u/Erich_Silvertongue

Based on what I hear and what Ive felt while playing this is what I have to say. I have played DS1, DS3, and Elden Ring.
The best thing about DS2 is its auxiliary mechanics such as weapon animations, improved running jump, power stancing, bonfire ascetics, little details allowing world interactivity, freedom of world traversal, and others. This deserves praise even if some have individual flaws but not enough to consider these auxiliary additions to be bad at all.
The actual moment to moment gameplay is kind of weak. Weapon and sound effects and animations feel alot less… real. The sound effects and animations have an uncanny feeling that feels… “Fake” and not real. This isn’t every weapon but this is for many like the Mace. I tried replicating that movement and I have zero idea how any force could be transferred to a target with that kind of arm movement. Also the various special effects do not look good. While the overall graphical quality is superior to Dark Souls 1, the way they gave lightning and the special effects to spells and elements are not good. It feels fake.
(I did look at the Ivory King’s Greatsword and while it looks amazing, The special effects seem crude and stiff.)
The moment to moment gameplay is also slow, clunky, and artificially sluggish. The delays are extremely noticeable and it feels not the best. This is certainly and acquired taste but I can see why its nit as popular as the others. Elden Ring, BB, and DS3’s faster pace lends to greater player freedom and enjoyment. While the stricter movement does encourage spacing, and positioning more, it often feels frustrating. Not always but often.
Secondly, the Lock-On is just worse. It sometimes does not guide your weapon at all. And the fact that there is only 8 cardinal directions you can face and move in while Locked On feels off. Its better than DS1 but its still not good.
Enemies being high in number is not fun. Souls Games struggle with multi-enemy fights and DS2’s move towards stronger and faster enemies than DS1 does not lend itself towards making this any better. Its just worse.
Also finally, the existence of VITALITY and ADAPTABILITY is just a nerf to DEX and STR builds. There is little use to making such a pair of stats so important as it serves to only bloat the amount of stats and slow down build progression. Its not build expression even as it merely divides stats that compliment eachother. There is a reason ADP never returned. Its a bad idea.

Now does this make the game bad? Of course not. It can still be enjoyed and has plenty of good moments. But it makes the average gameplay feel worse.
Not including Bosses who (good news) is just fine. The biggest compliment it gets is that the overall roster of Bosses is better than the worst of both its predecessor and successor. DS3 somehow has the best and worst Bosses to ever exist in the Soulsborne franchise and DS1 has Bed of Chaos.
I have not yet reached its most acclaimed Bosses so I cannot comment.
For the weapons I am sure you all will point to is gained later on but it doesn’t change how I feel about it.

It has amazing ideas but the core pillars of the game are unstable.

Fast Travel btw being unlocked from the start only means the World itself is less engaging than DS1. This is unfortunately a fact. Each part of Drangleic gets effectively reduced to Select Levels and makes interconnectivity mean very little.
Yeah connections back to Majula are cool but mean so little when you can just warp back. Why would I care past the first realization?

I give it a 6/10 so far. It demands alot from you to be fully enjoyed, more than other games ask. And even then, its an acquired bitter taste. Many enjoy it, but many more won’t.