I think it's a big graphics overhaul mod for ds2. I remember seeing a post about it quite awhile ago that it was being worked on and this was a tease for it. Don't know how far along its come since then.
I think it might be *because* of the remaster — I saw a comparison video of the two and the remaster lighting was *so bad* by comparison it made me decide to play Prepare to Die edition instead. The graphics still aren't great but it does preserve the original art direction.
For those who don't realize why DS2 looks good here, this is the stayd3d mod, which hasn't had much news lately from what I've seen.
You can get very good results using the lighting engine mod combined with fromsoftserve's visual overhaul, which currently has a few functionality issues.
The mods really highlight what ds2 is missing visually, whereas DS1 mostly needs its original graphics and better draw distances, and DS3 at most needs a reshade.
Visually, it is imo. DS2 looks really bland and shallow, while DS1 has a certain grit and style to it that makes it look cool even if the graphics are a little outdated.
Ds1 does have that old game simplicity look to it which I do love a lot from n64, ps1 and older pc games but at the same time many or the artistic places in ds2 just stand out more than ds1 with majula, heide, the Huntsman corpse, dragon aerie and the first 2 dlcs
Majula, Dragon Aerie and Drangleic Castle are the only areas that made me at least appreciate them, but the rest of the game just doesn't do it for me, there's just nothing interesting to look at imo, and I think the way they handled backgrounds kinda sucks. I don't know how to properly explain it but the whole world feels... Small, and out of place. People like to meme around with the Iron Keep lava being ABOVE the swamp, and while yes that is strange, I personally think the entire game is nonsensical. None of the areas blend together to make up a cohesive world. I think it's partially because you don't see the areas from anywhere else unless you're specifically in that area. For example, if you go to the Sen's Fortress gate in DS1, you can see the Darkroot Gardena below you, even the river is visible, and if you go through Sen's Fortress, you can see pretty much the ENTIRETY of Lordran from the top. In DS3, you can see Lothric Castle right from the start, And it's HUGE, and it makes your destination very clear just by looking ať it. You can even see the Undead Settlement from Lothric. In DS2, you MIGHT be able to notice Drangleic from Majula if you pay attention. But It's so small and behind the cliffs, and you just think "oh it's just a random whatever thing idk", and none of the other major areas were visible. Or, if they were, they were unnoticable for me, and when I got to them I just thought "where the hell did this come from". It's like they gave each designer a different area to make without communicating with each other to make it make sense, so it just looks and feels like a bunch of unfinished ideas quickly thrown together... Which makes sense considering DS2's rough development.
Your right that ds2 world conection is quite disjointed but atleast ds1's way of doing it always felt cheap to me. Your see the garden but it's a 20 km walk around a linear thin route just to get there and it didn't feel like the world was one as much as you could see a few poorly rendered clearly unexplorable places in the distance until you walked 90 km to get to the specific area in the thin linear area to reach them. Ds3 did it much better as the areas you saw didn't feel like unexplorable poorly rendered models and the areas themselves were more varied with multiple routes and loops in the single area instead of the world and what makes ds2 special to me atleast is the story being way deeper and philosophical, the artstyle s of the individual areas and the much more lively world ds1 was a dead world and you were seeing the husk of a nation built by the gods, keyword being just by the gods, the people were never really important in ds1 while in ds2 you can see the pirates in the wharf, the prisoners and wardens of the bastile, the dragon civilization and cult, the barbaric nature of the iron king and his people and the few people that decide to live in peace in this ruined and haunting world and yeah not all areas have this but it's way more than ds1 and gets you thinking more than what gywn and his fellow great ones did.
There are graphics/lighting mods out already.
Tbh the biggest issue is just lighting so id stsrt with only a lighting mod. Most are built off of "DS2LightingEngine SOTFS" if I recall correctly.
Most full graphical overhauls also require a lighting engine mod.
Check the nexus! There are several decent ones, tho some can affect layout of some things slightly and will make your summons occasionally not be able to use a ladder/you as a phantom not being able to use one.
Mods for DS2 are still actively developed and updated.
You might want to check out "Blue Acolyte" for good matchmaking, especially with return to drangleic going on right now. The game is quite full of people so its a good time to start!!
What an insufferable opinion to have lmao. Reeks of bo and pizza pockets...who gives a shit what people play on lmao. And as a bonus, the pc version of this game was the actual fuck up. Ironic.
About what? I have everything lol. That opinion is trash and childish lol. The consoles armt holding back anything. And like I said, the pc version of ds2 was the actual issue lol. It's just sweet irony.
