your opinion?

I’m a huge fan of dragon builds and I’ve done them in every game, from DS1 to the Elden Ring DLC. But DS2 is the only one where you don't actually transform.

In every other game it’s a physical mutation, but here the Black Dragon set just appears over your skin like magical armor. It looks cool, but it feels less like "becoming" a dragon and more like a costume.

Does anyone know if there’s a lore reason for this?

Why did they go this route only for this game and then never did it again?

Now I can be John Dark Souls 2 and solo Malenia with style

All possible first bosses in Dark Souls 2

The first four require no special setup.

1. The Last Giant
   Progress through the Forest of the Fallen Giants.

2. Dragonrider
   Progress through Heide’s Tower of Flame and take the right fork in the rotunda.

3. Old Dragonslayer
   Progress through Heide’s Tower of Flame and take the left fork in the rotunda.

4. Scorpioness Najka
   Free Rosabeth with a Fragrant Branch of Yore, then travel through the Shaded Woods.

The next two only require surviving the fall into Majula’s pit.

1. Royal Rat Vanguard
   Enter the pit and descend to the Grave of Saints.

2. The Rotten
   Enter the pit and descend past the doorway to Grave of Saints, into the Gutter and Black Gulch.

The final three require opening the Shrine of Winter without defeating a boss by reaching 1 million Soul Memory. There are many speedrun strategies that make this possible, and it doesn’t take as long as you’d expect.

1. Dragonrider Duo
   Open the Shrine of Winter, enter Drangleic Castle, and reach the Twin Dragonriders.

2. Aava, the King’s Pet
   Open the Shrine of Winter, go to Drangleic Castle and obtain the Frozen Flower, enter the Crown of the Ivory King DLC, collect the Eye of the Priestess, then fight Aava. If you choose this route, Lud and Zallen and the Old Ivory King can become your second and third boss in the game.

3. Darklurker
   Before entering the Gutter, farm 3 Flame Butterflies from the exploding hollows right before descending the ladders to The Gutter. In Black Gulch, defeat the two Giants to obtain the Forgotten Key and meet Darkdiver Grandahl. Meet him again in the Shaded Woods. Then after reaching 1 million Soul Memory, find him beneath Drangleic Castle. Complete all three Dark Chasm trials to unlock the Darklurker fight.

I love how many options Dark Souls 2 offers in terms of different pathways and bosses to tackle

Cover by trip_dancer_g

Basically title.
I have 700+ hours in Dark Souls 3, and played Elden Ring and Lies of P multiple times.
I gave Dark Souls 1 and 2 a try years ago but dropped them (at blight town and at majula).
Recently I started DS2 again and got hooked, played all the way through, but I like exploring, experimenting and just looking at stuff, so it took 40 hours to complete it.

Gameplay wise it's the worst of all (I don't know compared to DS1 but I imagine they're mostly the same), compared to 3 and ER, it doesn't even come close, it's some of the worst gameplay I've ever had. Specifically bosses, reaching a boss stage didn't excite me at all, I knew it was gonna be a 1-2 tries because of how slow and bad they are. But I can forgive gameplay if the rest carries...

On the EXTREME other hand, the world is one of the most beautiful things I've ever experienced. As someone who loves just looking around and saying "woow", this game is 10/10. My first time seeing Earthen Peak, Heide's Tower of Flame, the path to the dragon on Aldia's Keep with the giant earth pillars, dying and dying but then relaxing at Majula. This game has such an atmosphere that I've never seen before, I love how you can look at stuff without an ugly 50m fog that makes everything gray. Colors are so well defined. I saw a lot of illumination and enb mods for this game and I can't understand why anyone would change how it looks when all they do is remove color and make it more "real". This game has such a dreamy magical vibe. I want more like this.

Sound, even if most of the sound was just humming at times, the audio quality of this game enhances the exploration feeling soo much. Reaching an area where there's singing by a NPC I can talk to feels so strange, but in a good way.

Then the "events", there's a lot of stuff that takes a DS3 veteran like me by surprise, like Aldia at bonfires, the "barrel" invader, the pursuer appearing out of nowhere. I got more scared playing this game than any horror game.
There's also a ton of mechanics that get introduced even in late game. Also, talking to NPCs felt much more interesting in this one, I really wanted to experience as much of the world as I could.

TL:DR.
This game is a GEM for fans of exploring a beautiful world. In my mind it falls in the "exploration" genre.
Is there any other games that made you feel like this? I'd love to hear recommendations.
Am I missing out with DS1 and even Dragon Souls or is DS2 really this good?

After completing DS2 (that I initially skipped in favour of playing the "supposed" direct sequel DS3) I am wondering if people even read the lore? Nashandra is a fragment of Manus's soul who was slayed by the chosen undead in DS1. DS2 is a direct consequence of your actions in DS1.

I like to think of DS2 as a representation of the endless cycles of fire that transpire between the DS1 where the undead curse is born with the fire fading for the first time and DS3 where the cycle eventually comes to an end.

There are also references to Gwyn, Seathe, Nito and how their actions shape up the current world.

It's extremely stupid to call it a standalone game. It acts as a perfect sequel to DS1 and a perfect prequel to DS3.

Thoughts?

In the new edition of Elden Ring released recently, you can find an armor that is completely similar to Lucatiel of Mirrah's as well as her weapon, given that the character model wearing it is in every way similar to the one in Dark Souls 2 : a blonde, blue-eyed woman with Rot on the same side of her face as Lucatiel. On top of that, the NPC is named Leonciel.

If FromSoftware didn't want us mixing the universes, then they messed up, because with the new armor, weapon, and character they released, they completely forged a link between the Dark Souls and Elden Ring universes. They can't complain later if fans do nothing but theorize that the two worlds are connected.

I already thought before that the different Soulsborne universes were connected because of the Archtrees, but now with this specific connection, there's just no chance they aren't.

(I translated my paragraph using AI because I don't speak English fluently, so I apologize for any phrasing issues or repetitions)

I know for certain I made my character a woman. I've been wearing a full set of armor for quite awhile, and suddenly when I had to take my armor off to jump into the big hole in Majula, I realized my character was suddenly filled with testosterone and has the worst haircut imaginable.

Genuinely WTF happened?? Did I piss off some god?????

I’m really liking ds2 but i definitely understand why a lot of people hate this game..

 Iron Keep is supposed to be in a volcano, which you can actually see on the bonfire selection screen

I wanted to take a screenshot after nuking one of these little bastards with a new weapon, and I noticed that what I had assumed all along were their eyes, actually aren’t their eyes. They’re something else…they’re like…head titties or something. Knowing this, they’re actually much scarier looking instead of being the big eyed cute derps that spew petrify.

It’s a fantasy game.

There’s curses and dragons and rats and mammoths and much else.

But a talking cat?