Dragon's Dogma II is my favorite game of the year so far. And this is coming from someone who was positively-mixed on the first one. As in, I liked a lot about half of it, while the other half was boring or very frustrating. Yet I still don't fully grasp why I love this game so much, namely with how they didn't change most of what I disliked from the DD 1. If anything, parts of this game are more hostile to the player then ever.
Not all quests are created equal. If you don't act upon them within a certain time frame of accepting them, then they'll be discontinued. If someone reports a missing person last seen being attacked by goblins, those goblins will kill them if you don't act fast enough. Some problems can't wait forever, and being a hero requires you to be vigilant in who needs help now or later. This time limit synchronizes well with the new 'Loss Gauge' mechanic. Taking damage slowly accumulates into permanent health loss. This loss doesn't recover on its own, so you can wind up in situations where you have half of your usual maximum health, while scrambling in the pitch-black of the night and then- "Oh crap! A boss health bar appeared on screen!" To recover your maximum health, you must sleep. Inns are safe, but are also expensive and aren't exactly common in the middle of the wilderness. Campsites are common, but not only do you need a camping set, which are often very heavy, but there's a chance of monsters interrupting your sleep with your health still depleted. And those same monsters can destroy your tent as well, so good luck if you don't have a spare set. You can mitigate the campsite ambushes by clearing monsters in the nearby area, but it's still not a guaranteed that you'll have a restful sleep. This isn't getting into the more insidious nature of this mechanic; sleep takes time. Remember that some events and quests are on a time limit, meaning if you rest every time the loss gauge accumulates then your going to be failing a lot of quests. Fast travel doesn't take any time; but not only are the fast travel items rare and pricey as hell, but the number of fast travel locations is miniscule til you find the rare portcrystals, which allows you to make your own fast travel locations.
Sounds stressful, doesn't it?
Not really.
And I can't put my finger on why. I think it's because, it was fun? It was fun charting out the best path forward, deciding on whether I should go on foot or hire a oxcart (which might get attacked, and if that happens you got to make sure the cart doesn't get destroyed or else your going on foot anyway), discovering mini-dungeons on my way, running into the many monsters, and all sorts of hijinks.
Oh the best thing Dragon's Dogma II gave me were all these wild stories that I experienced. Not the in-game story, more think Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom clashing of game systems that result in such memorable moments. I once grabbed onto a griffin when it was low on health, where it then soar halfway across the map and even passed over the capital city in one clean flight, as my character held on to dear life. I had a seemingly normal encounter with the harpy enemies as my warrior pawn was being his awesome self, til a harpy grabbed him from the air and dropped him into water, where the brine pulled him under killing him instantly. I had a quest where a artist needed to observe a griffin in person for inspiration and ask that my party not kill it too soon, but I forgot my main pawn, Pepper, just recently learned that meteor spell. So that didn't last long. I remember when I was traveling on a bridge at night, when a dullahan emerged from the fog and proceeded to wreck my whole part. My main character scraped by with his life, and had to make it to town all bruised and battered while stumbling through the dark. And tricking enemies to walk onto a fake platform and they then fall off a cliff was immensely gratifying.
There's a kinetic energy to the battles to contrast with the long journeys you take on foot. The new physics engine allows for more weighty reactions with all sorts of body movements, as you launch goblins into orbit or have a cyclops slip on a slope and tumble down a cliff. A lot of the unlockable skills in combat for each vocation have a emphasis on staggering and knocking foes off balance rather then raw damage. It's a game to rewards smarter combat strategies rather then bigger numbers... unless we're talking about the meteor spell which can get so ludicrously overpowered that it can one shot entire boss fights. I jest since that spell at least requires one to keep the party's Sorcerer safe as they are stuck in place during an excruciatingly long casting time, so it's a potent tool rather then "I Win" button.
