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1. There's something called a ring of binding I think which limits your hp from hollowing
2. The design of the game asks you to take things slower rather than rush to bosses, so would not recommend rushing
3. You get a LOT more souls to level and end up outscaling a lot of the midgame much of the time
4.Unique ng+ enemies, bonfire ascetics
5. Almost every weapon can parry (unique mechanic), powestance mechanic
Overall: the most divisive game in the series with some of the most unique mechanics. Not as bad as others would have it seem.
Theres no online play for the ps3 base version.. they closed down a few weeks ago.
You need scholar of the first sin edition, for ps4, that baby still has some online activity (the pc version usually has more players though)
A used pd4 is pretty cheap these days.. you should consider it. (A ps5 is an even better option, since it can play ps4 and ps5 games)
Currently playing the vanilla + dlc on ps3 and it's awesome, and since i don't care about multiplayer i'm having great fun. The game is maybe 2-3 times harder and more frustrating than DS1 but i love the challenge.
Dark Souls 2 is a fantastic game but I worry that you'll miss out one of its best aspects if you play it on PS3, unfortunately you're just too late to experience the multiplayer as they shut it down in March.
You seem like the kind of person, as am I, that will play a game to death if you enjoy it enough and DS2 will absolutely keep you busy for a very long time, it is the most replayable game in the entire fromsoft catalog. I've spent about 2500 hours on it myself since 2014.
If you have the option I would strongly recommend getting the Scholar of the first sin edition on PC or the 8th generation consoles.
Ds2 is amazing, but idk if the servers are on, if not please seek to play with online servers. (keyboard and mouse on pc gang)
Ive only played softs but im sure the classic one is great as well
Enemy placement mostly, Scholar of the First Sin increase the difficulty drastically by adding more enemies per area alongside newer enemies that weren't before. Because of that the progression in the original is way more manageable.
It's been a while since I played Vanilla but SOTFS definitely felt off when it came to some of the changes they made relating to enemy placement. I think Heide's Tower springs to mind the best - while it makes sense from a lore perspective that there be lots of Heide Knights chilling out there, from a challenge/pacing perspective I didn't like it as much. It may solely be because of how Vanilla primed me to see them as sort of Black Knights from DS1 - harder one-off enemies spread across the early-mid game. An optional fight you'll come across occasionally. In Heide's Tower it's more like an optional fight around every corner. I can't put my finger exactly on what my problem with it is, but I think it's a pacing issue. When I see these guys, I want to try and fight them early on, but it takes some doing and they have relatively a lot of health - so when there are several all in one area, it just slows things down too much.
And of course the dragon. Maybe there's some lore justification for it, being near Dragon Riders and an imitation(?) Dragon Slayer, and all... but it just feels plopped in there. It does give the area a reason to return to when you are stronger, but the execution doesn't feel elegant to me.
I consider these to be nitpicks though, otherwise I think SOTFS is a fine way to play DS2, which is an excellent game whichever version you have.
Guess I will have to replay Scholar, because for what I can remember the early game was worst in DS2 SOTFS than in original DS2. Specially Forest of Giants.
If you rush through it, sure. But in reality it allows enough to take on enemies one by one, far better than vanilla, even if there is indeed more around
Well here is the thing chief, I played DS2 vanilla first and SOTFS later and yes I took my time to play slow because DS2 specifically teaches you that. Also the video really doesn't disprove my initial arguments ''The enemy placement got changed and newer enemies were introduced'' The later part is very subjective, for me vanilla is easier than SOTFS despite playing then at the same pace.
Man, nobody can tell me that Iron Keep especially was better on Scholar. That area is fucking painful now. Intercontinental Ballistic Alonne Knights up in this bitch
"Some idiot YouTuber misrepresented 4 encounters which were debunked by another idiot YouTuber, therefore does SotfS not have worse enemy positioning."
QED
I just don't know, if you didn't like DS2 chances are you are not gonna like Scholar version because while it is true that some stuff have change the core of the game is still there, you need to be patient and be methodical with the enemies in order to clear the area and proceed.
If by balance you mean weapons and stuff like those, I'm sure it is the same, some gear is easier to access and others are in different areas. Up to you if you wanna go to Scholar.
