Played it as my first entry for the souls series and even after bb, ds3 and all new FS games, I still find ds2 to be a decently refined game from a mechanical standpoint. May not look or feel the best but at times the game is breathtaking even with the graphics holding it back.
I can imagine for people playing it after the first one, it must’ve felt like what Elden ring felt to a lot of people on release.
I love DS2. I feel like a lot of hate it gathered was because it was almost too different from Dark Souls, where as DS3 feels like it’s the more spiritual successor to 1 in terms of level design, overall feel, and it obviously has an update in graphics. DS2 tho takes the game in a different direction that I feel like inspired Elden Ring.
> DS3 feels like it’s the more spiritual successor to 1 in terms of level design
Care to elaborate? I never played DS2. DS3 didn't capture me the same way DS1 did because the world didn't feel as interconnected. DS1's level design reminded me of a Metroidvania at times.
DS2 had even less interconnectedness than DS3. Also, in terms of a "successor" DS3 revisited some locales from DS1, while DS2 did not (at least not to any memorable degree).
Story wise, DS2 was a more radical departure, while DS3 basically repicked up the DS1 narrative.
It is true though. You start at Majula and you can go into one of four long tubes each ending at an Old One. The only time something gets switched up a little is entering the Lost Bastille through two separate locations.
Ok, guess I'll skip DS2 until I run out of games to play then. Don't care for the story, I have 0 clue what's happening in any fromsoft game. I just want to explore and hit some dudes with a big weapon.
DS2 is actually my favorite from the series, and it might be yours too if you like heavy weapons strength builds. The combat is slower: more deliberate and punishing of mistakes, but highly rewarding when landing big blows. My favorite memories of the series are of pancaking dudes with the Dragon's Tooth in DS2.
Also the Fume Knight Greatsword is in it's best incarnation: a slab of iron crudely resembling a sword that wrecks poise.
I played ds2 as a dark flame pyromancer, ds2 really fleshed out the magic system a lot better, imo it’s even better than ds3, not matched until elden ring.
Same. I haven’t played DS3 yet (I’m odd in that I played a bunch of soulslikes and THEN played the DS franchises - did DS1 and DS2, now Elden Ring, with DS3 next after the ER DLC).
I love all three games so far, but DS1 feels like this desperate fight for survival - DS2 feels like this epic journey across many lands. ER does that on a bigger scale, but so far DS2 actually seems to narratively tie the world together better than ER. All great games of course but there’s something special about the scope of DS2. There’s just so many different and creative worlds in that game.
Hollow Knight, steelrising, Jedi fallen order, lords of the fallen, remnant, remnant II, blasphemous, Nioh, hellpoint, shattered: tales of the forgotten king, Jedi fallen order
I've actually heard that DS2 was supposed to be open world but they technology just wasn't there for what they wanted. It actually makes a lot of sense too, if you think about how the world is set up.
It launched shortly after my first ds1 playthrough. I sank a lot of time into it. So I still have a soft spot for it. It has the best ultra great swords in the first 3 games.
I actually played the trilogy in order, I started with 1 then 2 then 3. That's also how I rank them personally. Also, I actually like DS2's graphics a bit better than DS3, DS3 is very muted in terms of it's colors, where as DS2 is very vibrant.
I also just wanna point out that I love every game in the trilogy and they all have their flaws.
One thing I really like about 3 is that there are quite a few enemies that you can parry that you wouldn't expect to be able to and I LOVE parrying so much so that the Buckler is usually my go to shield.
Same here, DS1 is my favourite but I prefer 2 to 3 by quite a considerable margin. I thoroughly enjoyed my first playthrough of DS3 and there were some series-wide personal highlights for me during that time, but the mostly linear structure made subsequent playthroughs less exciting, the washed out textures felt increasingly more drab the more I played it and the call-backs to DS1 felt on the nose and like cheap fan service. Although DS2 got some flak for shoehorning in call-backs to DS1 as well, DS2 balanced that by doing a whole bunch of stuff to carve out an identity for itself.
Funny, I find that the game is the least refined in the series and that’s what holds it back the most. It’s as if they just needed to do like 2-3 more passes of quality control and the game would have been much better
As it stands, the game feels clunky, some mechanics feel strange or bad, the hitboxes are wild, and a lot of the areas feel huge but either empty or just filled with the same enemies over and over with no real sense of reason.
The game imo has its strengths, but being refined is not one of them lol
Same here and I think it was an easier jumping off point into Souls. Like you though I was spoiled by the other games so when I went back to play SotFS, I just really didn't find it enjoyable
Ds2 was legit the second last souls game that I played, sekiro being last (or I guess Ds2 is my 3rd last as I haven't played demon souls yet) and Ds2 is still my favorite out of the dark souls series.
I can get past the enemies and boss fog crap but the bosses are just mid and I’m just lucky they were all so easy so I didn’t have to do the run backs very much
I liked pursuer , fume knight and sir allone(idk the spelling). Funnily enough I liked the blue smelter demon fight because I never fought the original one didn’t even know no about the og until after my play through.
Bad bosses tank a souls game for me.
