Vapourware RPG Codex's Best RPGs - 2019 - REVIEW THREAD!

[felipepepe]

Ok, let's do this. All the way to 101.

If you somehow missed, the results of our newest poll is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aJ9SdqrDHU13PfLD2mwCeFhw6RoX_iMa8ZshNdZxEz4/edit?usp=sharing

Now we need reviews for:

- Pathfinder: Kingmaker
- Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen
- Divinity: Original Sin 1
- Divinity: Original Sin 2
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance
- ELEX
- ATOM RPG: Post-apocalyptic indie game
- Pillars of Eternity
- Battle Brothers
- NieR: Automata
- Dark Souls III
- Kenshi
- Might and Magic II: Gates to Another World
- Diablo
- NEO Scavenger
- Prey
- Expedition: Vikings
- Space Rangers: HD
- Tales of Maj'Eyal (ToME)
- Gothic 3
- Realms of Arkania I: Blade of Destiny
- Undertale
- Tyranny
- Might and Magic X: Legacy
- Ultima VI: The False Prophet
- Lords of Xulima

TWO reviews for each.

They should be around 1,000 characters ion length, quickly saying why you think this game is great and should be played. For stuff like Dark Souls, PoE or Divinity, it would be cool to say why you think this is the best entry in the series.

Here's some examples of reviews I think are very useful:

MicoSelva: Generally considered inferior to its much-acclaimed sequel, Baldur's Gate has you embark on a journey through the Forgotten Realms' Sword Coast to experience a story that is both personal and world-changing. And by Sword Coast I mean every square foot of it because, while not being truly open world, the game has a huge number of wilderness locations. For most people, the sheer vastness of the world and the relatively low density of content are BG1's major flaws, but some, myself included, consider these traits to be an advantage over Baldur's Gate 2's rather artificial quest overload, as it makes the world feel more believable and alive.

Granted, the dungeons in this game are much less interesting, the fights much less epic and the loot much sparser (again, a good thing in my book), but the adventure is just as true, if not more.

Grunker: Modern stealth games and Deus Ex-likes make one core mistake in their design. This mistake is the most apparent in Arkane Studio's Dishonored, but it can, in one way or another, be found in almost every stealth game since 2004. They ask you to focus on either stealth or combat.

What made Deus Ex so mind-blowingly awesome, such a hallmark of gaming, is that it asks you to decide, for each single obstacle you face, which approach you want to use. You're not asked to stealth through the whole game even when combat seems a better approach, or to shoot and kill everyone even when creeping through the shadows would be smarter. It doesn't reward you for sticking to a single course of action during the entire game. It lets you decide.

The fun of being a thief, a secret agent or a similar type of character, is using different methods and skills for different obstacles. Having you play through the game three times while using exclusively a single tactic on each playthrough entirely defeats the purpose of having multiple approaches available. Deus Ex understood what each of its spiritual successors has failed to grasp, and for that, I salute it.

Broseph: The Codex seems split on this game; either you love it to death and praise it as a true successor to the original Fallout games, or you declare it a mediocre but well-intentioned attempt at resurrecting the franchise in a shoddy game engine. I am firmly in the former camp. For all its flaws, the amount of replay value New Vegas offers compared to other RPGs is nearly unparalleled. In most RPGs with factions, you're given the option of doing quest X for faction A or quest Y for faction B. Not so in this game. Almost every quest has multiple resolutions and methods of dealing with it based on your character build, and I especially liked donning a disguise and doing quests within an organization to weaken them from the inside. This is the kind of stuff I always dreamed about experiencing in a computer RPG, but most have never delivered in the way of reactivity as much as this. New Vegas slightly suffers from the loot hoarding, hiking simulator FPS gameplay it inherited from Fallout 3, but it's the best we could have hoped for as a true Fallout sequel in 2010.

You can check more at the original Top 72 RPGs list: https://rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=9453

If you are interested, just start writing.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

I will write :
Shadowrun: Dragonfall
Sengoku Rance
Wasteland 2

If you won't find anyone for Oblivion and Gothic 3 they go off the list I assume? Right? Right?

 

[Tigranes]

Are we reusing the reviews from last time? I think I wrote for IWD2 and something else, and it's not like they've become dated.

 

[Duckard]

For stuff like Dark Souls, PoE or Divinity, it would be cool to say why you think this is the best entry in the series.

So you want us to lie?

