I am a fair way into DS2 now, and enjoying it immensely. However... I have a couple of of small nitpicks that knock it down a peg or two in comparison to the original, which IMO is still the best action RPG ever made.
- Bonfire Teleport: Well, boo. This seemed like a really good idea to me at first, but it has only served to reduce the oppressive feeling of the game. I rarely have that "I need to stay alive at all costs and get to X or I am in big trouble." I am always just one waypoint away from safety now, and the fires are closer together and more frequent. When pondering why they made the change, I am led to the next issue..
- World Design: It isn't apparent at first, as you need to progress quite a ways before the absolute genius of the world design in DS1 becomes clear, but once it all clicks and you figure out that Lordran, as a whole, exists as one giant interconnected world, it's just totally mind-blowing to me. All the tiny shortcuts, ladders, elevators, bridges, passages and all the rest all connect together like some living MC Escher construct. The only time you have to "warp" or "zone" in the game is from the tutorial castle to the mainland, and a short Gargoyle ride from the top of Sen's Fortress to Anor Londo. The Gargoyle thing doesn't even count, as you still don't warp in that instance, you just get carried over a wall and dropped, still in the same physical space. I can't recall a game before or since that was put together with that level of genius in such a compelling way.
Sadly, Drangleic is not put together this way. DS2 is more like Demon Souls, in that the levels are sort of divided up into little groups that you progress through, afterward warping back to the central hub to then head off along a different path that leads to another 3-4 zones. The zones on each "spoke" are interconnected, but not on a level with the twisted genius of Lordran. I presume the changing out of the director on the project is the culprit here, along with the idea of blending Demon and Dark Souls into a sort of amalgam of the two games.
The zones, on a whole, are just as creative and atmospheric when looked at in a vacuum, the challenge just as punishing, the fights just as calculated and exciting, but it just doesn't all fit together in the elegant way that Lordran did, which in turn makes the feel of the world come across as a little senseless now and then. You can tell when you run into a spot where the designers couldn't quite get the world to click together the way they wanted, so they tacked a long, narrow tunnel in between zones, so it seems a bit less jarring when you leave a misty dank forest only to emerge next to a castle floating on lava. I still find it a bit jarring.
That's it really - everything else is aces, and there are MANY improvements, like a nice frame rate in every zone. Any poor soul that battled through Blight Town on Xbox in DS1 knows how painful progression could be. These games are difficult enough without the console fighting you, too! DS2 is a smoother experience, but just not QUITE as brilliant in its design.
- Bonfire Teleport: Well, boo. This seemed like a really good idea to me at first, but it has only served to reduce the oppressive feeling of the game. I rarely have that "I need to stay alive at all costs and get to X or I am in big trouble." I am always just one waypoint away from safety now, and the fires are closer together and more frequent. When pondering why they made the change, I am led to the next issue..
- World Design: It isn't apparent at first, as you need to progress quite a ways before the absolute genius of the world design in DS1 becomes clear, but once it all clicks and you figure out that Lordran, as a whole, exists as one giant interconnected world, it's just totally mind-blowing to me. All the tiny shortcuts, ladders, elevators, bridges, passages and all the rest all connect together like some living MC Escher construct. The only time you have to "warp" or "zone" in the game is from the tutorial castle to the mainland, and a short Gargoyle ride from the top of Sen's Fortress to Anor Londo. The Gargoyle thing doesn't even count, as you still don't warp in that instance, you just get carried over a wall and dropped, still in the same physical space. I can't recall a game before or since that was put together with that level of genius in such a compelling way.
Sadly, Drangleic is not put together this way. DS2 is more like Demon Souls, in that the levels are sort of divided up into little groups that you progress through, afterward warping back to the central hub to then head off along a different path that leads to another 3-4 zones. The zones on each "spoke" are interconnected, but not on a level with the twisted genius of Lordran. I presume the changing out of the director on the project is the culprit here, along with the idea of blending Demon and Dark Souls into a sort of amalgam of the two games.
The zones, on a whole, are just as creative and atmospheric when looked at in a vacuum, the challenge just as punishing, the fights just as calculated and exciting, but it just doesn't all fit together in the elegant way that Lordran did, which in turn makes the feel of the world come across as a little senseless now and then. You can tell when you run into a spot where the designers couldn't quite get the world to click together the way they wanted, so they tacked a long, narrow tunnel in between zones, so it seems a bit less jarring when you leave a misty dank forest only to emerge next to a castle floating on lava. I still find it a bit jarring.
That's it really - everything else is aces, and there are MANY improvements, like a nice frame rate in every zone. Any poor soul that battled through Blight Town on Xbox in DS1 knows how painful progression could be. These games are difficult enough without the console fighting you, too! DS2 is a smoother experience, but just not QUITE as brilliant in its design.
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“It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.” ― Thomas Sowell