I was tempted to wait until all the dlc was released before asking this question, as I'm sure it will have an effect on people's overall opinions, but I'm more interested in hearing what people think of the core game.

So Dark Souls 2 has been out for a while now, and now that people have had time to think about their experience with the game, I'd like to know how you guys feel it compares to the original Dark Souls.

Personally I think of the two games as equal, and perhaps that in itself is disappointing. For every step I feel Dark Souls 2 takes forward in improving on the Souls experience, it falters in another way. I find the level design and the story to be less interesting and sometimes convoluted, but I enjoy the act of playing the game much more. The multiplayer and the covenant system both feel better integrated into the game, but both the enemy and friendly A.I are often poor. The game still manages to create a bleak atmosphere of despair and ruin, but the challenge seems thoughtlessly increased by simply throwing more enemies at you.

I consider Dark Souls 2 to easily be one of my favourite games of this year, but at the same time I feel some design decisions keep it from being much more. I don't think that warrants the negativity that surrounds this game, but I can understand why some people can't help but feel disappointed.

I greatly prefer the world building and level design of Dark Souls. The interconnectedness of it all, the need to traverse the world rather than warp (for the most part), the darkness and claustrophobia as you descend deeper vs. the light and openness as you approach Anor Londo. The fully-formed characters like Lautrec, Solaire, Siegmeyer, Gwyndolin. The sinister secret of Petrus. The heartbreaking legend of Artorias and Sif. Dark Souls is my favorite game of all time.

However, I just slightly prefer the combat and movement of Dark Souls 2. Stats seem to mean more, especially ADP and your equipment burden. I love dual-wielding in power stance. The expanded magic system is great fun.

Overall, Dark Souls is an A+ and Dark Souls 2 is an A-.

I initially had a very strong negative reaction to Dark Souls II. I thought is was top to bottom inferior to Dark Souls and Demon's Souls. After taking a break for a while, I came back to it and have really started coming around to it.

The key is having AGI at at least 100 or over. The stupid hitboxes everyone was complaining about in the beginning seem to be designed around the extra i-frames you get from agility. If you have less than 100, you shouldn't ever bother rolling. Coming to terms with that opened the game up for me.

Soul Memory is also something that took me a while to figure out. While I can't make a low level build and help people out indefinitely like I used to, being efficient with my souls has allowed me to help lower Soul Memory players for a longer time.

That being said, I do think the enemy encounters overall are not as well designed. The game relies too often on mobs to beat you and throws you into fighters with multiple enemies they you've never encountered before just to fuck you. For example, there are only 4 Black Witches in the game, and three of them are in the same room, which is where you face them for the first time. The game relies far to much on referencing Dark Souls, poise is still baffling and mostly useless and magic is about as wildly imbalanced as it's ever been.

It's not a masterpiece like Demon's or Dark Souls, but I've turned around on it and think it's still pretty good.

I feel the loss of Hidetaka Miyazaki is felt throughout the game. I know he did consulting on it, but that's a much different role then spearheading it and you can tell in the game that he wasn't that involved with it.

They improved a lot of things in the game, while doing other things worse. Some things in the game are a step backwards, in my opinion. The world feels more disjointed, less mysterious, and more filled with unnecessary things.

They did make very good improvements to the core gameplay, and I really like how they put together the PVP system which feels basically the same only reversed so that you can coop without worry of being ganked for doing it, and also have trespasser areas where you get sucked into a protectors world. How you slowly zombify everytime you die. That stuff is pretty neat how they did it.

At the same time by reversing the hollow system so you don't get invaded as much when you're human (so you coop more without fear of being ganked) they also made it feel less risky with that particular system. I suppose it's up to the individual if they like that or not, but I enjoyed the Dark Souls way of doing it more. In the end it's only a small complaint.

They also made the combat seem a little more harsh. I don't know that I like it quite as much. Stuff seems to hit harder to imply more difficulty, but I never felt Dark Souls needed it. I don't know.

I still like it. I have said since the game came out on PC (so I have been able to play it) that it's a 90% Dark Souls game. 90% Dark Souls is still better than most games. The game is still pretty great- even with the things that aren't as interesting- it's still a fun game.

I'd say that Dark Souls is better than DS2, but there were definitely things I liked more in the second game. The Looking Glass Knight is maybe my favorite boss in the entire Souls series, and I think that the NPCs in Dark Souls 2 were vastly superior to the ones from Dark Souls. Lucatiel, Vengarl and Bernhardt were radical and I was much more invested in seeing the ends of their stories than I was with anyone from Dark Souls.

Dark Souls 1 is more atmospheric, moody, and the level design is superb. All the content feel original and finely crafted.

Dark Souls 2 feels like many of it's elements are there because it was cheaper to recycle assets from the first game. But, it's more fun to play from moment to moment. The combat is improved. The UI is improved. The Character options are more viable. And the I think the introduction of a more varied color palette and a greater focus on NPC interactions makes the game far less depressing. I also prefer the lore in 2, which deals more with human weakness and desire than lofty god-like beings.

Dark Souls 1 is a "better" game. But Dark Souls 2 is a more fun game.

