bad thing

Lighting

good

The added shortcut in No Man's Wharf is great and should have been in the game from the beginning.

bad

Fragrant Branches of Yore.

yeah ds3 is polished but shallow and too linear
even ds2 with all its flaws is more interesting and replayable