Dragon's Dogma - TV Tropes Forum (2024)

I like the idea of the plot more than the execution?

It has cool ideas, cool moments even. But playing through the game is the gaming equivalent of reading an author's manuscript after a gust of wind's blown away half the pages. Stuff jumps around, plot elements arrive with no warning or just plain go nowhere. Characters will be introduced with huge gravitas and then the plot will just forget about them. There's several times I was left wondering if I'd actually hit the skip cutscene button.

The Gameplay has some of its own issues (Pawns talking so much (why is this a specialization to make them shut up????, the restricted fast travel, late game quest who are time sensitive but don't use the same UI indicator that all the time sensitive quest before them use, dodgy pawn AI). Combat is generally fun.

But the plot is... Well it's been a long time since i played a game with a narrative this disjoined. The game I keep thinking back to is Kingdoms of Amalur? Both have a plot that on paper is really interesting, but in delivery they fail to deliver on. Both have a certain jank to them.

There's this bit at one point (excuse the genericness of the situation, im trying to avoid spoilers), you're given two choices, and one of them involves the death of a hostage. The hostage is supposed to be the person you have the highest relationship with. When that happened, I legit could not tell who that was the game had picked. I legit thought for a moment the game had literally plucked a random npc and was threatening me with the death of a rando. Only later I realized who that was (some npc I did a quest for to unlock a meister skill some 40 hours previous, so I guess we're tight now?) But at the time you'd have put a gun to my head and asked me who that was I legit wouldn't have known.

Edited by Ghilz on Mar 30th 2024 at 5:12:37 AM

So you're saying Dragon's Dogma 2... Is exactly the same as Dragon's Dogma 1. Because those are all possible complaints you could levy at the first game.

Well. Still excited to play it, but interesting to know they decided the "Eh, let's do it again and see if it works this time" approach to making a sequel.

Well. Still excited to play it, but interesting to know they decided the "Eh, let's do it again and see if it works this time" approach to making a sequel.

This is very funny and even funnier because of reasons that are impossible to explain because of major spoiler.

It's funny you brought up the hostage scenario because that IS the first game verbatim. The dragon kidnaps the person you're closest to, but since relationship values are invisible and vague on how they increase it was often just the merchant you visited the most. Now I haven't played the sequel so I have no idea if the dragon does it twice or not.

Really feels like they barely changed anything. This might be a "wait for a price drop" for me.

Edited by Stage7-4 on Mar 30th 2024 at 3:35:46 AM

Yeah I was like... "Oh hey Ghilz is describing that event from the first game. Like, exactly."

It would be incredibly impactful in a game where NP Cs had time to grow. Completionists inevitably got saddled with the duch*ess. And the duch*ess sucks.

It's funny you brought up the hostage scenario because that IS the first game verbatim. The dragon kidnaps the person you're closest to, but since relationship values are invisible and vague on how they increase it was often just the merchant you visited the most. Now I haven't played the sequel so I have no idea if the dragon does it twice or not.

I'm usually careful enough that the kidnapping victim is pretty much always the person I give the Arisen's Bond to.

Unfortunately in the first game, your Beloved isn't guaranteed to be the one to be at the beach in the ending, so that one's a bit trickier. Kind of telling that Dark Arisen had to introduce an item specifically meant to lower Affinity to zero.

I have not played the sequel yet, so I don't know if they made Affinity a bit more bearable. I did get a chuckle at the list of achievements including one unlocked by having two characters with max Affinity getting into a fight at the Arisen's house.

So to give the game _some_ credit, some quests are actually clever (any where you can abuse the forger, the Sphinx's riddles are a highlight). And there's like... One plot twist that's kinda cool but I won't list it here coz it's a giant spoiler of like, the one time the game is clever.

Completionists inevitably got saddled with the duch*ess. And the duch*ess sucks.

I legit can't think of an NPC in this game that like, left much of an impact. Everyone has the most barebones of a personality. The game's OCD writing style doesn't help anyone one bit.

The dragon kidnaps the person you're closest to, but since relationship values are invisible and vague on how they increase it was often just the merchant you visited the most.

I'd have recognized one of the merchants. This literally justa dude from one of so many quest chains I had done literal hours ago.

Edited by Ghilz on Mar 30th 2024 at 9:24:44 AM

"Oh! The Arisen! I knew you'd come for me, just as when you aided me before! That was the day I fell in love with you!"

"I realize I touch a lot of lives with my exploits... But for Me, It Was Tuesday."

