They knew once the higher-ups demanded micro transactions in a single player, it was a botch job. Why try at that point. Terrible game in almost every way.
@@troyl200in every way huh? You don’t have to like it, but being extremely dismissive of any of the good, is just weak stuff dude. The micro transactions are literally the least impactful issue this game had. Yet that’s what you listed. Incredible.
I'll never be convinced this was somehow Itsuno's true vision all along. Like, "Dragon's Dogma was alright, but it would be better if there was a single tiny elf village and a race of cat people. Next time we should have half as many equippable skills, fewer equipment options, and a smaller variety of monsters." Didn't another guy make Bitterblack Island? Maybe he should have been in charge of DD2. For a lot of people, myself included, BBI was the best part of the original game. Playing through the main game eventually became a chore I had to get out of the way in order to get to the good part.
Wow I did not know I was supposed to dress as a guard. I just murdered everyone downstairs when they attacked, and then revived one of them cause I felt kinda bad.
lmaooo well that's certainly one way to do it. Honestly might have even been the best course of action lol. I don't blame you though, I was so confused at first lol. My friend was playing it at the same time as me and I told him to go do that mission to see what would happen, and he got confused as well lol.
Brant tells you to wear guard uniform to blend in went entering the castle at night lol. Even an guard npc leads you to castle kitchen first few times which has a chest with full guard uniform set.
That's not an issue of the game, that's on your fault. This game literally TOLD YOU to put on the guard's armor. You guys should learn to relax and listen to the NPCs.
@@kugelblitznb1682okay I thought I was tripping but I knew to put on the guard armor, but I couldn’t remember if the game told you to do that or I just intuitively knew, hey, I’m trying to break someone out of prison, the game just gave me guard armor, I probably need to wear it. On one hand the npc dialogue isn’t terrible interesting most of the time so I don’t blame them for not paying attention all the time, but on the other the game does literally tell you. Still though that one guard letting you in at the top is a bit of an oversight
In the simplest terms. The game is a pretty good foundation, with not much built on it. Some weird people have said you cant compare it to DDDA, because it had DLC. When its the sequel 12 years later, it damn well should be better than the last product. They will need to get it together over the course of a year
Itsuno and Capcom have all the time in the world but in the end, Dragon's Dogma 2 has the same weaknesses as the original which is baffling. A sequel needs to improve but this is more of a remake/remaster sadly
@@egordon7543 No it shows very obviously it wasn't worked on for 12 whole years. RE engine also didn't exist that long 12 years as in it should feel like an actual full advancement of a video game package. That's undebatable
@@Lucy2Juicy I heard they got the side treatment from capcom, as in they didn’t give them as much time money or developers as let’s say resident evil or master hunter bc it wasn’t a main ip, but now it is after the success
This game just makes me sad. It could've been something really special. I could forgive almost all tge missteps if the combat was challenging and there were unique weapons and armor i could find by exploring. You can just buy all the best stuff at the shops.
@@YeOldeMachina I was glad it wasn't challenging - I can't play Elden Ring because it's too challenging for me to enjoy it. But sadly, DD2 has far too many other issues....
This game legit made me turn to pirating games from now on. Its the first game i ever preordered due to the hope of a better more fledged out dd1 feeling. Funny enough i always laughed at preorderers and now here i am the idiot.
RE: Saint of the Slums quest. You have 3 in-game days to go back to the Slums. Another Nunn (Lottie) will tell you that you got the Abbess arrested and they have no leadership. You have to go back to checkpoint rest town and speak with the Doctor that told you the medicine wasn't good and hire him to lead the Abby. It costs 3000 gold. That's the only way I've found to save Lubomir, the patient who hinted at something being wrong at the Gracious Hand in the first place.
The whole mechanic of 'detaining' or arresting that you can do in like 3 quests without the game ever explaining it to you was the most annoying part of that questline imo. I thought you would just report it to the captain or a guard nearby...
The game feels like it was created reluctantly. Its kinda weird too cause this is a series that Capcom: rereleased with an expansion after the original underperformed created an MMO that they updated for a few years in Japan had a Netflix anime adapted Like Capcom has been completely ignoring games like Breath of Fire, NightStalkers and Megaman FOR YEARS and they half ass this sequal? That had aqcuired a cult following a decade after???? It truely feels like the only things they want to give true effort to are Street Fighter, Resident Evil and Monster Hunter.
And even weirder when this is apparently the director Itsuno's dream project, who got the go ahead for this on the back of delivering hard with Devil May Cry 5.
that one big problem in idolizing too much an artist, god knows the man can make some damn good devil may cry, he made DMC3 too for god's sake, but that doesn't mean he can do anything and everything when it comes to games
Well the usurper plotline gets dropped because you triggered the end of the world in the true ending. So people are more concerned about that. But it does resolve involving Sven. DD2 copies all the original mistakes of one and removes features. Hell, DD2 doesn't consider itself 2 until unmoored world. So DD2 is essentially DD1 without water, greenery, no enemy variety, no NPCs in the different towns if you evacuate. They add 4 sky beams, and the final is just an interactive cutscene where you fight credits to see. 12 years and they call this a refined vision of Dragons Dogma? You have a whole class dedicated to being useless! Detection could have been on the thief. You had the dragon taxi you to the final battle. DD1 dragon was epic AF, it felt like a sprawling layered battle. It's hard to fully enjoy 2 because DD1/DDDA is superior outside graphics. They artificially inflated the game with a larger map and camps. In DD1 you had a healing spring and could bottle the water. Camps you can't really cook with all foods and can't rest a short period. Being honest, this feels like a half assed effort to cash in on a long demanded sequel. If you didn't play the original DD2 seems amazing. I'm disappointed because it would have just been better to copy DD1 with these graphics entirely and add duospear.
@@reffa2858well a working combat system may not need to be fixed but to have LESS enemy variety, less armor and weapons, and less endgame content than the first it’s bad. They should be ashamed
I guess you didnt play the first game mutch mabe an houer or two..It surely sound like that....as you do say-in the first minute.....Dragons Dogma 2 is absolutly nothing like DD nr 1 but i guess it take more than a minuet to find out.....
The creator even said DD2 is what he wanted DD to be originally. So ovcourse it's going to be the same game for the most part. Really the game is great if you never played the original as it's fresh and new. Older players will not however like this.
I loved DDDA. It was absolutely wonderful. DD2... I got bored after not that long, for all the reasons you listed. The combat wasn't compelling enough (fewer skills available), enemy variety was lacking, walking everywhere is tedious as hell, the story and almost all the quests are boring fetch quests. They even removed some of the equipment slots compared to DDDA, which makes for less interesting fashion. It's just... Worse.
After 15 hours of gameplay I was: "this game is so good"; but after 30 hours and numerous crashes, I'm like: "why did I bought this game, it's boring wtf"
@@limeypam lucky you, I pre-ordered this game and have never been able to play because of the crashes, I REALLY wish I could play because I know despite all the crashes the game is incredible
They proved that nothing was learned from DD:DA, this is just a remake with little to no improvements and seems more like a way to make some quick cash.
About the Rodge quest, man I missed and screwed up a LOT of quests in this game and even I knew I had to look for flowers to find him. I made the same mistake though, I went to the quest marker location on the map to the grave yard and the marker disappeared. I gave up. I had talked to at least 4 NPC's about Rog and knew flowers were a big clue, I just couldn't piece it together. It wasn't until LONG after the time limit expired, that one of the guards at the front of the town randomly told me about the wolf cave they probably took him too. That was the only reason I even found his remains. If the guard had told me that any of the other countless times I ran past him, I could have saved the boy. Beyond that though, if you didn't know the flowers were a clue you probably didn't talk to enough NPC's about it cause it was clear as day the flowers were important.
I figured out I had to follow the petals, but just as I was approaching the wolf cave my pawn told me we were going to wrong way and started leading me the other way. I figured I had gone backwards at some point and followed them for a while until I realised I was meant to go in the cave. Still no clue where that pawn was trying to take me
31:30 Wrong, you gotta explore better. That guy was named Darragh, and he was being groomed to become the next Thief-Maister. But he failed. He took a big hit to the chest on one of those pendulum training circuits, and it left him ineligible to become the next Thief-Maister. So instead he decided to use his chest scar to pretend to be an Arisen, like the game establishes right from the beginning happens a lot (and Magistrate Waldar also mentions it). And his timing was great, because Disa needed a fake Arisen. This is literally a part of the main quest iirc.
In my playthrough I had already explored the Nameless Village before getting to that quest, so when I received the quest it automatically completed even though I hadn't actually learned about the stuff in your comment. So, while you're right, the information is also missable if you explore "too much" and too soon
I agree with you, but it's honestly so funny to see someone complaining about how impossible it is to deduce following the dropped flower petals when I figured it out immediately. Like the guy says he's picking the flowers and there's a trail of picked petals lol.
I think Capcom forced the dev team to release this early. It seems like alot is missing. It's scary when the title screen doesn't even say Dragons Dogma 2. I feel they are gonna release a $40-$50 DLC that has all the content and updates that are missing so they can squeeze more money out of this flawed remake, sequel. Smh...maybe ill just wait for Monster Hunter Wilds
This honestly seems most likely. It’s another cyberpunk situation. Big company wants quick money, developers try to give good game, no scratch that we need need it out asap, fans bash it, then after they walk it back and finally add what should’ve been in the game to start and everyone walks away with a bitter taste in their mouth but big corpos walk away with their wad of cash so they could care less.
You can go to your last save or last Inn save. There is a difference. Inn saves are useful when experimenting with the game and you wanna undo a terrible mistake.
@@TheMETALICA40wrong... I'm new player just a few days ago and here I'm already able to afford going to a volcanic camp island..guess what , u just need to do a side quest and manage your coins properly so you can afford a house by 20K lol
@@TheMETALICA40at the beginning you should be selling all your unwanted stuff (even gear upgrade materials) this will allow you to afford the 20K home in Vernworth. Then once you get further in the story (Bakbatthal) you can head to Digger's Ruins to farm the 30K that the beastern lady sells. You will get everything back again anyways. So why save it. Collect everything and sell it now. More wealth will come once you have all 2-4 homes.
@kagyubeef2482 Yes it's honestly only there to help people who haven't really researched or played the game enough to be at the required level so they can finish the story.
I do agree on your views of the story. (Not BC its boring or anything though.) But because I felt like we didn't rly have a choice to make things good BEFORE the ending. Idk if it's because we needed it to happen that way since the Arisen and the Dragon is needed to keep the "cycle" going, but I wasn't a fan of how Brant kinda gives up after the Coordination. You find the Godsway Blade and even with the Godsway staff (if you make an ALT and gift it to yourself while in the Unmoored World) Brant doesn't seem interested anymore once you find both of them. Isn't that the main reason why we went to Bakbattahl? To learn more about the Godsway. Then we are asked to collect 15 WLC (WyrmsLife Crystals) to give to the enemy. Why couldn't we just go to Brant and take back Vernworth? Sven didn't even wanna rule. Just saying. Then days after the endgame Dragon could just pop up so we fight for World Peace. Therefore not interrupting the cycle as well. I feel like we are the cause of the Dragon destroying the world. Even if we did't plan to become the Arisen. No wonder why the ppl of Bakbattahl charge us so much to sleep at their Inn. We did make things worse for everyone if you rly think about it. I did't wanna give them the sword. But we had no other choice. Why couldn't we have Vernworth Castle as our home? Isn't the Arisen is supposed to be Royalty in Vernworth? And then we see a 3rd Godsway (the flower necklace that the fake Arisen had.) But it's never found again. Neither is the false Arisen. I hope the upcoming DLC sheds light on that BC I am curious. Where did he go? What about the lady who sold us the 30K home in Vernworth? She said she found a better place, but where? The brine made it so we couldn't leave. So where did she go? Also not everyone went back to save Melve. Not everyone helps her become the leader of Harve Village. So when you end up in the Unmoored World and (even if you save everyone), get the achievement and all that. It does not feel accurate since most of us got them all killed. Especially the first gameplay around. Even deeper you never spoke about the Unmoored World. I feel like its a place worth mentioning since it is the best place to collect WLC. Each new game you will aquire new gear. And with the 300+ WLC that you will earn from saving everyone and defeating all the Dragons (Red Beacons), you could use that place to Dragonforge all your gear. Making each new game feel worthwhile. For those who did not know. Their is some rare armor there. Also all you have to do is climb to the dragons belly and use the Godsbane Blade on its belly (wound) to get there. You spoke on combat, but you never spoke about the Wayfarer Vocation. Did you not find it yet? Did you not bring 4 Liquors to the guy at the Hot Springs in Volcanic Island? Did you not like being able to switch multiple weapons in combat? Being able to attack close and far as well as "float upward" with staffs/wands to reach harder locations. BC this made my combat experiences much more enjoyable. Even exploration. Even with the lack of monster variety. I will admit. It did feel repetitive. Esp. On my 7th time around. Here's my opinions on what I disagree with... 1.) There is 3 ways of travel. Not 2. Once you Reach Bakbattahl you can use the Skyline to reach Volcanic island. I feel like there is 3 ways of travel since that is also another way. Even if its only to 2/3 cities that it goes to. 2.) Climbing to fight Gigantus With the Magick Archer/Wayfarer Vocations, you could have waited until "Talos" reached the land, use the skill that targets the weak spots on his body and collected the Wakestone shards off the sticks that fell off his body. So why do all that climbing? And as for the higher parts on his face you could have used the higher parts of land and got him in the higher areas before he reached Volcanic Island. I am just confused to how you did all that climbing? All those stamina curatives could have went to something else. That must have been exhausting. I enjoy your interest in Dragons Dogma and I will be looking forward to hear everything that you and the DEV team has to say/show about the game. I can't wait to see what happens next. Maybe we can become the next Pathfinder even. Who knows. Possibilities are endless since nobody rly knows what the Dragon Princess will bring to the table.
