In Defense of Dark Souls 2

Good guy timestamps 00:00 INTRO 1:29 Part 1: HEALING 9:27 Part 2: ENEMY DESIGN 24:12 Part 3A: WORLD DESIGN (Interconnectedness) 32:30 Part 3B: WORLD DESIGN (Non-Linearity) 43:54 Part 4: PLAY CONDITIONING 50:22 Part 5: STORY COMPARISON 1:06:02 Part 6: THE DLC & SCHOLAR OF THE FIRST SIN 1:10:45 CONCLUSION

ok harris well if dark souls II is so great how come there isn't a dark souls II 2?

“He roll and dodge like normal people “ Artorias: Does a frontflip and jump 15 feet high

H-bomb 5 years ago: I cut this out of my video bc it would be too long H-bomb now: I made a 3.5 hour long video about a pretty alright game

The poison dart guys in Blight Town felt like a mini boss. I was relieved they didn't respawn. Killing them felt like an achievement.

"It's almost like this game was made for people who don't want to run in circles for hours." ~ Man who spent 60+ hours in Pathologic

I think you sell the fight with Gwyn really short by saying the best they could do was put some sad music over it. A lot of the things you praise about Vendrick apply to Gwyn as well. Gwyn is hyped up for the entire game as a literal god among men, with a title like "The Lord of Sunlight" that can shoot Zeus-style lightning bolts powerful enough to rip the scales off of dragons. When you finally get there he doesn't even get an intro cutscene like 99% of the bosses do; you enter the fog gate and this withered old man just mindlessly charges you. His name is changed to "Lord of Cinder" and it's implied that his power, over the long course of guarding the first flame, dwindled tremendously. You go in expecting this huge final boss but instead it's a rather simple one-on-one duel against a "god" so weak you can parry his ass and riposte him into oblivion. Don't get me wrong, I love Dark Souls 2 and I really like what they did with Vendrick, but let's not act like Gwyn's presentation wasn't just as good, if for different reasons.

"Artorias isn't ridiculous" queue footage of Artorias spin-jumping with a big fuckoff sword before doing a superhero landing that creates a small crater

The way I’ve barely heard the name of most of these games but I’ve spent critical hours of my life watching every single 65 hour essay on all of them… this guy can talk.

I can’t believe how uncontroversial this video is! No dislikes!

I enjoy the fact this video stirs up more controversy than Hbomber's political videos.

Watching this now, in 2022, all I can think is how much hbomberguy must love Elden Ring.

"deus ex lets do that one" did that one take FIVE YEARS?

"I like having friends" - shows footage of an NPC summon Forever Alonne.

Dark Souls 1 doens't need to be bad for Dark souls 2 to be good.

I kind of feel like pointing out that I played through DS1 for the first time with a dex build on a friend's advice. I had little health and even less armor, so taking a hit was pretty devastating. However, I did carry a shield around. I had a light roll, lots of I-frames, but also constantly blocked. Because shields in dark souls can be incorporated in many kinds of builds, not just "hit-trade" builds like high-poise slow-roll builds. A light shield in DS1 means you have the ability to parry, a very cool and dynamic ability to use. And even a small shield blocked considerable amounts of damage, while dropping it to attack took no time at all. TL;DR: shields aren't that bad in DS1, and don't lock you in a passive playstyle. However, I can see how they insentivise you to play that way.

Tommy Tallarico spent 5 years creating this game

12:09 "he never comes off as ridiculous" front flip 1-hand greatsword slam 3 times in a row

this video was the biggest drama the souls borne community ever had and i refuse to believe it was 3 years ago

59:46 "the weakest part of the games is when i got handed a whole heap of names roles and backstory" Elden Ring: AND SIR GIDEON, THE AAAAAAAAAAAAAALL KNOWWWWWWWWWING