Dragons Dogma - whats the problem?

[spartandude]

Because its a very unpolished gem.

The world is rather boring and has no fast travel method besides rift crystals, maybe a carriage or boat could take you places for a price would be nice, ala Morrowind.
also as i just said the world is typical fantasy (with amazing monsters). having some really fantastical terrain would have been nice
also the companions.... god they need to shut up at times, i like what they tried to to but they didnt quite get there

but despite this its such an amazing game, the combat is some of the best hack 'n slash ive seen and the boss battles are amazing. not to mention some well balanced abilities but still make you feel bad ass, dem high level mage powers man

 

[Candidus]

I'm surprised at the disdain people have for its story. I thought the setting and story were both excellent. The characters as well; Mercedes's arc in particular.

Differing opinions I guess. I thought DD's tale, and the delivery of it (in-engine cinematics and so on) well surpassed comparable titles that reviewed better: Dark Souls for example.

 

[The-Traveling-Bard]

Because "all roads lead to Gran Soren," the central boring hub of the game. I expected there to more cities to explore, with better shops and whatnot. You know, like an RPG.

To be honest. I kinda liked this. I'm a little tired of having 4 major cities and 64 villiages. It was quite refreshing to only have to travel to one and find EVERYTHING. Not.

"Where can I find x?"
*Googles.*

"Oh.. in that village."

"Now where can I find y."

etc. etc.

Although I do think the game could have added in at least 1-2 more minor cities on the other sides of the map.

Like Shadowfort and one near the All all girl bandit fortress. This way it can't down on back tracking a little bit.

 

[Binkan]

The pawns was a unique idea that i liked but you get tired of hearing them say the same thing over and over, and there was some minor glitches that i found annoying, like when you did an escort quest and the caravan you where supposed to escort got smashed to bits because you accepted the quest when a griffon was patroling the air, yea it just ended with that griffon attacking them and one-hit kill them making you fail everytime.

The second golem type is impossible to kill (the one with medallions hidden around instead of on it) unless you had some aiming skills since Pawns can't shoot the medallion that always hovers over the golem.

Wouldn't hurt with more interaction in between characters aswell, the story was quite nicely done.

i just wanted to correct you on the metal golems, my party: Tess(Arisen): Magic Archer, Shepard (Ranger), other Ranger and Healer... those metal medalions are impervious to magic, so my shooting it was useless, i ran around destroying the other medallions cause i couldn't get that one up in the tree, i turn around after breaking one and all of a sudden the thing is dead, apparently either Shep or other ranger shot it down... the Pawns may be dumb, but they get 'smarter', and they've surprised me at times... but that doesn't stop me from screaming out 'GODDAMNIT SHEPARD!!' when she does something stupid like jump off a ledge to go 'fight' a gorecyclopse when it'd be better she shot the damn thing...

Whoa that's quite nice, might depend on where you fight the golem then since the one i fought was the one in the big hole in gran soren so there wasn't much to run around, i gave up after 20min^^

It's quite annoying after a while when you get a quest on one side of the map and another on the exact opposite side especially in the early stages of the game when the Rift crystalls are limited to 1, but other than that the game really did well.

god i hate that foggy woods, always felt like i need to see 100% of the map and then you get to the woods where it keep fogging the map after you leave it

 

[gibbles545]

I really liked Dragon's Dogma. My main gripe was that the travelling was boring, I could have dealt with the limited fast traveling systme they had in place if there was more interesting encounters on the roads and so on.

 

[Ikasury]

The pawns was a unique idea that i liked but you get tired of hearing them say the same thing over and over, and there was some minor glitches that i found annoying, like when you did an escort quest and the caravan you where supposed to escort got smashed to bits because you accepted the quest when a griffon was patroling the air, yea it just ended with that griffon attacking them and one-hit kill them making you fail everytime.

The second golem type is impossible to kill (the one with medallions hidden around instead of on it) unless you had some aiming skills since Pawns can't shoot the medallion that always hovers over the golem.

Wouldn't hurt with more interaction in between characters aswell, the story was quite nicely done.

i just wanted to correct you on the metal golems, my party: Tess(Arisen): Magic Archer, Shepard (Ranger), other Ranger and Healer... those metal medalions are impervious to magic, so my shooting it was useless, i ran around destroying the other medallions cause i couldn't get that one up in the tree, i turn around after breaking one and all of a sudden the thing is dead, apparently either Shep or other ranger shot it down... the Pawns may be dumb, but they get 'smarter', and they've surprised me at times... but that doesn't stop me from screaming out 'GODDAMNIT SHEPARD!!' when she does something stupid like jump off a ledge to go 'fight' a gorecyclopse when it'd be better she shot the damn thing...

