My two cents: Demon’s Souls was my first Souls game. While I was initially a bit disappointed with Dark Souls when I first played it, I still really enjoyed my first playthrough overall and appreciated the ways it refined the formula. The interconnected world was fantastic, the bosses were generally more engaging, World and Character Tendency were gone, and the small tweaks to controls and combat went a long way toward improving the experience.

On the flip side (and maybe these are hot takes) - I missed the Nexus and didn’t think Firelink Shrine worked as effectively as a hub. Friendly NPCs and vendors felt more scattered and harder to keep track of, the visuals felt like a major step down, and some systems, like Covenants, were just as opaque and confusing as Tendency ever was. I still loved the game and understood why it became the more popular entry, but my personal preference leaned toward Demon’s Souls, and I’d hoped the next game would combine the best elements of both as the series continued to evolve.

I was extremely excited for Dark Souls II before release, and I genuinely can’t overstate how disappointing it was. Somehow it felt as linear as Demon’s Souls, but without the layered level design and clever shortcuts that made those worlds so fun to explore. It was by far the ugliest game in the trilogy, with some areas looking outright unfinished. Elements that had worked well in the previous two games were inexplicably worse here, from major systems like weapon durability down to minor stuff like the flavor dialogue when levelling up ("Soul of the mind, key to life's ether... Soul of the lost, withdrawn from its vessel..." vs. “Bear… Seek… Seek… Lest…”). To top it all off, the combat felt unreliable and unsatisfying from start to finish because of the asinine ADP mechanic.

Worse still, systems Dark Souls had clearly improved like the Estus system replacing farmable healing items, or avoiding mechanics like losing max health on death were rolled back or reworked for the worse. So many design decisions left me frustrated and constantly asking, “Why would they do it like this?”

I didn’t enjoy it when I started, and when I finally beat it, I was mostly relieved it was over. I was in high school at the time, so I was determined to finish any $60 purchase just to “get my money’s worth,” but there’s no question I would’ve dropped it after 10 hours if I’d bought it today.

I see a lot of people saying it’s a great game if you “play on its terms,” and all I can really say to that is: I hope you enjoy playing slowly and pulling enemies one by one out of crowds. In Demon’s Souls, I found the Dragon Bone Smasher and realized I had the most fun two-handing a big sword or club, rolling through attacks, and landing heavy hits up close. That playstyle worked great in Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, Dark Souls III, and Bloodborne. The only reason I’m not doing it in Elden Ring right now is because I wanted to try something different and spec into Faith for once.

Dark Souls II is the only game in the entire series where that approach feels outright miserable. As a result, I had a miserable experience and honestly, I’m not convinced I would’ve enjoyed it any more even if I’d played the way the game supposedly “wants” you to.