Dark Souls 2 Scholar of the First Sin

Dark Souls II is a 2014 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Games. The second installment of the Dark Souls series, it is set in the kingdom of Drangleic and follows an undead traveler searching for a cure to their affliction. Despite the new setting, the presentation and gameplay, along with certain lore connections, remain similar to Dark Souls, with notable differences including further penalty for repeated deaths via a "hollowing" mechanic.

After initial delays, Dark Souls II was released worldwide on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in March 2014, with a Windows version released the following month. It was a commercial success and received critical acclaim, with reviewers praising its story, atmosphere, world design and visuals, although they were divided on its difficulty and deemed its boss battles and combat mechanics inferior to the original's. It is the only game in the trilogy to not be directed by series creator Hidetaka Miyazaki.

A trilogy of DLCs was released over the rest of 2014. An enhanced version featuring the content of the DLCs along with various other upgrades and additions, Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin, was released in 2015 on the original platforms as well as PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game would be followed by Dark Souls III in 2016.

Dark Souls II is an entry in the Dark Souls series, known for its difficulty, as both bosses and standard enemies have the potential to defeat the player in only a few hits. Bad play is punished severely by most enemies, and opportunities for recovering health are limited. What's more, with each death the player's maximum health is reduced. This process, called hollowing, can continue until the HP bar reaches a set lower limit of 50%. The player's full HP bar is only recovered when they expend a rare item. The game uses a form of joint currency called "souls", which are used as both experience points for leveling up and also as currency for purchasing items from shops. Upon death, the player's entire collection of souls is dropped; the player can recover their dropped souls by returning to the spot where they died, but if they die before picking them up, the souls are permanently lost.

Multiplayer in Dark Souls II uses the same format as its predecessors; players have the choice between co-operative play in the form of being "summoned" into another player's game world either by soapstone or in-game covenant, or player-versus-player through "invading" other worlds or arena duels. Both forms of multiplayer occur pseudo-randomly, although matchmaking formulas are used to pair characters at similar levels together.

The game allows its difficulty to be adjusted by mechanics built into the game. The game designers placed certain items early in the game allowing newer players higher basic damage and defense than they would normally have at that point. For more experienced players, the designers placed higher skill cap items early that do more damage if executed correctly. Other penalties, such as the health reduction on death, can be significantly reduced with certain items. This allows the player to set the game's difficulty based on their experiences with the game, rather than through a menu option. Dark Souls II features a new game plus mode. With each replay, the player retains their levels, souls, and most items.

Like its predecessor, Dark Souls II employs minimalist storytelling to convey its plot and lore. Historical events in the world and their significance are often implicit or left to player interpretation rather than fully shown or explained. Most of the story is given to the player through dialogue from non-player characters, flavor text from items, and world design; how players progress through the story can vary heavily depending on their actions.

The story of Dark Souls II begins with a human who is cursed to become a Hollow, a zombie-like being, after dying. To break this curse, the undead travels to the fallen kingdom of Drangleic and is tasked by a mysterious figure known as the Emerald Herald with obtaining four Great Souls from other powerful undead. Once obtained, the Emerald Herald directs the undead to "Seek the King" in the capital. After fighting through the remains of the royal guards, the player encounters the Queen Nashandra, who says that King Vendrick failed in his duty and fled his kingdom long ago. She asks the protagonist to slay the king.

Near the end of the Queen's quest, the player learns that the ruin of the kingdom was in fact caused by Nashandra. She came to the king and deceived him into launching an ill fated invasion across the sea into the lands of the giants. She coveted their souls and sought to steal their power. Though the raid succeeded in stealing the giants' unspecified power, the giants retaliated. Invading Drangleic, they eventually destroyed the kingdom. With his kingdom in ruins, the king discovered Nashandra's true purpose and locked himself inside the Undead Crypt, to protect the kingdom's power and secrets from her, using different methods to ensure the Throne of Want, her desired object and linked to the source of his kingdom's power, lay beyond her grasp.

The player meets the Emerald Herald one final time, who states that Nashandra is a fragment of Manus, who was the final boss in the Artorias of the Abyss expansion in Dark Souls. She then asks the protagonist to put Nashandra to rest and to link the fire or let it die out, a choice left to the character after taking the Throne of Want.

In Scholar of the First Sin, the base story changes slightly, notably with the addition of Aldia, King Vendrick's brother, to the final area, provided the DLC has been completed. Aldia appears several times throughout the game, offering the player cryptic hints about the cyclical nature of the world. Aldia, with the memory of King Vendrick, attempt to help the protagonist understand that there might be another way, a way out of the cycle of light and dark. The player is given two options: They can give the character a choice to kindle the fire or abandon it, as in the first game; or the player can abscond the throne, and follow their own path beyond light or dark.

The three The Lost Crowns DLCs add side-stories each featuring three other daughters of Manus and a quest to obtain the crown of three other kings whose rule has long ended. Once completed, the player can return to the place where Vendrick hid his power from Nashandra and obtain a fourth crown that combines the other three and cures the player of undeath.

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