Dragon's Dogma II plays so much faster and smoother then the first. I'll admit however that the first game, with the Dark Arisen expansion included, has a higher variety in builds. There's more equipment that have unique effects that can make each playthrough less rigid. Namely in weapons and accessories, the latter of which are fairly standard in the sequel. Plus certain interesting abilities and play styles that didn't make it back, like the Mystic Knight and their shields that unleash magic spells when struck, or the unique Magik Archer skill that kills one of your own party members for a single, calamitous attack that can rinse most enemies. Dragon's Dogma II makes up for what was loss with refinements and fresh new tools. The characters can sprint at an exhilarating rate and are able to climb up ledges with ease, which compliments the much more vertical world design, while adding layers of intrique to exploration. The Mystic Spearhead is an amazing new class with teleports, stuns, party wide magic shields, and even moves lifted from Devil May Cry like the Stinger thrust and Vergil's summoned swords that can be called upon even in the middle of other actions. The Trickster is a unorthodox and unwieldy vocations that asks you to fight without dealing direct damage. While at first they seem borderline unusable, they're special capabilities allows them to perform roles no other class can achieve. They can create a fake clone that diverts aggro from every enemy with ease, to which the player can then latch the clone onto a enemy and make them the target of all the other monsters. Perfect when you pin it on a boss as all the goons turn on their leader. Tricksters can create fake terrain that will make foes halt in their tracks, trip over themselves with a fake floor, or most entertainingly of all leading them off a cliff with the fake floor Looney Tunes style. This class required such a different mindset, and I love their inclusion in this game; even if my class of choice was Thief at the end of the day. The Thief really exemplifies the more satisfying controls and movement; as you ninja sprint into crowds of goblins to slice at their tendons, then seamlessly grab onto a cyclops leg to place a bomb charge as the explosion knocks him on his ass. It all felt a lot more fun and freeing this go around.
Inventory is still a pain to manage, though the more intuitive design makes it easier to sort all your crap at least. I replayed about six hours of Dragon's Dogma 1 after I finished 2, and while I like it a lot more then my initial playthrough (not playing on the unbalanced hard mode helps), that inventory UI is still such a slog to deal with. The way information is parsed in the sequel makes organizing and redistributing items less tedious. It does feel as if you have less space to carry everything, but that might be because of the new golden trove beetles scattered throughout the world that allow the player character and their pawn to increase their maximum carrying capacity. A good incentive for exploration I feel. Though speaking of menus and inventory, what surprised me was that they now allow the player, upon reaching zero health, to open their inventory and heal themselves. Apart from instant death spells and lethal fall damage, you can keep getting back up as long as you have healing items to spare. This would've made the game effortless, if it weren't for the loss gauge. If you keep falling and reviving yourself, your max health is going to keep getting lower and lower. It'll get to a point where it's better to take the reset, since the loss gauge carries over after your press continue. It makes the game less frustrating, while not making it too easy either. Though it can be a little silly when your character keeps getting up no matter how many times the cyclops flattens you like a pancake, it's also pretty raw when you scrape a victory through sheer determination and stubbornness.
Dragon's Dogma always had a unique tone to it, despite how generically fantasy it appears at first. Most of times, characters and monsters move and act how you would expect them to. Sure the player character and pawns are physically fit, but they never leave outside the realm of the human limit. That is, until you use a vocation skill; then you can turn into a buzzsaw while leaping 20 feet, or launch a companion high into the air using your shield as a platform, or perform an intricate double-headed spear combo with lots of flips and spins. It's such a stark contrast. Dragon's Dogma could almost be a simulation of Dungeons & Dragons in real-time action combat, but adding all these over-the-top maneuvers and larger-then-life magic spells makes adds such an amazing contrast. Dragon's Dogma I & II never forget that they are video games, even with the systems that emulate reality.
Unfortunately, some of the most interesting points of Dragon's Dogma II are stuck in massive spoiler territory. If you played the first game you might have a vague inkling of where it might go, and to that I say "Eh, sort of?" And it's not just spoilers for the plot but also big change ups for the gameplay, but I've now said too much.
Dragon's Dogma II is not the most accessible game with either next generation consoles or high end PC required to run it at... 30 fps. Steam Deck didn't work, I tried. Still, I'm so glad to have played this. What might appear to be a standard fantasy game has a lot more going on under the surface, there's secrets waiting in the deepest waters.
