Dragon’s Dogma 2 can also be a risky gamble: it has an open world, is an RPG, and is also based on a franchise. not really too successful… There are too many things that are not Capcom’s strengths. Especially the wave of heavy criticism and the turbulent launch of Dragon’s Dogma 2 when it was crammed with “microtransaction” (item buying and selling) too clearly, and the performance on PC was terrible.

However, if you read hard enough to ignore conflicting information and enjoy Dragon’s Dogma 2, your time and money will not be wasted.

Let’s join MarkGame to find out about Dragon’s Dogma 2 through the following review, to see why the game deserves to be a “near-blockbuster” in 2024.

YOU WILL LIKE

THE LONGER THE WINE IS OLD, THE MORE STRONGER IT WILL BE!

It took up to 12 years for Dragon’s Dogma fans like the writer to have the opportunity to return to the Gransys continent and return as an Arisen, the dragon-slaying knight and change of the end of the world.

But unlike the surprises that should arise in a “sequel” after more than ten years, the experiences and approach to players ofDragon’s Dogma 2 are… Almost exactly like the first version. You are still an unfortunate “chosen” character whose heart was gouged out by a… “terrorist dragon”, lost his memory and was exiled to a mine, then luckily escaped by the appearance of a super beast and wass guided by a strange shadow, signaling an arduous journey to find memories ahead…

Well, Dragon’s Dogma 2 replicates Dragon’s Dogma‘s introduction almost exactly, gets straight to the point and gives new players a panoramic view of the world, events, and people in Gransys is extremely fast and efficient.

Instead of being dogmatic and trying to assign a big role, the player’s journey in Dragon’s Dogma 2 will be natural and dependent on exploration and interaction of the gamer and this continent, including NPCs and companions called “Pawn”.

To make it easier to understand, the plot structure of Dragon’s Dogma 2 as well as the previous version will be similar, with many arrangements and requires the player take their time to learn through the side quest systems to gain a deeper insight into yourself and the game world.

If you simply want to “ride a horse to see flowers” and adventure to kill dragons to earn hearts, the game is completely not forced but still ensures a relatively complete experience.

Although it is based almost entirely on the framework of its predecessor, Dragon’s Dogma 2 still does not forget to refresh the plot to make the story more interesting like change related character, events “look familiar” but take place in a different

This rather subtle change just refreshes the storyline of Dragon’s Dogma 2 without going into the boredom of the old version, but makes gamers who have played the 2012 version feels very vague, both familiar and strange, like “dejá vu” or a parallel universe of Dragon’s Dogma .

But instead of focusing on the main plot, here the writer highly appreciates Dragon’s Dogma 2‘s mission system. Although not too dense, it is very complete so that each mission line will depict an aspect of the Gransys continent.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 does not divide the topics into “this is the main quest” or “this is a side quest”, but the player must understand it for themselves. Also in this way, the player does not have the choice of running the main/side quest but is forced to “fumble” a bit during the first 10 hours of getting used to the game, to understand clearly how the world Dragon’s Dogma 2 is underway.

After that, the gamer’s path to salvation will not be the same, more diverse and random, the information about the overall picture will also be more spread out because they also bring many different results depending on how the player does the mission and which map area to explore first. Players do not need to find the answers themselves, the world of Dragon’s Dogma 2 will bring them very naturally.

The writer highly appreciates the mission system of Dragon’s Dogma 2. Although not too dense, it is very complete

In particular, some side quests also give players a lot of “heavy” choices. If the player chooses to stop and ignore it, it would not lead to more tragic outcomes. Players themselves can sometimes predict this based on information revealed very cleverly during the mission.

Saying that is enough for readers to understand how well the main and secondary missions in the game are built, and Dragon’s Dogma 2 is also a game very rarely that the writer really to do more side tasks than the main task. If you choose to ignore them, that’s fine, but you’ve probably lost more than half of the appeal of the content!

