Topic: Dragons Dogma 2

I get you that people want their character to look different but what is the point in going into great detail when most of the time all you see is -

@Max_Headroom a fantastic game yes. What will your class be?

Not my type of game so unfortunately the answer is non.

Levelling up. How does it work? As I wasn't really paying attention to stats on Dark Arisen, just randomly levelling up as a strider, not looking which stats go up or when changing vocations what happens to stuff you've already learned, any penalties for switching or anything like that?

@Ravix I’m embarrassed to say I don’t remember anything about the mechanics of leveling or changing vocations. For as much as I enjoyed the game, I’m only left with warm fuzzies and fond memories, very little detail about what the moment to moment gameplay entailed. 😅

But man, the early reviews are quite complimentary. Outside of the technical issues and frame rate instability (which usually doesn’t bother me much - I often choose fidelity mode over performance anyways), DD2 seems a real contender.

@Th3solution I'll let you know. I can't wait to try it out. I read another really good review that basically says if you loved the first one, have fond memories of certain aspects, then you will really love this updated take on the style.

Why I feel like I might like it, is because it has some elements that I liked from KCD, in terms of quests not just being markers to follow, but you have to listen to what is asked of you and find stuff yourself. The "live with your mistakes" overwriting saves. And also stuff from other games I love, like "emergent gameplay" elements and making your own fun from the mechanics of the game, rather than just doing stuff because it tells you to, which is always fun I'm a good rpg. Push the game to see what it can do with creativity and random actions 😁

I accidentally made a mage Tim Roth 😅 the starting face kind of looked a bit like him, so I tweaked it a little and rolled with it

@Ravix Yeah, I have recollections of those aspects you mentioned. I played it shortly after Skyrim and I have been obsessed with Skyrim and was devouring any other game that seemed similar at the time. Dragon’s Dogma was the game that got the closest to scratching the itch. I played Kingdoms of Amalur around that time too. And Dragon’s Crown and Dragon Age: Inquisition … just about any game I could find that had some kind of dragon theme and had remote rpg elements. Including my first attempt at Dark Souls. Of all those gems I found DD to be the best. Not sure if it quite got to the level of my love at the time for Skyrim, but close.

As an aside, and speaking of RPGs with no quest markers or optional saving (living with your mistakes, as you say), I did return to try Dark Souls again via the Remastered last year and really loved it. At the time I didn’t quite get it, but now I do.

@Ravix wow. It does look like Tim Roth. Well done Also the mention of Kingdom Come Deliverance is a great reminder. It does have simular vibes as Dragons Dogma. Not as fantastical, but a fun immersive rpg to play around in.

@Th3solution Is it Dark Souls III for you next and then possibly Lords of the Fallen 2023, Sol? Which ones have you got under your belt so far? By my count - DeS, Dark Souls & Bloodborne! Just one more left for you, of the FromSoft classics, I prefer them to Elden Ring/Sekiro & we don't speak about Dark Souls II, haha 😉

@Black_Swordsman It’s a little up in the air, but I have a loose schedule planned. I moved the response over to the Souls thread to keep from too much derailment here.

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On topic, the Dragon’s Dogma 2 reviews have really kept this game on my radar for sure. I look forward to seeing people’s early impressions.

Oof, the PC optimization is AWFUL, apparently. People with strong rigs are struggling to run it. And it pretty much doesn't run on Steam Deck at all. Apparently there are CPU/GPU utilization issues.

Between this and the microtransactions, the user rating is going to be brutal for a while.

This game is blooming lovely 😁

I'll try and sum up why in as short (long) a way as possible by recounting a few things that happened and the thoughts that went through my head.

Had my character pre made so started the game with that selected. An opening cutscene plays of mystery and intrigue, something is surely afoot. Now I'm lost and confused and starting with nothing, my choice of going back to a big scruffy beard feels justified by the opening and adds to the flavour of what has happened. The lighting looks superb, and wow! my character translates to the game really nicely, very pleasing.

Man, this big chap is fast on his feet (character movement is way faster as default compared to DD1)

Oh hey, I recognise this guy. (Reboot vibes, and nostalgia for others, I imagine)

Cutscene. Bam. Monster.

Juuuuuuump!

Flyyyyyy!

Oh, that's cool my character is actually in the opening titles now!

In game Cutscene, oh my, my character really feels like a part of the actual game world. I've never seen created characters implemented in cutscenes this well.

Then a some bog standard talky quest bit with sketchy npc lip sync. But easy enough to ignore by taking in the stuff around that looks great and glancing at the subtitles incase aught is missed.

I'm finally free to...

Exploooooore!