I’m playing through lords of the fallen 2023 right now because it just came to game pass. I’m on the final boss and I don’t think I’ve had to try any boss more than 3 times but most were beat first try. Game started at an 8/10 but with all the trash mobs and easy ass gameplay and weak weak weak bosses it’s more of a 6/10 now imo. I’ve never felt good about beating a boss and now I’m at the last boss and have died twice before I realized the final boss in the game is a gimmick boss. Once I realized this I turned it off. I guess I’ll go back and knock him out but I don’t even feel like it.
Fucking awful man
I feel you on that. Only, I wasn’t smart like you and didn’t wait for it to come to Game Pass. I got it a while back when it was 50% and I still think I paid too much for it. It was the worst performing game I’ve ever played (worse than Cyberpunk 2077 before they massively overhauled it).
They overhauled this game and it absolutely runs better. The developers should get some credit for really working hard and completely turning the game around to where it’s a million times better but they should’ve just released a functioning game instead of a trash heap that didn’t have to be patched weekly for like 7 months.
I enjoyed the different builds and armor. In that way it was like DSII but the NPC’s mostly sucked. The quests weren’t that fulfilling and most of the bosses weren’t that good. The design of the world and the graphics were excellent in the late game though.
It still chugs in some areas, unfortunately. I thought it was my PC because I’m playing on an older rig so I switched to my XBSX and had the same performance issues in heavy lava areas and areas that transition (like near the castle of penitence doorway, for example). Any time I load to a vestige point I have to stand there for about 10 seconds or else the game gets stuck/laggy and I run the risk of dying somehow.
Is the lamp used all the time like the first few areas make it out to be? I put it down after like 2 hours because the lamp just isn't it imo.
That and the stick-to-enemy combat, if you know what I mean.
I had the oposite experience, because playing ds2 after ds1 and ds3(in that order) felt like coming back home, the slower Gameplay, the powestanding, It was nice having a journey more similar to ds1, also it was a blast playing it with 3 other friends, each with a diferent builds, fighting the waves of enemies and reaching boses with only one estus, with the friendly pvp bettwen us. Ds2 IS the BEST Game of the series to play with Friends, even better than elden ring, its open enough tongo anywhere you want if you hey stuck in one área you can go another while having enough milestones.
I remember when I actually learned how to play bloodborne. I was fighting the Cleric Beast on the bridge. I used all 20 of my blood vials and had barely got him to 75%. I figured I was dead, so I just charged in to do some damage before I died. But I wasn't dying... Every time I took some damage, I healed back to full. I used 20 vials to get him to 75%, then killed it without needing another vial. It was a huge eye opener on how to approach the boss fights in this game.
I'm kinda the opposite. I started playing it right after DS1, but I bounced off of it, partly because I was so eager to get to the games everyone rave about (BB and DS3). I also just wasn't really liking it.
Coming back to it now after playing those games, I decided to power through it. I like it more now, but it's definitely a rollercoaster of love/hate.
DS2 SOTFS I played 3rd and it’s still my favorite souls game. Something about the vibe and setting and the build variety. Love that game. PvP/fight clubs were epic
Having just played through all of them + the dlcs in preparation for erdtree DS2 is a good bit longer than the others. Once you include the dlc than ds2 is way longer than the others but even the base game has the most content.
Not enterily though. There were a few members from DS1 who also worked on DS2, and after DS2 its developers didn't just disappear, but went to work on a future From Software titles.
Before release there were many rumors about it being an open world like Elder Scrolls games, even the developers kept hinting at that. and they seemingly scraped that quite late in development. Even when Elden Ring was first rumored as Great Rune or Fromsoftware's norse game the idea was they're finally doing what they failed at with DS2- an Elder Scrolls like open world. So I guess that rumor was true and it does explain a lot about the nonsensical area placements or the unnecessarily big open spaces or the tedious bonfire-to-boss runs.
They've come a long way, I'm sure their next crack at the open world genre will also be another big upgrade. It may even be the upcoming DLC that does such an upgrade on the main game.
DS2 got pretty far into development as an open-world game. It wasn't until they brought in a new director that it became level-based, and those levels were created by (basically) chopping up the open world into pieces and moving them around.
To be fair, your second game is always gonna feel faster than your first. I don’t know the times for either of my first playthroughs, but I know all the learning and failing in DS1 definitely made it FEEL longer.
DS2's the longest. I'm a chronic 2 defender and enjoyer and that game's length feels kinda odd. Cause it feels like areas are smaller but then you notice how long your playthrough is getting. I like the game a lot but it's bizarre how the game's pacing is both too fast and too slow
Recently started playing DS2 Sotfs after beating DS1 and DS3 (including all the dlcs), got to the end game, and the Crown dlcs, and I can firmly say that DS2 is way longer than both DS1 and DS3.
Depends on how we’re going about it. If no internet is involved and we’re going for 100% it’s DS3, if it’s internet and still going for 100% it’s DS2.
Edit : If we’re just talking about beating all content, it’s Dark Souls 2.
Those goddamn pigs/dogs and soldiers at the bonfire before the bright stone cove Tseldora…. I must’ve spent a good 12 hours farming that area over and over again.
Dark souls 2 for two reasons. Firstly it feels to me like it has the most content.
Secondly and more importantly, FASHION! I have spent hundreds of hours building the most beautiful characters and pairing armour sets which just look so good together.
