DISCLAIMER: Due to the review period this game was reviewed offline. Let me just add, having played a little online this morning, I’m incredibly amused by the bloodstain replays of other people’s deaths. I don’t feel alone anymore.
From Demon Souls to Dark Souls, the series has never been about beating the game quickly. You will rarely find anyone who is going to complain about the ‘hours’ in this series or how they felt cheated by the latest edition because they ran through it so quickly. It’s the decathlon of gaming, where every possible obstacle is thrown at you and how you respond is gaged by how much you die. And trust me when I type this out to you, folks, I have responded poorly to the challenge set forth by Dark Souls II…and I’m loving every bit of my failure.
Honestly speaking, I’ve had the pleasure of avoiding this series since its inception, as most of our reviewers (Eric Layman, Steven McGehee and Greg Schardein) have went head first into this madness. This time around, it was my turn to taste the sour flavor of defeat over and over again. Guess what? I want more. I can finally and fully understand the yearn for this type of title. If you go into the game knowing that you don’t have a shot in hell to get through it easily then the transition from sadness of defeat to acceptance, is much easier.
The story is simple. Your character has been cursed into a limbo world with the only hope of survival being find a cure before you become hollow (less than human) and get out with your life. No one in the story has been able to escape, and no one in the story believes that your character will be the first. It’s an incredibly engaging emotional journey into a dead land that is as unforgiving as many of the obstacles you face on your way to some sort of redemption.
The reason why people want this game is for the challenge, and Dark Souls II offers up the challenge you have come to expect from the folks at FromSoftware. You will find a lot of enemies just waiting to take you down. Lots of hidden areas that house enemies that are ready to take you down, and absolutely no clear direction when you’re venturing through the world. FromSoftware does their best to make sure that you will have to watch your back at every given moment, creating a thick layer of paranoia when adventuring that never lets up. The developers hava done a great job with making every facet of this game uncomfortable, even after leveling up and upgrading one’s armor and weapons. Again, it’s the challenges, both physically and emotionally that make this game gold.
Also, the journey is what makes this title worth playing.
Getting through the gruff parts of the game and exploring every little nook and cranny in this very open-world environment adds some flavor to an intense adventure. Of course, this isn’t a GTAV open world-esque adventure, but there’s plenty of space to explore and you’ll find little surprises here and there that add value to your efforts. To be quite honest the game needs about as much value as it can get because of its difficulty. People who have never played this game series before, such as yours truly (I have watched it played by our editors), need a bit of ‘extra’ to make the painful difficulty worth the patience. So, along the adventure you will find things like weapons, charms and whatnot that make your character better and help/encourage to keep you going as the false promise of ‘better days lie ahead’ is whispered into your ears. Dark Souls II really does entice you in the midst of your misery.
Now, what makes this game difficult? Everything. No, seriously, everything. FromSoftware has made sure that the controls, the camera angles, the caveats placed on the amount of deaths you go through, the limitations of when you can use weapons, armor and what not all make this an incredibly difficult adventure to latch onto. For example, when you gain enough souls (you gain them after you dispose of enemies — be it by your own hands or otherwise) you can purchase new equipment. You must be at certain levels to use the equipment you purchase. Otherwise, you’re shit out of luck with using it. It’s nice and courteous for the game to tell you that you character is ‘unable to use the equipment properly’, and at the same time a little devastating. It’s all part of the challenge where the game is blatantly telling you that you need to keep going if you have any hopes of bettering yourself. It’s subtle, brilliant and grueling.
Other things that make your adventuring a hindrance include a very difficult camera to control. You have full control of the camera during the game, which is incredibly helpful for 60-70% of the time, but as soon as you lock on to an enemy the camera moves upwards and kind of a does a pulled-back third-person view. It’s jarring in the heat of battle, especially if you’re trying to runaway from the enemies to reposition yourself. The controls don’t get any easier, though.
The weapons in right/left hands are controlled individually by L1/R1. It’s easy to switch out weapons, as FromSoftware has given you easy ways to lock multiple items into place on the control pad (press the directional pad to move between weapons). You can set up your weapons in the menu system provided and there’s great details of each item on the right side of the same screen. You can also check the durability of the weapon through this same menu.
