Dragon's Dogma review

[rmoxon]

but you could same the same about Dark Souls...

I don't know exactly how this game works but you have A LOT of situations in Dark Souls where you're walking along and then you suddenly run into something that wipes you out instantly

Not really, maybe the are a couple of occasions like this in Dark Souls, but then Dark Souls combat is actually based more on skill than what level you are (which is why you get lots of hardcore players who like to play it as a character in just their underwear). The combat in Dragons Dogma kids the player into thinking its skill based by presenting it like that of an action game, yet the combat mainly relies on player level and very little else.

To be fair though Dark Souls and Dragons Dogma are actually two very different games. Dark Souls is a lot like a 3D Castkevania game, with it's Metroidvania stylings and structure. Dragons Dogma tries to feel like an open world RPG like Skyrim, the only difference being that Skyrim was made by a company that has mastered the genre where as Dragons Dogma was made by a team that failed to grasp even the basics of it. It's a mess.

[MisterBubbles]

Well ive set up my pawn to be cautious but loyal, she knows when to attack, but is always thinking and saying i'll protect you master, so she doesnt go running into huge mobs and getting killed. Anybody whos used my pawn can you give me feedback??. Rmoxon maybe you should hire a good pawn for RC, i took one of the Capcom pawns for 1200 and she's pretty good strider with awesome blade attacks. I'm really enjoying the game, the story is bobbins, but Capcom aren't know for that, even RE is total cheese, but what they do know is good ARPG and fun fighting mechanics, plus you need to plan where you go, and as it said on the screen for tips, dont be afraid to leg it, he who fight and runs away, and all that.

[MisterBubbles]

Was this the same company who had backwards flying dragons and lag like there was no tomorrow and the combat in Skyrim is bobbins.

[MisterBubbles]

And more bugs than David Attenbrough saw in the jungle.

[rmoxon]

I have found strider pawns to be mostly pointless. None of their attacks seems effective. Infact I played as one at first and got to level 20 or somthing, but every single one of their attacks are so weak I didn't understand what the point in them was. I'm a fighter now and I can both deal and take a lot more damage than I ever could as a strider. I usually have a party of two mages and another fighter, or a warrior.

Im not actually finding the game hard, i dont think running away from all the enemies is hard, its Just boring. Although at least it will be over soon if this carries on, becuase I'm virtually running through the entire game.

I actually understand why they had you run away from all those tentacles in the first dungeon now.... They were setting up the tone for the entire game.

[MisterBubbles]

Im not saying you, can you read, the pawns you hire, spend some of that hard earned RC on a hardcore pawn and prepare to kick a$$.

[rmoxon]

Why would I do that? If I start fighting things more (which the game clearly doesn't want me to do anyway) then this dreadful game will last longer.

Plus why would I want to hire some overpowered pawns so I can just watch them kill everything for me anyway? That sounds even less fun than running away from things.

[MisterBubbles]

Not overpowered, just one better than your run of the mill ones, search for Dante in Capcom's pawns and hire her, you'll see her do great dagger attacks, or equivalent level to you.

[rmoxon]

I'll look but I usually hire ones that are a level or two above me and they are usually useless.

[Adam]

Seem to have a completely different experiance to you mate, I've only ever had to run from 2 things? The wisps cause my magic user died and a huge dragon thing I stumbled across by accident, everything else was killable. And like I said in the earlier post, I got lost early on and found myself in a dungeon I shouldn't of been in with Saurians, Ogres and a crap load of skeletons. I usually hire pawns of my own level for 0 RC and then replace them when I'm back at town after a few levels. Also, my pawns are killing stuff before I can get to them sometimes so they are far from useless for me. Make sure you're not just missing something with each enemy aswell, I think they are designed to take very little damage unless you exploit their weakness (which you have to discover yourself, or be told by a pawn that knows it). The Saurians for example take little damage and they thrash about knocking you over and such, but slash their tail off and they fall to the floor and become easy prey, you probably know this.

