So, as I expected, the game is what the first one did well but even better. Never have I been so drilled by the gameplay of an ARPG and it's been a WHILE since the last time the physics of a game impressed me that much (since RDR2 to be precise). Being able to make a Cyclop loose his balance and then pushing his feet to make him fall on the ground and sending big swings in his head then grabbing is neck when he gets back up and finishing him off with a slash of greatsword going from the neck to the leg is just epicness itself.
There is a lot of different vocations in the game and the gameplay and up being very diversified when you reach the end. I personnaly spent almost all my playthrough playing the Champion class after unlocking it but I tried some of the other and while yes there is a lot of different gameplays I need to recognise that some like the archer class is particularily dogshit. Maybe because in higher level zones it's difficult to restart from level 1 with archer but DAMN what a horrible time it was hahaha. The classes are really unbalanced, like the Thief is over broken and deals so much damages to the enemy that I decided to ban it completely from my party do have a little more challenge. So, yeah, the gameplay is really diversified and really cool, all the upgrades can make you change completely your playstyle even within the same class.
Moreover, if great gameplay wasn't enough, there is also a great exploration ! The map isn't very big (even though it can be long to go from a capital to another) so you'll don't really need fast travel, you'll use them only when you have to go to the same place 4 or 5 times to complete a special quest. The only thing I missed while exploring is being rewarded with unique weapons, armor or else like you may have in Elden Ring but instead you are rewarded with a special place with a quest serie to do, it's still great though ! And when reaching true ending, being rewarded for spending time in the open world is really cool.
The game is clearly a gigantic upgrade of the first one, keeping the philosophy of the game while making it more fun to play and more casual friendly event though I still think it's not a game for everyone. I don't like those kind of phrases usually but I really mean it, there is a lot of things in the game that is against what the industry has become, it's the kind of game where you have to often guess what you have to do and I love that.
But I didn't note it with a 5/5 but a 4.5/5, why ? To be honest there is a shadow glooming over the game that makes you feel like the game released too early and a lot of content was cut exactly like the first one. The things hinting that are the variety of ennemies that are the same from hour 10 to hour 40 unfortunately. And the other hint in my opinion is the pacing of the story, it really feels like some arcs were cut, you and up with a skeleton with the skull, the spine and the legs but without the limbs and the arms. It surely is once again a story of investors pushing the dev team to release the game early. But thanks to the popularity and the sales, maybe there will be another game in the future ?
So in the end, yeah, I loved this game. I started to doubt halfway through but when I came back to the main story after being done exploring, the game told me how great he was. But yeah, I think when Dragon's Dogma 3 will release, we will finally have the whole experience that Itsuno intended.
There is a lot of different vocations in the game and the gameplay and up being very diversified when you reach the end. I personnaly spent almost all my playthrough playing the Champion class after unlocking it but I tried some of the other and while yes there is a lot of different gameplays I need to recognise that some like the archer class is particularily dogshit. Maybe because in higher level zones it's difficult to restart from level 1 with archer but DAMN what a horrible time it was hahaha. The classes are really unbalanced, like the Thief is over broken and deals so much damages to the enemy that I decided to ban it completely from my party do have a little more challenge. So, yeah, the gameplay is really diversified and really cool, all the upgrades can make you change completely your playstyle even within the same class.
Moreover, if great gameplay wasn't enough, there is also a great exploration ! The map isn't very big (even though it can be long to go from a capital to another) so you'll don't really need fast travel, you'll use them only when you have to go to the same place 4 or 5 times to complete a special quest. The only thing I missed while exploring is being rewarded with unique weapons, armor or else like you may have in Elden Ring but instead you are rewarded with a special place with a quest serie to do, it's still great though ! And when reaching true ending, being rewarded for spending time in the open world is really cool.
The game is clearly a gigantic upgrade of the first one, keeping the philosophy of the game while making it more fun to play and more casual friendly event though I still think it's not a game for everyone. I don't like those kind of phrases usually but I really mean it, there is a lot of things in the game that is against what the industry has become, it's the kind of game where you have to often guess what you have to do and I love that.
But I didn't note it with a 5/5 but a 4.5/5, why ? To be honest there is a shadow glooming over the game that makes you feel like the game released too early and a lot of content was cut exactly like the first one. The things hinting that are the variety of ennemies that are the same from hour 10 to hour 40 unfortunately. And the other hint in my opinion is the pacing of the story, it really feels like some arcs were cut, you and up with a skeleton with the skull, the spine and the legs but without the limbs and the arms. It surely is once again a story of investors pushing the dev team to release the game early. But thanks to the popularity and the sales, maybe there will be another game in the future ?
So in the end, yeah, I loved this game. I started to doubt halfway through but when I came back to the main story after being done exploring, the game told me how great he was. But yeah, I think when Dragon's Dogma 3 will release, we will finally have the whole experience that Itsuno intended.