Oblivion:
The fourth title in Bethesda's long line of fantasy walking simulations is perhaps the most important. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was the first in the series to be designed primarily with a home console audience in mind, and it shows. The development team streamlined away the useless and arcane elements from Morrowind's RPG systems in order create an accessible, all-ages adventure which the entire family could enjoy. Although it's graphics and UX are archaic by today's standards, they were cutting edge for the time. Bethesda's modern games are built on a technological and design foundation that was established during the development of Oblivion, and while I'm sure it sounds a little weird to say Oblivion is a great game when compared to their more recent masterpieces like Skyrim and Fallout: 76, just remember one thing. We wouldn't have any of these modern day masterworks of art if it weren't for the critical and commercial success of Oblivion over 13 years ago...

 

[unfairlight]

Hope this is sufficient, I doubt anyone would be willing to write up something else for Oblivion. Feel free to cut them up or edit them as you desire.

- Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Kingdom Come is a very unique and immersive game, despite many of its ambitious gameplay systems being underdeveloped, unutilized or easily broken.
How many games are there where you can poison a bandit camp cooking pot to weaken them before combat - not through a dialogue box or skill check - but by your own personal ingenuity and wits? Not many. Similarly, this is what pains me about Kingdom Come too, as the ambitious systems it has aren't as used as they could have been in the surprisingly linear main story of the game.
I once said that Kingdom Come was a bit like Oblivion but in the best way possible and I still stick by that. I'm convinced that Oblivion was a big influence for them in the few ways that made Oblivion more unique than most action RPGs out there: a very strong NPC simulation based design and flexible gameplay. Hell, even the UI reminds me of Oblivion.

The worst crime of all in the realm of games is to be boring. Boring games are forgotten. Kingdom Come isn't boring, Kingdom Come is one of a kind, and that's why I believe Kingdom Come: Deliverance to absolutely be a modern classic that people will be talking about and playing decades later. Few games get that honour.

- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

To say Oblivion is a divisive game here is putting it mildly, but despite all its flaws I still think it's a game with merits. If someone were to ask me what made Oblivion great, I would immediately respond with two things: Quests and radiant AI.

Radiant AI did actually exist and it was really neat. The AI would put any weapons and potions that it had nearby to use (most notable in the Dark Brotherhood questline, which I think even the most anti-Oblivion person would agree is great) and all the NPCs would have unique patterns of sleeping, eating, talking (which is notoriously amusing) and travelling. That's what makes Oblivion basically one of a kind. I think I prefer the ambitious yet utterly broken nature of Oblivion a lot more than Bethesda's later games. Luckily, the "utterly broken" part can today be fixed with over 10 years of community mods which has been Bethesda's saving grace for a while.

 

[Swigen]

The Witcher 3

This gaem? Lemme tell you about this game. This game has it all; romance, bromance, games of chance, different pants and even a dance. It has C&C, B&E and even an evil tree. It has whores, boars and even a giant that snores. It has bards, tards and lots of surly guards. A lot of people skip out on this gem ‘cause they’re baffled by the complex battle system but hang in there, soon you’ll be pressing fast attack constantly and casting Yrden once in a while like a champ. People who tough out the steep learning curve will be treated to one of the most titty filled tales ever to sway its way onto a home console. There are tons of tits in this game and not just in romance scenes, a lot of times they’re just hanging out there stuck on some random monster and sometimes women! Also it has the best rendered asses of any game ever made! One time I walked into a herbalist’s shack, the herbal lady was bending over right when I walked in and I swear I got half a chub just like that. And I didn’t even tell you how many endings there are yet! There are liek over 30 endings! The game is like 150 hours your first play through so when you’re done you’re done. I guess that’s 29 endings you’re never going to see, but still, you could if you wanted too! In conclusion this game is one of the best gaems ever made and you’d be insane to pass it up. I recommend this game to all fans of the RPG genre and to people who thought Zelda 64 should’ve been 150 hours stuffed with tits.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

- Realms of Arkania I: Blade of Destiny

Can I submit a Realms of Arkania HD review?

 

[Tavernking]

I will write reviews for:

Age of Decadence
Divinity: Original Sin 2

 

[majorsoccer]

OK,my 2 reviews:

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt:

Spoiler

Grimoire Heralds of the Winged Exemplar:

Spoiler

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Sengoku Rance

Just paste the Rance face and call it a day lol.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

For stuff like Dark Souls, PoE or Divinity, it would be cool to say why you think this is the best entry in the series.

You want someone to write why Dark Souls 2 is the best entry in the series, when it's ranked #56, while Dark Souls 1 is ranked #12?