MrB, I used your pawn during the early game and she got stuck in just fine. Didn't die that often from what I remember. Stuck a cape and some boots on her I think, she was kinda cute! I out leveled her a fair bit though and had to switch in a different pawn.

I got to the capital city, have a huge amount of quests to do now. Good stuff.

[rmoxon]

Well actually you sometimes don't have to run away from enemeis you're right. But often you might as well anyway becuase a lot of them can only be damaged at a sufficient rate if you have a Mage set fire to your weapons, and occasionally my Mage refuses to do that even though im banging on the dpad furiously. So I just cant be bothered waiting around and reviving my pawns constantly until someone can be bothered to power me up so I can kill things.

I was thinking about just starting again as a Mage, or at least just changing into one at the inn, anything to make the game fun really, as at least fire seems to hurt most enemies even if swords dont, but considering that I'm really not enjoying this much at all I doubt it will make much difference.

[Munkhee]

It's a real shame you're not enjoying it rmoxon. The game clicked with me in the first couple of hours, and I haven't run into any of the frustrating issues you seem to have been experiencing. Like a previous poster, I've only had to run away from things a few times (but they were great moments), and I'm finding my pawns are super useful all the time. I'm level 38 now, and literally can't get enough of this game. I've had some absolutely epic fights with some of the larger creatures, like the Griffons and Cyclops, and I've yet to come across a mob of smaller monsters I can't handle.

just down to different tastes I suppose. I've been an avid Elder Scroll's fan since the orignal game on PC, but I'm far and away enjoying Dragon's Dogma more than Skyrim (which I put over 100 hours into). As I said in my original post, this game just seems to 'fix' all of the issues I've had with these kind of RPGs in the past (Demon and Dark Souls came very close), so it really is the game I've been wanting to play for years.

That's the great thing about gaming though, everyone's tastes are so different. Funny actually, as I found myself agreeing with all of your comments in the Max Payne 3 thread recently (don't even get me started on that game...) ;-)

[rmoxon]

Epic fights?

Thats another thing I don't like about this game. All the fights with big monsters play out the same....you climb up them, struggle against the camera, struggle with the fact that your character often refuses to climb in the direction you tell it too, and then and stab the enemy in a place where they are weak..... You do this repeatedly until the monster is dead.... Wow, how "epic"

I don't find that fun either, every boss fight comes across as a poorly implemented, and really low scale, shadow of the Colosuss style mini game that is as plagued with as many technical issues as every other element of this.

[Munkhee]

I can only suggest you stop playing it then mate, and move on. There's nothing I can say that's going to convince you otherwise at this point. I originally posted to offer an alternative perspective on the game, as your comments were extremely negative and made it sound like a complete train wreck. That's obviously your opinion though, which is fine. To be honest, given you seem to passionately hate every aspect of the game, i'm surprised you've perservered with it this long!

[gambit6613]

I have to say sadly i tend to agree with you rmoxon, i have been really looking forward to this game for months but it just has not clicked with me so far. I cant quite put my finger on it but i just cant get into it. I love the combat, that does feel really good.

Im finding the camera position is just a little to close to the character, maybe just me but i like it being a little further back. Something else i find not quite right is it just does not seem all that smooth, im playing Xbox version and it just seems ever so slightly not quite right almost as if the game really is pushing the console to the max it can take, dont get me wrong it looks lush and lovely just not oh so smooth. Not wishing to sound like the game is really bad but i hate the fact that all of a sudden one of the pawns will shout goblin, but it takes me a good few seconds to even see it amougst all the trees and bushes, it would have been helpful if they showed on the radar.

I do have to be honest and say i have only been playing it for an hour or so and am only outside the gates of the first town so maybe i need to keep at it and try and get a further and it may grow on me but first impressions are not great and for me if game does not click i tend to leave it alone, lol i have so many other games yet to play i dont want to waste precious relaxing time but for the moment it feels just not quite polished and perhaps it is just to ambitious for the hardware we currently have.