Dragon’s Dogma 2 | Review

Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows

Mode: Single-player video game

Genres: Role-playing video game, Adventure game, Fighting game

Developer: Capcom

Publishers: Capcom, Capcom U.S.A., Inc.

Series: Dragon’s Dogma

Engine: RE Engine

Jason’s Dragon’s Dogma 2 Score 8/10

Key Takeaways

• Fun dynamic challenging emergent gameplay
• Tedious save system (one auto save and one Inn save)
• Accidentally killed two main quest NPCs and didn’t even know it
• Traveling long distances get’s tiring and draining
• Great atmosphere
• Main cities seemed alive and pedantic at the same time
• Takes gold to do almost everything (save your game at Inn, fast travel etc)
• Can buy homes to rest in and save your game for a price
• Great high fantasy dialogue
• Great monster designs
• Maxed out the Fighter and Warrior vocations
• Lots of content
• Ferrystones, Wakestones and Portcrystals are the most important items
• This game doesn’t hold your hand
• Played on Playstation 5
• Camera issues during fights
• Frame stuttering
• Pawns useful in copious ways
• Upgrading gear and weapons pretty basic RPG fair
• Great art design
• Large open world with plenty of quests to keep you busy
• You can continue after death directly via a Wakestone

Introduction

Happy Easter! I beaten the original Dragon’s Dogma just over a decade ago back then on my Playstation 3. I loved it’s emergent free flowing gameplay featuring pawns, vocations and all types of mythical monsters to battle.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is similar to the original in the good and some bad. Don’t get me wrong Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a great JRPG. It ticks all of the boxes for me. It’s world, art, gameplay, dialogue and story are solid. Dragon’s Dogma 2 Playlist

The feel of adventure and atmosphere is all here with DG2 with current gen visuals. We all wanted a new Dragon’s Dogma game with today’s tech. It reads great but to me there were some things I just hated about Dragon’s Dogma 2 that I must write about.

Presentation

Save system is severely lacking in Dragon’s Dogma 2. You get one auto save which isn’t good and one save at an Inn which you must pay gold to do. Mind you traveling and killing monsters nets you gold as does quests. Wakestones let you continue directly upon death.

Another gripe I had was how easily you could kill a very important main quest NPC without knowing who said person is. For instance, while doing a quest in Harve Village the Rivage Elder attacked me at night while I was killing bandits near him as a quest prerequisite.

Hours later into the main story a quest called “Flickering Shadows” tasks the Arisen to speak with this man I unknowingly killed (Rivage Elder). I went to the yellow circle where he suppose to be but wasn’t there. Granted, I already knew how to revive NPCs yet I was confused because I never seen who I killed at night.

It took me a while to realize I had to search the morgue where I found him and revive him in Vernsworth. That wasn’t the biggest problem either. The issue was how many Ferrystones I used to figure out what the hell was going on. Let’s just say Dragon’s Dogma 2 actually needed “some” hand holding.

As for performance this game was stuttery many times on my Playstation 5. Uncapped thirty frames per second okay. The camera would go all wonky many times due to pawn’s magic attacks more or less during combat sequences.

I know this reads as if I dislike Dragon’s Dogma 2 which isn’t the case. It is a great JRPG high fantasy video game. It really is. It just got tedious to travel around as I drew closer near the end.

Story

The story in Dragon’s Dogma 2 is pretty similar to the first game. You are the Arisen. The chosen warrior of the mighty dragon who stole your heart than revives you in hopes of either destroying said dragon or walking away and ruling the lands.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 had missed opportunities to go full dark high fantasy with it’s story regarding Wilhelmina, Sven, Disa and Nadinia’s arcs. I admit I didn’t do every single quest so maybe I missed story elements?

I was not impressed with Phaesus’s plot to use the Godsway to summon the Dragon to rewrite the course of humanity and beastren alike. Asides a few little cutscenes I didn’t get to really know Phaesus as a main antagonist.

Gameplay

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a open world video game set inside a high fantasy setting. Gameplay revolves around what vocation you pick (class). I played as a fighter/warrior. My experience felt very Monster Hunterish honestly.

I loved knocking down cyclops and Ogres with my Guts Berzerk cosplay greatsword Arisen. My pawn was named Schierke (mage). Combat was dynamic, fun and challenging. You can exchange and hire pawns (ai warriors) at Riftstones.

Merchants are plentiful and where you buy gear to upgrade. You can also acquire quests from venders. Guild Halls let you add and remove abilities for your vocation while letting you change your vocation.

While traveling and battling monsters it’s important to use campfires to regain your health which permanently decreases as you travel and battle creatures. There were so many items that are craftable for curative effects.

Monsters are a plenty and require various strategies to defeat. Many times you can manipulate the environment or the monster as the environment, like a bridge per say. You can throw Pawns too. As amazing as the combat was it had a shitload of jank playing as the warrior who takes slow swings at enemies.

The ambiance of the world, traveling, experiencing day to night cycles, discovering random caves, pawn banter, monsters and quests are what made Dragon’s Dogma 2 a great role-playing game to me.

Visuals | Graphics

I would say Dragon’s Dogma 2 looked really good at times with it’s sweeping open world vistas and fantastic art design. I played this on my Playstation 5. It’s not a great looking game per say though.

Sound | Music

Music was too mellow and barely memorable. I did love the dialogue between pawns and major NPCs. People in Dragon’s Dogma talk with such high fantasy elegance. Tis thee a good day to you. And I think that’s it for me. Again, Happy Easter and thank you for stopping by and reading my words. Later – Jason