Hey people!

I've always been a fan of RPGs, even more so in the last few years. I have been on the fence with Dragon's Dogma since I saw Patrick's review of it around the time it came out. Been reading user reviews too, which helped to tempt me a little more, however, I'm still not quite convinced. What I know so far, from reading and playing the demo, is that the combat is awesome and fun, however, I haven't been able to get into the nitty-gritty of the stats and its RPG elements yet. How prominent are these? Cause I bum 'em MATE!!! It also seems that the game is lacking in story; this I can deal with if the gameplay makes up for it. So yeah, which one of you shall be the one/s to enlighten me? Your time is appreciated. :D

I feel like Dragon's Dogma is such an Action-RPG that puts the action first, which is to its benefit. There are stats and stuff surrounding your gear, but none of it is all that necessary; skilful use of the game's combat mechanics are what work most of the time. It does have a great class system, though, all of which are unique to one another and offer up passive abilities that you can carry over indefinitely across all of the classes. So you could unlock the extra defence boost from playing as a Warrior and still have it available should you switch to a Mage.

Oh, and it has one of the best character creators to be found.

I tried it, and I can't say that I would recommend it. The game feels extremely lifeless, and sometimes you will feel like a goddamned crazy man on a lonely island making up your own friends to talk to. The combat is alright, though, and the SotC style fights are the best parts of the game by far (though they are not the bulk of the game's focus). The RPG elements are not the most prominent feature of the game; they basically boil down to upgrading your gear with stats that at some point you may feel like are a little pointless, and pouring points into new abilities every now and again.

I like Dragon's Dogma more than it deserves, and I think the combat and endgame are enough that they almost compensate for the 20+ hours you spend running around a mostly lifeless world with a bunch of pawns spouting inane dialogue about the landmark that you've already passed a dozen times, but I'm also the guy who claims that Temple of Elemental Evil is the most interesting Dungeons and Dragons game of the modern era. If you think that you can be sustained by solid mechanics and only solid mechanics then I would definitely suggest you give it a go. Doesn't hurt that you could probably get it for $30 used if you looked hard enough.

No, yes, no, yes play it, don't play it... probably.

Dragon's Dogma is one of those games that you can just put in and start playing without having to fumble for a few minutes remembering how to play or what the story is about, because none of that matters!

The classes are different enough (to a point: At the end of the day, the Archer classes just have you shooting a bow) to keep things interesting, and some of the higher-ranked abilities/spells look fantastic and feel good to pull off.

There's also a steep, steep learning curve for your first 10 or so hours, but after that, the challenge drops off sharply until you get to postgame, and then it picks back up again....for a tiny while. I heard they added a Hard Mode, so there is that. And a Speedrun mode, too, if that appeals to you. All in all, though, it's not a very difficult game.

This is also a game where playing dress up matters more than actual stats. There are quite a few pieces of armor out there to mix and match with, and you can do the same with your pawns. Speaking of pawns, it's a very basic AI system that does its job well, as long as you set them up right. Your main pawn will almost always be the smartest one of the bunch, and for good reason. It's always fun to explore the world with them at your side.

The "world," as has been said, is pretty dull. Spawns are fixed, so no random battles, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. There's a lot of creatures to fight between town and your destination. Oh, and there is fast travel, but you can't really use it until New Game+, and even then, it's expensive.

That's all I can think of. Honestly, it was one of the top games of the year to me. I S ranked it pretty quickly, and I can't wait for the expansion.

Thanks for the replies duders, they have been very helpful. I think I'm going to give it a shot, I've found it pretty cheap on amazon (used). The combat does sound like a lot of fun and if that can't sustain me till the end of the game... so be it. At least I'll have fun till the mechanics get too repetitive. CHEERS Y'all. Also I must say @GunstarRed, probably made the most enlightening contribution to this thread!!! :D

It's a really good game. What I love most about it is that when you are tired of playing your class (they're called vocations in DD), you can change vocations and the combat will feel fresh and new because you'll be wielding different types of primary (so stuff like daggers, swords, greatswords, axes, hammers, etc) and secondary (bows, shields, magick shields, magick bows, etc) weapons.

