A bit of a necro, but
1: It shouldn't be a problem for a game where you are a zombie most of the time.
2: The game is out!
3: I played it all of yesterday, and it is great.
The usual sense of mystery is present, and it is still rewardingly tough.
It may be a bit 'easier' than DS1, but not because the enemies are weaker or less dangerous if you make mistakes, - but it feels like the battles are more 'fair'. E.g. there is (for now) often room and light enough, and you don't have to (for now) fight archers from a ladder while poisoned.
The greates surprise to me was the joy of coop multiplayer. I always play for myself, but thought I would lend a hand to whoever needed it after beating a boss.
So I put down a white mark, - and 10 second later I were helping some dudes and we won nicely. So feeling good and with a 'token of gratitude' (and a boss bucket of xp) I returned and put down the mark again, - and then I realised (the probably old news for experienced coop players) that my humanity, my estrus flask, and my spell count had been restored.
So for the rest of the yesterday I hardly needed bonfires, - whenever I were down to about half my spell count I would put down the white mark, help beat a boss and be back with full strength but no respawned enemies.
Some say that Dark Souls have the best PvP, but I will add that it also have the best coop (at least for me). This completely non-binding "helping a stranger" for a limited time works very, very well, and I have both learned and shared some good tricks.
In case you haven't found the white soap stone (I had to go to the internet
), and would like guidance:
Behind the Forest of Giants, after the 'hag' peddler, after running up a large branch to get on a wall, after climbing down a long ladder, and just behind the 'balista trap', - there is a man sitting on a bench at a gate. If you talk to him, go through the gate and later talk to him (multiple times), then he will give you the white soap stone.
An in case you want to know where the %¤#% blacksmith key is (I found it on my own):
The hag peddler behind the Forest of Giants sell it for 1000 souls'
(If the DS2 talk should happen on the general DS thread, then I apologize and hope nenjin will lock this.
)