First review after 30 hours:
Dragon's dogma 2 is not an actual sequel of the first game, it's more like a hidden remake / reboot of the original dragon's dogma where every idea that the developers must've had back in the day but were held back by the restrictions of hardware of the time or by their own skill / available budget was all realized in this new title.
On pretty much every aspect, this game improves upon from the first:
+ Combat has become more versatile and feels like there is weight behind each attack, creating combinations with your basic attacks and abilities earned by leveling up your vocations. Breaking an enemies guard also allows for your heavy attack to do extra damage in their most vulnerable state which is quite handy and satisfactory when ending off a fight.
+ Vocations: Just like in the first game, you can select a vocation at the start of your game and if you so wish, change in-between them by visiting certain Inn's or find yourself a vocation guild. Some return from the original, some with some slight changes such as strider being changed to Thief and noticably missing the ability to wield a bow and arrow.
There are also new ones that you can unlock by finding certain characters or completing a set of quests, these new vocations are quite fun and I would to experiment with some of them for quite a bit to truly understand them, mainly talking about the Trickster vocation which seems a bit odd at first but can be extremely fun!
Not only that but each vocation also has a Maister-Ability, these can be earned from specific characters with the only requirements being to complete certain quests in which they are involved and have a good affinity with them, this doesn't actually to all these characters, some of them have extremely low requirements but in general, it's adviced to complete their quests if they have them and make sure you have a good affinity.
+ The world of the original was quite bland and uninteresting for most, including myself. I was never really interested in exploring the world of the original but the remake / sequel in that regard, did a total 180.
This time around the world is a bit more dense, there's lots of places to find and explore, lots of caves, lots of secrets and lots of quests hidden within them which we will come back to. Exploration in this game is by no means boring and part of that has to do with the world being interesting, beautiful and eventful as you'll probably come across a boat load of enemies along the way and maybe some people in need who will grant you rewards for helping them.
Where the world lacked in the first game, capcom took it and improved it by at least 10x and shipped it and it has definitely paid off.
+ Handholding is something that many games do these days which sometimes is necessary in certain games where level design makes it hard to know what the next step is but that's just bad game design. Other games do it because they're afraid we're newly born infants with a lack of problem solving and critical thinking skills, though that may be true for some, the majority of us have these abilities & capcom is quite certain we do too.
Quests in Dragon's dogma are different from other games whereas most games show you characters with a quest, dragon's dogma doesn't tell you but the characters will approach you if they have something for you to do, this makes it more interesting and surprising when out of nowhere, when walking through the streets of Vernworth or Bakbathall, some random NPC stops you in your tracks to give you a quest. Some of these quests will give you a marker as to where you quest will be able to be continued while other quests or objectives will simply give you a hint and as to what you should do from there, is totally up to you to figure out and if you can't, ask your pawns or one of those orbits or whatever they called with their little magic balls.
More games should have this approach to quest design as it teaches the player to use their knowledge and problem solving skills to progress their journey, with most games totally killing this aspect, I feel like many gamers lose this ability and with games like DD2 bringing it back, it's a breath of fresh air and a good work out for the brain. Especially the Sphnix riddles will make you think a lot with a sprinkle of anxiety when she asks you if you're REALLY sure about your answer, creepy stuff.
There are also some negatives unfortunately that must be adressed and it's not the MTX's, that's something you'll have to make your own conclusion about as it doesn't have anything to do with my gameplay.
- Frame rates in this game are very unstable. Personally, I don't mind 30 FPS in games like dragon's dogma 2 where's there's an abundance of effects going on at times during fights, a big open world, beautiful locations, interesting and satisfying gameplay, the whole package let's say, I don't mind 30 FPS in those games, however, it has to be stable.
Here that is not case as the frames can go from 30 to 32 to 25 to sometimes as low as 20 if there's 5 different effects going across the screen at once. Optimization is one of this games weakpoints and hopefully this will be addressed in future updates.
