Dragon's Dogma: What the Fuck Am I Playing?

[Fappy]

Dragon's Dogma feels like a game that was being developed by 10 different teams who never communicated with each other. I don't get it. Is this game supposed to feel like an action MMO without the MMO? Why am I getting constantly spammed IN GAME (not loading screens mind you) to buy DLC? Why does it take upwards of 5-minutes to get from the "Play Disk" screen on the dashboard to finally loading my game? One save file?

Are my party members supposed to be headless chickens that only serve as a distraction? Are they supposed to continue rambling with TERRIBLE VO and repeat the same lines 1000 times? Are the lips EVER supposed to be synced? Is the difficulty supposed to be a random number generator that makes it impossible to determine how difficult a fight will be? Is the crafting and item management system supposed to feel like a bloated Excel spreadsheet? And the screen-tearing! Oh, lord!

There is more I could ***** about, but I think you get the picture. This game has some great moments. Bringing a giant monster down to its knees feels awesome. But... those moments are too few and far between. I am really, really trying to enjoy this game, but there is just some much dumb shit going on its hurting my brain. What do you guys do to ignore all of the shit?

 

[TaintedSaint]

You should have read reviews for it they all say what you just said. You could have avoided the whole situation by doing a little research.

 

[Fappy]

You should have read reviews for it they all say what you just said. You could have avoided the whole situation by doing a little research.

I did and I believed I would be able to suck it up. I haven't given up just yet however. Just looking to see if anyone has weathered the storm and has an opinion on whether or not its worth it. Thankfully it was a gift so I don't have to deal with the regret of buying it.

 

[Casual Shinji]

This is one game I'm glad I stayed on the fence for.

Now I'm back behind it.

 

[Tallim]

The tearing was the reason I got the PS3 version, slightly less stable frame rate is far less annoying than tearing to me.

The rest of it I hardly noticed. The pawns constant inane chatter wears thin pretty fast I'll give you that. But I don't get the rest of your arguments.

I think it's one of the best games to come out this year, it might just be "one of those games" where you can either ignore its problems or they get right up your nose and ruin it entirely.

 

[kyogen]

That's funny. I've logged more than 100 hours in the game and not once has it taken me five minutes to get from the main menu to the loaded game. It doesn't even take that long when I have to turn on the system and insert the disk. I get noticeable pop-in but no significant screen-tearing, but I'm on a PS3. Are you playing on a 360?

No, voices do not sync perfectly, but I disagree about their quality. I think the actors have done their job rather well. David Lodge is especially good as the dragon, but even the actors voicing the pawns are doing exactly what they're supposed to do with characters who embody the uncanny valley because they're not quite human.

An action MMO? Not exactly. Dragon's Dogma comes out of the Monster Hunter tradition with heavy influences from Devil May Cry. There's a thematic reason for its particular take on the grind as well:

Spoiler

the real challenge to the Arisen isn't to save the world; it's to transcend its mundane and trivial concerns without rejecting the basic value of life

The members of the design team clearly read their Nietzsche (Thus Spoke Zarathustra in particular) and worked it into the game in intelligent ways.

Difficulty is meant to be organic. The world is dangerous. If you tackle a problem that your characters aren't prepared or leveled for, work around it or leave it and come back later. Pawns are very useful in combat and have great AI pathing, so if your team isn't effective, change it. You should be doing that quite often in early playthroughs because support pawns don't level with you and your main pawn. It's also wise to experiment with different class combinations. The crafting and item management system is straight out of Monster Hunter, so whether you like its logistical style is a matter of taste. Personally, I find that it's efficient without being oversimplified to the point of inhibiting choice.

What do I do to ignore the game's flaws? The same thing I do for any game: learn its systems and its narrative to see what it does well and why it it's designed the way it is.

I'm sorry that you aren't enjoying the game. Maybe it's just not your thing?

 

[Fappy]

That's funny. I've logged more than 100 hours in the game and not once has it taken me five minutes to get from the main menu to the loaded game. It doesn't even take that long when I have to turn on the system and insert the disk. I get noticeable pop-in but no significant screen-tearing, but I'm on a PS3. Are you playing on a 360?

No, voices do not sync perfectly, but I disagree about their quality. I think the actors have done their job rather well. David Lodge is especially good as the dragon, but even the actors voicing the pawns are doing exactly what they're supposed to do with characters who embody the uncanny valley because they're not quite human.

An action MMO? Not exactly. Dragon's Dogma comes out of the Monster Hunter tradition with heavy influences from Devil May Cry. There's a thematic reason for its particular take on the grind as well:

Spoiler

the real challenge to the Arisen isn't to save the world; it's to transcend its mundane and trivial concerns without rejecting the basic value of life

The members of the design team clearly read their Nietzsche (Thus Spoke Zarathustra in particular) and worked it into the game in intelligent ways.

Difficulty is meant to be organic. The world is dangerous. If you tackle a problem that your characters aren't prepared or leveled for, work around it or leave it and come back later. Pawns are very useful in combat and have great AI pathing, so if your team isn't effective, change it. You should be doing that quite often in early playthroughs because support pawns don't level with you and your main pawn. It's also wise to experiment with different class combinations. The crafting and item management system is straight out of Monster Hunter, so whether you like its logistical style is a matter of taste. Personally, I find that it's efficient without being oversimplified to the point of inhibiting choice.

