Dark Souls 2 is a good game.
DS2 is supposed to be the black sheep of the series, and although I can see why, there are many aspects to DS2 that improve upon DS1. Your armor rating scales with strength, cast speed has its own stat, resistance (a useless stat) is replaced with adaptability (a useful stat), more and better looking armors, dual wielding, bonfire warping from the beginning of the game, easier to manage your gear, more ring slots, better messaging system... It's honestly superior to DS1 in every way except for the NPCs and bosses.
There are very few epic boss battles in DS2 and I believe that's the glaring flaw that causes so many people to dislike this game. Admittedly, that's a pretty big flaw in a series famed for boss battles. In a lot of ways DS2 feels like "babby's first Souls game" but I just don't mind. Maybe it's because I'm a Fashion Souls player at heart.