Boy howdy do I hope they finish this game some day
eu amo de paixão dragons dogma porém sinto que o 2 tinha o que era necessário mas não me prendeu como o 1º, sinto que no fundo ele foi inferior ao antecessor em muitos aspectos
This review contains spoilers
Je vais pas répéter les critiques habituelle telles que le bestiaire assez limité, les combats peu lisible de temps en temps ou encore l'ia des pions parfois bancale. Ça à déjà été assez dit.
J'aurais aimé une diversification plus importante aux niveaux des classe (a voir avec un futur dlc) car en tant que mage le gameplay semble assez répétitif parfois et donc malheureusement lassant. Mais les combats reste plutôt jouissif (de par la différence d'échelle avec certains boss et la façon dont ils se meuvent dans l'espace qui rend le tout très vivant). Il y a une bonne mis en avant des qualités du jeu que ce soit les interactions avec les mobs et la flexibilité du moteur physique. La boucle de gameplay est sympa. Le jeu est beau. Certains PNJ/ rencontres/ objets/ mis en scène sont vraiment mémorable comme le Sphinx ou encore la tête de gorgone.
Le système de pion central à Dragon Dogma, que j'ai découvert avec le 2 n'ayant pas fais le précédent opus, est moyen. On ne prend pas temps de plaisir à parcourir le monde car nos camarades ne sont rien de plus que ce qu'ils sont, et dans la diegese, et hors de celle-ci. C'est a dire des esclaves sans personnalités qui répètent les mêmes dialogues en boucle.
Le reste est ok certains pnj sont oubliable, certaines quête aussi...
En somme un jeu avec de bonne idées.
J'aurais aimé une diversification plus importante aux niveaux des classe (a voir avec un futur dlc) car en tant que mage le gameplay semble assez répétitif parfois et donc malheureusement lassant. Mais les combats reste plutôt jouissif (de par la différence d'échelle avec certains boss et la façon dont ils se meuvent dans l'espace qui rend le tout très vivant). Il y a une bonne mis en avant des qualités du jeu que ce soit les interactions avec les mobs et la flexibilité du moteur physique. La boucle de gameplay est sympa. Le jeu est beau. Certains PNJ/ rencontres/ objets/ mis en scène sont vraiment mémorable comme le Sphinx ou encore la tête de gorgone.
Le système de pion central à Dragon Dogma, que j'ai découvert avec le 2 n'ayant pas fais le précédent opus, est moyen. On ne prend pas temps de plaisir à parcourir le monde car nos camarades ne sont rien de plus que ce qu'ils sont, et dans la diegese, et hors de celle-ci. C'est a dire des esclaves sans personnalités qui répètent les mêmes dialogues en boucle.
Le reste est ok certains pnj sont oubliable, certaines quête aussi...
En somme un jeu avec de bonne idées.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 offers everything the first game offered: A beautiful open world to explore that has secrets and loot after every corner. Massive enemies to conquer with a battle system somewhere between Monster Hunter and Devil May Cry that is just super fun to engage with. A clever pawn system where you travel with up to three NPCs, one of your own creation and two from other players that can be hired and dismissed at will. Tons of weapons, armour and skills to play around with. No hand holding and a significant lack of modern quality of life features which makes the “adventure” part of the game shine even more. Because you actually have to plan your travels and can get into bad situations if you are not careful enough or badly equipped. And still, even when this game nails all these points and is very true to the original I left a tiny bit disappointed. Because while being very true to the original it doesn’t feel like a fully fledged sequel but more like a reimagination of the first game. It doesn’t help that almost every enemy type is known from the first game as well. And they didn’t even use all the old enemies and only added a few new ones. I also liked the more focused nature of the endgame of the original more. And there is nothing in Dragon’s Dragon 2 like Bitterblack Isle - the DLC Mega-Dungeon of the first game. Still, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is an amazing game that runs circles around most modern open-world RPGs and an absolute must-play for every RPG- and fantasy fan.
Um jogo roubou meu coração.
Dragon's Dogma 2 me proporcionou uma das melhores experiências que tive com videogame, é incrível.
A história principal cumpre um papel, nem de longe o foco dele é esse, mas ela não deixa de apresentar personagens legais e ter momentos épicos.
A exploração do jogo foi a parte que me encantou, eu nunca fiquei tão empolgado em explorar um jogo igual aqui. É incrível ver algo interessante no horizonte, ir fuçar cada cantinho para abrir um baú e às vezes não receber nada de interessante. Porém a jornada até lá aconteceu coisas aleatórias que fizeram valer a pena.
O combate é fenomenal, todas as classes que maximizei (só skipei as duas de magia e mestre de guerra) foram ótimas, sempre tendo que se adaptar nas lutas, assim dando um gostinho de coisa nova sempre.
Os monstros por mais que a variedade não seja muita, são ótimas lutas devido a como se comportam e as ocasiões. Foi ótimo assistir uma luta entre um dragão e um ciclope, muito sufocante lutar contra dois golens de pedra ao mesmo tempo e engraçado ver ciclopes caírem na porrada entre si, entrar na briga e matar os dois.
Dragon's Dogma 2 é um jogo que acerta muito por ser corajoso. Corajoso por dar ao jogador toda essa liberdade, ao te fazer dar voltas no mapa a pé, pois vai demorar 30 horas para você achar um portcrystal, em causar frustração após falhar em missões e ao espalhar uma praga que vai dizimar toda a cidade. Foi incrível viver apenas isso por quase um mês. EU QUERO MAIS EU QUERO O DLC.
Os pontos negativos ficam com o desempenho nas cidades, é horrível, a variedade de monstros e ao menu de itens que poderiam ter caprichado um pouquinho mais. Coisas minúsculas para o quão magnífico é esse jogo.
Dragon's Dogma 2 me proporcionou uma das melhores experiências que tive com videogame, é incrível.
A história principal cumpre um papel, nem de longe o foco dele é esse, mas ela não deixa de apresentar personagens legais e ter momentos épicos.
A exploração do jogo foi a parte que me encantou, eu nunca fiquei tão empolgado em explorar um jogo igual aqui. É incrível ver algo interessante no horizonte, ir fuçar cada cantinho para abrir um baú e às vezes não receber nada de interessante. Porém a jornada até lá aconteceu coisas aleatórias que fizeram valer a pena.
O combate é fenomenal, todas as classes que maximizei (só skipei as duas de magia e mestre de guerra) foram ótimas, sempre tendo que se adaptar nas lutas, assim dando um gostinho de coisa nova sempre.
Os monstros por mais que a variedade não seja muita, são ótimas lutas devido a como se comportam e as ocasiões. Foi ótimo assistir uma luta entre um dragão e um ciclope, muito sufocante lutar contra dois golens de pedra ao mesmo tempo e engraçado ver ciclopes caírem na porrada entre si, entrar na briga e matar os dois.
Dragon's Dogma 2 é um jogo que acerta muito por ser corajoso. Corajoso por dar ao jogador toda essa liberdade, ao te fazer dar voltas no mapa a pé, pois vai demorar 30 horas para você achar um portcrystal, em causar frustração após falhar em missões e ao espalhar uma praga que vai dizimar toda a cidade. Foi incrível viver apenas isso por quase um mês. EU QUERO MAIS EU QUERO O DLC.
Os pontos negativos ficam com o desempenho nas cidades, é horrível, a variedade de monstros e ao menu de itens que poderiam ter caprichado um pouquinho mais. Coisas minúsculas para o quão magnífico é esse jogo.
Hay juegos que no tienen una definición clara cuando te preguntan que te parece o si lo recomiendas. Y, es una sensación rara la verdad el no saber que decir y es lo que me pasa con Dragon´s Dogma 2.
Pero no porque no me haya gustado sino porque es un viaje extraño, un viaje imperfecto que te cansas de tanta masilla o no sentirte a veces con el nivel concorde que dice el juego. Pero si me dejasen 2 segundos antes de responder, puede que me temblase la voz en cuanto al juego en si porque me vendría al recuerdo una de las primeras veces que me subí a un carromato para ir a un sitio y pararme a pegarme con enemigos y de repente oir el grito de un grifo y saber que era entre él o yo, moverme y esquivar, intentar subirme. Obviamente ese primer duelo ganó él. Pero, cada uno que veía era enfrentarme porque recordaba esa primera sensación de GUAU que experiencia más guay estoy viviendo, o esa noche que el corazón late con fuerza y aparece un dragón, el pasar por una puerta, el ver el paisaje y sus lejanías, los peones acompañándome en este viaje... Hay muchos recuerdos bonitos en este viaje. En este viaje que en parte he creado con mis momentos GUAU e Itsuno queriéndose alejar de algunos estereotipos de mundo abierto y haciendo que TÚ viaje TÚ dogma y ciclo, sean únicos.
Vivimos en un mundo que todo tiene que ser perfectamente milimétrico y a Itsuno le da igual, sabe que es una joya sin pulir pero es su joya. Y, si voy a una joyería, que me den esta joya y no otra.
