This review contains spoilers
I'm really confused about how I actually feel about this game. It's good, but it has its flaws.
I'll say that I didn't really beat the game, I beat the dragon, but I did not complete the remaining quests that come after. I feel like I had my fun with the game and, who knows, I might come back to it someday.
The best thing about Dragon's Dogma is easily its combat, and by far. It's a lot of fun. For me, it felt like a faster version of Monster Hunter's combat, in a way. I say this because you can climb on huge monsters and attack specific parts to break them or weaken the monster in some way. I mainly played as a rogue (strider) and a magick archer, it felt fast and it was really fun climbing on monsters and doing all sorts of acrobatic moves. Every vocation (class) in this game seems to feel really different from one another, and the fact that you can pretty much switch whenever you want in a playthrough is great. The movement also feels pretty good, especially for its time. It can be a bit clunky, sure, but I was surprised by how responsive it was most of the time. The controls when climbing a monster were a bit janky thought.
The pawn system was pretty interesting. I'm personally more a fan of fleshed out actual characters for companions, but the idea of a fully customisable companion that learned with you on your journey is pretty neat ! It was also pretty cool to be able to summon my friend's pawn, it gave a feeling of connectivity to the game even though it's single player.
Graphically, the game's fine, it's certainly not the prettiest game you'll ever see, but I didn't mind it, I thought it had some charm. The environment are a bit lacking in my opinion although. Indeed, the dungeons feel a bit uninspired in their design, and I personally didn't find the map in general to be really memorable.
My biggest problem with the game is probably its narrative and characters. I simply did not care for neither in this game. There were some moments that I thought were interesting, such as the witch who was originally a pawn "became human". But overall, every character is simply not interesting, I couldn't get myself to really care about any of them. The story in itself just takes way too long to really get going, it eventually gets more interesting, even if it still could be better, but it's overall pretty bland and nothing really happens for a good while. When I say that nothing happens, I really mean it, for a good while, the main quest consist of basically just going on random chores for the Duke until at some point you decide to face the dragon. This game also has some sort of romance or affinity system that's just not implemented at all. It certainly doesn't help having uninteresting characters for a romance to begin with, but it just feels so sudden and almost forced on the player when nearing the fight against the dragon. I will say though, that it was pretty funny to accidentally seduce the duke's wife in like 5 minutes. The game overall did make me laugh at times with its mediocre writing/dialogue, so I don't mind it as much as I would if it was just bad and unfunny.
The quests were also something I wasn't the biggest fan of in this game. It might have been partially because of the environment in which they took place in, which didn't stick out to me. Overall, I'd say that the quests in themselves are alright, I was just sometimes bored by fetch quest and running from point A to point B. Some quests could also be a bit clearer on how to complete them, and I learned a bit too late that some side quests are time sensitive.
Even though I seem to complain a lot, there was always something that brought me back each time. The game is overall okay, but it's also something special, something unique. The gameplay is really a ton of fun. Even if I didn't properly finished it, I'm glad I played Dragon's Dogma and I'm pretty excited to see how they improve the formula with the sequel !
I'll say that I didn't really beat the game, I beat the dragon, but I did not complete the remaining quests that come after. I feel like I had my fun with the game and, who knows, I might come back to it someday.
The best thing about Dragon's Dogma is easily its combat, and by far. It's a lot of fun. For me, it felt like a faster version of Monster Hunter's combat, in a way. I say this because you can climb on huge monsters and attack specific parts to break them or weaken the monster in some way. I mainly played as a rogue (strider) and a magick archer, it felt fast and it was really fun climbing on monsters and doing all sorts of acrobatic moves. Every vocation (class) in this game seems to feel really different from one another, and the fact that you can pretty much switch whenever you want in a playthrough is great. The movement also feels pretty good, especially for its time. It can be a bit clunky, sure, but I was surprised by how responsive it was most of the time. The controls when climbing a monster were a bit janky thought.
The pawn system was pretty interesting. I'm personally more a fan of fleshed out actual characters for companions, but the idea of a fully customisable companion that learned with you on your journey is pretty neat ! It was also pretty cool to be able to summon my friend's pawn, it gave a feeling of connectivity to the game even though it's single player.
Graphically, the game's fine, it's certainly not the prettiest game you'll ever see, but I didn't mind it, I thought it had some charm. The environment are a bit lacking in my opinion although. Indeed, the dungeons feel a bit uninspired in their design, and I personally didn't find the map in general to be really memorable.
My biggest problem with the game is probably its narrative and characters. I simply did not care for neither in this game. There were some moments that I thought were interesting, such as the witch who was originally a pawn "became human". But overall, every character is simply not interesting, I couldn't get myself to really care about any of them. The story in itself just takes way too long to really get going, it eventually gets more interesting, even if it still could be better, but it's overall pretty bland and nothing really happens for a good while. When I say that nothing happens, I really mean it, for a good while, the main quest consist of basically just going on random chores for the Duke until at some point you decide to face the dragon. This game also has some sort of romance or affinity system that's just not implemented at all. It certainly doesn't help having uninteresting characters for a romance to begin with, but it just feels so sudden and almost forced on the player when nearing the fight against the dragon. I will say though, that it was pretty funny to accidentally seduce the duke's wife in like 5 minutes. The game overall did make me laugh at times with its mediocre writing/dialogue, so I don't mind it as much as I would if it was just bad and unfunny.
The quests were also something I wasn't the biggest fan of in this game. It might have been partially because of the environment in which they took place in, which didn't stick out to me. Overall, I'd say that the quests in themselves are alright, I was just sometimes bored by fetch quest and running from point A to point B. Some quests could also be a bit clearer on how to complete them, and I learned a bit too late that some side quests are time sensitive.
Even though I seem to complain a lot, there was always something that brought me back each time. The game is overall okay, but it's also something special, something unique. The gameplay is really a ton of fun. Even if I didn't properly finished it, I'm glad I played Dragon's Dogma and I'm pretty excited to see how they improve the formula with the sequel !