What do I do to ignore the game's flaws? The same thing I do for any game: learn its systems and its narrative to see what it does well and why it it's designed the way it is.

I'm sorry that you aren't enjoying the game. Maybe it's just not your thing?

Yeah, I am on the 360 and that could have something to do with the load times as well. I often times have to sit and wait for my game to "sync" after resting in an inn which has taken up to three minutes before. Maybe they just have server issues occasionally? I don't have any experience with Monster Hunter style games, but I'm going to try and stick with it for now. The combat is fun when its not frustrating and I rarely ever let the AI get the better of me for long.

 

[kyogen]

Yeah, I am on the 360 and that could have something to do with the load times as well. I often times have to sit and wait for my game to "sync" after resting in an inn which has taken up to three minutes before. Maybe they just have server issues occasionally? I don't have any experience with Monster Hunter style games, but I'm going to try and stick with it for now. The combat is fun when its not frustrating and I rarely ever let the AI get the better of me for long.

That's a bummer about how it runs. If you're willing to play offline and just use the in-game pawn generator, you should see a bit of relief with the delay at inns, at least. I think the game is still fun that way, but you do lose out on having other people's custom-made pawns.

Yeah, I really love the combat, but I had to run away, kite, dodge, and use any other trick I could think of in my first run. I was also a little slow to pick up on how to use special moves and set my skills. Once I got the hang of it, they were really useful. The tutorial has a character approach the dragon fight at level 47, so I figured that was the level to shoot for. It worked, but it was a challenge all the way through--not a Dark Souls challenge maybe, but still intense.

Good luck playing it a bit more.

 

[80Maxwell08]

Dragon's Dogma feels like a game that was being developed by 10 different teams who never communicated with each other.

I get the feeling you didn't hear about the dev team for this game being 150 people. Also if you think that's absurd then you definitely haven't heard that Resident Evil 6 has 600 people on it. Yeah I really think that RE6 is going to have massive problems from that.

 

[Fappy]

Dragon's Dogma feels like a game that was being developed by 10 different teams who never communicated with each other.

I get the feeling you didn't hear about the dev team for this game being 150 people. Also if you think that's absurd then you definitely haven't heard that Resident Evil 6 has 600 people on it. Yeah I really think that RE6 is going to have massive problems from that.

600?! Holy fucking shit. Wow, that's really bad. Capcom really needs a reorg or something because that cannot be efficient.

 

[80Maxwell08]

Dragon's Dogma feels like a game that was being developed by 10 different teams who never communicated with each other.

I get the feeling you didn't hear about the dev team for this game being 150 people. Also if you think that's absurd then you definitely haven't heard that Resident Evil 6 has 600 people on it. Yeah I really think that RE6 is going to have massive problems from that.

600?! Holy fucking shit. Wow, that's really bad. Capcom really needs a reorg or something because that cannot be efficient.

That was actually one of the main reasons Keiji Inafune left them. He said before he left Capcom of Japan they had about 700 people working there and they were making maybe 3-4 games with them. If you want to read his whole interview about this here's the link.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=411847

 

[Fappy]

Dragon's Dogma feels like a game that was being developed by 10 different teams who never communicated with each other.

I get the feeling you didn't hear about the dev team for this game being 150 people. Also if you think that's absurd then you definitely haven't heard that Resident Evil 6 has 600 people on it. Yeah I really think that RE6 is going to have massive problems from that.

600?! Holy fucking shit. Wow, that's really bad. Capcom really needs a reorg or something because that cannot be efficient.

That was actually one of the main reasons Keiji Inafune left them. He said before he left Capcom of Japan they had about 700 people working there and they were making maybe 3-4 games with them. If you want to read his whole interview about this here's the link.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=411847

I'll take a look. I seriously can't wrap my head around why they would do that?

 

[80Maxwell08]

Dragon's Dogma feels like a game that was being developed by 10 different teams who never communicated with each other.

I get the feeling you didn't hear about the dev team for this game being 150 people. Also if you think that's absurd then you definitely haven't heard that Resident Evil 6 has 600 people on it. Yeah I really think that RE6 is going to have massive problems from that.

600?! Holy fucking shit. Wow, that's really bad. Capcom really needs a reorg or something because that cannot be efficient.

That was actually one of the main reasons Keiji Inafune left them. He said before he left Capcom of Japan they had about 700 people working there and they were making maybe 3-4 games with them. If you want to read his whole interview about this here's the link.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=411847

I'll take a look. I seriously can't wrap my head around why they would do that?

No idea but I cal tell you a guess of what games they were making. To be frank Capcom are surviving almost entirely on Monster Hunter and Resident Evil with the tide changing somewhat currently. So those are the only games they really focus on throwing their weight behind (aside from Dragon's Dogma recently). My guess is they think the games will be so big all the extra people will make it sell that much more instead of making it an unplayable mess.