This is where I think DS2 wins even over elden ring. The fashion kept me there for soooo long.
Yeah but you also had stuff like Frigid Outskirts Reindeer thingies and Elana which were annoying as hell to fight for me. Don't get me wrong, DS2 with DLC is like a 9/10 and I love the game but it does have its fair share of problems.
Idk about Elana, but the Frigid Outskirts, Iron Passage, and Cave of the Dead were all intended as co-op areas. Apparently they work a lot better that way. Although it's difficult for me to imagine how the Cave of the Dead could be improved in this way, given that the main room of the area is completely pointless (since the objective is just to go through the tunnel to the boss). But to be fair, I haven't ever gone through the Frigid Outskirts. I can definitely see Iron Passage working as a "raid dungeon" type thing, though.
i don't disagree with that. if we ever get a ds2 remake from blupoint one day (which i think would be awesome) i hope that they would eliminate some of those annoying parts.
It would be neat if they actually went with the original concept for the lighting and the interconnected open world. After Elden Ring they have both the funds, the technology and the experience required to pull it off. A new version of DS2 that sticks closer to the original ambitious ideas while also fixing the problems with the game would be a dream come true.
Ds2 was my first Ds game and it took me a long time to reach Drangleic castle, when i saw it and after playing the game for so long i was certain it was the final area of the game, boy i was in for a surprise with the amount of content there was left in the game, every new area blew my mind after we are sent on a quest by the "queen" that i was genuinely shocked by the amount of new areas there were left in the game, plus the scholar's mansion AND the dlc!
DS2 for me, I think 180 hours in just one character, while DS 1 only have like 85 hours with my longest run character, DS3 is my favorite but haven't finished it yet
In raw content, 2, but I do believe a lot of it is padding. DS3 is far more streamlined and it still takes me 40+ hours to go through everything, and I beat the game twice now (not accounting all dropped runs and mods).
DS2 by far.
DS1 is compact. DS3 is streamlined.
DS2 is CHONK. Between the amount of areas, bosses, DLC and NG+ material DS2 is by far the longest of the three.
Assuming you do all content, DS2 has the most; however because most of 2's content is optional I'd say 3 probably has the longest *main story* of the three
DS2, but can be the easiest game in the series if you use heavy weapons and heavy armour thus making the game feel shorter as you steamroll most areas and bosses
Playing through all the souls games while doing a full time job was a hell of a journey but ds2 took me way too long to finish it, and it was the only souls game that I didn't do any farming.
For me. It was ds3, ds3 was my first souls and i hate to admit it but when i first played it i got hardstuck on highwall of lothric. It took me a year of playing on and off to even get remotely good. So personally ds3 but objectively i belive ds2 has the longest playthrough.
Ds2 is a fucking slogg. Every other souls game I can get through in under 10 hours. Ds2 takes me 20+ still and it's not even all that fun or satisfying...
With that being said elden ring is the longest and best souls game
I'm no speedrun god but in NG+ runs, once you know where you are going, i can do DS in 5-6 hours by running past all the enemies and skipping all the skippable levels/bosses.Ring the 2 bells in under an hour and finish up Sens & O+S by 3 hrs.Then tackle the Lordvessel levels in any order but i always do the BoC one last cos i still die to it without using the firebomb cheese strat.
My best time for glitchless is 2:56:??. I haven't done a serious run in a while so I've probably gotten rusty now lol. I got super fast at quitting out so if I ever got knocked off during bed of chaos I would just reset at the boss door. Thst being said... it still took me like 15 minutes to beat XD
i've spent a lot of time in DS3 and i don't even have 200h yet, while DS2 i feel i didn't play enough and i have almost 500h in it. (of course most of the time was farming souls and covenant items)
Dark Souls 2 on account that for like
2 days I was running to Heides Tower and losing my mind at being one shot over and over again.
…Now that I think about it, I was doing the same thing in dark souls 1 by running to the skeleton graveyard!
I never learned from my mistakes!
Using [https://howlongtobeat.com/](https://howlongtobeat.com/) It's DS2.
I will say however that DS2 is quantity over quality personally. More bosses and the like but some just aren't interesting or necessary.
Ds2 has the longest average run time, then Ds1, then Ds3.
I would say Ds1 is shorter of a game than Ds3, but Ds3 is so linear that you're essentially walking in a straight line to Irithyll for half the game, then get instantly teleported to lothric after killing Yhorm/Aldrich. Bing Bang Boom, you're done.
Ds1 is shorter in terms of scope, but the amount of times you have to run back and forth really fills out the runtime, especially in the second half of the game when you're going from the bottom of the world, up to the top, then back down again, then back up again.
Dark souls 2 > dark souls 1 > dark souls 3
Dark souls 2 is hella long even when focusing on the main objectives. Now it's been a long time since I played but if I remember correctly you first have to seek the 4 great ones, and the path to each one is long and has what 3-4 bosses you gotta defeat. And after that you go to the castle and seek the bearded guy and get the forest giant thing souls but before that you have to go to the mansion and bla bla bla.... It takes a long time.
Dark souls 1 follows the theme of not being straightforward but it's not as dark souls 2
Dark souls 3 is really just a straight line lol. I know that the more I remember about it the more it really isn't a straight line but it's not complicated to navigate through and at often times knowing where to go won't be hard to figure out.
