Is Dragon's Dogma 2 GAME OF THE YEAR? Review after 250 Hours!

[@USMCKong0311]

I had the complete opposite experience. The game was most fun to me in the beginning of the game because of the exploration and the challenge of monsters, and got more boring by the end of the game because I've already collected all tokens and beetles and best gear so what's there to explore, and I kill all bosses in less than a minute. No challenge.

[@Punkx337]

Literally I agree

[@johndavis29209]

Tried my first serious attempt at a dragon and had literally no challenge at all. Real let down after getting smacked while exploring in the over world trying to run away.

[@mattm7798]

Agreed. By the time I fought the final boss, it felt like a good place to stop playing(even tho that's technically not the end of the main story) since combat had become repetitive due to lack of enemy variety and the realization that some skills are massively OP(I literally one shotted the final boss with martyr's arrow.)

[@ancestraldragon]

Agree about the bosses DD1 have more difficult bosses Also martyr bold is OP af I didn't ask for nerf but damn that's too OP

[@siegfriedaxn12]

There was that duel with Raghnall guy in the tower. He was like "Oh I've been waiting for this" or whatever. Took less than 10 secs for me to beat his ass and he accidentally fell off the bridge like a Disney Villain. The pawns right before the Dragon fight were harder. I just wish we could fight more of the corrupted/brine Serpent/Dragons. Like if you get NG+ maybe "something's changed" and they are there in certain locations or times.

[@sw8281]

I find the enemy hordes in some areas get annoying. Too many and all the same. I just start running past them if I can.

[@PCgamerChannel]

This game is soley about combat. Nothing else in the game is good. I enjoy the mobs the most. Wish they had stronger higher number mobs too

[@stanislavkimov2779]

@@PCgamerChannel I wouldn't agree. The game is authentic and charming. Same for the 1st game. It wasn't about combat for me. It was about the world and atmosphere.

[@AtreyusNinja]

GIT GUD

[@Noname-gm5om]

@@PCgamerChannelI disagree I like finding hidden content that you can find by exploring the world and talking to the npc’s. I’m on my second play through 220 hours in and I just found out a secret outcome in a quest that happens if you go back to a doctor without being told you can save someone and help a bunch of nuns

[@Syahburei]

One of my biggest gripes is changing vocations and having to deposit and withdraw your equipment instead of a FUCKING CHANGE EQUIPMENT OPTIOM BUTTON. DD1 HAD ONE FOR GODSAKES.

[@sh4unity204]

EXACTLY. Only way i try not to get bored of the enemies is changing my vocations from time to time and they make us do this. Most of the time i spend in the inventory with the shit weight management system.

[@eloeden2056]

Yeah... a 'save" button on the current equipment for X vocation would do the trick. So tired of doing runs back and forth from the guild class to the tavern with heavy gear for me + my pawn everytime

[@d3sc3n7]

In my brilliance, I bought 5 vocations at once...and was crawling back to my house 🤣

[@bigfitts]

Dark arisen had it not the regular version

[@llcoolcplays]

Loadouts would be just glorious too. Changes voc, skills and armour/weapons and automatically deposits the unequipped. Also up the storage space for items. 99 is not enough. Give us something to buy with all these extra discipline points..

[@HomicidalRemedy]

Having a real good time playing. It's like an adventure every time I leave the city. Exploring all over and taking your time makes for a rewarding experience.

[@BurnishedKnight]

Also in the city, there are a lot of secrets. I just found yesterday, after 80 hours, a tunnel under the capital outskirts with leeches and bandits

[@sumtingwong8592]

The enemies seem to spawn in a different pattern each time so feels like a lively world, and like you said, always an adventure.

[@Mhyritff]

You exploring what? same monsters same rewards all the time...

[@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi]

30 FPS adventure in 2024 sounds like so much fun! lmao

[@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi]

@@sumtingwong8592 Biggest enemy is the framedrops but who could have known that on a 65€ early access game from this small indie company

[@gaijinhunter]

Fabulous vid, you articulated the complex nature of the game and how it gets better etc. Been loving your coverage of the game, thank you!

[@MrPickettFence]

Ive absolutely loved this game. Got lost in the world and it’s by far one of the most immersive games I’ve played in SO LONG. Getting to talk with my friends about our adventures has been a blast too. Thanks for another great video as always!

[@dantemiles689]

I have many gripes with this game. 1. Story is short and feels incomplete, feels like this game needs 3 acts but only has 1 & 2 and act 2 feels very rushed. 2. Low enemy variety 3. Combat is extremely easy especially towards the end. 4. Loot is underwhelming and you're basically "exploring" for seeker tokens. 250 of them...imagine someone took a handful of coins threw them across the country and said "go fetch" 5. NG+ is boring because it's so easy so it becomes a walking simulation 6. Performance, not only is it choppy but I've encountered more than a few game breaking bugs Definitely not GOTY we should have higher standards

[@LuRPeH]

Totally relate to this. Exactly my feeling.

[@jaweel6205]

I still haven’t played and I’ve thought it looked mid. Can you confirm it’s not worth ever picking up?

[@dantemiles689]

@@jaweel6205 Ever? No it has some good moments. Climbing onto a cyclops and stabbing it in the eye is fun, riding griffins is fun but this game is clearly incomplete and feels very rushed I would wait for updates, DLC and a good sale. I would have enjoyed this game more if I payed half the price but as it stands now it is not worth full price but it's definitely worth picking up in a year or 2 maybe 3

[@crimson1953]

Game isn't played for the story. Not a story driven game

[@dantemiles689]

@@crimson1953 That's not even alittle bit true. The devs themselves said they wanted players to get lost in their story and care about the NPCs. Neither of those things happened. A good story is the difference between a game being an 8 or 10 and having a flushed out story wouldn't have affected the gameplay. And to further prove you wrong I use the games final boss of the true ending which was nothing more than a cutscene and if gameplay is the focus then why did they make the final boss nothing more than a cutscene? Because they wanted you to care about the story if it was for gameplay you would have been able to fight that dragon instead of just avoiding fire breath as you climb to its face/heart. While playing the game you can tell they spent alot more time with the first area than they did the 2nd because the story was good until the 2nd area of the game. Why even bother making an RPG if you don't give players the reason to immerive themselves in the story and characters

[@bluehornet632]

Mechanically the game is great. The open world design is fantastic. The game just doesnt do anything to shake up the mechanics 20+ hrs in (other than unmoored world or attempting trickster). I think they could have expanded on camping. Make it a more detailed way to influence pawn behavior. Make more materials for cooking, we live in the era of Dungeon Meshi for goodness sake! FF15 had a better camping system. They should have introduced a flyable griffin sometime after your Battahl/Volcano quests start even if it could only land at certain spots its a new but pre-established means of a travel. The game needs more cohesive story beats. Barely any of the characters that have quests have anything to do with the development of the story. That ceremonial sword quest was a HUUUGE waste of time. I think they should have created narrative for some of the main characters to travel with you with their own cutscenes and development (Brant, Ulrika, Minella, Sven etc) This game really suffers from shallow character development. No minigames? (unless you count the sphinx). The structural elements are there, I hope a dlc doesnt ignore the existing world but expands and adds to it.

[@DietersYT]

I’d argue it’s more semi-open world. Map is mostly just roads blocked in on either side by terrain.

