Dark Souls 2 is a great sequel to one of my favorite games. First of all, I highly recommend that you play the original Dark Souls before playing this one. There is really no reason to play 2 before 1.

So assuming that you have played the first one, 2 improves upon some things but also makes some big mistakes.

Combat is for the most part the same. There are slight changes to rolling when locked on, iFrames, and there is also a new move called shield break. The main difference with combat is the edition of power stancing. Power stancing makes dual-wielding more effective by being able to attack with both weapons (if they have the same attack type) when you have 150% of the required stats. Personally I wasn't a huge fan of this change just because I feel that it made rolling essential even earlier than rolling became essential in Dark Souls 1. Nonetheless, I still had fun dual wielding katanas. I just sort of missed having a shield.

One thing I loved about Dark Souls was the non-linear world. Dark Souls 2 has a beautiful but unconnected world. 2 gives you the ability to teleport to every single bonfire you light from the beginning of the game! In 1 all of the areas connect with shortcuts back to the hub area. I still remember the first time I went down the elevator from the church back to firelink. Dark Souls 2 has none of this, the ability to travel to all bonfires removes the purpose of short cuts back to the hub. Because of this crucial mistake, the world of Dark Souls feels very linear and unconnected. This was my main issue with the game. It's not a deal breaker but it is just a bit of a shame.

Other than that there are a just a few minor changes such as losing health everytime you die. That one isn't much of an issue just because the items to reverse it are plentiful and the ring of binding helps a lot if you know you are going to die a lot. Also I just want to add that the DLC included in SOTFS is phenomenal.

Overall I loved this game and highly recommend it if you enjoyed the first. For the most part it is just more of the same amazing DS gameplay.

Dark Souls 2 is a great sequel to one of my favorite games. First of all, I highly recommend that you play the original Dark Souls before playing this one. There is really no reason to play 2 before 1. So assuming that you have played the first one, 2 improves upon some things but also makes some big mistakes. Combat is for the most part the same. There are slight changes to rolling when locked on, iFrames, and there is also a new move called shield break. The main difference with combat is the edition of power stancing. Power stancing makes dual-wielding more effective by being able to attack with both weapons (if they have the same attack type) when you have 150% of the required stats. Personally I wasn't a huge fan of this change just because I feel that it made rolling essential even earlier than rolling became essential in Dark Souls 1. Nonetheless, I still had fun dual wielding katanas. I just sort of missed having a shield. One thing I loved about Dark Souls was the non-linear world. Dark Souls 2 has a beautiful but unconnected world. 2 gives you the ability to teleport to every single bonfire you light from the beginning of the game! In 1 all of the areas connect with shortcuts back to the hub area. I still remember the first time I went down the elevator from the church back to firelink. Dark Souls 2 has none of this, the ability to travel to all bonfires removes the purpose of short cuts back to the hub. Because of this crucial mistake, the world of Dark Souls feels very linear and unconnected. This was my main issue with the game. It's not a deal breaker but it is just a bit of a shame. Other than that there are a just a few minor changes such as losing health everytime you die. That one isn't much of an issue just because the items to reverse it are plentiful and the ring of binding helps a lot if you know you are going to die a lot. Also I just want to add that the DLC included in SOTFS is phenomenal. Overall I loved this game and highly recommend it if you enjoyed the first. For the most part it is just more of the same amazing DS gameplay.