I'm torn on this game. Sometimes I think it's the best Dark Souls game, and sometimes I think it's the best Dark Souls game and also, in fact, the only good Dark Souls game. There are just so many reasons why it's a better experience for me than the others. Enemies not respawning infinitely is amazing and really hard to live without once you get used to it, the other games now feel like they don't respect my time by forcing me to keep killing the same enemies even once they've become totally trivial for me. Majula is such a comfy hub area that Firelink Shrine feels drab and empty by comparison. I also like the slower combat and costlier stamina - it makes fights feel very deliberate, where every action is meaningful. Bonfire Ascetics were a genius idea. And the difficulty curve is actually decent, with no massive spikes all the way to the credits.

I can see why it's controversial among the fan base, DS3 went in such a wildly different direction that it seems obvious to me that the Venn diagram of "people who thought DS2 was a worthy sequel to DS1" and "people who thought DS3 was a worthy sequel to DS1" doesn't have much of an intersection. But if you've tried either of the other two and liked some of the core combat mechanics but gave up for other reasons, give DS2 some of your time. Whatever your problems were, it may well not have them.

I'm torn on this game. Sometimes I think it's the best Dark Souls game, and sometimes I think it's the best Dark Souls game and also, in fact, the only good Dark Souls game. There are just so many reasons why it's a better experience for me than the others. Enemies not respawning infinitely is amazing and really hard to live without once you get used to it, the other games now feel like they don't respect my time by forcing me to keep killing the same enemies even once they've become totally trivial for me. Majula is such a comfy hub area that Firelink Shrine feels drab and empty by comparison. I also like the slower combat and costlier stamina - it makes fights feel very deliberate, where every action is meaningful. Bonfire Ascetics were a genius idea. And the difficulty curve is actually decent, with no massive spikes all the way to the credits. I can see why it's controversial among the fan base, DS3 went in such a wildly different direction that it seems obvious to me that the Venn diagram of "people who thought DS2 was a worthy sequel to DS1" and "people who thought DS3 was a worthy sequel to DS1" doesn't have much of an intersection. But if you've tried either of the other two and liked some of the core combat mechanics but gave up for other reasons, give DS2 some of your time. Whatever your problems were, it may well not have them.