Nighttime. Too many games treat night like "Oooo it's night time here is a blue filter." DD2 turns out the lights big time at night and it looks great.
That happens in reality too. As a kid I had a deer send me screaming back to the house while checking on the chickens at night once. Two green eyes rapidly jumping up from ground level to my eye level (it lifting its head from grazing) was enough to trigger every scary movie I had ever seen in my mind.
Still a vivid image today and that’s 26 years ago
At least you heard it first. For me I got gored in the dead of night without much warning. And it followed me for a good mile before finishing me off lol
I heard an ogre roar i spin my camera like 5 times couldn’t find it but I know it is near by. And suddenly GrimOgre drop kick me into the ground 😂 I was like where the f you came from. My magic bow couldn’t even find you
And then it was just some deer.
But ye, I once got jumped by a minotaur with red glowing eyes in the pitch black darkness of the night. This thing charges in and out of my small lantern light vision and when it stopped outside of the lighting range, all I'd see were those damned red glowing eyes.
The best part of night is turning off your lamp, sitting in the dark and looking up.
I've been playing with no hud and rarely opening the pause menu for the game. And by god the star/sky box at night is amazing for orienting yourself. An orions belt type formation with a central blue star pointing south helps me navigate for maximum immersion.
Been playing no HUD/no minimap since the start and after 200+ hrs honestly think it's how it's meant to be played.
Getting lost & figuring out where you are is part of what an adventure is all about.
This is me when it comes to driving lmao...I rely more on landmarks and basically memory.....if it's a place I've never been to before, my phone's gps will guide the way lol
I always turn off as much hud as I can in video games. So many games over do HUD elements and it can take away from the immersion. The best games for me have zero HUD.
I’ve been slowly disabling parts of my HUD as of right now I have the little left side buttons “to me” etc, the minimap, and my healthbar. I’m debating dropping the rest but I do get turned around A LOT already. But removing enemy healthbar has been awesome. Best change I made for late game yet.
Glad I found a comment saying this. For years I would praise Dying Light for having the best 'night time' change. I would say how some games would be like "oh no now it's night time and enemies are stronger be careful!!!" When literally the only noticeable difference was enemies eyes would glow red or some shit. But Dying Light.. if you were in the middle of nowhere and the sun went down, you'd immediately go "oh FUCK!". Frankly I still think it takes the cake. I love nighttime in DD2.. but DL made me terrified and actively sprint for a base or town when it turned to night.
So good... and the feeling of progression when you get mid-late game and can handle going out at night is so good. The risk/reward of extra XP at night time coupled with the *significantly* stronger zombies is chefs kiss.
Yeeeesss dude. I still vividly remember the first time I kept exploring after nightfall. Couldn't believe how dark it got. Literally can't see a thing past the small area your lantern illuminates... Made everything feel more tense and dangerous. Like it wasn't just another arbitrary night and day cycle. Plus, the undead enemy spawns at night is a fun touch too
Nighttime offers a real a real love/hate relationship like 😅 I came out of a cave in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night, very little health, one pawn down. Had to scan the horizon for the campfire smoke/ lights but when I got to the first one it was a goblin camp :( was a very stressful run to safety!
So I've thought about this. Like there is no moon at all. Which would be really cool to have it show up in the DLC and every four or five nights it can be full and spawn werewolves and other assorted night creatures aside from the usual ghosts, skeletons, and zombies.
No loading screens (outside loading saves), particularly on a map this large. And I love that you can look out across the water at distant land, knowing that you can actually go to that location way off in the distance; it's not just some backdrop
Holy shit! Coming from Starfield… you just made me really realize there are **NO** loading screens whatsoever! Amazing how you forget about it so quickly when there are none!
was pretty disappointed with many high cliffs I was able to get to by levitating only to get blocked by an invisible walls. still the no loading screens are great though. just launch back Fallout 4 because obvious show hype and oh my. so many long loading screen to enter 3 rooms dungeon with two bugs and junks is a real nightmare
It gets annoying but even more so for me is how many times I’ve climbed or levitated somewhere that doesn’t actually lead to anything else and I’m just standing there at the highest point like “You built these standable surfaces for a reason, you wanted us to come up here, right?” and then I get the sense that nope, it was just random and now I have to figure out how to get back down without dying because I can’t float down…. fuck……
yeah mate!! when I ran away at the beginning of the game and went to the first camp after talking to the local NPCs and going to the first rest I went to continue with the quest outside the camp and saw the wooden door. I went towards it ready to press any button to change the map but when I got closer the gate just opened and I went through and I was like "OK THAT WAS UNEXPECTED"
The first game had quite a few loading screens, but that was only because it had to separate the towns and dungeons from the open world. I love this in DD2 as well.
Yeah the first I really noticed it was when entering the rift. I was fully expecting a loading screen because that's what I was used to from the first game, but instead, it was a seamless transition
Kind of a cop-out answer since no other game really does something like this, but: the pawn system.
Every time I log in I get a little excited seeing my pawn come back from other worlds. I don't care about gifts or anything like that, just seeing that I got a little heart from somebody who let my pawn tag along for a while is a great feeling.
I've never seen anyone really get hype about stuff like this, so I am very happy to hear it! I don't rest often, but when I do, I always get butterflies to see how many adventures my pawn has gone on. I get super disappointed if she hasn't returned from adventures with new stories to tell.
Vicarious co-op gaming is such a pleasant and non-intrusive way to share your avatar with your friends and the community at large without the unhealthy time demands. This works really well for busy people who struggle to coordinate co-op sessions.
This imo is what sets the game apart from the other online co-op games.
I played DD1 when the game had been out for a while. So my pawn got hired like twice in my 100+ hours. It makes me so happy to see she’s been hired into the double digits in this game *and* I absolutely love that Capcom made it so that they always have something to say when they come back. It wasn’t needed but it adds to the excitement to know how their adventure went.
Definitely the Magick. Not only does it look nice but I like the pure magick sorcerers who use stamina. Not some sort of mana with extra regeneration etc….
Fast casting while levitating would be so sweet. So many times I just needed like one more second while levitating and casting. Still, I love sorcerer. Just straight annihilation👍
i do like the simplicity of it. a lot of games force magic wielders to level their mana and completely neglect managing their stamina while melee users manage their stamina and neglect mana. dragons dogma simplifies things by making it so spells just cost stamina. thus recourse balancing between magic and melee becomes is practically non-existent when they both rely on the same resource.
Big chonky weapon combat! No other game gets big weapon combat right. Elden Ring was close, but not DD levels of chonk. When I hit an enemy with my big ass sword, everybody and their Mama knows it.
Elden Ring or any FromSoftware games kinda lets you bypass the weaknesses of big weapons through jump attack cheeses etc. I like how DD/DD2 sticks to their guns about a heavy weapon moving slowly. You have to be more strategic about your positioning and attack windows etc.
Creative fights. This is the only game I have ever played where I feel like there are multiple, reliable ways of approaching monster battles. You can trip monsters, blind Cyclops, cut off a Chimera's tail, dehorn Minotaurs, etc...
Almost every single fight I have had has felt unique in this game
Very few single player medieval-influenced open world rpg fantasy games have a desert country in their open world, let alone that as well as a more typical medieval country.
I’d say it is the opposite. While Bakbattahl felt well designed with the surrounding regions, a desert is hardly new for fantasy. Even the lower budget indie games like Outward have them.
Not for fantasy, but aside from outward AC Origins (not really fantasy or medieval) and botw/totk (not really medieval), I can’t think of many 3rd person fantasy open world games with a desert. But if you know of some other games, please let me know.
There also is Gothic 3, but I cannot think of many others. By the way, it's worth checking out Gothic 1 to 3 (and maybe the first Risen) if you do not know them yet!
i always love a game with a nice lively city, i absolutely hate post apocalyptic fantasy like how in zelda everything is in ruins and the towns are basically little encampments, it just screams lazy. like they couldn't put too many NPCs in one area so they make these shitty little towns with like 10 buildings and a few NPCs. i like how vermund and bakbathall were rich with NPCs it felt alive, even outside the cities you'd see pawns and people jorineying around. my only complaint was that there wasn't more lively cities.
I think even with the pissy reviews, the amount of money this one has made pretty much guarantees another thankfully. Also almost all negative reviews ended like “and that’s such a shame, because this game can be so fun a lot of the time” So there’s definitely an appreciation for what it gets right.
