I think because it has the general hub you have to return to after each area to level up and resupply just like Demon'S Souls, with many vendors.
Each Bonfire mostly serves to only go in two directions and are more like checkpoints, just like Demon's Souls and it has consumables that can be bought or farmed, like Demon's Souls.
It's weapon upgrade system is much more straight forward like Demon's Souls and it levels are more segregated, again, like Demon's Souls.
It was much less a Dark Souls sequel then the name suggests.
I just wish the world design, exploring, secrets, characters, atmosphere, Boss's, difficulty, feel to combat and interwoven map layout were not all worse than Dark Souls 1 because it could have been so great.
The smoothness to everything, rolling, animations etc. make it feel really great to move around and the graphics/framerate are again really smooth. Bonfire Ascetics are great too.
It feels like a premium experience, but it doesn't deliver on the Dark Souls experience I wanted... which is more important.
I can honestly say my DS II game looks much better in person then this video shows. It really doesn't do it justice how sharp it can be with the mods settings at max.
Joeguy00's comments