Not Everyone Is in Love with Dragon's Dogma 2 on PS5

No it isn't a great title.
It could have been.
Which is a pity.
And no, technical issues, fast travel or stuff like that has nothing to do with it.
Main reason besides several details is: It's way more a regular open world game than the hype makes it out to be.
Plus yes, bad story, awful animations, annoying as f companions, etc

Fun part: Combat in parts and minor details that actually are different to most open worlds

Only games that actually have a different non mainstreamy open world are Zelda and Eldenring (which both also have their issues)

Well, I love it. And since I spent my own money on it, that's what matters to me. I may be biased...

I'm on that subreddit and its a trollfest right now, a lot of the posts hating are either bot accounts, new accounts or accounts with a history of hating and moaning, i even got a ton of upvotes on there for calling it out.

The game is fantastic, yes it has some big flaws but its a fantastic game and largely what i wanted from a sequel.

Performance is whats keeping me away. Ill jump in once its sorted, if Im still interested by then.

For me, it's similar to the first one in that the game has obvious flaws. And probably more than it should have. However, the things it does well are so effin awesome, you're sometimes willing to put up with the rest that isn't so great.

@DennisReynolds Thank you for letting me know. There are flaws for sure though, like they could easily lower the enemy density a bit, it's gotten to the point where sometimes enemies will literally pop in front of my face. And the story is just... okay? I like the choice making so far but it hasn't really wowed me with its narrative and there is no character in the game besides maybe Sven that I really cared about. Other than that I love the game, I have been playing the crap out of it and just got to the ending fight.

I found the story very unimpressive, which is a big deal for an rpg like this

Meh, different strokes for different folks. The original was a divisive hit. Ask any fan and they will tell you DD was a janky game with a great artistic vision and lots of potential. Also can’t really put much stock in user reviews on metacritic. Anything on there could have a score boosted or tanked by bot farming and trolls…

I loved the first game enough to platinum it, but I also got it 90% off a few years after its initial release. DD2 looks like more of the same. While I definitely want to experience more DD in the future, it still isn’t worth full price for me.

Meanwhile FF7 Rebirth has been a breath of air and I can’t put it down. Builds on the original with so much with all new combat systems and tons of gameplay variety to keep things from ever getting too same-y.

DD is a weird series. It was never a particularly amazing first game, it was very flawed, empty, hollow feeling, shallow, and felt rough and incomplete. But achieved cult status because it had some unique ideas that made it different from anything else. It felt like a very experimental AA B-side mind of affair that was idolized on the Internet.

The sequel they tried to make into a blockbuster, but seems like it didn't fix the flaws of the first but doubled down on the unique parts.

I think it can't be anything other than divisive. The endless praise heaped on it in the launch hype machine always felt really misplaced to me.

Not a knock on the franchise, it's just the reality of it imo. I think if some real blockbuster were launching in the same window the same hype would not have been applied to it. It seems most at home as an awkward niche series in general.

Great, but divisive. For my part I'm just waiting for them to either fix it or next gen version like with the first game. And I'm not making the mistake of buying the switch version of 2 lol

@AdamNovice I cringe when I hear "emergent gameplay" on paper it's a cool concept. In practice it's often an excuse for "empty sandbox, poor design" and YouTubers screwing around to make things happen.

I don’t think anyone should put much weight on what critics say. As the non creating class always has something to say. Folks should just use reviews as something initial to see if one would like something. If it intrigues them to some degree then one should give it a try. Art is never perfect as there will always be complaints. Many people like this game so it is a success. Games don’t have to please everyone. My only complaint about this game is that I wish I could be a strider starting off with a bow and daggers like DD1.

@Vaako007 Your last complaint is quite literally fixed with Warfarer. Lol

Speaking of performance issues, newest update rn addresses the unstable frame rate with ray tracing options and a fixed 30fps.

@Nepp67 My big issue regarding enemies is its just the same 4 enemies on repeat, i wouldn't mind them constantly being there if it wasn't just endless wolves and goblins.

