The bad:

The controversial:

The good:

Last thoughts:

You will lose everything, once branded.

Your past.
Your future.
Your very light.

None will have meaning, and you won't even care.

• This game is very generous with enemy spawns. Even as early as the first area it is not uncommon to run into 3+ enemies at once if you aren't going at a snail's pace. Anyone familiar with this style of game knows fighting multiple enemies is very risky and a quick way to die, yet most of the time you are just forced to put up with it and make the best about it. This ends up making alot of encounters feel the same, you're just running to a narrow area so you aren't engulfed by the mob. Even being ranged won't completely alleviate this as some groups are just programmed to aggro you from a stadium away if you walk into the right spot.
• The survivability options in this game are not designed very well. ADP being unexplained in the actual game and neutering your initial dodge roll, requiring investment to have a usable roll and potentially making it a overpowered roll. Estus flask starts at a single charge (if you're clever you can get it at 2 before first area) increasing with shards as you go along. In DS1 you got a default of 5 at every bonefire you rested at, with the option to kindle for more. Since you start with much less they added another option for healing, Lifegems. These heal over time but more importantly, are sold in infinite quantities after you finish a very early part of the game. This also messes with the balance of the game, you can be extremely careless and still come into bosses with full estus. And if by some miracle you've ran out? You can still heal with gems.
• You lose maximum health every time you die. I cannot stress enough how bad of a mechanic this is when the game is designed to kill you when exploring areas for the first time. If you're a new player to the series and die a bit too much you will have an even tougher time getting through. Human effigies can restore this health but they are not in high supply at the start.
• Bosses in this game are mostly very unmemorable, I do not expect every single one to make an impact but compared to the first DS, I never feel in danger when I'm fighting them, Sir Alonne and Fume Knight aside. NPC gank squad I don't even qualify as a boss, disgraceful for DLC.
• Hitboxes in this game can be extremely misleading or downright broken. Some enemies will hit you without physically touching your character. Some will have extremely delayed hits that hurt you even when the attack has passed through your dodge roll. In what affected me the most, some enemies will hurt you as you're killing them, either via some kind of ghost hitbox or having one so large just being near them as they start gets you hurt. Compound this with the earlier part about losing max health as you die, it makes it especially frustrating.

• You have an immense amount of customization freedom when it comes to your character build. Levels are quite abundant compared to the previous title so you can use a wider array of armor, weapons, and spells together. Speaking of weapons, you can now properly dual wield weapons, and although power stance is basic at it's core, it adds the option.
• The game looks overall, pretty good. Some areas not as great as others but I find myself fond of almost all maps that involve water. Malina is a great town hub (with the best music in the game) and while the game's inter-connectivity becomes very nonsensical in some parts the individual areas are interesting with plenty of variety for locations. In addition to have a large variety of areas, the world is very open to which you can explore first. Of course some may be easier than others but there's nothing stopping you from trying a different, more difficult path.
• NG+ offers actual changes to enemies, boss fights, and items you find. This makes the replay value much higher since there are secrets to find even after you've completed the game once. Even if you don't want to play through NG+ you have the option to make specific areas into NG+ through an item in game, allowing you to get those items or gears earlier on to craft a personalized build.

Unfairness

Level Design

Bugs

Conclusion

• Huge lifetime: It is the biggest Souls game in terms of the numbers of areas to explore, enemies to encounter, bosses to beat etc.
• Huge arsenal: If you are into fashion souls you will love this one. There are countless of distinct sets to own, dozens if not hundreds of weapons which means you can create so many various characters and different types of builds to play with. The possibilities are almost endless.
• Great NG+ system: Every time you start a new game new enemies spawn, some of them are no longer in their usual spot, new weapons drop, new armour sets drop, some boss fights are a bit different than the way they were in previous runs etc. Unlike the NG+s in DS I & III, NG+ in DS II brings actual changes to the game which makes the NG+s much more interesting and enjoyable in my opinion.
• Great art direction: There are many gorgeous areas in DS II to check out, Heide’s Tower of Flame, Shrine of Amana, Frozen Eleum Loyce, Sanctum City and the Dragon Aerie just to name a few. The nice thing is that DS II shows us a lot of vibrant and more colourful-looking areas whereas DS I & III are both very dark and gloomy, it is a nice change of pace.
• Majula is the best-looking main hub of the series. Change my mind.
• Fantastic DLCs.
• Power stance.
• And much more such as great PvP, great NPCs, great NPC summons, great quests, great lore... the usual stuff for a Souls game!

• Quantity over quality bosses: Yes, there are many bosses, many great bosses but a ton of awful ones as well. Bosses like [spoiler] The Congregation [/spoiler] feel completely out of place like they should not even be there or at least not be a boss fight. Quite a bunch of bosses are also recycled, it really strikes as the devs are being lazy sometimes which is very unfortunate for a Souls game.
• Bullshit difficulty: Sometimes the difficulty really feels like utter bs, that usually happens in narrower areas where they put an outrageous number of enemies which means you end up being gangbanged. That happens a lot, way too often in my opinion but still not enough to make me rq though!
• Technically not always on point: lagging PvE and PvP hitboxes, lagging rolling invincibility frames, not always coming from the back backstabs, enemies glitching through the environment, drops falling through the map, janky animations... Still so many bugs or glitches can happen playing this game.

Dark Souls 2 is Like Dark Souls 1 if Blighttown was the Whole Game

I've tried really hard to like this game but I just can't.

TL;DR

History Time

The Numerous Shortcomings

The good things I am thankful for

Conclusion