I am so satisfied with this game.

There is so much noise around this game that you can’t get a straight answer about most things, but having gone through the game twice now, and leveling my AI partner to Lvl 87, there is definitely a deep fulfillment I get from the way this game functions.

Pros:

+ Combat. …is A1, top of the line. Most people are used to lock-on systems in games like these, but all it takes is time to get used to how the freeform nature of it, and you’ll be maneuvering your characters like a dream. There is no other game where you can climb giant monsters like Shadow of the Colossus to stab them in their weak points. …Not a one. Climbing into a Griffin only for it to take off, fly around and over the entries map, to either try and make it crash, or ride it back to its nest and finish it there, there is NO OTHER GAME LIKE THIS. There is so much I wish other games would steal from the mechanics of Dogma, if you made an Elden Ring with the combat mechanics and intricacy of Dragon’s Dogma, there would be no higher peak to ascend to. Possibly the best feeling combat in any open world game.

+ AI Pawn System. There is no other game with a system like this. You equip a class, skills, and gear on your custom designed character, and it goes from there. You don’t control them, you influence them. Other players can show your Main Pawn where campsites, caves, and pawn respawn points are on the map, but you decide their personality. Beyond the initial personality type you set up in character creation, they begin to imitate you as you go on. If you climb larger enemies often, they be right next to you in the monster’s back next time. Use birds for target practice as an archer? They will too. Break random boxes to look for items? They will too. And there are many build possibilities for build specialization, and you learn which skills are more effective with the way the AI works, and it’s a joy to figure it out. On top of all that, there’s a whole player economy based off of quests and quest rewards they give their pawns, and it’s really fun to engage with. A completely unique system.

+ Exploration. They put so much stuff out of the way, where ever you could think to look for a secret, there pretty much is one. The Sphinx is out there, and finding it and doing its riddles is one of my favorite gaming experiences now. Walking around the world is weirdly similar to something like Death Stranding where the journey is the point, and now that I’ve seen the world twice over, I just wish there was more.

+ Multiple Unique Systems. There are several obtuse and basically experimental systems here, and they are as impressive as they are baffling. There is a Forgery System where you can perfectly copy some items and produce non-functional copies of others. The Affinity System where you befriend/romance NPCs/your pawn is ridiculous, and is you shouldn’t see it as anything but, it is antithetical to seriousness, but interesting to engage with. Dragonsplague contrary to what you’ve likely heard will not brick your save, but is something to look out for. (If you don’t know what this is DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT.) And so many other little intricacies that are just in there. If you are interested in systems based games, this is one for the books.

+ Endgame [NO SPOILERS]. If you are familiar with the Everfall of the first game, this game has its own version of that…it is very different. Very different. But amazing. I’ve never played a game that has done this, and I come to Dragon’s Dogma for new ideas and unique execution. I loved this and was totally shocked by everything that happened in these last few hours. Completely memorable.

Middling/Complicated Aspects:

~ Story. As you’ve likely heard, DD2 has story issues. But there’s a distinction to be made: the story sets up a plot of political intrigue, but it pivots to focus on the lore/mythology aspects of the world, leaving the initial characters pretty much in the dust. The main way you will appreciate the story, is if you are familiar with the nature of the world from DD1 and how that story ends. In terms of the development of the world’s lore, the story does great things, but only if you know the set up from the first game.

~ Gear. Gear looks amazing, it all looks just awesome, with high degrees of detail. But the properties of the gear is mostly simple, if it has higher stats or looks cooler than your last gear piece, equip it. There is only a handful of items that distinguish themselves in important ways, like daggers that have a permanent electric enchantment, or a spear that does more damage, the more damage you do without getting hit. It’s still exciting when you get better and more unique gear, but it’s pretty simple. I don’t count simple as a negative, it works for the systems here, but it’s not too special really in this regard. That said, the one aspect I find really cool is that different region’s blacksmiths with enhance different stats of your gear depending on their specialization. Really cool detail.

