This is by far the most divisive Dark Souls game. There's plenty to hate, but there's also a lot to love and I think DS2 isn't given enough credit for many, many reasons. I usually start with the positives, but I will break that rule and get the most obvious negatives out of the way first so we can then have a look what DS2 does right.

There is a stat called Adaptability that everybody hates and for good reason - it governs how many i-frames you have and how fast you complete certain actions like drinking your flask. If that sounds like a dumb idea, that's because it is. All it really does is make you waste souls on it because the game just feels "off" without ADP on 25, which brings it in line with the other two games. However... I felt DS2 was the easiest to become overleveled in, because the soul requirements at lower levels are so low you can just blast through the first 10 or so levels like nothing and you'll hit ADP 25 easy enough so you can then ignore it and play DS2 like a "normal" Souls game.

The boss runbacks in this game are among the worst in the series, there's no two ways about it. They're long, they're tedious and they're cheap. They're not ALL like that, mind you, but the ones that are bad are really atrocious. This was one thing future FromSoft games changed for the better.

Without going into a breakdown of every area, I can also say that compared to DS1's masterfully interwoven world and DS3's linear, but still satisfying map design, DS2 is a weird game in terms of level design. Majula is hands down the best hub in any Souls game but unlike DS1, which gave you a fairly good hit at where to go and where NOT to go, paths and progression in this game are far less cleverly signaled and getting lost is a way more common occurrence. That said, it set a strong precedent for the "go somewhere else and come back later" style of world exploration that Elden Ring later capitalized on. But overall, I think the world of DS2 is still as beautiful, grandiose and mysterious as a Dark Souls world should be and I would argue that despite some quesitonable design choices, the aesthetic and atmosphere is spot on and there's something soothing, even fairy-tale-like about DS2's world. I also enjoyed the story - it's not connected to DS1 or DS3, and it's told in that familiar "read the item descriptions and observe the environment" way which makes you feel like an archaeologist dropped into a world into which you arrived around 500 years too late for all the big action. There's also a lot more disparity between the nicer areas like Majula and its adjacent forest(s) and the really gloomy areas like the underground tombs and Drangleic castle. All in all, the world is definitely an interesting place to inhabit and it feels a little less confined than either DS1 or DS3.

Which neatly brings us to DS2's strong points. I've touched on the aesthetic and the world, but I would say DS2 gets a bad rap in the gameplay department as well. Once you solve the Adaptability problem, it feels like it should and there is an even wider variety of weapons and especially sorceries, hexes, miracles and pyromancies than DS1. I didn't touch magic on my first playthrough, but I feel I would have a blast with it. It feels a lot less like DS1 where some weapons were just flat out better than others, whereas here, a lot more weapons feel like a viable choice if for no other reason than sheer number alone - there's just much more to choose from, so a lot more can do the job well. There's also the introduction of proper powerstancing for even more moveset variety.

One aspect which gets praised a lot for good reason is the "Bonfire Ascetic" mechanic. DS2 has a strange anti-farming mechanic where if you kill an enemy too many times (10-12 or so), it stops respawning. To counter that, you can burn an item called a "Bonfire Ascetic" to essentially reset that counter to zero - but it also raises that area (and only that area) to NG+, then NG+2 etc. It's a really neat way of increasing challenge without having to complete the entire game to do so, and you get to choose which areas to boost for various purposes. It turns bonfire management into a game on its own and it's a nice addition. I wish future FS games had something like this.

On the topic of NG+, this game also changes on NG+ runs a lot more than just "enemies have more health and hit harder". The spawns are different, you get better versions of existing items, it's a different experience than the first time.

There are also a few QoL additions like being able to warp to any bonfire right from the start (though I will ALWAYS insist that the way DS1 did it was better, it only had to give you this option a bit earlier than after completing basically 3/4 of the game), Life Gems which are small consumables that regen your health without needing to waste a flask. It sadly also has the infuriatingly tedious mechanic of forcing you to level up at Majula, meaning that every time you want to level up, you have to port to Majula, level up and port back.

Brief word about the DLCs. They are pretty neat because they connect into one coherent goal, but short of reading a guide it's not very clear how to realize that goal. Lastly, one of the DLCs includes what I would consider the absolute worst area in any FromSoft game ever. But if you want more DS2 after finishing the base game, it scratches that itch just fine.

All in all, I think some of the glaring issues with this game are often overstated. "Level Adaptability", for all its meme status, is a legit piece of advice and once you do it, the game becomes a lot more in line with what you'd be expecting. The level design, while not nearly as tight as DS1 or DS3, has its own merits in its scale and openness. There are plenty of new mechanics that make the game stand out from its predecessor and successor, and for all its flaws, it's still a unique and captivating game. A lot of people recommend skipping DS2 and going straight to DS3 from DS1 - I would say you're doing yourself a disservice if you enjoyed either of those games. If DS1 is "the prim and proper one" and DS3 is "the fun one", then DS2 is definitely "the special one", for better or for worse.