ThePreGameLobby Reviews - Dragon's Dogma

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Platforms: Xbox 360, Playstation 3
Release Date: May 22nd, 2012
Reviewed by Anthony

When I had first heard of Dragon's Dogma, I was pretty uninterested; it seemed as if it didn't have anything setting it apart from the other RPGs out there. Near it's release I started taking interest, a promise of an open world RPG with combat done by the same people that did Devil May Cry? I decided to pick it up, and I'm glad I did, Dragon's Dogma stunned me and presented a fun and new experience that certainly stands out.

Opening Up

Dragon's Dogma opens up with a short prologue giving you a brief glimpse at a complicated story and a chance to get a grasp on the controls before placing you in control of your own character, The Arisen, one who is challenged by the Dragon and as such destined to vanquish the Dragon. As with The Elder Scrolls series and countless other RPGs the way this character looks like is completely up to you with the game giving you multiple customization options.

The main story opens up with your character living a simple life as a fisherman when a dragon appears from the sky and attack, naturally you take up arms in an attempt to take the Dragon down and after futile battle you lose, and your heart is stolen by the dragon, with that you chose your class and begin your quest. What follows is story that in terms of presentation has its ups and downs, with cut scenes and events either being absorbing and spectacular or lack luster and seemingly unpolished. But while the presentation was a bit iffy the game itself doesn't disappoint.

How It Plays
When it comes to classes, you start with three basic classes that focus on the games three mane archetypes: Melee, Ranged, and Magic, all class (nine in total) stem from these, three being the basic starters, each of these have an evolved version that focus on gameplay changes as opposed to a straightforward boost in strength, The last three classes are hybrid classes which mesh the archetypes together.

One of the benefits that come with being the Arisen is the complete loyalty and servitude of Pawns, the Pawns are a race of human looking beings that come and go through rift stones, stones that allow them to travel to the rift and by extent various dimensions. When first introduced to your position over the pawns, you create your own, and also prompted to hire 2 others, this is where things get interesting. In Dragon's Dogma you only have complete control over the stats and abilities of yourself and your created pawn, your remaining two party slots are filled by pawns hired from other players (or if you are playing offline, preset pawns). You can hire pawns by either going to rift and use a search system for specific results or hire one of the various pawns you can bump into naturally in the world. Pawns naturally have different levels and abilities, but also have different knowledge, what this entails is that pawns will gain knowledge about quests and enemies and share them with whatever Arisen they happen to be following. Your pawn is able to be hired as well, and can return with quest knowledge and gifts. One last thing to note about is that when you end a pawns service to you, you can rate that pawn based on; appearance, helpfulness, and battle effectiveness, as well as send the pawn back with a gift for the other player.

Besides pawns, what sets this game apart from other RPGs out there today is the combat. Put simply, the melee combat is a blast, the Devil May Cry guys really know their stuff, and it shows; abilities are fast, brutal, and satisfying, you switch between weapons and attacks seamlessly and you're constantly moving, but besides your ground based attacks you are also able to grab, hold down, and, just like Shadow of the Colossus, climb enemies. Getting down to specifics, what abilities you can use is dependent on your class and weapon type, not every class can use every weapon and every ability, and each weapon, primary or secondary, has strengths and weaknesses. Swords are your basic mid-speed/mid-damage weapon while daggers excel at fast and relentless strikes. While I think the combat in this game is exceptional, I couldn't get into any magic using class, it just feels like it was meant for purely support and the speed of the combat normally tramples over you when you use it.

Summary
Single-Player – 8.5: In Dragon's Dogma, you're presented with a lengthy main quest and a plentiful amount of side missions, and while the overall experience is good, a lot of your quests lack depth, and in some cases get repetitive. The “Kill this many of this enemy” type quests make up a bulk of your side quests, however these are handled well, conveniently giving you the rewards for the quest without the need to return after completion.
Multiplayer – N/A: While there is no traditional multiplayer to speak of, the pawn system of Dragon's Dogma is at it's finest when coupled with an online connection, in fact playing without one is seemingly crippling it. The connection between players is subtly woven into the core of the game mechanics for a unique experience, even if it has it's flaws.
Visuals – 7.5: In terms of visuals, Dragon's Dogma sits comfortably between artistic and realistic, and the minor effects that take place within the world come together on top of them to form an averagely appealing sight.
Audio – 9: The soundtrack is something I wasn't used to from a video game, when I first turned on the game I was greeted by a slow orchestrated build up that led into an exciting tune the incorporates rock, and this sets the stage for a majority of the battle pieces which follow the same formula, aside from that town music captures the calm yet bustling feel you associate them with, and the menu music have an out of character smoothness to them. The whole thing comes together very nicely and it a pleasure to hear.

Bottom Line – 8.5: It wasn't until close to it's release that I took interest, and I'm glad I did, Dragon's Dogma stunned me with impressively fun combat and a surprising story, and while being a bit rough around the edges with some places lacking the polish and enthusiasm most of the game contains and although is isn't a true open world experience, I fully enjoyed it, and I hope to see this expanded upon in the future.