The best way I can describe DD2 is that it isn't nearly as fun to play as the first game, and most of the things that cause this were deliberate choices by the dev team. It's like they didn't understand what people liked DD1 for, which was the gameplay, mainly the combat.
Yeah, its like its being performed by a tribute band or something. It feels similar but not committed to or just too much like other games but less so. Its kinda diet Witcher or somethig. Its way too Westernized imho
Well the first game wasn’t what they wanted, it launched almost half incomplete, it got fixed over time, give dd2 its time for them to solve it, it’s only fair seeing as dd1 got the same treatment
Sums up what I think too exactly. DD2 feels like the Devs really didn't do it based on feedback or things people liked, wanted more of or what could be changed for QOL issues. Instead they just gave us more of the same superficially altering things, made some bad changes (like the armor system, and contrived new plot) and really didn't actually do anything substantially to improve the design itself. Its just more of the same problems but with a worse armor system, worse writing, and still a blandly uninteractive world outside combat.
Yeah, for all the popups about status effects, I didnt find the world to have that same level of interest in generating ways to make immersive sim things happen with the fire barrels all around like the first game. I mean there was an occasional cave with some boulders you could dislodge to roll onto enemies and the first cyclopes with the water fall but the tarring but fire arrows didnt even work half the time for me and theres hardly anything else to fiddle with outside of basic attacks
i mean sorry but the game sold way better than the first game because despite some of its shortcoming its basically what the first game should have been from the start and capcom confirmed its a big success and went high on their expectations
Technically i think it has more enemies than the first game but the slimes are not interesting at all and goblins are way overused. Harpies are underused but also really annoying to judge their movements this time around. Just a very repetitive game fast imho
@HighFunctioningMedium I believe not as I remember someone did count all enemies both colour versions sub versions in both games and ended up like 32 or something in DDDA and around 18 in DD2 now apparently some players like me missed talon boss fight because we went to cave road instead and in my first playthrough blind didn't have chance to fight sphinx I feel Capcom really didn't want to put money or bigger team to work on DD2 and now after some kinda OT success we will have ( maybe ) better DD3 I hope so so much wasted potential
Yep. EVERYONE says the same things: good graphics, great gameplay... bad loot, controls, enemies, and story. On that note, the customization is awful 😖. Can't wear certain armors, you can't change the look or color, not enough spikes and skulls in my opinion. I hate Blizzard, but gotta say Diablo 3 nailed character customization in the armor and weapons department.
I don't get what was even the point of DD2 to be honest, it's a sequel that feels more like a remake but it doesn't improve on any of the previous game rough edges: exploration is mid and often pointless since there's barely any good loot in the wild (once again all the best gear is found on stores), most _dungeons_ are generic caves that are three rooms in length and most of them are just Saurian fights. The story is worse and the characters are even more bland and forgettable. Even the endgame doesn't compare, it so bad there's not even a final boss.
Right! Its just weird to do it again which no one needed but more bland than before. All that whacky kind of anime charm is gone and we've got 90 percent of the same annoyances as before and even some new ones
Much like the lore of DD2...much of the game feels so distant, so hollow, so fake like anything you accomplish just really doesn't matter. It really made me want to play DD1 again and when I did it was like rediscovering magic again for the first time. All roads truly do lead to Gran Soren. I think the core issue with DD2 is that it ends far too quickly that you feel like you only bought half the game or it's just a incomplete product. Don't get me started on how sad it is to play DD2's iteration of Sorcerer. It's just awful. It's so strange that this past week I find myself going back to playing older games from 10-15 years ago and they somehow feel more complete and have more soul then the games that are being made today. It's crazy.
that's honestly something that I felt so strongly and couldn't express that well: it feels so gamey and not in a charming way, like it knows it is. It feels so generic and stitched together from the vibes of Western RPGS that have come out since. The dark armors and the soundtrack give me some Witcher vibes for instance. There's just a distinct lack of much of anything resembling artistic conviction or soul other than nice animations and feedback from spells and such. There are pockets of emotional moments and moments that make you feel like you're part of something amazing, but so many moments that just dont feel like we are part of a big epic story like we come to fantasy RPGS for
@@MidnightMedium I think you can really just compare the music of DD1 and DD2 and notice the night and day difference from just that. The fact they added a DD1 music collection as DLC just shows you even the devs or Capcom didn't really believe in what they made. It's sad to say but the DD2 music was entirely forgettable in comparison to the music in DD1. I found it curious that with a 12 year hiatus with Dogma why wouldn't they bring back the composer for DD1 and they just didn't? It's such a strange choice. But beyond the music even the Augments and combat I feel is too boring or simple compared to the depth and build variety that DD1 offers. I obviously enjoyed DD2 clocking in 145 hours but by the end it just left me with an empty feeling. I'm not angry or jaded about it either. Just somewhere between underwhelmed and disappointed. I guess one final complaint that I think many players have is the lack of dungeons in the game since all the DD2 dungeons are just the same corridors and tunnels of the same looking cave textures throughout the game's overworld. Like Capcom was so impressed with RE4R caves they decided the make 80% of DD2 just that. The game could of done with more setpieces like the Cassardis Well, Gran Soren Catacombs, Everfall, Bluemoon Tower, The Tainted Mountain, and eventually Bitterblack Isle(this is a bit unfair though since this was added in Dark Arisen). I'm optimistic towards possible DLC making a lot of changes but until then if I revisit Dogma it'll be DD1.
I took a week's vacation for this game and found it extremely disappointing, and even uninstalled the game and sold it after about 15 hours. The funny thing is that I recently replayed the first game on the Series X, so the original is very fresh in my mind so we can't say it's nostalgia. The first thing I noticed is the graphics really aren't that great, everything seemed to have kind of a blurry look to it. Next was the pawns, they are far worse and some of the most annoying things I have ever encountered. They never stop talking, they say the most pointless stuff, and you can't take five steps without them saying follow me or look there's a chest over there. Next was the quests and writing, not like the first game had anything to brag about, but the sequel didn't improve in any way. Towns also had a very bizarre way of feeling empty, pedestrians that stood around and didn't really engage in anything. The two things that absolutely ruined the game for me was the combat and enemy encounters. First of all the combat is far worse, there's no secondary weapon set and there's no hotkeys, making combat feel far more limited and repetitive. The enemy spawns is the worst I have ever seen in any game, it's so bad I didn't want to explore anything. You literally cannot walk 10 ft without encountering the same enemies over and over. I absolutely hated the game with a passion. The first game isn't perfect but it's fun to play, the sequel is a definition of a chore. The world is four times bigger but who cares when it's not fun, bigger isn't better.
Exactly. I'm the same way. Just played Dark Arisen again on Series X a couple months ago. It was quite responsive, still holds up pretty well from an artistic perspective and is still just as charming. Graphics definitely have this kind of bland realism to them and everything looks overcast, I agree. I feel like perhaps there's some depth to the pawns that you need to understand to make them less useless but why the default is so much dumber than the original is beyond me. Yeah, losing the whole other set of hotkeys sucked and the list of abilities was far less without ever seeming to be that effective or interesting between the first 3 or 4 classes I tried. Amen, world looks kinda nice in places, but it's all the more apparent how barren it is by how high fidelity and yet positively empty of interactable, actual stuff to do.
@@Particle_Ghost yeah, people kept telling me that I had nostalgia goggles on whenever I criticized DD2, but I literally completed a hard mode run of Dark Arisen a week before DD2 came out lol
It feels like its not an improvement on DDDA, but rather just a slightly altered redo of the first game but with a more convoluted plot, and features made more limited while nothing really new. Most obviously, the armor system is just bad now. They removed the layering and just stuck more pieces together now so you can't fully mix and match things you want anymore and, like everyone else I still hate Vocation-locked armor pieces; especially because there is less to choose from now. I don't know why they thought this was a good idea. I also didn't like the removal of old hybrid classes that could have still co-existed with the new ones. Like Mystic Knight, and the sword-based Assassin from DD1. It just feels like we got less options or at least cant recreate your old characters, and yet there still arent any axe wielder vocations? Open world is still boring, quests are still backtack heavy. Most of the new monsters being just reskins of old ones is pretty lame when DDO had a lot of actual new ones. Like Knackers are just more goblins. We didnt get any of the monsters from DDO other than the Medusa, and I guess the Minotaur and headless knight is cool, but I wanted to see trolls, or orcs in DD2. The story is also just more unnecessarily complicated with it now and not well structured or written. It seemed like they were trying to do too much in the plot while ignoring the characters themselves. Who seriously thought of making a Dragon virus for a scientist now? I thought it was a medieval fantasy game. The game would have been a lot better if it took more feedback into consideration from fans rather than just slightly altering the vanilla design of DD1.
Almost exactly my thoughts. It feels a like a remake more than a sequel and it somehow only improves a couple things while actively being worse at many others. So much feels the same its weird they could approximate their old work so well in a new engine but then not do much with it.
