That’s fair. And your point about Lothric Knights does make me realize something else- for the early game, they’re a tough enemy that’s also a lot of fun to fight, and I can’t really think of any similar, particular enemy types in DS2 that I particularly like fighting. Like, there’s very few enemies I can think of that I hate in particular, but a lot of the enemies just sort of merge together in my head. They’re a bit samey, I guess.
And fair point about the early game. In part because of the Agility stuff and in part because of the level design, I’ve often said that DS2 is a reverse DS1. That is, in DS1, the first half is phenomenal and the second half sucks, but in DS2 it’s mostly the opposite- I don’t think the bad parts of DS2 are as bad as the bad parts of DS1, though.
DS2 had the same story as DS1 in the same way MGS2 had the same story as MGS1- the similarities that exist are explicitly called out in the narrative and serve a narrative purpose.
DS3, you got me.