(spoilers for DD1 too)

This game is so fucking weird

DD1 was a diamond in the rough but the fun as fuck gameplay, ESPECIALLY of the 4 archer classes, and the massive variety of bosses (admittedly thanks to Dark Arisen, but even the base DD1 was more solid in that regard than DD2) and solid dungeons carried it hard

But it had extremely obvious areas of improvement, notably the story which actually even had pretty interesting lore in the postgame, and the characters were kinda shit

And guess what DD2's story and characters are EVEN WORSE!!!

I honestly can't even tell you what happened in this game's story, DD1 had some memorable moments in its main quest like the entire expedition to hunt the griffon is genuinely incredible, the cult was an antagonistic force that somewhat worked (DD2 has none of those???), and the king and his death were genuinely good moments, and the Grigori fight was fucking awesome (the DD2 dragon is so bad lmao), here there is NOTHING

My female Simple pawn voice 5 has way more personality than all the characters in this game. Pawns do have more character here which is great (aside from one thing), though the simplification of inclinations isn't

Character creation is definitely better and I feel like armors overall look better too, people complain about simplification with removing stuff like gloves but I think I made my character and pawn look better than in DD1. It's also really good that they got rid of the "stats you get at level-ups depend on your class" bullshit

I actually had hope for a bit because of the unmoored world, i genuinely popped off at that scene cause it looked like the elaboration on the seneschal storyline of DD1 I dreamed of, and while I do think that sorta-postgame is cool, it's way too short, is too little too late, didn't make me care about the characters, locking the map out is still kinda fucking stupid, and it ends on a massive whimper with a scripted fight. The worm dragon fight in elven woods was cool at least

And it does feel like the game is kinda fucking easy, enemies do no damage and getting ganked by multiple goblins with insane hitstun is a much bigger threat than any boss (except the Dullahan which is JACKED for some reason, this guy is actually super cool to fight). The poor chimera got gutted so hard from its DD1 version where you could destroy the individual body parts. Removing the zoom-in on whenever bosses become vulnerable with pawns saying an amazing line for each boss "It's fallen, now, ATTACK!" "THE GOAT IS SILENCED!" is really weird given how fucking awesome that was, and DD2 Imminent Triumph is MUCH worse I mean listen to that shit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTNfuztCMgM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNaV-rEo67Y
the new song that plays in the same contexts (Reversal of Fate) is pretty cool though. But in general the soundtrack is super generic, which sucks when you're a DD1 sequel

Quest design in this game is also really bad, they really just make you run around a ton around the massive world with often no fast travel and nothing interesting happening on the way. Ferrystones being so expensive and in 1 per shop until refresh is a terrible, TERRIBLE decision and makes you run around for no reason far too much, I spent a massive portion of my playtime on this boring traversal

But the worst problem by far, remember how I mentioned the 4 archer classes in DD1? None of the classes in DD2 even compare to that. These 4 with the dagger and bow/magic bow combo (and sword/bow for Assassin was really cool too) are some of the most fun action rpg gameplay out there and none of the DD2 classes have that kind of versatility. Even Sorcerer is worse, throwing out the support spells was definitely a good decision to still give Mage something to do, but they also have less offensive spells, especially the incredibly fun tier 3 ice spears and thunder dome, no status ailment spells and holy might as well not exist and dark doesn't, lightning feels useless, and they are hurt BADLY by the 4 skill slots, why are they so much less versatile too? At least Warrior is much better in DD2 lol. Magick Archer is pretty easily the most fun class in DD2 but I still vastly prefer the DD1 version that had some magic dagger skills. Mystic Spearhand has super underwheming damage against big enemies and Trickster is the most boring shit ever made LMAO did they think anyone would want to play this

Physical bows were especially gutted, equipping explosive arrows midboss in DD1 and destroying it felt amazing and even made inventory management deeper cause they were heavy as fuck, here explosive arrows are tied to a skill wtf

