Intro
Dragon’s Dogma 2 is total trash. Its ideas are stuck in the last generation of game development resulting in a game that has high points but ultimately falls flat on its face. Let’s explore.
Freedom (0.5/2)
In dragon’s dogma you are free to be the Arisen of your choosing, be it male, female or anything in between.
The robust character creator yields immediate gamer investment for Capcom, however, after this your freedom is severely hampered by a linear quest line that invites you to seek progression using your own ingenuity but then stops you dead in your tracks when you figure out a clever solution. (-0.25)
For example, without spoiling anything, there is a quest that tasks me with figuring out a way to get into a particular area. Before embarking on said quest I remembered that there was an item I encountered that said it can be used to get into a particular area using the trickery so I donned that item. The person in that area said the item can be used to fool others into thinking what you need them to think to gain access to the area I wanted to gain access to, however, when I show up with the item I am vehemently turned back by the guard. This would all make sense had the game not literally said that I would be able to access that area with the particular item. This is the kind of nonsensical experience that is all over Dragons Dogma 2. (-0.25)
To their credit, there is an alternative route to the destination if you search hard enough.
Your freedom is also hampered by a serious lack of engaging traversal options. (-0.25) Your options are to walk, oxcart or ferrystone. Walking is a thinly veiled overuse of the 30 second game dev principle that says you should give the player something interesting to do every 30 seconds or so. (-0.25) Taking an oxcart is periodically engaging and the ferrystone is fast travel.
In a game where traveling is such a big part of the game, water and air traversal would have helped this game to feel more like an adventure and less like a constant shove in the back toward the next quest icon or thing that your pawn points out. (-0.25)
In addition to this lack of traversal options is the plethora of barriers the game sets up to keep you on its predetermined paths. These include high walls, cliffs and (I can’t believe I’m typing this)... streams. This feels like a lot less of a restriction in Battahl but it’s here nonetheless. This is totally unacceptable in a 2024 release. (-0.25)
Innovation (0.5/2)
There is miniscule innovation in Dragons Dogma 2. We’ve seen this same pseudo-openworld done before in games like Monster Hunter, Outer Worlds and Dragons Dogma 1. (-0.25)
We’ve seen the mounting of monsters to defeat them done better in Dragons Dogma 1 and Monster Hunter. In Dragons Dogma 2, mounting monsters is clumsy for beginners. (-0.25) Once you get your legs, moving around on the monster is not intuitive nor does the game reliably interpret the moves you’re trying to make. (-0.25)
We’ve seen court intrigue the strongest point of DD2 done just as well in Dragon Age Inquisition and much better in Vampyr, Fallout 4 and the Witcher 3.
Luckily, the pawn system which is touted as the biggest innovation DD2 has to offer, is great. I like how the devs have found a way to make it very very interesting. I won’t spoil the game for you by giving away the secrets of the pawn system but they did a great job with it, however, in a game that feels like mindless repetition quickly (I’ve visited the same cave 3 times now for 2 different missions having already cleared out the cave while there was no active quest so it didn’t count) multiplayer would have been a boon. (-0.25)
The weapons systems are not innovative either. They use the same elemental basis for defeating foes but make design choices (-0.25) that are nonsensical one of which is my ability to wield a massive full body sized mace but for no other reason than the game saying so, it’s horribly ineffective against Saurians. (-0.25) How can a blunt weapon be ineffective against a monster it dwarfs in size yet if I throw the Saurian off a ledge it takes damage? That simply doesn’t add up. DD2 should have learned from Outward (Best in Class), the Elden Ring and Souls series to create a more meaningful weapon acquisition and upgrade system.
Fun Factor (0.25/2) - Is this game fun to play?
Despite its shortcomings there’s a little bit of fun to be had with DD2. Felling great beasts with ease once you get to level 20 or so is consistently satisfying as your knowledge of the game systems and your longer health bar now affords you the opportunity to be dangerous in battle. This is in my opinion the only fun part of DD2. When I felled a Griffin in 5 minutes for the first time it felt great because I went from being victimized to controlling the fight. Perhaps they should have made DD2 a total boss run? :)
Engaging with some of the minor quests in the game is also fun allowing you to be nefarious in your dealings. Though generally DD2 follows the same played out morality policing of yesteryear's white supremacy hero complex rpg, it’s good that they have a speck of light or two shining in the darkness.
I’m trying so hard to think of other things that are fun in this game and I’m drawing a total blank, that unfortunately means this game is just not very fun to play.
Ruining the fun is this games’ offensively simple crafting and cooking mechanics. (-0.25) Regarding cooking you must eat most of your meat raw,(-0.25) there are only two meat types regardless of what you kill (-0.25) and you can only cook one item at camp for an ambiguous boost to your stats. (-0.25)
The crafting mechanics are even worse, relegating the materials you find to weapon and armor upgrading (-0.25) but upgrading can be skipped in favor of just purchasing more powerful weapons. (-0.25) With these handicaps hunting animals or finding materials is not fun or interesting. It is reduced to an endless loot party, the spoils of which are best suited to acquiring gold at the traders.(-0.25) This is a major missed opportunity and after having played games like Outward and Ark: Survival Evolved this is unacceptable.
Engineering (0.5/2)
DD2 is not technically sound. There are noticeable stutters and frame rate drops when there are too many enemies on screen. (-0.25) You also spend a good amount of time fighting the game as you move around in the game world because of this auto clamber mechanic that they introduced into the game. (-0.25) In theory this should reduce your number of button presses to get over a simple wall or railing or up a ledge but in practicality it ends up leaving you in awkward positions or fighting to traverse the battlefield as your enemies trample you. To their credit at least you never just walk off cliffs but because of the deliberate and clumsy movement there’s always a chance that moving around the battlefield will net you a game over screen. Bad call! (-0.25)
In addition to this pawns and other NPCs accost your attention as you walk by and you are forced to engage with them. This is a bad design choice. Why not have the NPCs all act like the fellow who sells you the really expensive house in Vernworth? The subtlety with which he hinted at needing a task completed compelled me to speak with him and so I found out he had a house for sale. This is a much better game design choice than forcing the players hands with over aggressive NPCs. This is the 21st century no one wants to be forced to do anything. (-0.25)
The camera is also a chore to manage. It clips into the ground and swings around to the back of the player in awkward and jarring motions that obstruct the fight. I dare say the camera in DD1 worked a thousand times better (-0.25)
The battle music loop gets annoying after a while and players who play long will likely opt to turn the music off after a while.(-0.25) To Capcom’s credit the lighting, wind, wave and combat sounds have a punchy crunch to them and sell the environments very well. The subtle minstrel music that plays outdoors or during meetings is well placed and sounds great.
A lot more work should have been put into making this game control as smoothly as DD1 at the very least and it’s a shame that this simply wasn’t done.
Story (2/2)
Though many reviewers don’t seem to particularly enjoy the DD2 story I have found it to be one of this games’ strongest points. After living in a mostly empty world devoid of personality in DD1, DD2 is a welcome change that integrates you into the world in interesting ways. The story is very engaging and is a nice little mystery that I enjoyed unraveling. To their praise, most negative stereotypes are not reinforced in this game, a feat most welcome and a required standard in next gen games.
Conclusion
In conclusion DD2 is an engaging story told in a poorly built and optimized world that destroys the sense of adventure by constantly begging you for side fives and to gather the next piece of useless loot. It's a stale gameplay loop that despite it's very attractive look is as empty as creator Itsuno's promises.
Righteous Rating: 3.75/10
Merciful Rating*: 6.875/10
*calculated by each negative point costing 1/8 point instead of ¼
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