Not all quests are created equal. If you don't act upon them within a certain time frame of accepting them, then they'll be discontinued. If someone reports a missing person last seen being attacked by goblins, those goblins will kill them if you don't act fast enough. Some problems can't wait forever, and being a hero requires you to be vigilant in who needs help now or later. This time limit synchronizes well with the new 'Loss Gauge' mechanic. Taking damage slowly accumulates into permanent health loss. This loss doesn't recover on its own, so you can wind up in situations where you have half of your usual maximum health, while scrambling in the pitch-black of the night and then- "Oh crap! A boss health bar appeared on screen!" To recover your maximum health, you must sleep. Inns are safe, but are also expensive and aren't exactly common in the middle of the wilderness. Campsites are common, but not only do you need a camping set, which are often very heavy, but there's a chance of monsters interrupting your sleep with your health still depleted. And those same monsters can destroy your tent as well, so good luck if you don't have a spare set. You can mitigate the campsite ambushes by clearing monsters in the nearby area, but it's still not a guaranteed that you'll have a restful sleep. This isn't getting into the more insidious nature of this mechanic; sleep takes time. Remember that some events and quests are on a time limit, meaning if you rest every time the loss gauge accumulates then your going to be failing a lot of quests. Fast travel doesn't take any time; but not only are the fast travel items rare and pricey as hell, but the number of fast travel locations is miniscule til you find the rare portcrystals, which allows you to make your own fast travel locations.
Sounds stressful, doesn't it?
Not really.
And I can't put my finger on why. I think it's because, it was fun? It was fun charting out the best path forward, deciding on whether I should go on foot or hire a oxcart (which might get attacked, and if that happens you got to make sure the cart doesn't get destroyed or else your going on foot anyway), discovering mini-dungeons on my way, running into the many monsters, and all sorts of hijinks.
Oh the best thing Dragon's Dogma II gave me were all these wild stories that I experienced. Not the in-game story, more think Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom clashing of game systems that result in such memorable moments. I once grabbed onto a griffin when it was low on health, where it then soar halfway across the map and even passed over the capital city in one clean flight, as my character held on to dear life. I had a seemingly normal encounter with the harpy enemies as my warrior pawn was being his awesome self, til a harpy grabbed him from the air and dropped him into water, where the brine pulled him under killing him instantly. I had a quest where a artist needed to observe a griffin in person for inspiration and ask that my party not kill it too soon, but I forgot my main pawn, Pepper, just recently learned that meteor spell. So that didn't last long. I remember when I was traveling on a bridge at night, when a dullahan emerged from the fog and proceeded to wreck my whole part. My main character scraped by with his life, and had to make it to town all bruised and battered while stumbling through the dark. And tricking enemies to walk onto a fake platform and they then fall off a cliff was immensely gratifying.
There's a kinetic energy to the battles to contrast with the long journeys you take on foot. The new physics engine allows for more weighty reactions with all sorts of body movements, as you launch goblins into orbit or have a cyclops slip on a slope and tumble down a cliff. A lot of the unlockable skills in combat for each vocation have a emphasis on staggering and knocking foes off balance rather then raw damage. It's a game to rewards smarter combat strategies rather then bigger numbers... unless we're talking about the meteor spell which can get so ludicrously overpowered that it can one shot entire boss fights. I jest since that spell at least requires one to keep the party's Sorcerer safe as they are stuck in place during an excruciatingly long casting time, so it's a potent tool rather then "I Win" button.