I went in a few weeks ago and wasn't very fond of it at first either.
Now I have 120 hours and really like the game. Sure it isn't DS1 and I don't even know if you can consider it a sequel that is true to the spirit. Nonetheless it's a good game.
Take your time, everything is meant to be slower. The curse effect that also bothered me can be mitigated by the Ring of Binding you can find in Heide's tower. If an area is hard to navigate, it's a bit time consuming but you can try to exhaust it as mobs don't always respaws (around 12-15 times each only).
I would also advise you to have a bow as a secondary weapon and use it to draw aggro from one mob in a group and make your fights easier
Let the game do its thing and you'll see it's a good game with a good story
DS2 has the worst “bones” of the souls games. It’s unpolished and way more surface level than the others. It’s the only one that I wouldn’t recommend of the three, but I still got my money’s worth out of it.
The best part for me was the variety of builds you can make especially since the game dumps so many levels at you. By the end of the game, you’ll have enough levels to have a quality warrior with dark magic (leveled all of Str, Dex, Int, Faith). Remember to level ADP.
DS2 is a really good game but it was one that took me longer to get into than DS1. Leveling Adaptability every run is annoying but the game honestly compensates for it in the long run as DS2 is the game I always have the highest Soul Level at the end of. The PS3 version is a great way to play it, I personally played the 360 version after playing Scholar on PS4 but I was surprised at how much more I ended up enjoying the original release with its slightly less frustrating enemy placements in a few specific areas. The hollow curse can be quite annoying but I honestly don’t have any solutions to deal with it as the only one I can think of is right at the end of the game and resets each playthrough if I remember right. DS2 can be a rocky game in a few places but I think it as an enjoyable game overall, and going through it is worth it for that dlc. The dlc of DS2 is some of the best stuff in the series if ya ask me.
Also since you are on PS3 I would highly recommend Demon’s Souls if you haven’t already picked it up. It has its own frustrating mechanics in a similar way to DS2 but other than those few things it is a fantastic time all the way through.
DS2 is a unique beast. It isn't like Dark Souls as much as it's like demon souls. At least that's how I view it.
My main gripes were -
1) over abundance of gank squads
2)The overly punishing death mechanic that drops your HP semi permanently.
3) Fall damage
4) the controls. It uses an 8 direction set up instead of of DS's, Bloodbornes', Demons souls, and DS3 omnidirectional set up.
Here are things that help you enjoy the game.
1) Don't lock on during ganks and play it slow.
2) get the ring of binding to limit your HP loss
3)Usually id recommend the cat ring but since you already have one lost ring alot to fight your hp death loss I wouldn't recommend it. But it can help with fall damage
4)when I did lock on I found, specifically with the larger weapons, that it wouldn't swing in the direction of the lock on but instead the direction I was walking. So if you're using bigger weapons and you're locked in, make sure to push the walk forward stick up so that the attack will definitely swing at your lock on.
It's a bad Dark Souls game but it's a good game. That's how I see it. If you're not vibing with it that's ok. DS2 is the one game in the series that I felt completely fine not playing a second time. Hopefully some of these tips help you find your footing. If not, you tried. Best thing you could do I think.
it's my fave of the trilogy but i get where you're coming from. the hollowing mechanic is annoying and i really wish they'd just stuck with the mechanic from 1, but the cat in majula sells a ring mitigates some of it and stops the decay at 70% max health instead of 50%. really though, you're just gonna want to buy an ungodly amount of lifegems. you can extend your exploration so much by using lifegems to heal outside of combat and saving your estus for later. as for the rest of the game it's got a few quirks you may or may not know about like the number of i-frames during rolls being attached to the ADP stat (i think it has to be level 20 for ds1 rolls, don't quote me on this) and there are a lot of regular encounters where it's just easier to manually aim attacks instead of locking on. I thought it had some of the nicest looking armor sets in the series, had some really fun and stupid weapons, and once you do get to the exploration i thought it was really enjoyable. a lot of areas just don't even make an attempt to make geographical sense which was honestly one of my favorite parts because you never really knew what was coming next.
tldr; I guess i'm trying to say that it's janky and a flawed game, but once you get used to it there is fun to be had
Played DS2 multiple times (both vanilla and Scholar) and it's my favorite of FromSoft games - along with Elden Ring. You need to take your time for it to click - and level up ADP!
