Dragon's Dogma Review

[remmus]

I really like this game.

Reminds me of Dark Souls and Monster Hunter.

Light on story, but great on combat mechanics, character customisation and atmosphere.

I was wondering, is it as difficult as dark souls?

Nah, not nearly as difficult as DS.

It's challenging at times, but not DS challenging

That's good. But the slightly masochistic challenge accepter in me is a little disappointed.

trust me, with the sole save file you have plus the lack of a "respawn" mechanic means you get your share of teeth grinding challenge.

 

[captaincabbage]

I really like this game.

Reminds me of Dark Souls and Monster Hunter.

Light on story, but great on combat mechanics, character customisation and atmosphere.

Yeah I really feel the same as you. I'm bloody loving the world, not because of the story (which is literally the classic story of the stalwart hero facing the evil dragon, Capcom admitted to this purposely) but because the gameplay is excellent, the customization is just hella fantastically varied and the actual monsters you fight are the exact sorts of monsters I've always wanted to fight in a game; classic European myth and folklore.

Really, I loved the landscapes too, the forests are a little sparse, but have a beautiful feel to them and every place I've been to in my 40+ hours so far has felt fairly unique, which is impressive for a game which is essentially all British countryside and then a canyon.

 

[captaincabbage]

I really like this game.

Reminds me of Dark Souls and Monster Hunter.

Light on story, but great on combat mechanics, character customisation and atmosphere.

I was wondering, is it as difficult as dark souls?

Nah, not nearly as difficult as DS.

It's challenging at times, but not DS challenging

That's good. But the slightly masochistic challenge accepter in me is a little disappointed.

trust me, with the sole save file you have plus the lack of a "respawn" mechanic means you get your share of teeth grinding challenge.

Yeah it's really more about tension in DD than actual proper challenge. Of course is you try and take down a chimera at level ten you're going to get completely mutilated, as at that level a single pounce can kill you instantly, but it's not overwhelming hard.

I've actually waited a long time for a game like this. I'm not into the masochistic difficulty of Dark Souls because I would be down a controller or two in the first hour, and I've always loved the idea of the Monster Hunter games, but I 1.) don't have a Wii, and 2.) don't like the "Japanese-ness" of it, if you know what I mean. I just hate the whole thing of giant, retardedly elaborate armour and a weapon as tall as you are, killing monsters that, frankly, look like they came out of a half-transformed transformer convention.

 

[remmus]

I really like this game.

Reminds me of Dark Souls and Monster Hunter.

Light on story, but great on combat mechanics, character customisation and atmosphere.

I was wondering, is it as difficult as dark souls?

Nah, not nearly as difficult as DS.

It's challenging at times, but not DS challenging

That's good. But the slightly masochistic challenge accepter in me is a little disappointed.

trust me, with the sole save file you have plus the lack of a "respawn" mechanic means you get your share of teeth grinding challenge.

Yeah it's really more about tension in DD than actual proper challenge. Of course is you try and take down a chimera at level ten you're going to get completely mutilated, as at that level a single pounce can kill you instantly, but it's not overwhelming hard.

I've actually waited a long time for a game like this. I'm not into the masochistic difficulty of Dark Souls because I would be down a controller or two in the first hour, and I've always loved the idea of the Monster Hunter games, but I 1.) don't have a Wii, and 2.) don't like the "Japanese-ness" of it, if you know what I mean. I just hate the whole thing of giant, retardedly elaborate armour and a weapon as tall as you are, killing monsters that, frankly, look like they came out of a half-transformed transformer convention.

agreed, very refreshing in general (and being a Japanese game especially) to see more down to earth aesthetics, it still feels like fantasy, but it´s a bit more grounded fantasy and I like it

 

[Draconalis]

Draco loves dragons....... but he's not certain he'd play this game.

 

[irishda]

I'd probably rate this as a superior RPG to Skyrim. Both are rather tedious when it comes to quests and travel, although props to Skyrim for having the better variation in world geography. But the combat for DD is just so infinitely superior to Skyrim's "Bash 'em till their dead" style, even with the targeting troubles. And the customization abilities for character building is far more varied in DD.

 

[Scars Unseen]

I really like this game.

Reminds me of Dark Souls and Monster Hunter.

Light on story, but great on combat mechanics, character customisation and atmosphere.

I was wondering, is it as difficult as dark souls?

Nah, not nearly as difficult as DS.

It's challenging at times, but not DS challenging

I would say that it isn't as consistently difficult as Dark Souls. The most difficult moments I've come across involved multiple groups of monsters fighting me at once. When you're fighting 3 types of monsters, two of which can magically put you to sleep, another that keeps casting fire spells at you, and yet another that can take you down to critical health in a single hit... well things get a bit hairy.

On the other hand, I ran into a wight, and it was the most boring fight ever. He just floated out of my reach and cast easily dodged spells, so I just stood behind a tree while my two hired pawns spent about 5 minutes whittling its health down to nothing.

 

[-|-]

Well, as much as reviewers seem to be underrating this game, at least it doesn't crash every five minutes and manages to run at consistent frame rates on the PS3 unlike other critically acclaimed RPG's that I could mention.

 

[gigastar]

Im really confused by what you mean about the targeting system, most magics lock onto a target, the ones that dont are either focused around the player, placed on the ground, or player designated.

Using a bow just turns things into a bit of a shooter, no issues for most people there.

And most melee attacks actually do track targets. The ones that dont are usually sweeping strikes from swords/maces or greatswords/war hammers.

Well, as much as reviewers seem to be underrating this game, at least it doesn't crash every five minutes and manages to run at consistent frame rates on the PS3 unlike other critically acclaimed RPG's that I could mention.

