Dragon's Dogma - did it sort of fly over everyone's heads?

[endtherapture]

I've recently been playing Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen through...and wow, what a game. It's sort of like a hybrid of the open world of Skyrim, the art style and aesthetics of Dark Souls and and a fast and furious combat system reminiscent of Kingdoms of Amalur, fast and furious with a focus on climbing and defeating big boss monsters with different resistances and weaknesses.

The game is so deep though. I'm close to completing the main quest only to go to the wiki and see I've still got a whole ton of DLC, the expansion pack, and a multi-level post game dungeon and a load of post game quests to do. It appears to change the game-world after completion of quests and stages, something that Skyrim could've done with to keep the game world fresh. There's also a huge gear progression and class flexibility, allowing you to change classes on the fly and try out a bunch of different play styles.

Overall I think a lot of people saw the game as a generic Oblivion type fantasy game, which it honestly does seem like in the first few hours of play...but 10 or so hours into the game it becomes a immersive, atmospheric and addictive experience.

Here's to a next-gen sequel, thanks Capcom

 

[hazabaza1]

I really liked it but admittedly

but 10 or so hours into the game it becomes a immersive, atmospheric and addictive experience.

is a problem. Most people hardly have time to play an hour or two a week, needing to invest so much time for it to get good puts a lot of people off.

But yeah, a good, if flawed game that deserves more than the small cult following it has. If there was a PC port I'd be all over that all day long.

 

[Forrestfield]

Didn't play Dark Arisen, but played plenty of the base version. Ended somewhere north of level hundred. It was very gratifying to play due to the combat feeling quick and controlled, but the game has plenty of issues. Quests where generally terrible, initially, traveling got rather dull. They fixed this at some point with the multitude of way markers you could place. Difficulty spikes where rather common. Later on the difficulty was rather absent. But, for a first time try - it was rather awesome. Knocking an ogre from a mountain passes into a canyon is still one of the most enjoyable moments I've had in video gaming. It's also one of the few games from Capcom that's actually genuinely good. Too bad they never brought it out for the personal computer.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Dragon's Dogma is probably the best open world RPG of last-gen. The creatures actually feel like the creatures they are; a dragon will fly up and cause you to fall to your death, hydra will eat and swallow you (for minutes), etc. You can't just hack away at the chins of a dragon and win. The reason I dislike most RPGs is because you spend most of your time fighting enemies and the combat isn't very good so why should I play something when I'm not enjoying the majority of the experience? And, oh my god, the magic is so fucking awesome; meteors from the sky, tornadoes, etc. The first dragon I killed was taken down by my pawn's tornado as I was riding on its head, so fucking epic, nothing touches Dragon's Dogma in combat. Deep Down is supposed to be a spiritual successor, I hope it's good, but it looks slower than Dogma, I don't know if you can climb creatures in it either.

 

[josemlopes]

I liked it but it has some serious problems that I would like to see fixed in a sequel (seriously Capcom, dont let this one die).



There are all the obvious tech issues but what I want is co-op since the pawns fuck around so much, I ended up either going alone or just my main pawn as a warrior or archer. The mages and sorcerers only get in the way since if I throw oil at the enemy and add fire to my sword (playing as that warrior/mage hybrid) I dont want the other asshole to decide that maybe my sword should be enchanted with ice instead.

So yeah, I started to pack a shitload of herbs, shrooms and usefull gear like poison flasks and fire arrows before going out on adventure.

Its just that the game seems so geared for cooperation but the pawns, even knowing the enemy well, simply go with whatever plan is on their minds making certain fights harder then they needed to be (especially in the DLC areas that is hard as fuck).


But yeah, in the end my adventures with Mr. Popo and Wonder Woman were very much worth the effort.

 

[endtherapture]

Didn't play Dark Arisen, but played plenty of the base version. Ended somewhere north of level hundred. It was very gratifying to play due to the combat feeling quick and controlled, but the game has plenty of issues. Quests where generally terrible, initially, traveling got rather dull. They fixed this at some point with the multitude of way markers you could place. Difficulty spikes where rather common. Later on the difficulty was rather absent. But, for a first time try - it was rather awesome. Knocking an ogre from a mountain passes into a canyon is still one of the most enjoyable moments I've had in video gaming. It's also one of the few games from Capcom that's actually genuinely good. Too bad they never brought it out for the personal computer.