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is also a very “realistic” game, because the way to truly play a role-playing game is for gamers to live in that world’s its own. The role-playing nature of the game not only demonstrates the in-depth mission system but also the natural rules and daily activities that players must follow. 

For example, on the journey, the endurance and health of Arisen and the Pawn council will gradually be depleted, players need to rest and eat, and replenish their health by setting up tents along the road, resting and “playing” at pubs and guesthouses in big cities. Or watch the time to “incubate” the foods in the bag, because it is not necessarily fresh that is delicious, but sometimes cooking a dish with food that has been incubated properly for enough days will create advantages in ” buff” is very strong.

That’s also how the time system affects the world in Dragon’s Dogma 2. Players must really consider whether to stop to rest or not, because some quests or some events only take place for a limited time. Just “sleeping” one session is certain that you will forever lose the next mission, or lose the opportunity to complete it and have to wait until… the next week (in-game time). Or sometimes it is necessary to wait for the “ripe” time to start performing a task or trigger a certain event.

In particular, time not only affects food or missions, but also affects… the map of Dragon’s Dogma 2. Some bridges or walkways will change over time, they will rot and collapse and sometimes cannot be restored.

Carrying things is also a factor that needs to be considered carefully. Unlike other role-playing games that allow players to “loot” everything possible, Dragon’s Dogma 2 sets a limit of the weight to carry is quite realistic and the player will be forced to return to the accommodation to sell or store, or only collect enough consumables, or also have to think to push the load to the Pawn in

However, players can absolutely improve their carrying ability by… continuing to explore deeper every corner of the game! Dragon’s Dogma 2 both creates problems and gives players a way to solve the problem along with motivation for players to continue exploring the entire map.

This is also the reason why the writer himself sees the limited transfer gate element as a plus point. Actually, exploring and traveling all the way in Dragon’s Dogma 2 is very fun and interesting. The game map knows how to “lure” players from one place to another without any mission “checkpoints”.

In addition to traveling by road and moving stones, players can also experience “traveling” with drivers on ox carts, and this opens up dozens of other interesting things along the way because of the misfortune that happened on the journey.

For example, you will encounter a group of robbers, but while struggling to deal with the bandits, somewhere a giant Hippogriff will appear and rush down, forcing you to ask for help from all the NPCs who are also walking nearby, come… kill you

These trips will also have their own meeting and running times, but if you miss them, you can just wait like catching a bus. Actually, players should once experience the chariots in Dragon’s Dogma 2, because they are very good and funny, very different from the method of running using teleportation stones.

What about the importance of “microtransactions” (buying and selling items) selling teleportation stones or resurrection stones for real money? – Whether or not, the exploration experience in Dragon’s Dogma 2 is still great, it’s just a pity that you will lose a lot of fun if you choose to spend more money on them.

DRAGON SLAYER’s ASSOCIATION

In 2012’s, Dragon’s Dogma is a party-based role-playing game, but… it’s so strange! Because of the presence of a character system called Pawn, making this a “unique” feature that no other game had at the time.

Pawn are special NPCs, born as loyal servants of the Arisen, these NPCs come from a dimension called the Rift and serve solely with the Arisen on the path to slay dragons to claim their hearts.

If you consider Pawn as a completely different species from humanity in Gransys, it is also completely correct, because in Dragon’s Dogma 2 the pawns are also… discriminated against

Each Arisen will have the right to choose and create their own extremely detailed main Pawn, from personality, species, gender, appearance, voice, skills, occupation… no different than creating another main character.

These Pawns are independent individuals with their own way of thinking, their own way of behaving, and sometimes even more “human” than the Arisen they serve.

They know how to be happy, sad, angry, sarcastic, and also know how to… be spoiled, lazy or even… expose their owners. Sometimes it causes the Arisen themselves to have headaches, not to consider them as soulless NPCs.

No exaggeration, Dragon’s Dogma 2 allows players to create their own dream companion… and adventure with them on that difficult journey.