...Until you get you playing mystic knight on the PS3 version. All the VFX going on with some of thier spells alongside ally and enemy spells causes some hefty lag.

Worth all the pain he can dish out with just two greater magick cannons though.

 

[kouriichi]

Theres a lot to this review that i dont like. Dont get me wrong, its a pretty fair review, but it doesnt sound like they sunk more then 3 or 4 hours in the game.

Ferrystones are decently common, and you can purchase them from two different venders for nearly nothing (along with the more expensive crystal that lets you warp to the location you place it). And enemy health bars arnt all that large. I mean, he didnt even get to the Hydra or Ur-dragon fight. >.>; Talk about lots of hp then. I nearly instakill the Chimera and cyclops.

And there are very few quests outside your given level, because you only have access to most quests when you reach certain points in the game. If you get a quest of "kill 3 griffins", and youve never faced a griffin to this point, chances are it will be out of your level. Its common sense of "If i havent faced it, i shouldnt run head first at it".

And it sounds like he has no grasp on the leveling system, and gave no effort to learn about it. Leveling as a mage gives you very little stamina, which means switching to the rogue out of the blue, and trying to scale enemies is a terrible idea.

Im not going to say its a bad review, but i honestly dont think if you didnt beat the game, or sink 30+ hours into it, you shouldnt review it. Dragons Dogma is a big game, with far more content then you can find at the surface. To be fair, 3 1/2 stars is a decent rating about the game. Im not going to be a fan boy and say, "you didnt play it right", or "you dont appreciate games like this". But at least sink more time into an RPG if your going to do "Review" of it. Honestly, Yahtzee can rant about how terrible a game is for hours, and i couldnt care. He doesnt review, he jests. He gives an opinion so outrageous, you cant really take it seriously. But when your honestly trying to "review" a game, you need to learn it inside and out. You need to learn the mechanics, the fights, and the end game before you can give an honest answer on the game as a whole. Its like me saying "WoW is the worst game ever, 1/10. The content is the most boring ive ever played, nothing but a grindfest", when i never hit 60+. (i did hit 60+, and do raids, which really changed the outlook i had on the game, im just saying if i had never hit 60 and did a review, it would be unfair to WoW).

Not the worst review ever, and still quite fair, just rushed. He spent less time on the game then it really deserved. I mean, theres even 20 hours of "Aftergame" content, before you can move onto New Game+.

 

[Danzavare]

I have a question: Does downloading other players' pawns on the Xbox 360 require Gold Membership? I have access to Xbox Live but, knowing the kinds of games I play, I've never found it worth buying a subscription.

I have a heap of games to get through first, but this is definitely on my to-buy list. At the very least my partner will probably make me snatch it up soon.

Nope, you can still download pawns without Gold. Pretty neat, I think.

Brilliant news~! Thanks for sharing, I may buy Dragon's Dogma much earlier than I planned now~!

 

[Syzygy23]

Draco loves dragons....... but he's not certain he'd play this game.

Then Draco can go ruminate in the corner while all the other kids have fun ganking Cyclops (Cyclopi?) and beating up Griffons.

 

[remmus]

I was interested in this up until I saw it was made by Capcom. As much as it pains me I'll have to skip it for that reason alone. But as I have years of training via doing the same to all EA products this shall be easy.

to be fair Capcom is the kind of company where even if many games carries it´s logo, it´s not the same people that makes all the games, sure the DLC bit does rear it´s ugly head here, but frankly it isn´t that invading and if you look past the logo it is a fine rpg I feel needs a good amount of love.

 

[remmus]

I was interested in this up until I saw it was made by Capcom. As much as it pains me I'll have to skip it for that reason alone. But as I have years of training via doing the same to all EA products this shall be easy.

to be fair Capcom is the kind of company where even if many games carries it´s logo, it´s not the same people that makes all the games, sure the DLC bit does rear it´s ugly head here, but frankly it isn´t that invading and if you look past the logo it is a fine rpg I feel needs a good amount of love.

Except I do not like Capcom's various business practices and therefore refuse to give them money for any game. Doesn't matter if said game is the best RPG ever made I still will not get it simply because my money would trickle back to them and I will not allow that.
And as I hate used games that means I shall not get this game.

ok that is your choice, tho I strongly recommend you at least try the game if a friend owns/buys a copy, that way you can still keep Capcom from your wallet and give the game a fair chance to show you what it can do.

 

[Greg Tito]

I played 30+ hours, but didn't want to give too much away. Yes, there's tons of content, but part of a review is letting people know what the game will feel like from the moment they pick it up.

Anyway, thanks for your thoughts, but I wanted to make sure you knew I played the crap out of Dragon's Dogma.

 

[lostlambda]

the moment some one said one save file i lost all interest in the game and it dosn't help that everyone keeps comparing it to dark souls isnt helping its case

 

[Bors Mistral]

From what I've played, apart from some aspects of the storytelling, it's still a better game than Dragon Age 2.
I just hope the PC version isn't very far off, Dragon's Dogma definitely deserves one.

 

[-|-]

the moment some one said one save file i lost all interest in the game and it dosn't help that everyone keeps comparing it to dark souls isnt helping its case

There are actually two. There's an auto save when you pick up quests that is separate from the normal auto save / manual save. This has got me out of the a tricky spot on the selene escort mission.

I don't really understand why this is getting comparably low scores given the combat is the best I've seen in an RPG and the story seems no worse than skyrim. Something that also seems to have been overlooked is that you don't have to sit looking at some dodgy viking helmet for 30s every time you go into a tiny house.