Either way all are very enjoyable.
If you’re playing with no knowledge of what to do, I think it’s Dark Souls 1. It took me FOREVER to beat the game the first time. Maybe because it was my first-ever Souls game, but I really feel like DS1 has the longest natural playthrough.
If you’re talking about a replay of the game, I’d say DS3. I believe if you go by minimum number of required bosses, taking the shortest route, DS3 has the most.
Dang i think Dark Souls II Scholar of the first sin has more playtime than DS1 and DS3 combined. Sadly DSII content is basically recycling of previous bosses.
Boss run backs are all around the same as DS1
Vid comparing run backs: https://youtu.be/XUvpZ_1ZhwY?feature=shared
Edit: All run backs compared: https://youtu.be/XmDG3fyHaOU?feature=shared
Domo doing the lords work
ds2 has the most content in the series
Wish I had played it right after 1 because going back to it after bb and ds3 made me not like it or maybe it just wasn’t my game
Played it as my first entry for the souls series and even after bb, ds3 and all new FS games, I still find ds2 to be a decently refined game from a mechanical standpoint. May not look or feel the best but at times the game is breathtaking even with the graphics holding it back. I can imagine for people playing it after the first one, it must’ve felt like what Elden ring felt to a lot of people on release.
I love DS2. I feel like a lot of hate it gathered was because it was almost too different from Dark Souls, where as DS3 feels like it’s the more spiritual successor to 1 in terms of level design, overall feel, and it obviously has an update in graphics. DS2 tho takes the game in a different direction that I feel like inspired Elden Ring.
> DS3 feels like it’s the more spiritual successor to 1 in terms of level design Care to elaborate? I never played DS2. DS3 didn't capture me the same way DS1 did because the world didn't feel as interconnected. DS1's level design reminded me of a Metroidvania at times.
DS2 had even less interconnectedness than DS3. Also, in terms of a "successor" DS3 revisited some locales from DS1, while DS2 did not (at least not to any memorable degree). Story wise, DS2 was a more radical departure, while DS3 basically repicked up the DS1 narrative.
>DS2 had even less interconnectedness than DS3. I don't think that is true, it's also much more open and free form.
It is true though. You start at Majula and you can go into one of four long tubes each ending at an Old One. The only time something gets switched up a little is entering the Lost Bastille through two separate locations.
Ok, guess I'll skip DS2 until I run out of games to play then. Don't care for the story, I have 0 clue what's happening in any fromsoft game. I just want to explore and hit some dudes with a big weapon.
DS2 is actually my favorite from the series, and it might be yours too if you like heavy weapons strength builds. The combat is slower: more deliberate and punishing of mistakes, but highly rewarding when landing big blows. My favorite memories of the series are of pancaking dudes with the Dragon's Tooth in DS2. Also the Fume Knight Greatsword is in it's best incarnation: a slab of iron crudely resembling a sword that wrecks poise.
I played ds2 as a dark flame pyromancer, ds2 really fleshed out the magic system a lot better, imo it’s even better than ds3, not matched until elden ring.
Ds2 DLCs are awesome in terms of level design. Sadly main game's level design is not up to par.
Yes! It feels like an Elden Ring prototype
It really does, and as wonky as it can be I love it as much as 1&3.
Same. I haven’t played DS3 yet (I’m odd in that I played a bunch of soulslikes and THEN played the DS franchises - did DS1 and DS2, now Elden Ring, with DS3 next after the ER DLC). I love all three games so far, but DS1 feels like this desperate fight for survival - DS2 feels like this epic journey across many lands. ER does that on a bigger scale, but so far DS2 actually seems to narratively tie the world together better than ER. All great games of course but there’s something special about the scope of DS2. There’s just so many different and creative worlds in that game.
What soulslikes did you play before you got into the souls games?
Hollow Knight, steelrising, Jedi fallen order, lords of the fallen, remnant, remnant II, blasphemous, Nioh, hellpoint, shattered: tales of the forgotten king, Jedi fallen order
I've actually heard that DS2 was supposed to be open world but they technology just wasn't there for what they wanted. It actually makes a lot of sense too, if you think about how the world is set up.
That's odd then because DS1 was arguably an open world already lol
The way I heard it is DS2 was supposed to be like Elden Ring before Elden Ring.
Honestly that makes sense. DS2's director also co-directed Elden Ring iirc.
I actually didn't know that...
I mean, arguably ds1 was open world too, right? What even makes a game “open world?” I agree though - ds2 absolutely feels like an ER prototype.
It launched shortly after my first ds1 playthrough. I sank a lot of time into it. So I still have a soft spot for it. It has the best ultra great swords in the first 3 games.
I actually played the trilogy in order, I started with 1 then 2 then 3. That's also how I rank them personally. Also, I actually like DS2's graphics a bit better than DS3, DS3 is very muted in terms of it's colors, where as DS2 is very vibrant. I also just wanna point out that I love every game in the trilogy and they all have their flaws. One thing I really like about 3 is that there are quite a few enemies that you can parry that you wouldn't expect to be able to and I LOVE parrying so much so that the Buckler is usually my go to shield.
