Dragon's Dogma 2 Steam Review

--- Finally another entry in the series for fans in the west. ---

(Small preamble on performance: Game ran decently well locked at 30fps on 3440x1440 resolution in my GTX 1080 i7-7700k system. Other than CPU frame-timing issues in the two big main towns of the game, I have no real complaints, and the game still looked pretty good despite the lowered settings. This is just my personal experience.)

After twelve years since the original, a game I was a fan of since I was half my age; Capcom and director Hideaki Itsuno finally give us a numbered sequel to the cult-classic original. Mild spoilers for the review ahead.



It's not the sequel I wanted.

The sequel 12 year old me wanted all those years ago; was a direct sequel to the first called Dragon's Dogma 2 released three-or-less years after Dark Arisen (which released a year after the original) that reused mostly the same assets to add even more monsters to fight, vocations to play, giving Warrior an L1 button, and building upon the storyline of the first, with improvements.
But that would've never happened, it didn't happen; especially for those of us in the west that never got to play Dragon's Dogma Online which did technically work on some of those aspects, but also while failing in others, and so... I reconciled those feelings long ago.

It is clear instead, that Itsuno had different things in mind for this sequel. Some great, some not so great, but I can say that, after at least 80 hours of playtime, and finishing the game with the true ending... That I do appreciate what he's tried to do and accomplished with parts of this game nonetheless, and I accept it as a new entry in the franchise without any bitter feelings for the wait, so long as this foundation is worked upon for hopeful future installments (and we aren't made to wait 24 years next time). The little quirks of soul and inspiration that this game possesses, that my mind could've never thought or dreamed of, that carry forward the spirit of adventure and discovery that made me fall in love with the original alongside it's fresh action-RPG combat, are what keep me most positive about this.

I never would've thought of the Sphinx encounter, if I did it would be a simple boss fight of no consequence just like in DDON, nothing that really rocks the formula of other Dragon's Dogma encounters; but I wouldn't have thought of solving riddles and having a test of wit with the mythical beast like in the legends, I wouldn't have thought of being able to fulfill the Greek hero fantasy of being able to lop off a Medusa's head and using it's decapitated gaze to petrify any foe, even the final boss, I wouldn't have thought of pulling back on the handholding even harder for the game's questing  and exploration and leaning into the emergent narrative and gameplay possibilities of this game and it's pawns, I would've never considered the Beastren nation and all its little intricacies despite knowing they were cut content of the original concept or all the stuff dealing with the Sacred Elf Arbor, never would've thought of improvements like the different upgrade disciplines or the change to the previously RNG dragonforging system... So on and so forth.

My imagination extended to the first game, Dark Arisen and maybe some cut content, and it is these things that were outside of my imagination that are impressing me the most and will stick with me that make this game carve out it's own identity from the first. Alongside these new bits and pieces, there are ofcourse improvements to the climbing system such as being able to stand on parts of monsters strategically, monsters being able to lose their balance, giving more importance to heavy attacks due to the changes in the stagger mechanic, making the game less easy and long journeys more perilous with the addition of the Loss Gauge mechanic, among many others small to big improvements.

I think that, if you are a new fan especially and someone not familiar with the first game, this should be enough for you; to figure out if you would like this game or not. I do think even at it's current price point and especially on any sale there is still enough value for newcomers to have a fun time and enjoy a great japanese western-inspired RPG adventure. I'm sure it will only get better with patches, and as hardware catches up, like with Red Dead 2 or Cyberpunk.

. . .

However, I don't fault any long-time fan that waited as long as I did to finally have a sequel for being disappointed. I myself have some areas of major letdown of my own. Because unfortunately, there are glaring downgrades in certain areas of the game compared to the original as well, alongside the game suffering from lack of breadth of content in a few places. I will list them as sort of bullet points, in no particular order though I will try to order them from most feasible or simple to fix first, to make any potential Capcom rep or whomever fishing the reviews for any improvements to consider:

- The removal of the second skill palette.
     I understand this was replaced with the "Vocation Skill" instead; and that a few skills were incorporated into the vocations as core skills, and while it is certain vocation skills do serve to provide certain gameplay systems that make vocations better to play, such as with Mage/Sorcerer's quickspell (they've never felt better to play in this one sense) and Warrior's Barge, the loss of 2 active skills at anyone time is felt, and not in a way that I think enhances the game by encouraging Pawn team play or anything, the vocations most affected being the mages and Fighter, which just feel like you constantly have less options at your disposal to use than in the original. It certainly doesn't help that feeling, that for certain vocations the vocation skill is merely [i] the ability to aim. [/i] It's not like there isn't enough button real-state on the controller, the circle button is basically left without use 75% of the time if you set it to examine only and dash with the stick like in the original game, and the sheathe/draw button is as necessary (read: not) as it was in the original. Being able to at least change to another palette set by clicking both sticks in, like in DDON, would've been nice too. I'm not asking for Nioh or Dante stance-switching complexity here, or to be able to do everything, just not having less than the original game would've been good enough. It really feels like Warrior is the only categorical winner here.

- The number of vocations (and skills).

     While mystic spearhand is a fantastic new vocation to the roster of the series, especially with its Spirit Lancer from DDON inspirations, and Trickster is certainly... unique, let's be frank, a lot of us expected more vocations to play around with, especially with the omission of mystic knight (which I know was replaced by mystic spearhand, and that Warfarer is the replacement for Assassin), and with legacy vocations like Fighter barely having new skills not present in the original to play around with. Even as someone who plays every vocation to try them all out, and see what they all have to offer, I was left wanting for more. Why do only fighter and mage get an advanced vocation version? Where's advanced thief and archer? Why does only a magic hybrid with archer and fighter exist, where's the thief and mage hybrid?

    Addendum to this point: The removal of certain complexities. What happened to Holy Boon? Dark Boon? Where are spells like Necromancy and neat options like Exequy? Two entire categories of damage and magic almost completely gone, and while holy damage is still technically in the game, it is merely in the form of a few certain imbued weapons and ONE mage spell (and one party buff, but it doesn't deal direct damage). But that basically means no Blearing either, no Grapnel, no Lassitude (and Torpor status), no Miasma, no Perdition, no Sopor, no Holy Glare, that means nothing like Dark Anguish or any other dark/holy magic for mystic spearhand, the mystic knight replacement... It's dire. Really disappointing, frankly. You might say no one used those spells on mage or sorcerer anyway, but it's not like they got replaced with anything to compensate. It's just less options, for no real benefit.

- Enemy variety.

     While the roster of basic enemies is about on par if not slightly improved from at least the base version of the original, yet again, this game falters in the variety of large monsters. That's not to say some variants of small monsters, like hellhounds and giant undead aren't missing, they ARE, it's just that the large monsters are the ones that especially hurt. While the count is basically the same as the original, give or take, and it is true that some of the new monster overlap with functions of some monsters that didn't make the cut... It is still frankly disappointing nonetheless. We have spent 12 years mostly fighting cyclopses, ogres and occasional griffin or drake in the overworld... And it is mostly the same with this "new" entry. No cockatrices, no hydras, no evil eye, some variants like the metal golem, and while drakes can now cast all sorts of magic and aren't limited to fire magic thus removing the need for wyrms and wyverns... It still feels like at least a missed opportunity to not have brought at least everything from the original back ALONGSIDE the new stuff. [spoiler] Certainly doesn't help that at least two enemy types are locked behind the Unmoored World "post-game", as one-time boss fights. [/spoiler] Don't get me wrong! I understand they even included certain beasts from Dark Arisen into the game now like the garms and wargs, and the new additions like the aforementioned Medusa, the Minotaur and its Goreminotaur variant or the Dullahan are really cool! But this is definitely an area that any future piece of content of the franchise has to improve on, even more so than Dark Arisen.

- The removal of movement skills.

     Seriously, why does only mage and sorcerer get levitate? Where is double jump for thief and archer? (that one Thief skill does not count.) Due to the limited skill slottage it's not like people will use springboard or ladder launch for Fighter or Warrior either... I understand a lot of old-heads complain about the new movement system and the more dynamic terrain, I don't really land on one side or the other of the debate, but one thing that really felt missing while exploring was this.

- QOL annoyances/stuff missing from the first game.

     Why can't I equip stuff from inside storage anymore? Why is the max stack of items a pitiful, annoying, and easily met 99 that prevents you from placing more in storage when the original had a limit of like 999 or more? Why are my portcrystals wiped from where I placed them when I enter New Game+? Why must I go through the introduction again in New Game+ when the original let me skip Savan's segment? So many small things like these that are present that might seem inconsequential to the experience but really add up in the long run. I know Dark Arisen added QOL to the original in the form of various menu improvements, so working on these is not impossible.