Permit me to exclaim: why the fuck do you want to spread someone's obviously unpopular opinion on the subject?

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

 

[Martyr]

I will write a review for Dark Souls 2.

felipepepe when's the deadline?

 

[Falksi]

Happy to have a go at any of these, ratings alongside them so you know roughly what I think of them before hand:

- The Witcher 3 - 2/5 (expansions 4/5)
- Underrail - 4/5
- Shadowrun: Dragonfall - 5/5
- Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen - 3/5
- Dark Souls II - 4/5
- Dark Souls III - 3/5
- ELEX - 3/5
- Pillars of Eternity - 3/5
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - 3/5

Currently playing through these, so again happy to do, but might not be ready for a few months yet................
- NieR: Automata
- Divinity: Original Sin 1

 

[Optimist]

I'll have a shot.

Gothic 3

Spoiler

Gothic 3 had big shoes to grow into. And while it initially tripped quite a few times, grow it did.

Initially rightfully panned for being a buggy, imbalanced mess - wolf stunlocks! - which could bring down even the most powerful machines of the time, it received a lukewarm critical reception. Some of series' fans declared it 'not a real Gothic', ignorant of the horrors that were yet to come. Still, bugs and jank was something usual for the series, so some time after release a group of wonderful madmen, able to see through the mess, started their work on fan patches. With time they managed to turn it into something truly beautiful.

If you pick up Gothic 3 after these years, what you'll get will be a pretty damn good open world game. Find Xardas - the way you do this is up to you. The graphics hold up surprisingly well, Kai Rosenkranz outdid himself (Vista Point!) when it comes to music, and the patched mechanics are rock solid. I don't think any other aRPG save for, perhaps, Dragon Dogma made bow/ magic gameplay this fun. Due to sheer size of the world G3 may fail to make its characters as memorable as its predecessors, but it makes up for it with trademark PB world design, some nice reactivity and feeling of adventure.

Space Rangers HD

Spoiler

Roam the galaxy, trade illegal drugs and weaponry, and use the funds to stop incoming biomechanical menace - or just load up on guns and go shoot them yourself. Build up a ski resort on the side, while you're at it.

Space Rangers 2: Dominators from 2004 was a most unusual RPG/trading game/RTS/TPS/text adventure, reminescent of times when game genres were not yet so strictly defined. The entire universe, with its hundreds of ships, five sentient species and invading machines is a giant simulation, with you in the middle to throw wrenches into gears wherever you decide.

This game earned enough of a following to receive a few reeditions. Russians had some additional stuff added in SR2: Revolution, which was then pulled into SR2: Reboot add-on (distributed worldwide). In 2013, a HD version, called Space Rangers HD: A War Apart was released, making the series' chronology not at all confusing. Other than updated HD graphics AWA added a few other things into the mix, including forming previously-unorganized pirates into a third, fully-fledged faction, which will easily trump both the federation and Dominators, given the chance. It's still the definitive version to play - just do not set pirates' power to more than 100% during your first playthrough.

 

[Strange Fellow]

Had a go at NEO Scavenger:

Spoiler

Not quite a rogue-like, not quite an RPG, NEO Scavenger tackles the post-apocalypse genre with an impressive clarity of focus. Your goal: survive a wasteland of murderous mutants, at the mercy of the whims of nature untamed by civilisation.

Survival is accomplished not through skill checks and character advancement but through logic and common sense. Every aspect of the game reinforces this, from scavenging to the simple yet ingenious combat system, where feedback is limited, and avoiding a graze from your opponent’s rusty crowbar – sure to inflict lasting injuries – is just as important as taking him down. More often than not, however, it is not combat which will do you in, but hypothermia, starvation, disease, poisoning, or some other naturally occurring malady. It is as enjoyable as it is infuriating.

In addition to its core systems, NEO Scavenger also features a number of fixed narrative encounters that play out in a gamebook fashion, where you have to pick the right approach or suffer the (often fatal) consequences. This is also how the main storyline of the game plays out; that is, if you can survive for long enough to find it.

I'd like to do Original Sin, Battle Brothers and/or Underrail too, should that become necessary.