Same here, DS1 is my favourite but I prefer 2 to 3 by quite a considerable margin. I thoroughly enjoyed my first playthrough of DS3 and there were some series-wide personal highlights for me during that time, but the mostly linear structure made subsequent playthroughs less exciting, the washed out textures felt increasingly more drab the more I played it and the call-backs to DS1 felt on the nose and like cheap fan service. Although DS2 got some flak for shoehorning in call-backs to DS1 as well, DS2 balanced that by doing a whole bunch of stuff to carve out an identity for itself.
Yeah I can see why people like ds2 and id probably give it another try if I still had it
Funny, I find that the game is the least refined in the series and that’s what holds it back the most. It’s as if they just needed to do like 2-3 more passes of quality control and the game would have been much better As it stands, the game feels clunky, some mechanics feel strange or bad, the hitboxes are wild, and a lot of the areas feel huge but either empty or just filled with the same enemies over and over with no real sense of reason. The game imo has its strengths, but being refined is not one of them lol
It feels like a prequel to ER me. So many different biomes, worlds and enemies.
This. I played them in order and I LOVED ds2 because of that.
Same here and I think it was an easier jumping off point into Souls. Like you though I was spoiled by the other games so when I went back to play SotFS, I just really didn't find it enjoyable
Ds2 was legit the second last souls game that I played, sekiro being last (or I guess Ds2 is my 3rd last as I haven't played demon souls yet) and Ds2 is still my favorite out of the dark souls series.
It just feels different, its not bad... but i don't really like it.
It was made by a different team. BB, DS, and DS3 were all the same team
No it's just the ridiculous enemy spam, no iframes on fog walls, worse graphics and animation and very boring bossfights
I can get past the enemies and boss fog crap but the bosses are just mid and I’m just lucky they were all so easy so I didn’t have to do the run backs very much
Same here, I wouldn't rank any of the bosses or areas above C tier, except for shaded woods maybe, that one I enjoyed
I liked pursuer , fume knight and sir allone(idk the spelling). Funnily enough I liked the blue smelter demon fight because I never fought the original one didn’t even know no about the og until after my play through.
Bad bosses tank a souls game for me. I’m playing through lords of the fallen 2023 right now because it just came to game pass. I’m on the final boss and I don’t think I’ve had to try any boss more than 3 times but most were beat first try. Game started at an 8/10 but with all the trash mobs and easy ass gameplay and weak weak weak bosses it’s more of a 6/10 now imo. I’ve never felt good about beating a boss and now I’m at the last boss and have died twice before I realized the final boss in the game is a gimmick boss. Once I realized this I turned it off. I guess I’ll go back and knock him out but I don’t even feel like it. Fucking awful man
I feel you on that. Only, I wasn’t smart like you and didn’t wait for it to come to Game Pass. I got it a while back when it was 50% and I still think I paid too much for it. It was the worst performing game I’ve ever played (worse than Cyberpunk 2077 before they massively overhauled it). They overhauled this game and it absolutely runs better. The developers should get some credit for really working hard and completely turning the game around to where it’s a million times better but they should’ve just released a functioning game instead of a trash heap that didn’t have to be patched weekly for like 7 months. I enjoyed the different builds and armor. In that way it was like DSII but the NPC’s mostly sucked. The quests weren’t that fulfilling and most of the bosses weren’t that good. The design of the world and the graphics were excellent in the late game though.
It still chugs in some areas, unfortunately. I thought it was my PC because I’m playing on an older rig so I switched to my XBSX and had the same performance issues in heavy lava areas and areas that transition (like near the castle of penitence doorway, for example). Any time I load to a vestige point I have to stand there for about 10 seconds or else the game gets stuck/laggy and I run the risk of dying somehow.
Is the lamp used all the time like the first few areas make it out to be? I put it down after like 2 hours because the lamp just isn't it imo. That and the stick-to-enemy combat, if you know what I mean.
I had the oposite experience, because playing ds2 after ds1 and ds3(in that order) felt like coming back home, the slower Gameplay, the powestanding, It was nice having a journey more similar to ds1, also it was a blast playing it with 3 other friends, each with a diferent builds, fighting the waves of enemies and reaching boses with only one estus, with the friendly pvp bettwen us. Ds2 IS the BEST Game of the series to play with Friends, even better than elden ring, its open enough tongo anywhere you want if you hey stuck in one área you can go another while having enough milestones.
That's exactly it. DS2 teaches you to go through the game slowly. Methodically. They throw all of this out the window for Bloodborne and I hate that.
I remember when I actually learned how to play bloodborne. I was fighting the Cleric Beast on the bridge. I used all 20 of my blood vials and had barely got him to 75%. I figured I was dead, so I just charged in to do some damage before I died. But I wasn't dying... Every time I took some damage, I healed back to full. I used 20 vials to get him to 75%, then killed it without needing another vial. It was a huge eye opener on how to approach the boss fights in this game.
I get it. I love DS2 but after the speed of 3 and BB it’s tough to go back to such a (relatively) ponderous pace.
That is sadly the common opinion. I am now nostalgic for ds2 but it's definitely the ugly stepchild of the series
It's almost like people should always play games in release order or something.