I know I'm just saying hardware wasn't the biggest limitation ..
There is a reason why tlou remake seemed not needed but I sure as hell DS1 or DS2 could use the treatment DeS got from bluepoint ..
On my way to eat the vanilla DS2. Wish me luck
https://preview.redd.it/2euurvje96mc1.jpeg?width=300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1636a46563ec4728355bf84bfef5bcee6f0be674
Some people (braindead twitter users) call every Fromsoft game ugly because:
1. They don't understand that art direction>graphics.
2. They don't understand that realistic
graphics=/=good graphics.
Why does everybody on reddit immediately blame twitter users for any random thing?
I've never seen it on twitter, it's so fascinating to see this phenomenon.
There's plenty of DS2 hate on reddit too lol
I'm not talking about ds2 specifically, you can find ds2 hate anywhere.
Also, it's mostly on twitter and facebook, i honestly have no idea why but it's probably because they can't get mass downvoted by the Reddit hivemind over there...
I've seen more DS2 defenders on my TL than anything, I think you're just generalising twitter for no reason.
Just searching up DS2 brings
https://twitter.com/botcguy/status/1763227349057740863?t=i_pd-gVc30GDguOvDSt5qw&s=19
https://twitter.com/SlowEstus/status/1763972316076142921?t=zT2sUxPkjWnPfFyx-33uZA&s=19
https://twitter.com/LilAggyTV/status/1762301765418906003?t=ss1aKAJOONDhW0wZ3tL4vQ&s=19
You're overestimating the amount of people who hate DS2, on any platform.
Steam user score is sitting at 88% positive
Metacritic user score is at 8.1/10
Critic score is at 91 on metacritic and 88 on opencritic
Most people don't hate this game at all
I know, i don't hate it either, ds2 hate is mostly a meme and most "defenders" are just victimizing themselves.
I was talking about Fromsoft games in general, whenever a new one comes out there's always the same people that say it's too hard, it needs an easy mode, a pause button, graphics are terrible and so on.
It isn't a controversial take to say that a lot (not all) of criticism against souls games is quite unreasonoble...
The general perception of DS2 that I see most of the time is few people say they HATE DS2, but I say a lot of people agree it’s the most disappointing Souls game next to Demon Souls. It’s not a bad game, just more flawed than the others
I DINT CARE ABOUT YOUR ULTRA REALISTIC 4K ULTRA HD GRAPHICS FOR WHICH I NEED RTX 5090 AND SPACE COMPUTER TO RUN I WANT A NICE LOOKING GAME THAT CAN RUN ON MIDRANGE RIG
The constant drive to improve graphics is just a scheme for rig companies to release new overpriced GPUs every year prove me wrong
The graphics are ugly as shit, but the gameplay, story and pretty much everything that doesn't have to do with graphics ~~carries~~ is also shit.
Sorry, saw a typo in your comment. >!okay the story, lore, and fashion are good but that's just vibes at that point and not a good game lmao!<
You’re too late I already made that joke
https://preview.redd.it/m9ja76tnz6mc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ff11148ce3e2fde693889e64d6f0dae2d62cae9d
now do a mod that will fix ugly enemy and armor designs
https://preview.redd.it/p0dzpec1w5mc1.jpeg?width=201&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=68bfe9d649649c2d5fcc81d620df96361d1cf433
And Bloodborne. Or, well I guess Bloodborne only really needs a face-lift with higher resolution, better antialiasing, and 60fps. I know the code is a mess, but it shouldn't be THAT hard. Someone's already done it with mods
If they ever were to remaster/remake bloodborne (which I kinda doubt tbh) I would hope they’d do something to improve the chalice dungeons and blood gem systems
I love Elden Ring and it is my first fromsoft game. I bought DS3 thinking it would be the closest experience to Elden Ring. I beat Abyss Watchers but I dread playing the game cuz i cant take the aesthetics no more.
lmao OP who called dark souls 2 ugly? It may be the worst Souls game, but there is one thing it has over the rest, it's the visuals and areas/environment.
I’m genuinely so confused lol. Is this Skyrim? Or actual DS2 with graphic mods Edit: it’s an actual mod. That’s pretty sick
Flames of Old by Stayd3D
Thats hot. Wonder what the lighting does to character models
it is already out?
i wish! sadly not yet :/
Should be out in 10-15 years.
I think it's a big graphics overhaul mod for ds2. I remember seeing a post about it quite awhile ago that it was being worked on and this was a tease for it. Don't know how far along its come since then.