[@XaeeD]

I like the idea of having NPCs actually join your party during quests. Like, Ulrika tags along, but she now functions as an additional Pawn in your party who interacts (more) with you and your Pawns. Would've made her feel way more significant for sure, and the mechanics (for doing that) are in fact there already. Would've been cool to have some of these important NPCs be more of an integral part of the group; even if only during certain quests. Maybe by completing their quests, you'd get some unique weapon or armor piece, or a cool new skill or augment. Or maybe you could go to them, and ask them to join you on a quest. Like if your mission could use an Archer, instead of hiring a Pawn, you get Ulrika to join you. In terms of transportation, I think that certain routes could've benefited from an ox-cart. Unlock new roads for ox-carts to traverse, depending on how safe you've made them. Maybe tie that in with 'culling monsters', and have like a time factor; disregard certain areas and monsters start making the roads unsafe again. In terms of the ox-cart, it would've been nice of the cart stopped at two or three points along the route. So when you 'doze off', you wake up at a check point, allowing you to get off the cart if you want to; if you need to go somewhere that isn't the end point of the cart. Now when you need to be halfway between start and end point, and you doze off, you're either randomly awakened by monster attacks, nowhere near to where you want to go, or the journey takes you all the way to the end point, and you have to backtrack to where you need to be. There's no option to have the cart stop at other points along the trail. Not dozing off isn't an option, as the journey takes forever, and it's quicker to just walk there. Would've been nice to have a permanent Portstone in the houses you purchase. Especially the expensive ones. A Griffin ride is also a cool idea. Tie it to a quest. Instead of killing a Griffin, you befriend one, and you can now use that Griffin to take you to some (distant) points on the map. Just another option, as you say, and one that doesn't cost coin, but does rely on you completing the relevant Griffin mission. There is the Battahl transport system, with the lifts, which I think is a unique and fun addition.

[@honeybadger6275]

The game feels about 60% finished. Lot of systems half implimented, the way the story just goes completely off the rails when you go to the desert, the piss poor framerate due to the npc ai, the nonexistent endgame. Lack of enemy variety. No level scaling in new game plus, so enemies just die cause you're overleveled and have endgame gear. Game needed another 2 years of dev time. We waited 12 years and the sequel is arguably more unfinished than the first.

[@stanislavkimov2779]

@@honeybadger6275 again Capcom didn't provide enough budget. And then they think it doesn't sell.

[@LouSaydus]

Gotta hard disagree. Mechanically its sloppy and slow and feels like you're playing in molasses the whole time. The open world LOOKS great but theres absolutely no reason to explore because all the chests have the same 5 lootables in them. This only really becomes apparent after about 10 hours and you've explored most of it and gotten nothing for your efforts. Everything about the game is shallow and sloppy. The only real solid and properly fleshed out system in the game is the upgrade system. The classes are shallow, the enemy variety is shallow, the role playing elements are shallow and most of the game just feels like a 1st iteration on the game and something that should be in early access.

[@jungchoothian2039]

It’s neither a flop or goty for me. I had fun! Great time. But I cannot say I’m not wishing it could be more. It is kinda missing a bit of everything. The best about this game is exploration and immersion. This game is mainly lacking rewards. Either in story, exploration, ranking vocations, levels, builds, quests, bor fighting monsters. They are all fun but nothing are at its best. For example, monsters are not challenging. There is no reward to go find monsters. The reward would be the challenge. The story feels off in the later part. It doesn’t pay off the emotion you invested in the first half. The beginning of the game was so fun because I was so weak. I had to run for my life from goblins! But after level 40. You just ran through everything. I think the game at its core is great but it doesn’t feel polished. I hope they have free title update like monster hunters to fix some minor issues. But probably not.

[@JoshuaHumphries-c9f]

Immersion? Are you kidding? What Immersion? A close up cut scene of a sizzling steak made the camping immersive for you? Lol.

[@jacobtucker2832]

Same man

[@Dutchmaster_88]

Well said.

[@Starless85]

Amazing work as always man. Thank you.

[@Fextralife]

Thank you!

[@NGGamer-nb6bu]

I feel like “why not have more enemy variety” is the same question I have for about 90% of the games I play these days. Something so simple is so often overlooked

[@_aPaladin]

because wolves and goblins can still kill you if you didn't cheese the game... and if people wanted the game hard, just don't use pawns... you have enough utility in the game to play it just your main character.

[@ItheauthorityI]

@@_aPaladin There is no cheesing the game. Every vocation decimates everything by literally just playing it. There's a difference between "cheesing" a game and literally playing it. If every single thing is strong other than purposefully gimping yourself, it isn't cheesing.

[@NGGamer-nb6bu]

@@_aPaladinnot sure if this was directed at me but it kinda has nothing to do with my point. Alot of games (not names Elden ring) these days lack enemy variety. Doesn’t matter if you cheese the game or not

[@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi]

@@_aPaladin Congratulations, your comment is beyond dumb. Lets only have 1 enemy type from now on in videogames, after all it can still kill you :)

[@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi]

@@NGGamer-nb6bu They didn't even had time to test if DLSS was working before release, its obvious why they didn't added more enemy variety. They have no reason to, they got away with scam. 65€, no early access, lots of microtransactions yet the game has never received a playtest before release and thats totally fine and acceptable. Not even their graphic options like DLSS have actually been tested to see if it works. Bugs and stuff getting stuck is present and the performance is an absolute trainwreck no matter your PC, if this ain't a flop I dont know what is. Sadly fanboys keep supporting bad game so in a few years 15 FPS on a 6090 will be the new standard. If they can get away with this why bother making more than whats necessary?

[@denfansteven4910]

This game has been an incredible surprise for me. A flawed, yet unique and fun experience. I have not rolled credits but, in terms of combat and exploration, this is an awesome open world to get lost in

[@zyllergaming]

I had a good time after so many hours, but it's an average game for me. It's unique on its own way.

[@davidmuller6011]

Agreed, i think during award season it won’t really receive much recognition as a result

[@Ptzou]

Same, fun game but no way it will win GOTY, way too many flaws

[@timholloway8821]

I feel the same way.

[@seanhood6902]

3:45 depending on how you play, every piece of gear is valuable because you're rotating through vocations.

[@BurnishedKnight]

Strange he didn't point out that in the video, game is about change vocations also.

[@Fextralife]

Right, but you could get 3 staffs by the time you play Mage, and then 2 of them would be useless...

[@seanhood6902]

@Fextralife true enough. This is my first rodeo with this series so I do not have as much experience as you.

[@IRatchetI]

@@BurnishedKnight Well you CAN change vocations, but that doesn't mean you should HAVE to just to make a majority of the equipment you get viable.

[@swiftbear]

Let's talk about how there is ZERO loading screens in this massive beautiful world, take for example how much of a loading simulator Starfield was and totally broke immersion and exploration...

[@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi]

Let's talk about how at the cost of ZERO loading screens this for 2024 outdated visually looking game runs like absolute garbage no matter your hardware. Truly doesn't break immersion or exploration to suffer from low FPS or framedrops on mediocre visuals. Stop fanboying, its pathetic. 65€ and they didn't even tested their graphic options like DLSS lmao You can have a 5800X3D/4090 and get 60 FPS in cities and even outside you cant hit stable 144 FPS @2K while RE4 Remake gives me 250 FPS+ just as a comparison how how utterly pathetic this is I rather have loading screens than constantly bad performance

[@5lim.0]

@@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemiare you really comparing any RE game to this giant open world game with dozens of npcs with their own unique a.i. Just because they use the same (outdated) engine doesn’t mean they’re comparable

[@andsoonetcetera]

@@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi runs like butter on ps5, stop whining

[@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi]

​@@andsoonetcetera HAHAHAHAHA, ah yes your console magically runs the game smooth hahaha bro im dying You get 30 FPS on the PS5, thats terrible and absolutely not like butter. Play a game at 60 or 144 FPS then you know what it means when a game "runs like butter" 30 FPS was normal for consoles in 2008 but we are way beyond that kiddo. Stop having no standards, its sad. Far older games like Star Wars Battlefront 2 looked better and ran far better on far worse hardware. Before you tell people to stop whining, actually start playing games first for a while.

[@andsoonetcetera]

@@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi my brother i am having fun playing a video game and you are having a meltdown

[@calyxatlas]

DD2 feels designed with dlc in mind. Like it has such a solid foundation but ends so suddenly and leaves you wanting more. The fact they left out things like hard mode or the replay-able content that was in dark arisen makes me even more convinced. And it’s annoying bc it works - I would definitely buy every dlc they give us

[@heroman1322]

@KiroTheHeroI hope this is the case! I agree. Capcom will most likely give us an expansion within a year for DD2 and I’ll buy it in a heartbeat!

