I'm starting to really get that zen, dopamine fueled tickling brain haze that DS1 evoked in the latter half, really strongly now and I've only hit 22 hours and I haven't even started to build much infrastructure yet or routing between outposts. It hit at like 12 hours in but it's really strong now, I spent two hours there and only picked up my phone once and it feels like the world faded away, it's a beautiful thing and I'm so damn stressed right now this is exactly what I needed. If the game isn't a 10 when all is said and done, it's definetly worth the price which I dispised paying. It's litterally mental health food, all the years and countless hours I have spent meditating or trying to get rid of stress in other ways and it's games like this and Vampire Survivor likes and what not that is far better than what you can achieve by other means. I'm glad I took the gamble on this, paid off massively and I've another 60-80 hours ahead of me at the very least.

The game has one fatal flaw perhaps or maybe I'm n9t seeing it but thre doesn't seem to be enough need to build Zip Lines. I hope I'm wrong.

Ended up picking it, will try to start 1 today so I can play 2 asap.
Way too many good cupouns around here this last few days, was not expecting to get it this year at all.

It's got a 9.3 user review on PSN with 12k ratings. I have a fair idea that this game has already sold well. It's 8.9 on MC users which matches the critics, a rarity. There is no split in sentiment, I think people have have cone to understand Death Steanding since the release of DS1, probably cause it got in 12-15 million players for free.

I'd say skip 1, watch the recap or maybe a YouTube video and go straight into the loop here, it takes so long in DS1 to get to it's brilliance, here it takes no more than a dozen hours gameplay wise while still after 22 hours the story has yet to be anything but small cutscenes, really cool ones but here, it doesn't have that narrative hook DS1 came out the gate with. If you story, go for 1 but you'll burn yourself out for 2 and probably need a break or you'll hurt 2 for yourself. 

I would hardly play a direct sequel first, even less watch the story of a game I own for years now, lol.

If DS1 ends up being bad and make me want to rethink playing 2 soon, so be it, but it's a good chance to finally play something from my backlog lol.

I'm starting to think about it when I'm away from it, it's got strong hooks but not even close to CO E33 nor even Khazan. For CO E33 I lost sleep, I was setting my alarm early for it, I was forgetting to eat at times as well as standard daily stuff and I had bloodshot dry eyes and had it platinumed in less than two weeks qhich is crazy cause it took 70 hours, here in DS2 I'm happy waiting for an evening session and we'll see on this weekend if it's possible to hook me for a full day but I doubt it, it's very tiring. A four hour session seems to be the max I can get out of it before the good vibes turn to just bog standard repitivness. I can clearly see it's better than DS1 but it's not the same. Def not eclipsing CO E33 for me and it's 28 hours in so it's safe to say E33 is going to remain my top game this year and for the generation for the foreseeable future, I can't see GoY reinventing the wheel nor another miracle surprise like E33, Perhaps gor another few years.

There are things in this game from the first that should have been improved or altered. You shouldn't be able to power through everything in a vehicle, you should have a reason always to carry early tools. The placement of other players infrastructure should have a d8ce roll to reappear in a different spot once dismantled, the placement or tools I'm getting is ridiculously bad. Leaving just 50 mats for a road so you can seem to have done something is nonsensical. I want to play offline but I need to stay online for a geindy trophy. Why do roads not take my name when I have contributed more than 50% to them and why are the sections of roads that do have my name so random. The uniformity of design in architecture is too samey for a world that has just about to get IT and when they couldn't cross the sea until so recently it makes zero sense for the outposts and tech to be designed like the US. Normal difficulty is too easy and not punishing enough but extreme difficulty only effects combat, there should be more sliders or presets for this type of game.

There are more nitpick I have but still, yhe game is a 10 by the skim of its teeth and I can't see it dropping, there is something to DS that is so unique and wonderful in the brain. I see only one game has copied this, The Alters and it's still not really close so I'm surprised and would love to see a more action game at it's core clone this formula but with, oh Souls like combat or as an FPS RPG akin to Fallout.

I'd sat let DS2 slip into your backlog for a while too cause it's unlikely you'll wanna finish DS2 with the way it's designed. It would be like playing Red Dead Redemption right after RDR, it would massively put you off of it. 

The above comment makes it seem as if I'm sitting on the game, I'm not. This game is absolutely phenomenal and a 10 for me is hard earned. There is no doubt that this is a masterpiece and a near perfect game in the majority of aspects and some over DS1 like combat even if it does throw stealth out the window. To know it's a masterpiece at 28 hours in says it all. 

@ Svennoj hey Svennm, you'll be saddened to know that a full xipline route will only be possible after you've finished maxing things out. It's not a bandwidth issue but the terrain is setup so you need multiple shorter distance Ziplines for it to work and then that becomes a bandwidth issue, the map is too big for it, massive scale as well as people placing or getting upboted to much whom have really poor placing.

On the flip side, old gadgets and tech is sctually useful noting it lost and in fact this is better and also the missions are more varied so it's not going from point a to b and back again, I'm going from walking with a boost eco suit and dropping verticals where I need them on built roads, among some other modes of transportation I won't spoil. This actually adds more strategy and more analysis of terrain etc. It's a beautiful thing.