After finishing DSI, and with all the promising trailers of DSII, I was expecting an excellent game. Before buying it, I "scouted" the internet for reviews, forum's, etc. After a few months I noticed 1 thing, either people loved the game or just simply hate it. So, I decided to buy the game and get my own conclusions.
I bought the game in February 2013 and I'm still playing it. I really can't understand how people don't like this game, even with all the glitches and bugs it has (I hope the company that bought DSII IP releases a new patch to correct the mistakes, specially the DLC's).
Regarding the story, for those who read the book, I think the game is a very good adaptation. The game story starts as a "save my brother quest", but, as the story goes, you realize that there's much more at stake than just clearing War's name. To summarize, when the 4 most powerful of the Nephlim where "recruited" to be the 4 Horsemen, their 1st task was to kill all other Nephilim. Death, the most powerful of the 4 became known as Kin-slayer, for is actions that day, when he killed Absolom (the final boss of DSII) which became Corruption (the evil force you fight in DSII). But Death couldn't destroy his brothers souls, and going against the orders of the Council, he kept them in an amulet which was given to the Keeper of Secrets. Eons passed, and in the first game, War is betrayed and rides to earth without the 7th seal being broken (the 4 Horsemen shall ride only when the 7 seals are broken), causing the Apocalypse and the extinction of mankind. For those actions, War is stripped from is power and imprisoned by the Charred Council for 100 years. Only after the 100 years, the story of DSI begins. In the meantime, while War is held by the council, the story of DSII begins, with Death sworn to resurrect mankind to help clear out War's name. I think some people didn't full understand the story of the 2nd game, because they thought they were playing after all the events in DSI. In fact, when we finish the game with Death, it's a few years before the time we finish the game with War, in the end of DSI, which breaks the 7th seal summoning the other 3 Horsemen. There's more information that is given as you progress in the game, giving some clues to what lies ahead and correlating the common factors with DSI. I think it's a good script.
Regarding the game play.... I have more than 200 hours playing and I'm not tired yet. The possibility of taking 2 different paths in the game Necromancer (spell-caster, more of a magician character) or Harbinger (much more physical character) extends the game play a lot. The combat is awesome, when you get to level 30 as Necromancer (my favorite build), you're like a unstoppable "killing machine", i.e. when completing the crucible is like being a centurion in an ancient Roman Empire arena defeating everything that is "thrown" at you during the 100 waves needed to complete it and finishing almost without using 1 single potion :). The possessed weapons are just an excellent feature of the game, as you can build your scythe and your secondary weapon with the stats that most suit the "path" you decide to follow. Some puzzles are quite easy to figure out, but others are difficult, not to the point where you get frustrated because no solution seems obvious, but rather more to the point that you get extremely satisfied when you finally figure it out. The platforming is very simple, it got known in the community by p.o.p.(due to the similarities with the title Prince of Persia, I think).
In all together, for a game that was developed when every employee was being fired and the company going bankrupt, I think it's pretty awesome. I bought the ps3 version for 9.99 and all 15 DLC's for the same amount, so I think spending 20 bucks for more than 200 hours of entertainment was more than worthwhile. I just hope that Darksiders III will come out in the future.
I bought the game in February 2013 and I'm still playing it. I really can't understand how people don't like this game, even with all the glitches and bugs it has (I hope the company that bought DSII IP releases a new patch to correct the mistakes, specially the DLC's).
Regarding the story, for those who read the book, I think the game is a very good adaptation. The game story starts as a "save my brother quest", but, as the story goes, you realize that there's much more at stake than just clearing War's name. To summarize, when the 4 most powerful of the Nephlim where "recruited" to be the 4 Horsemen, their 1st task was to kill all other Nephilim. Death, the most powerful of the 4 became known as Kin-slayer, for is actions that day, when he killed Absolom (the final boss of DSII) which became Corruption (the evil force you fight in DSII). But Death couldn't destroy his brothers souls, and going against the orders of the Council, he kept them in an amulet which was given to the Keeper of Secrets. Eons passed, and in the first game, War is betrayed and rides to earth without the 7th seal being broken (the 4 Horsemen shall ride only when the 7 seals are broken), causing the Apocalypse and the extinction of mankind. For those actions, War is stripped from is power and imprisoned by the Charred Council for 100 years. Only after the 100 years, the story of DSI begins. In the meantime, while War is held by the council, the story of DSII begins, with Death sworn to resurrect mankind to help clear out War's name. I think some people didn't full understand the story of the 2nd game, because they thought they were playing after all the events in DSI. In fact, when we finish the game with Death, it's a few years before the time we finish the game with War, in the end of DSI, which breaks the 7th seal summoning the other 3 Horsemen. There's more information that is given as you progress in the game, giving some clues to what lies ahead and correlating the common factors with DSI. I think it's a good script.
Regarding the game play.... I have more than 200 hours playing and I'm not tired yet. The possibility of taking 2 different paths in the game Necromancer (spell-caster, more of a magician character) or Harbinger (much more physical character) extends the game play a lot. The combat is awesome, when you get to level 30 as Necromancer (my favorite build), you're like a unstoppable "killing machine", i.e. when completing the crucible is like being a centurion in an ancient Roman Empire arena defeating everything that is "thrown" at you during the 100 waves needed to complete it and finishing almost without using 1 single potion :). The possessed weapons are just an excellent feature of the game, as you can build your scythe and your secondary weapon with the stats that most suit the "path" you decide to follow. Some puzzles are quite easy to figure out, but others are difficult, not to the point where you get frustrated because no solution seems obvious, but rather more to the point that you get extremely satisfied when you finally figure it out. The platforming is very simple, it got known in the community by p.o.p.(due to the similarities with the title Prince of Persia, I think).
In all together, for a game that was developed when every employee was being fired and the company going bankrupt, I think it's pretty awesome. I bought the ps3 version for 9.99 and all 15 DLC's for the same amount, so I think spending 20 bucks for more than 200 hours of entertainment was more than worthwhile. I just hope that Darksiders III will come out in the future.