 

[CryptRat]

Just in case noboby comes with something else :

Realms of Arkania I : Blade of destiny : Faithfully based on The Dark Eye pen & paper series, never before and never afterwards a series managed to simulate the mechanisms and the feeling of a tabletop RPG campaign as much as Attic's series did. The first game invites the players to take the time to create a unique party which will be carried through the entire trilogy, buy various tools including tents, picks, grappling hooks and winter coats. The characters will catch diseases, have to drink beers to ignore their phobia to cross a bridge and get beaten by passerbies in the streets for not wearing pants. Often considered as the appetizer to the second episode in the series, Blade of Destiny is a very fun game which, carried on by brillantly written texts which also know when not to take themselves too seriously, will have the player's party travel through a fully open and simulated world from one inn to another looking for information about the parts of the map which will be the key to repel the orcish threat, while camping, hunting for foods, fighting pirates and visiting dungeons as atmospheric as dreadful.

Might and Magic II : Gates to Another World : Quintessence of the Might & Magic series and of open-world role playing games in general, M&M 2 does not hold the player's hand. A party of up to 8 characters will travel through several towns, buy spells, get stronger, and most of all look for the next dungeon among numerous unique ones that it will be able to clear, looking for hints and uncovering all the ins and outs of the plot in the process. With its quests that only characters of one class, potentially escorted by thieves, are allowed to solve, a complex combat system whose characters' rows in the party are computed for each battle based on tracking checks, rewarding exploration with a world holding, among other things, a fountain which will temporarily maximize the stats of the characters in the party, and an overall difficulty which its successors arguably don't replicate, Might & Magic 2 is a brilliant entry in an equally fantastic series.

 

[howlingFantods]

Diablo II

Spoiler

At first blush, Diablo II doesn’t seem worthy of this list. There are a lot of things it doesn’t do. You won’t find multiple solutions to problems like in Deus Ex. You won’t be engrossed in a deep story like in Planescape. Hell, you won’t even have a tactical combat system to wrap your head around like in Wizardry.

What remains, however, is a hack n’ slash RPG of unparalleled calibur and a downright addicting gameplay loop to boot.

And yes while that loop mainly involves clicking on bad guys until they die the game makes up for it with an astounding sense of progression via a solid skill tree, allocatable stat points, and gratifying loot—and all of this at a blistering clip.

Another thing of note about this game is it’s atmosphere; it oozes it. The music is beautifully dark; the sound design is brimming with little details; and the landscapes are both fantastical and apocalyptic in a way that somehow brings “Heart of Darkness” to mind.

So all things considered, yes, I’d say this game belongs on this list because although it might not do a lot of things you might expect of a good RPG, it sure does a lot with a satisfying gameplay loop, a solid skill tree, and a dreary atmosphere.

A word of warning:
Don’t play Diablo III. Whereas Diablo II is atmospheric, Diablo iii is MMO-ish/soulless. Also meaningful character customization is gone so RIP

 

[Darth Canoli]

Battle Brothers

As the title says, you're in for a lot of battles, X-COM style, brutal, unforgiving, you might rage-quit once or twice but if you come back, you're in for a treat.

The economy isn't forgiving much either but you'll eventually overcome it as your relations with the different factions improve.
Undead, Orcs, giant monsters and barbarians, different backgrounds for your company, there is much to keep you entertained, don't get fooled by the simplistic one quest after the other base game-play.

About the battles, what makes this game special, besides the difficulty is the number of different strategies you can rely on, from the shield wall to protect your archers and halberdiers to the spear wall to repel them, using higher ground to split them in two, stun them, focus on their heads, use aoe attacks, invincible sword masters retaliating against dozens of foes or fencers crossing enemy lines unscathed ...

 

[Ysaye]

Elminage Gothic
Elminage Gothic is a game that even Codexers complain is too complex, obtuse, too hard, generally unfair and just insufferable. Beware, for those are the words of those that never stuck it out to see it's platonic beauty (or are just not suffering from some kind of autistic tendency).

A it's heart, Elminage Gothic is a turn based dungeon crawler / blobber that has plenty of great things to give whilst proudly wearing it's Wizardry and rpg gaming lineage on it's sleeve. If you are looking for a great story, C&C etc. look elsewhere - this game is all about the plain fun of dangerous exploration and tinkering at the edges of probabilities of rolling particular numbers. Gothic's dungeons will troll you at every step to go that little bit further, knowing that you might just be risking everything to only earn just that little bit more power. Unlike most modern games, no internet guide or printed map will save you from certain situations; status conditions, beheadings (prior to you even getting a turn) and even old age can kill your best characters forever. The onus is on you to play intelligently, understand the odds, the classes, the options, the items, the enemies and the risks. Use the guides (translated from Japanese) but even those will only get you so far.

