Dragon's Dogma 2 (PC/PS5/Xbox Series)

[Finsbury Girl]

This game is mental sometimes. Some of the combat encounters are hilarious, the physics are great. Watching orc bodies fly around from a meteor storm or tornado is so so good. The exploration is at times absolutely top drawer but conversely travel is mostly tedious. Got to take the rough with the smooth I guess.

A 10-15 minute battle with a drake is role playing at its best. Tense AF.

I am now down to my last couple of classes to go, magic archer at the moment and it is so good. Swapped from Warrior which really wasn't doing it for me though there are some cool moves. I will most likely settle back with mage or sorcerer and my pawn fighter as I close out the final third of the game. Levelling is taking forever now that about 56 I think. I have purposely now done the main quests except to open up Battahl.

Not sure how long I will be able to go mucking around without finishing the story. I hear ng+ is super easy so at least if stuff something up I can do it in ng+.

[Finsbury Girl]

Finally finished this off. Ended up around level 76 I think, maxed out all classes bar Trickster which I didn't play, it just didn't look like fun at all.

Going to be honest, the story was ordinary but I didn't mind too much, some of the side quests were enjoyable and I'm sure I missed heaps of ones as well. It's pretty random which I kind of like. It makes you work for your experiences.

I enjoyed the pawn system again it's a nice implementation of online world building. I also liked the random pawn wandering around who would help you out in combat. I found one pawn called Rin pretty early she had like 7000 likes/hearts or something and was fixed at level 27 but with seriously OP gear. Anyway she was a real character, had a geezer accent and was sassy but super helpful when needed in exploration and she absolutely slayed in combat. Special shout out to my pawn Jhary, thanks for the help brother .

It was a very ambitious game and I think they mostly hit the mark. As I said above, a few more monster varieties and more big monsters would be cool. The world is not quite as dynamic as something like Skyrim but the combat and exploration are the real strengths. As much as I like Elder Scrolls the combat is pretty ****. Here it is super fun and when you aren't over levelled it is challenging. Exploration was great fun, not as fun as Elden Ring but pretty close. I think they can take a few ideas from Elden Ring for the next one, the stamina gauge and how it works for one, also think about how travel can be a bit faster than running and more precise than an Oxcart. The back and forth across the map can be extremely tedious once you've explored the map. It is a fine balance but they got this was aspect wrong. I often prayed my oxcart would get attacked and hope that it would be near where I have to turn off the main throughfare.

Anyway I really enjoyed it, the combat and initial exploration of the land along with the random hilarious encounters, the pawn system is ace. It's docked points for traversal, and story but really it wasn't too onerous as the travel meant more XP and some hilarious encounters with big monsters.

I hope there is some DLC or that it sold enough copies to warrant making another one. A next gen only version would be sweet. The world could be more dynamic and we'd see more monsters.

I love this style of RPG and want more. 8/10