RPG Site interviewed Hideaki Itsuno and Yoshiaki Hirabayashi about Dragon's Dogma 2:

Dragon's Dogma 2 Interview: Hideaki Itsuno and Yoshiaki Hirabayashi on crafting a more engaging Action RPG world

During this year's TGS, not only did we get the chance to play around an hour of Dragon's Dogma 2, but Capcom was also kind enough to give us a chance to chat about the upcoming Action RPG with both Hideaki Itsuno and Yoshiaki Hirabayashi. We talked about the challenges and objectives the team faced while developing Dragon's Dogma 2, and what they hope fans can look forward to experiencing with the title when it eventually launches.

RPG Site: It's been over a decade since the original Dragon's Dogma. What would you say is the #1 thing you want to convey to fans of the original, coming into Dragon's Dogma 2?

Hideaki Itsuno: First off - I really, really wanted to make Dragon's Dogma 2 immediately after the first one came out. Due to diverse reasons, I couldn't quite jump to it - which is to say, I was very much looking forward to developing it. Now that I'm working on it, I'm doing it in a way that there's nothing left behind, this time around. I hope player's can look forward to the game.

RPG Site: One thing that stood out to me while playing the demo is how much of the original game's DNA is... I wouldn't say unchanged, but rather "preserved" is perhaps a better way of putting it. So many of the original game's elements are still there for everyone to see. It strikes me that, going off what I played the title feels almost like a reimagining of the original game. Was that intentional, or can you share anything about the direction the project has taken?

Itsuno: Before jumping into creating Dragon's Dogma 2, we put together a lot of information - namely, what people expected of a sequel, what they would want from a sequel, and trying to see how that would align with what we wanted to develop as a follow-up. A lot of the concepts actually matched between what fans expected and what we personally wanted to develop, so that gave us confidence to move forward with this concept.

Of course, we were very careful with leaving in many of these key elements to convey them to a new generation of fans, but we also made many adjustments to live up to current trends and expectations. So you saying that the game felt like a reimagining of the original game is quite heartening, as that matches what we were going for.

RPG Site: Another aspect of the demo that stood out to me is how different the world feels, this time around. The original game's world, even today - as I was reacquainting myself on the flight over on my Steam Deck - is a very dense world, even compared to the open-world Action RPGs of today. Yet going through some of the wooded areas of the demo, opening the map and getting a general idea of how large the game world appears to be - it feels like we're on another level, here. It must've been quite the undertaking. What sort of considerations did the team make when designing the new game world?

Itsuno: Density was exactly the sort of feeling we were trying to convey, and in fact it was one of the first concepts penned during our original design documents. When you focus on wide, open environments where everything is visible - nothing is scary, there's no tension.

Having wide or narrow areas doesn't necessarily mean that a game will be fun, so what we aimed to achieve was to design a world where you could see what your situation is and where you're attempting to get to, but you won't really know what's exactly right in front of you at all times. You won't be sure what can happen on the trek ahead of you and you'll have to prepare accordingly.

To that end, we had several different team members go out and explore different areas, and different landscapes, to see if we could arrive at that sort of density where things don't feel either too narrow, or too wide - so hearing that our intentions have been properly conveyed is encouraging to hear as a developer.

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Mortismal Gaming checked out Dragon's Dogma 2:

Dragon's Dogma 2: Initial Details

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VGC asks Capcom why the development of Dragon's Dogma 2 has taken so long?

Interview: Capcom explains why Dragon’s Dogma 2 has taken so long

DIRECTOR HIDEAKI ITSUNO AND PRODUCER YOSHIAKI HIRABAYASHI DISCUSS CAPCOM’S FIRST CURRENT-GEN EXCLUSIVE

More than a decade since it first released, Dragon’s Dogma has grown to become a cult favourite.

Much like Dark Souls, it’s a Japanese developer’s unique take on the Western fantasy action RPG that hasn’t been replicated until now with Dragon’s Dogma 2.

Having played the preview build at Tokyo Game Show, our impressions were that it largely and almost uncannily plays just like the original game, but its unique feature of pawns that you can recruit to fight alongside you have been developed to be more talkative and reactive to what’s happening in the game.

Game director Hideaki Itsuno tells us, rather to our surprise, that GTA 5 was a source of inspiration, saying, “That feeling of a living world is something that I’ve definitely tried to achieve in Dragon’s Dogma 2.”

Read on for our full discussion with Itsuno and Capcom producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi, who shares why it’s taken so long for the sequel to be made and why it’s the company’s first title of this console generation to be current-gen exclusive.

It’s been over a decade since Dragon’s Dogma first released. What took so long for a sequel and was there a driving factor to getting Dragon’s Dogma 2 made?

Yoshiaki Hirabayashi: Dragon’s Dogma is a really valuable IP to us. We knew we wanted to make a sequel at an early stage, but there wasn’t really one particular thing that just changed from no to a green light. It was more that we needed a lot of things to fall into place.

First and foremost, if Itsuno-san doesn’t have time to be the director of the game, it can’t really get made. So having an opportunity to have him spend the time he needed on the game and being able to bring together the other resources needed, such as a large team to work on a game with this scope, just took some years for that all to really fit together. And then once it did, we got started.