@Nepp67 yes I know but one cannot start as that class! I want to start from the beginning with it. I just got the game and not very far into it.

They shouldn't have added these mictrotransactions, that is it. Devs should stop doing that, I don't see a single upside. Even if that didn't have an effect on the design of the game, you could still make the argument that IT DID and it is not a defensible position by any means. Technical issues are Ok and they can be fixed, the reputation of a greedy game stuffed with silly micro transactions cannot.

i bought it based on the review i read on this site! that was a massive mistake 9/10 is a joke its nowere near that its boring repetative and dont even get me started on the pawns beyond irratating tried to like it but i give in traded it in.

Also, this game should not be titled Dragon Dogma. It should be Goblin Dogma, literally more than 60% of the monsters are just goblins.

@DennisReynolds Yeah I can agree on that a little, but it's just you encounter them practically every 10 seconds where if the enemy encounters were spread out more I don't think people would nearly have this much talk about the lack of enemy variety. Although I am surprised that there is not a single bear out in anywhere in Vermond.

@edgar14 So, this is not a greedy game stuffed with mtx. It's obviously full-stop awful to nickel and dime players, but I don't go to the DD PSN store, so I don't see the micro-transactions. It's turned into a different narrative here. At first I thought people were pissed that reviewers got PR that said the game was going to have a store after the public got hands on it, but no reviewer mentioned it. Now it's turned into people saying it's some pay to win situation. I think the former is absolutely valid. The latter comes from people reading an article title or the title of a Youtube video, and that's it.

@Vaako007 That's fair but it's clear that Capcom wanted to make the bow its own class and I think they did a pretty good job with it that its making me want to use it.

That’s because it’s not a great title it’s mediocre just like the first and instead of listening to the criticisms of the first they just doubled down and didn’t improve

It's a weird one, but I'm still pretty addicted a week later. It has janky Bethesda quest issues at times, the dialogue repetition is atrocious, the enemy spawns are too dense, and it can be exasperating.

And yet — Capcom has built a better mousetrap here. This is the best open world exploration ever; the camera position and the terrain elevation really work, it's awesome. The fast travel limitations are perfect, too. I'd like to see games like Horizon/Elden Ring/Zelda follow suit.

@Nowings so just like the first DD lol which had an anemic variety of enemies

@VaultGuy415 seriously asking but what’s so great about the exploration when there is jack all to find,no unique areas etc

To each their own. No one else's opinion matters to me. I love the way they think it does though. I'm loving it. Its everything I wanted it to be after 12 long years.

I deinstalled the game after 1st try. I simply found myself stuck in a situation a modern game shouldn’t have forced me in, having only 1 save slot.
I reinstalled and tried again, because I paid for that game only. Now 20h deep and I’m hooked.
My only complaint is that one save slot. You don’t want to risk too much, but for some quests simply would have to, without using a guide.
They should allow saving at all times, a few slots, and everything would be good.

Sounds like the original then. I haven't played it yet, but I think time will be kind to it. Likely another cult classic.

After 8 hours I'd give it an 8/10 so far. It's not bad but definitely overhyped. It's no Elden Ring in the combat department and the enemies are repetitive. The open world and pawn system are cool though. I'm not all that bothered about the performance issues either.

Looking at the negatives, sounds like it’s basically Skyrim - poor performance and animations, lacklustre story, repetitive enemies (and lots of them), but overall the fun stuff is fun.

I’ll still pick it up sometime, but I’m happy to wait a bit.

The game has some polarising nature to it.
Like the story and characters had potential but are very weak, and after 40+ hours of basically walk-sprinting everywhere and fighting the same enemy types it can get dull for some.

Yeah fast travel is too expensive, but I get that they want people to travel more so they really should make the sprint not drain stamina outside of combat this may help with that without breaking their vision.
Watching your character get winded constantly is frustrating.

It feels like the devs wanted you to be immersed by the world and not the characters actually in it really which unfortunately had the opposite effect on me but for others it’s perfect for them.