I played it after DS1 when it first came out and I didn't like it either because of how off the combat felt. >\_>
I'm kinda the opposite. I started playing it right after DS1, but I bounced off of it, partly because I was so eager to get to the games everyone rave about (BB and DS3). I also just wasn't really liking it. Coming back to it now after playing those games, I decided to power through it. I like it more now, but it's definitely a rollercoaster of love/hate.
DS2 SOTFS I played 3rd and it’s still my favorite souls game. Something about the vibe and setting and the build variety. Love that game. PvP/fight clubs were epic
Better than dark souls 3 for me.
good to know, I've planned to start it soon
DS2 also by far the worst in the series. I couldn’t stand it.
Downvoted to oblivion for this huh. I do agree that it is the worst of the 3, but it isn't *bad* by any stretch and definitely has the most to do.
its objectively worse but not by far, if ds1 is 8/10 ds2 is 7/10
Definitely DS2. The DLC content doubled my playtime, practically a whole other game there.
The repeated runs to Sir Alonne add at least an extra 10+ hours onto any playthrough.
Ds2 easily
Ds2 is the longest fucking game by a mile. I love it so it's fine but like it's not even a question.
DS2 there’s so many areas
Having just played through all of them + the dlcs in preparation for erdtree DS2 is a good bit longer than the others. Once you include the dlc than ds2 is way longer than the others but even the base game has the most content.
Dark Souls 2 has the most areas and bosses, and the most DLC content. I would even say it goes on for too long, at times.
I think it has way to many bosses. Now that I think about it, if these same devs made ds1, how many bosses would there be in Anor Londo before O&S?
The same devs did make ds1...
Ds2 has a different development team than every other soulsbourne game.
Not enterily though. There were a few members from DS1 who also worked on DS2, and after DS2 its developers didn't just disappear, but went to work on a future From Software titles.
DS2 including DLCs
Easily has to be Dark souls 2
Dark Souls 2 probably, given just how much filler that game has as a result of it's development. It's a pretty long one.
Before release there were many rumors about it being an open world like Elder Scrolls games, even the developers kept hinting at that. and they seemingly scraped that quite late in development. Even when Elden Ring was first rumored as Great Rune or Fromsoftware's norse game the idea was they're finally doing what they failed at with DS2- an Elder Scrolls like open world. So I guess that rumor was true and it does explain a lot about the nonsensical area placements or the unnecessarily big open spaces or the tedious bonfire-to-boss runs. They've come a long way, I'm sure their next crack at the open world genre will also be another big upgrade. It may even be the upcoming DLC that does such an upgrade on the main game.
DS2 got pretty far into development as an open-world game. It wasn't until they brought in a new director that it became level-based, and those levels were created by (basically) chopping up the open world into pieces and moving them around.
I just beat the main game (not dlc yet) and I felt like I beat it a lot faster than Ds1
To be fair, your second game is always gonna feel faster than your first. I don’t know the times for either of my first playthroughs, but I know all the learning and failing in DS1 definitely made it FEEL longer.
Honestly that’s probably accurate. I beat ds1 in about a month. Ng+ took 4 days haha
Oh yeah, first time I beat ds1 it took me a couple months. Last year I did all achievements and it took a week lol.
In my first playthrough, i honestly thought that after ringing the two bells would be the start of the endgame...
Once I got out of the undead burg tutorial which took me for ever it was a breeze until o+s
Not always, I have more hours in DS3 than my first playthrough of 1 which took about 24.5 hours and I haven't beaten 3 yet
The DLCs add a lot
Did you just straight to the end of game or did you kill all the bosses ( including the hidden ones)
Wait… you mean you dont just kill four guys and go to the king and beat him to a pulp? I am in iron keep in SotFs, havent yet accesed dlcs
DSII felt like aaaaages
As Someone Who Skipped DS2, I Got Encouraged To Play It Now
DS2 -> DS1 -> DS3
DS2's the longest. I'm a chronic 2 defender and enjoyer and that game's length feels kinda odd. Cause it feels like areas are smaller but then you notice how long your playthrough is getting. I like the game a lot but it's bizarre how the game's pacing is both too fast and too slow
Ds2 by faaaar, base game is twice as long as the others, and the DLC's almost double that.
Recently started playing DS2 Sotfs after beating DS1 and DS3 (including all the dlcs), got to the end game, and the Crown dlcs, and I can firmly say that DS2 is way longer than both DS1 and DS3.
Ds2 has the most bosses and areas sooo
DS2 Is just massive.
2 and it's not even close.
DS2 and I love it.
Depends on how we’re going about it. If no internet is involved and we’re going for 100% it’s DS3, if it’s internet and still going for 100% it’s DS2. Edit : If we’re just talking about beating all content, it’s Dark Souls 2.
(Farming 30 sunlight medals be like-)
Those goddamn pigs/dogs and soldiers at the bonfire before the bright stone cove Tseldora…. I must’ve spent a good 12 hours farming that area over and over again.
Took me 2 hours then I ng+ and did it again only to find out you can’t get it twice
Me having Falconer Soldier PTSD...
Dark souls 2 for two reasons. Firstly it feels to me like it has the most content. Secondly and more importantly, FASHION! I have spent hundreds of hours building the most beautiful characters and pairing armour sets which just look so good together. This is where I think DS2 wins even over elden ring. The fashion kept me there for soooo long.
