I was a DS2 defender for a long time but I replayed it recently and I get why people dislike it. A lot of the level design is punishing in a way that other Souls games avoid, obnoxious placement and aggro ranges that leave little room for mastery and mostly force painstakingly slow and conservative gameplay.

Dark souls 2 has better pacing than Elden Ring.

DS1 🥇 DS2 🥈 DS3 🥉