I'm done with Dark Souls 2, 4 playthroughs on 4 characters and one completed NG+ are enough. Despite how much I love Dark Souls 2, I think I love it less than Dragon Dogma: Dark Arisen. It's been a year since I played that game, so I'm a little foggy on it, but I'll try to put it in words anyways.
If I replay Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen right after playing Dark Souls 2, I'd find that...
- A. Core gameplay mechanics such as combat and camera and movement are so much better in Dragon's Dogma. Pinpoint precise, snappy, accounting for towering enemies with the mounting mechanic - nigh perfection, regardless of what playstyle I'd chose - and just as tightly balanced and demanding as in the Dark Souls games. Point: Dragon's Dogma 1:0
- B. Character Progression is much closer, but I'd still likely vote in favor of Dark Souls 2, mostly because it let's me distribute every attribute point at will, rather than linking the attribute gain to what class I'm playing. That said, I feel like the playstyle options are much more diverse and rich in Dragon's Dogma, with more and more interesting and more significantly differentiated skills and playstyles, whilst Dark Souls 2 pretty much only has 2 major playstyles, melee and ranged (including magic) - Dragon's Dogma is broader and just as deep, probably even a little deeper. It's just, it's so god damn rewarding to have full control over allocating attribute points myself. Point: Dark Souls 2 1:1
- C. Loot and loot progression. It's a close one here too, the systems for finding and upgrading weapons and armor are practically the same, if I recall correctly, albeit weapons are so much important to the Souls franchise. Playstyle diversity comes from its weapons and their movesets and particular timing, and there are countless weapons, whilst movesets depend mostly on class, rather than weapon in Dragon's Dogma, though timing is different depending on weapon, I believe. Point Dark Souls 2, I guess. Point: Dark Souls 2 1:2
- D. Online clearly goes to Dark Souls 2. Dragon's Dogma has the pawn system, which is its achilles heel. The pawns are obnoxious with their chatter, the system is cryptic, finding good pawns is somewhat of a gamble, and kind of a chore. Then again browsing for pawns can be fun too. Yet it doesn't hold a candle to the all interesting and downright innovative things Dark Souls 2 does with Coop and PvP. Good god man, the game summons a player into a bossfight to fight alongside the boss against me. Point: Dark Souls 2 1:3
- E. Exploration and Challenge and Sense of Danger - Dark Souls does an outstanding job with these things, it's better than pretty much all survival horror games, but I feel Dragon's Dogma did just as great a job at it, if not a better one. It has a proper and beautiful open world, it has lots of smaller dungeons, it has one gigantic multi-tiered dungeon with a proper NG+ that's almost as big as a whole Souls game with Bitterblack Isle. Bitterblack offers the full Souls experience with all of the mechanical benefits of being Dragon's Dogma. It plays so darn well. Point: Draw 2:4
- F. Story and Lore. Really, who cares about these things in these games. They're both more interested in setting a tone and creating atmosphere, rather than conveying a coherent plot. That said, Dark Souls 2 and Dragon's Dogma pretty much have the same plot (replacing the current king/god), it's just Dragon's Dogma conveys it so much better, and its ending is mindbendingly amazing, whilst Dark Souls 2 just ends. Point: Dragon's Dogma 3:4
Whilst Dark Souls 2 takes the point tally here, for me, core gameplay is the most important, and that's the area Dragon's Dogma truely shines. Clipping a Dragon's or Giant's toenails for the win? No sir. I'll climb his back and stick a knife in his throat instead, thank you very much. Oh, he's wearing armor? I'll just cut the leather straps first, so the armor will fall off. Ecetera. The win in core gameplay is worth 3 points, in my esteem, so I declare Dragon's Dogma the winner. Final Tally: 5:4 in favor of Dragon's Dogma!
What say you? Whatever I said just now, I love both games dearly, and I want more of 'em. So while I'm confident I'll be getting lots more Souls games over the next decade, Capcom is keeping me second-guessing their commitment to the Dragon's Dogma franchise. While Deep Down looks mechanically amazing and somewhat related to Dragon's Dogma, it being free-to-play and randomly generated doesn't make me supremely confident in it. This is me clamoring for more Dragon's Dogma! Where is the Dragon's Dogma 2 announcement Capcom?
Final Question. Should I actually do another Dragon's Dogma playthrough? I already did like 3 of those, one of which was a NG+ hardmode all the way to lvl 200. That said, it's been a year. And why the fuck not. As long as Battlefield 4 is still rubberbanding, there isn't anything better to play.
Log in to comment