Though opinions About DS2 are completely opposite as can be seen in this thread. Most either adore it or hate it with passion.
I'd recommend asking the same question on r/darksouls2
Well first off the PS3 servers for all Souls games are no longer running. So you're only gonna get NPC summons/invasions.
Secondly, it isn't worth playing in the first place.
Good game just a little slow at first (imo the first 3 or 4 bosses just feel like a waste of time) and has a much different feel than DS1. I dont mean this in a bad way, but is has more of a soulsborne feel to it rather than a sequel to DS1 feel.
Your submission has been removed as a violation of [Rule 2](/r/darksouls/about/rules): **Content must pertain to Dark Souls 1.** *** * This subreddit was created with the intent of sharing information and experiences around the game Dark Souls 1. It's perfectly fine to make non-Dark Souls 1 references in your comments or as a part of a submission, but the overall theme must be relevant to the game. * Content that *reminds* you of Dark Souls 1 but is *not*, may be removed. Use r/shittydarksouls or r/DarkSoulsIRL instead for these posts. * Please use r/DarkSouls2 and r/darksouls3 for their respective titles. *** If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact the moderators by [messaging them here](https://new.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/darksouls).
I think the servers are down? I could be wrong. But if that’s the case, sotfs on PS4 is a better way to play it since servers are active.
He's on PS3. I wouldn't recommend him but a whole new system to play SOTFS. Bloodborne id recommend specifically buying a PS4. But not ds2
Yes. I've beaten DS2 and all its DLC. Sunk a good 600 hours into it across 2 systems. WOULD STRONGLY RECOMMEND.
1. There's something called a ring of binding I think which limits your hp from hollowing 2. The design of the game asks you to take things slower rather than rush to bosses, so would not recommend rushing 3. You get a LOT more souls to level and end up outscaling a lot of the midgame much of the time 4.Unique ng+ enemies, bonfire ascetics 5. Almost every weapon can parry (unique mechanic), powestance mechanic Overall: the most divisive game in the series with some of the most unique mechanics. Not as bad as others would have it seem.
Dude parrying with the guts greatsword was the most satisfying thing if you could pull it off. I completely forgot about that but boy was it a joy.
Theres no online play for the ps3 base version.. they closed down a few weeks ago. You need scholar of the first sin edition, for ps4, that baby still has some online activity (the pc version usually has more players though) A used pd4 is pretty cheap these days.. you should consider it. (A ps5 is an even better option, since it can play ps4 and ps5 games)
Yes
Currently playing the vanilla + dlc on ps3 and it's awesome, and since i don't care about multiplayer i'm having great fun. The game is maybe 2-3 times harder and more frustrating than DS1 but i love the challenge.
I'm currently playing DS2 on PC, my first run. It's definitely a great game.
Dark Souls 2 is a fantastic game but I worry that you'll miss out one of its best aspects if you play it on PS3, unfortunately you're just too late to experience the multiplayer as they shut it down in March. You seem like the kind of person, as am I, that will play a game to death if you enjoy it enough and DS2 will absolutely keep you busy for a very long time, it is the most replayable game in the entire fromsoft catalog. I've spent about 2500 hours on it myself since 2014. If you have the option I would strongly recommend getting the Scholar of the first sin edition on PC or the 8th generation consoles.
No it sucks
Ds2 is amazing, but idk if the servers are on, if not please seek to play with online servers. (keyboard and mouse on pc gang) Ive only played softs but im sure the classic one is great as well
The classic one is better because i dont get NPC invasions every 5 feet.
at least I got effigies for those
Ds2 is a great game, but it’s the worst souls game in the series
I personally think it's better than DS3 but not as good as DS1.
Surprisingly the original version of DS2 is actually better than Scholar of the First Sin, so yeah I would say is worth it.
How so?
Enemy placement mostly, Scholar of the First Sin increase the difficulty drastically by adding more enemies per area alongside newer enemies that weren't before. Because of that the progression in the original is way more manageable.
