+ Combat is pretty much the same as always, but the enemies are a bit smarter. It seemed harder to run away from them and heal (and health recovery felt slower after drinking a flask), and it's definitely harder to avoid attacks when you're really close to someone. For example, when enemies do big overheard attacks, it seems to track you a lot better. If you try running behind them or roll too early, you're probably going to get smashed.
+ Backstabs seem harder to abuse. You can take damage during the animation now and it seemed harder to get behind most of the enemies. You also have to initiate backstabs with a punch or kick, so it's easier to miss them.
+ 4 ring slots make builds more customizable, as does the higher equip burden (fast roll until 70%).
+ Online play seems better. I only tried it for a couple hours, but everything felt nice and smooth (minus one or two laggy battles). You can also be invaded while hollow, which is a nice change (the more invasions, the better).
+ The weapon upgrade system is more straightforward, as are the boss soul weapons. (I kinda miss collecting the embers from all over the world, but that also became a nuisance after a while)
+ None of the areas feel rush or unfinished, like some of the final bits of the original.
+ The boss fights might be the best in the series (I'll have to play it a few more times to say for sure). A few of them are pointless because they're so easy, but none of them are bad like the Bed of Chaos, and several of them are really good.
+ Special rewards for challenge runs (rings for beating the game without dying and beating the game without using a bonfire). A good first step, but it would've been great if they had even more for beating the game at SL1, beating the game without equipping any armor/rings, beating the game under a certain time limit, etc.
+ Good performance on the 360. It seems to run at 30-40 fps pretty much the entire time, at the cost of some screen tearing (which typically doesn't bother me).
+ New Game+ is better. It's no longer a straight damage increase, there are new enemies, new items, and apparently new secrets to discover.
= The difficulty is about the same as the previous game. It's actually probably harder than the current version of Dark Souls, since that game got easier with every patch.
= You're no longer invincible during most of the animations (you can get hit while pulling a lever, opening a door, entering a fog gate, etc). I think this is a positive, but it can be annoying in certain areas because it's harder to run by the enemies and enter the fog without taking any damage. That will probably be painful in SL1 runs. (I think SL1 will be
much harder in general, especially if you're doing a naked/no shield/melee only run)
= The lighting "downgrade". I'm actually glad that they backtracked on their emphasis on darkness. The early previews made me think this was going to be Tomb of Giants: The Game, and that never sounded any good to me. But on the other hand, the game looks pretty bad in some areas due to flat lighting or ugly textures that probably would have been masked by the darkness. The lighting/shadows do look really good when you light bonfires, use Pharros Stones in certain areas, or hold a torch, though.
- Soul Memory. Just seems like a pointless wall they put in place that further reduces the amount of players you can connect to.
- Most of the areas aren't as memorable to me as the last game's. They aren't bad by any means, but almost nothing stands out as being as awesome as Sen's Fortress, Anor Londo, Ash Lake, the Duke's Archives, etc.
- Likewise, most of the bosses aren't as impressive. (I'm not talking about their patterns, just the visual design and their significance in the world)
- I don't like the story or lore as much as the original's, but maybe that's just because I already know so much about that game and DS2 is brand new. I'm sure it'll grow on me over time.
- Maybe I missed it, but there doesn't seem to be an infinite-use item for invasions...
? None of the merchants sell somewhat essential items, like poison moss. It doesn't bother me because I'm always incredibly stingy about resources in RPGs, but that seems like an oversight.
