I have never played the first Dragon's Dogma, though I have a friend that absolutely adores that game. When the second game was announced, and I saw the Vocations, the world, the customisation, I got really hyped. It's safe to say that I expected more.

To start off on a positive note, the combat is quite fun. Not all Vocations worked for me - I never switched back to a previous class so fast as after beating my first enemy encounter as a Trickster -, but they offer a fair variety for different types of players. For the first half of the game, killing goblins and saurians is exciting! Killing your first ogre or chimera, then, feels amazing! But the law of diminishing returns is strong here. Enemy variety is a joke, and later on, when we can kill even the bigger monsters with barely an effort, it becomes just boring.

The same applies to exploration. While the world is gorgeous, it loses some of its charm when I realised how same-y many places are. It's still interesting to explore new locations, but the game would've benefitted from a few more surprises.

My biggest disappointment, however, lies with the story. Dragon's Dogma has an intriguing concept at its foundation, but the plot and the characters are extremely dull. The most interesting character, Wilhelmina, is mostly use as a convenience for the player, and then discarded, but at least she felt like she had her own purpose, her own goals, and actively worked towards achieving them.

Perhaps playing Baldur's Gate 3 before this has elevated too much what I expected from games of the genre, but when I saw the beauty and the details of the character customisation, I thought our character would actually matter. It annoys me to no end how we can't have a single conversation in this game. All the "talking" options we have are reduced to accepting or declining quests, which I don't think is even a choice in most cases, seeing how linear the plot is - and then for the side quests, it's just an option between "do you want more XP and potentially new items or not?"

And here's something that nearly made me give up on the game: it didn't have the decency to let me know I was getting into the point of no return, locking me into the endgame before I was ready. I missed a whole region, two Vocations, and who knows how many hours of gameplay (because again, despite its many flaws, DD2 has a fun factor, and I wanted to enjoy it as much I could before the end), something that a simple message would've avoided.

I played through the boring endgame section, unlocked the two last Vocations, and started the NG+ to try them out, which is why I've been waiting to write this review. But I have only got to Melve (basically the beginning of the game) and am already bored. As much as I'm liking Magik Archer, the thought of doing quests again fill me with dread. Because really, I don't like 99% of the main and secondary quests in this game. The narrative department really needs to up their game.

One of the most frustrating games I've ever played. This game's idea of a "challenge" is to throw 15 enemies at you every 2 feet. Exploring the world is exhausting and a massive chore. Everything just happens and nothing seems within my control. Mini bosses will spawn out of nowhere during boss fights. Flying enemies will show up and immediately pick up an ally and throw them into the ocean, causing me to have to trek all the way back to the town to revive them. All of this is exacerbated by the fact that I constantly have to rely on these ai companions who love to run into danger and right off of cliffs and never seem to shut up.

Dragon's Dogma 2 is undoubtedly a step up from the first game. The landscapes are more detailed, the character models more lifelike, and the lighting effects more immersive. The graphical overhaul makes exploring Gransys a treat for the eyes, but beneath this shiny veneer, the game world remains all too familiar. The towns, dungeons, and wilderness areas, while prettier, offer little in the way of new or surprising content while being Heavily Unpolished from a Performance standpoint.

Gameplay wise, there are notable improvements. Combat feels smoother, with more responsive controls and a greater variety of skills and abilities to master. The pawn system, a unique feature of the series, has also seen some tweaks, making it more intuitive and engaging. However, these enhancements don't fundamentally change the core experience. It's still the same hack-and-slash adventure with the same monsters to slay and the same quests to undertake (literally).

The story in Dragon's Dogma 2 is serviceable but unremarkable, echoing the narrative beats of the first game. It doesn't venture into new territory, instead relying on familiar tropes and plot twists. This sense of déjà vu permeates the entire experience, making it feel more like an extended DLC than a true sequel.

Dragon's Dogma 2 is a competent game that improves on its predecessor in terms of visuals and gameplay fluidity. However, it falls short of delivering a fresh or groundbreaking experience. For newcomers, it offers a solid entry point into the series. For veterans, it may feel like a journey they've already undertaken, albeit with a shinier and more polished exterior. If you loved the first game, you'll find enjoyment here, but don't expect to be blown away by anything truly new.

(I will update this Review once i get myself through the entire game.)