I was going to buy this game but it has all the same problems i had with the first one for 1 stamina drains out of combat thats 1 of the stupidest things to do in a game with little fast travel not only that but the lack of rewards is even worst
Lol I totally forgot to mention the stamina thing, but yeah that really bothered me too. Especially with that God awful sound your character makes when you run out lmao. You should definitely have unlimited sprint outside of combat.
It's crazy how everyone was talking about this game non stop before release, all the youtubers with early copies glazed it, and now it feels like no one talks about Dragon's Dogma 2. A dead on arrival kind of game.
Dragons dogma always had the potential but either Itsuno doesn't know how to make an rpg or capcom rushed the devs. DD could've genuinely be Capcom's second Monster hunter.
Nice video, my friend. I agree with most of your points about DD2. However, I have one thing to disagree: DD2 was not DD1 remake. In fact, it even downgrades many good points of DD1, for example: the endgame contents and classes. While DD1 is not a perfect game, it provides me more and more fun the deeper I explore the mechanics (lots of these mechanics were thrown away in DD2, for details you guys can watch Nihil0.0 vids) and the more I explore the endgame dungeons (Everfall, BBI,...). DD1 open world is small and there are still a lot backtracking, but since it's small it doesn't feel much overbloated and tiresome to explore like DD2. I'd even argue that the base game of DD1 is already better than DD2. DD1 errors like enemies variety, bland questlines...are still in DD2, but it's not getting better, it get worse when they ignore those glaring issues and try to fix things that doesn't even need fixing.
I completely agree with you The relationship aspect as well In DD1 every unique character you can have special relationship with stands out a lot, whereas, DD2 makes you think no matter who you romance, none of that matters after endgame anyways In DD1 you can even have your romance in your house too
End game is substantially better than the prior base game’s. Unless you like exploring a massive chunk of unfinished content. The unmoored world completely dumps on the everfall. I really don’t think there’s much room for debate there. But yeah BBI was obviously more substantive end game content. There are many substantial improvements/innovations like the physics, for example. Imo it’s more steps forward than back, but there are definitely steps back. All of which are worth talking about. Too often I see people talk about “how much better” or whatever. I was there for DD1 at launch. Which had just as many issues and valid complaints for months and months. Let’s hope they handle people’s feedback much better this time.
@@ToliG123 >"The unmoored world completely dumps on the everfall. I really don’t think there’s much room for debate there" I disagree, there're plenty of aspects worth mentioning: +First, the Unmoored world has time limits. You'll have approximately 10-12 in-game days to complete the quests before the whole map is swallowed up by the fog and you receive a special game over cutscene.. On paper, this seems like a good idea; however, in reality it limits the replayability of endgame contents. Once beating it, there's no way to go back, and there are no more challenging contents in the main game, either. +Second, you can choose not resting, abusing wakestones and not beating the boss at Seafloor Shrine Pillar to stay in the Unmoor World indefinitely, but what's the point? The only way to continue to play the endgame contents is to not beating it? Look at DD1 Everfall, while it's true that it's an unfinished game, it does not lock you out of end game contents even after you've beaten all of Everfall rooms. About the physic point, I kinda agree. That's among the few things that they really did take a step forward. Also, I really appreciate the fact that they introduce the Beastren into DD, a nice addition.
@@huyvouc9785 Not only that but DD1 also had the unmoored world gameplay: once you beat the dragon all bossmonsters on the map where replaced with stronger versions, even the smaller ones where replaced with them AND you had the everfall. Sure the water didnt disapear but how much did that really matter in DD2?
Honestly, I can't disagree with any of your points... but I still love Dragon's Dogma 2. There are a ton of things I wish the game did better. But Imo, the things the game did right were enough that I could ignore the things it did wrong, and enjoy my time with the game. For the most part, yes, DD2 is a worse version of DD1. But, the 2 areas that captivated me the most were the character creation (no other game comes close), and the non-handholding open world - which I think I had an exaggerated appreciation for after playing Final Fantasy Rebirth, and just desperately wanting more Dragon's Dogma after over a decade. And let me just say, I am a big sucker for a good character creator. I like the non-handholding open world design of games like Elden Ring, or Dragon's Dogma 2. Combine that with the best character creator around, and good (enough) combat, and I can get lost in the game and ignore most of the flaws. If I had to sum up Dragon's Dogma 2's flaws in a word, I'd say "unfinished". The game feels unfinished in a LOT of ways.
DD2 for me feels like 1step ahead but 2step back lol Its like they literally got the formula especially with Dark Arisen, yet they make DD2 become basic again with less of mobs type and underwhelming equipments for me, this should've been DD1.5 lmao
7:46 I actually encountered that dragon at night and it completely destroyed my resources and killed all my pawns and my last inn save was like 2 hours before so I fking ran for my life and IT FOLLOWED me for quite a bit, damn night in this game is amazing you literally can’t see danger until you are next to it
This game had a HUGE issue of uneven depth during development: it offers almost the same number of iris colours for your character's eyes as basic enemy types... 😅
Oh THAT''s how you were supposed to beat the wolf quest! I just randomly roamed further and further away from the flower patch after seeing my hired pawns act all weird and kinda try to hint me go that direction and then finally found the kid. That was one of the most confusing quests I've seen in a long time. Didn't help that the quest was timed, it added a lot of stress to the situation. And I also bumped into the Lich on that quest and absolutely assumed it was somehow related only for it not to be at all.
The first thing that pissed me off, was the fact that voices were locked to inclinations, and there weren't more of them lol. Game was such a disappointment.
@@yougottrolled5799 i think at the very beginning the game is surprisingly challenging. i remember getting my ass kicked by two centaurs at level 8 or something. but the more you play, and the lack of any scaling-- you end up being disgustingly strong at a certain point and the game doesn't offer challenges at all anymore lol. killing griffins in like 15 seconds and whatnot.
I am deeply disappointed. I expected much more after 12 years; The game is gorgeous, but its limitations bring enthusiasm down dramatically. I couldn't get the NG+ going.
The quest about the kid that got snatched up by wolves, I legit had to Google it because how in the actual bloody hell was I supposed to figure that out, that was so confusing
DAMN, I'm really glad I checked this game out from a library instead of buying it. It looked really cool, but then I kept seeing issues that I feel like should have been fixed back in the 2010s. I'm a lot more skeptical abou massive triple A open world games, so I don't really buy em anymore. Thanks for this video, I won't be wasting any more time on this. Its about time to play my indie games now.
This is the first Sandbox RPG I've played where the repetition actually killed a playthrough. I haven't even seen a good 60 percent of the world but it I just can't be bothered to boot this up again without a massive content overhaul.
Hmm yeah a mount, or some way to at least temporarily get a mount, could have been interesting. To be fair tho, I do like the IDEA of limited fast travel, but I just wish the game was smaller, it had more enemy variety, and the quests weren't so sterile (Ideally all 3 combined lol)
It’s hilarious because you kill the false arisen at the end when phasus summons the lesser dragon and it’s almost impossible to even notice I only realized after watching a video on it the story is so disappointing
Hi Chris, first time viewer here, just wanted to point out a couple of things regarding combat on your 3 month old video in hopes you'll play the game again in the future. 1. When fighting large monsters, you do not need to climb and stay on top of a monster continously spamming the same button. I personally prefer fighting while standing on the ground, so I do just that. For example, as a fighter, when im fighting a cyclops I never climb it. Instead, I stay on the ground, parrying and blocking the cyclops' attacks while taking opportunities to land my own. Fighter has a core skill called Tusk Toss, and I seek opportunities to land these attacks on a cyclops' legs to build up stagger, or in certain situations on a cyclops' right hand to make it let go of its club. Eventually, the stagger would build up enough till the cyclops kneels down, which makes it possible for me to reach its head with a skill called Cloudward Slash. There are also times where the cyclops' attacks leaves its head vulnerable, and i can capitalise on that. This at way, i can kill a cyclops while never having to climb it, and still fighting in an efficient, engaging manner. You can also throw rocks and explosive barrels, throw your own pawns, jump off elevated surfaces, knock the cyclops down a cliff or into the brine, etc. Climbing is just one option of combat, but there are many other options to explore. 2. You don't have to take attacks and spam consumables. Much like Monster Hunter, Dragon's Dogma's combat relies heavily on range and positioning. You don't need a dodge button to dodge attacks, or a shield, as long as you learn a monster's attack pattern and active hurtboxes you can just sprint into a spot where the attack can't reach you, and you're safe to return attacks of your own. I dont have a very good memory so these are just the two things which stood out enough to me to make a reply on, but overall regarding combat it seems to me like you've been restricting yourself which is unfortunate as both Dragon Dogma games are games that allow and reward player creativity and expression.
Feel like it’s gonna be a sorta Skyrim thing going on with mods giving wayyy more interesting stories and characters. I loved it in the beginning, I love exploring but I hated the quests sending me EVERYWHERE and then just walking the same path to finish it.
you are so right, it's literally the first game... again. With almost all of the mistakes in it... again. just wow what a disappointment. Monster hunter, a franchise they own, has better loot and combat systems than any dragons dogma.
Man, you nailed it. I really enjoyed this game for a while, but the story is so unfinished its almost offensive. Cant wait for Dragon’s Dogma 2 Dark Arisen 2
Unfortunately, this game will never be good. The biggest problem is that the game feels very soulless and dull. The dialogues, NPCs, pawns are extremely dull and seem like they were made with ChatGPT. The mission design is beyond awful. I don't even want to talk about the main story. Enemy variety is dog shit. The Save system is extremely stupid. No updates or DLC can save this game from this point on. I guess we have to wait for Dragons Dogma 3 :D :D
I wonder whose idea it was to release the game in this way and think it was playable? As always, we are faced with unfinished, sloppy and empty games. Please do not buy or support this game I very regret buying it. I feel sad that stupid companies like this will continue to make games like this. Support companies that deliver a finished product to their players, such as Elden Ring, Black Myth: Wukong.
The worldbuilding is what especially upsets me. The world is just…to small, and something about the world design only makes it feel even more claustrophobic. About as much effort was put into this games lore and world as a bestselling romantasy novel.
Well if youre looking for another fantasy RPG, I'd definitely recommend Elden Ring+ The DLC lol. I also enjoyed FF16 despite some issues. But some of my other favorites from the past few years have been Alan Wake 2, Returnal, the RE4 remake, Neon White, Norco, Lies of P, Armored Core 6, Zelda TOTK (despite some classic open world issues lol), and I quite enjoyed Helldivers 2 for a bit. Not a super big multiplayer guy any more lol, but I have still been playing Hunt: Showdown every once in a while. Actually been kinda going through some older games recently lol, finally dove into the old Silent Hill games.
But what about the real ending when you do the added content by talking to the guy instead of sitting on your throne towards the end? Seems like that entire area is about the role of the Arisen and a bigger story
Yeah I did the unmoored world. I think If you make the player spend 40-60 hours running errands, building towards one story about the queen, false arisen, etc. And then drop all of that and say "The REAL story is about what happens in the last 3 hours" then I think you have a massive problem with your story lol. Also I do find it funny that someone else said something similar about the real story being at the end of the game, except they told me the real story was about your pawn gaining freedom. So I think its safe to say that even this "real" story is obviously not conveyed well enough for even the fans of the game to figure out what it means lol.
Just finished my 72 hour play through. Overall I had a good time with it, I had played the first one so it met my low expectations with enemy variety and quest design. But yeah by the end game I felt like I was just sprinting to the next interesting quest marker as fast as possible. I thought the masquerade and palace sneaking quests were a cool idea, but they were so convoluted and had unclear requirements to work that I ended up just running circles in the city for three hours. The Talos fight was so goofy, I was halfway across the map, ended up googling to find out that it was a time limited quest so I just sprinted frantically after them and caught the tail end of the fight. The quest design was... Pretty confusing. All in all though, I still enjoyed the combat mechanics for a laid back afternoon, and the cinematic endings still had me hyped up for the finale. (Though... Only 3 boss designs for the finale? Really) All this to say, felt a lot like when I played the first game, just with a bigger world, different angle, and some hidden gems.
As someone who finally got to enjoy the first game like 3 months before the release of 2 (I owned it for many years but it just didnt click with me the first few attempts to start it) and as someone who enjoyed 2 for what it is. You overall are kinda right. Also you do find out who the false arisen is, down to his name.
