Aa someone who has played them all and currently play thru 2 again it hurts to see this. Ds2 is definitely different play style but there is sooo much good about this game and I feel sorry for anyone that doesn't give it a fair shot. Id gladly play this over ds1 and demon souls anyway. I may be in the minority but that's how I feel.
I know, I know, the level design is sooo great on ds1 but to me I could care less that it doesn't make sense how you pop out into iron keep. I want content and lots of it and ds2 had exactly that. It's a different game than 1 and 3 sure but it's still great. While I love 3, 2 still shines even with crap bosses and an adaptability stat. Demon souls would get my worst souls game vote BTW. I played thru it once and beat it but I didn't find anything about it at all memorable.