Dragon's Dogma 2

2024-05-03
In a way I can't believe I'm writing a review for Dragon's Dogma 2. The original is one of my favorite games of all time and despite the rumors of a sequel being something the director, Hideaki Itsuno, saying he wanted to do a sequel I thought there was no chance in hell Capcom would spring for it given how NOT a hit the original was. But here we are. And on the one hand I'm a little bit disappointed. Like a lot of people I found that the game is really pretty much another Dragon's Dogma. Like a Dragon's Dogma 1.5 (1.25?). It's prettier, it's bigger and they smoothed over some of the problems but broadly most of the game is the same. I mean I was genuinely in disbelief when they started hinting at where the story was going and it seemed to be the exact same thing. And it was the exact same thing. I actually cackled when I realized the included the Beloved system from the first game and lo and fucking behold my beloved was the god damned blacksmith. Pure comedy.

I mean so much of it is the same: the enemies, the classes, the movesets, the bosses, gear, portcrystals, etc. etc. Hell, a bunch of the core problems are still there and they even introduce new ones. You need items for upgrades but they don't hint at where they can be found pushing you to go online or just get stuck with bad gear when you could be upgrading it if you just searched for XYZ enemies. There's not enough cool and interesting loot to the point that you're often best off just running to the next merchant and buying their stuff. Boring. They add the traveling carts for fast travel but they're tedious as hell because they can be attacked en-route. Camping can use up a campsite. The dumb save system where you can't go back easily. Paired with the classic Dragon's Dogma quest that you can fail trivially and with no idea how or why making it unfinishable unless you do a whole 'nother run of the game in NG+. Which in turn pushes you to either use a guide and spoil things or not use a guide and potentially waste your time.

And yet despite all that it's still Dragon's Dogma. The core gameplay is the same. The joy of charging up attacks with a Warrior and laying waste to enemies. The joy of climbing up a boss monster and hitting their weak spot with the right element and doing obscene damage. Staggering enemies to cancel their combos. Ahhh it's delightful. Paired with the thrill of adventure. I mean no game does it like Dragon's Dogma. You stock up on supplies and heal up while in town and then pack up your tent and venture out into areas unknown. You crest a hill and is that a... what is that over there? Is that a drake?? And you fight it and it whoops your ass. But you know if you put in the time and go on enough adventures you'll come back and defeat that drake. It just can't be beaten. It's the promise of Skyrim actually fulfilled because the combat is fun. Ah and the powercurve of starting as a weakass getting beaten by goblins to a god that can lay waste to a Drake in less than a minute.

And as much as things didn't change they have added some cool stuff. The new classes are take it or leave it and the Gigantis while being a visual spectacle is a bit of a whiff, sure. (Oh, also they ruined Dragonforging which was an incredible cool and organic feature and now is turned into a simple "Collect resource and upgrade your stuff" mechanic.) But hunting down Seeker's tokens and Golden trove beetles to unlock new gear and increase your carrying capacity add just another layer of attraction to exploring the world. The Sphynx is delightful. Especially in terms of the visual design and the sheer surprise of discovering them up on a mountain organically but also in their sometimes obnoxious riddles. Hell I had to do a whole NG+ just to finish the one where they ask you to find your first Seeker's token (fucking brutal). The revamped drakes are amazing. So much harder and more interesting than in the original. Minotaurs are cool as hell. And the post-game bosses are fucking cool as hell.

I'm just riddling off all the details of the game at this point but here's the tl;dr: it's more Dragon's Dogma. For some that will be a condemnation. For others it will be an unexpected and wonderful gift. Count me among the latter.