I am a fan of the souls games (and for the record, I consider Bloodborne a souls game). I cannot claim to be an expert at them, but I enjoy them. Their difficulty is harsh but most of the time fair. It is a series that wears it’s challenge on it’s sleeve, but hides it’s lore and storyline nuances behind game play and item descriptions. It is a game series unlike anything else on the market, and this is why I like it.

Dark Souls 2 has to be the weakest in the series, in my opinion, although that isn’t much of a condemnation considering how good the series is as a whole. It has many enhancements over the original game as well as a number of ways your character is now weakened. Death now lessens your maximum health by a small amount each time until it reaches half. This means that death now has a punishment, and regaining your humanity it more important, making the item used to regain it in this game, human effigys, a lot more valuable.

However, we aren’t here to talk about Dark Souls 2, however much I can talk about it (and I may just write an article about how I love the series as a whole). Recently the game was re-released on current gen consoles and PC under the subtitle “scholar of the first sin”. You may be forgiven for thinking that this is merely a game of the year edition for it, but it is so much more, and whether that is a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen.

Before I go any further I wish to make clear that I have not completed the scholar of the first sin version of the game, but I am very familiar with the original, and I believe I have seen enough of the differences to make the point I wish to.  Continue reading →