Porque a veces tenemos que cumplir cánones que no deberíamos y la lista de tics de la industria. Es el AAA más atrevido (por ahora) de este año, el que me ha hecho sonreír de que iba a ser entre X bicho o yo, flipar cada momento GUAU y en el que hay una parte que no se puede hablar. Pero que parte y que huevos a atreverse a hacer esto.
Por más juegos así, por mas viajes tan bonitos como Dragon´s Dogma 2.
Pero no porque no me haya gustado sino porque es un viaje extraño, un viaje imperfecto que te cansas de tanta masilla o no sentirte a veces con el nivel concorde que dice el juego. Pero si me dejasen 2 segundos antes de responder, puede que me temblase la voz en cuanto al juego en si porque me vendría al recuerdo una de las primeras veces que me subí a un carromato para ir a un sitio y pararme a pegarme con enemigos y de repente oir el grito de un grifo y saber que era entre él o yo, moverme y esquivar, intentar subirme. Obviamente ese primer duelo ganó él. Pero, cada uno que veía era enfrentarme porque recordaba esa primera sensación de GUAU que experiencia más guay estoy viviendo, o esa noche que el corazón late con fuerza y aparece un dragón, el pasar por una puerta, el ver el paisaje y sus lejanías, los peones acompañándome en este viaje... Hay muchos recuerdos bonitos en este viaje. En este viaje que en parte he creado con mis momentos GUAU e Itsuno queriéndose alejar de algunos estereotipos de mundo abierto y haciendo que TÚ viaje TÚ dogma y ciclo, sean únicos.
Vivimos en un mundo que todo tiene que ser perfectamente milimétrico y a Itsuno le da igual, sabe que es una joya sin pulir pero es su joya. Y, si voy a una joyería, que me den esta joya y no otra.
Porque a veces tenemos que cumplir cánones que no deberíamos y la lista de tics de la industria. Es el AAA más atrevido (por ahora) de este año, el que me ha hecho sonreír de que iba a ser entre X bicho o yo, flipar cada momento GUAU y en el que hay una parte que no se puede hablar. Pero que parte y que huevos a atreverse a hacer esto.
Por más juegos así, por mas viajes tan bonitos como Dragon´s Dogma 2.
Just as good as the original if not better in some ways. Postgame was somewhat underwhelming though. Best way to describe Dragons Dogma is it is the greatest 7/10 you will ever play
this game ended up being a lot less in-depth than I imagined. I felt a majority of the quests didnt require much thought just walk & talk. Travel became so tedious after the 8th trip down the same road with the same dudes on it thank god combat saved this game hard. I made the mistake of starting magey boy but after switching some real fun began. It was easy to ignore how shallow the RPG elements were while murdering fools, I just wish the boss enemies had bigger balls to grab onto and punch. Anyway this game scratched my hack and slash monsters itch very well and not much else, true ending title reveal was hella cool but after the ENTIRE GAME cmon bruh. my ass doesn't want start ng+ just to walk across the world again 30 times I got brain blisters from that. Gonna let some dust settle before this little adventure again. FINAL THOUGHT, Man every motherfucker in the galaxy wanna go on a jaunt but don't wanna put out afterwords .. Like What are we even doing here This game is NOT HORNY ENOUGH
epic
game of the year
Tras unas 8h y intentarlo multiples veces, hay que ser logicos, toca drop.
Todos mis problemas con la primera parte siguen presentes en este y algunos incluso estan mas exagerados.
Comprendo la direccion que quieren tomar con cosas como la falta de viajes rapidos, o algunas decisiones como la existencia del peso como mecanica, pero estoy en un momento que estas mecanicas, para mi no son mecanicas, son trabas a la diversion del jugador.
Ignorando por un momento el nulo interés que genera la historia principal con algo ya contado 50 veces y que ni siquiera lo hace especialmente bien, unos personajes horriblemente escritos, con lineas de dialogos que tranquilamente las ha podido escribir una IA, el juego es una pasada visual, al menos eso se ha arreglado del primero.
Pero es que el resto, el combate sigue siendo una combinacion de aporrear botones a lo loco mientras te quedas plantado viendo como esquivar algo con la poquisima mobilidad que tiene el juego y subirte a los bichos grandes para darles en ciertos puntos. Pero se que tiene 0 interes, es 0 estimulante, todos los combates son lo mismo -> rush adds, que los pawns pillen aggro del resto, soltar 4 leches y que se mueran.
Y precisamente ese combate junto a la absurda decision de que la stamina baje aun fuera de combate, hace que la decision de no tener viajes rapidos facilmente accesibles sea aun peor, tener que pasarte entre 5 y 10 minutos andando de un sitio a otro, multiples veces, por unos caminos que estan infestados de cosas seria algo interesante si el combate fuera estimulante, pero no, me he encontrado poniendo cara de desidia y corriendo mientras dejo a los pawns atras y ya, porque no queria volver a pararme para darle espadazos a 4 goblins y dos lobos OTRA VEZ.
Los pawns siguen siendo lo mejor del juego, y solo espero que alguna vez, alguien, nos de un juego divertido de verdad con un sistema como este.
Todos mis problemas con la primera parte siguen presentes en este y algunos incluso estan mas exagerados.
Comprendo la direccion que quieren tomar con cosas como la falta de viajes rapidos, o algunas decisiones como la existencia del peso como mecanica, pero estoy en un momento que estas mecanicas, para mi no son mecanicas, son trabas a la diversion del jugador.
Ignorando por un momento el nulo interés que genera la historia principal con algo ya contado 50 veces y que ni siquiera lo hace especialmente bien, unos personajes horriblemente escritos, con lineas de dialogos que tranquilamente las ha podido escribir una IA, el juego es una pasada visual, al menos eso se ha arreglado del primero.
Pero es que el resto, el combate sigue siendo una combinacion de aporrear botones a lo loco mientras te quedas plantado viendo como esquivar algo con la poquisima mobilidad que tiene el juego y subirte a los bichos grandes para darles en ciertos puntos. Pero se que tiene 0 interes, es 0 estimulante, todos los combates son lo mismo -> rush adds, que los pawns pillen aggro del resto, soltar 4 leches y que se mueran.
Y precisamente ese combate junto a la absurda decision de que la stamina baje aun fuera de combate, hace que la decision de no tener viajes rapidos facilmente accesibles sea aun peor, tener que pasarte entre 5 y 10 minutos andando de un sitio a otro, multiples veces, por unos caminos que estan infestados de cosas seria algo interesante si el combate fuera estimulante, pero no, me he encontrado poniendo cara de desidia y corriendo mientras dejo a los pawns atras y ya, porque no queria volver a pararme para darle espadazos a 4 goblins y dos lobos OTRA VEZ.
Los pawns siguen siendo lo mejor del juego, y solo espero que alguna vez, alguien, nos de un juego divertido de verdad con un sistema como este.
What a cool game!
Em meio a todas as suas imperfeições, Dragons Dogma 2 é uma das melhores experiências que um videogame pode te proporcionar. É um jogo estranho, com decisões questionáveis, um produto que pode se considerar inacabado, além da performance horrível. Porém, é um jogo tão estonteante, um mundo opressivo, desconhecido, cheio de mecânicas que pode passar completamente batido.
Esse jogo tem tanta coisa e é tanta coisa que eu consigo perdoar suas falhas. Não passo pano pra performance, realmente faltou polimento, e acredito que tenham faltados outros pontos no desenvolvimento, balanceamento do jogo não é bom também.
É perfeito nas curvas de suas imperfeições.
Esse jogo tem tanta coisa e é tanta coisa que eu consigo perdoar suas falhas. Não passo pano pra performance, realmente faltou polimento, e acredito que tenham faltados outros pontos no desenvolvimento, balanceamento do jogo não é bom também.
É perfeito nas curvas de suas imperfeições.
Dragon's Dogma 2 ist nicht nur ein weiterer Top-Hit im Capcom Lineup der letzten Jahre, sondern hat vor allem durch das Ende, das ich hier nicht spoilern werde, einen Fixplatz in meinem Herzen, wenn es Ende 2024 um das Game of the Year gehen wird. Die verschiedenen Mechaniken des Spiels sind so einzigartig und gleichzeitig gut umgesetzt, allen voran das Vasallen-System. Die Welt fühlt sich komplett lebendig an und zieht einen immer mehr in ihren Bann und vor allem die Kämpfe gegen größere Gegner sind einfach nur imposant inszeniert.
itsuno and co knock it out of the park once again. hope it gets a bitterblack isle equivalent someday.
It was a pretty strong action RPG, and on console at least, it was a pretty solid and mostly bugless experience. The crap it got about micro-transactions is blown way out of proportion, so ignore that if it’s the main problem holding you back from playing.