Dungeons are also really disappointing, they definitely sacrificed quality for quantity and it's a huge shame. If we go back to the DD1 main plot, there was this one moment where you explore catacombs and encounter the cult leader at the end who turns his goons into zombies, those catacombs are an infinitely better dungeon than anything in DD2 and that encounter, even though it's really not that great, is more memorable than practically everything in DD2's plot

Anyway yeah DD1 still unfortunately clears and it really sucks to say this. If a Dark Arisen style expansion came out it probably wouldn't fix a lot of the problems. Instead of a polish or fully realized DD1 it feels like a repeat that created new mistakes and made good parts much worse, it's a massive step back. Shit thinking about it I'm way more dissapointed than I initially thought

also the microtransactions literally do not matter stop being dumb

I really did not think DD1 would ever get a sequel, there was the mmorpg that was only in japan but outside Dark Arisen and a bad netflix anime not much with the series, but here we are in 2024 with Dragon's Dogma 2.

Honestly its a little hard to talk about this without gushing like a fanboy. I've sunk a lot of hours in the first game and honestly I don't see this game as a replacement as I can see myself going back, even with a possible DA-like expansion. A few of my gripes with the sequel have to include how some vocations are handled, mostly just the magic vocations.

Every vocation now has 4 skills and a vocation action and Sorcerer while pretty powerful its very limited due the lack of options. The overall lack of the dark element and even some of its defensive options like Necromancy are missing. Missing skills aren't too much a big deal but it is a little sad.

Mage got a upgrade in general and I can't say im too sad about Mystic Knight being gone and replaced by Spearhand, as Spearhand is quite fun. Magick Archer's lack of daggers however are bit sad but this just something DD2 wanted to do with its vocations as sub weapons aren't really a thing per say which in a sense gimps magic vocations as they don't just get to have 6 spells.

In a sense this game is DD1 realized to an extent however there's a reason when you first boot this game up it says Dragon's Dogma and not Dragon's Dogma 2. The beastren are finally used and an Elven Area is here but obviously nothing about the Moon, and some story beats are similar but not the same. However the game's plot is definitely different.

One core aspect is that The Dragon in 2 is generally very passive only really making the Arisen and basically leaving to them to their own devices. This is very different from Grigori in 1 who very much lives up to his role, it makes Grigori a very personal villain to the Arisen in 1 but that can't be said in 2. The Dragon in 2 isn't even named nor does he actually tell this, in a lot ways this Dragon hardly even wants to be here and that leads into the unmoored world.

The unmoored world is where this game starts to be a sequel, its even got a title drop when you first boot it up. This is the post-game of DD2 and like DD1 you'll be here for a bit to slay certain bosses but no collecting 20 wakestones here. In the unmoored world we get a better glimpse of the Seafloor Shrine, a shrine that we see around the half way point of the game and turns it out that its the ruins of Gran Soren. Meaning that we did not break the cycle in the events of DD1, instead our Pawn lived out their life and eventually just like DD1 Gran Soren and apparently all of Gransys is nothing more than ruins deep below the sea of this new world.

Another thing I love about DD2 are the Pawns. I loved Pawns in 1 and never really tired of them saying the same lines of "wolves hunt in packs" "tis weak to fire" and what not. That's still here and well with lines such as "The early griffin gets the worm." "There's a ladder here" but generally I love how much more emotional pawns are at the start of the game. In DD1 Pawns aren't too human in the start only ever becoming more personable the longer you play. In 2 there is a lot more to them personality wise and there's even a hidden pawn affinity stat that changes the true ending slightly.

Overall I think i could sit here and type out almost all my thoughts about DD2 but for the sake brevity I think I'll stop here. This review is a mess but generally I just really like Dragon's Dogma 2 as much i like the first game. While yes the performance should've been better on launch and yes there was a gross amount of misinformation on the mtx that really shouldn't exist, There wasn't a whole lot the damper my experience of this game. All i hope for is that the expansion is about impactful as Dark Arisen and that a hard mode gets added.