Dragon's Dogma 2 - Review @ VG247

[HiddenX]

VG247 reviewed Dragon's Dogma 2:

Dragon's Dogma 2 review: one of the greatest games of all time... if you've the right constitution

Capcom's 12-year vision comes to life in a leap that's comparable to the jump FromSoft made from Demon's Souls to Dark Souls 3. Yes, really.

Dragon's Dogma 2 is uncompromising.

It took me a long time to settle on a single word that I could use to describe this curious role-playing game. Even stretching beyond a word, Dragon's Dogma 2 practically defies easy definition. There's a huge laundry list of games that it is a little bit like, but few that it is actually really similar to - so that shorthand is ineffective.

In the good old days, Capcom's marketing department would've briefed that Dragon's Dogma is so unique that it renders traditional genre names obsolete. We'd be getting press releases telling us that it isn't just an action-RPG, but instead is something like a 'Full Action Reactive World RPG', or some nonsense like that.

[...]

Dragon's Dogma 2 is wickedly clever, tightly designed, self-aware in all the right ways, and refreshingly unconcerned with whatever the latest trends are. The only game Dragon's Dogma 2 is really interested in iterating on and answering to is the original Dragon's Dogma. For fans of that game there's delightful bonuses, references, and punch-the-air moments, too. But even for newcomers, what should be plain is that Dragon's Dogma 2 does its own thing - and its own thing is magnificent.

The caveat is that it's only so magnificent if you can stomach a game that quite deliberately has sharp corners and rough edges. This rugged texture is part and parcel of Dragon's Dogma 2's charm - but you have to be willing to take the rough with the smooth, as the saying goes. If you are, you'll be handsomely rewarded with not just one of the best games of the year - but one of the best games of the generation.

Score: 5/5

Thanks Couchpotato!

More information.

 

[Redglyph]

It's strange that there are constraining aspects like travelling on foot, weight limit and no global chest, camping kit requirement, and so on, but you can apparently change your vocation very easily.

 

[Shagnak]

It's strange that there are constraining aspects like travelling on foot, weight limit and no global chest, camping kit requirement, and so on, but you can apparently change your vocation very easily.

If it's the same as the first one, you have to spend the same points you spend on skills etc to unlock vocations, so there is a cost to that. After that you can change between them easily (whenever you visit the innkeeper).

 

[JDR13]

I don't know how I feel about that. The developers talked about having to live with your decisions, yet we can swap classes for free as many times as we want which seems strange to me.

I think I'd rather we had to choose which vocations we unlock and follow a specific path. At the very least, changing vocations should cost something.

 

[Vaelith]

Indeed, and if it's as in DD1, your Skill Point pool is unique, which makes Vocations work much like Final Fantasy Tactics jobs. Changing vocation (once you meet the requirements) is easy, but becoming competent at them takes time and investment. The skill point cost grows exponentially for the better skills, and most of them require high vocation level to unlock. If you spend all of your skill points into one Vocation, and then switch to another, you'll have to survive with autoattacks and little else for a good while, until you can save up more skill points to get better skills for the new Vocation.

 

[Shagnak]

I don't know how I feel about that. The developers talked about having to live with your decisions, yet we can swap classes for free as many times as we want which seems strange to me.

I think I'd rather we had to choose which vocations we unlock and follow a specific path. At the very least, changing vocations should cost something.

I think I'd prefer that, too. Vocation paths like you get in Wizards & Warriors or whatever.
As it currently stands (if it follows DD1), just think of it like it is some kind of multi-classing. If you change vocation and you're lower rank in that vocation, you're a bit shit (in terms of vocation abilities) until you improve the rank of that vocation.
There must be some downside to switching to a new one willy nilly, otherwise there would be no point to that class than allows you to buy from all vocation abilities, but with lesser stats.

 

[Vaelith]

There are plenty of games that allow to switch class/job/skillset more freely than DD2, some others that even allow you to be a master of everything at once, if you care to invest the time to level up far enough. Final Fantasy Tactics already mentioned, which is a staple in RPGs. You just go to the roster menu at any time, and switch job. Elder Scrolls games come to mind as well as another major success in the genre where you can be good at everything, if you invest the time to level up all the skill trees. Dark Souls/Elden Ring incentivize you to "multiclass" the more you play, as each individual stat decays the more you invest in it, and you end up being a full plate martial champion that can cast the most devastating spells of the game at the same time. This is not very different from how Dragon's Dogma works - you can choose to stick to one thing you prefer the whole way, or diversify for variety and enjoyment, if that's your thing.

Preferences will apply, of course, there's no right or wrong about what each person prefers; the formula, however, is neither weird nor unheard of. It's quite common in some of the most successful games of both old and recent history of RPGs.

