Dragons Dogma

       An updated version of the previous Dragons Dogma 9.5 post. At the time a full review of the game was still under some personal speculation, more thought and game play was needed before final review would end up here. And now it will.

      Dragons Dogma was Capcom's attempt at creating an open world rpg, they took several ideas from many great and successful games and joined them into one. The most obvious would be Shadow of the Colossus; Capcom used many big creatures in their game where you could clime up and fight their week points or grapple and hold many of the smaller creatures, my favorite was grabbing a harpy by the talons and using it as my personal taxi up into the sky's. If you notice many of the moves in Dragons Dogma resemble Devil May Cry Series moves with their own added flash, the vast majority of open space was brought upon by the raging success of Elder scrolls Skyrim, and some relate the fighting style to Dark Souls (I don't see it, it's more like Lord of the Rings War in the North on crack.) Many people try to take ideas from other games and fail miserably but Capcom did it right.

A prophesy was foretold many generations ago where the arisen, one with the will above all others commanding a legion of pawns will rise in ranks to defeat the dragon and save all of Gran Soren. YOU ARE THE ARISEN!!!

      Dragons Dogma is simple enough, you're city is attacked by a dragon you single handily try to save the ones you love and the place you've grown accustom to, just to have you're heart ripped out of your chest to feed the dragons raging hunger. Then you the arisen must take up arms with the accompany of your pawn to reclaim your heart. The story isn't something to go home raving about but that's now where the game shines.

      The First amazing thing was the character customization where anyone and everyone can be crated to some realistic sense, and if time was spent a duplicate of yourself and friend could be virtual inserted into the would of Dragons Dogma.                                     (below are a few examples)

Katara off of Avatar

  

Chuck Norris as Chuck Norris

     

      The next was the fighting style, it was like nothing I've ever played before, a hack and slash topped with overpowering physical skills and earth shattering magical effects, the ability to climb on enemies to slack their weaknesses or unbalance to make them topple. All enemies have an elemental weakness from fire to dark, enhancing your weapon to the enemies weakness is the easiest way to gain the advantage, then climb up the the weakest spot and slash away till the enemy falls. Darkness means danger, Don't wander off the road, Don't travel at night, and always carry a torch. The forest blankets the floor the darkness and monsters lurk in shadows, stay away or prepare to defend yourself.

      The last was the pawns at times the AI doesn't do what you want it to do, but most of the time I would struggle when even one of my members fell out of the battle; Pawns have a special ability to travel the rift, a place where all universes converge into a central spot, pawns are made to serve man and the arisen have all power over pawns themselves. Lifeless dull never shut up pawns, Mans Best Friends. While your pawn stands by your side they are also traveling with another through the rift obtaining information about quests, enemies, and the world around them. Your main pawn can be trained to do as they please or protect the arisen, search for items or not give a crap, say their minds or only spit out useful information.

      Loot was plentiful and worth searching for but their wasn't a whole lot of equipment changing along the fly, each weapon and armor piece could be upgraded to +3 then a chance to upgrade to +4 after defeating a dragon. The equipment was nice and looked good but i would have liked just a little bit more stuff to wear, other than that the gathering of herbs and wood were essential for almost everything and I left all of that scrounging for item to my main pawn. And the more you play the more powerful you become, at first a group of goblins would give me trouble but half way through the game they were just a nuisance. Player progression was fast and fun, testing new skills and applying them to battle was the highlight of the game, oh how accomplished i felt when i could single handily take down a group of harpies and two helmeted cyclops, nothing could bring me down, I was INVINCIBLE!                     (Below are some loot options)

Lady's Garb

Griphic Armor

Story

Good but not more than skin deep, actions in game affect story outcome but nobody tells you when an important decision is in front of you.

5/10

Gameplay

Amazingly fun and brutal but every game has its disadvantages and this one is no different.

9/10

Graphics 

Graphics were good not the best but better than i thought they would be.

8/10

Music

The Soundtrack was amazing I would sometimes just sit there listening the music no worry in the world.

10/10

Entertainment 

The Game at times was slow and daunting with nothing more to do than search for medallions scattered around the world, and completing what seemed to me to be pointless tasks though some of that might have been to me displeasing, a new area with new creatures was always around the corner soon to be discovered.

9/10

Replayability

After death the world starts anew with an amusing twist where characters can be remade and the journey experienced a second time. Same level and same equipment from when you ended made an easy run through of the story. With 9 Classes to choose from each one is fun and different from the next leaving a new strategy and a new way to play.

10/10

Overall

8.5/10

Personal Score 9.5/10  This Game Is A Must

Drawbacks

Rare items must be used for fast travel, spending half of the game getting somewhere tumbling over the bodies strewed across the floor from the thousandth time you've crossed the same path killing the same goblins, makes this game a long one, but with that said killing many small creatures eventually you'll level up.

Pawns may learn of the environment, creatures and quests but they do not learn about how you fight, with no strategic radial menu pawns would do as they see fit and annoy the crap out of you because of that. WHY DON'T YOU USE FIRE WHEN I'M COVERING THEM WITH OIL ARROWS YOU STUPID PIECE OF PAWN WHY DON'T I JUST SACRIFICE YOU TO THE DRAGON AND LAUGH AWAY MY PAIN! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

The Limited use of stamina when running made getting somewhere tedious but as running may be faster it does leave you vulnerable to attack. (Not complaining about use of stamina in the world when running but it is something some people could have a problem with.)