Dark Souls II Scholar of the First Sin Review
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Developers: FromSoftware
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Publishers: Bandai Namco Games
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Genres: Action, RPG, Adventure
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Platforms: Nintendo Switch
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Release date:
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Original (PS3, Xbox 360): March 11th, 2014
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DLCs original release: July 2014-October 2014
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SotFS release (PS3, Xbox 360, PC, PS4, Xbox One): April 2nd, 2015
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Playtime:
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Over 100 hours in the original PS3 release (multiple playthroughs)
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Over 30 hours in the SotFS PS4 release (played through the main game and all three DLCs)
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Reviewed on a regular PS4
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Note: This is a review of the Scholar of the First Sin rerelease as a full package, that is, I’m including what was paid downloadable content for the original release as an integral part of this version of Dark Souls II. If, at times, I refer to that paid content as DLC, it’s simply to be more direct about a subject matter, not to separate content.
Dark Souls II (DS2), by most standards, is an amazing game, period. However, when compared to the original Dark Souls (DS1) and to the more recent third entry in the series (DS3), it’s clear Dark Souls II falls short of reaching the incredibly high quality standard set by the series. Still, what we have here is an amazing game that can stand above most other games. Taking into account this rerelease includes all previously released downloadable content (DLC), not to mention modifications to enemy placements, it manages to keep the experience fresh even for people that have played through the original release multiple times.
Where to start with this game? Let’s start with framing the story setting. While on one hand DS1’s story revolves around linking the First Flame and defining the world of Dark Souls, on the other hand DS3’s story is centered about pursuing the Lords of Cinder, beings that survived linking the Flame. DS2, the game under study, tells the story of Drangleic, a kingdom that has lost its monarch, Vendrick, and is now up to you, the Undead Hollow, to fill his position and become a true Monarch, someone that could be powerful enough to link the Flame. Even without going much more into detail, story-wise, DS2 is the smaller game, in scope. It is true that portraying the story of a man who fought to be strong enough to link the Flame is something of relevance, not to mention the other Monarchs revealed in the DLCs, but when you step back and see the bigger picture it is not as grandiose and epic as the journeys of DS1 and DS3. In DS1 you go directly after Gwyn, the person who linked the First Flame and, in DS3, you pursue the Lords of Cinder, extraordinary beings that not only managed to link the Flame but managed to survive the feat. So, in comparison, DS2’s Monarchs feels like a side-story of sorts about the world of Dark Souls. Thankfully, the game still manages to hold up by introducing plenty of interesting characters, plot points and, in all honestly, telling a very interesting perspective of the state of the world long after the events of the first game.
Still on the topic of the story, let’s dig deeper into how DS2 handles story. To put it bluntly, DS2 handles storytelling as well as the other titles. This sequel makes use of the series’ traditional environmental storytelling, once again introducing a story that is constructed by gluing together bits and pieces of information from character dialogue, item descriptions or simply by making conjectures based on enemy and item placement. With all these aspects, DS2 portrays the tale of the kingdom of Drangleic and its king, Vendrick, the man who almost became a true Monarch and was close to finding a cure for the Undead Curse, which would lead to breaking the unending cycle of the world in Dark Souls.
Gameplay-wise, DS2 retains the well-known methodical combat of the Soul Series and its gameplay loop. Combat is still a matter of taking into consideration both your own and your enemies’ situation, as well as the environment. Managing your stamina meter is essential and if you can’t do so you won’t get far in the game, specially if you waste all your stamina attacking and are left with none to dodge the enemy’s follow-up attacks. Even if the combat mechanics feel as solid as they were in the first game, DS2 has a tendency to pit you against multiple enemies, not to mention the enemies’ aggro distance falls on the unbalanced side. This is especially notorious when one in a group of enemies notices you and all of them instantly become aware of your presence, unlike what happened in DS1 and even in DS3, where you had a much better chance of luring enemies one by one, drastically reducing the difficulty of combat (looking at you Shrine of Amana, my DS2 nemesis). Still, combat retains its fun and rewarding aspect, but there’s a bigger emphasis in taking with you weapons that can attack multiple enemies at once, with horizontal attacks, removing some of the flexibility in choosing a weapon, that is, it ends up shifting the focus to crowd control instead of player skill.
Changing the subject to the gameplay loop, that is no more no less than the traditional collection of souls by defeating more and more enemies so that you can level up your stats and improve your gear. And, of course, there’s the mechanic of collecting the souls you dropped upon death if you can make it back to where you died without dying again. Lastly, we can’t wrap up gameplay without mentioning the bosses. I enjoyed the idea of DS2 adding a couple of “throwaway bosses”, that is, incredibly easy bosses that serve more as plot devices than challenging encounters. This ends up making the player feel motivated as they are able to easily beat a boss, what is usually a tough encounter, without compromising one of their most important aspects: their lore. For seasoned players, these are just a quick way to make some souls, but for less experienced players I believe this serves as a motivational point as well as a break from the challenging battles this game offers. If we shift the topic of bosses’ difficulty to their design, that’s not as memorable as it was in the other games. Most of the bosses in DS2 have a humanoid form, so this game ends up not having that many fantastic creatures that wipe the floor with your body. Still, there’s some standouts such as Sinh, the Guardian Dragon and the Executioner’s Chariot. Besides being visually impressive, these bosses offer interesting twists to their battles, be it via interaction with the arena or simply by making you rethink completely your approach. However, the humanoid bosses also have plenty of memorable fights: Fume Knight, Sir Alonne, the Burnt Ivory King, Smelter Demon and a couple more. These create a tense duel atmosphere where you completely zone out during battle until either you or your opponent deal a finishing blow. Thankfully, this game also introduced a new system for unlocking boss weapons, making it a straightforward trade of the boss souls for the corresponding weapon, so that you can enjoy a new, strong and unique weapon as soon as you beat the boss.