Dragon's Dogma II is beautifully idiosyncratic, if not lacking somewhat in enemy/location variety, but makes up for that in it's open-ended approach to design. Changing your class whenever you like adds so much to this game that is lacking in most other fantasy RPGs. Grounding the way you traverse its world makes you put thought into how you navigate it. Creating your own skillset allows you to build weird and wonderful characters, a very fun way to experiment with how you will approach combat. The way it doesn't hold your hand, making you pay attention to the inhabitants of the world or even becoming obtuse and confounding separate this from your typical game. Overall it's almost like they turned Monster Hunter into an open world RPG, it's really something. I never played the first, something I'll likely rectify, but I really enjoyed my time with this and will probably return for a quicker second run.
I wrote out a short review a couple days ago because I'd believed I had finished the game when I sat on the thrown, becoming the Sovran. I was mistaken, Dragon's Dogma II had just begun. A gorgeously textured "epic" fantasy that became a deconstruction of the hero's journey. The submission of your pawn and the other pawns you encounter is turned into a mirror where you are faced with your own lack of will in the grand scheme of this world. That this was all designed exactly for the Arisen's journey. You don't take on quests, they are mandated by the game's creators just as the Arisen's path is to carry these quests out in a facsimile of will. A game greater than the sum of its parts, and there are some very strong parts.
I wrote out a short review a couple days ago because I'd believed I had finished the game when I sat on the thrown, becoming the Sovran. I was mistaken, Dragon's Dogma II had just begun. A gorgeously textured "epic" fantasy that became a deconstruction of the hero's journey. The submission of your pawn and the other pawns you encounter is turned into a mirror where you are faced with your own lack of will in the grand scheme of this world. That this was all designed exactly for the Arisen's journey. You don't take on quests, they are mandated by the game's creators just as the Arisen's path is to carry these quests out in a facsimile of will. A game greater than the sum of its parts, and there are some very strong parts.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 is an example of a game that has received far too little love from the creators. At the same time, this game could have become a cult classic, because the idea and presentation of the game world is really good. However, the fact that so many elements were not finished or badly designed at the stage of preliminary assumptions shows how poorly the creators know today's gaming realities and the needs of players. Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a game that I finished and platinumed with pleasure, even though there were many problems, because there is really something to explore, but I will never play it again. It's just not a very nice thing to do when a game costs PLN 300 and even if you don't look at the microtransactions (which, by the way, I never felt I had to buy anything during the game), it's just blatantly obvious how little the creators were involved in the production of the game. And it's not even that it lacks polish and can be fixed with a patch, the problems are often design-related, deep in the game's code and can't be fixed. In the age of such productions as Baldur's Gate 3, or the previously mentioned Skyrim and Mass Effect, releasing a game like Dragon’s Dogma 2 by a major studio for that price is simply a shame. All that remains for Dragon’s Dogma 2 is to kiss the feet of good RPGs, because it will never stand shoulder to shoulder with them.
Full Review:
https://bigbaddice.pl/dragons-dogma-2-recenzja/
Full Review:
https://bigbaddice.pl/dragons-dogma-2-recenzja/
The combat and pawn systems are cool. Almost everything else about the game sucks. Genuinely some of the worst RPG quests I've ever seen in a game. Super repetitive traversal and combat. Fighting the same trash mobs over and over and over and over and over and....
Awful story, writing, and characters as well.
Awful story, writing, and characters as well.
Ran into 2 really annoying bugs, way too many enemies on the road, battles were constant or 2 random large enemies would come out of nowhere and I would get destroyed. Some of the vocations were really fun, some not so much.
When you are being overrun with enemies, the staggering is nuts, you can't get up and they just wail on you constantly. I didn't have many issues with the frame rate, generally decent. Combat was a little janky, also depends on your vocation.
The world is massive and gets even larger during the end game. Overall, I did enjoy my time with it even though I got a frustrated a few times. A solid 8/10.
When you are being overrun with enemies, the staggering is nuts, you can't get up and they just wail on you constantly. I didn't have many issues with the frame rate, generally decent. Combat was a little janky, also depends on your vocation.
The world is massive and gets even larger during the end game. Overall, I did enjoy my time with it even though I got a frustrated a few times. A solid 8/10.
This review contains spoilers
One of the few games that archived to give me the feeling of adventures/exploring a new world. The last games that could archive that would be Totk and Elden Ring. Yet still it's missing something, the something little thing that would make this game to a 10/10.
First of all the exploration is great, it's the main part and best part of the game besides the combat. Unfortunately, the magic of exploration kind of lost its magic when you realize that the bosses are always at the same spot. So all the enemies are always at the same spot and oh boy this game really has no enemy variety.
All these points weren't a problem for the most part of the game because of the fantastic combat, all the vocations play almost completely differently, and it's great how you can just switch them at any time.
Unfortunately, I was a little bit annoyed at the end of the game because I just wanted to explore, but couldn't go 5 meters in this game without being attacked by the same two enemies and can't go 50 meters without encountering the same golem or griffin. This only was a problem for the last few hours at the desert region, but then suddenly I saw myself fighting the end boss, since the ending of this game is at least for me very sudden.
At this point, Dragons Dogma completely changed and surprised me. I have heard that the ending of the first one is crazy but as I played the first one in preparation for DD2 a few weeks ago I didn't make it to the end......
Spoiler for ending/endgame:
The ending is wild, a whole new world is locked behind a secret ending and the game literally switches to hardcore mode.
I can imagine many people dislike this, but I love it, aside from that lots of people won't even get there.
First of all the exploration is great, it's the main part and best part of the game besides the combat. Unfortunately, the magic of exploration kind of lost its magic when you realize that the bosses are always at the same spot. So all the enemies are always at the same spot and oh boy this game really has no enemy variety.
All these points weren't a problem for the most part of the game because of the fantastic combat, all the vocations play almost completely differently, and it's great how you can just switch them at any time.
Unfortunately, I was a little bit annoyed at the end of the game because I just wanted to explore, but couldn't go 5 meters in this game without being attacked by the same two enemies and can't go 50 meters without encountering the same golem or griffin. This only was a problem for the last few hours at the desert region, but then suddenly I saw myself fighting the end boss, since the ending of this game is at least for me very sudden.
At this point, Dragons Dogma completely changed and surprised me. I have heard that the ending of the first one is crazy but as I played the first one in preparation for DD2 a few weeks ago I didn't make it to the end......
Spoiler for ending/endgame:
The ending is wild, a whole new world is locked behind a secret ending and the game literally switches to hardcore mode.
I can imagine many people dislike this, but I love it, aside from that lots of people won't even get there.
It's Dragon's Dogma, but Two.
An amazing action rpg with great combat, sadly kind repetitive and a worst story then the previous one. The sequel is a soft reboot of the franchise with less atitude then the first game.
Godsdamnit.
Yeah, I bought the game. I offloaded a ton of Steam inventory to get there, so I only paid ten of my own dollars for it, but I still bought the game. And sixty hours later, my feeling is that Dragon’s Dogma II is indeed Dragon’s Dogma but II, and more in the sense that it’s Dragon’s Dogma times two instead of Dragon’s Dogma again but better. I’m not super happy about it, but I still enjoyed my time with it.
I’m pretty scatterbrained at the moment so I’m just going to start spitting takes. Also, no explicit spoilers, but I might spoil how you feel about it in the long run so there’s that to consider.
THE GOOD
The flaying and slaying feels as solid as ever, and definitely has more weight to it. I haven’t played all of the vocations yet, but the ones I have feel potent (for the most part – I’ll get to that) and intuitive, and their abilities have just the right amount of flash and punch so as to be satisfying. Warrior in particular has really benefitted from the way your attacks interact with foes, as the ability to pin, fling and smash smaller enemies makes greatswords and hammers feel as visceral as swinging around a slab of iron really ought to. Combat is the high point here just as it was in the first game, and balancing issues aside is one of the few places I can say Dragon’s Dogma II definitely made some marked improvements.
When Dragon’s Dogma’s systems work, they feel great. Very few things beat the raw thrill of staggering a cyclops upon a cliff’s edge, watching your pawn topple the hulking brute with a swift blow to its knee, and delivering the finishing blow by plunging your sword directly into its skull after a mighty leap. I pierced a hobgoblin with a running charge and stopped just shy of the river’s edge, sending the poor bastard flying into the briny depths. One time I wanted to slap a griffon in the face with my claymore but couldn’t quite reach it, so I stood on an oblivious ox to give myself that extra bit of height. Once the griffon was sufficiently weakened, I told my pawns to halt their attack while I leapt onto the beast’s back. It fled with me in tow, and it took me all the way back to its nest, whereupon I finished it off and looted the wealth of treasure it was hoarding. The captain of the guard entrusted me with a one-size-fits-all goal key and asked for it back once I was done. Which I happily obliged… After making a fully functional copy of it for my own purposes. The guards never bother to confiscate it from you when you get arrested so crimes are basically free. I then later used it to release somebody from their cell (who probably didn’t deserve to be freed but I just wanted to see what would happen). Didn’t feel like scaling a cliff one time so I just swan-dived unto the pavement and revived myself with a Wakestone. It works. You can sneak into at least one area in the game by disguising yourself with the correct clothing (and a handy face-mask). Even when it all works against you, I can still respect it. One time I got slapped around by an ogre and was bounced to and fro for so long I never even had the chance to recover before I died. It was brutal and it didn’t feel good, but I made extra sure never to put myself between an ogre and a hard place again. Or, you know, just watch this. And yes, I am a proponent of Dragonsplague. It’s fair that they’re looking to adjust how it works but the idea is cool as shit (and the ingame tooltip explaining it dulls that edge somewhat). There’s a lot of weird stuff in here, and a lot of opportunities to just try things and see if they stick, and it’s always satisfying when they do. Dragon’s Dogma doesn’t have as many of these moments as I would like, but it still has way more than other games of its ilk, which is part of why I love it. There are still places it could be improved, though, for sure (lots of invisible walls here, and the game reset my pawn’s position after I chucked him through the window of a locked house, which was dumb).
