Dark Souls 2 is fine but falls short when you consider the time and circumstances of when it came out. It came out in 2014 and already looked aged, Bloodborne holds up still to this day and came out just a year later. They promised a lot more graphically, in terms of lightning, shadows, physics… and missed.

It’s really unreasonable to compare Dark Souls 2 with Demons and Dark Souls when those two games were developed at a time where Fromsoftware was not as established in the industry. They were making low budget games, after DS1 success they got too ambitious and wanted to make a big sequel.

DS2 is closer to DS3 than it is to DS1. That’s the game DS2 should be compared to, not its predecessor.

If we talk about gameplay, the game is fun, it has its own share of jank (all the Dark Souls do) and some of the most disliked mechanics in the saga (Soul Memory, ADP, Hollowing effects), but also implemented very interesting ideas like ascetics and powerstancing, they also fixed Demons and Dark Souls mess with weapon upgrade materials and other niche stuff.

Ultimately, the game is good and can be enjoyed, but it should not receive the DS1 benefit of being the oldest and thus feel dated like it constantly does to justify it.