[@Kavino]

A lot of the narrative is non-sensical and rushed to the point of absurdity. I know a lot of players are like "who is this story NPC with no hype up and why should I care"; supposedly important characters are introduced and then immediately abandoned (like Rothais), personal quests that go no where, concepts thrown into your face but never explained properly. These problems, a DLC just can't fix.

[@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi]

Solid foundation? Bruh what is solid about it? It has ANYTHING but a solid foundation. Your comment is beyond silly, did you even played it? The games performance is plain terrible everywhere with lots of framedrops on outdated visuals. Yet you call this a "solid foundation" ?

[@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi]

@KiroTheHero Monster Hunter at least runs properly lol

[@dantemiles689]

This may sound weird to you but games use to be designed in a way that they are complete on release and DLC was extra content not missing content. It's a strange concept in 2024 I know

[@cassius_705]

Releasing DD2 before the end of the fiscal year was more important for Capcom and here‘s the result of it. A game that is not mediocre but also not stellar or a surefire GOTY.

[@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi]

Its pretty mediocre really since it doesn't run

[@Kaicovishnival]

​@@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi it does run on xbox and ps5 bruh. Pc is the only one were you can feel the struggle and they will fix it soon

[@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi]

@@Kaicovishnival On abyssmal 30 FPS any game runs anywhere - it doesn't run good however. Its an outdated standard from 2008 and absolutely terrible. You might only play games since a year and thus have no expectations but im longer in it and I know that something that looks like this has no right to run this horrible. You can feel the struggle across all platforms as no hardware in the world can run this but your standards simply are pretty low. Check out Battlefront 2 and its visuals and on how much older hardware that visual gem was able to run BETTER. Maybe now you got a slight idea. Anyway, the game cannot be fixed. It lacks far too much frames for that, the performance is so abyssmal that a simple patch could never fix this and you are very naive to believe that. With a highend PC RE4 Remake made with the same engine gives 250 FPS. This game can hardly manage 80-120 + framedrops. Just to give a comparison of how much they messed up. Play games at 30/60/144 FPS and you will see a clear difference, if your screen has such refresh rates to support that and you will understand, in case you do not know the difference yet.

[@Kaicovishnival]

@@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi still runs. Just because we made 30 fps not the standard anymore doesnt mean it makes a game bad. RE4 isnt open world and isnt a big big game. Plus denouvo. It isnt unplayable at all.

[@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi]

@@Kaicovishnival *yawn* Yeah, plain horribly like a decade ago with hardware from nowadays and dated visuals. Wowie. Star Wars Battlefront from 6 years ago is another example, by the way. It doesn't matter if its an open world or a big game, both of these games are big. You can also simply optimize your game - stop the excuses. Open World games can also have great performance with optimization, its obvious if you've been playing games for longer than a year. Some stuff like the oax carts have a 5 meter render distance, bruh are we on PS1 era now? please no more excuses.

[@ColorsFadeGaming]

It's a game that, while you're playing, you realize could be better in so many ways. But the core features - the combat, class builds, and exploration - are good enough that they mask the deficiencies enough to have fun.

[@justinmills1721]

Nailed it. What it does well, it does SO well - but it could've been so much more.

[@johnaxel27]

I absolutely love this game. I haven’t had a game take my attention like this in some time. It absolutely would get my vote for GOTY regardless of the issues.

[@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi]

65€, no early access, lots of microtransactions yet the game has never received a playtest before release and thats totally fine and acceptable. Not even their graphic options like DLSS have actually been tested to see if it works. Bugs and stuff getting stuck is present and the performance is an absolute trainwreck no matter your PC, if this ain't a flop I dont know what is. Sadly fanboys keep supporting bad game so in a few years 15 FPS on a 6090 will be the new standard. Clearly GOTY.

[@johnaxel27]

@@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi If you feel this way because you actually played it on PC and had issues, then that is understandable. However, it kind of sounds like you are just listening to all the dramatic online people that have to throw a shit fit over everything to get views. I am on console, have almost 200 hours played, and haven’t had a single issue. Not one. The micro transactions they are selling are all in game items. Items that are rare intentionally to not break how the game is supposed to operate. Which is very obvious if you played the first one. If some crybaby needs to fast travel everywhere because they think they should be catered to for everything in life, and want to pay a few bucks of real money every time, I say let them. Form your own opinions dude, live your own life, and get off the endless scroll of media manipulating you.

[@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi]

@@johnaxel27 I feel this way because I played it on day one during the first week and that is what I encountered on a PC with a 5800X3D/4090. I dont really care about other reviewers and any online drama. I have my own expectations that I draw from comparisons to past games or recently released ones. There is no media manipulating me but my own observations that I made as well as comparions to other games but I am happy that you say that at the beginning instead of just making the accustation Since you are on console I can already tell your game runs like garbage, only 30 FPS which is a pretty outdated standard from 2008. Even on highend PCs you only get 80-120 @2K resolution which is utterly pathetic for rather dated graphics. For comparison, RE4 Remake gives me 250+ FPS all maxed out at that resolution. I dont ever need that much, constant 144 is fine with me but not even that can the game deliver. There are of course the framedrops on top as well, there is not a single console or hardware in this world that can run the game fine. Now why am I upset about this? Look at footage of Star Wars Battlefront 2 - that game came out 6 years ago and ran fine on much older hardware. Do you understand now why I am outraged at this de-evolution? And about microtransactions & fast travel, it is so outreagous to me because they had the time to not only charge you 65€ and not make it early access but also to pump the game full with MTX instead of playtesting, NOT EVEN DLSS was working on release because they never cared. Collision issues with pawns are also frequent. The problem with MTX about fast travel comes into play when the game decides you have to run everywhere and back while especially while you go back absolutely nothing of interest happens thus its designed to lure you into buying the MTX which is the problem.

[@danr6842]

Thanks!

[@Fextralife]

Thank you for the support!

[@BrandonMalone-x1b]

Its my game of the year simply because I've spent more time playing and thinking about it then any other this year. Ive been playing games since i was a kid and this game has everything i want in a game...only thing I want is more....more of everything. More enemies, more story. More loot . More gear and it'll be perfect. Praying for DLC

[@DBTHEPLUG]

Elden Ring better.

[@shawntrynda7061]

Really good video as usual. I really love the way your videos are done !

[@matthewloredo3665]

Everyone seems to compare this game to a sort of Darksouls like or soemthing like it but to me this game feels like a more real time, realistic and upgraded version of Skyrim. I never fast traveled when I first played Skyrim way back on Xbox 360 and I genuinely like the aspect of how people take the fast travel for granted. Also the combat is great and the only thing I dont like is the enemies and how they're not more diverse or creative.

[@cmpoole]

Definitely some Skyrim in there, but to me it feels more like the Witcher 3. The world, story and combat are closer to the Witcher... And man that game still holds up super well almost 10 years on. I'm enjoying Dragons Dogma the more I play it, but in the first 10 hours of playing I was thinking... This is like a worse version of the Witcher.

[@matthewloredo3665]

@cmpoole I'll be honest I never played Witcher 3. Never caught my interest. Tried once and couldn't get into it. I know some people don't like Dragons Dogma 2 for reasons but to me I haven't been this into a game since Elden Ring which was last year. It's hard for me to really explore because some games don't have good exploring mechanics or I'm just not interested in their worlds but DD2 is different lol. That's me tho.

[@cmpoole]

​@@matthewloredo3665I bounced off Witcher the first time I tried to play it too. But later it totally sucked me in. It's much more about the story and characters and less about random adventures in the open world but I think if you love Skyrim and DD2 you might want to give it another shot. It's a masterpiece. And to be clear, after the first few hours DD2 really grew on me. The beginning just felt really janky and a slog. I loved Elden Ring too!