Great vid. I haven't finished as of writing but the title is spot on as have been your criticisms thus far. The game is literally a bit of a mess. There is still a lot of fun to be found in the gameplay and exploring the world and I did sink a lot of hours. However, it feels less like a solid, high-fantasy action RPG game and more like a really shitty attempt at open-world Monster Hunter that had to release before they got all the fluff added and ended up releasing a surprisingly sub-standard framework to what could have been an otherwise amazing game. I can hardly remember or point towards any quests that were really interesting, main/story, side-quest or otherwise. My gameplay highlights were finding Medusa, or a dragon in some cool spire/tower area... or I guess fighting a Dullahan on a bridge late at night. Also my thicc asf pawn in the corset. I am sure Capcom is already developing or is waiting to develop a paid DLC expansion (a la Dark Arisen) that will likely address a good few problems, while still ignoring many, whether it's in the form of base-game fixes or just an entirely separate piece of content that works better than the base-game story. I really genuinely felt no connection to the story nor did I feel like I was the Arisen, and they may as well have dropped the entire "you are an arisen" plotline and just had me making my way up in a high-fantasy medieval world because the story missions did absolutely nothing for me. The story only got interesting watching Talos (fight felt just like a joke gimmick), and fighting Grigori, plus the "true ending" post-game was somewhat neat. Highlights of the game were basically just the gameplay itself as the narrative was so unbelievably weak. It was cool to travel, see the sun set, travel at night, camp, fight big monsters and see larger or stronger variations again (Gore "X"'s and whatever else). Even then, they reduced variety between the classes (even the same class) due to less skills/abilities that you can use compared to the first game. Lessened the fashion variations by combining classes of clothing/armor and stuck with the same sort of tier-based "time to buy the next set of best armor available that I unlocked at the vendor!". Meh. I thought I would get absorbed and it would be GOTY but instead I suffered through poor performance and a skeleton story to ultimately drop the game in the post-game after the sky turned fucking red. I think I will return to it, as I did enjoy it, it wasn't a total flop shitshow game, just really negatively subverted my expectations. The moment you're getting like 18fps in the INTRO TUTORIAL SEQUENCE ALONE on console should have made Capcom realize "we can not fucking release this game in the state that it is in currently".
Also I forgot to talk about the difficulty as well (as you did). The camping, the loss-meter for max-health, the item-healing, crafting items.... all of it served effectively as providing "a challenge" for me at the beginning. However, once you can kill things way too quickly due to the lack of scaling or difficulty options, none of that even matters... and it doesn't take long. I unfortunately explored the entirety, and I mean THE ENTIRETY of Vermund before I went to Battahl. That led to the entire half of the game following the "border crossing" to consist of maybe 1minute30seconds MAX DURATION for any large monsters that I fought. Never died, never had a threat of dying or losing progress due to having soooo many wakestones piled up. Fast-travel being sparse didn't matter when money income was high enough that you could constantly use Portcrystals to travel to a city, and replenish the one you just used at a vendor for 20,000, plus the rate at which they drop and are rewarded, coupled with oxcarting. UGH It's just all so frustrating. They made a whole different game and somehow managed to PERFECTLY REPLICATE THE SAME FEELING that DD1 gave you of "this game could be so much more than it is if they just let us see it before they released it or listened to our criticisms, or passed it on a pre-release to another seperate studio to play around in for a few weeks so they can give their input.
Holy shit. The wolf mission with the kid and the guard jail mission were two moments I was questioning my intelligence or wondering if I missed something. Glad to see it being recognized as some stupid ass shit. How was I ever going to find that kid lol. I genuinely thought the game had bugged out in both of these quests.
Hey so you do find out who the fake arisen guy was (you said you don't think that you even find out who he was). If you go to a hidden village area in Vermund, it's like some hidden thief village where they are all basically ninjas, you can learn about him there. I don't remember exactly how but there's a path leading to it that is blocked off (but not blocked off on the map), and somehow you're supposed to know that you can bypass the rocks and go around through some other route. Once you do, you get to the village. It's a bit sketchy and you talk to this big head honcho guy of the village who basically dismisses you after teaching you a master skill for the thief class. If you poke around more, you find an underground hideout that is the "true" thief village and the actual leader is in there(???) and you do some really loose and easy parkour challenge for like 30 seconds. Then he tells you everything you want to know about the current fake Arisen, and gives you yet another skill. He basically says that he was a thief of their village and he did some stupid shit and fucked off. yeah idk I can't remember it much and this is certainly a bastardized summary.
Ahhhh okay yeah I did that thief mission (One of the more interesting ones IMO) and I totally forgot he gives you some info about the fake arisen. But do they expand on him any more than just that? And do you ever meet him? Because unless there's some out of the way side quest I missed, I definitely didnt have any actual interaction with that guy. And I certainly didnt like how that plotline got kinda disregarded with the ending lol. Glad you liked the video!!
Never played the first part, bu I've been "researching" this game on and off for months now and I still can't decide if I'm gonna buy it or not. The only thing people seem to agree on is bad performance (not a big deal to me) and lack of enemy variety. As someone who plays a medieval fantasy game at pretty much all times since 1990, I should probably give it a shot, no? No?
@rha7588 I mean, it really depends on what youre looking to get out of it. If story is the main thing you want, DEFINITELY look elsewhere lmao. If you want an RPG with lots of side encounters, where it feels like your actions really affect the world, this isn't the worst choice. But it isn't great either since none of it really matters overall because of the non existant story lmao. If you really just want to explore a dense open world, then this is a decent option. Though your milage will vary due to the extreme lack of enemy and item variety. It you want to just go run around fighting enemies, it's not the worst option, but again, your mileage will vary due to the spammy nature of the combat and the extreme lack of enemy variety. Like I said in the video, I was having a great time for like 15 or so hours, so its not like the game has nothing going for it. But since the runtime is a lot closer to 40-60 hours long, that repetition, lack of variety, and constant meaningless fetch quests became massive issues for me. If you think you could put up with that stuff more than I did, then it might be worth it. But obviously, I am not a big fan and would not recommend it outright lol
@@chrisrivera7530 Thx for the reply, I'm leaning towards waiting for a price drop, sounds like it's not 100% up my alley. I prefer sinking hundreds of hours into open worlds messing around with different weapons and enemies while enjoying side quests and random side activies like Elder Scrolls, Witcher 3, recent Zeldas etc. because such games did not exist when I was a kind and I'm not burnt out on open worlds yet. Might even buy my first ever UbiSof game and try AC Valhalla.
@rha7588 of course, glad I could help! Yeah DD2 definitely isnt the worst option, but waiting for a sale is probably what id do. As far as other current Fantasy RPGs, I thought FF16 was pretty solid with a decent story, world, and combat. And I 100% have to recommend Elden Ring and its new DLC. Not sure if souls games are your thing, but thats pretty much the top dog IMO for open world games. Insane variety of enemies, weapons, and locations.
The most important things they need to implement, in order. 1. Hard mode. 2. More speeches from the pawns. Particularly the mainoawn when you are doing a duo run. Might be able to add an online ai service but that may be asking too much. 3. A new game mode with enemy level scaling 4. More enemy variants. And including, elite enemy variants. For example, a goblin group has a chance to randomly spawn a jacked up hobgoblin. Thats besides adding new enemies. Like the cockatrice, more drake variants, insect like monsters, etc. 5. More armor options with armor customizations. (First game had gloves and boots also.) 6. A quest notice board that we the player can post for other players and auto generated quests with satisfying rewards. 7. More freedom for character customizations. Like covering the shoulder if you want to add a blackout style tattoo. (If they add a few more hairstyles and modifiers for the physical appearance, even better. Like females having adams apple is not exactly common to begin with). 8. Adaptive enemy AI. This should be included in the enemy scaling game mode. Since you wont be able to simply blow a hoard of goblins in 2 seconds, they can adapt and kinda counter your approach, if its a repeated action, tactic. This way, timing for critical hits and counters are actually useful and needed. 9. More weapons. Preferably even weapon variants. For example, the fighter uses swords and maces. So the ranger can use shortbow or longbow. The shortbow fires a bit faster and has a different range fall off vs longbow having better range and hitting harder. The sorcerer can use a staff or a book which changes the attack animations a bit. Or the spear for mysticspear, add a halberd, pike type also that had better knockback compared to the spears slash and pierce. The thieve gets another form of short range weapon similar to daggers, tonfas for example. 10. Random events during your travels. We already got little events like saving a person in need or random escorts. But its not enough. Having ambushes set by bandits or goblins. Random boss spawns. Rogue pawns attack you due to the dragonsplague, sort of a boss battle. That would make the world feel even more alive. Edit: Wanted to add that, nothing can really be done by the lack of story currently. But they can add more books and parchments that explain further lore. And when they release the dlc, they will need to deliver a concrete story for it, with, all the updates that I mentioned previously.
None of these things are happening lol this was a waste of a comment this is describing a brand new game none of this will be added in a simple patch or update
Average gamer who has no idea how game development works - "I have a grand idea for how the devs can fix the game! All they need to do is simply make the game better, add more enemies, add a ton of new quests, completely revamp the combat, double the map size, add a detailed foot-inspector mode for the brothel, re-do the story, let me fuck the pawns, add more customization, add game-modes and then the game is great 10/10! This should probably only take them like 3 months to implement."
Great video but I have to address one thing. I think we are at a point in game critique where we have to address larger industry issues affecting game releases. This game clearly wasn’t finished but was rushed to release by management because they knew hype was enough to sell copies. it’s not crazy to assume the devs aren’t happy about how the game turned out because management made a financial and terrible decision
Yeah I think its certainly worth thinking about, especially with how bad the industry is now. But I don't want to use stuff like that as an excuse everytime something is disappointing or flawed. Because thats what fans always do to cope whenever a game they were hyped for turns out to be bad/mid. And nothing I've seen in regards to this game seems to suggest they were actively hindered in any big way. I mean they had 12 years since the first, and at least 5 years of active dev time on DD2; that's plenty of time to not only make a complete game, but also improve upon the issues of the first. And since so many of the games issues are central to how it's fundamentally designed (or just issues carried over from the first), it leads me to believe that this is just on the devs/director themselves. Sure, the microtransactions are VERY dumb, but capcom adds that into every game now and they've released plenty of recent games that were great, so I definitely don't think that is evidence either lol. I do understand your point though, it is worth keeping in mind. I just don't think it applies here lol. Thanks for checkin out the video!
I think that is the key issue with this game. A lot of the repetition, like fighting mostly goblins again or all the caves looking the same all feel like they were place holders, but management saw it and said "meh, good enough, ship it as is" just to cut corners and rush the payout from release. That's probably why the story is honestly so shit too, it's probably not even half baked.
Really good review! Your points about the combat are really interesting and I find that the worst thing is the wasted potential. IF you choose to engage with each Vocation's skillset and enemy patters there's actually a crazy amount of depth in terms of what skills can do, how they can be applied outside of their usual purpose and how the combat ties back to boss enemies. Even a base class like fighter has a crazy amount of detail put into them. Problem is though, you never have to actually do it and you're correct: wailing on the enemy just gets the job done so it all goes out the window. Lack of a hard mode and dynamic behaviour of bosses killed the experience eventually for me. Emergent gameplay is a fantastic idea and DD does it well...until you figure out its smoke and mirrors and you don't have to do it.
Sidequests are a bit bland and weirdly implemented/resolved at times. It does have moments of brilliance though. Eg. sphinx quest. I think the biggest problem with the main plot is that there are no main antagonists, and people just disappearing from the story after certain events. The gameplay + pawn system are fun though but it does get stale after a while due to lack of enemy variety and especially from midgame on there is a distinct lack of difficulty. Only being able to use 4 skills at a time is also a bit limiting. So yeah, while I did enjoy my playthrough, there is no motivation to continue in NG+ or replay this, unless they fix some of these issues in a DLC (like enemy variety).
Only real complaint I had was the enemy variety. Other then than that it’s probably my favorite game of the year so far. Really hope they decide to do some sort of dlc later but it doesn’t seem to be that much of a priority
Im similar, i LOVED the first 15-20 hours so i decided to go for the plat bc thats what i do when i really enjoy a game. And usually, that feeling even through the platinum journey, doesnt ever really fade and i finish with some happiness of seeing everything in a game I enjoyed and even tend to go back from time to time. However with this game, by the time i finished, i set up a good pawn quest and deleted the game with absolutely no desire to go back. I might if we get a dlc, but i shared A LOT of gripes that you had as well and honestly it left more of a sour taste once i finished.
Devs feel pressure to make a big game to get the playtime up, and with modern tools stretching out a map isn't hard. But they don't seem to realize it isn't fun either.
the really sad part is that if they had actually just remade DD1/DA but with the new tech and added stuff to the story it would've been infinitely better than 2. you actually get to fight the ultimate dragon and god in DD1/DA
@@tariqueisso you do NOT fight the ultra dragon of post game, you crawl on its back as one big setpiece and you dont get to fight god. what you're thinking of is the basic final battle which isnt radically different from the first because it isnt supposed to be
@@tariqueisso you do not fight Nex the brine dragon of post game you are again thinking of the NORMAL dragon who is the final boss of the base game that you have to avoid fighting to even get into the post game either you forgot or you havent gotten the true ending
In my opinion those open world games's problem is not the sheer size of the map, I personally love big maps, the problem is lack of variety. The witcher 3 did an awesome job at adding variety to a world, and the quests were awesome, the contracts, the side quests, all of it. Elden Ring has a massive world that even today we still discover things we didn't know, so the size in itself isn't a problem, the problem lies in the content which fills the said map. And the biggest problem, in my opinion, with DD2 is that it really forces you into a new game plus mode after you discovered everything, so there is nothing new anymore to discover and not to mentiopn that I had to install mods for dificulty scaling in new game plus because it seemed too easy, most enemy bosses were almost one shot in ng+ with my thief build, I thought that ng+ will be harder, harder bosses, but no....