Camp. Pawns. Tim Roth enters the fray...

Hired 2 random level 2 pawns to start doing some local jobs to level up. And bought some nice shiny armour, sans trousers... good to feel the breeze 😅

Oh, don't take that tone with me little man... I'm helping your boss out of the goodness of my chest cavity!

I then advanced the main story a touch, as in walked a bit further to see a town. But then thought, oh no, I know how these games work now. I'll come back before you trick me into more quests when I'm not done exploring back here first.

So I then followed a Lion man to see where he was off to. He absolutely wrecked a harpy on the way, I was wondering if certain NPC's would do that if not even on an actual quest yet, so again, very cool. I had to clear up the rest and he must have slinked off, but I found him soon enough at his little tent and garden, where he gave me a loosely guided quest. Exactly what I was after. "Maybe we should hire a pawn with knowledge as I'm just a radom level 2 starter pawn who you hired to test the mechanic out" no, no, little pawn, you are mine for now as I teach you the ways of this world (pawns learning from you're actions is again, really cool)

Eventually I explored what felt like every last inch of the starter area, collected all kinds of things, from green slime, to those token things you collect. I rebuilt some rift stones and fought a bunch of goblins, found shortcuts via caves. Still no sign of any of the quest items I was looking for, but who cares.

And then my session finale. Me and Tim Roth fighting a cyclops with my level 2 pawns, just because I want to send them back with knowledge. Initially I died a bit, then couldn't exactly remember how the greyed out life worked, so got insta killed the second time, and ended up starting with one quarter health 😅 I was miffed because I was a few swings away first time out, tipped the cyclops over and everything, and fought well, but I got clobbered right at the end even though I felt I was jump evading correctly haha 😪 so I thought, better go camp. Fought more goblins with my screen and controller flashing red at me 😁😁 camped and went back to the Cyclops. No I'm not firing you, pawns, you're coming to beat this damn cyclops. This time I put him to rest, but I didn't fight as well as my initial run, and couldn't get my stagger, grab and tip over to work for some reason and had to just chip away normally.

But we did it, the area feels pretty much exhausted of stuff to do for the moment, so I sent my pawns back to their worlds with great knowledge and a rotten potato. Next time I will move forward to the town and see if there's quests to do there, and if not journey to the city with my new level 10 pawns who I don't like as much as the level 2 ones

Screw you cyclops...

@Ravix 😂 Sounds like a brilliant start!

The lack of a lock on makes combat way more jank than it needs to be, but I kind of love how crazy it becomes when you have a full party of pawns and travel with NPCs who also have their own party of pawns. Just descends into this complete cluster eff that is really reminiscent of playing with real people in online games.

@Pizzamorg haha I love doing special attacks and competely missing 😁

At one point I attacked a goblin, but shot past, and then said goblin swiftly booted me up the arse and into the water to be mauled by the brine. It was hilarious 😂😂

Definitely takes a bit of getting used to, but I think different fighting styles might have ways to deal with no lock on. I.e fighter lure a few enemies close and hit the compass spin attack rather than charging in to the melee with lots of moving parts trying to pick which enemy needs taking out first when they are flipping around like loons.

I think the devs mentioned that the archer and thief will have an easier time of it early on in terms of how they approach combat

I'm finding the shield incredibly janky to control, but switching it to L1 will help, I think.

What vocation did you go for?

I actually dabbled a bit @Ravix - I started as a Thief but realised it wasn't really what I was looking for. Changed to the archer, seems like the easiest time of it because of the auto aim and because you can fight the winged enemies directly, but I liked the feeling of getting stuck in and missed that with the archer, so I went to Fighter and have stayed there. But like you say, it is a lot of lunging past my enemies and getting hit from behind, or spinning around on the spot swinging at nothing😂

@Pizzamorg found a cave system, and it had a chimera at the end. So I've run away. This is definitely the most viable combat tactic in the game 😁 I did give it a go at first, even though one of my pawns had got lost somehow and vanished from my game. But it was a big nope.

The chimera in DDDA is easy, this one took no damage at all 😆

If you're still a fighter 'gouging skewer' is a nice skill to use, if it lands you can seemingly take a glowing saurin out in one big wave of pin down attack however.

Also, my quest is follow Gregor, and... I can't find gregor 😂😂 he was waiting there, and then he wasn't there any more.

The short, real footage cooking cutscenes at campfires are so strange yet utterly wonderful. I also like the way that all your pawns and followers slowly hit the hay one by one if you just sit around the fire. The game oozes charm.

For those who pre-ordered the physical version of the game. Is the pre-ordered bonus code included inside the game case? Asking for a friend.