Dark Souls II (PS3)

As a hardcore Souls fan, having played Demon's and Dark, I have to say that this latest entry (and first sequel of the series) is amazing. They've improved on so many aspects; almost every play style is now viable in any capacity. The game looks great for something so expansive and detailed that has been forced to run on 10 year old hardware.First of all, THIS GAME IS MASSIVE. It's huge compared to Dark Souls. I'm an experienced Souls player and I've not yet completed my first playthrough after 37 hours.Secondly, THE DIFFICULTY CAN BE CRUSHING. Don't be fooled, this is the hardest souls game yet. Make sure to be cautious. Enemies are much stronger and more intelligent.I'll address some issues that I and a lot of people complain and worry about:1) PVP and Soul MemorySoul Memory is total souls acquired over your game. Not souls spent, souls acquired. If you lose 100k souls, those still count towards your total. This now factors into invasion. While at first we all worried that this would leave us stranded in our own worlds with no interaction (and indeed the first playthrough for me has felt incredibly empty), I have been reliably informed by people in NG+ that, well, NG+ is essentially the real game. They are invading and being invaded by people above and below 3 million souls in difference, and apparently PVP is quite common, and so I am quite happy with this.2) Enemies stop spawning after you kill them 15 times.This is terrible, you think. No farming? How are you supposed to get shards? Item sets? Rare weapons?Well, coming from someone 37 hours into the game and a few more hours from completely finishing it and stepping into NG+, this hasn't been an issue for me. In fact, in several instances it has been extremely welcome. I've never really struggled to get the sets and items that I want, but that is probably just luck. The good thing is that NG+ refreshes enemy respawns, and if you're desperate you can use a bonfire Ascetic (though this PERMANENTLY raises the difficulty of that bonfire area by one NG (so in NG+ it would actually be NG++, etc. etc.).So for me, not a problem, for others, undoubtedly.3) The removal of lighting effects.Yes, the amazing lighting showcased at E3 isn't here. However, compared to Dark Souls, the lighting is still great. There are some areas where you can tell they wanted you to use a torch, and those areas do suffer slightly, but I still find myself occasionally needing to grab one for a particular area. The lighting when you hold a Torch is MUCH closer to what we saw at E3, and looks amazing. Don't believe the grainy screenshots you see; this game, to me, looks beautiful in motion.There are some other issues, such as some long load times when Bonfire travelling (on the PS3 at least), one or two bugs here or there (I hear some achievements and trophies are bugged right now), and in game menus lagging slightly (such as waiting a few seconds before the start menu actually materializes). But these are really minor to the game experience. This is, in my opinion, the best souls game yet.

Dark Souls is one of my favourite games of all time (so is Demon's Souls, for that matter). So to say I was incredibly excited for the release of Dark Souls II is... putting it mildly.But when I actually got it? I was... a little underwhelmed.As many will attest, Dark Souls II is no way a bad game. In fact it's a rather fantastic one, and if I hadn't played the previous Souls games I'd probably be praising it to the skies.So lets start off with what it does better than before.Movement is noticably better and smoother (though the few moments where you have to use the jump controls are as obnoxious as ever). The engine update means the lighting is stunning, and the cloth physics are stunning. Capes blow in the wind! It sounds like a minor thing, but it really adds a lot.The few combat tweaks are generally for the better. Hexes are a new feature that require you have both Intelligence and Faith, which I thought was a clever touch.The PvP is MUCH better than previously; no longer does every fight come down to who can back-stab the other first. The co-op is great. The covenants are much better explained and more overtly functional this time. Bonfire Ascetics are a great addition, respawning bosses and enemies but making the area harder.So why isn't it as good? Well, there's some surprisingly insipid environmental design - and when you have a plot that's as deliberately sparse as the souls series, you really need to tell the story through the environment and characters. No-Man's Wharf and Lost Bastille leap to mind. There's also a lack of imagination in boss design - way too many of them are simply big humans in armor, and absolutely loads of them consist of fighting two or more things at once. That was a trick that worked once, to great effect is Dark Souls 1 (Ornstein and Smough!) but here it's repeated over and over again. Freja and her children, dual Dragonriders, Royal Rat Authority and the little yappy things, Skeleton Lords and more (and even more are added in NG+). There's a balancing issue as well - a lot of these bosses are very hard if fighting by yourself, but summon a phantom so it's 2 vs 2 and it suddenly becomes completely trivial with their attention divided.It is a theme of the game, so I don't want to criticise it too much, but there's a lot in common with Dark Souls 1 as well. Dark Souls 1 features, among other things, a giant wolf boss, a woman fused with a spider and a dark, unpleasant area filled with poison. DS II features a giant dog boss, a woman fused with a scorpion and a dark, unpleasant area filled with poison. I feel more imagination could have been used.(Not that there aren't great bosses in DS II - Freja is horrifying, Lost Sinner is challenging but fair, the Rotten has a great design).The story and lore is linked quite cleverly to the previous game, and the theme of death and decay versus rejuvination and rebirth is a novel approach. I didn't find the ending particularly satisfying, but an improvement on setting myself on fire...So to summarise; not as good as its predecessors, lacking a certain something, but very enjoyable nonetheless.