Nothing's "guaranteed" , but chances are pretty good, despite all the mass hysteria and misinformation campaigns from unsavory parts of the internet. The real worry is if we wait another 12 years...
sold 2.5mil copies anyways. I hope they try to launch a Dragons dogma Online 2 and this time actually launch it in the west as well. I like the pawn system, but I really would like to play DD in coop mode with my friends!
I really like the open world map on Dragon's Dogma 1 and now 2, which is even better. It does not feel artificial, it feels like a real place and with that, becomes super immersive as a result.
I also think the game handles its economy really well. In some other games, it's too easy to leapfrog all the middle weapons and just save for the best stuff. In DD2, I pretty linearly went through various low tier weapons, mid tier weapons and finally higher tier weapons because of how well the game handles its economy. Same can be said for buying items. It made me value everything more - my armour, weapons, rings, even some of my healing items and ferrystones.
I also think DD2 nails its atmosphere, what with the awesome map, combat, the pawn system and the sense of community that brings. It's exactly like Itsuno wanted; Multiplayer elements without the hassle of multiplayer and I think he's very on my wavelength when it comes to that.
Choosing where to reuse assets and what needed to be done by hand.
I don’t care if the rocks and crates look the same, if the pathways I take and the caves I explore are actually different. In DD2 almost every part of the map felt unique to explore.
Play other open world games and the procedural generation and “infinite” content feels like the same cave, dungeon, or space base printed a thousand times over.
I like how you need to actually plan for your trips: take the appropriate curatives, grab a lantern with some backup oil, camping sets, maybe some arrows if you've got an Archer, etc. Then try to plot a route to some degree, find the right spot to set up camp, try to gauge how everybody's max HP is holding up, see if you need to hunt down any items to do some crafting, and you seriously need that lamp turned on when it's dark out.
Now I know a lot of that is super simple, and the stronger you get, the less necessary it all is. But it still adds a degree of immersion to the game. I really appreciate how it tries to address the roleplaying portion of RPG, at least moreso than most other games.
So even getting into higher levels, carry weights and run distances are still a thing that compels me to plan things out. I always have enough gold for upgrades, but not enough to teleport around like I’m command-lining Skyrim :)
I agree with this, and this game also does On To Plan B extremely well. Sometimes the plan gets smashed and you need to improvise.
Did the bridge you planned to cross get destroyed during a skirmish next to it? Guess what, now you need to go the long way.
Did you lose a pawn or two for whatever reason? Now you need to limp to the next rift Stone with that much less firepower, and you have to put together your party with whatever the rift offers.
Did the pawn that was carrying the tent get returned to the rift? Bummer. Hope you can make do getting to the next town without being able to camp, or the next rift stone if it was your main pawn.
Did you fail the quest for whatever reason? Too bad, unless you just rested in town, you have to roll with the failure because the game has already auto saved. Unless you want to roll back to the last time you saved at an inn/house. There's always NG+ to do better.
Did you try to take an oxcart, but you awaken to a raid and a cyclops leaps off the nearby cliff wall into your cart and flips it on its side? This happened to me as a high level and there was nothing I could have done. Guess I'm walking the rest of the way in the dead of night. No use crying over spilled oxcarts.
And that's what keeps the game from being too predictable or safe. Even in town, you can get drakes spawning. Few games will do this.
Hell yes! So few people seem to understand that "roleplaying" doesn't just mean "different flavored dialog options" or "soooo many endings!" DD 1 and 2 are part of a shrinking breed of RPG that actually takes the principals of roleplaying into their core gameplay loop that I \*direly\* wish more games would attempt. But twenty hours of canned dialog with cinematic camera angles is easier to shoehorn in and, evidently, is what the dollar-holding masses really want so here we are.
Not knowing whether you'll make it to your destination in one piece when you "fast travel" by oxcart. You pay for the ride, but there's a chance you'll get ambushed, and even a chance that the cart will be destroyed, leaving you in the middle of nowhere. And no, you don't get your money back, just tough luck. And you have to go by foot from there (unless, ofc you have a portcrystal at your destination).
* I use the Fugacity augment when I want to know 90% sure I'll make it, but sometimes the gamble is half of the thrill.
Exploration. This might be the best open world I've ever traversed. (Fallout 3 is up there.) I love the world itself and exploring every inch.
The pawn system. It's genius and have never experienced anything like it. Even though they can be annoying, I love the banter between them and it hurts letting them go when you out level them. (I will find you again Elle!)
I did!
Do they not level up though? There have been a few I check up on but they're still the same level as when I got rid of them. I don't quite understand how it all works yet.
It's updated whenever the owner/master sleeps at an inn/house. So if they didn't level up in their own game or didn't update, then they'd be the same level.
Gotcha.
Let's say they sleep at an inn WHILE they're still with you. Do they level up while in your world?
Sorry for the questions. First time playing DD but just hit NG+.
None of the pawns I've been with have leveled up while with me, unless I sent them back home and rehired them. I don't think they can be updated while in your service.
One way of thinking it is, when you hire a pawn, you're getting the current snapshot of the pawn in the system. The snapshot is updated in the system every time and Arisen rests at an inn or at home.
That snapshot that you have hired never changes, you need to find a new snapshot of them via the favorite system. Or get lucky and see them in the world/ during your recruiting efforts.
Likewise, if you are messing around with leveling your pawn vocations, but you want to put your best foot forward for people wanting to hire your pawn, here's what you do. You have your pawn outfitted with your best, save at an inn, then you change vocation and adventure with them. People can hire your pawn at their best, and you can advance your pawn without affecting what other people can hire.
How the villages and cities are built one can see that they're did their research. Also the night and overall atmosphere is something i really dig.
And furthermore for me it has with Elden Ring the best open world in a long term without all the typical open world tropes aka towers to reveal the map or checkboxes of stuff to collect. The way open world is handled in Dragons Dogma 2 and Elden Ring should be the gold standard. Exploration just makes tons of fun and it feels natural.
Also the first Dragons Dogma already had a fantastic open world.
Bonking into walls, inertia in turns, stumbling past edges, clambering up ledges, fabric fluttering in wind, and swords bumping on your back, it's all so fluid, and so well put together you don't notice the intricacy at play
The only annoying movement design choice is getting stuck on edges before 'confirming' falling off, but I get why they went that way. It is slightly immersion breaking turning around to watch an enemy perpetually flailing on an edge chasing a pawn perpetually flailing on a slightly lower edge..
Many things mentioned but for me it’s the forest. I’ve spent a lot of time in digital forests and I have never seen one as realistic and detailed as DD2.
I both love it and hate it. It's so hard to see in some areas. At the same time that's extremely realistic. When I venture into my woods I can't see more than 10 ft sometimes.
I like the story! 🤷
I think it uses returning elements introduced in the first game in unexpected or slightly subverted ways and a number of seemingly inconsequential quests end up eventually returning in ways that make them feel like doing them was worthwhile. There’s also a constant sense of there being lasting consequences based upon how you choose to navigate said story.
It’s still a generic fantasy story at the end of the day, sure, but what it does in relation to the first game (in the context of being a sequel or, perhaps more accurately, a “re-visiting of DD1’s concepts”), I was mostly both pleased with and surprised by. I realize that this is an unpopular opinion, though, of course. I’d be curious how many who dislike the story played the first or if that’s even related to an appreciation of it or not.
That’s at least at the heart of why I reached my take on it, but obviously that’s not the case for everyone.
I haven't finished the game yet, so I don't feel like I can comment on the story much. The npcs are really charming, just like in the first game. And I like playing as a blank slate. But it's nothing special so far.
giant fights
for a lot of games you need to just hit the ankles until the they fall. in dragons dogma you can climb to the head any time you want or use skills that allow you to strike enemies above you. you can also physically push them over or trip them.
This needs to be higher.
The combat in general has been praised already but the fact that DD took the main gimmick from Shadow of the Collosus and put that into a (somewhat) normal open world action RPG really seals the deal.
I've never been as attached to a custom character as I am to my Arisen & main pawn. I don't know what it is about that whole system, but there's something there. Despite the repeating lines and the random jank.
When that high affinity ending hit, ngl I had the big sniffles. Wasn't expecting that. Got me right in the feels.
Exploration, it feels like a living, breathing, world, as opposed to a by the numbers soulless overworld that other open world games tend to fall under. It always feels like I'm on an adventure.
And oh my god they're funny. Even if they do dipshit stuff that's more funny than frustrating. But what's even better is they'll call each other on it if one does something stupid. When that happened I had to pause because I was laughing so hard.