[@MrFox101]

The exploration feels like Elden Ring, which is where I think the Souls comparison comes from.

[@thelobster7277]

@@cmpooleI was thinking about Witcher 3 the entire time I played this game. Everything DD2 has W3 has and did it much better

[@xorrior4438]

Dragon Dogma 2 easily my favorite game of the year! Amazing world, top-notch graphics, excellent character creator, great combat, cool gear, solid music, strange, mysterious story. Check, check, check.

[@Prototype9871]

Yeah this game really makes you feel like you’re going on an adventure and really does reward you for paying attention to detail in the game world. The only thing with the enemies type they change in the unmoorne world and they could do some dlc for more enemies like adding the ones from dragons dogma online

[@Stormwolf4]

As someone hoping for this game to make it far, I fully agree with you. There are just certain aspects that make it really hard to fully say this is GOTY. I really do wish there was more enemy variety, as well some more difficulty on launch. And of course, the story was sorta whatever, even though endgame did have a nice touch to it that I really enjoyed. But as you said, they had most things set up, but they seem to still just barley miss. You bring up a good point though, I'm not sure what other game is really gonna fight against this game so far. I'm not entirely sure of everything that's coming out, but me personally, there's not really anything else I'm really looking forward to this year. I hope this game gets an amazing DLC like Dark Arisen, because no matter what this game was still something I waited over 10 years for and I still very much love it

[@JetLagRecords]

Fextralife, Your videos always brighten my day, so I subscribed!

[@TheGrades90]

I'm at the 30 hour mark and I'm still shocked at how it just gets better and better. It might be my favorite game since Elden Ring. Also "Dragon's Dogma 2 doesn't have the most innovative combat I've played in any game, but I like how they've done it here." I would genuinely love to hear what games you consider to have more innovative combat than this, cause I'd love to play them!

[@_aPaladin]

no game yet has that much of a reactive visceral feel to combat.

[@2HandHangerDunksOnly]

Gunz the duel I guess… but good luck trying to play that lol

[@terminalblue]

Well. There's always DD1.

[@gamersinger5118]

@TheGrades90 I still do not know of a better combat system in a third person action game. Especially in an open world setting.

[@TheGrades90]

@@_aPaladin Yeah, it's incredible how interactive and emergent every fight feels. There are so many ways to express yourself through combat. I hope more game devs iterate off this style, cause it feels like it's almost perfected what the original was going for, or even what Nintendo's been trying to do with combat in their new Zelda entries--like you're running around on a jungle gym while fighting opponents.

[@vashthafellomen816]

We aren’t even at the middle of the year. But I will say I love this game. It’s an amazing game. Glad to add it to my collection of rpgs. I love that it gives me a different way to play an open world game. It’s not about going from quest to quest but exploring your environment. It definitely gets better and better as you play along.

[@theolong6689]

Took me 110 hours to finish my first playthrough. I really took my time and did all the quests and explored 90% of the map and saw the true endgame. Loved every minute spent in the world but at this point cant see anything else worth doing mostly because ng+ does not have enemy scaling and the base game was overall way too easy for my taste. If it had a hard mode or ng+ had enemy scaling then I definitely would continue to play but for now I will be taking a break waiting for the dlc. Overall amazing game but its not mainstream enough to get GOTY especially since it does have its few issues.

[@5n00w]

100% agree on your conclusion. DD2 gets the "x-factor" right, the complicated thing to do when creating a game: to create something I want MORE of. A DLC with more monsters and stuff to find would be a dream come true. Concerning the stuff that is not just missing (monster or loot variety) but simply inconvenient: that is why I am happy to play on PC, since mods can do amazing things here. For example take the warfarer vocation: the mod "true warfarer" lets to use three (non-maister) skills from every vocation. This is a godsent when trying out new playstyles. Or the fact that I can mod in an "eternal ferrystone" (it was in DD1DA, so its not unreasonable) to overcome the stupid restrictions on fast travel. Or the myriad options concerning transmog / character creation styles modding brings to the table. As you said, there is so much fun in this game, I really hope Capcom will continue developing it.

[@DripofSteel]

The lack of direction makes the game so f**king fun. Exploring the dungeons is god tier.

[@Karanagi]

The good news is that many of the things that are lacking can be adressed with good DLC and performance and QoL patches. More enemy/loot variety and challenge would add a lot of lifespan to DD2. This was exactly what Dark Arisen added to DD1, so there's good reason to be hopeful.

[@lethargicwizard]

I know this isn't a great excuse, but DD2 is in about the same state as DD1 was at launch, relatively speaking. The base game is/was fairly limited. It wasn't until the expansion that it got more interesting. With the addition of Hard Mode, and a deep dungeon style zone that was chock full of more diverse enemies and bosses. I think what they've given is here is a solid foundation with room to grow via content updates.

[@tobiakilo3413]

People will forget about it before the so called updates come out. Just like DD1, you say? 😅

[@emjaythegreat22]

This game is 100% about the journey the best part is actually going through the game undergeared. Before you get the best gear or use higher level pawns is where the game shines. Feeling the progression and unlocking skills and using them is what’s fun! If there was actually a reason to get the best gear and upgrade it the best you can! And actually had something to fight worth fighting to test yourself at the end would have been better. Even in everfall you had the online dragon which was always something you needed to work towards to test yourself. I always find end game of games lack where their is no reason to be doing what your doing other then for the sake of doing it… and no other reason..

[@jaxuys]

This could be a GOTY contender; considering it as a 3rd person "Skyrim". Travelling is a double edged design decision for the reason of exploration/levelling. The micro-transaction fiasco was overblown. Well articulated video.

[@Tentacl]

It was not overblown, it was a huge idiotic move, allowing people to buy to bypass what supposedly is design makes consumers rightfully suspicious it wasn't a design choice at all, but artificial disconfort created to sell artificial solutions. The japanese are AWFUL at marketing and it shows here.

[@jds0406]

​@@Tentaclwhat artificial discomfort lol.

[@PrimalDirective]

@@Tentacl bypass what? Portcrystals are just a travel point, they don't enable fast travel itself, and early on it's a bit useless to have anything other than Vermund and Harve as travel points. I found myself using Oxcarts far more often than buying Portcrystals because Oxcart travel is so cheap. Most of the time early on I was wishing for my Oxcart to get attacked so I could stop between areas and explore as that was my main goal anyway. Maybe Ubisoft games are more your speed where the world and exploration don't matter at all so you can teleport to point A, B and C and complete quests 2 minutes after getting them.

[@Wariyaka]

@@Tentacl 🤡

[@Tentacl]

@@Wariyaka Ah fanboys, always becoming agressive when faced with the truth.

[@tomschlaiss5735]

Nice review and good points, cheers from Germany

[@Neonmirrorblack]

Still completely disagree with your opinion about the backtracking "only" being bad because people aren't exploring. Fully disagree with that. The game doesn't get better after you've already revealed the entire map, it gets progressively worse because of all the back tracking you have already done and need to still do. Game peaks in the first half anyway. By the time you reach Battahl, you've already fought most enemies dozens of times over, and Battahl is nothing but ambush after ambush of the same crap that was already old before you got there. The game really isn't that deep, especially for those who actually have any experience with the previous one. Fun enough combat, but not much else worthwhile. The quests are dull, the NPCs are dull, the loot is dull (95% comes from vendors), the actual open-world is good enough the first time you've gone through any given area, but it wears out its welcome quickly, and the world layout itself doesn't feel natural at all. It feels more like an intentional maze set up just to make getting to where you want to go take even longer.

[@someone-ke4qj]

It's shite really.

[@dantemiles689]

Exactly

[@Lurian9]

Such a great breakdown. Echoed much of my-and think many others-feelings. I hope they make a couple sick expansions that remedy all these misses, it truly deserves it.

[@zhilong]

350 hours in, 4th play-through, I love it when my pawn gets hired and completing the pawn quests on either ends. I would travel from one part of the map to another and something would happen from the journey. I can’t tell you why I keep playing this game but just to walking around and some random stuff happens is pretty good.

