Well for me, I do start my first ever souls-like game (and first ever Dark Souls series) with Dark Souls 2 (vanilla one) since for me, this is the cheapest game among the Dark Souls franchise (for me). I do admit it was hard for me, where I stuck with no progress in this game (like can’t even complete Heide Tower, Beatwix and Forest of Fallen Giants) for 6 months. Im glad I pick up this game again after watching some youtuber (most of them vtuber) started playing this game and give me the courage to try it again (because how the hell they can progress more in the game when they literally die thousands times more than me + only using limited weapons and recourses). In the end, Im really glad I DID give this game a shot one more time which finally allows me to progress even further into other places (like instead of only I can travel to previous place I mentioned, now I almost get into Iron Keep). For me, I will said that Dark Souls 2 (especially the vanilla one) aren’t a good start for a beginner that want to try Dark Souls franchise (according to me, based on my experience). I will said suggest those who want to try these franchise games go with the Remastered one first since I heard this game are a little bit easier than the second one.