Dragon's Dogma 2

[canes21]

After watching friends play this among others, I decided to give the series a try. I bought the first game, remastered, on Steam for just under $4 and got nearly 3 hours out of it last night. I had a blast and can see why the original was so beloved. I can't believe I had never even heard of the game until the 2nd one came out and I saw the MTX controversy and began reading on it.

[KSUowls]

Quote: Originally Posted by canes21

Correct me if I'm wrong, but are the MTX not all for things you can earn by playing naturally? They're just shortcuts for people willing to spend money to save some time. I don't have an issue with them in that case. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

I believe that for Steam users, you can't edit your character without real money. There is even some kind of lock that you can't delete your character and re-roll. So you're just stuck with whatever you make at first. At least that is what I have heard, and I think the developer came out with a statement that they were looking into addressing that.

As for everything else. It depends how much much of a grind it is get in-game currency to do these things. If it's overly punitive (ie: gran turismo) then that's a problem. If it's just a slightly faster way of getting them, then it's annoying that it's there but not a big deal.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Finally bought this. Yeah the FPS drop is real. However if you turn on DLSS you have nothing to worry about. With it turned off, I was dropping down to the upper 40s range. With it turned on I will drop down to the 80s and 90s. Game is just not optimized. Besides that though, the game remind me of Dragon Age Inquisition with the party system and party banter.

However where this game differs is your party members have a brain and do things on their own. So that is very cool to see. I also like the ability to hire and dismiss members whenever. Graphically the game look good, not jaw dropping good like Horizon Forbidden West but good. Even with everything maxed out in 4K it only used around 9GB of VRAM. Much like Dragon Age, it is much to explore. Map appears to be pretty big, plenty of side quests. I chose to play as an archer. I have a mage, warrior and thief in my group. I do love the fact the pawns have different personalities which govern how they behave. Pretty damn cool actually, makes me wish we got some party members like this in FPS and action games.

Combat is pretty simple, simple controls, you really only have to control yourself, your pawns fight on their own as they see fit. You do however get to upgrade their skills and weapons.

[Gotmadskillzson]

One thing I don't like though is that you never know how much more powerful an enemy is until you start fighting them. Came across this super ghost looking thing last night, killed me 3 times and I finally listened to the advice of my pawns of, we really should leave quickly, LOL.

But I do love how alive the pawns are. They are aware of the world, especially the higher level ones and tell you about the places they already been at. They are aware of their past masters too. Like I didn't realize it until my pawns was like, except for master, we are an all female group. Then another one said, oh well, I had another male master who always picked all females too, to each their own. They also seem to be aware of one another and one another skill set too. Pretty cool honestly, makes the world feel alive.

[mikenoob]

Quote: Originally Posted by KSUowls

I believe that for Steam users, you can't edit your character without real money. There is even some kind of lock that you can't delete your character and re-roll. So you're just stuck with whatever you make at first. At least that is what I have heard, and I think the developer came out with a statement that they were looking into addressing that. As for everything else. It depends how much much of a grind it is get in-game currency to do these things. If it's overly punitive (ie: gran turismo) then that's a problem. If it's just a slightly faster way of getting them, then it's annoying that it's there but not a big deal.

You always were able to edit your character without real money. You can buy an item in the first city by the rift stone for 500 RC which is easily obtained. The microtransaction bashing is way overblown.

[Armor and Sword]

Quote: Originally Posted by mikenoob

You always were able to edit your character without real money. You can buy an item in the first city by the rift stone for 500 RC which is easily obtained. The microtransaction bashing is way overblown.

Like just about anything in today's world on the interweb.

It's exhausting.

[canes21]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gotmadskillzson

One thing I don't like though is that you never know how much more powerful an enemy is until you start fighting them. Came across this super ghost looking thing last night, killed me 3 times and I finally listened to the advice of my pawns of, we really should leave quickly, LOL. But I do love how alive the pawns are. They are aware of the world, especially the higher level ones and tell you about the places they already been at. They are aware of their past masters too. Like I didn't realize it until my pawns was like, except for master, we are an all female group. Then another one said, oh well, I had another male master who always picked all females too, to each their own. They also seem to be aware of one another and one another skill set too. Pretty cool honestly, makes the world feel alive.

I am only playing the first one for the first time, but it's great having my pawns give me advice and tips as we traverse through the world and face new enemy types. Seeing my arrows do little damage until a pawn says, "Go for the tail!" and then hopping on a beast and cutting its tail off and seeing half its health immediately drop is something not too complex, but it gives an experience not a lot of other games give. It just makes the game feel that more immersive and makes the companions feel a bit more unique compared to other games.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Word of advice, don't go southwest walking unless you and your group are powerful. We weren't ready, did a lot of running through a lot of areas just to survive. And apparently towns are spread out far as hell. Like we walked for many real life hours before I came across this beast town that apparently don't have love for pawns at all. Finally got a pawn that have quest guide ability. I am happy now because some of these quests be having you lost far as where you need to go, I was just blindly searching.

Still trying to find the right mix of pawns. So far I am an archer and I am really not feeling it. I have a thief, mage and fighter. I had a warrior and I swear she didn't even fight half the time, it was pissing me off. I might switch to being a mage because every mage I hired so far be passive as hell. I want a mage to tear stuff up in combat. My new fighter is a beast lady, she is a guide which is helpful, however I noticed she dies quiet a bit for a fighter, like way too much. Only helpful thing my current mage does is that when a pawn dies, she will run over there, pick them up and bring them to me for I can revive them. Which is cool, but it is like kill something. It is like my best fighter is my thief.