First Dark Souls was one of my favorite games of all time. Most notable thing about it is the EPIC story about a fallen world that can be pieced together from all the clues, but never ever explicitly stated. No lore or books or anything. But unmistakable signs of global apocalypse in a unique fantasy setting. I also loved the lack of fast travel, and you becoming intimately familiar with every last inch of the area, because your very life depends on it. I know you eventually discover fast travel, but its too late in the game to ruin it.
In DS2, you can fast travel from the get go, which destroys the feel of the world. Not that it has much of a feel since everything is so colorful, and so isolated from everything else. It's still really difficult (which makes it fun), but it lacks all the heart and soul of the first one. A quality game, no doubt, but nothing like the first one.
It's all good though, and I'll probably check out DS3.