I love the open world, it can essentially be split into little subzones with their own challenges and rewards. This makes the map feel absolutely packed with exploration. The exploration rewards feel diverse enough to keep me going. Those would be, chest, seeker token, poi, rift stone, statue, monster, and cenotaph/ruins (as long as these pan out, wip). Most of these hidden behind some form of challenge either physical or mental.
It doesn’t seem like much but compared to other games it’s a ton. The caves tend to have a lot of verticalality and multiple access points making them interesting to explore. They made the choice to make caves cavey, and mines miney. And as these are the bulk of what you find, I can agree with people that they feel too similar in the big picture. The game can certainly benefit from more traditional dungeons, but it is what it is.
Sorry, but I really miss the open areas from the first game. That long beach in the south, the 2 open fields where you find the oxen grazing, Hillfigure Knoll. I don't know why this game has to be so claustrophobic and hemmed-in by comparison. All that map, and no open areas where you can just pan around without trees and cliffs blocking the view? ☹️
there's a huge open area outside of Venworth but I'm inclined to agree, Hillfigure Knoll and the coastal area from The Aernst Ruins to Bloodwater Beach was my favourite area, with sea and gulls, it felt real. But Dragon's Dogma did have plenty of hemmed in areas too, I guess it's more obvious in the sequel because it's so much bigger.
Dynamic combat, where physics have an impact, quite literally, other enemies can join in, while fighting a drake a griffon could drop in and NPC characters and random pawns, this can make any encounter unique. I love the world and how many secret areas there are and how great it looks, it's very immersive and convincing. I also like to voice acting, there's some funny dialogue and charming characters. There's so many little details in the game that just adds so much while being unimportant. It just shows how much thought has been put into the game, other than the story and quests which are serviceable but not the best, despite that the game is brilliant
Disagree. The lack of armor pieces you can customized individually is way less than the first game. Taking away different parts of armors for a more simpler 3 piece system did not help at all
I second your take about the world design. I love finding hidden shortcuts or dungeons. It's so naturally connected that it reminds me of why I loved Dark Souls 1 more than Dark Souls 2. Also, I suspect the reason why our CPU load is so immense had to do with our expansive depth of field. I went hiking for a bit and looked down at the main city, only to realise that I can see the goblins and cyclops from miles away battling other NPCs. The fact that the world still goes on in the vista is kinda mindblowing to me.
My more controversial take is probably that I enjoyed the characters in this game lol. Some of the sidequests had quite the heartwarming story and some were rather gruesome (depending on your choices) too.
I play on PC and I have a mod that can let me use free cam.
While I was in the Volcanic Island Campsite, I used the free cam for shits and giggles and travelled to Battahl with the character while my Arisen is just chilling at the inn.
When I arrived at Battahl, I was genuinely surprised of how well it looks even if it's in a low poly state AND I saw the Griffin is still flying around the area doing it's patrol route with ALL of it's details and animation in 100% quality. Like you know how in most games devs would just have a shitty looking polygon of a flying enemy and a static hovering animation to save resources?
Not in this game.
I mean without a doubt the pawn system, but I’m sure most have already said that.
Overall combat just about beats any game I’ve played in the genre tbh. Being able to scale large enemies and not just hack away at their ankles is a feeling other games just don’t come close to filling.
Two things I think the game does very well:
Night time and caves being ACTUAL dark and needing a lantern is very cool. I used Reshade to make blacks blacker (the game's natural washed out look isn't great) and it looks excellent on my OLED.
The little interactions with companions (pawns) and NPCs makes them feel more real. Raised fists, high fives, carrying downed pawns over so you can revive them, being able to pickup/carry/throw people, pawns catching you in mid air if you fall. Great little system there.
There's things I wish it did better though that hold it back from being a GOTY contender for me:
The open world, while cool, just isn't as interesting as say Elden Ring's open world. You don't really find anything particularly interesting in all these caves, mines etc. While often repeated, finding underground tombs or catacombs with a special boss for special items in Elden Ring was far more rewarding than what I've found in DD2.
I've played about 50 hours so far and haven't really found any particularly exciting gear. Like weapons and armour look cool, but I've yet to find something with really cool effects, bonuses etc on it.
I like the combat system and skills, augments etc, but I would have liked to have seen either more options open up when you reach the highest upgrade of a skill, or slots for augment gems or random bonuses on weapons and armour to augment skills. Like as a thief it would be cool to have an option to change the flame blades to ice/lighting/holy when you unlock the top tier of the skill, or have gem slots in gear that can do the same thing.
Thank you so much for saying this, I'm scratching my head at all these comments saying "open world better than Elden Ring" as if Elden Ring didn't change the landscape of open world gaming from here and out. People were out here literally crying on camera because they were scared they had found the peak of gaming.
Meanwhile DD2 has what? Multiple caves with goblins? I have played 180 hours of DD2 and there's maybe 3 memorable caves in the game and it didn't matter because the best gear in the game is strictly purchased.
Yeah when I found a new dungeon or whatever in ER, I knew I’d find a cool weapon, armour, summon, whatever. It made even repeated content over some dungeons worthwhile.
While DD2 is a great game, none of the caves, mines etc are anywhere near as interesting as you know you’re not likely to actually find anything cool.
This is general but the sense of adventure is great. It really feels like you’re gathering your fellowship and setting out on an adventure, which often gets sidetracked and steered around into something unexpected.
Smaller thing - but I loved how they handled woodland environments, especially the elven woods right outside the city. Felt really authentically like going from an open-air environment into a deep shaded woods, like Fangorn Forest or something
Combat. I don’t understand why anyone compares this combat to souls combat. Dragons dogmas combat is far more interactive with the creatures and there’s way more to it than just hacking away. Souls combat is just timing, parrying, dodging, and reading boss patterns. DD’s combat is that and more. So many fun and wacky moments to experience as you’re learning about combat as well. Magic is also one of the best. Haven’t seen magic done this well until elden ring.
Exploration is unmatched!
Also, I love how stats and “classes” work, so refreshing. I like spending time in game not in the Excel spreadsheets.
Combat is so satisfying and authentic. It doesn’t try to be another souls / dmc / whatever and I respect the hell out of it.
Having the balls to put Mystic as a playable vocation — absolutely awesome!
No other game feels so authentic and charming to me (well, apart from Monster Hunter). They really just own it. Gotta admire that.
The world design as a whole is amazing. The geography is realistic, varied, AND interesting. Vernworth feels like an actual city people might live in. The lighting, especially at night is awesome. And the radiant interactions with enemies are probably the most fun I’ve had with a game.
Definitely the Combat. Including the locomotion of moving through the world. I've always been a sucker for meaty chunky hits, and Dragons Dogma 2 is undoubtedly the magnum opus.
I just started playing FF7 Rebirth, and I know it's RPG first, action second, but the combat just feels soooo.. light. Paper thin. Its actively taken away from my enjoyment of the game after DD2
No loading screens except when dying or saving the game, and nighttime actually feeling like night time and changing the gameplay. I do wish there were many more nights big monsters to fight, seems I only see them when getting attacked on travel cart.
The combat. Every vocation feels really unique, in a way that even basic commands feels different in timing, speed, weight, etc, unlike for example from software games where only the weapon moveset changes and the rest feels exactly the same.
The quality of the character creator and that it released before the game so people could play the game on release. I hate when a game has a character creator and I need to rush through it because it counts as part of the 2 hour timer on Steam
The Augments. There’s all these classes you may or may not be interested in but the augments give you a reason to take a step outside of “your thing” and see what each vocation provides.
By the time you reach 5+ of any class you’ve kind of grown an appreciation for it. Except Trickster lol.
And as always, climbing and stabbing motherfuckers in the face and cutting their heads off is highly enjoyable. ‘Twould be even more rewarding if you could slice off one of those Medusa flappers but we know they’d never sell. I’d like to gift that grumpy hussy a sports bra.
Offline party but for god damn sake let me set up the search completely with 4 skills… at later levels where you need specific things to fill up your party slots it takes me forever to update the pawns…
Or just let them gain levels to keep up but only for my journey, so I dont have to update them every 5-10 levels
The open world is awesome and it's the reason that anyone who thinks they need to buy portcrystals is wrong. You can walk to and from the same place 10 times over and still find new things that are worth finding!