I feel like a lot of people just see it as an Oblivion clone and quickly give up.

The execution leaves a lot to be desired. It's a game which could do with more developed characters and animations, maybe some expanded dialogue and a tweak in the out of combat camera angles. The fast travel system could be better, the side-quests are very MMO-ish and overall the inventory system could be improved. However the core gameplay mechanics of survival in a hostile environment and fast, fluid combat are what brings me back to the game, and the character progression and levelling system and the pawns are amazing.

I think if they gave it a bigger budget and a bigger team for the sequel and kept the combat the same, it could be one of the best next-gen games. We will see how The Witcher 3 goes cos right now that's looking like everything I ever wanted in a fantasy RPG.

I'll also have to take a look at Deep Down.

 

[endtherapture]

Dragon's Dogma is probably the best open world RPG of last-gen. The creatures actually feel like the creatures they are; a dragon will fly up and cause you to fall to your death, hydra will eat and swallow you (for minutes), etc. You can't just hack away at the chins of a dragon and win. The reason I dislike most RPGs is because you spend most of your time fighting enemies and the combat isn't very good so why should I play something when I'm not enjoying the majority of the experience? And, oh my god, the magic is so fucking awesome; meteors from the sky, tornadoes, etc. The first dragon I killed was taken down by my pawn's tornado as I was riding on its head, so fucking epic, nothing touches Dragon's Dogma in combat. Deep Down is supposed to be a spiritual successor, I hope it's good, but it looks slower than Dogma, I don't know if you can climb creatures in it either.

This games looks like a hybrid of Souls and Dogma...it looks incredible, why hasn't there been much hype for it?

 

[Diablo2000]

I tried time and time again to play Dragon's Dogma, just kinda drop out after a while everytime.
Yeah, fighting big monsters is fun, but everything else isn't... I do hope for a improved sequel mind you, maybe a proper fucking fast travel system (I swear to go, I almost never use Fast Travel ever, this was the only game where I wanted so bad) and cutting off the bullshit MMO sidequests of "Go there kill that\Go here grab 10 of the thing that is not a sure drop"

 

[Longing]

I loved it, but I can see the glaring issues and why some people wouldn't like it.

The pawn system is fun and being able to use other people's creations, equally so, but there's not enough stuff in there to make it seem really unique. A lot of people use the same gear, because it's the most effective so you just end up with an army of clones. The same 30 lines of dialogues being endlessly repeated is extremely annoying and AI leaves a lot to be desired at times, especially if your pawn is magic based.

Having to go through the same paths dozens of times, with the exact same enemies waiting for you at the exact same places was an absolute chore. The higher leveled enemies is really where the games shines, because the wolves, the bandits, the goblins etc. are super boring to fight and more often than not, they're the ones you're stuck with.

The main quests were alright, but there was barely any story, in fact I can't even remember what the main gist of it was. The secondary quests were your standard 'collect x amounts of y' or 'kill enough x enemies to count as genocide' or the ever lovely 'guide person to this location' which I think gaming as a whole voted to get rid of.

Yeah anyways, you are right to say that the game really picks up after a while, but most people don't have that much faith to put in so many hours. And as I said, with the kind of enemies you fight at the beginning, I can see why people would give up.

Overall, I think the game needed way more polishing and maybe more promotion, because I don't remember much people talking about it.

 

[Phasmal]

I actually had trouble getting into it and ended up trading it in.
It was just kinda `meh` for me.

I thought it had some good ideas but needed a bit more polish. And at the time I'd been playing loads of Skyrim and Dark Souls so I just got bored quite quickly with it.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Well it certainly didn't fly over my head, I'm actually really interested in it, but as someone who only plays on a PC.. well, yeah. Unfortunate really.

And no Rozalia1, if you do see this post, I don't wanna hear it.

 

[Skin]

I recently got it, and... just kinda grew bored of it. I mean, I literally walk down the same path like 20 times to do quests, and I have the exact same enemies to fight (not just any enemies, boring and incredibly annoying harpies).

Then you got other problems like the bandit leaders who stunlock you to death in 3 hits...

