**Believe it or not, this is one of the FIRST bosses you'll fight once the game actually begins!**
______________________________
I know by now, trying to convince you fellows to get a game you didn't have any interest in previously is a futile effort (see Kingdoms of Amalur, Asura's Wrath, Dead Island, Catherine, Ghost Trick, Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, etc, etc)...
I'm not going to try and convince you to get Dragon's Dogma (DD) but I'll still post some info and impressions here just in case anyone has any passing interest!
______________________________
I'll start with what this game is NOT. It is NOT an Elder Scrolls wannabe. There isn't a fraction of Lore, History, Mythology and Back Story as those games like to throw at you. You are basically the 'Arisen' and you are made a hero when a tremendous Dragon attacks your town and you choose to defend it. The dragon plucks out your heart with a single nail strike and EATS it! Somehow this joins you spiritually with the Dragons; you can understand their speech and you set out on a quest to find what this means. Finding a cure to your 'not having a heart but still living on' problem also comes into play, as well!
You won't be picking up every spoon, burial shroud, tankard, skull, book, bowl, plate, hoe, broom, jug, candlestick, cheese wheel... you get the idea... you come across. There are items to pick up, but the crafting and forging system in this game is FAR simpler than anything you'll see in Skyrim!
The depth of the crafting system in this game is simpler, but the gameplay is more complex. Think Devil May Cry lite and you get a better idea.
______________________________
"The player will be able to select between various types of vocations, of which nine have been revealed: Fighter, Warrior, Mystic Knight, Strider, Ranger, Assassin, Mage, Sorcerer and Magic Archer. Gender choice and appearance settings will also be available. The class system, or vocation, makes a difference to the gameplay and tactical options available to the player, ranging from Fighters relying on hack and slash combat (with a move-set similar to Capcom's Devil May Cry) to Striders relying on climbing over large enemies (like in Shadow of the Colossus)."
______________________________
This game is also NOT a Kingdom of Amalur wannabe.
As you can see, Amalur uses much bolder colors and fantasy heavy design. Dogma is much more muted and 'realistic' looking but the muted colors help the lighting effects (especially at night) and magic effects stand out that much more!
Amalur also uses a Mass Effect like conversation wheel system, allowing you to go 'good or bad' and DD doesn't even try to get into the whole 'moral' aspect most Western games typically employ these days!
In my humble opinion, Capcom probably should have marketed this game as 'Magic Sword 2012' as it shares more in common with THAT classic than anything else! Setting aside the obvious monster designs, the two things that DD offers that both likens it to Magic Sword and separates it from the games it's most compared to are: (1) The feeling of just playing an ACTION game and (2) The computer controlled PAWNS.
The Pawns are the real star of the show here, and offer some things that haven't been done before.
Not only do you create your own character, you'll also create a primary Pawn. You can choose pre-set faces, eyes, hair-styles, builds, body weight, etc... Standard Action RPG fare. You can also choose their vocation too. If you are playing as a Mage, you'll probably want a Fighter Pawn to accompany you, for example.
These Pawns are mostly independent. They will attack, heal you, pick up items and best of all, they will give you advice on your current quests, at times, downright leading you to your objective, should you get lost! They also hold down enemies so you can attack and shout out warnings should you enter a dangerous area or not notice nearby enemies.
You make ONE Primary Pawn. You equip him or her, you can choose his or her skills, etc. You can, however, have up to THREE Pawns accompanying you. "Where do they come from?" you may ask... DD is an active online game in the sense that your second and third Pawns are other player's PRIMARY Pawns! Visiting a Summoning Stone in a town allows you to sign on to a Server and take your pick of Pawns from other people's games!
This has MANY benefits: (1) Pawns gain knowledge as you play with them. They will make comments as they become more familiar with areas and quests, or how to fight specific monsters or bosses. If you hire a Pawn from someone else's game who has progressed further than you, his or her Pawn will be that much more knowledgeable and will be able to tell you EXACTLY what to do or how to fight! They get smarter! You cannot level a borrowed Pawn, nor can you equip them, so you are constantly trading up to new ones, but they bring with them better skills, better equipment to fight beside you with and more experience with the world around them in general or specifically! (2) Your Pawn brings back with him or her 'Gifts' from other players that may have employed your Pawn in their game! There's a tiny bit of a Social Aspect to it too, as other players can Rate your Pawn's Usefulness, Appearance, Fighting Skills, etc.
My Arya Stark (Strider) has gotten her full share of jobs and has brought me MANY gifts already! VERY COOL!
---
Tell me to get back to rewriting this site so it's not horrible on mobileYodariquo said:Stop making me want this :[
No!
