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6 Reasons Why Dark Souls 2 is So Different

6 Reasons Why Dark Souls 2 is So Different

Dark Souls 2 is majorly different from the other 2 Dark Souls games and there are a lot of reasons for that. Many people who like the game say that it is the best of the 3, and others who enjoy 1 and 3, say that 2 is the worst one in the series. I guess it is up to the person’s opinion on if the game is good.

There are 6 reasons why Dark Souls 2 is so different. It had a different developer, the health decreases when you die, more weapons to choose from, the weird hit registry, the large boss pool, and the delayed stamina recharge.

We will go into more detail about each one and how they affect each player playing the game. There are still a ton of people enjoying the game so if you don’t like it, then you don’t even need to play it. Here are the reasons explained.

1. It had a different developer

When Dark Souls 2 was being developed, Bloodborne was also in development at the same time. So Miyazaki, the director of FromSoft, had separate teams work on the game. He didn’t help with it at all and that is why it is much different from his other titles.

It’s not that it is a bad game, it just didn’t have that FromSoft feel that the other games have. That is the main reason why a lot of people don’t really enjoy playing it. Many people think that the game had multiple people directing it as well so the story is all over the place, but who plays Dark Souls for the story.

2. The health decrease when you die

One of the main cons that people don’t like is the addition of the draining health bar. If you don’t know what we are talking about, when you die, your health permanently decreases until you use a Human Effigy to become human again. The premise for it is that the more you die, the less human you become so the less health you have.

We think that it was a stupid addition to the game but some people enjoy it. I mean, nobody likes to be punished for dying, especially in a game like this. Yes, you can regain that health back, but Human Effigies aren’t had unlimited uses. There are not too many in the world so you need to be sparing with them.

At least they put Estus Flasks in the game, unlike Demon Souls which has only consumable healing items. Some people enjoy this, but it is not a fun addition.

3. More weapon choices

The game has a lot more weapons to choose from. It is a pro that the game has and you are constantly getting new items to use as well. The more you explore, and there is a lot to explore, the more stuff you can find and use on your journey.

The more weapon choices there are, the more builds you can do. There are endless possibilities for builds and it makes for some insane replayability. Even the NG+ mode lets you experiment with all sorts of new builds without making you start all over from scratch.

4. The weird hit registry

The main reason people aren’t a fan of Dark Souls 2 is the odd hit registry. There can be times you are behind a boss and you just randomly take damage for no reason. You can also be hitting a boss or an enemy and it just doesn’t do any damage to it.

The weapons feel like toothpicks hitting concrete at times and the hit reg is the main reason for it. If you have played Dark Souls 1 and 3, you know the weapons feel like they are doing damage to whatever you are fighting. In Dark Souls 2, it is nothing like the other games.

The only way you can enjoy the game is if you get used to the way your weapon moves and does damage. Once you get past that, the game can be fun. Just make sure you are leveled correctly or you are in for a “fun” time. Everything can be fun if you are just patient with yourself.

5. The larger boss pool

The number of bosses in this game is double that of the other 2 games. The only downside to that is that they aren’t as memorable as bosses from other games. If you have a lot of bosses, then the time put into each one from the developer is a lot less than let’s say Nameless King from Dark Souls 3.

There are a lot of bosses, yes, but are most of them good? Not really. It still might be up for a person’s own opinion, but each boss other than the main ones are pretty dull and boring. There is nothing wrong with putting a lot of bosses into a game, look at Elden Ring for example, but there needs to be that time put into them to make them good.

6. The delayed stamina recharge

One of the biggest differences from the other games is the delay in the stamina recharge. Stamina is by far the most important thing to watch in the game. If you aren’t used to how slow the stamina regenerates, then you might find yourself dying a lot. Dying doesn’t help either because the permanent health decrease.

To counterbalance the stamina, make sure you focus a lot of points into stamina so it doesn’t run out so fast, or even use a smaller weapon to do quicker attacks. Also, make sure your equipment load is fairly low so you aren’t fat rolling and using too much stamina when you don’t need to.

All these differences don’t make Dark Souls 2 a bad game and it is because of them that some people really enjoy playing it. We know some friends who like the health decrease, which is a little weird, but everyone has their likes and dislikes when they play video games.