Dragon's Dogma 2 SUCKS

[@strapps5404]

I'm actually baffled by the fact that Dragon's Dogma 2 suffers from almost every single issue the first game did. The lead up to release with all of the press events and reveals led me, and I assume many others, that this game would be colossal. Usually trailers only show low-mid tier content like early game zones and enemies along with a couple of the more impressive bits sprinkled in to build hype. The amount of stuff they showed in the lead up to release; the Dullahan, the Sphinx, 10 vocations etc., gave the impression that there was still much more to be discovered in the game itself. My biggest disappointment came when I finished the game and realized that there WAS nothing new to discover. They showed off literally everything new and interesting before the game even came out save for a few of the epilogue bosses, and everything else was just imported from the first game. The dragonforged, the whole choice during the dragon fight, half the vocations, and the entire progression/stat system. I've played it all before. 12 YEARS AGO! Enemy variety is still terrible, the story is still mid (and imo even worse than before), the flat defense system is still horrible and unbalanced, pausing to chug health and stamina items still trivializes the game, difficulty is still determined by your patience in gathering said consumables, and the affinity system, probably the most complained about and broken system in the first game, IS STILL EXACTLY THE SAME! I'll grant that the combat is alot more fun than in the original but there's nothing to test it on. When dunking on all of the enemies from the first game with all the flashy new toys it honestly kinda feels like playing Skyrim with some unbalanced and over the top modded weapon. It's just not satisfying because barely any enemies are designed to handle it. You either stunlock everything to death or you get stunlocked to death. If you were to downgrade the graphics and send this game back in time to 2012 to replace the original, nothing would change. You could compare internet forums from the time and you couldn't tell them apart. It's so sad because they by all rights should have had the time and resources to bring the worst aspects of Dragons Dogma up to par with the best aspects. But they didn't. That, or they couldn't. And I'm not sure which is more sad. Sorry for the essay but I've wanted to rant about this game for a while and I hope it was at least enjoyable to read.

[@Valosken]

@@strapps5404 Thanks for the comment. All I can say is that the issue with the trailers is a Capcom moment. This is what they do. They reveal absolutely everything except the final boss and endgame. This is why after Gamescom I’m going on a full Monster Hunter media blackout so that I can actually enjoy MH Wilds when it comes out.

[@tristanward9937]

You're wrong. If you sent this back it would actually be worse than DDDA. I don't understand how you go backwards with a sequel but Capcom has the talent.

[@KayneZEHN]

Agree with all you said

[@omniken2494]

I JUST SAW THIS EXACT REVIEW ON STEAM WORD FOR WORD BAR FOR BAR

[@strapps5404]

@@omniken2494 necro reply but yeah thats my review. decided to copy it over since i put so much effort into this comment

[@derialnmau]

What I understood from the true ending: 1. The Pathfinder is the Brine and it is also the void 2. The Dragon is the pupuse given to the void by the Great Will, so it would not destory the world, it keeps the Pasthfinder (the Void) busy, by making it retaining the circle, the world is it's playground 3. Arisen kills himself (breaks the circle) but the Void brings him back to the ruined world (as usual, when you fell into water) 4. After Arisen weakened the Void by killing the end game bosses, the Void reveals itself in a form of a dragon and tries to run 5. Arisen kills the void and himself. No more Void, the world is free of Brine/Pathfinder and the old man can now finally go on a boat somewhere

[@RedStar441]

DD2 really just breaks the established lore of the cycle over its knee and rejoices at its achievement. Something as simple as an eternal cycle wasn't enough for them. When Rothais was talking about all the stuff he struggled with I just kept thinking "You're the fucking seneschal why is this even a problem for you." but I thought the Pathfinder was the actual seneschal and Rothais was an Arisen that just stayed in the world after killing the dragon. It's really fuckin confusing.

[@Anticheat666]

The old man is also arisen

[@Upsetkiller456]

DD2 was a pretty sad letdown. The enemy variety and story just...stopping at the midway point makes me think the game was rushed.

[@Valosken]

@@Upsetkiller456 Exactly. You can tell they had a vision for it that at least had the quality of the first game and then were forced to drop it and scramble to finish the story.

[@Revanite88]

Tell me you didn't play it without telling me

[@zzodysseuszz]

@@Revanite88 sadly, that’s half the comments and the video.

[@Upsetkiller456]

You mean me? I definitely played it lol. I made it all the way up to the dragon fight before I stopped. I maxed out a decent of vocations and did a majority of the side quests.

[@Upsetkiller456]

I was extremely excited for DD2 because of how much potential DD1 had which is why I’m sad that it was such a disappointment

[@YeOldeMachina]

DD2 is my #1 most disappointing game of all time. With a few changes, this could've been amazing. It has so much potential, but some of the design decisions are baffling to me. My biggest problems were that its piss easy after level 30 or so, you cant find any gear from exploring that you cant just buy at a merchant, and only having half the skill slots of the first game had me in disbelief. I stopped even following the story about 1/4th the way through. Something clearly went wrong in development. I think maybe Capcom wasn't sure if it would sell or not, and the team wasnt given the proper time or resources? That't the only thing i can make sense of.

[@Valosken]

@@YeOldeMachina Time is the likely culprit. There’s signs the story was rushed in the game after a certain point, and we also heard that the game was forced to come out before this new fiscal year.

[@YeOldeMachina]

@@Valosken that's unfortunate. A gigantic missed opportunity. I'm still hoping for a DLC to address some of the gameplay issues, but the story is truly unsalvageable. Maybe in 2035 we get DD3...

[@Valosken]

@@YeOldeMachina My hopium/copium is that they realise there's a desire for Dragon's Dogma at this point and will create a DD3 earlier. One last chance...

[@YeOldeMachina]

@@Valosken i would also love to see DD: Online get a big western release. I'm not typically into MMO's, but DD: Online looks great to me. Tons of vocations, enemies, and lore that's not in either mainline DD game. Capcom had a survey up recently where tgey asked all kinds of questions about paid expansions and game features. Hopefully it had a positive response.

[@GottEddy]

​@@Valosken Maybe they will release a "finished" version with all DLCs and updates.

[@yoredrag-onight4204]

i honestly with all my heart believe Capcom could learn a lot about enemy variety and placement from Souls games because it is ridiculous how we still haven't moved from the core of saurian, wolf, harpy, goblin after a decade of waiting. I do not care if we had 6 variants of those core enemies it does not change the fact they are goblins, harpies, saurian, wolves. Hell it feels like some of the returning major monsters lost some core attacks like chimeras pouncing you and ripping you a new one or the snake being able to grab you or Cyclops grabbing you and biting you/ smashing you into paste between their hands. We are even copy pasting the QoL from the first game that should have already been baked in here like the equipping things from storage ffs. the point about the music is also glaringly true throughout the playthrough the entire sound track basically lost its entire unique identity and Leif Motifs for generic orchestras and fantasy music gone is the absolutely magic of themes like the Cassardis theme, the Witch Wood theme, or the theme that plays in Bitter Black Isle safe room with the healing spring. Dragon Forging is way less epic no longer literally forging your equipment in the fiery blood of the drakes and dragonkin you kill directly instead you just talk to a guy and treat like another black smith. the world space is boring there are no true interesting unique major landmarks like the female and male bandit camps, the Hill Figure Knoll, the passive cyclops owned by those bandits you can feed, or the giant healing stone. characters have no charm or lasting impressions discount Palpatine was a meme Fournival was sugar daddy Equipment guy with his "Masterworks all you cant go wrong!" Madeline's 2 Madelines as well as her earnest drive to become a earnest profitable and well known merchant Mercedes and her want to prove herself Duke Edmond a past arisen with a more interesting backstory than stand in chump from dd 2 who did literally jack shit Festy hey man he gave us a hat Duchess is a harlot but at least she had more screen time and a clear purpose to be a major beloved than all of dd2's combined and etc the Seneschal while a ez boss was a cool af way to iron down the point that we are in a never ending cycle with how we could fight our past arisen as seneschal with our old pawns the quest structure was better how the encampment properly introduces you to the potential and importance of pawn teamplay and diversity, as well as the hydra how meeting Madeline at Cassardis introduces escorting and her quest line how we had miss able cutscenes and events that encouraged exploring and going around the map at different points of time like finding discount Palpatine lurking around Cassardis the night thief in Cassardis the unknown assassins the optional shop in the mines we could unlock once we clear it of ogres and etc lets not forget the cool thing that happens when we let the griffon live to go to blue moon tower how we had foreshadowing to the cockatrice with its supposedly dead corpse outside the city reviving the black smith's son which also teaches you about wake stones the initial ever fall exploration leading to the evil eye in dd2 you just explore with no aim or purpose, hell in dd2 you aren't even rewarded for your labor of putting port crystals down because they are erased after you start new game plus. a game does not need to be massive or have a ton of actual playable space to be a good open world. Context, purpose smart usage of space, and CONTENT are! there is nothing memorable about dd2 its just a middling unremarkable game that does not live up to its predecessor. which somehow had so much replay ability, charm, and personality despite having apparently 60 or so percent of its original content cut because of budget and time.