So why is every review and youtuber calling this is a masterpiece.what does masterpiece mean anymore when every mediocre gane is now a masterpiece.damn i miss the ps1 ps2 days when u had to be good
I've really been struggling to understand the hype. I have a hunch it's that there are so few action RPGs that have any scope or feel more like classic ones of old like Dragon Age or Skyrim or whatever and arent just isometric statcrunchers that this feels like a breath of fresh air to people. Why a sometimes epic combat sim inside of an okayish world with a middling at best story is masterful is beyond me though. But look at what games get super popular these days, it's not like good taste is in great supply. This is probably the best game these people will play all year if my suspicions about what they do like is correct
Yeah i thought a guy like Itsuno who takes his craft seriously and thinks of it an expression of himself wouldve been a little tougher on the story and tightening up the world design to have less dead space but i guess AAA bloat comes for us all
Thats whats funny. Perhaps hes choosing not to point fingers at Capcom and be the bigger man but he talks about it being the fulfillment of his vision and its just like what exactly got added that was worth the sequel?
18:50 When you grab an enemy on the ground you are not "leaning" on them, you are trying to push/pull them. If they are staggered then this will cause them to fall over, and it's very useful for the Golems and a few other enemies because it will expose weak points (the head of golem) that cannot be exposed otherwise.
I get the feeling that the people who loved DD1 are pretty disappointed while those who tried out DD for the first time are pretty satisfied, they see the negative sides but they dont feel our disappointment, because we've seen these good points a decade ago already, and to me at least, it feels like they put less effort into DD2 than DD1, and doing it RIGHT this time seemed like the whole point of DD2, to me. Still happy we got anything at all, and that it seems to be a great financial success, hopefully DD2 DLC will make it a better game like dark arisen did for DD1, and I pray DD3 will be what DD2 shouldve been, although I never get my hopes up too high, after dragon age origins I was so hyped and wouldve preordered 2 & 3 right away if I could just to support this awesome series, my disappointment with dragon age 2 was waaay bigger than DD2s, it burned me so hard I always expect anything to suck, feels even better if a game turns out to be actually good then.
Yeah i think that's the main thing. Reinventing the wheel wasnt necessary but the advancements in animation and look of combat isnt a substantial enough upgrade to how far they got over 10 yrs ago to make it a destination over the first game. It also lacks its vibes, its pleasant sereneness. Its story isnt nearly as interesting, though it has flashes of great ideas.
Funny you mention Dragon Age 2. Cool animations there too but an afterthought of a project after the honestly incredible Origins, one of my favorite games ever. Strange how that series played out. Kept feeling less and less unique
:/ sorry. Its just not there yet. I would absolutely recommend the first game though. The animations are choppier and what not but it feels much more complete
I'm currently making my way through DDDA and I'm just taking my time w/ it and absolutely loving it all. I'll definitely get DD2, but only when it's on sale later, kinda sucks to hear all the ways that that it's not as good, or rather how it unnecessarily changes good aspects from the first title. I'm sure it's still fun for the most part, but just not as fun or as good as it could be and should be.
1 - Crafting system has basically been abandoned and dumbed down from the 1st game, 2 - Being unable to actually heal your health despite 'crafting' potions - making crafting all the more worthless 3 - Camping serves no purpose 4 - Can climb monsters but still can't climb the walls that make 'open world' actually pretty linear 5 - Other pawns forcing you to stop so they can show you their resume 6 - Unable to start a new save at launch
Great points. Id argue campings good because it lets you save without returning to base and makes you feel like youre withstanding the wilds while adventuring
The story is really disappointing. I thought Disa would play a bigger part in the main story. You never really intrract with her and even if you foild her plans nothing really seems to matter. I didn't like the map either its all just mountains with more mountains and look more mountains.
Exactly. Everythings just sort of fine but even if the scenarios got a good hook, how you solve it is so basic and unfulfilling. And yeah, some great sights at first but it all blends after a couple hours
@@MidnightMediumcould have added some snow to some mountains just to add varaity and maybe open plains or something. Also great review you summed up pretty much everything I didn't like about the game.
30:30 The sphinx doesn't run away if your pawns help, she runs away if you hit her human parts. This is hinted at with the murals in the big beast town showing all the spears in her hind quarters and none in her face or chesticles.
Ahhh, I see. Maybe pawns hit her human parts because they dont discriminate hence why I was advised online to not use them or she'd fly away. Weird the cutscene before she flies away she acts like I cheated because I didnt face her one on one in a battle of wits tho, which sounds more like she doesnt like that i used help, not that i poked her people parts
@@MidnightMedium Fair enough and I have the benefit of hindsight and lots of internet sleuthing since you originally put out this video. Just figured I'd correct the record for anyone watching in the future. Also yes, the pawns always screw up and hit the lady parts, so I gave all my pawns a bath before starting... because they were very dirty.
This perfectly encapsulated all my frustration, heartbreak and disappointment. (Except for that song at the end. Most of the music in the game with a few exceptions really put me off.)
I was really disappointed too, you can tell it's a game that has 25h of content extended to last the double and it shows... Dungeons are just uninteresting caves without puzzles like the 1st game, bestiary is super limited and gets boring after 40h of killing the same goblins, some of the things that i wished they change from the first game are still here (like the lack of music overall), the game is super dark and I had to mod it to remove the f*cking vignette effect... gameplay was still really fun but overall really underwhelming af game (and the true ending and its area was a total fucking joke) (about Talos, I didn't even experienced the epic fight because I went exploring a cave instead and then he just died in a cutscene lmao)
Game is sooo dark. I had to turn up my contrast a little and saturation 2x the normal i do for other videos just to get some clarity. Yeah, i mean the only things i like are the things i already did a hundred times in the first game with the same enemies
Haha oh no. Talos was pretty cool. Not like incredible but a pretty decent idea. Im just surprised at how uninspired the whole thing was. It feels bored, unmotivated to impress
"the only things i like are the things i already did a hundred times in the first game with the same enemies" this exactly, I didn't expect a new formula but that they at least expand on it, the whole "this game is my true vision" from Itsuno is so weird because it's not like they didn't have budget this time to at least have few more monsters or better design than that (when I got the achievement that I visited my 1000th random cave I was totally defeated lol, the first game had really cool dungeons which are mainly absent here) it would have been better marketed as a remake/reboot or something like that... oh well, I can't say I didn't have fun because the gameplay is still really excellent but the game really overstayed its welcome
@MaitreMechant yeah i tried to express why this didnt hit but im not even sure i captured the spirit of my instinctual repulsion. Its like its copping an art style and music to be some matinee Witcher or something. Doesnt feel as vibrant and unique like its as self assured as last time
I think what happened was DD2 was worked on then shelved back in 2016 due to lack of sales for DD1 . Then Elden Ring took the world by storm so they said hey grab that old DD2 project off the shelf and polish it up and let’s get it out. You have 1 year. But sir, that game needs at least 3 years of story building, development etc No, just throw something together and sell it for $70
Youre right. Sounds like my whole "intro so strong, what happend?" vibe. I guess they just ran out of steam or resources and decided to make the best they could
Yeah, I don't get it. Its just a very boring RPG. Its not a terrible action game but even that wears out after like 20 hrs or so. The power increase never feels interesting or exciting like the first game did either
Here are some of my comparison thought between DD1 and DD2. As someone who has played the first game every year since release, there are so many things that I had hoped to see improvements of. Unfortunately, I see more backtracking, than improvement. Vocations are changed, but not necessarily for the better. I will let this be a matter of personal preference, but I am having a hard time forgiving the lack of Mystical Knight. The new world is bigger, yet feels more empty. I cannot understand the reasoning behind exploring in this game. There is never anything of value in the tons of caves. Below is a listing of mechanics in comparison from my point of view. Things DD1 did better than DD2: - Platforming, jumping, climbing - Item variety and customization of armour - Rings and cloaks actually did something, more layers of clothing - Organization of items - selling, buying, equipping - Enemy variety - Here are some of the removed enemies: Cockatrice, Hydra, Evil Eye, Cursed Dragons, Gold/Silver Knights, Frost/Fire/Thunder Wyrms, Death - Portcrystals now reset in NG+ - What the hell - End game loop - In both Bitterblack Isles and The Everfall the bosses were dense in a small area. Now you have to run around to find them. Also, why would you put a timer on, unless you defeat bosses? - Vocation abilities - More abilities meant that each vocation had more variety - Min./max. for those who wanted it. It now obsolete - Variety in language and characters - Map - The map was smaller, yet with more memorable places. The new map is mostly empty with empty dungeons - No autotalking NPCs - Why would I ever want that? Things DD2 does better than DD1: - Smithing styles - Option to customize damage and defense style - Discipline points are now visible - AI - The AI of pawns has been improved a little - Addition of specilization - Minotaur is the only semigood boss addition, but there was also Medusa, Headless Horseman
Well, why do we have to "let it cook"? I expect more from a sequel, not the same or less. They should have the same amount of content as Bitterblack Isles, AND more in a DLC@@egordon7543
I see where you are coming from. But I expect a sequel to be better than the first one, not less or equal to. They could have started of having a Bitterblack Isles equivalent, and THEN added even more content, making it surpass the first game. But maybe I just expect too much :) @@egordon7543
Alot of people were predicting this but the majority of the fandom ignored them. The only reason they brought it back was because of the hype and attention it gained in 2020, the game never had a clear story, and lore was practically non existent, not to sure why people were shocked. What sold me on my doubts is when they still included "The Brine" that let me know how lazy they were with this. It's understandable in dd1 not enough budget would've taken more time, but you're telling me we just have to miss out on cool aquatic combat because "the brine" exists and is totally not an excuse for wanting to take extra steps in including aquatic travel and exploration.