Some practical info:
Control Scheme:
- "Square" - Light Attack (Mages fire magical Bolts)
- "Triangle" - Hard Attack
- "X" - Jump, Press Again in the air for Levitate (Mages)
- "O" - Pick-Up Item
- "R1" - Primary Weapon Skills (Mapped to Face-buttons)
- "L1" - Secondary Weapon Skills
- "R2" - Grab (Hold onto an Enemy to Climb or Hold Down)
- "L2" - Draw or Sheathe Weapon
- "R3" - Center Camera
- "L3" - Dash
- "Directional Pad" - Issue Pawn Orders
For some reason, this game seems to strike me as Capcom of old. For every Final Fight there was a Magic Sword. For every Street Fighter there was a Trojan. For every Ghouls n Ghosts there was a Legendary Wings. There was always Capcom's BIG NAME games, then there was always their quieter, down-played 'B-side' hits. There was a time when Capcom was known for leading the Japanese market with Mega Man, Strider and Bionic Commando, but at the same time, they seemed to have a fascination with more Western themes, as in Knights of the Round and Dungeons and Dragons: Shadow over Mystaria. You always knew you were getting something special with them, whether or not it had a big name attached, and you grew to love them for their big hits as much as their big risks!
I would not be at all surprised to hear that the D&D crew or the Magic Sword crew were also part of the Dragon's Dogma team!
**Can you tell which is which from a quick glance?**
The comparisons to other games come from a few places. Yes, this game is an open world and if you stray too far from the road, you WILL meet over-leveled creatures and you WILL get your ass handed to you! The characters look like combination Monster Hunter and Demon's / Dark Souls creations and the color schemes between the two are similar. The Amalur comparisons come from the fact that another Development team made a more ACTION-oriented open world game than the Elder Scrolls series 'round the same time.
DD is not nearly as pretentious as The Elder Scrolls, nor as Grotesque as the Souls games. As far as I can tell, it's not nearly as HARD as the Souls games but far and away MORE CHALLENGING than Amalur! As I play more, I'll address any performance issues (if any) and whether or not there is Level Scaling or if it's possible to get EASILY OVER-leveled (as in Amalur)!
I am going to be away all next week be back for E3 then have a quick turn around to fly out again. Not much room to start a game like this, but I really want to. So how is it going? Still holding up? How far are you? I heard this game is like 30 hours long which is a great length as I am not looking for endless games, is that about right from what you heard?
I'm LOVING it despite VERY mixed reviews! I actually got to THE main town, Gran Soren, last night. I spent ALL the money I had, sold all the items I could, enhanced whatever equipment I was able to for both my main character and my Primary Pawn (Arya)... I was worried it would make the game too easy. I took on an escort mission through the wilds around that area and got FLATTENED by a giant! Love the challenge!
This is the kind of game that can last as long or as short as you want. Yeah, the main quest can be done in 35 hours or so, but there's tons of side-quests to do, so it's up to you. Plus, the ever present reminder of new quests via DLC make it seem like it'll have legs for a while...
The biggest gripe I hear about the game is the amount of side-quests... What game like this DOESN'T have a lot of side-quests? It's weird how it is being treated in this regard.The storyline is minimal, kinda like Capcom games of Olde. I LIKE that though. Just give me huge open areas. HUGE monsters to fight and random sacks of Gold to find and treasure chests to discover and I am happy. Seriously, look at pics of Magic Sword and DD and you'll see so many similarities! Just look at the Wizards and the warriors, monsters, dragons, etc. It's a classic throwback in Open World form!
Bring on 10 million posts.
I might have to pick this up next when i see it on the cheap.
For the last week or so I have been stuck and unable to make progress. Once you reach Gran Soren, you are given the opportunity to win the favor of one of three main characters and you are asked by the Duke to join the Great Wyrm Hunt. One is an optional side mission the other (Hunt) is a story mission. I tried taking the Side mission and noticed the Quest Marker was to the South West, not appearing to be too far away. No matter where I went, trying to take a direct route to the marker lead to a dead end. Going off the road and heading straight towards the marker had me confronting hordes of Goblins, Armored Bandits, Saurians and a Chimera! It got me to explore a lot of the terrain and I found mountains, forests, swamps and a Convent in the middle of the woods. Time and again though, I found myself lost and was eventually killed.
I gave up on the Side mission, which was to escort a female Knight to a fortress, and switched my Primary Quest to the Wyrm Hunt. I didn't realize at first, but you can do both Side Quests and Main Quests simultaneously. When I switched to the Wyrm Hunt, I saw the marker was in the same place as the Side Quest --AND-- the female knight was still with me. The pain in the ass is, you have to keep her from dying. I thought to myself: "This is one of the FIRST main story missions, how hard can it be?" I decided to take her with me AND try to reach the first story objective... After surveying all the terrain I already explored, it looked to me as if I had to take the LOOONG way around the Southern Area, along the western shore to get to the South West quest marker, so I set off. Again, I was confronted with Armored Bandits (some of which could one-hit the Knight), tons of Goblins, Saurians --AND-- a Dragon!