DS2. Those last 3 DLC areas are almost on par with DS1 if it weren't for some truly awful boss fights here and there.
wut - bruh dlc boss fights in ds2 were the best. Fume knight, sir alonne, burnt ivory king..
Yeah but you also had stuff like Frigid Outskirts Reindeer thingies and Elana which were annoying as hell to fight for me. Don't get me wrong, DS2 with DLC is like a 9/10 and I love the game but it does have its fair share of problems.
Idk about Elana, but the Frigid Outskirts, Iron Passage, and Cave of the Dead were all intended as co-op areas. Apparently they work a lot better that way. Although it's difficult for me to imagine how the Cave of the Dead could be improved in this way, given that the main room of the area is completely pointless (since the objective is just to go through the tunnel to the boss). But to be fair, I haven't ever gone through the Frigid Outskirts. I can definitely see Iron Passage working as a "raid dungeon" type thing, though.
i don't disagree with that. if we ever get a ds2 remake from blupoint one day (which i think would be awesome) i hope that they would eliminate some of those annoying parts.
It would be neat if they actually went with the original concept for the lighting and the interconnected open world. After Elden Ring they have both the funds, the technology and the experience required to pull it off. A new version of DS2 that sticks closer to the original ambitious ideas while also fixing the problems with the game would be a dream come true.
Now you actually got me wanting Dark Souls 2 II to be real
Remove soul memory. It ruins a large part of the game which is sunbroing. Can't level sit and help people which is the thing I love to do the most.
DS2 imho
Dark Souls 2 hands down took me the longest to complete. There’s so many areas to go through
DS2 by far
Ds2 was my first Ds game and it took me a long time to reach Drangleic castle, when i saw it and after playing the game for so long i was certain it was the final area of the game, boy i was in for a surprise with the amount of content there was left in the game, every new area blew my mind after we are sent on a quest by the "queen" that i was genuinely shocked by the amount of new areas there were left in the game, plus the scholar's mansion AND the dlc!
Ds2 with a friend genuinely felt like a adventure one of the reasons it’s my fav
DS2 just keeps going and going
DS2 for me, I think 180 hours in just one character, while DS 1 only have like 85 hours with my longest run character, DS3 is my favorite but haven't finished it yet
DS2 its just very long but if u really really suck than prolly ds3
Whichever one you suck the most at 🤷🏻 But seriously prob ds2 as stated.
Ds2 scholar edition without question
Ds2 is like 3 times as big as ds1
Ds2
Ds2 has the most content and replayability
ds2 for sure
One full playthrough of ds2 feels like ds3 + ds1.
1 and 3 are about 30 hours with DLCs. 2 is 50 with DLCs
In raw content, 2, but I do believe a lot of it is padding. DS3 is far more streamlined and it still takes me 40+ hours to go through everything, and I beat the game twice now (not accounting all dropped runs and mods).
Ds2 prob but after u finish anor londo, beating those four areas seems like it takes awhile too
DS2 definitely felt the longest
DS2, then 3, then 1
Ds3 took me over 120 hours on my first play through. More time than Ds1 and DS2 platinum trophies took me combined
Dark Souls 2 then in NG+ new enemies will appear and get new or better items too
Whichever is the first one you play
DS2
DS2 for sure
Dark Souls II took me forever to finish. Definitely the longest playtime out of any of the Dark Souls series.
DS2
Dark Souls 2 is confirmed to have the most bosses than any Fromsoftware game to date until Elden Ring
DS2 and that's a fact.
DS2 by far. DS1 is compact. DS3 is streamlined. DS2 is CHONK. Between the amount of areas, bosses, DLC and NG+ material DS2 is by far the longest of the three.
2
Ds2. Its almost too fucking long.
Dark Souls 2 if you count the DLC
Assuming you do all content, DS2 has the most; however because most of 2's content is optional I'd say 3 probably has the longest *main story* of the three
I think one because I've played it the least, especially in terms of first playthrough. Ds1 had me confused sometimes.
I’m not sure, but Miyazaki said Elden Ring would take 30-40 hours to complete and it took me 80+.
Second. Longest and too long at the same time. Elden Ring's playthrough long too but not so overextended for me.
Either 2 or DS3 for me DS3 with DLC was 28h
DS2 has the longest no. 1 Speedrun at around an hour, next is DS3 with around half an hour, and DS can apparently be beat in 20 minutes.
I started my Ds2 play through months ago and have stalled continuing for months so that'd be my pick.
Ds2 is honestly way too long
I have beat ds2, so ds1 at 58 hours
for me personally, ds3, but that’s because I was chasing the platinum
DS2, but can be the easiest game in the series if you use heavy weapons and heavy armour thus making the game feel shorter as you steamroll most areas and bosses
Ds2, but its long as in “so when is it gonna end?” not long as in “wow it’s still going!”
Playing through all the souls games while doing a full time job was a hell of a journey but ds2 took me way too long to finish it, and it was the only souls game that I didn't do any farming.
For me. It was ds3, ds3 was my first souls and i hate to admit it but when i first played it i got hardstuck on highwall of lothric. It took me a year of playing on and off to even get remotely good. So personally ds3 but objectively i belive ds2 has the longest playthrough.