THE PRETTY AIGHT
Outside of cities, the game looks and runs great. Both Vermund and Battahl are filled to the brim with lovely scenery and I never felt bored just taking it all in. Character models and (most) animations are also well-made and the real-time cutscenes are of a very high quality. Also, the kit available looks awesome and my only complaint is that you can’t use dragonforging as a means of making lower level gear endgame-viable. Playing dressup would be a lot of fun so I hope they look into this for an update.
The way your stats work is definitely better compared to the first game for people who aren’t trying to min-max. The fact that your base stats are adjusted to suit the vocation you’re switching to means that even if you were a string bean sorcerer for the last fifty levels, you can still end up being a half-decent warrior in time. This is good, because it lets you stick with a favored vocation for longer without needing to drop it purely because you’re concerned about making future vocations unviable.
THE EH
Dragon’s Dogma II’s open world is as big as ever and is still a lot of fun to traverse but the lack of friction the tied in systems provide definitely undermines its staying power. The Loss Gauge is an interesting inclusion and would, in theory, reduce the amount of time you can spend out in the open before you start putting your party in a dangerous position. However, in practice, this really isn’t a problem. Campsites are easy to find, an upgraded camping kit isn’t too hard to come by and barely weighs its carrier down, and while the game constantly warns of potential monster attacks I think I had it happen to me a single time throughout my entire playthrough. Never mind that you can make camp in any kind of weather. Weight management feels less important in general, at least partly due to the fact there are no objectives centering around it or tools that you need to carry in your pack to do stuff (where’s the pickaxes?). Otherwise, there are very few “survival” type mechanics or punishments for coming to a fight unprepared. Curatives are easy to stock up on and the more insidious status effects like poison can be trivialized with a pile of antidotes (or a mage). Petrifaction is like quicksand – the game had me convinced it would be a way bigger problem for how often it’s mentioned, but to the best of my knowledge there’s a single enemy type that can inflict it so you might not ever need to worry about it. And where’s torpor at? Where’s the drama? Where’s the lamb sauce? What if you needed to dress for certain kinds of environments to avoid penalties? What if there was a hunger mechanic and you needed to loot and hunt to stay in good health, or at least drop some coin at your local tavern? I know a lot of people are probably dog tired of these types of mechanics being shoehorned into every possible game these days, but I think they would complement a game like Dragon’s Dogma really well – one where the threat isn’t just in the monsters you face, but also in the environment. The world does not feel nearly as harsh and unforgiving as it should.
Speaking of the open-world, encounter design is sorely lacking with regards to making the world feel organic. First of all, the idea of “the main road is safer” is a load of crap. You’re going to encounter a ton of enemies no matter where you go, so the idea of having a quiet stroll through the woods just isn’t going to happen unless you’ve already cut a path through recently. This definitely makes it a bit hard to appreciate “the journey” at times because you can’t hardly go more than a minute or two without combat. And what’s more, you’re going to start becoming acutely aware of when a fight is about to break out because enemies seem to spawn in mostly the same spots with little (if any) variance. This is something that was true of the first game as well, but it’s more noteworthy here given the seeming emphasis placed on making the overworld feel more natural in design. All of these interesting little nooks and vantage points end up feeling like very intentionally constructed setpieces where monsters are supposed to go. Spots that might initially feel like clever ambushes will lead to you approaching it the fifth or sixth time with your shield up and a sigh in your chest. Good luck getting the achievement for using a cyclops like a bridge without encountering one of the few points that were obviously made to facilitate it. Remember when the trailers showed off those spots where you could bust open a dam and knock over enemies with it? There's like three of those in the game, the first one shows up in the tutorial and the game actively draws your attention to it. It all feels very artificial and can suck you out of what could easily have been one of the more immersive open worlds out there.
Pawns are just not as charming or cannily competent as they seemed to be in the first game. This is at least partly due to the system they’re tied to, which I’ll talk about soon, but there’s a bit more going on here. They’ll point out chests and riftstones (and ladders), offer to lead your way on quests and do their utmost to assist you when you’re in danger during a battle. But the constant nudging to head here or there when you have a clear goal in mind or are simply trying to take in the landscape without distractions gets grating fast – never mind the inclusion of a map and quest markers largely erases the need for any kind of guidance. They draw from a remarkably shallow pool of dialogue and very rarely have anything of interest or import to say with regards your circumstances or the world around them. Question: How many times did you leave town without a camping kit after swapping out pawns? I know my forgetful ass did more than once. What if one of them chimed in with a simple “ought we depart without a means to make camp?” if we hit the road without one in our inventory? It’s a handy reminder and leads to them feeling like they are aware and looking out for things you might not be. Maybe they could warn of an impending ambush and offer an alternative route or make note of landmarks as you pass. Maybe they could tell stories hinting at the locations of quests or make purchase recommendations (“I espied a rather handsome bow at the smithy, Master”). I mean, just anything to make them feel more alive. The pawns are intended to be somewhat hollow because lore and blah blah blah but that doesn’t mean you have to make them uninteresting. I also take issue with how the AI hasn’t improved much in ways that matter – can’t tell you how annoying it is to have an archer in your party that doesn’t prioritize flying enemies, for starters – but more on that later. I will also note that the ability to take direct control of a pawn, even if it needed to be unlocked or had some other kind of caveat, would have been a great addition for when you need them to do something that you can’t contextually command them to do. But at least you can give them high-fives…
As to NPCs – whatever they’re doing is not nearly interesting enough to justify the performance hit in cities heavily populated areas. Given the game seems to perform quite well otherwise, I can’t even begin to imagine how they’re tanking framerates the way that they are. Capcom says they’re looking into it, but I have my doubts. This seems like the kind of problem that nobody caught after a year of development and now it’s just baked in.
Treasure and gear! Where is it? Never mind that variety isn’t that great, but there’s not much sense in hunting for it either. You can definitely get armor and weapons as drops on rare occasions. However, it was probably only once or twice where I actually found something out in the field that was better than what I was carrying, let alone better than what the latest vendor had to offer. Even as I reached the endgame, the shops seemed to always have the best gear available. Maybe I simply haven’t played enough and have missed a few things, but while this does make gearing up a fair bit less grindy and RNG-based, the cool factor of digging a badass magic sword out of a cave that’s miles better than what you got from the local smithy just isn’t there. Maybe not everybody will care about this, but I certainly do.
Heck, as long as we’re talking about gear, how about the upgrade system? Having different upgrade “paths” is kind of neat, but I do miss the ability to skip stages if you already have the materials required. It was a fun little shortcut. I also don’t like how dragonforging works in this game, as even though it’s sensible and more consistent, it just doesn’t feel nearly as cool. Not to mention you can’t use it to potentially improve an entire set of fresh gear just by fighting dragons. I mean, if you could just fight dragons all day long to skip the material grind, wouldn’t you?
Really, items in general are kind of underwhelming. It feels like there’s less of them compared to the first game and less possibilities for crafting. That’s before getting into simple stuff like throwable pocket rocks and what have you that you could use as distractions or at least to screw around. There isn’t enough weird junk in this game to play around with.
Leveling happens way too fast, likely as a result of how many combat encounters there are. You’ll rapidly outpace what Vermund has to offer, turning most of your fights into facerolls, until you finally reach Battahl and then maybe find fights a bit more difficult until it happens again. An optional hard mode or similar probably wouldn’t have been a bad choice, especially since the OG had one.
Oh, and not being able to disable the overhead NPC subtitles without disabling subtitles altogether is dumb. It was distracting in The Witcher 3 and it’s distracting here, too. Get rid of it!
