Dragon's Dogma 2 has the potential to be one of the most rewarding RPGs of the year, with developer Capcom building upon the foundations that made the 2012 original a cult classic. One of the most memorable and unique mechanics in the first game was the Pawn system, which lets players craft their own AI companions, who could go on to join up with others.
As part of IGN's ongoing First coverage of the game, director Hideaki Itsuno says player feedback was taken into account, and the first order of business was adding more lines, doing all they could to avoid the repetition maddeningly present in the original. But the idea is for the character to feel more like a companion and less like a blank automaton and to offer advice in a more helpful fashion.
This idea, along with wanting "to avoid putting too many markers and such on the screen", is that AI-controlled Pawns will now offer suggestions to the player, who can respond with the "Go!" command, prompting them to follow through with it. This might mean guiding players to a location or assisting with a task. Itsuno explains: "We wanted it to feel like a friend who's played the game before is sitting there next to you and giving you advice. Like, 'Hey, go this way' or 'This is what you do.' In other words, having a friend there with you who provides guidance in an enjoyable way.
To change things up, Pawns will have various personality options to choose from, each getting a unique voice actor and tone, which can be filtered when playing online. So, if you like a particular delivery and are looking to recruit another player's Pawn, you can search for that personality specifically.