[@MarluxiaX2]

350 hours and on your 4th run with no Hard Mode and Level Scaling? That sounds boring as hell

[@lloydfrazier3682]

This game is NOT worth wasting that much time for lol

[@zhilong]

@@feelsgoodman420 to all three of you, that’s your problem, if you couldn’t enjoy the game as much, move on, skill ceiling? Move on tryhard, you can only justify yourself playing a game with KD ratio? And may I ask how do you justify your amazing skill in Skyrim or games like Animal Crossing? Each to their own mate and I am sorry all three of your couldn’t enjoy the game, better luck in your future purchases or experiment in a different category of games may be?

[@namtrinhhai1035]

Liar, you play 20h/day ? 😄

[@BangsarRia]

Steam says I'm at 336 hours but I do go AFK often so 250 is probably more like it. I haven't quite finished exploring the map. I have 9 fast travel destinations (PortCrystals) and dozens of fast travel tokens (Ferrystones) - I rarely use them because the adventuring - and even taking the oxcart - is so much fun. I made a lot of DD2 Friends on Steam. We hire each others Pawns. Party makeup can be so varied due to Pawn Class and personality. The group dynamics are usually unexpected and often hilarious. There are 10 different Classes (Vocations) and you can switch at will. Each has 10 or so Skills/Spells, about 5 Core Skills, and 6 Skill Augments that can be used cross-Class. And each Vocation has a variety of weapons and armor, some with radical properties. Plus dozens of Cloaks and 40+ Rings that all Classes can use.

[@YourBoySB]

Studios need to hire you as a consultant, bro. I’ve been watching your videos since the old days of dark souls, and you’re the man when it comes to this stuff.

[@adamp6320]

Game is the biggest dissapointment since The Last Jedi. We had such high hopes, and we got a game that regressed from Dark Arisen which came out 12 years ago. All they had to do was make a base game with the vocation and skill and weapon mechanics of DD:DA (yes, with double jump and dodge roll and skill upgrade rings etc etc etc) and then build on that by adding MORE. Then fix the short comings from DD:DA by giving us good non-player characters and a good main quest and adding monster variety. Add in a rewarding end game with random interesting loot drops (eg BBI loot system) and an increasing difficulty NG+ cycle. Bam. Instead GOTY.

[@rafaelmasilang6490]

You are on point, sir. The game has things I love, but also some things I’d love to change.

[@Wordgoblin]

Any time I hear a 'frustration' argument, I have to wonder if those frustrations are because of bad mechanics, or because of mechanics that aren't like every other RPG or things that many take for granted. I think the limited fast travel 'frustration' argument is bad one because I think people have gotten too used to FT, and it, as a mechanic, has been a downside on gaming in general. Can we really say that having a 'living world' with NPCs that have their own routines and such is bad just because it can be difficult sometimes to find the NPC to get/turn in a quest? Where is the break point between bad and just inconvenient? This kind of game is important to have rough edges and things that go against 'norms' so that players can experience things that aren't like every other RPG out there. People complain about Ubisoft style icon maps and busy work, but then something comes out that isn't like that and people complain! It is ridiculous.

[@cmdr_thrudd]

Yeah agreed. I wonder if it's because I'm old school but I didn't find any frustration with the things folks were complaining about. I don't think I used my first ferrystone until about 50 hours in. I was happy hoofing it through the world exploring and fighting monsters. I also liked the immersion of having to look around a bit for some of the npc's too. Made the world feel more alive that they weren't just dumbly standing in the same location 24/7 with an marker over their head.

[@vonblunder]

Have they fixed the NumPad being impossible to remap? As a left hander its a deal breaker for me.

[@darekw4710]

Solid game, currently 70+h in and will buy dlc for sure.

[@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi]

Solid in running terrible indeed, go paypiggy support it so we get even lower standards in the future.

[@darekw4710]

@@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi will do dont worry

[@AMBATUKAM11111]

@@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi keep playing on your trash pc while we enjoy this game

[@Voltomess]

@@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi dude we play this game on PC and you? you can go take your potatoe and play minecraft

[@StarBoundFables]

Interesting opinions, this review feels very balanced. I hope Capcom & other game dev teams watch these vids & make an effort to learn + improve from them. Hopefully, Capcom puts a lot of your recommendations in the 1st DLC. Kind of like how Cyberpunk got better post-'Phantom Liberty'. I'm looking forward to playing DD2, but I'm glad I didn't play the 1st one so the experience will feel fresh

[@yoyoyouka]

I'm being honest here as a big fans since the first Dragon's Dogma. If you think Dragon's Dogma 2 is a GOTY contender, you are crazy. But if you think Dragon's Dogma 2 a bad game, you too are crazy. It's definitely a fun game, but with a lot of limitations to your experience. At least until the current patch. But did that stop you to pour 100 hours clock in? Definitely not, I'm having a blast right now even with that limitations!

[@pcwildcat]

As a 33 yo it is scratching an itch I didn't know needed scratched. It feels a lot gamier than most modern AAA games coming out today. Almost like a throwback to simpler times when games knew they were games.

[@kaanarmutcu6740]

Thats it its a mid game, its fun but nothing impressive.

[@jatats7743]

I feel the biggest annoyance in my opinion, other than the repitition of the pawns dialect, is trying to navigate the map! If you're trying to go to one spot and head the wrong way to get there, you will be annoyed by the length of time it takes to get on track. That said, I have recently found portcrystals! Which addresses so many issues of mine concerning travel... just like in the first game! Other issues i have with the game, you've already brought up in the video- and I almost completely agree with everything, but I have a long way to go before i get to the 250 hour mark! Lol

[@stinyg]

The lack of enemy variety is almost criminal. 98% of the time youre fighting enemies you already did 12 years ago in DD1. If you played DD1 with the Dark Arisen expansion then even that has a lot more variety than what DD2 has. What were they even thinking??

[@kwuserfriendly1769]

Great review! I totally agree with your look of the game! I have now 200h in the game, I still have fun. But I miss the combat challenge and much more different enemies and gear loot! Besides that, for me the best game (till now) this year!

[@EtNORMZ]

Hopefully you can newer this question, when I switch vocation will stats change according to that vocation? Or will me starting as a mage and then switching to warrior mess up the stats? How does this work, is it still like DD1? Or do I not need to worry about this anymore?🤔

[@ZeljkoBosnjak]

THANK YOU! You helped me save money! You just honestly presented the details of the game that really mean 'plus' and 'minus' to someone. I'm NOT buying DD2, and I'm playing something that suits me better. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! Kind wishes.

[@Rahulc1987]

Thanks, most reviews are stupid long this one was comprehensive and brief

[@jds0406]

It's my GotY. But then again, this is the only new game I'm buying this year lol, unless you count Shadow of the Erdtree. My only substantial complaint is that it's too easy, even in the early game. The first game was quite challenging for a long time (sans exploits or powerleveling) -- even well into ng+ for some builds. You had to be cautious and prepared or you would die. You can just barrel through DD2, and most vocations feel OP by level 40. Hoping for a hard mode down the line. Still playing and enjoying it though. I doubt it will end up in my personal S-tier with the first game (unless it has DLC on par with BBI), but it's a solid A anyway.

[@Cruor34]

I was going to buy this on Steam Summer sale but decided not to from the amount of people saying it's too easy. The whole fun of any game is failing and figuring out how to get better and win.

[@Plz8662]

Those ragdoll physics on enemies might make me buy this game actually lol that lizard flip was hilarious

[@williamegan6756]

You’re forgetting Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, which has been received very positively by the fans and has a 92 Metacritic rating.

[@DanteMayCry-qv5kf]

I thought rebirth was an extremely bloated open world experience that holds your hand every second

[@williamegan6756]

@@DanteMayCry-qv5kf Hmm, well everyone is entitled to their own wrong opinion.