THE REALLY NOT SO GREAT
Enemy variety in DDII is absolutely not where it should be for a sequel. If you’ve been following this game’s release at all, you’re assuredly already familiar, but I’ll reiterate the sentiment: I really hope you like fighting goblins, saurians, bandits, wolves and harpies because that’s going to encompass the bulk of your gameplay. Even once you step across the border, you can look forward to more of the same, just stronger and considerably more annoying. While the list of bigger monsters has changed somewhat, you’ll rarely ever encounter some of the new additions, as they’re either hard to find in the first place or unique (or both). Not to mention how frequent boss encounters seem to be in general. Thus, look forward to getting those cyclops and ogre medals without too much trouble. It’s already sad enough that anything was taken out at all (farewell to cockatrices and hydras), but the fact that you’ll be seeing the same foes over and over again really just dampens the excitement of encountering them. At least they’re still just as fun to knock over as before.
Dungeon design. Caves caves caves caves caves. So many caves. Rather organic in design, but still caves. Not a whole lot of “constructed” locations as per the first game, like Bluemoon Tower or the Watergod’s Altar, and especially not like the Everfall. This is decidedly lame and really puts a sour taste in exploration, as there just aren’t too many locales I discovered that actually wowed me. Very much a quantity over quality type of thing going on here.
And weapon variety. Not great. Lots of stuff left on the table. Actually, yeah, a general lack of variety is easily one of Dragon’s Dogma II’s biggest weaknesses.
Balancing is rough. Take it with a grain of salt, because as previously mentioned I haven’t played every vocation in the game yet, but if nothing else some vocations just flat out feel more potent and useful than others. Archer and rogue are probably the biggest offenders here, as the split to diminish the strength and versatility of the first game’s strider vocation doesn’t solve how the individual classes are still very powerful in their own right. Rogues can still do insane single-target damage with their knives and they have an ability that can utterly trivialize most encounters. Meanwhile, archers can quickly down anything with a weak point with little risk to themselves and can effortlessly keep bosses reeling with explosive arrows. Compare with the fighter and warrior, who – while still strong in their own right – don’t have nearly as much stopping power as you would expect, especially in the case of warriors who still have very poor damage output relative to their lack of utility and the compromising positions they must place themselves in. Mages and sorcerers have had some of their more potent abilities nerfed, but they do have access to ice magic, which might be just a smidge too effective at freezing crowds of enemies and even bosses on the spot. IN all, a lot of the vocations really lack that “oomph” and feel rather compromised in overall efficacy. The biggest question mark for me might be the trickster vocation, which is very interesting in theory but relies on too many different factors (like party composition, AI behavior and beneficial terrain) to be worth playing. It feels like it was designed for a different game entirely. Maybe if you could play with other people… But oh well.
Characterizations and interactions are about as dull and shallow as they’ve ever been. There are a few more “in-depth” optional character quests that have cutscenes and all that good stuff but they’re about as involved or interesting as they were in the first game. This is with the return of the “Beloved” system which is also completely unchanged. You can give NPCs gifts and do quests for them or generally just not try to murder them and they’ll start to like you more, and eventually they’ll blush when they see you and they might feature in your story at another point or what have you. But again, it’s not at all explained and making buddies with NPCs serves basically no purpose unless they’re a vendor. You’re seldom going to unlock any unique items or services or sidequests or cutscenes by going around making friends with anybody. And much like in the first game, what hurts the most is I actually quite like a lot of these characters with regards to their designs, backstories, what have you, but you’ll never get the chance to explore them. This is your story; everybody else is just an accessory to it.
And before I forget, what is going on with those facial animations? Not in cutscenes, but in gameplay. It’s usually not a problem but when NPCs are particularly pleased with you, their visage will contort into the most cartoonishly grotesque grin you’ve ever seen. Come late game I had a horde of fans following me around and their ear-to-ear grimaces frankly freaked me out. Surely somebody had to have realized how creepy they look.
THE BAAAAAAAAAAAAD
So this is going to sound a bit strange given how many seem to feel this was one place where the first game struggled the hardest, but Dragon’s Dogma II is weaker in the story department. Much, much weaker. Compared to the first game, though, this has a lot less to do with what’s there as opposed to what isn’t. While things obviously got a bit more convoluted further on and especially towards the end, the original Dragon’s Dogma had a very simple and potent motivator for the player. You fought a dragon, the dragon stole your heart and dared you to take it back. This makes you Arisen, and your destiny is to slay the dragon and bring peace to the land. But while the why of it might be of interest to some, the real conflict was between the player and that ruby-scaled force of nature. Travel the world, grow stronger through your battles and eventually become a warrior worthy of your charge. You’re urged on by the dragon himself, who regularly reminds you that he is awaiting your challenge. You frankly didn’t need much more than that to make things interesting, but there is another plot wrapped around it that is enthralling at the best of times but also very messy and undercooked at its worst. In Dragon’s Dogma II, you start out as an amnesiac. Never a good sign, but never fear, for your destiny is revealed to you in less than an hour of gameplay. Yes, you are once again Arisen, and your “crowning” moment happens much the same as it does in the first game. Only problem: The dragon is pretty much completely sidelined in favor of a hilariously shallow game of political intrigue, which – if you make a pointed effort of running through the main story quests – is resolved as quickly as it is begun. What follows, then, is an endgame with a semi-hard limit on how long you can play it and a conclusion that really only manages to convolute the lore behind the world of Dragon’s Dogma. The lack of the dragon’s presence throughout your journey makes your inevitable showdown feel hollow and underwhelming, and that’s a huge disappointment itself. But even the “true” ending is not nearly as poignant or emotional as the original’s, and that definitely stings as well.
Oh, and the pawn system. They streamlined it. Man, did they ever streamline it. Originally, pawn inclination was broken down across a whole bunch of different aspects of behavior but would boil down to a primary and secondary inclination. Pawns would react to your playstyle and commands and would change their behavior over time, giving the illusion that they were learning from their experiences. How much influence any of these systems ultimately had on your pawn’s decision making and viability is, at best, fuzzy to me. I also know a lot of people found it annoying that you would eventually need to sit them down and readjust their mannerisms once they grew out of your preferred inclination. However, it did a lot to add character to the pawns and made the overall system feel much more dynamic. The right choice would have been to expand upon this system and make it more granular while also demystifying it a bit and giving the player more ways to influence it. But that does sound hard, so obviously they instead opted to simply make four different inclinations which you can freely choose from and never change on their own, and gave you an insultingly limited list of secondary attributes that you can assign to your pawn. Boring! If streamlining the system is the way they’re going to go, then at the very least they could have given us more options. But no, you get the four inclinations and the six “specializations”, one of which enables pawns to do something they should be able to do to begin with (Chirurgeon), one that should not require a pawn for the player to utilize (Woodland Wordsmith), and one that could have just been an option in the game settings (Aphonite). For how integral the pawn system is to the overall Dragon’s Dogma experience, and how much they market your relationship with your pawn in gameplay, the fact that they regressed it instead of advancing it is a major letdown.
THE UGLY UGLY UGLY UGLY UGLY
The soundtrack of Dragon’s Dogma II is pathetic. I can’t really mince words on this one. I am sitting here now a few dozen hours of gameplay later and realizing that I cannot remember a single track from the game besides the title theme, and I don’t even particularly care to remember that one. Seriously, what happened? If there was anything about the OG Dragon’s Dogma that I would have said was indisputably upper-tier, it was that OST full of dramatic and forceful orchestral pieces accented by a hearty helping of shredding electric guitar. By comparison, Dragon’s Dogma II’s music, when it’s even present, is just… Music. It’s completely uninspired and more to the point, doesn’t inspire me to get out and do some crazy Arisen shit. You barely even need to look any further than the very start of the game – simply compare and contrast the character creation music from the first game with that of the second. Hell, even the best tracks in the game are ripped whole cloth from the first, and then the instrumentation is far weaker! I can only assume the original sound team must have departed the company or was otherwise disposed (and I can imagine Inon Zur’s schedule being pretty packed, at the absolute least), but the fact that not a one of the original composers returned for this project is criminal. If there’s any full black mark on Dragon’s Dogma II, it’s this. I also couldn’t help but notice there’s paid DLC that lets you insert certain tracks from the first game into the second… Yeaaaaah.
THE WHAT WHY
Alright – lore implications aside, is there any particular reason why you didn’t ask David Lodge to voice the dragon this time around? Not saying Grahame Fox didn’t do a solid job, but c’mon, everybody who played the first game adores Lodge’s performance. His absence was most definitely felt.
You can’t get the armor on the box art in-game. Seriously. The helm doesn’t exist and the rest seems to be cobbled together from other bits of pieces that are available. That is… Very strange.
Can’t sell items from storage in towns. At least not without jumping through a square-shaped hoop. Makes no sense whatsoever.
Still using needlessly obtuse descriptions for augments and ring effects and the like. Probably for the best, because everything I’ve read suggests some of the bonuses these augments give are pretty damn pathetic. A balance patch is sorely needed.