I´m one of those players who has done game ng+++ and level 200 character. I have to agree everything and want to give extra info what you may have missed in combat section. Some perspective i´m fan of first game that i bought it twice for xbox 360 and pc. I´n combat section you missed huge part what is. Boss enemies have huge weaknesses. Once you know these you can dominate all of them easy. You can pull or push unstable huge enemies you hear small sound when its doable. Also body part moves. For sample when cyclops is on knees you can pull its hand to fully collapse it. Griffing dies nearly instantly explosive arrow head when stunned. Medusa can be instantly killed with intact head with sleeping spell. Then use slashing attack head it detaches full health medusa. Silence spell stuns and disables lot of abilities and even flying. Drake special skills can be stopped by silence or sleep. Also grabling system is there. Canines like meat drop some for them and they stop attacking. Golems has same system from cyclops but fancy extra if you collaps them with grabling. They lose head. Also you can overheat golems by attacking flame attacks toward magic disc. So it releases cooling animation. Like game has lot of things in game. But problem is its so well hidden that i only knew this nearly 200 level and by pawn doing them. Like my pawn was mostly my tank and it just started pulling and grabling giants like nothing. I wondered why is huge monsters eating dirt. Also strong attacks to weak spots cause massive dmg. But anyways. Some of my perspective toward this game. I find this game poorly thought out and even some parts disaster in game design. Like whole selling dlc and in general experience of game. I´m not saying is game is god awful. But game needed better system what combines each others goods parts together. Like in your review you explained whole risk / reward system. But in general experience of game. Like early on in this game you will be having some good experience as exploration and some challenge is a thing. But once you hit level 50 past that system just collapses. This game can have player level up 999 level and your characters stats will be capped around 200 level maybe even earlier if you go shrine... Items lose importance as you cannot improve them or purpose of that system like in general dies. Why have different sword when at max you can get magic element to it. Nothing else... When story is awful slob like in you review spoke about game has to much systems what constantly insults players time. Worst part of this game is lack of enemy variety with interesting challenge. Dragon dogma 1 you could kill metal golems what we´re immune all magic. Beast what curses you with death if you do not carry correct supplies. There was city size monsters... This game removed all that. With god awful xp farm curve. Only way you earn levels in this game is this. You get medusa bow. Do ng++++ and collect sphinx reward rings with extra gains. Also to go get drake blood currency buff... Go murder hobo either archerf or waywarer.... Just i grinded rest 130 levels with that it was assenying. Bow gives only xp on kills... In general if game was infinite farm with infinite progress. I could have played this like 500 levels no problem. But its not. Its game what is chained up with bad ideas what does not build up experience it limits it. I know some reason why for sample stats no longer infinitely grow... SImply because they wanted dodge min/max problem. But they could thing better system. They could honestly given players who has done ng+ reward leviate burden toward player. But no. They make it so clear you never gain nothing good form your deeds... This is how i feel about game. Also FFS game lacks character creation present save. While they sure remember sell you book to change appearance but no ability to save them...
I think the most damning thing with 2 for me personally is that despite everything this game somewhat improved on, i keep asking myself 'why wouldn't i just play the first game again'
In spite of its flaws I really love this game as a sequel to the original, Even after the elden ring dlc release I still find myself coming back to this game more than any other release this year. I really hope we get a dlc. after 300 hours I still find the combat fun despite the lack of enemy variety, a dlc could remedy that with hydra and cockatrice, and preferably a new non goblin/ bandit/ lizard fodder enemy for a little more variety. IMO the Dullahan is one of the most fun fights in any game ive had in a while. Also would like a hardmode obviously.
Enemy variety is a deal breaker. Too many games (BG, ER, Diablo, etc etc) get this right to piss with DD. I have more enemy types in miniatures for TTRPG's than they do in this game ffs. Try again with DD3 Capcom - there's something to build on here, but this isn't a fleshed out game.
I feel like you really briefly touched on an aspect that has some major contribution to how bland this game feels, and that's the fact that there are no builds. An rpg that has no discernable builds is, to me, kind of insane. That's like a choose-your-own-adventure book that has only one story, even Bethesda, a game company that has just about given up on the roleplay part of their rpgs does a better job than that. Actually, Capcom ITSELF does a better job of making a vocation-based rpg, they make Monster Hunter, which is a game that has a deep and intricate combat system based around 14 fighting styles. To this day, I still discover and create new builds in monster hunter, from World and Rise, even my favorite one, Gen Ultimate, made years and years ago. They know how to make vocatioms feel awesome, and they did fuck all with it, in fact, in Dogma 2, you cant even wear 90% of the armor in the game, you get a tiny slice of that percentage based on your vocation, so most armor is useless, which also means the game cant reward you with armor either. Like whyyyy
I’m curious what a true DD2 can be, I enjoyed the game kind of played the original a little bit, but was really excited for this one when I seen the trailer it was a very fun game but agree with you there were things that they could have improved on that they didn’t here is hoping they do in the next game
Good video agree with everything basically, the people complaining in the comments gotta be blind, its fine being like the first one but they coulda atleast fix the stuff people complained about it for the first one
The problem with DD2 is that the engagement level of the core mechanic loop is unsustainable: challenging players with exploring environments and learning the combat mechanics for each class and how to deal with different enemies is well and good with the direct reward being access to more efficient options for skill expression and resource management. Unfortunately, the less substantial variations there are to further develop players familiarity with the game's core loop the faster and harder players reach the inevitable staling point when they achieve the most efficient options for skill expression and resource management. Mods for DD2 that introduce more random variance like non-static mob spawns and more restrictive limitations on resource management like smaller level caps have done wonders in my personal experience to maintain a more sustainably engaging gameplay loop, but again, there's clearly a barrier of access for making that happen, especially for console players. Heck, even the quest board feature in DDDA did quite a bit for sustaining the core gameplay loop despite how formulaic they are, and that's something that's egregiously absent in the remake. Source: I've got over 600 hours clocked in DDDA and am nearing 400 hours in DD2 now and can say with certainty I would not have sank this much time in either had it not been for the fact I play on PC and have the luxury of using mods to sustain the loop, which is ironic now that I think about how the central theme of the series' narrative is about perpetual cycles anyway.
I love the game but I have to agree with you, the game needs more enemies variety. I’m hoping they hear our concerns, we need DLC that fix those issues.
i really wanted to like this game, but i felt like i just lost all interest the more i played. i found the story incredibly lacking, it felt so hollow and never once made me ask myself "hey, i wonder what's next?" I found the combat quite boring, as well. I constantly felt like i couldn't ever FULLY get into the combat since my frames (on ps5 mind you) would drop to slideshow level speeds that felt super jarring and made it so hard to immerse myself. i found the pawns to be super annoying as well, constantly repeating some of the lamest voicelines while i attempted to explore certain areas in, granted, some pretty cool areas.
Oof yeah I should have mentioned the pawn dialogue in my video lol. It was so annoying how they would say the same 3 things over and over. I have no idea why they allowed that to happen.
something that i dont hear often praised about the souls games is that they do not make you re-loot when you die. They probably realised having a game where you die often, re-looting feels teadius and very boring. In dragon's dogma, and lots of other games which uses saves/auto save on deaths. You willl be re-looting/re oraganizing on eveery death. the only mitigation being quick saving right before a tough fight, if possible.
Hey mate, great review! Not sure if I agree with you on the matter of low stakes due to many camps available everywhere. Losing your progress in a single player game never rly helps the experience and you end up loading the game for a different outcome anyway… When the friction mechanic turns into a feeling that playing this game is „like a job” then you lose even more interest I suppose?
@mbra8228 Thanks for checking out the video! Glad you liked it! And yeah losing progress isnt necessarily "fun" (certainly not in the traditional sense lol) but the point is that I think the fear of losing it adds tension to the experience because now there's something tangible to lose. Having an actual failstate adds a bit of risk into the equation and forces you to actually make choices about how to proceed with certain situations. And since the game is clearly trying to have some friction in its design, I really wish they would have embraced this angle. Because without it, yeah I just think the friction of walking everywhere just becomes a bit tedious lol. Thanks again for watching!
@@chrisrivera7530 Travel was tedious in comparison to other ARPG's but I think it was done very well. The game lines up very nicely when you get the swing of the ox carts, put down 2 or 3 well places port crystals. To me the design was neat if you actually did swap vocations and explore the games different options for combat levelling vocations wasn't tedious because it paced nicely with the lack of instant fast travel. Not for every player I suppose as most of us have been conditioned with easy fast travel. I really did like the design choice - I think they were clever in monetizing camps and fast travel because it was clearly a publishing requirement, but for any gamer playing the game as intended they were absolutely not required. Fail states and not being able to finish some quests etc is annoying, but you're heavily encouraged to do more than one playthrough. E.g. I failed the sphinx and couldn't get the achievement my first playthrough.
Idk it says open world but lots of very narrow corridors. Open World should be more vertical and wide landscapes. Most rpgs don't pull it off when going for realistic graphics. As for combat, this is why I cannot get into most action rpgs. When they do the hack and slash. Like hitting a titan with a fly swatter. X,X,X,X,X,X,special move.x.x.x.x.x.x
The game makes you feel so limited in combat. Why allow our arisen to learn all of these awesome moves only to limit us to be able to use 4? And come on, "skill equipping?" Who does that? You can't equip a skill. A skill is something you learn and it stays with you unless you equip a different weapon from a different vocation to use different skills with that different weapon. And then that's when "equipping" makes sense. That's really stupid about this game. Equipping skills at a damn campsite 🤣🤦🏽♂️. I bought this game after I got sold on how cool the Mystic Spearhand Vocation was. I was shown the vocation doing all of those moves......then I bought the game realizing I had been had 😅. Plus, why does the damned stamina system tie in to almost EVERYTHING you do in combat? Especially when you're using magic. Shouldn't there be like an enegery bar for stamina and some other attacks instead of just all being tied to one thing?
Absolutely wild to me that a big criticism of the first game was there only being goblins, lizards, and harpies and they DID IT AGAIN.
also dogs... post-game dogs in 1 were THE WORST
They knew once the higher-ups demanded micro transactions in a single player, it was a botch job. Why try at that point. Terrible game in almost every way.
@@troyl200in every way huh? You don’t have to like it, but being extremely dismissive of any of the good, is just weak stuff dude.
The micro transactions are literally the least impactful issue this game had. Yet that’s what you listed. Incredible.
@@ToliG123 I can ignore this. It's a single player game with micro transactions. This shouldn't exist. It's a bad product.
Dmc 5 is also a single player game with microtransactions😮@@troyl200
The story is not undercooked, it's uncooked. RAW.
It jumps at you, no fangs, just gums.
Wtf is that?
Lmao yeah thats a pretty good way of describing it
That's how Gordon Ramsay would put it.
I'll never be convinced this was somehow Itsuno's true vision all along. Like, "Dragon's Dogma was alright, but it would be better if there was a single tiny elf village and a race of cat people. Next time we should have half as many equippable skills, fewer equipment options, and a smaller variety of monsters."
Didn't another guy make Bitterblack Island? Maybe he should have been in charge of DD2. For a lot of people, myself included, BBI was the best part of the original game. Playing through the main game eventually became a chore I had to get out of the way in order to get to the good part.
Wow I did not know I was supposed to dress as a guard. I just murdered everyone downstairs when they attacked, and then revived one of them cause I felt kinda bad.
lmaooo well that's certainly one way to do it. Honestly might have even been the best course of action lol.
I don't blame you though, I was so confused at first lol. My friend was playing it at the same time as me and I told him to go do that mission to see what would happen, and he got confused as well lol.
Brant tells you to wear guard uniform to blend in went entering the castle at night lol.
Even an guard npc leads you to castle kitchen first few times which has a chest with full guard uniform set.
That's not an issue of the game, that's on your fault.
This game literally TOLD YOU to put on the guard's armor.
You guys should learn to relax and listen to the NPCs.
@@kugelblitznb1682okay I thought I was tripping but I knew to put on the guard armor, but I couldn’t remember if the game told you to do that or I just intuitively knew, hey, I’m trying to break someone out of prison, the game just gave me guard armor, I probably need to wear it.
On one hand the npc dialogue isn’t terrible interesting most of the time so I don’t blame them for not paying attention all the time, but on the other the game does literally tell you. Still though that one guard letting you in at the top is a bit of an oversight
In the simplest terms.
The game is a pretty good foundation, with not much built on it.
Some weird people have said you cant compare it to DDDA, because it had DLC. When its the sequel 12 years later, it damn well should be better than the last product. They will need to get it together over the course of a year
Itsuno and Capcom have all the time in the world but in the end, Dragon's Dogma 2 has the same weaknesses as the original which is baffling. A sequel needs to improve but this is more of a remake/remaster sadly
@@samuel.jpg.1080p I didn’t think they had that much time
Don’t use 12 years, they were working on other games most of that times, it more like 4 or 5
@@egordon7543 No it shows very obviously it wasn't worked on for 12 whole years. RE engine also didn't exist that long 12 years as in it should feel like an actual full advancement of a video game package. That's undebatable
@@Lucy2Juicy I heard they got the side treatment from capcom, as in they didn’t give them as much time money or developers as let’s say resident evil or master hunter bc it wasn’t a main ip, but now it is after the success
This game just makes me sad. It could've been something really special. I could forgive almost all tge missteps if the combat was challenging and there were unique weapons and armor i could find by exploring. You can just buy all the best stuff at the shops.