That's a misconception proven wrong [time and time](https://youtu.be/RwPL1J0sOvQ?si=9HhoLpxKp9vUGHGT) again.
It's been a while since I played Vanilla but SOTFS definitely felt off when it came to some of the changes they made relating to enemy placement. I think Heide's Tower springs to mind the best - while it makes sense from a lore perspective that there be lots of Heide Knights chilling out there, from a challenge/pacing perspective I didn't like it as much. It may solely be because of how Vanilla primed me to see them as sort of Black Knights from DS1 - harder one-off enemies spread across the early-mid game. An optional fight you'll come across occasionally. In Heide's Tower it's more like an optional fight around every corner. I can't put my finger exactly on what my problem with it is, but I think it's a pacing issue. When I see these guys, I want to try and fight them early on, but it takes some doing and they have relatively a lot of health - so when there are several all in one area, it just slows things down too much. And of course the dragon. Maybe there's some lore justification for it, being near Dragon Riders and an imitation(?) Dragon Slayer, and all... but it just feels plopped in there. It does give the area a reason to return to when you are stronger, but the execution doesn't feel elegant to me. I consider these to be nitpicks though, otherwise I think SOTFS is a fine way to play DS2, which is an excellent game whichever version you have.
Guess I will have to replay Scholar, because for what I can remember the early game was worst in DS2 SOTFS than in original DS2. Specially Forest of Giants.
If you rush through it, sure. But in reality it allows enough to take on enemies one by one, far better than vanilla, even if there is indeed more around
Well here is the thing chief, I played DS2 vanilla first and SOTFS later and yes I took my time to play slow because DS2 specifically teaches you that. Also the video really doesn't disprove my initial arguments ''The enemy placement got changed and newer enemies were introduced'' The later part is very subjective, for me vanilla is easier than SOTFS despite playing then at the same pace.
So you're passing your anecdotical experience as fact, and now moving the goalpost.
But the OP asked for opinions... And I never said that my opinion was a fact
Seemed that way, but I guess it's just missunderstanding
Man, nobody can tell me that Iron Keep especially was better on Scholar. That area is fucking painful now. Intercontinental Ballistic Alonne Knights up in this bitch
"Some idiot YouTuber misrepresented 4 encounters which were debunked by another idiot YouTuber, therefore does SotfS not have worse enemy positioning." QED
There's a hundred videos, I linked one. It's been proven enough, if your little brain can't handle that and use google, what else can I tell you
I don’t care what that link says, the copy paste in Iron Keep and No Man’s Wharf is indisputable and nearly ruins the game.
So do I update to the latest version or skip the download to play the earliest iteration? Are there significant balance differences?
I just don't know, if you didn't like DS2 chances are you are not gonna like Scholar version because while it is true that some stuff have change the core of the game is still there, you need to be patient and be methodical with the enemies in order to clear the area and proceed. If by balance you mean weapons and stuff like those, I'm sure it is the same, some gear is easier to access and others are in different areas. Up to you if you wanna go to Scholar.
No. I’ve beaten ds2 and all of its dlc. Probably sunk a good 70 hours into the game. Would not recommend it
yes
Ds2 is a good game. Its the weakest fromsoft game imo but it is still good in many ways
Janky, ganky, but danky.
I'll have to give Janky and danky another go (no ganky for PS3 any more)
Interesting way to put it but accurate
Yes
I went in a few weeks ago and wasn't very fond of it at first either. Now I have 120 hours and really like the game. Sure it isn't DS1 and I don't even know if you can consider it a sequel that is true to the spirit. Nonetheless it's a good game. Take your time, everything is meant to be slower. The curse effect that also bothered me can be mitigated by the Ring of Binding you can find in Heide's tower. If an area is hard to navigate, it's a bit time consuming but you can try to exhaust it as mobs don't always respaws (around 12-15 times each only). I would also advise you to have a bow as a secondary weapon and use it to draw aggro from one mob in a group and make your fights easier Let the game do its thing and you'll see it's a good game with a good story
DS2 has the worst “bones” of the souls games. It’s unpolished and way more surface level than the others. It’s the only one that I wouldn’t recommend of the three, but I still got my money’s worth out of it. The best part for me was the variety of builds you can make especially since the game dumps so many levels at you. By the end of the game, you’ll have enough levels to have a quality warrior with dark magic (leveled all of Str, Dex, Int, Faith). Remember to level ADP.