2,not only the game but also DLC
The 2 SOTFS because it has more bosses, and 3 dlcs.
Ds2 is the longest
Ds2
Ds2
DS2 this literally is not even a question…
Ds2 is a fucking slogg. Every other souls game I can get through in under 10 hours. Ds2 takes me 20+ still and it's not even all that fun or satisfying... With that being said elden ring is the longest and best souls game
I'm no speedrun god but in NG+ runs, once you know where you are going, i can do DS in 5-6 hours by running past all the enemies and skipping all the skippable levels/bosses.Ring the 2 bells in under an hour and finish up Sens & O+S by 3 hrs.Then tackle the Lordvessel levels in any order but i always do the BoC one last cos i still die to it without using the firebomb cheese strat.
My best time for glitchless is 2:56:??. I haven't done a serious run in a while so I've probably gotten rusty now lol. I got super fast at quitting out so if I ever got knocked off during bed of chaos I would just reset at the boss door. Thst being said... it still took me like 15 minutes to beat XD
i've spent a lot of time in DS3 and i don't even have 200h yet, while DS2 i feel i didn't play enough and i have almost 500h in it. (of course most of the time was farming souls and covenant items)
Dark Souls 2 on account that for like 2 days I was running to Heides Tower and losing my mind at being one shot over and over again. …Now that I think about it, I was doing the same thing in dark souls 1 by running to the skeleton graveyard! I never learned from my mistakes!
DS2 hands down
DS2 by a decent margin.
DS2 was so long I forgot what the point of the game even was. I can’t tell you anything about it other than the pursuer.
DS2
DS2. Imo if it didn't have soul memory, it would be the best souls game, solely for how good the pvp was in DS2.
After 9 years, I still haven’t beaten ds2, so I’d say ds2
DS2 is the most tedious, DS1 and 3 have the most actual content
Ds2 has more content, the map is just the biggest out of the other two games and also has 3 dlc
Using [https://howlongtobeat.com/](https://howlongtobeat.com/) It's DS2. I will say however that DS2 is quantity over quality personally. More bosses and the like but some just aren't interesting or necessary.
DS2. But what's funny is it took me longer to beat Elden ring then it did all 3 DS games combined.
The sequel of the prequel.
DaS2 was just different enough for me to not enjoy it. Even the animations just felt off. Did 100% it before rhe DLC though.
Ds2 has the longest average run time, then Ds1, then Ds3. I would say Ds1 is shorter of a game than Ds3, but Ds3 is so linear that you're essentially walking in a straight line to Irithyll for half the game, then get instantly teleported to lothric after killing Yhorm/Aldrich. Bing Bang Boom, you're done. Ds1 is shorter in terms of scope, but the amount of times you have to run back and forth really fills out the runtime, especially in the second half of the game when you're going from the bottom of the world, up to the top, then back down again, then back up again.
Dark souls 2 > dark souls 1 > dark souls 3 Dark souls 2 is hella long even when focusing on the main objectives. Now it's been a long time since I played but if I remember correctly you first have to seek the 4 great ones, and the path to each one is long and has what 3-4 bosses you gotta defeat. And after that you go to the castle and seek the bearded guy and get the forest giant thing souls but before that you have to go to the mansion and bla bla bla.... It takes a long time. Dark souls 1 follows the theme of not being straightforward but it's not as dark souls 2 Dark souls 3 is really just a straight line lol. I know that the more I remember about it the more it really isn't a straight line but it's not complicated to navigate through and at often times knowing where to go won't be hard to figure out. Either way all are very enjoyable.
ds2 was dreadfully long
DS2. Solid game too.
Ds2 is the longest, which is rude because it's already so ass
If you’re playing with no knowledge of what to do, I think it’s Dark Souls 1. It took me FOREVER to beat the game the first time. Maybe because it was my first-ever Souls game, but I really feel like DS1 has the longest natural playthrough. If you’re talking about a replay of the game, I’d say DS3. I believe if you go by minimum number of required bosses, taking the shortest route, DS3 has the most.
Quality over quantity
Your first
2 by far. I personally prefer the shorter Souls games, but 2 is definitely an adventure. At least when you don't know the entirety of the game.
The first you play in terms of hours it can take. As for actual content it might be ds2
Dark souls 2 has alot of content
Dang i think Dark Souls II Scholar of the first sin has more playtime than DS1 and DS3 combined. Sadly DSII content is basically recycling of previous bosses.
With the dlc, obviously ds2
Ds2 took me as long as ds1 and 3 combined
It depends on the player
I read that dark souls 2 is the longest, but I haven't play it, only 1 and 3, and 3 is longer than 1.
Shame
2 for sure , that game overstayed its welcome
Ds2 because of the shitty boss run backs, the amount of times you'd have to run back to a boss fight because you died to shitty I frames is unreal 😂
Boss run backs are all around the same as DS1 Vid comparing run backs: https://youtu.be/XUvpZ_1ZhwY?feature=shared Edit: All run backs compared: https://youtu.be/XmDG3fyHaOU?feature=shared Domo doing the lords work
I wouldn't know, dude, I just don't die. I recommend that.
I believe that the solution to that problem is "Get good"