Character and party creation is a huge part of the game, so if you enjoy old school non-superficial customization this game is for you. The classes in Eliminage Gothic are beautifully balanced; basic classes (Fighter, Thief, Priest, Mage, Alchemist) are basic but still retain massive advantages for certain situations whilst advanced classes bring something new as well as the power of dual skillsets but are equally often compromised in other ways. Similarily, the large number of races also have strengths and weaknesses and ultimately you are likely to find that there is no one optimal party configuration, leaving there plenty of room to craft a team (or multiple teams) of your own persuasion.

Graphically Elminage Gothic is not the prettiest blobber ever, but it is functional and customizable, with character portaits for both headshots and menus allowing for importation. Musically there is also nothing much to write home about, although in my opinion there is an atmosphere when coupled with the actual gameplay. The interface is also comically old school and will not be to everyone's taste, particularly with respect to battles. There are no "special" special effects or realistic sounds; you will just have use your imagination.

Ultimately Elminage Gothic is crafted in a neoclassical style to remind us of everything great about dungeon design, a love letter to all manner of exploration, punctuated with all the tools of the cruelest of dungeon master minds. You dive in and see how long you can hold your breath and hope to come back up. It is like the ice skater that the philosopher Kierkegaard describes, each time skating closer to death, the crowd may clap and cheer this spectacle but it is only those that truly risk everything to get to across the thin ice that achieve greatness. Elminage might also be described at times as unfair and brutal, but if it is, it is merely reflecting the show that is real life in all it's greatness and horror. As one codexer suggested, in Elminage Gothic you need to learn to abuse the system, because the game won't hold back in using it's own system to abuse you back. In a weird way, this ends up being fun.

 

[EldarEldrad]

Shadowrun: Dragonfall

The second part of Harebrained Schemes trilogy, Shadowrun: Dragonfall, is without a doubt the pinnacle this RPG series. While Shadowrun Returns was too short and unpolished, Hong Kong is often criticized for extensive narrative bias and reworked Matrix, Dragonfall has almost perfect balance of lore, story and combat.

Story is closely intertwined with events that well-known to every Shadowrun fan, but at the same time the game tells the player everything he should know about common Shadowrun lore. This makes Dragonfall perfect entry point into vast Shadowrun community, covering both CRPG and board game.

Combat, while been criticized for its simplicity, is fairly competent. Having the same basis as XCOM: Enemy Unknown (turn-based tactical combat with extensive usage of cover), it paying close attention to Shadowrun-specific features such as Matrix or different types of magic. Some combat situations are surprisingly well-thought and require harmonious team work – while your samurais throw some lead into enemies across the hall, shaman summons demons, and decker hacks enemy security system fighting ICs in virtual reality.

Overall, Shadowrun: Dragonfall is pretty good game. If you like cyberpunk style (despite multiple fantasy tropes that is another Shadowrun feature), you shouldn't miss it.

 

[MpuMngwana]

ELEX
Eclectic. Lavish. Exhilarating. Xenial. Considered by many to be a return to form for the developer Piranha Bytes (of Gothic fame), ELEX is an open world action RPG set in a post-apocalyptic science fantasy world. The game starts with the player character betrayed by his former comrades, left for dead and suffering from ELEX withdrawal. He must forge an alliance with one of the game's three factions: the technology hating, magic-using Berserkers; the Mad Max/Fallout-esque Outlaws; and the technologically advanced, theocratic Clerics.

The game follows the typical Piranha Bytes formula: you start out ridiculously weak, have to struggle to survive and acquire better gear; as you get more powerful, the world gradually opens up, and by the endgame you are an unstoppable demigod. Exploration is superb, and a highlight of the game; the large open world contains multiple distinct biomes, from forests to tundra to a volcanic wasteland. It is further enhanced by the jetpack, obtained fairly early in the game, which allows for more vertical exploration.

The character system is alright, with a huge number of abilities to learn (some of them faction-specific). Unfortunately, it is not very transparent, some of the skills are poorly explained, and the attributes serve pretty much only to fulfill skill and equipment requirements, with no visible effect on their own.

Overall, while it's a bit rough around the edges, ELEX is a fun and satisfying experience, offering an interesting world to explore, extremely satisfying power progression and even a decent amount of choice & consequence. It is a worthy addition to the Piranha Bytes catalogue.