Cons:

- Difficulty. The main thing I was expecting and excited for in a Dragon’s Dogma sequel was the difficulty. Long grueling endurance fights against huge enemies. That’s how it was for DD1. At first, it is like that. But once you get to about level 35, with the best gear you can get, you begin to outpace the enemies you encounter. At this point, Capcom quickly needs to improve the very ineffective difficulty scaling or add a hard mode, or else people will stop leveling their characters/pawns, because there is currently no reason to keep playing when there is no friction to run up against. I come to Dragon’s Dogma for friction, it feels awesome to beat seemingly unwinnable odds. This game could go on for as long as people will play it, but for that to happen they need to fix this ASAP.

- Microtransactions. You can completely ignore these, the game is not balanced to get make you want to buy any, you will earn most things they put up for sale in just a few hours of play naturally. That being said, I hope the amount of blowback Capcom received from these even existing makes them reconsider putting them in any of their games. The negative response was SO present, they had to have lost more in pure game sales than anyone spent on microtransactions by a good factor. I don’t give people much credit when it comes to not being idiots buying this stuff, but even without looking at any real stats, I don’t see how ANYONE would find a reason to buy these at all, they’re that worthless. There are many people who have been warded off of a spectacular and singular game, and it’s a shame.

- Performance. As of the launch build, even on a high end rig, the game does not run as good as you would expect in settlements where there are a lot of people. The game is CPU bound, primarily due to so much being calculated between all the entities in a given space. In a game where giant monsters will randomly invade settlements, and all NPCs in said settlement will react to that, I generally approve of the trade off. But it is inherently a negative, and I hope Capcom does everything it can to optimize this. More people need to play this game.


Conclusion:

I love this game, I love this game to death. It does have its problems, and it feels like there could be even more intricacies that they weren’t able to finish. But what’s here in this game world is now one of my fondest experiences I’ve ever had in a game. Now I just need a proper difficulty update and an infinite dungeon DLC and I’m set for life.

9/10.