[@Valosken]

This is the best comment so far. I wish I'd remembered a lot of this. Thanks a lot. I could feel the lack of good characters, but man just looking at your comment made me realise that it's basically 10 good characters for DD1 and ZERO for DD2.

[@jstandhh]

WELL SAID

[@gh0uli3e]

Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen is still top tier

[@chrisk3835]

It's simple - DD2 is way too easy and the world is too big for the "hard traveling" that makes the first one special. And in the first one I was really afraid of the dark - a few wolves could kill you in seconds if you travel in the night

[@kadajshin]

My personal review: DD2 is the perfect demake of DDDA.

[@JuliusCaesar103]

My biggest letdowns: 1-dungeons are so forgettable, especially since I hold those of the first game in such high regard, all of them in the base game have such distinct identities. 2-combat becomes so incredibly easy and once that happens, it never becomes hard again, in the base game the enemies were hard throughout, get easier, and then the post game makes everything hard again. 3-the quests except maybe 3 have no standout qualities whatsoever, I was thinking of maybe doing a second playthrough but there is just nothing for me to truly look forward to. 4-the story being just trash. Enough said. 5-enemy variety that is seriously lacking, even compared to the first game and enemies being muuuuch more frequent And some more that I forget since it's been so long Edit 1: Forgot about the vocations being watered down, goddamn that was disappointing, instead of giving us more slots they gave us less....I cannot understand this, R1 or L1 i stead of being an access to 4 more skills is now a button that only does 1 thing...how did they think this was a good idea 2: the open world was sooo forgettable, no areas that truly stand out except maybe 5-10, truly a waste of space 3: got chills the second you put the griffin theme, the second's music is...I can't remember a single tune

[@garrick3727]

It's weird how the "Game of Thrones" plot goes out the window halfway through the game, and not in a way that makes it an intentional story beat. Its like the HBO series served as part of the devs business case for making the game, "Look Capcom, we have dragons we just need thrones and it will be a hit. " Then they likely took way too long to make the game and Capcom got justifiably impatient and forced the devs to wrap it up. I don't blame Capcom- 12 years is a very long time. Given the relative lack of innovation, I suspect the devs are just working on something that is out of their league.

[@Valosken]

@@garrick3727 They did not work on this game for 12 years.

[@marcog.verbruggen674]

DD2 made me absolutely incensed. No need to cover the awful story and broken mythos, you've covered that pretty thoroughly. But everything else about it was a letdown too. Map/exploration: The map tries to look bigger, but I find it hard to believe that it is by any significant margin compared to its predecessor - huge sections of the map are impassable, at least a third of Vermund is a giant mountain that is completely inaccessible but makes the kingdom appear larger in terms of play area because it's smack dab in the center of it. Most of what map there IS is empty space dotted by EXCESSIVE encounters with extremely limited enemy variety and uninteresting caves and dungeons; Travelling by foot was an absolute pain in the ass because you're harassed by the same shitass goblin mob every 15 steps, in a game that encourages you to travel on foot with its limited fast travel system. The fast travel system comes in the form of oxcarts, which can take you between exactly 4 locations in the entire game, 2 of which (Melve and Border Checkpoint) are borderline pointless (one literally being just a mid-way breakpoint on the way between two others), while portcrystals are rarer than in the original and one of the only 2 pre-placed crystals is in a completely pointless area (sure, the village ends up becoming important, but in terms of where the only 2 pre-placed portcystals should be, my first choice wouldn't be "The Main Hub City" and "The Empty Village Within Walking Distance That Becomes Important Once At The End Of The Game") Combat: Overall feel of the combat is fantastic, and the sheer fun of it was the only thing that made the game bearable to the end for me (that and sheer spite driving me forwards just to be able to say I played the whole thing when explaining exactly why I hate it), and the new vocations are interesting. However, everything else is a step backwards. I always said the one thing holding DD1's combat back from perfection was the fact that we should've had 8 skill slots on every class (skills are bound to left/right trigger + X/Y/B, there's no reason why there couldn't be 2 more for A as it is completely unused except for jumping and we can just let go of the triggers to restore that functionality) and instead we get only 4 - a step backwards from 6; Mystic Knight is gone - Mystic Spearhand, it's replacement, is great fun, but nothing in the game now fulfills the same gameplay style or class fantasy that MK did, and the vocations that did stay from the original game are neutered in terms of options, made even worse by the limited skill slots; The overall balance of each vocation is also completely obliterated, while one has been split into Thief and Archer for no real reason, with Archer missing the flexibility granted by a melee option and Thief having no advanced or hybrid vocations related to it. Questing: The sidequests are less interconnected than in the first game, and the world/characters is less reactive than in the first game, despite it trying to deceive you into believing otherwise. That early quest in Melve where they teach you how to throw by chucking poison flasks at some saurian eggs while claiming you must aim well lest you poison the village's water supply? well you can throw the poison directly into the water and nothing happens. That one quest where you need to get the Magister out of jail but he'll only go if you can find him a nice place with books? Well, there's a completely unrelated sidequest you can do which happens to reveal one such place.. except it's not actually unrelated, as it only unlocks once you do hear of this requirement from the Magister, and doing the quest is the only possible way to discover and unlock this place, and unlocking the place is the only possible way to conclude the Magister quest, so it's not different quests interconnecting, it's just the game hiding the next quest objective behind a different entry in your quest log. The forgery system is back, but it's only useful for exactly two quest in the game, maybe three if you use it for one of the Sphinx Riddles, and has no other purpose whatsoever, unlike in the first game. Enemy Variety: A couple of new monsters which are welcome, but good gods if I see another goblin or harpy i will lose my mind. The new monsters are welcome but the vast vast majority of the game is populated by reskins of goblins, harpies and saurians - the goblins especially had absolutely no significant difference in their "variations" despite being the most prevalent by far. THE STORY AGAIN JUST BECAUSE IT'S THAT BAD Stealth: There isn't any. The game goes out of its way to tell you that some areas are restricted, but you can literally walk into them, physically pick up a guard on your shoulders, and it will have no idea you're not supposed to be there. However, all the guards WILL randomly choose to attack you if you take one step to the left while following them into said restricted area for a quest at their specific behest (happened to me, broke the quest too). I could go on, but it's making me sad and angry.

[@Valosken]

@@marcog.verbruggen674 You noticed things I had forgotten or even not noticed at all. I hadn’t realised how egregious it is that they added Thief and then didn’t even combine it with anything. God damn. Thanks for that great comment. I wish I’d thought of and included this.

[@codyhallnan9442]

My disappointment is immense for this game. Mostly due to the mid-to-late game stuff. When I first started I was genuinely so excited. 12 YEARS of waiting on something more from this IP. I was all amped for whatever new version of Everfall we would get where we can just continuously beat down on boss monsters and other “Dark”/super forms of the enemies. Personally almost never cared about the story as much though it did feel anticlimactic compared to the original with the Seneschal. But even in the Unmoored World, there was almost nothing new!! The ENTIRE OCEAN dries up…and there’s basically nothing. Not even ruins of the old game or something. I could go on and on about all the things I just found upsetting/sad, etc. Probably spent more time on the graphic fidelity repurposing old assets than adding anything knew. Can’t believe how much feels missing in every aspect of this game.

[@Valosken]

There is in fact ruins of the old game under the ocean. The place you gather all the characters after evacuating is made to look like a ruined Gran Soren. I think they even have a shopkeeper where Caxton used to be.

