Yet arguably so brave? Naw but for real, I've only ever played a bit of Bloodborne so i have very little frame of reference for this stuff. I just know DS2 is very controversial and I don't fully get why. Was there something wrong/ off about the presentation or gameplay or something?
It's 15 minutes, but this video will give you an in-depth answer to that very question.
Basically: At the beginning of it's development the game was meant to be one way, but then halfway in minds changed and a "new" game had to be Frankensteined together from the assets they already had due to deadlines.
This led to a game that felt, well, stitched together as opposed to the other Souls games that had consistent visions their entire development.