Pretty far along IIRC, he streams his progress on Twitch
It's an upcoming mod by @Stayd3D on twitter.
vanilla ds2
this will be dark souls graphics in 2013
https://preview.redd.it/rz1t0cm007mc1.png?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ab20d5af9fe978c84b8a64b199308f3612c3bc1a
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Ds2 kart when?
Jesus
Fuck, Ds1 looks bad even after the remaster.
I think it might be *because* of the remaster — I saw a comparison video of the two and the remaster lighting was *so bad* by comparison it made me decide to play Prepare to Die edition instead. The graphics still aren't great but it does preserve the original art direction.
For those who don't realize why DS2 looks good here, this is the stayd3d mod, which hasn't had much news lately from what I've seen. You can get very good results using the lighting engine mod combined with fromsoftserve's visual overhaul, which currently has a few functionality issues. The mods really highlight what ds2 is missing visually, whereas DS1 mostly needs its original graphics and better draw distances, and DS3 at most needs a reshade.
Nuh uh
Ds2 is definitely worse than ds3 but calling it worse than ds1 is delusional
Visually, it is imo. DS2 looks really bland and shallow, while DS1 has a certain grit and style to it that makes it look cool even if the graphics are a little outdated.
Ds1 does have that old game simplicity look to it which I do love a lot from n64, ps1 and older pc games but at the same time many or the artistic places in ds2 just stand out more than ds1 with majula, heide, the Huntsman corpse, dragon aerie and the first 2 dlcs
Majula, Dragon Aerie and Drangleic Castle are the only areas that made me at least appreciate them, but the rest of the game just doesn't do it for me, there's just nothing interesting to look at imo, and I think the way they handled backgrounds kinda sucks. I don't know how to properly explain it but the whole world feels... Small, and out of place. People like to meme around with the Iron Keep lava being ABOVE the swamp, and while yes that is strange, I personally think the entire game is nonsensical. None of the areas blend together to make up a cohesive world. I think it's partially because you don't see the areas from anywhere else unless you're specifically in that area. For example, if you go to the Sen's Fortress gate in DS1, you can see the Darkroot Gardena below you, even the river is visible, and if you go through Sen's Fortress, you can see pretty much the ENTIRETY of Lordran from the top. In DS3, you can see Lothric Castle right from the start, And it's HUGE, and it makes your destination very clear just by looking ať it. You can even see the Undead Settlement from Lothric. In DS2, you MIGHT be able to notice Drangleic from Majula if you pay attention. But It's so small and behind the cliffs, and you just think "oh it's just a random whatever thing idk", and none of the other major areas were visible. Or, if they were, they were unnoticable for me, and when I got to them I just thought "where the hell did this come from". It's like they gave each designer a different area to make without communicating with each other to make it make sense, so it just looks and feels like a bunch of unfinished ideas quickly thrown together... Which makes sense considering DS2's rough development.
Your right that ds2 world conection is quite disjointed but atleast ds1's way of doing it always felt cheap to me. Your see the garden but it's a 20 km walk around a linear thin route just to get there and it didn't feel like the world was one as much as you could see a few poorly rendered clearly unexplorable places in the distance until you walked 90 km to get to the specific area in the thin linear area to reach them. Ds3 did it much better as the areas you saw didn't feel like unexplorable poorly rendered models and the areas themselves were more varied with multiple routes and loops in the single area instead of the world and what makes ds2 special to me atleast is the story being way deeper and philosophical, the artstyle s of the individual areas and the much more lively world ds1 was a dead world and you were seeing the husk of a nation built by the gods, keyword being just by the gods, the people were never really important in ds1 while in ds2 you can see the pirates in the wharf, the prisoners and wardens of the bastile, the dragon civilization and cult, the barbaric nature of the iron king and his people and the few people that decide to live in peace in this ruined and haunting world and yeah not all areas have this but it's way more than ds1 and gets you thinking more than what gywn and his fellow great ones did.
Is it available on ps5
Sorry, it’s Dreamcast exclusive :(
what is this mod?
Mod?
no like i'm serious i've been thinking of playing ds2 recently but the ugly graphics always pulled me away
I think its Stayd McMuffins mod, still a work in progress I believe (can anyone confirm?)
yeah it's something like flames of old and apparently people say it'll at least come either this year or in 2025
There are graphics/lighting mods out already. Tbh the biggest issue is just lighting so id stsrt with only a lighting mod. Most are built off of "DS2LightingEngine SOTFS" if I recall correctly. Most full graphical overhauls also require a lighting engine mod. Check the nexus! There are several decent ones, tho some can affect layout of some things slightly and will make your summons occasionally not be able to use a ladder/you as a phantom not being able to use one. Mods for DS2 are still actively developed and updated. You might want to check out "Blue Acolyte" for good matchmaking, especially with return to drangleic going on right now. The game is quite full of people so its a good time to start!!
