I will say, I still prefer Dark Souls 1, but this game is still great. DS1 had a higher challange, and more boss's that just left an impact from the boss fights. Dark Souls had some amazing boss's like Maw Dragon, who is so horrifying when you first lay eyes on it, or The Chaos Witch.

The only fight that just feels intense from the get go in DS2 is The Last Sinner, otherwise they all look cool, but don't have the same wow factor of the first game.