Whoa that's quite nice, might depend on where you fight the golem then since the one i fought was the one in the big hole in gran soren so there wasn't much to run around, i gave up after 20min^^

It's quite annoying after a while when you get a quest on one side of the map and another on the exact opposite side especially in the early stages of the game when the Rift crystalls are limited to 1, but other than that the game really did well.

god i hate that foggy woods, always felt like i need to see 100% of the map and then you get to the woods where it keep fogging the map after you leave it

its oddly charming in its broken-ness~ yea the metal golem i'm used to fighting is the one in the swamp/2nd part of the witchwood... the thing about the damn things is you have to take a step back and 'watch' them, while your pawns are all dumb, because every few seconds you'll see some streak of light hit the damn thing and you have to follow those back to where the medallions are~

are you kidding me? XD soon as i could get more of those teleport shards i was placing them in stretegic locations and maxed out all the places i could (namely 'date' spots) so i say go for that soon as you can, personally i didn't mind the running around, after like 30~ you can 'safely' (relatively) travel around at night, so its not such a problem... well, 'cept post-game but that's that~ XD you should try Hard mode(so glad they made that) and Bitterblack, HO-LY-FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK~ XD "Stop dying SHEPARD!!" XD yea, 'charming' in its broken-ness :3

 

[Maxtro]

The fast travel system in Dark Arisen is fine.

Port crystals where plentiful enough that you could warp to any important destination after you've been there once.

If you carried one port crystal with you at all times, you could warp to the city and back whenever you wanted.

 

[Toxic Sniper]

I'm convinced of this:
If you're an old school gamer, you will love Dragons Dogma.
If you're a PC gamer, or you think Skyrim is the best game in this genre, you'll complain about the game design.

None of the complaints explain why this game didn't sell well enough though (if that's even true). Games sales can never be a determining factor of how good a game actually is. Let's leave that for another thread.

The #1 reason why this game is getting attention is the combat, and this is significant. It means that people still value gameplay. You create your own story by the way you handle the combat. Folks don't seem to get this.

People like Skyrim on PC b/c of the mods, in DD you can change your experience by switching classes. So while the enemies are limited, the way you encounter them is unlimited. People who complain about the lack of interesting enemies miss this point, but they love the crappy weapons combat in Skyrim. I don't get it.


Dragons Dogma is really its own game. You can say, "Well this is from Monster Hunter, or this part of the game is like so-and-so," but Dragon's Dogma is actually something new. It's all about the combat and how engaged you feel when you fight. I LOVE Capcom because of this. Fighting/brawling in video games is a lost art.

I have yet to read a decent reason why Dragons Dogma isn't a popular as it should be. Everyone on this thread (despite the complaints in game design) agree that this is a good game.

I just wanted to say that I really agree with your point here. Combat is a huge part of gameplay that is underrated; all the "choice", "depth", and "quality storytelling" in a game mean nothing to me if it plays like a beached whale.

The catch with this interpretation is the exact same criticism could be leveled at Dark Souls which received enormous acclaim on all fronts. It features muddy textures and bland design on just about everything you encounter. The map is also tiny and linear. It also has a crafting system only there it is even less robust than the one found in Dragon's Dogma as, if memory serves, one simply pays souls to a man to upgrade a weapon in Souls where Dogma requires a set of items be collected in addition to the cash tax. Both games have minimal character interaction with the world and, in the cause of Souls, the PC's motivation to do what they do is even less clear.

As such, I have a hard time believing such trivial burdens are the fundamental cause of the lack of love for the game.

There are separate upgrade paths in Dark Souls (Normal, Raw aka sucky, Divine, Magic, Occult, Enchanted, Fire, Chaos, Lightning, and Crystal), all of which require specific materials. It's hardly complex (And a few paths like Occult and Raw are just awful), but there is still a good amount of available creativity. I used an Enchanted Zweihander on my wizard account, and it hit like a brick.

 

[Caiphus]

I know I'd get the game in a heartbeat if it was on PC. Unfortunately, both the fact that it is not and the occasional rumours that there will be a port have left me in a state of limbo as to whether or not I'll get it for the PS3.

I dont want to buy it, stick 50 hours into it, and then have to go through it all again on PC if it releases.

And I'm generally a clumsy brute with PS3 controls, so bleh.

 

[Tim Chuma]

It had some good ideas, but was frustrating enough that I gave it the flick after failing to complete the one quest with liberating the castle six times in a row. Also the "having a hard time? why not pay for better weapons with DLC?" messages were annoying.