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GameSpot and IGN checked out Dragon's Dogma 2:

Dragon's Dogma 2 - The First Video Preview

 

Dragon's Dogma 2 - Combat Preview (Hands-On)

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IGN shows some Dragons's Dogma 2 gameplay:

Dragon's Dogma 2 - Gameplay Showcase | TGS 2023

IGN presents the gameplay of Dragon's Dogma 2:

Dragon's Dogma 2 - Developer Gameplay Overview | Capcom Showcase 2023

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The Steam page for Dragon's Dogma 2 is now available with the release date still unknown and the system requirements not yet revealed.

Set forth on your grand adventure, Arisen!

Dragon’s Dogma is a single player, narrative driven action-RPG series that challenges the players to choose their own experience – from the appearance of their Arisen, their vocation, their party, how to approach different situations and more. Now, in this long-awaited sequel, the deep, explorable fantasy world of Dragon’s Dogma 2 awaits.

On your journey, you’ll be joined by Pawns, mysterious otherworldly beings, in an adventure so unique you will feel as if accompanied by other players while on your own adventure.

All of these elements are elevated further through physics technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and the latest in graphics, to create a truly immersive fantasy world in Dragon’s Dogma 2.

*Supported languages will be updated at a later date. 

Couchpotato spotted some previews for Dragon's Dogma 2:

The Escapist: Dragon’s Dogma Wasn’t for Me, Yet I Have Faith in Capcom for Dragon’s Dogma 2

Gamesradar: With Elder Scrolls 6 nowhere to be seen, Dragon's Dogma 2 can't come fast enough

Wccftech: Dragon’s Dogma 2 Looks Great, But No Co-Op Is a Missed Opportunity

Fextralife checked out Dragon's Dogma 2:

Dragon's Dogma 2 Gameplay Reaction & Impressions

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The 1st gameplay trailer for Dragon's Dogma 2.

Set forth on your grand adventure, Arisen! Dragon’s Dogma is a single player, narrative driven action-RPG that challenges the players to choose their own experience – from the appearance of their Arisen, their vocation, their party, how to approach different situations and more.

On your journey, you’ll be joined by pawns, mysterious otherworldly beings, in an adventure so unique you will feel as if accompanied by other players while on your own adventure.

All of these elements are elevated further by the latest in graphics, artificial intelligence (AI) and physics technology to create a truly immersive fantasy world in Dragon’s Dogma 2. 

Cultured Vultures checked out Dragon's Dogma 2:

Dragon’s Dogma 2 – Everything You Should Know

Before Dragon’s Dogma 2 was even a distant hope for fans, it all started with a feud with a dragon. Not just your run-of-the-mill dragon, though. This fire-breathing fiend took the protagonist’s heart, forcing players on an epic quest through lands filled with mythical beasts and unsavory characters to stop the apocalypse. Dragon’s Dogma was a delightful action RPG that stumbled a little until the enhanced Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen released to deliver a more technically impressive and complete version.

Dark Arisen was developed in response to the community’s cry for more content and lore. With it came Bitterblack Isle, a piece of expanded content that added a new dungeon, new weapons, and new armor. Dragon Dogma’s unique AI-driven “pawn” system proved to be a favorite, as did the vocation (or class) system and varied combat styles, from hack ‘n slash to powerful magic attacks. But Dark Arisen still would only hold fans off for so long, and it wasn’t long before requests for a sequel started to pour in.

Dragon Dogma’s vocal following ultimately led to an official announcement of a sequel’s existence in June 2022, with director Hideaki Itsuno returning at the helm. But when can we expect to play Dragon’s Dogma 2?

[...]

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Dragon's Dogma 2 has been announced by Capcom during the 10th anniversary stream for Dragon's Dogma.

Well met, brave Arisen.

A part of today’s “10 Years of Dragon’s Dogma” Developer Video, director Hideaki Itsuno officially announced a title that many of you have been waiting for: Dragon’s Dogma II is now in development!

In case you missed it, watch the video above for the full message, or read our quick recap below!

Mr. Itsuno recalls how his earliest experiences with high fantasy were thanks to classic pen-and-paper role playing games. This resulted in his love of RPGs as a whole, something that he would carry with him throughout his time working on arcade titles for Capcom throughout the 90’s. By 2000, Mr. Itsuno began to build out his own fantasy world, one that would eventually become what we now know as Dragon’s Dogma.

Touching on how the team built out the land of Gransys, the reason behind the game’s unique Pawn System, and the titles he worked on in between his initial concept for Dragon’s Dogma and the game’s release, we encourage Arisen of all types to enjoy Mr. Itsuno’s reflections on his time developing the original game and the thrill of the surprise announcement of Dragon’s Dogma II.

To celebrate, Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen is also be on sale on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Steam, making it the perfect time to explore the world of Gransys and prepare yourself for what lies ahead. They’re masteworks, all – you can’t go wrong.

While the team is hard at work on Dragon’s Dogma II, follow the Dragon’s Dogma Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts for all the latest news, activities, and celebrations of this momentous anniversary for Dragon’s Dogma!