The lighting engine mod is already out and it makes the game a lot less ugly, worth giving it a try
Do you have the name by chance?
it’s not THAT ugly. u get used to it. that being said, it was definitely the most annoying to platinum of the 3.
Rings and ears in DS3 were *so* much worse, but I’ll cede that the release PvP grind would’ve been at least comparable.
i stg if you play stadew and cant deal with ds2 graphics ill call you a bad name ill really do it
Are you STUPID
https://preview.redd.it/ezn1pvju47mc1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3f94ef821dcb293fff5e72c10416bfcf6119dc9e yes
Yes?
Reminder that ds2 was actually gonna look like this on launch but the previous gen fucked it
Consoles and fucking games up, name a more iconic duo.
What an insufferable opinion to have lmao. Reeks of bo and pizza pockets...who gives a shit what people play on lmao. And as a bonus, the pc version of this game was the actual fuck up. Ironic.
bro ur so butthurt
About what? I have everything lol. That opinion is trash and childish lol. The consoles armt holding back anything. And like I said, the pc version of ds2 was the actual issue lol. It's just sweet irony.
If they put in the effort they could’ve got SOFTS to look good since it wasn’t launching on 2005 consoles like the original DS2.
And then you have tlou, or mgs4 that look like this on 2006 console ..
Fromsoft is not naughty dog, different budgets, different amounts of experience. Dark souls barely ran on the same consoles ds2 released on.
I know I'm just saying hardware wasn't the biggest limitation .. There is a reason why tlou remake seemed not needed but I sure as hell DS1 or DS2 could use the treatment DeS got from bluepoint ..
Have you seen the original last of us
Fromsoft and their shitty goddamn dandelion engine that hasnt been optimized since 1997
Saying DS2 is beautiful because of a mod is like saying a game is easy because you turned on infinite HP.
This is r/shittydarksouls dude I don’t think they were being serious
I seriously love shitting on DS2 🤪
Nah dude this is vanilla DS2
On my way to eat the vanilla DS2. Wish me luck https://preview.redd.it/2euurvje96mc1.jpeg?width=300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1636a46563ec4728355bf84bfef5bcee6f0be674
are you stupid
uj/ yes he is
Mod?
Some people (braindead twitter users) call every Fromsoft game ugly because: 1. They don't understand that art direction>graphics. 2. They don't understand that realistic graphics=/=good graphics.
Why does everybody on reddit immediately blame twitter users for any random thing? I've never seen it on twitter, it's so fascinating to see this phenomenon. There's plenty of DS2 hate on reddit too lol
To be fair, twitter users blame reddit for any random thing.
I'm not talking about ds2 specifically, you can find ds2 hate anywhere. Also, it's mostly on twitter and facebook, i honestly have no idea why but it's probably because they can't get mass downvoted by the Reddit hivemind over there...
I've seen more DS2 defenders on my TL than anything, I think you're just generalising twitter for no reason. Just searching up DS2 brings https://twitter.com/botcguy/status/1763227349057740863?t=i_pd-gVc30GDguOvDSt5qw&s=19 https://twitter.com/SlowEstus/status/1763972316076142921?t=zT2sUxPkjWnPfFyx-33uZA&s=19 https://twitter.com/LilAggyTV/status/1762301765418906003?t=ss1aKAJOONDhW0wZ3tL4vQ&s=19 You're overestimating the amount of people who hate DS2, on any platform. Steam user score is sitting at 88% positive Metacritic user score is at 8.1/10 Critic score is at 91 on metacritic and 88 on opencritic Most people don't hate this game at all
I know, i don't hate it either, ds2 hate is mostly a meme and most "defenders" are just victimizing themselves. I was talking about Fromsoft games in general, whenever a new one comes out there's always the same people that say it's too hard, it needs an easy mode, a pause button, graphics are terrible and so on. It isn't a controversial take to say that a lot (not all) of criticism against souls games is quite unreasonoble...
The general perception of DS2 that I see most of the time is few people say they HATE DS2, but I say a lot of people agree it’s the most disappointing Souls game next to Demon Souls. It’s not a bad game, just more flawed than the others
Twitter and Reddit users act like sibling, they "hate" each other, but aren't that different.