[@rockara]

When the brine dries up it IS the ruins of the old map. Gran soren is, as stated above this comment, where you lead all the refugees. Other notable ruins like the bluemoon tower is also uncovered by the brine. Another BIG issue with this game has been the translation, there are articles on reddit about this and how it changes the story. For one, the ghost beastren guy you find in those ruins IS the senechal. This isint some sort of fan speculation but is outright mentioned in the og script. Rough summary (but not even close to enough): Basicly the story is that the senechal (the beastren guy, yes) was an arisen relentlessly ambitious, he discovered the "watching one" (the pathfinder) and when he realized the existance of that one he feelt like all he's efforts and sacrifices where just for entertainment. He got increasingly paranoid over the watching one (yeah, "the pathfinder") and eventually started killing hes subjects. There is a crapton of nuances that are explained aswell, like how in the first game grigori taunts the arisen in order to test their will, and how everything is revolving around free will. But how in dd2 grigori just tries to kill every arisen aswell as everything being seen as pre-determined. Nearly everything does make sense, and is explained how it is connected to dd1. But in the english version we get "dragon bad, kill dragon, wierd hooded ghost guy and something about wierd ghost guy stuck in underwater city." There is absolutely no way I can summarize all the things in one comment, since this game was mercilessly butchered. The articles with mistranslations are several, and most several pages long.

[@nyc_jon]

I’m so happy some people have the same opinion on this game and not saying it’s the greatest thing of all time, it’s so bland there’s almost 0 character building and a dead AI generated open world that doesn’t need to be there

[@Valosken]

Have you not seen many other people with a negative opinion?

[@nyc_jon]

@@Valosken the majority is mostly positive from what I’ve seen, the “negative” reviews are the minority 100%

[@HHTwice]

“Dead ai generated world that doesn’t need to be there” utterly asinine opinion that no one shares 😂

[@d2solo]

@@HHTwiceyea he’s gotta be trolling saying that bullshit, the game is definitely lacking but that’s not even close to being a fair critique he’s just following trend hates

[@OleNesie]

The story isn't even my biggest grip. Gutting all classes and removing the clear class archetypes from the game in favor of some random ass trick man class really sucks

[@shamusteakiawa]

Tbh I didn't even finish it. I just got bored

[@Valosken]

@@shamusteakiawa How far did you get?

[@shamusteakiawa]

I was basically near the end. I think I stopped because everything just started getting too repetitive, like some have said, there's just not enough enemy variety.

[@serwalkerofthekeynes8761]

My main dislike is the "little big map".. it looks huge, but place a marker between 2 points and you'll cover the distance incredibly fast. Outside of that I have a love for it, maybe it's nostalgia from the first game but it does have a certain hold.

[@fraserwingate259]

Crazy that capcom released this. Being below average is one thing but a well established studio with plenty of captial just dragging this half cooked peice of ass for AAA price is almost insulting. At least they have their fan boys still willing to defend the multi million dollar company in exchange for being bent over.

[@Valosken]

@@fraserwingate259 I can at least still put my faith in the Monster Hunter team.

[@drewpetitties5168]

@@ValoskenDragons dogma kinda feels like an asset flip of Monster Hunter in some ways. Monster Hunter has all these fleshed out mechanics, including mounting-you know, the main draw of DD-whereas Dragons dogma seems like a lite rendition with less build variety and less enemy variety all wrapped up in a trite fantasy world.

[@Valosken]

@@drewpetitties5168 I agree. DD would be what it's supposed to be if they just basically made each vocation like a weapon from MH Rise, maybe a little faster, and actually had you drinking potions instead of instantaneously absorbing it in a pause menu.

[@optimoblunt2894]

What I find confusing the most is ,you can actually talk to Desa and she has no idea who you are?????

[@ardentlyconfused3503]

I agree. Be angry. This should be incredible. We all were waiting and this is what we got

[@PhinneyFitness]

It's a good game but it is absolutely incomplete. Maybe DLC will fix it. Idk. It's hard to wanna go back and play it

[@zzodysseuszz]

It’s 100% not incomplete. It has all the things it needs. A game isn’t incomplete just bc it didn’t have all the content you expected. Dragons dogma 2 is a perfect example of when peoples expectations were always going to be higher than the final product.

[@danielbarnes1241]

​@@zzodysseuszz stop dick sucking. Multiple things that the director said would be in weren't. Bro gassed up the affection system that keeps all the npcs loaded in at at times. Just for it to still only give quest to 2 girls and make literally everyone else a cardboard cut out. And that's just the smallest example

[@Shleepidreamz]

​@@zzodysseuszz Meat riding is crazy. 😂

[@solidfeline9093]

​​@@zzodysseuszz braindead take, but what else can be expected from a ds2 defender

[@endlessstrata6988]

@@zzodysseuszz Yeah, it's complete. Shit.

[@CptEddyPrice]

Now I'm ok with people ENJOYING the game. That's fine. But how many of those players are just coping because they have invested money and times so they try their best to "like" the game... I'm a fan of the original one and DD 2 simply is worse than the sequel. Story sucks, main dragon sucks, elves and dwarves have maybe 3-5 quests ( and nothing is really done with that aspect of the game! ) looting in this game is shit if every bloody chest contains potions or materials.... Locations are unremarkable and there is terrible balancing / enemy variety. Either Itsuno smoked his own farts when he said he wanted to create this game or CAPCOM INVESTORS rushed the game release. Also FUCK ENCUMBRENCE in this game. You can't heal to full with potions so just skip this crappy "baggage".

[@Pubbzie]

I’m damn near heartbroken honestly. Because I genuinely find dragons dogma 1 to be far better. But then again hopefully they redeem it with a dlc like dark arisen did for 1

[@Valosken]

1 didn't need redeeming with the DLC, but it was only improved by the DLC because the issues weren't core to the game. In my opinion, DD2's issues are endemic to its nature, like the basic vocation design and story.

[@sensoeirensen]

I always WAIT for the REAL reviews 2 months after release. In 90% of all cases, the so called "10/10 masterpiece" is more like a 5-6/10 game in most cases. This is true for DD2 also. Glad I saved money AGAIN.

[@Valosken]

@@sensoeirensen This is the way.

[@clevergoblin1714]

I spent money upfront because I was excited for another Dragons Dogma 2. It burned me so bad I struggled to buy other games after it, now Space Marine 2 released and I made the same mistake again. I don't think I'll be fooled again...

[@Valosken]

@@clevergoblin1714 I’ve said in a few comments, the only franchise I trust anymore is Monster Hunter.

[@antonkoubantsev6145]

I got the first game just before Dark Arisen came out & loved it despite it's many flaws. Then I got DDDA & loved it just as much, hoping that eventually we'd get a sequel. When Itsuno announced the sequel I was genuinely hyped & broke my no preorder rule, I wish I didn't. I've spent over 500hrs on DDDA & still enjoyed it, I've spent 230hrs on DD2 & never want to touch it again. This genuinely feels like a game that should've come out 2-4yrs after the first, not 12. Disregarding the microtransactions (because capcom is a greedy company that'd pimp out their own wives & daughters for chump change) & the awful optimisation (I was told this is due to their anti piracy software) the game is simply bad. Not the worst game ever made, nothing so scathing, but for 2024 & as a sequel it's inexcusable. I know it was rushed out due to the fiscal year & the team being smaller than DMC5 & MH but it still feels only 1/3 finished. The few things I can say is this: 1. The combat feels better, and worse. The less available skill slots is annoying but not game breaking, unless you play Mage or Sorcerer. Warrior is much more fun to play this time around especially since if you miss your first attack you aren't reset into default stance & can only chain attack if you connect. Fighter is ok, just ok. Archer is only really useful if a it's a Pawn & not you. Thief is overpowered as hell & the go-to if you want to shread health bars with helmsplitter. Mystic Spearhand is fun at first but quickly makes me miss the parry god that was Mystic Knight. Magick Archer is unchanged but it makes no sense that like the Warfarer it's an late/end game unlock. Warfarer is ok, it let me mix Warrior, Magick Archer & Thief for a broken build. Whoever thought of Trickster needs to be taken behind a shed & shot, because my god it was the most mind-numbing class to play & I hope nobody ever makes it for anything ever again. 2. The enemy variety is disappointing, & after years (as well as many other games from other japanese devs like Fromsoft) there is no excuse to have so few new ones. It's incredibly annoying & tedious to have to face a gang of goblins, bandits, saurians, harpies & wolves Every. Fifty. Goddamn. Meters. The game feels like an MMO that just so happens to be single player. And after you hit Lvl30-45 there is no challenge in anything except the Dullahan (maybe, sometimes). I've also noticed that the basic enemies like goblins & hobgoblins have less personality to them as in the first game they'd fall over an crawl away if fear or do other small animations that gave them more life, now they're just aggressive & maybe point at you and yell once. 3. The world building feels hollow. There's notes scattered around that give it a drop of flavour but it seems the devs didn't put that much thought into it. Why does Vermund & Battahl have a strained relationship? Was there a war between them or what? Why are there so many Bestren in a human nation capital, and why are there so many humans in the bestren nations capital? Why does Battahl feel like a reskinned Vermund with the same language where everyone speaks with the same accents? Why does Battahl allow Pawns to walk around freely if they're supposedly distrusted & why does anybody do business with me if I have them following me around? Why does the Battahl capital look like a crumbling ruin that was just recently moved into? Why does EVERYONE immediately know I'm the Arisen? Why is the elf "village" just a small hub area that nobody with a functional pair of eyes ever call a village? Why am I allowed in it if they're isolationists? What's even the point of giving them their own language? Why are there dwarfs if theres only like 2 in the whole game? And why does the one in Battahl (who owns a smithy but never does any smithing) hate elves? Is it because of the trope of elves & dwarfs not liking each other? Why are Ulrica & Nadinia on the front cover of the game if neither of them have any plot significance whatsoever? Why does Wilhelmina look human 95% human if her mom was bestren when a random NPC I spoke with basically told me that if a human & bestren intermix the child will always come out as bestren? Why anythin is anythin? I've got a bunch more stuff I can say but the more I think about it the angrier I get about this game. Overall I'm massively disappointed with what Itsuno delivered, to the point that I don't feel bad about him leaving capcom & possibly loosing the IP. This game would need a Cyberpunk 2077 ramake just to be good. And the sad thing is I know that will never happen because capcom will most likely just give it another minuscule update & then abandon it.