- Side characters in this game are interesting and I was thinking about putting them in the positive list BUT for as interesting as some of them are in this game, it's unfortunate that they don't play bigger roles in the games story or their own stories seem to be rather short.
Ulrika for example is one of the main love interests of the game, though she has potential to be interesting due to her loyal and loving nature for her people, having a sense of leadership and all, once her quest is over which isn't even that big to begin with, her entire characters vanishes to matter at all it feels like. You can still visit her from time to time or vice versa but it has no soul or purpose besides going on a journey with her with no purpose whatsoever. Wilhelmina has the same problem, though her story and character are far more interesting compared to Ulrika, also serving as a main romance, once her quest is over, she vanishes completely and leaves you with no ability to visit her or talk to her or anything, she just doesn't exist anymore. I think those are sad things and I'm near the end of the game of my first playthrough and I must say that their lack of presence beyond their own respective quests is strange and upsetting considering how important of characters they could've been.
- Stories in capcom games, in my experience and subjective opinion, have never been "great". They're not really bad either, they're just a bit basic and mostly rely on the characters to really push the game forward and make the narrative interesting, I think that's one of capcom's biggest strengths, characters. And of course gameplay which is probably the most important thing you can have in your GAME.
The story is a bit better than the first one, the first one was really forgettable and even after 5 or 6 playthroughs of it, I still have no clue what the hell I even did half the time because I just didn't care.
With DD2 that's a bit different since I do like their approach to it a bit better this time though at some points my interest definitely disappeared for a bit but so far, after 30 hours I think it's a bit more memorable and bearable.
Those are my positive and negatives so far for this game after 30 hours, I think I'm about to innitiate the first ending soon or at least start with the bundle of quests it will have and I'll probably add some update(s) after eithere getting some of the endings or getting the platinum for this game.
So far I must say that this is a must play experience type of game that sadly is held back by poor performances and lots of discourse around the MTX's instead of actual gameplay. Though the performance is an aspect capcom should really look into soon!
Dragon's dogma 2 is not an actual sequel of the first game, it's more like a hidden remake / reboot of the original dragon's dogma where every idea that the developers must've had back in the day but were held back by the restrictions of hardware of the time or by their own skill / available budget was all realized in this new title.
On pretty much every aspect, this game improves upon from the first:
+ Combat has become more versatile and feels like there is weight behind each attack, creating combinations with your basic attacks and abilities earned by leveling up your vocations. Breaking an enemies guard also allows for your heavy attack to do extra damage in their most vulnerable state which is quite handy and satisfactory when ending off a fight.
+ Vocations: Just like in the first game, you can select a vocation at the start of your game and if you so wish, change in-between them by visiting certain Inn's or find yourself a vocation guild. Some return from the original, some with some slight changes such as strider being changed to Thief and noticably missing the ability to wield a bow and arrow.
There are also new ones that you can unlock by finding certain characters or completing a set of quests, these new vocations are quite fun and I would to experiment with some of them for quite a bit to truly understand them, mainly talking about the Trickster vocation which seems a bit odd at first but can be extremely fun!
Not only that but each vocation also has a Maister-Ability, these can be earned from specific characters with the only requirements being to complete certain quests in which they are involved and have a good affinity with them, this doesn't actually to all these characters, some of them have extremely low requirements but in general, it's adviced to complete their quests if they have them and make sure you have a good affinity.
+ The world of the original was quite bland and uninteresting for most, including myself. I was never really interested in exploring the world of the original but the remake / sequel in that regard, did a total 180.
This time around the world is a bit more dense, there's lots of places to find and explore, lots of caves, lots of secrets and lots of quests hidden within them which we will come back to. Exploration in this game is by no means boring and part of that has to do with the world being interesting, beautiful and eventful as you'll probably come across a boat load of enemies along the way and maybe some people in need who will grant you rewards for helping them.
Where the world lacked in the first game, capcom took it and improved it by at least 10x and shipped it and it has definitely paid off.