In a way im glad they tried to justify the brine in game and it really wasnt something we worried about much in DD but God bless does it get in the way in DD2
37:00 Ambrosius was going to take the blade, not give it to you to take. He specifically said that it's too important to leave to another. That is why he had to be mind controlled to give you the blade, because you need it to get through the gate and ultimately do what you need to do.
Right, that was my confusion. If it's going to the same place anyway, why does it matter? But I guess you have to have it on your person to use on the dragon, and there's no reason to know you'd need it in the moment as the dragon comes down and messes up the ritual, so that's definitely cleaner that way and removes all the variables. You're right
@@MidnightMedium Well you "agreed" to take it to Dr Evil, but you didn't want him to actually get it because then he might have actually been able to control the dragon...or something. They were incredibly vague about why he so desperately needed the blade, but then just decided nah it's fine after he literally just saw the imperfect blade that we turned in. Like he couldn't wait a couple days for aspiring adventurers to find some dragon crystal after waiting all those years for this very item to materialize? It made absolutely zero sense when you stopped and thought about it for a minute. Such a shame too because the story had great bones to it, just needed to add some meat to it and make us care about the characters like they did in the first one. Even then the first game was pretty bare bones on character development, but at least it was there.
18:14 - this is actually a weird complaint to me because I had the opposite problem - the enemies were way, way more passive in my experience compared to the first game and it lead to them just kinda boringly standing around a lot of the time or getting stunned super easily
Hmm that time stamp was talking about weak spots and being hard to get ahold of. Were you meaning when I said enemies like goblins were launching themselves at the player a lot?
the stagger lock from enemies is absolutely insane in this game. Even with 850 Knockdown Resistance, if swarmed by them, your arisen gets ragdolled everywhere, zero chance to get up even as a warrior, and fighter shield frontal guard doesnt change to where camera is facing anymore. Its all frustrating how easily overwhelmed you can get, enemies gap close on you 3 to 4 at once from offscreen often zero warning. Putting 70% of the enemy types next to each other so hordes of different monsters attack you from all directions at once. I was fighting 1 golem, then a pack of coyotes joined in, followed by goblin army, next harpies and finally a 2nd golem showed up. Just what the actual fuck, stagger locked into oblivion, enemy attack animations all over screen couldnt see shit. Ngl, i reloaded, the slow vocation attacks arent suited for 10+ enemies on you all at once. I am shocked spearhunter lizards, A dragon, griffon and cyclops didnt show up too at the point honestly.
Right? Almost no dodge, a nonexistent jump, super frequent animation triggers to slide or almost fall off an edge even if barely changing elevation above the ground and nearly every enemy staggering you into oblivion or adding a status effect just gets old. And if rhey arent doing that, theyre just slabs of health that dont give you much feedback as how youre doing
Its funny. Og needed the eternal ferrystone bad to be more fun and 2 mostly solves that. But because 2s been so praised, i dunno if theyll see fit to improve much
Ha right. Wouldn't it be nice to still be able to play decently long, detailed games on Xbox Live Arcade for $15 or something like that. Spending nearly 80 on this didnt feel good
Thanks for articulating so well a lot of what was disappointing about DD2, especially the story failings. Regarding the Chimera locations: there are several in the wild, but two that the player is especially likely to encounter are (1) the Chimera that functions as the last step to Jarle's poison quest, located in the cave near the Dragonforged, and (2) the Chimera that's one of the two bosses in the Waterfall Cave, which you can come across in a pretty natural way if you're trying to collect grimoires for the mage/sorcerer-maister quest (though it's not necessary). Also, just because I mentioned the Dragonforged - I *think* the guy you call the Dragonforged is just the Rivage Elder (though he's almost certainly a former Arisen, like the Dragonforged). The real Dragonforged is the guy in the middle of the Guerco Cavern route between Battahl and Vermund, the one who will use the Wyrmslife Crystals to buff your gear. But maybe you know something I don't about the Rivage Elder - as you pointed out, it's really easy to miss lore dialogue just by doing things in a slightly different order, so for all I know someone says the Rivage Elder is also Dragonforged...
First I'd like to say this was an excellent video. Took a simple glance out of curiosity and ended up sitting down to watch the entire thing. The way you deliver your perspectives and pace everything is superb, your content is top tier and I'll be eager to see more. Second, as much as it deeply pains me to say this, I do agree with just about everything detailed here. I have my own thoughts on this game that I would like to properly express at some point, but for now I'll at least say this much. Dragon's Dogma 2 is a consequence of its own vision. The first game, having fallen short of the immense scope planned for it, despite being beloved by the fans, seems to be regarded simply as a 'failed attempt' by its creators. As a result, rather than building on the foundations of the original, ironing out flaws and doubling down on strengths, the decision was made to pivot entirely, disregarding the framework of what came before in pursuit of the 'vision.' This meant packing in EVERY little mechanic possible, without considering how all of this impacts the game as a whole and, even more importantly, if any of it actually results in a game that is FUN to play. And it's painfully clear that even then, they STILL didn't manage to include everything that had been left on the cutting room floor - where was that moon dungeon? There is no chance that this game is the realization of the vision for Dragon's Dogma when every drop of the potential on display in DD1 is almost completely absent from DD2. Like many of us, this is something that I find deeply upsetting, not just because I was so devoted to the original game (and thus, excited for the sequel after a decade) but because I can STILL see worth in DD2. Glimpses of exciting moments, interesting lore elements, and fascinating details in the world. This is especially true having taken time to fully soak in the various details of the story (turns out there were a few important contextual things left out from the Japanese version) which now has me theorizing about several elements. But none of this is ever properly capitalized on, especially in regards to the gameplay it feels like the game is constantly kneecapping itself. At this point, even if they released some amazing, vast DLC for DD2, it wouldn't matter. Because the foundations of the game are too weak to support it. Some people say that DD2 repeats the same mistakes as DD1, but I don't think this is a fair or accurate comparison. DD1 was, in my opinion at least, simply a slightly unfinished masterpiece. The sequel is a hollow, confused mess. It's tragically ironic, but Dragon's Dogma lost its heart. Maybe Dragon's Dogma 3, eh?
Yes! My disappointment isnt pleasant because it seems like an unforced error to make a game so devoid of charm and often full of annoying commitment to animations that trigger off the slightest input and leave you off balance constantly, etc. The new lore ramifications are sweet but Ive never seen something go for broke and just kinda break then mean mug the camera like "yeah I slayed that." Its so weird and offputting
@@MidnightMedium You did indeed - and it's an honor! I could have sworn I checked your content out sooner but I got my notifications mixed up it seems. Even so, very glad to be discovering it now. It's still very surreal that I'm recognized to some degree within the community, but it does make me proud. Keep up the excellent work my friend!
Wow, amazed this video and channel aren't more popular. Superb job with everything. It's always great to find new channels with such quality. Before I knew it the video was over. I completely agree, I think fans of dragons dogma just expected a bit more. Completely my fault, but I played the game 100% blind and missed the alternative ending. I figured there had to be more to the ending than what I got but I ended up fighting the last dragon twice and just gave up and started new game plus. I felt a bit empty like the game ended too abruptly. After seeing that I had messed that part of the game I thought you know what, I'll do it on my new game plus; this was before the multiple saves or starting a new game. I just couldn't finish my new game plus run, the game is so easy and that made it tedious. The game was easy all around like weirdly easier than the first, maybe it was just me because I was familiar with the systems. New game plus seemed to have not added new enemies or even increased the difficulty. If anything it made it easier because they added the best gear to venders right off the bat. As a standalone game I guess it's okay, but I wouldn't have wasted my time or money. Its like a rehash with slight improvements, but also what feels like less content. If anything it made me go back to dragons dogma. I just thought they would have build on the dragons dogma foundation it was good, not perfect. Also glad you pointed out the camera, god it felt worse than the first. I don't remember having that many issues with the camera in the first one, not only will it go crazy when grabbing an enemy but also in tight spaces like caves and buildings. Really made me not want to explores caves because of that. Also might be tripping but you sort of sound like mandaloregaming. 😅
Thanks very much! I was just talking with some folks today about how weirdly confusing it is to unlock the true ending :/ I agree with you on all fronts. Theres something sort of irreverent about this one, like it didn't know itself well enough. I almost never go back to the original immediately after playing a sequel but I did here. Its funny you mention Mandalore, you're prob the 8th person to say that! It's true!
