Dragon’s Dogma 2 – Analysis

It was in May 2012 that the director Hideaki Itsuno (known for working at Capcom in the famous series Devil May Cry) appeared with Dragon’s Dogmaan action RPG set in a medieval fantasy world that at the time was praised for presenting an engaging formula close to what we saw in Western games.

Almost 12 years later, Itsuno once again assumes the role of director with the release of Dragon’s Dogma 2 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series and PC, making it clear that the “sequel” to its cult classic delivers its vision in its entirety without the limits felt in its predecessor. A bigger, even more immersive world, where action and freedom are the central elements.

On a narrative level, the feeling I had after spending several hours in Dragon’s Dogma 2 is that it takes too long to deliver its most exciting moments. It is a plot that most of the time fails to attract our attention to continue with the main story, nor to make us care about the characters. In the midst of all this, good secondary events arise along the way that manage to pique our curiosity with the lore that feeds the universe of Dragon’s Dogma.

On this last point, the most curious Arisens will be compensated, since the map we have to explore does not present indicators as we are familiar with in RPGs in general. With this vision, Capcom intends for each player to live their own journey, encouraging them to deeply explore the scenarios and be dazzled by the approach of the NPCs and the secrets and mythologies hidden in this world, as well as the natural discovery of the missions. secondary and the different ways of solving their objectives.

Unlike the central story, we find a world and combat that is more improved and striking than the previous one. The territory to explore is colossal, divided between two kingdoms and several environments around them; composed mainly of cities, villages, forests, caves and even the desert areas of the Ferids. Within the most populated areas, there is a lot of life and interactivity with NPCs going about their daily lives, telling stories of their adventures, local weapons and item deals, among others. Likewise, this detail stands out outside of cities, where, for example, we can be interrupted by a pedestrian offering his services, street vendors or by ambushes.

The characters’ physiognomy, height and weight, influence the amount of stamina we spend, as well as the capacity of items we can carry.

Although we have access to means of transport to specific points on the map (cities or villages), we are facing a world that invites players to walk through places without the help of others, so that they can get more out of what the adventure has to offer. provide, involving discoveries, fights, collection of resources until the evolution and knowledge of our character’s abilities. During my experience, there were no paused or less rewarding moments while exploring, even when crossing the same locations. There is always something happening, some treasure to find, countless caves or a castle to investigate and threats to face. The cycle of day and night also brings a new layer of immersion, with the day bringing a moderate challenge and the night full of new dark and even more dangerous creatures.

The combat system proves to be genuinely fun, with many changes and improvements that evolve what was already incredible in the original. At the beginning, when we start creating our Arisen and pawn, in addition to their appearance and physiognomies, we have to select the class/vocation we want to start with: Fighter, Archer, Thief or Mage, and later on we unlock the Warrior class, Sorcerer, Magick Archer, Mystic Spearhead, Trickster and Warfarer.

There is a good range of classes that certainly meet the needs and tastes of players. Each one has its own characteristics and ways of facing challenges, the Mage class, for example, uses elemental and defensive skills that can be an asset against most creatures, in addition, its healing abilities are welcome for recover the lives of our partners in order to save healing items. The Warrior class is suitable for those who want to create a character based on strength, with greater defensive capacity and heavy swords capable of causing great damage.

In camps we can recover our lives, cook to increase our attributes or equip/change character skills.

Changing classes throughout the game is crucial to not only make the combat experience more diverse, but also to be able to benefit from the attributes we acquire from previously equipped vocations. In a similar way, we must check our pawn, choose its class and adapt its strategy to the situations. As in the previous proposal, it is controlled by a very competent artificial intelligence: just like us, it can collect resources, combine items and even guide us during missions, find hiding places and more.

I must admit that I was surprised by the artificial intelligence of the pawns, which despite some small flaws, such as leaving behind part of the resources or the lack of ability to escape from a confrontation automatically, overall they work very well. They were specially developed to collaborate as a team during battles, using their skills wisely while quickly analyzing enemies’ weak points and still being able to use healing items.

We can also hire two more pawns to be part of our team, keeping in mind the strategy we intend to take into combat. In my case, I always used pawns from different classes than mine and my main pawn to create interesting combinations, as each class has unique behaviors and specializations that can be useful when exploring and fighting.

It is gratifying to observe the synergy between our protagonist and the pedestrians. Attacks combined with spells, attacks from above from archers, explosions that stun enemies and take them to the ground. Of course, the adventure wouldn’t be the same without the cunning behavior of the enemies. At any time we encounter everything from the most common: thieves, goblins, harpies, lizards or wolves that surround us and sneakily attack us, to gigantic mythological creatures: cyclops, griffins, dragons, chimeras and other massive enemies that cause the most intense combats and deliver the best challenges in the game.

These events are promoted with the photorealistic aspect of the game due to the evolution of RE Engine which was designed by Capcom especially for the remakes of the series resident Evil. It’s hard not to stop and contemplate the rich environments around us. It’s a beautiful game where the textures and lighting are impressive, managing to bring to life the action and natural environments of the fictional world of Dragon´s Dogma 2. However, there are small problems, namely pertinent issues with the game’s performance and the characters’ expressions. Even after the recent update, drops in fluidity continue to appear when we are in large cities or in scenarios surrounded by many enemies. The characters’ expressions are not always the best and most credible.

At the same time, we find a soundtrack that fits with the medieval and fantasy theme presented. But what stands out most are its sound effects that make up the ambience of this world, the sounds of weapons, powers and movements during fights, the sound of nature or even the game’s creatures themselves. In turn, despite being a game created by a Japanese team, the voices in English identify better with the context experienced in the game.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 It is a step forward from what was conceived in the past. It’s a journey that, despite not standing out for its narrative, shines in its remaining elements: its combat and exploration. A massive and at the same time organic world that takes advantage of the absence of icons on the map to awaken the player’s curiosity to explore the game world. Regardless of the performance issues still to be resolved, it is a recommended experience that leaves us curious about the future of the series.