[@dammyoyesanya4656]

I can’t believe early in the year people thought this game was going to steal the crown of Game of the year from FF7 Rebirth 🤣. Looking back on it we were so naive. But anyhow, at least there’s shadow of the erdtree for us to play

[@RIELSG]

Stellar blade won

[@danielbarnes1241]

​@@RIELSG fuck no

[@TylerKadle]

​@danielbarnes1241 stellar blades combat is almost perfect. The balance of pulling off your combos and quickly canceling with a parry when your enemy fights back, deflecting or dodging til you get an opening and use a beta skill. Its just such a satisfying loop and during bosses becomes a dance.

[@zachrichardson5581]

I had recently come off my "replaying Baldur's Gate 3" phase when I picked up this game. My standard for NPC quality was absolutely ruined by BG3. The quality of facial animations and world immersion is very impressive in BG3. Then playing 25 hours through this game I couldn't take shit seriously because of how shockingly poor the interaction is with NPCs during conversations. That may seem like a nitpick but for a game like this that wants so clearly to emphasize it's narrative they need to execute correctly. When I'm talking to a dude and he repeats the same few animations and has little to no realistic physical movements it pulls me out of the immersion. This doesn't break the game or anything it's just one aspect I immediately noticed because I had just played a game that got this part damn near perfect. Beyond that though the world (mostly the towns actually) felt bland, grey and boring. NPC popping in right front of me. Extremely repetitive enemy variety combined with a far too frequent amount of encounters left me feeling like exploration was often an annoying chore. So then combat got old quickly which is the most fun part of the game to me so far. I never played the first installment so I don't have a reference point for that but this game lost my interest pretty quickly and that's a shame because it seemed like a missed opportunity.

[@Valosken]

I've been playing BG3 for a while now (hope to make videos with it!) and I feel the same. I don't expect the sheer complexity and "anything is possible" level of work put into something like BG3, but I'm constantly thinking about how BG3 managed to animate people's mouths and DD2 couldn't, as if this is coming out alongside bloody Skyrim.

[@zachrichardson5581]

@@Valosken exactly. Little things like that are easily noticed when you have a past example to compare it to. So then it just stands out more. It absolutely felt like I was playing a early 2010's game when I engaged in conversation.

[@littleregg3164]

​@Valosken on the topic of aesthetics I notice DD2 lost the whole dark fantasy/berserk vibe from DD1 (especially dark arisen). And DD2 feels like watered down high fantasy

[@jaminglasscox]

this game messed up the minute they decided mystic knight wasn't going to be in the game.

[@MiharuHiramu]

I paid 70€ to buy it on day one, it is the most disappointing game I've spent over a hundred hours on. If I didn't preorder it and bought it on sale later I'd not have spent so much time with it.

[@Valosken]

@@MiharuHiramu Were you forcing yourself? When you weren’t enjoying it?

[@MiharuHiramu]

@@Valosken yes

[@Valosken]

@@MiharuHiramu RIP

[@nelsonrivera6184]

Dragon's dogma 2 was complete garbage I'm glad to see a video talking about how bad the game is and downgrades

[@Valosken]

I'm glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for the comment.

[@blakefantasy2600]

It’s not a bad game. It just had some flaws

[@d2solo]

to say it’s complete garbage is definitely trend hating mentality, the game is for sure lacking in elements but it’s far from being one of the worst games ever created your pushing it

[@DanielNeves-p7x]

This is just a stupid trend and following it means your opinions are complete garbage. It had flaws like the first game. In fact minus some very small alterations it is practically the same game as DD1 so that game sucks too if that's the case

[@PhajEsTeeb]

I already had a bad feeling DD2 was gonna be shiet. That's why I never bought it. I enjoyed DD1 but I will not replay a remake of the same shiet 😅

[@octopus8659]

@@PhajEsTeeb we are in the dark ages of gaming my friend

[@Nebulisreconx]

They should have did more with the open world, more with the pawns, more with the social system, combat is half assed nerfing every class. story is terrible insanely bad. And hey you already know

[@tristanward9937]

I just don't get how this game is a step down from DA. They had the perfect blueprint from two great but incomplete games and they still dropped the ball. I didn't even beat the game. But DDDA goes down as one of my favorite games to date.

[@thesupreme8062]

i played 40 hours of the game, didnt finish it, and im likely not returning until the wild loot mod get updated(fixes the garbage rewards for exploration), the game is just bad plain and simple, the only good thing about it is the combat and even that goes outside the window because of scaling and bad variety in enemies. writing sucks, from the main quest to the side quests to the characters all are uninteresting and unsatisfying, even more so than the first game which whilst starts of uninteresting it has a satisfying and interesting ending(complete opposite of dd2), exploration is fun until you get bored of the massive amount of fighting the same enemies(literally cant go 12 meters without an enemy) you need to do for little to no reward(in 40 hours i didnt find a single piece of viable vocation gear for me or my pawn). classes are hit or miss, some are better, some are just different, and all magic classes are just worse, class variety is worse all around, i could go on and on, but the content is barely more than the first game without the dlc, but its in a MUCH more diluted package, literally no reason to play this over DDDA, it suffers from every issue the original had and in some cases more, and that is on top of piss poor perfomance. its a disgrace, and some people like to paint this has capcom giving them too little manpower, when if you actually look they had nearly 400 people on the credits, which is still very large, better games were built with less people, ironically ELDEN FUCKING RING, was built by a smaller team. this is just itsuno having no fucking idea what the fans actually wanted, Dragons dogma online flawed as it may have been was ten times better.

[@Valosken]

I'd say it was more a combination of the time limit, and mismanagement of that time (or Capcom springing the time limit at a bad time). A lot of effort clearly went into graphics and less so into the rest of the game (the part that actually matters)

[@thesupreme8062]

@Valosken the time limit and capcom high ups had no hands in the complete ignoring of players criticism from the first game, you'd be hard pressed to find gameplay issues from the first game that arent in this one also, I wholeheartedly believe that itsuno was a big part of why dd2 came out the way it did. So many of the issues with the game are fundamental.

[@Valosken]

@@thesupreme8062 I can believe that too. But although I've not played DMC, it seems DMC is actually well made. So it'd be a mystery if he did well with one thing and messed up another. He's a seasoned designer.

[@thesupreme8062]

@@Valosken dmc is a stellar series. But there is to say its very different from DD as a series, and the many of the issues with dd1 and dd2 are too similar for it to be a mistake. Especially considering the very dedicated audience detailing whay they wished new and what they wished fixed in a unlikely sequel, now we got the unlikely sequel, but it came with the caveat of not addressing any of the big issues with the original. Now on a different aside, if you havent tried the dddo private server or dddo at all. Its 100% worth it, so much missed potential. If it ever came tot he west it coulsve legitimately been big imo.

