There are a lot of cool things about this game. It is still a demo so it is hard to say how it will turn out to be but the demo change me from "don't really care about this game" to "I'm cautiously excited."

First off, let's face it, it's no Dark Souls but people are going to compare Dragon's Dogma with it mostly because it "looks" similar. But it really is not. It plays differently and it focuses on different things. With that said, I think the characters move and look good. Even though it does not have that really heavy feelings and weights that I really love in Dark Souls, it does feel significant enough. I also really like the animation of your character banging his shield to get enemies' agro. It does use MT Framework so you can kind of see the hints of Lost Planet here and there but I'm one of the 5 people who enjoyed the both Lost Planet 1 & 2 so... yeah... To be fair though, it did not feel like animations were making the game harder like LP did.

The game is also surprisingly hack and slashy, but not in an annoying way, or at least, I didn't find it that annoying. Combat does not look that deep but that could be because this is only a demo. As far as I can tell, the demo gives you one character(a generic looking dude with a generic sword and a generic looking shield) whose name is "Arisen"(I know, right?). I'm pretty sure when you get to customize your character, stats, skills, etc, the game will get a lot deeper. But the game definitely feel like that "fake MMO" type of game. I guess the closet comparison wold be Dragon Age II for console version except you do not get to control other characters.

It also has an interesting way of using your companions(or pawns, as the game says). From the demo, it felt like their sole purpose is to keep you alive and help you rather than supporting you in the combat. They did not feel like they were combat oriented, I guess. You can order them to "Go", "Come," and one more command that I don't remember. They don't really have character but they do talk A LOT. They talk so much that they talk over each other, which was annoying. Considering that they don't have any significant characters(seriously, you go to this rock and the rock just summons them and they are appear from thin air), I did not understand why I should care about things they were saying. But again, this is a demo so maybe there will be significant companions in the actual game.

There was one boss fight in the demo. I forgot its Greek mythology name but it had a lion's head and body, a goat's head and a snake as a tail. Just as it advertised, you can climb on it, and stab it until you get tired. It worked reasonably well and it looks cool. But because the boss was not that big, it was weird to see my character hanging on to it. But I am pretty sure there will be huge enemies in the actual game.

Overall, I like the demo. It did not sell me on it but now I know enough about this game and I am kind of excited for it.

I'm into it. It was a little to hacky for me to put it on my must buy list but the demo was alot of fun. Climbing up on the griffin and chimaira (thats the lion, snake, goat combo boss) was very cool, I'd hope there's some kind of parry and counter mechanic I'm missing though because the melee combat felt a little too button bashing to hold up over the course of an entire game.

One to look out for definitely.

I think Dragon's Dogma is my most-wanted game in 2012. I hope I won't be as disappointed as I was with Two Worlds II.

I was surprisingly impressed by this game. I wasn't expecting much from it, but it's exactly what I've always thought Monster Hunter should be.

The lack of multiplayer is a bit of a disappointment and I probably won't be getting it launch.. but it the gameplay is a lot of fun and it seems to be a really deep game.

i thought it was boring to be honest.

@WinterSnowblind said:

I was surprisingly impressed by this game. I wasn't expecting much from it, but it's exactly what I've always thought Monster Hunter should be.

The lack of multiplayer is a bit of a disappointment and I probably won't be getting it launch.. but it the gameplay is a lot of fun and it seems to be a really deep game.

I thought there was a dark souls esq multiplayer where you can summon other players as pawns? or am I wrong?

@King_Bonzo: At the start of the game you create a "pawn" companion. The rest of your party is comprised of pawns from random people online, so it's pretty similar to the Dark Souls "message" system.

But there's no direct multiplayer. The actual gameplay is more or less a cross between Monster Hunter, the Elder Scrolls and Dark Souls.

@WinterSnowblind said:

@King_Bonzo: At the start of the game you create a "pawn" companion. The rest of your party is comprised of pawns from random people online, so it's pretty similar to the Dark Souls "message" system.

But there's no direct multiplayer. The actual gameplay is more or less a cross between Monster Hunter, the Elder Scrolls and Dark Souls.

So your getting AI controlled versions of people? kinda lame, this game seems like it's be great in 4 player coop.

We already have a demo discussion thread.

http://www.giantbomb.com/dragons-dogma/61-34776/demo-discussion/35-544407/#53

@BraveToaster said:

We already have a demo discussion thread.

http://www.giantbomb.com/dragons-dogma/61-34776/demo-discussion/35-544407/#53

I'm inclined to side with this. There's basically no distinction between this thread and the other demo discussion one. I'll lock this one down.