SotFS - Edition of Want (a Vanilla-Plus Rebalance)

Hello there!

There are heaps of gameplay mods to make DS2 more individualistically palatable floating around already. You'd have to be a foolish hollow to add to such an enormous pile. So here's mine! This is a vanilla-plus-style rebalancing, where it should still feel friendly to the original intentions of the game. It is easier in the sense that the agonizingly stiff punishment from the base game is much less toothy, but with a couple months of tweaking, I did my best to keep the game fun and satisfying. I hope some of you out there can have a good time with it as well. For me, it feels like I am fighting the enemies now, instead of fighting the unpleasant controls and design decisions.

Notably, adaptability and durability are untouched. There’s other mods to do that. Maybe I’ll add an alternate version if it’s something people are really hurting for. ADP though, I couldn’t get the changes to reflect in the stats screen, which just made it more obscure and unknown than the system already is- so for the sake of legibility, I left it, and the wiki info is still accurate. Durability I just sort of enjoy as a mechanic here.

The mod collection is unpacked and modular, so if there is an aspect you really don’t care for, it should be as easy as ‘dont drag and drop that one’. Hope this actually works as smoothly as intended lol.

As well as a slew of personal changes, I borrowed from the fantastic "Balanced DS3 Combat" and "Seeker of Fire Player Enhancements" mods, which modernize the player movements and weapon recovery times respectively. In the detailed changes, I'll notate what is borrowed. Originally, I loved using the DS3 Combat mod, but it made things too hectic for me and less DS2-ey, so I decided to make my own spinoff that took a life of its own.

Newer deadzone removal, this is a literal godsend

Balanced DS3 Combat Mod, shoutouts for the inspiration

SoF Player Enhancements mod, shoutouts for the inspiration

Community Patch mod, shoutouts for the inspiration

As far as visuals go, Lighting Engine plus fromsoftserve's particular changes are sublime.

SotFS Lighting Engine (Modern rendering! HDR!)

Shadows of Drangleic (Dynamic lighting and OG-DS2-style settings for LE, must-have imo)

Scholar of the Second Sin (More map objects, upscaled textures)

Skybox Changes by evildeadash34, updated for LE (works best without LE presets, but is still cool enough to check out)

What's different?

Granular changes are listed further down.

-ALL enemies now have friendly fire. They will trample each other trying to get to you!

-ALL enemies and bosses now deal less damage (x0. 75) and have more health (x1. 4). The difficulty remains, yet feels more like an RPG rather than a mistake simulator.

-Player hit stun is reduced, so you aren't stunlocked by combos qui