Yeah the lack of good rewards definitely really hurts the exploration.
@@YeOldeMachina I was glad it wasn't challenging - I can't play Elden Ring because it's too challenging for me to enjoy it. But sadly, DD2 has far too many other issues....
It could have been the easiest GOTY of all time and they blew it.
@@travelerwatanabeskill issue
This game legit made me turn to pirating games from now on. Its the first game i ever preordered due to the hope of a better more fledged out dd1 feeling. Funny enough i always laughed at preorderers and now here i am the idiot.
That was me with cyberpunk
RE: Saint of the Slums quest. You have 3 in-game days to go back to the Slums. Another Nunn (Lottie) will tell you that you got the Abbess arrested and they have no leadership. You have to go back to checkpoint rest town and speak with the Doctor that told you the medicine wasn't good and hire him to lead the Abby. It costs 3000 gold. That's the only way I've found to save Lubomir, the patient who hinted at something being wrong at the Gracious Hand in the first place.
Did not know that. I though he was just meant to die. I will deff have to try that the next game around.
The whole mechanic of 'detaining' or arresting that you can do in like 3 quests without the game ever explaining it to you was the most annoying part of that questline imo. I thought you would just report it to the captain or a guard nearby...
Bro this just blew my mind. Didn't even think of that.
Dragon's Dogma 2 is just a re-skin of Dragon's Dogma 1's errors
Really hoping for a DLC for DD2 so we can have a re-skin of the best parts of DD1
@@thechugg4372 FR
@@thechugg4372 FR 🤣
It introduces a lot of more errors that didn't exist in DD1/DA though (it fixed a few like no loading screens and a more filled in open world)
This is honestly the best description of this game I've read.
The game feels like it was created reluctantly. Its kinda weird too cause this is a series that Capcom:
rereleased with an expansion after the original underperformed
created an MMO that they updated for a few years in Japan
had a Netflix anime adapted
Like Capcom has been completely ignoring games like Breath of Fire, NightStalkers and Megaman FOR YEARS and they half ass this sequal? That had aqcuired a cult following a decade after???? It truely feels like the only things they want to give true effort to are Street Fighter, Resident Evil and Monster Hunter.
And even weirder when this is apparently the director Itsuno's dream project, who got the go ahead for this on the back of delivering hard with Devil May Cry 5.
that one big problem in idolizing too much an artist, god knows the man can make some damn good devil may cry, he made DMC3 too for god's sake, but that doesn't mean he can do anything and everything when it comes to games
Well the usurper plotline gets dropped because you triggered the end of the world in the true ending. So people are more concerned about that. But it does resolve involving Sven.
DD2 copies all the original mistakes of one and removes features. Hell, DD2 doesn't consider itself 2 until unmoored world. So DD2 is essentially DD1 without water, greenery, no enemy variety, no NPCs in the different towns if you evacuate. They add 4 sky beams, and the final is just an interactive cutscene where you fight credits to see. 12 years and they call this a refined vision of Dragons Dogma? You have a whole class dedicated to being useless! Detection could have been on the thief. You had the dragon taxi you to the final battle. DD1 dragon was epic AF, it felt like a sprawling layered battle. It's hard to fully enjoy 2 because DD1/DDDA is superior outside graphics. They artificially inflated the game with a larger map and camps. In DD1 you had a healing spring and could bottle the water. Camps you can't really cook with all foods and can't rest a short period. Being honest, this feels like a half assed effort to cash in on a long demanded sequel. If you didn't play the original DD2 seems amazing. I'm disappointed because it would have just been better to copy DD1 with these graphics entirely and add duospear.
He didn’t even see the true ending.
“Shut the fuck up Atreus” 😂
Dude he was so annoying in that game lmao. Wouldnt even let me look at a puzzle before he was telling me the solution lol
He was also really stupid
What’s even worse was that they also made him stupid
Summed up all my thoughts in the first minute. They just made the first game again. With all the same mistakes.
People we're saying this even during the previews. If it aint broke, dont fix it I guess. But everywhere I look people seem to love it.
@reffa2858 people are blind by nostalgia I said the same thing about the Sims 4
@@reffa2858well a working combat system may not need to be fixed but to have LESS enemy variety, less armor and weapons, and less endgame content than the first it’s bad. They should be ashamed
I guess you didnt play the first game mutch mabe an houer or two..It surely sound like that....as you do say-in the first minute.....Dragons Dogma 2 is absolutly nothing like DD nr 1 but i guess it take more than a minuet to find out.....
The creator even said DD2 is what he wanted DD to be originally. So ovcourse it's going to be the same game for the most part. Really the game is great if you never played the original as it's fresh and new. Older players will not however like this.
26:35 while I think your criticism are valid, an npc does point out that the lost boy plants those flowers. They do give you a hint.
I loved DDDA. It was absolutely wonderful. DD2... I got bored after not that long, for all the reasons you listed. The combat wasn't compelling enough (fewer skills available), enemy variety was lacking, walking everywhere is tedious as hell, the story and almost all the quests are boring fetch quests. They even removed some of the equipment slots compared to DDDA, which makes for less interesting fashion. It's just... Worse.
After 15 hours of gameplay I was: "this game is so good"; but after 30 hours and numerous crashes, I'm like: "why did I bought this game, it's boring wtf"
Really crazy how this game gets worse the more you play
Oof yeah, thankfully I didn't have any crashes, but if I did that certainly would have made the 2nd half of the game even less enjoyable lmao.
Same
The last patch resolved a number of issues..I have over 800 hrs into it. If you can't find stuff you aren't looking enough.
@@limeypam lucky you, I pre-ordered this game and have never been able to play because of the crashes, I REALLY wish I could play because I know despite all the crashes the game is incredible
It’s fascinating how despite the world being so much bigger, the story feels significantly smaller.
They proved that nothing was learned from DD:DA, this is just a remake with little to no improvements and seems more like a way to make some quick cash.
Gotta get money for MH Wilds development somehow, MH Rise didn't sell as many copies as Capcom hoped.
About the Rodge quest, man I missed and screwed up a LOT of quests in this game and even I knew I had to look for flowers to find him. I made the same mistake though, I went to the quest marker location on the map to the grave yard and the marker disappeared. I gave up. I had talked to at least 4 NPC's about Rog and knew flowers were a big clue, I just couldn't piece it together. It wasn't until LONG after the time limit expired, that one of the guards at the front of the town randomly told me about the wolf cave they probably took him too. That was the only reason I even found his remains. If the guard had told me that any of the other countless times I ran past him, I could have saved the boy. Beyond that though, if you didn't know the flowers were a clue you probably didn't talk to enough NPC's about it cause it was clear as day the flowers were important.
That is why we do NG+ to fix the wrongs.😘🇬🇧
I figured out I had to follow the petals, but just as I was approaching the wolf cave my pawn told me we were going to wrong way and started leading me the other way. I figured I had gone backwards at some point and followed them for a while until I realised I was meant to go in the cave. Still no clue where that pawn was trying to take me
31:30 Wrong, you gotta explore better. That guy was named Darragh, and he was being groomed to become the next Thief-Maister. But he failed. He took a big hit to the chest on one of those pendulum training circuits, and it left him ineligible to become the next Thief-Maister. So instead he decided to use his chest scar to pretend to be an Arisen, like the game establishes right from the beginning happens a lot (and Magistrate Waldar also mentions it). And his timing was great, because Disa needed a fake Arisen. This is literally a part of the main quest iirc.
In my playthrough I had already explored the Nameless Village before getting to that quest, so when I received the quest it automatically completed even though I hadn't actually learned about the stuff in your comment. So, while you're right, the information is also missable if you explore "too much" and too soon
@@ajokebygodno it doesn’t, I’ve done it both ways.
I agree with you, but it's honestly so funny to see someone complaining about how impossible it is to deduce following the dropped flower petals when I figured it out immediately. Like the guy says he's picking the flowers and there's a trail of picked petals lol.
I think Capcom forced the dev team to release this early. It seems like alot is missing. It's scary when the title screen doesn't even say Dragons Dogma 2. I feel they are gonna release a $40-$50 DLC that has all the content and updates that are missing so they can squeeze more money out of this flawed remake, sequel. Smh...maybe ill just wait for Monster Hunter Wilds
This honestly seems most likely. It’s another cyberpunk situation. Big company wants quick money, developers try to give good game, no scratch that we need need it out asap, fans bash it, then after they walk it back and finally add what should’ve been in the game to start and everyone walks away with a bitter taste in their mouth but big corpos walk away with their wad of cash so they could care less.
Gaming has become all about the money, the industry doesn't appreciate the players anymore, we are cash cows.
You can go to your last save or last Inn save. There is a difference. Inn saves are useful when experimenting with the game and you wanna undo a terrible mistake.
You have to pay everytime you rest on a Inn for someone starting it will be rough
@@TheMETALICA40wrong... I'm new player just a few days ago and here I'm already able to afford going to a volcanic camp island..guess what , u just need to do a side quest and manage your coins properly so you can afford a house by 20K lol
@@TheMETALICA40at the beginning you should be selling all your unwanted stuff (even gear upgrade materials) this will allow you to afford the 20K home in Vernworth. Then once you get further in the story (Bakbatthal) you can head to Digger's Ruins to farm the 30K that the beastern lady sells. You will get everything back again anyways. So why save it. Collect everything and sell it now. More wealth will come once you have all 2-4 homes.
@@antoniowarren4841 ok tnx
@@TheMETALICA40 thats not true, i bought a home in 2 towns so ididnt have to pay everytime😂
You can 1 shot Talos with the Medusa's head and give a unique cutscene later in the story involving your pawn
@kagyubeef2482 Yes it's honestly only there to help people who haven't really researched or played the game enough to be at the required level so they can finish the story.
I do agree on your views of the story. (Not BC its boring or anything though.) But because I felt like we didn't rly have a choice to make things good BEFORE the ending. Idk if it's because we needed it to happen that way since the Arisen and the Dragon is needed to keep the "cycle" going, but I wasn't a fan of how Brant kinda gives up after the Coordination.
You find the Godsway Blade and even with the Godsway staff (if you make an ALT and gift it to yourself while in the Unmoored World) Brant doesn't seem interested anymore once you find both of them.
Isn't that the main reason why we went to Bakbattahl? To learn more about the Godsway. Then we are asked to collect 15 WLC (WyrmsLife Crystals) to give to the enemy. Why couldn't we just go to Brant and take back Vernworth? Sven didn't even wanna rule. Just saying.
Then days after the endgame Dragon could just pop up so we fight for World Peace. Therefore not interrupting the cycle as well.
I feel like we are the cause of the Dragon destroying the world. Even if we did't plan to become the Arisen. No wonder why the ppl of Bakbattahl charge us so much to sleep at their Inn. We did make things worse for everyone if you rly think about it. I did't wanna give them the sword. But we had no other choice.
Why couldn't we have Vernworth Castle as our home? Isn't the Arisen is supposed to be Royalty in Vernworth? And then we see a 3rd Godsway (the flower necklace that the fake Arisen had.) But it's never found again. Neither is the false Arisen. I hope the upcoming DLC sheds light on that BC I am curious. Where did he go?
What about the lady who sold us the 30K home in Vernworth? She said she found a better place, but where? The brine made it so we couldn't leave. So where did she go?
Also not everyone went back to save Melve. Not everyone helps her become the leader of Harve Village. So when you end up in the Unmoored World and (even if you save everyone), get the achievement and all that. It does not feel accurate since most of us got them all killed. Especially the first gameplay around.
Even deeper you never spoke about the Unmoored World. I feel like its a place worth mentioning since it is the best place to collect WLC. Each new game you will aquire new gear. And with the 300+ WLC that you will earn from saving everyone and defeating all the Dragons (Red Beacons), you could use that place to Dragonforge all your gear. Making each new game feel worthwhile. For those who did not know. Their is some rare armor there. Also all you have to do is climb to the dragons belly and use the Godsbane Blade on its belly (wound) to get there.
You spoke on combat, but you never spoke about the Wayfarer Vocation. Did you not find it yet? Did you not bring 4 Liquors to the guy at the Hot Springs in Volcanic Island? Did you not like being able to switch multiple weapons in combat? Being able to attack close and far as well as "float upward" with staffs/wands to reach harder locations. BC this made my combat experiences much more enjoyable. Even exploration. Even with the lack of monster variety. I will admit. It did feel repetitive. Esp. On my 7th time around.
Here's my opinions on what I disagree with...
1.) There is 3 ways of travel. Not 2.
Once you Reach Bakbattahl you can use the Skyline to reach Volcanic island. I feel like there is 3 ways of travel since that is also another way. Even if its only to 2/3 cities that it goes to.
2.) Climbing to fight Gigantus
With the Magick Archer/Wayfarer Vocations, you could have waited until "Talos" reached the land, use the skill that targets the weak spots on his body and collected the Wakestone shards off the sticks that fell off his body. So why do all that climbing? And as for the higher parts on his face you could have used the higher parts of land and got him in the higher areas before he reached Volcanic Island. I am just confused to how you did all that climbing? All those stamina curatives could have went to something else. That must have been exhausting.
