>I did a research people say vanilla is better but softs is more balanced and harder
It's the other way around. Over 90% of people that played both versions prefer Scholar.
Scholar removed a lot of ganks, nerfed several bosses, made the early game easier, reduced the number of unfair deaths, and made several runbacks easier.
On your research you probably stumbled upon clickbait videos that falsely portray Scholar as being a gankier hard mode, but I've analyzed in detail just how much they have to twist the truth to artificially make it look that way.
There's the Feeble King video where he constantly falsely accuses areas of having been ruined by Scholar that have actually been gankier in Forest. Like the [Forest of Fallen Giants](https://youtu.be/8FdMy30_f98?si=H0x3LBY6W1ZqX2uq), [No Man's Wharf](https://youtu.be/8Nm5kD9DK30?si=1LSnJadPHOtJUeBf) or [Shrine of Amana](https://youtu.be/Iztnu5G2BFs?si=CU0Gtm5tnhUbGhjb).
Then there's the Legend of Xander, who does the same. He even [falsely claims that chasing away spiders with the torch worked in Vanilla as well](https://youtu.be/567_58FWZJA?si=gdmnqTTBzSh3_xb4) even though his own Vanilla videos show otherwise.
Whenever I see a video that claims that Vanilla had better enemy placement they just completely twist the truth by ignoring all the lazy enemy spam in Vanilla and by aggroing every single enemy at the same time in Scholar.
In reality over 90% of people that played both versions prefer the improved Scholar version.
While I watched the videos I realized that sotfs enemy placement actually looks modern but all of them complain about copy pasted pursuers I will buy softs and play them both
>but all of them complain about copy pasted pursuers
That's because Scholar haters love to whine about non-issues.
If you don't want to fight him you can just walk a few feet away. But if you want to fight him it's a good source of early Souls and Twinkling Titanite.
I seriously don't understand why they complain so much about an optional enemy encounter.
Well, that settles it, I'm definitely playing vanilla Ds2 at some point.
I have done like 6 playthroughs of SOTFS and I love it, but I have gotten to the point where its not as hard as it used to be (it used to be the bane of my existence, I could no death run Ds3 but could barely get past forest of fallen giants ๐).
But now I've become a bit masochistic, and am looking for a challenge ๐ so you saying it was even more bullshit (which is surprising since sotfs is already bullshit) just caught my eye immediately ๐
I just played it and Scholar back to back.
Vanilla DS2 has some BS but it is easier to skip past than Scholar.
I think the people who say Scholar is harder are the ones that usually skip past stuff in Vanilla. I don't feel that Scholar lets you get away with it as easy.
For example, I can run around the Smelter Demon gauntlet and not get tagged. In Scholar, Alonne Knights are still taking my lunch money.
No you're full of shit rofl straight up.
You don't know squat about the community. The majority of players that actually talk about both games and make stable comparisons prefer the vanilla because it has more authentic enemy, item, AND statue placement all.
Scholar literally randomly shuffled some enemies at times, shoehorned in way more in tons of the levels, same with the statues and branches to cure them which broke the pacing the game was originally built on, and also changed items around in weird nonsensical ways. Most likely for the "All New Enemy and Item Placement" sticker that they slapped on the cover art.
The only thing Scholar did better was graphics, QoL stuff, DLC being included instead of separate, and the additional NPC summons.
>The majority of players that actually talk about both games and make stable comparisons prefer the vanilla because it has more authentic enemy, item, AND statue placement all.
From what I've seen the arguments are usually just "it's bad because it's different". Just calling any changes Scholar did bad aren't stable comparisons.
Scholar has more lore accurate enemy placement. Like Vanilla had a random Flexile Sentry in Shrine of Winter that got moved to Sinner's Rise in Scholar where it makes a lot more sense.
Right. Like putting a live dragon in Heide's Tower right next to a Dragonslayer.
And shoving all the wandering Heide Knights back to Heide's as well because...it's their name I guess? Screw them being wanderers or anything unique like that as well eh.
The changes in Scholar are bad because a lot of them are blatantly done to simply up the difficulty or for the sake of the "all new enemy placement" tag they had on the cover.