One day I shall return to you, my darling. Played for about 30 hours, exactly my kinda game with all the weird jank interlocking systems and focus taking in the sights and exploring. I felt like I loved how this played more than the first game. I honestly didn't even get around to doing much of the main quest at all, just kinda explored all over seeing what dumb shit I could find with my pawns and that was great.

My main complaints are that I wish it had more enemy variety and some other means of traversal besides walking and the carriage. Not even more fast travel but like... a horse or something? Also it kinda runs really crappy.

One day I'll get back to it tho. I must

(True ending, all cities evacuated, warrior)

What a weird game. I hated it, I liked it, and everything in between. The highs were really cool, climbing all over bosses and all the hidden mechanics throughout the game was really cool. But there was so much bullshit, running everywhere became tedious and boring pretty much immediately, your character controls like ass, the facial animations and lip sync were horrible, there’s a million years of windup on all of the warrior’s attacks, getting caught without any pawns is a complete death sentence, etc. Really feel like the game should have had mounts or something.

The Dogma of Dragons 2.0

I remember my brother playing through the first game and me being super interested in it as at the time I was playing P3FES for the first time. Primarily this game got a niche audience mainly to play the demo of the best horror game ever RE6!! When I played it I grew super addicted to it like many of friends did and had a unique formula to it.

When it comes to the sequel I was hyped to see what the sequel had in store for me. An even better character creator, new classes to mess with, new places to explore, a new race! And to my surprise all of the sudden, I was left with a bitter taste in my mouth as the credits finally rolled as this long journey came to a close.

I like the idea of wanting to explore everything with very minimum fast travel, but with the atrocious stamina bar slowing me down every few minutes it made it more daunting once I made it so many hours into the game. The little golden trove beetles are a welcome addition an do help out a teeny weeny bit but still not enough to solve the encumberment issue even with giving half my stuff to my pawn on a long expedition. The lack of new enemies and giant monsters was also quite disappointing. I was expecting to see a lot of new enemies, but there was not too many and the whole right side of the map and main city was very reminiscent of the first game. Honestly, there were so many times where I felt like this game was more of a remake of the first then a sequel with the enormous amount of similar things happening.

I think the new classes and enhanced combat is great and the best part hands down, the world is so vibrant and gorgeous to look at especially when you get towards Battahl and the beautiful water on the beaches. The Sphinx was pretty crazy too and really cool. Kinda wish there were more things like it in the game. The amount of side content compared to the original is a huge boost as well with seeker tokens and side quests, but like I said with the carry weight and stamina issues it is a daunting endeavor to take on.

Overall, I can say for the most part I had fun with it even though this is not the type of "sequel" I had in my hopeful mind. For my fellow Dragon's Dogma lovers you will feel right at home when you get to experience this game. Just know many of your issues you had with the first game will probably still be here unfortunately. I'm sure we will get Dark Arisen 2 as well! Even throughout my complaints I will be looking forward to that! Not a bad game in the slightest, just not that good of a sequel in my opinion. If so many things were gonna be as similar as the first, you could of at least gave us "Into free -dangan-" as well!!

Dragon's Dogma II is a weird, complicated, somewhat frustrating, yet ultimately fun and rewarding experience. It does not hold your hand, it's often janky, but the overall game was mostly a fun time.

Combat is great, aided by your ability to change vocations at anytime while also finding new vocations throughout your run. They all play very differently and it's a blast to try out a new one when you get them. Unfortunately, they have mastery attached to them, which was only an issue as I found two unique vocations VERY late in the game and I just could not use them for lack of funds for weapons and armor as well as just being unable to deal significant damage. It was a bummer.

The pawns are also a fascinating choice. You're given one permanent pawn who you create and can change their inventory and vocation whenever you want, but you can also hire two additional pawns to help, which seems like a prerequisite if you want to survive some of the harder fights. They are mostly intelligent with how they combat enemies, although sometimes fall to their death in very annoying ways. I wish there was an online co-op element, but that would change the game in large ways, so I understand it's omission. Still, I feel this would had made the game a bit more fun, as near the back half, things begin to feel a bit samesy.