Dark Souls is better but 2 is still a great game. Busted PVP, lots of extremely easy bosses and some weirdly disconnected world design bring 2 down. Dark Souls has the higher highs and lower lows.

Dark Souls > Dark Souls 2 > Demon's Souls

Dark Souls II is better in every way except for world cohesion/characters (not to say Gavlan isn't a boss), to some people that stuff matters more than gameplay etc. If you don't count the DLC from Dark Souls then Dark Souls II is a whole shitload better; remains to be seen if the gap will get wider because of the forthcoming DLC (first one looks REALLY good).

Like a lot of others are saying I prefer the first one a lot more due to a lot of factors.

It had more interesting bosses, the world was far better, the NPCs weren't just static vendors who repeated the same things over and over, and it didn't rely on overwhelming the player with multiple enemies for every boss encounter to compensate for the boss's predictable and easy to dodge move set, and you didn't have to worry about being invaded while hollow. Dark Souls 2 also has an unfortunate issue where so many of the bosses are the same thing, just a slightly different model and texture, I'm not even kidding, there's a LOT of humanoid bosses with a huge ass sword with an almost identical move set.

That being said, Dark Souls 2 isn't a bad game. I've beaten it up to NG++ already, and I already bought the DLC and am eagerly awaiting it to be unlocked on the PC. I also feel like Dark Souls 2 was a bit easier, but that could be because I beat Dark Souls prior to playing it so I knew what I was getting into.

Going to echo what most people have said, in that I prefer the combat/movement/general FEEL of DS2 quite a bit to Dark Souls 1, and I feel like they really honed in on what makes the series interesting MECHANICALLY. On the otherhand, I felt they succeeded far more in creating a distinct atmosphere for DS1 than DS2. DS2 felt more like a video game than an adventure through a gothic fantasy world at times, and that was kind of a bummer for me, as someone for whom atmosphere tends to be pretty important.

Overall, it's hard to pick one over the other, because I think they each excel at different things. They're both great games, and it's a bummer DS2 couldn't hold onto everything that made DS1 special ALONG with its various mechanical improvements. On the other hand, part of what I love about the series is that each game has felt so much like its own entity (even if DeS->DaS was a more grand change in my eyes than Das 1 -> 2 was), so maybe their willingness to toy with the fundamentals of the series should be commended. If nothing else, it's left me excited to see more Souls games, where most franchises tend to wear out their welcome for me by the end of their 2nd entry.

P.S. I still think Demon's Souls may be my favorite

I love the three Souls games as if they were my own evil little children, so no matter what, I still think all three a great games.

As others have said, you can really feel Miyazaki's absence in DS2. The world of Drangleic isn't as interesting, compelling or expertly designed as Lordran was. Drangleic feels like a bunch of unrelated levels stiched together in a weird unnatural manner (i.e. the placement of Iron Keep, Brightstone Cove and Dragon Aerie). Lordran all connected together wonderfully and felt like one world.

A lot of people don't seem to like the lore in DS2 much, but I think its fine for the most part. The story behind Nashandra and Vendrick is especially chilling. However, I once again think DS1 had the much more interesting lore overall, not just surrounding the major players, but also the stories behind many of the NPC's. I never felt as interested or sympathetic towards DS2's NPC's as much as Solaire or Siegmeyer for instance. DS2 also feels less poignant and emotional than DS1. Meeting hollowed out Vendrick was sad, but there was no guilt inducing heart-break scenarios on the same level as fighting Sif or Gwyn, killing crazy Solaire or seeing Siegmeyer slowly lose his purpose. (Maiden Astrea from Demon's being another massive guilt trip).

Of course, one of the very biggest deciding factors is atmosphere, and Dark 2 honestly feels a bit uninspired in this department. Dark 1 was... erm, darker for the most part, with a heavy feeling of dread and hopelessness in a similar vain to the likes of Silent Hill 2. Demon's in particular I think had the strongest Survival Horror feeling to it. Tower of Latria is still the best environment out of the 3 games IMO. Dark 2 altogether just feels a bit too bright and cheerful.

That being said, I think DS2 has the best combat of the three. It feels faster and smoother than Dark 1, and Sorcerer builds in particular feel much more interesting. Dual Wielding was an awesome addition to. I'm also finding it much easier to find PvP fights than I ever did in Dark 1.

To summarize, Dark 1 > Demon's > Dark 2... but I love all three.

dark souls 2 is by far the better game.

It's a surprisingly safe sequel to one of my favorite games of the last console generation, so I'm sort of conflicted. I think it's a mechanically superior game, much better at explaining itself and I actually had fun poking around in PVP. That being said... It also feels a little disjointed, a little by-the-numbers in its execution (i.e. Following a checklist) and doesn't quite have the same atmosphere. Also too many of the bosses are just big dudes with big swords and wide, sweeping swings.

It's good, even great. But Dark Souls was always going to be a hard act to follow, so I don't exactly resent it for being less inspired.

Its a great game, but not as good as the last two imo. Bosses werent as good, and there are some more areas you rather run through as fast as you can. Not just because they are a pain, but also because they just dont feel that well laid out or enjoyable. Still great game, I wouldnt skip it by any means.