I love Dark Souls 2 and I’m not afraid to admit it. It’s in my top 3 favorite FromSoft games (along with Dark Souls and Elden Ring.) I know it doesn’t have the atmosphere of DS1, but I love the variety of environments, the branching paths through the game world, and the PvE balance. I think DS2 is the most balanced Souls game, in the sense that all types of builds are equally viable and it has plenty of weapons and spells that are actually worth using.