 

[Ysaye]

Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky

Trails in the Sky (TitS) is the first three games in an ongoing JRPG sub-series (generally referred to as the Trails series) of a much longer series of sub-games called the Legend of Heroes which was itself a sub-series of...anyway. The Trails series follows a range of characters (who may or may not be regarded as heroes) working across a somewhat faux mainland western-european steampunk setting with the ocassional eastern influence. There is within the world a type of magic power (known as orbal energy) but it is considered more like energy with scientists exploring it's use in different applications and corporations looking to use it to seek financial profit from it, whilst nations and the various social classes within jostle for power.

TitS has three parts; the first two parts follow the character Estelle Bright whilst the third part follows a priest Father Kevin in a series of events which might be losely likened as The Hobbit plotline unfolds to the greater One Ring plotline of Lord of the Rings. Estelle is often described as not being a normal "heroine" per se; she is a tomboy, loud, somewhat stupid, naive, prone to being manipulated by other characters and not particularly charismatic, although she is enthusiastic, determined and (unlike many of the characters in the game) honest. The game follows her progression as part of a guild of strong arm do-gooders (yes - this is where quests come from in the game!) which gets drawn into the political machinations occurring across the continent and also conflict with a mysterious cult / terrorist group whose objectives remains to the current games somewhat unclear. This plays to a central theme that many of the characters and groups in the series are not clearly identifiably "good" or "evil" and that (as one main character points out later in the series) a "hero" is very much in the eye of the beholder and perhaps it doesn't make sense to idolise them as such?

The plot-line and characters are central to the success of the series, and to talk too much more about them would be to draw anger around spoilers. However, from a mechanical sense, TitS and the broader Legend of Heroes series is often lauded for its ability to build a world which feels "alive"; this is achieved by having large numbers of NPC characters who have somewhat detailed daily activity schedules that are normally completely unrelated to any of the shenanigans that the game has you going off doing. Unlike say Ultima 7 (which has ongoing daily cycles), the game has locked time phases that only progress at the completion of certain tasks, which makes the task for small developer Falcom a bit easier to make this feel right. Another thing that makes this series fun is the almost comic level of characters playing to "stereotypes", only to then drop either minor or sometimes massive bombshells that they aren't really who you thought they were; everyone has a shadow or history in these games.

The graphics in TitS are from a rotatable isometric viewpoint and generally play out as a series of maps connected together by entry/exit points. There is generally no warping from one place to another which can both good and tedious. You are typically locked to particular regions at particular stages of the game.

Combat is turn based and has a spatial grid based component with movement points (ie. You can hit a person with your staff if you aren't next to them, but you can keep your distance and shoot them if you have a ranged weapon). Combat "Magic" comes in the form of Arts and Crafts. Arts are often slow (there is a casting time that means you will have to wait for other turns to occur) and cost two kinds of points but are sometimes very powerful. Crafts are instantaneous skills but can only be used as SP points build up over time or through absorbing damage from attacks. The systems are fine but not world breaking.

All in all, TitS has many good features, fun characters and great world building. There is not too much in the way of "save the world" going on, but lots of political scheming and avoidance of conflict, skeletons in closets and often more questions than answers.

 

[Martyr]

Dark Souls II

you awaken in Drangleic, a fallen kingdom, as a bearer of the curse, on the brink of being a hollow. after receiving the gift of your own humanity by the hands of the firekeepers you venture forth to the cliffs of Majula. there the Emerald Herald gives you the quest of aquiring the souls of the four Old Ones, to gain access to the castle of King Vendrick, who might be the only hope to save Drangleic.

people often criticize the more linear structure of Dark Souls II in comparison to Dark Souls I and the „samey“ boss fights.
but in my opinion Dark Souls II features some of the most memorable locations and bosses of the trilogy. In the original Dark Souls the main locations are medieval-style castles and their direct surrounding; in Dark Souls II on the other hand, you're exploring the memories of dead giants, swamps, castle ruins, crypts, cursed forests, the iconic Dragon Aerie and the frozen kingdom of Eleum Loyce, just to mention a few.
and furthermore, the boss fights against the Burnt Ivory King, Sir Alonne and the Fume Knight are simply unforgetteable.
the overall tone is gloomy and melancholic, the atmosphere perfectly captures the feeling of a world, which has been dying for a long time.
these are just some of the reasons why I think Dark Souls II is the best game of the trilogy and why I've played it more than twice the hours I've put into Dark Souls I and Dark Souls III combined.

 

[Darth Canoli]

I'd like to write more reviews but i'm not sure my english is good enough compared to native speakers.