The “human” nature of the Pawns is also expressed extremely naturally by Capcom through very close interactions. Like they will make funny jokes together to reduce tension during the adventure, sometimes show expertise in “emotional masterminds” for Arisen, or high-five each time they complete a difficult battle scene, or sometimes play the role of saving your life after a fall from the back of super beasts.

In addition to the main Pawn you create yourself, you can also recruit 2 additional Pawns of other players as “freelancers” through the Rift network, increasing the number of teams including the main character to 4 people. The pawns will have different occupations, so the choice and distribution of positions in the battle squad is therefore extremely diverse.

If you are a “tanker” with a sturdy shield in your hand who always attracts the enemy’s attention, then a Pawn fights at long range like an archer, a mage Pawn heals the whole team and a “war god” Pawn, dealing main damage would be an ideal squad. Or if you want, you can still retreat to the support position and leave the battlefield for your Pawns to attack, or sometimes you also… don’t need to do anything!

Dragon’s Dogma 2 has a total of 10 fighting profession groups all called Vocations, or can be understood as different character classes with different fighting skills . In particular, pawns can only choose between 6 basic Vocations, while Arisen will have 4 more advanced Vocations.

Whether Pawn or Arisen, the more you fight and the higher your Vocation level, you will “unlock” more fighting skills, internal skills or stronger auxiliary skills.

The game also does not restrict Arisen or Pawn to a certain Vocation but can completely change between different profession groups very easily. This not only helps Arisen and Pawn’s journey to be no longer boring, but more interesting with many new things and also to “wow” when previous questions are

It’s time for players to have a new look at the companions in a game, and this is enhanced thanks to Dragon’s Dogma 2

Pawn’s role with the flexible Vocation system also increases their role to a very high level because not only does he fight with Arisen, Pawn is also a spiritual encourager, someone who shares the joy, experience and income gained during the “mercenary” process, but also helps players do unimaginable things such as coordinating to climb high to get treasure, directly affecting the mission line when they are a racist species…

For example, if you do a quest line related to the Elf race, you will not be able to understand what the NPCs are saying until you hire a Pawn with a “specialization” related to the Elf race. Or you can earn extra income by “plowing” the missions of the Pawns you hire (set by the owner of that Pawn) and the reward is also extremely generous, usually a lot of money or valuable items.

In general, it’s time for players to take a new look at companions in a game, and this is enhanced by Dragon’s Dogma 2.

VARIOUS CHANGES ON THE BATTLEFIELD

Going deeper into the Vocation system, although it provides up to 10 different character classes, as mentioned, the game does not restrict players to a specific class from start to finish, but allows the freedom to change at any time through the guild system. 

Instead of worrying about character levels to increase stats, Dragon’s Dogma 2 simplifies it all and adds Vocation levels.

The more you play a Vocation, the more that Vocation’s level will increase, along with the player’s ability to think about how to allocate experience points to upgrade each Vocation’s skills. Each Vocation also doesn’t have too many skills to make the player think hard about the best way to “build” (character building), but simply play however they want.

Because there aren’t many skills per Vocation, during the journey, players can constantly change Vocation and refresh the team’s gameplay, not getting bored and giving themselves more experience in just onetime play only.

Most especially compared to the old version, Dragon’s Dogma 2 has 2 new Vocations added: Mystic Spearhand and Trickster, which are also extremely cool. With Mystic Spearhand, you will be a Medieval version of a “Jedi” with a double-headed sword and the ability to use divine power to fight and move extremely flexibly. Trickster is more inclined towards a strange and very spiritual form of combat with the ability to summon illusions, release smoke and mainly support Pawn in fighting.

In addition, there is also an extremely powerful last Vocation with the ability to combine almost all Vocations called Warfarer. With this Vocation, you will be an Arisen who is most proficient in martial arts, capable of using all skills, all types of weapons, all types of equipment of all previously unlocked Vocations, but the stats and skills functionality will be somewhat limited.

Instead of having to run back to the guild to change Vocation, the Warfarer has the ability to adapt to every situation on the battlefield, with about 50% more flexibility than a pure Vocation.