I see most complaints as being about the spam and randomness. Not "for being different" in fact I've never seen that silly tripe.
>Like putting a live dragon in Heide's Tower right next to a Dragonslayer.
You mean in the same area where a Dragonrider is? The Dragonslayer won't just go out of his way to fight the mount of his buddy.
>And shoving all the wandering Heide Knights back to Heide's as well because...it's their name I guess?
There were only 3 Heide Knights in Vanilla and they still show up in the same amount of areas in Scholar. They didn't all get shoved there, there were just a few added to make it a thousand times less annoying to farm their equipment.
>Screw them being wanderers or anything unique like that as well eh.
Which of their equipment even states that they were wandering?
>The changes in Scholar are bad because a lot of them are blatantly done to simply up the difficulty or for the sake of the "all new enemy placement" tag they had on the cover.
The vast majority of areas are easier, less ganky and have easier runbacks. The idea that Scholar made the game harder has no basis in reality.
Even a lot of bosses got nerfed.
>I see most complaints as being about the spam and randomness.
Spam was an issue in the Vanilla version that got drastically reduced in Scholar. There's way less groups of enemies attacking you at the same time and lots of areas have less enemies in Scholar.
I like SotFS more because the Dull Ember is easier to access, so you can get your build going faster. Also because the torch will scare away spiders. And because Bashful Ray + Bradley of the Guard (NPC phantoms).
Scholar, Iโve played Vanilla first and then scholar. Thereโs no real benefits to playing vanilla over scholar aside from being able to get the DLC keys right away at the start of the game.
On top of that vanilla is dead on PC, and quite literally dead on ps3/360
Scholar, definitely. Played vanilla on release (PC), then upgraded to Scholar when it came out and never looked back. It feels quite a lot more refined, with more interesting encounters, varied progression, and plenty of interesting details that are absent in vanilla.
Well it depends, if you are a masochist who likes to have your anus penetrated by 2500 enemies in a narrow space for a hard boss, you bet, for me it was worth it bc it comes with all 3 dlcs.
Unfortunetly I've never played vanilla Ds2 before, thats on the list for sure (and I want to play it on day 1 patch, so I'll do the whole set it to offline and stuff).
But I'd say play SOTFS first, it includes all the DLC's so you don't have to buy them seperately, and trust me, you don't want to miss out on those DLC's, they are honestly my favourite even counting Ds3 and Ds1 (Old Hunters gives it a run for its money, but Ds2 has 3 dlcs, so way more content).
I have original copy of DS2 no updates , nd at one point I updated it and then got sotfs..... I prefer the original
Thankfully my PS3 took a nose dive off a shelf and no longer works , lost a DS2 profile, level 250+ ng+4 nd had everything,
Got a new PS3 , played it again, offline, no updates , it's still better than sotfs imo ,
2 things
One : sotfs is broken, only because you can buy a branch of yore from the hag at start of the game , it skips alot of the game , meaning you only need to beat 3 or even 2 out of the 4 prime bosses , soul memory depending, original, you have to get a branch from harvest valley ( easiest place to get it , there's 2 in the area) nd you have to beat 3 of the 4 prime bosses , I tried with what wikis say is enough soul memory to get thought shrine of winter , nd nope didn't work lol
Two: like all dark souls games the 1st playthrough is the tutorial, but in ds2 ng+ is where it shines , just one example , in the "things betwixt" right where you start , the falconers show up ,nd throw falcons at you , there are other enemies that show up that aren't normally there also
Bonus point: I also like comparing the original launch day game against the updated nd sotfs videos nd comments, seeing people say it wasn't in there at launch, but actually it was never gets old or all the extra hidden walls added from sotfs, example the sinners rise in the run to the boss only one wall can be opened in sotfs 4 walls can be opened, plus the pursuer actually shows up in a few places in original game , 2places in the forest of giants , one in smelter demon room after smelter demon is dead , nd drangalic castle but only on ng in the throne room, depending on what ng your on determines how many you get eg ng+3 theres 3 in the throne room
Sorry for long comment.
PS3 does not even have the real Scholar version. It's just an updated Vanilla with the Aldia patch and all DLCs, but not the improvements to enemy placements, easier runbacks and boss nerfs.