Yeah yeah the meat looks pretty but this is also coming from the company with the other Big Monster Slayer franchise and they already invested in making their digital meats look mouthwatering. You can’t fool me, Itsuno. Where’d the meat money go? (Also, did you talk to the Monster Hunter guys at all while working on this? I think they probably could have given some good advice in a few places)
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I reckon I could keep going but… I think I’m just out of steam. I started a new game right after the credits rolled, as one does with Dragon’s Dogma, and was still enjoying running to and fro and swapping vocations and slaying beasts. But it really is the raw strength of that core gameplay loop that grabs me, and nothing else about the sequel. This game feels like a sidegrade at absolute best; some aspects of it are better, but some are definitely worse, and it doesn’t shift far enough in either direction to allow me a firm decision on which game is superior. However, I will say this: The game ain’t worth 70 dollars when you can play the original for at most a third of the price. Dragon’s Dogma II is not the complete package, something that will be painfully obvious to anybody that plays it. There’s just so much empty space anywhere that you look. With that in mind, I’m once again left with this hollow feeling that after about a decade of waiting we haven’t gotten anywhere. If this is Itsuno’s complete vision, then I have to question if he really knows what makes Dragon’s Dogma worthy of a second chance. This game has not gotten the love it deserves. And even if it has its “Dark Arisen” moment and gets a heaping pile of updates and paid expansions (which I think it certainly will given it seems to be doing numbers), I can’t say with any degree of certainty that it will be enough. Capcom was given another chance to make an absolute masterwork and slipped up once more.
It's actually weirdly appropriate given the core themes of Dragon’s Dogma. A story about destiny, strength of will, conviction, existentialism, entropy, and the futility of an existence dedicated to resisting change. There was so much potential here, but every player followed their part to the letter and so we are left exactly where we started. Not to get needlessly metatextual about it, but this game made no attempt to break the cycle, and for that I fear it is doomed to be forgotten. And as much as it pains me to say it, it may not be until this cycle’s next turn that we finally cast off the yoke of fate and find meaning in the struggle.
Maybe Dragon’s Dogma III will hit the mark. If I LIVE THAT LONG
Yeah, I bought the game. I offloaded a ton of Steam inventory to get there, so I only paid ten of my own dollars for it, but I still bought the game. And sixty hours later, my feeling is that Dragon’s Dogma II is indeed Dragon’s Dogma but II, and more in the sense that it’s Dragon’s Dogma times two instead of Dragon’s Dogma again but better. I’m not super happy about it, but I still enjoyed my time with it.
I’m pretty scatterbrained at the moment so I’m just going to start spitting takes. Also, no explicit spoilers, but I might spoil how you feel about it in the long run so there’s that to consider.
THE GOOD
The flaying and slaying feels as solid as ever, and definitely has more weight to it. I haven’t played all of the vocations yet, but the ones I have feel potent (for the most part – I’ll get to that) and intuitive, and their abilities have just the right amount of flash and punch so as to be satisfying. Warrior in particular has really benefitted from the way your attacks interact with foes, as the ability to pin, fling and smash smaller enemies makes greatswords and hammers feel as visceral as swinging around a slab of iron really ought to. Combat is the high point here just as it was in the first game, and balancing issues aside is one of the few places I can say Dragon’s Dogma II definitely made some marked improvements.
When Dragon’s Dogma’s systems work, they feel great. Very few things beat the raw thrill of staggering a cyclops upon a cliff’s edge, watching your pawn topple the hulking brute with a swift blow to its knee, and delivering the finishing blow by plunging your sword directly into its skull after a mighty leap. I pierced a hobgoblin with a running charge and stopped just shy of the river’s edge, sending the poor bastard flying into the briny depths. One time I wanted to slap a griffon in the face with my claymore but couldn’t quite reach it, so I stood on an oblivious ox to give myself that extra bit of height. Once the griffon was sufficiently weakened, I told my pawns to halt their attack while I leapt onto the beast’s back. It fled with me in tow, and it took me all the way back to its nest, whereupon I finished it off and looted the wealth of treasure it was hoarding. The captain of the guard entrusted me with a one-size-fits-all goal key and asked for it back once I was done. Which I happily obliged… After making a fully functional copy of it for my own purposes. The guards never bother to confiscate it from you when you get arrested so crimes are basically free. I then later used it to release somebody from their cell (who probably didn’t deserve to be freed but I just wanted to see what would happen). Didn’t feel like scaling a cliff one time so I just swan-dived unto the pavement and revived myself with a Wakestone. It works. You can sneak into at least one area in the game by disguising yourself with the correct clothing (and a handy face-mask). Even when it all works against you, I can still respect it. One time I got slapped around by an ogre and was bounced to and fro for so long I never even had the chance to recover before I died. It was brutal and it didn’t feel good, but I made extra sure never to put myself between an ogre and a hard place again. Or, you know, just watch this. And yes, I am a proponent of Dragonsplague. It’s fair that they’re looking to adjust how it works but the idea is cool as shit (and the ingame tooltip explaining it dulls that edge somewhat). There’s a lot of weird stuff in here, and a lot of opportunities to just try things and see if they stick, and it’s always satisfying when they do. Dragon’s Dogma doesn’t have as many of these moments as I would like, but it still has way more than other games of its ilk, which is part of why I love it. There are still places it could be improved, though, for sure (lots of invisible walls here, and the game reset my pawn’s position after I chucked him through the window of a locked house, which was dumb).
THE PRETTY AIGHT
Outside of cities, the game looks and runs great. Both Vermund and Battahl are filled to the brim with lovely scenery and I never felt bored just taking it all in. Character models and (most) animations are also well-made and the real-time cutscenes are of a very high quality. Also, the kit available looks awesome and my only complaint is that you can’t use dragonforging as a means of making lower level gear endgame-viable. Playing dressup would be a lot of fun so I hope they look into this for an update.
The way your stats work is definitely better compared to the first game for people who aren’t trying to min-max. The fact that your base stats are adjusted to suit the vocation you’re switching to means that even if you were a string bean sorcerer for the last fifty levels, you can still end up being a half-decent warrior in time. This is good, because it lets you stick with a favored vocation for longer without needing to drop it purely because you’re concerned about making future vocations unviable.
THE EH
Dragon’s Dogma II’s open world is as big as ever and is still a lot of fun to traverse but the lack of friction the tied in systems provide definitely undermines its staying power. The Loss Gauge is an interesting inclusion and would, in theory, reduce the amount of time you can spend out in the open before you start putting your party in a dangerous position. However, in practice, this really isn’t a problem. Campsites are easy to find, an upgraded camping kit isn’t too hard to come by and barely weighs its carrier down, and while the game constantly warns of potential monster attacks I think I had it happen to me a single time throughout my entire playthrough. Never mind that you can make camp in any kind of weather. Weight management feels less important in general, at least partly due to the fact there are no objectives centering around it or tools that you need to carry in your pack to do stuff (where’s the pickaxes?). Otherwise, there are very few “survival” type mechanics or punishments for coming to a fight unprepared. Curatives are easy to stock up on and the more insidious status effects like poison can be trivialized with a pile of antidotes (or a mage). Petrifaction is like quicksand – the game had me convinced it would be a way bigger problem for how often it’s mentioned, but to the best of my knowledge there’s a single enemy type that can inflict it so you might not ever need to worry about it. And where’s torpor at? Where’s the drama? Where’s the lamb sauce? What if you needed to dress for certain kinds of environments to avoid penalties? What if there was a hunger mechanic and you needed to loot and hunt to stay in good health, or at least drop some coin at your local tavern? I know a lot of people are probably dog tired of these types of mechanics being shoehorned into every possible game these days, but I think they would complement a game like Dragon’s Dogma really well – one where the threat isn’t just in the monsters you face, but also in the environment. The world does not feel nearly as harsh and unforgiving as it should.
Speaking of the open-world, encounter design is sorely lacking with regards to making the world feel organic. First of all, the idea of “the main road is safer” is a load of crap. You’re going to encounter a ton of enemies no matter where you go, so the idea of having a quiet stroll through the woods just isn’t going to happen unless you’ve already cut a path through recently. This definitely makes it a bit hard to appreciate “the journey” at times because you can’t hardly go more than a minute or two without combat. And what’s more, you’re going to start becoming acutely aware of when a fight is about to break out because enemies seem to spawn in mostly the same spots with little (if any) variance. This is something that was true of the first game as well, but it’s more noteworthy here given the seeming emphasis placed on making the overworld feel more natural in design. All of these interesting little nooks and vantage points end up feeling like very intentionally constructed setpieces where monsters are supposed to go. Spots that might initially feel like clever ambushes will lead to you approaching it the fifth or sixth time with your shield up and a sigh in your chest. Good luck getting the achievement for using a cyclops like a bridge without encountering one of the few points that were obviously made to facilitate it. Remember when the trailers showed off those spots where you could bust open a dam and knock over enemies with it? There's like three of those in the game, the first one shows up in the tutorial and the game actively draws your attention to it. It all feels very artificial and can suck you out of what could easily have been one of the more immersive open worlds out there.
