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Capcom, famed developer and publisher that's brought gamers such franchises as Devil May Cry, Resident Evil, and Street Fighter, enters the medieval fantasy foray with Dragon's Dogma, a peculiar take on the Western open-world RPG. (And seemingly brought to us with a lack of typographical errors.)
Taking inspiration from Skyrim, Dark Souls, and Capcom's own offerings, Monster Hunter and Devil May Cry, Dragon's Dogma stands out by being derivative of several games and in turn becoming uniquely its own title, and if the sales are promising, hopefully it'll be the start of a new series.
Before I get into what's important, the gameplay, let's get the graphics out of the way first ... Dragon's Dogma is a shoddy looking game. The game is letterboxed (black bars are located on the top and bottom of the screen, taking up real estate), and there is no way to disable this; the frame-rate isn't locked at 30 fps, and will frequently dip (though it hasn't turned into a game-breaking slideshow); there's noticeable pop-in; the textures are muddy, clipping is prevalent, and there's a soft focus to the world in general, similar to Devil May Cry 4 on PS3. The good news is the game is devoid of any screen tearing and when it comes to artistic mettle, it can be quite stunning at times, especially with its lighting. The world itself is alive with great wind effects, some lovely day to night transitions (though be wary of the night), and overall, a well realized D&D look.
Dragon's Dogma is however a joy to play. Initially allowing three classes to choose from -Fighter, Mage, and Strider -DD opens up with additional vocations, the game's preferred nomenclature, and adds Ranger, Warrior, Sorcerer, Mystic Knight, Magick Archer, and Assassin, for a total of nine vocations. Each vocation has its own skills and abilities, and you'll have opportunities to switch it up without having to start over, which allows you to experience the many variants in combat approach DD offers. If that's not enough, DD employs a unique pawn system, essentially party members, but with a twist. You create your initial pawn, and select their vocation, so you can live vicariously through them on the battlefield ... or should I say, they'll live vicariously through you. In addition to your pawn, you can hire two additional pawns created by other users, and these pawns take with them the knowledge they've acquired through questing with others into your game, frequently dropping quest hints and other various anecdotes pertaining to their surroundings; this also means your pawn, so carefully crafted, will be adventuring with others (they stay with you at all times regardless, even if someone "rents" your pawn while you're playing), and they too will come back with things to share, and if the previous master was so kind, with a gift left by whomever took them on their travels. It's an interesting take on the traditional party member, and something I've never come across in a game before. On one hand, I would like the option to just create all three of my pawns and form a bond with them as I adventure on; however, this system encourages the idea of player interaction, since you're swapping pawns frequently (they do not level up, and you can't assign specific skills, so you'll have to swap accordingly). It isn't as profound as Dark Souls online implementation, but it's a refreshing take on single-player RPGs with a community based element.
I've typed more than I intended and I' haven't even touched on the games crowning achievement, and that's the gameplay. The combat in this game is fantastic, with each class being awesome enough that no matter what you're doing, you'll see a pawn pull off some crazy **** and think, "I want to do that next!" The game simply feels like the director behind it brought us Devil May Cry 2, 3 and 4. And the best part is that this is an open world RPG! Dark Souls was all about precision, with a very methodical pace to its proceedings; DD is much more action oriented, with some eye-popping skills that are fun to perform and brilliant to look at it. The creatures that get to absorb these amazing attacks are terrific, with a nice variety of classic monsters that animate well and have attack patterns that require you to pay attention and to be on guard. I haven't even mentioned the climbing ability, similar to Shadow of Colossus, which allows you to scale these beasts and plunge whatever weaponry you're housing into their hides. Jeez, I haven't even mentioned the spells yet, either. You should see these spells! You really should, youtube them! It's what sorcery should look and feel like. DD just nails the combat. You'll know it as soon as you nock your first arrow and let it fly into the eye of a cyclops.
I could continue, but I feel I've made my point. Dragon's Dogma is a worthwhile entry into the open-world RPG market. It has fantastic combat and a grand sense of adventure, and it is able to encapsulate the feeling of danger that should arouse when you don't know what's down this cave you've stumbled across. It's unfortunate the engine can't keep up with its ideas (time for a new generation of consoles), but don't let that dissuade you if you're in the hunt for a lengthy title with rewarding gameplay.