[@DanteMayCry-qv5kf]

@williamegan6756 ay it isn't my opinion that's js what I heard. I haven't played it so I wouldn't know yet.

[@dammyoyesanya4656]

@@DanteMayCry-qv5kfif you haven’t played then don’t speak on it. FF7 Rebirth has so much stuff that’s missable that everyone has to look up a guide. You probably heard from some random KZbinr that the open world holds your hands cos it has Ubisoft towers or something. Yeah it has those towers but they don’t reveal all the important stuff neither does the game have ? locations. To me the towers are just fast travel spots kinda like the sites of grace in Elden ring. All the important shit you have to find yourself while exploring. So don’t speak on what you don’t know. There’s a reason it got a 92 on metacritic and is still the best reviewed game this year. Only problem people had with the game was the ending

[@LautrecOfCarin]

@@dammyoyesanya4656nah, it has a lot of bloat.

[@SnaikHead]

i couldn't have said it better, you truly became a guru in games with the IRL experience you gained lol.

[@mikearlotta8635]

I love exploring in this game, the landscapes are stunning and combat is 10/10.. if the lore/quests were as good as bg3 it’d be the beat rpg of all time!

[@_aPaladin]

pay attention to the story and you'll understand why it's so robotic... BG3 doesn't have an overall narrative that it wants to you understand, that is the difference to Japanese games versus American games. Japanese games want the game to be fun, but they also have an overarching narrative, American games leaves that up to you while introducing woke crap.

[@gamersinger5118]

@mikearlotta8635 It isn't really an RPG in the same way. BG3 is a CRPG and I do not think a single action game with the quality gameplay of something like Dragon's Dogma exists with the quest and storytelling of a CRPG. Of course BG3 is actually a much lesser CRPG in those aspects. There are far better CRPGs where story and writing is concerned. Even it's 23 year old prequel had a better story and far superior writing.

[@fateoftheforsaken]

I agree as well when it comes to the early game with only being a few hours in. I am enjoying it but it's really taking it's time to grow on me and to get to that "Aha" moment. Will keep playing for sure and hopefully they take a look at the shortcomings to improve on in any later DLC.

[@weebthatlifts5750]

i thought DD2 was short till i realized i had put in 80 hours in my 1st playthrough

[@ericspratling9252]

I'm basing this on very little, but my hope is that Dragon's Dogma 2 will end up being a sort of dry run/proof of concept for Dragon's Dogma 3, and THAT one will truly knock everyone's socks off. Maybe the point of DD2 was to get something "good enough" out the door in what looks like a relatively short development time-- and given how long it's been since the first Dragon's Dogma, is a hell of a lot better than nothing. Hopefully the sales & buzz on DD2 have been sufficient enough to spur Capcom into letting Itsuno and his team spent more money & time on the next sequel.

[@bluedotdinosaur]

Everyone has memories of the original DD after its Dark Arisen expansion which added a lot. Vanilla Dragon's Dogma was pretty good, but a little limited. I get the impression that due to its size and complexity DD2 was rushed out the door JUST a little and there's a few obvious things missing - like an additional endgame gear layer and hard mode for NG+. But it's inevitable it will get an expansion. The exciting part is DD2 has even more to work with than the first game. The potential for an expansion is high.

[@adamp6320]

It was rushed out the door because of Capcom's financial year end (2 weeks after game released so all the pre-sales and first week sales go into that financial year rather than the next). Follow the money and you can see the obvious.

[@danielsternberg8941]

I was really getting into it, and then I was suddenly forced into the end game. Now I am trying to rush through the Unmoored World to unlock New Game+ and try again with better pacing. I've played about 80 hours, I think, at level 55. Haven't unlocked Magic Archer or Warfarer or even made it to the hotsprings.

[@Cab8819]

My man, the NPC's are broken af. There are a FEW npc's that have solid schedules and wander properly. The rest of them just circle the center city and bump into each other while repeating the same single line of dialogue. They dont even buy shit from each other in the market.

[@gunzkiller101]

It a great game that I like. However what fans and me include wanted wasn’t a remake or redo of the first game. We wanted the first game but more stuff. More classes, more cool skills, more enemies, more bosses, more mechanics, and more story.

[@Solare1]

When it comes to enemy variety, what game does enemy variety well?

[@cartoonvideos5]

Elden Ring

[@Wariyaka]

@@cartoonvideos5 Eh no.

[@sPaCe_NiNjA187]

@@Wariyaka eh yes. Elden Ring has around 146 unique enemy types. Did you even play it? DLC will probably add 50 more. DD2 has around 20. You do the math.

[@ItheauthorityI]

@@Wariyaka For an open world it absolutely does. There are many many unique enemies in the game. Obviously there will be repeats in a massive open world. But you're facing new encounters throughout its entire runtime.

[@gamersinger5118]

@@sPaCe_NiNjA187 Whole lot of rehashes though. Saying there are 146 actual "unique" enemy types seems way way too generous.

[@chubbybehem0th]

This is my current game of the year. I rolled credits at 110 hours (true ending) and I had a blast. Yes, performance sucks, but it only really affected me in Vernworth. I think it has many design flaws that I didn't agree with that can sour your experience. I don't see the point to dragon's plague, it's just annoying having to throw your pawns in a lake every now and then. Equipment was too expensive. The ox carts glitched out on me several times. I found myself looking for npcs in the morgue several times because they had died for some reason. This game asks a lot from the player. However, I loved the exploration and combat so much. I also loved that you can swap vocations easily without a penalty to your stats. That made the gameplay very fresh. Overall, a phenomenal game, but yeah, it's probably not gonna win goty.

[@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi]

65€, no early access, lots of microtransactions yet the game has never received a playtest before release and thats totally game of the year. Not even their graphic options like DLSS have actually been tested to see if it works. Bugs and stuff getting stuck is present and the performance is an absolute trainwreck no matter your PC, if this ain't a flop I dont know what is. Sadly fanboys keep supporting bad game so in a few years 15 FPS on a 6090 will be the new standard - truly GOTY, setting new standards in 2024 lol

[@fletcherplumb8826]

​@@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemithe micro transactions are for rc, a currency used to buy higher level pawn. I didnt even know about the currency till I got on KZbin. I had so much rc at the end of the game I didn't know what to do with it all. The first dd1 required rc and you get it the same rate you do in this game. It's really not a big deal. Game is easy and need a eternal ferrystone and more enemy variation. That's all. The other stuff the like micro transactions I don't get it, don't buy them?

[@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi]

@@fletcherplumb8826 RC is only required to buy pawns that are a higher level than you are, if its the same level they are free. Indeed it needs an eternal ferrystone but then they couldn't sell as much MTX :) The issue is that they had time to make all of those and add them to the game INSTEAD of polishing and playtesting their game so it runs like garbage...for 65€ That combination is simply outragous. If it would be a good game like RE4 Remake that runs very well nobody would care about the MTX

[@gamersinger5118]

@chubbybehem0th Can't you just dismiss them in the rift? But yea. There were plenty of problems. I just wish more action adventure games like this one had this kind of quality combat. The first Dragon's Dogma was the best for me up to this point and now it's the second game.

[@chubbybehem0th]

@@gamersinger5118 my understanding is that dismissing them doesn't get rid of the disease. I didn't want to take any risks in case my main pawn was infected as well.

[@BlameslessT-rex]

Items and enemy variety can be added in. The foundation is fantastic

[@tomkuzik7]

As of right now because there's nothing else to compete against Dogma 2 I say yes its goty worthy and right now is the goty, but I also think once this year is over and there's worthy enough titles to compete against Dogma 2 it'll be a lot closer in this category. As of right now Dogma 2 is the goty. Curious to see how this year plays out. 🙏😤🙌

[@MarluxiaX2]

Nothing else to compete? Come on man lmao

[@davidmuller6011]

Final fantasy rebirth is literally better than DD2 in everything and has better reviews lol

[@jungchoothian2039]

@@davidmuller6011I haven’t played ff7rb yet and I love dragon dogma. But I agree. I can see ff7 would be better judging from playing remake. It seems better objectively

[@tomkuzik7]

Yeah right now its rebirth and dogma 2 sitting as nominees for goty thus far. ​@@davidmuller6011

[@HHTwice]

@@davidmuller6011Rebirths story somehow found a way to be far, far worse than DD2’s.

