- Level design... much worse than DeS1, where levels were relatively large, complex, and non-linear (beyond having to find the next boss/archstone, obviously). DaS2 is even worse than many of the DaS1 levels. I think this was the biggest disappointment overall. So many short, linear levels with ten million bonfires.
Is that a typo, or are you really saying DeS levels were complex and non-linear? If so, rofl. Only ones which would qualify there would be 1-1, 1-3 and 3-1, and that's being generous. Lost Bastille on its own is larger and more complex than any DeS level aside from 3-1 perhaps. You'd have to look quite hard in DaS2 to find levels as linear as the entirety of Shrine of Storms, as well.
Although it is true that they feel smaller than they are because of the unnecessarily large amount of bonfires.
Lost Bastille is literally the only level in DaS2 that's anything like that. All the rest of the levels I found the next bonfire with 50%+ left on my weapon durability.
2-1 has big cavern and outdoor sections that are completely non-mandatory to visit. 5-1 has multiple paths. 4-2 is pretty linear but also pretty hard. 5-2 is the most annoying level, obviously, and also the least interesting.
I agree about the bonfire placement/frequency, but that doesn't really have any bearing on the linearity of a level.
I think you mean 2-2 with the big, optional cavern? To be fair, 2-1 is such a dull level that I have trouble recalling its layout in detail, but I don't remember any large optional areas there. Just a bunch of shortcuts to elevators and then pouring water over the lava to reach the boss. I will give you 2-2, which is quite elaborate. However, 5-1, for instance, is smaller and less complex than the Gutter, which also has multiple paths.
Complaints about level design in DaS2 confound me a bit because it seems very typical for Souls games - mostly linear path from A to B with some side rooms and the occasional shortcut looping back to a previous point. Some of the levels are simply short or boring and shitty (sup Harvest Valley).
It's actually a fairly rare exception for a Souls level to be "sprawly" in the same way as, say, levels in Looking Glass games. I hoped they would include more of these in DaS2, and Forest of Fallen Giants/Lost Bastille kept these hopes up, but I ended up disappointed in the end.
You'd have to look quite hard in DaS2 to find levels as linear as the entirety of Shrine of Storms, as well.
all the Chasms, Amanda, Shrine of Winter + Drangleic castle, both Belfries, Grave of Saints, Doors of Pharros, Giant memories, Dragon shrine, and probably some others i forgot. there's also plenty others that are so small and offer so little in side-content (and next to non-existent alternate paths) they might as well be considered linear.
Can't speak to the ones I haven't seen (entering Amana right now), but Belfries, Grave of Saints, and so on, are basically just really small optional areas. May as well complain that 1-4 or 3-3 or 5-3 are small and linear. Or Valley of the Drakes, Darkroot Basin, Ash Lake, etc. .
And in any case, Doors of Pharros in its entirety is not linear at all. Just small.
I will give you Drangleic Castle, although, like Anor Londo, it does a great job of obscuring its own linearity.
Lost Bastille is literally the only level in DaS2 that's anything like that. All the rest of the levels I found the next bonfire with 50%+ left on my weapon durability.
2-1 has big cavern and outdoor sections that are completely non-mandatory to visit. 5-1 has multiple paths. 4-2 is pretty linear but also pretty hard. 5-2 is the most annoying level, obviously, and also the least interesting.
the Forest (Cardinal tower onwards) is also full of optional stuff and pretty big (bigger than most if not all DeS levels). Shaded Woods, Brightstone cove, the Gutter and Earthen Peak also come to mind as relatively large and complex, certainly more so than the DeS average
If you're going to count Brightstone Cove, may as well include Huntsman's Copse (especially since you can basically consider Undead Purgatory a part of the area). Wouldn't count Earthen Peak either, same as Sen's Fortress, which it's very reminiscent of.
where is magic in watching those autists abusing any possible glitche in game?