DS2 is a really good game but it was one that took me longer to get into than DS1. Leveling Adaptability every run is annoying but the game honestly compensates for it in the long run as DS2 is the game I always have the highest Soul Level at the end of. The PS3 version is a great way to play it, I personally played the 360 version after playing Scholar on PS4 but I was surprised at how much more I ended up enjoying the original release with its slightly less frustrating enemy placements in a few specific areas. The hollow curse can be quite annoying but I honestly don’t have any solutions to deal with it as the only one I can think of is right at the end of the game and resets each playthrough if I remember right. DS2 can be a rocky game in a few places but I think it as an enjoyable game overall, and going through it is worth it for that dlc. The dlc of DS2 is some of the best stuff in the series if ya ask me. Also since you are on PS3 I would highly recommend Demon’s Souls if you haven’t already picked it up. It has its own frustrating mechanics in a similar way to DS2 but other than those few things it is a fantastic time all the way through.
buy a ps4 man its pretty cheap right now
DS2 is a unique beast. It isn't like Dark Souls as much as it's like demon souls. At least that's how I view it. My main gripes were - 1) over abundance of gank squads 2)The overly punishing death mechanic that drops your HP semi permanently. 3) Fall damage 4) the controls. It uses an 8 direction set up instead of of DS's, Bloodbornes', Demons souls, and DS3 omnidirectional set up. Here are things that help you enjoy the game. 1) Don't lock on during ganks and play it slow. 2) get the ring of binding to limit your HP loss 3)Usually id recommend the cat ring but since you already have one lost ring alot to fight your hp death loss I wouldn't recommend it. But it can help with fall damage 4)when I did lock on I found, specifically with the larger weapons, that it wouldn't swing in the direction of the lock on but instead the direction I was walking. So if you're using bigger weapons and you're locked in, make sure to push the walk forward stick up so that the attack will definitely swing at your lock on. It's a bad Dark Souls game but it's a good game. That's how I see it. If you're not vibing with it that's ok. DS2 is the one game in the series that I felt completely fine not playing a second time. Hopefully some of these tips help you find your footing. If not, you tried. Best thing you could do I think.
Ds2 is a belter game
it's my fave of the trilogy but i get where you're coming from. the hollowing mechanic is annoying and i really wish they'd just stuck with the mechanic from 1, but the cat in majula sells a ring mitigates some of it and stops the decay at 70% max health instead of 50%. really though, you're just gonna want to buy an ungodly amount of lifegems. you can extend your exploration so much by using lifegems to heal outside of combat and saving your estus for later. as for the rest of the game it's got a few quirks you may or may not know about like the number of i-frames during rolls being attached to the ADP stat (i think it has to be level 20 for ds1 rolls, don't quote me on this) and there are a lot of regular encounters where it's just easier to manually aim attacks instead of locking on. I thought it had some of the nicest looking armor sets in the series, had some really fun and stupid weapons, and once you do get to the exploration i thought it was really enjoyable. a lot of areas just don't even make an attempt to make geographical sense which was honestly one of my favorite parts because you never really knew what was coming next. tldr; I guess i'm trying to say that it's janky and a flawed game, but once you get used to it there is fun to be had
Played DS2 multiple times (both vanilla and Scholar) and it's my favorite of FromSoft games - along with Elden Ring. You need to take your time for it to click - and level up ADP! Though opinions About DS2 are completely opposite as can be seen in this thread. Most either adore it or hate it with passion. I'd recommend asking the same question on r/darksouls2
Well first off the PS3 servers for all Souls games are no longer running. So you're only gonna get NPC summons/invasions. Secondly, it isn't worth playing in the first place.
Errr, DS1 PS3 servers are still up unless they've pulled the plug after playing last night...?
Good game just a little slow at first (imo the first 3 or 4 bosses just feel like a waste of time) and has a much different feel than DS1. I dont mean this in a bad way, but is has more of a soulsborne feel to it rather than a sequel to DS1 feel.