 

[JDR13]

You can excel in both martial skills and spells in DS/Elden Ring, but your build is still going to be very distinct in those games. i.e. high Dex and Faith vs high Str, Vigor, and End vs high Mind, Int, and Arcane....etc, etc. You can't get high enough in all the attributes to use the best weapons/armor/spells in every category.

Unless you're spending an ungodly amount of time farming souls/runes, or using some kind of exploit, it's borderline impossible to be a jack-of-all-trades in FromSoft's games.

 

[HiddenX]

If a game allows switching classes/skillsets and I don't like it then I simply don't do it. For me it is Anti-Roleplaying.

 

[largh]

Reviews for the game seem very positive overall (89 according to OpenCritic at the moment of writing). After a quick skim through most recognised sites, the reviewers seem to think that the game is a "redo" of the original and see that as a plus since the original was a classic. Minus sides are apparently the same than for the original.

One review mentions that the story is unnecessarily good for a game where the appeal comes from jumping on monsters to kill them (i.e. combat). That's a plus in my books as I could not manage to play Elden Ring for very long due to the lack of focus on the story despite combat being the best I have seen in fantasy action RPGs.

Probably a game worth trying in a year or so once its been patched up and the price drops a bit.

 

[Redglyph]

After a quick skim through most recognised sites, the reviewers seem to think that the game is a "redo" of the original and see that as a plus since the original was a classic.

That's what I've seen, too. Some things got better, some didn't, but overall the reviewers I've watched found it the better game.

One review mentions that the story is unnecessarily good for a game where the appeal comes from jumping on monsters to kill them (i.e. combat). That's a plus in my books as I could not manage to play Elden Ring for very long due to the lack of focus on the story despite combat being the best I have seen in fantasy action RPGs.

I've seen different opinions about the quality of the narrative vs Dark Arisen, but the style seems different than DS and ER, which tell the story more naturally through the environment and clues given by NPCs. The latter makes for a richer environment - Elden Ring is unmatched in that department - but it's not how everyone likes to play. The quest style of DD2, on the other hand, seems to follow that way of letting the players discover things on their own, so it would be more similar to those other games.

 

[Couchpotato]

All reviews on one reddit thread as usual for easy convenience.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1bjfj3q/dragons_dogma_2_review_thread

View: https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1bjfj3q/dragons_dogma_2_review_thread/?utm_source=embedv2&utm_medium=post_embed&utm_content=whitespace&embed_host_url=https://rpgwatch.com/forum/threads/couchpotatos-random-rpg-news.40455/page-234

 

[Redglyph]

All reviews on one reddit thread as usual for wast convenience.

Those are very good scores!

 

[Vaelith]

I'm a bit afraid of the PC port, especially when it comes to performance and keybindings. Hopefully it will be better executed than Dragon Dogma Dark Arisen, otherwise it will significantly impact the critical reception.

So far the average score seems to be more or less a 9/10, which is great, but I'm unsure if that's mostly the console version.

 

[Ceonnyn]

When you switch a vocation (class) you are also switching the attribute point spread that gets allocated to your character each time you level up. For instance if you are focused on a heavy strength build, by choosing to take levels in a dexterity-based class, you are hybridizing your build as compared to specializing. Instead of allocating every level's points to your character manually, you instead choose the vocation and level in it as much as required to fit your playstyle.

Secondly, there are "augments" which are only unlocked after leveling up in a given vocation. Therefore it might be necessary to get 8 ranks in some archer class for some augment you want. Only x (six in the last game) augments are able to be equipped so you need to plan out what you would like to have.

Concerning the PC port, I recommend a controller. I have an old PS4 dual shock controller and it works great with DD.

 

[basharran]

I understood from the Force gaming review that the game has quite some performance issues on PC and console. Also if you didn't like the first game, don't bother with the second one.

 

[Couchpotato]

Seems we have another case of the PC Port being a mess on release, which used to known that Japanese ports were bad in the past, though lately it was getting better.

Then again this is Capcom who has problems with every port on launch.

Don't worry though s few patches should fix the problems.

 

[JDR13]

This would actually be the first PC port from Capcom in quite a long time to have any significant issues at launch.

That's assuming there actually are significant issues and not the typical overreaction we see from gamers who are mad that they're not getting 120fps on max settings.

 

[Thiraury]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPrO2ZHQ3mM


Performance review by IGN. Seems to run pretty bad in towns unfortunatly.

 

[Shagnak]

Seems we have another case of the PC Port being a mess on release, which used to known that Japanese ports were bad in the past, though lately it was getting better.

Then again this is Capcom who has problems with every port on launch.

Don't worry though s few patches should fix the problems.

I saw something on IGN (?) where they were claiming that the PC version performs better than the PS5 version, and that the constant dives in FPS in the PS5 version were making the editor ill. Possibly they were playing on an uber PC, but it's a bit sad if the console version have perf issues too.