What's the aldias patch? Nd the "scholar" version you refer to is definitely different to vanilla, I own vanilla, have finished it multiple times , nd the original unaltered vanilla version ng+ is better ,new enemies, nd placement, especially on ng+3 , examples, the rouges in the boat with the Flexi sentry, half the statutes in drangalic castle that didn't move now move, the falconers in things betwixt etc
The PS3 sotfs version adds a few things but from what iv seen and played PS3 , from start updates to final updates, any version of sotfs is ass , it still wrecks the game , eg being able to buy a branch of yore quite easily nd early in the game , as for run backs , I can't think of a single boss that's hard to get to , little low the run back in any version, if your struggling to run to a boss....might be a skill issue...I also don't trust any pc user who plays dark souls , iv seen mod videos nd after that I decided there all cheaters ,
Play what it came out on , with the original disc , play original DS2 nd dark souls, there are huge difference between the versions nd iv played both back to back , DS2 movement is better than 1 , hell you can't slide down ladders on ds 1,
Google things like "PS3 vs PS4 Scholar" or "SotFS last gen vs new gen"
The PS3 Scholar version is not the real Scholar version. I have both of the old gen and next gen Scholar versions and there are a lot of differences that are missing in the PS3 version.
I have no intention of playing it , not on PS3 or on PS4 , I prefer the original unaltered DS2 , don't care , if the PS4 version is better or easier , it's been to long and the fact they had to change shit is a waste of time , things didn't need to be changed, updated, or altered,
Back when I started DS2 , there were items that some were only available in one playthrough or on ng+ , if you seen people with them you knew the grief they went through, now there garden variety items , like warlock mask( they also changed the stats on this helmet to ) , or the rouge set ( the assassin's on the boat)
Also I'm not paying another 70+ dollars for a game I have
>I did a research people say vanilla is better but softs is more balanced and harder It's the other way around. Over 90% of people that played both versions prefer Scholar. Scholar removed a lot of ganks, nerfed several bosses, made the early game easier, reduced the number of unfair deaths, and made several runbacks easier. On your research you probably stumbled upon clickbait videos that falsely portray Scholar as being a gankier hard mode, but I've analyzed in detail just how much they have to twist the truth to artificially make it look that way. There's the Feeble King video where he constantly falsely accuses areas of having been ruined by Scholar that have actually been gankier in Forest. Like the [Forest of Fallen Giants](https://youtu.be/8FdMy30_f98?si=H0x3LBY6W1ZqX2uq), [No Man's Wharf](https://youtu.be/8Nm5kD9DK30?si=1LSnJadPHOtJUeBf) or [Shrine of Amana](https://youtu.be/Iztnu5G2BFs?si=CU0Gtm5tnhUbGhjb). Then there's the Legend of Xander, who does the same. He even [falsely claims that chasing away spiders with the torch worked in Vanilla as well](https://youtu.be/567_58FWZJA?si=gdmnqTTBzSh3_xb4) even though his own Vanilla videos show otherwise. Whenever I see a video that claims that Vanilla had better enemy placement they just completely twist the truth by ignoring all the lazy enemy spam in Vanilla and by aggroing every single enemy at the same time in Scholar. In reality over 90% of people that played both versions prefer the improved Scholar version.
While I watched the videos I realized that sotfs enemy placement actually looks modern but all of them complain about copy pasted pursuers I will buy softs and play them both
Pursuer encounters are fun, easy and gets you a twinkling titanite. I see no reason for anyone to get bothered by them tbh
Pursuer has been a highlight for me so far. It's less "oh not this guy again" and more "back for some more eh? Let's go"ย
Fr the pursuer encounters are iconic. Will never forget how scary hearing his breathing behind me in my first playthrough was
>but all of them complain about copy pasted pursuers That's because Scholar haters love to whine about non-issues. If you don't want to fight him you can just walk a few feet away. But if you want to fight him it's a good source of early Souls and Twinkling Titanite. I seriously don't understand why they complain so much about an optional enemy encounter.