- The music.
     Again, don't get me wrong. The music present here is great, and some tracks are very good, maybe even memorable.  Plus, I will not fault the game from missing certain tracks or changing tracks for certain monsters/scenarios since I'm sure there's some sort of co-ownership issue with Inon Zur or whatever... But man, the absence of the guitars and other rock inspiration for the sound suite of the game is really felt. The musical identity is just very different from the original, much more of a departure than even Dragon's Dogma Online, and in my opinion, not for the better. While the adrenaline still pumps when imminent triumph plays for sure, it just doesn't hit home as much as the original did. No cheesy, sincere licensed rock intro that encapsulates the spirit of the game, no cool guitar solo character creation music... Yeah, I just don't know what to feel, other than to say I simply prefer the original's music language.

- The lack of a meaningful endgame or some form of repeatable dungeon crawling, online boss.

     Yeah, the Unmoored World is there. But unlike the original's postgame and the Everfall, no new base or large enemy variants are unlocked, you are stuck to a time limit that leashes you in how long you can stay there, as well as being reset to the very beginning if you happened to die no matter if you rest at an inn or not and there's not a wide suite of new gear to chase. There's no Ur-Dragon equivalent either, so no collaborative bosses for the playerbase to work together to kill for rewards or to rank on the leaderboards... It's not like the Everfall was the most fantastic thing in the world, but it was something.
There's no New Game+ difficulty scaling just like with the original, so you spend most of the game plowing through easy mobs without a postgame to anchor to and stay at to keep at least savoring a bit of challenge in the longer-term. There's a few new things, but just not enough, no neat surprises. After waiting the better part of a decade, you do wish you had a bit more to chew on, and you just don't.

- The story (presentation).

     Despite being an avid defender of the original Dragon's Dogma 1's story, I will not pretend it was the most easy thing to follow, nor an easy plotline/worldview for a sequel to build upon, but it still had it's strengths. While I understand there are valid reasons I won't go into due to spoilers for some of these things being the case, the game just suffers from having even inferior story presentation to the first. The Dragon is barely present which I'm sure will confuse lots of people, weak antagonists and some subplots that go mostly nowhere (though I know some are relegated to their own side questlines), weird or sloppy cutscene structure (oddest fade to text I've seen, if you can even call it a fade, it just shows up), an anticlimactic end... Lorewise, I do like the narrative, and it's an interesting followup to the first game int that sense, but in execution it frankly dropped the ball. Even with the true ending it does feel in some sense like it all just ends quite suddenly and abruptly. Plus, no new game+ narrative surprises here either.

. . .

It may sound like I have more negatives than positives to say, but I don't. The game IS an improvement in many aspects, I like plenty of it and I had more fun playing it than I have with a new release in recent years, and a Capcom game since DMCV. It is precisely because I love the original Dragon's Dogma, and that I like this game; that I put forward all these points forward which they can improve upon so that it can hopefully become better and better. Whether that takes the form of Title Updates or an expansion that would hopefully put Dark Arisen to shame.
However, do note the difference in language there. In its current state, Dragon's Dogma 2 was simply unable to replace the unshakable, fond spot that the original game has in my heart, and in that sense, that's my biggest disappointment of all, not being able to bring myself to love it as much as I do the original, but it still retains it's soul and spirit, carrying it into the modern era, and thus I like it all the same.

Newcomers have nothing to fear, it's an excellent jumping point for them to play this already.

And for the few of us present fans... The game is a spring of potential, just waiting to be fully tapped and unleashed with some sort of expansion like Monster Hunter World was with Iceborne, and this budding young franchise barely in its second entry still has room to grow with sequels, even disconnected from it's director as it has in the past with Dark Arisen and Dragon's Dogma Online, as other Capcom franchises like Monster Hunter and Resident Evil do.

In the end, with Dragon's Dogma II... It's a dichotomous game, both safe and bold at the same time, both an improvement and a downgrade, better and worse, larger and smaller, wilder and more restrained. My feelings on it still need to fully cement.

Sorry this review turned out to be so long, but I have been waiting for this game for pretty much half my entire life, unironically, so...
I just hope I don't have to wait another decade to find out which side of the dichotomy it will truly turn out to be, looking back. Please do give us more Capcom, don't make us wait too long for a sequel or expansion ever again.