The game is still fun but not a masterpiece to me by any stretch.

Been toying with buying this or finally getting around to Elden Ring.

Elden Ring coming out as a favourite possibly.

Dragons Dogma 2 was bound to be divisive just like the first and now with a much bigger playerbase, it's just been even louder.

To me, what makes DD and DD2 fantastic is that their exploration, fun combat and sense of adventure is entirely unmatched by any other JRPG.

Oh and the games insane attention to small details and hidden areas and loot. There is just nothing quite like Dragon's Dogma and it feels like you either love it or hate it at this point.

I've put around 40 odd hours into it and I've only just passed through the gate into Battahl. The views across the valley here are stunning!
Absolutely loving the game myself.

I did not play this game but I'm entitled to have an opinion. I love the microtransations and inconsistent performance, but on the other hand I don't like the versatile combat. If a more expensive version of the game gets released, I think I'll dive right in.

While back with first game, the gaming community reacted more with indifference where the game found a small passionate fan base, these days you just have people who love to drag out the negativity endlessly and make a big fuss about it.

Haven't played it yet, but the first was also a good yet flawed game, which is fine. I assume this is more of the same.

I must say though, considering how few cared for the first for so long, suddenly you had a wave of people demanding a sequel from Capcom, and once it was announced it released very fast, maybe too fast.

“The reality is that Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a great title, but it perhaps hasn’t won everyone over entirely yet.” This reads as: we are right and they are wrong.

I've played about 30 hours so far and it's good but not amazing. A little surprised about some of these really high scores.
For me it's a solid 7 mabey at a push 8/10.

Could do with changing how fast travel works as I've no interesting on "exploring world" to get back to places without paying

My gripe and I am not singling out single reviewers/outlets but if you judge one game on performance (seen a lot with Ronin) and give another a pass which has worse performance with even drops to 15 fps and doesn't even run proper on top PC rigs. That's hypocritical.

On top of that same reviewers held a crusade against SS:KTJ for mtx but are telling the audience that the MTX in this full price 70 SP game is oke.. and on top of that performance is terrible and that doesn't reflect in scores for this game? And we are complaining?? GTFO.

I haven’t bought/played it yet, but “the sheer number of repetitive enemy encounters” does put me off. That’s why I get on with so few JRPGs.

I quite like it. Yeah it has only a few different enemy types, but I also played Destiny for a long time with all the same types of enemies for years. I think I will be fine. I see this as “realistic”, since in the real world we also don’t got many types of fauna within a British-looking region.

It definitely scratches that ADVENTURE itch, where I find myself exploring a lot.

This sounds like DD1. It was so hyped to me as an amazing cult classic must-play, and I put in a good number of hours trying to find the fun. Eventually, I realized it just wasn't. I think all the above comments have convinced me to pass on DD2, which I was already leaning toward doing.

I had a voucher gift card so picked it up mainly because I was able to get the steelbook edition. First impressions the framerate isn't great so hopefully the update turning off ray tracing will improve this. Back to Rebirth, Ronin and Stellar Blade demo then

This game is a rough diamond. It's got flaws granted but it's a top notch game. Loving it but I'm not loving pushsquares continued reporting on the tinternets negative spins..we know there are people out there who don't like the game PS...please move on.

The thing is... it sounds like it's exactly like the original and not an evolution of the formula. They held on to the belief that removing choice from the player is a good thing with traveling and the pawns system is still terrible and does no favors to the game to have some random immersion breaking AI's rather than a party to customise and grow that serves the storytelling too. It was a mistake to keep it instead of actual characters and an actual plot. Which was exactly the problems the original had. None of it was addressed. This sequel is more of the same like the original was perfect and honestly, it wasn't. It was good, but flawed. This is very much the same.

