Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin or Original

So after finishing Dark Souls and starting Bloodborne it's become clear to me that I need to play Dark Souls 2, but I have no idea which version to buy. Is it smarter to just get the core game for cheap, without the remixed enemies and poor framerate or pay the full price for the updated graphics, all the DLC and suffer the difficulty spike?

This all comes down to whether or not you're getting the DLC, in my opinion. Dark Souls 2 was my first souls game, so take that disclaimer if you feel like it discredits everything I say. I bought vanilla when it first came out but wasn't able to really play it deeply until the last month or so. Once I got past the first two areas or so, I knew that I liked it enough to go for the DLC. For me it was the same price to buy the DLC with vanilla as it was to buy the upgrade to the re-release. So why not just get the better graphics along with the DLC, if you're getting the DLC either way? Saves won't carry over, so when I realized I liked this game enough to go after the DLC, I just upgraded to the re-release and started over with a new character. I only played a few areas of each version, but I don't think the difficulty spike or durability/framerate thing should even be part of the decision. It just wasn't that big of a difference.

At this point I would get Scholar of the First Sin. The original game and all the DLC will end up costing just about the same, and there are more people playing Scholar of the First Sin right now than the original. That means more chances to summon people/get summoned and more notes on the ground. You seem like you're already into the Souls games, so the DLC is worth it. It will be a while until there's another Souls game.

one thing against scholar is the durability bug where everything breaks way quicker then it should, can be a real pain in the arse.

@carryboy: The DSFix guy has a non-final patch out that fixes the durability thing on PC. You kind of need 2 weapons at the ready even with the fixed durability though, due to the amount of enemies in most areas being increased.

@carryboy: Once you get out of the first area its no longer an issue. Or at least it hasn't been for me. I rarely have to switch weapons. And in the few times that I have, I noticed that I've found 14 repair powders already. Which in the original version I think only found 6 all game. So it really hasn't been a big deal.

Did they make it any easier to get Titanite Chunks in SotFS? Having to keep 2 weapons upgraded with the most current materials sounds a little tedious, though I usually use strength weapons (that tend to have higher durability) in these games anyway.

@tafae: I've always thought it was pretty easy. And its the same as before. Just join the bell covenant. You get a chuck every time you defeat a trespasser. And most of the time there is more than one of you fighting so you don't even have to be good at pvp to get a bunch of them.

I've been playing the new version as my first playthrough... it's not terribly difficult once you level up a bit. I guess I'd recommend it since I'm told it looks nicer?

The only knock I have against SotFS is how I can think of at least two areas in the first 10 hours that have way too many dudes in them. One area has six turtle armor guys in it, AS WELL AS a CPU invader, for example. That is a lot. There are probably more areas like this down the line for me, too. However, putting up with that isn't that big of a deal in the scope of things, as this is a very large game and you will be able to play with the most active community of players, between this and the original/the original with DLC.

Please note that the durability issue (weapons breaking twice as fast as in vanilla DS2 because durability is tied to frames a weapon is inside a hitbox) is not really much of an issue. I was VERY hesitant to play this version of the game, but compared to the original DS2, I haven't had much of an issue with weapons breaking. Three have broken, but I had other weapons in my inventory, so it wasn't tragic, and repairing them at the blacksmith is only a couple hundred souls. It's really not as big of a deal as it sounds, I swears it.

Get this version, just be aware that they did, indeed, make it harder in kinda cheap ways in some areas by throwing more dudes in.

Sotfs. No real reason to get the old one.

SOTFS everytime. Im having so much fun with it and the difficulty is good. I wouldnt say difficulty was increased but is just changed and makes more sense within the lore ie heide knights being in the heide tower of flame.

the framerate bug is fine I always carry a couple of weapons with me atm I am carrying a fire longsword which u find early on and a bastard sword x5 which I save for bosses. it actually makes you learn multiple weapons and puts you out of your comfort zone a bit and thats kinda a good thing

I appreciate the input duders, it does sound like Sotfs is the one to go with. Originally I was going to just buy the new one once I was done with Bloodborne but then I heard a lot of negative experiences with the remixed (or harder, depending who you ask) enemies from various games people. Appreciate the help, as the remix really does make the decision a lot more complicated in my eyes

This is a good point that didn't occur to me, actually. I am spreading my stats between strength and dexterity so that I have access to a wider variety of weapons, and i find myself using many more kinds than before - rapiers, maces, longswords, all with different movesets that I am making myself acclimate to. Turns out I am discovering weapons I prefer that I didn't even try in the original DS2 because of stat restrictions I was foisting on myself!