When you level up certain vocations enough, you will be able to learn core skills which carry skills throughout all vocations - so say, you learn a skill while a Strider that lets you double jump. When you change to Assassin later on and want to keep using daggers, you can still double jump, because double jumping is a skill associated with Daggers. Stuff like that. There are still a bunch of core skills I don't know of because I haven't explored all the vocations yet! It's a very Capcom-y game, but also very unique. When I was playing as a Fighter, I was actually using a lot of my skills for traversal, like really cool dashing and aerial moves. The combat is easily the games biggest and best aspect, and it's pretty challenging too.

And even within THOSE vocations, you have choices on how you want to play. After I did Strider, I went for Magick Archer - they can wield Magick Bows, Staves, and daggers. I had the choice of using a staff or a dagger as a primary weapon, and that's a pretty huge thing because the choice will completely change your playstyle. I decided to go with daggers because of the more nimble nature of their attacks and skills. (And that double jump!)

It's negatives though - the fast travel is archaic, Pawn speech is annoying, and the story is pretty basic until the end.

I really recommend it, I just recently beat it and loved it so much I S-Ranked it, all within the span of a week.

If you care less about plot and more about action, then yes you should. I found it to be pretty entertaining after playing more serious-esque games like Skyrim. Keep your eyes open for sales because $40 is a pretty good price for this.

The character progression is like an action RPG skill system meets a job system from an JRPG... sort of. Pretty unique so it's hard to explain. Honestly I didn't love it and I wish it had more flexibility but it did have some cool abilities in it.

The combat and atmosphere were really great though.

@The_Ruiner said:

If you can get it used, try it out. The character editor is so amazing. And the combat is so great. Every battle feels like a scene from a Peter Jackson movie...

This is all true.

It'd be amazing if they do a next gen sequel and they got to LoTR type scale with some huge battles... oh boy.

If you can get it used, try it out. The character editor is so amazing. And the combat is so great. Every battle feels like a scene from a Peter Jackson movie...

It's a great game but it failed to grip me.

@Carlos1408 said:

Hey people!

I've always been a fan of RPGs, even more so in the last few years. I have been on the fence with Dragon's Dogma since I saw Patrick's review of it around the time it came out. Been reading user reviews too, which helped to tempt me a little more, however, I'm still not quite convinced. What I know so far, from reading and playing the demo, is that the combat is awesome and fun, however, I haven't been able to get into the nitty-gritty of the stats and its RPG elements yet. How prominent are these? Cause I bum 'em MATE!!! It also seems that the game is lacking in story; this I can deal with if the gameplay makes up for it. So yeah, which one of you shall be the one/s to enlighten me? Your time is appreciated. :D

Wait for the expansion pack.

I dipped my toes in this game after sucking royally at The Witcher 2 because someone suggested that it was a more casual action RPG. It was pretty fun from what I saw, but the pawn thing got a little old after a bit. I haven't touched it in a while, but I might have to come back to it and devote some quality play time. I just have to finish some of these mindless shooters first.

I've been putting my time in after seeing some people stream and talking it up on Twitch, I've been mostly entertained by the combat. The other stuff kinda falls flat, but I'm still interested enough to try and finish it.

If you can get it cheap (as it seems you will) it has enough fun in it to be worth it, but don't be surprised if you feel like quitting before you finish it.

What I know so far, from reading and playing the demo, is that the combat is awesome and fun, however, I haven't been able to get into the nitty-gritty of the stats and its RPG elements yet. How prominent are these?

pretty prominent, after you get far enough you can switch vocations pretty painlessly at the main Inn, and each job awards different stat growth rates and skills to level.

Buy this game. It's awesome.