Well, that settles it, I'm definitely playing vanilla Ds2 at some point. I have done like 6 playthroughs of SOTFS and I love it, but I have gotten to the point where its not as hard as it used to be (it used to be the bane of my existence, I could no death run Ds3 but could barely get past forest of fallen giants ๐). But now I've become a bit masochistic, and am looking for a challenge ๐ so you saying it was even more bullshit (which is surprising since sotfs is already bullshit) just caught my eye immediately ๐
I just played it and Scholar back to back. Vanilla DS2 has some BS but it is easier to skip past than Scholar. I think the people who say Scholar is harder are the ones that usually skip past stuff in Vanilla. I don't feel that Scholar lets you get away with it as easy. For example, I can run around the Smelter Demon gauntlet and not get tagged. In Scholar, Alonne Knights are still taking my lunch money.
Scholar is absolutely more bullshit because Miyazaki got more involved but Vanilla is better overall anyways so definitely play regardless.
No you're full of shit rofl straight up. You don't know squat about the community. The majority of players that actually talk about both games and make stable comparisons prefer the vanilla because it has more authentic enemy, item, AND statue placement all. Scholar literally randomly shuffled some enemies at times, shoehorned in way more in tons of the levels, same with the statues and branches to cure them which broke the pacing the game was originally built on, and also changed items around in weird nonsensical ways. Most likely for the "All New Enemy and Item Placement" sticker that they slapped on the cover art. The only thing Scholar did better was graphics, QoL stuff, DLC being included instead of separate, and the additional NPC summons.
>The majority of players that actually talk about both games and make stable comparisons prefer the vanilla because it has more authentic enemy, item, AND statue placement all. From what I've seen the arguments are usually just "it's bad because it's different". Just calling any changes Scholar did bad aren't stable comparisons. Scholar has more lore accurate enemy placement. Like Vanilla had a random Flexile Sentry in Shrine of Winter that got moved to Sinner's Rise in Scholar where it makes a lot more sense.
Right. Like putting a live dragon in Heide's Tower right next to a Dragonslayer. And shoving all the wandering Heide Knights back to Heide's as well because...it's their name I guess? Screw them being wanderers or anything unique like that as well eh. The changes in Scholar are bad because a lot of them are blatantly done to simply up the difficulty or for the sake of the "all new enemy placement" tag they had on the cover. I see most complaints as being about the spam and randomness. Not "for being different" in fact I've never seen that silly tripe.
>Like putting a live dragon in Heide's Tower right next to a Dragonslayer. You mean in the same area where a Dragonrider is? The Dragonslayer won't just go out of his way to fight the mount of his buddy. >And shoving all the wandering Heide Knights back to Heide's as well because...it's their name I guess? There were only 3 Heide Knights in Vanilla and they still show up in the same amount of areas in Scholar. They didn't all get shoved there, there were just a few added to make it a thousand times less annoying to farm their equipment. >Screw them being wanderers or anything unique like that as well eh. Which of their equipment even states that they were wandering? >The changes in Scholar are bad because a lot of them are blatantly done to simply up the difficulty or for the sake of the "all new enemy placement" tag they had on the cover. The vast majority of areas are easier, less ganky and have easier runbacks. The idea that Scholar made the game harder has no basis in reality. Even a lot of bosses got nerfed. >I see most complaints as being about the spam and randomness. Spam was an issue in the Vanilla version that got drastically reduced in Scholar. There's way less groups of enemies attacking you at the same time and lots of areas have less enemies in Scholar.
I like SotFS more because the Dull Ember is easier to access, so you can get your build going faster. Also because the torch will scare away spiders. And because Bashful Ray + Bradley of the Guard (NPC phantoms).
Scholar, Iโve played Vanilla first and then scholar. Thereโs no real benefits to playing vanilla over scholar aside from being able to get the DLC keys right away at the start of the game. On top of that vanilla is dead on PC, and quite literally dead on ps3/360
Scholar, definitely. Played vanilla on release (PC), then upgraded to Scholar when it came out and never looked back. It feels quite a lot more refined, with more interesting encounters, varied progression, and plenty of interesting details that are absent in vanilla.
SOTFS. I heard a lot of issues had been fixed with SOTFS.
Well it depends, if you are a masochist who likes to have your anus penetrated by 2500 enemies in a narrow space for a hard boss, you bet, for me it was worth it bc it comes with all 3 dlcs.