First time playing a Dark Souls type game, and I'm enjoying it so far.If I had to say anything negative, it would be that the graphics aren't great for a 2014 game. It would have been nicer in 1080p and with higher FPS but maybe the PS3 couldn't handle that. Even at 720p there is a lot of slow down, even against small enemies. I hear that the PC version will be able to, so if this is an issue I would recommend waiting for the PC version to be released. Apart from that I don't regret my purchase, and think that it is an excellent and addictive game.How is this game difficult?As an update, I have put around 90 hours into the game so far, and still think it is a fantastic game. I've read a lot of comments saying that this game is too difficult, but I have no idea why. Maybe it's my age, or because I am used to playing retro games, but I have only died less than 20 times. If you proceed through the game carefully and skilfully, then you shouldn't find this game difficult. A challenge maybe, but not so difficult that you have to slander the game. I can only imagine that people are rushing through the game, taking on multiple enemies at a time, jumping off cliffs for no reason and not levelling up properly.For those who find it too difficult, later on in the game there are certain items that prevent oneself from becoming a hollow. At the moment I have obtained four of them. Also please understand this is a game for gamers, not a mindless game where you don't need to think. You are rewarded for your guile, patience and initiative.

Pacco arrivato nei tempi previsti, nuovo, ed imballato a dovere. Il disco, cosa da non sottovalutare, era in sede. E il codice promozionale all'interno (1000 punti sul sito Bandai Namco) li ho riscattati, quindi deduco siano ancora validi per tutti. Sul gioco ancora non mi espirmo. Appena avviato e ho malapena raggiunto Majula, l' "hub" del gioco in question (quello che in Deamon'd Souls era il Nexus o nel primo Dark Il santuario del legame del fuoco). Ho sempre visto in giro questo titolo ma finalmente mi sono deciso. E' multilingua, quindi ci sono i sottotitoli sub ita. Per chi se lo chiedesse: questo disco NON contiene i tre DLC, per avere quelli dovrete acquistare l'edizione "Scholar Of The First Sin". Questa edizione è pre-DLC. Intanto impressioni positive.

Definitivamente a los programadores de From Software les pegaban de pequeños, pero se pasan mucho. Si te gustaron las anteriores entregas y tienes dinero suficiente para comprarte más Plays3, 100% recomendable. Si no tienes dinero suficiente controla tu ira al morir y morir y morir y morir y morir.

Die Lieferung aus Großbritannien war auf den Tag genau. Dauert natürlich wahnsinnig lange bis die Ware ankommt, auch für den internationalen Versand, aber es lohnt sich allemal. Das Spiel ist sehr gut, definitiv auf par mit dem ersten, meiner Meinung nach noch etwas besser dank Neuheiten wie dual wielding. Die Landschaften sind wie erwartet schön anzusehen und des öfteren auch sehr frustrierend. Die Covenants finde ich besser als im ersten Spiel, dieTatsache dass man sofort schnell reisen kann erspart einem auch sehr lange Wege.Einige Gegner und Bosse erinnern stark an Charaktere aus Dark Souls, was den Spaß am Spiel für mich etwas gesenkt hat, im Ganzen ist das Spiel aber von mir ohne Zögern zu empfehlen!

Il gioco è usato ma vi assicuro che non ho mai visto un prodotto di seconda mano in così buone condizioni. La previsione di consegna era dal 31 Dicembre all'8 Gennaio, e mi è arrivato il 2 causa maltempo, altrimenti me venivo in possesso prima. Oltretutto il gioco veniva dalla Gran Bretagna: mai vista spedizione più celere. Riguardo al gioco.... beh è Dark Souls, c'è bisogno di dire altro? :D (il gioco è totalmente sottotitolato in italiano e i menu sono in italiano)

Das Spiel ist einfach unbeschreiblich gut.Kein Vergleich zu Dark Souls und hat seinen Ecken und Kanten, aber ein solider Nachfolger der mich hunderte von Stunden in seinen Bann gezogen hat.Der PvP Part ist etwas eingeschränker als beim ersten Teil, jedoch gibt es gezielte Orte, an dem PvP durchgeführt werden kann!Ich freue mich schon riesig auf den im März erscheinenden inoffiziellen Nachfolger! :)