My First 24 Hours as an Arisen: Dragon's Dogma 2 First Impressions
Now that I've spent over 24 hours playing Dragon’s Dogma 2, let's review my experiences and address some of the criticisms leveled at it in recent days.
Just around a year after I finished Dragon’s Dogma, Capcom released its sequel. Dragon’s Dogma 2 was met with high expectations, managing to gather an audience with its promise of high fantasy, engaging combat, and a dynamic immersive world. However, it also faced criticism for its demanding system requirements, optimization problems, and the inclusion of microtransactions.
Now that I've spent over 24 hours playing Dragon’s Dogma 2, let's review my experiences and address some of the criticisms leveled at it in recent days.
Graphics
Dragon’s Dogma 2 begins with a bold choice: a first-person perspective cutscene of your character celebrating your return as a "Sovran." You immediately take notice of how realistic the character faces are, and the detail put into the various objects in the scene.
Following the celebration, you find yourself in a jail of some sort where the basic gameplay mechanics are introduced. Now you get to see the actual graphics when playing the game.
Talking about how crisp and beautiful graphics are is always very weird in writing, so try to find photos or any visual material online of Dragon’s Dogma 2 after reading this.
Rest assured, in-game textures are very pretty and further improve the beauty of Dragon’s Dogma 2’s world design. Tons of graphical options also affect how the game looks from Shadow Quality and Ambient Occlusion to overall Texture Quality and Filtering.
To me, the most important thing with Graphics is that the game looks amazing even at Low and Medium settings.
Gameplay
Aside from the fact that Dragon’s Dogma 2’s intro also differs from the first game where players were immediately in control of their character, the introduction to Dragon's Dogma 2’s game mechanics is seemingly catered to more casual gamers and those new to the franchise.
Contrary to the first game’s introduction, you are slowly told the basic movement controls and ability to interact with NPCs and the environment.
Combat is also briefly taught, adjusting accordingly to the class; also known as Vocation in this game, of your choice. This means that depending on the Vocation you selected during character creation, the weapon used in the introductory battle changes. It's a small yet significant detail that I find clever, especially how it alters the cutscene of picking up the weapon.
While I personally believe that this introduction falls short compared to the spectacle and intensity of the first Dragon’s Dogma's opening, I understand its purpose in welcoming newcomers to the franchise.
World Design
The world of Dragon’s Dogma 2 is set in Vermund (and later on Battahli), departing from the setting of Gransys in the first game. Setting aside questions of continuity and connection to the first game, Vermund is an upgrade to everything Gransys had to offer from visual quality to details and design.
Certainly, many of the improvements are thanks to technological advancements that affect graphics and visuals. However, the ability to not only maintain but also improve the original vision for Dragon’s Dogma in its sequel is a source of great relief for me.
The very first area features a lush forest on a rocky island with its winding paths frequently inhabited by goblins, wolves, and bandits. Scenic overlooks offer a view of the wider area, making you take an interest in Dragon’s Dogma 2’s world by teasing you with what’s to come later on in your adventures.
My only complaint is that you can miss out on many of these beautiful views once you set off on a journey to Vernworth due to how the "In Dragon’s Wake" quest is designed.
In this quest, a man named Gregor insists on escorting you to Vernworth via an oxcart. However, much of the experience when traveling to Vernmonth with Gregor consists of cutscenes. Aside from one oxcart raid, you are quickly transported to Vernworth.
The journey from Melve, where Gregor finds you, to Vernworth is incredibly scenic, particularly as you near Vernworth itself. Unfortunately, the breathtaking “reveal” of the city is taken away by the instant travel that takes place when escorted by Gregor.
For many, this might seem insignificant, but I can't shake off the feeling that the mission was designed to mirror the "Off With Its Head" quest in Dragon’s Dogma, where you and Ser Mercedes escort the Hydra’s head to Gransys. The rewarding moment of revealing of Gran Soren to the players after surviving the perilous Moonsbit Pass gave players the opportunity to appreciate the vast landscape of Gransys.
Maybe the game designers that made the "In Dragon’s Wake" quest had considered this, but considering the distance between Melve and Vernworth, it would have been a very time-consuming journey.
Story
So far, I am taking my time with the game so I haven’t gotten far with Dragon’s Dogma 2’s story but I felt like the early story itself is pretty generic.
Going into Dragon’s Dogma 2 knowing what I know from the previous entry, it feels like the set character motivation is lacking in appeal. This should be a bit evident with how I’ve expressed my mild disappointment with the game’s introduction.
However, trying to look at it from the perspective of a newcomer, Dragon’s Dogma 2's early story appears to be a great entry point for the franchise.
Dragon’s Dogma 2's introduction and early missions tries to pique the player's curiosity and avoids overwhelming them with useless information. The pacing is well-executed, allowing players to immerse themselves in the world of Dragon’s Dogma 2 initially, before introducing the concept of the power held by an Arisen over regular adventurers.
The last part is important to me as the feeling of earning your power through your own efforts is very rewarding, and I think is a sensation that players will constantly seek as they regularly face strronger and stronger foes.
Combat
Another significant aspect of Dragon’s Dogma 2 is its simple yet fun combat mechanics, which effectively interact with other game features that influence NPCs’ AI, physics, and the environment.
The combat system is relatively straightforward, offering four starting Vocations each with a different weapon choice, representing the typical RPG archetypes of fighter, ranger, mage, and thief classes.
In addition to varying weapons, each Vocation possesses its own set of weapons and Core Skills that distinguish them from one another. As the game progresses, players will encounter advanced and unique Vocations that let them explore more of the combat mechanics and step away from the generic party system of having at least one tank, damage dealer, and healer set up.
However, let's focus on the basics for now, as this post is meant to talk about my first impressions of Dragon’s Dogma 2.
