My experience and impressions so far with Dark Souls 2: SotFS, blind play-through. [Possible Spoilers]

So to give a little background I'm one of those people who played Dark Souls on the advice of a friend a long time ago. It seemed really cool. Until I got my ass handed to me by the black knight at the bottom of the stairs in Undead Burg. I tried for a few hours to beat him. I couldn't. I gave up the game. It was too hard, not my cup of tea.

It wasn't until about 2 months ago when I saw a streamer play through the Great Hollow and eventually make his way to Ash Lake that I decided to try it again. The atmosphere of that area gave me goose bumps. So I decided to give it another shot.

Forward on a couple months and about 80 hours and I've completed my first play-through of Dark Souls and moved straight on to Dark Souls 2. I'd like to give my thoughts so far on the game as I see VERY varied opinions on it and I'd like to have a discussion about it. Some say it's rubbish and others say it's a solid game but doesn't quite live up to its predecessor. I'm curious as to whether this is just the out-spoken minority or the majority opinion.

So just a quick run through of my progression in the game: I've killed the Lost Sinner. I cleared out Heide's Tower and No man's Wharf after this and was annoyed to end up at the Bastille again... I had previously made my way to the intersection in the Shaded Woods so I went back there and pushed through the misty forest area up to the scorpion lady, whom I just beat. That's where I'm at right now.

I'm playing a Cleric. My build is: Vig: 12, Vit: 10, End: 10, Att: 20, Str: 22, Dex: 26, Adp: 10, Int: 4, Faith: 22. From memory that's about SL82.

Weapons of choice have been the Fire Long Sword and the Dragon Slayer Axe. I don't use a shield at all, decided not to after I relied pretty heavily on one in Dark Souls. Decided to carry the Archduke robes all the way through the game unless I find something else fitting for a cleric. They are at +7 also.

Obviously I have a huge amount of the game to go so please don't spoil anything. That being said I think I've seen enough to have a discussion about it.

Here are some of my thoughts and impressions.

1. Bosses. So far I'm on the fence with the bosses. No boss has taken me more than two tries. About half the bosses died on my first attempt. The hardest was the sentinels, the Lost Sinner and maybe the first fight with the Pursuer (later fights have been easy). Is this a familiarity thing or are the bosses in 2 just easier? The strange thing is, I'm still really enjoying the fights. They just aren't that difficult. Here's hoping they throw some crazy shit at you later in the game. I can't believe I'm saying this but I WANT to feel frustrated!

2. Multiple enemy encounters. There weren't many times in DS1 where you were forced to fight multiple enemies at a time. You could almost always bait enemies one at a time if you were patient enough. You can NOT get away with this is DS2 and I'm loving it. Adds so much tension. I've seen people condemn this as "artificial difficulty" which I just don't understand. It just makes you have to be so much more aware of your surroundings. It makes you come up with strategies like baiting them to choke points. It's also a huge nerf to shields which felt too strong to me in DS1.

3. Weapons. Weapons feel like a real mixed bag to me this time around. My Fire Long Sword (currently +7) has served me very well until now but I'm starting to feel the damage plateau. I have some completely un-upgraded heavy weapons with comparable damage to it. I like that every weapon was completely viable through-out the game in DS1. I'm thinking this might not be the case in DS2. Also I keep being surprised when I get weapons like the Heide Spear that I expect to upgrade to +5 with Twinkling Titanite but instead upgrades with regular Titanite. It looks to me like it scales slower with each upgrade than other weapons but the point is it seems hard to predict how good a weapons will be with upgrades. This and seeing as I haven't found an infinite source of Titanite and Large Titanite I'm loathe to experiment. I love the variety of weapons, it just seems they aren't as consistent as in DS1.

4. Atmosphere. This seems to be one of the most talked about comparisons with DS1. Certainly it seems to lack some of the atmosphere of its predecessor. It's hard to put a finger on it. I think the world still feels connected, just on a much lesser scale than DS1. I like that there are two paths to the Lost Bastille, yet I have not encountered any moments like in Tomb of the Giants when you can see the Demon Ruins and then later Ash Lake. One thing that seems to be missing from this game so far is paths that have no enemies, solitary runs leading to who knows what. Like the trek down the side of Darkroot Basin, running down into Ashe Lake, the tunnel to Quelaag, the steps down to Anor Londo, descending down the levels to the Gaping Dragon fight. These little runs give you sense of things to come while still keeping you wondering, there's tension... you wonder what you're walking into, it creates a mood. One example in DS2 is the cave from Heide's Tower of Flame to No Man's Wharf, but even then the bonfire kills all the tension because if you walk in there and get your arse handed to you you know you dont have far to go. Too often you walk into a new area and you're immediately greeted by a type of new enemy and shown what's to come. You don't get to build that tension. The best - and maybe only - example so far in DS2 is the walk to Old Akelarre before entering the Shaded Woods.

5. PvP. To be honest I didn't do much PvP in Dark Souls as I spent the majority of the game hollow. I only Restored my humanity for the sake of kindling bonfires. The times I was invaded it was either a cake walk or I got my bottom spoon fed to me. It just felt like a hindrance. My opinion has been completely changed since starting DS2. Invasions don't come too often but I get super excited now when they do. I've has so many close fights. Some spanning entire areas, where one of us retreats to regroup and tries to catch the other off guard. My reaction to invasions now is to find a secluded, somewhat open area to duel. Sometimes I set traps if I really don't want to die at that time. Some times I hide and see how long it takes them to find me then throw a cheeky lighting spear and retreat to another hiding spot. Basically Dark Souls 2 has really introduced me to the magic of invasions and I love it. It really adds another whole dynamic to the game. I don't know whether if I played through DS1 again and tried to remain human if I would get the same feeling as I do in DS2 but I'll probably try it when I finish up on this game.

To conclude I'm hugely enjoying my time with Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin so far. Some things feel improved or at least more fleshed out than 1 and some things are certainly a little lacking. I won't make a verdict as to which is my preferred game until I finish DS2 but I can say I haven't felt this kind of excitement and discovery from a game for a LONG time.

If you read all the way through this then thank you for your time.

Praise the sun!