Pawns are just not as charming or cannily competent as they seemed to be in the first game. This is at least partly due to the system they’re tied to, which I’ll talk about soon, but there’s a bit more going on here. They’ll point out chests and riftstones (and ladders), offer to lead your way on quests and do their utmost to assist you when you’re in danger during a battle. But the constant nudging to head here or there when you have a clear goal in mind or are simply trying to take in the landscape without distractions gets grating fast – never mind the inclusion of a map and quest markers largely erases the need for any kind of guidance. They draw from a remarkably shallow pool of dialogue and very rarely have anything of interest or import to say with regards your circumstances or the world around them. Question: How many times did you leave town without a camping kit after swapping out pawns? I know my forgetful ass did more than once. What if one of them chimed in with a simple “ought we depart without a means to make camp?” if we hit the road without one in our inventory? It’s a handy reminder and leads to them feeling like they are aware and looking out for things you might not be. Maybe they could warn of an impending ambush and offer an alternative route or make note of landmarks as you pass. Maybe they could tell stories hinting at the locations of quests or make purchase recommendations (“I espied a rather handsome bow at the smithy, Master”). I mean, just anything to make them feel more alive. The pawns are intended to be somewhat hollow because lore and blah blah blah but that doesn’t mean you have to make them uninteresting. I also take issue with how the AI hasn’t improved much in ways that matter – can’t tell you how annoying it is to have an archer in your party that doesn’t prioritize flying enemies, for starters – but more on that later. I will also note that the ability to take direct control of a pawn, even if it needed to be unlocked or had some other kind of caveat, would have been a great addition for when you need them to do something that you can’t contextually command them to do. But at least you can give them high-fives…
As to NPCs – whatever they’re doing is not nearly interesting enough to justify the performance hit in cities heavily populated areas. Given the game seems to perform quite well otherwise, I can’t even begin to imagine how they’re tanking framerates the way that they are. Capcom says they’re looking into it, but I have my doubts. This seems like the kind of problem that nobody caught after a year of development and now it’s just baked in.
Treasure and gear! Where is it? Never mind that variety isn’t that great, but there’s not much sense in hunting for it either. You can definitely get armor and weapons as drops on rare occasions. However, it was probably only once or twice where I actually found something out in the field that was better than what I was carrying, let alone better than what the latest vendor had to offer. Even as I reached the endgame, the shops seemed to always have the best gear available. Maybe I simply haven’t played enough and have missed a few things, but while this does make gearing up a fair bit less grindy and RNG-based, the cool factor of digging a badass magic sword out of a cave that’s miles better than what you got from the local smithy just isn’t there. Maybe not everybody will care about this, but I certainly do.
Heck, as long as we’re talking about gear, how about the upgrade system? Having different upgrade “paths” is kind of neat, but I do miss the ability to skip stages if you already have the materials required. It was a fun little shortcut. I also don’t like how dragonforging works in this game, as even though it’s sensible and more consistent, it just doesn’t feel nearly as cool. Not to mention you can’t use it to potentially improve an entire set of fresh gear just by fighting dragons. I mean, if you could just fight dragons all day long to skip the material grind, wouldn’t you?
Really, items in general are kind of underwhelming. It feels like there’s less of them compared to the first game and less possibilities for crafting. That’s before getting into simple stuff like throwable pocket rocks and what have you that you could use as distractions or at least to screw around. There isn’t enough weird junk in this game to play around with.
Leveling happens way too fast, likely as a result of how many combat encounters there are. You’ll rapidly outpace what Vermund has to offer, turning most of your fights into facerolls, until you finally reach Battahl and then maybe find fights a bit more difficult until it happens again. An optional hard mode or similar probably wouldn’t have been a bad choice, especially since the OG had one.
Oh, and not being able to disable the overhead NPC subtitles without disabling subtitles altogether is dumb. It was distracting in The Witcher 3 and it’s distracting here, too. Get rid of it!
THE REALLY NOT SO GREAT
Enemy variety in DDII is absolutely not where it should be for a sequel. If you’ve been following this game’s release at all, you’re assuredly already familiar, but I’ll reiterate the sentiment: I really hope you like fighting goblins, saurians, bandits, wolves and harpies because that’s going to encompass the bulk of your gameplay. Even once you step across the border, you can look forward to more of the same, just stronger and considerably more annoying. While the list of bigger monsters has changed somewhat, you’ll rarely ever encounter some of the new additions, as they’re either hard to find in the first place or unique (or both). Not to mention how frequent boss encounters seem to be in general. Thus, look forward to getting those cyclops and ogre medals without too much trouble. It’s already sad enough that anything was taken out at all (farewell to cockatrices and hydras), but the fact that you’ll be seeing the same foes over and over again really just dampens the excitement of encountering them. At least they’re still just as fun to knock over as before.
Dungeon design. Caves caves caves caves caves. So many caves. Rather organic in design, but still caves. Not a whole lot of “constructed” locations as per the first game, like Bluemoon Tower or the Watergod’s Altar, and especially not like the Everfall. This is decidedly lame and really puts a sour taste in exploration, as there just aren’t too many locales I discovered that actually wowed me. Very much a quantity over quality type of thing going on here.
And weapon variety. Not great. Lots of stuff left on the table. Actually, yeah, a general lack of variety is easily one of Dragon’s Dogma II’s biggest weaknesses.
Balancing is rough. Take it with a grain of salt, because as previously mentioned I haven’t played every vocation in the game yet, but if nothing else some vocations just flat out feel more potent and useful than others. Archer and rogue are probably the biggest offenders here, as the split to diminish the strength and versatility of the first game’s strider vocation doesn’t solve how the individual classes are still very powerful in their own right. Rogues can still do insane single-target damage with their knives and they have an ability that can utterly trivialize most encounters. Meanwhile, archers can quickly down anything with a weak point with little risk to themselves and can effortlessly keep bosses reeling with explosive arrows. Compare with the fighter and warrior, who – while still strong in their own right – don’t have nearly as much stopping power as you would expect, especially in the case of warriors who still have very poor damage output relative to their lack of utility and the compromising positions they must place themselves in. Mages and sorcerers have had some of their more potent abilities nerfed, but they do have access to ice magic, which might be just a smidge too effective at freezing crowds of enemies and even bosses on the spot. IN all, a lot of the vocations really lack that “oomph” and feel rather compromised in overall efficacy. The biggest question mark for me might be the trickster vocation, which is very interesting in theory but relies on too many different factors (like party composition, AI behavior and beneficial terrain) to be worth playing. It feels like it was designed for a different game entirely. Maybe if you could play with other people… But oh well.
Characterizations and interactions are about as dull and shallow as they’ve ever been. There are a few more “in-depth” optional character quests that have cutscenes and all that good stuff but they’re about as involved or interesting as they were in the first game. This is with the return of the “Beloved” system which is also completely unchanged. You can give NPCs gifts and do quests for them or generally just not try to murder them and they’ll start to like you more, and eventually they’ll blush when they see you and they might feature in your story at another point or what have you. But again, it’s not at all explained and making buddies with NPCs serves basically no purpose unless they’re a vendor. You’re seldom going to unlock any unique items or services or sidequests or cutscenes by going around making friends with anybody. And much like in the first game, what hurts the most is I actually quite like a lot of these characters with regards to their designs, backstories, what have you, but you’ll never get the chance to explore them. This is your story; everybody else is just an accessory to it.
And before I forget, what is going on with those facial animations? Not in cutscenes, but in gameplay. It’s usually not a problem but when NPCs are particularly pleased with you, their visage will contort into the most cartoonishly grotesque grin you’ve ever seen. Come late game I had a horde of fans following me around and their ear-to-ear grimaces frankly freaked me out. Surely somebody had to have realized how creepy they look.
THE BAAAAAAAAAAAAD
So this is going to sound a bit strange given how many seem to feel this was one place where the first game struggled the hardest, but Dragon’s Dogma II is weaker in the story department. Much, much weaker. Compared to the first game, though, this has a lot less to do with what’s there as opposed to what isn’t. While things obviously got a bit more convoluted further on and especially towards the end, the original Dragon’s Dogma had a very simple and potent motivator for the player. You fought a dragon, the dragon stole your heart and dared you to take it back. This makes you Arisen, and your destiny is to slay the dragon and bring peace to the land. But while the why of it might be of interest to some, the real conflict was between the player and that ruby-scaled force of nature. Travel the world, grow stronger through your battles and eventually become a warrior worthy of your charge. You’re urged on by the dragon himself, who regularly reminds you that he is awaiting your challenge. You frankly didn’t need much more than that to make things interesting, but there is another plot wrapped around it that is enthralling at the best of times but also very messy and undercooked at its worst. In Dragon’s Dogma II, you start out as an amnesiac. Never a good sign, but never fear, for your destiny is revealed to you in less than an hour of gameplay. Yes, you are once again Arisen, and your “crowning” moment happens much the same as it does in the first game. Only problem: The dragon is pretty much completely sidelined in favor of a hilariously shallow game of political intrigue, which – if you make a pointed effort of running through the main story quests – is resolved as quickly as it is begun. What follows, then, is an endgame with a semi-hard limit on how long you can play it and a conclusion that really only manages to convolute the lore behind the world of Dragon’s Dogma. The lack of the dragon’s presence throughout your journey makes your inevitable showdown feel hollow and underwhelming, and that’s a huge disappointment itself. But even the “true” ending is not nearly as poignant or emotional as the original’s, and that definitely stings as well.
