Do Scholar haters care about facts: Drangleic Castle edition

Can you make an actual critique of ds2 sotfs that discusses its actual flaws? I think the biggest one is lack of communication, especially about its mechanics. For instance, sped up attacks, attack cancel, powerstancing, low stamina con's, etc.

i like feeble king but yeah his review made me wonder if he actually played the game

youve inspired me to replay dark souls 2 with a fresh mind

I love that Dark Souls II has like four different versions you have to watch out for, I played Scholar of the First Sin, but in PS3 so I had the old enemy placement.

I played both versions and imo vanila is better

i swear this vanilla vs scholar thing was not a debate 2 years ago. i remember some saying scholar was harder, but no one thought that vanilla was better. everyone believed that scholar was just the more fun game. but out of nowhere, suddenly this new very weird debate has popped up that just... wasnt here. maybe i didnt notice it, and it always was a thing, but it was not so prevalent.

I think this series highlights that a lot of Scholar hate is just due to the opinions of a few people snowballing. I've only played Scholar and I kept hearing that vanilla was easier and better, so this series was quite eye-opening, but just to verify that I wasn't the only one, I asked someone who prefers DS2 vanilla to react to your videos on stream, and both of us were actually surprised by how many good changes Scholar made. It's less Scholar's fault and more the fault of people's mindset going into Scholar.

Game is bad. Cant make it look ‘worse’ or ‘better’ to me.

I went to xanders video and he blocked the comments

i've seen people complain about scholar so much on reddit, but it's mostly (and vaguely) just about enemy placement. is there any change in scholar that people are justified in disliking, other than the heide knight in the forest?

ngl the castle in scholar felt so empty and not like a castle level. easier is not better but i understand that the point of this is to show that he lied. Gank fights are not inherently bad especially in ds2 as its slow

Danke Bruder für die Aufklärung! Mach weiter so, SOTFS ist Premiumköfte!

Perhaps, as a Magnum Opus, you should put together an entire feature-length video essay about all the ways people lie about Scholar of the First Sin. :V

small thing I noticed (likely annecdotal) but it feels like the area is themed better in scholar, like in the clip for original I'm not sure why there's Lion+Allone+Syan+Mastadon knights all in the same room

Idk what's worse...
This game, or your attempt to present said game as something worth playing?

Nah this game is trash.

One small thing I would like to note about the path to the castle is that it's kind of hard to compare the initial falconers to the ambush as the falconers are a much harder enemy imo given how janky they are, but I would definitely prefer 2 hard enemies over 4 to 5 easy ones that all attack at once

Not that it's necessary, but i appreciate your clips not having no HUD

I actually think it’s clever that they turned the enemies in Dranleic Castle into statues to make it easier because there’s already stone soldiers with item lore about that being a thing.

Also, people talking about desert sorceresses and pyromancers as the “hardest hitting enemies in the game” is such a DS2 specific red flag. Like they only ever play the game the same way they played DS1, so their fire defense is absolute trash.

Now I want to play DS2:SoFS again after looking at your vids, thanks

Your videos make me want to try scholar

Doing the Lord's work

A side by side versus vague recollections, who will win? Props for putting in the work. But the guy is riffing, and not a serious breakdown. Which I’m glad you’re pointing out. Still, Scholar is one step forward, two steps back, imo. I played Vanilla consistently for years and years, and Scholar several times. Just my opinion that Vanilla is overall better. I just wish it had the extra invasions.

That guy even paused his comment section once he begin to notice how users addressed his hypocrisy and nosense on his video. Bravo Domo

Used to be very intimidated by the Syan Knights. Seeing full heavy armor with great shields and greatswords or halberds made me think "these guys are practically invincible, aren't they"
Was very relieved to find out they're not too difficult. Otherwise, I always tried to avoid them.

I've noticed that you do not seem to get closer to do proper damage with your weapons.

What I mean is that all weapons have sweet spots.

Either way, good work!

It should be noted that, your gameplay footage is fantastic. Clear movements, camera, no UI and even dressing up for each ocasion! Keep it up!

