I think Dark Souls 2 is a fantastic game in its own way. Yeah in many ways its iterative and complimentary to the first game, but at the same time it also gives its own unique spin on the core Dark Souls concepts of cycles and inevatibility. I think the overarching plot of Vendrick, Aldia and Nashandra is atleast as interesting as that of Gwyn and his cronies. Espescially considering the parallels between the two.
I admit the interconnected level design of the first Dark Souls and the way seperate areas were corkscrewed onto one another is unmatched, and while DkS2 lacked this particular focus it still gave me the same feeling of the levels being an atmospheric dwell as the first game. Forest of Fallen Giants, Shaded Woods, Shrine of Amana, Drangleic Castle all provided a similar sense of place for me as some of the best locations from the first game.
The gameplay I think is a bit tighter in DkS2 with a much steadier performance throughout the game(atleast on PS3). Colors seem a bit more saturated which also contributes to giving the game a somewhat different look and feel compared to the first game. Bosses I think are also largely on par with the first game though it lacked an emotionally impressive one like Sif. Yeah DkS2 had a lot of ?dudes in armour? but similarly DkS1 recycled many of the same monsters both in boss and regular enemy form.
As for DkS2 being made by a ?B-team? I think that?s somewhat of a misnomer. I think its great that Fromsoft gives other talent the chance to work on such a big project like a Dark Souls sequel and prove themselves. That they diversify resources is what makes and keeps this company strong, unlike most(if not all) of its contemporaries that rely solely on specific franchises and creators and when they leave the entire quality of the franchise sinks like a brick. Think of anything recent made by Capcom, Squeenix or Konami(that doesn?t involve Kojima). The faith of these companies in their own in-house developers has become so bad(if they even have any left) that they either scrapped entire divisions, terminated IPs or outsourced them to overseas devs. I think the inability of once legendary game studios to attract and recruit exceptional talent is one of the main reasons of the decline of the Japanese games industry.
Anyone thinks Miyazaki with his unconventional approach to game design would ever be hired(let alone given the creative freedom to make a game like Demon?s Souls) by the major gaming companies subsisting on their old glory? Not in a million years. So I think Fromsoft is actually doing the right thing by giving other developers a chance as well to prove themselves and allow them to grow as creators.
And I think Dark Souls 2 essentially proves this. With all the care and detail put into making this game its an undeniable love letter to the original, yet despite being a sequel and following the same core concepts it still stands on its own merits. Yeah Dark Souls 2 has some rough edges both when it comes to gameplay and level design, but so did the first one. But when games are this memorable and enjoyable those faults are easily forgiven. Atleast for me.
I admit the interconnected level design of the first Dark Souls and the way seperate areas were corkscrewed onto one another is unmatched, and while DkS2 lacked this particular focus it still gave me the same feeling of the levels being an atmospheric dwell as the first game. Forest of Fallen Giants, Shaded Woods, Shrine of Amana, Drangleic Castle all provided a similar sense of place for me as some of the best locations from the first game.
The gameplay I think is a bit tighter in DkS2 with a much steadier performance throughout the game(atleast on PS3). Colors seem a bit more saturated which also contributes to giving the game a somewhat different look and feel compared to the first game. Bosses I think are also largely on par with the first game though it lacked an emotionally impressive one like Sif. Yeah DkS2 had a lot of ?dudes in armour? but similarly DkS1 recycled many of the same monsters both in boss and regular enemy form.
As for DkS2 being made by a ?B-team? I think that?s somewhat of a misnomer. I think its great that Fromsoft gives other talent the chance to work on such a big project like a Dark Souls sequel and prove themselves. That they diversify resources is what makes and keeps this company strong, unlike most(if not all) of its contemporaries that rely solely on specific franchises and creators and when they leave the entire quality of the franchise sinks like a brick. Think of anything recent made by Capcom, Squeenix or Konami(that doesn?t involve Kojima). The faith of these companies in their own in-house developers has become so bad(if they even have any left) that they either scrapped entire divisions, terminated IPs or outsourced them to overseas devs. I think the inability of once legendary game studios to attract and recruit exceptional talent is one of the main reasons of the decline of the Japanese games industry.
Anyone thinks Miyazaki with his unconventional approach to game design would ever be hired(let alone given the creative freedom to make a game like Demon?s Souls) by the major gaming companies subsisting on their old glory? Not in a million years. So I think Fromsoft is actually doing the right thing by giving other developers a chance as well to prove themselves and allow them to grow as creators.
And I think Dark Souls 2 essentially proves this. With all the care and detail put into making this game its an undeniable love letter to the original, yet despite being a sequel and following the same core concepts it still stands on its own merits. Yeah Dark Souls 2 has some rough edges both when it comes to gameplay and level design, but so did the first one. But when games are this memorable and enjoyable those faults are easily forgiven. Atleast for me.
