With the largest roster in the Souls series, Dark Souls 2 takes a lot of swings at boss design, with some hitting high points for the franchise and others not quite meeting the standard fans hold FromSoftware to. The encounter with Vendrick, the husk of the former king of Drangleic, is one of those fights that lean so heavily on lore that it fails to stack up against Dark Souls' best and toughest bosses.