In DS2, i-frames when dodging are tied to a stat called Agility. Agility is raised by leveling Adaptability and Attunement. ADP raises it at 3 times the rate of ATT so if you don't plan on casting any spells, just stick with ADP. How much and how fast to level it will mostly depend on your comfort level. You can dodge anything in this game with base agility if you only treat it as a tool to get out of the way of danger (or if your timing is really on point).

But if you want to stick with your muscle memory from the other Souls games you'll probably want 100+ Agility. That sounds like a lot, but that's only about 25 ADP (unless you start as a Bandit) and levels come much faster in this game. It should definitely be a high priority to put at least a few levels into it if you started as a Bandit, Warrior, or Cleric since the jump from 85 to 86 Agility is very noticeable.

This game can be extremely easy if you use all the tools provided for you, but there's also lots of ways to make it harder without realizing. First and foremost is the Company of Champions covenant, a.k.a. hard mode. All enemies deal more damage, take less and never despawn (yeah, you can despawn enemies in this one if you kill them enough) and all summon signs disappear.

If things still feel overly hard to you without turning on hard mode then that's probably a sign you're ignoring some of the many ways that the game allows you to make it easier for yourself.

Ranged enemies in a hard-to-reach spot? Every build has access to some kind of ranged attack. Getting stunlocked? Poise or a shield will clear that right up. Not doing much damage? Try a different damage type. The game is as hard or easy as you make it.

Every time you die, you lose 5% of your health bar down to half. It's based on Spirit Form from Demon's Souls (which was way more punishing) and later got rebranded as Ember in DS3. A watered-down form of it even made it into Elden Ring with Rune Arcs. If you're having trouble there's a ring in Heide's Tower that cuts the penalty in half and overall game difficulty is designed for about 75% health.

You can fix this with Human Effigies, which are a little rare early game but you can have unlimited once you start running into dogs. You also get free humanity for engaging in "jolly cooperation".

Pro tip: Get the small soapstone early and leave a sign by the bonfire every now and then. Then all you have to do is run around being helpful for a few minutes to get your full health back.

If you haven't heard yet, matchmaking in DS2 is based on Soul Memory, the total count of every soul you've ever collected. It was implemented to counter the serious twinking problem from DS1 and it was very effective at that specific job. Unfortunately, it caused more problems than it solved and the devs patched in a bandaid solution in the form of a ring that stops you from collecting souls, and in one fell swoop undermined the system's entire reason for existing.

The oppressiveness of Soul Memory depends on how hard you try to control it. If you ignore it and play the game normally, just finding summon signs and invasions as they come, you'll never notice it. If you try to optimize every soul to stay in the "best" range, you're going to spiral into a micromanagement nightmare and gain very little. Here's my advice for managing Soul Memory, if you're worried about it:

• Don't eat any consumable souls you pick up
  
• Talk to Straid and get the Agape Ring early on (Bandits are too feeble minded).
  
• Keep an eye on the fast travel screen to see where the orange borders that mark activity in your range are.
  
• If the orange borders are mostly in areas you've already been and don't plan to revisit, pop some souls to bump up a tier or two.
  
• If you find an area that's active and you're enjoying yourself, or you just want to grind out a rare drop, put on the Agape Ring so you don't push yourself out of range.

The first half to 2/3 of the game (depending on whether you count DLC and side areas) is four branching paths radiating from the central hub of Majula. You can do them in any order you please, but it's suggested to start at the Forest of Fallen Giants and take either the Pursuer or Heide's Tower of Flame to the Lost Bastille before starting the other 3.

There's a lot of locked doors and blocked paths that you can open up later so keep a mental note of where they are. The game gets a lot more linear once you collect the souls of the four Great Ones.

Ok, let's clear something up: the actual enemy placement is not significantly different from the other Souls games. Hell, DS3 has crowds that dwarf anything DS2 can throw at you. The difference is in aggression and tenacity. Enemies will laser focus you as soon as you cross their aggro range and follow you to the ends of the earth. Some safety nets you may have gotten used to, like quitting out to reset aggro and instant I-frames on fog walls or levers, have been removed.

Trying to run past enemies is usually the hard way to get through a level. Not that you can't do it, speedrunners do all the time, but you have to already know exactly what you're running into and it often still won't be easy.

In addition, rushing to meet the first enemy you see will tend to get the attention of his buddies. Letting your enemies do the leg work not only let's you fight them on ground of your choosing, but also frequently singles them out for you. The game actually gives you a very high degree of control over how many enemies you fight at once. Once again, DS2 is as hard or as easy as you make it.

Enjoyment is subjective and what's fun for me or others just might not work for you. It's a good game, but it's not Dark Souls 1.5 and it's definitely not DS3-Lite. It might help to try a build you don't normally play so you're learning new muscle memory instead of relearning old.

• There's an estus shard in the well in Majula. The actual well, not the giant pit
  
• NPCs will give you hints about your next step. Talk to everyone until they repeat themselves. Revisit them periodically to see if they have something new to say. Especially the cat and the queen
  
• After you beat the first boss a merchant moves to Majula and sells unlimited Lifegems at 300 souls a pop
  
• Durability drains fast and damage type matters. It pays to have backup weapons
  
• Small and Large titanite are plentiful and there's little to no risk in using them. Chunks are uncommon and you should be careful how you spend them
  
• There's no password system, but the Name Engraved Ring works pretty similar
  
• Illusory walls open with the "interact" button
  
• Spiders don't like torches and neither do windmills
  
• There is no "best" weapon. Every one has positives and negatives and literally any of them can work
  
• Don't pull the lever
  
• There's an NPC invader named "Forlorn" who can invade nearly anywhere. He's an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, but not as bad as Maldron
  
• Fear the pigs
  
• Bandit is the worst starting class
  
• If you hop in a coffin and think nothing happened, take off your shirt