I haven't played it seven times yet, but I have put nearly 20 hours into it and I played through the first Dogma many, many, many times.
Aside from the shitty frame rate in Gran Soren Vernthingy ..I'm enjoying the game immensely.
I still haven't done many quests or been to the land of the kitties or seen the Elf city yet.
I do know I was outraged by the 20,000g asking price of the prostitutes in the brothel
Combat is great fun with any vocation I've tried and you can be very tactical with it or just charge around like a looney, even more so than the original
Exploration is rewarded
Quest design is vastly improved
Fashion Dogma is already in full swing and bare assed female pawns with breastplates are becoming increasingly noticeable
Pawns are much more interactive and useful than in DD1, so much so I've turned off the quest helping ones.
Combat wise they can be a real help especially if you pick the right ones to fit your playstyle.
Minor SPOILER story and warning concerning Ferrystones and reading comprehension.
In cases of emergency it can be very useful to have a ferrystone to teleport you out of danger..I made it a priority to get one, however..
I bought mine from the forger, who I assumed was similar to the dude who ran the Black Cat in DD1 and sold standard items, however..
His "Ferristone" was different.. I neither read the description nor noticed the different way it was spelt, because I'm a retard.
I had just beaten a skeleton horde and their SPOILER boss and received a great sorcerer staff as a reward, twice as powerful as the one I owned.
Unfortunately I was close to death, but thankfully a campsite was nearby..
Then I realised I had accidentally left my camping gear in storage (for reasons that still escape me) so I had no choice but to try and get to a nearby safe town or village.
Sooooo I started back and it was then that my lamp ran out of oil and in the pitch black I walked slowly, overburdened with loot along a dangerous road I couldn't see.
An ogre jumped out from behind a ruined tower which scared the shit out of me and I had no choice but to run, hoping I would soon run out of his boundary, instead I ran into bandits waiting further up the road..and ran past them into the woods, where a wolf pack was playing..they all began fighting each other and unfortunately me and my sexy pawns.
Half dead and unable to see who was where or doing what..I bravely ordered my pawns to stay and fight, while I ran away once more and when I say run, I mean constantly fall over exhausted, because I'm carrying too much.
..as the screams of the dying pawns sounded in my ears, I knew it was time and pulled out my expensive ferrystone and threw it into the air..
..which normally would activate a teleportation beam that would whisk me to safety..but this was a "Ferristone" and instead of "beam me up Scotty" my character just threw it over the rapidly approaching ogres head ..as I waited serenely for death, a previously unseen slime creature rolled over me from behind and sucked out my innards.
I was so stunned by these events and my failure with the ferrystone escape ploy, that I accidentally clicked Restart at last Inn, instead of last checkpoint and erased three hours of gameplay and my new magic staff.
10/10 GOTY