Dragon's Dogma II plays so much faster and smoother then the first. I'll admit however that the first game, with the Dark Arisen expansion included, has a higher variety in builds. There's more equipment that have unique effects that can make each playthrough less rigid. Namely in weapons and accessories, the latter of which are fairly standard in the sequel. Plus certain interesting abilities and play styles that didn't make it back, like the Mystic Knight and their shields that unleash magic spells when struck, or the unique Magik Archer skill that kills one of your own party members for a single, calamitous attack that can rinse most enemies. Dragon's Dogma II makes up for what was loss with refinements and fresh new tools. The characters can sprint at an exhilarating rate and are able to climb up ledges with ease, which compliments the much more vertical world design, while adding layers of intrique to exploration. The Mystic Spearhead is an amazing new class with teleports, stuns, party wide magic shields, and even moves lifted from Devil May Cry like the Stinger thrust and Vergil's summoned swords that can be called upon even in the middle of other actions. The Trickster is a unorthodox and unwieldy vocations that asks you to fight without dealing direct damage. While at first they seem borderline unusable, they're special capabilities allows them to perform roles no other class can achieve. They can create a fake clone that diverts aggro from every enemy with ease, to which the player can then latch the clone onto a enemy and make them the target of all the other monsters. Perfect when you pin it on a boss as all the goons turn on their leader. Tricksters can create fake terrain that will make foes halt in their tracks, trip over themselves with a fake floor, or most entertainingly of all leading them off a cliff with the fake floor Looney Tunes style. This class required such a different mindset, and I love their inclusion in this game; even if my class of choice was Thief at the end of the day. The Thief really exemplifies the more satisfying controls and movement; as you ninja sprint into crowds of goblins to slice at their tendons, then seamlessly grab onto a cyclops leg to place a bomb charge as the explosion knocks him on his ass. It all felt a lot more fun and freeing this go around.
Inventory is still a pain to manage, though the more intuitive design makes it easier to sort all your crap at least. I replayed about six hours of Dragon's Dogma 1 after I finished 2, and while I like it a lot more then my initial playthrough (not playing on the unbalanced hard mode helps), that inventory UI is still such a slog to deal with. The way information is parsed in the sequel makes organizing and redistributing items less tedious. It does feel as if you have less space to carry everything, but that might be because of the new golden trove beetles scattered throughout the world that allow the player character and their pawn to increase their maximum carrying capacity. A good incentive for exploration I feel. Though speaking of menus and inventory, what surprised me was that they now allow the player, upon reaching zero health, to open their inventory and heal themselves. Apart from instant death spells and lethal fall damage, you can keep getting back up as long as you have healing items to spare. This would've made the game effortless, if it weren't for the loss gauge. If you keep falling and reviving yourself, your max health is going to keep getting lower and lower. It'll get to a point where it's better to take the reset, since the loss gauge carries over after your press continue. It makes the game less frustrating, while not making it too easy either. Though it can be a little silly when your character keeps getting up no matter how many times the cyclops flattens you like a pancake, it's also pretty raw when you scrape a victory through sheer determination and stubbornness.
Dragon's Dogma always had a unique tone to it, despite how generically fantasy it appears at first. Most of times, characters and monsters move and act how you would expect them to. Sure the player character and pawns are physically fit, but they never leave outside the realm of the human limit. That is, until you use a vocation skill; then you can turn into a buzzsaw while leaping 20 feet, or launch a companion high into the air using your shield as a platform, or perform an intricate double-headed spear combo with lots of flips and spins. It's such a stark contrast. Dragon's Dogma could almost be a simulation of Dungeons & Dragons in real-time action combat, but adding all these over-the-top maneuvers and larger-then-life magic spells makes adds such an amazing contrast. Dragon's Dogma I & II never forget that they are video games, even with the systems that emulate reality.
Unfortunately, some of the most interesting points of Dragon's Dogma II are stuck in massive spoiler territory. If you played the first game you might have a vague inkling of where it might go, and to that I say "Eh, sort of?" And it's not just spoilers for the plot but also big change ups for the gameplay, but I've now said too much.
Dragon's Dogma II is not the most accessible game with either next generation consoles or high end PC required to run it at... 30 fps. Steam Deck didn't work, I tried. Still, I'm so glad to have played this. What might appear to be a standard fantasy game has a lot more going on under the surface, there's secrets waiting in the deepest waters.
AlphaOne2
3 days ago
I'm still very busy with my life (also playing a long-ass RPG) but whenever I have the time I'll be sure to stop by here to post something myself, or to like your amazing write ups.