I don't know... I just cannot be bothered to play it. I might do Vageta311's Bitterblack Isle challenge though instead of just playing through the game normally. Hopefully that has better pacing.

 

[Riotguards]

dragon dogma on its own was pretty good but by god Dark arisen is the best expansion / DLC ever

i mean you fight the mother F***ing grim reaper! how do you top that?

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

I think that the open world aspect kind of hurt the game a lot. A lo of the dull and time consuming parts involved traveling over the over world. The expansion worked out a lot better because it was just one big non dungeon rather then an open world. If they make a new one (Fingers crossed) I hope they ditch the open world aspect for a more dungeon crawl format.

 

[Jason Rayes]

I actually quite like it though as people have pointed out the pawn AI is kind of retarded and also they tend to repeat the same lines of dialogue ad nauseam. That said the huge boss fights are a lot of fun and climbing all over them reminded me a little of Shadow of the Collosus.

I've recently been playing Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen through..*snip*

Dark Arisen is the sequel correct? Have you played the original game and if so, what improvements have you noticed?

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Dark Arisen is a DLC expansion with basically a huge dungeon added to the end of the game.

@OT:

I enjoyed Dragon's Dogma, even though it's basically "Berserk manga references, bland version: the game". Even bland Berserk is amazing and this game was a lot of fun and had way more epic moments than Skyrim so what's not to love. (and before you get at me with this, you get actual Berserk cosplay in this game, it's not even a slight nod, it's fanservice through and through)

 

[endtherapture]

I actually quite like it though as people have pointed out the pawn AI is kind of retarded and also they tend to repeat the same lines of dialogue ad nauseam. That said the huge boss fights are a lot of fun and climbing all over them reminded me a little of Shadow of the Collosus.

I've recently been playing Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen through..*snip*

Dark Arisen is the sequel correct? Have you played the original game and if so, what improvements have you noticed?

Dark Arisen is apparently the original game with a load of bug fixes and enhancements, all DLC included, and a massive high-level dungeon off the mainland.

 

[AntiChri5]

I loved it, even if it had some serious problems it also did a lot of cool, rather unique things.

 

[Zhukov]

Nope. It flew straight into my head like a well aimed cow pat.

Pawns were annoying and wouldn't shut up. Fast travel system was arse. Monsters kept respawning and had to be killed over and over.

Climbing all over the first chimera was fun. Climbing all over the seventh one to respawn was not so fun.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I'm playing it again right now.

It has a bunch of deep flaws, but what it does right it does extremely right. The game could carry itself by the combat alone, and it more or less does. I can honestly say I've never played an RPG with a combat system as satisfying as this one. Granted I have only played as a Strider/Ranger. I like that the game doesn't lock off harder areas or enemies. If you walk into a group of highly lethal bandits, or encounter a cave troll at level 3 then you're gonna get wrecked, and the game isn't going to take steps to help you avoid them if you're not yet strong enough.

And just running around, jumping and climbing shit is a blast, because there's such a great sense of heft to your movement and it's animated so well.

The lack of fast-travel could've worked better had they incorperated more shortcuts. But overall I liked that traveling/exploring held some risk; 'I'm pretty far from the nearest town; Do I return and start fresh in the morning, knowing I'll have to retread my path, or continue on in the hopes of finding another encampment or some special treasure at the risk of being caught at night?'

I love the character editor. You can almost make any person you want, whether it be a puny, little guy, a huge fat girl, or a creepy tall, slender man. And every option is displayed as a picture making it easy to choose between the different selections. It sucks though that you have to replay that intro everytime you want to play a new game, instead of the game simply starting you off at the character editor. There were times I didn't feel my character looked quite right, so I had to go replay that entire fucking intro sequence again just to make the necessary alterations.

The game could've also used more variety of enemies, as monotony starts kicking in pretty soon after the 5th hour or so. And obviously the Pawns' dialoge would've benefited from some editing. Them repeating the same line of dialoge at that exact area got a bit tiring. Yes, yes I know, 'Castle walls, or the ruins of such', I heard you the first 500 times. Same goes for the shop owners. And the "story", if you can call it that, was just dribble.

I said it in another thread already, but if they could make a Dragon Age game with this exact combat I'd be all fucking over that shit.