Dragon's Dogma Review by Andrew Bohnenberger
Dragon's Dogma is an open world fantasy action rpg developed by Capcom for the Xbox360 and PS3. Dragon's Dogma's main gameplay mechanic is the pawn system where you recruit NPCs from other players worlds by connecting online and recruiting them to your party. Is the pawn system innovative enough to compete with other open world fantasy action rpgs on the market like Skyrim and Kingdoms of Amalur?
Story
Dragon's Dogma tells the story of the Arisen, the chosen one or hero in the Dragon's Dogma Universe. The Arisen is approached by a Dragon in the beginning of the game and you end up fighting that dragon who proceeds to tear out the Arisen's heart. The Arisen dies but is reborn and must go on adventure to reclaim his heart. If you are looking for story in this game you came to the wrong place. The writing in Dragon's Dogma is laughable and all the NPC voice acting is out of sync with the characters' lips. Every quest revolves around fetching an item or information and going off to kill some creature. None the NPC's have anything interesting to say and all the dialogue can be skipped without the player missing a beat. I never got to finish Dragon's Dogma as I stopped playing after the first boss in Act Two but from what I seen watching other walkthroughs the story has a predictable plot and ending. If you look for compelling stories in your rpgs there no motivation to see this story through for that sole reason alone.
Graphics
The graphics in Dragon's Dogma are mediocre at best and the dull browns and greens in the world are a color palette that you will be accustomed to if you played any other action rpg on the market. The only saving factor to Dragon's Dogma's graphics are the fantastic enemy design in the game. You fight all types of mystical creatures that I have never seen or experienced in a game of this sort. The best example is the Chimera which is monster that is composted of many different body parts from different animals with the body and face of a lion, the tail that is a snake's head, and the head of a goat on its back. Another standout is the Cokatrice which is a monster with the body of a beast and the head and legs of a rooster. Throughout Dragon's Dogma you will fight Ogres, Dragons, and Hydras. Overall the world of Dragon's Dogma is visually boring while the enemies you encounter are not.
Gameplay
The gameplay in Dragon's Dogma is it's biggest strength as well as its biggest weakness. The action combat in the game is excellent. The ability to scale monsters like Shadow of the Colussus is a feature that should be in every action rpg from now on. I also liked the variety in gameplay since you could choose between nine different classes or vocations that you could change out at anytime throughout the game. You could choose to fight as a melee focused character, a ranged, or combination of both. I liked that you were not locked down to one type of class and that they removed stat points, an annoyance in games of this genre. If you were not a certain class you could always recruit a pawn with the class that filled that role. Every time you or your main pawn leveled up you simply bought new skills. One of my favorite classes and skills came from the magic archer. The magic archer had homing arrows you could shoot while pointing in the vicinity of an enemy and you could shoot a tons of arrows in the air and have them rain down on your foes. I did not like that fact that you had to be in town to purchase those skills or to buy any necessary items that you needed for you quest. The reason for this was that there is no fast travel in this game which I believe is the biggest flaw in the game. When going to and from quests you needed to walk not run since you had a regenerating stamina bar that filled up at a snails pace. This situation would have not been so tedious if you did not run into tons of these mini boss encounters between each one of your quests. Also I got lost due to the map system not being uncovered with the location and the path that you needed to travel. With that being said on top of all these annoyances the difficulty and balance of the game spikes at certain points with little to no indication to the player based on the level or class that you chose. I think the reasons for the imbalance may be because of the pawn system. The pawns that you bring into your game could be bought in at any level and you need points to buy them which you could only collect by doing missions. If you only did the main quests I felt that the points you were allocated were not enough to buy the skills, armor, and pawns needed to be able to achieve your task. Generally speaking a game with a 15-30 hour main quest could turn into a 40-50 hour experience with the need to travel to and from locations and take on side quests to be prepared to take on the main quests. Overall I feel the combat is one of the more satisfying systems to be brought to the an action rpg but is hindered by balance issues and a poorly designed open world. The inability to control the actions of your pawns led to times when the AI made the wrong judgment calls at certain scenarios in the game. If you were able to have your mage heal or buff you when you requested or your warrior use melee skills when directed I think the system would have had more complexity and would have been better off for it. I will say though that the dungeon design and boss encounters are brilliant as the satisfaction you get from overcoming some of these odds is something I feel gamers should be proud of. I think while not as difficult as Demons Souls if you are a player looking for that type of experience you will be in for a treat.
Features
Dragon's Dogma is a lengthy game and if your like the base mechanics and are not turned off by the lack of a fast travel system, there is plenty of content to enjoy. It is hard to pinpoint exactly what the average time it takes to complete the main quest but this game has over 70 hours of content if you do all the side quests. There is a new game plus mode after you complete the main quest and you are free to roam the world and do as you please. If you are looking for game with a heavy time commitment this is the game for you.
Conclusion
For this review I was not able to complete the whole experience for Dragon's Dogma due to the difficulty spikes in the game and the time commitment required to complete the main quest line. I feel with 18 hours into the game I have a good grasp of the systems as well as its strengths and flaws. I generally think that this is not a bad game by a long stretch but this is not the type of experience that I find pleasure returning too. Maybe if I acquire the skills, knowledge, and free time that this game requires to appreciate this type of experience, I will return to this game. But knowing myself it will get loss in the shuffle with all the other great titles coming out this year. Generally speaking this will be a hardcore experience that flies under the radar but will have a fan base that appreciates this diamond in the rough. In the end, Dragon's Dogma will be experience I will never forget being the game that I feel fell short from becoming something great.
Score: 75%
Rent: Try out this game and see if you can tolerate the difficulty spikes and lack of fast travel system. If you can get over those humps you will find an action rpg with excellent combat system and awesome boss fights.
Source:
https://sites.google.com/site/not2nerdyent/Reviews/Reviews-2/dragonsdogmareview