 

[Drizzitdude]

You are playing one of the best RPG's of this generation. One with solid gameplay a great looking world, fantastic bosses and enemies and a robust class system. A game that has had a sequel confirmed that I am looking forward to immensely. Hopefully next game we get a much larger world, seafaring (fighting sea monsters would be epic) and co-op. Yes the pawns never shut the hell up. If it bothers you so much you can sit them down in knowledge chair and tell them to shut up or just turn down your voice volume. I actually found their dialogue refreshing and helpful in the beginning and even when they repeated themselves 1000 times by endgame I much preferred that over the completely silent companions in other games.

I have absolutely no idea what the OP is referring to about load times and item management. Load times are incredibly quick for me (on the 360) and item management is as simple as chucking all your crafting materials in the storage.

I will agree on the crafting system being confusing though it took me forever to get a hang of it and even then I was disappointed that there was no weapon or armor crafting.

 

[Zhukov]

Yeah, I was thoroughly unimpressed by it as well.

The setting and world are about as dull as it gets. Completely by-the-numbers fantasy that's as boring to look at as it is to explore. It gets point for not having elves or dwarves, but there still isn't a single original or interesting thought in sight.

Utterly fails to engage on any level. "What, you want a story of some kind, perhaps a living world to inhabit? Fuck you, go kill that goblin for the sixth time."

The combat was okay... I guess. Got boring real quick though. Either mash buttons or spam your one useful ability. If you're playing as a spell caster then you spend most of the game watching a progress bar fill up and hoping someone doesn't run up and deck you before it's done. The appeal had long warn off after I got done with my thirteenth pack of lizards.

The big monster fight were actually pretty cool, but they overstayed their welcome something fierce. The ninth chimera you kill isn't going to feel any different to the eighth. Some goes for the tenth cyclops. It just become a grind after a while.

Also, remember that thing they were hyping up about nighttime being really dangerous? Yeah, absolute lies. By the time I got to Gran Soren (which is fairly early on) I could travel through the night just fine.

Then there's the basic mechanical complaints like lack of fast travel and the bloody pawns who never stop spouting the same lines over and over again.

 

[Fappy]

Wow, can't believe I didn't even think to install it. Hopefully this should fix the screen-tearing and load times.

 

[piinyouri]

What do you guys do to ignore all of the shit?

Well..

Why am I getting constantly spammed IN GAME (not loading screens mind you) to buy DLC?

This is anoyying to be sure but is easily ignorable.

Why does it take upwards of 5-minutes to get from the "Play Disk" screen on the dashboard to finally loading my game?

I don't have this problem. I'm on a different platform though so it may be specific to yours.

One save file?

I question this decision myself and really dislike it's inclusion. You can get around it by keeping saves on a USB memory stick though. No, we shouldn't have to do this, but if you want multiple characters that's how you do it.

Are my party members supposed to be headless chickens that only serve as a distraction? Are they supposed to continue rambling with TERRIBLE VO and repeat the same lines 1000 times? Are the lips EVER supposed to be synced?

I've heard the pawn AI criticism a lot but I really can't replicate it. Almost every pawn I've had has been actually very helpful in one way or the other. The AI seems to be fairly darn proficient. (Pathfinding on the other hand....)
Yeah, it can get anoyying, but honestly I see it as a welcome tradeoff. The first time they tell you enemy and mini-boss weaknesses, quest tips and point out hidden loot caches, it is GENUINELY helpful and to be frank, really awesome. I've had pawns save my life before.
No, they never ever do. It's a small thing I can ignore pretty easily but I guess I can see why it could bother some people.

Is the difficulty supposed to be a random number generator that makes it impossible to determine how difficult a fight will be?

Don't know what to say here except that I've found the difficulty very consistent. What you're probably experiencing is the games hidden stage triggers that progress the main story, and when one of them is passed, new items appear in shops, new quests become available, and higher level versions of old enemies and new monsters entirely show up.
In general, just always always be cautious. The game isn't quite Dark/Demon Souls hard, but it's in the same apartment.

Is the crafting and item management system supposed to feel like a bloated Excel spreadsheet?

Crafting is quite a confuckled mess. Here's some good news though, you don't really need to bother with it too much. Most of what you can make can be bought later or is just pointless anyway (Anything that heals debilitations. Just carry a few Eyedrops and Secret Softeners with you all the time.)

 

[Zhukov]

[snip]

There is a fast travel system in the game. It just doesn't tell you how to obtain it or what it is exactly. It seems to really be there for your multiple playthroughs. There is an absolute wealth of hidden content in the game that not most players will be able to find. Those quirky japanese and their hidden goodies!

Yes. I know. The ferry stones and the crystal things.

However, it's a stupid system. It's restrictive and wastes the player's time for no good reason.

What happens if I'm in the capital city, my crystal is has been planted up north and I want to travel south without trekking through the same damn mountain pass and killing the same damn goblins for the sixth time? The game says, "Fuck you, get walking."

Compare that to, say, Skyrim (which, I hasten to add, I don't particularly like). Open map. Select previously visited destination. Bam! You're there! No fuss, no wasted time.