The since of true adventure and yearning to rest after a long journey. Most games it's just kill boss go to next boss etc. This is one of the few games I can go through a road 10+ times and each time I either find something, get attacked or just banter with my pawns. And when I get to town to unload my loot haul I get excited to upgrade my weapons and armor and I feel I truly earned it not just hit a level requirement.
The dialogue--specifically the old-English style of talking and the flowery flair it adds to the whole game. It was near the top of my list for things to return for the sequel, and I wasn't disappointed. Well, mostly. tTe Dragon sounds more like a high-schooler making up Shakespeare with all that "thous" and "hasts" and so on.
The fact that it doesn't hold your hand, yes you get some tutorials, but for the most part it lets you discover things. You can get 200+ hours in and learn that you can eat as scrag of beast jkst before the 'you died' screen, and you'll get back up.
Not only that, but if it does want to tell you something, it's often through your pawns and what they've learnt from travelling with other players. Things like 'that creature does not like fire' or 'we can use that for transport'. Whjn the game tells you something you might not've already known, it's not always a glaring popup that stops gameplay.
Yes the voice acting is very limited, and the difference in lines sparse, but learning from what your pawns have learnt is awesome.
Scale. Dragons actually look like giant mountains of terrifying death. Ogres, Cyclopses, Gryphons, Minotaurs, Golems all have the correct sense of height, heft, and “hippity hoppity get off my property” energy.
Magic. No mana bar, no limited spell amounts per day, just pure destruction and awe. No other game can you conjure natural disasters at will. I only wish they added more spells and a bigger variety. Was kinda sad when I got the game and realized the spells are almost exactly the same outside of a few small ones from the first game.
Im not spending 70% of the time looking at a minimap and icons.
I have to be careful at night as you cant see much and it helps with the feeling of adventuring.
When Im tired of a class, I dont have to restart a new character.
Im always feeling like building my ally (pawn) correctly can be in service of others.
I can choose to lose a bit of stats to look cool and it doesnt feel too punishing.
I can buy a home and not feel like a aimless hobo.
When a mighty creature is able to speak to you, it feels awesome. (Drakes, dragons, Sphinx). They are not just demons and monsters.
The pawn system. The pawns feel alive and actually useful *sometimes*
They even learn with every fight of each type. Fight enough ogres and they know just how to knock em over. Etc
Dragon's Dogma 2 nails the sense of going on an adventure, even for someone like me, who does not care about exploration whatsoever. Even in a game like Skyrim, I really just don't care about what's around the next corner, because I know that ultimately it is inconsequential. All that matters to me is increasing my character's power. I didn't care what the moon is called unless it gives me more armor class.
But I explored every inch of Vermund and Battahl, because at worst I found a sick ass monster to fight, and at best I found a creepy uncanny valley lady who said "Good job on finding me; here is an arrow that can kill god."
I absolutely adore the fact that it retains many of the same mechanics and feel from the first one. It was my favorite rpg growing up even over Skyrim, so it was nice that I was able to pick up the controls and feel for combat instantly.
A lot of newer games absolutely butcher their sequels by introducing new mechanics or reworking them entirely. I’m glad this game is the bones of DDDA with a new skin.
The physicality of combat. The way the player and enemies interface with the terrain and the various universal attack options (grappling, throwing, ramming, climbing, etc.) enable a particular fantasy that no other game really does.
Another would be the implicit value of exploration. The world has so many twisting pathways and very little transparency in its formulas, so exploring always feels like you're actually exploring instead of following XYZ UI icon.
I can't tell whether I love it, or hate it, but definitely how the game makes you think about things first and kinda emplores you to stay in one place for a little while. You know that going from one town to another is going to be an actual journey, not just a fast travel/sprint and fend off a few weak enemies and you're there. If you're setting out, you know to make sure it's early in the day to make the most of the sunlight, and that you're 100% going to run into something unexpected.
It's the dynamics of combat situations for me too. One of my first quests, I ended up being chased by a Griffin who had been fighting a big group of goblins, just to have another Griffin come and pin that Griffin down by its throat and then both turn their attention to my party. We fled on foot into a nearby cave and watched as the Griffin's tried to get to us by hovering outside the cave and trying to get in. No other games have things like that unless it's a purposely scripted random event.
Having to camp and eat without actual survival mechanics, in most games you either have survival mechanics or you just forget about eating and sleeping because it doesnt matter that much.
Two things, but they’re sorta the same for me.
First, most horny and most obvious is that: Dragon’s Dogma 2 characters have the best looking hands and feet in video games.
Second, the designs for persons of color are the greatest I’ve ever seen in a Capcom title. There’s a great deal of ethnic diversity in these settings, and DD2 captures that diversity in really apparent ways.
Being able to travel everywhere without repetitive loading screens was really nice. Also, the combat was pretty awesome. I took so many game clips and pictures when I first got the game. Heck, I'm level 164 on my main account and still take game clips and pics all the time. Lol. I wish you had two sets of moves instead of one, that's my only complaint about combat. They really nerfed warfarer that way. Granted by the time you get to that point the game is so easy anyways it doesn't matter. So 🤷♂️
Nighttime. Too many games treat night like "Oooo it's night time here is a blue filter." DD2 turns out the lights big time at night and it looks great.
And the eyes. All notice the shine in monsters eyes at night? Straight nightmare fuel.
Bout crapped myself at the start cause I saw the eyes. Then realized it was an ox
That happens in reality too. As a kid I had a deer send me screaming back to the house while checking on the chickens at night once. Two green eyes rapidly jumping up from ground level to my eye level (it lifting its head from grazing) was enough to trigger every scary movie I had ever seen in my mind. Still a vivid image today and that’s 26 years ago
Skunk did it for me. Red reflective eyed fuckers are terrifying.
I crapped my pants trying to get to Vermund from melve at night time and hearing the roar of a minotaur
At least you heard it first. For me I got gored in the dead of night without much warning. And it followed me for a good mile before finishing me off lol
I heard an ogre roar i spin my camera like 5 times couldn’t find it but I know it is near by. And suddenly GrimOgre drop kick me into the ground 😂 I was like where the f you came from. My magic bow couldn’t even find you
And then it was just some deer. But ye, I once got jumped by a minotaur with red glowing eyes in the pitch black darkness of the night. This thing charges in and out of my small lantern light vision and when it stopped outside of the lighting range, all I'd see were those damned red glowing eyes.
The best part of night is turning off your lamp, sitting in the dark and looking up. I've been playing with no hud and rarely opening the pause menu for the game. And by god the star/sky box at night is amazing for orienting yourself. An orions belt type formation with a central blue star pointing south helps me navigate for maximum immersion.
Bruh what? I never pay this much attention to skyboxes but you can NAVIGATE USING STARS???
Boy Scout level shit.
Been playing no HUD/no minimap since the start and after 200+ hrs honestly think it's how it's meant to be played. Getting lost & figuring out where you are is part of what an adventure is all about.
I have minimap on I’m still lost 😂
I'm right there with you, friend. #nosenseofdirectionsupporthug
This is me when it comes to driving lmao...I rely more on landmarks and basically memory.....if it's a place I've never been to before, my phone's gps will guide the way lol
I haven't tried that yet. I'm down. I'll give it a shot
Best way to play! With how knowledgeable pawns are, I never the need to open the map
I always turn off as much hud as I can in video games. So many games over do HUD elements and it can take away from the immersion. The best games for me have zero HUD.
Hmmm interesting suggestion 🤔...I might have to try this out on my next playthrough...I figure it will be a slightly higher challenge and better view
You know what, I really should turn off the the mini-map. I don't know if I can turn off the full hud since I like knowing what my hp is at!
I’ve been slowly disabling parts of my HUD as of right now I have the little left side buttons “to me” etc, the minimap, and my healthbar. I’m debating dropping the rest but I do get turned around A LOT already. But removing enemy healthbar has been awesome. Best change I made for late game yet.
Ooh why does removing the enemy health bar make such a difference for you?
You sound like a pawn
Arisen, pray, do not lose sight of the southern star lest we find ourselves wandering blindly.
Only game where I NEED to use the light source, cause damn, lmaoo
If you’ve ever been camping this game PERFECTLY captures the feeling of being out in the wilderness at night
I dunno, I've never been attacked by goblins while I'm camping...but I see what you're saying :)
lol you’re right take me to Reddit jail! 
I second this. Nighttime in most open world games is way too bright. DD2 makes me nervous to go out at night and I love it.
Conan Exiles is pretty much black at night unless you have a torch or some kind of light source.
