I played the first Dragon’s Dogma on PlayStation 3. It is one of those cult classics, very much like Demon’s Souls. I think, mostly because of how weird it was. It also had some unique features like climbing monsters and the whole pawn system. I never finished it though. I ran into some wolves that killed me, and every time I reloaded they would kill me again, and again, so I quit.
I was quite excited when Dragon’s Dogma 2 was announced. Even if I didn’t finish the first game, I still have some fond memories of playing it. Then the reviews said that it was a micro-transaction hellscape, so I lost interest. I think I bought it a couple of years ago on a sale, greatly discounted. Thought it might be worth a shot.
My first impression was “oh shit, this is still a PS3 game!”. Me and my son making fun of the weird looking characters, animations and the physics during the tutorial. Also the script seemed to be laughable, something taken out of a 13 year old game.
It didn’t stop there. The game’s design is stuck in something reminiscent to 2013 rather than 2025. Inventory management is half the game, like it’s Diablo 2. Characters keep repeating the same dialogue like the Skyrim guard “taking an arrow to the knee”. Wolfs dropping out of the sky as they spawn right on top of you, and physics making both NPCs and enemies fly skyward. You keep running back and forth between objectives because there is (almost) no fast travel.
I had a ridiculous situation where I was fighting some goblins, and suddenly a griffin comes out of the sky. Goblins are stock enemies in the game, but a griffin is a real challenge. If you take on a griffin it must be on your own terms, so I legged it and immediately ran straight into an ogre who mushed me like mashed potatoes.
The problem is, this is not a bad game.
I think it’s because every discovery takes you by surprise. Exploring in this game is a real treat. In modern games everything has a place, if there is a cave then there is a quest for that cave. This is not the case for Dragon’s Dogma 2. They have created a world, and then created the story in that world. When you walk off the beaten path, you are destined to find some really weird and exciting stuff. I was exploring a cave, no quest had brought me there, just that it looked interesting – and in it I found a giant lion, with a goat riding on its back. The goat was spewing magic everywhere and after I killed it, it dropped dragon’s blood. Weird!
The game manages to make you scared of the dark, excited for a new journey, and make your heart skip a beat when you see a new monster. And this ties back to my Demon’s Souls analogy. That game is not particularly well designed, but it has a soul, something that makes it exciting without the need to be perfect. Dragon’s Dogma 2 has managed to embody that same feeling.
I rate this game as GOOD.
Replay 