It’s a weird game tbh. It’s janky, the story missions are terrible, the performance is questionable and the AI of the pawns is all over the place. However every time I start playing it I get sucked in for hours at a time, having heaps of fun and at the end of the day that’s what gamings all about. I’m not playing games to witness some polished, perfect, technical work of art….Im playing for a bit of fun escapism after the mundanity of a days work.

@DennisReynolds I don't understand the hate towards this game. Yes it's got issues but it's an amazing game. I think maybe we are playing a different game.

@Nem yes it's more of the same only bigger and better. There is more narrative than there was in elden ring and that is heralded as one of the greatest arpg's and rightly so. I like that you are free to pursue the quests and side quests in any way you see fit. There is no hand holding and it takes work figuring out the crafting etc. Is it perfect? No it's not and I won't say it is but if you want a rpg that's really deep and rewards out of the box thinking and some serious exploration of the main paths then this game ticks all the boxes. I understand its not for everybody but there is an awful amount of mud slinging going on that's really unwarranted.

@SgtTruth fast travel in dark arisen? It's the same as this game. Are you sure you've played dark arisen?

If Ea or Ubisoft released a game this poorly optimised they would of been slaughtered for it and the reviews would have been much worse but because it's Capcom they got a free pass. The game barely hits 30fps on expensive PC and people still run to the comments to defend it.

Going to hold out for Stella Blade. Enjoying Unicorn Overlord now. Will buy this a bit further down the line when it is reduced in price

@Rangers420
I don't think so.
Ubisoft releases clunky games with garbage NPC's, garbage copy/ paste world building, dumb dialogue, no immersion and clunkt gameplay all the time.
EA gets away with Dargon age, so no.

Ubisoft could wish they'd release a game this detailed. It's still has sharp edges and Witcher 3 is more impressive and all I want to play now is Kingdom Come, but hell no. The game wouldn't be THIS finished if it was made by Ubisoft

Bad performance and Microtransactions are valid complaints, but as for the gameplay grievances... maybe you should have researched what you are buying before purchasing?

@Perturbator bang on the nail. If you played the first game you knew exactly what you were getting in this. You would know how everything works and you would certainly know how the fast travel works too. Playing this one without playing the first will be a big shock to people expecting another skyrim or elden ring.

The two huge Dragons Dogma fans in my life couldn’t be happier 🤷‍♂️

They missed the mark in three ways (contains spoilers):

1. No Exerfall-like content.
2. No Hard Mode.
3. No End Game content (unmoored world is time-limited).

Beyond that, most all of the complaints boil down to “why can’t it be more like other games?” Other than what I listed it’s a fantastic sequel true to Dragon’s Dogma.

@Northern_munkey This is why i will always prefer critic reviews over user reviews as users are too B&W with it. Is the game perfect? Hell no but its still a fantastic game.

@Frmknst tell me you don’t understand Dragon’s Dogma without saying you don’t understand Dragon’s Dogma. 🤭

@SgtTruth I have not played far enough in to be able to tell you? Have you?

I'm 20 hours in and I'm loving it.
Easily the best game I've played this year.
The immersion in the open world is second to none and I'll never tire of seeing real meat cooking.
✌️

Ran into the dragon at the Ancient Battleground, he was fighting 2 cyclops. Killed him with ballista. 2 shots, dead. No dragonplague, no loss of progress, no running away.

@dark_knightmare2 The map is never empty or boring. At just about any point there seems to be a fork in the road and a way to go up a hill or down into a cave or over to a large monster to fight. Itsuno & Co. have rather miraculously made an open world map that isn't giant and empty like Zelda, Horizon, and especially Elden Ring. If they had tightened up the quests and recorded more dialogue lines a la BG3 this'd be a 10/10 or close to it.

Plus, if you're Monster Hunter person, it's fun to get a taste of what mining, gathering, or smashing in a toppled enemy's weak point will look like when the series makes it to native 4K on the PS6.

Biggest problem of the game for me is being played after Rebirth where every quest (not the open world stuff) was endearing on some level. I still like the game a lot, though!

I don't normally like open world games. I pre ordered this on a whim the night before launch because I was bored and needed something new to play.