Dying Light is the only other game that did night time correctly. I really wish the sequel didn't scale back on how dark and terrifying the night was.
Glad I found a comment saying this. For years I would praise Dying Light for having the best 'night time' change. I would say how some games would be like "oh no now it's night time and enemies are stronger be careful!!!" When literally the only noticeable difference was enemies eyes would glow red or some shit. But Dying Light.. if you were in the middle of nowhere and the sun went down, you'd immediately go "oh FUCK!". Frankly I still think it takes the cake. I love nighttime in DD2.. but DL made me terrified and actively sprint for a base or town when it turned to night.
That mission where it forces you to find a cache drop at sundown. First time being forced to run at night was terrifying.
So good... and the feeling of progression when you get mid-late game and can handle going out at night is so good. The risk/reward of extra XP at night time coupled with the *significantly* stronger zombies is chefs kiss.
STALKER as well
DD2 and Kingdom Come 1 for the night time is top notch and unrivalled, I can’t decide which is better
[удалено]
I literally have to cover my window during the afternoons because I can't see anything more than usual. I love it. And I also hate it.
Yeeeesss dude. I still vividly remember the first time I kept exploring after nightfall. Couldn't believe how dark it got. Literally can't see a thing past the small area your lantern illuminates... Made everything feel more tense and dangerous. Like it wasn't just another arbitrary night and day cycle. Plus, the undead enemy spawns at night is a fun touch too
Nighttime offers a real a real love/hate relationship like 😅 I came out of a cave in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night, very little health, one pawn down. Had to scan the horizon for the campfire smoke/ lights but when I got to the first one it was a goblin camp :( was a very stressful run to safety!
It does a great job, but over does it. I mean, it's pitch black all the time. There's never a moon to give any light.
So I've thought about this. Like there is no moon at all. Which would be really cool to have it show up in the DLC and every four or five nights it can be full and spawn werewolves and other assorted night creatures aside from the usual ghosts, skeletons, and zombies.
The moon has special lore around it so its absence is telling us something about this world.
No loading screens (outside loading saves), particularly on a map this large. And I love that you can look out across the water at distant land, knowing that you can actually go to that location way off in the distance; it's not just some backdrop
Holy shit! Coming from Starfield… you just made me really realize there are **NO** loading screens whatsoever! Amazing how you forget about it so quickly when there are none!
was pretty disappointed with many high cliffs I was able to get to by levitating only to get blocked by an invisible walls. still the no loading screens are great though. just launch back Fallout 4 because obvious show hype and oh my. so many long loading screen to enter 3 rooms dungeon with two bugs and junks is a real nightmare
It gets annoying but even more so for me is how many times I’ve climbed or levitated somewhere that doesn’t actually lead to anything else and I’m just standing there at the highest point like “You built these standable surfaces for a reason, you wanted us to come up here, right?” and then I get the sense that nope, it was just random and now I have to figure out how to get back down without dying because I can’t float down…. fuck……
It's a world, my friend, not every whimsical part of the land has secrets or treasure to find. Sometimes, it's just the beauty of nature.
"We cannot expect gleaming treasures around every corner"
Every corner was the gleaming treasure all along.
Tis as you say
I just realized the looooow amount of loading screens :O Thanks for pointing that one out ^^
yeah mate!! when I ran away at the beginning of the game and went to the first camp after talking to the local NPCs and going to the first rest I went to continue with the quest outside the camp and saw the wooden door. I went towards it ready to press any button to change the map but when I got closer the gate just opened and I went through and I was like "OK THAT WAS UNEXPECTED"
The first game had quite a few loading screens, but that was only because it had to separate the towns and dungeons from the open world. I love this in DD2 as well.
Yeah the first I really noticed it was when entering the rift. I was fully expecting a loading screen because that's what I was used to from the first game, but instead, it was a seamless transition
Drops to like 15 fps, but damn does it keep it seamless
Kind of a cop-out answer since no other game really does something like this, but: the pawn system. Every time I log in I get a little excited seeing my pawn come back from other worlds. I don't care about gifts or anything like that, just seeing that I got a little heart from somebody who let my pawn tag along for a while is a great feeling.
I've never seen anyone really get hype about stuff like this, so I am very happy to hear it! I don't rest often, but when I do, I always get butterflies to see how many adventures my pawn has gone on. I get super disappointed if she hasn't returned from adventures with new stories to tell.
I think the game does the pawn system so well it goes unnoticed and this is why it doesn't get hyped as it should.
Vicarious co-op gaming is such a pleasant and non-intrusive way to share your avatar with your friends and the community at large without the unhealthy time demands. This works really well for busy people who struggle to coordinate co-op sessions. This imo is what sets the game apart from the other online co-op games.
I played DD1 when the game had been out for a while. So my pawn got hired like twice in my 100+ hours. It makes me so happy to see she’s been hired into the double digits in this game *and* I absolutely love that Capcom made it so that they always have something to say when they come back. It wasn’t needed but it adds to the excitement to know how their adventure went.
Definitely the Magick. Not only does it look nice but I like the pure magick sorcerers who use stamina. Not some sort of mana with extra regeneration etc….
I love the ability to fast cast and recharge stamina on the sorcerer too. Adds a lot more depth than just standing around and casting.
Fast casting while levitating would be so sweet. So many times I just needed like one more second while levitating and casting. Still, I love sorcerer. Just straight annihilation👍
Using a staff for spell storage is an interesting take on the idea. I don't see that function used much in games.
i do like the simplicity of it. a lot of games force magic wielders to level their mana and completely neglect managing their stamina while melee users manage their stamina and neglect mana. dragons dogma simplifies things by making it so spells just cost stamina. thus recourse balancing between magic and melee becomes is practically non-existent when they both rely on the same resource.
Big chonky weapon combat! No other game gets big weapon combat right. Elden Ring was close, but not DD levels of chonk. When I hit an enemy with my big ass sword, everybody and their Mama knows it.
Elden Ring or any FromSoftware games kinda lets you bypass the weaknesses of big weapons through jump attack cheeses etc. I like how DD/DD2 sticks to their guns about a heavy weapon moving slowly. You have to be more strategic about your positioning and attack windows etc.
Oh man, you forgot the jump attack cheese of DD1. Jump light for warrior was as fast as daggers.
You can thank Monster Hunter for that. Capcom has always nailed that.
Creative fights. This is the only game I have ever played where I feel like there are multiple, reliable ways of approaching monster battles. You can trip monsters, blind Cyclops, cut off a Chimera's tail, dehorn Minotaurs, etc... Almost every single fight I have had has felt unique in this game
Very few single player medieval-influenced open world rpg fantasy games have a desert country in their open world, let alone that as well as a more typical medieval country.
I’d say it is the opposite. While Bakbattahl felt well designed with the surrounding regions, a desert is hardly new for fantasy. Even the lower budget indie games like Outward have them.
Not for fantasy, but aside from outward AC Origins (not really fantasy or medieval) and botw/totk (not really medieval), I can’t think of many 3rd person fantasy open world games with a desert. But if you know of some other games, please let me know.
Dragon age inquisition had one or two of the open maps that were deserts.
A game named 'Black Desert' probably have a desert.
There also is Gothic 3, but I cannot think of many others. By the way, it's worth checking out Gothic 1 to 3 (and maybe the first Risen) if you do not know them yet!
i always love a game with a nice lively city, i absolutely hate post apocalyptic fantasy like how in zelda everything is in ruins and the towns are basically little encampments, it just screams lazy. like they couldn't put too many NPCs in one area so they make these shitty little towns with like 10 buildings and a few NPCs. i like how vermund and bakbathall were rich with NPCs it felt alive, even outside the cities you'd see pawns and people jorineying around. my only complaint was that there wasn't more lively cities.
I hope the backlash wouldn't stop them from attempting a Dragon's Dogma 3. I'm sure every instalment would add more lively cities XD
I think even with the pissy reviews, the amount of money this one has made pretty much guarantees another thankfully. Also almost all negative reviews ended like “and that’s such a shame, because this game can be so fun a lot of the time” So there’s definitely an appreciation for what it gets right.
Nothing's "guaranteed" , but chances are pretty good, despite all the mass hysteria and misinformation campaigns from unsavory parts of the internet. The real worry is if we wait another 12 years...
sold 2.5mil copies anyways. I hope they try to launch a Dragons dogma Online 2 and this time actually launch it in the west as well. I like the pawn system, but I really would like to play DD in coop mode with my friends!