Yeah, thinking on it I give the game 6.5 / 10? Maybe a 7. The combat is fun. But I can't shake off the general aura of hostility towards the player the game has. It's a game that deeply disrespects your time. Why is fast travel a consumable? And if you're gonna do this, why do merchants only have 1 for sale? Sure you can wait for them to restock, but that's a pain in my ass. It's the same effort for the dev to put 99 for sale as it is to put 1. Why is the encounter rate on the map so goddamn high? If you want me to walk everywhere, why is it such a hassle? You can't walk anywhere without encountering a dozen hobgoblins or four lizards or 3 harpies every 30 feet (if you're lucky enough for them to be that spaced out). Battahl in particular is really bad for the density of enemies. Like, no fast travel is inconvenient, but the sheer amount of enemies makes travel a slog. Going from any two towns is a half hour+ excursion, much longer if you come across a tougher miniboss like a dragon. And it's not like this game has a lot of enemy variety? You have Goblin, Lizard, Harpy and Wolves all of them come in various flavors but fight and behave identically, undead and ghost, which you'll only see at night or in dungeons till the unmoored world, bandits (Basically fight like weap pawns). Then there's the miniboss type big monsters who are more interesting. So let me tell you Goblin #4563 is neither more challenging or more interesting than the first goblin you fought. I don't know why there's so many.

Why is encumbrance such a pain in the ass? And why do the encumbrance boosting item have such a minute effect one gives you less capacity than a random herb uses.

Why do some enemies just f*cking fly away? Even if their wings are crippled? Who thought that was fun?

The Pawns are a literal trial on one's sanity, and sure "lol just like Dragon's dogma 1", yeah it was bad then it's bad now. Not like their voice acting is particularly good either.

There's also just... weird design. I never got to upgrade my final weapon all the way coz the mats drop off one enemy who is, to call it generously, a rare spawn, and who doesn't even drop the mat each time when killed. Jokes on me anyway coz the game doesn't have a real final boss so not like I needed it.

Like I'm left with the feeling that the game could be so much more enjoyable being basically the same except the ferrystone cost 1000 gold, are sold by the dozen, and the enemy spawns could be cut in half.

Like sometimes I can look at a design decision I disagree and at least get why it's this way, what they were going for? But Dragon's Dogma is filled with those decisions I do not get. From the no new game at launch to just this general layer of inconvenience everything has.

Is there at least anything as exciting as the Grigori fight from the first game?

That fight imho was the signature scene of Dragon’s Dogma.

Edited by M84 on Mar 31st 2024 at 1:08:33 AM

Disgusted, but not surprised

Yeah like. Much like the first Dragon's Dogma that is painful to trudge through the awesome moments are incredibly awesome.

I remember the first time I ordered a Pawn to cast tornado. She didn't just blast some swirly wind at my opponent, she spent a minute and half selling a casting animation and then tore apart the countryside with a massive twister.

I remember jumping off a guy's giant sword so I could latch onto a griffin in mid-air and stab it until it fell to the earth, mowing down a few goblins as it skid to a halt.

I remember dueling a giant beholder in a dungeon, the creature's immense frame taking up most of the room as I frantically shot mystical arrows at it that lit up the dark room momentarily as they homed in on their target.

I remember being utterly confuddled when a fort burst out into civil war like I was supposed to have the tiniest inkling about what was going on.

I remember that silly J-Rock intro.

Dragon's Dogma is a hot mess, but it's a f*ckawesome hot mess.

As always, paralyzed by the character creator as soon as I get past the first tab... what frame of reference do I have for what constitutes a wide or narrow face on a scale of -50 - 50? I think atp I should just accept some people spend hours on different things in video games, and I should really just go with a pre-gen (I'll definitely customize my pawn even just with Randomize).

For a more constructive question, is the Mystic Spearhand actually restricted to just a Spear? It seems most classes (including it's equivalent Mystic Knight from the original) have way more weapon variety, I'd be way more interested in the Vocation if I could use at least some it's abilities with a sword for example (I know Augments are universal).

EDIT: Or maybe it's possible with the Warfarer class mentioned on the website.

Edited by PolarSniper on Mar 31st 2024 at 9:10:23 PM

Yes, each class except the warfarer is limited to one weapon.

The Warfarer can use any class' weapon skill but they needs to have the weapon type that skill requires in their inventory. Ie: a Warfarer needs a spear to use a mystic spearhand skill, a magick bow to use a magick archer skill, a sword to use a fighter's skill, etc... You use the "rearmement" power to swap your equipped weapon to the next one in the character's inventory.

*Warriors can use both two handed swords & hammers but these all function identically.

I remember the first time I ordered a Pawn to cast tornado.

God I wish you could tell pawns to use specific abilities. For one, Pawns will just ignore enemy resistances and vulnerabilities. Oh, they'll shout about how fire is ineffective but then spam fire enchant on the party so everyone does less damage.

But there's also some skills that'd be super useful if you could just... tell your pawn to use them? Fighters have a skill to yeet a party member in the air, and there;s a ton of sh*t in unreachable ledges (unless you're a thief or a mage). Having the ability to do that on command would rock.