I never really go back to the earlier entry after finishing a sequel but this time i went back and was relieved, like I was home again. Time to play classes Ive never played, beat BBI, etc, just do everything Ive been building up towards over previous playthroughs cuz this game never gets old and 2 barely had me caring enough to finish it
its extremely disappointing how i have yet seen a review speaking about the REAL, BIGGER problem here. *We payed 70 dollars, for the same 40 dollar game.*
@HighFunctioningMedium wights get sent to the ground, dragons get forced to go back to melee, griphons can't cast lightning, chimeras panic and jump around for a couple seconds. I'd have to do more. I dropped mage as soon as I maxed it. Also, the pawns are terrible at using anything beyond the heal and the basic buffs/damage spells so half if this class is lost on them.
@relishcakes4525 nice! I'm always worried about giving pawns responsibilities beyond "hit that Monster a lot with your big weapon" or "heal" but sounds good ;)
Dd1 was a diamond in the rough. DD2 was a rough diamond. I enjoyed the game, but it’s pretty bare bones. 7/10. The combat just scratches an itches like no other and I still would like to see them improve upon this style of game in the future.
Yup, would be nice. I kinda hoped they add some new mechanic or something. I guess the oxcart counts but that was kinda necessary from the get go. Controlling monsters and having them fight other monsters woulda been fun, i cant lie. Kinda like Shadow of Mordor or God of War
@@MidnightMedium the first one wasnt as good (everfall). It was redeemed when BitterBlackIsle came out. Lets hope this will be the same plus increased difficulty.
There are 2 guaranteed chimera spawns, cliffside cave and waterfall cave. Waterfall cave can spawn as gorechimera. It's also worth noting that not all vocations like climbing, spearhand is one of the ones that isn't great at that business (actually only thief and fighter seem to be about climbing this time around). I've also found that only kindhearted mages will heal you outside of combat, but due to it taking a while and them not running in front of you to cast it you have to wait for it to happen, in combat all mages drop heals but usually at where they stand so you have to actively go to it. Since DD1 heal was targeted they could heal you from further away, only some inclinations seem to get close to melee to drop that heal. Now while I agree the Sphinx's riddles aren't great, the sphinxparent/father/mother thing is doable from a lot of different riftstones, or even your mainpawn if they have that name and moniker. The fight doesn't have to be 1v1 you simply must not attack the human parts (and pawns without mastery tend to attack the human parts). Rothais is not just a "Senechal -like". He is the Senechal, he just did a fuckup (not doing his job, because of the watcher/pathfinder). The first DD is about choices and will, the 2nd one seems to be about control (Pathfinder forcing events to happen a certain way, but the Senechal stays - running out of will eventually, causing problems). Also the Pathfinder (and/or Nex) are terribly translated if people who know Japanese is anything to go by. Considering that Rothais who was literally called the Senechal in Japanese and "king" in the English translation, I'm inclined to believe there are other translation errors. And again, if the fan translation of the original Japanese is in any way to be trusted, the actual meaning of what the Pathfinder tells you at the end is nigh inverted with the sloppy translation job. Now there definitely are issues (other than the translation) - the enemy variety is quite lacking - the performance could be better than 30fps (but then I have a 13 year old computer) and the game gets way too easy after the first few hours. Still, for me, it is pretty much what I expected (well, I did expect the story to make some form of sense, but then, again, if the fan translation is anything to go by, it does).
Lots of good points. Yeah, Spearhand bless his heart, is just a lumbering haymaker class a lot of the time. Guess that's why their specials are all about leaping to an enemy or spiking down on them. The Sphinx has some great ideas to it and while I probably dont have the patience to figure them out, that parent pawn thing was just like what in the world. I only waffled on calling him the Seneschal because the lore seems altered for this game as the Pathfinder or Worldforged as Phaesus calls it is Seneschal like as well, almost like a mix between the Elysion and the Seneschal, what with the hood and mysterious aura but acting like a kind of spiritual influencer as you do at the end of DD1. I also ended up conflating the Dragonforged and the Rivage Elder because a) I knew Id seen the term dragonforged and the oracle tells you go to talk to him next in the main quest line and b) because like the Dragonforged in the first game, the Rivage Elder bears a chest scar and talks as if he's been rattled by his condition. My mistake but it speaks to how remixing all the roles here in mostly the same but just different enough makes it easy to revert on the old archetypes of DD1 out of habit and misapply them to the new structure.
@@MidnightMedium Yeah in a game about cycles where every cycle has minor alterations having a sequel have many of the same things as the previous game sort of makes sense. Now as far as I understand it the Pathfinder = the Watcher. His job was to observe, but then the Senechal didn't do his job because he felt like there was someone above him even after all the trials, so the Watcher tried forcing the cycle, this lead to things breaking down and even the Dragon wanting an out instead of being a part of the cycle. And instead of gaining a new Senechal out of the whole Arisen business a single nation would just get a new ruler, which breaks the cycle even more since Rothais can't hold on infinitely. The first game is about the players Will and what they can achieve, the 2nd one seems to me to be about control, your character doesn't choose anything, he's told to do things by the Pathfinder and he does them because why not. Only by showing Will and acting in opposition to the Pathfinder can you create a new World, a World without the Pathfinder trying to control every aspect of it but having people make their own choices, which is what the cycle in the first game was about. In the first game you choose to hunt down the dragon and you choose to face him. In 2 you're told not to hunt the dragon but rather it'll appear when the story(Pathfinder) needs it to. Long story short, the World is broken and Pathfinder is the reason (Rothais helped).
@@Syaniitii ser that many ppl lose this narrative point which is the main reason of why all looks and is like it is, well done. The game itself and the Pathfinder itself explains it really. Rothais was the last seneschal which uncovered that something higher than him was watching him and he was part of others history. He rebels against that and comers down to make Vermund. But he was still seneschal. All the arisen after him were send against Rothais by Pathfinder. No one managed to best him. The Watcher or Pathfinder is (and stated by himself) a watcher who reads and makes sure the history made by The Higher Will is being done. All the Dragon Dogma Cycle is the answer to this Higher Will to the problem of individuals whit too much will moving out of his original history he made, making the whole world go into Oblivion to reset all. Tired of this the Higher Will made the Dragon Dogma so this "high will users" will now be the Arisen and fall into the normal history telling instead of being "Roge" history characters against the writer. The last one who truly managed to get roge like old times was Daemon from DDDA. That's why his second form with the dragon head on the chest is like the Pathfinder Dragon head. All this is stated and yelled at your face all time in the history but I see majority of ppl literally miss the point or lack the ability to understand it. So basically we have three power levels High Will (God) Pathfinder (Kinda like an angel) Seneschal (like a minister of the world under The Watchers look so all falls inside his "Lord" history) The watching one is this kind of right hand from the true God of DD universe (again calle the Higher Will of This World by him. In the true ending the most. I honestly found it to be in fact, a master history telling method to be honest. DD2 is literally a full continuity to DDDA. Roathis sits as seneschal on Grand Soren. The whole DD2 world is Old Gransys (you just needed to put old map from first game on and see. Grand sirens is good placed, old moontower is just under Vermund city, where you fight the most dangerous brine dragon. Old battle camp site and it's fortress is the old Gransys fortress where Grigori appeared to you in DDDA, and volcanic region is where old cassardis was more or less. Also in the game lore we still having Meloire Nation also so we can confirm also through that. I find ppl criticism of the history from this game usually lacking the knowledge of this things, which are the key and center of the history. I agree that could be better told at some points but honestly, when you understand this the game turns in a freaking master piece because finally you understand all what I moving around. In fact we can now see why Daemon was really cursed and got his own dimensional plane in the world. Now we understand why the Brine even submits the Seneschal, we now see that is in DDDA where not even breaking nothing but being part of the history telling like Rotahis after us (because he comes after us For sure) etc. Now, the lack of enemies and that is a freaking pain in the as, that's true. I miss my Hydra battles:( EdIt: sorry for the misspelling of words. Stupid phone is trolling me with autocorrect and with weird stuff
@@MidnightMedium right, again I'm sure I am nowhere near finished but I expected a lot less jank and more improvements after 10 years and much more powerful systems to run it on.
Ha dont be so sure. I couldnt believe how short the main thing was,figured id be able to do some main missions, get a little satisfaction then go back to the open world and the main quest was like bro i gotta go
@@MidnightMedium Seriously? Damn, I'm pretty much hanging around back in the starting area after getting my ass handed to me in the Beastren kingdom. I'll be wary of doing many main quests then.
@@custardgannet4836 Yeah Battahls not fun unless youre like level 18-20 i'd wager. Just be wary of doing the Battahl godsway quests. Once you get past those, you get kind of pulled down the tunnel indefinitely to the end like the everfall and such in the first game.