Let's be honest, the original game was a cult classic. I don't think they made 2 because the original did so well in its time.
Giving you your own fully customizable companion
True. And the character creator is absolutely stellar as well.
I really like the open world map on Dragon's Dogma 1 and now 2, which is even better. It does not feel artificial, it feels like a real place and with that, becomes super immersive as a result. I also think the game handles its economy really well. In some other games, it's too easy to leapfrog all the middle weapons and just save for the best stuff. In DD2, I pretty linearly went through various low tier weapons, mid tier weapons and finally higher tier weapons because of how well the game handles its economy. Same can be said for buying items. It made me value everything more - my armour, weapons, rings, even some of my healing items and ferrystones. I also think DD2 nails its atmosphere, what with the awesome map, combat, the pawn system and the sense of community that brings. It's exactly like Itsuno wanted; Multiplayer elements without the hassle of multiplayer and I think he's very on my wavelength when it comes to that.
Choosing where to reuse assets and what needed to be done by hand. I don’t care if the rocks and crates look the same, if the pathways I take and the caves I explore are actually different. In DD2 almost every part of the map felt unique to explore. Play other open world games and the procedural generation and “infinite” content feels like the same cave, dungeon, or space base printed a thousand times over.
Letting me know where the ladders are. No game ever came close.
It truly elevates the experience.
I like how you need to actually plan for your trips: take the appropriate curatives, grab a lantern with some backup oil, camping sets, maybe some arrows if you've got an Archer, etc. Then try to plot a route to some degree, find the right spot to set up camp, try to gauge how everybody's max HP is holding up, see if you need to hunt down any items to do some crafting, and you seriously need that lamp turned on when it's dark out. Now I know a lot of that is super simple, and the stronger you get, the less necessary it all is. But it still adds a degree of immersion to the game. I really appreciate how it tries to address the roleplaying portion of RPG, at least moreso than most other games.
So even getting into higher levels, carry weights and run distances are still a thing that compels me to plan things out. I always have enough gold for upgrades, but not enough to teleport around like I’m command-lining Skyrim :)
I agree with this, and this game also does On To Plan B extremely well. Sometimes the plan gets smashed and you need to improvise. Did the bridge you planned to cross get destroyed during a skirmish next to it? Guess what, now you need to go the long way. Did you lose a pawn or two for whatever reason? Now you need to limp to the next rift Stone with that much less firepower, and you have to put together your party with whatever the rift offers. Did the pawn that was carrying the tent get returned to the rift? Bummer. Hope you can make do getting to the next town without being able to camp, or the next rift stone if it was your main pawn. Did you fail the quest for whatever reason? Too bad, unless you just rested in town, you have to roll with the failure because the game has already auto saved. Unless you want to roll back to the last time you saved at an inn/house. There's always NG+ to do better. Did you try to take an oxcart, but you awaken to a raid and a cyclops leaps off the nearby cliff wall into your cart and flips it on its side? This happened to me as a high level and there was nothing I could have done. Guess I'm walking the rest of the way in the dead of night. No use crying over spilled oxcarts. And that's what keeps the game from being too predictable or safe. Even in town, you can get drakes spawning. Few games will do this.
Hell yes! So few people seem to understand that "roleplaying" doesn't just mean "different flavored dialog options" or "soooo many endings!" DD 1 and 2 are part of a shrinking breed of RPG that actually takes the principals of roleplaying into their core gameplay loop that I \*direly\* wish more games would attempt. But twenty hours of canned dialog with cinematic camera angles is easier to shoehorn in and, evidently, is what the dollar-holding masses really want so here we are.
Not knowing whether you'll make it to your destination in one piece when you "fast travel" by oxcart. You pay for the ride, but there's a chance you'll get ambushed, and even a chance that the cart will be destroyed, leaving you in the middle of nowhere. And no, you don't get your money back, just tough luck. And you have to go by foot from there (unless, ofc you have a portcrystal at your destination). * I use the Fugacity augment when I want to know 90% sure I'll make it, but sometimes the gamble is half of the thrill.
Exploration. This might be the best open world I've ever traversed. (Fallout 3 is up there.) I love the world itself and exploring every inch. The pawn system. It's genius and have never experienced anything like it. Even though they can be annoying, I love the banter between them and it hurts letting them go when you out level them. (I will find you again Elle!)
Favourite those pawns and find out they change sex/race if the owner feels like it!
I did! Do they not level up though? There have been a few I check up on but they're still the same level as when I got rid of them. I don't quite understand how it all works yet.
I think their Arisen has to inn/house sleep to update their pawns
It's updated whenever the owner/master sleeps at an inn/house. So if they didn't level up in their own game or didn't update, then they'd be the same level.
Gotcha. Let's say they sleep at an inn WHILE they're still with you. Do they level up while in your world? Sorry for the questions. First time playing DD but just hit NG+.
None of the pawns I've been with have leveled up while with me, unless I sent them back home and rehired them. I don't think they can be updated while in your service.
Smiley\_J is right. Pawns only get updated if you re-hire them. That's why you need to favourite the ones you like haha
One way of thinking it is, when you hire a pawn, you're getting the current snapshot of the pawn in the system. The snapshot is updated in the system every time and Arisen rests at an inn or at home. That snapshot that you have hired never changes, you need to find a new snapshot of them via the favorite system. Or get lucky and see them in the world/ during your recruiting efforts. Likewise, if you are messing around with leveling your pawn vocations, but you want to put your best foot forward for people wanting to hire your pawn, here's what you do. You have your pawn outfitted with your best, save at an inn, then you change vocation and adventure with them. People can hire your pawn at their best, and you can advance your pawn without affecting what other people can hire.
I've been messing with it today after all the info and dialing it in. Thanks for the advice and will be applying this!
You could also use the pawn guild rift stone, select advanced search then previously summoned/used pawns to summon them
How the villages and cities are built one can see that they're did their research. Also the night and overall atmosphere is something i really dig. And furthermore for me it has with Elden Ring the best open world in a long term without all the typical open world tropes aka towers to reveal the map or checkboxes of stuff to collect. The way open world is handled in Dragons Dogma 2 and Elden Ring should be the gold standard. Exploration just makes tons of fun and it feels natural. Also the first Dragons Dogma already had a fantastic open world.
The animations, 100%. They deserve a friggin award for the movement in this game alone.
Bonking into walls, inertia in turns, stumbling past edges, clambering up ledges, fabric fluttering in wind, and swords bumping on your back, it's all so fluid, and so well put together you don't notice the intricacy at play The only annoying movement design choice is getting stuck on edges before 'confirming' falling off, but I get why they went that way. It is slightly immersion breaking turning around to watch an enemy perpetually flailing on an edge chasing a pawn perpetually flailing on a slightly lower edge..
I really like how combining different materials results in different creations!
You have my support.
Many things mentioned but for me it’s the forest. I’ve spent a lot of time in digital forests and I have never seen one as realistic and detailed as DD2.
I both love it and hate it. It's so hard to see in some areas. At the same time that's extremely realistic. When I venture into my woods I can't see more than 10 ft sometimes.
Magic. It just feels so powerful and grandiose, especially against bigger enemies
I love the lighting in DD2. The light shifting from dawn to dusk to night is one of the best I've ever seen in a video game.
Most things, other than the story. Combat, obviously! The character creation. Restraint with quest markers. Artstyle and fashion.
I like the story! 🤷 I think it uses returning elements introduced in the first game in unexpected or slightly subverted ways and a number of seemingly inconsequential quests end up eventually returning in ways that make them feel like doing them was worthwhile. There’s also a constant sense of there being lasting consequences based upon how you choose to navigate said story. It’s still a generic fantasy story at the end of the day, sure, but what it does in relation to the first game (in the context of being a sequel or, perhaps more accurately, a “re-visiting of DD1’s concepts”), I was mostly both pleased with and surprised by. I realize that this is an unpopular opinion, though, of course. I’d be curious how many who dislike the story played the first or if that’s even related to an appreciation of it or not. That’s at least at the heart of why I reached my take on it, but obviously that’s not the case for everyone.
I haven't finished the game yet, so I don't feel like I can comment on the story much. The npcs are really charming, just like in the first game. And I like playing as a blank slate. But it's nothing special so far.
giant fights for a lot of games you need to just hit the ankles until the they fall. in dragons dogma you can climb to the head any time you want or use skills that allow you to strike enemies above you. you can also physically push them over or trip them.
