WOW, now that was one hell of an analysis! It is wonderful to see that you, despite the glaring shortcomings, still enjoyed the game!

Just to quickly adress a few things you mentioned in the negatives, not to say that you are wrong, but to give my own take on a few things, I do agree with 95% of your points, especially ADP, while we are on the subject of ADP, that stat also raises how fast you drink estus, even if you max ADP, you will NEVER heal as fast as normal healing animation from the first game, which is a very unfun fact lol. Then again, I do like how you need to run on the other side of the map to heal, it feels real, if you were attacked in real life you would need to try and hide in order to get a breather, idk it just felt real to me and made the combat tenser, but I would lie if I said that estus in ds2 didn't get me killed few times haha. As for the game being rushed, most Fromsoft games are like that, at least all three that I finished are all rushed, mostly Demon Souls, that game can be finished in 35 hours even when you take your sweet time exploring and doing optional NPC quests, the second part of Ds1 is very rushed, the best example is Demon Ruins and Lost Izalith, copy-pasted bosses turned basic enemies and of course, Ds2 being a product of the B team that had million new ideas that they didn't have time to realize properly, I do not know if Bloodborne is going to be like that, but I saw that the game doesn't have that many bosses, in fact, 17, just like Demon Souls, and also the base game has only 34 trophies, so the game is either shorter than most games because of the time constraints or hopefully because it is a more short, but solid experience.

Now for good, I am so happy to find somebody who appreciates the lore of this game! I love the lore of Ds2, it is not so in your face compared to Ds1 which opened with a grand narration about the world, gods, and their war against the dragons, instead being more personal, but also having amazing characters like Vendric and Lucatiel! Whenever I feel low, I just remember Vendrics words: "Seek adversity, seek strength, the rest will follow.", such a simple but effective line that can be used for self-motivation, love how he is a better version of Gwyn, regardless of what the internet would like me to believe.

I am very happy that you ended up liking the game, if you read my comment on the Ds2, I had a similar journey where I started by hating the game, just to love it in the end!

Happy to hear it! I saw that you gave it three stars, which is unfortunate, but still understandable.
The DLCs are very good, so maybe they will give you some things that the base game is missing, such as great boss fights for example.

I know right! The world of Dark Souls is brilliant, from the story, to the characters and just the fact that they managed to add gameplay elements to the story, you know, explaining naturally a lot of things in gameplay from a lore perspective, like how you respawn because undead can't die, only hollow, or how you replenish estus flask on bonfires because it is literally a fire in a bottle, amazing stuff.

I like how you mentioned the gargoyles, they were my first rode block in the game, and I died more times to them than most bosses, definitely the second hardest boss fight after Ornstein and Smough and a few DLC bosses that you sadly missed, thankfully, you have the DLCs for Dark Souls 2 and those DLCs also have best boss fights that this game has to offer!

Before I give you some essential tips for Dark Souls 2, I have a confession, people hate Dark Souls 2, and it is my favorite game, not just Souls, but of all video games I have played, so as someone who has a deeper understanding, let me help you with few things.
FIRST - I-frames are bs, you NEED to level the "adaptability" stat, it raises your I-frames, it is bs, but it has to be done, just level it up to ~25, no need for more than that, just for your agility to be boosted to around 100 and you should be good.
SECOND - Gank fights, do not run away from the enemies, kill them, almost all enemies stop respawning after you kill them ~12 times, but if you need farming there is a covenant in Majula that allows you to make the game slightly harder, but makes the enemies respawn and despawn back once you enter a different covenant.
AND FINALLY - This game's lore and characters are much different, believe it or not, I prefer the lore of this game over DS1, for personal reasons mostly, it is not better, just more my taste.

Dark Souls 2 is many people's least favorite Souls game and I understand why, but I still hope you find some enjoyment in it, if you need any tips I am here for you whenever you need a tip!

I am very happy you liked it! Souls franchise is easily my favourite video game franchise and Dark Souls 1 was also my introduction to the franchise almost two years ago now and I highly recommend that you check out other games in the franchise as well!

I also didn't use any guides when I first played the game and it was probably best first playthrough of any video game in my life, the gameplay and the world design was so alien to me that I kept getting lost and confused all the time and I loved every second of it, also that is one hell of a flex! Ornstein and Smough were a largest roadblock in a video game I have ever encountered, it took me three days (at least 5 hours every day) to beat them, I have never been so stuck on anything in my life, so that is very impressive!

Are you then going for next Souls game or returning to Bloodborne, do you even own it anymore? I could not find it on your backlog.

Congratulations on finishing your first Souls game!

Did you enjoy your stay in the land of Lordran?

Welcome back <3

Yeah long time no see! Glad to see ya back on the backlog.

Engage is a very interesting game. I would say give it a go; it is very fun thus far. It does have a lot of call backs to past FE games but so far it's pretty surface level and nothing spoilerly for those games.

I feel you on not liking it as much as Three Houses. I'm only at the start of Engage but I'm feeling like I enjoy Houses more. But despite that I think Engage is worth playing anyways. (Also you don't need to play it 4 times which is nice).

I can't get past how ugly Scarlet and Violet are and how poorly they run so I'll never know if I think they're actually fun to play.