You do have to walk all over creation unless you get the very rare crystal to teleport yourself and you can only use it once.

If you try and take on a big monster or area you are not prepared for, the game will not stop you and it will beat you severely for it. One of the good things was coming back to an area that pummelled me before with pawns 20+ levels above the main character to wipe the floor with them.

I am sure if you look hard enough on Youtube, you will find people beating areas you are not meant to at such a low level, like the part where the unkillable tentacles chase you the entire length of a dungeon or getting into a fight with the dudes in the abandoned castle that tell you to leave them alone and winning.

I had a big dumb main pawn called Grimlock, which was strangely popular for some reason?

 

[Sack of Cheese]

I'm surprised at the disdain people have for its story. I thought the setting and story were both excellent. The characters as well; Mercedes's arc in particular.

Differing opinions I guess. I thought DD's tale, and the delivery of it (in-engine cinematics and so on) well surpassed comparable titles that reviewed better: Dark Souls for example.

Same here! I thought it was fresh.
I also really enjoy the dialogues and the cheesy "ye olde" language too. Gives it some identity.

 

[Ambitiousmould]

Dragon's Dogma is one of my favourite games ever. The combat is really good, and I find that just walking around killing things is really addictive. I also found that the writing was great. Some small parts of dialogue left something to be desired, but the characters were all good, and the twist when you get to the Dragon and his true role in all of it I thought was very clever. What I didn't like was the world. There wasn't a very big map, there could have been more backgound and lore to it and thershould have been more and varied sidequests and more to do on a bigger map.

 

[The_Lost_King]

*snippity do-da

I like you, you have good tastes. If you liked Dragon's Dogma I probably will. Do you reccomend Dark Arisen or the Original. I wasn't completely sure from your post.

 

[Maxtro]

Dark Arisen fixes a few of the flaws in the original and adds lots of new content.

 

[Ikasury]

*snippity do-da

I like you, you have good tastes. If you liked Dragon's Dogma I probably will. Do you reccomend Dark Arisen or the Original. I wasn't completely sure from your post.

if you're going to just go and start the game from scratch i'd suggest just going for Dark Arisen, what people may 'not' realize is that other then adding BitterBlack Isle (new uber-HIGH-LEVEL-DEATH-ZONE!!) is that they put in a lot of smaller 'tweaks' to the games system that you wouldn't really notice unless you played the original from day1... me having done that recognize that they made Combining and Giving Gifts an ASSTON easier by having this mystic connection to your Stored Items, instead of having to trudge back to an Inn, grab the stuff into your own inventory, then either combine then or find whoever you were planning on giving 'stuff' to... plus BBI is a GREAT place to get Riftcrystals and lots of higher-end heals, where as before something like 'Cockatrice Liquor' or 'Secret Softener' were RARE AS F*CK! like seriously, i didn't even know they existed till after i beat the Cockatrice the first time and died cause i had no means of healing 'petrification'... plus BBI offers the 'above DragonForged' upgrades to weapons/armors, as well as tweaked the AIs for most of the monsters, like its 'easier' to catch a Griffon whereas before your Pawns would shout 'OH LOOK, A GRIFFON!!' while you're on the complete opposite side of the western plains and that sucker just grabbed whatever food and dipped -.- now i at least 'get in the area' before it does its bovine-snatching so i have a 'chance' of shooting it instead of just seeing it fly off in the distance...

I'd say just go for Dark Arisen because it has 'more' to it, honestly, like the three established portcrystals (Gran Soran, Cassardis, and BBI) and it pretty much HANDS-OUT portcrystals every time you go to a new area, so its not like you have waste 200grand just to buy 1 to start up your network of ports (like me ) and it comes WITH Hard-mode and Speed-run, which really didn't exist in the OG vanilla game, but showed up in a patch like a few months ago... also everything has a bit of a tweaked graphics from OG D'sD... but you will never know the 'joy' of the opening song XD i'm sorry, i never understood why people didn't like it, i liked to time how long it took to log-in just to see if i could do it before the obscure guitar-solo kicked in XD and after awhile you started to 'like' the d*mn thing, and now that its gone every time i load up DA i'm like 'aww... no guitar anthem~' but like i said, lots of 'little' things...

though i will say, one of the FUNNEST things about going from OG D'sD to DA is that as an old version gamer i got a truckton of RiftCrystals and an Eternal Ferrystone, i spam that thing like no-ones business XD but really that's the ONLY reason to get OG D'sD as opposed to DA and really i used to carry around like 20 ferrystones anyway, so its not like that's a 'big' deal XD

 

[Zeckt]

Honestly, I felt a bit hurt they released dark arisen not as dlc but it was just on sale now and I got a fair trade in value with my original copy to the point where it costed as much as a dlc pack So I forgive you capcom now that I got a fair price for Dark arisen.

