Saturday, May 19, 2012
Demystifying Dragon's Dogma
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Games: The good people at Capcom were kind enough to send me
a review copy of Dragon’s Dogma on 360 and I've been putting some time into it for
the last two days.
It was a game I was very curious about since seeing an early
demo last year, but there were a lot of questions in my mind about what the
final product would be like. After speaking with others who were also looking
forward to it, I see that I wasn't alone in wanting more information. Now that
I've logged some time with it, I thought it might be helpful to clear up a few things
for those of you who are considering picking it up on 5/22.
First, a disclaimer: THIS IS NOT A REVIEW.
Reviews are embargoed until 5/21, and I have every intention
of honoring that. Besides, I'm not nearly far enough to even begin to write a
review, so this blog post is simply to clear up some of the questions and
misinformation that may be out there about the game.
Now, the info.
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>What is Dragon’s Dogma?
This game is a third-person single-player open-world
Western-style RPG on PS3/360. There is a central storyline or "main quest", but
there are also tons of sidequests that are optional.
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>Is it like Dragon Age, Skyrim, Amalur, Dark Souls or a
JRPG?
While it's vaguely similar to Skyrim in the sense that it's
largely a self-driven experience, it doesn't spend the same amount of time on
the lore and minutiae found in that game. Characters don't play the sort of
role that they do in a BioWare style adventure, either. Dogma’s focus is on
exploring the world and battling monsters with skillful real-time action through
a variety of character classes which can be changed at will. Dark Souls is a
pretty good comparison -- both are very experiential in nature, and neither
spend much time on dialogue/story elements.
For more information on the specific classes, please check
out @Kotowari’s excellent breakdown of each job.
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>Is it like Monster Hunter?
In some ways, yes. As someone who has spent a ton of time
with the Monster Hunter series, I can see vague parallels between the job
classes in Dogma and choice of weapon in MH. Also, the Pawn companions (see
below) are quite similar to the Felynes (MHFU) or Cha-Cha (MHTri), only taken
to the next level. As far as combat goes, it doesn't feel very similar to MH to me... it's faster, and the group dynamic gives it its own identity.
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>What is the world like?
As I said earlier, it's open-world. There are cities that
act as refuges, offering blacksmiths, apothecaries, inns, and so forth. Items
can be bought, skills can be learned, and Pawns can be managed. Each city also
offers several quest-givers as well as quest boards where players can select
their own assignments. Once a quest is chosen, players are free to leave the
city and wander in any direction in the world. It's safest to stick to the
roads, but forests and mountains can be explored as the player desires. Caves
and ruins can be found, and monsters, bandits, and other hostiles are around
every corner.
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>What are Pawns?
Pawns are the defining characteristic that Dragon’s Dogma is
built on. The player will create one to be their constant companion for the
duration of play, but it's also possible to "hire" two more to create
a total party of four characters.
The player does not give Pawns orders except for basic
things like “Go!” or “Come Here!”. In battle, they make their own decisions and
perform their own actions without any input from the player. Their purpose is
to not only to offer safety in numbers, but also to balance out the
deficiencies of the player. For example, my character is a bow &
dagger-using Strider great at distance attacks, but weaker at melee and with
low defense. My personal pawn is a strong Warrior class, and I usually hire two
Mages for offensive and healing magic.
Something that isn't widely known (or at least, widely
understood) is that friends on XBL or PSN can “borrow” and use a copy of each
other’s personal Pawns without any limitations on level or hiring price. For
instance, a level 1 player can borrow a friend’s level 30 Pawn for high-caliber
backup. When doing so, the pawn learns information about quests, gains
experience, and gets ranked on a leaderboard for most popular Pawns.
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>Is there crafting?
Items can be bought at various shops, gained as rewards or
found in dungeons, and those items can be improved by finding resources on your
adventures. Example – A shirt gives +2 armor. Modify it with two rabbit pelts,
and it gives +4.
Also, certain items can be combined to create new ones.
Example – Combining a mushroom with some juice will create a strength potion,
and so on.
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>Can you have multiple characters/save files?
No, just one character and one save file. PROTIP: manually
save OFTEN.
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>Is it hard?
That's tough to answer since every player is different, but
I will say that it's more difficult than the average game, and players are
required to use their heads in terms of preparing before quests and managing
their tactics on a moment-to-moment basis. Also, I would say that anyone
expecting to solo the game without Pawns can pretty much forget that. The game
is built on using them as a central mechanic, and having a group of three seems
to be the best way to go. Also, there are no selectable difficulty settings. Instead, it seems to be set by region. When entering a new area, a Pawn might give you a warning. If so, then you may be in an area that's a challenge for your current level - consider taking a different quest.
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Going into any game with the correct expectations is
important, so I hope this sheds a little light on Dragon’s Dogma and helps you
make an informed choice about whether this sounds right for you!
…And look for my full Dragon’s Dogma review at Gamecritics soon!
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Posts
I'm a MH gamer too, for quite long time and I had the same immpressions that you - but only judging it from the demo. I liked the idea/style of the game but I'm still unsure if I will buy it or not so thanks for a fast preview of the game.
Thanks for the little preview, Brad! I'm getting increasingly interested in this one. Can't wait for your review.
Definitely enjoyed the preview as this is a title I've been eying for some time. Releasing right next to D3 - I'm concerned about the timing and that it may not get as much recognition/sales as if it had released in a few weeks. I know D3 is going to impact me picking this up for a few weeks as well. Looking forward to your full-fledged review.
Hey Brad, is there some sort of optional lock on system for enemies in the final version? That was my biggest disappointment with the demo (unless I just couldn't figure out how to use it)
Thanks for reading, folks!
Matt> Sorry, there's no lock-on. It's all up to you to keep a bead on 'em.
Thanks for this great post. very informative indeed. this post helped me in some ways. i just want to say thank you for this informative post.