Board Thread:Dark Souls II/@comment-16047389-20140729143204/@comment-16047389-20140729163920

The level design, to me, felt just like the old days of Dark Souls 1. Rather than being one long linear pathway with side paths for items, the level actually looped around on itself, using realistic shortcuts and elevators to give the feeling that the entire level is in fact connected. The switches added a fun mechanic to the level that felt like you could use the rising structures as traps, escape routes, lunging attack platforms, etc. However, I found that a great deal of the switches in Shulva almost required the use of a bow/crossbow. To me, an RPG should NEVER require a specific weapon type be used. But, the main pathway from start to finish (assuming you don't care about items or other bonfires) didn't have that requirement, so the problem is not as severe. The story behind the place was really interesting, and I'm glad that they didn't try and tie it back to Dark Souls 1 somehow. The story was simpler than most, but it did have the feeling that they actually wrote out the backstory first, then designed the level, items, and enemies around it (a classic Dark Souls motif that was sorely lacking).

The items and new content in this area were great. The Drakeblood set looks awesome, and we're introduced to the first weapon of the game that naturally deals 3 different sources of damage (Drakeblood Greatsword deals Physical, Magic, and Lightning damage). Yorgh's ring and spear look like they will have a lot of influence in PvP, and we also see a ring that actually increases lightning damage. However, the Crown of the Sunken King is rather unimpressive. I only hope it will have a secondary purpose, such as acting as a key or part to obtaining the true endgame item(s) once all three DLC are released.

The various enemies seemed well done. The Sanctum Knights had traits that made them nuisances (such as poison aura or high poise), but were still beatable and challenging if fought in large numbers. By far, my favorite of the enemies, though, were the ghost warriors. Their mechanics made them annoying to deal with, but were still more interesting than anything we'd seen in Dark Souls 2 as far as standard enemies had gone. The worst of the enemies was the lizards with the statues on their backs. The targeting on them was painful, and most of the time you would just end up hitting the unbreakable (seriously, why are they unbreakable on the lizards?) statues being carried around.

The first boss fight, the Triple Gank Fight, was almost just too obscene in the beginning. But, the fight was obviously designed for multiplayer in mind, and it actually quite excels in that area. It's actually the first boss fight in Dark Souls 2 that uses multiple bosses effectively, with each one having different strengths and weaknesses that you have to deal with. The AI of the three made the fight far more challenging than just another Dark Spirit fight. It is definately a step in the right direction when handling boss fights with multiple enemies. Skeleton Lords was too easy, Ruin Sentinels was just the same boss copy and pasted, and Throne Defender and Watcher was just dumb.

The second boss fight was pretty much what you would expect a Nashandra clone to be. Although unlike Nashandra, Elana was actually difficult. The Dark Flame Swathe attack was a little too overpowered, as it was capable of dealing 75% of your hp in a single hit, while having a short cast time, and can easily hit you between healing. Overall, not the best boss fight, but would've been better as a final boss instead of Nashandra.

Sinh, the Slumbering Dragon, was exactly the kind of final boss fight I had hoped for. It felt exactly like a dragon battle should feel like. I'm grateful that they didn't just make it an Ancient Dragon clone. However, the rushing headbutt attack is just way too overpowered, and can easily one shot you on NG, whether he actually hits you, or you just brush up against his tail while he's charging. A few of his attacks need to be better tuned, as some of the hitboxes are much bigger than they should be. Still, it's an epic battle that makes me feel like a Dragonslayer myself.

Crown of the Sunken King DLC is definately a step in the right direction IMHO. I would like to see a bit more done with multiplayer, perhaps creating an actual 3v3 arena battle like what the Triple Gank boss fight was trying to be. Elana, while not being the best fight, did pose some interesting questions as far as the incarnations of Manus, that I would like to see pursued a bit further. But if this DLC is a sign of things to come, I'd say the game is only going to get better. I give the DLC an 8/10. A great start, but only a start.