 

[Ikasury]

It had some good ideas, but was frustrating enough that I gave it the flick after failing to complete the one quest with liberating the castle six times in a row. Also the "having a hard time? why not pay for better weapons with DLC?" messages were annoying.

You do have to walk all over creation unless you get the very rare crystal to teleport yourself and you can only use it once.

If you try and take on a big monster or area you are not prepared for, the game will not stop you and it will beat you severely for it. One of the good things was coming back to an area that pummelled me before with pawns 20+ levels above the main character to wipe the floor with them.

I am sure if you look hard enough on Youtube, you will find people beating areas you are not meant to at such a low level, like the part where the unkillable tentacles chase you the entire length of a dungeon or getting into a fight with the dudes in the abandoned castle that tell you to leave them alone and winning.

I had a big dumb main pawn called Grimlock, which was strangely popular for some reason?

the evil-eye tentacles have life bars, you can literally stand there and wale away at the things the first time you go there (i did) but they just respawn, and really its not worth it since they don't give XP, they're a 'cutscene' battle with no real point but to make you 'continue PLOT!!' XD i have fun every time i come back there for the replay just seeing how quick i can get rid of them (and laugh since my latest team is all female... *snorts* tentacles~ XD) from the get go if you're 'smart' enough and lucky you can really beat anything by whittling it down, like in Demon's/Dark Souls... and i'm assuming the 'castle where the NPCs are telling you to go away and winning?' that's another 'cut-scene' land thing, you're just supposed to follow Mercedes and watch her duel, you really don't have to DO anything for that mission XD

Ferrystones aren't that 'rare', expensive in OG, but i think in DA they dropped the price for them to like 2k (i have the Eternal Ferrystone so i don't buy them anymore XD) and really? i may have died a lot, but i never needed Pawns more then +5lvls XD mainly cause i usually didn't have those riftcrystals and really? i never bought the DLC weapon/armor packs, though its nice in DA you can just buy those from the Black Cat in-game for in-game moneyz...

also, if the mission i believe you're talking about is the Shadowfort thing, and you 'failed' it probably means Ser Robert died, the NPC for that mission, the game will honestly continue either way, it just means that place is always filled with goblins pre-end game... but wow... just wow... XD i don't mean to be mean but... huh? how did you manage that? like just bad team set up? go do a bunch of other missions and avoid that then try again is what i'd say, i don't think i ever had a hard time with SF liberation... *shrugs* maybe its just not your kinda game i guess, but that can be said for a lot of games and different people...

 

[Tim Chuma]

also, if the mission i believe you're talking about is the Shadowfort thing, and you 'failed' it probably means Ser Robert died, the NPC for that mission, the game will honestly continue either way, it just means that place is always filled with goblins pre-end game... but wow... just wow... XD i don't mean to be mean but... huh? how did you manage that? like just bad team set up? go do a bunch of other missions and avoid that then try again is what i'd say, i don't think i ever had a hard time with SF liberation... *shrugs* maybe its just not your kinda game i guess, but that can be said for a lot of games and different people...

I don't really play it that often, once every couple of months. Did I mention I am still playing the one Skyrim game I started on Boxing Day 2011 and never started any other characters?

I even stopped paying for Xbox Live as I did not use it enough.

 

[Ikasury]

also, if the mission i believe you're talking about is the Shadowfort thing, and you 'failed' it probably means Ser Robert died, the NPC for that mission, the game will honestly continue either way, it just means that place is always filled with goblins pre-end game... but wow... just wow... XD i don't mean to be mean but... huh? how did you manage that? like just bad team set up? go do a bunch of other missions and avoid that then try again is what i'd say, i don't think i ever had a hard time with SF liberation... *shrugs* maybe its just not your kinda game i guess, but that can be said for a lot of games and different people...

I don't really play it that often, once every couple of months. Did I mention I am still playing the one Skyrim game I started on Boxing Day 2011 and never started any other characters?

I even stopped paying for Xbox Live as I did not use it enough.

i'll admit... i've not beaten Skyrim either... though i think that's more to do with OH LOOK!! SIDEQUESTS!! and the fact i've amassed enough data it crashes my PS3 every time i load it up... that's a bit of a kill switch XD

 

[Mladen Marjanovic]

Finally a RPG to sit next to Skyrim.