[@BasicWorldbuilder]

It seems to me the "game is too easy" crowd are running min/maxed builds with 3 pawns and complaining they optimized the fun out of the game. I did the final fight as a 40 fighter with a 38 healer mage main pawn with gear that was upgraded twice. And that fight was long and intense... Many of the fights are if you arent blowing them up with spells, using magic martyr arrows or spin to win on thief. You can end up in a death spiral real quick if you get knocked down by a boss or ganked by a mob and dont have 3 pawns there drawing agro. I hope they add more variety with DLC but much like Elden Ring. You tune the difficulty with the builds and how much support you use.

[@galaxy6251]

I dont get these reviews. There are so many people purring their reviews on this game and their thoughts on what would make it better, but i struggle to understand how someone with 250 hours didnt call out like the main massive issue with the game, that being the absolutely deplorable difficulty scaling throughout the game, if anything, your review implied that the scaling is actually good as you continue through the game, which it obviously isnt if youve played even half a playthrough. literally like 80% of this game is just playing through mind numbingly easy battles where enemies melt in front of your eyes as soon as the fight starts, so you have no time to use any of the cool combat mechanics that this game puts in place. It is so atrociously awful that i could legit put my controller down and just sit there for half of the fights and still win, because my pawns will just mess them up. Probably almost any fight if i just mindlessly spammed light attack and nothing else. The game is actually somewhat challenging in the very early beginning but then very quickly becomes a snooze fest with how enemies die basically instantly, then eventually around lv 30 you get to a new area and their is a little bit of a difficulty spike, but then very very quickly again becomes awful again. Like its so bad that the game as a whole and all its mechanics and ruined because of this simple yet massively problematic oversight. And when someone says they have 250 hours in this game and never mention this massive issue with the game i have to wonder wtf is going on here, because there is like no way you played 250 hours of real playthroughs and didnt see this as a terrible issue wirh the game, like the biggest issue.

[@BMmasta27]

One cool thing about the game is that you can do things to keeps it challenging. Not saying that’s a good defense or anything like that, but I find the game to be rather balanced by only running with my main pawn, no mages. I have to absolutely make sure I have enough potions and food before I do anything and if I run out in the field I’m basically soft locked in progression because if I get into something underprepared I’m in a big mess. It requires me to engage with the world more. I actually have a reason to revisit areas and villages to stock up. Some would find that really boring but I just really enjoy how the game feels. That’s how I’ve managed 80hrs before really even getting to the desert.

[@leandrodelmistro2238]

One of the best and most accurate reviews I have heard so far.

[@claytoncampbell6419]

when you continue playing the game there is allot of running back and forth for quests. Exploration can be fun but but when that means fighting the same monsters that were in the starter area only to explore higher level area and fight the same monsters but this one has a little armor on it get old fast. so you are left with just running back and forth to complete quests. Game of the year this game is not.

[@ZER0H0UR333]

10:26 here from the future where Shadow of the Erdtree is actually in game of the year running

[@TheSirLancelot2]

One of the biggest downsides of this game for me is the camera, especially during climbing enemies.

[@Yogirlchoosin99]

Change you controller set up so you can fight and still control camera you won’t regret it

[@TheSirLancelot2]

@@Yogirlchoosin99 I did that already but for me especially when I climb a big monster and it moves around my char climbs semingly random like I move my stick to climb up and he climbs down for example

[@gamersinger5118]

@TheSirLancelot2 Then you should probably stay away from the first game. That one was abysmal in it's camera. This game is miles better even if I wouldn't consider it perfect by any means.

[@Sylentmana]

It’s my GOTY. It’s a niche title that studios rarely make anymore. I am definitely the target audience.

[@twistedyukuma]

I think it’s wild people are talking about how the game lacks endgame content after you put in well over 100hr. Like what it’s not an mmo it’s a single player game, the content ends yes, the unmoored world is post game content just extra stuff for you to do. It’s not suppose to be an unlimited pipeline of content. Oh my goodness the game feels easy after I did everything and got the best gear. Yeah no duh it suppose to reward you for hard work and hours. It’s ok to be done with the game until new content is released does not make it a bad game you just did everything.

[@cgmach9395]

bingo

[@socrdude209]

I found it too easy and boring after lvl 20, way before end game. New game + doesn’t even increase enemy difficulty so I have no idea how someone can stomach that. Also the same monsters, same location, every time is so repetitive and not even fun to grind like I said after lvl 20. inventory management between pawns and the chest could have been cool but the items were barely needed so I just stopped wanting to pick things up. Caves were copy pasted, put x monster here, y monster here. Im glad someone liked it. I wish I didn’t pay full price for this what feels a game severely lacking charm and energy. GoW is the gold standard of “linear driven” rpgs, and perhaps I just expected a game coming out in 2024 to try and have that level of quality or at least an attempt for it.

[@vonblunder]

DD1 had an end game expansion that could keep people busy for a lot of time. SO any DD1 player will be tempted to compare DD2 to DD1 + Expansion

[@shinkamui]

endgame doesnt have to be mmo things like raids and such it can be as simple as a good ng+ mode

[@WhoLoc]

I didn’t have any of those beginning game issues you had , I thought it was great from the start all the way to the end. I went into it knowing it was going to be a different type of game with a lot of backtracking, and I came to love the exploration and adventuring. It reminded me slightly of death stranding how I would have to pack what I needed before I ventured out and once I was out in the world I just had to keep going til I hit a town or campsite. I dunno this game didn’t cause me any frustration in the beginning once I knew what kind of game I was buying and getting into. It’s a solid 9/10 and the best game I’ve played this year.

[@buddbasset]

Im over 100 hours and haven't finished the main quest yet because Im having too much fun getting lost in exploration. When you have the best weapons in hand, it does get boring so I upgrade lower quality weapons and armor so that I don't do as much damage to enemies even when my level is already 70+. That way I'm going more fashion and looks rather than utility equipment wise and it's just been fun for me.

[@piffromney1916]

I’m lvl 20 and I haven’t leveled up any weapons or armor and I still feel op now 😂😂😂😂

[@charliesanders8719]

I never played this, was gonna buy it in a sale, but 2 weeks everyone stopped talking about it and I completely forgot it existed.

[@mizutsunesbubbles]

Fr everyone forgot about this game

[@J4rring]

what sucks the most is that all of this couldve been addressed/ironed out before release - IF capcom execs actually trusted their developers and cared for their fan base… you can see it and feel it throughout the game when a cyclops comes barreling thru the trees, or you stumble upon a chimeras den, and especially in the way the quests have complex interconnections throughout the world. But just like the devs, they were skimped, rushed, and cut short in a way that just gave the most bang for the buck

[@J4rring]

Dont get me wrong, I love the game and plan on pouring hundreds of hours+ and getting the dlc, but its really just another example of the wrong people in the wrong seats

[@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi]

Why should they bother? Why do you hope or expect them to address or iron out anything before release? They got away with charging 65€ for an unfinished game that never got any optimization or even playtesting. Its not early access either and filled with MTX. All that while the game is buggy, stuff getting stuck, ABYSSMAL performance no matter your PC and guess what - people love it. 30 FPS on a game that looks worse than what we had 6 years ago is nowadays what blows people away. 60 FPS on highend PCs on outdated PS5 graphics lmao - clearly a good game! Now I know outside of the cities its slightly higher but even with a 4090/7800X3D you cant reach stable 144 FPS@2K. Pathetic. But hey the game has no loading screens, totally worth the bad performance nad frame drops. They will never change and these practices only get worse as long as the sheep buy into it.