It’s just like the first one at launch a Diamond in the rough, with content updates or a major dlc it’ll add the necessary parts needed or most of it, one thing tho is this game is quite different, for instance the first game world was small and not much to do while this game is much bigger, that alone enhances the enemy variety feeling repetitive, bc it’s more stretched out, certain flaws of the first game can’t be seen bc of smaller scale, this game just showed the real issues of dd in general, but they also have a much larger base template to work off of, I’m saving judgment for which game is better for when the dlc comes out, only fair seeing as it’s going down the same track as the first, tho I can see dd2 beating it out, add more enemies, dlc adds a better story, more vocations, more weapons skills and gear, replay-able end game grind and add some more random systems of their choosing and it’ll def become a proper successor
I mean if new content drops and it hits, itll likely be because its less padded and more focused but they gotta commit to that. But its impossible to judge a game on what isnt there that you hope comes so that doesnt help this one as is, nor can it be counted on simply it happened before. And thats an even less tenable position because Capcom should know how to make the first release good since they already figured out how to make something better before
@@MidnightMedium yeah but it was a cash grab tbh, look at the development team size for the past capcom games, this game had 1/4 of it, and with monster hunter wilds having the camping system, it’s pretty obvious dd2 wasn’t taken seriously, especially with it beating expected sales, it had less investment and man power than normal capcom games, so I give it slack knowing it’s not ur average tripple a invested game for capcom, they still did decent tho, especially with having to make everything from scratch bc the last games assets couldn’t be Carried over due to a different engine, sad to see it was just an experiment, tho I have over 200hours, so I got my fun out of it
Great video mate as always. Fantastic work and effort. 👍I didn't get DD2 yet, wanted to wait, cause of alle the other optimization flaws. I know Capcom will fix that at least, like in their other games. When I saw a lot of the footage part two seemed to be a DD 1.5 game for me just from the footage. That would be ok, cause I really love part one. Ended it 7 or 8 times on the 360 and later 3 times on PC again. Still love it. When I saw, they are going to make DD2 I was so excited. But also aware. Capcom isn't as strong anymore like in the golden times. Then the character Editor dropped. Great, fantastic. I was ready for it. On release I've read a lot of bad reviews and news about it (today it's to dangerous to buy a triple A game blindly) and of course I waited. I want to confess, that the story alone isn't my biggest concern. I also didn't care a lot about the plot in the first one either, cause I think the storytelling of most of japanese games are often kitchy and not to deep. I can go with that in these games. But I want a good gameplay. Now I'm a bit confused about the title. Right now, I'm not interested in this title anymore. Maybe someday. And in sale of course. 🫡 Thanks for your thoughts about it and your effort. Greetings 🤗
I think the main takeaway is that the story mostly sucks. The sidequests are okay but hardly ever that memorable. Theres just very few "only in Dragons Dogma 2 moments." So that only leaves combat and exploration. Theres next to nothing to see in the wilds, its just backdrop for beating up saurians, goblins, harpies, or whatever in much the same way over and over. The minibosses are the only real destination bosses and they can be pretty exhilarating. But theres just not much linking all the disparate parts. If you just want a test chamber to try out different combst approaches, youll prob have a good time. The animations are really good and the vocations are much more specialized and distinct than before. But combat doesnt yield loot except to fortify what you already have and dungeons almost never have shit so why am i exploring? The combats fine and has some great emergent moments but its not that often and it ends up feeling just a repetitive as before. Im just kinda off the whole "why make it any better than before"
@@MidnightMedium Thx for the explaination. Understand that. Right now I'm not in the mood for that kind of gameplay. Someday maybe. I hope they will be creative maybe with an add one like Dark Arisen back in the day. I just played No Rest For The Wicked a lot. I know it's early access and I really love the project, but it was also extremely repetetive due to the lack of content. I'm exhausted 😮💨😁 and EDF 6 will also arrive this summer (finally) in the west and on PC. I think there's enough farming for me this year. It's a pitty with DD2, but maybe there's hope with extra content and over time. If you get some infos, feel free to share them. 🤗
About the talos quest: You said in the video its a good quest... errrr... if you ignore the talos he gets killed offscreen.. completly without your involvement XD Also they somehow managed to CUT content from this sequel. Gone are clothing layers, seperate armor for the arms, upgrading capes wich demotes them to mere cosmetics for the most part. The combat has become more chaotic with your character stumbling all over the place when hit by the slightest breeze no matter if youre a full plate clad warrior or a dainty sorceror. No hydra, no Evil eye, no Cockatrice, no gore chimera or cyclops... no different elemental half dragons... no gargoyles, no succuby, not even glacial harpies. DD1 allready had not the biggest catalogue of mob enemies. But to think that DD2 has even less variety then DD1 is allmost criminal XD The worldbuilding is also completly messed up. In DD1 the whole world seemed to go bananas because of the dragons comming wich gave you the feeling that yes, the dragon is a huge existential threat! In DD2 you get the feeling that the Dragons comming in an annual event akin to the friggin circus comming to town.. infact the NPCs seem to be happy that the dragon has come cause now they get a new Sovereign! Hooray? Grigori is a complete non entity in the game till the script says *insert big dragon encounter here* The human antagonists youre presented with here barely feel like a threat or a presence either. Atleast with the "upstart Zealot" he actually tried to sabotage the effort to fight the dragon.. but in DD2 there is no effort to fight the dragon from anyone to begin with XD What was the plan with dd2? A remake? Then why do they summon Gran soren as the castle from the ocean? Wich is basically the statement that yes: this is the same world.. only god knows how long later... but then whos the ghostman? Why is there no Seneschal? Why are the rules of the world rewritten on the fly? Why does the dragon suddenly want to end the cycle even though he is suposed to be an entity without free will or agency, send to the world to select the next seneschall candidate.... To me it sounds like the creative mind behind this games narrative and story got high on their own supply.. wich pairs perfectly with some of the outright weird statements they made during interviews...
Definitely! Pretty sure kitty cat man was the Seneschal tho it seems like that role is a bit more like cosmic steward than outright God so to speak. I got no indication from the first game you could just quit. I thought it was do the duty until a new Arisen beats you then hand it off. Definitely feels like a remake. The worlds rules are slightly different everywhere, enough to feel like retcons. And Talos is simply a cool setpiece
@@MidnightMedium The first game made a huge deal about testing the arisens will to push on despite all odds. I like the idea that committing self deletion with the godsbane and breaking the dragons dogma would be the ultimate test of will.. something that no one even considered before because no one dared to question the dragons dogma, that there allways must be a seneschall, a dragon and a arisen to continue the cycle.. cause thats what a dogma is: a religious practice/berlief that is not to be questioned. The second game completly ignored the cycle and replaced it with some nonsensical drivel: The "greater will" of the world created the dragon and arisen to eternally fight each other in a never ending cycle.... because otherwise the world ends... due to people getting bored and stagnating or something? What exactly do the dragon and arisen contribute so that the world doesnt die? Are you telling me that the dragon burning down half a village somehow saved the world from decaying? And if that all was the case, why does the dragons bargain still exist? Doesnt the bargain fly in the face of everything DD2 establishes about the cycle? And why exactly is it necesary to keep the people of the world out of any body of water? Why are the brine even necesary if such a localized conflict between dragon and arisen magically saves the entire world from.. something something world destruction? Hell the conflict between the two barely seems to register in a single region and theres a whole world out there left that isnt even aware that the dragon is out and about! DD1 made perfect sense once you reached the ending... DD2 doesnt even seem to know what the hell is going on in its own story XD
Id agree. It feels disconcerting to see things so similar and yet so alien. I think the unmoored world is an awesome idea mind you, but its just a cool concept given so little life, just sort of a haze over the world and this all too easy assemble the homies by doing fetch quests for them ending. Just so rushed feeling
@@MidnightMedium As many aspects of DD2 the unmoored world seems like someone started it... but never finished it. Infact most of the story, worldbuilding, design, classes etc. feel that way. As if they started everything at once and after half of it was done capcom was like: "Okay good enough.. ship it!" The thing with the unmoored world is though, while visually cool and even gameplay wise a cool idea (if they had put more effort into it) is that at the end of the day... its completly unnecesary and kinda idiotic of the arisen to cause the apearance of the unmoored world: In DD1 you where trapped as the seneschall in a never ending and very cruel cycle of death and destruction. Putting an end to it all made sense. The unmoored world basically only came to be for the lulz so to speak. You had killed the dragon.. you had your happy ending, your whole life ahead of you. Why the frig did your arisen feel the need to end the world and commit suicide again? What was the motivation here? To stick it to the watcher? And why would anyone in the unmoored world even listen to the arisen after he pulls that stunt? The cycle wasnt even so bad... one half of a backwater village vs. the end of the world? I know what i would pick XD "Yeah so.. i totaly am responsible for the end of the world.. cause you know.. was curious of what would happen.. no real reason.. but could you go all to the ruined castle plz? You will totaly be safe i swear!" That no one actually tries to murder the arisen on the spot is a miracle XD
When i watched reviews about how bad the story was i just assumed people thought this was a game with an inadept story but after playing its actually just bad bad like it wasn't thought of till the last few months of development
Right? And its not like they didnt have some really cool ideas that play with the rules of the lore and took it to new places but its so ineptly dramatized
This whole game had alot of good ideas but didn't fully finish and or execute the ideas. It's sad 12 or so years to work on this . I'm happy I own it. But this game could had been amazing.
