10 Things to Know Before Playing Dragon's Dogma 2

10 Things to Know Before Playing Dragon’s Dogma II

Welcome to MojoPlays and today we have Arisen to the challenge set forth by Dragon’s Dogma and everything we know heading into the sequel.

Jumping In

The original Dragon’s Dogma released back in 2012 and was not an immediate runaway success. Even with the enhanced version “Dark Arisen” a couple years later, the series started as a slow burn and developed enough of a cult following in the years since that Capcom finally greenlit a sequel. However, for those who missed out on the original game, Dragon’s Dogma 2 takes place in an alternate reality, meaning newcomers won’t end up being completely lost jumping into the sequel. The story will follow a similar setup to the original in which a dragon steals the player’s heart and they become “Arisen” and are destined to confront the dragon to prevent a world ending disaster. It will also feature a much deeper political aspect than the original game with the many warring kingdoms the Arisen will encounter.

Tools of Creation

Like any good RPG worth its salt, Dragon’s Dogma 2 will feature a robust character creator. Players will be able to select from multiple races including Beastran for the first time in the series, as the original game struggled to properly render all their fur without completely crashing. With a myriad of sliders to fully customize your character, Capcom is giving players the tools to make the adventure their own while also affording this opportunity to their main Pawn companion who is also completely customizable. For those who aren’t looking to spend hours in the options menu, Dragon’s Dogma 2 also features a randomizer featuring hundreds of pre-scanned real human faces that will auto generate characters and pawns for players to choose from so they can get adventuring as quickly as possible.

Vocation, Vocation, Vocation

Whereas in other similar RPGs, players must choose a class and are locked into this playstyle for the entire duration of their adventure, Dragon’s Dogma 2 allows for far more freedom of customization than your typical RPG. While at the start of the game, players can only choose from 4 classes: the fighter, the mage, the thief, and the archer, they are able to unlock additional classes by completing certain quests within the world, such as warrior and mage. These vocations can be further upgraded and even combined to create new hybrid vocations, one of which, the Wayfarer, allows players access to nearly every weapon class in the game. Capcom has also extensively balanced these many vocations so one is not overly powerful compared to another and players are also not locked into one class throughout their playthrough and can easily switch back and forth at any time.

Pawning Around

One of the aspects of the original Dragon’s Dogma that made it stand out from other fantasy RPGs was its “Pawn System” in which players can bring along companion NPCs during their adventure and even recruit other players’ Pawns from around the world. With Dragon’s Dogma 2, this system has become even more important. Not only will players be able to create their own man Pawn to tag along, but the Pawns they can recruit from other players will be able to lead them to quests their player completed in their game that might have otherwise gone undiscovered. The team has gone to extreme lengths to make sure the Pawns feel like real characters within the world, even going so far as to record extra dialogue to make sure that they don’t simply repeat the same lines ad nauseum and customize them with their own vocations.

Fantasy Immersion

These days, there is a lot of debate around video game UIs and how much the game leads players along as well as the multitude of markers dotted around the map for players to follow. Dragon’s Dogma 2 is taking great strides to make the player feel like they’re a part of the world, and in doing so, won’t feature what is considered “traditional” quest markers. Instead, along with Pawns leading you to quests and points of interest, NPCs will approach the player during their travels and offer them activities and missions with only vague instructions to lead them to their destinations. The goal is to completely immerse the player in the world of Dragon’s Dogma and not constantly hold their hand from one quest to another.

Touring the Countryside

Reportedly, the map of Dragon’s Dogma 2 will be 4 times larger than the original, and game director Hideaki Itsuno wants players to feel that scale. Therefore, instead of players simply being able to quickly traverse the world, there will be numerous modes of travel available to them. These include the usual on foot which offers its own sets of perils as the world is especially dangerous off the beaten path, but players can also choose to travel by the more reliable oxcart which also is not safe from the threat of attack. While not a main mode of exploration, fast travel is an option although it will cost a ferry stone each time and these are rare and often expensive. Players may also risk missing out on much of the randomized encounters and missions they could potentially encounter by traversing the world as intended.

A Game of Dragons

The gameplay isn’t the only thing getting an update in the sequel. The story of the Arisen awakening in Vermund will be one filled with political alliances and warring kingdoms as they attempt to recover their heart from the dragon. Pawns will also play a larger role in the overall narrative as the Pawns themselves are looked down upon as second-class citizens, as are any who travel with them. This immediately puts a mark on the Arisen as they are one of the few able to actually summon them. The theme of rebirth is also present in the world itself as game director Hieaki Itsuno stated that even though this game takes place in an alternate realm to the first one, fans of the original will still find many nods and references to that game as well as possibly familiar locations.

Not So Side Quests

Within the world of Vermund, even something as simple as a fetch quest could spiral into a nail-biting battle between life and death. Because the game doesn’t feature traditional quest markers, players will be given a general area to travel to and will need to forge their own path to the destination. During this time, any number of randomized and organic things could occur. The bridge to the goal could have been damaged and a new path must be discovered, or a mini boss could mercilessly hunt the player and company down until the beast is finally slain. Some encounters, such as the mysterious Sphinx and her riddles, are hidden away within the world and could be completely missed by players not searching off the beaten path.

Climb to Victory

Another aspect that sets the Dragon’s Dogma series apart from its contemporaries is the game’s combat. Namely the ability to scale your larger opponents ala Shadow of the Colossus. This too has been overhauled for the sequel with players not only being able to climb their larger foes, but also make use of environmental hazards to help bring them down for additional damage. Some enemies also have specific weak points that are the only way to damage them, and these specific areas need to be targeted before the fight can truly get underway. Some encounters such as the Talos are multi-stage encounters which will lead the players along multiple paths to finally fell their foe. Few games offer this level of scale during battles, let alone this realistically, in a genre well known for their over-the-top enemy encounters.

Strategize to Survive

The original Dragon’s Dogma was notorious for its difficulty and not much has changed in the sequel. While there will of course be various difficulty options available for players of all skill levels, the game seeks to create a fully immersive experience and therefore won’t be mindlessly guiding the player along their journey. The world of Dragon’s Dogma 2 is dangerous and, likewise, players will need to maintain more than just their health bar. Should the player take damage during combat, a chunk of their health will be permanently deleted and can only be fully replenished by resting at a campfire or an inn. Capcom has also fine-tuned the game’s combat so that players won’t be able to spam their most powerful attacks and will need to carefully plan each encounter and choose their vocations wisely while also making smart use of their Pawns to survive to the next encounter.

What are you most looking forward to in Dragon’s Dogma 2? Let us know down in the comments.