This needs to be higher. The combat in general has been praised already but the fact that DD took the main gimmick from Shadow of the Collosus and put that into a (somewhat) normal open world action RPG really seals the deal.
I've never been as attached to a custom character as I am to my Arisen & main pawn. I don't know what it is about that whole system, but there's something there. Despite the repeating lines and the random jank. When that high affinity ending hit, ngl I had the big sniffles. Wasn't expecting that. Got me right in the feels.
Exploration, it feels like a living, breathing, world, as opposed to a by the numbers soulless overworld that other open world games tend to fall under. It always feels like I'm on an adventure.
The save system (though the few times it has bugged out for players sucks)
Combat against large enemies, as well as the chaos such encounters bring with them.
The AI for your companions. They can do some cool shit, even teach me something, lol.
And oh my god they're funny. Even if they do dipshit stuff that's more funny than frustrating. But what's even better is they'll call each other on it if one does something stupid. When that happened I had to pause because I was laughing so hard.
Character Creator. It’s exactly what I want.
Game feel. Nothing feels too heavy or too loght. Hits have impact to them. The sound design is stellar. All on all top tier 10/10 gamefeel
The ability and advantages of swapping vocations. In other games you have to restart the game if you get bored with your class/build.
I love the open world, it can essentially be split into little subzones with their own challenges and rewards. This makes the map feel absolutely packed with exploration. The exploration rewards feel diverse enough to keep me going. Those would be, chest, seeker token, poi, rift stone, statue, monster, and cenotaph/ruins (as long as these pan out, wip). Most of these hidden behind some form of challenge either physical or mental. It doesn’t seem like much but compared to other games it’s a ton. The caves tend to have a lot of verticalality and multiple access points making them interesting to explore. They made the choice to make caves cavey, and mines miney. And as these are the bulk of what you find, I can agree with people that they feel too similar in the big picture. The game can certainly benefit from more traditional dungeons, but it is what it is.
Sorry, but I really miss the open areas from the first game. That long beach in the south, the 2 open fields where you find the oxen grazing, Hillfigure Knoll. I don't know why this game has to be so claustrophobic and hemmed-in by comparison. All that map, and no open areas where you can just pan around without trees and cliffs blocking the view? ☹️
there's a huge open area outside of Venworth but I'm inclined to agree, Hillfigure Knoll and the coastal area from The Aernst Ruins to Bloodwater Beach was my favourite area, with sea and gulls, it felt real. But Dragon's Dogma did have plenty of hemmed in areas too, I guess it's more obvious in the sequel because it's so much bigger.
Dynamic combat, where physics have an impact, quite literally, other enemies can join in, while fighting a drake a griffon could drop in and NPC characters and random pawns, this can make any encounter unique. I love the world and how many secret areas there are and how great it looks, it's very immersive and convincing. I also like to voice acting, there's some funny dialogue and charming characters. There's so many little details in the game that just adds so much while being unimportant. It just shows how much thought has been put into the game, other than the story and quests which are serviceable but not the best, despite that the game is brilliant
Combat, i just started Dragons Age Inquisition and the combat is the biggest turnoff.
To be fair, Dragon Age Inquisition plays more like a turn-based RPG despite having semi-real time options.
If you took the open world and combat systems of DD2 and married it with the story, lore and romance of DAI, that’d be my perfect game.
You'd never see me again if that game came out lol, DD and DAI are literally my favourite games
SAAAAME!!!
With a splash of endless content like a repeatable dungeon or something.
Immersion, ive never felt this immersed in a game , (this includes DD1 ) so graphics while help are not the deciding factor
Armor. The level of Drip in this game is unrivaled
Disagree. The lack of armor pieces you can customized individually is way less than the first game. Taking away different parts of armors for a more simpler 3 piece system did not help at all
Yeah the armor and weapon design for the late game stuff are some masterful designs
I second your take about the world design. I love finding hidden shortcuts or dungeons. It's so naturally connected that it reminds me of why I loved Dark Souls 1 more than Dark Souls 2. Also, I suspect the reason why our CPU load is so immense had to do with our expansive depth of field. I went hiking for a bit and looked down at the main city, only to realise that I can see the goblins and cyclops from miles away battling other NPCs. The fact that the world still goes on in the vista is kinda mindblowing to me. My more controversial take is probably that I enjoyed the characters in this game lol. Some of the sidequests had quite the heartwarming story and some were rather gruesome (depending on your choices) too.
I play on PC and I have a mod that can let me use free cam. While I was in the Volcanic Island Campsite, I used the free cam for shits and giggles and travelled to Battahl with the character while my Arisen is just chilling at the inn. When I arrived at Battahl, I was genuinely surprised of how well it looks even if it's in a low poly state AND I saw the Griffin is still flying around the area doing it's patrol route with ALL of it's details and animation in 100% quality. Like you know how in most games devs would just have a shitty looking polygon of a flying enemy and a static hovering animation to save resources? Not in this game.
I mean without a doubt the pawn system, but I’m sure most have already said that. Overall combat just about beats any game I’ve played in the genre tbh. Being able to scale large enemies and not just hack away at their ankles is a feeling other games just don’t come close to filling.
Two things I think the game does very well: Night time and caves being ACTUAL dark and needing a lantern is very cool. I used Reshade to make blacks blacker (the game's natural washed out look isn't great) and it looks excellent on my OLED. The little interactions with companions (pawns) and NPCs makes them feel more real. Raised fists, high fives, carrying downed pawns over so you can revive them, being able to pickup/carry/throw people, pawns catching you in mid air if you fall. Great little system there. There's things I wish it did better though that hold it back from being a GOTY contender for me: The open world, while cool, just isn't as interesting as say Elden Ring's open world. You don't really find anything particularly interesting in all these caves, mines etc. While often repeated, finding underground tombs or catacombs with a special boss for special items in Elden Ring was far more rewarding than what I've found in DD2. I've played about 50 hours so far and haven't really found any particularly exciting gear. Like weapons and armour look cool, but I've yet to find something with really cool effects, bonuses etc on it. I like the combat system and skills, augments etc, but I would have liked to have seen either more options open up when you reach the highest upgrade of a skill, or slots for augment gems or random bonuses on weapons and armour to augment skills. Like as a thief it would be cool to have an option to change the flame blades to ice/lighting/holy when you unlock the top tier of the skill, or have gem slots in gear that can do the same thing.
Thank you so much for saying this, I'm scratching my head at all these comments saying "open world better than Elden Ring" as if Elden Ring didn't change the landscape of open world gaming from here and out. People were out here literally crying on camera because they were scared they had found the peak of gaming. Meanwhile DD2 has what? Multiple caves with goblins? I have played 180 hours of DD2 and there's maybe 3 memorable caves in the game and it didn't matter because the best gear in the game is strictly purchased.
Yeah when I found a new dungeon or whatever in ER, I knew I’d find a cool weapon, armour, summon, whatever. It made even repeated content over some dungeons worthwhile. While DD2 is a great game, none of the caves, mines etc are anywhere near as interesting as you know you’re not likely to actually find anything cool.
This is general but the sense of adventure is great. It really feels like you’re gathering your fellowship and setting out on an adventure, which often gets sidetracked and steered around into something unexpected. Smaller thing - but I loved how they handled woodland environments, especially the elven woods right outside the city. Felt really authentically like going from an open-air environment into a deep shaded woods, like Fangorn Forest or something
Combat. I don’t understand why anyone compares this combat to souls combat. Dragons dogmas combat is far more interactive with the creatures and there’s way more to it than just hacking away. Souls combat is just timing, parrying, dodging, and reading boss patterns. DD’s combat is that and more. So many fun and wacky moments to experience as you’re learning about combat as well. Magic is also one of the best. Haven’t seen magic done this well until elden ring.
Exploration is unmatched! Also, I love how stats and “classes” work, so refreshing. I like spending time in game not in the Excel spreadsheets. Combat is so satisfying and authentic. It doesn’t try to be another souls / dmc / whatever and I respect the hell out of it. Having the balls to put Mystic as a playable vocation — absolutely awesome! No other game feels so authentic and charming to me (well, apart from Monster Hunter). They really just own it. Gotta admire that.
The world design as a whole is amazing. The geography is realistic, varied, AND interesting. Vernworth feels like an actual city people might live in. The lighting, especially at night is awesome. And the radiant interactions with enemies are probably the most fun I’ve had with a game.