Combat experiences will vary greatly depending on the chosen Vocation and party composition.
This diversity enables players to approach encounters with monsters in various ways, particularly in the early stages where foes are relatively easy to handle regardless of player choices. Dragon’s Dogma 2 combat remain mostly similar with the previous game, but the difficulty appears to have been toned down to a more casual level.
Despite missing the challenges of the previous Dragon’s Dogma game, I appreciate this change. This could just be my masochistic tendencies talking after completing Sekiro and Elden Ring prior to finishing the first game.
Monsters
Regarding monsters, their general characteristics haven't changed significantly. Instead, there's more attention to detail in their design, likely due to technological advancements in the game industry.
As previously mentioned, the difficulty of combat has seemingly been lowered so monsters are not as spongy as they were before. This adjustment enables players to quickly find out the Vocation and party composition that suits them, without the frustration of being stuck against strong enemies.
These are pretty much it for the core gameplay aspects of Dragon’s Dogma 2.
Overall, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is pretty solid in what they are trying to deliver to the players. However, we must also look at some of the most criticized aspects of the game: Microtransactions and Optimization Issues.
Microtransactions
If you told me microtransactions are evil, I would have said yes immediately. However, looking at the discussion on microtransactions in Dragon’s Dogma 2 made me not want to answer with just one word. You can judge me all you want but please try to hear me out.
Most criticisms of Dragon’s Dogma 2 microtransactions stem from the fact that most players believe that items and features acquired from buying these DLCs are locked away in the game.
That is not the case, all of the Dragon’s Dogma 2 items and features attached to the microtransactions can be obtained in the game without spending any real money. You only need time and effort to get enough Rift Crystals or Gold to avail them.
Now, why do I not JUST agree with microtransactions being evil?
Well, it's likely because Dragon’s Dogma 2 microtransactions weren't a primary consideration during the game's development. The first Dragon’s Dogma was known for its grindy and challenging nature, with no fast travel until years later, and even then, it was very limited. The game was always designed to encourage players to spend time exploring its world.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 shares the same philosophy, it wants you to spend time in its world and experience what it is to be an Arisen. To me, microtransactions are not an issue in Dragon’s Dogma 2. Instead, the issue lies in Capcom's approach to business.
Furthermore, microtransactions are not shoved down the throats of the players in Dragon’s Dogma 2. These microtransactions are available on the Steam Page, and there are no in-game pop-ups or prompts directing players to this feature.
My hopeful side tells me that these particular microtransactions should be looked at as a way to provide players who do not have time or patience to play Dragon’s Dogma 2 the way its developers intended it to be.
The only criticism that I can think of that is connected to microtransactions and Dragon’s Dogma 2’s game design is the inability to adjust the difficulty level of the game. This can be done in many ways and I believe there is a good compromise somewhere to be had.
Optimizations
Yes, Dragon’s Dogma 2 could benefit from further optimization. The game places significant strain on the CPU, particularly evident in areas with a high density of NPCs, such as Vernworth.
This performance issue can be compared to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's performance in Novigrad upon its initial release, or Baldur's Gate 3's performance in Act 3.
Fortunately, optimization regarding graphics and fidelity appears to be just fine. FPS issues aren't necessarily related to graphics problems, although some may look at them as such. However, it's important to note that my experience is subjective, and others may have had different encounters.
Moving on, my RTX 2060 can render graphics in the game with settings adjusted to a mix of High, Medium, and Low options. The DLSS feature proves incredibly useful as well, considering my rig barely meets the minimum requirements.
While my RTX 2060 meets the recommended GPU, my processor doesn’t.
My computer has an Intel Core i5 9400f, which falls below Dragon’s Dogma 2’s minimum system requirement of an Intel Core i5 10600. Nevertheless, the game runs relatively well, averaging between 30 to 36 FPS, with highs of 50 FPS and lows of 22 FPS (mainly in Vernworth). I'll need to pay closer attention as I progress to later levels to see if my CPU can still handle the load.
30 FPS may also be a deal breaker with some, and I understand that. I would love games to run consistently at 60 FPS or more but personally, I'm content with playing games running at anywhere between 30 to 60 FPS.
It's worth noting that while some may expect games to consistently run at 60 FPS or higher, this is a bit unrealistic when playing at any resolution higher than 1080p and with maximum graphics settings on rigs that aren't top-of-the-line.
Bugs, Crashes, Stuttering, and Freezing
I've experienced crashes, stuttering, and freezing in Dragon’s Dogma 2, but only after extended play sessions and when there's a significant amount of activity on the screen. This typically occurs around 4 to 5 hours into the game, and I understand why some people would find this frustrating.
However, it's important to note that my computer's processor doesn't meet the minimum requirements, so it's somewhat miraculous that I can even play the game.
Fortunately, these crashes don’t happen too often that it frustrates me. I also haven't encountered any gameplay bugs so far, which is a relief.
The Heart is Most Important
Many criticisms of Dragon’s Dogma 2 are valid, but some are also misinformed. I believe the game should be judged based on its current performance, how well it meets our preferences and expectations, and the potential implications of its microtransactions in the future.
Regarding microtransactions, it's unlikely that Capcom will change their stance, and the actual developers may have little influence in this area. Instead, it's up to us to stay informed about microtransactions in the game and actively choose not to participate in them.
As of now, I don't see any significant flaws in Dragon’s Dogma 2's gameplay or game design. Its biggest flaw is on the technical side, Dragon’s Dogma 2’s optimization.
Still, Dragon’s Dogma 2 stands out as a unique and modern masterpiece. It's a work of art crafted with passion. It aims to find the players’ hearts, and instead of taking them away like creating an Arisen, connects with them.