Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin Review

I loved Dark Souls 2 and I also disliked Dark Souls 2. There were aspects of the game that I thought were great evolutionary steps in the right direction for the franchise, but there were also some unfortunate decisions which I think brought it a few steps back. Regardless of the negatives though, it was clearly still a very good game. Or own Andrew Clouther praised the original console version when it released, and I sung praises to the PC version as well. However, looking back at the game now, or rather, looking at the game in its current Director's Cut state with Scholar of the First Sin, I might have been slightly too nice to it. Granted, that's more of a problem with scoring games than anything else, but that's a discussion for a whole other time.

I partly blame Bloodborne, FROM's latest "Souls" game that isn't a "Souls" game, but actually is very much a "Souls" game. Granted, the two games are pretty different, despite their similar mechanics, but after going back to Dark Souls 2 and its more methodical and slower combat, I feel like Bloodborne spoiled me, not to mention made me 100 times better. But it isn't really fair comparing the two, so I'll refrain from making those comparisons going forward.

If you really want to know the ins and outs of Dark Souls 2, make sure to check out our official console review, which really goes in-depth about the game and its mechanics, and then also check out my follow up PC review, which contains some of the features found in Scholar of the First sin.

On the surface, Scholar of the First Sin now offers full 60 frames per second on both the Xbox One and PS4, which was previously only available on the PC. It's certainly nice to see the game move so fluidly, but it appears that one of the major bugs that were in the PC version due to the higher frame count, made their transition here. The durability bug still seems to plague the game. I had to buy multiples of the weapon I like to use, only to be able to get through one long segment in the game, since the durability seems to chip away extremely fast. I guess I never noticed it on my PC playthrough due to using tougher weapons, but it's a real problem here and I wonder why FROM didn't see the need to patch this bug out.

Majula, still the prettiest place in the game

The game is touted to look better with enhanced graphics, and while I believe that some of the lighting does indeed look better, I don't particularly think the game itself looks that much better. If you were holding out for those pre-release graphics, you know, the ones where it looked like you needed to take out your torch to be able to see in very dark areas, you're going to be disappointed.

But hey, it's not all bad. I know I've been pretty negative so far, but Scholar of the First Sin actually has a whole lot of good surprises in store. Those surprises come with a big asterisk though, because they require that you've played the original Dark Souls 2 to truly appreciate. The Scholar of the First Sin remixes a lot of the enemies in different areas of the game. Ogres will now be patrolling one of the first areas of the game, Turtle Knights appear in different places than before, hell, even entire areas like Heide's Tower of Flame now have completely different enemy placements, and appropriately Heide Knights scattered around, as well as a scarlet dragon waiting to surprise you. There's also a sequence there that will completely change the way enemies react to you there, making it one of the harder areas of the game. And I guess FROM heard you really like to fight the Pursuer, so be ready to take him on multiple times in Lost Bastille alone.

This actually makes the game a lot more interesting, since it makes the game feel a bit unfamiliar to Souls 2 veterans. Sure, the difficulty does go up slightly due to unfamiliarity and the game literally plopping down enemies in areas way before you're supposed to ever encounter them, but it never becomes impossible.

However, a big change here is the enemy AI. Not only do they seem slightly more aggressive, they seemingly chase you forever. One of the great tactics in Souls games, that we in the office lovingly refer to as the "Souls Run," was that if you're ready to go to a boss, you can simply bypass enemies and run by them and they'll eventually turn back. However, that doesn't seem to be the case here. Enemies will relentlessly chase you seemingly forever. By the time I've run through half the area, I have every single enemy NPC on my tail. The only reason I see this as a problem, is because it pretty much forces you to fight enemies on routes to bosses, extending the playtime unnecessarily.

And now, I'll just go kill that doppelganger of Ornstei– WHAT THE?! WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?!

I think this new remixed structure will actually hurt the experience for new players. When I first played Dark Souls 2, I thought it was actually pretty difficult. Coming back now though, even the new enemy placements didn't shake me up much. However, if all those new encounters were there the first time around, I would have undoubtedly had a much harder time. Having got ambushed by about five different Pursuers in the Lost Bastille would have broken my spirits something fierce. It's really odd that the game doesn't give players the option to experience the original Dark Souls 2 design, and then coming back and playing the Director's Cut after. It seems that Scholar of the First Sin was only made with existing players in mind, and is inviting those players who have already played and beaten Dark Souls 2 for a new, slightly harder challenge.

Scholar of the First Sin does include all of the previously released DLC, which includes the Crown of the Sunken King, Crown of the Old Iron King, and Crown of the Ivory King. But it also comes with numerous new additions as well, like a slew of new invading NPCs which will want to kick your ass around every corner, as well as some new lore NPCs, and a completely new boss fight at the end. Granted, PC players actually have access to the new NPCs and new boss without actually buying Scholar, but this will be a welcome addition to console players.

NPC invader count has been increased, to make sure you're constantly having a bad day

The online servers have been turned on despite the console versions not being out yet, and I've already seen a bunch of player ghosts running around. I haven't summoned, invaded or been invaded by anyone yet, so I will certainly amend the section of this review once I do, however, I don't particularly feel that the online portion ever really altered my experience or changed my point of view on the game. Being invaded by another player can be fun, and is certainly more engaging than being invaded by an NPC. However, if it never happened during my playthrough, I wouldn't think less of the game. So keep in mind, I won't be changing my score based on the functionality of the online aspects.

Sure, it might be the most complete version of the game, but the fact that the durability bug remained even after so long is baffling. While I don't personally love all of the changes made, I do feel that FROM made this version for me, and players like me. New players might feel alienated a bit with the crazy enemy placements, but in the end, it's just a matter of "Git gud" right? The PC version is already available now on Steam while the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions will be available on April 7.