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It's been a long time since I've played a game where I truly felt that I was adventuring, D&D style, in a dangerous world. The combat is weighty, visceral, and exceptionally diverse and offers a real challenge (but not frustratingly so like Dark/Demon souls). Each encounter becomes epically cinematic as you and your pawns (companions) work in tandem to block strikes, grapple with foes, climb giant monstrosities to access their weak points. At one point one of my AI teammates used his shield as a springboard to vault me up onto a giants arm, where I then clung swinging my sword, holding onto the beast as he thrashed. He stumbled over to the edge of a cliff turning the tactical jump I just made into a grave mistake, as now I didn't have ground underneath to land on if he shakes me off. During a caravan escort quest, a harpy swooped down and grabbed the guard next to me, carrying him to a nearby cliff and dropping him. These weren't a scripted events, they were ordinary encounters and mob mechanics that turn seamlessly cinematic.The environment has a few features that some people will hate, but I've been longing for. Darkness is truly dark you need to ensure that you and your party have light sources (lanterns and oil for instance) before heading down into the unexplored, and those light sources can be influenced by the environment. Fighting in the water? Your light is going to go out and no amount of turning up the gamma will make it so you can see! Along those lines nighttime is also not something to be taken lightly. You need to plan your quests and travels so that you won't be caught outside when darkness falls, because not only will you not be able to see (even with light sources, it's realistically dark), but it's supremely dangerous. Getting caught out at night becomes nerve wracking as you strain to hear dangers that you can't hope to see, and try not to get lost as you seek some sort of shelter. It gives an old school feel of real danger and panic that I've really missed in games.
Character creation has you customizing every aspect of your character, not only in basic appearance and hairstyle, but in actual size, weight, bulk and musculature. This all plays into how your character performs a smaller light character will be more nimble, a bulky sumo character will be good at knocking foes down. Even your posture and stance can be customized, you can realize the stooped and wizened wizard you always wanted (for you or your pawn).
The pawn system surprised me the most, I didn't think I'd become so addicted to it. Essentially, you make one main pawn for yourself this is your constant companion on your journey, able to be designed with the full range of options as you yourself were built with. You equip them, they level with you, and most importantly they learn with you. As you do quests, fight monsters, and have conversations you direct their progression. Are they protective of the party and will help teammates above all else, or do they aggressively attack opponents disregarding everything else. Do they like to scout ahead or do they prefer to stay near the leader. If you show them how to do something (take restorative healing items), they'll learn how to do it themselves. These pawns and their AI are probably the most lifelike NPCs I've encountered in a long time, and the fact that they can be quite talkative just adds to that as they'll comment on anything and everything as you are exploring/adventuring.
You can have up to three other pawns with you in a party, but you yourself only make the one. The others you can hire are the ones that other players have made to be their main pawns. Your pawn doesn't go anywhere when another person uses them in their party, but instead a copy of them is used and then the quest and monster knowledge that they learn with other players, is retained. Your pawn will be out learning whether you are playing or not. I didn't expect to enjoy this feature so much, but seeing that my pawn is getting use by dozens and dozens of players, who send gifts and comments back with it showing it was useful to them, is a great feeling not to mention that my pawn then has new insights into various enemies or hazards in the world that helps me dramatically in my own game.
The only real negative I'm finding with the game is the weaker main story (it's on par with Skyrims main plot), some occasional performance issues during busy fights, and the predictability of some areas. That is even though it's an open world, when you've been somewhere enough, you begin to learn what might spawn where. Since combat is so much fun it's not too much of a drawback though, and it will take you some time before you explore the entire world enough to begin predicting where things are.
Overall this is an amazing RPG and one that I'm obviously enjoying immensely. If I had to compare this game to something, I'd say it's some amalgamation of Dark Souls, Skyrim, Monster Hunter and Shadow of the Colossus. The few negatives about the game are easily forgiven and forgotten in the face of how much dang fun it is.this is a truly excellent game with some really epic
fights. be warned though, you may die frequently especally at night when it seems
all the things that go bump in the night are bumping more so then usual
the nice part is you can save at any time.
the story isn't anythng special but serves well enough to get you into the game.
this game, unlike others does no hand holding at all
so you will not be treated to the usual tutorial or
any such standard RPG mechanics.
the battle system is fluid
and really fun to experiment with. the mages do really get strong after
some grinding (you will grind a lot in this game) I built my character
to be a "Mystic Knight" basicly a Warrior Mage hybrid. it seems to be a weaker class
though I have jolly good times climbing upon the likes of a cyclops and
stabbing him in his big old eye thus making him a bit chaotic
for a time where he even covers his face. the fighting is much more fluid
then in the demo which I thought was good but needed polish.