Oh, and the pawn system. They streamlined it. Man, did they ever streamline it. Originally, pawn inclination was broken down across a whole bunch of different aspects of behavior but would boil down to a primary and secondary inclination. Pawns would react to your playstyle and commands and would change their behavior over time, giving the illusion that they were learning from their experiences. How much influence any of these systems ultimately had on your pawn’s decision making and viability is, at best, fuzzy to me. I also know a lot of people found it annoying that you would eventually need to sit them down and readjust their mannerisms once they grew out of your preferred inclination. However, it did a lot to add character to the pawns and made the overall system feel much more dynamic. The right choice would have been to expand upon this system and make it more granular while also demystifying it a bit and giving the player more ways to influence it. But that does sound hard, so obviously they instead opted to simply make four different inclinations which you can freely choose from and never change on their own, and gave you an insultingly limited list of secondary attributes that you can assign to your pawn. Boring! If streamlining the system is the way they’re going to go, then at the very least they could have given us more options. But no, you get the four inclinations and the six “specializations”, one of which enables pawns to do something they should be able to do to begin with (Chirurgeon), one that should not require a pawn for the player to utilize (Woodland Wordsmith), and one that could have just been an option in the game settings (Aphonite). For how integral the pawn system is to the overall Dragon’s Dogma experience, and how much they market your relationship with your pawn in gameplay, the fact that they regressed it instead of advancing it is a major letdown.
THE UGLY UGLY UGLY UGLY UGLY
The soundtrack of Dragon’s Dogma II is pathetic. I can’t really mince words on this one. I am sitting here now a few dozen hours of gameplay later and realizing that I cannot remember a single track from the game besides the title theme, and I don’t even particularly care to remember that one. Seriously, what happened? If there was anything about the OG Dragon’s Dogma that I would have said was indisputably upper-tier, it was that OST full of dramatic and forceful orchestral pieces accented by a hearty helping of shredding electric guitar. By comparison, Dragon’s Dogma II’s music, when it’s even present, is just… Music. It’s completely uninspired and more to the point, doesn’t inspire me to get out and do some crazy Arisen shit. You barely even need to look any further than the very start of the game – simply compare and contrast the character creation music from the first game with that of the second. Hell, even the best tracks in the game are ripped whole cloth from the first, and then the instrumentation is far weaker! I can only assume the original sound team must have departed the company or was otherwise disposed (and I can imagine Inon Zur’s schedule being pretty packed, at the absolute least), but the fact that not a one of the original composers returned for this project is criminal. If there’s any full black mark on Dragon’s Dogma II, it’s this. I also couldn’t help but notice there’s paid DLC that lets you insert certain tracks from the first game into the second… Yeaaaaah.
THE WHAT WHY
Alright – lore implications aside, is there any particular reason why you didn’t ask David Lodge to voice the dragon this time around? Not saying Grahame Fox didn’t do a solid job, but c’mon, everybody who played the first game adores Lodge’s performance. His absence was most definitely felt.
You can’t get the armor on the box art in-game. Seriously. The helm doesn’t exist and the rest seems to be cobbled together from other bits of pieces that are available. That is… Very strange.
Can’t sell items from storage in towns. At least not without jumping through a square-shaped hoop. Makes no sense whatsoever.
Still using needlessly obtuse descriptions for augments and ring effects and the like. Probably for the best, because everything I’ve read suggests some of the bonuses these augments give are pretty damn pathetic. A balance patch is sorely needed.
Yeah yeah the meat looks pretty but this is also coming from the company with the other Big Monster Slayer franchise and they already invested in making their digital meats look mouthwatering. You can’t fool me, Itsuno. Where’d the meat money go? (Also, did you talk to the Monster Hunter guys at all while working on this? I think they probably could have given some good advice in a few places)
--
I reckon I could keep going but… I think I’m just out of steam. I started a new game right after the credits rolled, as one does with Dragon’s Dogma, and was still enjoying running to and fro and swapping vocations and slaying beasts. But it really is the raw strength of that core gameplay loop that grabs me, and nothing else about the sequel. This game feels like a sidegrade at absolute best; some aspects of it are better, but some are definitely worse, and it doesn’t shift far enough in either direction to allow me a firm decision on which game is superior. However, I will say this: The game ain’t worth 70 dollars when you can play the original for at most a third of the price. Dragon’s Dogma II is not the complete package, something that will be painfully obvious to anybody that plays it. There’s just so much empty space anywhere that you look. With that in mind, I’m once again left with this hollow feeling that after about a decade of waiting we haven’t gotten anywhere. If this is Itsuno’s complete vision, then I have to question if he really knows what makes Dragon’s Dogma worthy of a second chance. This game has not gotten the love it deserves. And even if it has its “Dark Arisen” moment and gets a heaping pile of updates and paid expansions (which I think it certainly will given it seems to be doing numbers), I can’t say with any degree of certainty that it will be enough. Capcom was given another chance to make an absolute masterwork and slipped up once more.
It's actually weirdly appropriate given the core themes of Dragon’s Dogma. A story about destiny, strength of will, conviction, existentialism, entropy, and the futility of an existence dedicated to resisting change. There was so much potential here, but every player followed their part to the letter and so we are left exactly where we started. Not to get needlessly metatextual about it, but this game made no attempt to break the cycle, and for that I fear it is doomed to be forgotten. And as much as it pains me to say it, it may not be until this cycle’s next turn that we finally cast off the yoke of fate and find meaning in the struggle.
Maybe Dragon’s Dogma III will hit the mark. If I LIVE THAT LONG
It runs like absolute dog shit on the Series S. I would go into areas and have the lowest level of detail possible on textures I was standing right next to for like 5-6 minutes before it would pop in the right ones. Its sluggish and horrible to play on that console.
Heartbreaking, cause I can tell the game is great, but it's just not playable on there.
Heartbreaking, cause I can tell the game is great, but it's just not playable on there.
The dynamic combat system with the grappling and the weakpoints is very cool, but combat encounters are too easy for you and your pawns not to bulldoze everything. Aside from that, the other interesting thing is the openness of some quests (even though it feels that there is a 'true' path and some other worse ones).
The rest of the game I dont think was very good. Extremely shallow story, side quests, and worldbuilding. Boring equipment variety. Glitchy questlines (to the point I could not complete all side quests during the endgame). Nice exploration feeling but lack of meaningful difference between locations.
And worse of all, pawns and their chatter. Their mere existence is already a weird thing but they wont shut up about basic stuff that you know and you already heard from them. Worsens the feel of the game by a lot.
Also fuck DRM
The rest of the game I dont think was very good. Extremely shallow story, side quests, and worldbuilding. Boring equipment variety. Glitchy questlines (to the point I could not complete all side quests during the endgame). Nice exploration feeling but lack of meaningful difference between locations.
And worse of all, pawns and their chatter. Their mere existence is already a weird thing but they wont shut up about basic stuff that you know and you already heard from them. Worsens the feel of the game by a lot.
Also fuck DRM
Dragons dogma é em sua essência um jogo que fica em te entreter com combates constantes e paisagens maravilhosas, se você está interessado em embarcar nesse jogo esteja preparado para bons 20~50 minutos de caminhada no início do jogo, e uma dica sempre que possível deixe pontos de viagem rápida as pontas do mapa, da pra você ir de carroça de forma rápida entre as grandes cidades do jogo, o que ajuda bastante, mas não é tão fácil quanto usar as pedras barcas.
No geral
Gráfico: 8/10
História 7/10
Gameplay (PS5): 9/10
Combate: 9/10
No geral recomendo pra quem curte action RPG, me passou muito a vibe de explorar Elden ring, a lore não é tão densa quanto Elden ring mas é um game na mesma pegada.
Curti muito!
No geral
Gráfico: 8/10
História 7/10
Gameplay (PS5): 9/10
Combate: 9/10
No geral recomendo pra quem curte action RPG, me passou muito a vibe de explorar Elden ring, a lore não é tão densa quanto Elden ring mas é um game na mesma pegada.
Curti muito!
dragons dogma 1 reskin, roda mal e tem basicamente os mesmo problemas do primeiro
If the DLC introduces Hard mode, a new post-game dungeon like Bitterblack Isle alongside the needed performance patches, the score will only go up. It's a really good game shrouded with minor issues here and there.
There is magic that can literally kill dragons, but you cannot fast travel without using a freaking stone. This sums up Dragons Dogma 2: a beautiful game with pointless mechanics and plot