It is quite humbling to find: there are times to fight and there are times to FLEE! The Goblins, Wolves and Hobgoblins turned out to not be so difficult, the Humans are far more dangerous and the Dragon? No WAY you should try to take THAT thing on so early in the game! I had already made my way far to the south, a good distance west and was starting to head North towards the area of the marker again when I was attacked by the Dragon. His breath levelled all of us. Thankfully, I had just saved. This time I thought to myself: "This is impossible. This is way too hard. They couldn't possibly make one of the first missions THIS challenging!"
When I re-loaded, I tried to bypass the Dragon by sneaking around it to the East. It worked until I was attacked by a Goblin / Hobgoblin pack... then the Dragon joined in! I beat feet out of there towards the North West... and I reached a Rest Area. There I was told by a soldier, the camp was set up by the Duke to aide me on the Hunt... This WAS the correct way all along! The terrain I covered was the correct path. The enemies I encountered were the ones I should have. Fighting and fleeing, yup, definitely part of the plan! I remember reaching Gran Soren, buying a ton of Armor Enhancements and a new Magic Staff and thinking this would make the game too easy... HA!
I reached the fortress and dropped off the Female Knight. The first part of the Wyrm Hunt had me infiltrating the Fortress which the Goblins had captured so it could be used as a Stronghold. THIS had me going underground to find a way to open the main gate of the fortress, crossing a giant courtyard while being fired upon by Arbalests, and fighting Hobgoblins, while BLINDED, as we ran between the legs of THREE Giant Cyclops! Yes, it was as nuts as it sounds, and yes, I did die!
I reached my objective --FINALLY-- though! It took me a week to get this far. I was juuust on the verge of getting frustrated to the point of restarting my character. Imagine the feeling of SUCCEEDING after all that! It's one of those rare moments in games where you REALLY feel like you've EARNED your progress!
Best thing about this game, though, is, it didn't have to be this hard! I didn't --HAVE TO-- pick a Mage (strong in Magic, but physically weak)... I didn't --HAVE TO-- stick with the Pawns I had, but I was determined! I --COULD HAVE-- hired a Pawn that had Completed this mission before and he or she could have guided me, but I wanted to do this on my OWN!
...and I did!
...and it was AWESOME!
Different than Demon's or Dark Souls difficulty in that you can make it as hard or as easy as you want, but challenging nonetheless! Travelling through such varied terrain and fighting so many types of monsters, both taught my Pawns --HOW-- to fight them --AND-- I got to witness some of the --COOLEST-- animations in a game of this type yet! Set a Chimera on fire and watch it stop, drop and roll to try and put itself out. Chop off a Cyclops' tusk and watch it stop and pause and put its hand to the spot where the tusk was severed! Watch as the Snake tail is chopped off the Chimera or the Goat's head is defeated as it flops around lifelessly on the back of the beast as the Lion continues to fight! Wow! JUST... W-O-W ! ! !
**Yes, I know, that's not how you spell 'Ought' but if you play the game, you'll get it!**
______________________________
"The game was developed by Capcom staff members that had previously worked on series such as Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, and Breath of Fire. These include director Hideaki Itsuno, who previously directed games such as Devil May Cry 2, 3 and 4; producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi, who previously produced games such as Resident Evil 4 and Killer 7; and Breath of Fire designer Makoto Ikehara, who worked on creating the fantasy game world and script elements during the early stages of production.
During the press conference at Capcom's Captivate event in 2011, director Hideaki Itsuno said that Dragon's Dogma is a game he had been dreaming about making since his school days. He was able to realize it now due to advancing technology, and has been directing a staff of around 150 people at Capcom Japan for the past two years development time (three years including conceptual phases).
Istuno stated that his team has "made Dragon's Dogma and come up to this point through our experience of action games. We're trying to make a new genre: We're using our action heritage and putting that into an action RPG." In addition to Capcom's previous works (such as Breath of Fire, Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, and Monster Hunter), Istuno also cited the influence of other Eastern RPGs such as Dragon Quest and Western RPGs such as Fable and Oblivion. Itsuno later explained that they have "seen a great deal of open-world action RPGs over the years," but that "there's never been one that really put everything together in the action parts. We figured that if there hasn't been a game made by people who understand how action works, then we ought to do it ourselves. We wanted a game where the player is thrown into the world and needs to figure out how to stay alive via nothing but his own controller." However, it will also be possible for characters to take a less action-oriented approach, with Itsuno stating that they are "making this game such that you can beat the monsters even if you build up EXP, collect good companions and/or pawns, and sit back and watch the battle unfold," and elaborating that while it is an action game, "that's not all that it is. You can fully configure your party and put as much thought as you like into battle, which is something we're doing for people who really want to get into this world."