Exactly my thoughts. Im coming at it from a creative perspective as well: if im basically porting the last thing i already made with minimal improvement, is that a worthy showing of my capabilities? Am I holding out on my audience?
It's so dissapointing to have what could be a amazing game fall flat because of just a few small decisions that were chosen or overlooked. Was excited for this game but choose to pass for various reasons, now that the hype is gone and the flaws exposed probably wont even buy on sale. I gather most feel teh same as the player count has absolutely plummeted to noting since release.
Yeah, I can't imagine people still thinking this is one of the best games of the year for long once the big stuff comes out. Lotta sequels coming out that look more promising
@@MidnightMedium elden ring dlc. will prob get best game, It's upposedly 70 hours which is bassically a full length game. May be disquakified sicne it's a dlc, but it's gonna be great, very excited for it.
I was so excited for this review after watching your take on the first game. My opinion might be a little more forgiving since I thought DD1 only needed a remaster, which is kinda what we got.
In a way. I dont think it has much of the charm of the original, either in its voice acting, music, or vibe. Its not like heinous, its just playing it far too straight imho
What i really dislike about DD2 is the way the game is padded out to waste your time needlessly. Quests lack clarity with no clear guidance where to go, having to walk almost everywhere while often being slowed down because your character is so often heavily encumbered. There's a difference between quality, enjoyable gameplay time and tedious/frustrating gameplay time. There are too many hours in the latter for me. Splitting the bow and daggers into two separate classes in DD2, was a terrible design choice. DD2 might have nice graphics, but as you said the world is pretty empty, bland and unremarkable. Overall it's just another triple A let down. They just don't seem to know how to make good games any more.
It's crazy, isn't it? If anybody should be risk takers, it's Itsuno or another Japanese studio. But somehow he's satisfied with artificial, uninteresting elusiveness and silly tricks that don't let people see many parts of what is still mostly unremarkable content while giving them little incentive other than trying to find SOMETHING interesting to do by going to the edges of the map. It's necessity that keeps you pushing on, nit curiosity because there's fuck all to see. But yeah, word, I can't stand games that expect me to applaud them for Death Stranding levels of arbitrary, boring travel that just means I wear out my ability to care before I get to a destination worth slowing down for. Just a fundamental misunderstanding of what's fun by adhering to this hardcore high brow game theory that doesn't play out well enough in practice
@@MidnightMedium @HighFunctioningMedium It's like Itsuno and the team have no conception of what made the first game a cult classic. Why are these developers becoming so risk averse? Do you think it's in part due to the fact suits are running the show behind the scenes? Is the creativity being strangled because they've seen companies like Ubisoft making a killing off their cut and paste approach that minimises creativity and negates risk? It's smoke and mirrors designed to get the player invested into the grind while attempting to conceal a bland, uninteresting, empty world, with, as you rightly state, 'fuck all to see.' Once someone has invested $60-70 they'll likely push on out of necessity. No-one likes buyer's remorse do they? Especially when we're talking about laying out 60-70 dollars or pounds. Where do you imagine this hardcore high brow mindset and approach comes from? Thanks for the review, feel you've articulated the problems well, and I really appreciate listening to someone who cuts through the bullshit.
That's what I try to do. No piece of art is safe from criticism in my worldview so I'm willing to lay it out or prop it wherever it's reasonable to do so. I think what really rubs me the wrong way is that Itsuno is just beaming and calling this game exactly what he wanted to do, which could be true, but then he shows he's out of touch with what he thinks is working or completely mischaracterizes what a mechanic does or how good it is. I'm almost more suspicious that he's happy
The vision shitsuno realized is actually worse than the first game he didn't even get to complete, this guy is such a hack, he didn't make DDDA or DDO which actually saved the franchise's reputation too.
@@MidnightMedium Kinoshita is the guy that directed it. He's on DD2 too, but for some reason none of his good ideas were implemented into the second game, guess they didn't fit into Itsuno's "vision".
@@user-wu6gt1gf1c Thats the issue right there. BBI is easily the best part of DD1. Its level design is much different and feels like an actual dungeon crawler worth the rewards. The game outside it from DD1 is meh but Isuno is the face of the IP so he is likely given the credit, despite his vision being the weaker implementation. It also explains why DDO has a lot more innovating monsters and features.. than the original.) He's given the credit for things he didn't do, while his game flopped originally. Maybe his vision just wasn't the best direction.
Unfortunately, I can't even disagree with your review. I pretty much agree with everything you've said. They made literally the same mistakes as the original which, oddly enough, had mostly been resolved in DD online.
Isnt it weird? People are so hesitant to hear that viewpoint I wonder if DD2s fanbase is mostly newbies to the series who dont realize how much better the first one and are somehow satisfied with a fineish ARPG. Guess theyre that rare or something
@@MidnightMedium it's going in a cycle much like the game itself. I've seen people that never even played the original describe the sequel as a 10 disguised as a 7... That's pretty much the sentiment from reviews of the original upon it's release. How do you manage to make the sequel a diamond in the rough with the SAME mistakes as the original. I'm so disappointed if you can't tell.😂😂
Yet another franchise I am not overly familiar with covered by you LOL. From my view the game sounds like it would be good in the isolation of itself without comparison, but when you consider the ten years in the making and its past successor it feels sad. Especially mentioning that so many people who worked on the first game were aboard on this one. Recently in many media sequels (or continuations of a series) feel like their target audience is a general enjoyer of the genre instead of a fan of past work. Based off your description and comparisons I can definitely sense that factor a bit here. When you discussed the end game in the brime (!?? i think….) section I felt more intrigued based off the graphics and premise. Obviously though we know how that played out and the build up felt dull which makes me sad just as a viewer…… anyways on an unrelated note I haven’t been caught up on your uploads (◞‸◟；) so I’m unsure if this is still an issue you’re dealing withh buttttttttt the audio from the mic sounds super good here!!
Glad to clue you in a bit! Thanks for complimenting the audio! So i think coming into this without knowing what Capcom already did better will help make this stand out much more. That said, its still pretty shallow
REALLY GOOD REVIEW. I like this game a lot 130hrs 3 restarts. Nailed all my thoughts about the game. My biggest gripe is the music. I listened to. DD1 music and my god its awesome. I feep like its the same game. Infact if combat is the only thing they both do well id rather play the original with bitterblack
Good review, hard to disagree. Good character creator and pawn system, interesting start to the game but ultimately very disappointing. Based on DD1 I was hoping for Elden Ring quality, but it's just a decent 7/10 or 8/10 game imho. Will not be playing this as much as DD Dark Arisen. It's insane that you can heal when your health reaches 0, I did that a lot.
Yeah its start off really well, like surprising amount of twists and resolving things but it's like they frontloaded the intrigue, assumed we'd all dork around and come back way later and forget how short this "arc" actually was. It feels like a different team remade the core concept and thinks no one remembers the first. I'm gonna be replaying Dark Arisen hardcore now to get the taste of this one out of my mouth and finally finish up enough New Game Pluses on Hard to get leveled for BBI
I've been watching the DD dialogue from the outside and it's honestly felt like long time fanboys just happy to get anything have been looking at the game with rose tinted glasses and overlooking what seem to be some pretty glaring flaws. Also this story has a real Kojima vibe where twists are layered on twists just because and then revealed rapid fire one after the other to a point where you have no clue where you even are anymore.
Kojima belabors the point but Itsuno barely introduces it before trying to cash in. I understand hes a gameplay first guy but yknow you are making something that requires at least decent narrative impetus. Whats so frustrating is the pieces are there too. And if itd been a janky but intact narrative, i think that would been enough to make the emotional moments land but they feel like theyve been constructed ahead of time and then a slapdash narrative constructed around them to "justify" them. I dont think theyre incompetent but theyre not committing to the rigors of what good ideas need
The worst example of me feeling like I wasted 70 bucks. Because of this game, not only will I never pre-order a game again, but I would have to wait a week or more because I feel like every game is just going to add a bullshit after released to dodge bad reviews now. I’m just tired of this industry.
Yeah i hear that. I dont preorder almost anything. The rewards never matter, box copies arent even split up between preorder and day 1 editions anymore and havent been for a decade or more, and you just boost their self inflated sales and ego at your own expense
Sure seems to be. Its so frustrating how much leeway they feel is okay. And worse yet, we never quite vote them out with our wallets either, do we? So they end feeling safe
@HighFunctioningMedium Man look at the Diablo 4 crowd. Those guys will attack you in a heartbeat if you dare, DARE rail against D4 in any capacity. It's a different age, and a new crowd I guess. But, then again, guys like Nerdrotic and Geeks and Gamers have definitely proven there's still people like us who just want good, fun games.
To me, DD2 seems like an incomplete early access game. I like it enough not to refund, but it is still irritating how unoptimized and poorly written the game turned out to be.
