I finally started Dark Souls 2, and I am not far enough to make the call but so far this is shaping up to be just as good as DS1. I noticed it is a slightly friendlier game though, I didn't get a kick in the ass right from the start... Aside from the three menacing little pigs that cornered me in town and snorted me into oblivion for no god damn reason
. Seriously, I didn't even see it coming. I thought it was a safe zone and sure I saw the little potbelly sons of bitches but I thought they were neutral critters and I did not expect them to follow me clear across town, surprise me into a corner and proceed to kill the shit out of me. They were so small I could barely hit them, and they were obviously on PCP or had some kind of dermal armour because my attacks barely made a dent in their HP!
Demonic bacon aside the game is not nearly as quick to throw you into the deep end as the previous one. I was really rusty and did a bunch of really stupid things for the first half hour but after I got back into my Dark Souls groove I was shocked by how easy the first two bosses were. The Last Giant literally never even came close to hitting me, and the Dragonrider after him was a complete joke who was swinging waaaay past me 95% of the time.
I did however have to get used to losing your maximum health the more you die and for a while I could not figure out why I could not level up.
Those complaints aside I really like the map design so far (the main Hub is much better than DS1), and the mechanics and combat really shine. The fact you have fewer Estus flasks in the beginning also helps to offset the relatively tame starting difficulty.
Once I am further in we will see how it stands up to its predecessor.