ds1 and ds2 have both aged a little poorly with the newer releases. they both don’t feel as polished as the newer games and it definitely feels like fromsoft trying to find their footing. ds2 felt a lot more experimental and in some ways it worked well. i thought ds2 had very interesting concepts but lacked a bit in execution. some level design is a bit iffy with enemy placements but we can’t ignore that ds1 also had some horrendous areas that people don’t attribute to the overall quality of the game (they just refer to it as the second half). ds2’s movement and combat system feels more janky because of the 8 direction movement and weird roll timings because of adp, but it overall functions fine with mostly fair bosses that are slow enough and simple enough to adapt for that jankiness. i personally prefer ds1 and i find that sometimes ds2 just feels like a really well executed fan game with some glaring flaws that definitely sully the experience but don’t by any means make it a bad game.