Yeah on console im not seeing performance dips but it is a weirdly hazy experience artistically. The first games bright and clear to this day. The writings just so mid. Its not even miserable, just halfhearted, like a first draft
That'd be a tall order I bet because of how disparate the architectures are likely to be 12 years apart but I'd welcome a STALKER Anamoly type mod that takes all the games in the series and puts them in the same map. That'd be a really challenging but probably super interest concept
I played the first one 12 years ago. The original one, not the later "Dark Arisen" version. It was janky and buggy. The lack of fast travel was a pain in the arse. All in all it was a hard game to like. But you could see the potential. That there was a better game here and maybe a sequel can deliver on the promise. Fastforward to 2024 and here is a game that makes all the same mistakes. The combat is ok now and the bugs are largely gone. But world is still bland. The plot is largely forgettable. The writing is real hack work and the voice acting feels like it was phoned in by an AI. The disapointment is real. The attempt to monetise fast travel with portal stones is a real scummy move that earned the game some well earned pelters. At the end you are left with, an "Ok" action rpg that could and should have been better.
Original game can grate, no doubt, and thank God for the eternal ferrystone from Dark Arisen to make it a lot more palatable. That said, the ox carts get you around very well once you understand their routes, well, except Battahl down to the coast, that still requires port crystals. Surprisingly, i always had just ferrystones to get around. It doesnt require any MTX purchasea to keep being doable, hence why I didnt even mention them. Games way more functional in that regard than first game if nothing else, and perfectly functional within its own ecosystem and economy. The only thing I found annoying was how shops only sell 1 ferrystone at a time so youd have to rest a day and come back to get any more, which is just a waste of time
The writers need to go if they make a third game fable 3's story has more depth to it and that is the worst of the trilogy still vastly superior to this
The Fable 3 jab, brutal! Yeah, I'm down about how the writing turned out. Some side quests have some room to grow on you like the ones I mentioned, but so much is a slapdash of concepts with no real story to tell
I loved the first game enough that I own it on Xbox 360 (first purchase), PS4, PC, Nintendo Switch and I've 100%'d it on each. Cbf to play past 30 hours of DD2, just disappointing to see how little they did. It's the same game, but worse, and with shinier visuals.
100% agree... put my review in the Dragons Dogma Facebook and that did me no favours, despite me being a massive fan of the first one and giving it a glowing review...
Oh sure, yeah. I did it there and on Reddit and got savaged. Im not hurt by it or anything, just amazed no one would even tolerate or hear me out. Its wrongthink to assume it has any flaws apparently. Was kind of amazed but not really. Gamers can be some of the most entitled, insular little weirdos sometimes
@HighFunctioningMedium DDDA was one of my fav games of all time... but DD2 just seems to have mobs in bundles copy and pasted every 15 yards... Wolves, with Harpies and Goblins... And that's broken up every 4 encounters with either Sorians or bandits... very lame... They didn't feel regional or zoned like DDDA... Just uninspiring and tedious...
I can see people not needing to hold it to very high standards or just going okay its got some fun combat but that doesn't make it some epic fantasy story. It has like zero lasting appeal but theres almost no good emotional stakes to anything and hardly any good quests
I do agree this game could do better and I guess you could call me a fan boy of this game. I played the first one multiple play through ontop of getting all the achievements in both games. Not bragging I just have some experience in both games though not perfect. There are areas I agree with you, though some points are I disagree and maybe have a civil discussion on it. I agree the monsters are lack lusker despite there being alot of different kinds but I feel like the game doesn't have much difficulty which leads to you not really getting to see the variety of how the monsters interact. Also There are a few weapons/armor you can find through monsters throughout the world. Some are in the normal play through and the special ending world. I have found some which I haven't seen in other peoples videos. I know these a small points not really important or to try to change peoples mind on it, just a discussion also don't want to spend lots of time typing out stuff and wasting time on you're end over small points. If you do read thank you for your time over this despite probably having more important matters.
@@MidnightMedium I get it I believe, feels like alot but no substance maybe? Lacking on deeper lore or more questions then anwsers. I know people talk about the actions though to me I feel like maybe they could have added more.
Yeah, its just very surface level in 2. Things just kinda pop up and arent given much weight. Its like they didnt have the whole project in mind as they made the pieces
Could see from a mile away. Never bought. Whatever game rabid fanboys talk up to the moon and can’t see the obvious inherent flaws of, stay away minimum a month. I saw the trailers and none of the damn faults of the first game were fixed, and some worsened. The 💩 brown filter which makes the game look like a 360 game? Stamina bar when running Which everyone complained about? Not having a better fast travel system nor mounts? Convoluted leveling system? Horrible writing? Medusa shouldn’t it have been Gorgon? Just the name breaks the fourth wall but the writer is an idiot who can’t even see that? Lack of monster variety and copy paste from first game could be seen from trailers alone, same goblins, lizard guys and cyclops, over over. Couldn’t fix the pawn system messing up new game and builds? Blame the blind fanboys who white knighted and defended everything… saying just give us the same as DD1 but more. Ijiots. Fanboys kill franchises every time. Elder scrolls. Fallout, dragon age, mass effect, CDPR, maybe even FF. Only Fromsoft has dodged the curse… so far.
Yeah I'm blown away people just hype up the art design or whatever and fail to realize its like living under a cloud for 50 hrs with dim lighting and weird contrast. Stamina bar not changing when we were told it would is just unnecessary bullshit. I will say the fast travel is actually much better. The oxcarts make the top 2/3 of the map pretty convenient to jump around in if you're city hopping. The bottom third with Battahl is way too big without even a port crystal inside the city to keep using, unless I just somehow never found it. Fanboys are atrocious for Dragon's Dogma. See how many negative comments my Dragons Dogma review got, despite being like 85-90% positive review if not more. They're so nitpicky and gatekeepy, it's unreal.
Believe me, a LOT of fans didn’t want the same game again. We wanted the first game done better, or at least without it‘s biggest flaws. The only one who is at fault here is Capcom.
It’s an amazing game if you’re judging by the core gameplay and combat. Other than that, the story is mid, and game is a bit bad. I still like it though.
I find that not having a "press X to become invincible" button for every class in this game definately helps enforce the class fantasy a lot. Not going to lie, while I'm a big fan of FROMSOFT's series, ye ole dodge everything being my main interaction with the enemy mob/boss to avoid any damage had gotten old and boring and I appreciate that DD wants some classes to focus more on their positioning and alternative ways of dodging rather than everyone relying on the same dodge roll, this is an RPG after all where you have party members that are supposed to cover for you, playing responsibly I have never found myself getting stagger locked to death tbh. Now the main downfall for me is that your ally AI is still.. not great. I really feel like this should have been a game with co-op and harder, deeper fights overall with NPC allies being optional if someone really wants to solo. The game already feels like a high fantasy MonHun anyway combat wise, with more RPG elements into it, yet they really swear by the ally AI, for an action combat game.. it's not great a lot of the time. (Also disagree about the Mage, honestly, this game brought back memories of what a CC class with actual utility looks like again, I had a lot of fun with Mage)
Mage prob just takes a lot of unlocks to get good but i found it so unsatisfying off the bat i dipped. Youre right and the whole "turn on my invinciblity" mode instead of dodge still feels like you have to dodge but with less precision
@@MidnightMedium Yeah Mage does take a bit to come online, specifically after Solemnity and High Paladium at least are unlocked, as well as their condition curing spells, they really come on their own as a solid support/CC class. Before that they kinda are just a less powerful sorcerer. Also I feel like a lot of classes are limited by the 4 skill slots as they just don't feel like enough.. Mage especially suffers from this due to having a bajillion buffs and support abilities that will never fit.
If you don't take your time and do a lot of exploring on your first playtru you won't enjoy this game all I hear here is that the reviewer rushed tru the game didn't explore didn't try anything other then the main story, and yes the story sucks but thw game play is amazing
Then you heard what you wanted to hear. I unfogged the whole map, messed around with the sphinx and the medusa which i mentioned, and did most sidequests, many of which i referenced directly. There isnt much out there to do, and what is there quest wise is often missable or fairly basic
@@MidnightMedium by your reply i can gather that you've played the game for more than 100 hours right? you were addicted to this game, and now that you burn yourself out you make a review saying im so dissapointed the game didnt keep going, i played the game more than 200 hours i enjoyed every minute of it i got my money's worth and more i may not be playing the game anymore but i loved it while it lasted the open world of this game is amazing the battle system is awesome the RP potential is amazing so if you want to write a review of a game do it before you burn yourself out because all i hear is misinformation, there is going to be DLC and i bet youll be playing the heck out of that when it comes out..
Def never addicted as I found it rather repetitive even 5-10 hours but I kept on and saw everything on the map at least physically so i could say i at least gave myself a chance to encounter most if not all of the quests or events within the space. Misinformation isnt defined as opinions you dont relate to. You havent accounted for any of my very specific critiques by saying you had fun. Thats just trading your subjective experience for my analysis, which I guess makes sense when youre somehow immune to burnout at 200 hrs but youve assumed I would be burnt out at a mere 100 hrs.