+ Handholding is something that many games do these days which sometimes is necessary in certain games where level design makes it hard to know what the next step is but that's just bad game design. Other games do it because they're afraid we're newly born infants with a lack of problem solving and critical thinking skills, though that may be true for some, the majority of us have these abilities & capcom is quite certain we do too.
Quests in Dragon's dogma are different from other games whereas most games show you characters with a quest, dragon's dogma doesn't tell you but the characters will approach you if they have something for you to do, this makes it more interesting and surprising when out of nowhere, when walking through the streets of Vernworth or Bakbathall, some random NPC stops you in your tracks to give you a quest. Some of these quests will give you a marker as to where you quest will be able to be continued while other quests or objectives will simply give you a hint and as to what you should do from there, is totally up to you to figure out and if you can't, ask your pawns or one of those orbits or whatever they called with their little magic balls.
More games should have this approach to quest design as it teaches the player to use their knowledge and problem solving skills to progress their journey, with most games totally killing this aspect, I feel like many gamers lose this ability and with games like DD2 bringing it back, it's a breath of fresh air and a good work out for the brain. Especially the Sphnix riddles will make you think a lot with a sprinkle of anxiety when she asks you if you're REALLY sure about your answer, creepy stuff.
There are also some negatives unfortunately that must be adressed and it's not the MTX's, that's something you'll have to make your own conclusion about as it doesn't have anything to do with my gameplay.
- Frame rates in this game are very unstable. Personally, I don't mind 30 FPS in games like dragon's dogma 2 where's there's an abundance of effects going on at times during fights, a big open world, beautiful locations, interesting and satisfying gameplay, the whole package let's say, I don't mind 30 FPS in those games, however, it has to be stable.
Here that is not case as the frames can go from 30 to 32 to 25 to sometimes as low as 20 if there's 5 different effects going across the screen at once. Optimization is one of this games weakpoints and hopefully this will be addressed in future updates.
- Side characters in this game are interesting and I was thinking about putting them in the positive list BUT for as interesting as some of them are in this game, it's unfortunate that they don't play bigger roles in the games story or their own stories seem to be rather short.
Ulrika for example is one of the main love interests of the game, though she has potential to be interesting due to her loyal and loving nature for her people, having a sense of leadership and all, once her quest is over which isn't even that big to begin with, her entire characters vanishes to matter at all it feels like. You can still visit her from time to time or vice versa but it has no soul or purpose besides going on a journey with her with no purpose whatsoever. Wilhelmina has the same problem, though her story and character are far more interesting compared to Ulrika, also serving as a main romance, once her quest is over, she vanishes completely and leaves you with no ability to visit her or talk to her or anything, she just doesn't exist anymore. I think those are sad things and I'm near the end of the game of my first playthrough and I must say that their lack of presence beyond their own respective quests is strange and upsetting considering how important of characters they could've been.
- Stories in capcom games, in my experience and subjective opinion, have never been "great". They're not really bad either, they're just a bit basic and mostly rely on the characters to really push the game forward and make the narrative interesting, I think that's one of capcom's biggest strengths, characters. And of course gameplay which is probably the most important thing you can have in your GAME.
The story is a bit better than the first one, the first one was really forgettable and even after 5 or 6 playthroughs of it, I still have no clue what the hell I even did half the time because I just didn't care.
With DD2 that's a bit different since I do like their approach to it a bit better this time though at some points my interest definitely disappeared for a bit but so far, after 30 hours I think it's a bit more memorable and bearable.
Those are my positive and negatives so far for this game after 30 hours, I think I'm about to innitiate the first ending soon or at least start with the bundle of quests it will have and I'll probably add some update(s) after eithere getting some of the endings or getting the platinum for this game.
So far I must say that this is a must play experience type of game that sadly is held back by poor performances and lots of discourse around the MTX's instead of actual gameplay. Though the performance is an aspect capcom should really look into soon!