Best whim purchase ever. Combat definitely took getting used to, and I do find certain aspects a little finicky especially but id be lying if I said I wasn't absolutely hooked on this game.

It's just fun? It's one of the few open worlds where I don't get bored of going from A to B. It actually has a fun world to explore. It keeps you engaged by not having long areas of nothing/copy & paste assets endlessly while you ride a horse or walk.

I've seen people complain about enemy density and that it's too much...but I disagree. If they lowered it significantly the game would be a boring. Maybe that's why I like it lol I'm a combat junky

Idk I think the game's performance issues are fair criticisms. The MTX thing was a big nothing burger no different from any other modern Capcom release.

I love it. 9/10 for me so far.

@get2sammyb I feel like getting an accurate read on player sentiment online is so unreliable these days. Sure, there are plenty of valid criticisms leveled at every game, which should be taken seriously, but so much of the oxygen is taken up by trolls and (let's be honest) emotional/intellectual babies throwing temper tantrums (i.e. puddle-gate). What can we do to filter out the nonsense and make sure that developers/media are putting their focus where it really matters?

No real dd fan would dislike this game. Bunch of trolls and newcomers sure, this franchise ain't for everyone.

@SgtTruth well that's me told then. Thank-you for pointing out my inadequacies..

I haven't played this yet but I am intrigued as to why people rave about Elden Rings open world? From what I have played so far it's barely any different fromm any other although I have admittedly only played 20 odd hrs so far.

@ApostateMage I love that the people that love it are loving it. And I'm definitely one of them. And people with genuine logical concerns is all well and good.

I think I'm now at the point where I will finally cross the border tonight with similar hours logged. And yet I've already seen people have rushed through and finished the entire game in the same amount of time. It is definitely not a rush through it game, and I can tell how that would be a tedious way to do it, running around from place to place mainlining each quest as you get it, rather than keep stuff on the back-burner for when you are doing something else in the direction anyway so it can all be combined into one giant exploration, organic discovery and questing session.

I do think that some of the people that don't like some aspects are definitely playing it wrong 😂 and the actual hate-hate, is just people reading things like "pay for fast travel" which is an inherent lie and mak9ng them mad for no reason, even though the microtransations are the least egregious in any game I've ever seen 😂

Dragon dogma 2 is a excellent game.just like dragon dogma dark arisen.word up son

"the game’s sense of exploration is being hampered by the sheer number of repetitive enemy encounters".

I've been playing the first game and this has really done my head in. A short journey from A to B is sooooo tedious because of this.

I get why people are mad about the microtransactions but anyone who's bought a Capcom game will know that's just what they do and it's completely unneeded and ignorable. That being said my only gripes are just small baffling oversights that create problems where there were none like having a 99 item limit in your storage, non upgraded gear not stacking in storage, not being able to change your gear directly from the storage menu, and not being able to change your character or pawn's name when there's a separate pawn ID tied to whatever platform account you're using(probably another reason for having one save file). These problems didn't exist in the first one and are actual problems, not just subpar frame rate that'll probably be patched or fixed down the line and is only really bad in Vernworth because it has the most NPC density or people rediscovering why they didn't like/play the first one because of the lack of fast travel and repetitive encounters lol. It's a good game that's not for everyone but people are complaining about the wrong things imo.

I just feel like this is a title that’s going to be patched a lot so I’m waiting. Kinda like Baldur’s Gate 3. I want to play a more polished product of these huge epics

It was overrated by critics. Don't even have a lot of faith in them fixing it based on the first one.

It's more Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen and I love for that. Small details like getting thrown off a flying griffin and your pawn catching you are great.

Is it capable of running on PS5 in stable 60 FPS? Because that's my entry condition.

This game got vastly overrated by critics and I don't even understand why. After 20 hours, I can say it has LOADS of half-baked features and "why?" aspects to the so called design. Art design is boring, writing is poor, action is shallow, pawns are annoying and repetitive, and so on, and so on, and so on...

