Dragon's Dogma II - "They’re masterworks, all – you can’t go wrong"

[deuxhero]

Capcom's new million seller list is up
https://www.capcom.co.jp/ir/english/business/million.html
DD2 went from 3.3 mil to 3.5 mil in the end of September to End of January quarter. For comparison, that's what the 6 year old Devil May Cry 5 did in the same period, and double what the seven year old Mega Man 11 and over decade old DD1 did.

Haven't seen a game this frontloaded ever since Resident Evil 6. Crazy how bad word of mouth can fuck your game in the era of social media

Does it really have bad worth of mouth though ?

YES! The fact that they still have performance killing Denuvo in the game and refused to remove it despite the cause being clearly identified should be enough to tell everyone to not buy it, but the decisions that feel like they were made to purposefully spite people who liked the original make people who liked the original feel spited.
Did you like Warrior but hate that they had limited skills despite not being any more powerful than the others? Well now every class has it!
Did you enjoy the differences between small and big characters? Now you can't make small characters
Did you like Fashion's Dogma? Well now you can only equip premade armor combonations that are BOTH extremely ugly/nonsense, and so constrained to particular classes that there's no "choice" of armor, just what's current for your class.
Did you like finding pawns and looking for ones that best matched the party? Well here's some random e-celeb's pawn that we made VERY sure you noticed!
Then they want 70 bucks and strongly advertise additional DLC on top of that.

A major title getting to mixed and under on Steam basically requires it doesn't work, and/or be a total insult to its predecessor. DD2 is both.

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

That's what you get for being spoiled entitled PC gaymers. Capcom is teaching your punk bitch asses a lesson, HA! Should have bought a console I guess.

 

[ADL]

"I dislike DRM so I'll buy a console instead" lmao
Enjoy begging for a PS6 "compatibility patch" because developers believe you're too stupid to handle a graphical settings menu.

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

The beans were cooked by gay mexicans

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

I played this game for about 17 hours. It had some of my all-time favorite combat encounters in an RPG, thanks to how wild and dynamic fights can be if you are fighting several enemy types at the same time. I had one particular encounter that lasted almost an entire night, finishing only about the time the sun was rising. I will always remember that as a highlight of my gaming journey in general.

However, it was also frequently a cumbersome, unenjoyable experience thanks to the low enemy variety and unrewarding exploration, coupled with really braindead design (like the save system, or clunky inventory management, or the fact that I couldn't rename my pawn from "Main Pawn") and dialog / writing.

This could have been something really exceptional, but they just didn't manage.

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

usually oozing reverence and love for everything that came before.

I dunno, I think they also really dropped the ball with Resident Evil 3, and Dead Rising remakes. I don't think they've made a pattern of reverence.

 

[zaze]

I played this game for about 17 hours. It had some of my all-time favorite combat encounters in an RPG, thanks to how wild and dynamic fights can be if you are fighting several enemy types at the same time. I had one particular encounter that lasted almost an entire night, finishing only about the time the sun was rising. I will always remember that as a highlight of my gaming journey in general.

However, it was also frequently a cumbersome, unenjoyable experience thanks to the low enemy variety and unrewarding exploration, coupled with really braindead design (like the save system, or clunky inventory management, or the fact that I couldn't rename my pawn from "Main Pawn") and dialog / writing.

This could have been something really exceptional, but they just didn't manage.

Yeah Capcom should really grow some balls and give this franchise a fair attempt they have a potential Elden Ring killer in there

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

Capcom has been the 2nd most consistent developer, 2nd only to From Software and it's a pretty wide gap. Still far as AAA games go Capcom rarely disappoints these days.

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

I played this game for about 17 hours. It had some of my all-time favorite combat encounters in an RPG, thanks to how wild and dynamic fights can be if you are fighting several enemy types at the same time. I had one particular encounter that lasted almost an entire night, finishing only about the time the sun was rising. I will always remember that as a highlight of my gaming journey in general.

However, it was also frequently a cumbersome, unenjoyable experience thanks to the low enemy variety and unrewarding exploration, coupled with really braindead design (like the save system, or clunky inventory management, or the fact that I couldn't rename my pawn from "Main Pawn") and dialog / writing.

This could have been something really exceptional, but they just didn't manage.

Yeah Capcom should really grow some balls and give this franchise a fair attempt they have a potential Elden Ring killer in there

But it is already better than Elden Ring.