So Capcom looked at their existing perfectly functional monster-climbing mechanics from Monster Hunter, and decided "hey, we should copy _Wild Hearts!"_ Bold choice.
Ha i mean its the same as it ever was in 2012 plus the ability to let go while on a creature but yknow....whee. kinda wanted the ability to ride a creature or put it in submission to fight other monsters yknow? Thatd have been sick
Eh, personally I didn't find this that much worse than the original but I was really missing the set piece boss fights. I can understand wanting to make that kind of encounter an emergent part of gameplay but it really makes something like the griffin, this larger than life beast that called forth storms, just another pest by the end of the game, but maybe that's just me because these fucks would attack almost every time I rode a cart anywhere. I agree that the story needed some serious rewriting though, actually scratch that, it needed any writing at all. And as for the endgame, you don't even have to evacuate anybody, for me the credits triggered by just killing all the bosses tied to the beacons, and as someone that was rocking Mystic Archer during the colossus fight I did get to see that cutscene where he kills like three dragons and it was indeed cool as hell, even that doesn't make up for the big brine dragon being a credits sequence rather than an actual fight though. I think killing it stops the cycle because it's the primordial dragon from the first cycle or some kind of embodiment of the brine and thus the greater will? But honestly I don't even think the writers knew.
Despite all of the subjective criticism, the objective unescapable fact is that you will not experience the kind of combat perfection of this game in any other game ever made (except the first Dragon’s Dogma). Even if you agree with 100% of all criticism (which is unlikely), if you’re into combat mechanics and exploration, you’ll still find the experience extremely enjoyable and unique.
I can imagine you'd have fun for a bit fighting and trying out different classes but the exploration has so few rewards and is so tedious to run across and have to go the long way so often to change elevation, I can't buy that people think the explorations good unless they've not played anything but walking sims or something
Have to completely disagree. I am on 200 hours now and still having a blast. I do not even care about the story. The exploring is just too much fun. Best open world game I have played.
@@MidnightMedium I’m not aware but I doubt it. Casting still took forever which is something that needs to be fixed with the sorcerer class as a whole. Even the weakest spells still take far to long to cast. The point is sorcerer needs defensive options and I should be able to do a solo run as a sorcerer. I never liked the pawns because computer ai will never be as good as you. Much like in the first game the pawns were still pretty stupid. Enchanting my weapon with the wrong element, starting s fight when I wanted to just avoid it, or falling to protect me.
Yeah, i tried sorcerer in the og game and aside from brontide, spells arent very powerful unless theyre meteor storms and its boring how long they take to go off
@@MidnightMedium annoying how they got rid of the boom effects. A thunder boon when charged would bounce off of enemy’s and walls. Holy focused bolt would act like a shotgun and go through walls.
I never understood the love for DD 1 even. Tried to get into it a few times, it's just so damn generic and boring. It's like trying to play Oblivion 20 years later.
I mean I can very much understand not liking Dragon's Dogma in general. It's a game I still enjoy being in even when it's annoying the living hell out of me. It can be rather annoying. I just appreciated how charming the music, sound stingers, voice acting, and serene environments were even if something frustrating was happening in game, and how epic combat could be. Like a really nice blend of Eastern and Western sensibilities, though it could also be too little of either persuasion for some and I'd get it. 2 felt way too westernized but cheap. it didnt have enough quirk and the creativity it did have just sort of pops up sporadically
My first play through took 150hrs. I took my sweet ass time. I really enjoyed the overall experience. It has alot of issues. But for me it was a fun game. The combat is fun. But as u level up it becomes way to easy ! And every fight feels the same. I still am playing it, on NG+ .
Im glad! Im not interested of course in ruining anyones fun, just noting why it was hard for me to care after awhile. Its like the download speed/limit for the heights of what it offers was too quickly achieved and then worn out
Oh i just got done axing a comment about this was the worst review out there made by someone whos bad at games. Like two paragraphs were about mechanics but sure its a skill issue somehow XD
Obviously, this game is not finished. I would like to think, at best, the lead designer had a different vision than what CAPCOM had (due to the more liberal, progressive politics being pushed in gaming). I'm guessing he didn't wanna play ball, and had to settle with releasing the game unfinished as is. Or they're just really lazy. Either way, it's sad.
Bit of a stretch. Stellar Blades still got plenty of skin. The Stellar Blade thing isnt a really controversy anyway. Screaming for cameltoe to be added back in isnt freedom fighting against the libs
Dragon's Dogma 2 is deeply disappointing..."for me". Shoulda led with that title. I woulda actually sat through the 52 minutes of you making your points cuz it'd be taken from the perspective of personal opinion. But I'm gonna assume every word is spoken from the perspective of "my opinion is law and if you disagree you're wrong." Which is why I clicked on the vid, paused, wrote this comment and left without even giving airtime.
Its an implied self report because im the author and the only giving the opinion. Its also better to be visually concise when people are scrolling as many apps dont show the full title; more superfluous words that get cut off anyway are not useful
@@MidnightMediumThe only person I've ever seen say this besides myself. I still play the first game but actually couldn't stand the sequel. I didn't like the story or characters as much and everything feels stiff. It's simply not as fun to play, it featured an epic expansion, and The Game of the Year edition has a hardcore mode so it's actually challenging. The sequel is basically a horse simulator.
Certainly not most because it's selling gangbusters and the critics love it but there's plenty of naysayers, albeit a lot of it is whining about Denuvo and the very existence of microtransactions, despite the game's economy not being built around them nor is it even accessible in game. That's not to say Denuvo doesn't matter but if we're interested in the core experience being good or not, this other stuff is fairly anciliary. My main contention is that what's going defended as good isn't good for long before it becomes incredibly repetitive and there's nothing else of note to supplement it. Combats got its moments but quickly devolves into less interesting minibosses punctuated by endless trash mobs, and the fights are just as spammy with fewer true knockout moves that feel like youre exerting your will over these fairly uninteresting combatants. The quests can be okay but they're not incredible, even in a janky, charming way and they love to hide them in weird places and make them easy to miss for no apparent reason. The main quest is so rushed and half assed.
@HighFunctioningMedium I dunno a lot of the hardcore veterans of the game like myself have been loving it. The general sentiment in the more hardcore pockets of the community seem to be enjoying it.
Yeah, Id like to assume hes just sort of being true to some hardcore mantra that make sense theoretically but either way, he comes off as a bit out of touch if the end result doesnt even match the intent he states
Im sick and tired of these reviewers who gave bg3 a 10 and come here to dd2 and give it like a 5 or a 6 after investing 50+ hours into th dragons dogma 2. These people are brain dead and needed game guide mechanics to help them play baldur's gate 3. Im on my 3rd playthrough in dragons dogma 2 and all 3 went completely different cause i would take different route from the my previous run and i still haven't sphinx yet! Please, dont come here. We dont want your opinion. You have 1 life to live, dont insert your crappy opinion on everything in your 1st run. Or write a book so we can put it to the test.
34:12 this scene was one of few story cs that made sense to me tho. It shows _how_ arthur is able to control pawns with the godsway, its a constant effect that any pawn within radius of it becomes a mindless slave, so naturally your pawn getting in range would freak out having it mess with their head. Its same as when dragons mind control pawns during combat, having its powers harnessed directly. But idk why they didnt just leave your pawn behind for their safety then since you always do this when entering a no pawn section of the game like the human castle, forbidden magic lab, beast folk prison etc lol. False Arisen never made sense cuz many townsfolk saw you at your own coronation beginning of the game. They all forgot what you look like besides Bryant, really? Soon as you return to human city from pawn slave camp, you should get recognized but dont besides Bryant. But those outside of human city know who you are oddly enough lol. 47:48 you got the main pawn max affinity dialogue, i cried like a bitch there for mines. The script changes a ton based off your pawn's personality. My kindhearted pawn didnt say that wording.
I guess the idea was that Phaesus didnt want to lose out on the resources of pawns once he got rid of the Arisen/Dragon dynamic, as Arisen were the only ones who could otherwise. Well and good, but kinda outside the scope of the story and its barellly used to justify people's belief in the false Arisen. Yes! So i had this conflict in my mind about why people didnt seem to know your identity as Arisen all along. Ulrika tells us you were shuffled off after being made Arisen as if to imply you never quite made it to the public eye because Disa didnt want to acknowledge your new status but the coronation is shown to have happened plain as day. I think i balked at my initial reaction that it made no sense how they couldnt know who the real one was and i guess my confusion came from different plot points indicating you were never really ratified but you kinda were, etc. Yeah its funny. As stupid as the script is, they've got pockets of very well delivered lines or momens, kinda like they were realized in a vacuum or just ones they liked got done well and the rest were scrimped on and just kinda hastily sewn into the plot
Layering clothes was sweet. I like games making it feel like youre gaining every small advantage you can. Yeah the dragon was lamely built up, wasnt nearly as good as first game, then basically the final boss is figuring out how the f to trigger the better ending
@@MidnightMedium mainly I like about the Senechal was the dialogue, music.and after beating it and facing it again on new game plus,it's appearance changes to your previous Arisen