I enjoy your interest in Dragons Dogma and I will be looking forward to hear everything that you and the DEV team has to say/show about the game. I can't wait to see what happens next. Maybe we can become the next Pathfinder even. Who knows. Possibilities are endless since nobody rly knows what the Dragon Princess will bring to the table.
I was going to buy this game but it has all the same problems i had with the first one for 1 stamina drains out of combat thats 1 of the stupidest things to do in a game with little fast travel not only that but the lack of rewards is even worst
Lol I totally forgot to mention the stamina thing, but yeah that really bothered me too. Especially with that God awful sound your character makes when you run out lmao. You should definitely have unlimited sprint outside of combat.
It's crazy how everyone was talking about this game non stop before release, all the youtubers with early copies glazed it, and now it feels like no one talks about Dragon's Dogma 2. A dead on arrival kind of game.
Dragons dogma always had the potential but either Itsuno doesn't know how to make an rpg or capcom rushed the devs. DD could've genuinely be Capcom's second Monster hunter.
Nice video, my friend. I agree with most of your points about DD2. However, I have one thing to disagree: DD2 was not DD1 remake. In fact, it even downgrades many good points of DD1, for example: the endgame contents and classes. While DD1 is not a perfect game, it provides me more and more fun the deeper I explore the mechanics (lots of these mechanics were thrown away in DD2, for details you guys can watch Nihil0.0 vids) and the more I explore the endgame dungeons (Everfall, BBI,...). DD1 open world is small and there are still a lot backtracking, but since it's small it doesn't feel much overbloated and tiresome to explore like DD2.
I'd even argue that the base game of DD1 is already better than DD2. DD1 errors like enemies variety, bland questlines...are still in DD2, but it's not getting better, it get worse when they ignore those glaring issues and try to fix things that doesn't even need fixing.
I completely agree with you
The relationship aspect as well
In DD1 every unique character you can have special relationship with stands out a lot, whereas, DD2 makes you think no matter who you romance, none of that matters after endgame anyways
In DD1 you can even have your romance in your house too
End game is substantially better than the prior base game’s. Unless you like exploring a massive chunk of unfinished content. The unmoored world completely dumps on the everfall. I really don’t think there’s much room for debate there. But yeah BBI was obviously more substantive end game content.
There are many substantial improvements/innovations like the physics, for example. Imo it’s more steps forward than back, but there are definitely steps back. All of which are worth talking about. Too often I see people talk about “how much better” or whatever. I was there for DD1 at launch. Which had just as many issues and valid complaints for months and months. Let’s hope they handle people’s feedback much better this time.
@@ToliG123 >"The unmoored world completely dumps on the everfall. I really don’t think there’s much room for debate there"
I disagree, there're plenty of aspects worth mentioning:
+First, the Unmoored world has time limits. You'll have approximately 10-12 in-game days to complete the quests before the whole map is swallowed up by the fog and you receive a special game over cutscene.. On paper, this seems like a good idea; however, in reality it limits the replayability of endgame contents. Once beating it, there's no way to go back, and there are no more challenging contents in the main game, either.
+Second, you can choose not resting, abusing wakestones and not beating the boss at Seafloor Shrine Pillar to stay in the Unmoor World indefinitely, but what's the point? The only way to continue to play the endgame contents is to not beating it? Look at DD1 Everfall, while it's true that it's an unfinished game, it does not lock you out of end game contents even after you've beaten all of Everfall rooms.
About the physic point, I kinda agree. That's among the few things that they really did take a step forward. Also, I really appreciate the fact that they introduce the Beastren into DD, a nice addition.
@@huyvouc9785 Not only that but DD1 also had the unmoored world gameplay: once you beat the dragon all bossmonsters on the map where replaced with stronger versions, even the smaller ones where replaced with them AND you had the everfall. Sure the water didnt disapear but how much did that really matter in DD2?
Honestly, dumb fun is best when it's short and noncommittal. Dumb fun for over 50 hours sounds boring if it's very repetitive.
Honestly, I can't disagree with any of your points... but I still love Dragon's Dogma 2. There are a ton of things I wish the game did better. But Imo, the things the game did right were enough that I could ignore the things it did wrong, and enjoy my time with the game. For the most part, yes, DD2 is a worse version of DD1. But, the 2 areas that captivated me the most were the character creation (no other game comes close), and the non-handholding open world - which I think I had an exaggerated appreciation for after playing Final Fantasy Rebirth, and just desperately wanting more Dragon's Dogma after over a decade. And let me just say, I am a big sucker for a good character creator.
I like the non-handholding open world design of games like Elden Ring, or Dragon's Dogma 2. Combine that with the best character creator around, and good (enough) combat, and I can get lost in the game and ignore most of the flaws. If I had to sum up Dragon's Dogma 2's flaws in a word, I'd say "unfinished". The game feels unfinished in a LOT of ways.
DD2 for me feels like 1step ahead but 2step back lol
Its like they literally got the formula especially with Dark Arisen, yet they make DD2 become basic again with less of mobs type and underwhelming equipments for me, this should've been DD1.5 lmao
7:46 I actually encountered that dragon at night and it completely destroyed my resources and killed all my pawns and my last inn save was like 2 hours before so I fking ran for my life and IT FOLLOWED me for quite a bit, damn night in this game is amazing you literally can’t see danger until you are next to it
9:40 you can’t actually choose which save to use it s just the last save so it s not always good for you
This game had a HUGE issue of uneven depth during development: it offers almost the same number of iris colours for your character's eyes as basic enemy types... 😅
Oh THAT''s how you were supposed to beat the wolf quest! I just randomly roamed further and further away from the flower patch after seeing my hired pawns act all weird and kinda try to hint me go that direction and then finally found the kid. That was one of the most confusing quests I've seen in a long time. Didn't help that the quest was timed, it added a lot of stress to the situation. And I also bumped into the Lich on that quest and absolutely assumed it was somehow related only for it not to be at all.
they looked at elden ring and said "we can only copy one thing, what is it?"
they chose the caves.
The first thing that pissed me off, was the fact that voices were locked to inclinations, and there weren't more of them lol.
Game was such a disappointment.
When I initially boot it up, I find a lot of crash to desktop
34:00 after a couple hours I refused to use a quarter of my stamina bar because I didn’t want to hear that damn huffing and puffing noise
I dont mind jumping on now and then just to travel from one campfire to the next. I will never hate this game.
i hate how hard it is but I can't bring myself to hate it😂 the game is just great for me (skill issues btw)
@@dielog2211 what you mean hard
@@yougottrolled5799 i think at the very beginning the game is surprisingly challenging. i remember getting my ass kicked by two centaurs at level 8 or something. but the more you play, and the lack of any scaling-- you end up being disgustingly strong at a certain point and the game doesn't offer challenges at all anymore lol. killing griffins in like 15 seconds and whatnot.
@ChrisOfChin oh yeah it became easier later but that just shows how far you come.
@@ChrisOfChinthe dlc will fix this just like the first game
Don’t forget about the AllHeal potion that can fill your lost gauge out in the wild without camping or resting at an inn.
I am deeply disappointed. I expected much more after 12 years; The game is gorgeous, but its limitations bring enthusiasm down dramatically. I couldn't get the NG+ going.
You didn’t even see the real ending, or end game. You missed at least 20 hours of gameplay, saving everyone.
The quest about the kid that got snatched up by wolves, I legit had to Google it because how in the actual bloody hell was I supposed to figure that out, that was so confusing
DAMN, I'm really glad I checked this game out from a library instead of buying it. It looked really cool, but then I kept seeing issues that I feel like should have been fixed back in the 2010s.
I'm a lot more skeptical abou massive triple A open world games, so I don't really buy em anymore. Thanks for this video, I won't be wasting any more time on this.
Its about time to play my indie games now.
Yeah im certainly not the biggest fan of AAA open world games, as I think they run into a lot of the same issues lol. Thanks for watching!
This is the first Sandbox RPG I've played where the repetition actually killed a playthrough.
I haven't even seen a good 60 percent of the world but it I just can't be bothered to boot this up again without a massive content overhaul.
I wouldn't have mind the constant running back and forth if they went with some kind of mount. It's what killed the fun of the game for me.
Hmm yeah a mount, or some way to at least temporarily get a mount, could have been interesting. To be fair tho, I do like the IDEA of limited fast travel, but I just wish the game was smaller, it had more enemy variety, and the quests weren't so sterile (Ideally all 3 combined lol)
It’s hilarious because you kill the false arisen at the end when phasus summons the lesser dragon and it’s almost impossible to even notice I only realized after watching a video on it the story is so disappointing
Hi Chris, first time viewer here, just wanted to point out a couple of things regarding combat on your 3 month old video in hopes you'll play the game again in the future.
1. When fighting large monsters, you do not need to climb and stay on top of a monster continously spamming the same button. I personally prefer fighting while standing on the ground, so I do just that. For example, as a fighter, when im fighting a cyclops I never climb it. Instead, I stay on the ground, parrying and blocking the cyclops' attacks while taking opportunities to land my own. Fighter has a core skill called Tusk Toss, and I seek opportunities to land these attacks on a cyclops' legs to build up stagger, or in certain situations on a cyclops' right hand to make it let go of its club. Eventually, the stagger would build up enough till the cyclops kneels down, which makes it possible for me to reach its head with a skill called Cloudward Slash. There are also times where the cyclops' attacks leaves its head vulnerable, and i can capitalise on that. This at way, i can kill a cyclops while never having to climb it, and still fighting in an efficient, engaging manner. You can also throw rocks and explosive barrels, throw your own pawns, jump off elevated surfaces, knock the cyclops down a cliff or into the brine, etc. Climbing is just one option of combat, but there are many other options to explore.
2. You don't have to take attacks and spam consumables. Much like Monster Hunter, Dragon's Dogma's combat relies heavily on range and positioning. You don't need a dodge button to dodge attacks, or a shield, as long as you learn a monster's attack pattern and active hurtboxes you can just sprint into a spot where the attack can't reach you, and you're safe to return attacks of your own.
I dont have a very good memory so these are just the two things which stood out enough to me to make a reply on, but overall regarding combat it seems to me like you've been restricting yourself which is unfortunate as both Dragon Dogma games are games that allow and reward player creativity and expression.
Feel like it’s gonna be a sorta Skyrim thing going on with mods giving wayyy more interesting stories and characters. I loved it in the beginning, I love exploring but I hated the quests sending me EVERYWHERE and then just walking the same path to finish it.
I hope so....the foundation of this game is good
you are so right, it's literally the first game... again. With almost all of the mistakes in it... again. just wow what a disappointment. Monster hunter, a franchise they own, has better loot and combat systems than any dragons dogma.
Man, you nailed it. I really enjoyed this game for a while, but the story is so unfinished its almost offensive. Cant wait for Dragon’s Dogma 2 Dark Arisen 2
This ended up on my recommended after getting sucked into dragons dogma: da. Crazy to see all you have created, good stuff - wish you the best!
Ayyye thanks man!
Unfortunately, this game will never be good. The biggest problem is that the game feels very soulless and dull. The dialogues, NPCs, pawns are extremely dull and seem like they were made with ChatGPT. The mission design is beyond awful. I don't even want to talk about the main story. Enemy variety is dog shit. The Save system is extremely stupid. No updates or DLC can save this game from this point on. I guess we have to wait for Dragons Dogma 3 :D :D
I wonder whose idea it was to release the game in this way and think it was playable? As always, we are faced with unfinished, sloppy and empty games. Please do not buy or support this game I very regret buying it. I feel sad that stupid companies like this will continue to make games like this. Support companies that deliver a finished product to their players, such as Elden Ring, Black Myth: Wukong.
I agree with everything said
You can hire your friends Pawn but you can’t invite your friends to play
pause to heal? theres a quick slot for that, one you can use at 0hp even.
The worldbuilding is what especially upsets me. The world is just…to small, and something about the world design only makes it feel even more claustrophobic. About as much effort was put into this games lore and world as a bestselling romantasy novel.
@Chris, what games do you think are worth buying rn?
Well if youre looking for another fantasy RPG, I'd definitely recommend Elden Ring+ The DLC lol. I also enjoyed FF16 despite some issues. But some of my other favorites from the past few years have been Alan Wake 2, Returnal, the RE4 remake, Neon White, Norco, Lies of P, Armored Core 6, Zelda TOTK (despite some classic open world issues lol), and I quite enjoyed Helldivers 2 for a bit. Not a super big multiplayer guy any more lol, but I have still been playing Hunt: Showdown every once in a while. Actually been kinda going through some older games recently lol, finally dove into the old Silent Hill games.
But what about the real ending when you do the added content by talking to the guy instead of sitting on your throne towards the end? Seems like that entire area is about the role of the Arisen and a bigger story
Yeah I did the unmoored world. I think If you make the player spend 40-60 hours running errands, building towards one story about the queen, false arisen, etc. And then drop all of that and say "The REAL story is about what happens in the last 3 hours" then I think you have a massive problem with your story lol. Also I do find it funny that someone else said something similar about the real story being at the end of the game, except they told me the real story was about your pawn gaining freedom. So I think its safe to say that even this "real" story is obviously not conveyed well enough for even the fans of the game to figure out what it means lol.