[@Valosken]

@@thesupreme8062 I will keep that in mind. I've never played DDO and it might be a good game for my gaming group.

[@kimfunclara3826]

OMG! As a first time DD player, I feel your frustration brother!

[@smackfanxion]

Sometimes it feels like I'm the only one that noticed how insanely messy this game was. Glad I'm not. The story is ars, the gameplay is a mix of good and bad compared to the first and the same problems, as well as several new ones are unavoidable. I played the original almost every and never got tired of finding an ogre... till now.

[@michaelkoerner4578]

I was very confused when the game just ended. I was like wait what? What was the story? I didnt understand anything that was going on because it just jumped around too much. Im sure when the DLC drops it will give me something to do, since im a little massively overpowered currently

[@TheAKReaper]

My opinion: Story is ass, they could have done something better or more complete and enemies fall short past lvl 40, even with that i loved combat tho

[@Valosken]

I had my fun with the combat. But I still feel they need to ditch pause-to-heal to make it truly great.

[@BurlapRat]

The person that the dragon took as my beloved was the elf lady who's married to the dwarf and she gives you the mystic archer vocation. But like I only talked to her twice and also she's married?

[@biggumstevens1784]

I miss mystic knight the worst. I loved that class...it was like cleric/paladin

[@manutdfan231]

I had fun with DD2 but i cant recommend it to someone in its current state performance wise. The only thing stopping me from playing again is having to suffer through the framerate drops again lol. This was a good video as i agree that the enemy variety is just not good, i wish they had improved on that in this sequel. Still like the game alot but like i said earlier, cant recommend it to anyone in its current state anyway

[@tbaudio3310]

The amount of frustration I have with DD2 is hard to describe. I want so badly to love this game, but it feels like the devs just didn't put in the effort where it counted. I played DDO for the first time for only a few minutes the other day and some of the UI and features are leagues better than anything in DD2, and again, that game is from 2015! I just can't understand how Capcom made DD2 the same game as DD1, arguably worse, and thought that was the proper direction for it. The fact that they wasted a good setup for the story in DD2 is frustrating enough, but then you play the rest of it and realize hardly anything in DD2 is better than DD1. So yeah... I'm frustrated, mostly. I'll still play whatever DLC they release, but I'm not expecting it to fix most of the issues with the base game.

[@Valosken]

@@tbaudio3310 I will not be buying that DLC unless I somehow have KZbin monies to do so, because i don’t feel right further rewarding Capcom for this game.

[@tbaudio3310]

@@Valosken That's fair enough. Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, but I love the series enough to still want to support it, despite DD2 being a bit of a letdown.

[@collapsiblechair9112]

people expected far too much from a game capcom never cared about. it's basically dragon's dogma 1 with better graphics, pawns, combat and environments, the last is highly vertical and densely layered. people are just upset the game is just more of the same.

[@Valosken]

If it had truly been more of the same, we'd have enjoyed it, given we enjoyed the first game. More of the same is exactly what we all wanted. What we got was inferior.

[@thesupreme8062]

better graphics? sure, better pawns? yes, enviroments? base game sure, BB is still MUCH more atmospheric and interesting than every are in DD2, and combat? that is arguable, it has better base mechanics but the classes are very hit or miss, and magic classes are a straight downgrade. and that is on top of the plethora of gameplay issues.

[@krstak707]

Welcome to the world of Camus i guess... Nothing Arisen does really matter at the end, no matter the strenght of will. No matter which path you choose (of complacency or of a rebel), at the end, world pretty much stays the same. Only Arisens perception of it changes but leads to the same thing. The myth of Sisyphus book might explain some things but yes, story could be better. I am playing a bit of devils advocate. Many people escape absurdity with religion (God- The Great Will). Well, The Great Will is no more, so now what? Second life, reincarnation, eternaty are now also of the table. Nonsense, pointless, unclear purpouse, will is irrelevant, sensless jumble directed at pretty much anything, stupid, sensless and incoherent; stuff just happens for no reason or even in contradiction with reasons presented- your words :). Absurd enough? Also, God (The Great Will) is dead now. But what if strong will just isnt enough as a replacement, despite the efforts? That might be a question for player. Or it is just bad or both.... It doesnt fit perfectly with a story but... I also think that story was rushed so i can not be sure of this analysis. I have found some corelations so i commented. Food for thought. Great content!

[@Valosken]

You gave it a go, but I think you give it too much credit. Only thing I can say is that we do get one benefit from the true ending of DD2. Now we can all go for a swim!

[@U_F_N_M]

I played DD:DA a lot and I can safely say that the story was hastily rewritten and the game itself half finished. If DD1 had been complete, we would have had a lot more lore to work with to understand the story of DD2. They really, really should have just done a remake with the original concept fully realized instead of trying to repeat the success of a half-baked game with a similarly half-baked sequel.

[@Silungar]

Man I am so glad that I stopped playing shortly after reaching Battahl...

[@RedStar441]

That's basically where all of the games real content and story ends.

[@inkmage4084]

Game was a massive disappointment. I don't know why they also didn't take a lot of the awesome stuff from the MMO version either. The only track I liked and remembered, was the escort stuff, like bringing the Dwarf to the springs 😆

[@serijas737]

Story? Nah, we have no time Arisen. Story was in DD1. In Dragon's Dogma we are only here for the Dragon and the Dogma.

[@Valosken]

Sadge.

[@Mewsashi-cz9fo]

This game suffers greatly from the creator's fatigue, like, itsuno assume you already know everything, that everything is in his head, and don't need to be told anymore, big mistake, he should have built it all even better, reinforce the narrative and the origins of the arisen, make the world feel like it's at stakes and have people of the kingdom worried about the monster's threat, what we have is royalty not giving a damn about the state of the world, not sending you on missions to bring proof of griphon , ogre, or chimera kills, not even caring about incursions of dangerous monster in the fortress city walls ! The story of 1 was so much more fleshed out, this world is just not it, it doesn't feel like dragon's dogma at all, and don't get me started on the obvious DEI / ESG plaguing the game and making it also very boring.

[@serijas737]

@@Mewsashi-cz9fo Yeah it's basically a game for those that already played Dragon's Dogma to death and basically memorize it all by heart that an additional story like it is told with DD2 is like "Well you don't have to accept this iteration of the cycle, you can also just enjoy the game as is and think you are playin DD1 but better." while those that are absolutely new to DD1 will be attracted to the gameplay and graphics and kind of be delivered a mid story. It's almost like they're trying to branch out the franchise to casuals as these companies usually do because they're hunting for that mystical "target audience."

[@omensoffate]

There was a hint you could hear the heart beat when going back in time

[@Valosken]

That's not really anything given how much hearts are referenced in connection with the Arisen the entire time. Nor does it reference the Godsbane

[@Chris-rj4bt]

I think you could have made this video almost double the length if you really wanted to go more in depth on this games issues tbh

[@Valosken]

Yes. But ultimately these are the things that came to my mind and really mattered to me. Also, I have to make videos incomplete and imperfect to literally ever upload them. Check out @yoredrag-onight4202's comment. It includes basically everything I missed.

[@slipstream7324]

Which video is the best in talking about the unfinished nature of DD?

[@malbhet]

Outside of the Mega Man games, Capcom only had 4 games with a decent story, Breath of Fire 3, Breath of Fire 4, BoF Dragon Quarter, and Okami. All of the stories in their other games ranged from trash to mediocre at best, and that includes the DMC games as well. The story in DMC peaked during DMC 3, which was mediocre, and it went downhill from there. Capcom is incapable of telling a good story tbh. The Onimusha stories were average at best.

[@Valosken]

@@malbhet RIP

[@lil_per_vert]

Definitely all their stories are trash

[@PaperLigers]

Also played in 2012 on ps3 and xbox since my xbox decided to die then. sucks that capcom decided to rush art for profit (in their eyes). I'd advise you not preorder the next monster hunter

[@Valosken]

@@PaperLigers I have every possible reason to think I would want to preorder MH.

[@osirisavra1301]

You always pre order MH if you are a true fan, especially the main games. If they fk up with that as well I'll lose all hope for gaming.

[@Valosken]

@@osirisavra1301 Exactly. If MH goes down the toilet then I just lose all my ability to look forward to video games.