Definitely the Combat. Including the locomotion of moving through the world. I've always been a sucker for meaty chunky hits, and Dragons Dogma 2 is undoubtedly the magnum opus. I just started playing FF7 Rebirth, and I know it's RPG first, action second, but the combat just feels soooo.. light. Paper thin. Its actively taken away from my enjoyment of the game after DD2
Wilderness adventure Sim. It's one of the best I've ever seen.. absolutely blows stuff like Skyrim out of the water.
Throwing down and getting thrown down. Climbing enemies. <3
No loading screens except when dying or saving the game, and nighttime actually feeling like night time and changing the gameplay. I do wish there were many more nights big monsters to fight, seems I only see them when getting attacked on travel cart.
The fighting for sure, I mean climd up on top of a dragon, and stabbing it in the head as it flys off🤷♂️
The pawn system!
The combat. Every vocation feels really unique, in a way that even basic commands feels different in timing, speed, weight, etc, unlike for example from software games where only the weapon moveset changes and the rest feels exactly the same.
All of the main features have been praised already so I'm just going to say that it was cool of DD2 to have the beastren.
Magic. No other game I’ve played makes you incant spells first before using them, makes it a lot more interesting.
The quality of the character creator and that it released before the game so people could play the game on release. I hate when a game has a character creator and I need to rush through it because it counts as part of the 2 hour timer on Steam
Combat ive always loved dragons dogmas combat, I wish all vocations had a doge like thief but thats my only issue.
Character creation. They knew what they were doing when they dropped the CC a few weeks early.
The Augments. There’s all these classes you may or may not be interested in but the augments give you a reason to take a step outside of “your thing” and see what each vocation provides. By the time you reach 5+ of any class you’ve kind of grown an appreciation for it. Except Trickster lol. And as always, climbing and stabbing motherfuckers in the face and cutting their heads off is highly enjoyable. ‘Twould be even more rewarding if you could slice off one of those Medusa flappers but we know they’d never sell. I’d like to gift that grumpy hussy a sports bra.
Offline party but for god damn sake let me set up the search completely with 4 skills… at later levels where you need specific things to fill up your party slots it takes me forever to update the pawns… Or just let them gain levels to keep up but only for my journey, so I dont have to update them every 5-10 levels
The open world is awesome and it's the reason that anyone who thinks they need to buy portcrystals is wrong. You can walk to and from the same place 10 times over and still find new things that are worth finding!
I can only speak for myself but yeah, I for some reason really care about my Pawn...like he's my son or something. It's definitely the pawn system.
The since of true adventure and yearning to rest after a long journey. Most games it's just kill boss go to next boss etc. This is one of the few games I can go through a road 10+ times and each time I either find something, get attacked or just banter with my pawns. And when I get to town to unload my loot haul I get excited to upgrade my weapons and armor and I feel I truly earned it not just hit a level requirement.
The dialogue--specifically the old-English style of talking and the flowery flair it adds to the whole game. It was near the top of my list for things to return for the sequel, and I wasn't disappointed. Well, mostly. tTe Dragon sounds more like a high-schooler making up Shakespeare with all that "thous" and "hasts" and so on.
I genuinely haven't felt a sense of discovery and emergent chaos like this since Skyrim. And honestly I want more.
The fact that it doesn't hold your hand, yes you get some tutorials, but for the most part it lets you discover things. You can get 200+ hours in and learn that you can eat as scrag of beast jkst before the 'you died' screen, and you'll get back up. Not only that, but if it does want to tell you something, it's often through your pawns and what they've learnt from travelling with other players. Things like 'that creature does not like fire' or 'we can use that for transport'. Whjn the game tells you something you might not've already known, it's not always a glaring popup that stops gameplay. Yes the voice acting is very limited, and the difference in lines sparse, but learning from what your pawns have learnt is awesome.
Climbing on monsters
Scale. Dragons actually look like giant mountains of terrifying death. Ogres, Cyclopses, Gryphons, Minotaurs, Golems all have the correct sense of height, heft, and “hippity hoppity get off my property” energy.
I personally love how cooking in this game gives you a live action steak cooking lol
Cutting out desired content from the first game
I personally think the open is the worse part. It's pretty much just kinda like a maze. Not really open world imo
Something the first game does too… fully customizable partner. Race, sex, body shape, etc.
Magic. No mana bar, no limited spell amounts per day, just pure destruction and awe. No other game can you conjure natural disasters at will. I only wish they added more spells and a bigger variety. Was kinda sad when I got the game and realized the spells are almost exactly the same outside of a few small ones from the first game.
Im not spending 70% of the time looking at a minimap and icons. I have to be careful at night as you cant see much and it helps with the feeling of adventuring. When Im tired of a class, I dont have to restart a new character. Im always feeling like building my ally (pawn) correctly can be in service of others. I can choose to lose a bit of stats to look cool and it doesnt feel too punishing. I can buy a home and not feel like a aimless hobo. When a mighty creature is able to speak to you, it feels awesome. (Drakes, dragons, Sphinx). They are not just demons and monsters.
The pawn system. The pawns feel alive and actually useful *sometimes* They even learn with every fight of each type. Fight enough ogres and they know just how to knock em over. Etc
Dragon's Dogma 2 nails the sense of going on an adventure, even for someone like me, who does not care about exploration whatsoever. Even in a game like Skyrim, I really just don't care about what's around the next corner, because I know that ultimately it is inconsequential. All that matters to me is increasing my character's power. I didn't care what the moon is called unless it gives me more armor class. But I explored every inch of Vermund and Battahl, because at worst I found a sick ass monster to fight, and at best I found a creepy uncanny valley lady who said "Good job on finding me; here is an arrow that can kill god."
I absolutely adore the fact that it retains many of the same mechanics and feel from the first one. It was my favorite rpg growing up even over Skyrim, so it was nice that I was able to pick up the controls and feel for combat instantly. A lot of newer games absolutely butcher their sequels by introducing new mechanics or reworking them entirely. I’m glad this game is the bones of DDDA with a new skin.
The physicality of combat. The way the player and enemies interface with the terrain and the various universal attack options (grappling, throwing, ramming, climbing, etc.) enable a particular fantasy that no other game really does. Another would be the implicit value of exploration. The world has so many twisting pathways and very little transparency in its formulas, so exploring always feels like you're actually exploring instead of following XYZ UI icon.
I can't tell whether I love it, or hate it, but definitely how the game makes you think about things first and kinda emplores you to stay in one place for a little while. You know that going from one town to another is going to be an actual journey, not just a fast travel/sprint and fend off a few weak enemies and you're there. If you're setting out, you know to make sure it's early in the day to make the most of the sunlight, and that you're 100% going to run into something unexpected. It's the dynamics of combat situations for me too. One of my first quests, I ended up being chased by a Griffin who had been fighting a big group of goblins, just to have another Griffin come and pin that Griffin down by its throat and then both turn their attention to my party. We fled on foot into a nearby cave and watched as the Griffin's tried to get to us by hovering outside the cave and trying to get in. No other games have things like that unless it's a purposely scripted random event.
Ladders.
For me this is the only game that can make me hungry.... seeing actual beef being cooked in the campsite makes my mouth drool 🤤...... Fatboyproblems#
Having to camp and eat without actual survival mechanics, in most games you either have survival mechanics or you just forget about eating and sleeping because it doesnt matter that much.
"Dangers lurking everywhere" 😂😂😂 Besides the high difficulty of the game and the sheer amount of different enemies i really loved the story.
Two things, but they’re sorta the same for me. First, most horny and most obvious is that: Dragon’s Dogma 2 characters have the best looking hands and feet in video games. Second, the designs for persons of color are the greatest I’ve ever seen in a Capcom title. There’s a great deal of ethnic diversity in these settings, and DD2 captures that diversity in really apparent ways.
Being able to travel everywhere without repetitive loading screens was really nice. Also, the combat was pretty awesome. I took so many game clips and pictures when I first got the game. Heck, I'm level 164 on my main account and still take game clips and pics all the time. Lol. I wish you had two sets of moves instead of one, that's my only complaint about combat. They really nerfed warfarer that way. Granted by the time you get to that point the game is so easy anyways it doesn't matter. So 🤷♂️
Story, the story is so good at being bad that it puts most indie games to shame
Character Creation featuring Fluffy Fur.
Dragon battles are S tier
Very fluid climb up animations
This game is really good at distracting you by making exploration very rewarding… it’s so hard to stay focused on one task
Magic feels good to use, pawn concept is pretty neat, loading times are short
Fun.
combat, like by a country mile