By Alexander Leach

I just got done playing Dark Souls 2 for review on CGMagazine. Should be in the print publication, as well as on their website. As you can tell, I really enjoyed it.

Full disclosure, though. I played a Sorcerer.

Normally, I wouldn’t think this would be a problem. I play magical classes in every single game, out of personal preference for the intellectual or spiritual figure who can manifest those qualities directly with energy blasts or other direct manipulations of reality. Dark Souls magic are thematically cool; the soul-energy of sorcery, the primal flames of pyromancy, the divine lightning of miracles, and the inviting, dark power of hexes are all well-represented and distinct, particularly in Dark Souls 2. With the effort they put into them, its somewhat troubling that people are dismissive of them.

Sorcery seems to have a series of detractors in Dark Souls 2, claiming that sorcery is for ‘babies’ and that magic is overpowered, negating the game’s famous difficulty. This isn’t new; the same attitudes arose in the first Dark Souls, as well. In the original, they had a point – magic made many of the bosses laughably easy, including the final boss. In the second game, however, I don’t believe that this is as much of a case.

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