The enemy variety is simply not wide enough, and endgame fights are mostly annoying and pointless besides certain larger creatures and bosses. Without spoiling anything, there are parts near the end that require a lot of travel on foot, albeit with some fast travel available, and after the 12th monster interruption on your path, my sighs could not have been louder. Travel in general was extremely challenging, long, and arduous and it was very fun in the beginning! However, 20-30 hours in, it becomes more annoying than anything else.

The game is a fun time despite its often cryptic nature. I don't like checking online for what to do, and I try to avoid it as often as possible, but there were at least two points where I simply had no idea what was going on or what to do in a situation that I KNEW something needed to happen in order for me to progress. One wound up being a bug, which sucked but I was able to circumvent it, but the other had an answer I simply would have never thought of. There's cryptic, and then there's Simon's Quest red orb tornado shit cryptic. Like, don't do that, that's dumb and bad and not fun. Stop it. That being said, I still find myself enjoying being lost and a little confused, as you often don't get that from major video games anymore. It's thrilling not knowing exactly what to do, up to a point, and I'm glad it's here despite my gripes.

The story is good, but not great, with well written characters but often mediocre voice acting. They definitely need to hire more people as it was painfully obvious half of the voices were the same people just pitched up or down, which is KINDA embarrassing. The main characters, however, are generally great. There is a love interest part, but it's mostly meaningless which is a shame.

I feel like a New Game Plus run of this down the line will be fun, as you keep all your items and levels, so playing some of the other vocations will be more doable the second time through. Despite some finicky quests that just aren't clear and some lacking enemy variety, the game as a whole a very fun experience. Capcom knows what they're doing and this is proof of that yet again.

Also your pawns just talk too much. Like goddamn, shut up dude, PLEASE shut up.

Um caleidoscópio de sistemas clássicos extende o loop básico de um rpg mundo aberto ao extremo, tensionando o que são atos simples em outros jogos - viajar, carregar, lutar - ao ponto do desconforto. Assim, força os sensores de dopamina dos jogadores famintos em fast travel à preencher as lacunas da experiência com o mundano, fazendo com que pequenos momentos e repetições se exacerbem em tédio, tensão, e para alguns, um tipo de realização completa do senso de aventura. É um conjunto meio despregado de um monte de coisas que não tem tanta coesão, mas cuja soma da obra cria uma experiência de visão única. Eu sou o tipo de cabra que passa por isso e pensa: esse aqui ENTENDE.

O que é Dragon’s Dogma pra mim?

Minha história com o título é longuíssima, sendo afetado pelo potencial aparente do primeiro jogo, lançado em meus influenciáveis dezesseis anos de idade. Uma quebra do formulaico mundo aberto em troca de uma experiência memorável através da superação; um primeiro gosto com uma história surreal; uma amizade duradoura que floresceu ao redor do amor pelo jogo. Amo o que ele foi para mim, e me caía em melancolia ao pensar do que o jogo “poderia ser”. Afinal, se apenas não tivesse sido apressado, teríamos ido à lua.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 vai à lua?

Um enorme maquinário compõe um cenário que quando vislumbra a grandeza, é inigualável. Conflitado entre naturezas: histórias e mecânicas e personagens que prometem um mundo e vão a lugar algum, as vezes sem pé, ou sem cabeça, ou até mesmo um torso. Tudo que não envolve enfiar a espada na garganta de outra criatura vem de uma execução incompleta, rasgada em pedaços irreconhecíveis. Não basta ser vago - o cerne de seu carisma está nos sistemas, e fora deles é um delírio febril. A narrativa só é inicialmente justificável se você admite que seu personagem é uma figura messiânica que sabe de coisas que você não sabe. Pontos enormes começam e terminam sem fanfarra, ou pior, começam e nem terminam, e a maioria das quests portam de uma execução tão blasé e tosca que parece cômico. Em certos momentos, é honestamente transcendente. Poucos jogos são tão conceitualmente típicos e ao mesmo tempo alienígenas como este.

E, quando a fadiga já chegou ao borde do esgotamento, vamos à lua. Ou ao menos, o mais próximo que poderíamos chegar dela. Quando Dragon’s Dogma vira Dragon’s Dogma II muito de sua visão se esclaresce, ainda que os erros do passado continuem grotescos. Suas fraquezas continuam aparentes, e não há muito um esforço em justificar-se. Pelo contrário, o jogo te provoca - não há mais o que fazer, Arisen. Não é isso que você queria? Pois era, sim, eu acho.