Now, we reach a somewhat eyebrow-raising topic of DS2: the world structure. The Dark Souls series is well known for its interconnected world structure, when you first reach a new area you might see a couple of locked doors, but thirty minutes later you find yourself on the other side of those doors and open a new shortcut. And, of course, there are the iconic bonfires. Given that each area is fairly big and filled with enemies ready to kill you at any time, areas also have sparsely placed bonfires that serve as checkpoints and resting points. Making your way to the next bonfire is always a big aspect of exploring because doing so is a validation of your progress. No matter how close you were to the next bonfire, if you die on the way, you respawn at the previous bonfire and have to start again. However, even if you don’t make it to the next bonfire you can still make progress and little by little make your way to the next bonfire. Be it by defeating a non-respawning enemy or by opening a door, with each attempt you can slowly make your way through until that one time where you actually reach the next bonfire and don’t have to repeat that part of the area again.
However, it’s here that DS2’s world structure starts to falter. While DS1 and DS3 created intricate layouts for each area that made you drop you jaw when you open a door that connects to a part you’ve been to thirty or sixty minutes ago, DS2 only keeps this aspect at a very basic level. A lot of times, opening a shortcut became more of a chore than something rewarding and, the areas, in general, were way more linear than in the other titles, at least in the main game. Thankfully, the areas from the three DLCs are super well done, filled with environmental puzzles and visual elements that make them feel completely distinct, even in the series as a whole. More importantly, opening a shortcut in these locations brought back those eureka moments that were sorely missed in the main game. Turning on the elevators in the Brume Tower after hours of exploring brought a new dimension to the Tower and making your way through the snowy paths of the Frozen Eleum Loyce felt as fear-inducing as being in the middle of a real snowstorm, never knowing what would jump out to attack.
Even if I’ve already tackled the design of bosses, it is still worth bringing up the design of the “normal” enemies you come across. There are plenty of enemies that want a straightforward battle with you, but on the other hand there are also plenty of enemies that are more an environmental hazard than actual fighting opponents. For example, the Rupturing Hollows rush you just to explode and deal a lot of damage while the Barrel Carriers serve almost as a piece of a puzzle in the Brume Tower. Given that there’s a lot of fire being spewed in this area, the Barrel Carriers can pretty much explode at any second, which you can use to your advantage and make them explode close to other enemies. Oh, and how can I forget The Pursuer, which was originally just a “normal” boss in the original release, now pursues (no pun intended) the player during the first half of the game, showing up in multiple locations. While it reaches a point that’s annoying, it fits perfectly his lore and it’s, overall, a nice touch to the character.
One more aspect that needs to be brought up is the oh so important sound design in this game, specially the soundtrack. It’s no secret that the soundtrack plays a big part in this series, especially as a compliment to boss fights, sometimes as important as the bosses’ design itself. A soundtrack, at its worst, can ruin a boss fight, and, at its best, can make a fight one of the best experiences in a Dark Souls game. Thankfully, DS2 absolutely nails this aspect. From the calmer tune that plays in Majula, the hub area that connects to the major pathways of Drangleic, to the epic songs that play in battles such as the Fume Knight, Nashandra, Sir Alonne, The Last Giant, Velstadt, …, the list is too long for me to include all of it in a single paragraph. Just listening to the first seconds of a track immediately makes me think of its corresponding enemy/area and brings to mind the best and worst moments I’ve spent there.
Before the conclusion, we finally reach the paragraph where I, as someone that experienced the original release of DS2 on the PS3 and played part of its DLCs, can give a different overall take on the experience that most players will enjoy these days when they play DS2. DS2 was the very first Dark Souls game I played, the series’ roots completely enchanted me, from its methodical combat to the general game design, not to mention DS2 was also the first game I played that took environmental storytelling to such an extreme. Everything about the game made me want to play more and, after a couple of NG+ playthroughs, I bought the Dark Souls Prepare to Die Edition and even the excellent Demon Souls. I went as far as purchasing the season pass for DS2, even if I ended up only playing through one of the three DLCs. After playing DS3 last year and Dark Souls Remastered last May, I thought it was time to go back to DS2, this time on the PS4, that is, the Dark Souls II Scholar of the First Sin release, a package that includes the main game, all three DLCs and a handful of changes, namely to the enemy placement which kept the experience fresh and caught me off-guard more times than I want to admit. This time, after beating Aldia, the true final boss in this version, I went after the DLC content and it was simply incredible. The design of these areas was superb, much better than most of what you could find in the main game, and everything here felt new, not just copy and pasted content. Overall, I feel like playing through this new iteration of the game just reinforced my thoughts on the game and how much I love it, independently of how it ranks in the scope of the Dark Souls series.
Dark Souls II (Scholar of the First Sin) is an excellent game, period. It builds upon the great foundations laid by the first game but unfortunately takes some of it too far, specially the “Prepare to Die” mentality that helps make the series sound super hardcore. Indeed, this mentality led to some frustrating encounters in the game, that made me both grit my teeth in anger and adapt my playstyle to suit the challenge. Even if the game throws plenty of curve balls that, at the end of the day, make me fee like DS2 is the inferior game of the Dark Souls trilogy, DS2 is an incredible experience through and through. With its challenging encounters, great storytelling, varied environments and stellar soundtrack, Dark Souls II Scholar of the First Sin is an amazing game that should not be sneered at. I purposely do not mention what was initially downloadable content because, at this point, Crown of the Sunken King, Crown of the Old Iron King and Crown of the Ivory King are all integral parts of the experience that elevate it further. If you like Dark Souls, you should play through this game because it gives a perspective of the world long after the events of the original game and, of course, it’s a great excuse to play more Dark Souls.