This is not a 9/10 game- not by a longshot. I play just about every major release and to me this is a 6/10 game. Are reviewers being paid by Capcom, or what?

They definitely need to make some changes to fast travel and the number of save files to make the game more fun. There definitely needs to be more enemy variety.

This game feels exactly like its predecessor, awesome world, great graphics, janky gameplay and somehow esoteric systems. I feel a little bit lost when playing it but it's fun anyways and I'm intrigued how the story plays out. I think its way overrated though but I'm roughly 10hours in. Currently I'd give it a very good 7/10.

After 30 hours with lots left to do I can safely say I really love the game.

I also hated BG3 and quit after 20 hours. Both games are great, we all just have different tastes. What matters is what you enjoy, and understanding what that is through learned experiences.

I know for western games I prefer action and for JRPG's/Most eastern games I much prefer turn based combat as an example. Occasionally the 10/10 reviews get the better of me (BG3) but you should always follow your gut on what you know you'll like.

@VaultGuy415 that is empty though there’s nothing to find but a repetitive enemy you’ve fight dozens of times before since the bestiary is anemic as hell. Like I’m sorry but calling HFW,Zelda or Elden Ring empty is crazy because they are the furthest thing to empty there’s always a sidequest,treasure chest,npc’s,unique area or camps to take over.

@gipsojo because Capcom or capgod as fanboys and media like to call them because they’ve been on a roll lately got it some points plus in the decade plus DD has become something of a cult classic on the internet so that helped. I agree though the game is mediocre just like the first and there’s a reason in real life it’s never brought up.

Judging from the comments I've read so far it seems like some people love the game and some people hate it.

Personally I give that a thumbs up because I would absolutely hate seeing the entire industry appealing to the mainstream and all become Spiderman and The last of Us.

I pray that when the next Elder Scrolls game is released it will be more on the RPG side. I loved Oblivion and Morrowind! Not games for everyone perhaps, but great games if you like RPG's.
Skyrim was good but too simplified (to appeal to mainstream action game players) in my opinion.

I played the first game and i didn't like it at all. I even wrote a review on Steam talking about its flaws (some of them that still exist in the sequel) back in 2018. I pretty much believed in the fans rather than reviewers and journalists. The guy that reviewed this game here also reviewed FF7 Rebirth and I'm glad i didn't take his words seriously.

It's 6/10 and worst title from Capcom since Resi 6. Capfarts if u want to make a RPG I beg you to go back to Breath of Fire series,for beginning give us remasterthen sequel

Maybe all the hate on social media is originally ignited by paid journalists who are giving biased reviews with very high score to mediocre games, while masterpiece are tanked. At some point people feel betrayed and cheated. What is important to understand is the crowd movement to bring back the cursor to something realistic. It's pretty much like when people are sanctioning politicians during elections.

Yeah wheres the high review scores coming from, overall its junk, janky movement, fps still sucks after patch, no fast travel...really.. sorry but the world really isn't that great, and the ungodly amount of " random encounters"
And why do.i keep reading about how good it looks?????
It's ps4 pro level,.and that's been kind.
And no lock on this has to be an awful "modifier" to leave out, and before you all jump yeah blah blah same as the first..Still doesn't make it good.
Combat is passable, menus are an eyesore
Pawns are annoying, same 5 lines over and over 😒
I bought this alongside Rise of the Ronin, im sorry I didn't start this first, ROTR is actually amazing game yet was hammered down by reviewers, and this junk getting 8s and 9s
But I'll put more hours in because I paid for it, hopefully I'll come to like it, or be in time to sell it for some return

I really don't know much about DD2 but just from knowing it a huge open world with no fast travel I personally think that right of the bat it's going to be frustrating to be forced to spend a huge amount of time backtracking. Just think of how frustrating Witcher 3 or Skyrim would be without fast travel. Fast travel only takes you to certain locations in most games and it allows you to fully explore the world, which is much of the fun of RPG games.