Unlike the 4 basic Vocations, advanced Vocations will gradually be opened during the exploration process, but if you only focus on running the main mission, you will likely miss almost all of these advanced Vocations. Yet another reason for gamers to delve deeper into the world of Dragon’s Dogma 2 , right?

Along with the Pawn system, Dragon’s Dogma is also famous for its system of bosses who are famous mythical beasts. Dragon’s Dogma 2 does not further improve this boss system while still having familiar faces such as Ogre, Golem, Griffin, Chimera, Gorgon, Dragon… from 12 years ago.

However, with the upgrade of the Pawn system, visual effects and animation, boss battles have become more epic than ever, completely bringing a satisfying and exciting experience, no less than Monster Hunter.

Players don’t just have to rush into stabbing and slashing, but they have to know how to grasp the moves, the five elements, observe the terrain and prepare medicine carefully before clashing with a divine beast. In particular, large monsters require players to climb on top of them to be able to hit their critical weak point, in order to end the match quickly before the whole team “gone”.

Soloing bosses or even small groups of monsters is not easy for an Arisen. They know how to take advantage of opportunities when they know you are in a disadvantageous situation and continuously “circle” players until they hit the floor.

That’s also the time when Arisen needs coordination with his Pawns, not just strong weapons and long health bars to be able to handle it all alone like other games. Even if you are in the city, which is inherently an “inviolable” area for players as often seen in other games, these magical beasts… can still rush in and cause chaos. Then he turned around and left as if we had never met, leaving behind regret and “bitterness” for you when you couldn’t finish it off.

Instead of worrying about character levels to increase stats, Dragon’s Dogma 2 simplifies it all and adds Vocation levels.

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GOOD ENOUGH BUT NOT ENOUGH

Just like the first version, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is more or less like a “remake” rather than a true sequel.

Based on the potential that its predecessor could achieve, Dragon’s Dogma 2 mainly does better and more completely. From more beautiful graphics, more impressive effects, more additional features for more engaging gameplay, a rewritten storyline with better side quests… But it seems everything just stops at one upgraded version and still as nostalgic as the first version.

In fact, this is also Capcom’s own intention when right from the menu at the beginning of the game, the logo is still Dragon’s Dogma instead of Dragon’s Dogma 2 . Only when the player completes the game with the true ending, the second part content… will be “unlocked”. However, this additional content is not too much, and also limits the experience time, so it makes the game with Dragon’s Dogma 2 a bit rush.

Capcom seems to be very “smart” in swapping concepts, but with a 12-year-old game, they think they should refresh the old game, add some new content, then name it as a sequel and sell it. Like a new game priced at 70 USD, it feels a bit… a trick for gamers, instead of understanding it as a deep intention.

And overall, even though it takes the player about 30-50 hours to complete, Dragon’s Dogma 2 still feels quite short, not long enough and deep enough when compared to the predecessor version.

Also because of reusing all the content of the first version, in terms of design Dragon’s Dogma 2, although very good, the content is only temporary. The number of monsters is small, the number of divine beasts is still the same, NPCs are sparse, the map design, although invested in a lot of new designs, is still based on the old land, so the organization and arrangement does not make the Veteran gamer of the old version feel too impressed, because they are still quite lifeless.

On the other hand, due to being rebuilt on the RE engine, it brings impressive visual effects, but the frame quality during gameplay is quite poor.

Even though the latest patch has relatively improved performance on PC, in return it has to sacrifice a lot of image quality and requires the help of modders to “stabilize” it.

In particular, there are quite a few suspicions that Capcom is “saving” most of the new content for the DLC version coming out in the second half of this year.

This policy is a “double-edged sword” similar to what Capcom has done with games released in recent years. The writer himself really doesn’t like this policy because Dragon’s Dogma 2 would have been much more wonderful than this.

However, we still need time to answer the above “cutting” question.

Even though it takes the player about 30-50 hours to complete, Dragon’s Dogma 2 still feels quite short, lacking in length and depth when compared to the previous game version.