well the game has been polished quite nicely so most of the bugs you encountered
in the demo are not present here. (thankfully)
it's a little tough to get going since you have no idea where anything is and also do not know the map,
thus your first few adventures may be harder then you expected
especally when the quest marker is not being very helpful (I followed my quest objective into a city and upon going in it pointed behind me)
the pawns are a godsend though with better A.I. then I have seen in
an RPG in a very very long time. they heal you, fight the monsters
(a little zealously sometimes which leads to either death or another battle)
the pawns not only support your actions but actually assist very well
and their comments on the huge beasts weaknesses are most welcome! they also pick up items and give them to you. you also get a Main Pawn that will lvl up with you throughout the adventure and you may Hire using Rift Crystals up to Two Support Pawns that will Not gain levels with the party. they bring loot and info back to their masters. your pawn will be the same when "rented out" though while rented he will still be at your side so you're never without your main Pawn (unless he "dies")
the loot is a bit more sparse then I was getting from the videos but
it's not a big problem. the stores sell loads of items and Inns
sell Skill Upgrades where you expand upon your skill tree depending on your choices
the strider class is your "rogue" class with loads of nifty abilities (like invisibility). the mage is a AoE + Healing support style character.
you may also re-spec your points at almost any time (for a price)
the environments may seem bland at first but they soon are filled with life
and thgis life is intelligent too so beware of brigands that might
set a trap for you (like the rolling boulder shown in the vids)
or a dragon might come crashing through the trees and this above all
creates Tension throughout the adventure, which leads to caution.
caution is wise here as your pawns can "die" if one does it's sent back to the "rift" where they come from. your main pawn may be resummoned from the rift if he or she dies. support pawns cost Rift Crystals to aquire and the more crystals
you have the better class of pawns you can hire.
overall this game is a Must Buy for Hack & Slash fans and action RPG fans alike
theres loads of content and the map is Huge, be ready to cough up some rare loot
to fast travel though (No one rides for free I guess lol)
not only are the pawns quite smart, so are the baddies they will flank you, use long range to their advantage and annoy big monsters to lure then to you.
(so evil of them...) renting pawns is done through a rift stone 9they're scattered everywhere it seems) and a quest awaits you around every corner.
some of which take you underground into caves and labyrinths filled with the dead (some of which can posses party members lol) you must use a lantern in these dark places and you'll need to be sure to bring loads of Lantern Oil.
enemy types are quite varied with quite a few that will be easily identified by
RPG'rs and D&D fans. the enemies range from standard fare goblins on up to Chimera,
Harpies, Evil Eye (think Beholder) Hydra, Cyclops, Trolls, Ogres and more
all for you to climb on and give a beating (provided you have the stamina which is important in this game)
Some NG+ info
you get Portstones (which can be bought at the black cat in NG+) too which help a ton. (lets you set a spot to use ferrystones to Go to!)
you get one of these at the top of blue moon tower.
and at the end, the game IS NOT OVER! it's not only got NG+ (new game+)
but it has endgame content only available After beating the game. so there's Tons
to do. also they keep adding new quests and other stuff via DLC
the game is a blast if you're hesitating about picking it up, don't.
I haven't had this much fun with an RPG in years.
I'd recommend being at least lvl 50 before going for the end.
it's not due to the end boss rather, it will be eternal night
after the "final Battle" and is extreamly difficult. so be ready and
well equipped.
this game seems to be going back to
"the good ole days" of RPG's. I was shocked to see almost no fast travel (and I love it) (well, there IS fast travel but you need Ferrystones that you find (rarely) and they're extreamly valuable. also for resurrection you need Wakestones that you find in shards and need Three to Resurrrect your character. while this may sound difficult, it's great to use in times of dire need.) but I find it refreshing since it really makes you explore the whole world and as such, makes the game last longer (and the sun setting much more scary lol) also from the good ole days is the Lantern! How surprised I was at actually having to use the lantern in the dark (most games I turn the gamma up and I'm fine, not here though) and of course the brutal difficulty. it really makes me feel like I am playing old days D&D. I just love the game and it's exactly what I have been looking for on the ps3. I will sum it up in two words: Simply Stellar!
Gameplay: 4 of 5 stars due to the lack of a lock on. climbing is fun though.
Graphics: nicely polished and interesting locations 5 of 5 stars
Sound: an excellent score backs up the sound of combat 4 of 5
Controls: fairly easy to learn, menus can be a pain to navigate 5 of 5 stars
Fun: the game is a blast whether you're climbing a hydra lopping off it's heads one by one or bashing the undead in dark caverns. the battle system really makes the game shine. 5 of 5 stars
Overall: a must buy for RPG and Action RPG fans it will not fail to please.
5 of 5 stars
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I've been playing this for about 2 weeks now as a strider with a mage pawn...Pros:
-Awesome Battles Boss battles are actually quite intense. Some of these monsters you face are HUGE. And I do love the aspect of climbing the monster till I reach it's forehead and begin happily jabbing away into its brainpan with my awesome daggers! Very Cool!