[@PaperLigers]

@@ValoskenMy elden ring experience was basically fishtailed and careened offroad when it released and I had the draw distance issue. Had to use a mod fix which killed my online for the first month. There are 0 known studios/publishers at this point which haven't disappointed me. Just look at how much Rise/World made all the small tasks casual, plus the mountain of mtx, and now also capcom has begun the esg shit. Easiest call of my life

[@murphbri]

It's interesting to me your biggest issue with the game is the story. I've played a good amount of JRPGs in my 40+ years of gaming and I can say that the story was riddled with common tropes/cliches that you can see in other popular JRPG series such as Persona and Final Fantasy. The story was bad and poorly told no doubt. However-- My problem with the game was the mechanics. I have never seen a game's mechanics be so purposefully designed to stretch out the game length. The limited fast travel, the endless fetch quest design, the constant trash mobs spawning every 15 seconds along the faux open world which is really just a series of corridors took what was around 20 hours of content and ballooned it to over 100 if you wanted to do everything. As someone who did all the side quests let me tell you it was an absolute slog to get through. Easily one of the worst JRPGs I've ever played outside of early ones from the 80s where they had to design them that way to prevent people from finishing them in a couple of hours and demanding their money back.

[@Valosken]

@@murphbri I don’t mind travelling in games, and if the combats decent I don’t mind fighting a lot either. But the enemy variety is probably second place to me. It’s a problem but I would have tolerated it if the story had just made sense.

[@mjolnirmilitia569]

They took away the Chad Mystic knight and gave us the Virgin mystic spearhand

[@robovinefilms1811]

THANK YOU. The dlc got all the negative attention but fighting the same Cyclops 100 times is what broke me.

[@Valosken]

Yeah. The DLC is a non-issue and might have made it more difficult for people to criticise this game.

[@rhuanvictor9200]

Such a disappoitment. What a piece of garbage this game is.

[@AnotherGamingDude]

What I understand of the story is just basically the same as the first one just the cycle of the arisen and dragon was stop when rotaias didn't want to be seneschal and went down to the world and founded the kingdom of vermund, this puss up the path finder who is watching that the cycle always repeat itself over and over again, so he sends the dragon to make more arisen to kill him but rotaias manage to kill every one of them until one arisen unknown imprisoned rotaias in the throne of the seneschal. I believe the one who imprisoned rotaias in the water shrine was the elder of harbe village, if you talk to him I will tell you that he was supposed to be doing something important but he forgot about it. Remember that rotaias got mad and was killing everyone because of the watching one. The newly arisen broke the cycle by not fighting rotaias and following his own will.

[@Valosken]

Yep. I am aware of that. That part makes sense. It's just the broader mythos that has now been made around it that makes it nonsense.

[@lordfrieza4236]

Well fuck this is diss heartening I had a hell of a time figuring out dragons Dogma 1 as a youngin bc fuck it was easy to fuck up and ruin your save

[@Nero_PR]

40:55 - We truly are the Watching Ones, huh?

[@Valosken]

👁👁

[@44milosLP]

From what I had seen and heard it feels more like a remake then a sequel. At best it is same game with better graphics and bigger map. At worst some would call it demake. I will wait until they release a definitive edition with all patches and dlcs. But right now I would maybe buy it for half the price but thats a big maybe because I don't really see why if you already got first game.

[@varupaemir9]

I think the game didn't have as big of a budget as the first game because they had a small amount of people credited on the game. It seemed like Capcom didn't believe in the game at all. They only started considering Dragon's Dogma as one of their bigger titles like Resident Evil and Monster Hunter after Dragon's Dogma 2 released and after it got all those sales. Capcom then even announced to pay out more money to the shareholders following these unexpected high sales...

[@varupaemir9]

It's just such a big shame that we got the game in this state, it could have been one of the best games in this genre.

[@toledochristianmatthew9919]

Really? Everyone I know thought that Capcom wanted this game to be their Elder Scrolls or Elden Ring game that would sell tens of millions. Such a shame and it is really frustrating that Capcom did not put more effort into this game.

[@biggumstevens1784]

The story doesn't explain itself well, but I can see a sort of unwritten story being shown here. 1. The brine/void/guide is stuck in a loop, it cannot change itself, only doing what its meant to do, keeping this area of the world in a state of constant repeating cycles. 2. the arisen breaks that cycle, and kills the brine/void/watcher. 3. Much of what the watcher/brine thought to be true was not, the great will maybe set the cycle in motion awaiting a hero that could break the cycle and kill the alien/evil that had infested that part of the world and kept it in a cycle.

[@QuestQuenchers]

Great video, well put together and your points definitely ring true.

[@Tantalos79]

i decided not to buy it as dragons dogma fan and i was hyped since they announced it. :/

[@matthewmoore5698]

The hype train was big I wait for a bit before I buy now, you can’t trust these early access streamers they hype it up for a week then never touch it again , why? because they being given a kick back by the game company I was not impressed with this dung heap!

[@RiderWithTheScarf]

You have no idea about how bad the whole Disa situation is : in an attempt to get some other Berserk inspirations for DD2 to continue the trend from DD1(one of the MC default models is pre-eclipse Guts, have Guts and Griffith's armours and swords, have Zodd as the final boss of Dark Arisen DLC, allusions to God Hand and Mercedes who's not-so-subtly Casca and the llittle witch is basically almost Schierke), DD2 copies instead the "Conspiracy Ark" of the Golden Age of Berserk, namely the Queen who tried to assassinate Griffith because previously it was her lover that tried to do so, behind the back of the King. Disa is the queen from berserk, Sven is surprisingly not her surrogate daughter Charlotte but instead the little kid Guts kills by mistake nd the "not-Arisen" could be implied to be her lover and possibly the one she was cucking the King with long before his death. And Brand is just a black Laban and Owen melded together, with the ball in the game meant to mimic the ball Guts and Casca properly fell in love with after the Band of the Hawk got recognised as knights and it's supposed to parallel your ascension as the now-rising star of the land. It's weak. In both story and execution compared to the first one.

[@Valosken]

I've never seen anything to do with Berserk, so it's interesting to know this info.

[@RedStar441]

I recall that DD2's development was pretty shafted on resources because Monster Hunter Wilds was starting development. Some people think that DD2 was effectively a test bed for features they wanted to put in Wilds, and I can't help but feel a huge amount of betrayal. No hate for the Monster Hunter series, but undercooking a huge game like this for the sake of another shows how greedy or impatient they are. It's gotten to a point where the whole sphere of DD has been poisoned by this. Are we even going to see a 3 if Capcom sees everyone is upset about this game? I have no idea anymore.

[@Valosken]

I highly doubt it was some kind of testbed for Monster Hunter. Monster Hunter has basically 99% of its systems already set in stone. Dev time on MH games is basically just coming up with new monsters and maps, then animating them. They don't try radically new systems really. Not to mention it already probably funds itself just fine. I agree that DD2 was underfunded, but I also note that they clearly spent all their bloody money on graphics instead of the game systems and content.

[@clevergoblin1714]

I'll always remember the hellish journey through the Bakbatal southern area while underleveled to reach the volcanic area, fighting and crawling my way to the town to unlock the Warfare Vocation. Why did i go through all that hell? Just so i could wear anything id like and get the freedom to have more than one weapon. This game was so limiting in terms of freedom, a Archer cant wear heavy armor, a Warrior cant wear light armor, the thief cant use a bow, magic archer cant have a melee weapon, the Trickster cant fight anything because they don't have damaging abilities, the armor being vocation locked was a major issue. The story was mid as fuck, but then when i get to the end i realize the game will suddenly throw me into a hellish 7 day speedrun and i get to stress myself out to complete everything in time without dying once to a mistake.. or i dont. I opted to not go through hell to experience the rest of the underwhelming story.

[@morgan79737]

I'm in a similar boat. I love Dark Arisen, it's one of my fav games ever. DD2 is a monumental disappointment that learned almost nothing from the much needed QoL changes its predecessor was crying out for. I wanted Itsuno's dream game he conceived before DD1, not what we got.

[@Syahburei]

im a massive fan of the 1st dragons dogma. and yeah DD2 is dragons dogshit. The combat was its saving grace, BUT WTF ITSUNO GOBLINS AND NEKKERS AND SAURIANS ONLY?! WTF

[@nobody4062]

the only thing i thought was cool about this game was the unmoored world and the extra bosses, but everything else feels very lacking.