I know what you’re thinking, ‘weapons’ and using them doesn’t seem all that bad. Well, you’re given a nice stamina bar that dictates how quickly and successively you can swing said weapons. That bar depletes pretty darn fast, but replenishes in the same amount of time. It’s an even balance, though there’s nothing as disheartening as having an enemy on the ropes and running out of stamina. At that point you have two choices:
A. Die
B. Dodge
Dodging in the game is the key to survival and your success, especially with the bigger enemies. If you can learn how to block and dodge, then strike, you’ll be set. The game forces you to think of strategy before running into a room, look for patterns and pay attention to your environment in case you need to use it against your foes. It’s a complicated process and one that plays into how frustrated (and how many times you die) you could get in the game. Nothing in Dark Souls II comes easy and it’s amazing people just don’t get that yet.
Even the resting points in the game don’t come easy. You light bonfires that are scattered around your adventure that will act as checkpoints in the game. These check points allow you to heal, act as a save point and, sadly, it will reset all the enemies in the game, so you get to go through it all again. You can also travel to different bonfires you’ve rested at in the game from the bonfires you reside at, which are quite a few. If you don’t find a new bonfire before you die then you will be transported back to the last bonfire you rested at in the game. It’s fun to feel panicked about finding a bonfire, especially when you went through a sh*tload of enemies to get to them.
Aside from bonfires, you also run into NPCs that act as merchants, black smiths, helpers and whatnot. They can offer up items, advice or help you repair items in your inventory. What’s kind of cool is that they’re randomly scattered and some of them randomly appear in places you have already visited. They certainly add a lot of value to the game.
As for weapons, defenses and such, from the amount of time I’ve played this game, I’ve found the upgrading and armor essential for survival (duh). You have to watch what you pick and choose and have to constantly make sure that you are getting the most bang for your buck. Like I stated earlier, defense is far more valuable in this game than the offense. Make sure you are equipped with a shield, proper amounts of armor and plenty of arm/leg protection (also your noggin’). Let that be THE focus of your upgrading before you choose that really powerful sword or staff. Basically, it’s like any role-playing game that you know. A good defense creates the most offense.
Let’s shift things over a bit and talk about some positives (well, semi-positives). The presentation value in this game is certainly good, though not great. A lot of folks on the interwebs are bitching/moaning that Bandai Namco had downgraded Dark Souls II from their E3 2013 presentation. Well, yeah, it seems like that — duh. Most of what you see at E3 is going to be running from a PC, unless the game is really far along, folks. For PC folks, you’re probably going to be pleased as punch to see it in action. For PS3 people, you’ll understand that it looks good on a system that is now approaching seven years old. You’re going to see some jaggies, some textures that don’t look detailed or rendered; it’s everywhere in this game. You’re also going to see some really nice lighting and some character models that contain some fantastic detail. At the end, you’re not going to be sitting around looking and staring at the ‘pretty’ of Dark Souls II. Instead, you’re going to be running for your f***ing life around every corner.
It’s not about the looks, it’s about the adventure. That isn’t the case with every game, but for me it was the case with this one. You know that’s true, Interwebs. You’re just trying to find something to bitch about. Let it go with this one.
What is really good in the presentation is the audio. While the soundtrack is subtle, the monsters, the beasts and the environment noises really do add a lot of atmosphere to the entire experience. I really enjoyed the small amount of it, as it felt like it fit the bill.
Wrapping things up here, FromSoftware clearly made this difficult on purpose. The point of the game, as I stated earlier, is that you are being challenged as a gamer. All gaming conventions that you love and cherish are gone. You’re asked to do a lot, think in a wide scope and prepare yourself for the unexpected. You’re not given free passes, no regeneration of life over time nor are you given any leeway with strong/weak enemies. If you ever wanted to experience a real version of life inside of a fantasy world then Dark Souls II would be the closest you could get right now. Its realistic fatality system truly does make you a cautious gamer. What’s funny is that you might actually become a better gamer through this impossible game.
In the end, Dark Souls II is a smooth experience that has a competent leveling and upgrade system, but does require your patience to get through it. You won’t beat this in a weekend. You may not beat this in a week. It’s here for the long haul, so expect a long adventure.