É uma promessa incompleta que nos permite, momentaneamente, espionar o por trás das cortinas.

E o que é Dragon’s Dogma 2 pra mim?

Tudo é, em pleno português, uma bagunça. A promessa de maior e melhor não se conclui - sistemas foram simplificados, a grandiosidade e o mistério de muitos aspectos se perde, e pouco se ganhou. A trilha sonora foi de icônica pra um arroz com feijão patético. Não sei dizer se estou decepcionado, pois certamente meus desejos carnais não foram atendidos. Ainda assim, não rechaço o que ganhei, pois o que resulta disso é certamente memorável, e é na memória que um jogo vive e floresce em jardins que vão muito além do que a expectativa pode nos dar. E nesse ponto, Dragon’s Dogma 2 será o que foi de mais divertido, cruel, patético e eterno. Não é do jeito que eu queria, mas fomos à Lua.

O mundo se eu pudesse posicionar meu pawn pra me lançar onde eu quisesse.

This game is a huge disappointment to me.

I loved the first dragon's dogma and played it on ps3 when it released. It was weird and clearly unfinished but the combat and unique approach to gameplay was enough to make it as one of the best games of the generation for me.

When DD 2 was announced i was hyped. With the promise of being a sequel with more dev time and resources, i felt like this would be the complete DD experience we were once promised.

What we got is a game that struggles to push the series forward and sometimes feels even like a step backwards of the original.

Combat as always is cool but classes have been streamlined, some feel better (like warrior feels awesome), but mages feel worse than before and have like half of the spells. Some classes were removed and new ones were added, but ultimately it feels like they could just added new ones without removing previous ones.

Monsters are still very well animated and visuals are amazing, but for some reason they removed a lot of creatures the first game had, while also filling the game with the same goblins and saurians over and over. It feels overkill to have to kill thousands of them by the end of a playthrough.

The map feels bigger than ever and at first it looks like exploration is amazing, but once you understand areas are not well balanced and if you always go south you get better equipment, thus making exploring the other zones worthless.

There is also a surprising lack of endgame. Dragon's dogma had a awesome take on the endgame. The world and spawns changed when you completed the game, making cool to explore again. This time we got the unmoored world, which i beat in like 2 hours and the bosses felt copy pasted. Way worse than the original.

Story is still a mess.

My conclusion is that this game should be a better dragon's dogma, with more content, more classes, more monsters, etc. Instead for everything new, something is removed, the world is bigger than ever but full of worthless enemies and loot and story is still mumbo jumbo.

that itsuno sure knows how to make a video game

i hope that in a potential third game, they can really work on the character building element. for all the bold design choices meant to contribute to a role-playing experience, i never felt like my playthrough was unique to my character. as fun as it that the classes all play so differently, it feels like the game incentivized continuing to change rather than sticking to your preferences. maybe having warfarer available significantly earlier would help......?

other than that, it was more-or-less the sequel i had been waiting for. a much-needed reminder that an open world action game can be more than the framework that the genre has settled into

Dragon's Dogma almost feels like a platform for another game to be set in than a complete game itself.

It's a fun world to explore and troop around in. The micro-loops of leveling different vocations, exploring, and hunting huge beasts is very engaging.

But the larger quest lines just don't draw me in at all. They're definitely not more alluring than the random adventuring.

Dragon's Dogma is set in a very naturalistic, high-fantasy world. Unlike Zelda, it's not a highly artisanal world, crafted just for you. It's just… the world. Cinematically it's also very naturalistic, lighting is all from sources, enemies don't glow at night, or have high contrast outlines. You can easily loose sight of a huge ogre in a shaded grove, and if you're traveling at night or in a cave you'll find how meager your lantern is. But that all works for what the game's going for. Lighting an enemy on fire, or illuminating/silhouetting them with spell effects is important.

The game's systems are all fun (and fairly forgiving). You're encouraged to cycle through all the professions, one play through of this game will let you experience all the facets inside it. You don't pick one path at the beginning and stick with it.

Having a main pawn (basically a second player) who you kit out and spec to compliment your build further allows you to explore different tactics, and then you get to supplement them with two additional pawns hired from other players to round out your troop.

The most annoying aspects are dealing with the menus, and the map marking system is stuck in the 1990s.