@@chrisrivera7530 thats a good point
Just finished my 72 hour play through. Overall I had a good time with it, I had played the first one so it met my low expectations with enemy variety and quest design. But yeah by the end game I felt like I was just sprinting to the next interesting quest marker as fast as possible. I thought the masquerade and palace sneaking quests were a cool idea, but they were so convoluted and had unclear requirements to work that I ended up just running circles in the city for three hours. The Talos fight was so goofy, I was halfway across the map, ended up googling to find out that it was a time limited quest so I just sprinted frantically after them and caught the tail end of the fight. The quest design was... Pretty confusing. All in all though, I still enjoyed the combat mechanics for a laid back afternoon, and the cinematic endings still had me hyped up for the finale. (Though... Only 3 boss designs for the finale? Really) All this to say, felt a lot like when I played the first game, just with a bigger world, different angle, and some hidden gems.
As someone who finally got to enjoy the first game like 3 months before the release of 2 (I owned it for many years but it just didnt click with me the first few attempts to start it) and as someone who enjoyed 2 for what it is. You overall are kinda right. Also you do find out who the false arisen is, down to his name.
Great vid. I haven't finished as of writing but the title is spot on as have been your criticisms thus far. The game is literally a bit of a mess. There is still a lot of fun to be found in the gameplay and exploring the world and I did sink a lot of hours. However, it feels less like a solid, high-fantasy action RPG game and more like a really shitty attempt at open-world Monster Hunter that had to release before they got all the fluff added and ended up releasing a surprisingly sub-standard framework to what could have been an otherwise amazing game. I can hardly remember or point towards any quests that were really interesting, main/story, side-quest or otherwise. My gameplay highlights were finding Medusa, or a dragon in some cool spire/tower area... or I guess fighting a Dullahan on a bridge late at night. Also my thicc asf pawn in the corset.
I am sure Capcom is already developing or is waiting to develop a paid DLC expansion (a la Dark Arisen) that will likely address a good few problems, while still ignoring many, whether it's in the form of base-game fixes or just an entirely separate piece of content that works better than the base-game story. I really genuinely felt no connection to the story nor did I feel like I was the Arisen, and they may as well have dropped the entire "you are an arisen" plotline and just had me making my way up in a high-fantasy medieval world because the story missions did absolutely nothing for me. The story only got interesting watching Talos (fight felt just like a joke gimmick), and fighting Grigori, plus the "true ending" post-game was somewhat neat.
Highlights of the game were basically just the gameplay itself as the narrative was so unbelievably weak. It was cool to travel, see the sun set, travel at night, camp, fight big monsters and see larger or stronger variations again (Gore "X"'s and whatever else). Even then, they reduced variety between the classes (even the same class) due to less skills/abilities that you can use compared to the first game. Lessened the fashion variations by combining classes of clothing/armor and stuck with the same sort of tier-based "time to buy the next set of best armor available that I unlocked at the vendor!". Meh. I thought I would get absorbed and it would be GOTY but instead I suffered through poor performance and a skeleton story to ultimately drop the game in the post-game after the sky turned fucking red. I think I will return to it, as I did enjoy it, it wasn't a total flop shitshow game, just really negatively subverted my expectations. The moment you're getting like 18fps in the INTRO TUTORIAL SEQUENCE ALONE on console should have made Capcom realize "we can not fucking release this game in the state that it is in currently".
Also I forgot to talk about the difficulty as well (as you did). The camping, the loss-meter for max-health, the item-healing, crafting items.... all of it served effectively as providing "a challenge" for me at the beginning. However, once you can kill things way too quickly due to the lack of scaling or difficulty options, none of that even matters... and it doesn't take long. I unfortunately explored the entirety, and I mean THE ENTIRETY of Vermund before I went to Battahl. That led to the entire half of the game following the "border crossing" to consist of maybe 1minute30seconds MAX DURATION for any large monsters that I fought. Never died, never had a threat of dying or losing progress due to having soooo many wakestones piled up. Fast-travel being sparse didn't matter when money income was high enough that you could constantly use Portcrystals to travel to a city, and replenish the one you just used at a vendor for 20,000, plus the rate at which they drop and are rewarded, coupled with oxcarting. UGH It's just all so frustrating. They made a whole different game and somehow managed to PERFECTLY REPLICATE THE SAME FEELING that DD1 gave you of "this game could be so much more than it is if they just let us see it before they released it or listened to our criticisms, or passed it on a pre-release to another seperate studio to play around in for a few weeks so they can give their input.
Holy shit. The wolf mission with the kid and the guard jail mission were two moments I was questioning my intelligence or wondering if I missed something. Glad to see it being recognized as some stupid ass shit. How was I ever going to find that kid lol. I genuinely thought the game had bugged out in both of these quests.
Hey so you do find out who the fake arisen guy was (you said you don't think that you even find out who he was). If you go to a hidden village area in Vermund, it's like some hidden thief village where they are all basically ninjas, you can learn about him there. I don't remember exactly how but there's a path leading to it that is blocked off (but not blocked off on the map), and somehow you're supposed to know that you can bypass the rocks and go around through some other route. Once you do, you get to the village. It's a bit sketchy and you talk to this big head honcho guy of the village who basically dismisses you after teaching you a master skill for the thief class. If you poke around more, you find an underground hideout that is the "true" thief village and the actual leader is in there(???) and you do some really loose and easy parkour challenge for like 30 seconds. Then he tells you everything you want to know about the current fake Arisen, and gives you yet another skill. He basically says that he was a thief of their village and he did some stupid shit and fucked off. yeah idk I can't remember it much and this is certainly a bastardized summary.
Ahhhh okay yeah I did that thief mission (One of the more interesting ones IMO) and I totally forgot he gives you some info about the fake arisen. But do they expand on him any more than just that? And do you ever meet him? Because unless there's some out of the way side quest I missed, I definitely didnt have any actual interaction with that guy. And I certainly didnt like how that plotline got kinda disregarded with the ending lol.
Glad you liked the video!!
Never played the first part, bu I've been "researching" this game on and off for months now and I still can't decide if I'm gonna buy it or not. The only thing people seem to agree on is bad performance (not a big deal to me) and lack of enemy variety. As someone who plays a medieval fantasy game at pretty much all times since 1990, I should probably give it a shot, no?
No?
@rha7588 I mean, it really depends on what youre looking to get out of it. If story is the main thing you want, DEFINITELY look elsewhere lmao.
If you want an RPG with lots of side encounters, where it feels like your actions really affect the world, this isn't the worst choice. But it isn't great either since none of it really matters overall because of the non existant story lmao.
If you really just want to explore a dense open world, then this is a decent option. Though your milage will vary due to the extreme lack of enemy and item variety.
It you want to just go run around fighting enemies, it's not the worst option, but again, your mileage will vary due to the spammy nature of the combat and the extreme lack of enemy variety.
Like I said in the video, I was having a great time for like 15 or so hours, so its not like the game has nothing going for it. But since the runtime is a lot closer to 40-60 hours long, that repetition, lack of variety, and constant meaningless fetch quests became massive issues for me. If you think you could put up with that stuff more than I did, then it might be worth it. But obviously, I am not a big fan and would not recommend it outright lol
@@chrisrivera7530 Thx for the reply, I'm leaning towards waiting for a price drop, sounds like it's not 100% up my alley.
I prefer sinking hundreds of hours into open worlds messing around with different weapons and enemies while enjoying side quests and random side activies like Elder Scrolls, Witcher 3, recent Zeldas etc. because such games did not exist when I was a kind and I'm not burnt out on open worlds yet. Might even buy my first ever UbiSof game and try AC Valhalla.
@rha7588 of course, glad I could help! Yeah DD2 definitely isnt the worst option, but waiting for a sale is probably what id do. As far as other current Fantasy RPGs, I thought FF16 was pretty solid with a decent story, world, and combat. And I 100% have to recommend Elden Ring and its new DLC. Not sure if souls games are your thing, but thats pretty much the top dog IMO for open world games. Insane variety of enemies, weapons, and locations.
It's fun, playing it for 30hours then I realize. It is the same game with better graphics. Repetitive monsters. I wish they had more monster types.
The most important things they need to implement, in order.
1. Hard mode.
2. More speeches from the pawns. Particularly the mainoawn when you are doing a duo run. Might be able to add an online ai service but that may be asking too much.
3. A new game mode with enemy level scaling
4. More enemy variants. And including, elite enemy variants. For example, a goblin group has a chance to randomly spawn a jacked up hobgoblin. Thats besides adding new enemies. Like the cockatrice, more drake variants, insect like monsters, etc.
5. More armor options with armor customizations. (First game had gloves and boots also.)
6. A quest notice board that we the player can post for other players and auto generated quests with satisfying rewards.
7. More freedom for character customizations. Like covering the shoulder if you want to add a blackout style tattoo. (If they add a few more hairstyles and modifiers for the physical appearance, even better. Like females having adams apple is not exactly common to begin with).
8. Adaptive enemy AI. This should be included in the enemy scaling game mode. Since you wont be able to simply blow a hoard of goblins in 2 seconds, they can adapt and kinda counter your approach, if its a repeated action, tactic. This way, timing for critical hits and counters are actually useful and needed.
9. More weapons. Preferably even weapon variants. For example, the fighter uses swords and maces. So the ranger can use shortbow or longbow. The shortbow fires a bit faster and has a different range fall off vs longbow having better range and hitting harder. The sorcerer can use a staff or a book which changes the attack animations a bit. Or the spear for mysticspear, add a halberd, pike type also that had better knockback compared to the spears slash and pierce. The thieve gets another form of short range weapon similar to daggers, tonfas for example.
10. Random events during your travels. We already got little events like saving a person in need or random escorts. But its not enough. Having ambushes set by bandits or goblins. Random boss spawns. Rogue pawns attack you due to the dragonsplague, sort of a boss battle. That would make the world feel even more alive.
Edit: Wanted to add that, nothing can really be done by the lack of story currently. But they can add more books and parchments that explain further lore. And when they release the dlc, they will need to deliver a concrete story for it, with, all the updates that I mentioned previously.
None of these things are happening lol this was a waste of a comment this is describing a brand new game none of this will be added in a simple patch or update
Average gamer who has no idea how game development works - "I have a grand idea for how the devs can fix the game! All they need to do is simply make the game better, add more enemies, add a ton of new quests, completely revamp the combat, double the map size, add a detailed foot-inspector mode for the brothel, re-do the story, let me fuck the pawns, add more customization, add game-modes and then the game is great 10/10! This should probably only take them like 3 months to implement."
Are you gonna fund them the $50M it'll take them to implement this over the course of a year or so?
@@crysisretard6535 But he aint wrong tho. If they wanted a good game they gotta actually make it lmao.
@@TheStraightestWhitest I think the money they earned from selling an unfinished product is supposed o be used for that part, no?
Great video but I have to address one thing. I think we are at a point in game critique where we have to address larger industry issues affecting game releases. This game clearly wasn’t finished but was rushed to release by management because they knew hype was enough to sell copies. it’s not crazy to assume the devs aren’t happy about how the game turned out because management made a financial and terrible decision
Yeah I think its certainly worth thinking about, especially with how bad the industry is now. But I don't want to use stuff like that as an excuse everytime something is disappointing or flawed. Because thats what fans always do to cope whenever a game they were hyped for turns out to be bad/mid. And nothing I've seen in regards to this game seems to suggest they were actively hindered in any big way. I mean they had 12 years since the first, and at least 5 years of active dev time on DD2; that's plenty of time to not only make a complete game, but also improve upon the issues of the first. And since so many of the games issues are central to how it's fundamentally designed (or just issues carried over from the first), it leads me to believe that this is just on the devs/director themselves. Sure, the microtransactions are VERY dumb, but capcom adds that into every game now and they've released plenty of recent games that were great, so I definitely don't think that is evidence either lol.
I do understand your point though, it is worth keeping in mind. I just don't think it applies here lol. Thanks for checkin out the video!
I think that is the key issue with this game. A lot of the repetition, like fighting mostly goblins again or all the caves looking the same all feel like they were place holders, but management saw it and said "meh, good enough, ship it as is" just to cut corners and rush the payout from release. That's probably why the story is honestly so shit too, it's probably not even half baked.
Really good review! Your points about the combat are really interesting and I find that the worst thing is the wasted potential. IF you choose to engage with each Vocation's skillset and enemy patters there's actually a crazy amount of depth in terms of what skills can do, how they can be applied outside of their usual purpose and how the combat ties back to boss enemies. Even a base class like fighter has a crazy amount of detail put into them. Problem is though, you never have to actually do it and you're correct: wailing on the enemy just gets the job done so it all goes out the window. Lack of a hard mode and dynamic behaviour of bosses killed the experience eventually for me. Emergent gameplay is a fantastic idea and DD does it well...until you figure out its smoke and mirrors and you don't have to do it.
Sidequests are a bit bland and weirdly implemented/resolved at times. It does have moments of brilliance though. Eg. sphinx quest. I think the biggest problem with the main plot is that there are no main antagonists, and people just disappearing from the story after certain events. The gameplay + pawn system are fun though but it does get stale after a while due to lack of enemy variety and especially from midgame on there is a distinct lack of difficulty. Only being able to use 4 skills at a time is also a bit limiting. So yeah, while I did enjoy my playthrough, there is no motivation to continue in NG+ or replay this, unless they fix some of these issues in a DLC (like enemy variety).