 

[zaze]

I played this game for about 17 hours. It had some of my all-time favorite combat encounters in an RPG, thanks to how wild and dynamic fights can be if you are fighting several enemy types at the same time. I had one particular encounter that lasted almost an entire night, finishing only about the time the sun was rising. I will always remember that as a highlight of my gaming journey in general.

However, it was also frequently a cumbersome, unenjoyable experience thanks to the low enemy variety and unrewarding exploration, coupled with really braindead design (like the save system, or clunky inventory management, or the fact that I couldn't rename my pawn from "Main Pawn") and dialog / writing.

This could have been something really exceptional, but they just didn't manage.

Yeah Capcom should really grow some balls and give this franchise a fair attempt they have a potential Elden Ring killer in there

But it is already better than Elden Ring.

Yeaaa no not even close but it's funny to think that Elden Ring suffers from trying to do too much DD2 is on the polar opposite for doing too little, it just needed a bit more love

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

Elden Ring is mid From Software. I don't think they knew how to properly apply their Dark Souls formula to an open world. Capcom already had a winning open world formula with DD. And while DD2 fails to live up to the original in some ways I still think it's a better open world ARPG experience.

It comes down to whether you value quality or quantity. Elden Ring has all of the quantity and some quality but it's spread out. DD2 has a better quality to quantity ratio imo.

 

[Cheesedragon117]

Elden Ring wasn't perfect, but when the credits finally rolled I didn't have the feeling that I completely wasted my money like I did with DD2.

That bastard Itsuno scammed me out of 70 bucks. He promised me his vision, a perfected version of a game he made previously, but gave me something everyone and their mother says is worse than Dark Arisen. I'll never forgive him for that. Unless it's DMC6 or the new Final Fantasy i'm not spending a single dime on anything he's laid hands on.

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

Even in the ideal scenario where DD2's vision was fully realized, I doubt that it could've been an ER killer. A worthy game on its own for sure though.

 

[d1r]

Itsuno is gone from Capcom now so sequels unlikely.

Even getting DD2 was like some kind of cosmic fluke; a glitch in the matrix. Capcom really doesn't seem to care about this IP.

Itsuno did not direct Dark Arisen though. So there is still hope.

 

[Takamori]

Elden Ring everything that wasn't related to Open world worked fine. The Open world was just copy pasta content most of the time, if they removed and did as previous souls game my enjoyment would be much more higher.

 

[Thalstarion]

Capcom really doesn't seem to care about this IP.

It's the same with the Breath of Fire games which were also mishandled badly.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

Fuck even DD1 vanilla had better end game compared to this timed garbage we got for DD2.

Nah Everfall is boring
The best thing about post-Dragon in DD1 was the apocalyptic atmosphere and stronger encounters - and Unmoored World is that on steroids

Yeaaa no not even close

Depends on what aspect we're talking about
Combat and enemy design? Absolutely
Dungeon design and replayability? Unfortunately not

 

[Takamori]

Fuck even DD1 vanilla had better end game compared to this timed garbage we got for DD2.

Nah Everfall is boring
The best thing about post-Dragon in DD1 was the apocalyptic atmosphere and stronger encounters - and Unmoored World is that on steroids

Yeaaa no not even close

Depends on what aspect we're talking about
Combat and enemy design? Absolutely
Dungeon design and replayability? Unfortunately not

My issue with Unmoored is that thing is not permanent free to explore, its timed. Sure you can min max the in between rests but you have barely the time to enjoy the apocalypse, this alone make the Everfall better IMO.
Also it doesn't help that the game ends abruptly after it, yay thanks for playing DD2 here NG+ and you are back to where you begun.

 

[Anonona]

My issue with Unmoored is that thing is not permanent free to explore, its timed

Funny enough, the fact that is timed is a big plus for me. But I'm greatly biased as I usually enjoy time limits and time sensitive mechanics in games (Majora's Mask, BoF DQ, Pathfinder KM, etc).
In my opinion a number of the new systems in DD2 regarding resting, injuries, being able to heal when at 0HP and the like seem designed around the Unmoored World, limited resting and being on a timer. In theory, it wants the player to consider the risks of pressing on and to prepare all the resources they will need beforehand, while trying not to overburden the characters. Before that the timed quests and sustaining injuries after dying is a less punishing form of the same.

I think the idea is, on paper, very good and I do enjoy it, but the execution is sadly not there. As with many things in DD2, it feels unfinished, it needs to be more dangerous, to have more time sensitive events, new places to explore and unique monsters. Perhaps even a optional "Superboss" players may attempt to fight before time is up. And as much as I like it, something like BBI would be welcome too, specially for NG+, a place just to kill things, get gear and beat bosses.