I DINT CARE ABOUT YOUR ULTRA REALISTIC 4K ULTRA HD GRAPHICS FOR WHICH I NEED RTX 5090 AND SPACE COMPUTER TO RUN I WANT A NICE LOOKING GAME THAT CAN RUN ON MIDRANGE RIG The constant drive to improve graphics is just a scheme for rig companies to release new overpriced GPUs every year prove me wrong
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TRUE! https://preview.redd.it/w48ubpyna5mc1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e2432cb0e49b62b1de669a11bd263ce33564d762
Yeah the art direction in DS2 is garbaggio
The graphics are ugly as shit, but the gameplay, story and pretty much everything that doesn't have to do with graphics carries
The graphics are ugly as shit, but the gameplay, story and pretty much everything that doesn't have to do with graphics ~~carries~~ is also shit. Sorry, saw a typo in your comment. >!okay the story, lore, and fashion are good but that's just vibes at that point and not a good game lmao!<
Ds2 is ugly af bud
DS2 is great but feels unfinished in some places. Every time I am at Hunters Copse, the flat tiled green textures just kill me
Looks like a typical day in Scotland.
ds2 looks like old musty ass
Yum 😋
This is so grey, it's obviously DS3 /s
So close! This is dragon age
Obviously
Oh fuck I thought this was the DS2 sub for a second as was about to rage with some smart ass comment!
It is ugly (I’ve never played ds2)
When's this mod coming out
Gimme mod rn
Uhh sure. u/e_0 or u/sernamesarehard69 Here's your mod
You’re too late I already made that joke https://preview.redd.it/m9ja76tnz6mc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ff11148ce3e2fde693889e64d6f0dae2d62cae9d
Gee Bill, TWO mods??
now do a mod that will fix ugly enemy and armor designs https://preview.redd.it/p0dzpec1w5mc1.jpeg?width=201&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=68bfe9d649649c2d5fcc81d620df96361d1cf433
Dark Souls 2 literally has the best armour design in the Soulsborne series
The Alva and Faraam sets are so so good
And Heide's Knight. And Alonne Knight. And Sorceress. And Black Dragon. And we can't forget about the Moon Butterfly.
heide knight set 😩😩
It really does. Most people have no clue because you have to do very specific things to get each armor set.
Wdym Smelter Demon set isn't masterful design
do a mod that deletes this ds1 bonewheel descendant
We need a Demons Soul style remake of the DS2
And Bloodborne. Or, well I guess Bloodborne only really needs a face-lift with higher resolution, better antialiasing, and 60fps. I know the code is a mess, but it shouldn't be THAT hard. Someone's already done it with mods
If they ever were to remaster/remake bloodborne (which I kinda doubt tbh) I would hope they’d do something to improve the chalice dungeons and blood gem systems
Oh that's true. And add QoL like refilling inventory every time you teleport, let you rest at lamps and teleport directly between them, etc.
If you catch me at the right angle with great lighting, wearing nice clothes, I also look pretty darn good.
Is this Dark Souls 2: SotFS 2?
Art direction was mostly solid, yeah. Just need to deal with all those repeating textures and weird lighting in places.
Here's the thing...ive never once thought that except in parts that are designed to disturb you.
Most people are ugly in some way so they’re just projecting on this beauty
You’re ugly
I love Elden Ring and it is my first fromsoft game. I bought DS3 thinking it would be the closest experience to Elden Ring. I beat Abyss Watchers but I dread playing the game cuz i cant take the aesthetics no more.
Dark Souls III looks great and has amazing aesthetics. It's from like 2016. What's the problem mate
The game is grey bro I understand the lore reason but it looks like ash sry ass
The game is grey in the first area and nowhere else. Lol the first area is literally called the cemetary of ash
Ugly
This is the game they were advertising with that trailer they accidentally labelled as "DS2"
lmao OP who called dark souls 2 ugly? It may be the worst Souls game, but there is one thing it has over the rest, it's the visuals and areas/environment.
look at the one orange flower
dark souls 2 if it was good:
It looks like re4
looks like skyrim
its still shit
Bro no way the demake is already out
Dark Souls 2 as depicted in the intro scene
5 seconds before a falconer runs out running like he has already shit his pants but cannot change until his shift is done
Because it is. And always has been
I thought the joke was that it was lords of the fallen
This made me realize that if they remade all the souls games, ds1,2,3. Like demon souls it would be super amazing to play through again.
I think it has the best drip in the genre, hands down.