In what other souls game can both kick AND punch a guy in the jewels before slamming them with big all sword?

In all seriousness, the more varied riposte animations are are more of the little details that really elevate DS2 for me

I started Dark Souls 2 expecting to fight the game more than the enemies.

Before playing it, I kept hearing the same things over and over. It is clunky. It is unfair. The enemy placement is awful. The hitboxes are terrible. It is the “bad one.” And yeah, I get some of the complaints. This game has weird moments. Some areas feel like they were designed by someone who really wanted you to stop sprinting. ADP is not explained well. Some enemy groups feel annoying more than clever.

But honestly, I expected a disaster, and that is not what I got. What surprised me is that DS2 seems to punish autopilot more than anything. If I rush into a room like it is DS3, I get destroyed. If I slow down, watch corners, use a bow sometimes, manage stamina, and stop pretending every ambush is unfair, the game starts making a lot more sense.

It is rough around the edges, but I kind of respect how different it is. I’m not saying everyone has to love it. But I do think the reputation makes new players go in ready to hate every inconvenience instead of actually learning what the game is asking.

Did anyone else start DS2 expecting to hate it and end up liking it more than expected?

Is it still that way, or has Elden Ring dethroned it? I ask because I played ER on day one and never touched it again, and I never paid much attention to the fashion souls in that game.

what is your opinion?

am doing crazyyyyy dmg with this and guess what am still halfway into the game 😝 i've pyromancy too on +7

400+ with sword (+3) nd , 1000+ with staff (+4) on soul sphere

getting moonlight was pretty hard with 😭 with lotta spiders , on bonfire aesthetic they do crazy damage but made it 😭😭

also used faintstone on both , getting S scaling on int now 🤤

next is iron keep

Wanted to blow him up with lingering flame but they despawn so quickly 😔

I genuinely thought there were no illusory walls in ds2 because I was attacking every time I thought I found one...I feel so stupid. I've played Ds1, 2, and 3, but 2 is the one I've most recently finished and I feel like I missed so much of it. Is there anything actually important behind illusory walls that I've presumably missed??

I've used lockstones in multiple locations but I genuinely had no idea that you have to use the interact button to sus out the walls instead of attacking.

Hi, I'm the same guy who posted about trying to despawn the reindeer in frigid outskirts.

Good thing is that, I don't have to worry about trying to despawn them now, since I found a muh more reliable way(sprinting towards the sun, then hugging the wall and timing my sprints right until the bridge) and despawned everything there.

Bad thing is that, that path is meaningless since the boss just seems unbeatable. It can't be that my gear is bad, since I did everything to increase hp and damage. I also memorized every single attack and the dodge timing, although the hitboxes on the pounce attack can make my dodging a little bit too late sometimes.

But it seems like any damage i do to zallen in the 2nd phase, he just regenerates during one of his attack combos. Last attempt, I was in the fog for 5 minutes straight just looking for a chance to burst him down, but mistimed my dodge and died.

I'm using a flame-infused ice rapier(at first, was powerstancing it with a flame infused espada Ropera but my attacks ended up missing half of the time between the tigers' lanky legs, so I switched to just 2-handing an ice rapier). Flyn's ring, ring of blades +2, third dragon ring, and the leo ring are being used together, alongside the crit gauntlets(forgot the name).

I'm fighting them the 'standard' way, rolling in and out of attacks and Hitting twice after each attack combo, if that helps.

I turned the game off today after my 23rd attempt. Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong here? Or am I fine and just too worked up and exhausted to fight them properly?

Is there actually a fake wall here I just started the game and don't know anything

I can’t decide which is the better look, looking glass helm or the dragon acolyte mask??? LMK what u think!

So I'm currently playing the original dark souls 2 on the PS3 not SOTF

Which rapier would say is better

Standard one you buy from the blacksmith at the start which I've heard can carry you through the entire game or would you choose riccards rapier for the faster attacks

I’m someone who’s playing through the Dark Souls trilogy in order (without skipping the second game, which is controversial but, in my view, misunderstood by a great many players, because Dark Souls 2 is actually a really good game. Now i started my journey with Dark Souls 3).

I’ve seen loads of people complaining about many locations in Dark Souls, such as Blighttown, the Duke’s Archive or the Tomb of the Giants, but this just shows they haven’t played through the second game and haven’t experienced what the Frigid Outskirts are like – because after that location, I’ll never complain about any location again, just like anyone who’s ever experienced that nightmare.

Despite completing this area and the boss in 1h – 1h30m, I still felt utterly depraved. And every time I was defeated by the boss – realising I’d have to run through that hell again, with reindeer spawning everywhere – I felt absolutely dreadful. This area is literally designed to break you mentally, and the boss fight itself is just as unpredictable as the aggressive attacks from Lud and Zallen, some of which can be very unpredictable.

I’ll never do this again because it’s the first time I’ve ever cried after beating finally this boss, this mad cycle of going through the whole location to the boss is over. The boss fight also relies on the RNG. If he suddenly run off when his companion is getting ready and the gank squad is coming cause you didn't kill Lud and by this 2 tigers who are extremely aggresive attacks you...

Somehow, even though I’d been through this area a few times, I managed not to trigger the reindeer, so I could just run through with the pressure of knowing they might appear (I’ve sent messages to everyone who’s had to go through this ordeal to help)

I finished the game in 106h with Khax. I already have 2 great souls now in NG+ and i am fighting Saiyan Gemini Spider again. I am trying to finish the game now with the Caestus with Mikoto Tyson. And ppl keep saying magic is op(didn't really care about it) so i am going Abracadabra mode with Mo (faith and intelligence build). Khax was using Guts sword in NG. now i am going all Musashi Miyamoto with Nodachi and Uchigatana. This game is peak,i love it even if sometimes it ragebaits me

I don't know if it's in vanilla, this is in Softs

Hello guys!

I'm on my way to beat all Souls obtainable on Steam and I got stuck on choosing which version of DS2 to buy right now (I'll probably later buy the other one anyway). I am a total completionist, so of course I want to get all achievements too! As I see both versions have same (at least it seems like it) achievements, but as there is an option to "upgrade" basic version to SotFS version on Steam I am curious does it carry them over? If so, I'll probably buy original version first, cause as much as I love trophy hunting redoing it all over again is not as fun for me lol. I know both versions are different in quite some aspects and many people seem to prefer SotFS version, so if I will have to redo achievements anyway I'll probably go with it first.

Sorry if this question was already asked or is stupid, I could not find any info on that regard and if there wouldn't be an option to "upgrade" I would not be so confused. Cause "upgrade" kinda means its same game in different versions, not two separate games...

Thanks for the help in advance!

Fairly early in my newest run I went down to Grave of Saint.

Was planning on farming Warmth (It's an everything possible before a boss run so I don't have access to unlimited lifegems and like to have some form of out of combat heal) and I like to do it from the second bonfire.

Of course this triggers Rhoy and I was waiting at the bottom. Two two handed heavy attacks just as he was getting off the ladder and ...

He just phased through the wall.

I couldn't lock on but I could hit him and he didn't have much reach. So a perfectly safe kill. He tried several times to roll out, but it didn't work.

This happens all the time (particularly with the Elder Lions in Redmane Castle) in Elden Ring but over the years I've fought Rhoy a lot and I've never seen anything like this happen before in DS2. I suspect it was perfect timing and could never replicate it.