[@fotisj321]

50 hours in and I agree with most of your points. I am not that forgiving about the monetization because the scarcity of portcrystals and the high price in shops etc. seems to me to be directly tied to it . Actually I like what they did with fast traveling in principle: oxcarts work like a simple ft system, but it is very limited. And this is another missed chance. When, for example, our hero improves the relationship with the elves, this could have been used to open a new oxcart endport in the north part of the map (which would have given us a much more satisfying experience of having achieved something). I think it is a bit unfair to talk about the lacking variety of mobs without making it clear that each of them shows some variety (normal goblin, armored goblin, hobgoblin. water saurier, stone saurier, poison saurier etc.) which also includes their fighting style. But respawning them as in an MMO at the same place tends to make it boring but more calculable if you need to farm stuff for upgrades. So, yes, a flawed gem which seems rushed in many aspects except the world and the design of exploration. The main problem is for me the lack of good writing, especially of good characters and character stories (very visible after Cyberpunk and Baldur's Gate 3). And at some points the game feels old-fashioned in a not so good way: just enter the rift any day now and look at the pawns: 90% are female and many of them need more armor.

[@MaverickneoGamer]

I love this game. I’m a little over 50 hours in and still in my first play through towards the end. My only minor complaint is I wish they had more enemy variety.

[@CY3ER]

Honestly this is a very good opinion about the game. I enjoyed it a lot. They did so many things right, but fell short of making something truly amazing.

[@samflood5631]

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is close to being Game of the Year next to Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. I mean I’ve been playing for almost 60 hours and I think it’s great.

[@zorikzz]

I haven’t been this invested in a game in a long time, very rarely will I do multiple play throughs but with this one I’m on my 3rd and still finding stuff I haven’t previously come across, I’ve definitely had my moneys worth, everyone’s opinions on the micro transactions are warranted, personally it doesn’t bother me and I have seen much much worse in the past

[@francisstranieri2067]

So far FFRebirth is my GOTY, but there are a lot of games coming Wukong, AC Red, Star Wars Outlaws, Elden Ring DLC....

[@P8nplays]

Dlc doesn’t count for goty imo Elden ring already won its year

[@JorgeRodriguez-xz5ec]

A modern ubisoft game is never going to win game of the year 😂 they just don't make quality games and elden ring dlc doesn't count as a game

[@geeksworkshop]

Bless x

[@Sted916boy]

Oc a ff7 stan 🙄 We all know that game's gonna get goty unfortunately even though it's a literal remake it has already a blueprint of what to do and how not to mess up

[@francisstranieri2067]

@@JorgeRodriguez-xz5ec That's true but I keep hoping to see an AC in a GOTY level.

[@malbhet]

One of the main issues I hate about this game is they actually removed removed 2 bossed that were in the first game's original release and combined their characteristics to make an inferior boss that isn't really worth fighting. They removed the Hydra and giant Gorgon eye for the Medusa. The Hydra was a much better boss fight due to its ability to grow its heads back unless you use fire, and the gorgon eye had better defense by closing its eyeduring attacks. The Madusa is just slower, weaker, and easier to kill as long as you use thief and lightening weapons while clinging to and attacking the head constantly. At least the Hydra could swallow you whole and insta kill you while petrification medicine was harder to get in the first game, making the Gorgon and Cockatrice 2 of the deadliest bosses to face. I forgot about the Cockatrice, which made 3 bosses removed. The Cockatrice was similar to the Griffin, but it could petrified you instantly unless you had petrification medicine, which was harder to get in DD1 than in DD2. The only thing better about DD2 is the combat gameplay, the vocations (they really should have added the paladin vocation tho), and world design (which is on par or up there along with Elden Ring imo), but it's clear that this game needed at least 2 more years of development.

[@erikdibiase7658]

I think this thing I read somewhere "best 7/10 game I've ever played" sums it up very well... I find myself bamboozled at how invested I got into exploring everything that there was to see and I can't say that for so many other games I've played recently... Hopefully capcom will allow this gem to shine properly as updates come around

[@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi]

more like 4/10 until they fix performance

[@erikdibiase7658]

@@PuellaMagiHomuraAkemi I know of the performance issues even if I didn't really encounter any on my pc play through... totally understand the complaint tho

[@erikdibiase7658]

I am pretty sure they'll manage to fix the performance like many other games managed... a shame they didn't take the time to do it before release

[@ghostsamongus3370]

So now that it's almost the end of the year I can say I think this is my GOTY. Is it perfect? No, but the things that the game does well make it stand out from any other title I have played this year.

[@tenorenstrom]

I feel dd2 is in Starfield territory. Unique game with huge flaws and wasted potential. Some love it, many people go “sure it’s pretty good “. Don’t think it’s enough for a nomination for GOTY. But who knows. Right now in q1 it deserves a nomination.

[@evzenkastl6386]

With all respect and i am no fanatical defender of DD2, but dont you dare to even compare it to that crap.

[@jabbypants788]

This can't be compared to the mess starfield was and still is. Am 85 hours in and not had one crash. Loving this game more than starfield.

[@Saurons-Story]

That is not a good comparison lol. Starfield was one of the worst games I had a chance to play. DD2 is captivating once surpassing through the beginning of the game.

[@JP-jd8wr]

Starfield territory? That seems like an exaggeration

[@Whoooooo676]

Some good points in your review. I do take issue with one thing. In my opinion, the npcs are not very interesting. They will literally go through the same animations/dialogue endlessly day and night. That, in and of itself, breaks the immersion factor for me anyways. Thanks for the time you took to make this. It would be nice if Capcom and other companies would take all of this analysis to heart and make the necessary changes. After all, if the fans aren't happy, then that affects their bottom line.....but then again, most of these companies are beholden to that bottom line, and when push comes to shove, creativity and innovation are usually the first to get thrown aside...

[@wolfhowllionheart9367]

I would say its the opposite, you start with mystery thinking everything will kill you etc by 50 hours ,you have basically seen the whole game and its really easy and boring,the more you play the shallower the game becomes

[@Casualgaming763]

Imo all it needs is to incresse difficulty (tougher enemies), add new enemies(optional), increase by 2x-3x skill slots to equip spells/skills at once. That for me would add a whole lot more playability.

[@CarlWByrne]

I have 130 hours in, its good, it aint GOTY. Late game is rinse repeat, variety of MOBS is limited, with the greatest disappointment being its difficulty getting easier rather than more challenging. NG+ is the exact same deal except you are so strong you now 1 tap most standard mobs and larger boss type fights last all of 10 - 30 seconds. I have turned off all HUD and am running with just my pawn to make it more interesting. Fights last a little longer now but the reality is its the same thing over and over and once you have everything collected and the best gear theres nothing else to do. It needs difficulty scaling, more enemies, random encounters, unique rare drops to encourage farming and exploration, and something interesting that I get as a reward for going back through NG+.

[@shmyules8711]

here's a translation of this comment: "once you complete all of the content in the game... THERES NOTHING ELSE TO DO 1 STAR SHIT GAME."

[@CarlWByrne]

@@shmyules8711 no one said 1 star, i said it wasnt GOTY.

[@MrFox101]

I absolutely love DD2. I never played DD1, so the game feels fresh to me. 100 hrs in and still enjoying it.

[@n8doggy733]

I loved the first game, and I will probably play the sequel eventually, but there is no denying that Capcom screwed the pooch on this one BIG time ❤

[@nephraw2835]

I'm 100% with you on your analysis, I love the first game, but they missed so many opportunities - I stopped playing after my party started attacking the city out of nowhere and when I went back to the inn save I lost like 6 hours of gameplay to a bug. Going to wait for more patches to come back and have the full experience 😢

[@smthsmth]

Cant be a GOTY. If its GOTY then gamers are ok with terrible optimization, lazy quest design, poor story, poor characters and microtransactions.

[@SeriousClownLOL]

Well said, I thought it was a lackluster game with poor performance. The best things about it was the character creator and the pawns

[@sharangcool]

Hear hear!