[@jjfloris4883]

I actually enjoyed it.. for what it is.. cause it scratched that itch a bit.. But it felt like a watered down version of DD1.. combat wise especially.. I won't be buying any DLC for it.. maybe DD3 if they bring it back to DD1's level

[@nateallen9436]

Why u couldn't have a horse why u have to run every where

[@granujja]

Beautiful re-skin of DD1 errors

[@somethingsomewhere66]

Y'know... when my brother said "this feels like an early 2010's game with modern graphics" I truly understood all the problems with the game.

[@Valosken]

That was one of the first judgements I had of the game. Lol

[@Maartwo]

It doesn't suck. It's pretty fun.

[@ZombiAstral]

Your first mistake was giving DD1's story WAYYYY TOO MUCH credit to begin with. The first game was never some unsung masterpiece. It was an above average RPG with; Great combat.........and no good enemy variety to actually take advantage of the surface level combat. At the end of the day, you're either mounting, bashing or shooting increasingly repetitive damage sponges. DD had one of the worst stories I've ever experienced in a modern RPG. That trash makes Dark Souls sound coherent. Some of the worst quest design in ANY RPG ever. The quest design in DD is a criminal offence in itself.

[@Valosken]

I respect the opinion but disagree, on the point about story. Although I did acknowledge in the video that I'm sad its greatness might have been an accident.

[@marcog.verbruggen674]

@ZombiAstral i think the explicit story in dd1 was pretty terrible, but hints at a fascinating setting with lots of room for speculation and theorycrafting that makes me remember it way more and more fondly than many rpgs with arguably better narratives. Plus, the endgame is a whole different beast. The cycle of the great will as presented in dd1 is a fascinating concept told through some genuinely awesome reveals. I dont think it's crazy to be disappointed when a game with great narrative potential and foundations but mediocre execution gets a sequel that is advertised heavily as "fulfilling the creative vision and missed potential of its predecessor" and that story ends up being even worse in every single regard Totally disagree on the combat system being surface level. Sure, it's no devil may cry but for an action rpg it's the most fun ive ever had outside of souls-likes, and while it's not particularly deep, there IS more depth than i feel you're giving it credit for, and the breadth, variety and sheer game feel of it compensates imo. The complaint about the repetitiveness and poor enemy variety towards the latter half is very valid though and again, i expected the sequel to make that better, not WORSE. Thats the real problem of dd2, it's a fine game, but it's worse in every way than its TEN YEAR OLD PREDECESSOR while being promoted as the complete fullfilment of that predecessor's potential.

[@ZaiDrizzleDrop]

Long comment here, but I just wanna say this video was awesome. It really enjoyed hearing your anger and passion at the end, on just how stupid the story was, and how much you loved and appreciated the story, messages and themes of the first game. I love when people appreciate art, and aren't passive when something they loved has been disrespected. I hate when people make excuses for bad writing and do the legwork for the people who clearly didn't care (Kingdom Hearts/Tears of the kingdom). I believe that if you truly love a piece of art, and that thing is wasting potential/being shafted by the creators, you show that love through being able to admit how frustrated and upset you are, hoping that it could have been so much better, because it already had a great foundation, instead of deluding yourself that it was actually good the whole time. That was the intro to this comment. I'm just some guy that plays games and likes to draw, and wants to make his own story someday, and I look at things to take inspiration and figure out how to implement ideas like Gods and dragons. I never played DD1, but I was interested in DD2, so I was planning on buying it, but I saw it at my local library and checked it out. I would buy it if I enjoyed it. I really enjoyed fighting the bigger monsters, and it was so cool clinging to a Griffin and it just FLIES away from my party and I fell off and died, that was cool. Jumping off cliffs and climbing onto monsters and just stabbing em was fun. But as I played the game, (I got to the part where the knight guy makes you hunt down three monster problems.) I just saw issues that kept popping up. I was sick of the pawns' repeating dialogue OVER AND OVER, they couldnt have just recorded more dialogue? They only had like 5 voice options for the pawns, since they just changed the pitch and called it a different voice. Why not record a BUNCH of dialogue ?! Its so annoying. the AI was also kind of wonky, if a pawn was leading you somewhere (like a riftstone), and was interrupted, it would stop leading you, and then I'd go "well shit, now what....guess I'll find it some other time randomly?" I hated how you could walk into an area and you get snatched up by an NPC trying to talk to you. It just took me out of the game every time. Like just taking away player agency. I also was getting sick of fighting goblins and harpies etc every few minutes. It was just getting tiring really. It was exciting when a Griffin crashed down though. And I had a cool fight with an Ogre. But like you said, the enemy variety was sparse, and I was thinking it would get more diverse as I played. But I was pretty surprised to hear that would be a continued issue. Something that I kept realizing was...these issues adnd more seemed like something that should have been ironed out in the 2010s era of games, I was reminded of that time period every time I looked at the graphics or the terrible lip sync. This game ironically looks and feels DATED. I think this is an issue with games trying to look realistic. The cutscenes look great, but the world and in game scenes feel so...boring and wooden...muddy. I mean maybe that's just the style, but I dunno, it looks kind of boring compared to the first game. And speaking of the first game, like I said, these issues feel like something that would have been in a first game, so instead of playing the game any more and wasting my time, I decided to watch reviews, I heard whispers of people being upset with this game, but I ignored it, and WOW, I'm glad I stopped playing. Man this video was so great, I'm glad I found this channel. I am SO glad I didn't buy DD2 I was genuinely interested in the story, pawns, the arisen, the DRAGON were so cool and interesting, and I wondered what the purpose of them were, the deeper lore. I was hoping this game would like, tell me about it and expand on it, so maybe I would play DD1 or look into it. I was pretty dissapointed to hear this game only engages with that lore on a surface level. Then I watched cutscenes of DD1 and this video and WOW DD1's story seems so interesting, and GRIGORI is seriously the coolest dragon I have ever seen. A dragon challening you to come and kill him, while not getting in your way for the most part is REALLY badass. And him being a pawn in a bigger game is really cool, kind of like cosmic horror. A gargantuan beast who seems impossible to defeat, you spend so much time and effort trying to defeat it, and it turns out its just a flea that fell off of a larger more powerful being. I love that shit. I'm also a huge fan of Gnosticism concepts of killing god or God actually being this lesser deity /demiurge that maintains or created the physical world and set your fate in order, so you have to try to break it, but in the backround there is a true, greater deity that created the universe and the lesser god. I'm a Xenooblade fan, I plan to play Xenogears at some point. I think you would like those games, I'd love to see a video by you on them. Xenogears goes into these ideas in a more raw , complicated, deep fashion. Xenoblade is more approachable. Xenoblade 1 has the best story in the blade series in my opinion. Xenoblade 2 and 3 feel more typical "anime". It gives me the same vibe you feel for DD2, a past story being more compelling and making you think, while the sequel is more surface level and typical. Gnosticism is cool, and I think its interesting that people a long time ago came up with it and questioned the popular religion, seeing the (clearly) evil god for what it was. They were ahead of their time. I think. But I digress. I think its really interesting how more money doesn't equal a good product or story. It really shows that Capitalism is the death of art, and making a quick buck will prioritize making something filled with passion. Thats why I stopped buying triple A games, and why I was more skeptical with this one. I kept playing MASSIVE open world games with millions of dollars poured into them, and felt nothing at the end, a soulless grind to the end. So now I play Indies and appreciate smaller stuff. Its so weird how even though a product has a ton of money into it, they don't make use of that and make something amazing, it always just ends with trying to make a little more money. So.....STUPID, YOU'LL MAKE THE MONEY IF YOU MAKE IT GOOD. They even put in micro transactions which will just alienate people. What is going on?! All in all, this video made me want to look at the story of the first game, as it seems pretty interesting and deep, and SHIT Grigori is so cool. Its massively dissapointing that this game didn't build on that. It really is weird how someone who seemed so passionate managed to crap something out like this. I hope DD3 will get its shit together. Thanks for making this video and helping me not waste my money. I will be watching your other videos, as I think you have some interesting and hard hitting things to say, you clearly have a passion for art and good writing, so I'd love to hear your analysis on stories. Also your voice is nice to listen to, this was overall a great listen. :) .....I'm not sure if I had a point to this comment, but it seems more and more that people are realizing that triple A games with their super realistic graphics and open yet empty worlds just arent worth it. There isnt any art in them, just....money. Capitalism is the death of art, and people are talking about it more and more, especially with the massive layoffs and studio shutdowns. I think we need to keep talking about this and stop buying these games if we want to see a change. I'm definetly watching reivew for any triple A game I buy, because most of them just aren't worth it. Remember that being angry about something you love being wasted means that you truly love it. Being impassive or defending something that is TRULY garbage is not love, thats delusion. Your not delusional, you just see things for what they are, and this game is clearly just supid. Keep moving forward!

