Note: Still playing, post will be updated as I go along.
BUGS:
*Kneeling near the moneybag in the town well causes you to get immovably stuck and forces a restart. Seems to be that you crouch just close enough to the slide-required hole for the game to register that you're actually within that space, and since you don't have the slide yet you can't get back out of it. Haven't tested this on other similar spots, mostly because I don't want to be in the middle of a good run and force a reboot.
*"Continue" option seems to randomly decide that you chose "title screen."
*Can't access the submenu. At all. Assigned buttons don't do a thing, so all the potions I've stocked up on are completely useless, which makes the below issue of damage balancing even more of a problem. Not sure if this is a bug or not, but it's pretty frustrating that I'm stuck with one-going the entire thing every time I load a save.
*Fallen ceiling debris still hurt me even when it was fading away.
*My neato coolguy sword spinning around (like a record, baby) when Death steals it. That thing better have Boomerang powers when I get it back from him. #boomerangsword2017 #discosword2017 #deadoralivesword1985
GRIEVANCES/ANNOYANCES: (disclaimer that these are personal thoughts and should be taken as such)
*The tracking on those little rock-thrower bastards is a bit too much, I think. There doesn't seem to be a clear window to successfully dodge them without the rock readjusting its trajectory to hit you midjump. I don't think I can just chalk it up to me sucking at dodge timing (Souls has forever made me git gud at that), as I've tried jumping at multiple different points in his animations, and I only successfully dodged like two of the rocks. The rest readjusted my position as I jumped and left it impossible to evade them in time. Ducking seems to work better for dodging them when you're close enough to them, but evasion by jumping is where the problem lies.
*Those cursespitting blob things on either side of the rope in the inn basement make it rather outlandishly difficult to get back up the rope if you don't have an Axe, Hearts to knife the rightmost one from the ledge, or are unable to use subweapons thanks to them cursing you. If any or all of those conditions are met, then it doesn't seem possible to be able to jump onto the platform, get up the rope, and sword them before they attack. While it's presumably expected that the player will kill them as soon as they do down the rope, I didn't even see them at first thanks to them being awfully similar to the desaturated grey backdrops. But I am colorblind, so that could be to blame.
*The damage balancing is more than a bit ridiculous. I get that you're supposed to be weak and lacking your better armorstuffs, but I'm having serious trouble just progressing because of it. The worst offender is the barbs in the Dark Forest hitting you for 12 damage, especially the part where you have to jump from ring-platform-ring and hope you're fast enough to avoid the Skeleton to the right knocking you into the pit. If you do fall into that pit, you're basically fucked if you're not immediately within jumping range of the safe platforms, since otherwise a single jump isn't enough to get you anywhere safe and you'll run out of I-frames midjump and just get hit again. I've died about nine times this way and it's actually slightly hampering my desire to keep playing. It's not like it's within the realm of reason to expect myself to survive the caves and leaf-men to follow if I'm running on 4 HP.
*Echoing the problem of "analog-only" controller shenanigans.
THINGS I ENJOYED:
*Music is fucking on point. That compliment of Yamane's was well-deserved indeed. Feel like a kid again walking around a cleared room/area just to listen to it.
*Other than a few minor things like aforementioned ring-jumping having less power than a standard jump, "Sweet spot" timing on grabbables, etc., controls feel pretty solid overall.
*Ambience and general atmosphere is excellent. Much nicer to see a heavier usage of darker tones than in the first game.