Only real complaint I had was the enemy variety. Other then than that it’s probably my favorite game of the year so far. Really hope they decide to do some sort of dlc later but it doesn’t seem to be that much of a priority
Im similar, i LOVED the first 15-20 hours so i decided to go for the plat bc thats what i do when i really enjoy a game. And usually, that feeling even through the platinum journey, doesnt ever really fade and i finish with some happiness of seeing everything in a game I enjoyed and even tend to go back from time to time. However with this game, by the time i finished, i set up a good pawn quest and deleted the game with absolutely no desire to go back. I might if we get a dlc, but i shared A LOT of gripes that you had as well and honestly it left more of a sour taste once i finished.
Devs feel pressure to make a big game to get the playtime up, and with modern tools stretching out a map isn't hard. But they don't seem to realize it isn't fun either.
THIS is the video Capcom needs to study.
If they add more enemies and bosses this could be my favorite game
the really sad part is that if they had actually just remade DD1/DA but with the new tech and added stuff to the story it would've been infinitely better than 2. you actually get to fight the ultimate dragon and god in DD1/DA
?? We also fight the Dragon in 2…
@@tariqueisso you do NOT fight the ultra dragon of post game, you crawl on its back as one big setpiece and you dont get to fight god.
what you're thinking of is the basic final battle which isnt radically different from the first because it isnt supposed to be
@@_Sage967_ nonsense, after flying in it’s back I fought it on the ground, I’ve played bro 😅
@@tariqueisso you do not fight Nex the brine dragon of post game you are again thinking of the NORMAL dragon who is the final boss of the base game that you have to avoid fighting to even get into the post game
either you forgot or you havent gotten the true ending
@@_Sage967_ oh, there’s another bigger dragon besides the one who took the ariren’s heart? I didn’t knew
Its so sad that only the combat is good about this game the rest is really mid. Story, loot, exploration etc.
custom difficulty tweaks really changes the dynamics of the combat if you want to experience the combat to the fullest definitely recommend using that
Love your review , theres no unnecessary hate that most youtubers have on their videos thank you for giving a good and honest!
Thanks for checkin out the video!
Actually the kid quest is really hard to keep the kid alive for the reasons you described. So for ne he was killed. Whivh is a really dark ending.
In my opinion those open world games's problem is not the sheer size of the map, I personally love big maps, the problem is lack of variety. The witcher 3 did an awesome job at adding variety to a world, and the quests were awesome, the contracts, the side quests, all of it. Elden Ring has a massive world that even today we still discover things we didn't know, so the size in itself isn't a problem, the problem lies in the content which fills the said map. And the biggest problem, in my opinion, with DD2 is that it really forces you into a new game plus mode after you discovered everything, so there is nothing new anymore to discover and not to mentiopn that I had to install mods for dificulty scaling in new game plus because it seemed too easy, most enemy bosses were almost one shot in ng+ with my thief build, I thought that ng+ will be harder, harder bosses, but no....
I love the ending everyone clapping for me. And they don't even know who the fuck I am lmao
Real shit lmaoooo. I was supposed to be "moving in secret" the whole game most of yall should not have even known of my existence
And somehow the combat in DD2 is more sluggish that DDDA. For example you can't directly attack from sheath mode in DD2
I´m one of those players who has done game ng+++ and level 200 character. I have to agree everything and want to give extra info what you may have missed in combat section. Some perspective i´m fan of first game that i bought it twice for xbox 360 and pc.
I´n combat section you missed huge part what is. Boss enemies have huge weaknesses. Once you know these you can dominate all of them easy. You can pull or push unstable huge enemies you hear small sound when its doable. Also body part moves. For sample when cyclops is on knees you can pull its hand to fully collapse it. Griffing dies nearly instantly explosive arrow head when stunned. Medusa can be instantly killed with intact head with sleeping spell. Then use slashing attack head it detaches full health medusa. Silence spell stuns and disables lot of abilities and even flying. Drake special skills can be stopped by silence or sleep. Also grabling system is there. Canines like meat drop some for them and they stop attacking. Golems has same system from cyclops but fancy extra if you collaps them with grabling. They lose head. Also you can overheat golems by attacking flame attacks toward magic disc. So it releases cooling animation. Like game has lot of things in game. But problem is its so well hidden that i only knew this nearly 200 level and by pawn doing them. Like my pawn was mostly my tank and it just started pulling and grabling giants like nothing. I wondered why is huge monsters eating dirt. Also strong attacks to weak spots cause massive dmg. But anyways.
Some of my perspective toward this game.
I find this game poorly thought out and even some parts disaster in game design. Like whole selling dlc and in general experience of game. I´m not saying is game is god awful. But game needed better system what combines each others goods parts together. Like in your review you explained whole risk / reward system. But in general experience of game. Like early on in this game you will be having some good experience as exploration and some challenge is a thing. But once you hit level 50 past that system just collapses. This game can have player level up 999 level and your characters stats will be capped around 200 level maybe even earlier if you go shrine... Items lose importance as you cannot improve them or purpose of that system like in general dies. Why have different sword when at max you can get magic element to it. Nothing else... When story is awful slob like in you review spoke about game has to much systems what constantly insults players time. Worst part of this game is lack of enemy variety with interesting challenge. Dragon dogma 1 you could kill metal golems what we´re immune all magic. Beast what curses you with death if you do not carry correct supplies. There was city size monsters... This game removed all that. With god awful xp farm curve. Only way you earn levels in this game is this. You get medusa bow. Do ng++++ and collect sphinx reward rings with extra gains. Also to go get drake blood currency buff... Go murder hobo either archerf or waywarer.... Just i grinded rest 130 levels with that it was assenying. Bow gives only xp on kills...
In general if game was infinite farm with infinite progress. I could have played this like 500 levels no problem. But its not. Its game what is chained up with bad ideas what does not build up experience it limits it. I know some reason why for sample stats no longer infinitely grow... SImply because they wanted dodge min/max problem. But they could thing better system. They could honestly given players who has done ng+ reward leviate burden toward player. But no. They make it so clear you never gain nothing good form your deeds... This is how i feel about game.
Also FFS game lacks character creation present save. While they sure remember sell you book to change appearance but no ability to save them...
I think the most damning thing with 2 for me personally is that despite everything this game somewhat improved on, i keep asking myself 'why wouldn't i just play the first game again'
In spite of its flaws I really love this game as a sequel to the original, Even after the elden ring dlc release I still find myself coming back to this game more than any other release this year. I really hope we get a dlc. after 300 hours I still find the combat fun despite the lack of enemy variety, a dlc could remedy that with hydra and cockatrice, and preferably a new non goblin/ bandit/ lizard fodder enemy for a little more variety. IMO the Dullahan is one of the most fun fights in any game ive had in a while. Also would like a hardmode obviously.
Enemy variety is a deal breaker. Too many games (BG, ER, Diablo, etc etc) get this right to piss with DD. I have more enemy types in miniatures for TTRPG's than they do in this game ffs. Try again with DD3 Capcom - there's something to build on here, but this isn't a fleshed out game.
I feel like you really briefly touched on an aspect that has some major contribution to how bland this game feels, and that's the fact that there are no builds.
An rpg that has no discernable builds is, to me, kind of insane. That's like a choose-your-own-adventure book that has only one story, even Bethesda, a game company that has just about given up on the roleplay part of their rpgs does a better job than that. Actually, Capcom ITSELF does a better job of making a vocation-based rpg, they make Monster Hunter, which is a game that has a deep and intricate combat system based around 14 fighting styles. To this day, I still discover and create new builds in monster hunter, from World and Rise, even my favorite one, Gen Ultimate, made years and years ago. They know how to make vocatioms feel awesome, and they did fuck all with it, in fact, in Dogma 2, you cant even wear 90% of the armor in the game, you get a tiny slice of that percentage based on your vocation, so most armor is useless, which also means the game cant reward you with armor either. Like whyyyy
I’m curious what a true DD2 can be, I enjoyed the game kind of played the original a little bit, but was really excited for this one when I seen the trailer it was a very fun game but agree with you there were things that they could have improved on that they didn’t here is hoping they do in the next game
Good video agree with everything basically, the people complaining in the comments gotta be blind, its fine being like the first one but they coulda atleast fix the stuff people complained about it for the first one
The problem with DD2 is that the engagement level of the core mechanic loop is unsustainable: challenging players with exploring environments and learning the combat mechanics for each class and how to deal with different enemies is well and good with the direct reward being access to more efficient options for skill expression and resource management. Unfortunately, the less substantial variations there are to further develop players familiarity with the game's core loop the faster and harder players reach the inevitable staling point when they achieve the most efficient options for skill expression and resource management. Mods for DD2 that introduce more random variance like non-static mob spawns and more restrictive limitations on resource management like smaller level caps have done wonders in my personal experience to maintain a more sustainably engaging gameplay loop, but again, there's clearly a barrier of access for making that happen, especially for console players. Heck, even the quest board feature in DDDA did quite a bit for sustaining the core gameplay loop despite how formulaic they are, and that's something that's egregiously absent in the remake.
Source: I've got over 600 hours clocked in DDDA and am nearing 400 hours in DD2 now and can say with certainty I would not have sank this much time in either had it not been for the fact I play on PC and have the luxury of using mods to sustain the loop, which is ironic now that I think about how the central theme of the series' narrative is about perpetual cycles anyway.
Tbh playing with only my main pawn has been way more fun
I love the game but I have to agree with you, the game needs more enemies variety. I’m hoping they hear our concerns, we need DLC that fix those issues.
Why do you want to pay even more for the game for them to fix it?
did you play the 1st one?
i really wanted to like this game, but i felt like i just lost all interest the more i played. i found the story incredibly lacking, it felt so hollow and never once made me ask myself "hey, i wonder what's next?" I found the combat quite boring, as well. I constantly felt like i couldn't ever FULLY get into the combat since my frames (on ps5 mind you) would drop to slideshow level speeds that felt super jarring and made it so hard to immerse myself. i found the pawns to be super annoying as well, constantly repeating some of the lamest voicelines while i attempted to explore certain areas in, granted, some pretty cool areas.
Oof yeah I should have mentioned the pawn dialogue in my video lol. It was so annoying how they would say the same 3 things over and over. I have no idea why they allowed that to happen.
I uninstalled it. It just got bored
something that i dont hear often praised about the souls games is that they do not make you re-loot when you die.
They probably realised having a game where you die often, re-looting feels teadius and very boring.
In dragon's dogma, and lots of other games which uses saves/auto save on deaths. You willl be re-looting/re oraganizing on eveery death. the only mitigation being quick saving right before a tough fight, if possible.
So what you're saying is... GOTY material?
Yep. If there were a total of 3 games that came out in 2024, this would definitely be a top 5 game 100% 😎👍
No it sucks
@@robertrainford6754 Quality has never been a metric for GOTY nominees.
@@immortanjones9136 I know just look at god or war or Elden ring
@@robertrainford6754 Yeah, I'll take the bait. There have been no good video games since 2001.
Hey mate, great review!
Not sure if I agree with you on the matter of low stakes due to many camps available everywhere.
Losing your progress in a single player game never rly helps the experience and you end up loading the game for a different outcome anyway…
When the friction mechanic turns into a feeling that playing this game is „like a job” then you lose even more interest I suppose?
@mbra8228 Thanks for checking out the video! Glad you liked it!
And yeah losing progress isnt necessarily "fun" (certainly not in the traditional sense lol) but the point is that I think the fear of losing it adds tension to the experience because now there's something tangible to lose. Having an actual failstate adds a bit of risk into the equation and forces you to actually make choices about how to proceed with certain situations. And since the game is clearly trying to have some friction in its design, I really wish they would have embraced this angle. Because without it, yeah I just think the friction of walking everywhere just becomes a bit tedious lol. Thanks again for watching!
@@chrisrivera7530 Travel was tedious in comparison to other ARPG's but I think it was done very well. The game lines up very nicely when you get the swing of the ox carts, put down 2 or 3 well places port crystals. To me the design was neat if you actually did swap vocations and explore the games different options for combat levelling vocations wasn't tedious because it paced nicely with the lack of instant fast travel. Not for every player I suppose as most of us have been conditioned with easy fast travel. I really did like the design choice - I think they were clever in monetizing camps and fast travel because it was clearly a publishing requirement, but for any gamer playing the game as intended they were absolutely not required. Fail states and not being able to finish some quests etc is annoying, but you're heavily encouraged to do more than one playthrough. E.g. I failed the sphinx and couldn't get the achievement my first playthrough.
Idk it says open world but lots of very narrow corridors. Open World should be more vertical and wide landscapes. Most rpgs don't pull it off when going for realistic graphics. As for combat, this is why I cannot get into most action rpgs. When they do the hack and slash. Like hitting a titan with a fly swatter. X,X,X,X,X,X,special move.x.x.x.x.x.x
The game makes you feel so limited in combat. Why allow our arisen to learn all of these awesome moves only to limit us to be able to use 4? And come on, "skill equipping?" Who does that? You can't equip a skill. A skill is something you learn and it stays with you unless you equip a different weapon from a different vocation to use different skills with that different weapon. And then that's when "equipping" makes sense. That's really stupid about this game. Equipping skills at a damn campsite 🤣🤦🏽♂️. I bought this game after I got sold on how cool the Mystic Spearhand Vocation was. I was shown the vocation doing all of those moves......then I bought the game realizing I had been had 😅. Plus, why does the damned stamina system tie in to almost EVERYTHING you do in combat? Especially when you're using magic. Shouldn't there be like an enegery bar for stamina and some other attacks instead of just all being tied to one thing?
I am now throughly convinced not to play this game 😂