[@Valosken]

@@ZaiDrizzleDrop Thanks a lot for the praise. I hope you’ll watch the 3 videos I have about DD1’s story.

[@ZaiDrizzleDrop]

@@Valosken Of course! You deserve it! Thanks for making this video, I plan to watch those today while I’m at the library, I’m excited!

[@Mewsashi-cz9fo]

We are, sadly, from your comment about how money doesn't equate more quality, in the reign of quantity over quality.

[@ZaiDrizzleDrop]

@@Mewsashi-cz9fo Yup, I currently work for a retail company (ALDI) that puts as few people as they can get away with on a shift, and demands that they work at lightning speed in order to get the most amount of work done as possible. At the cost of draining the employees, and making them depressed, frustrated and antsy/anxious, especially when something goes wrong to slow them down.

[@jessethorns121]

I usually don’t actually try to get refunds for games but f PlayStation I’m just glad to see that others just couldn’t get into this one. Took the L this time boys ):

[@PlacidDirge]

I don't like to look at it this way when looking at DD2 but its a good example of not every story needs a Sequel, addition, or any other form of continuation.

[@Valosken]

It set itself up for infinite sequels by being an infinite cycle. It could've been the same mythos as the first game at the very least.

[@thefinalboss2403]

So glad i went with my gut and didnt purchase this when i realized they added stupid micro transactions. It was a bad vibe that turned out to be correct.

[@Valosken]

That's like a Gettier problem thing. The MTX is actually a non-issue. But yeah, still don't buy it.

[@TheOuroboros777]

I was holding off buying the game until it came with a dark arisen type of dlc, though I'm not sure even that will save dd2.

[@Valosken]

@@TheOuroboros777 I believe it cannot save the game. The problems are too core to the game.

[@clswtz]

small channel with good video essay, subbed

[@octopus8659]

This game was so disappointing I almost joined Antifa

[@Mewsashi-cz9fo]

Holy hell that is dark indeed.

[@zackfair_og]

I'm happy. Happy I somehow resisted and did not pre order, waited for trusted reviews, and did not purchase the game. I will wait for the DLCs and purchase the GOTY/Complete Edition at sale price with a mostly bug free experience. And hey, maybe I'll actually enjoy my experience.

[@Valosken]

I personally do not think that there is any salvaging this game. It can be improved, sure, but the stuff that ruined the game for me is stuff that is almost guaranteed to never be changed, like the story and vocation structure.

[@zackfair_og]

@@Valosken so the problem is at its core. Dang that's depressing...

[@Valosken]

@@zackfair_og Yep. It is.

[@duobizarrobizarro]

I somehow managed to play 40h of this game, and had to go back to Dark Arisen; there's soooo much cut content is insane. - All the fun spells? Gone. - Half the skills slots on almost every vocation, for no reason. - On the hybrid/advanced vocations, you can't swap equipment (think assassin in DA, being able to swap sword+shield for daggers+bow on the fly) - Way less equipment options. - Maybe half the monster variety of DA, and I'm being generous. - Some skills locked after a stupid quest where you have to find unique books. - One of the new vocations is practically useless, the other it's the yankiest so far. - You can't fine-tune your Pawn's AI as you could back in the first game.

[@johndodo2062]

Is still amazing that they think it somehow makes sense physically for a tower sized dragon to intricately dissect that guys heart only without damaging anything else. Makes zero sense

[@Valosken]

That shit's just magic. Same reason you literally survive as an immortal without your heart and have a psychic connection to dragonkin.

[@zzodysseuszz]

Dragons dogma 1 tried to do things but couldn’t do some of them bc of development issues, dragons dogma 2 was purely made to do just the things the first game couldn’t. It’s not supposed to be everything dragons dogma 1 did plus extra. The game is supposed to be played as if it’s apart of dragons dogma 1. As if it’s the same game.

[@Valosken]

@@zzodysseuszz Well given that they’re very clearly not the same game, that’d be a stupid design philosophy

[@bobac2816]

dragon’s dogma 1.5

[@Valosken]

More like 0.75. Lol.

[@ShxpxRok]

the story was awful they shouln't have even tried if they were going to half ass it this bad xD the path finder is the MAIN issue so you want the arisen to become king and etx why guide the MC to being against you? without the pathfinder's medaling we would have easily done just that it could have pointed us against the old seneschal at the end. This is the game director's doing not gonna blame capcom because DD DA was better that DD1 base game w/o Itsuno being at the helm and again this guy got up and straight up lied to everyone about this game. and with all the good games that came out in past 12 years he took no inspiration just gave us a worse rehash of the 1st game w/o the added content. that all said I really liked the gameplay of DD2 got some real entertainment out of it xD

[@soulstech414]

The biggest thing that turned me off about this game is the fact that halfway thru you cant take 3 steps without getting jumped by 20 orcs, a griffin and an ogre at the same time. Its too much ... im all about games being difficult but this is just fucking annoying

[@autismofinn3144]

"Dragons Dogma 2 caused my depression - A retrospective"

[@MaTtRoSiTy]

It does suck, I am not familiar with the franchise other than buying the first game for a few bucks during a Steam sale and playing it for a few minutes. I gave up after a few hours as its just a tedious slog of the same enemies as you say. Plus the quests and caves are tedious and repetitive, the characters often are clearly a black voice actor even when the character is not and the lack of stamina early on makes it so frustrating for a new player to travel around

[@Fahad-Mutairi]

Truer words have never been said the game was really disappointing and that for me is a fate worse than being a failed game what's really astonishing is that there's some people out there defending this garbage aka @the rift

[@Valosken]

Of course The Rift's livelihood depends on acting like the game is good. He's out of videos otherwise.

[@Fahad-Mutairi]

@@Valosken Good luck to him i guess. i already unsubscribed and moved on.

[@Artemisarrowzz]

DD2 is a game that I'm glad I didn't purchase even tho I loved DD1, and the more I hear about it the more I'm glad. I liked DD1 for the combat and the themes, the idea of a cycle, of love as a way to show will, of empathy to the empty (pawns), of some force eating up the world (I thought pawns and the Brine might be the same thing in DD1, it seems I was somewhat correct) and the Seneschal being a being that holds on until they can't, like Gwyn in DS. But now it's almost like a parody of the things I loved. Why should I be excited for a DD3, if they are more likely going to use DD2 as reference for story? I rather just... get over it, if you catch my meaning. Heck, the side quests alone sound awful. The elven one specially.

[@Valosken]

Definitely no good reason to be excited for DD3. I just know I'm gonna try it out. Just probably not on release this time...

[@Artemisarrowzz]

@@Valosken Man, NEVER pay 70 dollars for a game

[@Valosken]

@@Artemisarrowzz I will do so for games I'm confident about. I will still do it for Monster Hunter. But right now I don't think there's anyone else I'm confident enough in to pay that much again.

[@Gmantis294]

They released it half complete with 2nd half locked behind upcoming expansion, greedy bastards

[@karltravnicek838]

I cannot take dd2 haters seriously that only spend a few minutes on the combat and mostly complain about the story. Nobody gave a fuck about the story in the fist one. Why is it all of the sudden the most important thing? The combat is overall a massive improvement. “But muh 6 special moves???!!” That’s the only thing the first one did better. Everything else is much more enjoyable in dd2

[@danditheyesman848]

Same thing applies with DD2 fangirls like you, nobody should take you seriously. The standard of gaming today has gotten lower because fanboys accept the bare minimum

[@HelloKolla]

People with British accents sperging out on bad writing is the only thing that gives me joy in life 🙏

[@IsraTheBlack]

The whole game felt outdated. They're going to use the same engine on the new Monster Hunter game and this is very alarming making me think that game will be 30fps as well because the trailers certainly looked like it was the case.

[@Valosken]

I kind of doubt the engine was the problem here. Although I also don't care about 30fps.

[@PrimalDirective]

Homie wants to be just a battery for a broken order, to be discarded once their will has run out