I am so satisfied with this game. There is so much noise around this game that you can’t get a straight answer about most things, but having gone through the game twice now, and leveling my AI partner to Lvl 87, there is definitely a deep fulfillment I get from the way this game functions. Pros: + Combat. …is A1, top of the line. Most people are used to lock-on systems in games like these, but all it takes is time to get used to how the freeform nature of it, and you’ll be maneuvering your characters like a dream. There is no other game where you can climb giant monsters like Shadow of the Colossus to stab them in their weak points. …Not a one. Climbing into a Griffin only for it to take off, fly around and over the entries map, to either try and make it crash, or ride it back to its nest and finish it there, there is NO OTHER GAME LIKE THIS. There is so much I wish other games would steal from the mechanics of Dogma, if you made an Elden Ring with the combat mechanics and intricacy of Dragon’s Dogma, there would be no higher peak to ascend to. Possibly the best feeling combat in any open world game. + AI Pawn System. There is no other game with a system like this. You equip a class, skills, and gear on your custom designed character, and it goes from there. You don’t control them, you influence them. Other players can show your Main Pawn where campsites, caves, and pawn respawn points are on the map, but you decide their personality. Beyond the initial personality type you set up in character creation, they begin to imitate you as you go on. If you climb larger enemies often, they be right next to you in the monster’s back next time. Use birds for target practice as an archer? They will too. Break random boxes to look for items? They will too. And there are many build possibilities for build specialization, and you learn which skills are more effective with the way the AI works, and it’s a joy to figure it out. On top of all that, there’s a whole player economy based off of quests and quest rewards they give their pawns, and it’s really fun to engage with. A completely unique system. + Exploration. They put so much stuff out of the way, where ever you could think to look for a secret, there pretty much is one. The Sphinx is out there, and finding it and doing its riddles is one of my favorite gaming experiences now. Walking around the world is weirdly similar to something like Death Stranding where the journey is the point, and now that I’ve seen the world twice over, I just wish there was more. + Multiple Unique Systems. There are several obtuse and basically experimental systems here, and they are as impressive as they are baffling. There is a Forgery System where you can perfectly copy some items and produce non-functional copies of others. The Affinity System where you befriend/romance NPCs/your pawn is ridiculous, and is you shouldn’t see it as anything but, it is antithetical to seriousness, but interesting to engage with. Dragonsplague contrary to what you’ve likely heard will not brick your save, but is something to look out for. (If you don’t know what this is DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT.) And so many other little intricacies that are just in there. If you are interested in systems based games, this is one for the books. + Endgame [NO SPOILERS]. If you are familiar with the Everfall of the first game, this game has its own version of that…it is very different. Very different. But amazing. I’ve never played a game that has done this, and I come to Dragon’s Dogma for new ideas and unique execution. I loved this and was totally shocked by everything that happened in these last few hours. Completely memorable. Middling/Complicated Aspects: ~ Story. As you’ve likely heard, DD2 has story issues. But there’s a distinction to be made: the story sets up a plot of political intrigue, but it pivots to focus on the lore/mythology aspects of the world, leaving the initial characters pretty much in the dust. The main way you will appreciate the story, is if you are familiar with the nature of the world from DD1 and how that story ends. In terms of the development of the world’s lore, the story does great things, but only if you know the set up from the first game. ~ Gear. Gear looks amazing, it all looks just awesome, with high degrees of detail. But the properties of the gear is mostly simple, if it has higher stats or looks cooler than your last gear piece, equip it. There is only a handful of items that distinguish themselves in important ways, like daggers that have a permanent electric enchantment, or a spear that does more damage, the more damage you do without getting hit. It’s still exciting when you get better and more unique gear, but it’s pretty simple. I don’t count simple as a negative, it works for the systems here, but it’s not too special really in this regard. That said, the one aspect I find really cool is that different region’s blacksmiths with enhance different stats of your gear depending on their specialization. Really cool detail. Cons: - Difficulty. The main thing I was expecting and excited for in a Dragon’s Dogma sequel was the difficulty. Long grueling endurance fights against huge enemies. That’s how it was for DD1. At first, it is like that. But once you get to about level 35, with the best gear you can get, you begin to outpace the enemies you encounter. At this point, Capcom quickly needs to improve the very ineffective difficulty scaling or add a hard mode, or else people will stop leveling their characters/pawns, because there is currently no reason to keep playing when there is no friction to run up against. I come to Dragon’s Dogma for friction, it feels awesome to beat seemingly unwinnable odds. This game could go on for as long as people will play it, but for that to happen they need to fix this ASAP. - Microtransactions. You can completely ignore these, the game is not balanced to get make you want to buy any, you will earn most things they put up for sale in just a few hours of play naturally. That being said, I hope the amount of blowback Capcom received from these even existing makes them reconsider putting them in any of their games. The negative response was SO present, they had to have lost more in pure game sales than anyone spent on microtransactions by a good factor. I don’t give people much credit when it comes to not being idiots buying this stuff, but even without looking at any real stats, I don’t see how ANYONE would find a reason to buy these at all, they’re that worthless. There are many people who have been warded off of a spectacular and singular game, and it’s a shame. - Performance. As of the launch build, even on a high end rig, the game does not run as good as you would expect in settlements where there are a lot of people. The game is CPU bound, primarily due to so much being calculated between all the entities in a given space. In a game where giant monsters will randomly invade settlements, and all NPCs in said settlement will react to that, I generally approve of the trade off. But it is inherently a negative, and I hope Capcom does everything it can to optimize this. More people need to play this game. Conclusion: I love this game, I love this game to death. It does have its problems, and it feels like there could be even more intricacies that they weren’t able to finish. But what’s here in this game world is now one of my fondest experiences I’ve ever had in a game. Now I just need a proper difficulty update and an infinite dungeon DLC and I’m set for life. 9/10.