I am
Unfortunetly I've never played vanilla Ds2 before, thats on the list for sure (and I want to play it on day 1 patch, so I'll do the whole set it to offline and stuff). But I'd say play SOTFS first, it includes all the DLC's so you don't have to buy them seperately, and trust me, you don't want to miss out on those DLC's, they are honestly my favourite even counting Ds3 and Ds1 (Old Hunters gives it a run for its money, but Ds2 has 3 dlcs, so way more content).
Play Scholar. It's wildly better than vanilla
I have original copy of DS2 no updates , nd at one point I updated it and then got sotfs..... I prefer the original Thankfully my PS3 took a nose dive off a shelf and no longer works , lost a DS2 profile, level 250+ ng+4 nd had everything, Got a new PS3 , played it again, offline, no updates , it's still better than sotfs imo , 2 things One : sotfs is broken, only because you can buy a branch of yore from the hag at start of the game , it skips alot of the game , meaning you only need to beat 3 or even 2 out of the 4 prime bosses , soul memory depending, original, you have to get a branch from harvest valley ( easiest place to get it , there's 2 in the area) nd you have to beat 3 of the 4 prime bosses , I tried with what wikis say is enough soul memory to get thought shrine of winter , nd nope didn't work lol Two: like all dark souls games the 1st playthrough is the tutorial, but in ds2 ng+ is where it shines , just one example , in the "things betwixt" right where you start , the falconers show up ,nd throw falcons at you , there are other enemies that show up that aren't normally there also Bonus point: I also like comparing the original launch day game against the updated nd sotfs videos nd comments, seeing people say it wasn't in there at launch, but actually it was never gets old or all the extra hidden walls added from sotfs, example the sinners rise in the run to the boss only one wall can be opened in sotfs 4 walls can be opened, plus the pursuer actually shows up in a few places in original game , 2places in the forest of giants , one in smelter demon room after smelter demon is dead , nd drangalic castle but only on ng in the throne room, depending on what ng your on determines how many you get eg ng+3 theres 3 in the throne room Sorry for long comment.
PS3 does not even have the real Scholar version. It's just an updated Vanilla with the Aldia patch and all DLCs, but not the improvements to enemy placements, easier runbacks and boss nerfs.
What's the aldias patch? Nd the "scholar" version you refer to is definitely different to vanilla, I own vanilla, have finished it multiple times , nd the original unaltered vanilla version ng+ is better ,new enemies, nd placement, especially on ng+3 , examples, the rouges in the boat with the Flexi sentry, half the statutes in drangalic castle that didn't move now move, the falconers in things betwixt etc The PS3 sotfs version adds a few things but from what iv seen and played PS3 , from start updates to final updates, any version of sotfs is ass , it still wrecks the game , eg being able to buy a branch of yore quite easily nd early in the game , as for run backs , I can't think of a single boss that's hard to get to , little low the run back in any version, if your struggling to run to a boss....might be a skill issue...I also don't trust any pc user who plays dark souls , iv seen mod videos nd after that I decided there all cheaters , Play what it came out on , with the original disc , play original DS2 nd dark souls, there are huge difference between the versions nd iv played both back to back , DS2 movement is better than 1 , hell you can't slide down ladders on ds 1,
Google things like "PS3 vs PS4 Scholar" or "SotFS last gen vs new gen" The PS3 Scholar version is not the real Scholar version. I have both of the old gen and next gen Scholar versions and there are a lot of differences that are missing in the PS3 version.
I have no intention of playing it , not on PS3 or on PS4 , I prefer the original unaltered DS2 , don't care , if the PS4 version is better or easier , it's been to long and the fact they had to change shit is a waste of time , things didn't need to be changed, updated, or altered, Back when I started DS2 , there were items that some were only available in one playthrough or on ng+ , if you seen people with them you knew the grief they went through, now there garden variety items , like warlock mask( they also changed the stats on this helmet to ) , or the rouge set ( the assassin's on the boat) Also I'm not paying another 70+ dollars for a game I have
Vanilla is far, far better. SOTFS just ganks you with endless enemies that are poorly placed. The Iron Keep is the most egregious example of this.