The obvious clickbait titles and made up accusations against scholar are always funny when they completely fall apart upon closer (actual) inspection. Shows how easy it is to get clicks on the internet by feeding into a nonsensical bias that some people have developed.

Definitely true. Drangleic was much harder in the original.

Doing God's work.

Imagine complaining about Syan Knight lmao. They're like the easiest enemy to parry 😂😂😂.

I gotta say if someone told me SOFS was easier than vanilla a week ago, I would've called him a moron. It's especially weird, because I have played both versions of DS2 several times, and all I remember from vanilla is that Ancient Dragon was far too strong. Everything else felt easier to me, because that's what I had been told a billion times. My guess is that it started with HBomberguy's video, in which he had a really small section dedicated to SOTFS where he said it was more difficult. It's insane how long it took for anyone to actually check the claim that SOTFS is a cranked up master quest romhack, and I appreciate you taking the time to do it.

When I played through ds2 sotfs for the first time, I went in with a sour mood about it. Safe to say, the only time I thought to myself that the criticism it was getting was valid was iron keep, and opening doors (which would have made iron keep leagues more tolerable). Ds2 sotfs is my favorite ds game, and my second favorite soulsborne game now 😁

Great to hear another defender that brings the evidence and not just bash people for disagreeing with ya 🎉

Plus one thing that I cannot harp on enough is the fact that there is more, more intelligent, and more enjoyable loot placement. It is genuinely more enjoyable to explore every nook and cranny, finding all the items; and to fight all the enemies. That, and there are now better enemy variety across the board in SoTFS.

If scholar is so harder? Why is there no vanilla enemy placement mod?
Take that vanillards.

For Domo (off-topic): How do you feel about the general feeling of attack animations in DS2? Since DS2's attack animations are often criticised for feeling 'floaty' and lacking a certain 'meatiness' compared to the games produced by high lord God emperor Miyazaki, and I tend to agree with the sentiment, I was wondering how you feel about that topic. Thanks if you reply.

Stop, he's already dead!

I rarely give likes as they make videos end on my playlist but this videos sure needs the recognition good job men, and i hope this are seen by more people

Just stumbled upon this video randomly and I'm amazed. As someone who has only played Scholar, seeing cases where the enemies in the original were definitively worse kinda blows my mind considering the way I've heard people talk about the changes between them.

I also heard a lot of that DS2 criticism and I was told DS2 flaws that werent real, and I was a culprit of believing that as well. Im not a DS2 fan because some mechanics doesnt convince me, but a real thanks for debunking false criticism.

I bet the entire Fromsoft company will regret making Ds2 if they saw the endless debates it spawns till this day

I love the content

Is this AI voice?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that the room full of masks shooting poison darts will shoot as soon as you enter the room if you die after having open the chest. Still not as bad as the original, though.

Ok but the two Mannequins are really poorly placed. If you kill them in the room they appear and dont lead them up to the previous room to light the flame with their soul you have to redo the walk up to that point. I liked to help other people get through Drangleic Castle and the amount of times they got stuck there was in the dozens.

I really like dark souls 2, whether its vanilla or scholar. The only thing i really dislike is the clunky animations. They really should remake this game next into the graphical standards of elden ring/ DS3. I can only imagine fighting Fume knight or Alonne in elden ring style animations. Idk, maybe its just me that sees ds2's combat really clunky

Man to think that I always believed that vanilla was less ganky and balanced than scholar. I always preferred scholar than vanilla (i only played 2 playthroughs of vanilla while having 500 hours in scholar and ds2 sotfs is the one i got first) and yet due to how many bashed scholar and how many told me vanilla was better including a friend, i never really compared them 2 But now with this i can safley say that its all been some master level gaslighting and trickery! This is kinda sad but at least i have experienced them both and know which one i like more without someone telling me otherwise. Thanks for this video and hopefully more new ds2 fans wont buy an edition thay is being falsley advertised while having a newer cheaper edition being falsley slanderd for not really any good reason.

Well well still thank you and hopefully the truth will be spread around more!

Wow, I was always told that Vanilla was easier and had fewer enemies...

Lol, i forgot how annoying this room with 6 allon captains was, even through chariot does not makes sense i prefer it, especially cause it's now drops ng+ ring