i love, love, love these games. fantastic metaphysics, really incredible world. there's not much that hasn't already been said about them but i'll float this now and then maybe get more into it when i have more time but i did see it mentioned that someone's played 1 and 3, so i'll get it out of my system now:

dark souls 2 is a FANTASTIC game. it's the """""worst""""" as a Game, but still very fun, has an incredible DLC, and critically it is the game in the series that most explores what it means to be human in a world where you're at the mercy of reality-warping and often hostile cosmic forces. my real hot take is that i don't think you can actually claim to fully understand the series thematically until you've given dark souls 2 a fair shake. it has what i'd consider to be the best narrative in the series, even if it's the least exciting to people, the weirdest, the black sheep of the family. you really, actually owe it to yourself to go into dark souls 2 and think on what it has to say if you're gonna claim to love the series.

there has been A LOT of dark souls 2 hate over the years, almost all of it predicated on gameplay complaints, and i really think it's colored peoples' opinions of the overall game unfairly. they are all liars and scoundrels. please give it a chance!