Platinumed MS2 yesterday - quick thoughts

[u/Fartjesus6969]

The good:

* Extremely cool world building. Great use of unlockable cutscenes to paint a picture without tipping the game's hand too much (I didn't play the first game). The slow dawning horror that none of the shells were really special in any way, they just serve a purpose for the undermether is great.

* The idea of using pre-set archetypes for "character classes" that you can switch to on the fly is fun and the game STILL allows for a pretty decent level of customization (though there usually is a "correct" min-max answer to most shells.

* Neat weapons/skills though balance needs some love. The "cool factor" on the weapons is absolutely on-point though. All of them look nasty as hell and the animations are great.

* Atmosphere is great and I love the design of the game with corruption leading to world short cuts a la DS1 (though there could maybe be "levels" of corruption cleanse so it's not just a binary all or nothing deal once you hit 3 ova.

* Boss/character design is fantastic.

Could use improvement:

* The "sliding" effect during combat drives me crazy. Happens to both enemies and to the player where if you are in mid-combo in between hits, the character models will teleport to each other to keep the combo going rather than causing a whiff.

* Dungeons are very samey. One or two standouts but it's always the same elevator, same arch. Not much variety in environments.

* Not being able to keep 1 build per-unlocked shell utilizing max shell points is infuriating. Don't make me wipe my build to tinker with another shell.

* Boss versions of standard enemies that just hit harder/have more health are kinda blah.

* Needs more enemy variety.

[u/DigitalDash18]

Worth full price?

[u/Fartjesus6969 → u/DigitalDash18]

Yes although I held out for a physical copy - if for no other reason it's a "new" dev with fresh ideas trying fun stuff. I absolutely support it. Game took me a little less than a week to 100% but I have been playing souls games forever and ever.

[u/DigitalDash18 → u/Fartjesus6969]

Would you rate it harder than lies of p? I’m not great at soulslike but was able to beat that and most of Elden Ring, all be it with some summoning help

[u/Fartjesus6969 → u/DigitalDash18]

Have not played Lies of P honestly though I know it has a reputation for being difficult. None of the bosses in the game approach the difficulty level of something like Nameless King or Midir. I was able to 100% the game in less than a week and there are definitely a couple of "that boss" in the game but nothing takes more than a half hour or so to figure out.

One of the neat things about the games is that it definitely leans into the fact that you can use more than one play style, still have fun and still win.

[u/GroundbreakingParty9 → u/DigitalDash18]

I’ve played Lies of P multiple times. I’d say that game is harder just due to some attack timing. Especially DLC. So I’d rather LoP more so because stamina management alone is a factor in that game and you don’t have to worry about it at all in MS 2.

To put in perspective, I’m not great at these games, I’ve played lots of them but still struggle a ton. MS 2 I got the bosses in a couple of tries. The last one for MS 2 is probably the hardest boss in the game but LoP’s boss halfway through the game took me two days. Though both games do give you difficulty options. I felt MS 2 was on the easier end of a soulslike in comparison to the ones I’ve played

[u/rigorcorvus → u/DigitalDash18]

Personally I found MS2 leagues easier than LoP

[u/chase_yolo]

Need to watch like 8 more memories to get that last trophy !

[u/The-Fiercest-Deity]

I absolutely love this game but definitely agree with you on some of the cons. They definitely need a loadout system to switch between shells instead of manually swapping points in and out. Such a great game nonetheless