-Pawn System I originally bought this for the intriguing aspect of this pawn system. Long story short, you make a henchman The henchman can be recruited by another player online and gain knowledge, items, and experience. You can do the same for other players online as well. So it's quite interesting and I kind of dig it. The best part is that your henchman (pawn) never leaves your side; however, when you rest at an inn, you get word that apparently your pawn has been breaking heads with other players. Kinda cool!
-Big World Lots of exploring to do Like I said...I've been playing for 2 weeks, but this thing is like HUGE likely not Skyrim BIG but still, a vast world with a lot of stuff to see...should keep you occupied for awhile...
-One aspect I like is that when you venture out at night, it is actually a little scary...you can't see very far in front of you you're only fighting by a torchlight on your belt, and in the dark surrounding you, you can hear whatever monsters gathering...I like it that I'm actually nervous that something may happen to my character...
-Character customization Huge amount of character customization for your character and your pawn. There are some bizarre body type configurations if you like the idea of playing a mutant...
Cons:
You only have ONE save game unless of course you want to do some shake and bake and move your character to a thumbdrive or whatever, but I'll be honest...I'm too lazy to do all of that. So the fact that you only have ONE save for your ONE character is kinda BS.
No Fast Travel 'Nuff said. I mean, they got these little token-like things that are hella-expensive, but you don't just find them lying around all over or anything...So anyway, you will be traveling back and forth to a lot to the same places and fighting that same group of goblins over and over again...which is good and bad dependent on how you look at it...
The talking from your henchmen...they will repeat many, many things over and over again. I find it's easier if I lower the voice volume and leave everything else as is...
Story and quests are pretty lame and unimaginative...
In Closing:
Overall I like the game, it's difficult which keeps me coming back to it. It angers me often with the little stupid things that's wrong with it, but obviously it doesn't bother me that much because I keep playing it...I only wish I was able to have more than one save file. I feel that detracts from being able to fully explore and appreciate the game such as changing your class. I did learn this the hard way when I upgraded my Strider to an Arcane Archer, and decided I did not want to play an arcane archer yet...I figured, "Okay, no big deal, I'll just go back to my old class and continue to be awesome.." Ho, ho...not so...I had to buy back my old class and I dropped in my ranking for that class to 0. Not cool at all...But despite that harsh learning experience, I still like it, hence my Love/Hate relationship with Dragon's Dogma...After a few hours with this game today, I think I have the gist enough to form an opinion.
Dragon's Dogma is a nice blend of Eastern RPG with Western style and flair. Maybe it tries a little too hard to get that Tolkien and Game of Thrones feel, but it is unlike what I've been able to come across from a Japanese title so far. Combat flows plenty, and depending on your class can feel like something familiar to a Devil May Cry game. It's not nearly as fast paced and combo related as the former, but you can definitely tell this game was made by the same people. So far I haven't run across any major bugs with the combat, and trust me, this is a combat heavy game.
The pawn system is really neat. Being able to pull your companions out of other peoples games is something innovative and highly useful. The first time you dive into the Rift it'll fee like second nature, and searching for that perfect Pawn comes naturally and easily. In my relatively short time with the game, my own personal companion returned several times with gifts of rift crystals and loot, as well as valuable experience on the land, quests, and monsters.
Exploration in this game is there for you pioneers out there. Most of my first hour in the game (after the tutorial stage) was spent searching every nook and cranny of my tiny sea town for any hidden goodies I was able to find, and find plenty I did. There is an item upgrade/crafting system in place that rewards players holding onto rare items and weapons. But treading off the beaten path isn't without it's own perils. Many times I've been jumped by bandits or lizard monsters by just exploring not very far away from the main road. And when this game tells you to only travel at day, trust me, they mean business. Exploration at night is difficult, but oh so rewarding if you're willing to take the chance.
Is it perfect? No, no, there could be some fixes here and there. The camera often fights against you in tight quarters. Some of the menu interfaces and wording for training your main Pawn isn't completely intuitive, and I often find myself guessing as to what her behavior will be like. The screen can become quite cluttered with key layouts and pawn dialogue, but that can be remedied with a few option preferences. The game doesn't really let you know if you're getting in over your head (protip: don't jump in the well in the first town until you've leveled up a bit...)
But that's half the fun, the trial and error of figuring out what to do on your own. It reminds me of the old days of gaming, before way points, game guides, and FAQs everywhere you turned, and beating a challenging game felt like a real accomplishment.
Bottom line: This is definitely something worth your attention if you're a fan of RPGs and adventure games. Take it slow, don't be afraid to run away, and enjoy your journey through Gransys. I know I am.
