Guys, I just replayed DS1. That shit is clunky. You may not realize how much the animations and animation-flow have improved, but they have. A lot.

Jumping in DS1 is hilarious in comparison; your character springs straight up super quickly and your jump length is way too small.

Rolling in DS1 is really clunky-feeling. You only roll in 4 directions for some arbitrary reason, which leads to a general lack of control and a tendency to roll off ledges more often.

Weapon combos in DS1 lack the fluidity that DS2's have, which further enhances the clunkiness.

I wouldn't ever have thought of DS1 as clunky in all the hundreds of hours I played it; but, in comparison to DS2, it's super clunky.

Clunky.

I have replayed a bit of Dark Souls as well. I don't think it is as clunky as you say, but I do think DSII is a substantial improvement. I also have to say that I still think Dark Souls is a much easier game. Not saying DSII is incredibly hard, but block, then attack doesn't work in DSII for 99,9% of the game.

I do still like playing Dark Souls though. I don't suddenly hate it, I've just come to prefer DSII.

@zevvion: do you think i hate it? I'm still on the fence about which game I like more. I might always be. There's definitely a speed to DS1 that you can get into when you've mastered the enemies in that area and you're systematically dispatching them all in a really satisfying flow... that you don't get with the sequel. Although I reeeally like DS2's sprinting, and I actually think you sprint faster in 2.

I was exaggerating the clunkiness to make a point, but it is very much the technically inferior game.