But I'd love to see another game be set in this world, using all of Dragon Dogma's systems and gameplay.

Dragon's Dogma 2

"Vontade é poder. É o meio de moldar o mundo da forma como desejamos"

Uma história sobre dragões, heróis escolhidos, deuses, um ciclo eterno e principalmente sobre a força de vontade para moldar o nosso destino. Um jogo q foge dos confortos do gênero, corajoso e único.

10/10

While many have lamented that Dragon's Smegma II is essentially a remake or, at best, a 1.5 update to the original game, I'm perfectly fine with that because it's been 25 years since the original was released, there's no other RPG or game of any genre like it, and the original is one of the best RPGs ever made.

My concern with Dragon's Dogma II was that Capcom's recent output has been lackluster (I know that this is a minority position, fuck off) and has proven that they are ready to sand away the idiosyncracies of games to appeal to larger audiences. E.G., Monster Hunter.

This concern was reinforced by the amount of positive press the game received, especially from gaming journalists who were ambivalent about the original.

In a way, my concerns are justified. But thankfully, this game still understands what made the original so compelling, even if it is a bit of a step back in many ways.

It still has a beautiful open world to explore with well-designed quests that ask the player to pay keen attention to their surroundings or fuck around until something works. In general, Dragon's Dogma II simply respects your intelligence in a way that most modern AAA games don't.

It also maintains an excellent combat system with some of the best game feel of any genre.

I never tired of wandering through the wilderness, taking on hundreds of foes, experimenting with class synergy, and ensuring my pawn was well-equipped to help other Arisens in distant worlds. Scaling a fucking griffin is just as enjoyable in hour 50 as in hour 10. It gets even better when you realize you can hitch a ride on one's back as it flies away and heads off into uncharted regions.

Speaking of, this game is filled with emergent gameplay and allows the player to find many creative ways to solve problems. Did you know that when you knock a Golem apart, you can pick up his fucking head and fire laser beams at shit?

Fuck man, YouTubers are milking the ever-living fuck out of "Things You Didn't Know You Could Do in Dragon's Dogma II" videos with soyface reaction thumbnails just like they did with Breath of the Wild. I remember when I finished the first half of the Sphinx's questline, and she suddenly took off; I decided to see what would happen if I grabbed onto her tits. She took me for a ride across the entire map and brought me straight to the next destination!

I fucking love gradually making my own efficient fast travel network, the same way I did in the first game. It's still just as gratifying to drop a portcrystal in front of a quest giver to instantly teleport to them when I'm ready to turn a quest in.

I'm so glad that Capcom didn't give in to demands from a particularly vocal minority, primarily those who didn't even like the first game, to add co-op. The pawn system is just as good as the previous game and still shines as one of the game's most unique mechanics. Co-op would have ruined this, as balancing the game around both would be impossible.

While Itsuno has mostly stuck to his vision, some unfortunate compromises were made, just like with Monster Hunter before it. I felt like I was losing my mind recalling how many people complained about this game's "friction," with some accusing the developers of intentionally making the game unforgiving to sell its admittedly fucking stupid microtransactions.

I'm sorry, but anyone with this position is a walking fucking skill issue because this game is much easier than Dragon's Dogma in just about every metric. The combat is easier, the classes are more powerful earlier in the game, the world is much simpler to navigate, there are many more quest markers, etc.

My biggest disappointment with Dragon's Dogma II is just how little friction there was compared to the original. I remember that, for at least the first half of the game, wondering around at night was extremely difficult, and if I found myself unable to return to an inn before nightfall, I would sit and wait for the sun to rise.

There's nothing like that in II. Even traversing the world is much easier due to the increased emphasis on verticality.

Still, this isn't enough to ruin what is otherwise an incredible gameplay loop.

I will say that the post-game felt very rushed and is the most prominent example of a great idea that wasn't followed up on. I don't know; maybe they ran out of money.

Still, though, great fucking game. Even if it isn't the earth-shattering masterpiece that its predecessor was. It is a shame how poorly optimized it is and I won't lie and pretend that the performance didn't bother me at times. But I specialize in Eurojank RPGs, so I'm pretty used to it from this genre.

I'd say that I'm looking forward to playing the third game when it releases in 2035, but I'll probably be dead by then.