Edited by Ghilz on Mar 31st 2024 at 12:39:16 PM

You should def try all the classes, even if you dont master them all, to get a vibe for all of them. Augment shopping can be useful (The thief's augment that reduces your aggro is basically mandatory for playing a caster or either of the archers). Some classes are great for Pawns, others they should never be trusted to use.

In fact, quick review of classes:

1. Thief: Amazing class, great damage, really fun, and Pawns can use it semi competently. Also one of the few classes with an ability to climb hard to reach places on the map.
2. Fighter: Tanky, sorta falls a bit in use late game as everyone becomes way tankier and their lower damage starts to show. Pawns can use this correctly.
3. Warrior: Fun to play, but Pawns should never be trusted with this. They dont charge their strikes, and the slow wind-up speed of attacks means they miss all the time. It's not rare to get into a fight, kill all the front line of enemies, move to attack the backline, and see your warrior is still swinging its weapon where all the dead enemies used to be.
4. Mage: Basically mandatory to have one, since sole class with free healing. Pawns are decent at using it (though as mentioned before, they have no concept of picking the right element for a fight even if they will verbally comment about it). I dont like playing casters, too slow, so I left it to pawns. Also absolutely check the loadout of any pawn you hire some players give weird/bad loadout to mages, like giving all the weapon enchant spells (again, Pawns dont know to select the good ones) or just all support spells with no attack. Oh the heal isnt a weapon skill so all mages have it no matter the loadout
5. Sorc: Mage but with no heal or support, but way more damage. Late game excellent at killing dragon. Like mages, i leave this to pawns. Make sure your sorc has High Hagol, as it freezes the sh*t out of dragons and keeps them from flying away like bitches.
6. Archer: So archers are really fun? You have to manually aim at enemy weaknesses. Body shots do practically no damage. And it takes skill and it's fun. BUT Archers also have the 2nd worst damage output (Outside of their meister skill which if it lands a headshot will take several healthbars away, but isnt really spammable?) even if you hit only headshots. I started as an archer and I had fun, but changing to literally any other class made is obvious how little damage Archers do. I dont know why their dps is so low. Also the only class that requires ammo for like half their skills. They arent hard to get/make or anything but it is a consideration. That said Drenching arrows when combined with a mage's frost enchant, a sorc's high hagol, or a magic archer's frostbolt freezes dragons like it's no one's business? You need to remove and add the arrows to the pawn's inventory so they dont waste it on randos, but otherwise it's a solid combo.

• Mystic Spearhand: First Arisen-only class, you can unlock it super early too. Strong melee. Definining feature is the ability to coup de grace defenseless foes for massive damage. Works super well with team frost above. That said late game bosses all have this thing where they _only_ take damage if you strike weakpoints, and only die when all their weakpoints are destroyed, and Im not sure how well the spearhand's ability works at that. Still fun melee class.

1. Magick Archer: Arisen-Only. Strictly better archer. You get a lock on and seeking arrows. Frostbolts repeatedly strike a targetted weakness and this is a starting skill and it basically wrecks everyone in the game. Some puzzle bosses become literal jokes if you're a Magickal Archer like Gigantus and the post-game skybeam bosses as you can just strike their weakpoints repeatedly from any angle. Literally breaks the game. Avalanche fires a million arrow for massive damage. Damage output is way better than archer and you get access to the elements. And you don't even need to be good at aiming. Also a bunch of augment just buff all your pawns.
2. Trickster: Arisen-Only. Literally useless.
3. Warfarer: Im sure there's some cool combo (Drenching arrow + Frostbolt?) but its def a class that rewards what you put in. I didnt use it much but I can see this leading to some broken combos.

Edited by Ghilz on Apr 1st 2024 at 9:48:40 AM

One thing Dragon's Dogma has over the Soulsborne games from FROM Soft is that it does ranged classes (besides sorcery) well.

Disgusted, but not surprised

Sorta? Like i said, the archer is fun until you try literally any other class and realize just how little damage you were doing all along.

The Magick Archer meanwhile is almost too powerful? Like there's some really engaging bosses who are supposed to be this thing where you use the environment and stuff to take them down.

Magick Archer: "Seeking arrows go brrrrr"

Oh yeah, I forgot Mason was one of the more interesting characters you meet. Not that that's saying much in this game. Maybe I should make him my beloved.

I think the cult leader actually might have the most dialogue in the game thanks to his lengthy sermon? Man, it's great at introducing characters... And then doing nothing with them.

Also in DD 2 news I hear I laugh. I said before that Dragon's Dogma hates you but nowhere else is that more obvious than the apparent consequences of The Dragonsplague.

Dragon's Dogma 2 has been graced by Carbot Animations

Yep, there's talk of ladders

Edited by VutherA on Apr 6th 2024 at 5:49:03 AM

Not an accurate depiction! None of the Pawns where ladies wearing questionable outfits!

Edited by ShirowShirow on Apr 6th 2024 at 9:51:19 AM