Never played a DS game before, but I’m currently playing DS2. (bc I want to play the DS games in order from worst to best)

It’s not a bad game and I’m having fun. Yes, it gets frustrating at times and I hate that I loose max Hp with each death a lot. Yes, some areas are just designed to be as frustrating as possible by breaking simple game design rules. Yes, I’m not even excited by a boss anymore, since there are so many and most of them just require the same old bashing and dodging. And the camera/ enemy locking system is clunky. The game is made harder by not telling you how to play it

But I really like the satisfaction. Many enemies kinda overwhelm the locking system, but that means I can learn to aim without it/ by toggling it. It’s nice to find the strats that take into account not only enemies, but also the ‘crude’ game mechanics. I would even go as far as to say that I’ve never had the feeling of manual labour conveyed to me this directly by a game.

In a way, it is realistic: parkour is unsafe, aiming is hard and traversing an area can be irritating and confusing. Nothing will go as planned and you might even find a secret if you inevitably stumble off a cliff. Sometimes, I feel, the game endorses failure to progress. It does not give you superpowers like many other games do.

I know this sounds crazy and I do hate the game frequently and passionately, but it is genuinely refreshing. Maybe the other games are much better, idk

Every time I try to replay the game, I lose interest about 30 minutes in. The movement is just too clunky, it’s even worse than DeS and DS, and other parts of the game just aren’t enough to redeem it.