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Dark Souls 2 fun (lemmy.blahaj.zone)
submitted 2 months ago by to c/soulslike@lemmy.zip
26 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I found it in my phone's gallery, probably from Reddit.

Two cats representing different types of Dark Souls 2 players: a black cat on the left side of the image looks straight at the viewer with a neutral expression, giving a negative review to the game: "1 out of 5, the game is BAD because bla bla bla". A cat to the right side looks silly, with a propeller hat and a lollypop, giving a positive review to DS2: "5 out of 5, it was a lot of fun." There is an horde of knights behind the cat.

all 26 comments

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[–] 15 points 2 months ago (9 children)

It's probably the Souls game I had most fun with and also the one with the most frustrating experiences. There's a lot to love there but I must admit a huge chunk of my enjoyment with DS2 came from playing it coop just with my partner, so she gets the credit. 😅

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  • [–] 7 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    Reminds me of the olde classic video "Happy Souls" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kr7KDCsIws

    I played the whole franchise with a friend and had a blast.

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    To be fair, coop with a friend can fix any game! But playing FromSoftware games in coop sounds funny, given how much focus is on loneliness in their games.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    Depends on which too. If it's a Souls the summoning and invading mechanism is very generously sprinkled from top to bottom. Soapstone messages are everywhere too. Even when played offline NPC summons and invasions are still there to fill in for other players.

    I can't see a focus on loneliness, but rather on being suprised by a stranger's interaction who's company you never expected.

    Also, this Eurogamer interview delves into what inspired Hidetaka Miyazaki to approach multiplayer as he did.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    I never thought about that actually... my experience with Souls-like is largely defined by offline experience because my broke teenage self just pirated the games. It was always a given for me that these games are supposed to feel lonely.

    That's a funny revelation haha

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago

    Speedrunners are single players too. 👌

    It's actually a virtue that these games let players find their own way of progressing. I love the Souls games because players have ways to express their character that would be unthinkable in other games that aren't immersive sims.

    I gifted Scholar of the First Sin to my partner at a time when she was feeling stuck and overwhelmed with options and responsibilities and I wished she'd venture down a path she liked, scrutinize the obstacles on it and overcome them through pattern learning, practice and resourcefulness, asking for jolly cooperation whenever she needed some help.

    It immediately clicked and had a good influence on our lives. We both pushed forward with better attitudes. 💛

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    It had a great PvP scene going for it. Also a huge world and improvements of all kinds over DS1. The only tragedy is that it also came with regressions in very important areas...

    Still, it heavily influenced later games and the DLC + Scholar brought back a lot of what the original release kinda lacked

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    • [–] 11 points 2 months ago

    I believe "fun" and "good" are two different attributes, so both cats can be right.

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    [–] 5 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    DS2 is the only souls game that hasn't "clicked" with me. I know it's not bad, but I've given it 5 tries over the years and I just don't enjoy it like the others.

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 2 months ago

    I'm surprised you picked it up 5 times before deciding it's not for you. I also occasionally fall into this trap of "this game is really popular so my lack of enjoyment of it must be because of my approach" and then I sink 6 hours into Earthbound despite not enjoying anything the game.

    There's too much stuff to explore in this world to spend so much time with something as pointless as an unfun game.

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    • [–] 4 points 2 months ago

    Sums up the experience for just about any game that's being discussed on reddit for a long time

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    [–] 3 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    This is an example of the internet facilitating anti-intellectualism

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    • [–] 1 point 2 months ago

    I beat ds2 out of spite alone. Love the other games

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    [–] 0 points 2 months ago (6 children)

    DS2 is easy.

    DS2:SotFS is dumb.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago* (5 children)

    DS2's difficulty is all in the bullshit leading up to the disappointing boss fights.

    DS2's best shit are the mechanics, tho. True dual weilding, limitless invasions, no level matching for multiplayer, bonfire aesetics, enemies stop respawning after X number of kills on the same dude, etc. The only thing holding it back, mechanically, is the dumbfuck Soul Memory system. And for first time players, the stat that affects how many iframes you get when dodging.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

    no level matching for multiplayer

    enemies stop respawning after X number of kills

    IMO these are downsides.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

    I can actually invade some level 300 dude on a level 1 character and show them what real strength is.

    If you wanna farm enemies, this feature forces you into using the bonfire ascetic items to continue killing the same dude forever. Which also makes them give more souls each NG+ cycle you increase the area to up the 7th time. If you're trying to get a drop: Trust me, not one thing a random enemy drops is actually worth the time.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    You don't need to use Bonfire Ascetics to endlessly farm enemies. You can join the Company of Champions covenant. This covenant prevents enemies from despawning (and buffs them).

    Going into higher NG cycles or using Bonfire Ascetics is still beneficial when farming since, with higher Bonfire Intensity, drop rates increase.

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