I often see Dragons Dogma recommended. I’ve tried it myself and was… puzzled.
It’s full of huge UI and gameplay inconviniences. Like you have a light source on your belt and you have to go to inventory and look for oil fromtime to time to replenish the light source. And if you’re splashed with water you have to go through relighting the lamp again. And you have to unequip it when there’s light, you can’t just turn it on and off.
There’s combat system that looks complex, kinda like Dragon Age Origins without control over your friends. You can give them vague recommendations on how to act from time to time. But in practice it means that you have relatively minor control over combat. And your stats and equipment and skills don’t mean much. Plus there are cheap potions that you can drink at any moment, even when incapacitated. So if you die then it’s because you went into high level location where people oneshot you and you can’t do anything to them.
It’s one of those numbers-focused RPG: it’s a good action game like Dark Souls where personal skill can compensate for character weakness. It’s not a good tactics game like Divinity OS/Might&Magic/Pillars of Eternity where right preparation, right character progression and party composition can allow you to punch above your weight. It’s more like modern Assassins Creed games. If you’re in a wrong location you know it cause people kill you in a couple of hits and even if you can do something clever about it there’s no reason to. Disappointing from mechanical standpoint and story department is rather boring.
But nighttime is really dark!
-Tom
Also, Starcraft is a terrible Civ game and Mario is the single worst city builder I’ve ever played.
Dragon’s Dogma is a brilliant little action RPG. If you had to control the entire party it would be operating in a completely different genre. And I gather you didn’t get very far, since stats, skills, and equipment matter enormously as you progress. Clearly it wasn’t your cup of tea, but then it doesn’t even seem to be in the same genre you were looking for.
And you can climb up a hydra’s neck and lop its head off! Show me another game where you can do that dynamically.
But I’m arguing it’s not a good action game. Controls aren’t responsive and you win by bringing bigger number to a table. It’s not an action game if you can bring 100 potions with you and endure through any boss, and it’s not a good action game if you depend on how often your companions do the thing you want them to. It has no action economy and the only remotely interesting thing that may happen in combat is your knowledgeable pawns informing you that goblins are afraid of fire and thus will die slightly faster if you cast fire on them.
I mean, I guess you can argue that, but it’s pretty clearly a matter of personal preference. I found the controls vastly more responsive and reliable than most other games of this sort, action RPG’s always have a stat component, you’re drastically over-exaggerating the potion thing, and pawn management is something I sincerely wish other games in the genre would adopt. Plus the boss fights are seriously the best I’ve ever seen in the genre.
You’re describing a completely different game than the one I experienced. Dragon’s Dogma has a lot of ropey parts, it’s not all good. But the stuff it does well, or uniquely, it is incredible at. I wish someone would rip it off!
Alek I actually agree with you on some if not all those points (except for responsive controls – ) --which makes me wonder : Were you playing on a mouse and keyboard? or a controller? It is night and day in that game.
I would also argue that the pawns make up (not eye lining) makes some strategic sense. There are some fantastic set piece battles as well.
Gear, stats and class all have a role.
Plus I daresay it is a very fun game to play! (Vin can I say “fun”? I am never sure if that is good …)
Controller.
I came to it fresh from Dark Souls and expected more tactical gameplay given that you get a party.
Today is Wednesday! Tonight our very own Tom Chick is streaming Dragon’s Dogma : Dark Arisen - Steam link
You can find the Twitch stream here.
You can find the non-night mode YouTube stream here.
And you can find the YouTube night mode stream here.
This was this week’s Request Wednesday winner! If you have a game that is on Steam or that Tom owns on the PS4 that you would like him to stream, you can leave a vote in the comments section of one of the videos he’s posted on YouTube or stop by the Monday or Friday stream and submit your vote in the chat.
Hmm – I wonder … I think Tom actually liked this.
Tom’s 4 star review of Dragon’s Dogma:
What is a dragon’s dogma, anyway? I mean, they’re pretty attached to their big piles of treasure I guess.
That would be Dragons’ Dogma anyhow.
Everyone seemed to agree it had the darkest nights.
It’s Friday night and tonight our very own Tom Chick is again streaming:
Dragon’s Dogma : Dark Arisen - Steam link
You can find the Twitch stream here.
You can find the non-night mode YouTube stream here.
And you can find the YouTube night mode stream here.
Voting for Request Wednesday is now open so if you’d like Tom to stream a game that’s on Steam or that he owns on PS4, why not stop by and vote for what game Tom will stream on Wednesday.
Hmm Tom did surprisingly well. Then we noticed he had a huge burley Pawn …. I wonder…
Every so often a Request Wednesday vote will sink it’s teeth into Tom.
Marq! You ok? I was semi-slightly worried.
