Dark Souls 2 Game Review + What to Expect for PC Release
Dark Souls 2 Game Review + What to Expect for PC Release
2014-03-21
today's video is made possible by a ver
media with all gameplay captured using
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what's up tech fans kevin here on TECA
tomorrow now one of my favorite games
got a sequel this past week dark souls 2
but sadly those of us that want to play
on PC are gonna have to wait till April
25th to get our hands on it well I
decided why let that stop us we went
ahead and picked up the console version
we're going to let you guys know our
thoughts on it so you have an idea of
what to expect when it does come out on
pc and what it does we're going to pick
that up too so we can bring you an
update in terms of how it performs and
if there's any major changes compared to
the current version so let's go ahead
and check it out
now before we dive right into what makes
this one different from the others let's
go ahead and take a moment to cover the
basics of what makes a Souls game for
those you guys that aren't equated with
them Demon's Souls and Dark Souls are
both known for their intense difficulty
using a mixture of RPG and action game
mechanics but with the important
difference that your character isn't
some flurry of crazy combos but rather
you have to take your time carefully
timing your attacks or else enemies are
just going to wreck you you start off by
picking a base class that is really just
a starting package of items and stats
and then you go off killing big enemies
to get more power learn about the
world's history and directly through
items and NPC conversations and
generally just tend to die again and
again and again along the way now at
first glance Dark Souls 2 looks a lot
like the first game obviously there's
some different equipment and new enemies
but visually it's very much the same
however once you get into the mechanics
there's a lot of changes some of them
might newton some of them much larger
and we're just going to cover the ones
that really impacted my experience with
this one first off the game takes note
from demon's souls and that every time
you die you're max hell is going to
decrease eventually to a cap of having
it this of course makes dying often a
very very bad thing making you all the
easier of a target for enemies now just
like in the first game you can use an
item to restore your humanity and have
full health again which also comes with
a number of other benefits like being
able to do co-op but in doing so you
also increase your risk of being
attacked by other players which will
cover a little later the game does add
consumable healing items which at first
seems like it'd make the game a lot
easier but the main reason for this is
because your main healing item the Estus
flask only comes with one use at the
beginning you'll have to find a certain
fairly rare item to up this number
making healing early on something you
really want to do as sparingly as
possible the game's combat well looking
very much the same features a lot of
changes in its timing bringing if your
shield actually takes a moment and rolls
no longer have as many invulnerability
frames as they did before making caution
a bit more warranted in this one stats
in this game have also been changed up a
bit splitting up the formerly incredible
and always necessary endurance stat into
two separate ones forcing players to
spread out their points a little more
evenly now there are two really big
changes the game that aren't really
inherently good or bad they're just
different and depending on who you are
this may make or break your experience
with this one compared to the first
first off there's the fact that
now once an enemy dies enough times
they'll eventually stop responding so
for instance let's say there's a boss
they're having some trouble with and you
keep fighting the same three enemies on
the way to him well once you run through
this enough times those enemies are just
going to stop appearing and make the
game a lot easier now on the one hand
this does make the game a lot more
forgiving and less difficult if you die
often almost like it's throwing you a
bone which some people just really
aren't going to like on the other hand
it also restricts how much you can farm
enemies you can't just kill the scene
guys over and over again to get a lot of
souls or a lot of items now if there are
enemies that do have a particularly
useful item that you need to use
throughout the whole game there is an
item you can use to reset the respawn
rate and make the enemies tougher but
they are limited resource you're not
going to want to be spending them left
and right now the biggest change in this
one that really does make it feel
different from the first game is how
much more nonlinear it is now this isn't
to say the first Dark Souls was exactly
linear but there was a very obvious
suggested route you had to take to
follow through the main story that
showed increasing difficulty that's not
really is true in this one right at the
start there's two pads you can take from
the starting town and it doesn't really
take very long at all to open up three
more routes before even fighting your
first serious plot related boss now the
nice thing about this is that does make
the game feel a lot more open the sense
of exploration is really great because
you feel like you can just take your
time going wherever you want and see
what the game has to offer with its
numerous different environments such as
hauntingly beautiful ruins traditional
fantasy forests or just a straight-up
insane underworld now the downside to
this though is that it makes the game's
difficulty curve a lot more inconsistent
oftentimes you'll find yourself fighting
really difficult enemies early on only
to fight pathetically easier ones in
late game because you took another route
that you ended up skipping and are now
way to overleveled for it so overall how
nonlinear it is is either a really good
thing are really bad thing depending on
what we want out of the game on the one
hand it's going to make it a lot easier
at times but on the other it gives you a
much more complete sense of exploration
being able to take time finding useful
items complete side quests and discover
the numerous covenants you can join now
speaking of covenants this leads us to
the games last major aspect it's
multiplayer just like in the first one
you can do co-op with friends by
summoning them or being summoned by them
and you can invade other players to kill
them to try and get a little boost in
souls now one of the nice new changes
this game though is the inclusion of a
special ring that actually makes it
significantly easier to intentionally
co-op with friends rather than just
random
people you simply both have to equip the
ring pick the same God and you're
summoning signs become way more likely
to show up in each others worlds now
just like in the first one there are
nine different covenants whose
membership alters the way pvp and PVE
work now some of these are very similar
to ones from the first game like the
heirs of the Sun whereas others have a
slightly different or expanded use like
the blue sentinels who can actually be
summoned to other worlds immediately in
response to other players being invaded
making them a sort of protector for
those players that just don't feel
skilled enough to handle PvP on their
own I really like the approach they took
with a lot of covenants in this one each
one has their own flavor and unique
little spin on how multiplayer works and
it's worthwhile joining each one just
for a little bit to see what they all
have to offer so when all is said and
done the one big important question that
I think a lot of souls fans go back to
for this is is this one as difficult as
dark souls well the answer is yes and no
overall the game does feel easier but
this is partially due to the fact that
it's so much more nonlinear you have a
lot more time to power level and the
fact that if you've played the first
game you're not dealing with the same
level of learning curve the game has
some levels and bosses that are
definitely on the easier side but it
comes right back at you on occasion with
a section or boss that just frustrates
you without end even when feeling a bit
easier it's still difficult enough on
average to keep a Souls fan happy and
the more forgiving opening makes it a
much smoother introduction to the series
for those either haven't played any of
them personally I love this one I liked
the nonlinear more exploration approach
to feel to it and the fact that it's
easier for me to co-op with actual
friends rather than random strangers
just made it a much more fun experience
those who who are already dark souls
fans I highly recommend this one it's
worth picking up right away on console
right now if you can or if you want to
wait for the PC one picking it up on
April 25th unless of course the
nonlinear or desponding changes i
mentioned earlier really turn you off
and if you're not a dark souls fan this
one might actually be a good way to get
into it because if it's smoother opening
and more forgiving difficulty at the
start giving you time to actually learn
how to play the game at least worth
checking out sometime down the road once
it goes on sale or after a price drop so
that was our view of the console version
of Dark Souls 2 once again once the pc
version does come out we will bring you
guys an update on how that one performs
and if there's any major changes from
this review if you want to go ahead and
grab a copy for the console right now
though we do have a link posted in the
description and while you're down there
if you enjoyed this vid please make sure
to hit that
like button if you're not a subscriber
yet then you want to be one so we've got
more reviews in the way including
titanfall until then I'm Kevin
protecting tomorrow and we'll see you
next time
and be
he will
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